Blogs

Politicians wield immense power in their turf. All the more crucial for courts to be alert to judicial missteps Supreme Court acted not a minute too soon in staying Delhi HC’s order that had suspended Kuldip Singh Sengar’s life sentence, while SC hears the case, Jan 20 the next date. He was also found guilty…

Bachi Karkaria Bachi Karkaria’s Erratica and its cheeky sign-off character, Alec Smart, have had a growing league of followers since 1994 when the column began in the Metropolis on Saturday. It now appears on the Edit Page of the Times of India, every Thursday. It takes a sly dig at whatever has inflated political/celebrity egos,…

In doing welcome course-correction, SC also indicates what dangers still loom over our mountains The sigh of relief came not just from Aravalis, but also Himalayas, Vindhyas, Western Ghats…India’s billenia old mountain ranges have never felt as fragile as today, with ‘development’ pillaging them mindlessly. When an SC bench led by then CJI Gavai accepted…

As the Sun sets on the final day of the year 2025, it is a good time to reflect back on the roller coaster year it has been for India, especially on the foreign and national security front. If 2023 was all about India’s G20 presidency, 2024 was more about the national elections, return of…

Crash! The white and black porcelain shards of my beloved zebra lay all over the floor.  I cursed myself for recklessly tossing my stole over it. My sheer ignorance and…… peekaboo! It was not one of those slender, muscular and boring beasts—Naaaa. It looked like some distant (striped) cousin of the elephants. Its big balloon…

In a landmark observation on December 2, 2025, the Supreme Court of India delivered a loud message to those seeking to blur the lines between humanitarian compassion and national security. While hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by rights activist alleging the disappearance of several Rohingya individuals from Delhi Police custody, a bench led by…

Earlier today, I stumbled upon a memory of Steven Pinker’s account of altruism in his seminal book “How the mind works” as I was reviewing my own forthcoming work on philosophy and psychology. Each of these varieties of altruism, Pinker notes, is traceable to an evolutionary logic that is aimed, much like every other possible…

If one theme defined global geopolitics in 2025, it was the unmistakable return of hard-edged great power politics. Trade, technology, territory and terror once again became instruments of statecraft, while diplomacy struggled to keep pace with intensifying rivalries. For India, the year was a severe test of strategic autonomy — one that revealed both the…

The recent judgment of the Supreme Court in the Mansi Barar Fernandes case (12 September 2025) was intended to address a legitimate concern—that genuine homebuyers should be distinguished from property speculators, and that there should be no confusion between the two. The Court’s intent was noble. However, the practical consequences of this judgment may end…

As the saying goes, “new year, new you.” When individuals seek to make changes in their lives, they often choose significant time markers, like the start of a new semester, to initiate these changes. Dai, Milkman, and Riis describe this phenomenon as “the fresh-start effect.” Among these milestones, the beginning of a new year stands…