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An academic-turned-politician, Dr Yogendra Yadav is an important ideologue of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He has also made his mark as an astute analyst of Indian politics. However, his first foray into electoral politics was disastrous: he contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Gurgaon in Haryana and ended up fourth, losing his deposit. Yadav, by his own description, is "interested in the promise, practice, and prospects of modern politics". A senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of...

In this section, Yadav analyses the twists and turns in the media’s relationship with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He also dwells on his personal experiences with particular journalists when he contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Gurgaon in Haryana, and the phenomenon of "paid news" as it played out in the election. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (PGT): During the India Against Corruption movement led by Anna Hazare, it was evident that much of the media was favourably inclined towards your group...

The decision by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to wrest full managerial and editorial control over the Network18 group was not unexpected given the fact that two and half years ago, RIL, the country’s biggest privately-owned company, had invested heavily in Network18, India’s biggest media organisation after its virtual amalgamation with the Eenadu group. The country’s richest man, Mukesh D Ambani, is now, formally, also India’s biggest media baron. However, what took some by surprise was the...

The report of the Intelligence Bureau on the “impact” that non-government organisations have on India’s “development” is a case of extreme paranoia on the part of a section of the country’s establishment. This section believes that those who are opposed to their notions of development — which include the proliferation of nuclear energy and widespread use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture — are not just anti-national but also acting at the behest of foreign powers who do not want...

Now that India's richest man Mukesh D Ambani is formally the head of the country's biggest media conglomerate, it is but natural that questions will be raised as to what this development means for freedom of expression in the world's largest democracy. It can be contended that the recent takeover of the Network18 group by Reliance Industries Limited, India's largest privately-owned corporate entity, does not forebode well for the media. The space for disseminating a diverse range of views could...

In the excitement of the elections and a new Prime Minister assuming power, a most unusual battle between two of the biggest companies in the country all but escaped the attention of large sections of the media. The biggest corporate entity in the public sector, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has in a court of law accused the biggest private sector company, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), of pilfering 18 billion cubic metres of natural gas worth as much as `30,000 crore since 2009...

Why did Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) issue a notice of arbitration to the government seeking an early decision to increase the administered price of natural gas? The company, India’s largest in the private sector, claimed on 10 May that it had “no other option but to pursue this course of action” since RIL – together with its partners, British Petroleum and Niko Resources of Canada – was “unable to sanction planned investments of close to $4 billion” during this year. It can, however, be...

This columnist has to start by saying sorry. One failed to read the chai leaves, the writing on the wall. Many of us who pretend to understand the complex polity of this country knew even before the elections began that the Bharatiya Janata Party under Narendra Modi would gain handsomely and that the Congress would lose a lot of ground. But some of us — this writer included — failed to anticipate the sheer scale of the saffron tsunami and the depths to which India’s one-time “grand old party”...

India, the world's largest democracy has swung to the right, and decisively so. What was predicted as a surge of saffron - the colour favoured by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi - has turned out to be a veritable tsunami in favour of the Hindu nationalist party and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition it leads. India's incoming prime minister, who has been chief minister of the industrially-prosperous state of Gujarat since 2001, has raised aspirations which...

About 814 million voters in the world's largest democracy will elect a new government amid India's economy slowing down considerably. The outcome of the parliamentary elections will be known on May 16 and there is every likelihood that the coming summer will be long and hot for the people, in more than just a metaphorical sense. One of the biggest concerns of the electorate is high food prices. For the first time in the history of India, inflation has stubbornly refused to slow down despite...