Best of BS Opinion: Institutions must make room for today's world

From exports and AI to urban livelihoods and geopolitics, India's institutions must adapt to new realities shaping the economy and society

New realities rarely arrive with permission. They push against old rules, old jurisdictions, old assumptions and old ways of organising economic life. Exports need more local energy but also national reform. Artificial intelligence needs legal clarity that copyright law was not built to provide. Informal workers need space in cities that often pretend they do not exist. AI’s risks need governance before markets run too far ahead. Even the old dream of “Chindia” needs room for a more sober reading of geopolitics.

 

Our first editorial today, “Export ambitions”, looks at India’s plan to give states and districts a larger role in export promotion. The idea: Local governments understand local industries, infrastructure gaps and product potential better than distant central ministries. District export plans, data platforms and state-level coordination can help identify bottlenecks and opportunities. But the editorial cautions that states can play only a limited role. Export competitiveness also depends on factors beyond their control, including tariffs, Customs, trade negotiations, logistics, standards, import policy and the broader industrial environment. Local effort matters, but it cannot substitute for central reforms that make Indian firms globally competitive.

 

 

The second editorial, “Copyright in AI era”, turns to law. AI has transformed how text, images, music and other creative works are scraped, trained on and reproduced. But copyright frameworks were built for an older media economy, where copying, distribution and authorship were easier to define. The challenge is to protect creators without shutting down innovation. India will need clearer rules on training data, fair use, consent, licensing, attribution and liability. The law must make room for AI, but not by making creators invisible.

 

Laveesh Bhandari’s column, “Just a little space”, makes the same point in the city. Informal micro-businesses are central to urban livelihoods, from small vendors and repair shops to home-based enterprises and neighbourhood services. Yet cities often treat them as encroachments or nuisances rather than as part of the economy. The column argues that many of these businesses do not need grand subsidies or elaborate schemes. They need legal recognition, designated spaces, predictable rules and freedom from harassment. A city that makes no room for informal enterprise also makes no room for upward mobility.

 

Kenneth Rogoff’s column, “The canary in the AI coal mine”, widens the AI question. The concern is not just productivity or innovation, but whether institutions are prepared for the risks of an accelerating technology race. AI raises questions around safety, labour disruption, market concentration, misinformation and geopolitical competition. Waiting for harm to become visible may be too late. Governance must create space for innovation while recognising that unchecked momentum can produce systemic risk.

 

“Familiar optimism over ‘Chindia’”, Avinash Godbole’s review of Chindia talks about geopolitics. The idea of India and China jointly driving an Asian century remains attractive, but optimism must contend with border tensions, strategic mistrust and structural differences.

 

The message across these pieces is clear: Institutions must make room for the world as it is becoming, not the world they were built to manage.