• OPINION

  Why demonetisation was a 'failure'

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 03/09/2018

  » The Indian central bank's final tally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2016 demonetisation drive -- intended to take money derived from tax evasion out of circulation -- showed that 99.3% of outlawed high-value banknotes had been returned. That's a severe loss of face for officials, who had argued that holders of the cash would rather destroy it than return it to banks, providing a windfall for the government.

• OPINION

  Worrying days for dissent in India

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 31/08/2018

  » Indian liberals are reeling from a shocking set of arrests this week: Synchronised police raids targeted some of the country's best-known civil-liberties activists.

• OPINION

  Hole at heart of China's Silk Road

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 09/08/2018

  » Nobody pretends the People's Republic of China is an entirely benign power, least of all its leaders in Beijing. Yet, even by the standards of what continues to be a remarkably repressive state, the stories that are emerging from behind the Great Firewall about the crackdown on Xinjiang's Uighur Muslim population are deeply disturbing and deserve more of the world's attention.

• OPINION

  Imran Khan's election presents a global dilemma

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 01/08/2018

  » The cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has finally been accepted as Pakistan's next prime minister. I say "finally" because the election commission managed to add to widespread concerns about the elections by inexplicably delaying its announcement of the outcome.

• OPINION

  Pakistan's army takes on wrong fight

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 16/07/2018

  » Nawaz Sharif -- dodgy businessman, convicted criminal and thrice prime minister of Pakistan -- showed on Friday, in his triumphant return to Pakistan, that he remains by far the country's most popular politician. Infuriatingly, he also represents Pakistan's best chance at becoming a "normal" country anytime soon. As he fights what looks very much like an attempt by the military to decide the next election, the rest of us should hope he succeeds.

• OPINION

  China's Silk Road isn't so smooth

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 12/07/2018

  » You may not have noticed, what with the outbreak of trade war with the US and all, but China's economic diplomacy has had a bad few weeks. The country's flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is dealing with ever-greater resistance, slowing a momentum that once seemed unstoppable. In fact, I'd argue that the BRI is stalled.

• OPINION

  Tiny ad may set Indians free at last

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 16/06/2018

  » It was the most carefully examined square of newsprint in recent Indian history. Last week, a small job ad appeared on the inside pages of some newspapers looking for candidates for the post of "joint secretary" in the Indian government. Within a few hours, the ad had gone viral: Opposition politicians had weighed in, Twitter was agog and hundreds of thousands of 40ish Indians wondered if they had one last opportunity to make their parents proud.

• OPINION

  Does Modi deserve a second term?

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 30/05/2018

  » Four years ago this week, Narendra Modi was sworn in as India's prime minister amid the kind of excitement and expectation not seen in decades. Not for 30 years had a single party won an electoral majority. Mr Modi's success, his rhetoric and his background all seemed like a decisive break with India's past.

• OPINION

  Modi should fear strength of opposition

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 22/05/2018

  » As a politician, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is distinguished by his relentlessness. Every vote, every constituency, every election matters. Mr Modi has built his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into an electoral juggernaut that runs 21 of India's 29 states; 70% of India's population is ruled by the BJP at both the state and the federal level.

• OPINION

  North-south divide grows ever more dangerous

  News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 25/04/2018

  » When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the southern city of Chennai recently, he must've been startled by the welcome he received. Half the city, it seemed, had turned out to wave black flags at his motorcade, as well as banners that read "Go Back, Modi". When the prime minister hopped into a helicopter, the crowds cleverly sent up black balloons in its wake.

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