Musings on India, the law, and policy
Posted in corruption, Rule of Law on Jan 12th, 2012
2012 marks 60 years since the first Indian general election. In this time, the Election Commission of India has come a long way in ensuring the conduct of free and fair elections at various levels, -thus cementing its reputation as one of the most respected constitutional bodies in recent times. Inspite of its reputation, [...]
Posted in corruption, Media on Oct 16th, 2011
A review of the recent Press Council of India report on ‘Paid News’. In or about May 2009, the Wall Street Journal and later on The Guardian published a series of articles about the phenomenon of paid news stating that various newspapers and media houses were thriving on the policy “if you want press, you [...]
Posted in corruption, Foreign Affairs on Jul 20th, 2011
Without a public procurement law, and a rudderless foreign policy to boot, India’s aid agency will practically be useless. The decision to set up a foreign aid agency, announced recently by the government, is a welcome measure, and long overdue. In the international community, the move will be interpreted as a sign of India’s coming [...]
Posted in Constitution, corruption, Court on Jul 6th, 2011
Succinctly summed up, the theory of separation of powers, accepted as a part of the Basic Structure of the Indian Constitution, implies that the Judiciary, Executive and Legislature have certain spheres of operations and distinct functions and that, stemming from the proposition of limited powers, they must not encroach into each other domains, for after [...]
Posted in corruption, Court, Democracy on Jun 23rd, 2011
Here’s a chart that details the differences between both versions of the LokPal bill – the editors at The Hindu were kind enough to carry my comparison as a cool graphic today in Op-ed. I’m attaching the chart in a text-only, PDF format below – anyone is free to use this, with or without attribution. But if [...]
Posted in corruption, india, Lok Pal, Politics, Reforms on Jun 13th, 2011
“You have to know the past to understand the present” – Dr Carl Sagan The 1990s are often referred to as the decade when India came of age. This attribution was basically due to the sweeping economic reforms that led to an absolute change in the Indian investment climate. The economic reforms apart, the Indian [...]