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Does Local Non-Farm Income Moderate the Intensity of Climate Change Induced Migration in India?
No full textWhile the impact of climate change on migration is well documented in the literature, very little is known about the moderating impact of local non-farm income on climate change induced migration. To fill this gap in the literature, the paper combines real time weather data provided by Indian Meteorological Department with a very rich household data on Indian states belonging to the eastern and semi-arid tropic regions collected by ICRISAT to investigate whether farmers always resort to migration or take it up as a second-best option only after they fail to diversify locally on the face of climate change induced crop loss. Using recursive econometric model, it is observed that households first try to diversify their income by engaging in local non-farm activities and availability of local non-farm income further moderates the effect of climate change induced yield loss on migration. Higher rural out migration may adversely impact the agricultural sector and affect sustainable urbanization, Also, decision to migrate is often challenging as it necessitates leaving behind social and community networks. Therefore, our findings offer valuable insights and discusses important policy recommendations towards improving the access to local non-farm activities
On the Promises and Failures of Anticolonial Constitutionalism in India: A Review of Sandipto Dasgupta’s Legalizing the Revolution
No full textThis review of Sandipto Dasgupta’s Legalizing the Revolution: India and the Constitution of the Postcolony (Cambridge University Press 2024) delves into the complex legacy of constitutionalism in postcolonial India. The book assesses constitutionalism in India as an instrument that translated the revolutionary aspirations of an anticolonial mass movement into a legal framework for societal transformation. Dasgupta illuminates constitutionalism’s dynamic mediation of conflicting visions from India’s diverse masses and its political leaders, demonstrating how it intertwined the promise of anticolonialism with enduring tensions of representation, legal interpretation, and bureaucratic planning. He critically analyses its role in the development discourse in India, its accommodation of the voice of the Indian people, and its negotiation between colonial legacies and ambitions of democratic reinvention. The review evaluates Dasgupta’s methodological innovation in treating constitutionalism as an evolving project and assesses his argument about “the people” as authors of India’s political destiny. While appreciating its nuanced take on constitutionalism, it identifies areas where the book overlooks popular contributions to constitutionalism and alternate visions of development rooted in diverse epistemologies. The review situates the book within the current crises of constitutionalism in India, reflecting on its relevance for understanding India’s political trajectory as a postcolonial democracy. This discussion contributes to ongoing debates on the intersection of democracy, law, and decolonisation, making Dasgupta’s insights indispensable for scholars and practitioners alike
“Continuity without Cultivation”?: The Student Figure, Legal Education, and Writing Pedagogy in India
No full textThis paper reconstructs the historical figure of the student in India through the intertwined trajectories of writing pedagogy and legal education. Moving beyond the socio-political portrayal of students as agents of resistance or nation-building, it examines how the classroom can function as a dynamic site for meaning-making. Drawing on archival materials, including syllabi, composition manuals, and legal reform reports, the paper traces the role of English language education in shaping legal pedagogy from the colonial period to the establishment of contemporary National Law Universities. Situating these developments within broader debates in writing and composition studies, the paper proposes alternative pedagogical approaches—such as prioritising in-class writing, fostering silence, and employing contract grading— to reimagine the student. By emphasising process-oriented learning over external benchmarks, this paper contributes to a historical understanding of education with the student at its centre and argues for the classroom to be understood as a conceptual site of higher education in the country
Locating Socio-Legal Research in Pakistan: A Reflexive Approach
