1. Constitutional Limits on Executive Taxation

2. Remittances, Migration and National Development

3. Investment, Manufacturing and India’s Growth Strategy

4. Learning Versus Winning Arguments

5. Ministerial Responsibility and Autonomous Bodies

6. Bihar Legislative Council and Democratic Design

7. Why Data Centres Are a New Legal Goldmine

8. Divorce Law and Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage

9. A Story of Dignity Beyond Religious Boundaries

10. Synergy and the Whole Being Greater Than the Parts

11. Can AI Writing Really Be Detected?

12. Media: Vladimir and Litigation Finance

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1. Vidheesha Kuntamalla, Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee struck down: For Indian professionals, why some damage may already have been done

This wasn’t just news to me, but another contemporary insight into constitutional law. Most modern states and their governments charge taxes, regulatory fees or penalties to fund statutory functions and services. All these sources of revenue must be backed by a statute. The executive, which in this case was the President of the United States, can enforce laws and regulate within the law, but cannot create new laws to impose a tax. That is exactly what happened when President Trump put a price of $100,000 on H-1B visas. The Massachusetts court essentially asked whether this charge was a penalty for breach of any defined statutory norm. It clearly was not. Nor could such a large amount reasonably be considered a regulatory fee. It therefore amounted to a tax, which lay beyond the President’s authority and could only be imposed by Congress. The measure was consequently held unconstitutional.

2. Siddharth Upasani, Workers’ remittances cross $100 billion in FY26, but long-term BoP solution needed

This basically means that Indian migrants sent home about ₹9 lakh crore worth of money in FY26. The takeaway for me from this article was that there are many ways to serve one’s community and country. One view holds that human beings are part of communities and that their first duty is towards their family and communities that they were born. Another view argues that individuals should move to places where their skills and talents are most valued, thereby creating the greatest value for society. The article highlights that, for the first time, remittances have come more from developed countries, whereas traditionally they came from Gulf countries. Indians have also been sending money for charitable and religious purposes. This suggests that India is now exporting not only labour but also skills to the developed world. The article also highlights a limitation: a country cannot rely solely on remittances because they are largely used for private consumption. Countries become prosperous through strong institutions, which in turn require investment and productive economic activity.

3. The Indian Express, New bilateral investment model: 2-year local remedy window, no most favoured nation clause and Fifteen FTAs, 27 countries, four challenges

These two articles together highlight a common issue: India requires three things to become a developed country, namely more foreign investment, more exports, and stronger domestic manufacturing. The first article discusses bilateral investment treaties (BITs), wherein the government is relaxing certain conditions for foreign investors. Instead of waiting five years before pursuing arbitration, investors may now have to wait only two years. Our former Chief Economic Adviser cites research suggesting that BITs do not necessarily increase foreign investment. Rather, it is a country’s overall investment climate, including macroeconomic stability and the rule of law that attracts capital. On the other hand, the example of Indonesia suggests that India has been unusually restrictive with its dispute-resolution waiting period. The second article argues that foreign trade and investment policies are not sufficiently helping Indian firms manufacture domestically and export globally. In contrast, ASEAN countries have built manufacturing hubs that produce goods cheaply and export them duty-free to India. As a result, investment and jobs often move abroad. The article ultimately asks whether India can become a major manufacturing power while keeping its markets highly open to imports from more industrialised economies. The author’s answer is no, unless trade policy, investment policy and industrial policy work together.

4. Shashi Tharoor, Spirit of Samvad must not be lost

Every week now, there seems to be one noteworthy article written by Shashi Tharoor. This week, he recounts the story of a Chinese scholar Keiji Mao who delivered two presentations on how China built its industrial and technological ecosystem: one to an Indian audience and another to a Vietnamese audience. Although the content was largely the same, the responses were strikingly different. The Vietnamese participants listened patiently, asked thoughtful questions, and even sought advice on how Vietnam could improve its own trajectory. The Indian participants, by contrast, entered into counterarguments. As a result, the scholar remarked that while the Indians may have won the debate, they missed a valuable opportunity for learning. He added that he knew many years in advance which country would emerge as the true beneficiary of the China+1 strategy. Mr. Tharoor leaves us with a question: In situations like these, does our response contribute to understanding and problem-solving or does it merely serve to assert our position?

