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Focus on maximising the vaccination rate
Let’s say Melon Rusk, one of the world’s richest billionaires, approaches the Indian government and makes an offer to deliver 2 billion doses of a covid vaccine within 2 months for ₹2 trillion. Should the government take the offer? | 24th May 2021
The urgent need for administrative re-engineering
Unless we reform how India is governed, the structures, processes and culture of government, we will continue to be disappointed by what the system actually delivers. | 10th May 2021
Goodbye and good riddance to board examinations
To the extent that board exams have any useful role in education itself, there are cheaper and less harmful alternatives that can replace exams. | 25th Apr 2021
Vaccination certificates need a framework to govern their use
India has done well so far to take the future-ready middle path of providing vaccination certificates without taking a position on their use. It is now time to put in place a framework to govern their use. | 11th Apr 2021
Why my estimates for the second wave of Covid-19 were wrong
While I had qualified my assessment with a few caveats, I was wrong to expect that the second wave will be “small” in several cities and districts. I did not anticipate that people would so quickly relax their guard, engage in large gatherings and visit crowded places. | 7th Apr 2021
Direct vaccination to spike the surge
Instead of pursuing a progressive nationwide expansion of vaccination prioritized by age-groups, the Narendra Modi government should open up vaccination to all adults in cities and districts where there is a surge in new covid cases. | 29th Mar 2021
Fukushima’s lesson is the need for effective nuclear regulation
If India’s nuclear industry is government-run for the foreseeable future, then it is all the more important to restructure its governance. | 14th Mar 2021
Privatisation should not ignore the equity dimension
For privatization to be successful, widely accepted and in the public interest, stakeholder mapping should be vastly expanded to cover all sections of society that will be affected by the reforms | 28th Feb 2021
Without the private sector, India’s vaccination rate will be sub-optimal
The current pace of India’s vaccination programme is, paradoxically, both impressive and inadequate. To be effective, it must be ramped up 10-20 times, so that 80 per cent of the population can be protected by the end of the year. | 23rd Feb 2021
Social media is an existential threat to civilisation
This threat is greater and more urgent than that presented by climate change, artificial intelligence, nuclear war, pandemics and terrorism. | 21st Feb 2021
Regarding the military disengagement at Pangong Tso
It is hard to say how long the Chinese side will abide by these terms, after having seen the utility of transgressions in pushing the envelope. | 18th Feb 2021
India must address South East Asian concerns
India’s foreign policy establishment must not miss opportunities to set up economic and maritime cooperation with ASEAN | 14th Feb 2021
Dealing with another coup in Myanmar
For New Delhi, the challenge will be to break out of two popular mind traps: First, that supporting Aung San Suu Kyi is uniformly in India’s interests, and second, that not backing the generals will throw Myanmar into China’s camp. | 9th Feb 2021
Heroic privatisation targets in this year’s Union Budget
The Modi government would do well to stay away from the failed economic policies of the Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai governments, and find a different route to Atmanirbhar Bharat. | 2nd Feb 2021
What we must regulate when we regulate social media platforms
Public policy should seek to prevent the concentration of narrative rather than market power in social media companies | 31st Jan 2021
A republic on a pedestal vs a republic in daily practice
Yet the sum total of our actions leaves the republic weaker by the day. The crumbling started a couple of generations ago, slowly at first. Now, it is in a landslide. | 26th Jan 2021
Where I get an important thing spectacularly wrong
I had argued that India is unlikely to see a major second wave of Covid-19. | 19th Jan 2021
America’s strategic rivalry with China won’t change under Biden
We should expect some easing of tensions between the two countries this year, starting with a change in language, style and ambience. The underlying divergences, though, won’t go away. | 17th Jan 2021
Covaxin was approved for extra-scientific reasons
India’s healthcare and pharmaceutical industry has the potential to realise the numerous opportunities in a post-pandemic, less China-reliant world. To capture these opportunities, it is more important for the healthcare governance system to be — and be seen as — professional, honest, and transparent. | 5th Jan 2021
The big convergence challenge that we face in this new decade
Our opportunities and risks lie in how technology intersects with health, society and geopolitics | 3rd Jan 2021
Blocking Sci-Hub will hurt the public interest
Protecting copyright in the academic publishing space is tantamount to protecting the rent-seeking business model of publishers. Public policy should have little patience for business models that restrict knowledge. | 29th Dec 2020
India needs two maritime theatre commands
The Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Bay of Bengal and the Straits of Malacca are all connected to the Indian Ocean, but have distinct names for reasons of history, geography and the resulting politics. Strategy should recognise this reality. | 22nd Dec 2020
Social trust is essential for cyber security
Information-sharing among various stakeholders under a clear set of rules is vital for the country to stave off cyber threats | 20th Dec 2020
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