How will youth and women influence 2024 general election?

The second session of the day saw an insightful and engaging discussion on the topic of ‘Dynamics of India’s Socio-Political Scene’ with a distinguished panel of Chandan Gowda, a noted voice in the country’s socio-economic discourse. As the Ramakrishna Hegde Chair Professor of Decentralization and Development at the Institute for Social and Economic Change, his prolific work includes insightful books like 'Another India: Events, Memories, People,' along with edited works like Theatres of Democracy: Selected Essays of Shiv Visvanathan, The Way I See It: A Gauri Lankesh Reader and many more.' An adept translator of Kannada literature and a scholar on development thought in colonial India, he is editing and co-translating Daredevil Mustafa, a collection of short stories by Purnachandra Tejasvi and co-editing The Ram Manohar Lohia Reader with Rajaram Tolpadi and Yogendra Yadav. Our next panellist was Sandeep Shashtri, Director of Academics at the NITTE Education Trust and the National Coordinator, Lokniti Network. Accompanying them was BS Murthy, a human resource professional for the last two decades and a seasoned political analyst and columnist covering issues on Karnataka and national politics. And last but not least, we had Samhita Arni, an acclaimed author and educator, known for her bestselling books, including the NYT bestseller and graphic novel Sita's Ramayana. She is the winner of the Neev Book Award 2020 for her novel The Prince, and has lived and worked in Afghanistan, where she was head scriptwriter for a police drama, titled 'The Defenders'. Exploring India’s complex socio-political fabric, the session was moderated by Senior Associate Editor Ramu Patil and Political Editor Bansy Kalappa.