Related Articles

Matching keywords : Internet, press freedom, Nawaat.org, blogs, internet censorship, democracy

Naomi Osaka Starts an Important Conversation

Only someone with the clout of a world champion, the purse of one of the top-paid athletes of the world, and the influence of a millennial social media celebrity can afford to take on the antiquated a...

by Vidya Subramanian | On 06 Jun 2021

Weekend Ruminations: The meaning of 'partly free'

How far the govt will go towards establishing its control depends on the effectiveness of domestic institutional resistance and on how much it wants to risk international censure.

by T.N. Ninan | On 08 Mar 2021

Model Nagar Raj Bill: Taking Democracy to the Grassroots

Participation of citizen in local governance is a key component for good governance. It extends the citizens’ role beyond that of a voter . It ensures a more equal distribution of power and resources...

by Kedar Diwan | On 21 Feb 2021

States of Control: COVID, Cuts and Impunity: South Asia Press Freedom Report, 2019-2020

he media had the task of reporting the growing humanitarian crisis, working in difficult circumstances and amidst unprecedented physical curbs due to lockdowns and restrictions, particularly in contai...

by | On 16 Feb 2021

The Poet in the Republic

India seems to have turned Platonic anxiety on its head, making the utterance of truth a difficult endeavour in this country.

by | On 01 Aug 2020

Post Covid-19: Recovering and Sustaining India’s Growth

The paper discusses past virtuous growth cycles in India and argues that the post Covid-19 macro-financial package is an opportunity to trigger another such cycle, by raising marginal propensities t...

by Ashima Goyal | On 14 May 2020

How to Modernise the Working of Courts and Tribunals in India

Indian courts are clogged with large backlogs. Part of the reason for the problem is that cases take a very long time to move through the courts. It slows progress of court cases is harmful for the In...

by Pratik Dutta | On 30 Mar 2019

Human Rights Watch World Report, 2019. Events of 2018

World Report 2019 is Human Rights Watch’s 29th annual review of human rights practices around the globe. It summarizes key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, draw...

by | On 27 Mar 2019

In Memoriam: Darryl D'Monte

Darryl D’Monte, veteran journalist passed away on March 16, 2019 in Mumbai. He was 75.

by | On 24 Mar 2019

Bangladesh Goes to the Polls: A Street-side View

An informal but informed Indian professional on assignment in Dhaka sends this engaging commentary on the general elections in Bangladesh.

by Srikanth S | On 05 Jan 2019

Indian Banks and the Prevention of Corruption Act: Freedom and Discipline

Selfless activists like Mr. Pai teach us the importance of continuously interrogating the functioning of our democracy. The NPA issue has persisted for almost a decade. It has eroded the profitability...

by Ashima Goyal | On 29 Oct 2018

Harnessing Technology for Moe Inclusive and Sustainable Finance in Asia and the Pacific

This brief report documents facts of financial innovation in Asia and the Pacific that include: • Fintech redefines a specific sector at the intersection of financial services and technology sectors....

by Asian Bank | On 09 Oct 2018

Preparing the Philippines for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: A Scoping Study

Technological breakthroughs and the interplay of a number of fields, including advanced robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), nanotechnology, neurotech, data analytics, blockchain, cloud technology,...

by Elmer P. Dadios | On 29 Aug 2018

Alternate Instruments to Manage the Capital Flow Conundrum: A Study of Selected Asian Economies

The paper analyses a nationally representative data set from India for the year 2013 in order to provide evidence on how short term migration is affected by household's ownership of land, and particip...

by Rajeswari Sengupta | On 25 Jul 2018

Assessment of the BUB Program: Improving Access of Local Communities to Basic Services and Strengthening Social Capital

The Aquino administration through the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cluster (HDPRC) and Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Cluster (GGACC) launched the Bottom-up Budgeting (BUB) exercise in...

by Rosario G. Manasan | On 05 Jul 2018

Do Information and Communication Technologies Empower Female Workers? Firm-Level Evidence from Viet Nam

This paper studies the effects of firms’ investments in information and communication technologies (ICT) on their demand for female and skilled workers. Using the gradual liberalization of the broadba...

by Natalie Chun | On 31 May 2018

Income Inequality and Depression: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Association and a Scoping Review of Mechanisms

Most countries have witnessed a dramatic increase of income inequality in the past three decades. This paper addresses the question of whether income inequality is associated with the population prev...

by | On 31 May 2018

World Happiness Report 2018

The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The World Happiness Report 2018, ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, and 117 countries by the happiness of...

by | On 04 May 2018

Press Freedom and Free Speech in 2018

Media freedom continued to deteriorate in the first four months of 2018 in India. The Report documents killings of media persons and attacks on journalists as well as the use of regulatory policy and...

by | On 03 May 2018

Cow Vigilantism: Crime, Community and Livelihood January 2016 to March 2018

From 2015 there has been a spate of incidents of violence and intimidation around issues of cow slaughter and beef. These ranged from the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq for alleged cow theft, slaughter...

by PUDR Peoples Union for Democratic Rights | On 04 Apr 2018

Tribute: Death of a Physicist Stephen Hawking 1942 - 2018

Stephen William Hawking, physicist, born January 8, 1942, died on March 14, 2018, aged 76. By the time he was 21 he was diagnosed to be suffering from an unspecified incurable disease, later identifie...

by S. Srinivasan | On 19 Mar 2018

Population Pressure on Land in Kerala

The paper examines how Kerala, a demographically and socially well advanced state in India, responded to the high population pressure during the 30 year period from 1975-76 to 2005-06.

by N. Ajith Kumar | On 07 Mar 2018

Seeing the Forest for the Trees? An Investigation of Network Knowledge

The paper studies a dynamic model of the decision to continue or abandon a research project. Researchers improve their ideas over time and also learn whether those ideas will be adopted by the scienti...

by | On 07 Mar 2018

Learning When to Quit: An Empirical Model of Experimentation

The paper studies a dynamic model of the decision to continue or abandon a research project. Researchers improve their ideas over time and also learn whether those ideas will be adopted by the scienti...

by Bernhard Ganglmair | On 06 Mar 2018

Regaining the Constitutional Identity of the Finance Commission: A Daunting Task for the Thirteenth Commission

The paper argues that the Thirteenth Finance Commission has got to find its own track if it does not want to remain as a pale shadow of its constitutional self. It should ignore those terms of referen...

by K.K. George | On 28 Feb 2018

India and the Artificial Intelligence Revolution

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have stimulated fervent interest from both the private sector and governments across the globe, as the possibility of mass-produced consumer product m...

by | On 21 Feb 2018

Fiscal Management in Kerala: Constraints and Policy Options

The paper says that this pattern of financing fiscal deficit is reflected in the changing composition of Kerala’s public debt.

by K.K. George | On 15 Feb 2018

Proceedings of the Workshop: State of the Art of Local Governance - Challenges for the Next Decade

The discussions in the workshop ranged from scrutinizing overall models of governance via technical and administrative applications to philosophical debates about the core values of democracy

by Bent Jörgensen | On 07 Feb 2018

Citizen Engagement, Deliberative Spaces and the Consolidation of a Post-Authoritarian Democracy: The Case of Indonesia

This paper argues that support for citizen participation and accountability among civil society actors can consolidate local deliberative spaces and improve the performance of local government.

by Hans Antlöv | On 07 Feb 2018

The Indian Parliament as an Institution of Accountability

This paper examines the institutional challenges facing the Indian Parliament. It argues that over the years there has been a decline in the effectiveness of Parliament as an institution of accounta...

by Pratap Mehta | On 05 Feb 2018

Choosing Democracy: Natural Resource Management for Environmental Policy Makers, Donors and Practitioners

The brief talks about supporting local democracy in forestry is crucial for enhancing local people’s wellbeing.

by Jesse Ribot | On 02 Feb 2018

Ecommerce and Firm Performance: Evidence from Korea

The paper aims to characterize and test performance differences between ecommerce and non-ecommerce firms or establishments.

by Lee Yub | On 26 Jan 2018

The India Freedom Report: Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in 2017

The climate for journalism in India grew steadily adverse in 2017. A host of perpetrators made reporters and photographers, even editors, fair game as there were murders, attacks, threats, and cases...

by The Hoot the hoot.org | On 24 Jan 2018

A Guide to Using Budget Analysis

Budget analysis entails analysis and assessment of budget from the lens of marginalised sections of population with the objective of prioritisation of public expenditures and collection of revenues...

by Happy Pant | On 17 Jan 2018

Mapping Spaces For Democratic Participation In South Aceh Indonesia

The paper explored participatory aspects of local democracy in Aceh and some major challenges in South Aceh for people’s participation in local decision-making processes.

by Leena Avonius | On 08 Jan 2018

Globalisation, Democratic Decentralisation and Social Secutiy in India

This paper examines the role of democratic decentralisation in promoting inclusive governance (responsive, efficient equitable) and social security in the context of globalisation. Firstly, the paper...

by | On 07 Dec 2017

Freedom of Expression in Pakistan: A myth or a reality

The study adopts a qualitative approach to understand the power dynamics and draws out conclusions from a wide variety of stakeholders regarding the issues at hand.

by Sadaf Liaquat | On 23 Nov 2017

Management of Capital Flows in India

Increased integration with global financial markets has amplified the complexity of macroeconomic management in India. The diverse objectives of a robust growth rate, healthy current account deficit,...

by Abhijit Sen Gupta | On 13 Nov 2017

Internet Governance and Developing Countries: Implications for India

The internet has created a one world of information and commerce. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) nearly 40 per cent of the world population is currently using the Interne...

by Research and Information System for Developing Countries | On 05 Oct 2017

Womanhood Beyond Motherhood: Exploring Experiences of Voluntary Childless Women

This study attempts to explore the emerging issue among women in Indian cities who voluntarily chose to be childless, with an emphasis on the reasons accorded for opting out of motherhood. Findings of...

by Chandni Bhambhani | On 07 Sep 2017

Real Democratization in Cambodia? An Empirical Review of the Potential of a Decentralization Reform

This has facilitated the growth of a (more) positive relationship between civil society and the local state reduced the governance gap and enhanced the legitimacy of the local state.

by Joakim Öjendal | On 01 Sep 2017

Estimating the Value of New Generation Internet Based Applications in India

The study attempts to measure growth elasticity based on Internet usage and not Internet penetration. It is a refinement in the approach to measure impacts given that subscriptions sometimes do not tr...

by Rajat Kathuria | On 21 Aug 2017

Rethinking the Development of Post-War Sri Lanka Based on the Singapore Model

This study explores three major points, namely, Singapore's development process,Singapore's model of economic development, and the economic challenges of post-war Sri Lanka. This study explores pages...

by Sanika Sulochani Ramanayake | On 25 Jul 2017

Asia Bond Monitor - November 2015

The report says that yields for 10-year local currency (LCY) government bonds in emerging East Asia were mostly down between 1 September and 31 October. Investor confidence was buoyed as financial mar...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 29 Jun 2017

Myanmar Transport Sector Policy Note: River Transport

Myanmar has an extensive river network that is well positioned to serve the country’s main transport corridors, including the link between Yangon and Mandalay. However, main rivers are difficult to na...

by Asian Development Bank Institute | On 31 May 2017

The India Freedom Report

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2017 it becomes important to view the level of press freedom in India in the wider context of societal freedom. The press cannot be truly free when facilitat...

by The Hoot the hoot.org | On 08 May 2017

The informational role of algorithmic traders in the option market

This paper investigates the information role of algorithmic traders (AT) in the Nifty index option market. I analyse a unique dataset to test for information-based trading by looking at the effect of...

by Rohini Grover | On 04 May 2017

An Interview with Anand Patwardhan

For over 40 years Anand Patwardhan’s documentary films have stood for freedom of expression. He faced censorship on numerous occasions, took the government to court, and won each time. Anand is not ju...

by Vidya Bhushan Rawat | On 10 Apr 2017

Talking Sensibly about Depression

The slogan for World Health Day is “let’s talk,” emphasizing the central role of disclosure “as a vital component of recovery” by targeting the stigma surrounding mental illness, which acts as a bar...

by Vikram Patel | On 07 Apr 2017

Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Woman Journalist 2016 : Acceptance Speech

The Chameli Devi Jain Award for an Outstanding Woman Journalist for the year 2016 was given to independent journalist Neha Dixi on March 1, 2017, at a function at the Indian International Centre, Delh...

by | On 09 Mar 2017

Haryana Budget : 2017-18

Haryana Budget presented by Hon'ble Minister Capt. Abhimanyu.

by Haryana Government | On 07 Mar 2017

Kerala Budget 2017-18

Kerala budget presented by Hon.Finance Minister Thomas Issac.

