Best of BS Opinion: A sinking ship and a crew mesmerised by the stars above

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

One sometimes wonders, looking at the world currently, what must be going through the minds of the people steering its most powerful institutions. There are moments when the landscape feels like a ship that has struck a rock close to the shore and is now taking on water fast. Yet the captain and the inspection crew seem strangely preoccupied. Instead of looking at the widening crack in the hull, they angle their heads upward, marvelling at the constellations in the night sky as if celestial patterns could somehow patch a leaking vessel. It is this instinct, this preference for star-gazing over problem-solving, that echoes across our world and hence today’s writeups. Let’s dive in. 

 

Lara Williams fires the first warning flare. FIFA, in a move that feels as surreal as a deckhand giving a mop a knighthood, has awarded Donald Trump a freshly minted “FIFA Peace Prize.” As the organisation gazes skyward for approval, the actual waters of heat waves, collapsing schedules, dangerous humidity, a carbon footprint heavier than the ship itself, are rising fast around player safety. Infantino looks upward for favour, while the real crisis sloshes at his feet. Aligning with climate scepticism is less a strategy than a refusal to inspect the leak.  

Mihir S Sharma finds a similar detachment in the US’ NSS25, a security doctrine that treats domestic cultural battles as if they were navigational stars guiding foreign policy. Europe becomes an ideological rival, Latin America a dominion, while allies turn mere reflections of American internal conflicts. Even the Nvidia-China chip opening, which should be read as policy, now appears shaped by domestic politics masquerading as grand strategy. The hull has started groaning but Washington is still talking about the sky. 

Meanwhile, Devangshu Datta shifts the lens to Australia, where the government has decided the rising water below deck can be stopped by shutting cabin windows. A sweeping ban on under-16s across major social platforms aims to curb cyberbullying but introduces intrusive age-verification regimes, economic pain for platforms, and a decade of unknown consequences for education and community life. Teens will likely sneak through anyway, because the ship’s leaks rarely respect policy diagrams. 

Closer home, Shekhar Gupta shows how IndiGo’s meltdown gave the Indian government an excuse to seize the wheel again. The airline’s management opacity turned a containable issue into an opening for heavy-handed intervention, break-up suggestions, and regulators camping inside headquarters. A private sector that once thrived on autonomy now finds itself governed by officers staring at inherited star charts. 

Finally, Ayushi Singh closes the journey on a gentler note. India’s billboards, once dull fixtures on the shoreline, have become tiny bursts of wonder with sweaters on hoardings, chocolate bars breaking free, and rain-activated music. In a world where everyone stares at digital skies, these playful, tactile interventions remind us to look at the deck beneath our feet. They’re small, surprising acts that interrupt our trajectory, proof that even on a leaking ship, someone can still craft beauty from the mundane. 

Stay tuned!