This classroom page expands on ideas from the Episode 8 conversation with Dr. Mahendra Kumar Singh, Professor of Political Science at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University, who spent over 13 years at The Times of India covering Parliament, political parties and government policy.
The episode moves from the iron law of oligarchy inside Indian parties to India's relationships with Russia, Ukraine, the United States, China and Nepal, then to Aadhaar and the transformation of welfare, and ends on how to tell genuine analysis from propaganda. The resources below turn those threads into things you can learn from, think with, explore, or teach. Nothing here takes a party-political side: the aim is to help you reason about politics for yourself.
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Analysis or Propaganda?
Sort political statements into analysis, propaganda, or hard to tell. A sorting activity built on the question the episode ends with.
Start the activityLearn
Student-friendly explainers.
- LearnEssay
From the Press Gallery to the Lecture Hall
Who Dr. Mahendra Kumar Singh is, and the big ideas of the conversation: parties, geopolitics, Aadhaar and propaganda.
Intermediate9 min read
- LearnExplainer
The Iron Law of Oligarchy
Why do organisations built to be democratic end up run by a few people? A short explainer on one of political science's best-known ideas.
Beginner6 min read
- LearnExplainer
Aadhaar and the Welfare State
What Aadhaar is, how it changed the way welfare reaches people, and the questions it raises about privacy and power.
Intermediate8 min read
Think
Questions, thought experiments, and challenges.
Explore
Reading lists and further resources.
Teach
Worksheets and classroom-friendly materials.