ASIA!

Economy and Economics

Post-Election Analysis: Why everyone called it wrong

KARISHMA VASWANI

On Saturday May 16th, India's ruling Congress Party was kept in power, winning an astonishing 262 votes, its best results since 1990. Just ten votes short of the 272 needed for a parliamentary majority, it will be able to govern without the need to make deals with regional parties. The markets responded with a resounding 17 percent surge in share prices, its biggest one-day-gain in three decades. Yet this was a victory margin none of the pundits saw coming.

As India Votes 2009

Illustration: Vikash Sharma


Villages devoid of young men in modern India

KARISHMA VASWANI

One of the most common scenes on Indian trains are men with their belongings on their backs, heading out to the big cities in search of a better life. Many of them come from the state of Bihar, where moving miles away from home for work is the only way for their families to simply subsist at home.

As India Votes 2009

Illustration: Vikash Sharma


Mother Teresa's Calcutta, India's Kolkata

KARISHMA VASWANI

It is best known to outsiders as Calcutta where the famed nun Mother Teresa set up her Missionaries of Charity to serve the dying in the city in 1950. Since then, the city has been renamed Kolkata and is witnessing a transformation in its political landscape. The state of West Bengal where it is located has been a traditional stronghold of India's Communist Party. That now may change, as the party and the state find themselves at the crossroads of tradition and progress.

As India Votes 2009

Illustration: Vikash Sharma


The Great Indian Migration : From the provinces to Mumbai and back again

KARISHMA VASWANI

A certain dedication to the family that propels millions of rural Indians to leave the comfort of home for the city. They send back money and sometimes along with it, the seeds of a revolution.

As India Votes 2009

Illustration: Vikash Sharma


The News Sampler Menu, May 4, 2009

DAN-CHYI CHUA

Fresh this week is our Super-Size Asian menu, as we present the Asian countries that have been graded on various international rankings! Comes free with the world's favourite beer. (Well, sort of.)


What it means to vote in India

KARISHMA VASWANI

The freedom to choose their government was a hard-won victory from the British for the people of India more than 60 years ago. Today, they still go to surprising lengths to honour that right, as Karishma Vaswani learns when she goes voting with a Mumbaikar.

As India Votes 2009

Illustration: Vikash Sharma


There simply isn't just one Mumbai

KARISHMA VASWANI

Karishma Vaswani shows theasiamag.com the highlights of this astounding metropolis of 18 million and makes sense of the economic spectrum of people who call this city home.

As India Votes 2009

Illustration: Vikash Sharma


Mumbai: The City of Indian Dreams

KARISHMA VASWANI

If there is an Indian Dream, Mumbai is the place where locals believe it will come true.

As India Votes 2009

Illustration: Vikash Sharma


Ahmedabad, Gujarat : Roti-and-dal issues in diamond central

KARISHMA VASWANI

In Ahmedabad alone, 60,000 diamond workers have been laid off. State-wide in Gujarat, estimates put the figure between 250,000 to 400,000. What happens when the global economic crisis takes the shine off India's diamond capital?

As India Votes 2009

Illustration: Vikash Sharma


You are not logged in: