Barkha Dutt is consulting editor, NDTV, and founding member, Ideas Collective. She tweets as @BDUTT.
Articles by Barkha Dutt
A new Covid-19 wave is here. Junk old rules
Omicron is not the last variant. A new way has to be found of living with it — and despite it. Stop random testing, spread the message about the latest home isolation norms, and open educational institutions with necessary safeguards
Updated on Jan 07, 2022 09:33 PM IST
Let’s not normalise hate speeches, mob violence
The Haridwar hate-mongering is not just vile; it is a national security issue. It goes to the very heart of the people we are and the people we want to be
Updated on Dec 24, 2021 08:28 PM IST
Covid-19: It’s time to make vaccines mandatory
More than 120 million Indians have not taken their second dose. As our primary armour, vaccines are the only way to fight variants such as Omicron. Pass an executive order
Updated on Dec 10, 2021 08:14 PM IST
Ajay Mishra Teni’s position is untenable
Teni’s statements about the incident, the SC’s intervention, his remarks on protesting farmers, and the language he has used, all point to the need for him to step down
Updated on Nov 12, 2021 07:15 PM IST
The Aryan Khan case is about constitutionalism
There has been a complete lack of proportionality in the system’s response. With the lower courts taking little risk, and the NCB dragging Aryan Khan’s name through the mud, the case is now a spectator sport, with little to no evidence
Updated on Oct 29, 2021 06:57 PM IST
The SRK son story: Deflection or escapism?
The Shah Rukh Khan-Aryan real life starrer is not just about easy ratings for TV media; it is also the perfect distraction from more troubling and important issues exploding all around us
Updated on Oct 15, 2021 06:34 PM IST
Punjab’s message: The eroding authority of the Gandhis
What used to be said off-the-record in the Congress is now out in the open. The family is harming the party
Updated on Oct 01, 2021 03:32 PM IST
The age of competitive communalism
Think of the agony and struggle of an Indian Muslim today, sandwiched between the Hindu Right and Islamist extremism
Updated on Sep 17, 2021 05:13 PM IST
Afghanistan: The world is making a fatal error
The whitewashing of the Taliban is a mistake. It is not the good cop in the battle against IS-K. India will suffer. But the rest of the world won’t be spared either
Updated on Sep 03, 2021 05:56 PM IST
When will the US pull back from the real challenge — Pakistan?
Pakistan took American money and backed the Taliban. India is now left with a security nightmare, with implications for Kashmir
Updated on Aug 20, 2021 03:43 PM IST
The true test of Indian patriotism
Instead of getting caught up in vaccine nationalism, India needs to get all the vaccines it can to enhance supplies and achieve its target of universal vaccination
Updated on Aug 06, 2021 06:37 PM IST
Acknowledge the brutality of the second wave
Passing the blame and writing a revisionist history of the summer — either by the Centre or states — is an affront to citizens who lived through the crisis and lost loved ones
Updated on Jul 23, 2021 03:52 PM IST
The reshuffle is meant to secure Brand Modi
The exits and expansion were motivated by the need to protect the PM’s image and send a signal to OBCs, crucial to the BJP’s electoral prospects in UP
Published on Jul 09, 2021 06:24 PM IST
After the storm, when Delhi and Kashmir meet
Both the Centre and Kashmiri mainstream politicians are chastened. Delhi knows it needs to work with the same elected politicians it derided. Kashmir’s leaders know that Article 370 isn’t coming back
Published on Jun 25, 2021 06:22 PM IST
Covid-19 and the invisibilisation of rural India
Even as cities open up, in India’s villages — from the north to the south — the Covid-19 pandemic continues to devastate the poor. And we don’t even know the scale of the tragedy
Published on Jun 11, 2021 04:46 PM IST
From the holy river, a story of human tragedy and State callousness
Indian citizens deserve more respect, in life and in death. The State’s refusal to acknowledge many graves, linked to Covid, is unacceptable
Updated on May 28, 2021 06:45 PM IST
From UP, a tale of the failure of the Indian state
Sending teachers to death on forced election duty, even as the second wave of the pandemic was engulfing the country, represents outright criminality
Updated on May 14, 2021 05:44 PM IST
Where personal tragedy meets systemic State failure
Like an oncologist who gets cancer or a dermatologist who battles skin disease, this week, I became the story I have reported for the past fifteen months
Published on Apr 30, 2021 04:00 PM IST
India’s health system has collapsed
As human tragedy unfolds, there is a shortage of everything — oxygen, drugs, beds, vaccines, even cremation space
Updated on Apr 17, 2021 06:44 AM IST
As Covid returns, India must not repeat the mistakes of 2020
Don’t return to lockdowns. Instead, approve more vaccines and ramp up vaccination — especially in the most affected states and cities
Updated on Apr 03, 2021 04:37 PM IST
What Bollywood could learn from Munawar Faruqui
In this patchy, roller-coaster of a fortnight for India’s fundamental freedoms, some individuals have stood up, while others have failed our citizens
Published on Mar 05, 2021 06:09 PM IST
For India’s women, a week of hope — and anguish
The Priya Ramani verdict has shut down the debate on the most banal and common question asked of women: Why didn’t you speak up earlier?
Published on Feb 19, 2021 06:33 PM IST
How not to respond to Greta, Meena, Rihanna
As India sought to stand against propaganda on farm protests, it appeared to be teaching the world a class on propaganda. And not very smartly at that
Updated on Feb 06, 2021 06:38 AM IST
When invasion of privacy comes back full circle
The sanctimony that a section of the media wears like a second skin comes undone so fast when the scrutiny is on them.
Published on Jan 22, 2021 10:39 PM IST
After anarchy in the US, reimagining the middle ground
Governments have to learn how to engage with those who did not vote for them. Citizens have to learn how to converse amidst ideological divisions
Updated on Jan 08, 2021 07:53 PM IST
How the TMC is fighting the BJP juggernaut in Bengal
The Trinamool Congress has made dramatic changes to its organisational power structure and launched two key mass outreach programmes
Updated on Dec 25, 2020 05:36 PM IST
Powerful citizens, missing Opposition
The two agitations which have made a mark in the past year have been led by citizens. The Opposition remains absent and redundant
Updated on Dec 11, 2020 07:47 PM IST
Why Ahmed Patel mattered in Indian politics
With his pragmatism, openness, rigorous work ethic, and absolute commitment to the Congress and Sonia Gandhi, he emerged as a pillar of the party
Updated on Nov 27, 2020 08:51 PM IST
From Bihar, a message for Indian politics, writes Barkha Dutt
The national Opposition does not exist, the Congress’s claim to this role is cosmetic, and only regional parties can be a bulwark against the BJP
Updated on Nov 13, 2020 08:51 PM IST
In Bihar, the eclipse of Brand Nitish Kumar, writes Barkha Dutt
Irrespective of the outcome in the assembly elections, the rage against the Bihar chief minister is palpable — and he only has himself to blame
Updated on Oct 30, 2020 07:33 PM IST