The Hindu Gist - 14th September, 2026
1 . Building Consensus
The 18th BRICS Summit and the New Delhi Declaration focused on reformed multilateralism and changing traditional global power equations amid unilateral actions by superpowers and ongoing wars.
- Consensus despite differences: The summit’s success was reflected in high-level participation, emphasis on intra-BRICS trade cooperation mechanisms and India’s ability to secure a joint declaration despite internal differences and an ongoing war.
- Reformed multilateralism: The New Delhi Declaration projected BRICS as a formidable collective force in its 20th year and called for reform of the UN Security Council, including a greater role for India and Brazil.
- Economic cooperation: BRICS condemned Western sanctions and tariffs, supported stronger intra-BRICS trade and encouraged greater use of local currencies in transactions.
- Unilateralism and war: The grouping condemned unilateral wars but avoided directly criticising any member, showing the difficulty of maintaining unity within a diverse grouping.
- Iran–UAE engagement: India ensured that Iran and the UAE, two rivals in the West Asian conflict, used the summit for their highest-level bilateral meeting since the war began, demonstrating India’s diplomatic balancing role.
- Last-minute compromise: References to the U.S.–Israel attacks on Iran, the assassination of Ali Khamenei and Iran’s retaliatory attacks on neighbouring countries, particularly the UAE, were omitted to secure agreement on the declaration.
- Position on Palestine and Lebanon: Despite these omissions, the declaration adopted an exceptionally strong position against Israel’s actions in Palestine and Lebanon.
- Saudi Arabia’s ambiguity: Saudi Arabia’s formal position within BRICS remained unclear, as its Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan arrived after the main session in which the joint declaration had already been adopted.
- India as Global South balancer: India’s fourth BRICS chairship strengthened its image as a Global South balancer, with access to both sides of a divided world while securing bilateral diplomatic benefits.
- Bilateral normalisation: Modi’s meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian helped address concerns over India’s perceived tilt towards the US and Israel, while his meeting with Xi Jinping created an opportunity to renew political efforts towards India–China normalisation.
- Wider Global South outreach: Meetings with leaders from ASEAN and African countries highlighted India’s effort to strengthen partnerships beyond the immediate BRICS framework.
- Changing power equations: The summit demonstrated solidarity among countries with significant differences but a shared desire to shift global power equations towards a world increasingly shaped by emerging economies.
2 . A rising graph Doping is now a deep-rooted culture in Indian sports
At least 13 doping positives during the Commonwealth Games and ahead of the Asian Games have again highlighted the deep-rooted doping culture in Indian sports. Despite India’s strong performance across disciplines, doping threatens athletes’ health, credibility and the country’s sporting reputation.
- Growing doping culture: Doping cases have emerged across athletics, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu and judo. The removal of dope-tainted athletes from the Aichi–Nagoya Asian Games squad shows the seriousness of the problem.
- Multiple incentives: Lucrative incentives for Asian Games medallists, pressure to win, fear of injury, shortcuts to success and the desire to protect personal and national pride encourage athletes and coaches to use performance-enhancing substances.
- International embarrassment: The problem has emerged repeatedly before major multi-sport events. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) have raised concerns, while an international agency conducted surprise tests in Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru.
- Weak anti-doping capacity: The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) remains seriously understaffed despite being responsible for India’s anti-doping work. Although testing and intelligence-based raids have increased, the scale of the problem requires stronger institutional capacity.
- Need for autonomy: NADA must be given greater operational independence from government control to improve its effectiveness and credibility in investigating and preventing doping.
- Legal strengthening: Proper implementation of the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Act, 2025 is necessary to provide greater powers to NADA and its affiliated bodies.
- Financial constraints: More expensive testing and the need for additional staff require higher budgetary support. The reduction in the overall sports budget in the current Budget creates an additional challenge.
- Cross-border supply chains: India must address the supply of banned substances sourced from different countries. The case of an Indian serviceman arrested in Kenya for illegally importing performance-enhancing drugs highlights the transnational nature of the problem.
- Future sporting credibility: As India prepares for the 2030 Commonwealth Games and aspires to host the Olympics, it must decisively eliminate doping to protect athletes’ health, ensure fair competition and maintain international confidence in Indian sport.
3 . Terror’s Changing Face, India’s Counter-Terror Strategy
Changing nature and early challenges
- Fragmented terrorism: Groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS have given way to smaller autonomous outfits, lone-wolf attackers and online radicalisation. Drones, cyber capabilities and AI are also being used for terror activities.
- Passive response: During the initial phase of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, India largely warned Pakistan without imposing adequate costs for its support to terrorism.
- Security gaps: The 1993 Mumbai blasts, Coimbatore blasts and other attacks exposed weaknesses in intelligence, coordination and internal security mechanisms.
- Pakistan-based terrorism: The IC-814 hijacking (1999) and the release of terrorists, including Masood Azhar, strengthened Pakistan-based terror networks. The 2001 Parliament attack led to Operation Parakram and large-scale military mobilisation.
- Nuclear constraint: After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, India avoided direct military action against Pakistan, as Pakistan’s nuclear capability increased the risks of escalation.
India’s shift towards proactive action
- Surgical strikes: After the Uri attack in 2016, India conducted surgical strikes across the LoC against terror launch pads, signalling that cross-border terrorism would invite direct costs.
- Balakot air strikes: Following the Pulwama attack in 2019, the Indian Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp at Balakot, demonstrating India’s willingness to target terror infrastructure across the border.
- Operation Sindoor: After the Pahalgam attack on April 22, 2025, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 6–7, destroying nine terror targets, including the headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, as mentioned in the piece.
- Changed doctrine: India has moved from defensive restraint to proactive counter-terrorism, treating state-supported terrorism as an act of war and seeking to impose credible costs on perpetrators and their infrastructure.
- Nuclear blackmail: India’s recent actions indicate that the perceived use of nuclear deterrence by Pakistan to constrain India’s counter-terror responses is no longer viewed as an absolute shield against calibrated counter-terror operations.
Present strategy and remaining concerns
- Three clear messages: India has signalled that future terror attacks will attract a heavy price, cross-border terrorism will be treated as an act of war, and Pakistan’s nuclear blackmail will no longer be an effective restraint.
- PRAHAAR framework: The National Counter-Terrorism Policy and Strategy, unveiled in February 2026, promotes a coordinated “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-society” approach to preventing and responding to terrorism.
- Four-fold approach: India’s strategy involves intelligence-led operations, pre-emptive action against terror infrastructure, de-radicalisation, and disruption of terror financing and cross-border networks.
- LoC vigilance: Although terror incidents in Kashmir have declined, infiltration across the Line of Control and the presence of enabling intelligence and security networks remain concerns.
- Counter-radicalisation: Preventing recruitment into extremist groups requires community engagement, de-radicalisation and action against online mobilisation.
- Global cooperation: Through platforms such as the SCO and BRICS, India continues to demand that terrorists receive neither safe havens nor political, financial or strategic support.
4 . The Evidence Gap in Dole Politics
- Welfare and dignity: The debate dates back to the 1795 English system of linking wage support to bread prices and family size. While Karl Polanyi saw such support as an early recognition of the human “right to live”, critics argued that it distorted price signals and weakened incentives to work.
- Growing dole politics: Free electricity, bus travel, monthly cash transfers, subsidised food and utility support have become regular features of Indian politics.
- Economic importance: The Economic Survey 2025–26 notes that transfers to women account for around 11–24% of the monthly income of daily-wage workers and 11–87% of the income of self-employed women, showing their importance in an informal economy.
- Fiscal pressure: Unconditional cash transfers to women expanded from two States in 2022–23 to 12 States in 2025–26. PRS estimates their annual cost at around ₹1.68 lakh crore, or nearly 0.5% of GDP. Schemes such as Lakshmir Bhandar, Kaalignar Magalir Urimai Thogai and Orunodoi add to the pressure on State finances.
- Cash is not enough: A transfer may provide immediate relief, but it cannot substitute for durable public goods such as healthcare, childcare, government schools, nutrition and access to work.
- Missing outcome link: Governments often justify transfers through dignity and empowerment, but rarely establish how payments improve consumption, reduce debt, strengthen nutrition, increase schooling or healthcare spending, or improve women’s bargaining power.
- Evidence deficit: An ADB study prepared for the 16th Finance Commission found that India lacks a systematic dataset on government expenditure on cash-transfer schemes, making their overall impact difficult to assess.
- Need for accountability: Large recurring transfers should be supported by a welfare impact statement before implementation, covering objectives, eligibility, expected beneficiaries, five-year fiscal cost, alternatives, leakage, exclusion errors and measurable outcomes.
- Post-implementation review: Household surveys should assess not merely whether money was received, but its impact on consumption, debt, health, education, work incentives, household expenditure and well-being. Anonymised microdata should be made available for independent research.
The Indian Express Gist - 14th September, 2026
1. A Blueprint to Create Productive Jobs: Lessons from Tiruppur
India’s employment challenge
- Manufacturing transition: Agriculture employed 43% of India’s workforce in 2025, while manufacturing accounted for only 12.1%. Manufacturing must therefore expand in a way that creates sufficient employment.
- Job deficit: The NITI Aayog target of creating 2 crore jobs annually remains unmet. Youth unemployment stood at 13.6% in urban areas and 2.5% in rural areas among the 15–29 age group.
- Informal work: A large share of workers lack formal employment and social security. Women’s workforce participation was around 40%, compared with 79.1% for men, highlighting the need for inclusive job creation.
- Quality of work: Being counted as “employed” does not guarantee a regular or secure livelihood. Productive jobs must provide stable wages, social protection and economic resilience.
Tiruppur’s cluster-based model
- Employment-intensive growth: Tiruppur’s knitwear exports increased from $3.3 billion in 2020–21 to $5.3 billion in 2024–25, supporting over one million workers, around 70% of whom are women.
- Specialisation: Nearly 20,000 firms undertake activities such as knitting, dyeing, printing, stitching, finishing, packaging and dispatch, creating an integrated production ecosystem.
