Democratic Institutions

 https://m.thewire.in/article/rights/farm-laws-legal-rights-constitution

[09/12, 11:54] John DSouza: Does the BJP think that they will always be in power? What is more plausible is that the bureaucracy has been introducing such jurisprudence in increments in different fields. I feel that as a civil liberties group we should start a campaign for public and third party regulatory oversight by an independently elected group on delighted legislation, which also includes interpretation by jailors, prosecutors, agencies of civil liberties provision... My question to the lawyers would be what kind of public oversight systems exist in other countries, and what kind of Model Bill can we draft for and campaign. I know we cannot ask for the earth, but can we have a minimalist draft which we could get support for. Earlier the press was supposed to play this role. Later they said that Civil society organisations like unions and them NGOs all of whom are slowly being marginalised..

Trumpism, of different hues is the biggest danger to democracy worldwide.  This means that our main task is to increase the component of participative democracy - thus institutions like Gram Sabhas, RTI, Ward Committees, Local Maidan committees, SHGs ( Self Help Groups) Cooperatives, Local Credit Exchanges, Ethical Investments, Producer-consumer cooperatives are our first line of democractic defence..

"from last year, under the provision of a freshly devised Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA, for short), the state can unilaterally declare someone to be a “terrorist”, which allows them to send this alleged terrorist to prison, without trial. A number of human rights activists have been designated as terrorists and are in jail already under this governmental arrangement, and many others have been warned that the UAPA would be applied to them unless they obey the authorities and stop being anti-government.-" Amartya Sen: https://scroll.in/article/977260/amartya-sen-world-is-facing-pandemic-of-authoritarianism. There are more and more countries where authoritarian developments are making the freedom to disagree harder – often much harder – than it used to be. There is a reason for alarm in the repressive tendencies in many countries in the world today, including in Asia, in Europe, in Latin America, in Africa and within the United States of America.

( to this author, the task is therefore is more to get back to basics, to turn the tide of public opinion, on the importance of basic human ideals. which also means that people do need to feel that they will not be destitute if the current international regime) 

SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO STAY FRESH SALE OF ELECTORAL BONDS https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-refuses-stay-fresh-sale-electoral-bonds-adr 

During the hearing, the Election Commission of India told the court that it was opposed to a stay on the sale of bonds. “The issue of transparency can be considered at the final argument stage, and there should be no interim stay,” ECI counsel and senior lawyers Rakesh Dwivedi told the Supreme Court.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for ADR, said that the anonymous bonds “legalised corruption,” raising the objections that the Reserve Bank of India and the Election Commission put forward when the Centre was mulling their implementation.

"Electoral Bonds: A case of collective institutional complicity?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxzoeJCqZMI 
https://www.facebook.com/103375546389190/posts/3829780953748612/

https://www.facebook.com/133856666542/posts/10159238809951543/ 

the focus points of the panel discussion:
1. Institutional paralysis and Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018
2. Judicial intervention and electoral bonds case
3. Are the opposition parties really opposed to the Electoral Bond Scheme?
4. Role of RTI in obtaining the information on Electoral Bonds
Moderator: Maj Gen Anil Verma (Retd.) (Head of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) & National Election Watch)
Speakers:
1. Prof Jagdeep Chhokar (Founder Member & Trustee of ADR)
2. Mr Gautam Bhatia (Lawyer, Author & Constitutional Expert)
3. Mr Vihar Durve (RTI Activist)
4. Mr Nitin Sethi (Journalist, Member of The Reporters' Collective, Media Lead at The National Foundation for India & Partner at Land Conflict Watch)

https://www.newsclick.in/UP-posters-8-anti-CAA-activists-put-once-again-bounty-announced

https://sabrangindia.in/interview/dec-15-jamia-attack-anniversary Adv. Colin Gonsalves.."the Delhi police have done us a very big favour. They have done a political class for the country and a political like a tutorial for the country on understanding power, understand state power, understand the police, understand judiciary, understand that law doesn’t work in the country. It is only muscle power and guns that work and learn to organize, mobilize, educate, stay there no matter. It’s been a tremendous political education of the young." ..."I think this is a period of awakening and I think from the Jamia struggle, the Aligarh struggle, CAA struggles and NRC struggles, the state has sown the seeds of rebellion, the fighting against injustice and that is a very powerful thing. The police may be very proud of themselves for what they do and the government may pat them on their back, but the seeds of resistance have gone deep into the Indian soil and the shoots will come and the flowers will come, the trees and the branches will come. The seeds of rebellion and the fight against injustice starts from here. " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTL8pksbDe4