Issues affecting Indian interest

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has overruled the orders of the Delhi government that has restricted COVID-19 treatment in government and private hospitals only to the residents of Delhi. Earlier the Delhi government had passed a controversial order that resulted COVID-19 treatment facilities in the government and private hospitals in Delhi only to the residents of Delhi. The Delhi government had justified this decision by citing a lack of capacity for treating outsiders and hence, it was trying to prioritize the residents of Delhi while treating for COVID-19. But the lieutenant governor, in his capacity as the chairperson of the Delhi disaster management authority, has overruled the decision of the delhi government. He has stated in his order that right to health is integral to 'right to life' that has been recognized as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian constitution and so, this fundamental right can't be restricted on the basis of one's resid...

News reports of the death of an elephant in the Palakkad district of Kerala reportedly after consuming a pineapple filled with explosives have gone viral and have caused massive outrage across the country. The initial reports had claimed that the elephant was deliberately fed with pineapple which led to greater revulsion and anger across the country. But according to experts, the elephant most likely might have consumed the pineapple on its own which was meant to be used as a snare to scare away or kill wild boars which caused extensive damage to plantation crops. Whatever is the mode of events, the death of the pregnant elephant in this tragic manner is highly unfortunate and it highlights the threat posed to India's environment and biodiversity due to increasing incidents of man-animal conflict. A number of elephants get killed every year in India as a result of such man-animal conflict incidents and this is a direct result of increasing commercial pressure on the ...

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, governments around the world responded by imposing a lockdown in order to enforce social distancing norms. Through these lockdowns, the Government restricted to various fundamental rights such as right to movement, right to assemble, etc. The government has also spent large sums of money as a part of the pandemic response. Yes, we know that governments are dealing with an unprecedented crisis but this doesn't mean that the government shouldn't be held accountable during the pandemic. In a parliamentary democracy, it is the primary responsibility of the parliament to hold the executive, i.e. the government, accountable for its actions. To understand the importance of parliament in holding the government accountable, let's look at the statement made by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in the constituent assembly while making a case for parliamentary democracy as opposed to a presidential democracy. He agreed that a presidential setup would provid...

For the first time, India's defence minister has publicly acknowledged that China has indeed made significant troop deployment across the LAC and India and China have locked in a border stand-off across multiple locations including Pangong Tso lake, the Galwan river valley, Debsang, hotspring areas in ladakh and at the Nathu La sector in Sikkim. In response to this troop buildup of China, India has mobilized a large contingent of troops and equipment to the forward areas. Currently, according to reports, thousands of Chinese troops have occupied few kilometers of Indian territory at the Galwan river valley, at Pangong Tso and at Depsang. This threatens to cut off the access of Indian troops to areas in Aksai Chin and other strategic areas including the Karakoram pass. India has claimed that it was chi which violated the sanctity of the LAC and it was Chinese troops which carried out the incursion and they are the ones who is currently occupying Indian t...