The story so far: India continues to narrate its urban future through the loud vocabulary of megacities. But a quieter and far more consequential transformation is unfolding. Of India’s nearly 9,000 census and statutory towns, barely 500 qualify as large cities. The overwhelming majority are small towns, with populations below 1,00,000. This proliferation of small towns is a structural product of India’s capitalist development — and of its crisis.
The Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth has emerged as a unique institution that upholds parliamentary independence and is non-partisan, even as it derives much from the Westminster system and traditions, and underscores the neutrality and authority of speakers.
The government should have referred the Bill to a parliamentary committee to iron out differences, instead of using its legislative majority to pass it as introduced.
As 2026 nears, AI hype meets revenue reality, tariffs fade, but India’s growth faces weak demand, rural stress and rising risks.
TK Arun Washington’s intervention undermines sovereignty norms, destabilises Latin America, weakens Europe’s moral case on Ukraine; it’s high time India spoke up Watch out, Denmark and Greenland! Imperialism rides again! That might have sounded facetious or as an exaggeration till…
The coming year will be moulded by the continuing unilateral efforts by the Trump administration to register reasonably robust growth, as projected — two per cent is reasonable growth for a $31 trillion economy — but the Chinese economy is likely to grow faster than most official projections, and register a growth rate of five per cent or more. India’s growth is likely to gasp for breath in 2026, and not just because of air pollution, although the release of a new series of GDP numbers could flatter to deceive.