This month, we published articles discussing a range of issues and witnessed very interesting discussions in our New Scholarship Section.

Blog Posts

On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s Birth Anniversary, Prof. (Dr.) Nigam Nuggehalli, wrote a piece focusing on Gandhi’s originality in his Letter to Law Students series. On this theme, we also had Shivani Mody, in her piece titled Gandhian Constitutionalism: A Tale of Non-Violence and Decentralisation, discussing what the term ‘Gandhian constitutionalism’ could entail in light of the principles espoused by Mahatma Gandhi.
 
Early this month, we also published a piece by Sughosh Joshi titled Why India Needs a Shadow Cabinet, which elucidates the benefits of a shadow cabinet for opposition parties, and responds to some of the common criticisms against the proposed system. He also analysed data from UK, Australia, and New Zealand to support his argument. The piece witnessed some very interesting discussion on our Twitter handle that you can follow for constant updates. Following this, in her post titled Unfreedom of Press in Jammu and Kashmir: Media Policy, 2020, Anushree Verma analysed the Media Policy, 2020 introduced in Jammu & Kashmir, drawing parallels with erstwhile press censorship and applying the test of reasonableness under Article 19.
 
We also published a two-part series titled The National Education Policy, 2020: Some Constitutional Concerns authored by Tanishk Goyal and Prannv Dhawan. In Part 1, they consider the National Education Policy, 2020 against the backdrop of the constitutional provisions for minorities, and discuss the relationship between Parts III and IV of the Constitution. In Part 2, they rely on the preceding discussion to argue that the Policy reinforces historical structural inequalities.  

Our reporters also wrote some interesting Explainers on several contemporary issues. Mariyam Mayan discusses the recent petitions filed before different High Courts for the legal recognition of same-sex marriage, and provides a succinct introduction to the arguments for and against the move here. In this piece, Chitranksha Kumari wrote on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on sub-classification within reserved seats. She traces the landmark judgements leading to the judgement and provides a closer look at the ruling. Sahil Aggarwal also brings to you a discussion on a recent judgement, wherein he explains the Supreme Court’s treatment of the balance between the right to protest and the public right of way in the Shaheen Bagh case. 

New Scholarship
 
Continuing our New Scholarship section, we hosted a book discussion on Jefferey Redding’s book A Secular Need: Islamic Law and State Governance in Contemporary India, moderated by Prof. Rohit De. The series kicked off with an introductory post from Prof. Rohit De, which can be found here. Prof. Arif Jamal then supplied his comments on the book, focusing on the framework of understanding Indian Muslims that Prof. Redding employed in the opening of the book. This was followed by a review from Prof. Farzana Haniffa, which reflects on the Sri Lankan context. Following this, in her review of the book, Shaunna Rodrigues analyses the discussion on dar ul qazas.
 
We also concluded the discussion of Prof. Dipika Jain’s Statute Law Review article titled Law-Making by and for the People: A Case for Pre-legislative Processes in India with Prof. Dipika Jain’s response to the engagement by Rithambhara Singh, Arun PS and Anirudh Burman.

We then kicked introduced a recent article by our Senior Editor Anup Surendranath, Neetika Vishwanath and Preeti Pratishruti Dash, published in the latest issue of the National Law School of India Review, titled The Enduring Gaps and Errors in Capital Sentencing in India. The authors summarize their main arguments in this post, which will soon be followed by responses from discussants.
 
We also covered the release of Volume 2 of the NLUD Journal of Legal Studies and a brief introduction to the pieces in the Volume can be found here.

We have some very interesting posts as part of our LAOT is 15 series lined up in the coming month. We shall also be hosting a Blog Symposium on India and Global Decline in Democracies involving multiple foreign scholars! You can sign up for our Fortnightly Newsletter ​ here or Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram.