In Demography, Representation, Delimitation: The North–South Divide in India, Ravi K. Mishra offers a well-researched and conceptually transformative account of India’s demographic transitions and its constitutional repercussions for electoral representation. As a historical narrative and a legal-demographic inquiry, the book reframes population not merely as a statistic but as a politically incentivizing category, one that structures how governance, resource allocation, and democratic legitimacy are imagined. Mishra reanimates demography as a crucial field of study for decoding the deeper politics of federalism and representation. His scholarly expertise from Jawaharlal Nehru University and international academic involvement present a confident handling of complex interdisciplinary themes. More than a mere retrospective analysis, the book proposes a provocative yet pragmatic reorientation: India’s North–South dividing discourse is not a tale of contrasting features of state governance competence, but of asynchronous demographic growth trajectories whose political consequences were consequently institutionalised, and frozen in time. This book’s confluence of historical reasoning, constitutional interpretation, and demographic findings produces a work that appears to be both timely and indispensable, further offering a critical intervention ahead of the 2026 delimitation exercise.

By methodically marshalling over 150 years of historical census data, Mishra offers a nuanced counterpoint to prevailing stereotypes surrounding regional population politics. Elaborated across ten chapters, it reveals a deceivingly simple thesis: that Southern India is not being penalised for successful population control, but has rather experienced its population surge earlier than the Northern states. Although the South’s demographic growth peaked between 1881 and 1971, the “Hindi Heartland” experienced acceleration of population growth only after 1960. Mishra argues that this chronological divergence has been misrepresented in political discourse, fuelling a narrative that blames the North for population control failure and justifies the delimitation embargo enacted during the third delimitation practice. The strength of his analysis lies in its ability to complicate the overtly simplified moral binaries that currently dominate population politics, encouraging a more compassionate and historically aware approach. While the central evidentiary claim is compelling, it is unclear whether the full range of variables essential to deciphering the causality of demographic transitions has been exhaustively explored. A more disciplined engagement with statistical analysis and comparative federalism could have fortified the good faith evident in the conclusions of this book.  Nonetheless, its real value lies in its invitation to foresee beyond overly simplistic explanations for population imbalances across regions and confront the phenomenon of ‘politicisation of fertility’ with a more empirically sound, multi-faceted, and conceptually responsible lens. Mishra’s work not only refutes a dominant stereotype but also kindles the kind of demographic reasoning essential for equitable electoral policy-making.

The book’s core value lies in its compelling dismantling of the North-South demographic dichotomy currently prevailing in the delimitation discourse, deeply entrenched in policy and political rhetoric. Mishra demonstrates that every region, north, south, central, east, and west, underwent demographic transitions, albeit asynchronously, resulting in an imbalanced population growth pattern. Mishra argues that interstate differences in demographic trends reflect varying timelines of population surge rather than deficits of state governance. Thus, his conclusions call for region-oriented population policies and representation strategies attuned to historical specificity rather than aggregate simplifications. The book thereby opens a platform to move beyond the divisive frames that pit an allegedly disciplined South against an undisciplined North. Mishra astutely contextualizes India’s family planning policies within a broader post-war epistemology that pathologized population growth in third-world countries. He presents that the rhetoric of “family planning”, a technocratic euphemism for “birth control”, was less a product of domestic social and political anxieties than of externally imposed neo-Malthusian archetypes that framed high fertility rates as antithetical to social development and stability. The book urges that any reform in population policy or representation must reject these imported apprehensions and instead address the diverse, asynchronous, and locally embedded trajectories that mark India’s demographic landscape.

A striking aspect of the book is its elaboration of the ‘politicization of fertility’ to advance political and fiscal goals. Mishra draws a direct line between the coercive sterilisation campaigns of the Emergency and the 1976 delimitation embargo on seat redistribution. What is often seen as a neutral administrative decision is recast here as a punitive mechanism of demographic exclusion, where parliamentary representation was frozen not in the name of equity but in service of preserving existing regional power balances. The book divulges that the 1971 embargo enabled southern states to maintain their over-representative influence even as population growth shifted northward, framing redistribution as a threat to the South’s political capital and fiscal entitlements. According to Mishra, India stands at a precarious juncture: unless the historical distortions are acknowledged, the fast-approaching delimitation would replicate the same patterns of exclusion and representational injustice.

Mishra’s reconciliatory vision rejects the zero-sum logic of the South losing out on its representation in the parliamentary houses, suggesting an expansion of the total strength of the Lok Sabha, and seeks to preserve constitutional ideals while adapting to current demographic realities. Yet, this proposal, while well-intentioned, cannot be viewed in isolation. In a federal Union embedded with deep regional disparities, simply recalibrating representation without addressing fiscal inequalities amongst states risks duplicating the existing imbalances. For delimitation to nurture genuine democratic renewal, it must be accompanied by serious reforms towards financial decentralization. This move would further ensure that the political influence of states is not undermined by demographic dominance. Mishra’s work thus provokes an urgent question: can “one person, one vote, one value” truly serve as a democratic standard unless political and fiscal systems are realigned and incentivized to support it?

Although Mishra powerfully critiques the representational freeze of 1976, his engagement with the political economy of federalism remains peripheral. Yet it is here that the delimitation debate becomes most consequential. To prevent electoral systems from reinforcing fiscal injustice, representational reform must be integrated into a broader framework of distributive equity. Structural changes such as the institutionalisation of a constitutionally mandated ‘Revenue Sabha’ could offer a path forward. Most vitally, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha must evolve in design and purpose to accommodate India’s demographic and regional diversity. While the book offers a compelling and timely account of India’s unique demographic spread, its real contribution may lie in the intellectual foundations it sets for future inquiry. Just as Mishra reveals asynchronous demographic changes across Indian regions, the same principle holds for India’s socio-economic realities, manifesting in sharp regional differences in poverty, literacy, infrastructure, and state capacity. These asynchronous developmental trajectories, too, demand a more context-sensitive and inclusive approach through delimitation. Mishra’s intervention thus invites us to move beyond population numbers and consider the architecture and nitty-gritty details of the constituency itself. The book, then, should be seen not as a conclusive report but as a propagative context that urges us to further explore more all-inclusive, interdisciplinary solutions to the evolving challenge of democratic representation, given India’s distinctive landscape.

In conclusion, Demography, Representation, and Delimitation is a seminal contribution to contemporary discourse on the impending 2026 delimitation. Grounded in rigorous historical data and constitutional insight, the book compels readers to confront the imperative need for democratic intervention. By reframing the polarising North–South divide as a story of asynchronous demographic transitions, Mishra helps shift the discourse from blame to understanding. This insight demands a national reckoning: not of regions in competition, but of states coming together to address multifaceted political, fiscal, and federal imbalances that threaten the constitutional promise of “one person, one vote, one value. Mishra offers not merely a diagnosis of India’s demographic issues, but a framework upon which scholars, policymakers, and citizens must deliberate to build an inclusive and just democratic order.

Neeraja Guhan is a final-year law student and a Delegate at the 2025 Policy Bootcamp, Rishihood University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of constitutional law, federalism, and electoral policy in India.