Latest news with #Demography
Scroll.in
06-05-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
A new book throws light on a utopian population control plan after India became independent
Stories written by An excerpt from 'Demography, Representation, Delimitation: The North–South Divide in India', by Ravi K Mishra. Ravi K Mishra
The Print
29-04-2025
- Business
- The Print
India's delimitation debate needs bigger ideas, not just bigger numbers. Here are the options
The counter-argument is that these states are currently over-represented in Parliament. Contrary to the principle of 'one person, one vote,' the average constituency size in the South is only about 60 per cent of that in the North. Raising concerns is easier than finding acceptable solutions, but here is a listing of some of the options that have been discussed by scholars, media persons, and political commentators over the last few months. These states account for 20 per cent of India's population, generate 30 per cent of its GDP, contribute 26 per cent to the central tax pool, but receive only 16 per cent of the funds allocated by the Finance Commission. In the previous article , we discussed the discontent around delimitation. The five southern states—Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu—argue that after the 2026 delimitation, the 'Hindi heartland' will enjoy even greater representation in the Lok Sabha, further diluting their political clout. Also read: Delimitation freeze gave us time, but now India's democracy faces a ticking time bomb Amit Shah's assurance A boundary condition has been set by Union Home Minister Amit Shah's assurance that 'under no circumstances will any state lose a parliamentary seat' in the new configuration. In other words, reallocating the existing 543 seats based on demographic changes from 1971 to the next census has been ruled out. However, the census that should inform post-2026 redistricting is nowhere in sight. Still, many possible options are being discussed in anticipation of the delimitation exercise. These range from the radical—such as a 'de novo' reorganisation of states along the lines of republics and principalities of the Mahabharata era—to more moderate proposals like increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats (without any state losing seats), adding seats in Vidhan Sabhas, and expanding the Rajya Sabha without altering the extant distribution among states. Other suggestions include extending Rajya Sabha jurisdiction to Money Bills, imposing a cap so that no state holds more than 10 per cent of Lok Sabha seats, reorganising the five largest states to create more symmetry, or setting up a second States Reorganisation Commission to evaluate demands for new states—ranging from Poorvanchal to Awadh to Vidarbha to Uttar Andhra and Mithilanchal. TFR is falling across states Before going further, a caveat is necessary. Contrary to the perception that India's population is burgeoning, the national Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is now below the replacement level of 2.1 per cent. At a panel discussion on scholar Ravi Mishra's book, Demography, Representation and Delimitation: The North-South Divide in India, it was argued that over time, the current asymmetry in population growth would be balanced by internal migration—from aspirational districts to urban centres where economic growth is faster. Thanks to improved rail and road connectivity, India's labour market is becoming more integrated, with skilled workers in demand nationwide. Also read: Newer states are a boon for bureaucracy. But a critical factor can make or break Radical ideas: 75 states? One of the most radical suggestions comes from Gautam Desiraju, structural chemist and IISc professor who proposes that the delimitation debate be seized as an opportunity for a 'de novo' reorganisation of India into seventy-five states—each with a population of two to three crore and similar development, cultural, and linguistic aspirations. However, unless there is a groundswell of support, pushing for such sweeping changes purely on administrative convenience would be difficult. Desiraju also notes that before the Mughals and the East India Company centralised revenue collection, administration and justice were fairly decentralised across India. Freeze Lok Sabha seats, expand state legislatures Another option is to continue the freeze on Lok Sabha seats until 2047, while allowing state legislatures to grow. Within this framework, two possibilities emerge. First, increase Rajya Sabha membership from 250 to about 400 to provide for better debate on federal issues. Second, by 2047, as TFR levels stabilise across all regions, adjusting parliamentary constituencies might become less contentious. Meanwhile, this period can be used to evolve a more transparent system for resource distribution under the Finance Commission. Reorganisation of large states Another suggestion is to reorganise the top five states into smaller, more manageable units. Analysis of the top ten states (by population) shows that in a reconstituted Lok Sabha, Uttar Pradesh's share would rise from 14.73 per cent to 16.93 per cent, Maharashtra's from 8.84 per cent to 9.12 per cent, Bihar's from 7.37 per cent to 9.02 per cent, Madhya Pradesh's from 5.34 per cent to 6.2 per cent, Rajasthan's from 4.6 per cent to 5.81 per cent, and Gujarat's from 4.79 per cent to 5.12 per cent. Significant losers would include West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, whose shares would decline. Bihar would see the sharpest rise, while Tamil Nadu would suffer the sharpest fall. UP's Assembly, under Mayawati's second term, had even passed a resolution advocating the creation of four new states: Poorvanchal, Paschim Pradesh, Awadh Pradesh, and Bundelkhand. There are longstanding demands for Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Mithila in Bihar, Vindhyachal in MP, and Mewar in Rajasthan. A more nuanced option is to establish a second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) to evaluate such demands based on administrative and financial viability. Also read: Does breaking up big states boost economy? Data doesn't back up hype, says Indian study The Panikkar formula An interesting historical suggestion comes from KM Panikkar, a member of the first SRC, who