Best of BS Opinion: Transparency, security, and the right resources

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

A great pizza is a masterpiece — layers of effort, precision, and a balance of ingredients that create something extraordinary. It has a foundation that holds things together, a topping of essentials, and a sprinkle of extras that give it flavour. And the cheese, which just melts in our mouth. Today’s stories are very similar. Let’s dive in. 

The crust is where it all begins — it needs to be solid yet flexible, capable of holding everything together without crumbling. That’s what our first editorial explores with India’s Single Nodal Agency (SNA) model. By tightening fund flows, the government has saved ₹11,000 crore, ensuring transparency. But states argue they need more flexibility in spending. Like an over-crisped crust, too much rigidity could make the system unworkable. 

 

The cheese is the soul of the pizza, binding everything together, adding richness and structure. As our second editorial on Europe’s evolving security strategy highlights, the continent is scrambling to hold its defence together after Trump’s wavering Ukraine support. With rising military budgets and talk of nuclear deterrence, Europe is trying to stretch into a cohesive force — but will it hold or tear under pressure? 

A good pizza has the right toppings — selected with care, sourced from the best, and placed strategically. That’s India’s situation in mineral geopolitics, as Prosenjit Datta points out. The world is racing to secure lithium and other rare earth minerals, but India lacks a clear strategy. Unlike China, which has secured mining dominance, India risks being left with an underwhelming slice. 

Every pizza needs the right temperature — too hot, and it burns; too cold, and it remains undercooked. Laveesh Bhandari examines the growing debate over geoengineering. As climate risks escalate, powerful nations and corporations could unilaterally tweak the planet’s temperature. Without global oversight, we may be cooking up unintended disasters. 

Now, let’s talk controversy. Some things — like pineapple on pizza — divide opinion irreversibly. Talmiz Ahmad explores in his review of Forgotten: Searching for Palestine’s Hidden Places and Lost Memorials by Raja Shehadeh and Penny Johnson’s, a book uncovering Palestinian sites erased since 1948. The question remains: Is history what we remember — or what we erase?