Best of BS Opinion: Tax reforms, AI disruption, and Indus water lessons

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

Have you ever noticed a toddler running? Their arms flailing, face lit up with glee, but always one wobble away from a tumble. That’s how India’s reforms, technologies, and ideas feel today. Every leap forward is powered by raw energy, but the ground beneath feels uneven, the balance uncertain. That sight of a child rushing ahead is both exhilarating and nerve-racking. It reminds us how progress often comes not in neat strides but in bursts of momentum, though almost always punctuated by stumbles. Let’s dive in. 

The GST Council’s shift to a two-rate structure marks a cleaner, simpler design after eight years of tinkering. It looks like a child finally learning to run straight. But like a toddler finding rhythm, the Centre must steady itself on disinvestment too, notes our first editorial. The government has flagged next-generation reforms, but past hurdles have slowed privatisation and efficiency gains. Unless disinvestment is treated as a reform, not just a revenue tool, the fall could be hard. 

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet’s Rs 1,500 crore incentive scheme for recycling under the National Critical Minerals Mission is another sprint forward. By 2030-31, it aims to build 270 kilo tonnes of capacity and create 70,000 jobs. The scheme offers India a greener, quicker path to securing lithium, cobalt, and rare earths than mining, highlights our second editorial. Yet, like a child learning to balance, regulation, R&D, and industry collaboration will decide whether this becomes a graceful stride or another stumble. 

In markets, Akash Prakash notes that artificial intelligence is turning into a force reshaping productivity itself. For investors, the “golden age of margin expansion” driven by artificial intelligence promises productivity gains and sharper competitiveness. But the same forces could upend Indian IT models and worsen youth unemployment. Incumbents risk being outrun by leaner, AI-native challengers if they don’t adapt fast. 

And Vanita Kohli-Khandekar warns that generative AI is devouring content like a child raiding a pantry, consuming voraciously but contributing nothing back. Indian publishers have already lost up to 30 per cent of audiences to AI-driven summaries. Legal cases and paywalls are attempts to slow the grab, but the paradox looms that if creators retreat, AI itself risks starving, left chewing on its own recycled crumbs. 

Finally, in Trial by Water: Indus Basin and India-Pakistan Relations, reviewed by Chintan Girish Modi, Uttam Kumar Sinha traces how the Indus Waters Treaty became both bridge and barrier. Sinha shows how water, like a rushing child, must be carefully guided lest it flood or fracture. Yet the book’s focus on geopolitics leaves the river’s cultural life and women’s voices unheard, a reminder that balance is still missing in this long, uneven run. 

Stay tuned!