Best of BS Opinion: Markets, railways, and the cycle of policy relearning

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

You know that sharp, unexpected pain when you accidentally bite your tongue? One moment, you're chewing absentmindedly; the next, you're hyper-aware of every movement in your mouth, trying not to make the same mistake again. It’s strange how a small injury can rewrite your entire approach to something as routine as eating. And yet, history — both personal and collective — tends to follow the same pattern. Let's dive in. 

Take the dotcom bubble. When internet stocks soared in the late '90s, investors barely paused to chew. Then, the crash. Fortunes evaporated. Companies folded. The pain of that financial self-inflicted wound taught markets a crucial lesson: hype doesn’t guarantee success, and timing is everything. Now, as AI startups rake in billions, the question lingers — are we, once again, chewing too fast? Read our first editorial for more. 

Railways, too, are learning the hard way, as our second editorial highlights. The February 15 stampede at New Delhi Railway Station was a wake-up call, prompting new access controls, sealed platforms, and stricter monitoring. A necessary step, but will it hold up when festival crowds surge again? Panic-driven fixes can ease symptoms, but lasting change demands deeper reform. 

Governments, too, seem to be caught in this loop — especially when it comes to global tax evasion, as M Govinda Rao explores. Governments cracked down on offshore accounts, only for billionaires and corporations to shift tactics, moving wealth into real estate and exploiting tax havens in new ways. Raising global tax rates might help, but without full enforcement, the ultra-rich will always find a way to chew around the rules. 

Then there’s corporate America, where businesses are now spitting out Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, as Kanika Datta details. With Trump’s return, companies are preemptively abandoning DEI to avoid scrutiny. Just like that, decades of progress are being erased — not by direct opposition, but by fear of another bite. 

Finally, in Our Potpourri Planet, reviewed by Neha Kirpal, Ranjit Lal warns of an even bigger failure to learn. Ignoring environmental destruction won’t make it disappear. Like a tongue bite, the pain of climate disasters is temporary — but the damage, if unchecked, will last for a long time.