The year 2015 was a much awaited year with the hopes and expectation that major changes would come about with the BJP’s unprecedented majority in parliament. The AAP made a clean sweep in the Delhi election coming to power with a thumping majority. The electoral results changed the paradigm from politics of coalition to government with stability. However, much awaited was the Budget which was expected to be pro poor but the no major changes was outlined by the Finance Minister. In fact the government policy of ‘make in India’ by inducing growth saw policies tilting more towards privatisation and corporate sector. Furthermore, in a move to bring about change the government has used the majority to its advantage passing a number of ordinance and has been termed as a government of ordinances. However, certain major bill like the Land Acquisition Bill is facing a major opposition as being anti-farmer.
The major event at the start of the year was President Obama’s visit to India as the chief guest of the Republic Day celebration. A much awaited visit as it was seen to strengthen the ties with India especially with reference to Nuclear Power and business. Both sides hope to build enough momentum to forge a relationship that will help balance China’s rise by catapulting democratic India into the league of major world powers.At the international front the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which originally stood for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, now simply calls itself “Islamic State,” a religious group with carefully considered beliefs and has appointed itself the leading proponent of the Muslim faith. It is trying to re-create the earliest days of Islam and is faithfully reproducing its norms of war. They are destroying churches, shrines and mosques in its wake as it storms across Syria and Iraq, and seem bent on killing and destroying anyone or anything that does not measure up to their vision of Islam. “They see themselves as the last defenders of Islamic civilization and want to eradicate anything that they see as the enemy of Islam, and any Muslim they perceive as compromising with the West. While the middle east is grappling with these issue, in India the attacks on minority and their place of religion with the home coming ‘ghar wapsi’ agenda is challenging the idea of secularism while also re-questioning as to what secularism stands for.
All these event both at the national and the international level bring to the fore issues as what Ted Gurr referred to in his book titled ‘Why Men Rebel’. The book written in 1970 on the heels of political violence and pro-test that had not only engulfed corners of Africa or South East Asia but also USA. The book provides a systematic discussion and analysis of the causes of political protest and rebellion, while paying much attention to the politics of group identity, grievances, and governmental response. Does this call for a re-reading to see whether his arguments are applicable today.
However here at Gujarat National Law University the authorities on social movement Prof. Ghanshyam Shah and Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty shared the dice for a thought provoking discussion on social movement. Prof. Mohanty new title, ‘Red and Green: Five Decades of the Maoist Movement’ was released by Prof. Shah on 11 March, 2015. While Prof. Shah spoke on the merits of the book while he emphasised on his main thesis that Social movements primarily take the form of non-institutionalised collective political action which strive for political and /or social change. Prof. Mohanty discussed the content of the book while concluding that any policy to counter challenges that emerges from various social movements requires the state to address the basic issues like fundamental rights and dignity while affirming that dialogue remains central to democracy.
On another front, GNLU in collaboration with IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Kanpur organised the first International Conference on Law and Economics, which is a cutting-edge interdisciplinary subject applying economic tools and concepts to better understand, explain and improve legal rules and structures. A number of world-renowned experts was a part of the conference. To name a few we had, Dr. Hans-Bernd Scha¨fer from the Bucerius Law School, Hamburg, Dr. Thomas Eger from the University of Hamburg, Germany, Dr. Jay P Kesan from the University of Illinois, USA, Dr. Manoj Dalvi from Long Island University, USA, Dr. Thomas Ulen from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), USA, and Dr. Norbert Reich from the University of Bremen, Germany, besides eminent professor from IIM-A, IIT-K and other Universities. The conference pro- vided new insights on the importance of a multi and inter disciplinary approach to research while emphasising on the fact that law needs to draw from social science not only from an analytical perspective but to analyse the implication and effectiveness of the law.
The convergence of great minds have been like a beacon lighting the path toward new avenues and opportunities of research. The journal was launched with the same purpose and objective. It was to be a platform for scholars to bring the interface of law with development, while politics was seen from the broader Aristotelian definition to include all enquiry encompassing the broader social science.
The river Ganga regarded as a Goddess is being revered from the earliest times and is regarded as the holiest of rivers by Hindus. Passing through northern India it has enormous cultural and economic significance. While it supports about 8% of the world’s population living in its catchments who directly or indirectly depends on it for their livelihood, it is one of the most polluted and highly exploited rivers in the world. The first article deals with the issue of pollution of the river Ganga. The authors has attempted to identify the various source of pollution and seeks to analyse the various Government initiatives for the protection and conservation of the river Ganga. The paper also discusses the impact of these policies and measures taken for the protection of the river Ganga.
The next article deal with microfinance as an intervention for alleviation of poverty and socio economic development. The paper analyse the initiate by NABARD and attempts to understand how self-help group can contribute toward the building social capital among the poor particularly women.
While economic globalisation has boosted international trade, commercial disputes have also increased. The third article deals with the status of New York Convention in Kuwait. The author examines the factors whether foreign arbitral awards are recognisable and enforceable and argues that it is mostly the attitude of the courts is a major determining factor in recognizing such awards.
The fourth article looks into the attempts to critically analyze the existing institutional regimes in the form of the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan and how the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague is playing a significant role in resolving the Kishanganga dispute. The author also analyse the judgment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and its implication for India in context of the Kishanganga project and the other hydroelectric project it is constructing on the tributaries of Indus.
