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Karan Thapar

Put simply, the Partition of 1947 was the tearing apart of our undivided subcontinent. (AP Photo)

Karan Thapar | Horrors of 1947 Partition: A selective remembrance?

Narendra Modi’s crudely named Partition Horrors remembrance Day is a very different thing

20 Aug 2021 1:59 AM

Second, Kerala’s vaccination rate is equally far ahead of the rest of the country. (PTI Photo)

Karan Thapar | What Kerala did right and where India went wrong…

The subject that we know a lot about, albeit one-sidedly, is the Covid-19 situation in Kerala

06 Aug 2021 1:31 AM

claims NSO IT minister has said some of the countries listed in the Pegasus expose as its clients are incorrect. Representational Image (Twitter)

Karan Thapar | Pegasus expose: Will the govt order a real probe?

At the very least, a democratic government committed to defending the rights of its citizens would immediately order a full inquiry

23 Jul 2021 1:51 AM

Uttar Pradesh’s draft Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill 2021 is the best example of what is proposed. (Representational Image: PTI)

Karan Thapar | Population: Will ‘solution’ make our problem worse?

The truth is that India’s census data confirms our population growth is slowing

17 Jul 2021 12:46 AM

CEA to claim a better way of helping the urban poor is a government-backed loan scheme run by micro-finance institutions. (PTI Photo)

Karan Thapar | Loans, not relief: A raw deal for the urban poor

An urban MGNREGA would cost a substantial amount

09 Jul 2021 12:10 AM

Karan Thapar | Mind the gap: Covishield’s 2nd jab sets off controversy

Paradoxically, three days after India’s May decision, and because of the threat of the Delta variant, the UK reduced the gap to eight weeks

25 Jun 2021 12:40 AM

What we need is meticulous and unfailing enforcement of what the court had laid down as the law of sedition, and not a fresh definition. Perhaps that’s what Justice Chandrachud meant, but it’s not what he said. (Photo:PTI)

Karan Thapar | Sedition: Time for SC to enforce its own rulings

96 per cent of sedition cases for criticising politicians and governments over the last decade were registered after 2014

11 Jun 2021 12:11 AM

The real Narendra Modi was bound to be different from the image we had created and convinced ourselves we were acquiring. (AFP)

Karan Thapar | 7 yrs of PM Modi: Can he lead us out of the abyss?

The Narendra Modi that we voted for was probably more our creation and less of his own making

28 May 2021 1:34 AM

Mass cremation of COVID-19 victims at Parwati Ghat as coronavirus cases surge in Jamshedpur, Monday, May 10, 2021. (PTI Photo)

Karan Thapar | Why did Centre fail to act despite a surge warning?

The government had been effectively forewarned to expect a possible exponential rise in cases but did virtually nothing

14 May 2021 12:00 AM

Relatives and family members perform last rites during mass cremation of COVID-19 victims, at Swar Rekha Ghat cremation ground, in Ranchi. (Photo: PTI)

Karan Thapar | India’s grim reality out in the open as myths busted

It wasn’t so long ago that we convinced ourselves we are a superpower or, at least, one that’s definitely in the making

30 Apr 2021 4:51 AM

The electoral rallies with several lakh people that were held till very recently in Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu and which will continue to dominate the political horizon in West Bengal for the rest of this month. (Representational Photo: PTI)

Karan Thapar | Covid: Who’ll pay price for irresponsible netas?

The political rallies and religious snans could easily become super-spreader events. Some perhaps already have

16 Apr 2021 12:00 AM

Less surprising but also far more frequent is evidence of the BJP’s incredible faith in the Indian cow and its many products. (Representational image:AFP file photo)

Karan Thapar | BJP has a different take… On history, science, cows!

Long is the list of BJP leaders who believe some of the greatest modern achievements actually existed in the times of the Mahabharata

02 Apr 2021 7:27 AM

If Rahul Gandhi is going to be our Prime Minister one day, he needs to learn how to handle awkward situations, in particular those connected to his family’s past. (Photo: PTI)

Karan Thapar | Of Rahul, Indira and the ‘mistake’ of Emergency

Indira Gandhi didn’t think the Emergency was a mistake and she certainly didn’t apologise for it

19 Mar 2021 4:45 AM

A picture of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi is seen as Myanmar migrants living in Thailand hold hands during a memorial in Bangkok on March 4, 2021 to honour those who died during demonstrations against the military coup in their homeland. (Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

Karan Thapar | The tragedy of Suu Kyi: Almost Shakespearean

So, like Shakespeare’s tragic heroes, she may well ask if the price she paid for achieving her ambition was worth it?

05 Mar 2021 7:31 AM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha during Budget Session of Parliament. (Photo: PTI)

Karan Thapar | Decoding the numbers: What the FM didn’t say

When you dig into details and ponder over the implications, the Budget feels rather different to what you’ve heard

19 Feb 2021 4:51 AM

In 1962, in the Kedar Nath Singh judgment, the Supreme Court limited the application of Section 124A to action or speech that “clearly and imminently provokes violence”. (Representational image. PTI)

Karan Thapar | Sedition law being made a mockery; just scrap it…

If they’re not deliberately abusing the law, it can only mean one other thing -- that neither the police nor ministers know what sedition is

05 Feb 2021 7:13 AM

A file photo of the doctors from Osmania General Hospital who were vaccinated ( Image Source: DC Image)

Transparency needed to remove all vaccine fears

Frankly, it’s not just bizarre but deplorable to frame differences over the efficacy of Covaxin as issues of national pride

22 Jan 2021 6:36 AM

Karan Thapar | Hindus and patriotism: Why RSS chief is wrong

However, I suspect that Mr Bhagwat would simply brush aside all the evidence of history that I have just marshalled

08 Jan 2021 4:49 AM

Christian devotees take part in a mass service on the eve of Christmas, in Mumbai on December 24, 2020. (Punit PARANJPE / AFP)

Karan Thapar | Christmas, like Diwali, is a special day in India

The attempt to redesignate Christmas is likely to be more hurtful to India’s Christians than the 2014 redesignation as Good Governance Day

25 Dec 2020 7:37 AM

Cover page of the Calligraphic copy of the Constitution of India in English released on the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Republic of India in Central Hall of Parliament House on January 27, 2000 (Photo credit: Department of Justice, Governemnt of India)

Karan Thapar | How Nehru had gutted the Constitution in 1951

So sweeping were the changes that constitutional scholar Upendra Baxi calls the post-amendment document 'the second Constitution'

11 Dec 2020 9:12 AM

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Dilip Cherian