A project that proposes to give every resident a “unique identity number” is a matter of great concern for those working on issues of food security, NREGA, migration, technology, decentralisation, constitutionalism, civil liberties and human rights.
K Balagopal metamorphosed from a committed believer in the Naxalbari movement to a human rights activist, defining the terms of his transition. In doing so, he rejected the choice of social transformation by violence, opting instead for such change through a struggle for rights. But the problem is that rights campaigns by themselves will not lead to social transformation. As a lawyer, Balagopal showed himself as the only lawyer of the poor of his generation with a reputation for competence. The poor knew that he was about the one lawyer who believed in their right to life. In his competence that equalled the lawyers of the affluent he was visible. Balagopal made the Court conscious that he was appearing for a citizen or a collective of citizens for whose benefit the Constitution was created.
I am deeply shocked to hear of the demise of my dear friend and colleague in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Yashpal Chibber, after a brief illness.
Two organisations have filed a petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking the removal of four legislators and deregistration of their political party for leading an attack on the Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen in Hyderabad recently. The petitioners believe that these men have perjured the constitutional oath taken by all legislators before entering office.
The constituent assembly did not make any effort to provide guidelines for appointing as judges persons who would be equipped to discharge constitutional obligations. Being a lawyer is not a sufficient qualification to be a judge. Being a lawyer with a large clientele may also not fit the bill. It calls for a philosophical understanding of what the Constitution is all about. A commitment to bring about transformation of society in terms of the Constitution by using their adjudicating and interpretative skills is called for.
Over the 50 odd years we have been so methodically unconstitutional that to revert to constitutional governance is becoming very difficult. There will no doubt be innumerable hurdles created to the introduction of legislation to repeal POTA.
K G Kannabiran Today the exercise of even human right is seen as a crime and the adjudicatory system is at aid of disciplining the police and the armed forces for fear of consa serrences. A system that is not prepared to risk the absence of state violence can never tolerate any attempt to secure human rights. A campaign for human rights must address itself to the system the state sponsors.
Reform through Court Decree?
K G Kannabiran The Allahabad High Court judgment on triple talaq not only trivialises the justice system but attempts reform of a minority community's personal laws
industries like textiles, leather and food, the decline in effective protection is larger. (All calculations on import-intensity an based on the sectoral share of REP licences.) The mi in the first case is 0.67 and in the second case 0.25. Consequently the new policy package can have detri mental effect on import-intensive non traditional exports. The table shows the mi for selected sectors. The higher the m the lower is the incentive to export. From equations (1) and (2), we can obtain the following result:
Creeping Decay in Institutions of Democracy K G Kannabiran The Shah Commission findings, the exposure of the police by the Bhargava Commission set up to investigate encounter deaths in Andhra Pradesh, the Mukhtadar Commission of Enquiry set up to enquire into the Rameeza Bi rape, the Bhagalpur blindings, and many other investigations expose the rot that has set into the administrative structure. The courts' intervention does not and cannot improve matters, for the inter-institutional system has irretrievabtv broken down.