The next article looks at the issues of refugees. Looking from an historical perspective the author draws attention to the concept of refugees, popularly knows as ‘Sharanagat’ that existed in both ancient and medieval India. Although India is not a party to the Refugee Convention 1951 and Refugee Protocol 1967 India has sheltered over 2.5 million refugees since post-independence. The author argues that accession to the Refugee Convention and Protocol along with the drafting of a Domestic Refugee Legislation will be a priceless move in the interest of India.
GNLU Journal of Law Development and Politics have entered the sixth year of its existence. The journey has been arduous and chequered but it has played the role of bringing about a convergence of issues of law, development and politics.
Rajrupa Sinha Roy, Dr. Indrajit Dube and Dr. Dipa Dube
Abstract
River Ganga is the National River of India and flows through the different states. It is highly polluted due to discharges of untreated sewage disposal and industrial effluents directly into the river and its tributaries. In West Bengal, various sources of pollution have been identified, contributing to the worsening of water quality of river Ganga. Initially, the paper will discuss major sources of pollution such as, ‘municipal wastes’, ‘dumping untreated waste water into river’, ‘disposal of wastes in different forms’, ‘disposal of untreated industrial wastes’, ‘agricultural wastes’, ‘wastes from large cattle-shed’, ‘animal carcasses and human remains’ and ‘day to day human activities in the river’ and ‘dredging’. The later part of the paper will elaborate various Government’s initiative for the protection and conservation of river Ganga like ‘Ganga Action Plan I and II’. It will also elaborate measures taken under the policies and the impact of these policies on protection of river Ganga.
Sazzad Parwez
Abstract
This article is based on the premise that poverty has developed social system and subsystems of its own for exploiting poor and especially women in India. To alleviate poverty Micro-finance is an intervention based on social intermediation in which poor people can mobilize their savings, link it with credit and finally become self-employed and generate livelihood. This article traces the evolution of the Microfinance revolution in India as a powerful tool for poverty alleviation on the basis of NABARD initiative. In the present paper an attempt has been made to understand the concept of Self Help Group (SHGs) at rural level in particular and how the micro-finance sector can contribute significantly to building social capital among poor and women, while exploring the role of NABARD. The context of this paper also derives from the current overriding emphasis on microfinance in rural finance discourse and also as to how SHGs can play important role in development livelihood and community.
Saad Badah
Abstract
Foreign arbitral awards should be recognizable and enforceable. However, this is not always the case; they are recognizable and enforceable in some countries but not in others. Those countries that recognize and enforce awards are mostly developed countries, whereas those which do not are mainly developing countries. This study compares and contrasts the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Kuwait with a view to discovering why its recognizable and enforceable. Three factors determining whether or not foreign arbitral awards are recognizable and enforceable are identified in this study. They are the availability and adequacy of the legal framework, the attitude of the business community, and the attitude of the courts. The inquiry, accordingly, focuses on an examination of those factors in both countries. The examination reveals that the third factor is the determining element regarding the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.
RishavBanerjee
Abstract
The landmark Indus Water Treaty set to achieve water cooperation between India and Pakistan is now essentially at the epicenter of the conflict. Despite having witnessed some success, it is confronted with endless geopolitical hiccups and legal battles which question its future pertinence as both Pakistan and India have remained apprehensive of each other’s motives. Recently the Kishanganga project became the bone in the throat, where India wants to diverge one-third of the river water of Jhelum one of the tributaries of Indus to build a 330 MW hydroelectric project. Pakistan has accused India of aggravating stress on water resources by constructing dams and Islamist groups in Pakistan have taken up the water issue as a new focus. This article is an attempt to put forth the various riparian issues of India with Pakistan in context of the Kishanganga dispute. The author shall brainstorm and critically analyze the existing institutional regimes in the form of the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan and how the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague is playing a significant role in resolving the Kishanganga dispute. In short the author shall analyze the judgment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and what it means for India in context of the Kishanganga project and the other hydroelectric project it is constructing on the tributaries of Indus.
P.K. Bharath Kesav
Abstract
Over the past few years, the World has been rocked by the series of events across national and International domain about Nation’s Energy Security. Traditionally, energy was considered as the only hydrocarbons but now it also encompasses non conventional energy resources as well. It is observed that the global energy relations are undergoing a change and in the changing energy scenario, the developed countries slowly reducing its dependence on energy and striving towards energy independence. When we talk of India, a country with impressive growth rate and booming economy, its sustainable growth rate is highly dependent upon the India’s energy Security. This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of Nuclear power generation and its growing need in contemporary period of development. Though atomic energy today generates less than 3% of India’s electricity needs, the country has impressive plan for the future. The nation had embarked on the development of nuclear power generation infrastructure and this process however was not smooth. It had to overcome enormous difficulties to reach the present state. This paper will also discuss the inclusion of India into the global nuclear energy order which made India to do necessary structural and procedural modifications in its nuclear regulatory framework by bringing them in conformity with international norms and practices. The recent Fukushima episode or Chernobyl incidence revealed to the world the dangers involved in using the atomic power to generate electricity. These accidents had even led many countries to either withdraw the plans for construction of new reactors or decommission the operating reactors. However, the Nuclear power sector is making a strong comeback even in countries like Germany which had planned the closure of existing plants.
