Krittivas Mukherjee

UK election result 2017: Why a hung parliament is good news from Britain

A multi-party government can ensure against Britain pandering to any erratic and unhelpful global order.

From BJP wins in UP, Uttarakhand to Congress surge in Punjab: Five highlights

Riding on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charismatic campaign, the BJP registered the biggest-ever victory by any political party in Uttar Pradesh since Indira Gandhi led the Congress to 309 seats in 1980 before the state was divided. In doing so the saffron outfit replicated its landslide victory in the 2014 national polls.

Modi emerges heartland’s new Shah as BJP wins big in UP, Uttarakhand

Assembly elections 2017: Modi new Shah of heartland as BJP wins big in UP, Uttarakhand

The Bharatiya Janata Party captured stunning election victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on Saturday, a personal triumph for Prime Minister Narendra Modi that could ensure his party’s near-domination of politics in India.

Riding ‘Brand Modi’, BJP set to storm to power in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

Winning the politically crucial state, Uttar Pradesh, will boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chances of getting a second term in the national elections in 2019. .

ISRO’s achievements remarkable but it must tame ‘naughty boy’ GSLV

India has long proven its proficiency in the kind of rocket that launched a record number of satellites at one go on Wednesday, but the country’s future growth in space will depend exclusively on its success with the indigenous Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) programme that is now far from perfect.

ISRO’s record of innovation: Bullock cart to launching 180 foreign satellites

To many, Wednesday’s triumph once again underlined the credibility of India’s space technology, despite the country’s antiquated industrial processes and manufacturing record, and the brilliance of its poorly paid scientists.

Union Budget 2017: The poor find little comfort in Jaitley’s cash crunch balm

Farmers, labourers say proposals not enough as FM toes prudence line.

Infosys techie murder: Dealing with rape and murder on India’s IT campuses

Campus security – be it of companies or colleges – must build on cultural, procedural, legal, and above all, preventive measures.

HTLS 2016: Cash clean-up will make political funding transparent, says Jaitley

India is still “very hush hush” when it comes to how political parties raise funds but the government clampdown on the cash economy will help make these transactions more transparent in future, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

Rs 500, Rs 1000 junked: How PM’s currency shakeup can help Indian economy

Scrapping 1000-and 500-rupee banknotes is unlikely to eliminate illicit flows altogether, but a ban on large bills should help cut back on cash which is used in about 80% of transactions in India.

Dhaka siege: How long before Bangladesh becomes a failed state?

It has been a year of unusual Islamist violence in Bangladesh, with at least 18 murderous attacks on freethinkers, minority religious preachers and a much-loved English professor at the Rajshahi University.

After China slump, world expects India to shoulder burden of growth: Jaitley

Money spent to modernise infrastructure will be among the top drivers of the country’s economic growth, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.

Experts feel India must raise economic activity

India rising but must scale up economic activity: Experts

A slowing China presents a great opportunity to India to become the growth engine of the world but New Delhi must work harder to boost its economic productivity, speakers at a conference of leaders and policymakers said in Tokyo on Monday.

Women’s vote bank in mind, prohibition is new elixir for politicians

At the height of anti-alcohol protests in Tamil Nadu last year, Sasi Perumal went up a telephone tower with a can of kerosene, threatening to set himself on fire unless a local liquor shop was closed. As police tried to persuade him to come down, Perumal appeared to suffer a fatal cardiac arrest.

Jat protests: How caste quotas have triggered a race to the bottom

Disadvantaged groups have enough education to deserve more opportunity but not enough education to compete for jobs.

HTLS 2015: Debate on India’s march to shared prosperity begins

India has achieved much since independence, although it is still far from transitioning to a prosperous, healthy nation. But in a world buffeted by strong economic and political headwinds, it appears like an oasis of growth. It must seize this moment to shape it into a brighter future

Loss in Bihar polls: A message for Narendra Modi to reinvent himself

The bruising defeat for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bihar signals the need for his party to move away from an over-emphasis on communal politics and help him deliver on his agenda of development that had endeared him to many voters across the country just 18 months ago.

Why Yakub Memon’s hanging diminishes the Indian State

Yakub Memon was guilty. But in hanging him we passed up an opportunity to amplify the scope for grace and empathy in our justice system if a convict presented mitigating behaviour.

The story makers: Parachuting into the deadly Vyapam scandal

The last time para-trooping journalists disrupted the languid air of Bhopal was when the world’s worst industrial disaster killed more than 5,000 people and spawned a pestilence-stricken generation of disabled and deformed victims.

Tough to protect Vyapam witnesses; bodyguards killed Indira: MP minister

Madhya Pradesh home minister Babulal Gaur sought to deflect blame for a string of deaths linked to the Vyapam scandal on Thursday, pointing to the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to argue it was difficult to protect witnesses in India.

Amit Shah said party stands by me: Shivraj Chouhan on Vyapam storm

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said the BJP was behind him as he faced a political storm following a spate of mysterious deaths of people connected to a multi-crore scam that has sullied his image.

Initiated probe, but put in the dock now: Chouhan on Vyapam scam

An interview with Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who is yet to come to terms with the embarrassing situation arising from the growing number of deaths related to Vyapam scam.

Will go to SC if HC rejects plea for CBI probe of Vyapam: Chouhan

A trial by media has ruined Madhya Pradesh’ image as one of India’s fastest growing states, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Wednesday, hoping that an investigation by the CBI would clear perceptions of a cover-up after a string of mysterious deaths related to the Vyapam scam.

Reporter's Diary: In Bhopal, Vyapam deaths are hardly news

It is one of India's biggest-ever corruption scandals, one that has only seen the plot thicken with every mysterious death of witnesses and racketeers linked to the test-rigging scam. Even by standards in India, where corruption abounds, the scale of the fraud in Madhya Pradesh is staggering. Yet, on the streets of its capital Bhopal, there is hardly any sign of unease.

Hasina’s silence on bloggers' murders strengthening hand of Salafists in Bangladesh

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, known to be sympathetic to liberal intellectuals, is yet to make clear public statements defending secularism and free speech on the murder of Ananta Bijoy Das this week, the third secularist blogger-writer to be killed since February.

Indian media in quake-hit Nepal: Grace, empathy thrown to the winds

Our media, especially some TV stations, chose to extol their hometown heroes. It ignored the tremendous display of dignity and resilience from grief-stricken Nepalis. writes Krittivas Mukherjee.

Killer earthquake exposes lingering lack of governance in Nepal

An earthquake maybe a natural phenomenon but last week’s tremor that pulverised large swathes of Nepal also exposed a lingering lack of governance in an impoverished country still struggling to emerge from years of war and write a constitution.

Out in the cold, children are the hidden tragedy in Nepal’s mega earthquake

A week on from the earthquake, the health and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of Nepali children hang in the balance, aid agencies say, seemingly hidden in plain sight of an otherwise massive international relief effort.