Best of BS Opinion: Govt must build consensus for Constitutional amendments

From the setback to the women's quota Bill and rising fertiliser subsidies to tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, here is a curated selection of Business Standard's top Opinion pieces today

Hello, and welcome to Best of BS Opinion, our daily wrap of the day's Opinion page.  

The defeat of the women's quota bill in the Lok Sabha marks the distrust between the Treasury and Opposition benches, notes our first editorial. The government seems to have misjudged the political mood, which in itself is a reflection of the lack of communication and consensus-building - traditional for a Constitutional amendment - between the two sides. The Centre also failed to read the southern states' concern, given they have been vocal about the lack of benefits from delimitation despite superior human development indices. A closer look suggests that the process itself was also flawed. But the bottomline is that empowering measures such as ensuring equal opportunities for women in education, health and jobs would do more to help them earn a spot in Parliament rather that merely providing reservations. 

India’s ballooning fertiliser subsidy, exceeding Rs 1.87 trillion, reflects a structural crisis driven by heavily subsidised urea, which has led to nutrient imbalances, fiscal inefficiency, and widespread diversion, writes our second editorial. That number is not merely a fiscal slippage triggered by external global factors but suggests a deeper problem in the country’s agricultural policy. To ensure sustainability and curb misuse, the government must bring urea under the Nutrient-Based Subsidy (NBS) regime, and transition toward direct, per-acre income support for farmers. This will re-anchor fertiliser decisions in the needs of soil and crops rather than in distorted pricing, and will allow for a transition from blanket subsidies to more efficient support. 

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz highlights the extreme vulnerability of global supply chains, threatening industrial stability and driving up costs for critical materials like petrochemicals and fertiliser, writes Mihir S Sharma in his column. The global trade disruption is reminiscent of a time when chokepoints like the Strait were controlled by force; repeating it threatens to undermine the post-war norms of free navigation and prosperity because the world has simply become unaccustomed to the idea that such crucial waterways would be closed. A toll-based system is not feasible, either, as Singapore and Japan have pointed out. The current crisis risks replacing a predictable trading system with a form of global economic anarchy, which is why  maintaining open, free navigation is critical to the world's economy. 

Global equity markets are surging on premature assumptions of peace in West Asia, with the Nasdaq hitting record highs and the Nifty rebounding amid hopes that the Strait of Hormuz is, or will soon be, operational. However, this optimism ignores on-ground realities, such as the shooting at merchant vessels by Iran, resultant high insurance costs, and a disconnect between lower, screen-based crude prices and high actual transaction costs, writes Debashis Basu. This divergence between markets and reality is not news, since the former often move ahead of events, discounting outcomes before they happen. The talks in Islamabad are still inconclusive, with core disputes over nuclear enrichment, sanctions, and regional proxies unresolved. While domestic investors chase the rally, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are selling, wary of a fragile 'pause' and supply constraints. For the current rally to be sustained, Iran will likely need to forfeit its regional leverage, an outcome that appears unlikely, which would, in turn, mean another round of fighting. 

In Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, authors Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff argue that Elon Musk is less a man and more a systemic shift in global capitalism. Jennifer Szalai highlights the book's core thesis: "Muskism" represents a "reactionary technocracy" that simultaneously hollows out the state while forcing citizens into a paradox of self-reliance mediated by Musk-owned infrastructure. Szalai notes the authors' sharpest insight - that Musk’s childhood in apartheid South Africa served as a "spore in his luggage", informimg a worldview where human society is treated like a factory floor to be "optimised". This allows Musk to thrive on government contracts and subsidies while publicly performative libertarianism masks his reliance on federal power. From the "financial fabulism" used to mesmerise investors to the transformation of X (formerly Twitter) into a platform for "the boss," Slobodian and Tarnoff depict a world where the juvenile and the deadly intersect.