Author: Anil Malik

WISHING ALL MY FRIENDS A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023 The year 2022 has just ended, and this year we saw India emerge as a big economy after the Covid pandemic reduced throughout the world, although its threat still looms. There were many people in India who became NEWSMAKERS, and in this blog, I am writing about women newsmakers of 2022. Top 5 Women Newsmakers: 1 Droupadi Murmu She is someone who has broken glass ceilings all her life. She was born in poverty in a Santhali tribal home, located in Uperbeda Panchayat in Odisha’s underdeveloped district of Mayurbhanj. In spite of the odds, she became the first girl in her village to attend college, to complete BA from Rama Devi Women’s College in Bhubaneshwar. After holding a clerical post in the government, she became a teacher and started her political career in the late 90s. She went on to…

Movies are our windows into what could be instead of what is. That’s why we tolerate so many exaggerations and creative liberties in them because films (Foreign or Indian) would get boring quite fast if they were accurate about everything, after all, films are fantasy worlds. But the problem is when these often repeated misconceptions in films are so prevalent that people start believing them as true. This affects our perception of the world but also creates issues during real-time crisis situations in some extreme cases. Here are some filmy myths: 1 That’s Not How Chloroform Works– In the films, it is shown that Chloroform can make someone unconscious instantly. In reality, chloroform does not work that way. It is true that it is incredibly good at knocking someone out even in small doses-it does not do instantly. Even in higher doses, it takes at least five minutes to be…

In the year 2022, first-time people breathed in almost Covid-free air. Indian polity returned to its original warring character. From revolt to U-turns to historic victories to mega road shows-the year witnessed everything Indian polity is known for. The year began with an election in high stake UP assembly and towards the end, the election for the Gujarat assembly witnessed BJP creating history with a massive win. Significantly, Central agencies- CBI  and ED remained in the news as if it is stakeholders in politics. Here are the top events that made a huge buzz in 2022: 1 Election 2022– Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab, UP, HP, Manipur, Delhi Municipal Corporation(MCD), and Gujarat went to elections. BJP’s dominance continues in 2022. The party won 5 states-Goa, Uttarakhand, UP, Manipur, and Gujarat, while Congress won in one state HP. The biggest surprise came from AAP when they won Punjab and MCD. In 37 years…

The phrase  “marriages are made in heaven” is not quite true anymore considering the increasing number of divorces among couples across the globe There are several cases of divorces on weird grounds. Moreover, people divorce their other half for bizarre reasons. Here are some cases of Bizarre Divorce: 1 Maggi Case– You must be aware that Maggi is very popular among Kids and lazy people as it can be cooked in just 2 minutes, but can you imagine that Maggi can end relationships? A divorce case was filed in Ballari, Karnataka where a man filed for divorce from his wife because she allegedly only served Maggi to him for meals. He accused his wife does not know cooking, and only knowing how to prepare Maggi, hence it is noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The couple eventually got divorced on mutual consent. 2 When a man wanted to divorce his…

While going through today’s newspaper, I came across one news item which really disturbed me.  The news is about how the people who are holding constitutional posts misuse their position. It has been reported that ex-Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice UU Lalit during his tenure of 74 days as CJI was using the services of 40 people as his support staff at his official residence at 19, Akbar Road, New Delhi. After his retirement, there is as many as 28 support staff which include peons also, who is still working at his residence on Akbar Road. Except for the number of support staff at Rashtrapati Bhavan or at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), no other constitutional post holder would have had such a large retinue of peons and support staff at their residence. As per available records, earlier CJIs, on average, had 12-15 support staff at the official residence…

We all experience trauma facing the first appearance of one grey hair or WRINKLE. It indicates aging, and we are not happy to be reminded about it with changes like this that affect our appearance. However, these are unavoidable changes. With a good beauty regime throughout, you can keep wrinkles at bay slightly longer. Or they may not appear as prominent if you are blessed with good skin. However, wrinkles are part of aging. The best we can do is to take good care of our skin. And that does not necessarily mean expensive Botox and skin treatments. Sometimes, our actions are driven by many myths and inducements from the marketing done by the cosmetic industry. Here are some myths related to wrinkles: 1 Myth-There is a perfect anti-wrinkle beauty regime– We are often driven by how others look and what they do. However, where a beauty regime is concerned,…

In this weekend’s blog, I am writing about the Bollywood movies which have shocked us beyond belief with epic twists and turns in their plots that some of us took time to recover from them. Here are some of the Bollywood films of this genre that had enough Kahani Mein Twist. 1 Special 26– This film is based on a certain true event that happened in the late 1980s. When a veteran star cast of Anupam Kher, Akshay Kumar, Divya Dutta, and Jimmy Shergill comes together, we know the movie is going to blow our minds. It keeps up to its expectations or maybe even exceeds them, as a group of con artists posing as CB officers raid dirty politicians and businessmen for their black money. 2 Kahani– One of the best Bollywood films of this genre. The film had only one known face Vidya Balan. She is shown as…

This is my concluding article (blog) on the topic of Collegium system of appointing judges, and why the government wants to reintroduce the NJAC Act. The Supreme Court (SC) and the Centre are at odds over how judges should be appointed in the higher judiciary. In recent weeks the government has reiterated the need for a National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC), prompting the SC to defend the present Collegium system. Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju, in November, started the debate on the Collegium system of appointments and commented this system was opaque and needed to be reconsidered. His sentiment was echoed shortly after the Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar when remarked in Parliament that it was never too late to reflect on the NJAC. He said the SC’s 2015 judgment striking down the NJAC Act was a severe compromise of parliamentary sovereignty and disregard…

In my earlier blog, I had written about the Collegium system of appointing judges in High the Court (HC) and the Supreme Court.  The Collegium system was coming under criticism from many people, associations, civil rights groups, and even sections of the judiciary. Their contention was That India is the only country where judges appoint themselves and have the power of determining their transfers. In order to have a more transparent system, the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act (NJAC) was enacted. The NJAC was established by the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act 2014, which was passed by both houses of Parliament, that is, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. This act proposed that members of NJAC would be composed of members from legislative, judicial, and civil society. The composition of NJAC was as follows 1 The Chief Justice of India (CJI) would be the Chairperson of NJAC. 2 Two senior most judges…

Friends, recently you must have read or heard about these two words Collegium and NJAC . Both these words are connected with the judiciary. They are two procedures/systems for the appointment of judges in various courts including the High Court and the Supreme Court. The Collegium system is in operation for more than the last two decades. What is Collegium System and How Did it Evolve? It is a system of appointment and transfer of judges that has evolved through judgments of the Supreme Court (SC) and not by an act of Parliament or by the provision of the Constitution. Evolution of the system First Judges Case (1981)- It declared that the ‘primacy’ of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) recommendation on judicial appointments and transfers can be refused for cogent reasons. This ruling gave the Executive primacy over the Judiciary in judicial appointments for the next 12 years. Second…