Deprivation. Unemployment. Corruption.

In this issue

17-05-202434 STORIES

Election 2024 — The Lede

India is haunted by an unprecedented economic deprivation

The situation, marked by widespread unemployment and inequality, calls for policy that improves the lives of the working people while taxing the rich.

Prabhat Patnaik

Editor’s Note: Will India vote for what really matters?

As Prime Minister Modi stokes divisive fears, can the opposition offer a compelling alternative focused on lives, livelihoods and liberties?

India’s employment crisis: Jobless growth, threat of automation, and impact of climate change on productivity

Employment growth has stagnated at 2 per cent for two decades. Without reaching 4-5 per cent, absorbing surplus labour will be impossible.

Sujoy Chakravarty

Long on rhetoric, short on practice: Modi government battling corruption

The government over 10 years has shown no evidence that petty corruption has abated. On the other hand, big-ticket corruption has risen.

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

From the Sidelines

Modi ramps up rhetoric in Hindi heartland as BJP struggles to regain its sparkle

Waning voter enthusiasm and challenging electoral feedback in key regions force Modi to shed his Vishwaguru image and escalate communal rhetoric.

Caste returns to haunt BJP in Uttar Pradesh

The saffron party’s best-laid plans to sweep the country’s most populous State are in danger of being upended by the emergence of caste fault lines.

‘I raise my voice for all’: Chandra Shekhar Azad

“Right now, the country is in the hands of a dictator,” says the founder of the Bhim Army and the Azad Samaj Party.

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Can the reunion of Maharashtra’s erstwhile ruling classes challenge BJP’s entrenched dominance?

The Deshmukhs and the Patils are silently uniting to regain power, marking the start of a revival that largely favours the Congress.

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Trinamool, BJP locked in an intense, evenly-matched battle in West Bengal

In many pivotal constituencies like Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum, and Bardhaman, the parties have pulled out all the stops to outflank each other.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Leaders trade insults, play identity politics while unemployment rages in Bihar’s Seemanchal-Kosi region

Caste, identity politics and regional rifts dominate the campaign as parties strive for dominance, mainly in Muslim-dominated Kishanganj and Katihar.

Will too many Congress defectors spoil the broth for BJP in Madhya Pradesh?

The Congress is optimistic of its chances in some seats in Madhya Pradesh, where a heatwave and disgruntled BJP cadres are playing spoilsport.

In Karnataka, it’s a battle of ‘guarantees’

The BJP has pitched “Modi ki Guarantee” against the Congress’ successful implementation of the Five Guarantees.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

BJP faces uphill battle in Rajasthan as anti-incumbency and shifting alliances challenge its dominance

The party that made a clean sweep of all 25 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and 2019 may face a tough contest from Congress and allies in 10 seats.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

The BJP is confident of pulling off a hat-trick in Gujarat

The party’s “uncontested” victory in Surat, however, has prompted questions about the integrity of the democratic process in the State.

Andhra Pradesh: YSRCP’s welfare schemes vs TDP-BJP-JSP alliance’s development agenda

That said, irrespective of who wins, the BJP central leadership will hold the key.

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Kerala’s crucial Lok Sabha battle draws unprecedented national attention

The BJP is striving to secure its first seat; Congress is defending its stronghold amid internal conflicts; for the Left, it is a fight for survival.

M.G. Radhakrishnan

Chhattisgarh: No country for Adivasis

The apparent lack of concern around jal-jangal-zameen issues has resulted in apathy and deep-seated mistrust of the state across the tribal belt.

Ashutosh Sharma

In Goa, a glaring disconnect between people’s concerns and political narrative

The narrative is centred around individuals, with neither the BJP nor the Congress interested in tackling real issues like unemployment or inflation.

‘Goans have faith in Modi’s guarantee’: Pramod Sawant

The Chief Minister says schemes mentioned in BJP’s manifesto such as electricity and tap water for all households are being implemented in the State.

Unemployed youth filling application forms to access job openings in the private sector outside an “employment van” in Hyderabad on August 25, 2021.

Election Manifestos

‘Nyay Patra’ vs ‘Modi ki Guarantee’: Free citizens or wards of the state?

The Congress and BJP manifestos are unflatteringly similar, but with one crucial difference: the empowerment of citizens.

Israel’s diversionary attack on Iran has set off a new security crisis in West Asia

The standoff has shattered Israel’s strategic superiority, exposed its dependence on the US, and heightened the risk of a nuclear conflict.

Kashmir’s famed saffron fields are under siege

The fields are weathering everything from a prolonged dry spell to rodents, and cement dust to the influx of Iranian imports.

Life in the raw: Review of the exhibition, Raghu Rai: A Thousand Lives—Photographs from 1965-2005

Stories of grandeur, religious experiences and political ambition jostle with those of everyday ecstasies, hardships, sorrows, humour, even ennui.

Malavika Karlekar

Counter Culture

How to anchor the hopes of the community through image

Public art practises democracy by splitting the gaze, centring not a person but a people.

Prathyush Parasuraman

Artists of the turning world

How does the poet, who is expected to remain at the edge of the world, observing it, navigate the public nature of today’s literary space?

Captain America

Superbly written and argued, Tom Stevenson’s Someone Else’s Empire reads like a primer on American imperial hegemony and its deadly consequences.

The unique memoirs of Mughal princess Gulbadan Begum

As Mughal history unfolds across the reigns of Babar and Humayun, Ruby Lal’s Vagabond Princess tells the story of the womenfolk of this dynasty.

Madhulika Liddle

Rajiv Gandhi: The original ‘Accidental Prime Minister’

Mani Shankar Aiyar’s well-researched book is an excellent contribution to literature on the political history of India and South Asia.

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When the hurly-burly’s done

Tathagata Bhattacharya’s General Firebrand and His Red Atlas shines in moments of poignant clarity when fiction and reality converge.

Bleak house

In Nirmala Pillai’s Secrets of Mango Rain, empathy and acceptance heal the wounds inflicted by toxic patriarchs.

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New books on the shelves

A forgotten Magahi novel in English translation, an archival history of Kerala’s Gulf migrants, and much more.

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No one like Appa: A Tamil story in translation

Translated from Tamil by Prabha Sridevan. An eccentric father mentors his family, ignoring societal norms.

S. Ramakrishnan

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‘The Dystopian Times’ by Appupen

Letters

Readers respond to Frontline’s coverage.

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