Five states in India are headed for elections in the next two months. The outcome of the regional elections is crucial in that it will decide how national politics will play out in the coming days, and years, leading up to national elections in 2019. For the 131-year old Indian National Congress, the principal opposition…
Nandan Nilekani, the former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, has hailed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move to demonetize high-value currency notes—removing 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, which together comprised 86 percent of the cash in circulation—saying it will boost India’s digital economy. “The shock given to the currency” will accelerate the…
Read more If India’s Demonetization Was All About Going Digital, Then Why the Rush?
An Indian journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker, Guha Thakurta has written extensively on contemporary society, politics, and economy, with an eye on the rights of the marginalized. He has exposed some very high-profile cases of corruption involving the corporate sector, the government and the media. His 2014 book, Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis (co-authored with Subir Ghosh…
Read more TV Anchors and Lynch Mobs: Interview With Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
“The third world war will start over a cow.” Thus spoke godman Mahamandleshwar Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri, the chairman of the executive council of the cow rearing and livestock promotion board (Gaupalan Evam Pashudhan Samvardhan Board) of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradhesh. If anybody thought he was joking, an army is already underway, beating up men…
Read more Enough Is Enough: Modi Must Reign in India’s Cow Vigilantes
India is on course to ban commercial surrogacy and disallow foreigners and non-resident Indians from hiring surrogates in the country. The Union Cabinet last week cleared the draft bill—Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill—which is likely to be introduced in the Parliament in the winter session. If passed, the Act will deal a death blow to the estimated $2…
Anuradha Sharma 