IPA Special
Bangladesh’s Intense Political Turmoil Has Potential To Spill Over
By Kalyani Shankar Bangladesh has been going through a massive political crisis since the resignation of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government last year. This volatile situation has caused regional tensions. A series of riots, arson attacks, and political unrest hit across Bangladesh from December 18 to 20,...
India Enters 2026 Strong—But Is The Growth Self-Sustaining?
By R Suryamurthy India enters 2026 buoyed by numbers that invite celebration but resist interrogation. Real GDP growth has pushed past 7 per cent, inflation has collapsed to levels last seen more than a decade ago, and policymakers speak with renewed confidence about the economy’s resilience amid global turbulence....
Why The Air Littoral Is A Land Forces Problem In India’s Future Wars
By Aritra Banerjee For decades, air power debates in India have been framed around strategic bombing, air superiority, and long-range strike, domains traditionally led by the Indian Air Force (IAF). Yet, India’s most likely wars will not be decided at 40,000 feet or by deep-penetration missions alone. They will...
Weeks The World Lost: Wuhan Exposed A Global Failure Still Unfixed
By Huma Siddiqui Pandemics are governed not by intention but by timing. COVID-19’s global catastrophe was shaped less by what governments did in March 2020 than by what failed to happen weeks earlier, when the virus was still geographically contained and politically manageable. In retrospect, the decisive period was...
Somaliland Recognised By Israel, Sparking Regional Security Concerns
By Asad Mirza On Friday last (26 December) Israel became the first country to recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state, a breakthrough in its quest for international recognition since it declared independence from Somalia 34 years ago. However, the move has prompted a critical international and regional response. The...
Brigitte Bardot: Screen Goddess Oozing Oomph Exits Theatre Of Life
By Tirthankar Mitra Often referred to by her initials B.B., Brigitte Bardot (91) one of the best-known symbols of sexual revolution, is no more. Apart from being an actress, singer and model, she was a well-known animal rights activist. The pouty, tousle-haired French actress cut short her film career...
Law, NGOs, And The Afterlives Of Rescue: Reviewing ‘Immoral Traffic’
By Ajitesh Singh At a book discussion recently held at the India International Centre Annexe, New Delhi, lawyers, feminist researchers, academics, and students came together to examine how law, NGOs, and global anti-trafficking regimes govern sex work in India. The occasion was the launch of the book ‘Immoral Traffic’,...
Gold’s Race To Magic $5000 Most Keenly Watched Milestone For 2026
By K Raveendran Gold’s surge has turned a long-running Indian household instinct into a global macro trade. With spot prices pressing above the $4,500 an ounce mark late in 2025 and year-to-date gains running above 70 percent, the metal is headed for its strongest annual performance since 1979. The...
Indian Workers Lost Many Of Their Hard-Won Labour Rights In 2025
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Ever since the Code on Wages was passed in the Parliament of India in August 2019, followed by three other codes – The Industrial Relations Code, 2020, Code on Social Security, 2020, and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020, a year later in...
Dismantling MGNREGA: An Outrageous Assault On The Indian Constitution
By Prabhat Patnaik Several employment schemes, each limited in scope and constrained by the availability of fiscal resources, had existed in different states of the country earlier; what the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme enacted in 2005 did was to introduce a uniform, nation-wide, essentially centrally-funded, demand-driven...
Delhi’s Unbreatheable Air Crisis Returns To The Supreme Court
By T N Ashok Before the Indian Supreme Court, there’s not just another plea on Delhi’s choking air; it’s not adjudicating a new emergency. It is confronting an old failure—one that has returned with brutal predictability, thick smog, and a mounting toll on public health. Each winter, the national...
Why United States Must Strengthen Vital Ally Peshmerga
By Manish Rai The Peshmerga, the armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), constitute a highly effective and well-trained military organization that protects not only Kurdistan but also the whole of northern Iraq. The rapid disintegration of the Iraqi military in 2014, after minimal resistance to ISIS, left...
Worldwide Rise In Extreme Inequality Is The Hallmark Of Neoliberalism
By Sanjay Roy Extreme inequality in terms of income, wealth, gender and regions has become the hallmark of neoliberalism. Fewer than 60,000 multi-millionaires who are the top 0.001 per cent wealthiest of the world possess three times the wealth of half of humanity. Their share has grown over the...
Honouring Punjab Boy Sharvan Singh, A Bearer Of True Patriotism
By Jag Mohan Thaken History repeats itself; but a few are fortunate to get the recognition. The spiritual world, especially the Sikh world, is proud of the act of kindness, humility and service to mankind exemplified by Bhai Kanhaiya Ji, who is widely known for his water seva during...
Radio Ceylon Turns 100: One Of Indian Popular Music’s Oldest Medium
By Tirthankar Mitra One of world’s oldest broadcasters, Radio Ceylon, has turned 100. It arrived decades before television when radio was a novelty and Radio Ceylon started officially broadcasting from December 16, 1925. Radio Ceylon may seem an aberration today; after all, Ceylon is Sri Lanka. But the British-era...
The New Nuclear Bill Severely Compromises India’s National Interests
By Dr Arun Mitra The new nuclear bill, titled Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI), passed by Parliament, has received the assent of the President of India, Droupadi Murmu. With this, it has become an Act governing various aspects of nuclear energy in the...
Beyond Funding: What Determines Employment Guarantee Success?
By Dr. Nilanjan Banik One of the contentious issues in the Vikshit Bharat Guarantee for Rojgar and Aleevika Mission (VB-G Ram G) Bill, which was eventually passed in Parliament, concerns allowing states to pause MGNREGA-related work for 60 days of their choice during peak sowing and harvesting seasons. The...
Disrupting Christmas Celebrations Allegedly By RSS Activist Is Ominous
By Dr. Gyan Pathak Disruption of Christmas celebrations 2025 is several states in India, allegedly by the RSS activists and Hindutva forces, has brought in focus the pitfalls of fanning the majority Hindu communal passions against non-Hindu religious groups, more so because the inter-religious tensions are rising sharply on...
