Revisiting the 2008 and 2021 orders by the respective union governments amending the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 is imperative in terms of its legality and practicality and to remove the impression that India is a “surveillance state.”
Vappala Balachandran (vappala.balachandran@gmail.com) is a former special secretary, Cabinet Secretariat. He was a member of the two-man High Level Committee appointed by the Government of Maharashtra to enquire into the police handling of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
Provisional Authority: Police, Order, and Security in India by Beatrice Jauregui, Chicago, London: Chicago University Press, 2016; pp ix+ 205, $35 /£24.50.