Democracy Deficit in Bangladesh
Erstwhile Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina fled from her country on August 5, 2024 and took shelter in India. She had to resign and flee from the country of her birth as she failed to manage the on-going student’s protests on the street of Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. Number of events has taken place in the aftermath: refusal of visa by America; UK’s refusal to host Hasina on its land; pros and cons of her continuing to be there in India; invitation to Mohd. Yunus, the nobel laureate to head the interim government of Bangladesh and his final assumption of power; sagging of economy that was quite on positive track; subsequent absolve of Yunus of all the charges and cases in which was implicated and was in legal net; release of Khalida Zia and many other political opponents;
lifting of ban on Islamic parties, organizations and Read More...
Tossing Turns in Democracies
June 9, 2024 elections for the 720-member European Parliament shook the continent’s politics.Elections of European Union (EU) consisting of 27 member states coincided with elections of some other member-states. Anti-EU right-wing populist parties registered major gains. Countries like Finland, Belarus, Portugal, Slovakia, Lithuania, Belgium and Iceland have also faced elections with noticeable results, notable change in government as well as change in policy direction.
Far-right National Rally (NR) had unprecedented success to its keg as it won more than double the votes of Macron’s centrist alliance. Consequently, President Emmanuel Macron forced snap parliamentary elections in France two years before the scheduled time. NR of Marine Le Pen got 143 deputies elected in the 577-member National Assembly, marking an improvement over 2022 results when her party had bagged 89 seats, and in 2017 just six seats. New Popular Front (NPF), a broad alliance of left-wing parties secured Read More...
Fractured Mandate and Democracy
Fractured mandate on June 4, 2024 reveals that democracy in India is not only sustaining but has been thriving. Mainstream media projected the results as positive-sum game for all political parties. Obviously lot depends on the way one understands it: the glass is half-full for some, whereas half-empty for others. Reality could be deciphered that Indian democracy has been maturing in spite of irrelevant comments about it in some segments of international media. Voters of India deserve unlimited appreciation for the same.
History and the erstwhile global literature have hardly ever located a democracy which could be declared as a ‘perfect democracy’. Democracies have been praised but advised in myriad of ways to achieve perfection with policy interventions and engineering state’s institutions. Indian democracy has never been an exception to Read More...
Electoral Campaigns in India
Face of electoral campaign has drastically changed with the growing advent of technology and digital platforms. Erstwhile tools like newspapers, television, radio, advertisements, and hoardings etc., too have undergone digital. Social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter now X, You Tube, and Instagram) and WhatsApp have changed the way campaigns are being approached by different political parties. However, rallies and road shows by star campaigners of parties have not lost its relevant and have been happening in full-swing. Political parties have fast adapted in terms of evolving strategies with the ever-growing interface between technology and electoral campaigns. New normal is proving conducive even for cash-strapped parties. The contests are being organized not only on streets of India but also in the vast expanse of cyberspace.
Campaigning has really gone smart. All political parties are becoming increasingly innovative to woo the Gen-Z and Millennial voters as India continues to be young with 65% of its voters are in below the age of Read More...
Gen Z and General Elections
World’s largest democracy is on its way to world’s largest electoral exercise. Numbers of factors are going to determine the fate of political parties, including the Gen Z (first time voters).Generation X (Gen X) were those born after World War II ‘Baby Boom’ i.e., during 1965 to 1980. Subsequently, Millennials (also known as Generation Y) were born during 1981 to 1996. Gen Y are called as ‘Echo Boomers’ for high birth rate during the period exceeding the ‘Baby Boom’ period after World War II. Generation Z (Gen Z or Zoomers) is the generation after Millennials and before Generation Alpha, i.e., those born during 1997 to 2012. Most of them are said to have interface with digital technology at very young age and are well versed with internet and social media. Mostly, they are the children of Gen X. Generation Alpha starts at 2013 and ends in around 2025. Generation Alpha, are mostly the children of Millennials, and waiting to be voters.
Almost all Gen X, Y, and Z are voters in the 2024 elections. Millennials were the determining factors in 2014 and 2019 General Elections Read More...
