Indian Politics & Policy: Vol. 5, No. 2, Autumn 2025

We are delighted to publish the second issue of Indian Politics & Policy (IP&P) in 2025. This issue comes with research papers on topics ranging from challenges facing India's apex court, the protection of minority rights, and emerging demographic challenges. In addition to the research papers, the volume reflects on the state of policing in India. It remembers the only authoritarian interlude in India's history in its 50th year. What lessons one can draw from that episode during an era of severe democratic recession? The conflict in the Northeast Indian state of Manipur is reviewed from a historical and Manipuri perspective to reflect on what ails state-consolidation in India. We have added a section on book reviews in this issue.

Table of Contents
Editor's Introduction
Rahul Mukherji

RESEARCH
What Checks and Balances? Explaining the Supreme Court's Complacency in Modi's India
Christophe Jaffrelot and Prannv Dhawan

The Recolonization of Hindus and the Ethical-Historical Loneliness of Muslims: Challenges in Contemporary Assam
Yasmeen Saikia

Demographic Changes in Tamil Nadu: Implications for Human Development Outcomes and Policy
Abhik Banerji, Deepshikha Batheja, Rishiraj Bhagawati, and Srishti Goel

PERSPECTIVES
Policing in India: Legacy, Resistance, and Reform
Anuradha Shankar

Fifty Years of Indira Gandhi's Emergency: Lessons for Indian Democracy
Tarun Basu

The Historical Roots of Conflict and State-failure in Manipur
Babloo Loitongbam

BOOK REVIEWS
Lessons in State Capacity from Delhi's Schools by Yamini Aiyar
Emmerich Davies

The New Experts: Populist Elites and Technocratic Promises in Modi's India by Anuradha Sajjanhar
Matias Castrén

Through the India-China Border: Kalimpong in the Himalayas by Prem Poddar and Lisa Lindkvist Zhang
Renu Rana