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Glossary Terms
| Term (EN) | Definition | Exam Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Identity Politics | Political mobilisation based on shared group characteristics (caste, religion, gender) | 5/10-mark |
| Issue-driven Politics | Political competition focused on policy outcomes — development, governance, welfare | 5/10-mark |
| Mandal Commission | B.P. Mandal chaired; 27% OBC reservation recommendation (1980); implemented 1990 | 5-mark |
| OBC (Other Backward Classes) | Socially and educationally backward communities identified for reservation | Context |
| Hindutva | V.D. Savarkar's concept of Hindu cultural nationalism; BJP-RSS ideological framework | Context |
| Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam | 106th Amendment (2023); 33% reservation for women in LS and State Assemblies | 5/10-mark |
| Delimitation | Redrawing of constituency boundaries after Census; triggers women's reservation | Context |
| Sarpanch Pati | Male relative effectively governing in place of elected woman sarpanch | 5-mark |
| Self-Help Group (SHG) | Women's savings and credit groups; 10 crore+ members; platform for political participation | 5-mark |
| Deepfake | AI-generated synthetic media (video/audio) of persons saying/doing things they never did | 5-mark |
| Micro-targeting | Using data to send specifically tailored political messages to individual voter segments | 5-mark |
| PDA Coalition | Pichhra-Dalit-Alpasankhyak; SP strategy in UP 2024 LS elections | Current affairs |
| Caste Census | Systematic collection of caste data — Bihar did it (2023); national demand by opposition | Current affairs |
| Intersectionality | Overlapping identities (gender + caste) creating compounded disadvantage | 10-mark |
| Algorithmic polarisation | Social media algorithms driving outrage and division through engagement optimisation | 5/10-mark |
| Sanskritisation | M.N. Srinivas: lower castes adopting upper caste customs for social mobility | Context |
| Second Democratic Upsurge | Yogendra Yadav's concept — OBC/Dalit becoming assertive political agents post-Mandal | 10-mark |
| Proxy representation | Situation where elected representative is effectively replaced by another person (sarpanch pati) | 5-mark |
| IT Cell | Political party's social media management unit — runs targeted digital campaigns | Context |
| cVIGIL | ECI app for citizens to report Model Code of Conduct violations with geotagged evidence | Context |
| NRLM | National Rural Livelihoods Mission (2011); organises rural poor into SHGs for livelihood and empowerment | Context |
| IPU | Inter-Parliamentary Union — international organisation tracking women's representation in parliaments | Context |
| Aspirational politics | Politics appealing to voters' upward mobility dreams — economic growth, jobs, better services | 5/10-mark |
| Social Engineering | BSP strategy of combining Dalit+OBC+Muslim+upper caste for electoral majority | Context |
Sources: Rajni Kothari, 'Politics in India' (1970); Yogendra Yadav, 'Understanding the Second Democratic Upsurge' (1999); Constitution of India — Articles 330A, 332A (106th Amendment 2023), 243D (73rd Amendment); Election Commission of India — Women in LS statistics; IPU Women in National Parliaments Database 2024; RPSC Mains PYQ 2023; Bihar Caste Survey Report 2023.