General Elections 2024
The term of 17th Lok Sabha will expire on June 16, 2024. Election Commission of Indian (ECI) announced the dates for General Elections to 18th Lok Sabha and State Assemblies of select States (Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim) on March 16, 2024 to complete the entire process on time. The electoral process for 543 seats of Lok Sabha shall begin on March 19, 2024 and would be conducted in seven phases with last one being on June 01, 2024. Finally, votes counting and declaration of results will take place on June 04, 2024. Over 97 crore voters (49.7 crore males and 47.1 crore females) are eligible to cast their votes on 10.5 lakhs polling stations spread across the length and breadth of the country.
Consequently, the poll campaign of all political parties got a kickstart. Erstwhile political leaders,journalists, retired and on-job bureaucrats, academicians, celebrities, and social workers have started thronging at their choice of party offices for ticket to contest. The stories of ‘aya raam gaya ram’ i.e., those floating leaders who Read More...
Electoral Bonds
On February 15, 2024, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India delivered a milestone verdict. It declared anonymous political donations via ‘Electoral Bonds’ are unconstitutional as it violates the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. The Court also struck down the amendments made to Income Tax Act and Section 29C of The Representation of People Act, 1951 which had enabled the political donations through electoral bonds. The Court also held that amendment of Section 182 of the Companies Act, 2013 sounds arbitrary as it permits unlimited political contributions by companies. It was made at par with the donations made by individuals.
Supreme Court accordingly directed: SBI to stop immediately the issuance of electoral bonds; provide details of bonds transacted since April 12, 2019 to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by March 6, 2024; ECI to put all Read More...
Electoral Bonds
On February 15, 2024, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India delivered a milestone verdict. It declared anonymous political donations via ‘Electoral Bonds’ are unconstitutional as it violates the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. The Court also struck down the amendments made to Income Tax Act and Section 29C of The Representation of People Act, 1951 which had enabled the political donations through electoral bonds. The Court also held that amendment of Section 182 of the Companies Act, 2013 sounds arbitrary as it permits unlimited political contributions by companies. It was made at par with the donations made by individuals.
Supreme Court accordingly directed: SBI to stop immediately the issuance of electoral bonds; provide details of bonds transacted since April 12, 2019 to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by March 6, 2024; ECI to put all Read More...
Bharat Ratna to Karpuri Thakur
Socialist icon and known affectionately as “Jan Nayak” (people’s leader) Late Karpuri Thakur of Bihar has been conferred the Bharat Ratna posthumously on his birth centenary on 24th January 2024. A product of India’s freedom struggle, and an embodiment of ‘Social Justice’ in independent India, Thakur became the 49th Indian to be conferred this award. Thakur has been the tallest backward caste leader in Bihar and considered to be the mentor of contemporary leaders like Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan. Karpuri’s village Pitaunjhia has been renamed as Karpuri Gram in Samastipur district of Bihar.
He became member of the Legislative Assembly in 1952 and continued to be so till his death in 1988, excluding his stint as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha in 1977, and when he lost the Parliament Read More...
Conference of Parties-28
Conference of Parties-28 (COP28) began in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) on November 30, 2023 and continued till December 13, 2023 under the auspices of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). COPs, which are an annual event, over the last few years have rarely finished on time as the last minute negotiations get derailed and it takes time to hammer out a consensus document. COP28 was no exception to this as it took a day extra than scheduled. It becomes challenging for the host country to build consensus because issue of global warming with consequent climate change is pressing and global south is getting increasingly vulnerable.
Climate change induced disasters are becoming frequent across the globe and issues of addressing it are getting contentious and complex. COP28 had the major challenge of initiating the end of use of fossil fuels oil, gas and coal, or to phase it out, since it is by far the biggest source of the greenhouse gas emissions that causes global warming. COP28 was attended by more than Read More...
India-Canada Bilateral Issues
Decimation of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 has pushed Indo-Canada bilateral ties to nadir. Nijjar was gunned down by unidentified attackers outside a temple in Canada. He was a Sikh separatist leader advocating for Khalisthan as homeland for Sikhs and has been operating from Canada. He was designated as terrorist by India in 2020. The incident ensued a ‘war of words’ between India and Canada.It was diplomatic unbecoming of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he alleged on September 18, 2023 in the House of Commons, that an agent of Indian government was involved into the mayhem. Five Eyes Intelligence partnerships of US, UK Australia, New Zealand and Canada claimed of ‘shared intelligence’ on the issue.
e. New York Times reported that the US had provided the context and the Canadian intercepts of Indian communications may have been the 'smoking gun.' Though, Trudeau’s allegations were baseless for lack of supporting evidence. India sought concrete evidence to support the Read More...
