IMPRI Desk

IMPRI Desk

The G2 Illusion: Why Dual Global Hegemony Remains Elusive

G2

Multiple other power centres operate in the world are crystallising, and it's time India stepped up its R&D efforts to keep pace.

A command by the leader of the world's most powerful nation to resume nuclear testing is not meant to offer reassurance. But that is precisely what US President Donald Trump's instruction to his Department of War provides to anyone who took his reference to G2, prior to his summit with China, a little too literally.

India’s Renewable Push: The Perils of Taking Shortcuts

Renewable

The Adani group is entering the battery energy storage system business, with an initial planned capacity of 1.126GW of power, capable of delivering that power for around three hours. This solves two kinds of problems, but creates two larger ones, of supply-chain dependence on China and significant indirect emissions of the kind green energy is supposed to avoid.

Macaulay and English Education: Where PM Modi’s Account Falls Short

Macaulay

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets it wrong on Macaulay. Give the devil his due. His introduction of English language education in India is one of the good things colonialism did for India. It paved the way for Indians to enter the world of modern knowledge, to savour the fruits of the scientific revolution that swept across Europe and turned the world of scholarship upside down in the 16th and 17th centuries, and for the oppressed castes of India to enter the world of learning, from which Indian tradition had excluded them, and for the enrichment and growth of India’s regional languages and cultures. English education introduced Indians to the concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity, totally alien to monarchy and the caste system.

Bihar Boost for NDA, Cautious Optimism on US Trade Deal

NDA

Bihar has presented the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in charge at the Centre a sterling electoral victory. Nitish Kumar has been sworn in as chief minister for the 10th time.

The fact that the NDA has won all, save two, state assembly elections held since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections serves, in the eyes of many, to shake off doubts about the stability of the ruling coalition created by the BJP’s failure to secure a simple majority, leave alone the two-thirds majority it had been seeking.

Presidential Reference: Why the Supreme Court’s Response Falls Short

Presidential

The Supreme Court’s reply to the Presidential reference is a big letdown. The Constitution Bench’s task was to ascertain if the Court can prescribe timelines for Governors and the President to decide on a Bill that comes up before them, and whether the conduct of Governors and the President is justiciable.

Mamdani’s New York Win and Its Global Political Echoes

Mamdani

Hyperbole aside, Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City is a significant development that will reverberate in US national politics, and find resonance abroad.

Socialists and leftists in Europe have declared validation of their ideology by American voters, and hope to do better in their own countries, states and cities as a result.

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