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Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Pratap Bhanu Mehta is Contributing Editor at the Indian Express. He has been vice-chancellor of Ashoka University and president, Centre Policy Research. Before he started engaging with contemporary affairs, he taught political theory at Harvard, and briefly at JNU. He has written on intellectual history, political theory, law, India's social transformation and world affairs. He is the recipient of the Infosys Prize, the Adisheshiah Prize and the Amartya Sen Prize. Follow @pbmehta
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More From Pratap Bhanu Mehta - Page 10
Budget 2020 reads like a five-year plan with lots of targets but no road mapSubscriber Only
February 03,2020 04:30:52 AM
The things that it will take to fix the economy cannot be done in the Budget. The Budget can be criticised for its lack of boldness. But in a way, that is the most honest thing about it. It is an admission of defeat
Mon, Feb 03, 2020
Incitements by BJP leaders aim to polarise society, create violent identities — not just win electionsSubscriber Only
February 01,2020 04:05:06 AM
We had always assumed that politics is deeply decentralised in India: Caste, community, language, and region, provide natural breaks on any national agendas. These are still important. But they no longer provide the deep social bulwarks against the consolidation of national agendas. So violence can acquire a different logic.
Sat, Feb 01, 2020
JNU violence reflects an apocalyptic politics driven by a constant need to find new enemiesSubscriber Only
January 07,2020 04:00:46 AM
It is apocalyptic in a triple sense. At the level of discourse, the normalisation of the phrase “tukde tukde gang” abetted by the home minister, with the help of a pliant media, laid the background conditions for this kind of violence.
Tue, Jan 07, 2020
Hope, Fear, Anger: Will this be the decade we finally come to terms with our reality?Subscriber Only
January 01,2020 02:47:14 AM
In 2019, it was not just people versus government, but one definition of people jostling against another.
Wed, Jan 01, 2020
The charter of liberationSubscriber Only
December 29,2019 01:00:45 AM
On the brink of the 70th year of the Republic, a reaffirmation of the radical message of the Constitution
Sun, Dec 29, 2019
Discrimination, not justice: Hope this generation does a better job of navigating the struggle than the one that came beforeSubscriber Only
December 19,2019 05:20:55 AM
Violence will not help any cause. But when the state discriminates and calls it justice, when it stokes fear and calls it citizenship, and when it exercises control and calls its freedom, when it confuses prejudice with policy, it sets the seeds for disorder.
Thu, Dec 19, 2019
The morning after CAB: It will be a mistake to rely just on Supreme CourtSubscriber Only
December 12,2019 04:12:28 AM
The political challenge is to make sure that one party’s diabolical version of what is reasonable is not mistaken to be common sense. It will require using the BJP’s tactics.
Thu, Dec 12, 2019
The Burden of MeritocracySubscriber Only
December 09,2019 09:42:43 AM
A stunning catalogue of the ways in which merit takes on the form of an inheritance.
Mon, Dec 09, 2019
What state needs is resetting of priorities and restoring of credibilitySubscriber Only
December 05,2019 03:40:13 AM
The real problem is not the absence of big bang reform. It is the misdiagnosis over what our priorities should be and where scarce governance resources need to be deployed.
Thu, Dec 05, 2019
There was another India, reveals a new database of periodicals published between 1857-1947Subscriber Only
November 30,2019 00:29:13 AM
The database is a reminder that the big contentious debates of Indian spiritual, political, economic and social life are not often accurately reflected in the big, and conventional figures we all study or distilled in books. They surface as powerful undercurrents in a variety of genres and forms.
Sat, Nov 30, 2019
The reconfiguration of Hinduism is now completeSubscriber Only
November 10,2019 04:30:24 AM
Is it just possible that instead of a triumphal monument to Ram’s political glory — for this is all that the temple will be under present circumstances — can we build something genuinely congruent with Ram’s greatness?
Sun, Nov 10, 2019
By not joining RCEP, India sends signal of shrinking possibilities — at home and abroadSubscriber Only
November 08,2019 00:05:57 AM
Don’t convert India’s global weakness into an ideological virtue. The truth is that India’s domestic agenda of reform will, in most respects, need to be the same, RCEP or no RCEP
Fri, Nov 08, 2019
Part of the problem with the Indian economy is that no one knows what to believeSubscriber Only
October 31,2019 00:19:07 AM
On the Indian economy, no one knows what to believe. This makes the uncertainty of our moment more endemic.
Thu, Oct 31, 2019
To See, or Not to See
October 27,2019 00:18:51 AM
An inside job on panoptic state surveillance in the name of national security, and its chilling effect on citizens.
Sun, Oct 27, 2019
Cracks in the edifice: Results give a small but important reprieve from BJP’s arroganceSubscriber Only
October 25,2019 04:38:07 AM
The opposition can take some heart from the fact there is political space for them to exploit. But this political space can have a multiplier if there is more smart and credible coordination amongst all opposition groups that converts a protest vote into an alternative narrative.
Fri, Oct 25, 2019
Congress ambivalence has allowed BJP to walk away with liberal agendasSubscriber Only
October 19,2019 00:30:49 AM
Fighting for secularism against the BJP is hard enough; being tarred with the legacy of Congress makes it even harder.
Sat, Oct 19, 2019
Serial authoritarianism picks out targets one by one, and tires out challengesSubscriber Only
October 10,2019 04:04:20 AM
The episode featuring sedition charges against eminent writers and directors — now belatedly withdrawn — is a reminder of the peculiar nature of the crisis of liberal institutionalism in India.
Thu, Oct 10, 2019
South Asia needs a culture of commitment to human rightsSubscriber Only
October 01,2019 04:30:30 AM
The challenges of both India and Pakistan can be solved only if we re-imagine ourselves, internally, as a zone of freedom, not warring identities.
Tue, Oct 01, 2019
Modi-Trump event is a window to the politics of our timesSubscriber Only
September 24,2019 02:50:39 AM
Modi-Trump event is a window to the politics of our times: They have sold the thrill of power and prejudice
Tue, Sep 24, 2019
The tactical Sangh
September 14,2019 00:30:07 AM
An exhaustive account, also a timely reminder, of the history of RSS and its equation with democracy
Sat, Sep 14, 2019
A hundred days on, Modi 2.0: Its purpose is the show of power, nationalist fervour, social controlSubscriber Only
September 10,2019 04:00:53 AM
The hundred days is not a catalogue of specific actions, some good some bad. They are certainly marked by Modi’s energy, drive, imperiousness and unerring instinct to dominate the political discourse. They, rather, reveal the consolidation of a regime type.
Tue, Sep 10, 2019
Whose faith will be privileged in the public sphere?Subscriber Only
August 23,2019 03:50:59 AM
To attribute the Ravidas movement merely to a jostling for space in Dalit politics would be a mistake. The depth and reach of the movement across large swathes of north India has always been impressive and deeply felt.
Fri, Aug 23, 2019
The long disarm of the lawSubscriber Only
August 17,2019 00:21:24 AM
Even by its own spotty standards, abdication of the legal profession in leading the charge for liberty is striking.
Sat, Aug 17, 2019
The story of Indian democracy written in blood and betrayalSubscriber Only
August 06,2019 00:13:52 AM
BJP thinks it is going to Indianise Kashmir. Instead, we will see, potentially, the Kashmirisation of India.
Thu, Aug 08, 2019
Reading 1919 in 2019Subscriber Only
August 01,2019 02:00:12 AM
What does it mean to be in politics? Weber asked this question — its answer lies in questions that find an echo today
Thu, Aug 01, 2019Journalism of Courage
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