Decoding Democracy

"...Politics is too serious matter to be left to the politicians," said Charles de Gaulle, the man who rescued democracy in France post World War II. Playwright George Bernard Shaw would…

A by-election either to a parliamentary or assembly constituency used to be a low-key affair a decade ago. It was to a great degree a local election. The top brass of parties didn't get…

Ideology is a destructive force. Once turned into an instrument of power-grab, and weaponised for political purposes, it loses its softer edges, and to a great degree its moral moorings too.…

Are faith and rationalism mutually exclusive entities? The line of thought insisting on it makes it categorical that both don't mix. If one is faithful, one has to be irrational. Conversely…

'Bhakt' is a maligned word in our world.In the current definition, the word refers to a person prone to expressing excessive devotion to the subject of adoration. The devotion can go to…

It was a construct powered by the intellectual wavelength, clarity and integrity of the elite of the Independence era. It was an ambitious, long-term project drawing strength from modern…

"I am rediscovering myself. And I am indeed amused by what I am," says the friend without a trace of humour. Active in the social sector for long and now jobless, he is amazed by the new…

There is no escaping media pundits. They are out there, on our television screens, social media posts, and newspapers, pontificating on anything and everything and throwing predictions to…

Give it to Arnab Goswami. Nobody symbolises the muscle of the media as he does, nobody makes millions sway to one's tune as he does, nobody challenges power as he does, nobody makes the…

One fine day nearly two decades ago, Lal Bihari, a happy-go-lucky, unambitious farmer in Uttar Pradesh discovers he is dead, officially. With an eye on his small patch of land, his relatives…