In his weekly column for The Indian Express, former Union Minister of Finance P Chidambaram paints a stark portrayal of the democratic turmoil threatening global harmony, fueled by American President Donald Trump’s disruptive policies. Having assumed office less than a couple of months ago, Trump has already rolled out a wave of radical decisions.For eight decades, despite aberrations and misadventures, America was considered the leader of the free, democratic countries and the underwriter of the world order. Numerous world institutions were created to advance the cause of peace, education, healthcare and human rights. However, in barely eight weeks under Mr Trump, the U.S. has quit the WHO and threatened to quit or halt funding to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Mr Trump has shut USAID and brought to a halt dozens of programmes throughout the world. He may quit NATO and abandon the European allies.P Chidambaram, for The Indian ExpressElaborating on the geopolitical consequences of Trump’s presidency, Chidambaram explains how India’s strategic position will now face mounting challenges. The nation might find itself pressurised to buy more USA-made military equipment, whilst increased tariffs, restricted access to the American market and a weakened BRICS may soon become harsh realities.In true Chuck Palahniuk fashion, former diplomat Pavan K Varma contends that the Indian National Congress must first ‘die’ to be reborn – that is, undergoing a profound, all-inclusive transformation. Winning 99 seats in Lok Sabha might have been a smokescreen, the author argues in his Deccan Chronicle piece, as the party’s performance is consistently weakening in key states.Instead of predictable chintans, what is required at the forthcoming AICC session is rigorous interrogation and foundational change. At present the party is in the throes of a strange penumbra: It is not yet dead, but is far from being alive. The time to act to qualitatively change this situation, and begin the process of creating a new Congress, cannot be any further delayed. A beginning can be made at the next AICC session.Pavan K Varma, for Deccan ChronicleCharting a plausible roadmap for Congress' resurgence, Varma highlights the need of a structural overhaul as opposed to superficial reforms. The upcoming AICC session in Aurangabad, hence, assumes critical significance.Although the Indian men’s cricket team’s dominant performance in the ICC Champions Trophy silenced murmurs of undue advantage, historian Mukul Kesavan, whilst writing for The Telegraph, underscores the pressing need for empathy and humility, especially considering the nation’s past struggles against the sport’s power dynamics.The BCCI might want to remember that globally cricket is a small sport. In the major cricketing nations outside South Asia, it is one sport amongst many, competing for eyeballs with football, rugby, Australian rules football and tennis. To remain a credible international sport, cricket needs the semblance of a level playing field. One of the glories of contemporary cricket is that a country like New Zealand can blank India at home; the BCCI is two hundred and fifty times richer than the New Zealand cricket board. If international cricket comes to be seen as the BCCI’s rotten borough, it will lose its credibility and with it, its precarious hold on the public imagination. India might be left to play with itself: India A vs India B, all the way down to Z. Or the IPL, perhaps, the year round.Mukul Kesavan, for The TelegraphIndia’s financial clout might shape the framework of international cricket, and the man at the helm might be Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah. That said, Kesavan argues against the sport becoming an Indian monopoly, as it is running the risk of alienating the global audience.Columnist Tavleen Singh, in her piece for The Indian Express, elaborates on India’s critical human development crisis, despite a discernible democratic advantage. Drawing parallels vis-à-vis China, Singh underscores the struggles faced by Indian youth, the most glaring of them being the lack of employable expertise and malnutrition.In this age when Artificial Intelligence is beginning to compete with human intelligence, most Indians leave college without the qualifications needed to become employable. Is it any wonder that young people from our richest states pay small fortunes to human traffickers who promise to take them to better countries? In the few weeks since Donald Trump has returned to the White House, some of these desperate young Indians have been sent back to India in chains and fetters. Others have been rescued from slavery in Chinese scam factories in Thailand where they are forced to commit digital crimes.Tavleen Singh, for The Indian ExpressAs qualitative aptitude increasingly outweighs India’s quantitative catbird seat, foreign investors are turning to East Asian countries for a more skilled workforce. Should our youth not be equipped with competency to compete globally, aided by expedited reforms, India’s youth population might not translate into a potent economic asset for the nation.In his column for Deccan Herald, author Nigam Nuggehalli explores the government’s challenging endeavour to control the spread of fake news and grey news, amid the dilemma of curbing misinformation whilst also ensuring freedom of expression is not stifled.There is genuine news, there is fake news, and then there is a lot of grey news in between – news that purports to be true but has a few falsehoods thrown in, or news that’s somewhat false but with a few truth bombs in it. The government, any government anywhere, doesn’t like fake news. But what annoys them is grey news. What really makes them apoplectic is