Ashok Mitra says that VP Singh, in passing away on November 27 might have chosen ‘the worst possible day … to take his bow, with the nation in the grip of the trauma of global …
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PRS Conference on Effective Legislatures – Part II
The second panel at the recently concluded PRS Conference examined “Parameters for Measuring the Effectiveness of Legislative Bodies”. Having worked on the discussion paper for this conference alongwith the one on reform of campaign finance …
Continue readingOn Torture, and Confessions
The issue of torture and custodial interrogations have been discussed previously on this blog. In an article in today’s Indian Express titled ‘The Kasab Contradiction’, Vinay Sitapati suggests that the Kasab saga exposes a key …
Continue readingCustodial interrogation: The new law and the reality
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2008 seeks to extend the maximum number of days a suspect can be detained for interrogation to 180 days, if it is not possible to complete the investigation within …
Continue readingRelevant materials on contemporary discourse on terrorism
To facilitate the current discussion on our blog on terrorism, I am providing some relevant links. 1. The National Investigation Agency Bill, 2008. 2. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2008. (Courtesy: 1&2 from the …
Continue readingMR Madhavan on the new Right to Education Bill
The UPA government recently introduced the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2008. The issue of the right to primary education in India, and the way it should be implemented through parliamentary law has …
Continue readingIndia’s Guantanamo (or Belmarsh)?
Lok Sabha has just passed the amendments to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Although I have not seen the full text of the amending Bill, media reports indicate that it allows for indefinite detention of …
Continue readingRegulation of Campaign Finance–Response to Comments
In his comment to my post regarding the “PRS Conference on Effective Legislatures-Part 1”, Venkatesan has rightly pointed out that as per the Supreme Court’s judgment in Common Cause (A Registered Society) v. Union of …
Continue readingTerrorism and the International Criminal Court
In these uncertain times, the Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan reminds us that ‘substantive due process is an essential part of our collective response to terrorism.’ Don’t think either of them will like the comparison, but …
Continue readingDebate on media coverage of terror
The debate on media coverage of terror organised by the FMP evinced considerable interest among our readers. This link takes you to the summary of views expressed at the panel discussion, as carried on the …
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