Modi’s BJP Upset in New Delhi Elections
February 14, 2015 3 min. read

The results from last weekend’s state government elections in New Delhi have been tallied, and the message on Tuesday was clear – voters are still fed up with corruption.

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The Year That Was: India in 2011
December 19, 2011 4 min. read

The Hindu Cartoonscope and Amul butter cartoons continue to be a great way to capture news in India with humor and satire.  This Year in Review presents a montage of cartoons from the two sources to present highlights of what happened in India in 2011. Reports of political scams and corruption continued to surface throughout 2011. 2G allocation, hoarding […]

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Summer of Protest
August 22, 2011 7 min. read

The fireworks celebrating India’s Independence Day on August 15 illuminated shifting political terrain.  Appropriating the motifs of the anti-colonial struggle against the British Raj, the anti-corruption movement that has been gathering momentum for months erupted in full force, staging the most widespread popular demonstrations in decades.  The protests presented Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s seven-year-old government […]

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Follow the Money
August 9, 2011 6 min. read

  Santosh Hegde blows the lid on another mega-scandal The latest malefaction to explode in India’s seemingly unending season of scandals concerns the illegal mining and export of iron-ore deposits in the southwestern state of Karnataka.  According to an extensive report – some 25,000 pages in length, with the summary running almost 500 – released […]

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Missing Links in India's "Fast-Track" Approach
June 15, 2011 5 min. read

Much has been written and discussed about the recent ‘civil society’ protests against corruption in India. Social activist Anna Hazare’s four day fast in April compelled the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to re-consider the Lokpal Bill through a joint committee involving ministers and members of civil society. Yoga guru, christened as ‘Baba’ Ramdev, launched his […]

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Agents of Change?
June 13, 2011 5 min. read

As with so much about contemporary India, the political trajectory and ultimate impact of its expanding middle class is a moving target. Change is indeed happening, though a healthy skepticism about its exact contours and meaning is not out of place.

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Anna Hazare's Initiative: People's Movement in a Constitutional Democracy?
April 7, 2011 8 min. read

It is important to keep Gandhi untarnished. The Gandhian can be negotiated with. Two developments in India during the past week convinced me of the above approach in Indian politics. American journalist Joseph Lelyveld’s book The Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India created furore in the country. The book has been banned […]

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