Best of BS Opinion: Rolling the dice on gaming bans, AI rules, and growth

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

In the Mahabharata, Chausar was not mere entertainment but a test of foresight, nerve, and destiny. Dice in hand, pieces moving, fortunes shifting, the game carried the weight of unpredictability and choice. Each roll of dice carried the possibility of triumph or ruin, every move shaping the course of kingdoms. What made the game enduring was its blend of chance and calculation, a reminder that even the strongest warriors could falter when strategy met uncertainty. Modern policymaking and economic choices carry the same weight. Laws, frameworks, and reforms resemble moves on a vast board where ambition, caution, and risk constantly collide. Let’s dive in. 

 

The Union government’s Online Gaming Bill, 2025 embodies this duality. It seeks to ban online money games, citing addiction, fraud, and financial losses, while simultaneously creating a regulatory framework to promote e-sports and casual play. The industry warns of job losses, underground markets, and declining investor confidence if prohibition prevails, notes our first editorial. With over Rs 25,000 crore in FDI and Rs 2 trillion in valuations at stake, the decision resembles a risky throw. Like a hasty roll of dice, Parliament must decide whether prohibition secures or destabilises the board. 

The Reserve Bank’s FREE-AI report, too, is a masterclass in anticipating moves, highlights our second editorial. With its seven guiding “sutras,” it seeks to balance the promise of AI with the perils of bias and opacity. By proposing common AI infrastructure, sandboxes, and indigenous models, the RBI wants India to play not as a follower but as a designer of the game. Execution, however, will decide whether AI becomes a trusted ally or a loaded dice. 

Meanwhile, Naushad Forbes urges India to respond to Donald Trump’s tariff threats not with defensive swagger but transformative ambition, much like Japan transformed humiliation into industrial resurgence. To become a developed nation by 2047, India must reform education, agriculture, taxation, and manufacturing, aiming for sustained growth above 9 per cent. The choice is whether to play defensively or pursue the bold moves that can transform the board. 

Amit Kapoor cautions that India’s cities risk losing vitality if migration slows. Migrants power both formal and informal economies, yet fear-driven governance has weakened their sense of belonging. With urban investment needs of $840 billion over 15 years, cities must remain open and trusting, or else the pieces on the board may stop moving altogether. 

And finally, as Ambi Parameswaran notes in his review of Sandeep Das’s Why Your Strategy Sucks, strategy itself is the master move. Das distinguishes true strategy from mere plans, offering frameworks for both corporate goals and personal careers. Even if richer case studies might have added depth, its core lesson stands, that strategy is not about playing every piece but choosing the few moves that can redefine the entire game. 

Stay tuned!