political comedy, which is grey news of the most confounding sort, since it passes off entertainment as news by passing off news as entertainment.Nigam Nuggehalli, for Deccan HeraldA preventive measure was the formation of the Fact Check Unit (FCU) under the IT Act, albeit it has since been invalidated after comedian Kunal Kamra moved the Bombay High Court, challenging its authority. Meanwhile, platforms such as Elon Musk’s X is now focusing on user-generated context to challenge false information – an approach that shifts responsibility from the governments to communities. Time will tell if such a model will be efficacious.In a rather bizarre – albeit, unfortunately, not unprecedented – incident, a Delhi-bound Air India flight had to return to Chicago owing to 8 of the aircraft’s 10 toilets being clogged. While it may seem like just another episode in Air India’s string of misfortunes (a similar incident occurred in 2014 on a Delhi to Frankfurt flight), creative director Hari Chaykar, writing for The Times of India, argues that the issue reflects a more troubling reality – India’s chronic disregard for hygiene etiquette.Like people stress over finding a good spot to park their cars, women constantly have to worry about finding a toilet they can use, for the usual motions and when they need to change menstrual pads or cups. Women who work in private offices pray for separate washrooms for men and women. Unisex toilets are the worst for them, things horror films are made of. Imagine the plight of a woman newly married into a family of all men. So much unnecessary stress over something so basic.Hari Chaykar, for The Times of IndiaDrawing on anecdotes from women recounting their travel struggles due to the lack of hygiene awareness, the writer advocates for urgent measures to improve toilet infrastructure and sanitary cognizance in India.In a recently issued executive order, Bhopal’s district collector invoked Section 163 (2) of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) to prohibit begging in public spaces. Writing for Hindustan Times, Sneha Priya Yanappa – team lead at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy – dissects the order’s fundamental flaws.The order mentions claims several beggars at traffic signals are involved in criminal activities and addicted to drugs — a weak and vague allegation painting beggars as a criminal group. It reeks of the colonial mindset in its similarity to the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, whose foundation lays in criminalisation by way of association. By vesting unfettered discretion on the law enforcement agencies, the order eliminates beggars from the streets under the guise of eliminating begging. It does not even differentiate between persons engaged in begging due to necessity and organised criminal networks that take advantage of beggars.Sneha Priya Yanappa, for Hindustan TimesYanappa argues that the order is akin to colonial demeanor, with the allegation of the beggars’ involvement in criminal activities and drug addiction being purely unascertained generalisation. More critically, it stands in direct contradiction with the central government’s welfarist policies. Notably, Bhopal is among the 81 cities where the Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Persons Engaged in the Act of Begging – a scheme aimed at rehabilitating beggars and facilitating their reintegration into society – is operational.The newly constructed Kashi Vishwanath Corridor was envisioned as a modern facelift for the sacred city of Varanasi, and it has been successful in providing more space for the congregation. Yet, a striking architectural mismatch, with red sandstone resembling Lutyens’ Delhi and Mughal architecture, prompted novelist Anand Neelakantan to raise a pertinent issue in his The New Indian Express column – why does the nation fail to achieve the architectural finesse achieved centuries ago?Indians are touchy about criticism, but such callous attitude deserves nothing but condemnation and contempt. It isn’t a problem of Kashi alone, but most of the pilgrim places across the country. Even the queue for darshan is a place to fight, abuse, pull, shove, cut the queue and jostle.Anand Neelakantan, for The New Indian ExpressOffering a first-hand account of the chaos and filth he witnessed, with the dingy lanes being filled with garbage and the holy Ganges being polluted with waste, the author calls for the restoration of India’s ancient cities, as opposed to creation of politically motivated spectacles.Writing for Deccan Herald, journalist and politician Ashwin Mahesh unpacks the catch-22 situation gripping the Indian economy. With jobs being scarce and inflation being incessant, the government might have taken pre-emptive measures like reduction of taxes, but that might prove to be insufficient against the nation’s deep-rooted economic complexities.We won’t achieve much if we take steps without conceding that there is a problem with disproportionate power wielded by the government, and that citizens and markets also matter a lot. Without such an acknowledgement, the public and businesses see every new decision as merely the latest in a long list of ad hoc measures taken to suit the moment. And another round of arbitrary decisions in the future could erase whatever gains are promised by these recent ones.Ashwin Mahesh, for Deccan HeraldLikening the central government to a bus with a big brake but no accelerator, Mahesh states an overpowered state and an underpowered market are at the heart of the nation’s economic challenges. He argues that the solution lies in decentralization, advocating for a shift of power to local councils and smaller businesses.(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)