menu_open Columnists

The Pioneer

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

SAARC: A regional dream needing renewal

Forty years ago, South Asia envisioned a regional alliance that would serve the collective interests of a region home to one-fifth of humanity....

yesterday 8

The Pioneer

Editor’S Take

The one true purpose of life: Taking shelter of God

Human life appears complex, yet its true purpose is profoundly simple: to take shelter of God and advance ourselves spiritually. The Bhagavad Gita...

yesterday 10

The Pioneer

Ajit Kumar Bishnoi

Agniveer and the broken Gorkha legacy

Agniveer and the broken Gorkha legacy

Pokhara has long been the cradle and nursery of Nepali Gorkha recruitment, a tradition abruptly halted in June 2022 when India dropped the Agniveer...

yesterday 10

The Pioneer

Ashok K Mehta

Resurgence of Ashwagandha

As the world confronts new stresses on health, society and the environment, a universal realisation is taking shape: restoring balance is no longer...

yesterday 9

The Pioneer

Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha

The collective ego: GDP over wisdom

The stock ticker scrolls across the bottom of the screen, numbers, numbers, numbers, and a man watches it as if it is scripture. His coffee grows...

yesterday 8

The Pioneer

Acharya Prashant

Goa nightclub inferno exposes India’s fire safety crisis

Goa nightclub inferno exposes India’s fire safety crisis

On the night of December 6, 2025, Birch — a trendy nightclub tucked near one of Goa’s busiest beaches — was buzzing with pulsating lights,...

yesterday 7

The Pioneer

Satendra Singh

Should India ban social media for kids?

Once it was alcohol, then it was drugs; now addiction has a new name-social media. Its addicts are everywhere-across age groups, classes, and...

previous day 8

The Pioneer

Editor’S Take

Why educating girls is not enough: Bridge the skill gap

India has spent decades strengthening girls’ access to education. Through scholarships, awareness drives, and community-level campaigns, the...

previous day 9

The Pioneer

Devendra Kumar

The SC’s push for CCTV accountability

The SC’s push for CCTV accountability

The Supreme Court of India’s recent intervention into the disturbing pattern of custodial deaths has revived a long-standing and uncomfortable...

previous day 8

The Pioneer

Hasan Khurshid

A sustainable sporting future for new India

India’s sporting rise is no longer measured only in medals or Olympic success; it is unfolding quietly in school grounds, small towns, and remote...

previous day 3

The Pioneer

Nasir Ali

Is Delhi crafting a new role for Ghulam Nabi Azad in Jammu and Kashmir?

A rather mysterious post appeared on the social-media platforms recently focused on former Congress veteran and head of the now defunct Democratic...

previous day 7

The Pioneer

Anil Anand

India redraws its strategic lines with Putin’s Delhi visit

India redraws its strategic lines with Putin’s Delhi visit

That was no ordinary greeting; on the frosty evening of last Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Modi embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin in a...

previous day 8

The Pioneer

Nilantha Ilangamuwa

Reimagining family for India’s queer youth

Family is supposed to mean safety and unconditional love. For countless LGBTQA youth in India, it all too often means rejection, pain, and loss....

thursday 1

The Pioneer

Subroto Chatterjee

Breaking away from Macaulay

Breaking away from Macaulay

The Prime Minister exhorts the countrymen to move out of its demoralising influence fully and completely by 2035, when Macaulay’s strategic...

thursday 2

The Pioneer

Js Rajput

India’s fire safety complacency

A devastating fire at a popular Arpora nightclub claimed at least 25 lives in Goa. Yet another fire incident has been added to the already long...

thursday 10

The Pioneer

Editor’S Take

AI-powered threats Demand Urgent overhaul of India’s Coastal defence and Security

India must urgently modernise its coastal security infrastructure to counter an emerging generation of AI-enabled threats that could render...

thursday 1

The Pioneer

Kripa Nautiyal

Why India needs its own LLMs: beyond using AI tools

Why India needs its own LLMs: beyond using AI tools

Artificial intelligence is reshaping global progress, and at the centre of this transformation is the Large Language Model, or LLM. Unlike a human...

thursday 1

The Pioneer

A Ashvathaman

Muslims have been insecure in India for a long time

Muslims have been insecure in India for a long time

Are Muslims a persecuted group in India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration? Do they feel insecure under his governance? When did...

thursday 1

The Pioneer

Balbir Punj

From grid burden to green power: Goa’s solar-powered water supply

From grid burden to green power: Goa’s solar-powered water supply

India stands at a defining juncture in its clean-energy transformation. Guided by the Panchamrit commitments announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister...

10.12.2025 3

The Pioneer

Shripad Yesso Naik

Water warriors lead the water revolution in countryside

Water warriors lead the water revolution in countryside

Amidst when the world climate change negotiators are busy pulling wires in Brazil at the UNFCCC CoP 30 summit, the world, especially those...

10.12.2025 2

The Pioneer

Vk Bahuguna

The politics of heritage and beyond

Vande Mataram. Sujalam suphalam malayaja-sitalam, sasya-syamalam mataram! The first stanza of the national song translates to: “I bow to thee,...

10.12.2025 10

The Pioneer

Editor’S Take

The end does not justify the means

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start and make a brand new ending”: Carl Bard A few days ago, I came across a...

10.12.2025 2

The Pioneer

Balraj Mehta

A spiritual path to ending gender inequality

The Constitution of India not only guarantees equality for women but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination to offset...

10.12.2025 3

The Pioneer

Rajyogi Brahma Kumar Nikunj Ji

REPM: Boosting electronics

The 21st century is a promising era for India, which has achieved global recognition in attaining a meaningful economy. In fact, this year, 2025,...

10.12.2025 8

The Pioneer

N Manikandan

Confronting popcorn brain in the digital age

In the relentless pulse of our digital era, silence has become a scarce commodity. Screens glow from dawn to midnight; alerts blink with the...

09.12.2025 5

The Pioneer

Sakshi Sethi

SAARC@40: An idea that refuses to die

SAARC@40: An idea that refuses to die

Forty years ago, on a December morning in 1985, South Asia embarked on an ambitious experiment. Seven neighbours — united by shared histories yet...

09.12.2025 4

The Pioneer

Santhosh Mathew

Developing a Home-Grown Knowledge Ecosystem for Viksit Bharat

Developing a Home-Grown Knowledge Ecosystem for Viksit Bharat

Strengthening India’s own research, data, and policy capacity is key to shaping a development model rooted in national priorities -  Ravi Pokharna...

09.12.2025 1

The Pioneer

Kuntala Karkun

Misuse of FRA: Undermining forest rights framework

Misuse of FRA: Undermining forest rights framework

Although the Forest Survey of India, in its 2023 report, indicates an increasing trend in the country’s forest cover, a major undisclosed ailment...

09.12.2025 1

The Pioneer

Arvind Kumar Jha

Understanding the Yogi factor

The figure of Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, invariably triggers a familiar, polarised debate. To his supporters, he is the...

09.12.2025 2

The Pioneer

Mahendra Kumar Singh

Why India needs a legal right to disconnect

Stress has become endemic in the corporate world, and “burnout” is now the widely accepted term for it. Burnout is a state of intense physical,...

09.12.2025 1

The Pioneer

Editor’S Take

A firm assertion of strategic autonomy

A firm assertion of strategic autonomy

The visit of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to India in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine war and the ensuing peace talks mediated by the...

08.12.2025 8

The Pioneer

Bhopinder Singh

Time to  bid adieu to the Macaulay mindset and restore cultural confidence

Time to  bid adieu to the Macaulay mindset and restore cultural confidence

As the Dharma Dhwaj rose high into the sky during the flag-hoisting ceremony marking the completion of the Ram Temple Complex in Ayodhya, Prime...

08.12.2025 1

The Pioneer

Geeta Bhatt

Why we fail at control: The Gita on surrender

Why we fail at control: The Gita on surrender

We all wish to be in control, yet we fail repeatedly — and often miserably. The simple reason is that control never truly rests in our hands. Lord...

08.12.2025 5

The Pioneer

Ajit Kumar Bishnoi

‘On-Time, Every Time’: Tagline IndiGo can’t hide behind

For years, IndiGo has lived off the reputation of being the airline that rarely slips. "On-Time, Every Time" wasn't just advertising; it became...

08.12.2025 2

The Pioneer

Chaitanya K Prasad

Jihadi radicalisation: A growing threat to national security

Jihadi radicalisation: A growing threat to national security

Radicalisation today stands as one of the most serious challenges to India’s national security. Modern terrorism does not begin with the gun or the...

08.12.2025 1

The Pioneer

Karnal Singh

India’s moment in an uncertain world

India’s moment in an uncertain world

When Prime Minister Modi asserted on Sunday that India is shining in a world of uncertainties, he was largely on the mark. The phrase neatly...

08.12.2025 2

The Pioneer

Editor’S Take