BEFORE ANY debate starts, we must remind ourselves that India has a tendency of corruption. India, though a democracy, has a history of reported corruption cases. While the Chief Justice of India, KG Balakrishnan, has demanded that PM Manmohan Singh amend the RTI Act to ‘protect’ the judiciary from ‘intrusive’ queries, what needs to be kept in mind is that the proposed amendments will totally defeat the purpose of an...

The novelist and critic, C.S. Lewis, said he had no time for those who thought that since they had read a book once, they had no need to read it again. The great works of literature were to read again and again. The urge to go back to a book was prompted sometimes by aesthetics, the desire to savour once more its artful or elegant prose; and, at other times,...

Hokum must have its kingdom. The judicial report on the culpability for the crime perpetrated on December 6, 1992, was first leaked and then laid on the floor of Parliament. The predictable sequel was an uproarious parliamentary debate. Countrymen are however not any more enlightened than they already were. That horrid outrage was committed over 17 years ago, in broad daylight, with the world’s media looking on. Thousands watched the proceedings...

At a time when there is growing concern about the causes of increasing discontent and alienation among tribals, it is important to recall a very important law for improving the governance of the Scheduled Areas in such a way as to protect the interests of tribals. The reference here is to the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (briefly called the PESA law). If this Act had been properly...

The increase in the number of civil cases in a country is its social mascot, as it symbolises the abundance of law abiding civilised citizens accepting the authority of the judiciary to get their grievances redressed. Otherwise, they would have turned to self-retaliation or employed roughnecks, a usual practice in America and Britain enkindled by their criminal heritage, to enforce justice in their own way; hence all civil litigants may...