-ThePrint.in Political science departments can contribute a lot by introducing graduate level courses on research methods. This will help understand the findings of a poll. Dear Friends (if I may call you so), I am one of you. I share your nervousness about forecasting an election, almost go sleepless the night before the counting day, and jump in joy when we manage to correctly predict an election outcome, and THRough a heartbreak when...

-VillageSquare.in The country’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups, who live mostly in dwindling forests, have not been well served by the government’s administrative machinery, but have slowly been reduced to virtual serfdom Max Weber, the 19thcentury German sociologist, had extolled the virtues of bureaucracy. India used to celebrate its steel frame governing the country for decades, and which continues to rule us till date, though it is unfashionable to sing its virtues any...

-Financial Express The PMFBY involves farmers, banks, state and central government, insurance companies and re-insurers. This article is second in the series to assess performance of BJP-led NDA government at the Centre in agri-food space over the last four years. The first one appeared in this paper on April 30 (goo.gl/AGnEaJ).Here, we look at BJP’s promise in its manifesto, namely, “implement a farm insurance scheme to take care of crop loss”....

-The Indian Express Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana does not inspire confidence of farmers. They have to wait for months, sometimes years to get compensation. This article is the second in the series assessing the performance of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre in the agri-food space over the last four years. The first one appeared in this newspaper on May 2 (IE, ‘Four years of neglecting farmers’). Here we look...

-The Indian Express Government must be circumspect about Cauvery dispute resolution mechanism. The government has been wise in not pressing the panic button on the Cauvery. In fact, the concept of a Cauvery Board is a flawed one. Lawyers normally have a limited understanding of water issues. We have a lot of experience in India of tribunals delaying projects for decades. Some experts have suggested highly centralised systems of dispute resolution...