by T.M. Thomas Issac | On 06 Mar 2017

‘GOING DARK’ in India: The Legal and Security Dimensions of Encryption

Encrypting communications enhances privacy and the security of information services. This, in turn, incentivises innovation in the ICT sector and contributes significantly to the growth of the interne...

by | On 02 Feb 2017

Inequalities in Secondary Education: Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan

Secondary education is an important stage in the school education ladder as it equips students with skills important for higher education and the labour market. Besides helping students to choose diff...

by | On 10 Jan 2017

Impact of Internet and Digitisation on SMBs in India

“Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) form the backbone of the Indian economy making large contributions to important economic indicators as well as household incomes. Digital technologies have transfor...

by | On 05 Jan 2017

Amma Deivamanar (Amma became Goddess)

A benevolent dictator but one who sincerely loved the masses. She is unforgivably not a leader who believed in the collectivity of a Party to afford democracy. But she did what was needed. She display...

by Shyam Sundar | On 14 Dec 2016

The Yogi and the Commissar

It’s the season for media biographies, as NDTV and TV18 publish their life stories. If NDTV comes across as self-righteous TV18 is open about its sins of commission. Chintamani Rao says the books of...

by | On 07 Nov 2016

Introduction: Academic Freedom in Crisis

This essay is the first in a series on Academic Freedom in Crisis curated by socialsciencespace. In the current context of the apparent retreat of academic freedom across the world, the series of shor...

by Daniel Nehring | On 11 Sep 2016

The Empirical Economics of Online Attention

This paper models and characterizes how households allocate their scarce attention in arguably the largest market for attention: the Internet. It identifies vast and expected changes in those househol...

by Andre Boik | On 19 Jul 2016

Keeping the South China Sea in Perspective

The South China Sea disputes involve the interests of the United States, particularly with regard to freedom of navigation, international norms and law, relations with important partners and allies, a...

by | On 13 Jul 2016

Capabilities and Skills

This paper discusses the relevance of recent research on the economics of human development to the work of the Human Development and Capability Association. The recent economics of human development b...

by James J. Heckman | On 28 Jun 2016

Dedicated High Speed Rail Network in India: Issues in Development

This paper examines issues with regards to route fixation, choice of technology partner and need for standards, location of stations, choice of grade level, choice of gauge and inter-operability of tr...

by G Raghuram | On 28 Jun 2016

Factors Influencing Outcome Expectations and Self-Efficacy in Driving Internet Use in Rural India

This study uses the theory of social capital and social cognition to understand the drivers of Internet use from the perspective of outcome expectations and self-efficacy. The primary research questi...

by Rekha Jain | On 21 Jun 2016

The Economics of Copyright and the Internet: Moving to an Empirical Assessment Relevant in the Digital Age

Technology and the Internet have triggered important changes to how creative works are created, accessed and how creators and copyright-based industries generate their revenues. In this chapter, the e...

by Sacha Wunsch-Vincent | On 08 Jun 2016

Afghanistan’s Political Transition

This report reviews Afghanistan’s 2014 presidential election and the related political contests. Drawing on interviews in Kabul and the work of researchers in several provinces, this study does not se...

by International Crisis Group | On 26 May 2016

Political Conflict, Extremism and Criminal Justice in Bangladesh

Political repression is reaching new highs in Bangladesh. The government’s abuse of rule of law institutions for political ends has created an atmosphere of injustice that is increasingly exploited by...

by International Crisis Group | On 26 May 2016

Institutionalising Civilian Control of the Military in New Democracies: Theory and Evidence from South Korea

This paper aims to answer the question of how and under what circumstances civilian control can be established in newly democratised nations. To do this, the paper proposes a new theoretical argument...

by | On 23 May 2016

Faltering UDF, Rising LDF and the Unknown Factor of the Third Front in Kerala Elections 2016

The ruling United Democratic Front's chances of coming back to power in the forthcoming elections in Kerala seem bleak, while a resurgent Left Democratic Front is gearing up to form the government. Ho...

by N Rajendran | On 09 May 2016

Evaluating Reliability of Some Symmetric and Asymmetric Univariate Filters

This paper examines statistical reliability of univariate filters for estimation of trend in leading indicators of cyclical changes.

by Anusha . | On 02 May 2016

Tamil Nadu: What Voters Want and How They Rate Government Performance

This report consists the findings of a survey carried out in February 2016 in Tamil Nadu. The purpose of the survey was to find out what voters really want from the Government and how they rate the pe...

by Association for Democratic Reforms ADR | On 28 Apr 2016

Internet Addiction and its Association with Psychopathology : A Study in School Children from Mumbai, India

Internet addiction is a common emerging problem amongst adolescents and students worldwide. The present re-search aimed at determining the prevalence of internet addiction and its correlation to psych...

by P Sharma | On 26 Apr 2016

Copyright Enforcement and Quality Differentiation on the Internet

Right-holders can create differences between their cultural goods to attract consumers with varying levels of willingness to pay. Some Internet intermediaries propose similar choices but do so without...

by | On 15 Apr 2016

New Expression Meets Old Repression: Ending the Cycle of Political Arrests and Imprisonment in Myanmar

Despite five decades of agonizing slog, from an authoritarian military rule towards a more open political system, activists continue to face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for their peaceful act...

by Amnesty International AI, | On 11 Apr 2016

Free Speech in 2016: First Quarter Report

Apart from the turbulence in February over the sedition cases filed at Jawaharlal Nehru University, the arrests of students, and the allegations regarding doctored videos, the period saw an overall in...

by | On 05 Apr 2016

Impacts of Rural-Urban Cleavages and Cultural Orientations on Attitudes toward Elements of Democracy: A Cross-National, Within Nation Analysis

This paper follows the lead in substituting variable names for national social systems from the project on “Democratization and Value Change in East Asia.” Specifically, it investigates the associatio...

by Robert Albritton | On 21 Mar 2016

The Conceit of Reason the Cunning of History versus - Modernity and Caste in India

This paper addresses the central question as to how and why caste still survives under conditions of democracy and modernity and what do we make of it. I try to explain this phenomenon by viewing it i...

by Sanjeeb Mukherjee | On 21 Mar 2016

Budget Speech Maharashtra: 2016-17-Part I

Budget Speech by Finance Minister of Maharashtra

by Sudhir Mungamtiwar | On 18 Mar 2016

Cybersecurity, Internet Governance and India’s Foreign Policy: Historical Antecedents

India’s stances in global Internet governance debates have often been noted, and criticised, for their strong preference for multilateral models of engagement, as different from the multistakeholder a...

by Saikat Datta | On 17 Mar 2016

Exchange Market Pressure in India

In this paper, we empirically investigate the episodes of currency market stress/crisis in India during the period 1992 – 2012 with the help of a monthly EMP index for India constructed for this perio...

by Anuradha Guru | On 16 Mar 2016

The Enigma of the ‘Indian Model’ of Development

The paper is an attempt to unveil the enigma of the ‘Indian model’ of development. After discussing the evolution of India’s development policies over the last six decades, the paper attempts to unfol...

by Amit S. Ray | On 16 Mar 2016

Desecuritizing the Kurdish Question and Emerging Regional Dynamics

Desecuritizing the Kurdish question has become a priority for Turkey’s AKP government as it seeks to enter into a domestic “solution process” with the PKK. However, emerging dynamics in Iraq and Syria...

by | On 12 Mar 2016

Towards a Comprehensive Welfare State in South Korea: Institutional Features, A New Socio-Economic and Political Pressures, and the Possibility of the Welfare State

The paper analyse the institutional designs for welfare system in Korea and their possible effects on the establishment of a welfare state. The paper also discusses some possible effects of the recent...

by Yeon-Myung KIM | On 09 Mar 2016

Myanmar’s National Reconciliation Process: A Positive for the Region?

Since taking office in March 2011, Myanmar’s new government has implemented a host of reforms. These include the release of some political prisoners,a lifting of restrictions on media freedoms, the...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 02 Mar 2016

Liberalization, Globalization And The Dynamics Of Democracy In India

In the closing decades of the twentieth century there has been an almost complete intellectual triumph of the twin principles of marketization (understood here as referring to the liberalization of do...

by D M NACHANE | On 01 Mar 2016

Contesting Identities in Bangladesh: A Study of Secular and Religious Frontiers

The birth of Bangladesh in 1971 was an epoch-making event within the post-colonial order of South Asia. Led by the middle classes, a bitter and bloody war of Liberation from Pakistan was fought, based...

by Sanjay Bhardwaj | On 01 Mar 2016

20 Years of Human Security: A Special Focus on Political Security

Security used to be defined in military terms with the state as the referent of security. From this state-centric lens, political security means the stability of the state’s political regime and socia...

by S. Rajaratnam International Studies | On 27 Feb 2016

Towards Comprehensive Economic Co-operation between India and Central Asian Republics

Despite some recovery in recent years, Central Asian Republics (CARs) remain in difficult economic situation and they present a serious challenge to Asia. It is in the mutual interest of both CARs and...

by Ramgopal Agarwala | On 24 Feb 2016

The 2004 Global Labor Survey: Workplace Institutions and Practices Around the World

This paper reports on an Internet-based survey designed to collect information on the state of workplace practices from labor experts and practitioners around the world -- the 2004 Global Labor Survey...

by Richard B. Freeman | On 24 Feb 2016

The Puzzle of Small Farming in Japan

Japan’s small farming represents a puzzle. Currently nearly three-quarters of farmland is operated by farmers whose farm size is well under optimal size. Being too small is the main reason for the hig...

by Yoshihisa Godo | On 24 Feb 2016

Security Sector Governance and Conflict Management in Southeast Asia

Security sector governance (SSG) poses a huge challenge to states transitioning to democracy, particularly in cases where the military and other components of the security sector had been very influen...

by | On 22 Feb 2016

Plight of the Rohingya: ASEAN Credibility Again at Stake

The suffering of the Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine state is putting pressure on ASEAN to intervene. Coming just before their 21st Summit, the wisdom and stewardship of ASEAN leaders will be tested onc...

by | On 19 Feb 2016

Citizen-Led Accountability and Inclusivity in Pakistan

This ‘theory in practice’ paper examines the experiences of citizens groups seeking to hold Pakistan’s elected representatives and governance institutions accountable. A sustained period of democracy,...

by | On 16 Feb 2016

Exchange Market Pressure and Monetary Policy: Evidence from Pakistan

The study employs Girton and Roper (1977) measure of exchange market pressure—sum of exchange rate depreciation and foreign reserves outflow, to examine the interaction between exchange market pressur...

by M. Idrees Khawaja | On 16 Feb 2016

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Looking Ahead to the Next Steps

Pressure has been building for the conclusion of the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. Getting the deal done is important, but the TPP is not just another free trade agreement (...

by Deborah Elms | On 16 Feb 2016

Well-being and Public Attitudes in Afghanistan: Some Insights from the Economics of Happiness

Afghanistan is a context where individuals have to cope with the most adverse of circumstances. In this paper, we use the tools provided by a new approach in economics, which relies on surveys of happ...

by Soumya Chattopadhyay | On 16 Feb 2016

Monetary Policy and Capital Market Development in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Bank (BB) adjusted its monetary policy stance during 2005 in order to contain inflationary pressures and facilitate stability in the foreign exchange market. At the end of 2005, interest ra...

by Shubhasish Barua | On 15 Feb 2016

Public Health in india: Challenges Ahead

As the world’s largest democracy and the second most populous country in the world, India has experienced sea change since its independence in various facets of development. However as per public heal...

by Anuj Sabharwal | On 13 Feb 2016

Bangladesh: Bangladesh: The Adolescence of an Ancient Land Ancient Land

On January 11, 2007, a state of emergency was declared in Bangladesh. A new caretaker government which condoned greater military involvement in the governing of Bangladesh was installed. This is the t...

by | On 09 Feb 2016

Urbanization and Cardiovascular Risk: Moving Forward from Framingham

How relevant are the risk score calculators based on the Framingham study for India? There are certain limitations for the use of this model in India. The relationship of risk factors to cardiac event...

by Anand Zachariah | On 09 Feb 2016

An Index of Fiscal Democracy

Over the past four decades, the accumulation of policy legacies and public debt has led to a decline in fiscal flexibility in Germany and the United States. By applying an index of fiscal democracy to...

by | On 08 Feb 2016

Organizational Identities and Institutions

Organizational identity is a mechanism that mediates between external pressures and internal demands on continuity. The concept of organizational identity is considered to be central to solving the re...

by | On 08 Feb 2016

Religion and Depression in Adolescence

The probability of being depressed increases dramatically during adolescence and is linked to a range of adverse outcomes. Many studies show a correlation between religiosity and mental health, yet th...

