Best of BS Opinion: Art of threatening war, nepotism in Bollywood, and more

S&P Global Ratings has reiterated that the Indian economy will contract by 5 per cent in the current fiscal year. The rating agency highlighted reasons such as difficulties in containing the virus and other underlying vulnerabilities, especially in the financial sector, which would affect economic activity. However, tension with China has added another dimension. Any attempt to contain imports from China will only increase uncertainty. Here’s a selection of Business Standard Opinion pieces for the day.

Manmohan Singh’s fond hope of avoiding conflict over territory by “making borders irrelevant” is increasingly difficult to realise in a world where institutional restraints on aggression are weakening and the new game in town is unalloyed power-play, writes T N Ninan

What if the Chinese military build-up is just coercive diplomacy? India shouldn’t blink but believe the threat of war is real and be prepared, notes Shekhar Gupta

It is now a different time in Bihar. It is a different place — one in which NREGA man Raghuvansh Prasad Singh’s options are very limited, writes Aditi Phadnis

Bollywood’s biggest bane is mediocrity, not nepotism, although it cannot be denied that the former often flows out of the latter, writes Saibal Chatterjee

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“We're going to make sure we're postured appropriately to counter the People's Liberation Army. We think that the challenge of our times, and we're going to make sure we have resources in place to do that.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo