Editorial: Out with the old, in with the new

CHENNAI: We've finally bid goodbye to 2024, and have been presented with an opportunity to turn things around in 2025. As eight billion people around the world welcome the New Year, we approach the changeover with a sense of trepidation. It's a world wracked with conflict, ravaged by climate change, and bursting at its seams with issues of all kinds — insufficiency of essential resources, political turmoil and uncertainty in its myriad forms.

Keeping it local, the one thing that has taken up the mindshare of leaders across India is the rolling out of the census, a process that was postponed on account of the pandemic, and will finally take place in the new year. Apart from being employed by the governments at the Centre, State and UT levels for planning and formulation of policies and effective public administration, the census data is also used to carry out the delimitation exercise and reservation of constituencies for parliamentary, assembly, panchayats, and other local bodies. States in which population growth has been low relative to the national average since 1971, could see their share of seats decline. On the other hand, those with higher than average population growth would garner larger shares, a development that could significantly impact south India.

Guesstimates have revealed that states like UP and Bihar might gain as many as 10 Lok Sabha seats while Tamil Nadu might end up losing the same number of seats. Speaking of which, citizens are keeping their fingers crossed, and watching out for any cues from the government on whether it intends to enumerate caste in this census. It's a touchy subject for the ruling dispensation which has to deal with calls from both opposition parties seeking the enumeration as well as some allies.

On the election front, Delhi and Bihar are bracing for assembly elections, and the season is being seen as crucial for deciding the fates of leaders like Arvind Kejriwal and Nitish Kumar. It will also be a bellwether for where the INDIA bloc is headed from here, as the alliance is rife with episodes of infighting between its major members. The AAP and the Congress which are at each other's throats in New Delhi, while hugging and making up in Bihar as the bloc is faced with the JD(U)-BJP alliance. Political observers are also monitoring the proceedings in Uttarakhand, which will begin enforcing the Uniform Civil Code this month onward, spurred on by PM Modi’s clarion call for a secular civil code. On cue, other BJP ruled states have also announced their plans to adopt the UCC.

On things beyond our borders, India will play host to the Quad summit, which will see its strategic partners — Japan, the US and Australia come together in a resolute fashion to fend off China’s expansionist agenda. The US might opt for a more aggressive posturing in the aftermath of Trump’s second presidency, as he charges ahead with his MAGA vision, while making sense of the Ukraine war, the Gaza conflict, NATO, immigration, planned parenthood, and everything in between.

India will also carry out a delicate balancing act as it welcomes Russian strongman Putin to its shores, with hopes of beefing up cooperation in the fields of defence, rail manufacturing, trade and energy. Washington will be training its hawk eye on these associations, powered by a posse of Indian immigrants who have taken up prime spots in the upcoming Trump administration.