Maldives’ Challenges to Indian Diplomacy
Mohamed Muizzu, candidate of People’s National Congress (PNC)-Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) won in a run-off to the Presidential elections in Maldives held on September 30, 2023, with 54% of the total votes polled. Earlier he had received 46% of the total votes against 39% of the incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), held on September 9, 2023. Muizzu is scheduled to take oath of office in November 2023. Abdullah Yameen president from 2013 to 2018 is serving a prison term for money laundering and corruption, which facilitated Muizzu, an engineer and housing minister for seven years to emerge as a fallback candidate. Cracks within the ruling party between Solih and former President Mohamed Nasheed may have facilitated Muizzu to excel.
Maldives strategic location across the maritime zone of Read More...
Political Empowerment of Women
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Eighth) Amendment Bill, 2023 was finally adopted by the Lok Sabha on 20th September 2023 as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam to give it an emotional touch or accord a true respect to India’s sizeable female population. It was adopted by the Special Session of Parliament with 454 votes in favour and only two against. Subsequently, the Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha unanimously on next day with 214 votes in favour and none against. It is being projected that it may come into force anytime after the job of delimitation commission is done as the seats of legislatures are frozen till 2026.
The Bill seeks to provide 33 percent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies of States to kick-start democracy. Presently 15% of the total members of Lok Sabha are women and the figure is 13% for Read More...
Upcoming State Elections: Semi-final 2024
Impending Legislative Assembly elections in five states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Telangana and Mizoram between late 2023 to early 2024 are going to be the strong determinant for the 18th Lok Sabha elections to be held in April-May 2024. Both the rivals, BJP and Congress would be eying in collaboration with alliances of other smaller regional and local political elements on 83 Lok Sabha seats in these states. Brainstorming for strategy has begun.
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) understands its Achilles Heel and has started working on it. Morale and motivations of Congress is sky high with Bharat Jodo Yatra that delivered Karnataka to its keg. Congress now seems to have learnt a lot from the BJP’s ways of electoral calculations, election management and campaign strategy.Since 2014 BJP is being branded as ‘New Congress’ and now the way Congress is Read More...
From UPA to INDIA
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA), a successful coalition of non-BJP opposition parties, was first formed in 2004. The new alliance, which took embryonic form at the Bengaluru meeting held on July 17–18, has decided to change its name from UPA to INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), which is a formation of 26 parties to challenge the incumbent NDA led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming general elections.
In 2004 and 2009, the UPA, a coalition of parties headed by Congress, established the Central government.However, the UPA lost many of its allies and weakened as a result of losing the 2014 and 2019 elections to the NDA. In India, both traditional and modern parties are represented, including the Read More...
Message from Patna
Through the JP Movement and more recently by hosting a meeting of over 15 non-BJP Opposition parties to create a united front against the incumbent BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bihar is renowned for paving the way for the nation to escape crises. On June 23, when the top leaders of over 15 non-BJP Opposition parties gathered in Patna to discuss the future course of action to forge a strong alliance against the Modi-led BJP government at the Centre in the wake of the subsequent 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, saw the results of his tireless efforts.
The Patna meeting was attended by top leaders of various opposition parties, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party Read More...
After Karnataka Win!
In the most recent elections in Karnataka, the Congress party triumphed handily over the governing BJP, greatly enhancing its chances in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024. In the 224-member assembly, Congress successfully ran an aggressive campaign against the BJP on the topics of corruption and price increases, winning 135 seats. While BJP was able to maintain its vote share of 36%, Congress increased its vote share by more than 4% across various Karnataka regions. The victory has been attributed by Congress leaders to the electorate's rejection of the BJP's divisive politics, false promises, and haughtiness.
Following its victory in Karnataka, Congress has made the decision to re-energize its cadre in preparation for the important 2024 Lok Sabha Read More...
Taming the Naxal-Maoist Violence!
The latest violent assault on security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district has shocked theentire nation. Ten police officers and the driver of the vehicle in which security personnel was traveling were killed in the attack planned by the Naxalite-Maoists Group. Internal security experts claim that Naxalite-Maoists frequently conduct their “Tactical Counter Offensive Campaigns” (TCOC) from March to June nearly every year.
On March 21, 2020, a Naxal ambush in the Minpa neighborhood of the Sukma district resulted in the deaths of seventeen Read More...
China’s Global Dominance!
