-The Hindu The political scientist on the danger to India’s checks and balances, and the perils of the democratisation of mediocrity in universities Professor of political science and a holder of the Madan Lal Sobti Chair, Devesh Kapur has been director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary India at University of Pennsylvania since 2006. Mr. Kapur, who recently co-edited Public Institutions in India: Performance and Design, says our public universities...

-Governance Now ‘They can’t convict Kalmadi, Vadra, Lalit Modi, Mallya; but will convict transparency advocates’ I am reminded of what my teacher had told me in school: “When a society wishes to blatantly show how unjust it can be, it will crucify the best.” On June 13 when I heard about the conviction of four of the nation’s transparency champions who have given their entire lives to promoting transparency and empowering the...

-TheWire.in After the government cancelled certain cesses that were meant for labourers’ welfare in preparation for the GST, activists suspect that many such moves may be around the corner. Assaults on the hard-earned rights of several categories of workers have been on the rise in recent times, evidenced by the cancellation of cesses meant to be utilised for workers’ social security. If left unchecked, such changes can lead to much bigger losses...

-Frontline.in The British government, on the basis of an 1891 report on the subhuman living conditions of “Pariahs” by James H.A. Tremenheere, Acting Collector of Chengleput, assigned 12 lakh acres of land for distribution to the “depressed classes” of the Madras Presidency to empower them socially and economically. But more than 100 years later, much of this land is in the possession of non-Dalits, and the struggle to reclaim them has...

Although corruption touches every section of the Indian society, there are very few complaints made against bribery or corrupt people. How can one explain this contradiction? Is it the case that the laws relating to corruption are so weak and toothless in our country that people seldom rely on them to get justice? Recent research based on data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) confirms the above-mentioned fact. Please click...