-The Indian Express Evidence suggests that citizen participation in budgeting and closer engagement in the monitoring of civic works results in better outcomes and fewer leakages. The budget season is upon us. The Union budget, which lays out the receipt and expenditure proposals of the Government of India, is an annual feature in Parliament on February 1. It receives extensive press coverage — in fact, it sends both TV and print media...

-The Hindu Business Line/ NetworkIdeas.org The world has been preoccupied with the Covid-19 pandemic, and this has also affected policymakers everywhere. There is much more recognition today of the terrible effects of underfunding public health over decades and how this affects the resilience of economies and societies. Yet this official preoccupation with addressing the spread of infectious disease appears to have had an unanticipated negative effect: less policy attention to concerns...

-ThePrint.in Study by IIT-Kharagpur and MIT Institute of Data, Systems and Society, US, assessed over 5,000 public, political WhatsApp groups, found emojis are a common feature in such posts. New Delhi: It’s not as toxic in language, doesn’t employ derogatory keywords, and might be the new tool of choice for social media users as they look to buck hate speech laws. Introducing “fear speech”, a subtle form of hate speech that often...

-The Indian Express It leaves a sense of confusion and wonder about why our own government formed under the Constitution may be failing to fulfil its obligations when strangers who trade in our data for profit are seemingly more eager. The growing digitisation of Indian society is reflective in the ongoing protests by farmers. Battles are being waged every day in gram sabhas and protest sites as well on social media. Each...

Large dams that cause environmental degradation and large-scale displacement, among other things, have been opposed in India by civil society organisations (CSOs), such as Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), National Alliance of People's Movement (NAPM) and People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). A recently published study by the United Nations University's Canada-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health along with other partner organisations reveals that tens of thousands of existing large...