Best of BS Opinion: Reading the signals in tax, trade, and forgotten crops

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

The Supreme Court’s ruling in the tax dispute involving Tiger Global’s Mauritius-based entities has reopened an old fault line in India’s investment story, that of the tension between tax enforcement and legal certainty, notes our first editorial. The case stemmed from Tiger Global’s sale of shares during Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart, where capital gains tax exemption was claimed under the India-Mauritius treaty.By overturning the High Court and restoring the Authority for Advance Rulings’ findings, the court endorsed the view that the transaction was structured to avoid tax. While the protection of tax sovereignty is uncontested, the judgment has unsettled investors by questioning long-accepted residency certificates and rejecting grandfathering provisions for investments made under earlier rules. 

Across the Atlantic, the first year of Donald Trump’s second term has unsettled assumptions about American stability, highlights our second editorial. With firm control over his party, Trump has moved more aggressively against institutions, pressuring the Federal Reserve, expanding executive authority, and adopting increasingly exclusionary rhetoric on immigration. Internationally, tariffs and coercive trade tactics have alienated allies and weakened climate cooperation. For India, early hopes of pragmatic alignment have given way to high tariffs and stalled negotiations, shifting the focus from partnership-building to damage limitation. 

These tensions intersect with a broader debate on taxation policy. Ajay Shah and Renuka Sane argue that allowing tax authorities to look beyond tax residency certificates marks a decisive shift away from residence-based taxation. They argue that for a capital-scarce economy, taxing foreign capital at the source raises the cost of capital and discourages investment. India’s earlier treaty framework had provided predictability, anchored by the Azadi Bachao Andolan judgement. The erosion of that certainty since 2016, they write, coincides with a visible stagnation in foreign portfolio investment and risks hard-coding a higher risk premium into India’s growth story. 

Food systems, meanwhile, face a quieter but equally structural challenge. Writing on neglected crops, Surinder Sud highlights how global diets have narrowed to a handful of staples, pushing out nutrient-rich fruits, vegetables and millets once central to local food systems. A recent policy paper by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences identifies underused crops that could improve nutrition, support climate resilience and revive rural livelihoods, provided processing and market access are strengthened. 

Finally, Lauren Hilgers’ review of Jung Chang’s Fly, Wild Swans lingers on memory and inheritance. The book revisits the testimonies that shaped Wild Swans, tracing Chang’s journey from Maoist China to Britain, her confrontation with personal freedom, and the controversies surrounding her later work. At its centre remains her mother, De-hong, whose moral restraint and final counsel not to return to China give the book its emotional weight. Set against China’s tightening political climate, the memoir becomes a reflection on exile, loyalty and the costs of intellectual independence. 

Stay tuned!