News: The move by Union Cabinet to raise the legal minimum age at marriage for women to 21, and introduction of an amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, comes as a blow to women’s rights. The move is neither feasible, nor grounded in evidence, nor respectful of women’s rights. Why the move is… Continue reading Why raising marriage age of women won’t achieve its stated goal
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Why the Russia-West equation matters to India
News: Russia’s geopolitics have always impacted India’s international relations. Its present tussle with the west and US on Ukraine will also have great consequences for India. India-Russia’s historic connection and its present status The Great Game of the 19th century between the British Raj and imperial Russia, the Soviet support for revolutionary movements in Asia,… Continue reading Why the Russia-West equation matters to India
Raising marriage age won’t lead to women’s empowerment
News: Recently, the Union Cabinet has passed a proposal raising the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years — the same as men. Read here: Recommendations given by the Jaya Jaitly committee Why India should raise the legal age of marriage for women? 1. India is usually near the bottom of the… Continue reading Raising marriage age won’t lead to women’s empowerment
Fiscal Federalism: The sustained attack on federalism
News: A Muslim league member from Kerala in the constituent assembly, highlighted that concentrating all powers in the centre will lead to totalitarianism. What recent measures suggest a concentration of power by the Centre? 1. Increasing monitory share of states in centrally sponsored schemes, 2. The terms of reference of 15th finance commission, 3. Imposition… Continue reading Fiscal Federalism: The sustained attack on federalism
Summit for Democracy: What constitutes democracy is for actual democracy to define
News: USA President hosted the “Summit for Democracy“. There are 100-plus countries that participated in the summit to build a wide-ranging alliance against autocracies. Read more: About the Summit for democracy Why China and Russia are against the Summit for Democracy? Both countries criticized the summit as they believe it exhibits a “Cold War Mentality” that… Continue reading Summit for Democracy: What constitutes democracy is for actual democracy to define
Exam-conducting bodies must support candidates with disabilities
News: Recently, a student who suffered from dysgraphia (a disorder that causes impaired handwriting), has not been allocated a 1-hour compensatory time who appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical courses. What are the arguments presented by the National Testing Agency? National Testing Agency, said that the candidate failed to… Continue reading Exam-conducting bodies must support candidates with disabilities
Why WHO’s Pandemic treaty is a smokescreen
News: A Special session of the World Health Assembly was held recently to negotiate the pandemic treaty. The proposal for a new pandemic treaty is mainly championed by the European Union. Read more about this treaty here. What is the current mechanism to deal with any International health emergencies? Currently, Global public health responses are… Continue reading Why WHO’s Pandemic treaty is a smokescreen
On India’s Data Policy – The promise and peril of big data in India’s policy space
News: Even years after India initiated an ‘open data’ policy, openness, of public datasets, is still very rare. Unlike in the West, the statistical ecosystem in India is not such that administrative datasets can be scrutinized by independent researchers and then deployed for policymaking. What are the issues/ challenges in using administrative data for policymaking?… Continue reading On India’s Data Policy – The promise and peril of big data in India’s policy space
Health will remain high on agenda
News: Both the first and second waves of COVID have shown that India needs to strengthen its inadequately resourced health system. The new year calls for a renewed resolve to build an efficient, equitable and empathetic health system. What has been done since the onset of the pandemic to strengthen the health infrastructure in… Continue reading Health will remain high on agenda
Testing the red lines in the Iran nuclear talks
News: Multilateral nuclear talks have started once again in Vienna with a new Iranian negotiating team. For the time being, the talks seems to have no positive outcomes. Both US and Iran are completely rigid and want the other party to back down and make concessions before they will move. Hence, it’s unclear whether the… Continue reading Testing the red lines in the Iran nuclear talks
