-The Indian Express Never mind what the bhadralok class thinks. The poll campaign has exploded the myth of Bengali exceptionalism. As West Bengal is witnessing the pathology of the prevalent electoral politics, the illusory character of the “cultural capital” the Bengali bhadralok community boasts of is becoming increasingly clear. Yes, this bhadralok class — quite often fixated at the glory of the late 19th and early 20th century Bengal — loves to...

-The Indian Express Bihar order against criticism of government online is against governance. The Chief Minister must scrap it. The Bihar government’s decision to designate “objectionable and indecent” comments made online against the state government or its ministers, MLAs, MPs and officials as cyber-crime is one more example of elected governments abusing their power to buy themselves a Teflon shield against criticism, dissent and accountability. In November last year, the Kerala government...

-Outlook India A schoolteacher shot right through the eye, businessmen brothers disappeared, a jewellery shop looted of crores, even politicians murdered…Nitish is fast losing his USP. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar may have earned compliments for his administration’s zero-tolerance policy towards crime in his previous three terms—closing the insulting Jungle Raj repeat-phrase that defined the state before his rule. But his latest tenure has thrown up a big challenge on the law...

-Livemint.com Politics in India has been based on caste in recent decades. But a rising middle class and increasing inequality within caste groups is paving the way for a class-based faultline. One cliché looms large in every election campaign in India: that caste politics may finally give way to class politics. But as counting begins on the day of the election verdict, caste subsumes every other factor, even in serious analyses of...

-The Hindu Several myths persist about job creation, which can misguide policymaking Jobs are rarely far from the minds of citizenry. Politicians woke up to this fact in the run-up to the Bihar Assembly elections. It is for the first time that unemployment has become a big issue in an election. This is not surprising. Rising unemployment The economy had been slowing for nine quarters prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Before the 2019 Lok...