Bhakti Pariksha (COVID-19 Edition)
Here's a quiz to assess how well you have performed as a Bhakt during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Read more [...]
Tag Archives: deceit
Let’s celebrate AAP’s criminal MLAs!
AAP's recent electoral victory in Delhi was seen as a win for democracy. The Ballot beat the Bullet. Secularism beat Fascism. Development beat Divisiveness etc. etc. But AAP's electoral victory was also validation for another critical component of our democracy - backing of winnable candidates by political parties(often those with pending criminal cases), at any cost.
Arvind Kejriwal is the Delhi Chief Minister and National Convener/ Master and Read more [...]
Kejriwal’s Debacle – we were warned at the very start
Kejriwal’s media-fed frenzied ‘movement’ inspired many to join the AAP. But even in the party’s early days, some key personnel chose to break-up with the party within months. And as they left, everyone said the same thing - there is no democracy in Kejriwal's party and little difference in the way AAP functions when compared to other (so called 'corrupt') parties.
Hasya Kavi Kumar Vishwas is not a happy man these days. Though his smile Read more [...]
These Indians are still “celebrating” Demonetisation
All stories showcased below are thanks to People's Archive of Rural India (PARI). You can visit this page to read PARI's coverage of demonetisation to learn how India's most marginalized have been affected by it over the past year.
On Nov 8th 2016, the government decided to casually demonetise 86% of the country's banknotes in circulation. In terms of an operating strategy, the government very prudently decided to have none. They allowed Read more [...]
Quiz: How well do you know the ‘other’ India?
India is poised to be an economic super-power (at least that's what we've been told) and is expected to become the third largest economy by 2030. For decades, we have been obsessed with GDP and economic growth. What we don't seem to track and measure as diligently, is basic human development. How does India perform at indicators that look at stuff like access to healthcare, education, nutrition etc? Most of us in urban bubbles couldn't care less Read more [...]
A crash course in India’s Farmer Crisis
Jan 2021: India's farming crisis has been on for decades and what we are seeing right now is just the tipping point of systemic issues that have existed forever. It is completely reasonable to hold the government of the day accountable irrespective of which political party is in power. Here's a post from 2017 explaining the various components of this crisis.
India's leading rural journalist (and unfortunately one of our only ones), P. Sainath, recently Read more [...]
The ‘Criminal’ Quota in Indian Politics
Issues related to the criminalization of Indian politics are well known. Political parties are obsessed with winning elections, and have always provided tickets to candidates who are most likely to win - irrespective of a candidate's ability to be a competent legislator.
All data is courtesy Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
To better understand the magnitude of this problem, we looked at what our nationally recognized political parties Read more [...]
Why are we passing bills to make corruption easier for political parties?
Lack of financial transparency in the political system has always been one of our key challenges as a democracy. Recently, the government passed a bill in the Lok Sabha that will potentially lead to an increase in anonymous corporate donations to political parties as well as remove previous limits on how much corporations can donate to political parties. Here's a look at some of the key factors in play.
Status Quo
Currently, political parties Read more [...]
Gunda-Raj continues with Lok Sabha 2014 – Well done India!
Over the last month, we shattered voting records. An all time high of 66.4% of the national electorate voted. And the result is that we have resoundingly selected the most criminal parliament ever. For the last three years, we've been out on the streets protesting on empty stomachs and our fingers have gone numb sharing and liking status updates. But at the end of the day, it's been all worth it. We have proudly selected 186 parliamentarians (36% Read more [...]
Aam Aadmi to the rescue, or maybe not
It's the season of political rhetoric. Indian politics, is known for candidates making tall claims and promises during campaigning followed by non-action. The Congress and BJP have mastered this and much of the electorate, for justified reasons, has given up on these two parties following through on any of their promises.
But this time we have Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. An alternative view of politics. A party of the common man - the Read more [...]
Best Approaches to stopping Honest Bureaucrats: A definitive guide from Uttar Pradesh
Theft, dacoity and murder form the backbone of Uttar Pradesh’s economy. Unfortunately, from time to time certain individuals come along and try to challenge this status-quo. Earlier this year, Durga Shakti Nagpal, provided the UP establishment with a stiff challenge. This 28 year old had the audacity to take on the state’s sand mafia. She tried, but was eventually no match for the guile and deviousness of the state government.
The illegal Read more [...]
BABA dRAMa DEV
Mr. Ram Krishna Yadav/Baba Ramdev is the main protagonist in the ongoing national circus. To add to his absurd list of demands, he has taken to fighting against black money with spuriously acquired wealth.
After the Ramlila fiasco, Baba by his own admission to TV, said that he excused himself to change clothes and then ran away. Later he was found on stage after which he jumped into the crowd of followers and also changed into women clothes Read more [...]
Annanomics – An analysis of India’s Hunger Strike Industry
There is a lot of debate surrounding the support & reputation of India’s Civil Society which is starving itself these days to pressurize the Government of India. Here we compare Civil Society with the Government through various parameters. Some of them defy logic. But that’s just the world of hunger strikes for you.
The entire debate started when a committee to draft the Jan Lokpal Bill was created. This committee has Read more [...]
Saare Jaha se accha, Gandhistan humara
Watching the ‘’DLF’’ IPL has exposed us to ‘’Citi” moments of success and “Maxx” timeouts. However such style of branding has been on in the country for many decades. The Nehru-Gandhi name has been prefixed before countless government schemes and projects. Here we look at a supremely effective method of political branding by the Indian National Congress. A method which has succeeded in using the face of the country as an Read more [...]
Chor Machaye Shor – A toast to Democracy
We are currently in the midst of a spate of assembly elections. Wah Sarkar looks at a true incident which occurred a few years ago in Tamil Nadu. This is an amazing story which highlights the grit and will power of India's common man.
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