This is Nitin Pai's cyberspace.
The real problem is that we have too little republic
A democracy decides on issues based on popularity, often according to the will of the majority. A republic qualifies majority decisions by forcing them to be consistent with a set of principles that even majorities cannot violate. | 15th Dec 2020
India needs a revival of republicanism
In a country where there are thousands of interest groups, with millions of grievances, the dissolution of constitutional constraints is a recipe for turmoil. | 15th Dec 2020
India’s slide into constitutional grey zone
We must recognise that our political culture has swung too much towards populism, and that constitutional methods and the promise of justice are not only nice principles but also crucial to holding this country together. | 8th Dec 2020
Intelligence agencies must track ecological threats and epidemics
Covid-19 has brought home the fact that India must have independent means of acquiring information that has a vital bearing on our health, economy and security. | 6th Dec 2020
Parliament is not an optional accessory
The Narendra Modi government could have avoided farmer unrest and protests had it adopted a broad-based social consultation process and taken its time to put the farm bills through the parliamentary process. | 1st Dec 2020
Nations are hurting themselves in their big fight with Big Tech
In trying to see off the challenge from transnational tech platforms, nation-states are not only compromising their values, but also undermining their interests. | 22nd Nov 2020
A sensible policy towards firecrackers is possible
An abrupt nationwide ban on firecrackers is a bad idea. It creates noise, smoke and fire, not light. There is a better way. | 17th Nov 2020
On Manisha Kadagathur’s “Tell it like it is” podcast
On the Takshashila journey and the emergence of public policy as a rewarding career in India | 12th Nov 2020
Out-station voters should be allowed to vote without having to travel home
I observed the parliamentary elections in the Maldives as a member of an international mission. It was striking how citizens from anywhere in the Maldives could vote in their home constituency election from anywhere else, provided they had previously registered. | 10th Nov 2020
India should create bubbles of trust with its geopolitical allies
New Delhi will have to focus on four areas: Strengthen geopolitical convergences, increase faith in each other’s judicial systems, deepen economic ties, and boost other countries’ trust in one’s citizens. All four are necessary to create bubbles of trust. | 8th Nov 2020
The case for a rapid, publicly-financed, universal vaccination
India should aim to vaccinate 80 per cent of the population by 31 December 2021 at a cost of Rs 50,000-250,000 crore. India can not only afford such a programme, it can’t afford not to. | 3rd Nov 2020
A coalition to counter China will take some time to operationalize
To shape the agenda of this partnership with the United States, and of the Quad, India needs to regain its economic growth story. | 30th Oct 2020
Politicisation of Covid vaccination is a good thing
Any vaccine policy will be politicised is because public health is a political matter. The political dimension cannot be wished away | 27th Oct 2020
A front-footed approach to the world calls for a strong economy
Those crafting India’s strategy in an uncertain world will do well to look for answers in the right places in the great epic. | 25th Oct 2020
India needs more general medical practitioners and nurses
We have a lot of specialists, but too few “doctors”. The shortage of general practitioners or family physicians has become one of the weakest links in India’s medical system: there are too few of them both in urban and rural areas, although for different reasons. | 20th Oct 2020
Local governments must raise their own revenues
The post-pandemic fiscal crunch should cause municipalities, gram panchayats and state governments to start thinking about generating revenues from under-used public assets. | 11th Oct 2020
Heed Napoleon’s words as China fancies its odds of taking Taiwan
New Delhi should not distract China from getting into an energy-sapping quagmire over Taiwan. | 27th Sep 2020
It is time India gave its policy on Tibet some strategic coherence
Unless backed by purposeful policy and substantive actions, symbolism alone is dangerous and can be counterproductive. The time has come for India to review its approach towards Tibet. | 13th Sep 2020
The US-China tech war is being fought across a bamboo curtain
For India, the correct answer is some form of interdependence with both the US and China that ground realties and interests permit. | 30th Aug 2020
A retreat from global trade will hurt India’s geopolitical stature
India must resist the forces of de-globalization and lead the charge for a new, more balanced international economic order. The openness that we seek in the global economy must start at home. | 16th Aug 2020
Macabre thought experiments and moral compasses
I decided to put the trolley problem to the kids. All three readily said that they would let one person die if it saved two or more lives. But it got more complicated after that. | 9th Aug 2020
Opinion | A national vaccination campaign ought to be run like an election
A national vaccination programme is like a general election, but at much lower temperatures. | 2nd Aug 2020
Is the United Nations of any use?
I got mildly worried a couple of weeks ago when Airy became extremely knowledgeable about the Republic of Kazakhstan. | 10th Jul 2020
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