dissented over the disproportionate representation of UP. He cited Bismarck's Germany, where Prussian dominance was curtailed despite Prussia's population and economic clout. In a recent Indian Express article, Sanjay Baru echoed this idea, suggesting a 10% cap on the number of MPs any one state could send to Parliament. Reimagining the Rajya Sabha Another proposal gaining attention is to base Rajya Sabha representation on a state's contribution to central taxes. This would better balance demographic strength with economic contribution. Closely linked is the idea of reintroducing domiciliary requirements for Rajya Sabha membership—requirements that were relaxed to facilitate Manmohan Singh's election from Assam, but which allowed party leaderships to override local political sentiments. Empowering grassroots democracy Ultimately, the most crucial reform for strengthening Indian democracy lies elsewhere: in empowering local bodies. Panchayats, Zilla Parishads, and municipalities—which interact most closely with citizens—must be given greater financial and administrative autonomy. Although the 73rd and 74th Amendments (CSTA) recommended the delegation of 29 subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule to local bodies, most states have resisted genuine devolution. Implementing these reforms in letter and spirit would resolve many day-to-day governance issues. Bigger House, shorter sessions? Before concluding, a fundamental question must be asked: What is the point of reorganising the Lok Sabha if parliamentary sessions continue to shrink, significant Bills are pushed through without adequate debate or scrutiny by select committees, and both the ruling party and opposition reduce parliamentary proceedings to predictable 'ayes' and 'nays'? If Parliament itself does not function meaningfully, how much does the size of a constituency even matter? This is the second article in a two-part series on India's delimitation debate. Sanjeev Chopra is a former IAS officer and Festival Director of Valley of Words. Until recently, he was director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. He tweets @ChopraSanjeev. Views are personal. (Edited by Prashant)
Boston Globe
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Social Studies: The politics of cops; good-looking executives; the benefits of highbrow reputations
Executives from central casting Advertisement A team of researchers including professors at the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, and Harvard trained an AI model on thousands of celebrity and noncelebrity faces so that it could identify faces that have the look of a celebrity. The model can predict whether the posting of a face photo on Instagram will lead to increases in follower count. It also found that the LinkedIn profile photos of Fortune 500 executives have much higher celebrity scores than nonexecutive employees of the same companies. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Feng, X. et al., 'An AI Method to Score Celebrity Visual Potential,' Journal of Marketing Research (forthcoming). Fancy hobbies Psychologists from the University of California, Berkeley, found that young people still consider highbrow culture impressive. College students listened to audio of a fellow student describing either a preference for independent films and classical music or a preference for action movies and pop music. The study participants tended to rate the highbrow student as higher in social class, higher in competence, and a better prospective job hire. College admissions counselors seem to make similar judgments. The researchers sent hundreds of colleges an inquiry email from a bogus student who was coded as either highbrow (played the trombone in a symphonic band, was president of the independent film club, sailed on weekends) or lowbrow (played guitar in a rock band, was president of the sci-fi movie club, played pickup soccer on weekends). Admissions counselors were more likely to respond to the highbrow student — particularly at expensive colleges — and put more effort into their response, as judged by independent evaluators. Advertisement Guzman, L. et al., 'Cultural Capital Signaling and Class-Related Selection Biases in Employment and Education,' Basic and Applied Social Psychology (forthcoming). Wakeup calls Sociologists analyzed data on hundreds of women ages 18 and 19 who lived in or around Flint, Mich., and who were surveyed every week for a couple of years about their sexual relationships. The sociologists found that women who had experienced one or more pregnancy scares — meaning they briefly thought they were pregnant when they did not want to be — in their current relationship were less likely to experience a breakup in subsequent months, even accounting for such factors as the duration of the relationship. The sociologists hypothesize that pregnancy scares may bolster relationships because they spur greater commitment and/or consideration of someday having children. Newmyer, L. & Yabiku, S., 'Make It or Break It? Pregnancy Scares and Romantic Relationship Dissolution,' Demography (February 2025). Antisemitic feedback loops A political scientist found that Americans on both the political left and the political right were prone to associating Jews with conspiracies. In a survey experiment with Americans conducted in early 2023, the researcher found that simply presenting participants with a short article about an initiative by the World Economic Forum — an initiative that comes up commonly in online conspiracy theories — tended to cause those who had voted for Joe Biden in 2020 to attribute greater political and economic power to Jews. This effect was not seen in study participants who had voted for Trump. On the other hand, simply presenting participants with a short article about how Jewish immigrants played a big role in developing Broadway and Hollywood caused those who had voted for Trump — but not those who had voted for Biden — to more strongly endorse COVID-related conspiracies. For whatever it's worth, the researcher noted that similar effects were not seen among left- or right-wing participants in a similar survey experiment in Britain. Advertisement Lewis, J., 'Conspiracy and Antisemitism in Contemporary Political Attitudes,' Political Research Quarterly (forthcoming).
