Best of BS Opinion: Defence deals to GDP data, eruptions break the quiet

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

Imagine a grand old library, its walls heavy with dust and discipline, where silence is guarded like a sacred text. Then, without warning, the air splits open and a streak of fire blazes across the ceiling, scattering sparks over the shelves. Shock gives way to awe, fear to fascination. For one suspended moment, the rules that bound the place dissolve, and the forbidden is suddenly the only truth. That clash between stillness and eruption captures the essence of today’s writeups, each one a firework piercing through an ordered silence. Let’s dive in. 

The Defence Procurement Manual 2025 is one such flare. Sixteen years after its predecessor, it jolts a Rs 1 trillion procurement system out of its hush, easing harsh penalties, stabilising orders, and opening doors to private innovation with IITs and IISc. By giving financial authorities power to cut red tape, it breaks the library’s silence of delay. Yet, our first editorial cautions, capital acquisitions remain opaque, leaving much of the library still in shadow. 

 

Meanwhile, the Comprehensive Modular Survey of Education under the 80th National Sample Survey sets off another crackling spark. It shows rural children tied largely to government schools, urban peers crowded in private ones, and both funnelling into an expanding coaching industry that swallows household budgets. Poor learning outcomes persist, with India still absent from global benchmarks like PISA, even as the coaching market races toward $8 billion, highlights our second editorial. This is a firework dazzling with growth but dangerous in its burn. 

In climate diplomacy, Nitin Desai’s column ahead of COP30 in Brazil lights a different flame. He calls for restoring fairness through per capita responsibility, proposing a benchmark of 3 tonnes of COâ‚‚ annually up to each country’s net-zero year. India and Brazil, both below the global average, could ignite cooperation long dimmed by disputes over total emissions. It is a carefully aimed firework, measured yet capable of rekindling trust. 

And in economics, Rajeswari Sengupta dissects India’s GDP numbers, questioning their credibility despite April-June growth of 7.8 per cent. Flaws in nominal data, outdated surveys, and skewed deflators, she argues, make growth look brighter than reality. Here, the firework risks being a trick of mirrors, brilliant in display, but hollow in light. 

Finally, Shreekant Sambrani’s review of [In]Complete Justice? The Supreme Court at 75, Critical Reflections edited by S Muralidhar reminds us that even the Supreme Court at 75 cannot remain untouched. Essays expose cracks in judicial appointments, misconduct, and missed constitutional moments. In this hushed temple of law, fireworks demand scrutiny, insisting that reverence must give way to illumination. 

Stay tuned!