Category In News

gst

GST Exemptions and NIL Rates: Policy Gains Versus Consumer Realities

Health insurance for individuals has been made exempt from Goods and Services Tax. GST has been removed from life insurance premium payments for individuals, as well. Both used to be charged GST at 18%. So, this represents major relief for individuals, this lowering of the cost of buying insurance by nearly a fifth, right?  That magnitude of reduction in the cost of either life or health insurance is merely an illusion. The cost of insurance might come down somewhat, but definitely not by 18%.

embracing the ties

Embracing Opportunity with Caution: India’s Strategic Engagement with America

India embraces its need for American intelligence and weapons to keep China at bay. At the same time, India does not want to be obliged to the US so much that it comes under its thumb. India is better off with a multipolar world, with multiple power centres.

turkey

Turkiye’s Green Leap: Policy Lessons for India’s Sustainable Transition

Even as India-Turkiye ties face strain over Ankara’s role following the Pakistan-orchestrated attack in Pahalgam, it is worth examining Turkiye’s climate governance leap.

Dalai Lama

Reincarnation of the Dalai Lama: A Struggle for Tibet’s Soul

As the 14th Dalai Lama celebrates his 90th birthday on July 6, all eyes are on his expected announcement on his reincarnation. He, himself, stated that the 15th Dalai Lama would be found in the ‘free world’. China, which ‘liberated’ Tibet in 1951 with a military invasion, on the other hand, declared its intention to select the next Dalai Lama through a ‘golden urn’ lottery process.

Global South

Global South’s leadership: Complicit silence or powerless witness to imperialism?

The bombing of Iran represents the return of old-style imperialism, making the point that might is right with the biggest bang possible without exploding an atomic bomb. Which cat got the tongue of India, leader of the Global South, when the US bombed Iran? Why did the tongue of India, leader of the BRICS, turn mute, when the world called on Israel, at the UN, to end its genocide in Gaza? Cat, Cat burning bright, in the forests of Mt Zion and Washington DC, why this appetite for India’s respect among nations?

Talk to Us