by Jane Cooley Fruehwirth | On 07 Feb 2016

Using Online Vacancies and Web Surveys to Analyse the Labour Market: A Methodological Inquiry – 2016

This paper discusses methodological issues arising from the use of online job vacancy data and voluntary web-based surveys to analyse the labour market. It highlights the advantages and possible disad...

by | On 05 Feb 2016

Bangladesh National Integrity System Assessment 2014

One of the key strategic areas of Transparency International Bangladesh's research has always been the institutions of democracy and specialized pillars of governance and accountability, which constit...

by Transparency International TI | On 05 Feb 2016

Palestine National Integrity System Assessment 2013

During the period covered by this study, Palestine faced a number of positive and negative developments. The most significant was the continued political divide, resulting in an ongoing disruption to...

by Transparency International TI | On 05 Feb 2016

Transparency in Corporate Reporting: Assessing the World’s Largest Telecommunications Companies 2015

With currently more than 7 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide and 3.2 billion internet users, the growth of the telecoms sector has enabled unprecedented opportunities for social and economic deve...

by Transparency International | On 03 Feb 2016

Truth, Power and the Rehabilitation of the Facts

This paper is an attempt to analyze the age-old phenomenon of leaks - the deliberate disclosure of secret information - and its relationship with the principle of transparency in a democracy. Secrets...

by | On 03 Feb 2016

The Inter-linkages between Democracy and Per Capita GDP Growth: A Cross Country Analysis

The empirical growth literature gives no clear indication as to how democracy impacts growth; there is evidence of both positive and negative effects and also of no direct link in democracy and growth...

by Madeeha Gohar Qureshi | On 03 Feb 2016

Rent Seeking Opportunities and Economic Growth in Transitional Economies

This study empirically explores the growth effects of rent seeking activity (RSA) for a group of 52 developing/transitional countries, using a dynamic panel data approach. The modelling framework is a...

by Nasir Iqbal | On 03 Feb 2016

Fiscal Decentralisation and Economic Growth: Role of Democratic Institutions

This study attempts to analyse the impact of fiscal decentralisation on economic growth. It also examines the complementarity between fiscal decentralisation and democratic institutions in promoting g...

by Nasir Iqbal | On 03 Feb 2016

Apostasy and the Freedom of Belief: A New Islamic Perspective

This paper offers a novel perspective on the concept of freedom of conscience in Islam and the rules of apostasy in which the author, YehyaJad revises the notion of the death penalty for the apostate....

by | On 02 Feb 2016

US Goals and Strategies toward the Arab World

This essay tries to delineate US interests and goals in the Arab region by trying to answer two fundamental questions: First, in light of its promise for change and following the dramatic transformati...

by | On 01 Feb 2016

A Global Green New Deal for Sustainable Development

Seventy-six years ago, in the midst of the Great Depression, the United States government introduced the New Deal. The New Deal effectively harnessed the fiscal stimulus for environmental as well as d...

by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs | On 31 Jan 2016

Fiscal Stimulus is still Needed for Global Recovery

Responding to the economic and financial crisis, a large number of countries introduced fiscal stimulus packages to support aggregate demand. These have been critical in avoiding the recession becomin...

by United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs | On 31 Jan 2016

Parliamentary Oversight and Social Accountability

Parliamentary oversight is one of the cornerstones of democracy. John Stuart Mill asserted that the most appropriate tasks of a representative body are to : oversee and clarify the government actions,...

by BRAC University | On 30 Jan 2016

Institutions of Accountability Series : The Judiciary Policy Note

The courts are one of the most fundamental institutions where power is contested in a constitutional democracy. A functioning and an independent judiciary can restrain and hold the executive accountab...

by . BRAC | On 30 Jan 2016

Institutional Approach to Anti-corruption: An Evaluation of the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh

Currently, corruption is one of the most discussed topics in the everyday life of Bangladeshi people. They experience it at almost every stage from the top lair of the bureaucracy to the petty grocery...

by Harun Rashid | On 30 Jan 2016

Seeing Like a Citizen: Voice Of The People

‘Seeing like a citizen’ encapsulates within it the notion of being “heard as a citizen”. And it is in this context that the issue of voice has been explored in the research on ‘Deepening democracy, bu...

by Simeen Mahmud | On 30 Jan 2016

The Impact of Formal and Informal Institutions on Economic Performance: A Cross-Country Analysis

This study is an attempt to understand the relative contribution of culture and economic freedom to economic growth. Through applying fixed effect to the panel of fifty four developed, developing and...

by Yasir Khan | On 30 Jan 2016

Palestinian Public Opinion: Attitudes towards Peace Negotiations and National Reconciliation

This report presents selected results of the 2014 Arab Opinion Index from Palestine (the West Bank and the Gaza Strip). The Arab Opinion Index is the largest opinion poll of its kind in the Arab regio...

by | On 29 Jan 2016

Playing with Pixels: Youth, Identity, and Virtual Play Spaces

Recreation Centers and Programmes have historically been designed by adults for adolescents as places of refuge, rehabilitation, and recreation. However, today’s virtual play spaces, such as Teen Seco...

by | On 29 Jan 2016

Challenges and Trends in Decentralised Local Governance in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a rich legacy of establishing and promoting local government institutions, but the actual roles and contributions of these institutions to augment citizens’ participation and consolidat...

by Niaz Khan | On 29 Jan 2016

Spatial Dimensions of Muslim Well-Being in India: A Comparative Study of Indian Districts

The Sachar Commission Report of 2006 on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India generated widespread awareness of the socioeconomic disparity and exclusion of religiou...

by Riaz Hassan | On 29 Jan 2016

Elite Politics and Dissent in Sri Lanka

The year 2015 has been dramatic for politics in Sri Lanka. A Presidential, as well as a General, Election within the first eight months of the year saw the country having a new President and a new gov...

by | On 29 Jan 2016

Between China, India and the Refugees Understanding Bhutan’s National Security Scenario

The implications of an agreement between Bhutan and China would be substantial for India. The border conflict between India and China would be the last to be resolved by Beijing. This might result in...

by Marian Gallenkamp | On 28 Jan 2016

Maximizing the Opportunities of the Internet for International Trade

The last decade has witnessed remarkable developments in the digital economy, creating new opportunities for cross-border trade and investment and the ongoing emergence of novel and disruptive busines...

by | On 28 Jan 2016

Effect of Maternal Mental Health on Infant Growth in Low Income Countries: New Evidence from South Asia

Impaired infant growth, a major problem in South Asia, may require interventions to improve maternal mental health in addition to current interventions targeting infant nutrition. Unicef estimates tha...

by Marcus Hughes | On 28 Jan 2016

Can Mandated Political Representation Increase Policy Influence for Disadvantaged Minorities? Theory and Evidence from India

A basic premise of representative democracy is that all those subject to policy should have a voice in its making. However, policies enacted by electorally accountable governments often fail to refle...

by Rohini Pande | On 28 Jan 2016

Livelihood, Exclusion and Opportunity: Socioeconomic Welfare among Gender and Sexuality Non-normative People in India

This case study explores the socioeconomic experiences of gender and sexuality minority peoples in India, especially in respect of ways in which sexual and gender ‘difference’ may be correlated to eco...

by | On 26 Jan 2016

Internet Fragmentation: An Overview

A thriving and open Internet provides the foundation for the fourth industrial revolution. There has been growing concern that the Internet may be in danger of splintering into a series of bordered cy...

by World Economic Forum [WEF] | On 25 Jan 2016

Understanding Mountain Poverty in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas

Research suggests that development interventions that do not take mountain specificities into account may threaten rather than facilitate development for the inhabitants in a sustainable mountain envi...

by Brigitte Hoermann | On 23 Jan 2016

Infant-Feeding Patterns and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Young Adulthood: Data From Five Cohorts in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding from birth to 6 months, the introduction of nutritious complementary foods at 6 months and continued breastfeeding for 52 years.1...

by Karthikeya Naraparaju | On 22 Jan 2016

India 2050: Can We Celebrate the Centenary of the Republic as a Developed Country?

The paper argues that there is great disparity of incomes between developed and developing countries. Relative income gap of the developing countries which was 10.8 per cent in 2000 was 15.1 per cent...

by | On 21 Jan 2016

Economic Crises and Migration: Learning From the Past and the Present

Following from the Global Economic Crisis of 2008, the paper comprises four substantive sections. The first offers the briefest of descriptions of the economic crisis. It is followed by a discussion o...

by | On 20 Jan 2016

People Matter Civic Engagement in Public Governance

The World Public Sector Report 2008, People Matter, Civic Engagement in Public Governance presents a picture of the evolution of current governance challenges, especially from the point of view of the...

by UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs UNDESA | On 20 Jan 2016

Mapping of Nutrition Teaching and Training Initiatives in India: The Need for Public Health Nutrition

India also tops the charts globally in the prevalence of risk factors for several chronic diseases. Although Public Health Nutrition (PHN) - both as an academic field as well as a means to improved he...

by Shweta Khandelwal | On 19 Jan 2016

Myanmar 2014: Civic Knowledge and Values in a Changing Society

This is an Asia Foundation survey to document public knowledge and awareness of new government institutions and processes, and to gauge the political, social, and economic values held by people from d...

by The Asia Foundation | On 19 Jan 2016

Colonial Origins of Maoist Insurgency in India: Long Term Effects of Indirect Rule

This dissertation tries to answer the puzzle of why the Maoist insurgency in India, which is considered to be the most important internal security threat to the world’s largest democracy, occurs in ce...

by Shivaji Mukherjee | On 19 Jan 2016

Dominant Development and Peoples' Alternatives: Play and Interplay in Chhattisgarh

This text of Ilina Sen’s presentation, the Second Anusandhan Trust’s Krishna Raj Memorial Lecture on Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Sciences, is a lucid account of the contradictions sett...

by Ilina Sen | On 18 Jan 2016

Does Development Reduce Migration?

The most basic economic theory suggests that rising incomes in developing countries will deter emigration from those countries, an idea that captivates policymakers in international aid and trade dipl...

by | On 15 Jan 2016

Malaise in Maldives: A Pristine Paradise or a Painful Purgatory?

The implications of recent events in Maldives go far beyond the pristine shores of that enchanting archipelago. The paper discusses the larger geopolitical implications of the suspension of democracy,...

by Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury | On 09 Jan 2016

A Tortured History : Federalism and Democracy in Pakistan

The Pakistan Army’s ideological hegemony, especially in the country’s Punjabi-speaking heartland, the continuing focus on the state’s narrative of a religion-based unitary identity which is under a co...

by Aasim Akhtar | On 08 Jan 2016

A Tortured History: Federalism and Democracy in Pakistan

This paper looks at the Pakistan Army’s ideological hegemony, especially in the country’s Punjabi-speaking heartland, the continuing focus on the state’s narrative of a religion-based unitary identity...

by | On 07 Jan 2016

Urbanization as “Development” Versus Constitutional Safeguards for the Tribal People

Following are excerpts from Report of a PUCL Fact Finding Team into unrest and repression in the Sundergarh scheduled district of Odisha.

by People's Union of Civil Liberties PUCL | On 06 Jan 2016

State Building, Political Progress, and Human Security in Afghanistan

Based on the Asia Foundation’s , "Afghanistan in 2006: A Survey of the Afghan People." , the papers in this volume analyze survey data on the opinions and perceptions of Afghans towards government, pu...

by | On 02 Jan 2016

National Consultation Report: Post-2015 Development Agenda

The report summarizes recommendations from a national consultation on the post-2015 development framework and includes reports from a range of national convenors including the Government of India, tra...

by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) | On 01 Jan 2016

Open Educational Resources: Enhancing Education Provision and Practice

Open educational resources made their appearance in early 2002 as a promising tool for enhancing the quality of and access to education and were perceived to have the potential to reduce costs by reus...

by Jouko Sarvi | On 01 Jan 2016

Mental Health Effects of Climate Change

Changes in climate and global warming may require population to migrate, which can lead to acculturation stress. It can also lead to increased rates of physical illnesses, which secondarily would be a...

by | On 30 Dec 2015

Water and People: A National Perspective Mitti Aur Pani Mein Sona Hai

The failures of water management have been extensively studied and reviewed and the shortcomings are listed.

by Ravi Chopra | On 29 Dec 2015

Civil Society Meets the State: A Model of Associational Democracy

This paper takes issue with simplistic views of inefficient state and efficient civil society as well as undifferentiated accounts of civil society that do not distinguish among particular association...

by | On 29 Dec 2015

Aid and Recovery in Post-Earthquake Nepal: Synthesis Report in the wake of the April 2015 Nepal Earthquake

