The Conversations in Development Studies (CIDS) Journal Team is excited to announce its most recent quarterly journal edition on: In The Fine Print: The Politics of Populism, Welfare, and the Purse. Fiscal Policy in a democratic country is usually associated with a populist notion, formulated to cater to the common people and further the State’s ‘welfare’ goals. However, in a democracy, the people get to choose their leaders, but they do not get to choose the policies they make. Despite election campaigns, the policies are depicted in a manner that to a layman might appear large-scale and effective, but in reality, they are only a facade of true welfare. This issue aims to highlight these very ‘structural’ problems when it comes to fiscal policies in India and how this leads to inequality and an unequal burden on certain sections of society.

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