Governance and Political Studies
Systemic Failure or Organ Failure?

The Chambers Twenty-first Dictionary, which is quite an authoritative lexicon, describes ‘system’ in the following words, “A set of inter-connected or inter-related parts forming a complex whole”. The word ‘systemic’ is defined as “refe....

An Object Lesson in Government Incompetence

When salmon swim against all odds to reach their spawning grounds no obstruction can stop them. The huge number of rape cases now being reported in India reminds me of this annual migration of salmon. Was India free of rape till fairly recently and ....

The Undisputed vote ka Saudagar !

The resounding victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent Gujarat Assembly election has once again reinforced the argument that with good governance and a strong development-oriented agenda, it is possible to buck the anti-incumbency t....

Politics of Secularism: Who is Secular in India?

I may be permitted to start this paper with a personal statement because some controversial issues would be raised in the paper and I want it to be understood in advance that personally I am deeply committed to secularism. I sincerely believe that th....

We, the Living! Need to Revise Land Use Policies

In Delhi along the Yamuna River a stretch of 371 hectares, that is, approximately 927 acres, has come under cremation ground, samadhi, etc., of people perceived as the leaders of the nation. These include Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur....

Integrity and Ethics in the Civil Service

In order to understand the topic of this paper perhaps it would be best to have clearly before us the definition of the issues we are addressing. For this purpose resort was had to the new Oxford Dictionary of English. There are four words whose ....

CAG and The Indian Constitution

In India, it has become customary to abuse the Constitution and/or Constitutional Authority whenever a political party or a political leader is in trouble for its or his misdeeds. Let us not forget that this began with Jawaharlal Nehru himself and ....

Grandma’s Remedies for Governance Issues

I was a stripling short of twenty-three years when I joined as Assistant Collector at Morena after completing my training at the IAS Training School at Metcalfe House. Morena can be frightfully hot in the summer and my training required almost consta....

Special Laws to Counter Terrorism in India: A Reality Check

A National Convention held recently in New Delhi on ‘Politics of Terror’ has brought to focus the need to re-look into provisions of special laws that are currently in use to counter terrorism. When confronted with armed militancy, democracies fa....

Constitutionalism Versus Adventurism

The Constitution of India, despite the amendments which have been introduced from time to time, has a high degree of immutability, partly because its basic structure is sound, partly because it establishes a balance between public good and the const....

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