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Sanjay Kumar

Citizen-Students and the University

Vol - XLVIII No. 19, May 11, 2013 | Sanjay Kumar

The proposed 4-year undergraduate degree programme of the Delhi University is being pushed through in undue haste without adequate debate and public discussion. The special emphasis on Foundation and Integrating Mind, Body and Heart courses, controversial components of the 4-year scheme, is indicative of an extra-academic zeal. The pedagogical thinking behind these courses is authoritarian and  against the spirit of liberal citizenship.

The Weakening of Electoral Anti-Incumbency

Vol - XLVIII No. 13, March 30, 2013 | Sanjay Kumar, Shreyas Sardesai, and Pranav Gupta

Anti-incumbency at the state level, or the tendency to vote out an incumbent state government, reached its peak in elections during the 1990s. In the 2000s there has been a reversal of this trend and a shift towards pro-incumbency or a tendency of voters to re-elect the ruling party at the time of elections.

District-Level Estimates of Fertility and Implied Sex Ratio at Birth in India

Vol - XLVII No. 33, August 18, 2012 | Sanjay Kumar and K M Sathyanarayana

With an emphasis on decentralised planning in India, the district has become the primary unit of planning and monitoring development programmes. The Census of India is the only source providing useful demographic information at the district and administrative levels below it. The findings of this study indicate that India is undergoing a fertility transition, yet around one-third of districts have a birth rate of 25 or more. High fertility districts have shown a faster pace of decline. Furthermore, around a quarter of the districts are characterised by a very low implied sex ratio at birth, of less than 900. Spatial analysis reveals a contiguous pattern of low ratios in the north-western part of the country and emerging pockets in Maharashtra and Gujarat followed by Orissa.

Why Did Dalits Desert the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh?

Vol - XLVII No. 28, July 14, 2012 | Oliver Heath and Sanjay Kumar

In trying to explain why so many dalits failed to vote for the Bahujan Samaj Party, it is found that there are strong "performance effects" that determined voter choice in the 2012 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. In the eyes of many dalits, particularly the young and the well-off, the BSP did not perform well enough on key issues of governance. The strongest effects for performance issues related to corruption and development during the BSP'S rule.

Jharkhand Assembly Elections: An Analysis

Vol - XLV No. 07, February 13, 2010 | Sanjay Kumar

An assessment of votes polled in the Jharkhand assembly elections in November-December 2009 suggests that the Congress has made major gains in the state, though it was unable to form the government in coalition with its pre-election alliance partner, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha.

Bihar: Development Matters

Vol - XLIV No. 39, September 26, 2009 | Rakesh Ranjan and Sanjay Kumar

The robust victory of the ruling Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party combine in Bihar owes much to the developmental policies adopted by the Nitish Kumar-led government. That said, the victory was also made possible because of the shrewd use of community and caste-based support by the alliance, which the divided opposition could not achieve.

Patterns of Political Participation: Trends and Perspective

Vol - XLIV No. 39, September 26, 2009 | Sanjay Kumar

If one were to go by the National Election Study 2009, the democratic upsurge and the contentious issues of the 1990s appear to have had their day. Electoral politics in India in the new century has taken a turn towards more stable trends in voter participation. An analysis of data from the post-poll survey of the nes 2009 and its comparison with category-wise figures for the 2004 Lok Sabha poll, in particular, and some earlier ones, in general, reveal that there were no dramatic changes in the participation scenario of the latest election. There have been of course marginal fluctuations in the figures, but the overall picture that emerges is one of limited participation. However this does not, according to the survey, indicate a decline in interest in politics.

Shrinking Political Space for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha

Vol - XLIV No. 33, August 15, 2009 | Praveen Rai and Sanjay Kumar

An inability to command support from varied sections of the electorate, a fragmentation of support among the adivasis and youth disenchantment have together contributed to the decline of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Jharkhand. This is despite years of mobilisation by the organisation for the cause of a separate state and greater political representation for the marginalised people.

Delhi Assembly Elections: 2008

Vol - XLIV No. 06, February 07, 2009 | Sanjay Kumar

Pulling off its third successive win in the Delhi assembly election, the Congress demonstrated that public dissatisfaction with its Sheila Dikshit-led government was not as overwhelming as supposed. The Bharatiya Janata Party did gain three more seats and more of the popular votes but it did not have enough in its armoury to upset the ruling party. The main gainer in the election was the Bahujan Samaj Party, which won two seats and attracted a large chunk of the traditional support base of the Congress and the BJP.

The Fourth Delimitation:An Evaluation

Vol - XLIV No. 03, January 17, 2009 | Sanjay Kumar

This article critically discusses a few aspects of the recommendations of the Fourth Delimitation Commission. While on the whole the commission has done a fair job, there were certain lacunae in the delimitation and constituency demarcation exercise that need to be addressed. The presence of sitting legislators as associate members of the commission has also given cause for complaint of unfair functioning of the commission.