Debate in Parliament can’t violate the Constitution
While debating the glorious journey of 75 years of the Constitution, one should remember the words of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The committee headed by him examined the issue of minority…
Dr Madabhushi Sridhar
Can the Government take any property?
Legally speaking, serious implications are dealing with private property rights. It is around the Constitutional Directive Principle of State Policy, especially Article 39(b) of the Constitution. A nine-bench Supreme Court…
Mallu Swarajyam : At 11 she saw exploitation; at 16 picked up the gun
Mallu Swarajyam, a fighter of Telangana pesant armed struggle (1946-51 ) lived up to 91 years and breathed her last in Hyderabad on March 19, 2022. *** Her father…
Is ACB report personal information?
Privacy continues to be the most frequent excuse for stonewalling the information questions. In Maharashtra, the State Information Commissioner (SIC) directed the public authority to give information to an applicant…
Reduced presence in politics main cause of Gender Gap
With four parameters, the gender gap in 156 nations was studied in 2021. It says it will take 135.6 years to bridge the gender gap worldwide... India is at 140th…
Parliamentary privileges: Undefined & ambiguous
On the complaint of a BJP MP, two newspapers got a notice from the Privileges Committee of Parliament for alleged ‘breach’ of privilege, for the comments published on the PM’s…
More than Covid-19, inequality killed many
Govt raising burden on a large section of people, while easing taxes on super-rich On June 10, 2008, the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted the ILO Declaration on Social Justice…
Will Prez act against drug scandal?
Seizure of drugs worth Rs 21,000 crore from a private port is a serious question that demands a very deep probe into all connected affairs. A Gujarat Special Court has…
Drug mafia & role of private ports
The statement of APSEZ(Adani Ports) that it will not deal with the containers from Iran Pakistan, and Afghanistan inadvertently confirms the earlier transactions and raises suspicion that huge quantum of…
Spewing hate & calling for genocide
And if this is called Dharma Sansad, there is no other Adharma one can imagine. State's silence or tacit response, police officer laughing along with accused, which appeared in another…
10 cr Indians to remain niraadhaar?
Justice Krishna Iyer said that "the project Aadhaar should not be implemented for it amounts to an assault on privacy and basic rights of individuals and is suited only for…
A routine wrong & 2 Constitutional amendments
The States are primarily responsible for the welfare of the residents in their limits. The 105th Constitution Amendment that has been notified on August 19, 2021 aims at giving States…
Reciting Preamble is not a crime
That way reciting the Constitution’s Preamble has been transformed from text to socially dynamic statement... Against this new method of agitation, authorities slapped various criminal charges including sedition, arrested several…
Now, talks best bet for MSP, reforms
The three farmer laws, that were once named "reform package," will go out of statute book through a cabinet resolution and a bill to repeal in Parliament, as promised by…
Do we have right to read books?
Seizure of books before publication is a worst restriction than pre-censorship, which is not permitted under fundamental rights of our Constitution. But it happened recently in Telangana. Right to think,…
The State of RTI in three States
A Government Order (GO) is an administrative decision of the government regarding a policy, programme or official activity. The Right to Information Act 005 under Section 4 mandates governments to…
Telangana RTI Circular circumvents transparency mandate
Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act made it an inescapable duty of every public authority to furnish 17 categories of information on their own, without anybody seeking it. The illegal…
Telugu States lose Godavari and Krishna
Telugu States lose Rivers Godavari and Krishna : The Centre has usurped all the powers of the State governments over all the irrigation projects (35 on Krishna basin and 71…
Murders passed off as Deaths
We call Gandhi as Father of our nation, who preached non-violence, but police stations remain mothers of custodial violence throughout the country. *** During 17 years till 2018, 1727 persons…
PM CARES Fund: Centre inflicts big blow on RTI Act
Whether PM-CARES did not care for RTI? We get this doubt because PMO refused to give information about the thousands of crores of rupees of public money given into the…
A Questionable ‘Suicide’ In Rule Of Law
Raju’s death and version of suicide, in Telangana on September16 , is questioned by human rights activists, women groups, public spirited lawyers as also by the mother and wife of…
Strong directions of CJI on tribunals
Even as the parliament was lost in protests on Pegasus, the Modi Govt pushed the Bills on Tribunals, with contents rejected by the Supreme Court. The bench of Chief Justice…
Heavy Burden of Prices on People, and Monetization
The civil society is now grappled with new expressions like "brownfield investment" which means a company or government entity takes over the existing production facilities to facilitate launching a new…
Banks’ legal battle for RTI exemption
On August 18, the Supreme Court rejected another attempt of the banks to wriggle out of accountability and responsibility under Right to Information Act. Surprisingly the Central Government joins these…
Scientific temper: A Fundamental Duty
Rational thinking and scientific truths will have disastrous consequences sometimes where authoritarian state and irrational society turn into serious enemies. The All India Peoples Science Network, a network of over…
Did AP Act authorise Centre to grab rivers?
