-The Hindu While an increased turnout in Assembly elections is not an indicator of the same in Lok Sabha elections, aggressive campaigning points toward a higher turnout in this poll If the pattern of turnout in the Assembly elections held over the last couple of years are of any indication, the turnout in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections should significantly increase. Almost all the Assembly elections held in different States between 2012-13...
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Will parties help 50 million domestic helps get a fair deal? -Ambika Pandit
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Estimates say there are over 50 million of them in the country. Yet, domestic workers remain unrecognized and unaccounted for in the legal framework. Their demand for a legislation to recognize and regulate domestic work isn't new. But as India heads to the polls yet again, hardly any party raises their issues. Mostly women, domestic workers refuse to be drowned in the overarching definition "marginalized",...
More »Is corruption really a big issue? Stats say otherwise -Deeptiman Tiwary
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Is corruption really an issue in elections? Some surveys claim that people worry more about the economy than corruption. Poll data for 2004 and 2009 general elections show that not only do political parties continue to repeatedly field candidates facing corruption charges, people even vote for them. Analysis of affidavits filed by Lok Sabha candidates shows that in 2004 general elections, a total of 12 candidates...
More »How to define a ‘freebie’? EC in a fix over SC order -Bharti Jain
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Even as the Election Commission plans consultations with political parties in the first week of August on a recent Supreme Court order seeking framing of guidelines for parties' poll manifestoes, senior commission officials are in a dilemma on how to define a "freebie" in the first place. The poll watchdog plans to sound out all recognized national and state parties in the first week of August...
More »Panchayats: hope for dalit rights- George Mathew
-Live Mint Panchayat-related caste violence continues unabated and has become a part of the social reality today In ancient India, the panchayat system was based on the age-old caste system, social status and family. Although the local self-government concept was introduced in 1882, it took more than 100 years for the local self-government institutions to become a part of the Indian Constitution. While tremendous possibilities have been opened up in the...
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