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19th January 2023 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Charan Singh's Unique Model of Farmer Reservations
Every year, on December 23rd, we celebrate Kisan Diwas to honour the legacy of former Prime Minister Charan Singh. Although he may not be widely remembered in mainstream p...
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23rd September 2022 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Who Should Get Reservations?
You may have noticed that issues around reservations have been in the news of late. This was triggered by an on-going case in the Supreme Court which challenges the consti...
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19th September 2022 | Editorial Team
Sir T. Madhava Rao’s 1874 Constitution for the Princely States: Is This India’s First Historical Constitution?
You may have noticed from our earlier desk briefs, blog posts and pretty much all the writing on ConstitutionofIndia.net, that we are obsessed with Historical Constitution...
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4th August 2022 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Why Didn't Sri Lanka Invoke Financial Emergency Provisions?
On 27 July 2022, Sri Lanka’s parliament approved the state of emergency declared on 17 July, by President Ranil Wickremesinghe. This measure is geared towards quelling lar...
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19th July 2022 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The Constituent Assembly on Retired Judges Taking Up Executive Office
Supreme Court of India
In 2022, a whopping eight Supreme Court Judges will hang up their gowns. If trends in the last decade are anything to go by, many of these Ju...
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30th May 2022 | Editorial Team
Indian Framers Refused a Constitutional Right to Bear Arms
Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons
25 May 2022, Texas, United States: 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, entered an elementary school and ...
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19th May 2022 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: A Brief History of the Supreme Court’s ‘Complete Justice’ Power
On 11 June 1991, 19-year-old Perarivalan was arrested for conspiring to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi. He was convicted for supplying batteries and other bomb materials to ...
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13th May 2022 | Vineeth Krishna E
Why India's Constitution Framers Hated the Sedition Law
On 11 June 2022, the Supreme Court permitted the Union to re-examine the constitutional validity of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, which criminalizes seditio...
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23rd April 2022 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Sardar Patel's Spirited Defence of the Indian Civil Services
Image Credits: Samruddha Bharat Foundation
In light of Civil Services Day which was celebrated on 21 April, we give you a peek into a fascinating moment in the Cons...
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31st March 2022 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Why Do Some Union Expenses Not Require Parliament’s Approval?
Image Credits: parliamentofindia.nic.in
Yesterday, the Rajya Sabha approved the Appropriation Bill 2022. The Lok Sabha had done the same a week ago. With this, the ...
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29th March 2022 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Did Indians Participate in Constitution Making?
The Constituent Assembly publicly circulated the Draft Constitution 1948 and received feedback and comments. We know this from Shiva Rao’s six-volume The Framing of In...
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16th February 2022 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Constitution Framers Refused to Regulate Religious Attire
We appear to be in the midst of a heated public debate around religious attire in educational institutions. 74 years ago, the Indian Constituent Assembly took a decision o...
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5th February 2022 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Indian Framers Deliberately Chose ‘Union of States’
On 2 February, in Parliament, a leader of the Congress Party referred to India as a ‘Union of States’. This has offended the BJP and triggered political controversy. A BJP...
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31st December 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: What Counts as Forced Labour?
Earlier this month, the world observed 2 December as the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. This marked the 72nd anniversary of an important United N...
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24th December 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Is Religious Conversion about Individuals or Groups?
On 1 May 1947, Constituent Assembly members discussed an early version of the Constitution’s fundamental rights chapter that included a right to convert to other relig...
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30th November 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The 25th Amendment
(This Brief is part of a series that highlights the context, content and effect of important constitutional amendments that were passed in India after we enacted our ...
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27th September 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Why Hindi is not our National Language
On 14 September 1949, Hindi was accepted as the official language by the Constituent Assembly, which is celebrated as Hindi Diwas every year. Every year this date is also ...
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31st August 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: In The Name of God
Recently, a few MLAs from Karnataka were inducted into the State cabinet. When they took their oaths, they invoked the name of specific gods like Gaumata, Seva Lal, Vijayn...
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29th August 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The Constituent Assembly on Indigenous People's Rights
9 August marked the International Day of World’s Indigenous People. In India, indigenous people number around 104 million and comprise 8.6% of the population. Adivasi or ...
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18th August 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Jaipal Singh- Captaining Indian Hockey and Tribal Rights
In 1928, India sent an official contingent to the Olympics for the first time which included a hockey team. The team was captained by Jaipal Singh who had...