- Collective infrastructure: The Tiruppur Exporters Association and other institutions developed shared capabilities. The Nethaji Apparel Park supported expansion, while over ₹850 crore was invested in common effluent-treatment infrastructure after the 2011 Madras High Court order.
- Institutional coordination: Industry associations, government bodies and common facilities helped the cluster address environmental challenges and sustain competitiveness.
- Emerging challenges: Tiruppur must address migrant-worker dependence, worker retention and environmental concerns while moving towards man-made fibres, technical textiles and sustainable high-value manufacturing.
Scaling the model across India
- Export competitiveness: India’s target of $100 billion in textiles and apparel exports by 2030 requires better market access, faster execution and stronger competition with countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam.
- Execution gap: PM MITRA parks can create integrated textile ecosystems, but several projects remain at the planning or construction stage. Infrastructure must be converted into actual production and employment.
- Labour-intensive sectors: Alongside high-technology industries such as chip-making, India must prioritise textiles, garments and other sectors capable of absorbing workers at scale.
- Cluster replication: The Tiruppur model can be expanded through common infrastructure, specialised firms, industry-led skilling, efficient logistics, environmental safeguards and export linkages.
- Employment as the test: India’s real challenge is not merely achieving higher exports but creating 20 million meaningful jobs annually through competitive, labour-intensive manufacturing.
2 . India, Germany & a Green Partnership for the Future
Strengthening environmental cooperation
- Shared climate risks: India and Germany face growing environmental pressures—Germany’s record temperatures, India’s heatwaves and Assam floods, and devastating floods in neighbouring Nepal—making climate resilience a common priority.
- Multilateral commitment: Both countries reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement, Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and BBNJ Agreement, despite rising tariffs, protectionism and weakening multilateralism.
- Institutional framework: India and Germany have maintained diplomatic relations for 75 years and reaffirmed the Partnership for Sustainable Green Development, established in 2022. Ministerial consultations are planned for 2027.
- Broader participation: The forum, titled “Together for Greater Resilience,” brought together policymakers, business leaders, scientists and civil society to discuss climate adaptation, biodiversity and wetland protection.
Green economy and industrial cooperation
- Trade and investment: The India–EU trade agreement can generate jobs and growth across markets representing nearly 2 billion people. More than 2,000 German companies operate in India, with many planning higher sales and investments.
- Manufacturing linkages: Over 60% of German companies manufacture in India to meet domestic demand. Partnerships such as BHEL–Thyssenkrupp Nucera can support environmental technologies and clean-energy manufacturing.
- Circular economy: The partnership offers scope for green steel, low-carbon cement, standardised waste collection, recycling systems, digital traceability and green-finance solutions.
- Industrial decarbonisation: Cooperation can help both countries reduce emissions through cleaner industrial processes and the development of sustainable value chains.
India’s green-transition priorities
- Clean-energy expansion: India’s focus on solar energy, green hydrogen and domestic manufacturing can benefit from German expertise in grid integration, storage systems and regulation.
- Green industrial clusters: Linking renewable energy with industrial clusters can reduce emissions while supporting manufacturing, investment and employment.
- Complementary strengths: India offers scale, a growing clean-energy market and manufacturing potential, while Germany brings experience in technology, regulation, grid management and storage solutions.
- Implementation focus: The partnership must translate commitments into practical projects, technology cooperation, investment and stronger standards for climate resilience and environmental protection.
3 . Anganwadis Shape the Future: Our Responsibility
Anganwadis and child development
- Foundational support: Anganwadis provide supplementary nutrition, growth monitoring, preschool education and community-based support to children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
- Nutrition security: Poshan initiatives emphasise balanced diets comprising cereals, pulses, millets, nuts, seeds, fruits, milk, eggs and oils, while menu boards and social audits improve transparency.
- Early learning: Children are not merely beneficiaries of nutrition schemes; they are early learners. Anganwadis must support cognitive, emotional and physical development during the formative years.
- Quality delivery: A Viksit Bharat requires quality services at the grassroots, with nutrition treated not merely as a government responsibility but as a shared social commitment.
Community ownership and accountability
- Participatory governance: Parents, Panchayati Raj representatives, community committees and Self-Help Groups should participate in Anganwadi activities and monitor service delivery.
- Social audits: Communities can verify entitlements, inspect nutrition records and report gaps, making accountability directly answerable to the families served.
- Behavioural change: Sustained nutrition outcomes require counselling and awareness, not only the distribution of food or cash benefits.
- Local responsibility: Anganwadis must become neighbourhood institutions supported by families and communities, rather than functioning as isolated government centres.
Maternal nutrition and institutional strengthening
- Care before birth: A child’s development begins before birth; maternal nutrition during pregnancy significantly shapes the child’s health and future capabilities.
- PM Matru Vandana Yojana: The scheme supports maternal welfare through financial assistance and has been expanded to provide an additional benefit for the second girl child, strengthening the focus on women and gender equity.
- Integrated approach: Nutrition, healthcare, early learning, counselling and financial support must work together for meaningful outcomes.
- Shared mission: Government schemes can provide resources, but their success depends on community ownership, informed household decisions, social audits and sustained public participation.
