The Social Lens: Insights on Institutions, Inequality, and Innovation

The buzz surrounding the Indian elections has been building for the past two years. Disenchantment and disillusionment with the United Progressive Alliance’s policies made people impatient to welcome a new government—one that would drive the country towards prudent economic policies, better governance, the enactment of entitlement-based rights, and robust foreign policies. The name that comes to mind almost synonymously with the 2014 election is that of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) poster boy, Narendra Modi. Narendra Modi has been a long-standing member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and was chosen as the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, following the Bhuj earthquake. During his tenure, Gujarat witnessed a massive anti-muslim communal riot in 2002 after the burning of a train in Godhra. Modi has been named in multiple cases for his alleged involvement in the post-Godhra riots. Some Gujarat government officials also accused him of failing to deploy state machinery...

The biggest festival of India, parliamentary election, is planned in April and May 2014. This is not a mere number game for Indians but this is the question of their survival and a chance to gain prosperity in the economic, political, and social spheres of their life. In democracy, we do not choose only leaders to represent us but also assert our rights to have freedom, liberty, equality, and justice. These are the basic rights that one should have to live a decent life. In this election, everyone knows which party is going to get highest number of seats. The main problem is the formation of government at the centre in a coalition era asserted by ‘regional parties’ based on ‘primordial identities’. This time, the expectations from the government is very high after seeing the misrule for last five years. Irresponsible fiscal and monetary policies, corruption in government and governance, weak foreign policy and especially diplomacy, inefficient administration and insufficient result...