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29th April 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Federalism in the Time of Corona
Vaccination programmes in India date back to the early 19th Century – the smallpox vaccine was one of the first initiatives. It was administered by the Vaccination and San...
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23rd April 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The Sea Has No Caste
Around 108 years ago, on 21 April, hundreds from the Pulaya (a Dalit community in Kerala) and other lower-caste communities came together on small boats on Kerala’s backwa...
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31st March 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Constitutionalism in Regional Languages
Constitutionofindia.net has come a long way since we launched the site on Republic Day in 2016. The first version of the site contained human tagged searchable transcripts...
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31st March 2021 | Editorial Team
The Seventh Amendment
On March 25, 1953, the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru announced the creation of India’s very first linguistic State – Andhra Pradesh. Three years later Par...
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12th March 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Salt Satyagraha in the Constituent Assembly
Today, 12 March marks the 91st anniversary of the Gandhi led Salt March. We have already looked at the Salt March through the lens of historical constitutions in the This ...
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12th February 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: When the Military Writes a Constitution
On 1 February 2021, the democratically elected government of Myanmar was dismissed and in marched the Army. The sovereign powers of the Myanmar State were transferred to t...
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3rd February 2021 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Sixth Schedule for Ladakh?
In September 2020, the People’s Movement for the Sixth Schedule for Ladakh passed a resolution stating that they would boycott Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council e...
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26th December 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The First Amendment
In May 1951, the Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress party proposed the first amendment, which made the following modifications to the fundamental rights: Article 19 was amended...
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18th December 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The Minority Report
18th December of every year is celebrated as Minorities Rights Day in India: to highlight the constitutional minority rights – specifically religious minorities. In this b...
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10th December 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Cartooning India’s Powerful
Last week, a comic artist, Rachita Taneja, was charged with contempt of court, because her work (a satirical cartoon) portrayed the Supreme Court being biased towards the ...
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30th November 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Matchmaking in the Indian Constitution
Two recent tv shows – A Suitable Boy and Indian Matchmaking– have reaffirmed what many have always known: that religion, class, and caste have always been important consid...
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26th November 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief - Constitution Day: Some Writings on the Framers of the Indian Constitution
Today, 26th November, is nationally celebrated as Constitution Day. It was on this day in 1949 that the Constituent Assembly formally adopted the Constitution of India, af...
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18th November 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Jaipal Singh Munda & The Demand for Jharkhand
Sunday (15 November) was Jharkhand Foundation Day. On that day in 2000, the state of Jharkhand was formally established through the Bihar State Reorganization Act.
Sin...
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7th November 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Should the U.S. have a Centralized Election Commission?
The ongoing U.S. presidential elections are the most contentious in recent memory. Even before Election Day on 3rd November, over 300 lawsuits had been filed challenging v...
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28th September 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Bhagat Singh’s Legacy – A Constitutional Revolutionary?
Today, 113 years ago, Bhagat Singh was born in undivided Punjab. His role in the Indian freedom movement has been immortalised in literature, art, and film owing to his dr...
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14th September 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The Demand for Gender Equality in Property Law
In August 2020, the Supreme Court in Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma held that Hindu women could claim equal rights as men in ancestral property. Although the Hindu Succes...
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30th August 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Education and Universal Adult Franchise
India, unlike many other nations, adopted universal adult franchise immediately after it gained independence. Under British rule, franchise was subject to certain qualific...
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24th August 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The Demand for 'Mother Tongue Instruction' in the Constituent Assembly
The National Education Policy, released in July 2020, has proposed major reforms to India’s education system. It reiterates the controversial ‘three-language formula’ whic...
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14th August 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Tracing Constitutional Values in India’s Education Policies
Since independence, the Central Government has released three different policy frameworks for the Indian education system. The first and second, known as the National Po...
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31st July 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Did the Framers Think the Constitution Was 'Socialist' and 'Secular'?
A petition before the Supreme Court has asked it to declare the insertion of the words ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ by the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976 as unconsti...
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29th July 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: People's Participation in the Indian Constitution Process
Our blog post over the weekend looked at how the Constituent Assembly reacted to proposals that wanted to include referendums into the Constitution. Today, we highlight an...
