Best of BS Opinion: PM Modi issues a fiscal call to arms

From Modi's austerity appeal and India's learning crisis to geopolitical trade shifts, AI accountability and public health reforms - here are today's key Opinion takeaways

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

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to citizens for self-imposed austerity to reduce dependence on imports and save foreign exchange has had mixed reactions, notes our first editorial. Higher crude prices are inflating the current account deficit, while capital outflows are pressuring the external account, pushing the rupee downwards.  Other factors, such as lower excise duty on petrol and diesel and higher fertiliser subsidy could balloon the fiscal deficit to about 5 per cent of GDP. Higher fuel costs and reduced gas supplies are hurting economic activity, which could impact the Budget. The government will have to make certain adjustments, particularly in support for the bleeding oil marketing companies. It will also have to tweak its spending; however, capital expenditure should not be cut, since it helps growth. What the government should do is increase its disinvestment   targets once things improve to cushion the impact of the ongoing crisis.

 

 

A NITI Aayog report argues that India’s education policy must shift from expanding access to improving learning outcomes. School infrastructure, electricity access, and enrolment among girls, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes have improved sharply over the past decade but, as our second editorial notes, basic literacy and numerical proficiency remain abysmally weak across the board. High dropout rates, teacher shortages, poor teacher competency, and inadequate school facilities continue to undermine quality education. The report also challenges assumptions about private schools and warns that digital tools cannot offset poor foundational learning. India’s development ambitions will depend increasingly on educational quality. To achieve that goal, Indian education must move from rote learning and textbook completion to foundational mastery, competency-based assessment, and teaching aligned with learning levels.

 

Nitin Desai argues that India must abandon rigid economic forecasting in favour of flexible scenario-building as the era of benign globalisation has given way to relations driven more by strategic and security considerations and where, as Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney remarked, trade and tariffs have been weaponised, so to speak. The relatively open trading order that powered growth in China and India is being replaced by a system shaped by security concerns, nationalism, and strategic rivalry, particularly under President Donald Trump’s America. Policymaking should therefore account for variable geopolitical outcomes, rather than assuming current trends will persist, and be flexible enough to pivot quickly. The focus on potential scenarios is of particular importance for India's relations with the US, China, and Europe, which are its biggest trade partners.

 

Last month, the Paris Criminal Court found conglomerate Lafarge and several former executives guilty of financing terrorism after it continued operating in Syria and allegedly paid armed groups, including ISIS, to protect business operations. This, argues Amit Tandon, marks a major shift in corporate accountability by narrowing the distinction between commercial necessity and legal complicity. The ruling suggests that companies can no longer rely on so-called 'business continuity' as a defence when operating in conflict zones. Tandon extends the logic to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) which is increasingly being used by multiple actors, some good, some not as much. Questions of corporate responsibility, governance, and accountability in high-risk environments are becoming increasingly urgent, given the widespread use of such ubiquitous technologies and the diffusiveness of their deployment. Who bears responsibility when an AI system is used in a way that leads to civilian harm? In that sense, the Lafarge ruling challenges the distinction between business decisions and moral responsibility.

 

In his review of The Science and Practice of Public Health: Perspectives from the Developing World, Amarjeet Sinha praises the authors - T. Sundararaman, Sitanshu Shekhar Kar, and Daksha Parmar - for producing a rare practitioner-focused guide that acts as a bridge between public health theory and real-world policy execution. Written in the shadow of the Covid pandemic, the book examines disease control, health systems, financing, informatics, and governance through the lens of developing economies. Sinha argues that its real strength lies in combining scientific rigour with citizen-centric policymaking and pragmatic solutions. Rather than serving as a technical textbook, the volume offers policymakers and practitioners an accessible framework for strengthening fragile public health systems.