All powers to Centre… and all responsibilities or liabilities are thrust on the heads of the states. The Centre has usurped all the powers of the State Governments over all…
Centre grabs Krishna, Godavari from AP, TS
Water is a State subject. But Centre misinterpreted its common jurisdiction in Concurrent List and provisions of AP Reorganisation Act 2014, which nowhere stated that Centre could take away the…
Remove unconstitutional sections from statute
“There were 1,307 cases registered by the police, in the last 6 years, under Section 66A of Information Technology Act, 2000, after Supreme Court declared it as unconstitutional… … The…
Sedition: Antithesis Of Freedom Of Speech And Expression
“…these are fundamental rights from a police constable's point of view and not from the point of view of a free and fighting nation. Here whatever right is given is…
Justice minus humanity is injustice
After NIA's contentions, the special court has rejected the request for sipper. The judge did not ask NIA to prove the genuineness of their claim that nothing was confiscated by…
Akhil Gogoi: A case of abuse of terrorist law
Almost all anti-CAA protestors are terrorists according to the Government of India and Governments of the states ruled by BJP or NDA coalition partner… the police in this state or…
CCTV could have prevented custodial murder
The rule of law is under a serious challenge since the inception of Constitution of India, as far as killings in police custody are concerned. The Supreme Court recently ordered…
IT Rules 2021: UN Rapporteurs see chilling effect on freedom of expression
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, published on 25 February 2021 under the Information Technology Act, 2000 will have a chilling effect on the…
Lakshadweep encountering dissent, turmoil
Lawless Intimidation : “These allegations against Aisha Sultana cannot make even the prima facie charge of sedition, as per the definition and judicial interpretation of Section 124A of IPC.” “Despite…
NCT of Delhi: Sultanate of Central Government
Dominic Xavier offers his take on Parliament passing a bill equating the Delhi government with the lieutenant governor and not Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party elected government. .. In 2014,…
Freedom to die
The pandemic- tobacco is killing around 40 lakh people every year in India alone, while corona killed 3.29 lakh only so far from first and second waves. There was an…
Bail to Raju exposes incredible ‘credibility’ of AP … and ‘timidity’
Raju did indulge in dirty and divisive politics, but being rich and powerful, in the high profile case, he managed to get bail that is denied to many others, due…
Whether all Indians will get vaccinated? When?
There is a very wide supply-demand gap, from a market perspective… Even if we secure necessary stocks of vaccine in near future, its cost and affordability will be real challenges. …
Election Commission And Its Role As Covid Superspreader
The Madras HC reminded the Election Commission that it was the "the most irresponsible institution" and even said its officials may be booked under murder charges…Causing death by negligence or…
Clampdown on social media is contempt of court
The Supreme Court had rightly taken suo moto cognisance on 30th April of unruly attack on social media freedom from pro-ruling party forces. A tweet was calling out the difference…
Maximum governance that fails to give oxygen
By April 2020, Centre knew that oxygen generated in India is not at all sufficient if the demand is increased and all formal requirements were completed to sanction and establish…
Poll-thirsty leaders want votes, not voters!
