-TheCitizen.in NEW DELHI: We are seeing in India at present a remarkable inversion of reason. The more the common people suffer from the impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetization, the more he is lauded for the “courage” shown by him in undertaking it. An economic measure should be, and normally is, judged on the basis of how it benefits the people, and any measure that brings distress to the people is derided...

-The Times of India blog Authoritarian leadership, big corruption, and endless freebies for the masses. These were the hallmarks of Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa (popularly called Amma) who died last week. In this week of mourning, she has been praised by even her bitter political foes. Yet this political correctness must not distort her electoral record. Since the 1970s, power in Tamil Nadu has oscillated between the DMK and Amma’s AIADMK....

-The Hindu The politics of patronage and personality in the State has reduced the electorate to passive recipients of welfare. “The food is good. The place is clean. Actually, I prefer the cleanliness over the menu,” P. Divaraj chuckles. “The real reason I’m here is because it’s the end of the month and I’m running out of money.” A 10-minute walk from his office to Amma Unavagam on Santhome High Road in...

-Outlook The structural basis is being laid out for future authoritarianism at the behest of foreign biometric and surveillance technology What distinguishes Barack Obama and David Cameron from Narendra Modi? Obama and Cameron oppose biometric identification but Modi supports it. On 11 May 2005 in the US, the Real ID Act for a national ID was rushed through US Congress and the US Senate with utmost urgency, a legacy of George Bush...

-IBNLive.com The Report 'Democracy in India: A Citizen's Perspective' tries to assess people's understanding and perception towards democracy. It is a part of a comparative study (State of Democracy in South Asia) of five South Asian countries that include, besides India - Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The first round of the SDSA was conducted in 2005 and a report based on it was published by Oxford University Press in...