All Past articles on Domestic Political Trends How India’s Politics is Funded and Why it Needs to Change Article This article highlights the Supreme Court's ruling against the 'Electoral Bonds' scheme, exposing the pervasive issue of unaccounted political funding in India. It calls for urgent reforms to ensure transparency, accountability, and equity in political funding to curb corruption and promote fair democratic processes. By Nitin Sethi The Influence of Indian Diaspora: 2024 Election Dynamics Article This article explores the role of the Indian diaspora in India's elections, as they mobilize support for political parties and advocate for greater representation. By Dr. Ajay Dubey Indian Elections 2024: Social Media, Misinformation, and Regulatory Challenges Article How India navigates the many competing forces and interests at play in the social media landscape will be critical in determining the future and health of its democracy. By Rohini Lakshané Will Women be a Decisive Force in India’s 2024 Elections? Article Given the steep rise in their participation in elections, women have become a sought after constituency for those running for power. By Dr. Rashmi Singh India Votes 2024: Debates, Moods and Context Article As India, the world’s largest democracy, heads towards its 2024 general elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of Narendra Modi seeks another five year term amidst collective mobilisation by opposition forces. By Kaustubh Deka Understanding youth protests and activism in India’s northeast Conversation India’s northeast has had a chequered history of youth movements and has been home to some of the recent strong pro-democracy movements in the country. Being young in India’s northeast necessitates acts of social interventions of various kinds. In this conversation, Dr. Kaustubh Deka and Dr. Soibam Haripriya reflect on the locality of youth movements and the long history of the culture of protest in the region, as well as its larger resonance. By Dr. Soibam Haripriya and Kaustubh Deka Youth & Democracy: 5 Poems Poem The prose of Indian poet Haripriya Soibam describes youth's struggle to preserve and promote democracy. Read her five poems for "Young voices on the rise - Youth and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region". By Dr. Soibam Haripriya This land is mine In this article, the authors explain that the recent amendments to India’s citizenship law, and the processes for listing Indian residents and Indian citizens in national registers together constitute an unprecedented threat to India’s secular democratic constitution. It explains that this is the first time a legal regime is being established which differentiates based on religious identity, which strikes at the heart of the humanist and inclusive framework of the Indian constitution. By Harsh Mander and Mohsin Alam Bhat Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019: A step towards undoing the Indian secular democracy The CAA is not the first and by no means will be the last attempt to further the agenda of Hindu Rashtra. One can anticipate many such moves meant to keep the hatred against Muslims simmering. However, the divisive politics will only hurtle India onto the treacherous road of relentless anxiety, uncertainty and injustice, exposing million of its own citizens against the vagaries of statelessness. By Neha Dabhade ‘We will give blood, but not our land’: The Citizenship Amendment Act protests in the context of Northeast India India’s Northeast, a land of volatile identities having an uneasy experience with migration, is held to-gether by a fragile consensus forged in the larger interest of peace and co-existence. The seams of these fault-lines pass by people’s lived realities, always at the risk of being burst open with an act of insensitivity. The enactment of the CAA is considered by many as one such act. By Kaustubh Deka The riotous colours of heartland politics It is election season in India, and there are few places like Uttar Pradesh to get a feel which way the wind is blowingIt is election season in India, and there are few places like Uttar Pradesh to get a feel which way the wind is blowing By Nikhil Roshan Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party: In defiance of a tired democracy After it was sworn in as the ruling party at Delhi’s Legislative Assembly in December, 2013 following a vote brimming with anti-incumbent sentiment and popular disenchantment with corrupt regimes, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has had nothing short of a roller coaster ride. This photo essay offers a few glimpses of its rocky ride through their 49 days in office in the first two months of 2014. By Nikhil Roshan The complicated rise of India’s regional parties The “rise” of regional political parties seems to be an eternal theme on the Indian political scene. The exponential increase in the number of parties contesting elections, particularly over the past two decades, and the shrinking margins of victory in parliamentary elections are direct results of the emergence of new regional power centers. By Milan Vaishnav The Aam Aadmi Party: A democratic revolt against the old order Emerged from an anti-corruption movement, the Aam Aadmi Party has made a spectacular entrance into Indian politics and challenged the rules of Indian politics. By Ajaz Ashraf The UPA II: Looking back, looking forward In the late spring or the early summer of 2014 India will conduct its sixteenth general election. The battle lines between the two principal, national political parties, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are now being drawn. By Sumit Ganguly
