Author: Shantanu Basu

Delimitation is often described as a technical exercise in redrawing electoral boundaries. It is anything but. It determines how population is converted into political representation and, therefore, can alter the balance of power between states and regions for decades. In India, the question has become particularly contentious because the country is approaching a new delimitation exercise at the same time as the Census has been delayed and the constitutional framework governing the timing and basis of delimitation is being reconsidered. The issue is not whether India should ever undertake delimitation. It must. The more difficult question is whether the country…

A Generation Awakens The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and its recent Jantar Mantar protest, together with its all-India offshoots, have left a mark that is likely to endure for years to come. For perhaps the first time in independent India, a mass movement of this scale was both genuinely secular and conspicuously apolitical. The young people who participated were articulate, whether in English or their mother tongues, and remarkably well informed about the issues confronting the country: gender rights, economic stagnation, unemployment, rising prices and the growing lack of accountability in government. The boys and girls braved scorching heat, rain,…

The rise of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has triggered intense debate about youth discontent in India. While many see it as a reaction to examination scams such as NEET, the movement is, in reality, a symptom of a much deeper crisis. The rot extends far beyond paper leaks. It encompasses an education system that increasingly fails to reward merit, a recruitment process repeatedly tainted by corruption, and an economy unable to absorb the millions of graduates it produces every year. >> A System Where Merit Is Increasingly Questioned Over the past decade, India has witnessed repeated examination paper leaks,…