Legal Notes - September - October 2019

In this issue

As Greta Thunberg's 'How Dare you' speech became the most discussed topic post the 2019 UN Climate Summit, the world is seeing an exponential increase in the number of people taking up the cause of acting on climate change. Amidst the hullabaloo lies India with its numerous laws battling one of the worst tragedies. Be it the unending air pollution in northern India or the water scarcity in southern India, our environment laws seem to be taking us on a road to nowhere. Rachna Rana Bhattacharya questions the fundamentals behind the application of these laws and discusses the way forward. On the International front, Purdue Pharma held responsible for the Opioid crisis in USA has filed bankruptcy succumbing to pressure from more than 2,600 lawsuits. But the important question remains, will this move allow the Sacklers, the owners of Purdue, to go scot free? Plus all our regular features that includes Panorama, a list of high profile cases under the CBI-ED ambit and Glossary, a breakdown of all the laws scrapped, amended and applied to the Union Territory of J&K.

J&-K A Jumble Of Laws

The transition of Jammu and Kashmir from a state to a Union Territory hasn’t been an easy one.

2 mins

Time For Action

Since time immemorial, the environment has had a larger-than-life place in the Indian scheme of things. But the Nineties and the new century have really been a sad story of a virtually unending line of laws failing to combat the increasing levels of pollution brought forth by urbanisation, and the global pressure about greenhouse emissions resulting in the Paris accord that now brings in its wake greater pressure on countries to tighten laws. Amidst all this, India shines as a classic example of the irrational mindset of enacting more laws to produce less pollution. RACHANA RANA BHATTACHARYA, while examining the dizzying number of laws that engulf us and the incredulously lopsided judicial pronouncements made by different courts, poses a simple question: What is the way forward?

10+ mins

Tata, Bye-Bye?

What would one choose between their right to vote in local body elections and to receive world class civic amenities? The answer isn’t as simple as it looks. Jamshedpur — the land of the Tatas has been struggling with this question for the last 30 years and looks like they still haven’t found an answer. Maintained by the Tatas, there has been a steady incline in the number of voices demanding a government operated municipality to take over the town. In the midst of consecutive orders by various High Courts, the Supreme Court and clashing opinions, SHWETA MENON in her visit to the steel city found that the majority verdict by the janta remains in favour of the Tatas.

10+ mins

Who's Responsible For Fukushima?

Even as the Fukushima nuclear disaster continues to haunt a section of the Japanese people and the world, a Japanese Court’s decision to acquit the nuclear power company, TEPCO’s bosses after three years of trial, raises questions over the use of nuclear power for energy needs.

5 mins

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Legal Notes Magazine Description:

Legal Notes, the latest addition in the Newsline Publications group, proposes to bring a fresh perspective to legal issues.
On any given day, there could be 40 different items in the news with respect to courts – right down from the Supreme Court to the district court on a range of issues from Blue Whale to NEET to Love Jihad and Blackberry messages. It’s as bewildering as it is exhilarating. In fact, it’s liberating that in this democracy of ours we have the ability to debate agree or dissent as we continue our march onwards.
Legal Notes will seek to assess, analyse, debate and dissect how the business of law impacts our lives in a hundred different ways. LN hopes to record the business of law each month for your reading pleasure.