Hello, and welcome to the Best of BS Opinion, our wrap of the day’s Opinion page.
Renewed fighting in West Asia has pushed Brent crude towards $100 a barrel, reviving risks for global energy markets and import-dependent economies such as India. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global crude previously moved, could sustain pressure on oil prices, while US efforts to curb Iranian exports add to uncertainty.Today’s first editorial warns that prolonged high prices could widen India’s current account deficit, strain capital flows, and add to inflationary pressures. The RBI’s concessional swap scheme offers some near-term support, but higher fuel costs are already hurting oil marketing companies and raising subsidy pressures, complicating both monetary and fiscal management.
India’s ambition to become a leading pharmaceutical research and innovation hub requires an ecosystem that rewards investment while protecting the interests of patients and generic drugmakers. Strong intellectual property rules and regulatory data protection (RDP) could attract greater global investment in R&D and clinical trials, but the proposed 10-year RDP period has raised concerns that it could delay affordable medicines and increase prices. Our second editorial underscores the need to resolve this tension while addressing the uneven burden of local clinical trials on innovators. It calls for coordinated action by the Centre, states, and industry, including research funds and R&D-linked tax incentives, without losing sight of medicine affordability and access.
Karnataka’s growth has been impressive but highly uneven, with Bengaluru accounting for much of its prosperity while northern Karnataka remains backward. The contrast, M Govinda Rao observes, highlights the importance of institutions, human capital, and private enterprise in shaping regional development. Dakshin Kannada and Udupi offer a striking alternative: their long tradition of education, entrepreneurship, banking, women’s empowerment, and self-reliance has produced strong incomes and social indicators. Rao questions whether government-led efforts to create another Bengaluru can replicate the city’s success, and suggests that the coastal districts provide a more credible model for spreading growth across the state.
Women-targeted welfare schemes have become a potent electoral tool, butKanika Datta questions whether they amount to genuine empowerment or merely temporary relief. Evidence from recent state elections suggests that cash handouts do not reliably translate into votes, while Tamil Nadu’s stronger outcomes for women owe more to broader social-justice policies than targeted freebies. Datta highlights the contradictions in Bihar’s prohibition policy and Andhra Pradesh’s incentives for larger families, which can reinforce rather than challenge restrictive gender roles. With much of women’s work still unpaid or insecure, she contends that lasting progress requires sustained investment in education, health, safety, and economic opportunity, rather than politically attractive giveaways.
Saadia Azim’s Forwarded as Received: How Misinformation Turns Viral, Violent and True examines how misinformation travels through India’s digital ecosystem and can translate into real-world violence. The book traces cases of murders and lynchings fuelled by fake news, while exploring why people forward unverified content and how social media algorithms amplify outrage. Arushi Bhaskar highlights Azim’s call for greater individual accountability, faster fact-checking, proactive “prebunking”, and stronger human oversight by platforms and policymakers. The review also notes the book’s shortcomings, including repetition and exhaustive treatment of incidents that can make it feel more like a textbook or monograph than narrative non-fiction. Nevertheless, it offers a compelling account of India’s troubled relationship with online information.