No full textThis article presents a detailed survey of the sites of emergence and development of socio-legal research in Pakistan, locating it on a historical arc extending from the decolonisation era to contemporary times, and organically tracing its trajectory through contextual shifts in knowledge production more broadly. As such, the article takes a reflexive approach to identifying and classifying the socio-legal that eschews pre-existing benchmarks of what constitutes the field globally. In so doing, it makes the central argument that the meaning and evolution of “socio” in socio-legal is contingent on social and historical context. The article begins with a broad Pakistan-India comparison that foregrounds the salience of context in the production of socio-legal knowledge in Pakistan, exploring in particular the extent to which the norms and constraints around history-writing have impacted the integration and potentialities of humanistic methods in socio-legal work. It then traverses the early landscape of political science research on public law in Pakistan, connecting these “antecedents” to the subsequent rise and growth of the socio-legal in the legal academy. Finally, drawing on a thick analysis of the emerging trends in the understanding of the “socio” in contemporary scholarship, the article proposes a four-way conceptualisation of “interdisciplinarity” as an aid to understanding the state of the field today and the scope for future research. The core challenge for socio-legal scholars in Pakistan and the broader South Asian region, the article concludes, is to intentionally develop the field beyond elite and state-centred themes
UTI-POSSIDETIS AND CARTOGRAPHIC ANXIETY: LOCATING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN POST-COLONIALINDIA
No full textColonially-instituted administrative lines became international frontiers for emerging nation-states under the doctrine of uti possidetis, a safety valve to facilitate lasting territorial integrity. The conclusive freezing of inherited borders has been prioritized in international law for ushering in lasting \u27peace.\u27 Consequently, gendered dimensions of violence, inflicted by perceiving women to be the \u27biological\u27 carriers of new-found national identity, have been relegated to the margins. With the nation-state\u27~ boundaries being transplanted from the colonizer\u27s map, women\u27s lived experiences of dehumanization have been marginalized by the immediate anxiety of settling the demarcation of territorial lines. The dismemberment of British empire on religious lines sparked tensions about national belonging. Women were consequently reduced to objects, who would have to symbolically uphold the nation-state\u27s boundaries. After the triumphalism of independence had been dispelled by ensuing communal violence, a patriarchal state dispensation assumed the responsibility of , recovering\u27 abducted women from the other side of the border in a reflection of international law\u27s lingering cartographic anxiety. By deploying a feminist TWAIL lens, the paper interrogates the specific nature of post-colonial violence faced by women, highlighting its glaring erasure within international law
Meta v Bundeskartellamt: A Double-Edged Sword for Consumer Protection
No full textAlthough consumers and data subjects do not always overlap in the European Union, the fields of data protection and consumer law are increasingly intertwined. Within this case note, one of the most impactful and recent decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union will be analysed. Case C-252/21 will be examined through the lens of consumers using social networks in the digital age, additionally making references to the ‘take it or leave it’ and ‘cash for privacy exchange’ concepts identified by the doctrine in the field. Innovatively, this commentary will present a distinct and atypical opinion related to this judgment\u27s most significant contribution, merging a legal and doctrinal analysis with future-oriented practical predictions. At the same time, another similar case against the same tech giant (Meta) will be touched upon as part of the arguments referred to. Moreover, the main pillars of interest for the study will be the lawfulness of processing based on Article 6 and Article 9 GDPR, the strengthened regime of processing special categories of personal data as per Article 9 GDPR, the new collaboration apparatus between data protection and competition authorities, and the nexus between all these and consumer protection. Essentially, even if the decision was given against Meta, a tech giant, it is expected that consequences will extend outside its sphere and that a shift towards a more consent-driven digital economy will be identified
Scholars in Conversation | Dr. Aditya Balasubramanian with Dr. Kena Wani
No full textDr. Kena Wani interviews Dr. Aditya Balasubramanian about his recent work, Toward a Free Economy: Swatantra and Opposition Politics in Democratic India (Princeton University Press, 2023). The book tracks the emergence of neoliberal ideas in the first three decades of independence in India by following the political, social, and institutional trajectories of the Swatantra Party (1959 to 1974) founded by C. Rajagopalachari.
The NLS Blog\u27s ‘Scholars in Conversation’ series features interviews with academics across diverse disciplines and geographies. Anchored by NLSIU faculty members, these conversations explore the work of leading voices in their fields in order to bring academic insights to bear on public discourse