Social media, free expression and competition law

February 5, 2021

These last few days the role of social media platforms, in particular Twitter, has been the subject of intense scrutiny owing to certain controversial hashtags/trends finding traction in the backdrop of the farmers’ agitation. I don’t intend to comment on the legality or propriety of any particular trend; however, I...

Understanding the value of the past

January 29, 2021

Legendary West Indian cricketer Michael Holding recently delivered a powerful message on the ongoing #BlackLivesMatter movement which has taken the United States of America by storm and has started a global conversation on racism, in particular with respect to the stereotypes associated with members of the African community in predominantly...

A soft state and judicial populism: A match made in hell

January 22, 2021

Over the past several weeks, a lot has been written about the farm laws, the concerns of farmers of a few States and the Central Government’s position. Predictably, the matter reached the Supreme Court, and instead of examining the challenge to the farm laws on legal/Constitutional anvils, the Apex Court...

Indigeneity, land ontologies and ‘development’

January 15, 2021

I had ended the last piece on the note that one of the fundamental distinctions between the European colonizer and indigenous peoples who were colonized was the difference in their land ontologies. In the case of the former, his Christian Onto-epistemological and theological (OET) framework informed his land ontology whereas...

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND INDIGENEITY

January 8, 2021

In the last piece where I started a conversation on a civilizational approach to “blasphemy” in the context of Section 295A of the IPC, I had ended the piece with the following questions: “How does one determine the indigeneity of thought? Does this translate to recognition of the concept of...

A civilisational approach to blasphemy

January 1, 2021

In the last piece, I had discussed in brief the nature of Section 295A of the IPC, also known as the Blasphemy provision, based on two judgements of the Supreme Court and one of the Calcutta High Court. While Courts have addressed the issue from the perspective of the law,...

Section 295A: The ‘Blasphemy’ Provision

December 25, 2020

Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code 1860 is commonly known as the “Blasphemy” provision. Its origin story, while dark, is extremely interesting from a civilizational perspective since it sheds light on the larger undercurrents that have been animating the civilizational discourse for centuries now in this part of the...

Identity politics, elections and the Representation of the People Act, 1951

December 18, 2020

In 2017, a seven-Judge Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Abhiram Singh vs C.D. Commachen (Dead) By Lrs.& Ors delivered a judgement on Section 123(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The limited issue which the Supreme Court was called upon to decide was whether...

Vedantic universalism, Indic civilisational renaissance & diversity

December 11, 2020

Ever since I was a teenager, I have tried to understand Swami Vivekananda at various stages of my life through his writings and through those of others who have attempted to capture his majestic and impactful life. At every stage, his words and his life have moved me and conveyed...

The curious case of Indian secularism

December 5, 2020

Over the years, the notion that religious minorities have greater religious institutional freedoms has gained a fair amount of traction in public discourse. However, there is nothing in the language of Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution which remotely suggests that the rights recognised and guaranteed therein are more...