Best of BS Opinion: India's growth, tariff shocks, and global tensions

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

Some wounds don’t pound with pain anymore, but when you just slightly press them, they remind you they’re not quite healed. That stiff knee you injured years ago that aches on cold mornings. That friendship you outgrew but still think about when a song plays. Or that old family pressure that suddenly resurfaces over dinner. These aren't emergencies. They’re echoes. And they whisper that even progress carries discomfort. Today’s stories carry a feeling of slow mending, but interrupted by small jabs. Let’s dive in. 

Take India’s slow climb on the Human Development Index. It’s now ranked 130, up three spots, with people living longer, studying more, and escaping poverty in record numbers. And yet, the gender and income inequalities remain sharp enough to drag the numbers down. It’s as if the bandage has come off, but the skin underneath is still raw. As our first editorial highlights, without deeper public investment in health and education, the gains risk fading, progress haunted by the pain of what’s still missing. 

 

Meanwhile, in the rice fields, India is nurturing a different kind of healing, through two new genome-edited varieties promising higher yields and climate resilience without the stigma of GM crops, notes our second editorial. They mature faster, use less water, and may rescue struggling farmlands. But like any leap, this too needs careful steps. Unless procurement systems and farmer training keep pace, even this scientific salve may dry up prematurely. 

Globally, Trump’s tariff shock, boldly labelled ‘Liberation Day,’ landed like a slap across an old scar. Markets panicked, then calmed. Economists feared a repeat of 2008, but the world held steady. As T T Ram Mohan writes, we’re wounded from past crises, but smarter now. Scarred yet sturdier. The fear didn’t vanish, it just didn’t win. 

In India’s military setup, the scars of colonial-era command are giving way to more integrated, modern reforms. Ajay Kumar maps how deeper civilian-military synergy is needed to combat today’s evolving threats. New laws and reorganisations are promising but the trust gap still itches, especially when stretched by real-world pressures. 

And finally, On Failing edited by Amit Chaudhuri, a book reviewed by Akankshya Abismruta, explores the ache of imperfection. Artists and thinkers dive into the creative potential of collapse, not as tragedy but as transformation. Their essays read like confessions from people who’ve learned that the most honest work comes after the fall. 

Stay tuned, and remember, like a healing wound, we inch forward. The sting just reminds us how far we’ve come!