Tag: rule of law

Popular Essays

Better Laws and Governments in times of Crises

By DALE LUIS MENEZES

Good laws are necessary in times of crisis, or even otherwise. The poor management by state and central authorities of the COVID-19 pandemic lays bare the legal and infrastructural unpreparedness in India. As if the threat of the disease was not enough, the country-wide lockdown created more problems regarding the welfare of the countless million laborers in the casual and informal sectors. There exist no laws, and no new ones were made that protect such laborers in times of crises. Consequently, the government’s policies in tackling COVID-19 essentially lacks a strong legal basis. (more…)

Popular Essays

Cops and Sentinels

By DALE LUIS MENEZES

 

The ‘Traffic Sentinel’ initiative by the Goa Police has divided public opinion. While both sides, that is, those who support and those who oppose the initiative, have their reasons, most miss the forest for a few trees. Many do not seem to notice the larger issue at stake, which is, public law and order, due process, and the efficient functioning of the state. While there is no doubt that traffic violations need to be curbed, it appears that the authorities have abdicated their role in the maintenance of law and order. And yet, it should also be highlighted that the citizens cannot be expected to fulfill the duty of the state and its agents.

 

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Popular Essays

On Vandalizations and the Rule of Law

By JASON KEITH FERNANDES

 

Through the month of July, Catholics in Goa were under considerable distress following a spate of vandalizations, both of crosses as well as grave stones. For a while the state seemed unable to address the situation until the police identified one Francis Pereira as the perpetrator of these acts. However, if the state authorities were under the impression that this arrest would satisfy civil society in Goa, then they were sadly mistaken. Incredulous that a fifty-year-old man could single-handedly engage in so much destruction, the arrest has become the butt of jokes and caustic comment from Goan citizens.

 

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Popular Essays

Law and Liberties in Times of Executive Fiats

By DALE LUIS MENEZES

 

The Central Government has added a few more rules to the existing Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. The Rules attempts to regulate the sale of cattle (and only cattle, as opposed to all animals) in markets, stipulating that cattle cannot be sold for slaughter but only for agricultural purposes. Many argued, and rightly so, that the Central Government’s attempts amounted to a backdoor restriction on the consumption of beef. And there are good reasons to believe that the motives of an openly Hindu nationalist government are indeed to stop the consumption of beef – one way or the other.

 

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