Best of BS Opinion: Sharpening our own edges before judging others

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

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Do you remember in school, there would always be a few students who’d spend more time complaining about broken pencils than writing with what they had? Someone’s lead was too soft, someone else’s sharpener didn’t work, and before the bell rang, half the class was out of excuses and out of lines on the page. Just like that, policy isn’t so different either these days. It’s easy to point at another’s dull pencil, harder to admit when our own has gone blunt. Today’s writeups are about that self-correction . Let’s dive in. 

When the US suddenly doubled tariffs on Indian goods, the small and medium exporters who once thrived on steady American orders found themselves staring at empty order books. The government’s two new schemes, a credit guarantee for MSMEs and a Rs 25,060-crore Export Promotion Mission, aim to refill that ink. The first will keep cash flowing, helping firms avoid shutdowns, while the second focuses on branding, logistics, and credit to make Indian exports more competitive by 2030-31. Yet, as our first editorial notes, without India itself cutting tariffs and embracing deeper trade pacts, even the sharpest schemes could blunt against global headwinds. 

Across the Himalayas, the Prime Minister’s visit to Bhutan was a study in quiet steadiness. As our second editorial highlights, India’s friendship with Bhutan has outlasted shifting borders and systems. Modi’s visit, which included inaugurating the Punatsangchhu-II project and backing Bhutan’s futuristic Gelephu Mindfulness City, reflected a diplomacy that polishes rather than redraws lines. In a region often scribbled over by geopolitics, this bond remains an example of how trust sharpens power. 

In industry, however, the pencils have been stuck for too long. Laveesh Bhandari argues that India’s anaemic wage growth isn’t just about poor skills but about labour laws trapped in another century. Factories now demand flexibility and constant adaptation, yet the long-promised Labour Codes, which were meant to unify and modernise the system, remain unimplemented. Every delay dulls the economy’s edge, leaving both workers and employers fumbling with broken leads. 

Even measuring income, as S Chandrasekhar and Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay point out, is proving tricky. The planned Household Income Survey for 2026 faces widespread hesitation, under-reporting, and overlap with existing data exercises. Without honest answers, India risks sketching policy from faint outlines. But if done right, the HIS could help shift focus from mere poverty to dignity of earnings. 

And finally, Neha Kirpal reviews Meera Vijayann’s Girls Who Said Nothing and Everything, a book about what happens when a girl decides her silence will no longer define her. Through essays on growing up in small-town India under moral surveillance, Vijayann writes her way out of the margins. It’s a reminder that sometimes, sharpening your own pencil is the boldest act of rebellion there is. 

Stay tuned!