For decades, India’s economic debate was framed through a simple story. The state planned, regulated and licensed excessively; private enterprise was constrained; then came 1991, when licences were dismantled, the economy opened and growth accelerated. The conclusion seemed obvious: the state was the problem and the market was the solution.

More jobs than layoffs sounds like good news for India’s AI-era labour market — but the headline number hides a harder question: are these new roles building real skills, or just adding headcount? A four-point framework for judging the difference.

A rising GDP can hide as much as it reveals — inequality, unpaid work, environmental costs, none of it shows up in the headline number. Drawing on India’s HDI data, this piece argues that GDP remains necessary, but was never meant to answer whether people are actually better off.

Two people can live in the same fast-growing economy and experience entirely different realities — one with real choices, the other without. Drawing on Amartya Sen’s work, this piece argues that wealth is only useful insofar as it expands people’s actual freedom to live the lives they value.

A Hindutva attack on Jadavpur University follows Modi’s “dimagi Naxal” warning, as Bengal’s new BJP rule confronts a campus known for resistance.