calender_icon.png 8 February, 2026 | 11:45 PM

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Editorial

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It’s disturbing how apathy is desensitising our society

07-02-2026

Recently, a 27-year-old young man in Noida, Yuvraj Mehta, drowned, but no one came to his rescue. He kept begging for his life, but none came to help him. “Saahil ke tamashai har doobne wale pe / afsos toh karte hain, imdaad nahin karte” (The people on the shore sympathise with the drowning person, but they do nothing to save his life).
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Bihar’s dry dream: A bloody, wet, and bankrupt reality

07-02-2026

The Patna High Court recently set a new record by disposing of 476 cases in a single day, with Justice Rudra Prakash Mishra granting bail to all but 13 accused in matters related to violations of Bihar’s Prohibition Law.
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The inimitable Mamata and her fight for political survival

06-02-2026

The inimitable Mamata Banerjee’s turbulent political life is at a pivotal juncture. Although opinion surveys indicate a comfortable lead over the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls, the outcome may be influenced by ‘X’ factors, like her bizarre confrontation with the Enforcement Directorate last month and contumacious encounter with the Election Commission of India earlier this week.

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Budget ’26: Capability building and a fiscal tightrope balance

06-02-2026

India’s macro backdrop today looks unusually reassuring. Quarterly real growth has been firm, inflation is low, banks are reporting strong profits with low NPAs, and corporate balance sheets look healthier after years of deleveraging. That surface calm, however, is precisely why the Union Budget deserved to be read more as a stress test than as a celebration.

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Budget 2026

06-02-2026

The “Modi touch” in the budget is quite evident. Focus on domestic manufacture through massive investments is a pointer. Robust allocation to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is a big step. Defence, health and railways are three key areas that have rightly received a boost. That some important anti-cancer chemotherapy drugs and life-saving medicines would be cheaper has made huge headlines, but the practicality of the decision is subject to ifs and buts.

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Bulldozer shows power, not justice

06-02-2026

Bulldozer justice has no rationale whatsoever. It is nothing less than the state arrogating to itself the roles of judge, jury, and executioner. In a constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law, such conduct is not merely excessive; it is unlawful. Yet, governments like that of Uttar Pradesh behave as though demolishing homes is their inalienable right, a swift and spectacular way to punish those they presume to be guilty.

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Finally, a CM for Manipur

06-02-2026

After a year of political limbo when the state was under President’s rule, strife-torn Manipur has a chief minister again. The BJP has picked Meitei MLA, former minister and ex-speaker Yumnam Khemchand Singh to be the CM. He is known to be in the camp against former Chief Minister Biren Singh, and his name had been doing the rounds for some time.

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How to look at AI in India in a world turning digital fast?

05-02-2026

One of the primary issues discussed at the 2026 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos was AI and its impact. AI is an inevitability, and while one can be slow to adopt the same, it must be accepted over time.

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What will happen now to the unification plans of NCP?

05-02-2026

The unfortunate and tragic death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has saddened the entire state and sent a shock wave in the political sphere all over. This incident will have long-term effects on politics in Maharashtra, but even in the short term, it has caused major upheaval within Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is part of the ruling BJP-led NDA alliance at the centre as well as the state level.
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Academy Awards nominations: The fabulous five, best of ’em all

04-02-2026

Every year, when the Academy Awards nominations are announced, it is a lens through which to view how far women have progressed (or regressed) in the notoriously male-dominated Hollywood industry.

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A lacklustre budget with no big-bang announcements

04-02-2026

To describe Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget for 2026-27 as “lacklustre” would be an understatement. Those who have expressed happiness that she did not pander to populist sentiments may not have to wait too long.

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The mathematics of a nation that has chosen to compound

03-02-2026

India is one of the few societies on earth that possesses both—a civilisational memory spanning millennia and a demographic moment that arrives perhaps once in a thousand years. The task before us is not to romanticise either, but to convert memory into momentum and momentum into measurable outcomes. When we speak of Viksit Bharat by 2047, we are not invoking a slogan; we are articulating a quantifiable, time-bound, system-wide transformation—one that must obey the iron laws of arithmetic, productivity, capital formation, and institutional credibility.