Since 2014, multiple experts have identified that Indian democracy is backsliding. Examples include the clampdown on Jammu and Kashmir, arrest of journalists and activists as well as the attack on the Opposition using draconian instruments such as the Enforcement Directorate.
The one obvious institution that could have checked this slide is the judiciary. However, in spite of often being called the most powerful judiciary in the world, India’s courts have done no such thing.
On episode #7 of Scroll Ideas, we are joined by legal scholar Anuj Bhuwania who has studied the post-independence history of India’s higher judiciary. He argues that it was, in many ways, naive to expect the judiciary to act as a check on the executive given their post-Emergency history as a populist organ.
Reading
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1
Adding more good-quality protein to the diets of older adults can combat muscle loss
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2
Father Francis D’Britto (1943-2024): Noted Marathi writer and environmental activist
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3
Start the week with the film: ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ is a heartbreaking tale of sibling love
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4
‘The Buckingham Murders’ review: An unfussy police procedural with a dodgy heroine
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5
‘Maria, Just Maria’: A defiant story of female madness with a wicked sense of humour
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6
September global fiction: A new novel by Sally Rooney and five other titles to look forward to
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7
In Nepal, high demand for a fern found deep in the jungles is driving human-tiger conflict
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8
There is a reason your X feed has turned more toxic. Have you heard of ‘engagement farming’?
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9
Personal essay: A writer on the dilemmas of loving the Hindi language in a Sikh Punjab
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10
Arvind Kejriwal says he will resign as Delhi CM in two days, seeks early polls