The sedition law, Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, has outlived its use in modern India. One hopes the Supreme Court, as the first guardian of citizens when their rights are infringed, puts it in the garbage bin of history.
The provisions in the Constitution of India relating to citizenship, elections, provisional parliament, temporary & transitional provisions were given immediate effect from November 26, 1949. The rest of the Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950.
As an increasing number of political prisoners and activists are being put to jail, it seems like history repeating itself. Political persecution is a real threat to democracy and needs to be curtailed.
President-elect Joe Biden’s promise to reverse the vanquished Donald Trump’s destructive attempt to demolish the post-World War II world order based on America’s support for the principles of cooperative internationalism, has come as music to the ears of Amricans
I write this on the eve of India’s 74th Independence Day. In researching it, I chanced upon an essay I wrote on the occasion of the nation’s 68th anniversary (Republic Day). In it, I reproduced what I considered to be some of the most stirring phrases of some leaders