Towards Comparative State Politics response to the editorial
Rethinking the Curriculum of Comparative Politics by K. K. Kailash

If one were to go by the milestones of child development, Lokniti has just entered adolescence. This is a phase of transition from being a child into an adult. Research has shown that this is a period when individuals make distinctive choices that usually goes on to have an impact on the rest of their lives. The August editorial “Rethinking the Curriculum of Comparative Politics” by Yogendra Yadav is probably a reflection of this change and it came at the appropriate time. To take the dialogue forward, this note will do some loud thinking as well as echo what has already been said. In the process it will attempt to link what the collective has been primarily been doing i.e. election studies with comparative state politics. Read through

Response to Editorial (October edition) by A.K. Verma

This is in response to Sandeep Bhai’s call for ‘Reinvigorating the Training of Field Investigators’ published in the October 2010 issue of the Lokniti Bulletin.

It goes without saying that the credibility of Lokniti, CSDS data all over the world on national and state elections must be attributed to the seriousness, dedication and academic orientation that the Lokniti attaches to the planning, designing, training and execution of its survey research programmes. As Suhas bhai had pointed out in the September issue of the Bulletin, the entire NES programme is not just about survey; it is about study. So, our survey researches are designed to transcend mere journalistic curiosities, and generate data that has ‘shelf value’. Read through

Bihar Assembly Election Study 2010

Lokniti in collaboration with CNN IBN and The Week conducted a post poll study of the Bihar Assembly Election Study 2010. A total of 4959 persons randomly selected from the latest electoral rolls were interviewed after the polling days in 324 locations spread across 81 randomly selected constituencies in the state. Read details

Column

Bihar 2010 Election: Lessons Learned

Milan Vaishnav
Milan Vaishnav is a doctoral candidate in political science at Columbia University. His dissertation examines the role of money and serious criminality in Indian state politics. He conducted research in south-central Bihar from mid-October to mid-November 2010.

On November 24, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won a landslide victory in the Bihar assembly elections—securing 206 out of 243 seats. In the immediate aftermath of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s resounding victory, much ink has been spilt on the coalition “magic” of the NDA; the humiliation of the RJD-LJP opposition; and the frustrating disappointments of Congress.

In this column, I would like to share some of my insights on some larger issues related to Bihar’s political economy—some of which have been either overlooked or deserve particular emphasis. These insights are based on field research I conducted in Bihar from mid-October to mid-November during the height of election season. Read column

Talk by Dr. Rukmini Banerji on the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Surveys

The Research Group on Educational Inequalities at CSDS (facilitated by members of the Lokniti team) organized a talk and discussion on the 22nd of November with Dr. Rukmini Banerji, Director of the ASER Centre, on the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Surveys. As one of the largest annual studies on elementary education and learning outcomes in rural India surveying approximately 700,000 children, ASER is a valuable data source for the monitoring of the status of education in the country.

Dr. Banerji discussed the evolution of the ASER surveys (which are facilitated by Pratham) with an emphasis on their unique methodology and their implementation through a citizen-led effort. The ASER surveys stress the importance of gathering information not only on access to education, but also on the ‘quality’ of education imparted in schools in rural India. For more information on the ASER surveys as well as data access questions please visit their website on http://www.asercentre.org.

This talk was attended by CSDS and Delhi University faculty, DU students and education researchers, and was followed by an animated and in-depth discussion with the ASER team on their findings and data related issues.

The Research Group on Educational Inequalities is an informal group of researchers with interests in diverse areas relating to educational inequality in general, and the monitoring of the RTE in particular. For more information on this group please contact us on educationresearch.csds@gmail.com.

Appointments/Felicitations

G.K. Prasad has been nominated as the Rajiv Gandhi Chair in the University of Madras. The three thrust areas of research and extension activities of the Chair in the University of Madras are: Disarmament and Peace Studies, Panchayatiraj Systems and Local Governance and Women Empowerment.

Lokniti Congratulates Peter. R. deSouza for his appointment as the Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla for the second term.

Visits

Ashutosh Kumar was the UGC Visiting Faculty at the Dept of Political Science, Kerala University Trivendrum (November 20 -28, 2010).

Yatindra Singh Sisodia attended the International Visitor Leadership Program of US Department of State on "State and Local Government" during 1-19 November, 2010 conducted across different States in the United States of America. The programme was aimed to introduce the structure and functions of US federal system of government, to observe the election process and to see the division of authority and responsibility between federal, state and local governments. In all 19 selected participants attended the multi-regional group from 19 different countries.

Publications

Books

Yatindra Singh Sisodia translated the reference book of Katar Singh on Rural Development: Principles, Policies and Management by Sage Publications 2010 in HINDI. The translation project is a joint venture of Sage Publications and Rawat Publication

Journals

A.K. Verma

Subalterns in Uttar Pradesh: A New Trajectory,
Economic and Political Weekly Vol XLV No 48, November 27, 2010

The subalterns in Uttar Pradesh – dalit bahujans – are not a homogenised social denomination. They themselves are a highly differentiated and hierarchical social bloc facing intra-caste discrimination. The elites amongst the dalit bahujans are taking advantage of their numbers to claim continuance of reservation benefits and affirmative action programmes without showing any inclination to pass them on to the marginalised. Read full article

Newspapers

Sunil Kumar Gautam

Bhari Bhajpa Ki Jholi Kai Record Dal Gaya Janadesh (In Hindi) Hindustan 1st December 2010 Read Article

Sanjay Kumar

Bihar Ki Yetihasik Jeet Ki Mayne (In Hindi) Prabhat Khabar 26th November 2010 Read Article
Lokpriyata Main Nitish Sabse Aage (In Hindi) Prabhat Khabar 28th November 2010 Read Article

Yogendra Yadav

Meri Bihar Diary (In Hindi) Prabhat Khabar 30th October 2010 Read Article

Presentation

• Sanjay Kumar Understanding Electoral Politics in Bihar: Reading through the results of Assembly Elections 2010. Ram Lal Anand Collge, Delhi University, November 29, 2010.

New people at Lokniti

• Shreyas Sardesai has joined Lokniti as a Research Officer from November 2010. Shreyas is a media professional with nearly seven years of experience in the TV News industry. His last job was at CNN-IBN where he worked for five years (Jun 2005-Aug 2010), first as Associate Editor and later as News Editor. Prior to CNN-IBN, Shreyas was with NDTV for a year as a Researcher. Shreyas is currently taking a break from the world of TV news and has joined Lokniti to pursue his interest in election studies. Shreyas studied History (BA) from St Stephen's College and then post-graduated (MA) in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2002.
  
  
• Amrish Ranjan Pandey has joined as an Intern at Lokniti from November. He has completed his MA in Philosophy from Delhi University. He did his BA (Hons.), also in Philosophy, from Zakir Husain College, University of Delhi. His academic interests include Gandhian principles of non-violence and theories of socio-economics like trusteeship. One of his prime areas of interest is to study involvement of Indian youth in national politics.

Call for applications for Research Assistants Read Details