5. Abhinaya Harigovind, Minister isn’t running away... he’s taken steps to fix the problem: Rijiju

Mr. Rijiju’s response in the NEET controversy raises an important question: in such situations, are ministers responsible or is responsibility limited to the autonomous body created by statute? According to him, a minister is responsible only when fraud is committed by the minister or the minister’s staff. If wrongdoing occurs within an autonomous body, then that body itself is answerable. He cited CBSE as an example of an autonomous institution that is not directly supervised by the minister on a day-to-day basis.

6. Santosh Singh, On Nishant’s Bihar MLC Election

Santosh Singh writes that, for Nishant, the election is largely a formality. The NDA holds 202 of the 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly, while each Legislative Council candidate requires the votes of only 25 MLAs. For anyone wondering how a non-elected, non-expert individual can become a Health Minister in a constitutional democracy, the answer lies partly in the structure of our bicameral state legislatures. The Legislative Council was theoretically designed to bring subject-matter experts into the legislative process. In practice, however as we can see, these seats often go to family members, loyalists and political insiders.

7. Yash Tiwari, Why AI data centres are the new goldmine for Indian law firms

Legal advisory work for data centres differs significantly from conventional real estate projects. Unlike a traditional real estate project, where legal and compliance work largely ends after completion, data centre advisory work is ongoing. This has become a new goldmine for Indian law firms because it involves highly specialised contracts and depends on factors beyond land and construction, including power availability, water supply, fibre connectivity and data security.

8. The Indian Express, In law, need to write a new marriage story and In India, needed: A dignified demise for a broken marriage

Traditionally, Hindu law has recognised only two routes to divorce: no-fault mutual consent and fault-based contested divorce. The Supreme Court has periodically used its powers under Article 142(1) to expand this framework by recognising the concept of irretrievable breakdown of marriage (IBM). It has repeatedly urged the government to consider formally incorporating IBM as a statutory ground for divorce. The first article argues that such a reform is necessary but cautions against ignoring the realities of a deeply patriarchal society, where women often enter divorce proceedings from a position of social and economic disadvantage and thus the process should not become another instrument for perpetuating inequality. The second article explains why IBM was not originally incorporated into the law. A marriage that has broken down with mutual acceptance raises very different concerns from one where only a single spouse seeks an exit - safeguards appropriate to one situation may be inadequate for the other. Where both parties accept that the marriage has ended and are merely disputing finances or child custody, the law should provide an easier exit. At the same time, forcing a party to remain in a dead marriage solely to secure the financial interests of the other serves neither spouse. The authors suggest that the solution lies in economic restitution. In cases of unilateral no-fault divorce, courts should compensate not only financial loss but also the emotional injury arising from the unilateral rupture of a shared life.

9. Kamal Saiyed, Hindu last rites for Parsi woman married to a Muslim

News like this makes me proud of my religion. A Parsi woman married to a Muslim man was denied permission by both communities to perform her last rites according to their respective traditions. In the end, with the help of a friend, her final rites were conducted according to Hindu rituals, offering this family a sense of closure.

10. Synergy, In life and in relationships, the whole is greater than sum of all its parts

I first encountered this idea in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. Habit Six teaches that, in life and relationships, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Two people may appear similar on paper, yet experience life very differently because of how their individual qualities fit together. Covey calls this phenomenon synergy. A common expression of this idea is that 1+1=3 (figuratively rather than mathematically) and the extra one represent the value created through cooperation, interaction and combination between parties.

11. Abhinav Chakraborty, Is a text Al-aided? Science, limits of detection tools

AI-generated text is often associated with certain stylistic markers such as excessive use of em dashes, bullet points and unusually neat conclusions. Earlier, we had tools to detect plagiarism. Now we have tools that claim to identify AI-generated writing. One such tool is Pangram, which claims a false-positive rate of one in 10,000 cases and cites independent validation studies. The article references research suggesting that even when a piece of writing is only lightly polished using a language model, AI-detection tools frequently classify it as fully AI-generated.

