February 2026 Issue
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India’s Digital Public Infrastructure: From Platform Governance To Institutional Transformation
ABSTRACT The digital revolution in India has made Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) a critical tool in its governance reform journey. DPI is based on digitized and interconnected systems such as Aadhar, UPI, and data systems based on consent, which provide a pathway to deliver public services in a large and diversely inhabited country in a…
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Patents, Data Exclusivity And The Future Of Affordable Medicines In India
The Indian pharmaceutical sector is booming and has become a global giant, ranked 3rd in volume and 11th in value. Further, it also provides 20% of the world’s supply of affordable medicines and 60% of life-saving vaccines. Pharmaceutical exports have increased to 27.85 billion USD in FY 2023-24. From life-saving medicine and vaccines to advanced…
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From Safeguard To Straitjacket: Bail Jurisprudence Under India’s NDPS Regime
ABSTRACT This article explains the law of bail under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 in clear and accessible terms while critically examining how it operates in practice. It outlines the basic idea of bail as a mechanism that allows an accused person to remain at liberty during investigation and trial and contrasts…
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Bail as Exception: The Parallel Legal Order Created by Special Criminal Law
The bail jurisprudence in India is based on the premise that bail is the rule, jail is the exception as observed in the case of Gudikanti Narasimhulu v. Public Prosecutor[i]. This principle originates from Article 21 which stipulates that any restraint on liberty of the individual must be balanced on just, fair and reasonable procedure…
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The Bail-to-Trial Gap: How India’s Undertrial Crisis Transforms Punishment Into Process
1. Introduction: The Constitutional Paradox of Preventive Incarceration. One of the cases involved Rajesh Kumar, who spent 1247 days in Tihar Jail, accused of stealing a mobile phone worth 8,000. The magistrate finally acquitted him at the end of his trial in 2019, but by then, he had lost his job as a daily wage…
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From Legislative Promise to Regulatory Paradox: Why India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 Need Urgent Reform
On 14 November 2025, India took a definitive step in its digital governance journey with the notification of the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA). These Rules were intended to give practical meaning to the Act fleshing out how personal data should be processed, protected, retained,…
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Discretion Without Doctrine: How Bail Jurisprudence Normalised Constitutional Uncertainty in India
Abstract Bail jurisprudence in India operates at the fault-line between the State’s coercive authority and the individual’s constitutional entitlement to personal liberty. While the Supreme Court has consistently recognised bail as a constitutional safeguard rather than a mere procedural concession, contemporary practice reveals a system marked by doctrinal fragmentation and institutional unpredictability. This article argues…