A fortnightly feature inspired by I-CONnect’s weekly “What’s New in Public Law” feature that addresses the lacuna of a one-stop-shop public law newsletter in the Indian legal space. 

What’s new at LAOT

1. Sughosh Joshi, To Be and How to Be: Governors in India (explains how the office of the Governor suffers from a fundamental tension between two roles: an agent of the Central Government and the symbolic head of a State bound to act on aid and advice of counsel of ministers).

2. Sughosh Joshi, To Be and How to Be: Governors in India-II (building on part-I it explains the constitutional position of governors and how they are influenced by the interests of central government)

Lately in Academic Articles

1. Zaheer Ali, Secularism Under Siege Revisiting the Indian Secular State, Routledge (analyzes secularism in India, especially in light of the disconnect between a modern secular state and a conservative society, India’s history and the way it is politicized).

2. Adithya Chintapanti, Law, Development and Regulatory Globalisation The Case of the World Bank in India’s Electricity Sector, Routledge (uses the World Bank’s 1993 regulatory template for the electricity sector to analyze the more general process of regulatory globalization and how such institutions seek to transform the role of the state from being welfare oriented to a neoliberal state).

3. Foluke I Adebisi, Suhraiya Jivraj, & Ntina Tzouvala, Decolonisation, Anti-Racism, and Legal Pedagogy Strategies, Successes, and Challenges, Routledge (provides an illustration of pedagogic innovation in teaching and learning law in post colonial regions, examines the decolonisation and anti-racism in court processes and demonstrates how teaching can be modified to address injustices in the curriculum).

4. Manshi Asher & Vivek Negi, Tunnels as Temples of ‘New Green India’: Dominant Narratives of Himalayan Dam Building, National Law School Journal (examines the conflict with hydropower development in Himachal Pradesh, the history of such conflicts in the region, and the complicity of various actors in transferring the risk of such projects on local inhabitants and the environment).

5. The International Journal on Consumer Law and Practice’s (National Law School of India University, Bangalore) 11th Volume was recently published. Some articles from the publication include:

Upendra Baxi, Equity and Expedition in Consumer Law and Justice: Some Theoretical Reflections and Practical Concerns (examines the various notions of consumer, and addresses the tensions between consumer as a market entity, consumer protection as state reforms, and consumer rights as human rights).

Sheetal Kapoor & Vikas Trivedi, Unethical Marketing and Advertising to Children: Need for Regulation (studies the impact of advertisements targeting children, and its regulatory landscape in India, and argues that stronger regulations are necessary.

6. Swarna Kanta Sharma & Bhavna Batra, Justice and Judicial Education: An Unbreakable Bond Cemented by the Rule of Law, Asian Journal of Legal Education (discusses the challenges facing the Indian judicial education system including curriculum and methodology, and examines the ways to revamp the same).

7. Ajay Pandey, Sushant Chandra & Shireen Moti, Clinical Legal Education and Access to Justice During and Beyond COVID-19: Some Reflections of Indian Experience, Asian Journal of Legal Education, (argues that clinical legal education is instrumental for accessing justice, by analyzing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in revealing the role such clinics can play in achieving justice for the masses).

8. Manu Bhagavan, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Penguin Books (a biography of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit who was India’s first woman cabinet minister, charting her national and global influence across various fields).

9. Mathew John, India’s Communal Constitution: Law, Religion and the Making of a People, Cambridge University Press (identifies that despite the liberal design of the Indian Constitution, it has a tendency to identify Indian people in parochial and communal terms and addresses various issues such as religious freedom, personal law, minority rights and identification of caste groups).

Elsewhere Online 

1. Abhineet Maurya, Foundational Validity in Forensic Evidence: Issues with the Indian Approach, The Project 39A.

2. Anmol Gupta, How New Land Acquisition Procedure by Odisha Government Will Dilute Rights Of Nearly Half A Million Tribals, Article 14.

3. Saurav Das, Contrary To SC’s Rules Of Assignment, At Least 8 Politically Sensitive Cases Moved To One Judge In 4 Months, Article 14.

4. Hari Kartik Ramesh and Surbhi Karwa, The Dodging Technique of Rights-Adjudication: Indian Supreme Court in Marriage Equality Case, IACL-AIDC Blog.

5. Aakash Dwivedi, Manifesting Equality – Moving Beyond Percentages for Disability Law, Indian Constitutional and Philosophy Blog.

6. Akhilesh Dureja and Kundan Kumar Ojha, The UAPA Conundrum at Apogee – the Judgment of the Patna HC, Indian Constitutional and Philosophy Blog.

Listen Up 

1. Saurabh Todi and Shrikrishna Upadhyaya, Haryana’s Local Reservation Law is Unconstitutional | Part One, All Things Policy (dissecting the issue of local reservation in the private sector, the anti-migrant sentiment associated with such policies, and the reasoning and implications of the High Court verdict). Part Two of the same can be accessed here.

2. Rahul Matthan, Rijesh Panicker and Bharath Reddy, The Third Way: India’s Approach to Data Governance, All Things Policy (unraveling India’s unique approach to data governance, embedded within its digital public infrastructure). 

Opportunities and Other Things

1. 1st Article Writing Competition by MNLUA-Think India on the topic of “Reservation in Indian Political Parlance.”

2. Call for Papers by GNLU student Law Review. The last date to submit is December 20, 2023.

3. Call for Applications for the World Bank Legal Internship Programme. The last date to apply is December 31, 2023.

4. Blog Writing Competition by the Kautilya Society, RMLNLU.The last date for submission is December 25, 2023.

5. Call for abstracts by International Workshop on Climate Justice Education in Law Schools. The last date for submission is January 5, 2024.

6. Call for papers by National Law School of India Review of NLSIU, Banglore. The last date for submission is February 28, 2024.

7. Call for papers by National Conference on Constitutional-Jurisprudence. The last date of submission is February 29, 2024.

8. Call for Papers by Journal of Socio-Legal Review of NLSIU, Banglore. The last date to submit is February 29, 2024.

9. Call for Papers by NLUD Journal of Legal Studies. The last date to submit is March 15, 2024.