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Pavan K Varma

Pavan K Varma

The Times of India

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The factional genius of the Indian psyche

Why is it that a country united by a civilisation for millennia, has people who at the level of daily life, are so easily divided? Of course, we have...

sunday 20

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

When Gandhi fed curds to Lord Mountbatten

On October 2, we once again paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. His remarkable legacy lives on, but there is one aspect of his persona I want to focus on:...

04.10.2026 40

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

Sant Kabir to Guru Nanak: The Bhakti movement, beyond our textbooks

The much-debated National Education Policy (2020) seeks to root education in the Indian ethos and civilisational heritage. This is welcome. But the...

09.08.2026 50

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

Why it is hard to trump a civilisational State

In the context of the ongoing Iran war, I wonder if people have thought about the difference in intrinsic strengths between nation-States and...

18.04.2026 50

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | Conflict And Capital: The Hidden Cost Of The Iran War

Beneath the rhetoric of righteousness, the ongoing war in West Asia reveals a stark reality of power, profit and profound human cost.

02.04.2026 60

News18

Pavan K Varma

Banquets are about cuisine — and culture

A debate has recently arisen in India over the food served at official banquets for visiting foreign dignitaries. The controversy centres on the...

21.03.2026 50

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | When Might Trumps Right: The Iran Crisis And Erosion Of Sovereign Norms

The essence of sovereign equality, enshrined in the UN Charter, transcends geopolitical convenience

05.03.2026 50

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | Reel Narratives, Real Politics: The Changing Grammar Of Indian Cinema

When politics becomes sharply adversarial, every institution—media, academia, cinema—gets drawn into its vortex

21.02.2026 60

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | India-US Trade Deal: The Verdict Is Premature And Must Await Full Details

No international agreement is a perfect one, nor should we expect the India-US trade agreement to be one. We can only assess who has benefited once...

06.02.2026 60

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | Western Outrage At Donald Trump Reveals Double Standards In Global Rules-Based Order

It prompts an uncomfortable question: where was this indignation when the West repeatedly chose power over principle, expediency over ethics, and...

26.01.2026 60

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | Is Brute Power The New World Order?

If power, unadorned and unapologetic, has become the only meaningful currency in the world, then the only option left for India is to become as...

11.01.2026 60

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | From Right To Guarantee: Rethinking Rural Employment After MGNREGA

Whatever the name—MGNREGA or the VB-G-RAM-G Act—the policy should not be a continuation of doles and freebies but a pathway to systemic solutions

28.12.2025 50

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | When Protocol Becomes Politics: Lessons From Two Recent Episodes

Conventions are not ornamental niceties; they are oxygen for a democratic polity that seeks to rise above the transactional

12.12.2025 50

News18

Pavan K Varma

Inglorious ways of showcasing power

The blunt truth is that even after decades as a democracy, the mentality of a stratified society continues to thrive

30.11.2025 50

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | The Revdi Republic: Time To Curb The Influence Of Freebies And Funds On Elections

An estimated Rs 1.35 lakh crore was spent in the 2024 parliamentary elections, almost double the spend in 2019

29.11.2025 50

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | Delhi’s Toxic Air: Time to Confront Rather Than Endure The Crisis

Scientists estimate that air pollution in Delhi reduces an average life by almost a decade

16.11.2025 60

News18

Pavan K Varma

Understanding NIMO

15.11.2025 60

The Times of India

Pavan K Varma

Leisure as time for intellectual renewal

In our age of acceleration — where the tyranny of the urgent trumps the importance of the essential — the idea of leisure has been tragically...

02.11.2025 70

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | Freebies, Votes & Erosion Of Electoral Ethics: Descent Of Democracy Into Revdi Politics

It’s time the Supreme Court intervened both in the matter of freebies given just before the elections and the kind of wild promises made by...

01.11.2025 60

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | Nitish Kumar: From Visionary To Survivor

Elections are unpredictable, and will come and go. But what is incontrovertible is the decline of Nitish Kumar, from a once towering figure in Bihar...

18.10.2025 60

News18

Pavan K Varma

How ancient India spread its culture without conquest

Each of the six systems of Hindu philosophy is a search not for divinity but for what the truth could be behind the bewildering plurality of this vast...

05.10.2025 90

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | How PoK Protests Are Pakistan’s Own Making

What is happening in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is due to the acts of omission and commission of Pakistan

04.10.2025 90

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | India Deserves Clean Politics But Not At The Cost Of Judicial Propriety Or Democratic Stability

The recent proposal to remove from office a Chief Minister or the Prime Minister if they spend 30 consecutive days in jail, invites both serious...

20.09.2025 70

News18

Pavan K Varma

Behind the scenes of leaders’ foreign visits

Ambassadors during VVIP visits have a tough job. From ensuring smooth departures to finding hard-to-find gifts, there is nothing they do not deliver

07.09.2025 70

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | India Holds Its Ground As Trump Flails, Putin Gains, And Xi Reaches Out

Trump will come and go. Indo–American relations are important to us, and to the US, and will survive this irrational aberration

05.09.2025 80

News18

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | PM Modi’s Jhappi Diplomacy: Redefining India’s Global Persona

This new form of diplomatic choreography has come to define India’s global presence at the highest level—a gesture both simple and powerful.

22.08.2025 70

News18

Pavan K Varma

Meghnad Desai: Who he was in his thoughts

Meghnad and Kishwar were a much-loved part of Delhi’s social circle, and divided their time between London and Delhi, and Goa.

17.08.2025 80

hindustantimes

Pavan K Varma

Opinion | Trump Is A Phase: India-US Ties Are Bigger Than Him

Donald Trump will come and go, but India must emerge stronger and more dynamic at the end of it

08.08.2025 100

News18

Pavan K Varma