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This paper analyses whether the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India’s 2014 general election in which it won a majority of seats after seven successive elections from 1989 to 2009 that resulted in hung parliaments and minority governments, mostly minority coalitions, means the end of the coalition era in Indian politics and the beginning of a new era of one-party majority dominated by the BJP, reminiscent of the Congress-dominated one-party majorities that prevailed during the pre-1989 period. It argues that for a variety of mutually reinforcing reasons, including the dependence of the BJP’s majority on pre-electoral coalitions, its need for such coalitions for winning state assembly elections and expanding its base for the next general election, and its need for allies in the Rajya Sabha for passing legislation, that the era of coalition politics will continue, though with some changes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The scale and extent of trafficking in people remain little explored in the Indian context. Trafficking in human beings, especially in women and children, has become a matter of serious concern in India. Bonded and sex labour comprise the vast majority of human trafficking in India, though child soldiering, forced begging and organ harvesting have also been identified. The accessibility of the trafficker to the prospective victim is an important factor in trafficking. The method adopted is usually influenced by the proximity or otherwise of the trafficker to the victim. Human trafficking poses enormous challenges to governance and law enforcement, and, at times, these challenges seem to be overwhelming. Even if it is something that is unlikely to be eliminated, however, more effective steps can be taken to contain or even reduce the scope of the problem by a concerted effort to raise the priority of combating human trafficking and by both exerting pressure on and enhancing capacity in a country such as India, which still lacks legal instruments and serious anti-trafficking activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]