Jammu & Kashmir: Many Challenges Ahead

The map of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) has been redrawn; the special status the Constitution provided the state withdrawn. The official line is that these measures will ensure the state’s complete integration into India and usher a new era of peace, growth, and prosperity.

Several opposition parties have bought into this, while others have confined their reservations to the procedural aspects of the decision—suggesting that they endorse the government’s moves in principle and only find the manner of their execution exceptionable. Few have questioned the merit of the re-organization or withdrawal of special status itself.

The rushed and hushed manner in which the proposals were pushed through is disconcerting. The lack of consultation with the local populace, the military build-up, communication blackout, the political detentions in the run-up to the announcements, and a clever interpretation of prevailing constitutional provisions have been much commented upon already.

National, People, Politics, Society

By Manish Dubey

August 9, 2019

Revocation of Article 370 is Legally Untenable

On August 5, 2019, the Government of India introduced a slew of measures, unilaterally and undemocratically, which, in effect, revoked the special status granted to the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), by virtue of Article 370 of the Constitution. Before we understand the import of what changes have been streamrolled, it is important to understand the historical background of Article 370.

At the time of independence in 1947, the Indian Independence Act came into force, which gave an option to the 565 Indian Princely States, including the Princely State of Jammu & Kashmir ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh, to either remain independent, or join the Dominion of India or the Dominion of Pakistan. Though most Princely States signed an instrument of accession with India, the State of Jammu & Kashmir did not, since Maharaja Hari Singh wanted to remain independent.

However, just few months later, on 20^th October, 1947, Jammu & Kashmir was attacked by armed tribesmen from Pakistan, creating panic in Maharaja Hari Singh who did not have sufficient local army to quell the attack, and to protect the territory. Accordingly, he sought India’s help, and signed the instrument of accession with India on 27^th October, 1947.

Culture, Law, National, Politics, Society

By Amritananda Chakravorty

August 5, 2019

Justice Chitambaresh must Apologise or Retire forthwith

Lord Denning was the most well-known English Judge of the postwar era. His books and lectures on the law are read for their clarity of thought and simplicity of language, even today. He was appointed at a time when judges could decide their own ages of retirement. He was 83, when in 1982, he published a book titled – ‘What Next in the law?

Among the most controversial passages was the assertion that two leaders of the riots that broke out the previous summer, in the port city of Bristol, were not convicted because the defendants used their right to three pre-emptive challenges to determine the nature of the jury, which subsequently split along racial lines. “They are white and black, colored and brown,” the 83-year-old judge wrote. ”Some of them come from countries where bribery and graft are accepted and where stealing is a virtue so long as you are not found out. They no longer share the same code of morals or religious beliefs.”

Denning was denounced as a racist and despite his protestations of innocent intent, he had to choose to retire. He was given the customary honours due to his great service to the law, with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher attending his retirement dinner. However, even today, no assessment of his many and magnificent contributions to the law is complete without recounting the manner of his exit.

Kerala, Law, National, Opinion, Politics, Religion

By Sanjay Hegde

August 5, 2019

Criminalisation of Triple Talaq: A conflict of Civil Law and Criminal Law

On 1 August, President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the Triple Talaq Bill, which criminalises instant triple talaq with provisions of a jail term of up to three years. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, commonly referred to as the Triple Talaq Law, is effective retrospectively, from September 19, 2018. The Ministry of Law and Justice notified it in the gazette of India on January 31 so that the law comes into force with immediate effect.

After getting through the Lok Sabha, where the ruling NDA commands a brute majority, the bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on 30 July, with 99 votes in favour and 84 against the bill. With a total strength of 240, the opposition, which still commands majority in the house of elders, failed to defeat the bill as 57 members stayed away.

Earlier, the Supreme Court of India, in Shayara Bano v. Union of India and others, had set aside the practice of talaq-e-biddat, which allowed Muslim men to divorce their wives instantaneously and irrevocably by pronouncing the word talaq (the Arabic word for divorce) thrice at the same time, on the basis that it violated the Constitution of India. The pronouncement could be oral, written, or, as in recent times, delivered by electronic means.

Law, National, Opinion, Politics, Religion, Society

By Arya Suresh

July 30, 2019

Chandra Shekhar: The Last Socialist

Chandra Shekhar, India’s last socialist icon, steadfastly held to his political convictions in a career spanning over five decades. As socialist politics metamorphosed into identity politics in the post-Mandal nineties, and gradually degenerated into family-run enterprises, Chandra Shekhar: The Last Icon of Ideological Politics written by Harivansh Narayan Singh (co-authored with Ravi Dutt Bajpai), Chandra Shekhar’s former media adviser and journalist, and now, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is a relevant read.

Harivansh Narayan Singh observed Chandra Shekhar from close quarters and this is reflected in some of his minute observations. Apart from his own interactions with the socialist stalwart from 1978, the author has relied on extensive conversations with Om Prakash Srivastava, Chandra Shekhar’s friend of over half century, and Zindagi Kaa Kaarawan, Chandra Shekhar’s biographical sketch (by Ram Bahadur Rai and Suresh Sharma) to write the book. The author’s admiration for Chandra Shekhar is clearly reflected in this biography but it does not dissolve into a hagiography

The seven chapters reveal many hitherto unknown facts and facets of a man who didn’t really get his due in Indian politics. The high point of his career was becoming Prime Minister for seven months but it would be grossly unfair to judge him by that short tenure.

