The involvement of the Indian judiciary in the regulation of electoral processes and resolution of electoral disputes is critical to ensuring the integrity and fairness of India’s democratic system. Here’s an assessment of the judiciary’s role in various aspects of electoral regulation and dispute resolution:

Regulation of Electoral Processes:
Candidate Disqualification:

Grounds for Disqualification: The judiciary has interpreted and applied constitutional provisions and electoral laws to adjudicate cases of candidate disqualification. This includes disqualification for holding an office of profit, criminal convictions, and other disqualifying factors.
Judicial Scrutiny: Courts have been active in ensuring that candidates meet the eligibility criteria prescribed by law and can intervene to disqualify candidates who violate these norms.
Campaign Finance:

Transparency and Accountability: The judiciary has emphasized transparency in electoral funding and expenditure through various rulings. This includes disclosure of campaign finances by candidates and political parties.
Limits on Expenditure: Courts have set limits on election expenditure to prevent unfair advantage and maintain a level playing field among candidates.
Electoral Malpractices:

Prevention and Punishment: Courts play a crucial role in preventing electoral malpractices such as booth capturing, voter intimidation, bribery, and fraudulent practices.
Judicial Activism: The judiciary has often taken proactive measures to ensure free and fair elections by issuing guidelines, monitoring electoral processes, and nullifying elections tainted by malpractices.
Resolution of Electoral Disputes:
Election Petitions:

Adjudication of Disputes: The judiciary adjudicates election disputes through election petitions filed by aggrieved parties challenging the validity of elections.
Grounds for Challenge: Courts examine issues such as irregularities in electoral processes, misconduct by candidates or officials, and violations of electoral laws.
Judicial Review of Election Commission’s Decisions:

Role of Election Commission: While the Election Commission of India (ECI) is primarily responsible for conducting elections, the judiciary reviews its decisions and actions to ensure adherence to constitutional principles and procedural fairness.
Legal Challenges: Courts hear appeals and petitions challenging decisions of the Election Commission related to voter lists, polling procedures, and other electoral matters.
Influence on the Integrity of the Democratic System:
Enhancing Fairness and Transparency:

Level Playing Field: Judicial rulings uphold the principles of equality, fairness, and transparency in electoral processes, thereby enhancing the integrity of elections.
Deterrence: Strict enforcement of electoral laws and disqualification of errant candidates serve as a deterrent against electoral malpractices and corruption.
Strengthening Democratic Institutions:

Role Clarity: The judiciary’s active role clarifies legal norms and procedures, ensuring that electoral institutions like the ECI operate within the framework of the law and uphold democratic values.
Public Confidence: Transparent and impartial adjudication of electoral disputes enhances public confidence in the electoral process and strengthens democratic institutions.
Challenges and Criticisms:
Delay in Disposal: Judicial delays in resolving election disputes can impact the timely resolution of electoral disputes and affect the legitimacy of elected representatives.
Political Interference: There have been concerns about political influence on judicial decisions, particularly in high-stakes electoral cases, which may undermine judicial independence.
Complex Legal Issues: Electoral disputes often involve complex legal issues, requiring expertise and careful consideration by the judiciary to ensure just outcomes.
Conclusion:
The Indian judiciary’s involvement in regulating electoral processes and resolving disputes plays a crucial role in upholding the integrity and fairness of the democratic system. By ensuring adherence to electoral laws, preventing malpractices, and adjudicating disputes fairly, the judiciary strengthens democratic institutions and safeguards electoral democracy in India. Continuous improvements in judicial processes, including faster resolution of disputes and safeguarding judicial independence, are essential to further enhance the effectiveness of the judiciary in this critical aspect of democratic governance.

Neo-imperialism was marked by a period of intensified imperialistic expansion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It included not only the earlier colonial powers of Western Europe, but also new powers such as Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States. It was industrial capitalism driven coupled with technological revolution that set the tone for the rise of new- imperialism in the world.

Following factors led to rise of New Imperialism:

1. Role of political factors: All industrialized regimes, whether democratic or absolute, saw imperialism as a tool to maintain political control at home. Military victory over colonies and empire building not only improved the economy of the colonial power, but raised the prestige and national glory of the rulers as well. For instance, Italy and Czarist Russia joined the race for colonies.
2. Role of nationalism: Nationalism which rose after the French Revolution (1789) soon manifested in the form of economic rivalry among the nation states. National rivalries were further fuelled by nationalist ideas propounded by the nationalist thinkers as in the cases of Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Also, absolute monarchies relied on both imperialism and nationalism to divert attention of the public, which was getting exposed to ideas of democracy.
3. Role of industrial revolution/industrial capitalism: A cycle of increased demand for manufactured goods, profits, capital formation, demand for raw material, surplus production and demand for export markets resulted in Industrial Capitalism (Capitalism after Industrial Revolution when production of goods was done in factories with machines), which gave a direct thrust to Imperialism.
4. Increased number of players: Following industrial revolution in the rest of Europe, USA and Japan after the 1870s, the number of industrialised countries increased and they desperately started looking for sources of raw material and export markets, which drove them to enter new rivalries.
5. Decreased geographical space: With an increased number of players in the 19th century, any further expansion could only occur at the expense of another colonial power. Thus, colonialism changed into Imperialism as now State’s military power and tighter control over colonies was needed to maintain and expand the colonial empire. For instance, China and Africa were also scrambled among European nations.
6. Religion and cultural factors: Other factors like aspirations of Christian missionaries to spread Christianity and the notion of White Man’s burden to spread superior civilization in the backward colonies also played a role. For example, Belgium’s King Leopold II used the latter as a garb for exploiting Congo. On the contrary, these factors also included advocating for rights of women and spread of modern education in colonies too thus contributing indirectly to the rise of imperialism in colonies.

Neo-imperialism is the phase of late imperialism that arose in the contemporary world, against the background of economic globalization and financial expansion. This distinctive colonial period marked by new imperialism reflected the dissemination of technologies, ideas, and beliefs that continued into the present-day world.

The livestock sector is one of the most rapidly growing components of the rural economy of India, accounting for 5% of national income and 28% of agricultural GDP in 2018-19. In the last six years, the livestock sector grew at 7.9% (at constant prices) while crop farming grew by 2%. Livestock contribute significantly to the income of poor households, particularly the income controlled by women, and enables poor and landless women to earn income using common-property resources.
Contribution of women to livestock rearing in India

• Women constitute about 69% of the workforce engaged in the livestock sector. In tribal populated states of India such as Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha etc. their (women) share comes to around 90%.
• Women accounted for 31% of all members of dairy producer cooperatives in 2020-21.
  • In India, the number of women’s dairy cooperative societies rose from 18,954 in 2012 to 32,092 in 2015-16.
  • There were five million women members in dairy co-operatives in 2015-16, and this increased further to 5.4 million in 2020-21.
• Women play an important role in activities dealing with livestock such as care and management or transformation and marketing of certain livestock products.
  • They are also involved in milk production, although not all women control the sale of milk and its products
  • Women are typically responsible for milking ewes, providing feed/fodder and water, caring for newborn lambs/kids and sick animals.
  • Young girls are also involved in the grazing of goats and sheep.
• Furthermore, livestock ownership patterns especially for small stock and poultry appear more equitable than that of other assets like land, capital, and knowledge.

Issues faced by women in the livestock sector in India

• Lack of gender-disaggregated data: Recent employment surveys such as the Periodic Labour Force Survey fail to collect data on women engaged in livestock rearing. This makes them invisible to policymakers.
• Lack of access to credit & capital: Women in poor households, without collateral to offer to banks, find it difficult to avail loans to purchase livestock.
• Limited access to extension services: The reach of extension services to women livestock farmers remains scarce owing to distance and cost factors.
• Lack of technical knowledge: Women livestock farmers lack technical knowledge on choice of animals (breeding) and veterinary care as men invariably perform these specific tasks and take animals for artificial insemination.
• Lack of decision making powers: Women are usually not aware of the composition and functions of dairy boards as men exercised decisions even in women-only dairy cooperatives. Further, the voice of women from landless or poor peasant Scheduled Caste households was rarely heard.

In view of these challenges, it is pertinent to ensure that women are included in every stage of decision-making and development of the livestock sector and their invisibility in the official statistics is corrected.

Climate change events like erratic monsoon patterns, heat stress due to temperature extremes, changes in pest and disease patterns, reduced water availability, etc. affect agricultural production and productivity. According to a study by the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture, rain fed rice yields in India are projected to reduce by less than 2.5% in 2050 and 2080 and irrigated rice yields by 7% in 2050 and 10% in 2080 scenarios. Further, wheat yields are projected to reduce by 6-25% and maize yields by 18-23% in 2100.
To meet the challenges posed by climate change, while also meeting food and energy needs in an environmentally and socially sustainable way, climate smart water saving agri-technologies are becoming popular around the globe.
This is due to their significance in the following ways:

• Adapting to climate change: Climate smart water saving agri-technologies help to improve water management practices, using which farmers can maintain crop productivity even under changing climatic conditions.
• Water conservation: Irrigation can be improved through micro irrigation, mulching, use of water absorbents, etc. to maintain soil moisture. The use of these water-saving irrigation practices reduces the consumption of water by 25-85 percent.
• Saving energy: Renewable energy can be used as an alternative, especially for petroleum products used for on-farm irrigation pumps. It may also lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions from such conventional on-farm irrigation pumps. For example, use of solar water pumps and solar sprays.
• Sustainable resource management: Climate smart water saving agri-technologies promote sustainable management of water resources. These technologies can minimise the dependency on groundwater, thus ensuring its sustainable use. In this regard, India is the largest user of groundwater in the world with over 60 percent of irrigated agriculture and 85 percent of drinking water supplies dependent on aquifers.
• Enhanced crop yield: Water saving technology like sub-surface irrigation can be used to enhance water-use efficiency, as it uses a buried diffuser that supplies water directly to the root zone and is 15-20 per cent more efficient than drip irrigation, thus enhancing crop productivity.
• Reduced input costs: These technologies can help reduce labour costs for farmers, thus lowering the input cost. Once installed, they require very little labour to operate, allowing farmers to focus on other tasks such as crop management and harvesting.

Though climate-smart water-saving agri-technologies are significant, their implementation and widespread adoption face several challenges like cost and affordability, lack of awareness about these technologies, etc. It is necessary to make these technologies available, accessible and affordable for farmers. Also, an integrated approach needs to be implemented in agricultural water management through adoption of innovative measures such as water harvesting, micro-irrigation and resource conservation farming to increase water-use efficiency in agriculture.

The Chinese model of communism was significantly different from Soviet communism. Mao adopted a flexible model of communism in China which was based on decentralized industrialization and less focus on heavy industries. After Mao, Deng Xiaoping adopted policies of market socialism. His policies included capitalist measures such as opening up the economy by reduction in trade barriers. Thus, under Deng China “gradually” moved towards a market economy model. Major factors which led to survival of Communism in China when it failed in USSR are following:

• China implemented the economic reforms before going for the political reforms. Deng gave choice in the market to the people i.e. choice to buy and sell and to have private ownership of goods and businesses but without giving them a choice in politics as China continued to have a one party system. Economic prosperity and independence pacified people’s demands for political freedom. In contrast, Mikhail Gorbachev tried to introduce political reforms and economic reforms through Glasnost and Perestroika in 1991 simultaneously. People blamed the poor economy on the political system of USSR and this led to disintegration of the USSR.
• The Left-Right split within the Communist party never deepened to the critical level of splitting the party. In contrast, the left-right divide in USSR was very strong. Boris Yeltsin openly criticised the socialist policies of the party in the last years of the USSR.
• Both Deng Xiaoping vs. Mikhail Gorbachev favoured a capitalist road and both were pro- economic reforms. But Xiaoping executed his policies much before, from 1976 onward, while Gorbachev came late to power (in 1985). Deng was ready to use force and believed firmly in one party system, but this was not the case with Gorbachev. Example, Deng used force during the Tiananmen Square (1989).
  • Gorbachev was not ready to use force and was sympathetic to the demands for autonomy of the Soviet republics. Gorbachev even began to give in to the demands of a multi-party system after which the conservatives removed him in a coup.
• Ethnically and culturally, China was a much more homogeneous society as compared to the Soviet Union, which had around half non-Russian population. The soviet republics had different cultures and different languages. Thus demands for secession were much more in the USSR.
• The 100 Flowers Campaign (1957) acted as an early warning for China and Mao took timely corrective measures in the form of the Great Leap Forward (1958) to save the revolution and adopted a model of communism focusing on the agricultural economy, which was relevant to the needs of China. On other hand, Soviet communism failed to evolve and address the many problems being faced by the Soviet economy.
  • Chinese Communism was flexible and there was unity among the party leaders which enabled it to survive. It changed with changing needs. Example, the Soviet Model was followed till 1958, after which Maoism in the form of Great Leap Forward influenced Chinese Communism. Deng Xiaoping from 1976 onward adopted market friendly economic policies which gradually culminated into adoption of Market Socialism.
• Chinese leadership emphasized “contact with the masses” more strongly than the USSR. The innovation of Communes helped in putting the party in touch with masses.
• USSR was much more involved in the Cold War, which hurt its economy by diverting precious resources.

Thus, it was the flexible approach and ability to evolve with changing needs of the time that ensured the success of communism in China while the lack of the same led to its failure in the USSR.