Hello and welcome to Terms of Engagement, a new series hosted by Varghese K. George, resident editor of The Hindu.
Indian federalism is at a crossroads. Disparities across regions and communities in terms of economic growth and population trends are widening. Migratory populations are generating new social and political forces in their destinations and sources.
Simultaneously, there is an ongoing debate around the constitutional, philosophical and political architecture of India. Some of these questions will come to a head in 2026, after which India is constitutionally required to redraw its parliamentary constituencies, which will shift more political power from the south to the north.
In the same year, the 16th Finance Commission will also announce the new scheme of revenue sharing between the Centre and the States, and among States. How can India evolve a new common ground among all its religious, caste and linguistic communities, taking into account the looming challenges of uneven demographic and economic shifts in the country?
Terms of Engagement is a series that will host experts who think and work on questions related to India’s federalism, identity and representation, in order to facilitate this conversation.
In the first episode, we speak to author and professor, Alok Rai. Rai’s book on Hindi nationalism, published in 2001 is an outstanding work of scholarship. He has taught at the University of Allahabad, University of Pennsylvania, IIT (Delhi) and the University of Delhi.
The power struggle between an existing elite and an emerging one in what is today part of Uttar Pradesh in the second half of the 19th century is at the core of the Hindi vs Urdu debate and the communal overtones that got attached to that debate continues to influence Indian politics even today.
Alok Rai explains the past and present of Hindi nationalism.
Presentation: Varghese K. George
Video: Richard Kujur, Sushil Kumar Varma, Jude Francis Weston
Production: Richard Kujur
