Articles by Mark Tully
Brexit lessons: India should stick to its middle road
The nation should find a path between radical socialism and rampant capitalism and hold in balance the nationalism and globalisation tension

Updated on Jul 09, 2016 09:50 PM IST
India has much to lose from a Brexit victory
If Britain exits the European Union, one of the casualties could be the unity of the United Kingdom

Published on Jun 11, 2016 11:15 PM IST
Education does not come only from universities
This obsession with university education leads to job-seekers being assessed by the number of their degrees

Updated on May 15, 2016 12:46 AM IST
Religious studies can keep secularism alive in India
At this time of religious conflicts, there is an urgent need throughout the globe for a greater understanding of the phenomenon we call religion. There is perhaps no country where this is more important than India

Updated on Apr 24, 2016 11:21 AM IST
We need rules to rule out political interference
We can’t just blame the professionals for being spineless. We the people are spineless because we put up with governments abrogating power to themselves

Updated on Mar 26, 2016 10:59 PM IST
The world at large knows what’s happening in India
Hatred is an inevitable outcome of political patriotism. Politicians create enemies to fuel the patriotism by providing someone to hate.

Updated on Feb 28, 2016 02:21 AM IST
Missing on Paris climate summit agenda: A return to nature
If technology succeeds, we may well think we can continue our present lifestyle with a clear conscience

Updated on Dec 06, 2015 07:37 AM IST
Rumours can light fires, which then spread rapidly
The brutal lynching of Mohammed Ikhlaq and the severe injury caused to his son were instigated by a rumour, one of the most powerful weapons in the hands of those who want to provoke hatred between communities. A PM who has cultivated so assiduously the friendship of world leaders must be aware of the threat to his reputation that rumour-mongering poses.

Updated on Oct 10, 2015 10:11 PM IST
Hindustan Times |
Mark Tully
A balance between public and private is required
Private versus public, should the private sector or the market provide services — that hoary debate emerged again last month in two sectors of the economy, health and education. These are crucial sectors if India is to correct its lop-sided growth and grow inclusively writes Mark Tully

Updated on Jun 10, 2017 05:58 PM IST
Hindustan Times |
Mark Tully
We act as if we’ve dominion over nature’s resources
The arguments in the run-up to the Paris conference indicate that once again the chance to use the climate crisis as an opportunity will be lost — an opportunity to get people to at least think that maybe they would be happier if their lifestyle did not consume so much of nature’s resources, if they became her friend rather than her enemy.

Updated on Aug 16, 2015 12:53 AM IST
None |
Mark Tully
Economic growth should not mean disdain for faith
Religion is still a powerful force in this country but secularisation is also becoming more and more influential. India needs economic growth but the more it follows the neo-liberal economic model to achieve growth, the greater is the danger of secularisation clashing with religion.

Updated on Jul 19, 2015 09:30 AM IST
Displaced tribals are adrift in an alien world
In all the heat being generated by the government’s amendments to the land acquisition law, the tribals are being left out in the cold.

Updated on Jun 21, 2015 12:41 AM IST
The border deal can open many doors in South Asia
Because of its size India is feared in the neighbourhood. It must remove that fear if South Asia is to reap the rewards of regional cooperation because the burden of responsibility lies on its shoulders, writes Mark Tully.

Updated on May 23, 2015 10:07 PM IST
This is a barefoot fact, villages may wither away
With Delhi’s air being declared the most polluted in the world and one of the causes of that pollution being massive migration from the countryside, should we really agree with Ambedkar when, in reply to Gandhi’s assertion that India lives in its villages, he asked, “But must it continue to do so?” Most economists are on the side of Ambedkar because in their view urbanisation is essential for development.

Updated on Apr 25, 2015 10:40 PM IST
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Mark Tully
A ‘blame’ policy is worse than policy failure
The pictures this month of young men clinging like leeches to the wall of an examination centre in Bihar, feeding answers to examinees, symbolised a dilemma of Indian governance — the problem of matching plans and policies with ground realities. All was well on paper. The carefully planned schedule of exams took place, but the reality was that they were a fiasco.

