It is incumbent on civil society to stand by them as they now take on this legal struggle which may well turn out to be a marathon. Read the following conversation between a young woman, nine days short of her 27th birthday, born and brought up by a single, widowed, cancer-survivor mother in a village in Haryana, a […]
All that the announcement does is to follow exactly what several judgments of the Supreme Court have ordered. The announcement of the schedule for elections for five state assemblies was a much anticipated event. What attracted attention of some observers was the inclusion of requirements for disclosure of criminal antecedents by candidate and political parties […]
The Union minister of state for home affairs was acquitted in a 2000 murder case, but appeal is still pending before the Allahabad high court, and the case is still sub-judice. Ajay Kumar Mishra is one of the three ministers of state in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Some of his personal and professional information can […]
The Sangh parivar knows that its Hindu rashtra project is close to complete. It cares about little else. The nation seems to be in a state of suspended animation. The loss of lives due to the coronavirus pandemic, the unprecedented collapse of the economy, the loss of jobs, the destruction of businesses, the short shrift […]
ट्रांसपेरेंसी इंटरनेशनल की ताजा रिपोर्ट “ग्लोबल करप्शन बैरोमीटर फॉर एशिया’ के अनुसार भ्रष्टाचार के मामले में भारत अब एशिया में शीर्ष पर है। इस रिपोर्ट के अनुसार करीब 50 फीसदी लोगों को अपना काम निकलवाने के लिए रिश्वत देनी पड़ी। इनमें से 63 फीसदी ने इस डर से काई शिकायत भी नहीं की कि इससे […]
बिहार के लक्खीसराय अंतर्गत कई गांवों के लोगों को गर्मी के दिनों में कई किलोमीटर दूर से पेयजल ढो कर लाना पड़ता है। चार सौ घरों के मझियांवा में बारह सौ मतदाता हैं, जो पिछले लोकसभा चुनाव में आज़ादी के बाद मिले सबसे बड़े और क्रांतिकारी वोट के अधिकार का बहिष्कार कर दिया, लेकिन उनकी […]
The recent judgments of the Supreme Court on ‘curbing criminalization in politics’ has left this nation both, abandoned and disappointed. Where one cannot disregard the fact that Indian judicial system in the past had tried to resuscitate free and fair elections through various judicial pronouncements, this time Apex Court has sadly missed out on some […]
The impulse stems from the party’s obsessive belief that Hindus in India are under some sort of demographic siege by Muslims from within and without. The British had their Rt. Hon’ble Jim Hacker, Sir Humphrey Appleby and Barnard Wolley, and the latter two always said “Yes, minister” till Jim Hacker got promoted and they started […]
“The voter [in India] is subject to the law of the two ‘Ms’, money and muscle.” – Christophe Jaffrelot (2002) I sometimes wonder whether we can ever hope to realise the aspirations of our freedom fighters, who sacrificed so much to gain independence from colonial rule. Sadly, foreign domination has been replaced in some measure […]
There needs to be a broad national consensus on what to do if no party gets a majority. Trying to predict election outcomes is fraught with uncertainties. The current Lok Sabha election arguably is even more so. Still, a commonly held view seems to be that no party is likely to get to the half-way […]