Tag Archives: Supreme Court of India
A cricket beyond politics
On September 11, the Supreme Court was asked to urgently hear a petition that sought to cancel the Asia Cup T20 match between India and Pakistan scheduled for September 14 in the UAE. The petition, filed by four law students, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 1996 World Cup, Article 51, Ashis Nandy, Asia Cup, Board of Control for Cricket in India, cricket, national interest, Olympic Truce, Operation Sindoor, Pahalgam attack, Supreme Court of India
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The Berry phase of Kancha Gachibowli
There’s a concept in quantum mechanics, and also in parts of classical mechanics, called the Berry phase. Say you’re walking around a mountain. You start off along a path and follow it all the way until you’re back to the … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds, Scicomm
Tagged adiabatic process, afforestation, Berry phase, BR Gavai, deforestation, entropy, environment, ferromagnetism, Kancha Gachibowli, magnetic hysteresis, Supreme Court of India, Telangana
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Do the poor want to be poor?
‘Justice Gavai’s comments on freebies overlook people’s struggle for survival: Brinda Karat’, The Hindu, February 14, 2025: CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat said the recent remarks on freebies by Supreme Court Judge Justice B.R. Gavai fails to recognise the … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis
Tagged Brinda Karat, cash transfer, destitution, direct benefit transfer, Justice BR Gavai, labour force participation, poverty alleviation, Social welfare, Supreme Court of India
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Correlation isn’t causation — the EVM edition
The space to disagree with the Election Commission’s position vis-à-vis the integrity of electronic voting machines without finding oneself backtracking into the Congress or the BJP camps is shrinking, and both national parties as well as the Supreme Court have … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis
Tagged Bharatiya Janata Party, Election Commission of India, electronic voting machines, Indian National Congress, Maharashtra, paper ballots, software testing, Supreme Court of India, voter-verifiable paper audit trail, voting
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Justice delayed but a ton of bricks await
From ‘SC declines Ramdev, Patanjali apology; expresses concern over FMCGs taking gullible consumers ‘up and down the garden path’’, The Hindu, April 10, 2024: The Supreme Court has refused to accept the unconditional apology from Patanjali co-founder Baba Ramdev and … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Op-eds, Science
Tagged Baba Ramdev, contempt of court, Coronil, COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Manmohan Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Patanjali Ayurved, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Supreme Court of India, Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority
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Cheers for everyone but the bustard
Behold, the legerdemain of spinning bad news into good: Setting aside the meaningless headline, we have a lede (and the rest of the article, for that matter) that claims the Supreme Court of India “struck” a fine balancing act between … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
Tagged great Indian bustard, solar power, Supreme Court of India, Tushar Mehta, underground power cables
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Government by Supreme Court
On February 27, a bench of the Supreme Court upbraided Patanjali Ayurved and its chairman Acharya Balkrishna for continuing to disparage systems of medicine other than Ayurveda (technically, what it calls Ayurveda) and claiming its products offer “permanent relief” from … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Op-eds
Tagged Acharya Balkrishna, Advertising Standards Council of India, Ayurveda, Baba Ramdev, Indian Medical Association, Ministry of AYUSH, Patanjali Ayurved, pharmacovigilance, Pushpa Mitra Bhargava, Ritwick Dutta, Supreme Court of India, TN Godavarman
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Courts and COVID
India’s courts have played a prominent in helping (or not) the country manage its COVID-19 epidemic, especially during the second wave this year – from asking the government to explain which proofs of identity will be accepted at vaccination centres … Continue reading
Posted in Op-eds
Tagged B.1.1.7, B.1.617, COVID-19 pandemic, Indian judiciary, oxygen shortage, Supreme Court of India
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On cancers, false balance and the judiciary
Climate change has for long been my go-to example to illustrate how absolute objectivity can sometimes be detrimental to the reliability of a news report. Stating that A said “Climate change is real” and that B replied “No, it isn’t” … Continue reading
Posted in Scicomm, Science
Tagged cancer, carcinogen, cellphone towers, false balance, Joel Moskowitz, lung cancer, non-ionising radiation, radio-frequency radiation, Supreme Court of India
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