The Independent Impacts and Recovery Monitoring Nepal (IRM) assesses longitudinally five issues – aid delivery and effectiveness; politics and leadership; social relations and conflict; protection and...

by ASIA FOUNDATION | On 26 Dec 2015

Afghanistan in 2012: A Survey of the Afghan People

Findings from The Asia Foundation's eighth survey in Afghanistan - the broadest public opinion poll in the country of 6,290 Afghan citizens across all 34 provinces.

by Palwasha Kakar | On 26 Dec 2015

Partnership without Alliance? The Contained Volatility of Indo-US Relations, and a Prognosis

India and the United States – the world’s ‘two largest democracies’ – share many structural similarities like multi-party democracy, federalism, constitutionally-guaranteed basic rights and the pre-em...

by Rahul Mukherji | On 23 Dec 2015

Cricket and Indian National Consciousness

It is recognized that there are close links between sport and politics, and in particular between sport and national consciousness. The Olympic Games and the football, rugby and cricket World Cups hav...

by | On 22 Dec 2015

The Sunday Edit: Lengthening Shadows

The Paris attacks should warn us that the threat from ISIS is real and poses a challenge to the security environment in India.

by Reshmi Kazi | On 20 Dec 2015

Managing Firms in an Emerging Economy: Evidence From The Time Use of Indian CEOS

The success or failure of a company is often ascribed to the behavior of its CEO. Yet little is known about what top managers actually do, whether this matters for firm performance, and why it differ...

by Oriana Bandiera | On 18 Dec 2015

The Brics Development Bank

This policy brief recommends that these include commitments to: ending extreme poverty and inequality, with a special focus on gender equity and women’s rights; aligning with environmental and social...

by Oxfam International | On 17 Dec 2015

Human Rights and Asian Values

The thesis that Asian values are less supportive of freedom and more concerned with order than discipline than are Western values and that the claims of human rights in the areas of political and civi...

by Amartya Sen | On 10 Dec 2015

The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column: Are the Women Safe in Your Workplace

This Sunday Column is about having simple safety initiatives and improvements to make your workplaces safe. With the recent incident of a woman print entrepreneur murdered in her workplace in Delhi, i...

by Noel D'Cunha | On 06 Dec 2015

Adolescents under the Radar: In the Asia-Pacific AIDS Response

This report highlights the HIV crisis for vulnerable adolescents in Asia and the Pacific and what we can do to give them the support they desperately need. If we fail to do this, the world will not g...

by United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF | On 01 Dec 2015

Book Review: Religious Publishing, Nationalism and the Hindu

Review of The Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India. Harper Collins India, 2015; pp. 552, Rs 527/-

by Sandeep Dubey | On 20 Nov 2015

Why can't an Academic deliver a Lecture on Secularism without Police Protection? - Romila Thapar

At Pratirodh, the Writers' Convention organised on 1 October 2015, Romila Thapar began with an anecdotal account of her recent lecture on secularism in Mumbai, a lecture for which she was advised to t...

by Romila Thapar | On 18 Nov 2015

Key Indicators of Social Consumption in India: Education

Key Indicators of Social Consumption in India on Education Show Continued Gender Gap and Rural Urban Differences. In rural areas, literacy rate was seen as 71% compared to 86% in urban areas. Also amo...

by National Sample Survey Office NSSO | On 17 Nov 2015

State Policy for Transgenders in Kerala, 2015

The documents states the Government's policy on Transgenders (TGs) its goals, objectives, approaches, implementation processes and highlights selected area of focus in Kerala' s socio-economic context...

by Social Justice Department Kerala | On 13 Nov 2015

Performance and Challenges of Newspapers in India: A Case Study on English versus Vernacular Dailies in India

Newspapers has shown steep decline of circulation and advertising revenue in the west. Online advertising is taking away the majority of advertising revenue from print Increasing printing costs also a...

by V.V.S. Sarma | On 23 Oct 2015

Cultural Resistance Need of the Hour: Teesta Setalvad

This interview with Teesta Setalvad on the series of awards being returned by various writers post lynching of a person in Dadri and PMs silence. Teesta explained that, this government functions on th...

by Teesta Setalvad | On 20 Oct 2015

Cultural Resistance Need of the Hour: Teesta Setalvad

This interview with Teesta Setalvad on the series of awards being returned by various writers post lynching of a person in Dadri and PMs silence. Teesta explained that, this government functions on th...

by Teesta Setalvad | On 20 Oct 2015

Depression among Adolescents as a Function of Social Support and Parental Bonding

Depression is an emotional and mental disorder that affects person’s activity, thoughts, sense of wellbeing and behavior. Its rise within adolescents has become a matter of concern and has put emphasi...

by | On 19 Oct 2015

Policy Tradeoffs in an Open Economy and the Role of G-20 in Global Macroeconomic Policy Coordination

In this paper the aim is to investigate the different nuances of India's capital account management through empirical analyses as well as descriptive discussions. In particular the study the evolution...

by Rajeswari Sengupta | On 19 Oct 2015

Military Build-up in the Indian Ocean: Implications for Regional Stability

As the Indian Ocean region increasingly becomes a more important geopolitical space, global powers and smaller states are laying down their stakes. This paper examines the military build-up of major I...

by | On 15 Oct 2015

E-Retailing and the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015: Drawing from the European Union Consumer Directives

E-retailing has exponentially grown in the past decade. Alongside, consumer grievances have also started surfacing. The Consumer Protection Bill, 2015 addresses this by giving the right to the consu...

by Akhileshwar Pathak | On 15 Oct 2015

Inside the News: Challenges and Aspirations of Women Journalists in Asia and the Pacific

Why does gender equality in the media matter? Because of the many influences that shape the way we see men and women, media are among the most powerful. Media shape our daily lives, infusing their mes...

by UNESCO UNESCO | On 07 Oct 2015

Cyber-Violence Against Women and Girls: A World-Wide Wake Up Call

The growing reach of the Internet, the rapid spread of mobile information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the wide diffusion of social media have presented new opportunities and enabled var...

by United Nations UN | On 28 Sep 2015

Book Review: Universal Man: The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes

Review of Universal Man: The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes by Richard Davenport-Hines. New York: Basic Books, 2015. 418 pp. Rs. 1,729/- (cloth), IISBN-13: 978-0007519804.

by John Graham | On 23 Sep 2015

The Troubled Democracy of Bangladesh: ‘Muddling Through’ or ‘a Political Settlement’?

Is democracy in Bangladesh on a reverse course? Is there a culture of intolerance being engendered by deliberate design? Will creeping extremisms create an inevitable schism within the nation? The pap...

by | On 23 Sep 2015

Does Democracy promote Social Capital? Evidence from Bhutan

Bhutan is one of the youngest democratic countries in the world. The constitution of Bhutan was formally signed on July 18, 2008 by the fifth King of Bhutan, elected members of Parliament, and the Chi...

by | On 21 Sep 2015

The Sunday Edit: A Depressing Malady

The rising incidence of suicides, and mental health problems in India, especially among youth, cannot be wished away. There is a critical need to recognise the malevolent neglect of the state of ment...

by Nikhil Govind | On 20 Sep 2015

Comparative Notes on Indian Experiences of Social Democracy: Kerala and West Bengal

This paper compares, in historical perspective, the conditions for democracy, economic development and well-being in India and Scandinavia. Within India, it compares the states of Kerala and West Beng...

by | On 16 Sep 2015

Decentralized Local Governance and Citizen Participation in South Asia

This paper encompasses two major themes - local governance and citizens' participation in five neighbouring countries in South Asia, their trials, achievements and failures. Whether their experiences...

by | On 14 Sep 2015

Indonesia: Concerted Efforts Needed to Find Solutions for Protracted IDPs

IDMC estimates that as of July 2015 at least 31,400 people are internally displaced as a result of conflict and violence in Indonesia. Nearly all are protracted internally displaced persons (IDPs) who...

by Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre | On 03 Sep 2015

Reforming Internet Governance and the Role of China

This paper examines the issue of internet governance and analyzes the developments and challenges in reforming the current system. With state and non-state actors alike seeking to influence the way th...

by | On 25 Aug 2015

Do Philanthropic Citizens Behave Like Governments? Internet-Based Platforms and the Diffusion of International Private Aid

Until recently, most aid from rich to poor countries was transmitted through official bilateral and multilateral channels. But the rapid growth in private development aid from foundations, charities,...

by Homi Kharas | On 25 Aug 2015

Don’t Target the Media

It is not correct to blame the media when effective communication suffer. The government will have to recheck its media policies and the distance it has to keep the media.

by T.N. Ninan | On 15 Aug 2015

Pathways of Transnational Activism: A Conceptual Framework

This paper presents a novel analytical framework to study transnational activism in the context of today’s international governance architecture. While there is a considerable amount of literature on...

by Sabrina Zajak | On 07 Aug 2015

The Role of Technical and Vocational Education in the National Development of Bangladesh

Education is a basic human right and considered by many as a key tool for national development. However, this tenet has been challenged by several economists, especially Pritchett (1996). His empirica...

by Gazi Mahabubul Alam | On 03 Aug 2015

Future and New Thoughts on Co-operative Banks

The co-operative movement in India is more than a century old; regulation thereof is also more than a century old with the first major impetus provided by the passage of the Co-operative Society Act i...

by R. Gandhi | On 29 Jul 2015

Freedom to Marry: The Constitutional Choice and KHAP Panchayats

This paper talks about the right to marry as an essential freedom of all human beings as it relates to their right to self-expression and their right to associate with a person of their choice. The au...

by | On 27 Jul 2015

Punishing an “unfair” leader: People as Pragmatic Politicians with In-group but Fair-but-biased Prosecutors with Out-group

Contrary to fairness expected in modern world, people seem to treat in-group members (us) better than out-group members (them). Do people then defend the in-group members as politicians but prosecut...

by | On 27 Jul 2015

Endangered Lives on the Border: Women in the Northeast

This volume contains three research papers, entitled “Heat of the Barbed Wire: Engendered lives along the borderlands of West Garo Hills” by Anjuman ara Begum; “Sanitized Societies and Dangerous Inter...

by Anjuman Ara Begum | On 24 Jul 2015

The Sunday Edit: Textbooks and Governments

The burden of being politically correct has shackled social science writing for schools, and children’s literature too. When will we be able to recognize that the ‘politically incorrect may be educati...

by Anuradha Kumar | On 20 Jul 2015

Net Neutrality: DoT Committee Report

In March 2015, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a consultation paper titled “Regulatory Framework for Over-the-Top (OTT) Services” wherein the issue of Net Neutrality in the bac...

by DoT Committee on Net Neutrality | On 16 Jul 2015

Engaging Civil Society to Promote Democratic Local Governance: Emerging Trends and Policy Implications in Asia

This paper discusses a wide range of issues in engaging civil society to deepen and sustain decentralization and local democracy. It examines the concepts of democratic local governance and decentrali...

by | On 07 Jul 2015

Rethinking Partnerships in a Post-2015 World: Towards Equitable, Inclusive and Sustainable Development

These reports provide a critical analysis of how governments address the issues of poverty and whether aid and development cooperation policies are put into practice. This 2014 Reality of Aid Report b...

by The Reality of Aid Network | On 09 Jun 2015

Nepal's Continuing Quest for Federalism and Peace

Nepal is currently experiencing perhaps one of the most turbulent phases in its contemporary political history. In 2008, the 240-year-old institution of monarchy—for long seen as a symbol of unity, in...

by Akanshya Shah | On 05 Jun 2015

Second Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2015-16

On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation the statement suggest that the global recovery is still slow and getting increasingly differentiated across regions.

by Raghuram G. Rajan | On 03 Jun 2015

Digital Technologies and Gender Justice in India

Two decades after the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Beijing Platform for Action, the question of gender justice remains as urgent as ever, to the women's movement. While revisiting the ques...

by | On 29 May 2015

Mental Health and Depression among Working and NonWorking Women

The main purpose of this research was to find out the mean difference between working and non-working women in mental health and depression. The total sample consisted 80 women were taken. The rese...

by Dr. Yogesh A Jogsan | On 21 May 2015

The Umbrella Revolution and the Future of China-Hong Kong Relations

This article, written during the 2014 civil disobedience 'Umbrella Revolution' in Hong Kong, suggests that this protest became a turning point in China Hong Kong relations. Suggesting that the protest...

by Willy Lam | On 29 Apr 2015

World Happiness Report 2015

The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness. The first report was published in 2012, the second in 2013, and the third on April 23, 2015. Leading experts across fi...

by Jeffrey D. Sachs | On 27 Apr 2015

Why Democracy Struggles: Thailand’s Elite Coup Culture

Since the revolution of 1932 that ended absolute monarchy, Thailand has experienced sporadic military interventions, with 19 coups and coup attempts over those decades. This article explains these mil...

by | On 27 Apr 2015

Pakistan: New Cybercrime Bill Threatens the Rights to Privacy and Free Expression

ARTICLE 19 and Digital Rights Foundation Pakistan have serious concerns about measures contained in Pakistan’s proposed Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (‘PEC Bill’). The Bill contains a number of...

by Article 19 | On 22 Apr 2015

Global Internet Report 2014 - Open and Sustainable Access for All

Against a backdrop of relentless growth, the Internet continues to change and evolve. It is remarkable that only in 2004 did fixed broadband connections exceed dial-up access, the number of users only...

by Internet Society | On 17 Apr 2015

The Internet and State Intervention in Asia: A Comparative Study of Selected Countries

In context of contemporary debates about censorship, net neutrality and the role of the state in today’s globalising world, it becomes vital to examine the stand taken by various Asian governments tow...

by Nandini Bhattacharya | On 17 Apr 2015

Network Neutrality: A Thematic Analysis of Policy Perspectives Across the Globe

This policy review looks at four types of Internet traffic management policies across the globe: legal regulation, transparency, non-neutrality, and government control. Each of these has been employed...

by Christine Stover | On 16 Apr 2015

Deliberating Public Spheres: How does Net Neutrality Enable Democracy?

