Wednesday, Oct 04, 2023 | Last Update : 01:56 AM IST

Aakar Patel Page-2

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari before the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, in Goa, Friday, May 5, 2023. (PTI)

Aakar Patel | India’s foreign policy on Pak: No talking, and no handshakes

The story in Goa of course was the rude body language we apparently displayed to him, the apparent refusal to shake hands and so on

09 May 2023 12:08 AM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” programme (Wikimedia)

Aakar Patel | Of ‘sabka saath’ & ‘beti bachao’: The myth and reality in India

'Beti bachao' is not a convincing phrase in the mouths of those who free convicted rapists for coldly-calculated political benefit

02 May 2023 7:44 AM

A randomly selected baby was declared the one billionth child. (AA/Representational Image)

Aakar Patel | No. 1 in population, but future is bleak: Demographic dividend lacking

Not only have we not added new jobs, we have lost some of those we had.

25 Apr 2023 12:59 AM

Aakar Patel | Hindu Rashtra via reinterpretation of the Constitution?

Prof. Gopal’s thesis is that he sees a Hindu Rashtra coming to fruition by 2047 in two steps

18 Apr 2023 12:41 AM

Aakar Patel | ‘Fact-checking’ by govt & the truth: Sweeping powers to curb dissent?

Visible action by the State, especially harsh and intimidatory action, against critics and dissenters acts as a deterrent

11 Apr 2023 12:05 AM

The end-state of Hindutva is not concerned with either nation or Hindus as such, it is occupied by what can be done to the minorities. (Photo:PTI)

Aakar Patel | Targeting ‘others’: How will it benefit India or brighten the nation’s future?

The Hindutva State has introduced discriminatory and exclusionary laws and policies on citizenship, food, divorce, segregation and clothing

04 Apr 2023 12:20 AM

The world has been warning us for some years now to correct course and move back to the path of democracy and pluralism. (DC Image)

Aakar Patel | Civil liberties & democracy: Why is India’s rank so low?

We, in the thick of it, may not have noticed the water boiling and the temperature rising

28 Mar 2023 12:00 AM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Photo: PTI)

Aakar Patel | Modi 2.0: There’s a contradiction between the myth and the reality…

On corruption, the BJP has been on the backfoot since January because of the Adani affair.

21 Mar 2023 12:45 AM

A worker screen prints flags of various political parties in Coimbatore. (Representational Image/PTI)

Aakar Patel | India’s parties and politics of exclusion: How it hurts growth

India is experimenting after 2014 with the same things that Pakistan tried and failed with in its opening decades

14 Mar 2023 12:05 AM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the Raisina Dialogue, in New Delhi, Thursday, March 2, 2023.

Aakar Patel | What kind of a ‘developed’ nation might we be by 2047

If we expect to grow faster, how and what are we doing or going to do that is different from what we have done since 2014?

07 Mar 2023 12:05 AM

Mind you, many of these indicators come from those places where we want to be seen in a good light, such as Davos. (Representational Image)

Aakar Patel | Why is India’s rank on some global indices not improving?

What is striking is that the media has no interest in reporting the background to which they give out the news

28 Feb 2023 12:05 AM

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani (PTI file image)

Aakar Patel | Hindenburg saga: Why the markets reacted… Can govt now fix matters?

Readers may not know that exposure of India’s mutual funds to the Adani Group was always limited, with almost nobody willing to invest in it

21 Feb 2023 12:05 AM

It cannot be that there is no damage to our social fabric, and because of the social media one is aware of the anxiety and trauma of the minorities as they face this onslaught. (Representational Image)

Aakar Patel | Lynchings and other atrocities: When ‘news’ is no longer news

Not many modern democracies have gone down this path before, setting it upon themselves to use the law and the media to target citizens

14 Feb 2023 12:05 AM

Aakar Patel | Does Centre have plan to fix India’s problems? Why no accountability?

We can debate about the role of the Opposition parties and the role of the media, but we have done that often

07 Feb 2023 12:05 AM

ASER survey covered 616 rural districts (which is more than 85 per cent of the total) and engaged 6.9 lakh children in the age group of three to 16. (AA Image/Deepak Deshpande)

Aakar Patel | Why getting our kids educated is a true sign of good governance

Crores of Indian families have become poorer and can no longer afford private education for their children.

24 Jan 2023 12:27 AM

In 1960, Golwalkar said that caste could be used for cross-breeding superior humans, like it was done in animals. (Representational Image/PTI)

Aakar Patel | What ideology of RSS stands for… Why it often sets off social friction

The issue is whether the RSS is misunderstood and, particularly, whether the RSS’ ideology is misunderstood

17 Jan 2023 12:05 AM

Trade among South Asian countries now totals just $23 billion — below an estimated current value of at least $67 billion. (Representational Image)

Aakar Patel | If our trade with China can see a rise, why not with our neighbours?

The World Bank says that trade between South Asian nations accounts for only five per cent of the region’s total trade

09 Jan 2023 12:05 AM

We will need to write the doctrine and the strategy, and that will not be easy for a government that prefers certitude over doubt. (Representational Image/AFP)

Aakar Patel | India’s Pakistan obsession: Can doctrine shift to focus on China?

Building intelligence capability now to counter our primary threat — China — will not be easy

03 Jan 2023 12:05 AM

Aakar Patel | Dulat memoirs an eye-opener on how India’s spooks think…

What this ex-head of RAW, who was also one of the IB’s senior-most officers has written is astonishing

27 Dec 2022 12:05 AM

Other parties are divisive because of their propensity towards casteism but, and this is the thinking, the BJP is above caste. (Photo: PTI)

Aakar Patel | The caste factor and the BJP-RSS’ Hindutva politics in today’s India

The fact is that Hindutva wants Indians to worship caste, but it doesn’t want them to talk about it

20 Dec 2022 12:05 AM

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Bhopinder Singh