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
Why the exodus from Bhutan of young people and qualified workers is a worry for India
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2
Why did a Union minister say he would apply for Indian citizenship under CAA?
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3
Seven firms that failed drug quality tests gave money to political parties through electoral bonds
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4
Electoral bonds: What we know so far, what we will know soon – and what we may never know
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5
YouTube, X block access in India to documentary on killing of Canadian Sikh separatist leader
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6
Why is India’s consumer market (undeservedly) called underdeveloped? A new book refutes the idea
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7
India’s latest GDP growth numbers are ‘mystifying’, says former chief economic advisor
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8
Modi government’s insurance scheme pushes hospitals into debt – threatening patient admissions
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9
Is shouting 'Pakistan zindabad' illegal? An SC order clarifies
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10
Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras resigns, says ‘injustice’ done to his party