With its thriving economy, cutting-edge technology, and powerful military, China is vying for a global role to outperform the US and be in a position to shape the course of world events according to its whims and fancies. However, American and other western scholars have different perspectives on this. Some academics already believe that “China’s rise” is unsustainable and that predictions of its triumphs in the world are greatly exaggerated. Others, however, advocate waging trade wars and engaging in military conflicts in the Taiwan Strait or the South China Sea to show a tough face to an arrogant Beijing. Others still think that the West is about to enter a protracted period of conflict known as the New Cold War.
There are also those who believe that the rough-spoken and cack-handed attempts to revive a militarily Read More...
Toward Global Incertitude!
What is boggling every rational mind is the million-dollar question of whether this fragmented world is heading toward incertitude or it is just a fig of imagination. Nevertheless, the developments occurring in different sectors and diverse parts of the globe provide a very hazy picture because of geopolitical complexities and geo-economic implications whether it is in the context of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, looming global economic crisis, or the visitation of extreme weather events in terms of the recent earthquake in Turkey or Syria.
The world is in the grip of a severe economic crisis in the wake of the fallout of the ongoing Read More...
Bharat Jodo Yatra
Traversing a distance of over 3, 800 km on foot covering over 12 states and two Union Territories of India along with weathering heatwaves, rain, and cold wave to spread the message of love, compassion, and brotherhood and focusing on people-centric issues, such as price rise, unemployment, widening gap between the rich and the poor, etc., is a remarkable endeavour on the part of Rahul Gandhi and his 150- co-travelers. Starting from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on 7 September 2022 the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) culminated in Sri Nagar on 30 January 2023
The underlying issue for the launch of the BJY has been emphasized by Rahul Gandhi repeatedly Read More...
The Please-all Verdicts
Please-all verdicts have been delivered by the masses in the recently-held elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and state assemblies of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, and by-elections to state assemblies in UP, Bihar, Odisha, and Rajasthan along with bye-elections to the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in UP. Aam Adami Party (AAP) managed to win elections to the MCD while Congress won assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and the BJP was swept to power in Gujarat for the seventh time consecutively. Nevertheless, in the state assembly bye-elections, the BJP has managed to win one assembly seat in Bihar and one seat in UP while Samajwadi Party has won the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat by an impressive margin and the RLD, an ally of the SP, wrested an assembly seat in UP from the BJP whereas BJD has won state bye-election in Odisha.
In the elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on December 4, Read More...
COP 27 and Beyond
Recently concluded Conference of the Parties or COP 27 convened in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt from 6-20 November this year under the aegis of UNFCCC was represented by 200 countries in which a total of 13,981 people participated, including 16,118 delegates, 13,981 observers, and 3,350 members of the media. This climate change summit was held against an ominous backdrop of multiple crises pervading the contemporary world, such as energy and food crises, rising costs of living, indebtedness, biodiversity loss, and geopolitical tensions among major powers.
Decision to establish a fund for financing loss and damage caused by the vagaries of climate change is said to be the historic achievement of COP 27. Read More...
Looming Global Slowdown!
The warning signals have been sounded off by IMF, UNCTAD and World Bank that the world is on the brink of a recession and the developing countries, especially in Asia have to bear the major brunt of this impending global economic slowdown. UNCTAD in its recently-released report has cautioned that monetary and fiscal policy moves in developed countries risk pushing the world towards global recession and prolonged stagnation, inflicting the worst kind of damage than the financial crisis of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic shock in 2020.
During 2022, the global economy has continued to confront steep challenges, Read More...
Chinks in Opposition Armour
Hectic activities by Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, in forging an alliance of non-BJP political parties on a single platform to confront the BJP in the ensuing 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra embarked upon by Congress Party under the leadership of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, covering a 3,570-km long route passing through 10 states, and the massive public response this Yatra has received in Tamil Nadu and now in Kerala, has raised hopes of a meaningful Opposition unity of non-BJP parties.
Undoubtedly, the efforts of Nitish Kumar have proved instrumental in eliciting positive responses from many regional satraps; Read More...
Bihar Shows the Way
Bihar, the alma mater of democracy for centuries, has always guided the destiny of India as and when democracy has been in peril in post-independent India. Political developments occurring in recent times in India have been characterized by the novel practice of ousting the democratically elected non-BJP state governments by hook or crook with the avowed objective of bringing those states under the BJP tutelage.
