Musings on India, the law, and policy
Posted in Constitution, Court, Rights on Feb 28th, 2009
The papers today write about a petition filed in the Supreme Court stating that the ‘Right to Property’ must be brought back to the Constitution thus reversing the 44th Amendment of the Constitution that removed this right. This is an interesting development; especially after the case of IR Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu, where [...]
Posted in Court on Feb 28th, 2009
Earlier this month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged billionaire entrepreneur-cricket promoter Sir Allen Stanford with investment fraud for over $ 8 billion. The SEC has stated the fraud was “based on false promises and fabricated historical return data”. Following the framing of charges, there were several raids by federal regulatory agencies in the [...]
Posted in india on Feb 27th, 2009
Subhadra sent me an email article about the recent spate of attacks on women wearing ‘western clothes’ in Bangalore. It’s disheartening to read them and ponder on the state of things in this Country. In this earlier post, I have talked about morality and the Dworkinian conception of harm and the enjoyment of rights. I [...]
Posted in Democracy, Human Rights on Feb 19th, 2009
The British Council is co-ordinating a series of lectures to commemorate its 75th anniversary (entitled 75 years of Cultural Relations) and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu will deliver the inaugural address on February 19,2009. The lecture series, named Talking without Borders, is aimed at providing a bird’s eye-view of the most pressing needs in today’s global [...]
Posted in Constitution, Democracy, Politics, Rule of Law on Feb 15th, 2009
A referendum is currently under way in Venezuela where voters are to decide on a proposal that would assist elected officials in seeking as many terms as they wish. Mooted by the Hugo Chavez-led Government, the proposal is set to be a watershed in the political landscape of this South American country. A similar referendum [...]
Keeping my feelings against the Death penalty aside, the verdict in the Nithari killings comes as a shock to me. It is not that I thought either of them to be innocent, but the idea of giving the harshest punishment meted out by law to them is what I’d like to question. Perhaps the best [...]