At no other moment in the history of Indian national life after Independence the dalits are as oppressed as this moment: dalits are set ablaze, slaughtered like animals on the slaughtering bench of history, and humiliated like slaves in the marketplace in full daylight. When the social hierarchy is interiorised and reduplicated within the institutionalised life of higher education like the univ
Last year the nation marked the 25th anniversary of the launch of economic liberalisation. Back in those tumultuous days, Yashwant Sinha was an important part of the dramatis personae involved in the reforms process. As finance minister in the short-lived Chandra Shekhar government, he steered the economy during a critical phase, and later, as finance minister in the NDA government, he gave
There are a zillion secret reasons why people start on the one habit that has not even a single benefit, worsens their health from the very first day, uglifies their teeth and makes them smell unbearably foul, and what’s worse, is a major cause of cancer. We are speaking, of course, of smoking or otherwise ingesting tobacco. (Even alcohol in strict moderation is supposed to be good for th
Feel your favourite city. The words that typically come to your mind are liberally fused with adjectives in a valiant effort to give shape to our deeply felt emotions. It is quite common to find descriptions that are a chaotic and joyful mix of traits and idiosyncrasies that one can mistake for a good friend rather than a city. Now, think your favourite city. The words that spring up are analyt
Government projects typically suffer from time overrun and cost overrun. There appears to be no project management discipline, and extension of time and escalation of cost rarely attract the kind of serious attention they should. There is no system of fixation of accountability for these substantial deviations which, as a result, become the norm rather than an exception. Apart from being a refl
For the past 25 years, India has been rising in stature. It is continually called an upcoming superpower but has been unable to reach the promised status. India’s importance in the world is more due to its immense population and potential as a market than any objective assessment of development. India is classified by the World Bank as a lower-middle income country below the likes of Nami
Back in the early 1990s, Shankarsinh Vaghela was (or at least perceived to be) more popular of the two people running the BJP show in Gujarat. Today, the other man is the prime minister, and Vaghela is reduced to a footnote – albeit an important one – in the Narendra Modi saga. On Friday, at a grand meeting in Gandhinagar to celebrate his birthday, V
At 70, Dr Aziz Ahmad, a well-known homeopath and politician now with Congress, still has a busy practice in Abu Bazaar, in old Gorakhpur. During working hours, the lane in which he has a clinic becomes jam-packed with patients and their vehicles. People speak of naming the lane after him. Dr Ahmad takes a dim view of Yogi Adityanath. His wife Talat Aziz was allegedly shot
How do you see the rise of the Bhim Army in Uttar Pradesh? During the last assembly elections in UP, it was a common consensus among many [dalit leaders] that we’d give one more chance to Mayawati. If she comes back, well and good. If she doesn’t, let’s give somebody else a chance. As it turned out, she could not make a comeback. P
In 2016, 38 bills were enacted in parliament. During that year, on average, the time spent on legislative debate (without interruptions) was 23 percent in the Lok Sabha and 16 percent in the Rajya Sabha (calculated from the PRS Legislative Research data). Time is, however, just one measure of the quality of legislative debate. Analysing the content of the debates would provide a
Vinay Shankar Tiwari, one among handful of Brahmin MLAs from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the only non-BJP MLA in the nine constituencies of Gorakhpur, shared with Governance Now his idea of an ideal city and also spoke on the Yogi Adityanath government completing 100 days. What do you have to say about &lsquo
The imminent sell-off of Air India (AI) has evoked a wave of nostalgia, particularly in people of the older generation. There was a time in the 1950s and 1960s when Air India and its country cousin, Indian Airlines, were the pride of the nation; AI was our own airline which was giving tough competition to first-world airlines. Though few Indians could afford to fly then, all Indians took immens
Ram Nath Kovind is widely tipped to get elected as the 14th president of India. His elevation will not be without surprise. Prior to his nomination as the NDA’s candidate, few in the political circles had any idea that he would emerge as the final choice for the office of the president. The entire process leading the election of the president brings out the manner in which Narendra Modi
Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya speaks to Governance now on how the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has fared so far: You have come up with a report card of your 100 days in office after a humungous victory in Uttar Pradesh. Please share with us some of your experiences and achievement. I can
What is the biggest crisis India’s health care sector is going through? It is a loaded question. As you have seen in my book [‘Do We Care: India’s Health System’ Oxford University Press, 2017], whichever party that has been in power at the federal or at the states level has not given due attention to health. The doable thing within the cons
At its most basic level the union budget is a laundry list of the government’s projected receipts and expenditure – just like a typical household budget. But it is a document which all Indians eagerly wait for because everyone expects a discount, an exemption or a freebie. If you are slightly more curious and want to know the rationale behind the budget you would refer to the econom
The debate, arising out of the apprehensions regarding the imposition on our country of a code of conduct prescribed by the nationalist right-wing elements of society which has so far described itself as a proud, plural and diverse society, is not new. It is closely related to the movement for the creation of a Uniform Civil Code for the country that has been debated and discussed for over a hu
What is the role of CVC in curbing corruption and black money? Unlike many things in life, corruption is not episodic. It is not possible to talk of a completely corruption-free society. Corruption is an aspect of human nature which needs to be controlled and tackled. In India, corruption stems from various sources like systemic corruption – certain departments&
After the Narendra Modi government was formed in 2014, a series of measures have been introduced, like the legislative initiatives of amendments in the Prevention of Corruption Act, which are very encouraging. Today, a public servant finds corruption a risky proposition. Let us not forget that the CVC is only one of the many institutions in India with a defined charter. I am confident that we a
Here’s a quick brainteaser. Where is the world’s largest mass migration ever in human history taking place? No, it’s not from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan to Europe. No again. It’s not from the climate distressed African countries or from a destroyed Libya. No, yet again. It’s not from the seemingly volatile Latin American countries and Mexico to the United States an
