India’s First Economist

By: B. Chandrasekaran (Economist, Planning Commission) & Vipin P. Veetil (Research Guide, CCS)

His articles do not figure in University of Delhi’s reading list and nearly none of the post-graduate students from India’s premiere economics research institute…

Slum Dwellers’ Property Rights

The Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Kumari Selja, recently outlined what she says are the four key components of the Draft Model Property Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2011.

1. The Act states that every landless person living in a…

The Good, Bad and Ugly of Political Ads!

By: Udita Singh

Politics is dirty stuff but dirtier is the task of marketing it. Political advertisements can create history or haunt parties for that ‘one bad ad’. The world has seen some great examples of political advertisements…

1920: The Year Indian Railways Discovered the State

By: Surbhi Tandon (Communicating Reality Intern, CCS)

Indian Railways is unsafe, unclean and of low quality. And we’ve given up; India is in a state of learned helplessness. Indians live merrily with filthy…

Purna Swaraj

I recently read, for the first time, the Declaration of Purna Swaraj. I was impressed, but I was also surprised. The ideals expressed in Lahore in 1929 seem a world away from the reality of India today.

Yeşilçam and Bollywood

By: Udita Singh (Communicating Reality Intern, CCS)

Yesilcam, yes that is what they call Turkey’s film industry. The word “industry” is slightly misleading though, for Turkish films microscopically look at life in nuanced ways rather than mass produce movies.