No democracy for city-dwellers?

Milind Bokil
India has a remarkable system of local self governance. But this is true only of rural India. Despite a few attempts we have not been able to replicate this system of governance in the Indian cities. Why so? It is time that we trained and gave power to our city dwellers too to contribute to the functioning of the State.

The State and us

Ashwini Kulkarni
As citizens living in a country there will often arrive situations where we have to interact with the various institutions of the State; instead of furthering a culture of fear and corruption in our dealings with these institutions let us know of our constitutional rights and use them appropriately to better our lives.

Debating democracy

Suhas Palshikar
What is democracy? Under what conditions does it thrive? Given India’s social fabric and the actions of its governments and citizens how successfully has democracy survived in this country?

An “open” path to learning life skills

Asheema Singh
In an attempt to make social science more relevant to the learner, National Institute of Open Schooling has developed learning materials that focuse on enhancing learners’ life skills. Here is a look at their new textbooks.

Electoral literacy clubs: preparing future voters of India

Simran Sachdeva

At 18 you are given the right to vote. Exciting experience definitely, but it is also an experience that young citizens are unprepared for. With no knowledge of what the election process involves, what their role is, they cast their first vote. In order to prepare young children to turn into thinking voters the Election Commission of India is starting Electoral Literacy Clubs in schools.

Engaging with politics: teaching democracy

Alex M. George

Civics is a living subject. Students need to constantly engage with it in order to understand the nuances of living responsibly in a democracy. Unfortunately our textbooks treat this subject as static knowledge that can simply be imparted through the text. We need to re-imagine civics education if we want active civic engagement in our societies.

Walking the long road to equality

Sana Siddiqui
Attaining equality for all its citizens should be a goal for every democratic country. To achieve this, inequality that exists at different levels in the society has to be studied and policies have to be put in place. These policies have to address the concerns and needs of every section, every individual that needs help to uplift themselves.

Live and let live: the soul of the Constitution

Abha Singhal Joshi
India is a socialist, secular, democratic republic. Of these four words used to define India, ‘secular’ is perhaps the most debated and misunderstood term. A look at what the word means in relation to our Constitution and bursting some of the myths surrounding the word.

These rights are fundamental

Nisha Panicker
India is a free country. Why then do we need the Constitution to safeguard our basic rights? A look at some of the most famous cases fought in the Supreme Court between the Government of India and individual citizens will tell you how important it was to include the fundamental rights in the Constitution of India.