DA Editorial Desk August 21, 2026 A year on from Narendra Modi’s Tianjin trip — his first visit to China in seven years, undertaken to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit — it is worth asking what the handshake with Xi Jinping actually purchased. At the time, both leaders spoke the language of reconciliation: partners, […]
DA Editorial Desk (Sara Debbarma) August 21, 2026 On the evening of August 13, a wall of water and debris tore into a tunnel at the THDC hydropower site near Pipalkoti in Chamoli, catching an entire shift of workers inside. By the time rescue teams from the SDRF, NDRF, the Army and ITBP had finished
August 21, 2026 When the Bharatiya Janata Party announced this week that Amit Malviya — the man who had run its social media operation since 2015 — was being replaced by a little-known party functionary named Deepak Mhaskey, the language of the press release was almost aggressively bland. It called the move part of an
On August 4, Air India flight AI2379 was cruising over Odisha at more than 36,000 feet when it suddenly lost around 300 feet of altitude. Passengers were thrown against seatbelts and overhead bins; by most accounts, somewhere between 17 and 20 passengers and four cabin crew were injured. The co-pilot took control, steadied the aircraft,
For decades, India’s eastern frontier was seen as the quieter flank of its national security landscape — a border defined more by shared rivers, cultural overlap, and economic interdependence with Bangladesh than by the kind of adversarial tension that has long characterised the western border with Pakistan. That comfortable assumption is now being tested. Reports
As global flashpoints multiply — from tensions in the Gulf to intensifying conflict in Yemen and a major counter-terror crackdown across Indian states ahead of Independence Day — border states like Tripura offer a useful reminder that security concerns are rarely confined to distant headlines. Tripura shares an extensive frontier with Bangladesh, and its position
As tensions escalate in the Strait of Hormuz — with the United States and Iran locked in an unresolved conflict, and Washington now threatening even a mediating ally like Oman — India finds two of its deepest national interests converging in one volatile region: the safety of its citizens abroad and the security of its
India is a young country, and its young population is increasingly shaping the way the nation thinks about its future. Today’s young Indians are better connected, more informed and more willing to question established political narratives. They are not simply asking who should govern; they are increasingly asking what can government actually deliver? For a
India stands at a difficult crossroads. On one side is the urgent need for economic growth, infrastructure, employment and better living standards. On the other is the responsibility to protect forests, rivers, biodiversity and the environment for future generations. The question is no longer whether India needs development. It clearly does. The real question is
Democracy is not merely about electing a government every few years. It is about ensuring that those entrusted with power remain answerable to the people every single day. Elections give governments the authority to govern, but they do not give them a free pass from scrutiny. When governance fails, institutions weaken, public trust declines and