Book Review, Books, National, Non-Fiction, Politics

By Anand Kochukudy

July 11, 2019

Resignation makes Rahul Gandhi more Powerful

When Rahul Gandhi conveyed his decision to quit as Congress President after its defeat in the 2019 general elections, it was generally assumed that he would be persuaded to withdraw his resignation. This confidence stemmed from the fact that politics in India does not demand accountability anymore. Even backstabbing political godfathers or family members to attain power has become fair game in Indian politics. In this era of power-hungry politicians, why would Rahul Gandhi voluntarily give up the leadership of India’s oldest political party?

Congress is not the only party which lost the 2019 general election to the Hindutva forces. The Left parties, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Nationalist Congress Party et al lost out to the Bharatiya Janata Party. No top leader in these parties resigned nor did anybody care to ask for their resignation. With his resignation, Rahul Gandhi has shown that he is in politics not to pursue power but to uphold his ideals and to fight for an inclusive and tolerant India. Most of the commentators fail to see its long-term implications and confine their criticism to the short-term churning.

Rahul Gandhi’s resignation is being projected by the media as the end of the Indian National Congress. BJP is using this opportunity to poach several Congress lawmakers in different states to not only capture power but also create an impression of Congress Party melting away. No, Congress is not going to wither away like that. The crisis in the party is not an existential crisis; it is a management crisis at the leadership level. Like any other political organization, crisis brings opportunity—the opportunity to reinvent itself to meet new challenges.

National, Opinion, Politics

By Ashok Swain

July 3, 2019

Shweta Bhatt: Will not rest Until my Husband is back Home

Shweta Bhatt would have been like any other middle-class Indian housewife—happy and content with no reason to complain about anything. She was leading a normal life with her husband Sanjiv Bhatt, a senior IPS officer, and her children, till her husband was arrested in September last year by the Gujarat police and locked up for many months without bail.

A few days ago, on June 20, he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Jamnagar Sessions Court in a case of custodial death that allegedly took place in November 1990, nearly 30 years ago. The young officer had joined the police force only a few weeks before this incident and the case had been lying dormant for decades till it was fast-tracked by the state administration recently. Bhatt’s conviction set a record for the Gujarat police as in the 16 years since 2001, there has been as many as 180 cases of custodial deaths in the state with no convictions except Bhatt’s.

Sanjiv Bhatt’s case has attracted national attention because it is seen as a case of political vendetta on the part of Narendra Modi government. The IPS officer had accused Modi of complicity in the violence let loose on Muslims in Gujarat in the post-Godhra riots in 2002. He gave evidence before the Nanavati Commission inquiring into the matter in 2011–following which he was placed under suspicion and later dismissed from service in 2015. Since his arrest on September 5 last year, he has been lodged in the Palampur jail in Gujarat.

Features, Interview, National, Politics

By N P Chekkutty

June 25, 2019

A student Protestor Recalls the Dark days of the Emergency

As India recalls the Emergency imposed on the nation by Indira Gandhi 45 years ago on this day, memories of those dark days come calling. I was a student back then and, the chance discovery of an old photograph, hidden in a family album, triggered memories of the turbulent days of political struggles during the Emergency.

At Sir Syed College at Taliparamba in Kannur, 19 boys had been arrested following a demonstration in the college protesting against the Emergency. The protest demonstration, called by opposition student organisations in the state, was held on July 11 across Kerala.

Features, Kerala, National, Politics

By N P Chekkutty

June 25, 2019

How the Emergency was declared on June 25, 1975

On 12 June 1975, Justice J.M.L. Sinha delivered the judgement declaring the election of Smt Indira Gandhi as ‘void’. Within one and a half hours, we got the news that Smt Indira Gandhi had obtained a stay order for twenty days.

The stay order was obtained through misrepresentation made on her behalf by her advocate Shri S.C. Khare. It was given in writing that as it was a question of election of the leader of the party and the office of the prime minister was involved, some time would be taken by the Congress party to elect another leader. This order was passed ex parte by Justice J.M.L. Sinha while our advocate Shri R.C. Srivastava, who was in Allahabad at that time, was not heard. Our advocate, while knowing that the stay order had been passed without a hearing, went to the learned judge’s residence and told him that the order was passed without hearing him, but the learned judge did not change his order.

Smt Indira Gandhi engaged Shri N.A. Palkhivala as her Senior Advocate. The order of Justice J.M.L. Sinha was that the stay order would continue for twenty days or till the time when the appeal was filed in the Supreme Court by Smt Indira Gandhi, whichever took place earlier.

Book Extract, Books, History, Law, National, Politics

By Rama Goyal

June 20, 2019

Doctor’s agitation: A Long time in the Making

West Bengal’s healthcare system is tottering back to normal after the junior doctors at government-run hospitals ended their week-long strike following talks with chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday.

The strike which was called to protest the assault on a junior doctor at Kolkata’s Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital allegedly by a kin of a dead patient had snowballed into a major nation-wide stir with ramifications in the healthcare sector across the nation.

National, Opinion, Politics

By Anuradha Sharma

June 17, 2019

What is Wrong with India’s Healthcare System

In the early days of my internship, while learning how to administer CPR to a patient, I asked my senior about determining the number of shots of atropine to be given to a patient. My senior, whom we addressed as Dada, replied with a deadpan face: “The number of shots depend on the number of relatives surrounding the patient and you at that time”. Before anyone rises up in arms, that’s a joke and there are many such lame jokes we doctors make to take the edge off from our heightened nerves owing to the intense and gruelling work schedules.

It is common knowledge that Indian doctors undergo one of the toughest and most demanding training years but even such training cannot prepare any doctor to face the challenges that come with the rickety healthcare system in India.

Health, National, Opinion, People, Politics, Society

By Nazma Parveen