Updated on Mar 28, 2015 10:45 PM IST
Newspapers for readers, Parliament for voters
Events in Britain this February indicate that voters are not protesting sufficiently strongly against the role of big money in their democracy, and when it comes to the press, the old question ‘who will guard the guardians?’ has still to be answered.

Updated on Mar 01, 2015 10:29 AM IST
PM Modi knows the power of radio, let's enjoy it too
PM Narendra Modi has another feather in his turban. The management of the Obama visit was superb. Inevitably one or two questions were raised but they were comparatively minor matters, writes Mark Tully.

Updated on Feb 01, 2015 12:27 AM IST
Science is spectacular, but humanities matter
There is the danger that with all the emphasis on the usefulness of science, the value of humanities will be forgotten, writes Mark Tully.

Updated on Jan 04, 2015 02:05 AM IST
Politically, legally and litter-ally incorrect
When those self-styled moralists take the law into their own hands — burning books, threatening artists, attacking bars, and harassing young couples — they should be punished. Sadly all too often they are not — another example of the government seeing it as PC to disobey its own laws.

Updated on Dec 13, 2014 10:46 PM IST
Imagine a world with no religion, no partition and no 9/11
To win votes on a religious basis voters have to be convinced that their religion is threatened or they are being discriminated against because of their faith, whether they are the majority of an electorate or a minority, writes Mark Tully.

Updated on Nov 16, 2014 09:50 AM IST
Wasting the potential of our vast wastelands
Reclaimed wastelands could more than compensate for land lost to mining, industry and infrastructure. The pulses produced would go a long way in combating malnutrition, writes Mark Tully.

Updated on Oct 19, 2014 02:23 AM IST
PM Modi is not a listener; so be prepared for it
PM Narendra Modi has come to remind me of an old-fashioned headmaster. He reportedly treats his ministers as schoolchildren, telling them what to wear, who to meet, and what to say, writes Mark Tully.

Updated on Aug 31, 2014 07:52 PM IST
India’s look east window should not be jammed
Even if a middle road is followed India won’t make a success of looking East if it’s governance is not effective. Can Modi provide the strong government managing an Eastern economy requires asks Mark Tully.

Updated on Aug 03, 2014 01:26 AM IST
A pampered lot: why India gives NRIs special status
NRIs are a pampered lot. Even though they have taken up foreign citizenship, they have their own minister and many other privileges. But does this special status give them the right to interfere in Indian affairs? Mark Tully explores.

Updated on Jul 06, 2014 02:24 PM IST
Give them the fishing-rod and a bit of fish too
It is the elites who are the danger to Modi. Their influence is disproportionate to what should be their importance and they believe that what is good for them is good for the rest of India.

Updated on Jun 08, 2014 12:04 AM IST
A dream that may end in a quick wake-up call
When this long, long, election eventually comes to an end and the votes are counted we will know whether Indian voters have opted for the uncertainty of the promise of a bright new future, or the security of a tired past. Mark Tully writes.

Updated on May 10, 2014 10:02 PM IST
Hindustan Times |
Mark Tully
Manmohan Singh: A modest politician let down by his party
How will history see Manmohan Singh? History’s overall verdict on Manmohan singh’s tenure as prime minister is likely to be positive, writes Mark Tully.

Updated on Apr 19, 2014 11:46 PM IST
Election has been reduced to a beauty contest between two men
If a remarkable book written last year by Moises Naim, the former Venezuelan development minister, is right, whoever wins the election is likely to have even less power than earlier PMs. Mark Tully writes.

Updated on Mar 23, 2014 03:07 AM IST
Hindustan Times |
Mark Tully
Ending corruption not enough for aam admi
The media's daily search for a new scam, has created the misleading belief that corruption is the root of all evil; eradicate it and India will become a model of good governance, writes Mark Tully.

Updated on Dec 29, 2013 03:23 PM IST
Last of British priests in India passes away
Father Ian Weathrall, the last British member of the Church of North India’s Delhi Brotherhood died at the age of 91 on Tuesday. He joined the Brotherhood, a community of priests, in 1951 and lived in their Delhi house until his death after a long battle against cancer.

Updated on May 02, 2013 12:42 AM IST
Hindustan Times | , New Delhi
Mark Tully