Articles by R Sukumar
HT Interview: Our PM believes in democratising technology, says Vaishnaw
India’s new privacy law, will mean greater accountability for Big Tech, the minister said.

Updated on Aug 13, 2023 05:47 AM IST
Under Modi, a new caste has emerged in the country, that of beneficiaries: Shah
Union minister Amit Shah says a Uniform Civil Code has been on the BJP’s agenda since the day our party was formed

Updated on May 04, 2023 02:29 PM IST
ht_print | Smriti Kak RamachandranR Sukumar
India’s big reform push will help Global South
India’s push for holistic, transformative reforms of multilateral development banks is key to transitions to low-carbon economies.

HT Interview: ‘My worry is …,’ Bill Gates on misinformation
To Prime Minister Modi’s credit, when we were doing the 2015 Paris Accord where people signed up for various commitments, part of the reason he went to it was because of a side meeting that he named “Mission Innovation”, Bill Gates says.

Updated on Mar 04, 2023 04:56 AM IST
R Sukumar picks his favourite reads of 2022
End-of-the-world scenarios, a nature book that explores the idea of Umwelten, and graphic novels that synthesise fable, myth and the artist’s own universe

HT interview: Data bill in line with global practices, says Vaishnaw
Union minister says carve-outs in India’s new privacy bill are consistent with Constitution provisions

Updated on Dec 02, 2022 12:34 PM IST
By order of the President
The exercise to elect the Congress president shows the relationship the party shares with change — across two time frames.

Updated on Oct 01, 2022 02:28 AM IST
R Sukumar, New Delhi
Lessons India needs to learn from Covid-19
On the medical oxygen front, the nation is unlikely to witness shortage; on the district hospital front, there is a long way to go; and in terms of science- and evidence-based decision making, some progress has been made

Pulp-it | How do you rate a cricket team’s captain?
Sure, culture is important, as is strategy, but because sustained performance is not possible without either, the simplest way to rate a leader is outcomes.

Updated on Dec 17, 2021 11:31 AM IST
Pulp-It | In 2022, what India must do to learn to live with Covid
Covid-19 will become endemic in India. It’s important to tailor our response to this phase around four interventions.

Pulp-It | After WFH, it is time for a BTW strategy
Apart from detailing the logistics of WFO, the Back To Work strategy should include reorientation sessions, communicating an updated employee health policy, and activities (Covid-safe ones, of course) that emphasise team work and fun

Pulp-it | Should you lose sleep over Omicron?
Is the new variant more transmissible or infective? Does it cause more severe disease? Is it resistant to existing Covid-19 vaccines?

How to solve the crypto conundrum?
The exact contours of the cryptocurrency law that India will introduce isn’t clear. It could completely ban private cryptocurrencies and trading in them; or it could just ban their use as a currency and allow their trade as an asset class .

Updated on Nov 25, 2021 05:31 AM IST
Pulp-it | Delhi’s air is always bad. Stubble burning makes it worse
Stubble burning is singularly responsible for pushing AQI into the severe category on most of the few days in which the air is really bad

Pulp-it | Why Delhi is choking
For eight days till Thursday, the Central Pollution Control Board’s daily bulletin reported an AQI level that is either severe or at the high end of the very poor category. Friday’s reading, too, was in the severe category

The prickly problem of greater-good debates
Forcing people to change their personal choices in the interests of a greater good could have far-reaching implications. But at some point of time, each of us will have to consciously make choices based on what’s good for the environment

Pulp-it | No one has figured out how to win T20s yet
The T20 format is yet to see a team with the right mix of skills, strategy, and captaincy. When one emerges (and it will take some doing), the form book will start to matter again in the format

A tale of IIT admissions, coaching institutes, and students as brand ambassadors
How many coaching classes does an IIT-JEE topper need? 42

Happy to see economic recovery: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman
The Finance minister said, “I’m happy to see recovery; at this stage we want to have very positive signs from all segments so that mutually they create this thing called sentiment. If sentiment becomes positive, it creates a multiplier effect.”

Updated on Sep 21, 2021 12:52 AM IST
Banks themselves will drive bad bank, says Nirmala Sitharaman
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that she was confident the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL), effectively a bad bank, will work because “this entire mechanism is driven by the banks”

Published on Sep 20, 2021 11:52 PM IST
R Sukumar, New Delhi
‘Happy to see economic recovery’: FM Nirmala Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the resolution formula is the one that will be given priority. Not liquidation. When you look at resolution – there is an implicit message being given that these are workable assets, and that with some doing they will be valuable.

Vaccination: Focus on hesitancy, the 12-18 age group, and booster shots
The experience of the United States, where many infections, most hospitalisations, and almost all deaths currently being seen, are among the unvaccinated is a cautionary tale

From a pandemic to an endemic, India’s vaccine drive enables a way out
Those managing India’s vaccine drive have always been a step or two behind the curve. But a reading of the infection and vaccination trajectories indicates that they need to start planning now for a future of endemic Covid-19.

Updated on Aug 18, 2021 08:16 PM IST
To a Republic of reason: R Sukumar on India’s 75th Independence Day
Amid challenges that range from a pandemic to rising school dropout rates, the climate crisis and an economy that has suffered body blows, there are answers, but they won’t be the easy ones. May we return to first principles, and may the science be with us.

Updated on Aug 13, 2021 04:49 PM IST
The twists and turns in India’s telecom policy
The Vodafone crisis is a reflection of the arbitrariness in policymaking. Its collapse will lead to a duopoly, an undesirable outcome

Updated on Aug 04, 2021 07:07 PM IST
How to get the next set of reforms right
Second-generation reforms require careful deliberation, effective implementation, and accommodative politics

Updated on Aug 02, 2021 12:00 PM IST
Covid-19: What you need to know today
Some experts are also of the opinion that it could become the dominant strain in most parts of the world, replacing Alpha, which was first sequenced in the UK.

Updated on Jun 16, 2021 05:22 AM IST
R Sukumar, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Covid-19: What you need to know today
Anecdotal evidence suggests that some states keen to show their ability in managing the pandemic have under-reported deaths by simply ascribing them to other causes

Updated on Jun 15, 2021 05:43 AM IST
R Sukumar, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Covid-19: What you need to know today
It is also believed that Covaxin, the other vaccine that is currently part of India’s vaccination programme, is also very effective against the variant, but data on this isn’t available.

Updated on Jun 11, 2021 05:16 AM IST
R Sukumar, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Covid-19: What you need to know today
The chaos and confusion over India’s vaccine drive, and recent scientific revelations point to the need for some changes in how India procures vaccines, and how and when it administers them.

Updated on Jun 08, 2021 05:19 AM IST
R Sukumar, Hindustan Times, New Delhi