As long as the present generation of the powerful, whether the rulers in Washington or in New Delhi, persists with the practice of depending on its armed infrastructure to lord over the political space and establish hegemony over civil society, and fails to learn that such a policy invariably escalates a cycle of violence, the language of discourse in the relationship of the powerful and the powerless will be dominated by violence. In India today, how can there be a non-violent resolution of the major confl icts that are plaguing our society?

To understand people’s perceptions about the functioning of their representatives in the legislature, DAKSH, a civil society organisation in Karnataka, conducted a survey in October and November 2009 across 218 legislative assembly constituencies. The results from the survey reflect a stark gap between people’s expectations and their perceptions of the performances of the representatives. A summary of the report.

A milestone in gender power-sharing has been passed, but the “quota-in-quota” has to be addressed. (Editorial)

The Anna agitation is as much about the redistribution of power as the demand of the civil society activists for an effective Lokpal.