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Showing posts from December 5, 2016

Making of a legislative court(thehidu)

The Supreme Court of India, on November 30, gave an order that the national anthem will have to be played before feature films at cinema halls all over the country, and that those present in these halls are obliged to stand up to show respect. Similar orders on respecting the national anthem have been delivered by two High Courts in recent years. Indeed such an order is not in any way an aberration in the post-Emergency trajectory of the higher judiciary. A few months back, the Madras High Court mandated that Thirukkural be taught in all schools in Tamil Nadu. Currently, in another case, the Supreme Court is considering making yoga compulsory in schools. While patriotism, education and health may all perhaps be desirable goals, what is common here is the court compulsorily prescribing highly specific modes of pursuing these lofty aims. Such judicial decisions have three other common attributes. First, all such cases are in the PIL (public interest litigation) jurisdiction. Second, the

A Patchy Approach to Fight Vector-Borne Diseases(thehindu)

The State of Delhi, with a history of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, chikungunya and dengue, suffered from one of the worst outbreaks, especially chikungunya, this year. According to data released by the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme (NVBDCP), the central nodal agency for the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases in India, last year, dengue had infected 15,867 people and had killed 60 patients in Delhi 1  . The latest data released by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, which tabulates the data for vector-borne diseases in Delhi, states that 342 new suspected cases of chikungunya were reported in the week ending November 6, 2016, taking the total number of suspected cases to11,193 in the State  2   . Out of these, 8,938 cases have been confirmed  3   . Though the civic bodies in Delhi have kept the death tally at zero, the Press Trust of India reports that at least 15 fatalities were reported at various hospitals due to complications tri