20 May, 2026 | 1:14 AM

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Farmers torch paddy

Palamuru Project turns new flashpoint in Congress, BRS political war

Telangana’s start-up ecosystem gains traction

Water Board GM’s Rs 100 cr trail

Over 1000 bonded labourers rescued from brick kilns in Nizamabad

Relief for 1.3 lakh fishermen families during fishing ban period

PHCs up the ante, ‘A’ grade centres triple

Power arrangements completed for ‘Saraswati Pushkaralu’

Bharat Forge to establish marine gas turbine facility

Activists stand united over KBR tree cutting

Editorial

Why two time zones can power eastern India’s economic rise

20-05-2026

India’s remarkable diversity is reflected not only in its languages, cultures, and geographies, but also in the way daylight is distributed across the country. From Arunachal Pradesh, where the sun rises as early as 4 am in summer, to Gujarat, where sunrise is much later, the gap is nearly two hours.

Lessons the Opposition must learn from history on unity

20-05-2026

Is the Indian Opposition alive? Rather, a more pertinent question would be: Is the INDIA alliance alive after the serious drubbing of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal? In the same breath, one can also ask whether the Opposition is in a position to give the BJP a good fight in 2029 or if it will prove to be a cakewalk for the BJP.

India must unlock hidden capital to turn the crisis into an opportunity

19-05-2026

Many commentators, including this columnist, hoped that the Iran war would last only a few weeks and the disruption of supply chains would be temporary. Now that the Hormuz Strait has been closed for over 10 weeks and there is no immediate end to the energy crisis, the time has come for tightening our belts and focusing on the medium and long-term crisis management.

For the saffron party, Tamil Nadu has remained out of reach thus far

19-05-2026

The BJP and its earlier avatar, the Jan Sangh, have been repeatedly stymied from registering a significant presence in Tamil Nadu. Its Hindutva politics and espousal sit ill with the Dravidian ideals, enunciated by Periyar and other ideologues, across the state. The late Meghnad Desai, the Indian-origin Labour Party member of the House of Lords in the UK, long ago said gloomily that long before Jammu and Kashmir seceded from India, Tamil Nadu had already.

In India, we are drowning in content but starving for context

18-05-2026

This is the age of content. Every headline or WhatsApp forward becomes commentary, every event turns into a reaction, and every moment is shaped for impact. The creator economy has perfected the art of capturing attention.

Sarma’s new diktat: Govt won’t tolerate live-in relationships in state

18-05-2026

The Assam government, led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, is moving to heavily regulate or completely ban live-in relationships between unmarried couples as part of a proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill set to be introduced in the newly formed assembly on May 26.

The emergence of Uttar Pradesh as India’s new centre of strategic power

16-05-2026

India’s national security is no longer defined by only physical presence at the borders. Today, a nation’s strategic strength is equally determined by its defence manufacturing capabilities, technological self-reliance, a sound research and development infrastructure, and an equally well-developed military-industrial base.

BJP’s win in WB has added on to the anxiety on India’s eastern frontier

16-05-2026

Long before conflicts begin, countries often start arguing about rivers, migrants, borders, and memory. That is what is happening now between India and Bangladesh.

Given its track record, can the Congress pull off a solo act?

15-05-2026

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s recent speech claiming “Only the Congress can defeat the BJP” is directed at his party’s regional allies. He declared that none of them were capable of taking on the ruling party: “All the other parties will not be able to stand against them (the BJP); they will not be able to unite, and only the Congress will be left standing, and we will defeat them.”

India’s forex satyagrah: The design must match ambition

15-05-2026

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal last week, with its eleven specific requests spanning fuel, gold, fertillisers, cooking oil, solar pumps, and foreign travel, is being read by many as a prelude to administered price hikes. But there is a larger ambition visible in the speech. It is to make forex conservation a genuine national movement, a civic mobilisation comparable in spirit, if not in form, to Mahatma Gandhi

NEET is far from being neat

15-05-2026

The Union government has suffered the deep embarrassment of having to cancel the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2026 for medical seats, frustrating 22 lakh aspirants who wrote the examination on May 3. They must take a fresh test now. Preliminary reports of this year’s fiasco point to leaked questions in biology and chemistry in Rajasthan that then circulated to multiple cities and other states.

In Assam, challenge of governance

15-05-2026

The massive turnout of dignitaries at the swearing-in ceremony of Himanta Biswa Sarma underlined how significant Assam has become for the BJP and the broader National Democratic Alliance. The presence of PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and several chief ministers reflected the ruling party’s confidence and satisfaction over its achievement in the state.