Best of BS Opinion: Stories of growth, grit, and grace under fire

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

There’s a gulmohar tree I walk past every morning, and I’ve begun to notice how it holds its ground no matter what the sky throws at it. Come spring, it explodes into flame-red blossoms. Come storm, it sheds. Come winter, it stiffens quietly, conserving. The same tree, adapting through seasons — thriving not by resisting change, but by leaning into it. Today’s stories feel similar. Let’s dive in. 

In Uttar Pradesh, industrialisation is blooming like a long-awaited spring. From Foxconn eyeing 300 acres in Greater Noida to the country’s first biopolymer unit coming up in Lakhimpur Kheri, the state is redefining its roots, notes our first editorial. A 13 per cent jump in manufacturing growth — ahead of the state’s overall economy — hints at deeper transformation. It's becoming shade for those who long relied on the soil alone.  

 

Far away, at Harvard, the skies are darker. The Trump-era freeze on $2.2 billion in federal funding — in the name of fighting antisemitism but largely aimed at curbing DEI and dissent — is a political frostbite. Harvard’s $53.2 billion endowment lets it stand its ground, unlike Columbia, which caved. But even thick trunks can feel the chill — donor withdrawal and tight fund restrictions might test Harvard’s leaves soon enough, highlights our second editorial. The battle isn’t just over money, but the very roots of academic freedom and American soft power. 

Meanwhile, Shyam Saran reminds us that Ambedkar was a gardener of democratic ideals — sowing liberalism, pruning caste and community bias. Ambedkar imagined a nation of equal citizens, not uniform subjects. On his 135th birthday, Saran urges us to honour him not with garlands but with grit — to protect his vision of equal citizenship from being overrun by weeds of conformity and illiberalism. 

And Arun Maira sees India’s manufacturing journey as a sapling long denied sunlight in unpredictable weather. Unlike China or Japan, we abandoned industrial strategy too soon. Now, in a world of shifting trade winds, we must root deeper — treating workers as assets, not expendables — if we wish to stand tall. 

Finally, in the scorched landscape of Gaza, Letters from Gaza: By the People, From the Year that has Been by Mohammed Al-Zaqzooq & Mahmoud Alshaer, reviewed by Kankana Das, is a heart-wrenching collection of poems, monologues, and stories — voices pressed like leaves between the pages of time, some written by authors now missing or dead. Amid the despair, the anthology insists on dignity, memory, and resilience — refusing to wilt into silence. 

Stay tuned!