2010

The continuing debate on the proposed reservation for women in legislatures through a constitutional amendment has raised much froth and fury on both sides of the political fence but has left out many conceptual, constitutional and social aspects unattended.
In Article 15(1) of the Constitution any discrimination on the ground of sex alone is prohibited and the proposal is prima facie a blatant violation of this mandate. It may be argued that the raison d’etre of the proposed (…)

The 108th Amendment of the Constitution, better known as the Women’s Reservation Bill mandating one-third reservation in favour of women, avowedly for ensuring their adequate representation in highest legislative/ deliberating body at federal/state level and thereby empowering women, has been passed in the Rajya Sabha with just one vote against it. The object is undoubtedly wholesome and yet critical scrutiny will not be out of place to ascertain whether this Bill will readily lead to (…)

Institutional Democracy
A conceptual understanding of the democratic state often distinguishes it from other forms of non-democratic/absolutist/feudal aristocracy institutions. By displacing monarchical sovereignty with popular sovereignty the democratic state champions the cause of public interest based on the basic principles of equality, liberty, rights, freedom and justice, enshrined in the Constitution. To strengthen democracy and its functioning further, procedural methods are (…)

The crux of democracy lies with the people. Participation of the people grants legitimacy to the government. Though women form a sizable part of India’s population, their political representation and participation is definitely below the mark.
Of late the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of the Indian Parliament) took a historic decision. It passed the Bill which provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. The Bill seeks to reserve a third of the (…)

The passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha is surely a historic and giant step and assumes significance due to the prevalent gender discrimination and increasing marginalisation of women on the one hand and their under-representation in political bodies on the other. One aspect of introducing the 108th Amendment Bill is to combat the marginalisation of women in political institutions and creating a political space for them. Despite 60 years of independence and (…)

On May 19 passed away a man in Madras about whom fulsome obituaries have been written, and condolence messages conveyed; the funeral procession wended its way through the dusty streets of Vijayawada, the city which in the past was one of the main centres of his tireless activity. But all this does not bring out the real identity of the man.
Putchapalli Sundarayya was not a mere mortal. He was of a special mould, and he helped with his two hands to mould a whole generation of his (…)

A nation’s security is no longer the “traditional national defence” but has economic, environmental, and human dimensions as well. All three dimensions are often subsumed under the rubric of “comprehensive security”, a new umbrella concept that grew out of the post-Cold War debate over the ramifications of security and over security studies as a field of inquiry.1 This essay presents a coherent exposition of some non-traditional threats in the context of China which have become especially (…)

The trend and pattern of international relations, which is in transition, seems to be following a kind of ‘dialectical advance’ in the direction of unfolding itself due to inherent conflicts and oppositions. This dialectical process as a natural course of shifts, curves, breakdown and resetting also seems to continue due to the deficiencies and imperfections existing therein. This hypothetical reading of international relations is closer to the ‘Hegelian theory of Reason and Absolute Idea’ (…)

The recent Supreme Court judgment, which permitted the Andhra Pradesh Government to provide four per cent reservation quota for socially and economically backward groups among the Muslims in jobs and educational institutions, is a commendable development in the battle for social justice. The earlier interim order passed by a seven-judge Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court had struck down the same law for providing quota for the Muslims with a remark that “it violated the constitutional (…)

National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon went to Kabul a week after the terror attack on a small hotel housing mainly Indians, ostensibly to beef up security arrangements in the Afghan capital. While this was clearly one of the main tasks of his visit, a prime objective of the trip was to regain India’s faltering grip in Kabul. More so after its diplomacy received a severe setback at the London Conference on Afghanistan where New Delhi was unable to garner support for its positions in (…)