This study reviews and re-conceptualizes the ideas of democracy and the public sphere through the receptive medium of the Internet. Through exploring the transformational concept of the public sphere...

by Jonathan Cunha | On 15 Apr 2015

The Political Economy of Free Speech and Network Neutality

The network neutrality debate is the idea that all internet content irrespective of type or who created it, should be treated the same in transfer process. Because the medium of communication has dete...

by | On 15 Apr 2015

Keeping the Internet Neutral: Net Neutrality and its Role in Protecting Political Expression on the Internet

As Internet-use rises and becomes more widely available, it has become an increasingly important medium of political communication. This article explores internet regulation frameworks in the United S...

by Jennifer L. Newman | On 15 Apr 2015

The Political Economy of Governing ISPs in China: Perspectives of Net Neutrality and Vertical Integration

Internet service providers (ISPs) have played an important role in China's internet regulation regime. This article illustrates how ISPs are governed to serve the government's regulatory goals.

by Henry L. Hu | On 15 Apr 2015

Policy Matters Now and in the Future: Net Neutrality, Corporate Data Mining, and Government Surveillance

This article details three key policy issues that have a profound effect on the future of the World Wide Web and Internet-based communications: net neutrality, corporate data mining, and government su...

by Heidi A. McKee | On 15 Apr 2015

Network Neutrality – Hong Kong’s Perspectives

The next generation broadband infrastructure will provide access to two categories of content, applications and services – those delivered over the Internet and those provided on the managed networks...

by | On 14 Apr 2015

Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top services / Internet services and Net Neutrality: Abridged Version

The objective of this Consultation Paper is to analyse the implications of the growth of Internet services/Apps/OTTs and consider whether or not changes are required in the current regulatory framewor...

by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) | On 13 Apr 2015

"Stop Reporting or We’ll Kill Your Family" Threats to Media Freedom in Afghanistan

This 48-page report documents harassment, intimidation, and attacks on journalists and the Afghan government’s failure to investigate and prosecute those responsible. The failure to protect journalist...

by Human Rights Watch | On 26 Mar 2015

Mapping Bangladesh’s Political Crisis

On 5 January, the first anniversary of the deeply contested 2014 elections, the most violent in Bangladesh’s history, clashes between government and opposition groups led to several deaths and scores...

by International Crisis Group | On 24 Mar 2015

Budget (2015-16) Speech of Haryana Finance Minister

Budget speech of Haryana Finance Minister

by Capt. Abhimanyu | On 24 Mar 2015

The Role of Diversity on Freedom of Speech in Democratic Societies

There is no doubt that freedom of speech plays an important role in the process of democratization. Freedom of speech is a guarantee to citizens to participate effectively in the working of democracy....

by | On 24 Mar 2015

Democracy, Development and the Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka

This paper examines the developmental causes and consequences of the shift from a parliamentary to a semi-presidential system in Sri Lanka in 1978, examining its provenance, rationale, and its unfoldi...

by | On 16 Mar 2015

Review - Shifting Ground: People, Animals and Mobility in India's Environmental History

Review of Shifting Ground: People, Animals and Mobility in India's Environmental History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. 308 pp. Rs. 818 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-19-809895-9.

by | On 13 Mar 2015

Youth and Democratic Citizenship in East and South-East Asia

This report addresses East and South-East Asian youth’s sense of involvement and empowerment as democratic citizens, their assessments of institutions and quality of governance, and how they particip...

by United Nations Development Programme UNDP | On 10 Mar 2015

Women in Indian Labour Market - Emerging Options

Expanding women’s access to the labour market and enhancing their employability, apart from all its other impact, contributes to the GDP substantially. It is important to generate creative partnership...

by G.D Bino Paul | On 10 Mar 2015

Contemporary Myanmar Challenges To Political Process and Reconciliation

This paper outlines the political reforms and reconciliation process presently underway in Myanmar and the challenges posed to it. A detailed analysis of changing power dynamics in Myanmar, and the...

by | On 04 Mar 2015

On Rethinking Population Education: Challenging the Gender and Structural Violence of Prevailing Norms

The way population issues are taught in schools, colleges and universities can have a profound impact on the development of students’ worldviews, particularly regarding the root causes of poverty, mal...

by Betsy Hartmann | On 01 Mar 2015

Democracy, Inclusion, and Prosperity

People want to live in a safe prosperous country where they enjoy freedom of thought and action, and where they can exercise their democratic rights to choose their government. But how do countries en...

by Raghuram G. Rajan | On 24 Feb 2015

Bangladesh: Polarisation, Political Violence and An Undeclared Civil War

The report states that about 90 people have been killed and more than a thousand were injured in the ongoingviolent anti-government protests by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led 20-party alli...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 19 Feb 2015

State Racism and Sexism in Post-war Sri Lanka

Institutionalised racism-sexism in post-war Sri Lanka is not only essentialising women and their productive and reproductive labour in different ways but also rendering it increasingly difficult to bu...

by Chulani Kodikara | On 10 Feb 2015

Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election: Risks and Opportunities

This briefing discusses Sri Lanka’s presidential election promises. It promises more competition than was initially anticipated but with that comes a great risk of violence. Long-term stability and po...

by Crisis Group | On 02 Feb 2015

Annual Day Lecture of the Delhi School of Economics, India

The lecture focuses on the continuing relevance of the founding principles of the School, viz., academic freedom, academic excellence, social commitment with technical competence.

by C.H. Hanumantha Rao | On 21 Jan 2015

Global Economic Prospects

The report argues the recent setback in global economy and ways to strengthen the growth in developing countries. with a view to undertake growth and recovery in high-income countries, there is need t...

by World Bank | On 14 Jan 2015

Presidential Stakes and Sri Lanka's future

Across the great Eurasian plate these days, one can find leaders dispensing with truly competitive politics. But traverse the Himalayas to South Asia and the climate is different: Democracy is on a w...

by Chandrani Sharma | On 13 Jan 2015

Cyber Crime and Security

The purpose of this paper is Understanding Cyber crime and its phenomena, challenges and legal response to assist everyone in understanding the legal aspects of cyber security and to help harmonize le...

by Shilpa Yadav | On 13 Jan 2015

‘Coin of Blood’: Savarkar’s 'The Indian War of Independence – 1857'

Savarkar’s chief claim from the outset is that the Revolution was the manifestation of deep underlying principles. Indeed this sense of the underlying principles can alone justify such massive loss of...

by Nikhil Govind | On 27 Dec 2014

Framing Savarkar: Reading the Author’s Introduction and the Publishers’ Notes to Savarkar’s 'Indian War of Independence -1857'

Savarkar was not only a revolutionary, but also one who could reflect on the revolutionary life. The earlier generation of 1857 perhaps lacked the ability or at the very least, the opportunity to refl...

by Nikhil Govind | On 26 Dec 2014

The Climate Change Performance Index 2014

The Climate Change Performance Index is an instrument supposed to enhance transparency in international climate politics. Its aim is to encourage political and social pressure on those countries which...

by | On 15 Dec 2014

Parliament as a Law Making Body: Background Note for the Conference on Effective Legislatures

Parliament performs several essential functions including that of making laws, scrutinising and passing the budget, conducting oversight on the activities of the government and representing citizens....

by Prianka Rao | On 06 Dec 2014

Civil Society, Indian Elections and Democracy Today

Civil society in Independent India has perhaps never been as active as it is today, except in the years before and during the emergency. The author explores the role it has played in strengthening and...

by Trilochan Sastry | On 18 Sep 2014

Review of Public Properties: Museums in Imperial Japan

Review of Public Properties: Museums in Imperial Japan; Duke University Press, 2013. 320 pp. $99.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8223-5413-0. H-Net Review [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=42264]

by John Hennessey | On 04 Aug 2014

Book Review - Between Love and Freedom: The Revolutionary in the Hindi Novel

Book Review - Between Love and Freedom: The Revolutionary in the Hindi Novel by Nikhil Govind, Routledge India; February 2014; pp 200; Rs. 432

by Sandeep Dubey | On 26 Jun 2014

Why India Needs the Women’s Reservation Bill

Nine out of ten parliamentarians in India are men. Such dismal figures reveal the lasting grip of unfavourable social norms. Women’s disadvantage on a complex set of social and economic factors effect...

by Lucy Dubochet | On 17 Jun 2014

Developing Democracies in Southeast Asia:Theorizing the Role of Parties and Elections 1 Forthcoming in Southeast Asia and Political Science: Theory, Region, and Method

Political parties and elections lie at the center of modern democratic politics. Elections function as the chief means of holding leaders accountable for their actions in democratic societies. Politic...

by Erik Kuhonta | On 28 Apr 2014

Issues of Exclusion and Inclusion in Decentralized Local Governance Institutions in India

This paper proposes to explore “the issues of exclusion and inclusion in decentralized local governance institutions in India”. It also tries to explore how the marginalized groups are excluded in the...

by Dr. Dasarathi Bhuyan | On 14 Apr 2014

Lok Sabha Elections, 2014: Fascism, Democracy’s Challenges and Role of Citizens

PUCL through this statement, wishes to bring to the attention of the people of India, the serious threat to democracy itself and the human rights challenges posed by the electoral alliances and cal...

by People's Union of Civil Liberties PUCL | On 03 Apr 2014

Strengthening Democracy in Bangladesh

The paper describes of some of the critical challenges to democratization in Bangladesh. While electoral challenges are included, the paper looks beyond elections and describe other factors that can h...

by ASIA FOUNDATION | On 14 Nov 2013

Crystallizing Fault-lines: Turkey’s Democratic Durability at Risk

In the aftermath of the anti-governmental Gezi demonstrations of May-June and the conclusion of the Ergenekon trial earlier this month, clear fault-lines are crystallizing in the Turkish political lan...

by Ozan Serdaroglu | On 05 Sep 2013

Five Years of Leading the Reserve Bank: Looking Ahead by Looking Back

This Tenth Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial lecture lecture centres around the role and responsibility of a central bank in a democratic structure. Central banks make macroeconomic policy that influences t...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 30 Aug 2013

Breastfeeding, Sleep Deprivation, and Postpartum Depression: How To Manage?

Research tindicates that mothers with PPD who do not get enough sleep are at greater risk for more severe depression. There is also research that demonstrates a link between weaning and depression, al...

by Annie Annie | On 01 Aug 2013

Sleep Management, Breastfeeding & Postpartum Depression

There are research that indicates that mothers with PPD who do not get enough sleep are at greater risk for more severe depression. The authors conclude that clinicians must address measures to improv...

by Katherine Stone | On 01 Aug 2013

Cyberwarfare: Logged and Loaded, but Wither Asia?

Cyber operations could have as devastating an impact on populations as conventional military weapons. With militaries already in the process of developing cyberwarfare as a means of battle, there is a...

by Elina Noor | On 26 Jul 2013

Promoting Democracy in Myanmar: Political Party Capacity Building

The importance of the political parties in Myanmar and their role as the creators of the future of the country. The course of the present developments relies on the ability of the political parties....

by Aung Aung (IR) | On 09 Apr 2013

Virtual Violence: Are Sections 66A and 67 of the IT Act the Answer?

