Book Review: RTI Act - Authentic Interpretation Of The Statute by Shailesh Gandhi & Pralhad Kacheri

Ambiguity is antidote of transparency. Mystery of legal language takes out the possibility of realization of the right and leaves scope for contradictory interpretations facilitating injustice. The Authentic Book on RTI by Sri Shailesh Gandhi and Sri Pralhad Kacheri is easily accessible because it is copyleft, (i.e., not copyrighted) and it is also easy to read and understand. (Note: The...

Has The Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code, 2016 Been Successfully Decoded? - Review Of Commentary On The Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code Penned By Pranav Khatavkar

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first commentary on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016("Code"). I have perused the contents of the book and at the outset my primary remark is that the author has made a genuine attempt to simplify the law. A sound understanding of the law is evident from the manner in which the provisions have been interpreted.The entire structure of this book...

There Is Less Creative Freedom In Today's India Than At Any Time Since The Emergency, Says Historian Ramachandra Guha In His New Book

DEMOCRATS AND DISSENTERS. By Ramachandra Guha, Allen Lane, Penguin Random House India, 2016, Rs.699, Pages 317.Ramachandra Guha is a preeminent thinker of our times. His latest book, Democrats and Dissenters, quite naturally rises our curiosity about his views on contemporary issues. Readers of this book may be familiar with some of his observations, which he has expressed in his columns...

The debate on large dams

The Politics of Dams: Developmental Perspectives and Social Critique in Modern India. By Hanna Werner, Oxford University Press, 2015.The Sardar Sarovar Project: Assessing Economic and Social Impacts. By S.Jagadeesan and M.Dinesh Kumar, Sage, 2015.These two books offer two contrasting perspectives on the debate on big dams.Of the 50,000 large dams in the world, India has about 4,500. Apart from...

Sanitation Law and Policy in India: An Introduction to Basic Instruments

Edited by Philippe Cullet and Lovleen Bhullar, OUP, 2015, Rs.1195, Pages 510The former Union Minister, and Congress leader, Jairam Ramesh, while in office during the UPA regime, made a remark which earned him the wrath of the Sangh Parivar. He said that what India needs today is not more temples, but more toilets. But when the same remark was adopted with gusto by the present Prime...

Do you trust your doctor? Should you? Reality check on private medical practice in India

The time to ask ourselves this scary question has arrived. Recently a riveting book came into my hands. It presents what you might call a 'reality check' on private medical practice in India. (Dissenting Diagnosis: Voices of Conscience from the Medical Profession by Drs Arun Gadre and Abhay Shukla, based on a study by SAATHI, Pune. To put it plainly, its findings are not reassuring.Many of...

Probing violence of different dimensions

ENGINEERS OF JIHAD: The Curious Connection between Violent Extremism and Education. By Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog, Princeton University Press, 2016.THE NEW XENOPHOBIA. By Tabish Khair, OUP, 2016.These two books address different concerns of people living in plural societies.To what extent, our laws aimed at preventing terrorist acts, reflect an understanding of the mind of a...

Book Review; Judicial Reputation: A Comparative Theory

BY NUNO GAROUPA AND TOM GINSBURG, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2015, Pages 273.Reputation, as the authors of this important book define, is the stock of assessments about an actor’s past performance. Reputation is crucial in many areas, and as the authors say, judging is no exception.How do we understand judicial reputation? The authors help us understand it both in terms...

Religious Freedom under The Personal Law System. By Farrah Ahmed, OUP, 2016, Rs.795, Pages 243

As one reads this book, it is tempting to refer to the two cases currently heard by the Supreme Court together, on the Muslim Personal Law.  In Shayara Bano v Union of India, the petitioner seeks mandamus declaring the practices of Talaq-E-Bidat, Nikah-Halala, and polygamy under Muslim Personal Laws as illegal, and unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 of...

Book Review: Tackling discrimination through Law

A THEORY OF DISCRIMINATION LAW BY TARUNABH KHAITAN, OUP, 2015, Rs.645, Pages 262.UNEQUAL WORLDS: DISCRIMINATION AND SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN MODERN INDIA.  Edited by Vidhu Verma, OUP, 2015, Rs.995, Pages 422.Tarunabh Khaitan, who teaches law at Wadham College, University of Oxford, is a scholar known for his sensitivity to discrimination against and suffering by less privileged people in...

Extracts from the Book ; Appointing our Judges: Forging Independence and Accountability

Apparently a great many people have forgotten that the framers of our Constitution went to such great effort to create an independent judicial branch that would not be subject to retaliation by either the executive branch or the legislative branch because of some decision made by those judges'.                                                                   ...

Book Review; Boundaries of Free Speech

OFFEND, SHOCK, OR DISTURB:Free Speech under the Indian Constitution. By Gautam Bhatia, OUP, 2016, Pages 347, Rs.750.SENTIMENT, POLITICS, CENSORSHIP: THE STATE OF HURTEDITED BY Rina Ramdev, Sandhya Devesan Nambiar, and Debaditya Bhattacharya, Sage, 2016, Pages 281, Rs.895These two books appear at a time when the Indian Republic is grappling with new and menacing threats to the freedom...