Editorial: Cash is vital to the Indian economy because it allows people to escape the crushing weight of state bureaucracy. Reduced reliance on cash could be a useful indicator that Mr. Modi’s reforms are succeeding. But punishing Indians for their rational preferences will only backfire economically and politically. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Jeff Smith writes: With the possible exception of the United States, no country has been as successful as Japan in persuading India to abandon the artificial constraints of nonalignment. And no relationship is likely to prove of greater consequence to the regional and global order that the three countries seek to defend and uphold. From “soft power” to “hard power,” and from the South China Sea to Africa, India and Japan are constructing the framework for a transformative twenty-first-century partnership. – The National Interest