The ‘Basic Structure’ Doctrine: Defence against Parliamentary Hegemony

According to the ‘basic structure’ doctrine of the Supreme Court put forward in 1973, there are features of the Constitution that are unamendable by Parliament under any circumstances. The doctrine is the only legal defence against parliamentary hegemony and a rewriting of the Constitution. SRIRAM PANCHU; APRAMEYA MANTHENA; VIKAS MURALIDHARAN The Constitution of India is… Read More The ‘Basic Structure’ Doctrine: Defence against Parliamentary Hegemony

22nd April 202322nd April 2023 Dilip

Terrifying implications of the Supreme Court’s Staines Judgement

First posted November 19, 2011 NB: I wrote this article in the aftermath of the January 2011 judgement by two Supreme Court judges on the murder of Graham Staines and his two sons in Orissa in 1998. The debate on religious questions is a secondary one. The first major point of my article is this:… Read More Terrifying implications of the Supreme Court’s Staines Judgement

20th April 20236th October 2025 Dilip

Mahua Moitra on the killing of Atiq Ahmed: This is mobocracy

NB: I have argued in a recent article that the rule of law in India (and indeed in all of South Asia) has been replaced by the rule of ideology. Those who celebrate lawlessness in the name of nationalism should bear in mind that this is the first step towards social and political disintegration. But… Read More Mahua Moitra on the killing of Atiq Ahmed: This is mobocracy

19th April 2023 Dilip

Death by ‘encounter’: Yogi Adityanath’s penal populism

Once crime was as solitary as a cry of protest; now it is as universal as science. Yesterday it was put on trial; today it determines the law. Albert Camus; The Rebel (1956) Bharat Bhushan Support for harsh penal policies is often the result of two interconnected phenomena. One, viewing criminals as those outside of… Read More Death by ‘encounter’: Yogi Adityanath’s penal populism

17th April 2023 Dilip

Maiming India

The regime’s mimicry of Pakistan in rewriting India’s history Mukul Kesavan The decision to allegedly unburden schoolchildren by deleting the Mughal era from their history curriculum has provoked amusing memes: images of the Taj Mahal complete with captions about its mysterious origins and jokes about gallant medieval Rajput rulers routed by invisible armies. These are… Read More Maiming India

17th April 202317th April 2023 Dilip

Corruption, Kashmir & Adani: J&K’s Last Governor Satya Pal Malik’s Interview With Karan Thapar

The Pulwama tragedy, Malik says was used by the ‘politicians’ for electoral gains Swati Shikha NB: This interview with Satya Pal Malik is revelatory, and has received over 1.6 million views in 24 hours. Satya Pal Malik is one of the few BJP affiliated politicians who has not indulged in the vicious communal rhetoric of… Read More Corruption, Kashmir & Adani: J&K’s Last Governor Satya Pal Malik’s Interview With Karan Thapar

16th April 2023 Dilip

Ramachandra Guha: Why attack young Kashmiris for a crime committed by someone else? / This Student Helped Evacuate Hundreds Of Kashmiris After Pulwama

First posted February 20, 2019 NB: It has been a long-standing feature of communal politics to make innocent people pay for the crimes of a few. This noxious habit is now being pushed and encouraged by the political fronts of the RSS, which in effect means the Government of India. These people claim to hold a… Read More Ramachandra Guha: Why attack young Kashmiris for a crime committed by someone else? / This Student Helped Evacuate Hundreds Of Kashmiris After Pulwama

16th April 2023 Dilip

Our Men Didn’t Die So Someone Could Spread Communal Hatred: CRPF

First posted February 21, 2019 NB: The CRPF officers and jawans deserve our thanks for defending the truth in their hour of grief; and exposing the fraud being perpetrated on the country by the fake news brigade. The measures they have taken to combat communal propaganda is in marked contrast to the thuggish behaviour of the… Read More Our Men Didn’t Die So Someone Could Spread Communal Hatred: CRPF

16th April 202316th April 2023 Dilip

Maulana Azad, freedom fighter and India’s first Education Minister removed from NCERT textbook

Authors of the revised Class 11 political science textbook have also deleted the fact that Jammu and Kashmir had acceded to India on the basis of a promise that the State would remain autonomous. MAITRI PORECHA He was a freedom fighter and India’s first Education Minister, but any mention of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has… Read More Maulana Azad, freedom fighter and India’s first Education Minister removed from NCERT textbook

13th April 2023 Dilip

The mridangam makers of Mylapore

Jesudas and his son Edwin are skilled craftsmen, known in the Carnatic music universe of Chennai and elsewhere for the mridangams they give life to, though they still face occasional communal biases Ashna Butani The sounds of Carnatic music on the radio fill a cramped room painted blue in a small lane of Mylapore. Photos… Read More The mridangam makers of Mylapore

13th April 202312th April 2023 Dilip

After the truth-shower

Philosophy, history, literature, current affairs, and other stuff. Posted by Dilip Simeon

Tag: current affairs – India