Joining The Dots

Of bans, blasphemy laws and politically correct language: Meanings of words are not solely contained in themselves

A blasphemy law proscribing a certain word may raise awareness that a certain public behavior is socially unacceptable, but it cannot do very much more if the underlying attitudes have social acceptability.

Damming Brahmaputra: With mega-dam plans, China might end up hurting itself more than India

The true idea of a river is not of a single stream of water between two banks, but a nervous system of watery arteries and capillaries that form the circulatory system of a living ecosystem in a particular river basin.

Why anti-migrant rhetoric is all bluster, no action: Nudge and wink policy allows politicians, businessmen to reap benefits

For all the Right-wing anti-migrant rhetoric now popular in many parts of the world, economic imperatives are powering migration flows that no amount of rule-making or wall-building can prevent.

In David Attenborough's warning about the Earth's future, a lesson for liberals who have failed to unite for the planet's cause

The ability of some types of stories, such as those rooted in religion and nationalism to unite large numbers of people, has outstripped the ability of other stories, which are rooted in ideas of equality and emancipation, to bring people together.

Coronavirus, cyclones and locusts: In 2020, it's getting harder than ever to ignore science and our impact on the environment

It’s hard to deny it any longer: 2020 is getting seriously apocalyptic.

Putting the 'civil' back in civilisation: On loudspeakers, religious sentiments and the right to a peaceful night’s sleep

Twenty full years after rules regarding noise pollution were framed, they are observed almost entirely in the breach, by groups religious as well as secular.

An inhabitant of thresholds: On George Orwell, reclusiveness and the merits of belonging between places as a journalist

The tyranny of numbers is all around us, in every sphere. How many website hits has the journalistic story got? It’s a good story if it has lots of hits. How many likes on Facebook and retweets on Twitter did the column get? It’s a fine column if it got plenty of those. How good is the television show? Well, it’s the best if it has the highest viewership. In other words, the measure of quality is quantity.

As tensions rise in Kashmir again, why the continued conflict between India, Pak and China is unlikely to resolve any issues

The fighting has escalated again in Kashmir. Last Saturday night, two officers and two jawans of the Indian Army and a police sub-inspector were killed in militant violence in Handwara in Kashmir. A day later, three men of the Central Reserve Police Force died in another attack in the same area.

Looking for facts in slew of 'infotainment': On the current state of Indian journalism and finding a way forward

Journalism implies an attempt at discovering facts. But people no longer know, and oftentimes no longer care, what is fact and what is fiction.

As world weighs lives against economy in face of coronavirus crisis, possible scenarios for the future that awaits us

This present condition of “pause” in the rush of the world will probably not last. Our world has been organised around the realities of a globalised economy. The cost of allowing it all to fall to ruin will sooner or later outweigh the risk of further spread of the coronavirus disease.