The Internet has created possibilities for those who access the online world, but it has also spawned new avenues of gendered violence. While the law can provide legal recourse for a woman who faces h...

by Network of Women in Media NWMI | On 12 Feb 2013

Social Fragmentation, Public Goods and Elections: Evidence from China

This study examines how the economic effects of elections in rural China depend on voter heterogeneity, for which religious fractionalization is taken as a proxy. [BREAD Working No. 366]. URL:[http:/...

by Gerard Padro-i- Miquel | On 09 Jan 2013

Maharashtra State Youth Policy Declaration

This is an inclusive policy, which recognizes diversity in gender, caste, class, religion, language and reiterates the commitment of the State to this vibrant and significant population group and look...

by Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs YAS | On 12 Sep 2012

Western Myanmar Unrest: Partisan Portrayals Risk Extremist Implications

The violence in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State appears to have died down. However, partisan portrayals of the violence risks jeopardising the security of locals and Myanmar’s reform process with extr...

by Kyaw San Wai | On 31 Jul 2012

The New Age of Food Marketing: How Companies are Targeting and Luring our Kids — and What Advocates can do About it

Why should health advocates be concerned about the new marketing paradigm? Because young people's choices about what to eat and when are largely shaped by food and beverage marketing -- and these indu...

by Berkeley Media Studies Group BMSG | On 13 Jul 2012

Homo Biometricus: Biometric Recognition Systems and Mobile Internet Services

Biometric procedures are already accepted by millions of people every day on a variety of (social) internet platforms. Biometric identification procedures and their potential applications in everyday...

by Thomas F Dapp | On 05 Jul 2012

Improving Access to Mental Health Care and Psychosocial Support within a Fragile Context: A Case Study from Afghanistan

Afghanistan is an example of a ‘‘fragile state,’’ characterised by a government that lacks the capacity to provide core services and basic security to its population. Improving health care within...

by Peter Ventevogel | On 22 Jun 2012

The Effects of Democratization on Public Goods and Redistribution: Evidence from China

This study investigates the effects of introducing elections on public goods and redistribution in rural China. A large and unique survey was collected to document the history of political reforms and...

by Yang Yao | On 05 Jun 2012

Nepal: Elusive Democracy and Uncertain Political System

Persistence and breakdowns of democracy are the dominant features of Nepali politics.Democracy continues to be attractive amidst setbacks and discontinuity. So it remains perennially elusive, desp...

by Lok Raj Baral | On 23 Apr 2012

Regional Implications of National Reconciliation in Myanmar

The paper examines the implications of Myanmar's reforms for its neighbours- China, India, Thailand and Bangladesh. Issues of major concern to the four countries include energy, humanitarian consequen...

by Lina Gong | On 20 Apr 2012

Journalism in Democracies During Times of War: Examining the Role of Indian and US Media

This paper examines the larger issue of how a ‘free’ media performs during times of war with particular reference to US and India using case studies. It focuses on ‘national security’ becoming a maj...

by Aradhana Sharma | On 20 Apr 2012

The Great Depression and the Great Recession: What have we Learned?

The Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 and the Great Recession of 2007-2009 are now in the past. Again there was the debt crisis of 2010-11. During the worst of the recent financial crisis/Great Recession...

by Michael D Bordo | On 13 Apr 2012

Federal Budget of Pakistan-2011-12

BUDGET SPEECH 2011-2012 by DR. ABDUL HAFEEZ SHAIKH, Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Planning & Development.

by Minister of Finance Pakistan | On 12 Mar 2012

“Reserve Bank of India Post-Policy Conference Call”

RBI Governor D. Subbarao answering to researchers after publishing the monetary policy. [RBI]. URL:[http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Content/PDFs/RBIRA27012012.pdf]

by Reserve Bank of India RBI | On 30 Jan 2012

Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments Third Quarter Review 2011-12

The Growth outlook has weakened as a result of adverse global and domestic factors that have been mentioned above. Business and consumer confidence has been impacted. Professional forecasters now...

by Reserve Bank of India RBI | On 25 Jan 2012

Stop the 'Chindia' talk

While studying the economic growth of the two rising giants of Asia (India and China) it is seen that India is far behind China in many aspects. URL:[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/t-n-ni...

by T.N. Ninan | On 23 Jan 2012

Engines of Development: How Cohesive?

Review ofEconomy, Democracy and the State: The Indian Experience, By Ramashray Roy, Sage Publications, New Delhi; 2009, Pages: viii + 247, Rs 650.

by Bhanoji Rao | On 22 Jan 2012

India’s Draft Universal Periodic Report-II: A Case of Forced Marriage?

The paper has the objective of viewing the condition of women in terms of freedom of choice, freedom and expression and right of privacy. Also it views violence against women.

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 20 Jan 2012

A Conceptual Overview of Structural Equation Modeling

A synthesized version of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and its possible applications in Management problems is presented. The main contribution of the paper is its simple description of a some...

by Tathagata Banerjee | On 27 Dec 2011

Why Full Open Access Matters

Scientific authors who pay to publish their articles in an open-access publication should be congratulated for doing so. They also should be aware that they may not be getting full open access fro...

by Michael W Carroll | On 13 Dec 2011

The Challenge of Food Inflation

The trends in food inflation over the past 60 years are given. Having thus set the context, the factors driving structural food inflation, which should give us a perspective of the underlying dynam...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 24 Nov 2011

Institutionalising Democracy

Review of Economy, Democracy and the State: The Indian Experience by Ramashray Roy, Sage Publications, New Delhi;2009, pp. viii + 247, Rs 650.

by Bhanoji Rao | On 07 Nov 2011

Dial “A” for Agriculture: A Review of Information and Communication Technologies for Agricultural Extension in Developing Countries

This article outlines the potential mechanisms through which ICT could facilitate agricultural adoption and the provision of extension services in developing countries. It then reviews existing prog...

by Jenny C Aker | On 07 Nov 2011

"Ramanujan's Essay Depicts Multiplicity of Views Through Many Ramayanas."

The deletion of Three Hundred Ramayanas from B.A. History course of Delhi University. Professor Biswamoy Pati of History Department of D.U. calls this intolerance a dangerous trend. Video interview o...

by Jyotsna Singh | On 02 Nov 2011

Growth and Election Outcomes in a Developing Country

With the exception Brander and Drazen (2008), who use a comprehensive cross-country database consisting of both developed and developing countries, the hypothesis that rapid growth helps incumbents...

by Poonam Gupta | On 31 Oct 2011

Gender, Governance and Women’s Rights in South Asia

This study focuses on gender equality and democratic governance in the five largest states of the South Asian region, namely, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Beginning with a general...

by Seema Kazi | On 20 Oct 2011

History Matters: China and Global Governance

This paper focuses on the two-way relationship between China and the international economic system. China’s embrace of the global institutions and their rules and norms helped guide its spectacular ec...

by Wendy Dobson | On 17 Oct 2011

Burma’s Transition to “Disciplined Democracy”: Abdication or Institutionalization of Military Rule?

This article formulates an analytical framework for the detachment of militaries from politics and identifies positive and negative factors for a withdrawal. It then applies this framework to the case...

by Marco Bünte | On 17 Oct 2011

National Telecom Policy-2011 (NTP-2011)

NTP-2011 has the vision Broadband on Demand and envisages leveraging telecom infrastructure to enable all citizens and businesses, both in rural and urban landscape, to participate in the Internet and...

by Ministry of Communication & Information Technology GOI | On 13 Oct 2011

Monetary Policy Dilemmas: Some RBI Perspectives

Over the last decade, the profile of central banks has gone up. First, we had the Great Moderation - a period of extraordinary benign macroeconomic environment globally, characterized by steady growth...

by Duvvuri Subbarao | On 27 Sep 2011

Market Dynamics in Supply Chains: The Impact of Globalisation and Consolidation on Food Companie's Mark-ups

This paper examines whether ownership and increased competitive pressure affect food retailers’ market power, analysing whether all actors involved in the food supply chain deviate from the pricing be...

by Eleni A Kaditi | On 29 Aug 2011

The Digital Society: New Ways to More Transparency, Participation and Innovation

The study makes specific recommendations for decisionmakers in industry, society and politics on how to handle new network technologies. URL:[http://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD...

by Thomas F Dapp | On 02 Aug 2011

Enhancing Women Empowerment through Information and Communication Technology: A Report

Information and Communication Technology (ICT’s) bring lot of opportunities to women in the work situations and small business. Teleporting, flexi time and work from home arrangements are some of t...

by Government of India Ministry of Women and Child Development | On 29 Jul 2011

Media and Much Else

Review of Political Economy of Communications in India: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Pradip Ninan Thomas; Sage, India; 2010, Rs 650.

by Vrijendra | On 07 Jul 2011

Poverty Reduction Strategy as Implementation of the Right to Development in Maharashtra

The basic concern of the development process started after the world wars was improvement in level of living of the people. This concern was expressed in aggregative terms of national income growth...

by Manoj Panda | On 20 Jun 2011

What Determines the Academic and Professional Participation of Economists?

A casual overview of rankings of economics departments and economists conducted by Internet Documents in Economics Access Service (IDEAS) would reveal that economists of some countries participat...

by S.K. Mishra | On 17 May 2011

Book Review: An Unconventional Autobiography

Civil Disobedience: Two Freedom Struggles, One Life By L C Jain; The Book Review Literary Trust, New Delhi; 2010, Pp.266.

by N.S. Siddharthan | On 14 May 2011

History in Bengali Literature: A Study of Selected Bengali Novels

Great novelists through their writings placed the history of the Indian national and social awakening movement in literature.The context of this article is great three novels of three great littérat...

by Sarmistha Ghoshal | On 09 May 2011

New media: problems and prospects

The author advocates liberal and secular ideas in a country, Pakistan, too-often torn by religious extremism and strives for the defence and promotion of press freedom under difficult circumstances an...

by Najam Sethi | On 08 May 2011

What do you want from us?

In the past three years, two journalists for El Diario have been killed by drug-cartels and since 2000 more than 64 journalists have been killed throughout the country. The armed conflict between orga...

by Rocio Gallegos | On 08 May 2011

The Potential (and Pitfalls) of Free Expression Technology

Each year, Reporters Without Borders awards a Netizen prize (sponsored by Google) to a blogger, online journalist or cyber-dissident who has helped to promote freedom of expression on the Internet. Th...

by David C. Drummond | On 08 May 2011

"Free Dawit Isaak"

The author joined the World Press Freedom Day campaign this year, 2011, to highlight the plight of WAN-IFRA's 2011 Golden Pen of Freedom laureate, Dawit Isaak, incarcerated without charge for nearly a...

by Peter Englund | On 04 May 2011

An Irreversible Gain in Freedom of Expression

In this World Press Freedom Day editorial, the authors explore the events taking place in the Middle East and North Africa and the positive outcomes for freedom of expression the peoples' revolutions...

by Martti Ahtisaari Ahtisaari | On 04 May 2011

Do Local Elections in Non-Democracies Increase Accountability? Evidence from Rural China

Unique survey data is used to study whether the introduction of local elections in China made local leaders more accountable towards local constituents. A simple model is developed to predict the e...

by Monica Martinez Bravo | On 18 Apr 2011

Constituency Development Funds: Are They Constitutional?

This brief examines one particular criticism of Constituency Development Funds (CDFs): they infringe upon the doctrine of separation of powers. It also discusses whether CDFs adhere to other important...

by Christina Murray | On 18 Mar 2011

Constitution Writing and Conflict Resolution

Over 1975-2003 nearly 200 new constitutions were drawn up in countries at risk of conflict, as part of peace processes and the adoption of multiparty political systems. The process of writing cons...

by Michael Kellerman | On 18 Mar 2011

Solutions exist

The press (including this newspaper) has been screaming blue murder about the spectrum scandal from the time it was perpetrated in broad daylight, nearly three years ago. Not only did nothing happen,...

by T.N. Ninan | On 10 Feb 2011

Civil Society 2.0? How the Internet Changes State-Society Relations in Authoritarian Regimes: The Case of Cuba

In the debate over the role of civil society under authoritarian regimes, the spread of transnational web-based media obliges us to rethink the areas in which the societal voice can be raised --- and...

by Bert Hoffman | On 10 Feb 2011

Book Review: Last Man First

The late LC Jain’s new book titled Civil Disobedience: Two Freedom Struggles, One Life (The Book Review Literary Trust, Delhi, 2011, Rs. 375) illustrates how corruption has become the norm and ‘India...

by Nandana Reddy | On 10 Feb 2011

Regulating Bioprospecting: Institutions for Drug Research, Access and Benefit-Sharing

This policy brief summarizes the main arguments and conclusions of a forthcoming book by United Nations University Press, which examines the regulation of bioprospecting for drug research from an inte...

by Padmashree Gehl Sampath | On 08 Feb 2011

Book Reviews: Common Origins, Divergent Paths

Philip Oldenburg. India, Pakistan, and Democracy: Solving the Puzzle of Divergent Paths. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010. x + 273 pp. $145.00 (cloth), $39.95 (paper). [H-Net Review]

by Sumit Ganguly | On 30 Jan 2011

Size Matters: The Impact of Aid on Institutions

This paper proposes that aid flowing to smaller (less populous) countries has a negative impact on the quality of institutions in terms of performance and policy as opposed to that flowing to larg...

by Chakriya Bowman | On 20 Dec 2010

E-Grantz Revolution

This short commentary is about the introduction of e-grantz, an online scheme of distribution of educational assistance to dalit students in Kerala. At the time of admission to a course, students fil...

by Rajesh Komath | On 02 Dec 2010

Formal Bureaucracy and the Emergent Forms of the Informal Economy

The following essay has three parts. The first is a story about fluctuations in the balance of the relationship between impersonal and personal principles of social organization. This draws heavi...

by Keith Hart | On 01 Dec 2010

Cross-country Diffusion of the Internet

This paper investigates the factors which determine the diffusion of the Internet across countries. The Gompertz model of technology diffusion is estimated using data on Internet hosts per capita for...

by Sampsa Kiiski | On 23 Nov 2010

A Campaign for No UID-Till Complete Transparency, Accountability and People’s Participation

A press conference was arranged which was against the Unique Identity Card (UID) project of Government of India. The panel discussed about the project that the potential to transform the state-citize...

by Shambhu Ghatak | On 08 Oct 2010

An Analysis of Padddy Productive Growth in West Bangal and Orrisa

Eastern India has emerged as a new center of growth in the agricultural sector since 1980’s. Over the period 1984/85-1994/95, the foodgrain production increased at a compound annual rate of 3.1% pe...

by Renuka Pillai | On 05 Oct 2010

Gender Discrimination in Job Ads: Theory and Evidence

We study firms’ advertised gender preferences in a population of ads on a Chinese internet job board, and interpret these patterns using a simple employer search model. The model allows us to dis...

by Peter Kuhn | On 28 Sep 2010

An Ethnography of Associational Life: Caste and Politics in India

In 1956 Susanne Rudolph and I arrived in India for the first of many research years there. We were among the second batch of Ford Foundation Foreign Area Training Fellows. As area scholars we were com...

by Lloyd I. Rudolf | On 15 Sep 2010

Intellectual Property Protection and the Licensing of Technology to Developing Countries

In this paper, the influence of stronger intellectual property protection on technology transfer into developing countries via licensing is analyzed. Using panel data for the post-TRIPs period 1995-20...

by Sunil Kanwar | On 09 Sep 2010

ICTs and Urban Microenterprises: Identifying and Maximizing Opportunities for Economic Development

The research reported here was guided by three questions: (1) What are the current and potential patterns of mobile phone, landline, PC, and Internet café use among urban microentrepreneurs? (2) Are m...

by Vigneswara Ilavarasan | On 06 Sep 2010

Addressing New Service Sectors in WTO/FTAs: Express Delivery and India

The service sector is evolving. New services and new modes of delivering existing services have increased the complexities of services negotiations in the WTO and in FTAs. The WTO negotiations focu...

by Arpita Mukherjee | On 20 Aug 2010

Do Professionals Choke Under Pressure?

High rewards or the threat of severe punishment do not only provide incentives to exert high levels of effort but also create pressure. Such pressure can cause paradoxical performance effects, namel...

by Thomas J. Dohmen | On 06 Aug 2010

Not a matter of choice

This editorial questions whether the two values freedom and liberty can come together?

by T.N. Ninan | On 19 Jul 2010

The National Commission For Women: Assessing Performance

Although a lot of scholarly attention has gone into issues concerning women for more than three decades, little work has been done on the evolution and functioning of institutions1 that have been cr...

by Sadhna Arya | On 16 Jul 2010

State in Religion: Preamble to Pogrom

India is a secular state in which all faiths enjoy freedom of worship. The concept of secularism is implicit in the Preamble to our Constitution, which declares the resolve of the people to secure to...

by Garima Gupta | On 15 Jul 2010

Censorship: Free Dump of Expression

For a country to be a democracy, certain things are expected to be in place, such as freedom of expression and little or no censorship. While one person would find it perfectly acceptable to publici...

by Garima Gupta | On 15 Jul 2010

Analysis of Internet Patenting Strategies of E-commerce Firms

Patents and patent applications are important indicators of innovative activity in industrial R & D, especially in areas such as Information Technology (IT), where technology growth is rapid. Within...

by Biju Paul Abraham | On 22 Jun 2010

Which Asia?

Is Asia a cohesive analytical unit in any practical sense?

by T.N. Ninan | On 17 May 2010

Executive Blogging: Indian Corporate Heads in the Blogosphere

This study analyzes the content, usability, interactivity and connectivity of Indian executive blogs. Results indicate that among the Indian CEOs and top executives who blog, most are associated wit...

by Smeeta Mishra | On 14 May 2010

The Path to Purchase During Shopping

The proposed study aims to identify and analyse the path to purchase for shoppers. This study will attempt to understand the impact of the major factors on the purchase behaviour of shoppers by exami...

by Dwarika Prasad Uniyal | On 02 Feb 2010

Exchange Market Pressure and Monetary Policy

The objective of this study is to examine empirically the impact of monetary policy on exchange market pressure (EMP) in Bangladesh. EMP is measured as the sum of percentage change of international re...

by Sayera Younus | On 29 Jan 2010

Democratic Citizenship: From Proportionality to a Continuum Approach to Political Participation

This paper is an attempt to explore the meaning and significance of political participation within (a) the conceptual framework of democratic citizenship and (b) debates surrounding representative d...

by Anupama Roy | On 10 Dec 2009

Rectifying the Anti-politics of Citizen Participation

Can ‘participatory’ approaches to development constitute a viable strategy for promoting citizenship? This paper addresses this question by scrutinising the equivocal reaction of a peasant community...

by Katsuhiko Masaki | On 13 Oct 2009

Coping with Rising Food Prices: Policy Dilemmas in the Developing World

Rising food prices cause considerable policy dilemmas for developing country governments. Letting domestic prices adjust to reflect the full change in international prices generates inflationary pres...

by Nora Lustig | On 09 Oct 2009

Report of the Internal Working Group on Debt Management

Establishing a debt management office would consolidate all debt management functions in a single agency, and be the catalyst for wider institutional reform and transparency about public debt. It is i...

by Ministry of Finance | On 04 Jul 2009

China- India Economic Engagement Building Mutual Confidence

China and India, Asia's two largest and most dynamic societies, have come to be important players in regional and global decision-making. Both countries have had their share of experience in colonial...

by Swaran Singh | On 03 Jun 2009

Global Burden of Disease Measures for Depression - Time for a Rethink

This paper reassesses the nature of the epidemiological evidence underpinning one of the Global Burden of Disease topics: the estimate for the global burden of depression. Specifically, we look at the...

by Petra Brhlikova | On 14 May 2009

Gender and Innovation in South Asia

To understand how gender, women’s rights and citizenship intersect with innovation in SouthAsia, one must begin by considering some of the main features of life for South Asian women, about a half of...

by Sujata Byravan | On 06 May 2009

Economic Growth, Governance and Voting Behaviour: an Application to Indian Elections

The focus of this paper is on the potential economic factors underlying voter behaviour in a democracy. It develops a simplified model based on economic theory (welfare & conditional probabilities)...

by Arvind Virmani | On 28 Apr 2009

Controlling Money and Politics – An Exercise in Damage Control

In many countries political financial regulations have been introduced.

by Marcin Walecki | On 28 Apr 2009

Press Freedom: World Review:June-December 2008

Attacks on journalists throughout the world -- by organised crime groups in Latin America, autocratic regimes in the Middle East, repressive governments in Africa and by combatants in war zones -- pos...

by World Association of Newspapers WAN | On 28 Apr 2009

The Potential of Media: Dialogue, Mutual Understanding and Reconciliation

The media has a demonstrated ability in fostering mutual understanding by communicating across divides, thus bringing competing narratives together into a shared story. This ambivalence presents an op...

by UNESCO UNESCO | On 28 Apr 2009

Making the Politician and the Bureaucrat Deliver: Employment Guarantee in India

The paper examines the division of tasks required between politicians and bureaucrats to run an effective rural employment guarantee scheme (EGS) in India, in the context of Indian history and habits.

by Ashima Goyal | On 21 Apr 2009

Sri Lanka Budget 2009

2009 Budget speech

by Ministry of Finance and Planning Sri Lanka | On 20 Apr 2009

The Indian Security State: Agendas of Concern

The indecent haste shown by Political Executive and Parliament on December16-17, 2008 while dealing with security related issues substantiates the argument that security and defence agenda of the Indi...

by C. P. Bhambhri | On 16 Apr 2009

EC Controversy: What are the Issues? EC Controversy: What Are the Issues

A comprehensive and logically rigorous analysis of the issues raised by the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner N.Gopalaswami for the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, the...

by Ramaswamy R. Iyer | On 03 Apr 2009

Does Timing of Elections Instigate Riots? A Subnational Study of 16 Indian States, 1958-2004

Whether timing of the elections leads to riots or not within India. In other words, does timing of elections instigate riots? Using time series crosssectional data for 16 major Indian states for the...

by Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati | On 09 Jan 2009

Utilizing Information Technology Tools to Provide Affordable Access to Evidence -based Resources in the Developing World

This paper will is a review of the development of the virtual health sciences libraries. Virtual/digital libraries provide full text access to selected journals and books. Since, the needs of research...

by Ashish Atreja | On 27 Nov 2008

FEER, November 2008: Contents

Can Asia Consume A Way Out of Crisis? Hugo Restall, editor of the REVIEW, looks at the prospects of Asian governments' efforts to jump start domestic demand through Keynesian stimulus packages. F...

by FEER | On 10 Nov 2008

The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Information and Communication Technologies

The paper starts by recapitulating the basic arguments provided by economic theory to explain the existence of the patent system. The paper then concentrates on the three important ICT industries viz....

by C Niranjan Rao | On 30 Oct 2008

Early Warnings of Inflation in India

In India, year-on-year percentage changes of price indexes are widely used as the measure of inflation. In terms of monthly data, each observation of a one-year change in inflation is the sum of twelv...

by Rudrani Bhattacharya | On 25 Sep 2008

A New Era of World Hunger?- The Global Food Crisis Analyzed

This paper is an account of the main streams discussed in an international conference, held in New York in April 2008, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and Global Policy Forum, which cons...

by James A. Paul | On 24 Sep 2008

Civil Liberties, an African perspective

The approach of the PUCL to civil liberties issues underlines a crucial understanding: an understanding which has as its base the recognition of the fundamental truth that civil liberties is not a mat...

by Z.M. Yacoob | On 18 Sep 2008

Withdrawal of the Maoists’ unilateral cease-fire:Where does Nepal go?

The government of Nepal took an illegal measure to try the cases under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Ordinance. Under the amendments, all anti-terrorist cases will be heard in-c...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 27 Aug 2008

Offending, Shocking, Disturbing - A Free Press Right? The Annual Press Freedom Round Table Proceedings

There is a tremendous amount of media freedom problems in the world, and there is also a certain time travel backwards in many parts of the world. It is not only true in the new democracies, where we...

by World Association of Newspapers WAN | On 19 Aug 2008

The Chinese Chequer: Split Wide Open in Nepal

Although unilateral ceasefire declared by the Maoists on 3 September 2005 brought down the level of violence, the security forces sought to provoke the Maoists. The security forces and the Maoists hav...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 21 Jul 2008

At a Glance -- Peace Process in Nepal

King Gyanendra of Nepal took over as a king after the royal massacre incidence in 2007. But soon after taking the power people of Nepal were fed up of his authoritarian tendencies and the continuous u...

by South Asians for Human Rights SAHR | On 24 Jun 2008

“Life Is Not Ours”: Attacks on indigenous Jumma peoples of Bangladesh and the need for international action

On 28th April 2008, hundreds of illegal plain settlers attacked the local Jumma people in Bangladesh. Hundreds of people were displaced and their houses burned. People suffered from such a level of sh...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 13 Jun 2008

Book Review: Inside the Indian Family

Review of: Democracy in the Family: Insights from India. Edited by Joy Deshmukh-Randive Sage Publications. New Delhi 2008.

by Tulsi Patel | On 26 May 2008

In the Balance: Press Freedom in South Asia 2007-2008

The challenges for journalists and the media community in South Asia encompass a range of factors that indicate the level of press freedom in any country: Physical attacks, threats and questionable le...

by Sukumar Muralidharan | On 04 May 2008

India, Democracy and the Press

The impressive growth of the Indian media is largely taking place outside of the voting classes, ensuring that the media are not playing a significant public service role. Ultimately, the author sugge...

by James Mutti | On 11 Apr 2008

The Sexual Internet

The ‘sexual Internet’ is clearly a social space where multiple economies – commercial, political and libidinal – intersect. It is a phenomenon that requires exploration from multiple angles: economic,...

by Pramod K. Nayar | On 21 Feb 2008

Transport: Then, now, and Tomorrow

A historical survey of transport to demonstrate that transport has always been recognised as of paramount importance for the wellbeing of the whole community, that a combination of collective and indi...

by Ralph Harrington | On 01 Feb 2008

FEER, The December 2007 Issue

Essays: Pulling the Strings of China’s Internet By David Bandurski Bling! Bang! Boom! China’s Stocks Zoom By Jonathan Anderson Is Wal-Mart Good for Asia? By Greg Rushford Retaining the Loyalty of X...

by FEER | On 10 Jan 2008

Each day Binayak Sen spends in jail is one day less for democracy in India

That Sen, in May, chose to return and face the law should have been reason enough for any court to grant him bail. Reposted with permission from Tehelka Magazine, Vol. 4, Issue 50, December 29, 2007

by Apoorvanand | On 24 Dec 2007

Understanding Gujarat Elections: What Does it Portend for Indian Democracy?

