Articles by Anupama Roy

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the “legal exceptionalism” of election time must be examined to see the constraints that the pandemic places on the Election Commission of India, as well as the “special” responsibilities that it must discharge to ensure that procedural certainties are commensurate with a public health emergency. This article argues that the focus on the pandemic must not take our attention away from the larger concerns around the conduct of the commission and its implications for trust in the institution and electoral integrity.

From ‘People’ to ‘Citizen’: Democracy’s Must Take Road by Dipankar Gupta, New Delhi: Social Science Press, 2017; pp xviii + 205, ₹ 650.

Transnational Torture: Law, Violence and State Power in the United States and India by Jinee Lokaneeta (New York and London: New York University Press), 2011; pp x, 293 [Reprinted by New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2012, pp 304, Rs 725 (hardback)].

The provision for overseas citizenship along with other changes in citizenship rules introduced by the Indian government reveals a trend that reinforces cultural identity and principle of descent and blood ties as constitutive of Indian citizenship. While the provision for overseas Indian citizenship may offer an "opening up" of Indian citizenship through the introduction of extra-territoriality, it occludes a simultaneous "closing of ranks", with acquisition of citizenship through birth or by registration and naturalisation becoming more stringent.

A committee headed by Justice J S Verma constituted to examine the teaching of fundamental duties in institutions of learning submitted a comprehensive report in 1999. This essay examines the recommendations in the broad context of the ongoing debate on social science curriculum in schools, focusing on the manner in which some of the contested issues within citizenship theory have been explored.