Protection of Children Against Forced Recruitment During Armed Conflicts

--V Seshaiah Shasthri

Armed conflicts innately represent the struggle of organized armed forces over assertive armed rebel groups in relation to the control of human and non-human resources. While both aim at gaining supremacy and asserting their exercise of power, the adversely affected include not just the directly involved but even the remotely connected. One such group is ‘children’ or ‘persons below the age of majority’. Being vulnerable and impressionistic, they become influenced by the immediate, unmindful of their long-term physical and psychological implications. In view of the well-established normative ‘protections’ and ‘safeguards’ under International Human Rights Law, the author attempts to bring forth a critical review of the practice and implications of ‘forced recruitment’ of children in the regular armed forces and armed rebel groups. Focusing on the scope and impact of ‘conscription’ of child soldiers, the paper brings into debate the law as it exists in this regard and divergent state practices, and proposes a set of recommendations for consideration in the ultimate interests of children to whom all branches of law owe innate accountability.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Competition Law: The New Consumer Choice

--Sairam Bhat and Rohith R Kamath

Competition policy like consumer protection, amongst other issues, seeks to forestall other forms of market failure such as formation of cartels, leading to collusive pricing, division of markets and joint decisions to reduce supply. There is a strong commonality between competition policy and law on the one hand and consumer protection policy and law on the other. Competition policy is intended to promote efficiency and maximize consumer/social welfare. Consumer protection laws have slightly different objectives—health and safety of individual consumers, food standards and safety under Weights and Measures Act, 1 false advertisement, etc. Competition law can grow vertical or horizontal on consumer welfare with issues such as anti-dumping of cheap goods or parallel imports, etc. Further, the Competition law in India has extra territorial jurisdiction if the action has adverse effect on the Indian market.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Sexual Harassment at Workplace and Protective Measures for Women: National and International Perspectives

--Rashida Ather

Women across all ages, regions, religions, classes and political affiliations are vulnerable. Their safety is neither guaranteed in public spheres, nor at home. Women have been the subject of trauma, harassment and victimization. Sexual harassment at workplace is not new to a majority of working women around the world who face it in some form or the other. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the implementation and enforcement of international laws relating to women’s rights in India. Finally, it discusses the various recommendations made by human rights scholars and calls for a campaign from government, NGOs and people, to eradicate all kinds of violence and discrimination against women and to make them a part of the nation building process.

© 2013 IUP All Rights Reserved.

Land Acquisition: Issues and Challenges

--V G Ranganath

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894 is the general law relating to acquisition of land for public purposes and companies and for determining the amount of compensation to be made on account of such acquisition. Land acquisition and involuntary displacement continue to result in great distress and resistance and often violence in many parts of the country. The recommendations of the National Advisory Council aim to make the land acquisition process more just and humane. It is now proposed to have a unified legislation dealing with acquisition of land, providing just and fair compensation, and making adequate provisions for the rehabilitation and resettlement mechanism of affected persons and their families. This paper focuses on land acquisition with special reference to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013, passed by the Parliament, and grant of compensation after acquiring the land as decided by the Supreme Court of India.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

On Ensuring Justice and Protection for Children

--Baseerat Fatima

Justice and protection are basic rights of every human being irrespective of age, sex, religion, color, caste, place of birth, and educational and economic background. This paper attempts to put together almost all the legal measures provided especially in India to children. Children require special protection and security because they are placed in the vulnerable class of the society which includes women, disabled and aged. Distinct thoughtfulness is required with regard to children because they are the future representatives of a nation and can be shaped as good citizens of a nation, and the world at large. While protecting and providing access to justice to children, the adoption and implementation of legal measures is very important. In addition to the aforesaid, the role of non-governmental organizations and other organizations, in fact law schools, is relevant in making justice and protection accessible to children as enshrined in the Indian Constitution as well as in various legislations.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

The Need for Innovative and Comprehensive Pedagogy in Legal Studies at Postgraduation Level

--Victor Nayak

A student, who aspires to be a professional law teacher, ought to be a postgraduate in Law. The primary goal of the Master’s course in Law should be to provide research incentives, rather than teaching law. The focus should be attributed to the development of research skills in various contours of law which subsequently leads to the development of a perception with firsthand knowledge of the concerned subject matter. The Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD), in this regard, suggested a number of measures to revamp the legal education system by introducing a one year LL M (Master of Laws) program with an objective of providing an environment of research and deliberations to young law graduates possessing legal information, and gradually transforming them into individuals with legal knowledge, as rightly pointed out by Prof. Upendra Baxi. This paper examines the recent changes in curriculum for the LL M program, and against this backdrop, highlights the changes expected in law teachers. The role of the two inseparable elements of legal education and the benefits that the new curriculum might be providing to the present generation of law teachers are highlighted.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

The Communications Convergence Bill, 2001: A Critical Study of Communications Convergence in India

--Pritam Ghosh

Ever since the pre-independence era, India has had separate laws to govern the communications’ chaos and confusion as different laws prescribe different procedures of regulation and control of communications services. In case of violation of the existing laws, different categories of punishments are laid down simultaneously for the same kind of offences, thereby making it difficult for the Indian judiciary to administer the laws and prescribe varied penalties in case of the differing nature of offences. The Communications Convergence Bill, 2001 was tabled in the Parliament with the intention of bringing legal regulation of all forms of communication including the Internet and other modern communication media under one big umbrella. This was aimed at clearing the air of uncertainty caused by different authorities and stakeholders working simultaneously in various fields without proper supervision and guidance. This paper critically analyzes the main features of this bill and tries to suggest that rapid enactment of this law will be a major breakthrough in the communications sector.

© 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.