No chief minister, even in today’s era of political centralisation, would stay quiet if the Government of India failed to set up the Finance Commission. This is the battle local governments must fight

In December 2025, newspapers in India carried an arresting, dystopian image: scores of young people sitting obediently in rows on an airstrip in the eastern state of Odisha to take an exam. Over 8,000 test takers had lined up under the sun to compete for 187 posts in the police service. That so many people were willing to take an exam in such inhumane conditions is revealing. In India, government jobs have long been coveted because they bring financial security and a measure of social prestige. But the candidates in Odisha were vying for the lowest rung of the police service. Such a large volume of candidates for such a poorly paid post reflects widespread desperation among educated youth. India’s economy has failed to generate opportunities for the country’s many young people, even as it has recorded an average annual GDP growth rate of six to seven percent over the past three decades.

Is the India-US trade deal beneficial to India, or is it an act of coercion on the part of
the US, which India has humiliatingly accepted? The

The view that bureaucracies are bloated with far too many employees preying on taxpayers money is a widely held myth. Research shows how significantly understaffed the Indian state is.

We’re thrilled to launch the first edition of Con-GRA, a conference dedicated to graduate students in the social sciences—particularly economics, political science, and sociology—whose research focuses on contemporary South Asia.

Con-GRA offers a space where emerging scholars can share their work, receive thoughtful feedback, and engage in sustained, interdisciplinary conversations. We approach South Asia not as a regional case but as a site of theoretical innovation, where new questions, methods, and frameworks are emerging across disciplines.

This inaugural edition marks a commitment to building an enduring intellectual home for social science scholars of South Asia.

New York is America’s most cosmopolitan outpost, not its heartland. One must look at what happened elsewhere in the US on 4 November.

The two-decade long reign of Nitish raises an important question: Can governance stripped of politics achieve the goal of radical social transformation?

A new study on urban India reveals that Muslims, Dalits, and tribal communities are denied equal rights and access to public services while upper castes enjoy the best living conditions, with Kochi and chennai standing out as rare examples of inclusive urban equality.

The capacity to live a full life in India's cities is heavily constrained by class, caste and religion.

Leela chats with Steve as he wonders about the different ways humans worship.

Leela Prasad is St. Purandar Das Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University. She is the President of the American Academy of Religion (2025). She has received prestigious awards and fellowships for the study of religion, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Fulbright-Nehru senior fellowships, and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Without the humanities, we may produce efficient workers — fluent in algorithms and markets but unable to envision and inquire.

Far from a grand bargain, the GST is an imperfect compromise constrained by a political culture with a limited commitment to the federal principle