Representational Photo

The Burden of the Disenfranchised and Excluded in India's Democracy

Apart from risks related to the integrity of the process, the SIR process also turns what is celebrated as the festival of Indian democracy into a nightmare for the excluded. It can create divisions and split neighbourhoods, particularly when the numbers are large and hotly contested, as they have been in the most recent example in the state of West Bengal. 

India's Gen Z Cockroach Revolt: Ignoring Youthspeak can be at Democracy's Own Peril

The rise of the Cockroach Janata Party may ultimately fade as quickly as it appeared. Most internet movements do. But the frustrations driving it are real and unlikely to disappear soon. Millions of young Indians feel politically unheard and economically cornered. Increasingly, they are expressing that frustration not through traditional political participation, but through irony, parody and nihilistic humour.

Can the Cockroach Janata Party Survive Beyond Social Media Hashtags?

At another level, it reveals a growing impatience with conventional politics. When citizens feel unheard, they often resort to satire as a form of protest. The joke becomes a shield, allowing them to express dissent without fully committing to a cause. But there is also a risk

Of Cockroaches, Prejudice and the Language of Justice

The tendency to over-categorise and group citizens under labels is a slippery slope. It leads to the ‘them’ versus ‘us’ divide that silences voices standing up to the dominant narratives of our times, oversimplifies what are complex issues and, in the end, does not serve the cause of justice. Categorising all environmentalists or all trade unions or indeed the youth, positively or negatively, betrays a prejudice Of Cockroaches, Prejudice and the Language of Justice

More on Public Policy and Governance

Gandhi to Modi: The debasement of India’s political discourse

Contrast this exchange against the utterly crass and debased rhetoric, both during the election season and otherwise, that India’s political and cultural leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, employ.

Unveiling the complexities of Naxalism: Socio-economic disparities, violence, and resistance in contemporary India

The narratives elucidate how historical marginalisation, compounded by contemporary socio-economic inequities, lays fertile ground for the propagation of Naxalite ideology, which promises liberation from caste-based oppression and economic deprivation.

War drums in the Middle East are bad news for the economy

The war clouds just keep getting thicker and darker. And the warmongers have so far outshouted those pleading for peace. The leaders have failed to bring any sanity, let alone ceasefire or peace talks. All this does not bode well for the Indian economy, which has already been struggling with the challenges of inflation, stagnant private investment, high youth unemployment and widening inequality.

Electoral bonds scandal in India speaks of a compromised private sector

This is the inner rottenness of India’s growth story, a self-imposed colonisation of a nation that has lost its standing, never mind the growing GDP.

If Trump returns, will India-US economic ties take a hit?

The significance of American investment is that it plays an important role in transforming India’s industrialization and paving the path to challenge China to become the next-generation supply chain hub.

Is India's democracy in peril?

Why then is Modi sullying the glory of his third term by going to the polls with Arvind Kejriwal possibly barred from campaigning? 

Can the people of India prevent the 'schism' of the nation's soul?

The national mood was well summed up by a cartoon that showed all others in the race locked up, with just the incumbent in the field, and then the question, half in jest: ‘Who is winning?’.

Is India at all serious about fighting pollution?

But how does one counter the Swiss-based air-quality monitoring group IQAir which reports that India was the third most polluted country in the world after Bangladesh and Pakistan in 2023 and Delhi was the “most polluted” capital in the world?

Can India emerge as an alternate supply chain to global industries?

Essentially the world is looking for alternate supply chains which began with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues even today with growing trade tensions between the two camps.

The CAA is yet another instrument in the divisive politics of India's ruling dispensation

The largest persecuted groups in recent times have been Tamils (largely Hindus) in Sri Lanka and Rohingyas (largely Muslims) in Myanmar. Why have they been left out from the list of the ones who will be given shelter citizenship here in India under the CAA?

India's looming water crisis: Need to raise public awareness on water conservation as a national priority

India has only 2 percent of the world’s freshwater supply but 17 percent of the world's population. The present predicament of people in Bengaluru, skipping work to stand in long queues for a bucket of water is a sobering reminder.

The Dalit community in Pakistan battles fear and discrimination

While Dalits in India face atrocity, abuse and exploitation, in Pakistan there is "discrimination and distancing in the social and economic domains," Khangarani said. 

India's basmati rice exports at risk over Red Sea attacks

India’s basmati exports are significantly affected as over one-third of production is shipped to West Asia, Europe, North Africa and North America via the Red Sea.

INDUS-X 2024 marks a new high in India-US defence industry cooperation

India-US defence cooperation has made fair headway leading to  INDUS-X which has initiated the information network and regulatory mechanisms to deepen defence technology collaboration that is poised to strengthen the bonds of US-India partnership, innovation and deterrence.

Promotion of faith-based knowledge is undermining scientific temper in India

The Indian Science Congress has for the last many years been accepting papers that have no scientific basis and are based on mythology. Pained by this all prominent scientists came together and issued a statement calling upon the government to stop the undermining of scientific methods and thinking