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17th July 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: India - The First Republic in the Commonwealth
26 January 1950 was a momentous day in history: not only did the Constitution of India, 1950 come into force, but India also became a republic – marking the first time tha...
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7th July 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The Constituent Assembly's Alter Ego
Most of us know that the Constituent Assembly of India sat on 165 days to draft India’s Constitution over a period of 2 years and 11 months. But did you know that the memb...
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3rd July 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The Shared Constitutional Heritage of India & Myanmar
Myanmar is due to hold general elections on November 8th, in an event that is widely seen as a test of the country’s transition to democracy. Much as when it gained indepe...
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26th June 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Crime and Punishment in the Gandhian Constitution
On 27 June 2020, the National Constitution Society along with the Centre for Law and Policy Research will organise a webinar on Prisoners & the Pandemic: Health, Safet...
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20th June 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: ‘Bharat’ vs. ‘India' - Using History in Constitutional Interpretation
The Supreme Court recently dismissed a plea to rename India as Bharat by amending Article 1 of the Constitution. Article 1(1) of the Draft Constitution, 1948, declared tha...
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12th June 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: 'State Citizenship' and Public Health
The Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, recently declared that Delhi hospitals were closed to non-residents of the state. Although the order was overruled by the Lie...
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5th June 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Ambedkar was Influenced by the American Civil Rights Movement
The death of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, at the hands of a white police officer has sparked large-scale protests across the world. Floyd’s death has ser...
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28th May 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Ambedkar and the Annihilation of Social Distancing
Defined as ‘keeping space between yourself and other people outside of your home’, social distancing has been prescribed as the most effective counter to the spread of COV...
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23rd May 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: B.H. Khardekar: The Constituent Assembly’s ‘King of Good Times’
On 24th November 1948, B.H. Khardekar stood up in the Constituent Assembly to speak for the first time. He confessed he was nervous, and told members that he had never spo...
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20th May 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: India's Stimulus Package - A Socialist Move?
The impact of the ongoing pandemic on the world economy has caused many states to announce economic stimulus packages. Some commentators have described this move as social...
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16th May 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Public Health and the Marginalised
The ongoing lockdown in India has resulted in economic insecurity for millions of people, particularly those working as casual or daily wage labourers. Migrant workers wer...
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30th April 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Liberty during Lockdown
For almost a month now, the Central and State Governments have issued extraordinary orders to battle COVID-19: travel has been banned, national and state borders have ...
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27th April 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief | India’s Public Health Wonder Woman: Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
COVID-19 continues to test the resolve of nations – their institutions, leaders and people. India too is in the thick of this global fight. While COVID-19 is unique ...
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21st March 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: The Supreme Court and its ‘Special’ Power
The Supreme Court of India is one of the unique apex courts in the world. It acts as an appellate and constitutional court. The Constitution of India, 1950 mandates the Co...
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24th February 2020 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: A Beginning of a Constitutional Culture?
On the eve of Republic Day this year, Mandakini Panda and Prithwik Mishra got married in Berhampur, Odisha taking their vows on the Indian Constitution. In Karnataka, gues...
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29th November 2019 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Rights to Duties?
This week, India celebrated Constitution Day.
26 November 2019 marked the 70th anniversary of the Constituent Assembly adopting the Constitution. In a joint parliament...
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26th November 2019 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Happy Constitution Day
Exactly 70 years ago, on 26 November 1949, Constituent Assembly President Rajendra Prasad for the last time put a question to the house -
President: It now remains to p...
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11th November 2019 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Interstellar
On 31st August 1949, the Constituent Assembly was slotting 'items' into the Union and State Lists. The Union government would have legislative and executive power over the...
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14th October 2019 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Home and the World: Cosmopolitanism in Indian Constitution Making
The Indian freedom movement sought total Independence from British colonial rule but saw India firmly tethered to the world affairs. When Indians were drafting their Const...
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8th October 2019 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Gandhi in Indian Constitution-Making
There is a dominant view that Gandhi's role in constitution-making was minor. Gandhi’s vision of basing India’s federal, political and administrative set up on the panchay...
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23rd September 2019 | Editorial Team
Desk Brief: Hindi: A National or Official Language?
Last week, on Hindi Diwas, Union Minister Amit Shah controversially suggested that Hindi be adopted as India's national language.
Sure enough, this triggered push back ...