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By Jwalant Swaroop Spiritual traditions have long viewed humanity as participants in a shared field of consciousness. When violence erupts on a massive scale, that collective field is disturbed. Ancient Indian thought described this disruption as adharm, a disturbance in the moral and cosmic balance of existence. Violent acts affect not only societies and nations…

More women in STEM is great news. But policy has to look at why most of them don’t make it to the top  That over 10,000 girls have cracked JEE Advanced exam to study in IITs, NITs or IIITs, is no ordinary milestone. It demonstrates – more than any hifalutin platitudes – the impact of…

It’s wonderful news that more than 10,000 girls have cleared the JEE Advanced exam this year and can study at top engineering colleges like the IITs, NITs and IIITs. This did not happen by chance. It shows how good policies can help talented students get opportunities. One important policy was started by the IITs in…

India’s cultural resurgence is no longer confined to symbolism or ceremonial diplomacy. It is increasingly becoming an instrument of national strategy combining heritage, soft power, tourism, philanthropy, and creative industries into a new grammar of nation-building. Three recent developments capture this transformation vividly: India’s participation at the Venice Biennale, the return of the sacred Buddha…

There is a particular kind of disappointment that only middle age, airline loyalty programmes and a modest amount of disposable income can produce. It usually arrives somewhere around Row 6. Not Row 1, where people are drinking juice from proper glasses and discussing board meetings they may or may not actually have attended. Nor Row…

SC did well to liberate voluntary adult sex workers. They’re neither victim nor offender In an excellent judgment, Supreme Court has centred on ‘individual agency’ to decide on a framework for rescue & rehab of adult sex workers. It raised the key question the law skipped: why rescue adult women who are sex workers voluntarily,…

Welcome back to another edition of My Take 5, your weekly round-up of top international news. In this edition we are covering the US-Iran search for a deal to end their war, the Russian drone attack in Romania, growing India-Cyprus strategic ties, Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary elections, and Morocco emerging as the top industrialised economy in…

Avijit Ghosh Avijit Ghosh is a associate editor with The Times of India. He is addicted to films, music, cricket and football—and not necessarily in that order. He is the author of Bandicoots in the Moonlight, Cinema Bhojpuri, 40 Retakes, and now, Up Campus, Down Campus, a novel set in 1980s JNU. He tweets from…

By Karan Singh The question of our relationship to the Divine has challenged all religions and philosophies. Markedly different views have been expressed in religious texts by philosophers. I have tried to express my own response to Adi Shankaracharya’s philosophy. Adi Shankaracharya is probably our greatest ever philosopher/scholar. Thanks to his commentaries, we can approach…

What makes membership of old British clubs so desirable? Answer lies in their evolutionary story. When deep pockets vie for membership of Gymkhana Club, the one that govt wants evicted from 27 acres of Lutyens’ Delhi, what exactly are they buying into? Rumour has it, the club’s membership entails a wait of 30-40 years. Someone…