National

Diksha Agrawal John List, a prominent economist known for his extensive research on scalable ideas, provides valuable insights into why certain policies fail to achieve their intended goals. We can better understand the difficulties faced in the Indian context and how they manifest in particular policy implementations by looking at the five main causes of policy failure that List outlines. 1. Phenomenon of False Narratives False narratives can distort perceptions of policy ef

Nagamani Haridas Original Text From Kannada - Caste influences voter behavior, often leading to the formation of caste-based political parties that cater to specific groups. - Political leaders frequently leverage caste identities to mobilize support and secure electoral victories. - Caste dynamics can impact policy-making, as elected officials may prioritize the interests of their caste constituents over broader societal needs. The influence of caste on Indian politics is a

Usha Ramanathan Drawing on field surveys & policy documents, a collection of articles examines how digitalisation has failed India’s most vulnerable. Digital delivery is mistaken for actual delivery, the state is withdrawing from basic services, and digitalisation has not delivered what was promised. Digitalisation in India: The Class Agenda Edited by the Research Unit for Political Economy (RUPE) Three Essays Collective, Gurugram, 2025 These are strange times. The world is g

Sneha Annavarapu Following scamsters yields rich insights into marginalisation, the scramble for upward mobility, and the image of the state in contemporary India. Scamlands: Inside the Asian Empire of Fraud That Preys on The World By Snigdha Poonam Penguin, 2025 Scams are constantly on our minds. We are haunted by them. They lurk as cautionary narratives that are circulated with breathless urgency in media discourses, through personal anecdotes, or that occasional longform a

Mihir Desai ‘Framing the Media’ offers a comprehensive overview of India’s media policies, laws, and court rulings since Independence, showing how governments and corporate forces have persistently undermined free speech. These curbs have intensified under the current regime. Framing the Media: Government Policies, Law, and Freedom of the Press in India By Pamela PhiliposeOrient BlackSwan, 2025 Freedom of speech and expression has always been viewed as the soul of democracy.

Ishan Anand In China and India, economic disparity in the 1950s-70s was low and declining, but began rising thereafter. A new book explores the different drivers of inequality in the two countries and how winners and losers were determined. Studies on economic inequalities have increased significantly over the past two decades, which is not very surprising given that inequality levels have risen dramatically. Most studies on inequality tend to analyse the trends and drivers o

Satish Deshpande Interrogating the Caste Census In his desire to be distinctive, Anand Teltumbde tells a one-sided tale about the dangers of a caste census, belittling benefits and emphasizing costs. “The Caste Con Census” By Anand Teltumbde Navayana, 2025 Anand Teltumbde is today one of India’s leading intellectual-activists, especially on matters of caste. He first rose to prominence as a commentator in the mid-2000s, when he started writing for the Economic and Political W

Robert Rahman Raman A rare collection of images of colonial Bombay's "drama of disobedience" yields new insights into protests during the Civil Disobedience Movement. During the Civil Disobedience Movement in Bombay, an enigmatic figure, K.L. Nursey, took a series of photographs that captured the unfolding of the movement: of the city’s streets during the salt satyagraha, at protests against foreign cloth shops, and of clashes with colonial authorities. The ‘Nursey Album’, lo