How Chandrababu Naidu’s new capital Amaravati has turned into a train wreck

A grand project has slid into a morass of superstition, bad taste, the favouring of special interests, and the use of public funds to further all of these.

Girish Shahane

· Sep 21, 2017 · 08:00 am

Role model: How Vivekananda laid the foundation for India’s politics of sectarianism

The power of the Swami’s words is a double-edged sword

Girish Shahane

· Sep 13, 2017 · 08:00 am

On demonetisation, perhaps it’s time to coin a new term – saffron herring

The idea of trackability and transparency is a red herring.

Girish Shahane

· Sep 07, 2017 · 12:30 pm

Counterpoint: Jaggi Vasudev is wrong to say that Indian culture lacks moral sense

It would be more accurate to say that Hindu culture does not foreground morality as much as many other cultures and faiths do.

Girish Shahane

· Aug 30, 2017 · 08:00 am

Secular civil code: With triple talaq struck down, it’s time to reform other unjust faith-based laws

The Supreme Court’s divided judgement on instant divorce is a tiny step in the right direction.

Girish Shahane

· Aug 23, 2017 · 08:00 am

Vande Mataram in Gorakhpur: There’s a chasm between dreams of Indian nation, reality of Indian state

Nationalistic pride fills in for systemic shortcomings and inequities.

Girish Shahane

· Aug 16, 2017 · 10:30 am

Google’s ‘sexist memo’: Why private corporations aren’t the greatest threat to free speech in the US

The nation’s universities, considered havens of free thought and fearless mental exploration, have demonstrated greater intolerance.

Girish Shahane

· Aug 09, 2017 · 08:00 am

Amitabh Kant’s impure reason: Government should not exit from running infrastructure projects

Far too many bureaucrats share the NITI Aayog CEO’s belief that improving systems is impossible.

Girish Shahane

· Aug 03, 2017 · 08:00 am

What Nitin Gadkari fails to understand about driverless cars (and other technology)

India’s Minister for Road Transport and Highways has said India will prohibit these cars because they threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Girish Shahane

· Jul 26, 2017 · 08:00 am

Counterpoint: Why I object to a Kolkata filmmaker’s account of how he was barred entry from a mall

The biggest flaw in Ashish Avikunthak’s article in Scroll.in stems from a misunderstanding of what constitutes public space.

Girish Shahane

· Jul 19, 2017 · 08:00 am

How the Supreme Court’s flipflop on highway liquor ban could lead to bad roads, more deaths

To get around the ban, states are denotifying highways – which could mean poorer maintenance of these stretches.

Girish Shahane

· Jul 13, 2017 · 08:00 am

Beyond terrorism, it is the threat of religious conservatism that unites India and Israel

If India has its bovine and traditional obsessions, one in every four Israeli students is getting little or no secular education.

Girish Shahane

· Jul 06, 2017 · 08:00 am