Cover Story

The current debt-ceiling issue is a phony crisis with a hostage scenario in a massive culture war. The right-wing dream is to replace a pluralistic democracy with an authoritarian government favouring a strong Christian nationalist perspective on all issues.

Doctors have often faced violence at the hands of those they heal. Kerala has now decided to bring out an ordinance to amend the Kerala Healthcare Act after a doctor was murdered while on duty.

Children suffering from such diseases have become petitioners in court, seeking a direction to the centre to provide them uninterrupted and cost-free treatment as the therapy for these diseases is very expensive. The secretary of the Union health ministry has been summoned by the Delhi High Court over non-compliance of its direction to the ministry to release Rs five crore for the treatment of children suffering from rare diseases.

The amendment makes CAs, company secretaries and cost and works accountants liable if they do financial transactions, buy and sell immovable property and operate companies for dubious clients.

The Ludhiana gas leak shows the need for safety systems. Under the Supreme Court’s idea of absolute liability, hazardous industries must pay compensation regardless of whether a disaster was caused by its fault.

Nearly three decades ago, a gossip columnist named E Jean Carroll was sexually assaulted in an upscale New York department store dressing room by a playboy real estate tycoon. Recently, nine jurors in a federal court civil case in Manhattan unanimously agreed that Donald Trump, the ex-president was a sexual predator. Carroll was awarded a total of $5 million dollars in her assault and defamation case against Trump, who is running again in 2024 to be president of the US. This verdict finally may have consequences for someone who has escaped legal accountability

Attempts by the state to conduct a caste-based census came to naught after the Patna High Court ordered a stay. The power to carry it out is vested with the Parliament which enacted Census Act, 1948.

One visible result of the economic liberalisation of 1991 was the opening of malls which have become a runaway hit across the country. Now the courts have offered their definition of a mall and the activities permitted, apart from just shopping, with the help of dictionaries.

It has become a regular front page feature in almost every newspaper—the photograph of some of the country’s top medal-winning wrestlers staging a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi against BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for sexual offenses. The matter has  now reached the Supreme Court and the question of who wins the legal bout hangs in the balance.

India’s wildlife habitats have always faced problems of illegal construction as well as villages, roads and highways piercing through sanctuaries, and other infrastructure deemed necessary. Now, the Supreme court has taken the debate further in modifying its earlier order ensuring there are inbuilt safeguards for preventing rampant construction and abuse of process.