With the re-election of Narendra Modi and the BJP will the current disarray in the party give way to strong optimism to strive for power at the centre?

by Ram Puniyani | On 24 Dec 2007

Pakistan’s Last Bid for Democracy

This Essay examines the factors retarding democracy in Pakistan and asserts that now, more than ever, the country’s political forces must work together to fight common foes.

by Colum Murphy | On 27 Nov 2007

The Growth Performance Of India’s Telecommunications Services Industry, 1991-2006. Can It Lead To The Emergence of a Domestic Manufacturing Hub?

A distinguishing aspect of the growth performance is that India now has five mobile phones for every one fixed telephone and the monthly additions to mobile subscribers are well over six million. Such...

by Sunil Mani | On 26 Nov 2007

Enhancing Rural Livelihoods

The Overseas Development Institute in the UK recently carried out a study on ICT for rural livelihoods, commissioned by InfoDev. The study included a literature and donor review in collaboration with...

by Paul Matthews | On 26 Oct 2007

Elements of Effective Central Banking: Theory, Practice, and History

The key elements of effective central banking that account for much of the improvement in monetary policy around the world today are outlined and explained. The past quarter of the century has been a...

by Marvin Goodfriend | On 09 Oct 2007

The New Mumbai: Defining Systemic Reforms for the Governance of Mumbai City and Mumbai Metropolitan Region

The 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of India were made with an express objective or purpose of restoring power back to people by legally encouraging “local self-governance”. At the same...

by A.K. Shende | On 08 Oct 2007

Model Nagara Raj Bill

Model bill to amend the laws relating to the Municipalities and to institutionalise citizens’ participation in municipal functions, e.g. setting priorities, budgeting provisions, etc. by setting up of...

by Ministry of Urban Development MoUD | On 08 Oct 2007

Capital Inflows, Financial Repression and Macroeconomic Policy in India since the Reforms

Since the early 1990s the Indian economy has seen a considerable relaxation of controls, as a consequence of which it has witnessed unprecedented growth. This is especially remarkable in the external...

by Partha Sen | On 04 Oct 2007

Two Indian Birth Anniversaries: The Meteor and the Mahatma

In popular belief, Bhagat Singh and Gandhi occupy two antipodes in India's struggle for freedom – the former representing the young generation impatient to overthrow foreign rule by any means necessar...

by Niranjan Ramakrishnan | On 03 Oct 2007

Burma: Member States of the UN must Intervene: ACHR Weely Review

Reports have been pouring in that the Burmese soldiers today used baton and tear gas against the Buddhist monks and civilian protesters at Shwedagon pagoda, the holiest Buddhist place in Rangoon. The...

by Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR | On 26 Sep 2007

Broadcast Bill: Content Code

The Ministry expects that putting such a code in place will have the following important positive impact, among others. • The public will be provided with a mechanism through which they can voice t...

by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting MIB | On 16 Sep 2007

HIV Denial in the Internet Era

23 years after the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), there is still denial that the virus is the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The Internet has served as...

by Tara C Smith | On 11 Sep 2007

An Online Magazine for and by Children: A Quasi Experimental Study

The objective of the study was to help children conceptualise and develop an on-line magazine and observe changes in their skills and confidence as communicators due to their experience of developing...

by Kaustubh Nande | On 22 Mar 2007

We Can Work It Out - The Globalisation of ICT-enabled Services

This paper examines the relationship between the share of employment potentially affected by offshoring and economic and structural factors, including trade in business services and foreign direct inv...

by Desiree Welsum | On 12 Jan 2007

Unbound Savagery: Brutal Repression of Farmers by UP Police

This report brings out again sharply the perennial question, which the poor in the country are asking – Development for Whom? A big business company has been allotted land disproportionate to the requ...

by People's Union of Civil Liberties PUCL | On 26 Dec 2006

Policymaking under Globalization Pressures: Reforming Public Utilities in Latin America

To analyse the role of partisan beliefs and interests, this paper focuses on two industries—telecoms and electricity—which have been subject to strong pressures for policy diffusion and thereby are u...

by Maria Victoria Murillo | On 21 Dec 2006

Modernity with Democracy?: Gender and Governance in the People's Planning Campaign, Keralam

This paper takes advantage of the possibility of a critical perspective afforded by the feminist perspective in analyzing the interactions between political and civil societies in the shaping of spe...

by J Devika | On 19 Dec 2006

Nuclearisation, Human Rights, and Ethics

Nuclear weapons have security, economic and political implications. In the ultimate analysis, however , the issue of nuclear weapons is an ethical question. It is question or right and wrong, good and...

by Amulya K.N. Reddy | On 14 Dec 2006

Emerging Megalopolis: Bangalore, From ‘Boiled Beans’ Town to Advanced IT City

Historically, Bangalore’s growth and physical spread had been dictated by the location decisions of certain important industrial, institutional and residential activities, rather than as an outcome...

by G.S. Sastry | On 04 Dec 2006

Mahatma Gandhi and the Prisoner’s Dilemma: Strategic Civil Disobedience and Great Britain’s Great Loss of Empire in India

This paper examines the relationship between statutory monopoly and collective action as a multi-person assurance game culminating in an end to British Empire in India. In a simple theoretical model,...

by Chowdhury Irad Ahmed Siddiky | On 27 Nov 2006

Ethics in Social Science Research: Reflections from a Student of Economics

If poverty and nutrition are issues also of social justice and the commitment that a democratic state makes to its citizens (namely, ridding the country of hunger and malnutrition and also of ensuring...

by Padmini Swaminathan | On 19 Jul 2006

Nepal/SouthAsia Beat: From the Underbelly of the Beast

Kanak Dixit was arrested in Kathmandu on Saturday, April 8, with a host of other professionals for defying curfew to press for democratic rights in Nepal. He remains in detention still. This column wa...

by Kanak Mani Dixit | On 14 Apr 2006

Democracy and People’s Rights in the Neo-Liberal Era: Role of Judiciary

The recent judgments and orders from various levels of higher judiciary indicate a drastic shift in their outlook and approach. A close look reveals two trends developing within the judiciary. Firstly...

by M.B.Rajesh | On 31 Mar 2006

FEER :The March Issue

Technology: The Siren Song of Technonationalism by David Kang and Adam Segal India’s Coming Eclipse of China by Hugo Restall Trade: Social Justice and Global Trade by Joseph Stiglitz Law: Chinese L...

by Far Eastern Economic Review | On 07 Mar 2006

A Medium Besieged: Legitimisation of Film Censorship In Post-colonial India

The British introduced film censorship in India and fostered it as an unmitigated instrument of coercion to stifle proper dissemination of film culture among members of a subject race. Rulers of indep...

by SOMESWAR BHOWMIK | On 24 Jan 2006

Communication, Democracy and Evasive Silences:A Preliminary Report on the Public Sphere in Karnataka

This paper looks at one of the most important conditions that defines democracy as a system of self-governance. This condition is that all individuals in a society must have the right to communicate f...

by Dattathreya Subbanarasimha | On 13 Jan 2006

Dynamics of Local Governance in Karnataka

The objective of this paper is to unpack the dynamics of local governance in Karnataka by studying the interaction between two sets of rural institutions, (a) the formal, elected Gram Panchayats(GPs...

by Kripa Ananthpur | On 09 Jan 2006

Improving governance using IT systems

The main argument of this paper is that in many situations, dicult puzzles of governance can be solved in dramatically new ways using modern IT systems. Nationwide centralised databases, coupled with...

by Ajay Shah | On 12 Dec 2005

Dictatorship, Democracy and Institutions: Macropolicy in China and India

We explore the hypothesis that macroeconomic polices are influenced by political structure, through a systematic comparison of reform period macroeconomic policy choices and outcomes, in China and Ind...

by Ashima Goyal | On 23 Nov 2005

Further Reading

On political and social developments in Nepal

by Anonymous | On 30 Aug 2005

The Problem

Trapped for close to a decade in a vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence, the royal proclamation of 1 February 2005 declaring an emergency, suspending the constitution and fundamental rights,...

by Anonymous | On 30 Aug 2005

Interview

Pradeep Giri is a central committee member of the Sher Bahadur Deuba led Nepali Congress (Democratic).

by Prashant Jha | On 30 Aug 2005

Comment: The Indian Media: Time To Retrospect

The Indian media has reported the major events and developments in Nepal. Editorial stands of some newspapers have consistently urged the parties to be wary of an autocratic monarch, an advice that th...

by Prashant Jha | On 30 Aug 2005

Dialogues: The Monarchy And Demovracy In Nepal

THE project on the State of Democracy in South Asia (SDSA) is a 30 month study undertaken to evaluate the democratic enterprise in five South Asian countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sr...

by Peter Ronald deSouza | On 30 Aug 2005

Neighbourly Concerns

India has repeatedly asserted that there is no military solution to the Maoist insurgency in Nepal. It is time that concrete and relevant initiative is taken by India in the direction of a viable poli...

by S. D. Muni | On 30 Aug 2005

The Working Of Democracy

Despite its many limitations, the processes of mobilization of socially diverse groups representing diverse constituencies and interests itself manifest a democratic practice at the lower level. Metho...

by Mukta Singh Lama | On 29 Aug 2005

Clarity Amidst Extremism

Another solution is needed now. An honest solution, a lasting one. One that might bring with it a republican Nepal. For this, certainly, is the call of the times: the monarchy must retreat to a strict...

by Manjushree Thapa | On 29 Aug 2005

The Future Of Democracy

This paper examines the future of democracy in Nepal against the current debate on political reforms, referred to in popular discourse as ‘restructuring the state'

by Krishna Khanal | On 29 Aug 2005

An Unavoidable Force

The ideological antipathy towards Maoism in particular and the left in general, forces international architects of Nepali democracy to conceal the monarchy's record of tyranny and bloodshed that far...

by Hari Roka | On 29 Aug 2005

Royal Regression

There is no doubt that the supine parliamentary democratic system has been snuffed out and autocratic monarchy restored in Nepal. Hence the questions arise: How could the limited bourgeois democratic...

by Baburam Bhattarai | On 29 Aug 2005

Will The Monarchy Survive?

Nepal's democratic order faces a serious setback with King Gyanendra's decision to assume all powers on 1 February 2005 for a period of three years. Now with a despotic monarch at the helm of politica...

by B. C. Upreti | On 29 Aug 2005

The Word And The World

This paper examines two sets of questions related to the meanings of ‘democracy' in Nepal. The first explores the various meanings that different groups of people currently attach to democracy. The se...

by Anil Bhattarai | On 29 Aug 2005

No 548 Democracy Derailed :a symposium on the subversion of democracy by the monarch in Nepal

THE PROBLEM A short statement of the issues involved CLARITY AMID EXTREMISM Manjushree Thapa, author and political commentator, Kathmandu WILL THE MONARCH SURVIVE? B.C. Upreti, Senior Facul...

by Anonymous | On 29 Aug 2005

SAARC and India: Policy Issues hinge on Security and Democracy

The entire project of SAARC is dependent on India’s capacity to bind the neighbouring states in multiple networks of ties to promote regional cooperation. India not only shares frontiers with all the...

by Rajen Harshe | On 13 Aug 2005

BACKPAGE

The frequency with which ‘innocents’ are charged, sometimes even convicted only to be let off later is alarming. Fortunately, the Supreme Court has demanded an impartial and speedy enquiry into the Ge...

by Harsh Sethi | On 08 Aug 2005