The National Implications of the BJD’s Stunning Victory in Odisha’s Local Bodies
As the BJP scripts victories in many states, there are lessons to be learnt on how a regional party like the BJD has repeatedly defeated the saffron party.
India’s Potato-Chip Tussle: How Gujarat Farmers Won a Battle—but Not the War—Against Pepsico
On 3 December, a tribunal revoked the sole rights granted by the government to Pepsico over a potato used to make its best-selling Lays brand of chips. But while the order delighted farmers, it did not reflect India’s unique law that allows farmers to trade in even those seeds protected as intellectual property.
Why BJP’s Hindutva Runs into the Tamil Wall
While the BJP has succeeded in gaining an entry into every state in the country, it has failed to do so in Tamil Nadu. A substantial reason for the failure of BJP’s Hindutva in the state lies in the integration of Muslims during the making of the composite Tamil identity.
Delayed Audit Reports, Lower Output Marked Last Two Years of CAG’s Functioning
As the tenure of the current CAG of India comes to an end in August, just how impactful has the national auditor been in recent times?
When Words are Prey: What Demagogues do with Words
On this riverbank, saints or thieves You’ll know as soon as they talk The character deep within Comes out by the road of the mouth (Kabir, translated by Linda Hess and Sukhvindar Singh) Words are the Casualty The 2019 general elections in India will be remembered for the ugly war of words. It was not…
Letter to the Election Commission of India
Written by 64 former civil servants, endorsed by 83 veterans, academics and other concerned citizens. Shri Sunil Arora, Chief Election Commissioner, Shri Ashok Lavasa, Election Commissioner, and Shri Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India. Sirs, Serious Irregularities in the Conduct of General Elections, 2019 We are a group of former civil servants that…
Democracy Can Die in Daylight Too
Modesty is not a virtue of the media in the pixel age, in which preening is a 24×7 pastime. There is neither a demand for it from consumers, nor a supply of it from the practitioners. Equilibrium has been achieved in the marketplace of the mind. Even so, while print, electronic and digital news purveyors…
Modi’s Electoral Triumph
The result of the recent Indian elections, which gave Narendra Modi’s Hindu Supremacist Party a second five-year term, confirms the basic argument regarding the nature of fascism. There is a fundamental difference between the 2014 elections that brought Modi to power and the 2019 elections. In the 2014 elections Modi’s victory was made possible by…
Is This My Vote?
Is This My Vote? Electronic voting machines (EVMs) are magic machines that convert candidates into representatives. This magic depends on the number of votes counted on the EVM as having been cast in favour of a candidate. Candidates and people accepting the EVM count as a representation of the people’s mandate depends on their trust…
Is This My Vote?
Electronic voting machines (EVMs) are magic machines that convert candidates into representatives. This magic depends on the number of votes counted on the EVM as having been cast in favour of a candidate. Candidates and people accepting the EVM count as a representation of the people’s mandate depends on their trust in EVMs. The…