-The Times of India ASTHA (MP): Shankar Singh looks at you with amused eyes. “Ek sau do(102),” he replies — and the twinkle in his eyes says he got the reaction he wanted. Then, as you try some mental calculations, he helps out with the maths: “I was 31 at Independence and voted in the very first election. I’m sure the next one won’t be the last.” As you gape at him,...
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Social media giants to help EC clean up poll campaign
-PTI Will not allow fake news and targeted voter messaging Internet major Google and social media giants Twitter and Facebook have assured the Election Commission that they will not allow their PLAtforms to be used for anything which affects the sanctity of polls during the campaign period, Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat has said. He said this was tested during the Karnataka elections. “A small pilot was there. That was the beginning. Now...
More »Right to Food activists demand immediate action by the govt. to contain hunger deaths in Jharkhand
-Press release by Right to Food Campaign dated 28 September, 2018 Exactly a year ago, 11-year-old Santoshi Kumari of Simdega died of starvation while asking her mother for rice. Her family’s ration card was cancelled for not being linked to Aadhaar. In the last one year, at least 15 people have died due to hunger. Of these, 6 were Adivasis, 4 Dalits, and 5 of backward castes. All these deaths happened...
More »Where's the money coming from? -Arun Kumar (Book review)
-The Indian Express Exploring the role of the black economy in political finance and how it subverts democracy. Book: Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India Editors: Devesh Kapur & Milan Vaishnav Publisher: Oxford University Press Page: 311 Price: Rs 750 Money in politics is an issue of great concern for the Indian polity. Most believe it undermines democracy in India so that what formally looks like a great democracy turns out to be just...
More »More Equal Than Others -Usha Ramanathan
-The Indian Express The Aadhaar judgment divides the people of this country into those receiving state assistance, and others. The former will get socio-economic rights if they do as they are asked to do. Privacy is a luxury they can ill afford. The signs were there from the beginning. The poor were part of the marketing strategy for promoting a project that would require people to enrol in a database that...
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