Op-Eds Opinion

Mamata Banerjee SIR Challenge and Supreme Court Pushback: Limits of State Resistance in Federal India

By BPN News Desk February 10, 2026

The Supreme Court’s warning that no impediment will be allowed to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was not just another procedural order in an election season dispute. It came after the West Bengal government raised objections to how the voter verification exercise was being conducted. What appeared on the surface as an […]

Op-Eds Opinion

India Bangladesh Border Fencing Land Handover Standoff: Mamata Banerjee’s Administrative Resistance Is Slowing Border Security

By BPN News Desk February 10, 2026

The current confrontation between the Union Government and the West Bengal government over land handover for India Bangladesh border fencing is not a technical disagreement. It is a political standoff with real security consequences. The Centre expanded the BSF’s operational jurisdiction from 15 km to 50 km inside border states. West Bengal challenged the decision […]

Op-Eds Opinion

Qualcomm 2nm Chip Designed In India: Why We Still Don’t Own The Technology

By BPN News Desk February 8, 2026

The announcement sounded historic. An advanced 2-nanometre chip had been taped out by Qualcomm and a major portion of that engineering work came from India. Government officials celebrated. Social media declared India had entered the semiconductor elite club. And technically, that part is true. Designing a 2nm processor places Indian engineers at the very frontier […]

Op-Eds Opinion

Russia’s Workers Shortage And India’s Youth Surplus

By BPN News Desk February 8, 2026

Russia is openly looking abroad for workers. Its factories, construction sites and logistics networks are short of manpower after a mix of demographic decline, emigration and wartime mobilisation shrank the workforce. The salaries being offered are several times higher than what similar workers earn in India. On paper this looks like a perfect match. One […]

Op-Eds Opinion

Income Tax Rules 2026 Reform: India Moves To Algorithmic Taxation, But Is The System Ready?

By BPN News Desk February 8, 2026

The government’s draft Income Tax Rules 2026 look harmless at first glance. Fewer forms, simpler language, pre-filled returns and faster processing. A routine modernization exercise, one might think. But buried inside this reform is something much bigger. India is quietly moving from a human tax system to a machine tax system. The country is not […]

Op-Eds Opinion

India-US Interim Trade Agreement: A Market Opening Today for an Industrial Upgrade Tomorrow

By BPN News Desk February 7, 2026

When the India–United States interim trade framework was announced, the loudest reactions focused on what India was giving away. Lower tariffs on agricultural products, easier access for American goods, and a massive purchase commitment immediately triggered the familiar argument that India had opened its market under pressure. But that reading misunderstands the nature of

Op-Eds Opinion

Coal India Lithium Expansion: The PSU India Turned Into A Strategic Resource Weapon

By BPN News Desk February 7, 2026

The decision of Coal India to create a Chile-based arm to acquire lithium and copper assets looks, at first glance, like a company experimenting with diversification. A coal miner entering battery minerals sounds unusual but not historic. Yet the move is actually the visible endpoint of a policy shift that began more than a decade […]

Op-Eds Opinion

Bharat Taxi and Platform Power: India’s Attempt to Prevent Digital Monopolies Before They Form

By BPN News Desk February 7, 2026

When the government launched Bharat Taxi, the immediate reaction was predictable. Two private companies spent years investing billions to build India’s ride-hailing market, and now a cooperative backed by the state enters the same space. For many investors, this looked less like policy and more like competition from the referee. The question was simple: if […]

Op-Eds Opinion

Reliance Buys Venezuelan Oil Why Paying More May Help India

By BPN News Desk February 6, 2026

Reliance Industries recently bought about 2 million barrels of Venezuelan oil after nearly a year without such imports. The cargo comes at a smaller discount than Russian oil, meaning India is knowingly paying more per barrel than it has been used to since the Ukraine war reshaped global energy trade. For a country that prides […]

Op-Eds Opinion

Apple Tax Relief Policy: How One Rule Change Can Build India’s Electronics Industry

By BPN News Desk February 6, 2026

The government recently made a small sounding tax clarification. Foreign companies like Apple can now fund manufacturing machines inside Indian partner factories without being treated as running a taxable business presence in India. For years this single fear stopped Apple from expanding fast. Not labour shortage. Not land. Not incentives. Just fear that tomorrow the […]