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The result of India’s national elections will be out June 4. An eight-day, four-state road trip revealed hotly contested elections where the central issue is competitive and elaborate welfare schemes versus further development and a future for youth. There’s lots of money sloshing around, making elections as lucrative as wedding parties, and plenty of political and family splits for a soap opera.
Courtesy: Business Standard
As 960 million Indians set out to cast their votes in the on-going electoral fray, a good number will be concerned with India’s global image and policy, now more front-and-centre than ever before. The contesting political parties have differing views of how India should engage internationally. How will these resonate with the vast electorate? The foreign policy agendas in the various party manifestos are worth assessing.
Courtesy: Manjeet Kripalani
Sikkim is India’s second smallest state, yet one of its best, with twice the nation’s GDP. It is surrounded by three of India’s neighbours – China, Bhutan and Nepal – making it one of the country’s most strategic regions. Yet its geopolitical positioning and ongoing border aggression by China have not affected Sikkim's calm or confidence: it is still defined by its beauty and its good governance.
Courtesy: Gateway House
Security studies provides the framework for anticipating and analysing threats. While foreign policy offers fitting strategies to respond to these threats and address potential issues. Both contribute fundamentally to the other, making it important for both fields to be developed and studied.
Courtesy: Narendramodi.in
Narendra Modi’s landslide victory in India's 2014 general elections, despite his hardline nationalist image, was viewed as a localised phenomenon. But two years later, voters across the world from Europe to Philippines seem to be tilting towards leaders with the same nationalist tag.
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Gateway House's Manjeet Kripalani is on a five-day trip to North Bihar to observe the penultimate days of the election campaigning. She will send a daily diary, in pictures or words, while traversing Bihar; on its progress and its aspirations. And why Bihar is so important to India.
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While China will seek India’s cooperation on its ambitious ‘One Belt, One Road’ project during Prime Minister Modi’s visit this week, Indian policy makers must soon articulate a definite stand on this transnational corridor by bridging the country’s security concerns and the benefits of such an engagement with China.
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Making land acquisition for industry compatible with the fairness and equity expected in democratic societies is a challenge that may have creative solutions. Amendments to India’s land acquisition law need to be viewed in this global context
Courtesy: YouTube
In the past week two documentaries that went viral in China and India were banned. In China, a documentary about pollution. In India, a documentary about the Nirbhaya rape incident in 2012. India's decision to ban the film suggests that the government's approach to censorship is starting to look more like China's
Courtesy: Rediff.com
Rajni Bakshi, Gandhi Peace Fellow, Gateway House analyses the complementary roles played by the two key Aam Aadmi Party candidates from Mumbai. She says that while veteran activist Medha Patkar gives voice to the suffering of people at the grassroots, former banker Meera Sanyal highlights the principles that could build a more just and equitable society