Covid-19 is a national calamity and a country-wide problem… Fundamental right guaranteed vide Article 21: the right to life which in its broad sweep also includes right to good health…Health…
Centre’s ordinance: A big blow to cinema
After imposing executive controls over the Over The Top (OTT) streaming media, the Centre has inflicted yet another blow on cinema medium... Either the producer must silently suffer or move…
Is it possible for CBI to probe and prove?
It is almost impossible to prove ‘bribery’ at the top level of governance, especially to punish a minister or a police officer or even a Chief Minister, because the criminal…
Assam: The crisis of citizenship rejection letters
“In its present form, the NRC is basically a Rs1,600 crore waste paper that drove many to suicide, made thousands of poor people poorer and be in perpetual fear of…
They fear not cannons, but pens
The levels of academic freedom we have in India now, is not unknown to many of us. Accordingly, in 2020, the U.S. NGO Freedom House has down-ranked India's academic freedom…
Bringing media under the control of Babus
The Information Technology Act, Section 79 provided that the intermediaries are not liable for the content generated by users. The text is, "an intermediary shall not be liable for any…
Not even an iota of evidence to connect Disha to PJF
Besides granting bail to Octogenarian poet Varavara Rao, one of the most important judicial actions that happened recently is grant of bail to Disha Ravi, who should be remembered on…
Gogoi’s criticism of judiciary and comedian’s contempt
"Who goes to the court? You go to the court and regret. It is those who can afford to take chances, like the big corporates, who approach the courts,” -…
Upholding ‘secrecy’ in Lok Pal selection
The RTI Act and general ethics of administration demands the transparency about any selection or recruitment for public office. The Department of Personnel and Training rules and Office Memoranda also…
Vizag Steel Plant: A victim of neglect over decades
Visakhapatnam, the steel city (Ukku Nagaram, the name assumed because of steel plant) has woken up to this decision of the Centre (for 100 per cent strategic disinvestment ) without…
On laws, lawlessness and Satyagraha
Mahatma Gandhi fought the British and their sedition case, invented Satyagraha (righteous indignation) and laid down his life for communal unity. He might have never imagined that the British weapon…
Why can’t Supreme Court hear on this issue?
January 11 remains a great day in the current history of the Supreme Court when it strongly stood by the agitating farmers. Chief Justice of India Mr Justice Sharad A…
Farm Acts emasculate protective laws
Parliament, despite its Constituent power under Article 368 to amend the Constitution, cannot legislate on state subjects, even if two-thirds of its members and half of states agree. Leaving agriculture…
Dire need to protect majesty of justice
An affidavit full of contradictions, a strategy to humiliate a retiring judge, transfer of Chief Justices of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, with shamelessly parti(y)-san division of media, show the dire…
Farmers’ crusade against farm-harm Acts
It is a threat to food security. It has potential to make owners of agriculture land up to five acres, slaves and sub-servants of corporate agricultural contractors. It deprives annadaatas…
Will SC check CCTVs to police the cops?
On December 10, we celebrated Universal Declaration of Human Rights 'Who will police the police' is a big question for which the world could not give any answer till today.…
Targeting freedom of expression?
Whether Government of India is extending its censorship power to news and current affairs'? The notification by President Ramnath Kovind extends…
Caste and Roster Cast Shadows on Objectivity
Recently Justice K Chandru, wrote an article explaining how in the beginning the Chief Justice of India responded to complaints by Bar Association against a sitting Judge of Andhra Pradesh…
Democracy or ‘Kakistocracy’?
The journalists, critics and social media writers today are facing false cases foisted by the State and Police. A senior journalist is fighting a sedition case for criticising the Centre’s…
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