The 2020 state assembly elections in Bihar witnessed the installation of the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar of JD (U) as chief minister, and the BJP along with smaller regional parties as other coalition partners. Read More...
Anticipating Another Global Pandemic?
The world is still reeling under the pall of COVID-19 and its multiple variants that are wreaking havoc on the lives of the people worldwide and the reports of another global pandemic in the form of a monkeypox outbreak are seemingly worrisome, especially in the wake of World Health Organization (WHO) declaring monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency on 23 July. As of 27 July, 75 countries across the globe have reported 16, 000 cases.
Undoubtedly, WHO’s Emergency Committee of the International Health Regulations in a recent meeting concluded that the monkeypox outbreak had spread rapidly Read More...
Global Food Crisis
The world is currently facing an unprecedented food crisis of the immense magnitude that has been compounded by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, especially at a time when the global food situation has been worsening owing to problems that have been brewing for years on account of climate disruption, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the deeply unequal recovery.
TIn the Sahel region of Africa, the local leadership has sounded warning signals that unless urgent and immediate relief measures were not taken, a dangerous situation could turn into a catastrophe. Unfortunately, the Horn of Africa is also faced with its worst drought in decades. The number Read More...
Unprecedented Heatwaves
Recent weeks have witnessed unprecedented heat hitting hard and making the lives of common people miserable. Human-induced anthropogenic climate change is attributed to having spurred visitations of such heatwaves to India. Climatologists suggest that high temperatures that used to occur about every 300 years may now happen every three years.
The extreme temperatures, which commenced in March and continued through April and May have already set records in the region. India experienced its highest March temperatures and third-highest April temperatures in 122 years of record. Read More...
Global Defence Spending
Recently-released data by Stockholm-based SIPRI show that total worldwide military expenditure increased by 0.7 per cent in real terms in 2021, to reach a whopping figure of $ 2213 billion. Record level increase in world military expenditure in the second year of the pandemic demonstrates that global military expenditure has continued to grow in 2021, reaching an all-time high of $2.1 trillion, and this was the seventh consecutive year showing increased spending.
The United States, China, India, the UK, and Russia were the largest spenders in 2021 and they together accounted for 62 per cent of total global defence spending. Read More...
Menace of Air Pollution
Air pollution has come to be reckoned with to be the largest global environmental health threat, accounting for seven million deaths worldwide every year. Many diseases, ranging from asthma to cancer, lung illness, and heart diseases are either caused or aggravated by air pollution. According to estimates, daily economic cost incurred on account of air pollution has been estimated at $ 8 billion, or 3 to 4% of the gross world product (GWP).
Affecting primarily the most vulnerable segments of the population, air pollution claimed deaths of 40, 000 children under the age of five years, and these children were directly linked to PM 2.5 air pollution. Read More...
Economics of Ukrainian Crisis
The world is still striving hard to recover from the ravages wreaked by COVID-19 and its variants like Omicron for over two years now, and the Russian armed incursions into its neighbouring country Ukraine from February 24 onwards entail the potential of pushing the global economy further down the drain.
Initially, the global stock markets, especially in the US, recorded an upsurge at the very first day of the outbreak of hostilities with the hope that this conflict would slow down the willingness of the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise policy rates; nonetheless, the ongoing Ukraine war is not just another minor conflict because it entails the potential of emerging into a major global conflict fraught with long-term consequences in multiple realms. Read More...
Turmoil in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has recently been rocked by internal turmoil that is characterized by a wave of protests and riots. And these uneasy developments have brought this former Soviet Republic into the international media spotlight. The sudden occurrence of violent incidents on the streets of a country on the eve of the inauguration of 2022 - in a country that has almost remained a huge terra incognito or an unknown region for many decades such uneasy developments were bound to arouse curiosity around the world to know as to what brought the people on the streets of Kazakhstan, a relatively well-off country economically as compared to other Central Asian Republics.
What triggered these protests was the fact of the sharp increase in the prices Read More...
Salvaging Afghanistan
Recent political developments in Afghanistan have pushed Afghan economy in an unprecedented turmoil. In the wake of seizure of power by the Taliban in a rapid manner in the aftermath of withdrawal of America-led Allied forces from the soil of Afghanistan, there ensued immediate repercussions across economy that was already confronted with daunting development challenges.
Rapid pace of diminution in international grant support, loss of access to offshore assets and disruption to financial linkages have been factors, as pointed out by World Bank recently Read More...
