Vansh pathak

Democracy depends on elections, but elections depend on something even more fundamental: trust in the institution conducting them. A voter may disagree with a candidate, a political party or even an election result. But the democratic system begins to weaken when people start questioning the neutrality of the institution that conducts the election itself. Interestingly, this concern is not new. It was already being debated in India’s Constituent Assembly in 1949 , long before the first general election of independent India. The members were not merely discussing who would appoint a constitutional officer. They were wrestling with a much deeper question: How do you make the referee independent when the government of the day has an interest in the game? That question has travelled from the Constituent Assembly to the present. A seemingly simple constitutional provision The Constitution placed the superintendence, direction and control of elections in the hands of the Election...

Diplomacy is usually imagined as a world of presidents shaking hands, ambassadors sitting across conference tables, treaties being signed and flags standing beside one another. But sometimes, diplomacy arrives on four legs. Sometimes it has stripes, feathers, a trunk, a long neck or a black-and-white coat. For thousands of years, rulers have used animals not merely as gifts, but as symbols of friendship, prestige, power and cultural identity. A giraffe could become a message from one distant civilisation to another. An elephant could represent peace. A panda could soften the image of an entire nation. This strange intersection of wildlife and international relations is often described as animal diplomacy. And behind the apparent simplicity of gifting an animal lies a much deeper story about power, perception, culture, conservation and the changing nature of international relations. What exactly is animal diplomacy? Animal diplomacy is the use of animals in international rel...

What if a child’s first lesson about gender did not come from a lecture, but from a picture in a school textbook? A father preparing food in the kitchen. A mother working alongside him. Girls playing drums or violins. Men and women standing together in a queue for water. A man weaving a flower garland while a woman works beside him. These may appear to be ordinary illustrations. But they can quietly influence how children understand what men and women are “supposed” to do. Andhra Pradesh is now trying to use school education to challenge exactly these assumptions. When textbooks become social mirrors Children do not learn only from written sentences. They also learn from the images surrounding those sentences. If every illustration shows women cooking, cleaning and caring for children while men work outside the home, a child can gradually begin to associate particular responsibilities with particular genders. The opposite can also be true. If textbooks regularly show men pa...

For a long time, mental health was treated as something that belonged primarily inside hospitals and psychiatric clinics. If someone was struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma or another psychological condition, the usual response was to send them to a specialist. But the world is slowly discovering that this model has a major limitation: specialists are limited, while the need for mental-health support is enormous. The challenge becomes even greater in rural and underserved communities, where trained professionals may be far away and social stigma can discourage people from seeking help. Countries are therefore experimenting with different ways of bringing mental-health support closer to ordinary people. Some are using technology. Some are working through schools and communities. Others are training non-specialist healthcare workers to identify problems earlier. And now, India is attempting to bring several of these approaches together through a new BRICS mental-healt...

India’s road network has never been merely about connecting one city to another. Roads determine how quickly people reach workplaces, how efficiently agricultural produce reaches markets, how industries receive raw materials, and how easily an economy moves from one region to another. Now, India is moving towards a different idea of highway development: high-speed corridors designed not simply to carry more vehicles, but to provide uninterrupted, safer and more predictable journeys. The proposed vision involves developing around 50,000 kilometres of high-speed corridors by 2047 , alongside a new set of design principles that classify highways according to the amount of traffic they are expected to carry. This represents a significant shift in thinking. Instead of treating every national highway in broadly similar ways, the design would increasingly depend on the road’s expected traffic volume, surrounding land use, safety requirements and long-term economic importance. From...

Every year, the pattern seems strangely familiar. Summer arrives, temperatures soar, roads radiate heat and cities become increasingly uncomfortable. Then the monsoon arrives. Within hours of intense rainfall, the same roads can turn into streams, underpasses fill with water and traffic comes to a standstill. At first glance, extreme heat and urban flooding appear to be two completely different problems. One is caused by high temperatures and the other by excessive rainfall. But there is a deeper connection. The way Indian cities are being built is turning ordinary weather hazards into urban disasters. Recent flooding across parts of Indian cities has once again shown how quickly intense rainfall can overwhelm roads, drains and public infrastructure. The problem is not simply that cities receive too much rain. It is also about what happens to that rain after it reaches the ground.  Rain is not the only culprit Imagine a city before extensive urbanisation. Rain falls on ...