UP 2022: ALLIANCES, YATRAS, PROMISES, CASTE ENGINEERING

November 17, 2021

With less than four months left for the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly Elections, political parties are going full steam ahead in an attempt to woo voters in the most populous state in the country. Uttar Pradesh, where 403 Assembly seats will be contested, is going to be instrumental for any...

2021 BYPOLL ELECTIONS: WHO WON AND WHERE?

November 10, 2021

By-elections for 30 state assemblies and three Lok Sabha seats were held on 30 October 2021. Of three Lok Sabha bypolls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won in Madhya Pradesh. The party lost the Mandi seat in Himachal Pradesh, which it had won in 2019 by a whopping margin of...

LAKHIMPUR VIOLENCE IMPACT ON BJP IMAGE IN UP

October 13, 2021

On 3 October 2021, the visuals of a convoy of vehicles running over protesting farmers in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh were plastered over mobile phones and television screens. Eight people, including four farmers, died in the ensuing violence which was intended to be a protest to block...

WILL INDIA’S DECISION TO RESUME COVID-19 VACCINE EXPORTS IMPACT DOMESTIC SUPPLY?

October 6, 2021

Last month, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced that India would be resuming COVID-19 vaccine exports, under Vaccine Maitri - in the fourth quarter of this year - in order to fulfil its responsibility to COVAX. The COVAX programme is a vaccine alliance led by the Global Alliance for Vaccines...

AAP’S DELHI MODEL: WILL THE FREEBIE PLOY WORK IN 2022?

September 29, 2021

Since 2017, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been contesting Assembly elections in at least 14 states outside Delhi but has failed to win even a single seat in 13 states. The only state where the AAP saw some victory was in Punjab in 2017, where it won 20 seats...

DECLINING FORTUNE OF THE CONGRESS: CAN IT RECOVER?

September 22, 2021

INDIA’S OLDEST PARTY: HISTORY OF FUNDING All eyes have been on the Indian National Congress (INC) in Punjab this week, as Chief Minister Amarinder Singh handed in his resignation, stating the party’s upper management “humiliated” him, months before the electorally important state heads to the polls. While the INC’s disordered...

WILL THE NATIONAL FARMERS’ DATABASE REALLY DOUBLE FARMERS’ INCOMES?

September 15, 2021

Earlier in September, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar announced the creation of a National Farmers’ Database containing the records of over 5.5 crore farmers. Tomar also announced that the number of farmers included in the database would increase to 8 crores by December 2021 by linking it with state-wise land...

YOGI’S MEAT AND LIQUOR BAN IN MATHURA: WHO WILL THIS AFFECT?

September 8, 2021

During the Krishnotsava programme in Lucknow on 30 August, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced a complete ban on the sale of liquor and meat in Mathura. The region around Mathura-Vrindavan, extending to Agra and Aligarh, is considered Krishnabhoomi (the land of Krishna) and is hence considered sacred to...

INDIAN CENSUS: HISTORY, CONTROVERSY AND FUTURE

September 1, 2021

Leaders from the opposition as leaders from parties that support the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government have been voicing their strong support for a caste-based census. Opposition leaders and proponents of the caste-based census have highlighted that the availability of caste-based data that includes OBCs will help improve government...

ROAD TO 2022: CROP POLITICS IN POLL-BOUND STATES

August 25, 2021

A year after the start of the farmers’ protest around the borders of the capital, hundreds of farmers continue their fight, expressing their discontentment against the three new farm laws passed by the central government. The farmers’ disgruntlement with the central and other state governments is likely to dominate the...