-The Hindu There is no disparagement of subsidies in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh because those who attack the social welfare policies of the Congress regard them as examples of good governance by a party of the Right Three propositions dominate explanations of the Congress party's rout, the Bharatiya Janata Party's impressive victory and the Aam Aadmi Party's stunning success in Delhi in the recent Assembly elections. One, that there is a strong...

-Governance Now Professor Sanjay Kumar, co-director of Lokniti, a research programme of the New Delhi-based think-tank Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and one of our leading ‘election watchers', maintains that we must not read too much in the higher voting numbers and credits the election commission for preparing more accurate voter rolls. Excerpts from an interview with Trithesh Nandan: * What do you make of the phenomenon of higher turnouts? Everybody...

-The Business Standard Onion prices in wholesale markets of Mumbai declined 48.6%, the steepest among the four metros, compared to October In November, onions, which stoked inflation in recent months and probably played a part in the Congress party's dismal performance in four Assembly elections, turned cheaper in four major cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata - at both the wholesale and retail levels. However, the decline in wholesale prices was...

-Live Mint Data indicates that in the presence of a credible alternative, people are unlikely to choose NOTA The recently held assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were the first where voters had the option to reject all candidates by voting for "none of the above" (NOTA). The option, however was simply hypothetical-votes marked to "none of the above" would simply be ignored while deciding the winner, and...

-Outlook Today's Supreme Court judgment that reverses the Delhi High Court judgment of 2009 is both constitutionally preposterous and morally egregious "If there is one constitutional tenet that can be said to be underlying theme of the Indian Constitution, it is that of ‘inclusiveness'. This Court believes that Indian Constitution reflects this value deeply ingrained in Indian society, nurtured over several generations... Where society can display inclusiveness...