-The Indian Express The political discourse over land acquisition has proceeded in binary terms - industry versus farmer, growth versus no growth - thereby obfuscating the real issue at the heart of the land acquisition debate: the fear of arbitrary exercise of state power in reshaping property relations in Indian society. Instead of tweaking the 2015 land acquisition bill with a few amendments here and there to appease political allies and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The NDA government, which came riding on a huge anti-corruption wave wiping out Congress last year, has dropped crucial amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act that would have ensured India ratifying the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). Sources said the government has not considered incorporating Article 12 and 16 of the UNCAC in the proposed amendments to the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act likely to...

-Frontline SHUBHANKAR DAM, Assistant Professor of Law at Singapore Management University School of Law, is the author of Presidential Legislation in India: The Law and Practice of Ordinances (Cambridge University Press, 2014), which has received wide acclaim among scholars of constitutional law. Against the backdrop of his insightful critique on the necessity of ordinances in a democracy, Professor Dam discusses in this interview the recent controversy triggered by the Bharatiya Janata...

-Economic and Political Weekly The current regime seeks to reform labour laws with the understanding that these reforms will improve industrial growth and expand the possibilities of enterprise. However, there is already ample evidence from within India that this obsession with reforming labour law, particularly in the way the government has done it till now, will not take us any closer in creating more jobs or a healthy industrial sector. These...

-Live Mint India should encourage private Bills and strengthen the process of legislative approval for new laws Last week, we argued for two key reforms in Parliament's procedures that would enable members of Parliament (MPs) to be more effective as elected representatives: abolish the anti-defection law and record all votes on Bills and motions. We now discuss some possible changes that can be made to strengthen the process of lawmaking by...