Indian Democracy

Constitutions do matter, no doubt, but all three thinkers, Alexis de Tocqueville, B.R. Ambedkar and Rabindranath Tagore, arrived separately at the same insight: that liberty must get embedded in civil society for democracy to succeed.

The National Tribunal Commission that came into existence with the passage of the Bill formalizes the tribunal system, but its architecture still has shortcomings. These need to be addressed. Gaps remain that need filling.

Something extraordinary is going on. Public issues that are gaining popular traction are those that concern the quality of life in the country. While old symbolic issues are still brought up, this shift is truly remarkable.

New Delhi's strategy has been dominated by suspicion of China's influence over its neighbours, but a pivot may be due. India should view its relations with countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives through a bilateral lens and rework its calculus based on future prospects.

There’s a way for the country to steer clear of both unchecked surveillance and administrative opacity, but it would require judicial refinement and delegated rules to balance utility, transparency and privacy rights.

Indians spend much time wondering what is wrong with the country and analysing its disorder, but equally baffling is what makes things to go right. Sometimes, an oddball official springs up who has the nerve to shrug off convention and do what must be done.

India’s 80th Independence Day is an occasion for both celebration and reflection. Let’s take a moment to reflect on why fundamental rights and responsibilities—as laid out by the Constitution—must always go hand-in-hand.

India’s post-partition generations have a responsibility to ensure that the horrors of that 1947 rupture are neither forgotten nor repeated. They bear another onus too: to grasp what fosters national cohesion.

Indian Parliament amended a law to expand what forms of national honour mustn’t be violated. Its implementation, however, would likely risk causing a conflict of conscience among some folks. On such matters, it’s best to let consensus prevail.

The youth protests that took India by storm last month derived much of their power from their entertainment value. The agitation wasn’t just about reels showing up in real life, but the surfacing of what had stayed hidden.