• The idea that India is losing clout in the neighbourhood has recently become a special cause for anxiety among Delhi’s commentariat. But is this phenomenon really new? A longer look at India’s regional diplomacy suggests that Delhi has always been losing some and winning some in the region, explains C Raja Mohan in the Indian Express.
  • Gone are the days of hoping to trasnform India into a thriving $5 trillion economy by 2025, says William Pesek in Forbes. Nowadays, conversations focus on whether India could be the first member of the BRICs grouping – Brazil, Russia, India, China – to bedowngraded to “junk” status.  
  • Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Tandhi have gained an upper hand – at least for today, writes Javed Ansari on NDTV.com.
  • Would a Universal Basic Income make us lazy or creative? In Bloomberg, Andreas Kluth explores the results of a new study.
  • From GST to the farm bills, the Modi government has been riding roughshod over the states. But India is a Union of states for good reason, and its diversity and plurality cannot be managed on the economic front through hierarchical fiat, explains Rathin Roy in the Business Standard.
  • Jaswant Singh stood at a slight angle to the universe, writes Sunanda K Dutta-Ray in the Telegraph.
  • Can the Modi govenrment’s new labour laws help Indian manufacturing catch up with Vietnam and Bangladesh in attracting companies exiting China, asks TN Ninan in the Business Standard. 
  • The study of German jurist and Nazi party member Carl Schmitt has exploded in China. The reason explains Jackson T. Reinhardt in Inquiries in is that Schmitt was a political philosopher of illiberalism. 
  • Did Xi Jinping just save the world by committing China to strict carbon emmission targets, asks Adam Tooze in Foreign Policy.
  • United States President Donald Trump is the ultimate triumph of neoliberalism, notes Branco Milanovic in Global Policy.