Valentine’s Day: The Politics and Psychology of Hating Love. Each year Hindu nationalist groups carry out violent crackdowns on couples in public spaces during Valentine’s Day in India. These incidents show how moral policing, group identity politics and anxiety about social change combine to justify control over private emotion and public behaviour. On Feb. 14, activists linked to Hindu nationalist organisations entered NMIMS University in Indore and allegedly vandalised property after claiming that an obscene Valentine’s Day related program was being organized on campus, according to The Telegraph. The university…
India Daily Post
Japan is preparing to lift long-standing restrictions on lethal weapons exports, marking another step in the erosion of its post-war arms export taboo. While the reform creates new diplomatic and commercial opportunities and allows deeper security cooperation with regional partners, Japan’s defence industrial base remains small, costly and capacity-constrained. Domestic procurement demands and labour shortages mean exports will likely remain modest, limiting the policy’s practical and strategic impact on regional military balances. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is looking to loosen Japan’s long-standing restrictions on weapons exports, marking another step…
Tesla officially entered India in July 2025 and registered 243 cars in the country by 31 January 2026. Around 206 registrations occurred in 2025, while January 2026 saw 37. Maharashtra accounts for more than half of all Tesla registrations, followed by Delhi and Gujarat. Registrations peaked in September 2025 during the initial launch phase and then stabilised in later months. The numbers show that Tesla’s entry into India is still in a very early stage, concentrated mainly in large metro cities with higher-income buyers and stronger EV infrastructure. ContextElectric vehicles…
India’s economy grew steadily in 2025, with real GDP expanding close to 7 per cent despite global trade tensions. Growth has been broad-based, driven by rural consumption, government expenditure, resilient exports and modernisation across services and infrastructure. Looking ahead, sustainability will depend on continued progress in infrastructure modernisation, while carefully managing debt, the energy transition, trade diversification and poverty reduction. With these challenges effectively addressed, India is well positioned to maintain its strong growth momentum. India’s economy grew at a steady pace in 2025 despite a global climate of sluggish…
The search for rare earths for energy transition is often regarded as a form of neo-colonialism, and today it is the area in which this phenomenon manifests itself most clearly, especially due to its geopolitical and economic effects. However, there are other neo-colonial practices that are less visible but with equally negative consequences at the local level. One of these is the export of waste to Africa and Asia by Western countries, particularly the export of plastic, clothing, and electronic waste. The export of waste to the Global South is…
On February 6, the U.S. and India announced that they have reached a framework for an interim reciprocal trade agreement which lists tariff reductions on several products traded between the two countries. However, the announcement has raised concern among farmer groups and food security activists over potential increases in agricultural imports, including genetically modified (GM) grain. The India-U.S. joint statement says, “India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods and a wide range of U.S. food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGs), red sorghum for…
US-India trade negotiations have shown how domestic tariff policy has become inseparable from foreign policy. India must recalibrate its tariff framework from a protectionist, reactive shield, to a strategic tool. The White House’s latest announcement on finalising the Indo-US deal, and lowering of tariffs from 25 to 18 percent for India has once again brought to the fore the complex geopolitics of trade negotiations. The exchange between the US and India over the past year proves that modern trade negotiations extend beyond tariff schedules. Sanction regimes and geopolitical alignment have…
Climate policy experts reflect on the agreement’s focus on “cooperation”, “dialogue” for environmental matters in lieu of binding targets. When India and the European Union finally concluded their long-pending Free Trade Agreement last week, leaders on both sides hailed it as a landmark moment for global commerce. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it the “mother of all deals”, a thought echoed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Some media outlets described it as one of the “biggest trade deals ever signed”. But while the deal’s trade aspects…
India and the European Union signed a trade agreement on January 27 that’s been projected as a major breakthrough “in a tumultuous time for global trade and supply-chain realignment,” as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal described it. The free trade agreement aims to boost trade and investment between India and the European Union by reducing tariffs and trade barriers. The two major economies together account for about 25% of global GDP and nearly one-third of global trade. Both sides have presented the agreement as a win. India said in a…
Citizen science can help document Northeast’s rich biodiversity and ecological knowledge, while also ensuring community participation in environmental policymaking. “What does the colour of this butterfly’s wings tell you about its life?” My question travelled through the group of students. Curiosity is a skill, and I’d kept this in mind when I decided to initiate the first science walk in Dharmanagar, my home town, with a few of my students in 2024. The goal was straightforward—to engage the youth in understanding nature through curiosity. Each year in September, which is…