Blogs

As the Artistic Director of the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), I had the fortune of watching over a thousand films from nearly a hundred countries over the year that is now coming to an end. We eventually selected 160 of them for screening in Goa. But India is a vast country and…

By Radhanath Swami Have you ever wondered why we are so fascinated by new things? As children we waited eagerly for new toys. As we grew older, the desire shifted to new bicycles, gadgets, homes, and phones. The pattern remains the same: there is always a craze for something new. Where does this tendency come…

  As 2026 begins, the Indian diaspora is already setting the tone abroad. In New York, Zohran Mamdani rang in the year by taking oath as mayor, marking a historic first for an Indian-African-Muslim immigrant in America’s largest city. In Washington, Indian-Americans continued to punch far above their weight, shaping the ideological battles of Donald…

When tariffs threaten manufacturing and tighter H-1B rules squeeze IT exports, India’s next big growth engine might lie not infactories or code but in surgery rooms. Medical value tourism (MVT) – foreign patients coming to India for advanced, affordable and reliable treatment – could become the country’s next great services success. The $40bn global medical…

There is a short, gentle stretch of time every year… somewhere between Christmas and the first few days of January… when the Gods seem unusually benevolent. Less strict. Less hurried. Almost as if they, too, are easing into the new year, stretching after a long cosmic work cycle. I noticed it this time when my…

What would you say to a Rs 50L signing bonus? If you’re an IndiGo or Air India captain eyeing juicy offers and better work conditions abroad, you might scoff. But airlines, left shamefaced after last month’s FDTL – flight duty time limitations – mess, have no choice but to poach captains from rivals at any…

American football coach Lombardi’s words “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have” will ring true throughout 2026. It’s the year of measurements – Census’s houselisting April to Sept most important count, after a gap of 15 years. It’ll show us the new urban-rural divide, true story of migration,…

An American negotiator involved in the long-drawn saga of the Indo-US trade deal described India as being “a tough nut to crack”. When it comes to striking a bargain, ensuring that we make a deal of maximum benefit to us, we are indeed a tough nut to crack, being not of peanut size but of…

There is a famous line by an American coach: “We are judged by what we do with what we have.” This idea fits India very well in 2026, because it will be a year when the country starts measuring itself again. One very important measurement is the Census. After a long gap of 15 years,…

Recently, I was at an event where a representative from an organisation advocating for better data stewardship made an impassioned argument: data workers, they said, should have rights over the data they collect. The room nodded along. I felt uneasy. Not because the concern for workers was misplaced, but because the framing felt oddly disconnected…