-NDTV In his maiden appearance after being named Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Yogi Adityanath proclaimed that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government would maintain a laser-like focus on the twin themes of combating corruption and restoring law and order. "In the past 15 years," Adityanath noted, "UP lagged behind in the race of development as previous governments indulged in corruption, nepotism, and failed on the law order front." Indeed, one of...

-DNA The political funding reforms are an embarrassment to India’s claims of heralding a transparency revolution Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetization drive and his expressed desire to bring transparency in political funding, there were expectations of more concrete measures to cleanse the Augean stables of Indian politics. The government responded quickly, albeit through the Finance Bill. For the first time, the Union Budget 2017 devoted a full section (420...

-Scroll.in In this environment of majoritarianism, we must seriously consider proportional representation, adds SY Quraishi. SY Quraishi, who was Chief Election Commissioner from July 2011 to June 2012, is known to be outspoken about several issues regarding electoral reform both when he was in the Election Commission and after he retired. He has asked for public funding of political parties, putting an expenditure cap on them, financial transparency among parties, and...

-Economic and Political Weekly Shantanu De Roy (shantanudr2004@gmail.com) teaches at the Department of Policy Studies, TERI University, New Delhi. It was argued that economic liberalisation would ensure a favourable shift in the terms of trade for agriculture in India, enabling producers to plough back surplus from cultivation to make long-term improvements on land, and raise agricultural productivity and growth rate. Contrary to expectations, there was no noticeable improvement in the terms of...

-Economic and Political Weekly Jagdeep S Chhokar (jchhokar@gmail.com) was with the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and is a founding member of the Association for Democratic Reforms. The issue of black money in politics in India is multifaceted. A number of questions about its role in politics, how it is generated, its volume, its ill effects, and how it can be eliminated do not have answers that are always specific or clear-cut,...