Hello and welcome to Best of Business Standard Opinion, our wrap of the day’s editorial page.
The IMF’s October World Economic Outlook projects global growth at 3.1 per cent in 2026 and 3.4 per cent in 2027, while raising India’s growth forecast for the current year to 7 per cent on resilient domestic demand. Today’s first editorial highlights how energy supply rerouting, inventory drawdowns, renewables and investment in artificial intelligence have helped the world economy withstand recent shocks. However, these buffers have limits, and disappointing AI returns could unsettle financial markets. Growth is also concentrating in fewer countries, heightening risks amid elevated public debt and tight financial conditions. India’s exposure to energy disruptions and limited participation in the AI boom demand policy agility.
Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize comes at a time of intensifying conflict and mounting challenges to the universality of human rights. Her choice for the Peace Nobel, notes our second editorial, delivers a restorative to the primacy of human rights in the global discourse, given that the South African jurist’s career has spanned the fight against apartheid, the prosecution of atrocities in Rwanda and efforts to advance gender justice and combat caste discrimination. Her work has also helped establish that rape and sexual assault could constitute acts of genocide. More recently, she chaired the UN commission that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
Nitin Desai argues that climate policy must shift beyond mitigation to prepare for unavoidable temperature rises, as countries’ emissions targets remain inadequate to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal. With the threshold likely to be breached within years, India must integrate climate management into development planning, prioritising local adaptation to extreme heat, water stress and health risks. Desai proposes a National Climate Management Body bringing together the Centre, states and major cities to coordinate mitigation, resilience and compliance. He also calls for predictable climate finance, greater use of satellite imagery and AI, investment in carbon capture, and renewed international cooperation on technology and funding.
India’s latest National Sample Survey reveals rising reported morbidity, continued dependence on private health care and stark disparities in treatment costs. The share of people reporting ailments nearly doubled in rural areas between 2017-18 and 2025, while private providers treated most non-hospitalised ailments, despite charging several times more than public facilities. Hospitalisation costs widen this financial burden, risking a medical poverty trap for vulnerable households. Vachaspati Shukla and Santosh Kumar Dash argue that expanding health insurance alone cannot ensure effective financial protection without accessible, reliable public facilities. They call for stronger primary care, district hospitals and service delivery so illness does not threaten household economic security.
Neha Bhatt reviews Reetika Khera’s Freebies or Rights: Understanding Social Policy in India, which challenges the portrayal of welfare schemes as political hand-outs rather than fundamental rights. Drawing on field research and data, Khera examines programmes spanning food security, nutrition, healthcare and employment, questioning their funding, implementation and technological interventions. She warns that spending can serve corporate and philanthropic interests, while gaps in reliable data weaken accountability. Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh offer lessons in effective delivery, from nutrition and pensions to school meals and public canteens. The book makes a compelling case for treating social protection as a foundation of equality and opportunity.