How India’s Politics is Funded and Why it Needs to Change Article This article highlights the Supreme Court's ruling against the 'Electoral Bonds' scheme, exposing the pervasive issue of unaccounted political funding in India. It calls for urgent reforms to ensure transparency, accountability, and equity in political funding to curb corruption and promote fair democratic processes. By Nitin Sethi
The Influence of Indian Diaspora: 2024 Election Dynamics Article This article explores the role of the Indian diaspora in India's elections, as they mobilize support for political parties and advocate for greater representation. By Dr. Ajay Dubey
Indian Elections 2024: Social Media, Misinformation, and Regulatory Challenges Article How India navigates the many competing forces and interests at play in the social media landscape will be critical in determining the future and health of its democracy. By Rohini Lakshané
Will Women be a Decisive Force in India’s 2024 Elections? Article Given the steep rise in their participation in elections, women have become a sought after constituency for those running for power. By Dr. Rashmi Singh
India Votes 2024: Debates, Moods and Context Article As India, the world’s largest democracy, heads towards its 2024 general elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of Narendra Modi seeks another five year term amidst collective mobilisation by opposition forces. By Kaustubh Deka
Understanding youth protests and activism in India’s northeast Conversation India’s northeast has had a chequered history of youth movements and has been home to some of the recent strong pro-democracy movements in the country. Being young in India’s northeast necessitates acts of social interventions of various kinds. In this conversation, Dr. Kaustubh Deka and Dr. Soibam Haripriya reflect on the locality of youth movements and the long history of the culture of protest in the region, as well as its larger resonance. By Dr. Soibam Haripriya and Kaustubh Deka
Youth & Democracy: 5 Poems Poem The prose of Indian poet Haripriya Soibam describes youth's struggle to preserve and promote democracy. Read her five poems for "Young voices on the rise - Youth and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region". By Dr. Soibam Haripriya
This land is mine In this article, the authors explain that the recent amendments to India’s citizenship law, and the processes for listing Indian residents and Indian citizens in national registers together constitute an unprecedented threat to India’s secular democratic constitution. It explains that this is the first time a legal regime is being established which differentiates based on religious identity, which strikes at the heart of the humanist and inclusive framework of the Indian constitution. By Harsh Mander and Mohsin Alam Bhat
Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019: A step towards undoing the Indian secular democracy The CAA is not the first and by no means will be the last attempt to further the agenda of Hindu Rashtra. One can anticipate many such moves meant to keep the hatred against Muslims simmering. However, the divisive politics will only hurtle India onto the treacherous road of relentless anxiety, uncertainty and injustice, exposing million of its own citizens against the vagaries of statelessness. By Neha Dabhade
‘We will give blood, but not our land’: The Citizenship Amendment Act protests in the context of Northeast India India’s Northeast, a land of volatile identities having an uneasy experience with migration, is held to-gether by a fragile consensus forged in the larger interest of peace and co-existence. The seams of these fault-lines pass by people’s lived realities, always at the risk of being burst open with an act of insensitivity. The enactment of the CAA is considered by many as one such act. By Kaustubh Deka
The riotous colours of heartland politics It is election season in India, and there are few places like Uttar Pradesh to get a feel which way the wind is blowingIt is election season in India, and there are few places like Uttar Pradesh to get a feel which way the wind is blowing By Nikhil Roshan
Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party: In defiance of a tired democracy After it was sworn in as the ruling party at Delhi’s Legislative Assembly in December, 2013 following a vote brimming with anti-incumbent sentiment and popular disenchantment with corrupt regimes, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has had nothing short of a roller coaster ride. This photo essay offers a few glimpses of its rocky ride through their 49 days in office in the first two months of 2014. By Nikhil Roshan
The complicated rise of India’s regional parties The “rise” of regional political parties seems to be an eternal theme on the Indian political scene. The exponential increase in the number of parties contesting elections, particularly over the past two decades, and the shrinking margins of victory in parliamentary elections are direct results of the emergence of new regional power centers. By Milan Vaishnav
The Aam Aadmi Party: A democratic revolt against the old order Emerged from an anti-corruption movement, the Aam Aadmi Party has made a spectacular entrance into Indian politics and challenged the rules of Indian politics. By Ajaz Ashraf
The UPA II: Looking back, looking forward In the late spring or the early summer of 2014 India will conduct its sixteenth general election. The battle lines between the two principal, national political parties, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are now being drawn. By Sumit Ganguly