India Agitated

India is angry. The reasons are as diverse as the needs igniting this rage. Sometimes it's government neglect and bureaucratic apathy; ever so often it is about the rampant corruption and nepotism in public life and at other times it is resentment over archaic rules and antiquated customs. Often it is just a matter of one section of society taking umbrage over seemingly trivial issues and occasionally the anger is even directed towards the ennui that has settled on society at large.

Point is, every minute, every second, in almost every geographic location across the country, people are giving vent to their fury and bitterness. They are voicing their distaste for big and small issues by protesting, agitating, holding bandhs or dharnas or even by re-visiting the Gandhian method of indefinite hunger strikes to get their remonstrations registered. Some agitations are fleeting – put to rest within hours of the flare-up, while others are in for the long haul.

Our Special Report in this issue takes a bird's eye view at the anger sweeping India, especially at the people who have been agitating for years together.

Of course, the attempt was ambitious. We would have fallen short, even if we were to use all pages of this issue with the hundreds of ongoing agitations across India. For lack of space, we bring you a pithy mix of issues – big and small, light hearted and serious – that India is sloganeering about. Read on to get a sense of the collective angst of over 1.2 billion people of this diverse nation.