India Before 1991: Stories of Life Under the License Raj

On 15 August 1947, when India achieved independence, the country was grappling with problems of widespread poverty and crises in agriculture as well as industries. The First Five Year Plan was launched in 1951 which mainly focused…

Beer in India: Getting high on taxes

Beer is likely one of the most socially acceptable and culturally cherished alcoholic beverages. It is also the oldest and the third most consumed (after water and tea) beverage in the world. The state governments in India though would rather have you drink…

GST threatens to undermine fiscal federalism and tax competition

There is a compelling idea that has come to be taken very seriously — that uniformity is a definite good that must be pursued: uniformity in laws, in institutions, in cultural values and even tax rates. One can see the…

The important thing is not to stop questioning

“The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries…

The Birth of the Drug

Jai Venaik considers the long history of drug and law in India, and highlights the pivotal role of the Narcotic Drugs…

School closures in India: A real policy challenge

Rohan Joshi, Divya Aggarwal: Centre for Civil Society

Judicial Activism and India’s Living Constitution

The following post is written in response to an article on the Indian Constitution that was published recently on the blog. The author is Siddhant Kohli.

Uniform Civil Code: From Status to Contract

“If the law is considered as ‘the enterprise of subjecting human conduct to the governance of rules,’ then this enterprise is being conducted, not on two or three fronts, but on thousands.”

Nani Palkhivala | The Democracies of India and the USA (1974)