12. Media: Movie and Podcast

+ Netflix, Vladimir: Based on Julia May Jonas’s 2022 novel of the same name, Vladimir might appear from its trailer to be a romantic comedy but in reality, it is a psychological exploration of desire, obsession, ageing, sexuality, power imbalances, consent, marriage, infidelity and self-deception. There are much in the story that remains highly relevant to our contemporary discussions.

+ Semafor Podcast, Wall Street’s Newest Obsession: This podcast introduced me to litigation finance. Among other things, it treats commercial legal claims as financial assets that can be financed, secured and traded in ways similar to receivables. In the United States, 49 out of 50 states prohibit law firms from sharing revenue with non-lawyers. The United Kingdom, however, has permitted variations of this model for roughly two decades. This insight helped me better understand why the legal profession even in India remains deeply tied to inherited networks and established partnerships. One quote from the podcast stood out: a law firm partner reflected on the value created during his career and remarked that had he built a technology company instead, he would likely have accumulated vastly greater wealth by selling it to investors.

I have recently revised my entire Substack and to keep the momentum of writing and publishing - I have decided that I would summarise the most important information consumption of the week and publish in the form of Weeknotes. I intend to publish this on every Sunday, starting today June 07th - end of Week 23 of 2026 (using the ISO week numbering system).

In this Weeknotes, I found myself thinking a lot about institutions and the forces that shape our lives. Two tragic fires - one of them in my hometown and the other in the national capital - raised questions about compliance, state capacity and the value our state place on human life. I also read about sanctions disrupting Indian firm, debates around legal sovereignty and arbitration, the promise and limits of institutional reform, new forms of work emerging from AI, and the growing burden on courts. I encountered arguments about genes and personality, listened to a fascinating conversation on religion and watched a film that asks an uncomfortable question about poverty, responsibility and the ethics of bringing children into the world.

1. Indian Express reporting on Fire in Delhi and Muzaffarpur:

Two fires erupted this week, and there was loss of life in both Delhi and Muzaffarpur. The similarity between these two incidents is that neither was an act of God but rather the result of human non-compliance and negligence. And, as always, the response of the government in both places was reactive rather than preventive. I learned from following the news that the value assigned to a human life in such incidents varies from place to place. For example, in Muzaffarpur, the government granted ₹4 lakh as compensation for each loss of life, whereas in Delhi the compensation was ₹10 lakh. I also learned that most fire accidents in India occur in residential buildings rather than in industries or commercial establishments. There was some encouraging news amidst these unfortunate incidents. A Nigerian couple managed to save themselves because they had watched how-to-videos explaining how to respond during a fire. They ran the shower and stayed low to the floor because, apparently, most people who died in the Delhi incident did not die from burns but from suffocation. It seems that not panicking and maintaining presence of mind, even in the worst situations, can make all the difference.

2. Arush Khanna, Needed a law to shield Indian firms from sanctions

We are indeed living in a globalized world, and it is not only our government and our physical environment that can negatively affect our lives. An Indian firm was affected because one of its investors was Russian. The United States sanctioned Russian entities and instructed American firms not to engage in business with them. As a result, Microsoft blocked access to its software for the Indian firm. India currently does not have laws to protect its firms in situations like this, whereas the European Union and Russia have enacted what are known as blocking statutes. These statutes essentially protect domestic firms from the extraterritorial effects of sanctions imposed by other states by incorporating clawback rights, whereby damages suffered by a firm can be recovered through legal action against assets connected to the corresponding firm of the sanctioning state. The article suggests that India could consider adopting a similar blocking statute, although such a measure would need to be carefully balanced with India’s desire to maintain a neutral geopolitical stance. The article also highlights an issue that is likely to be tested before the Bombay High Court, where a Russian firm is asking the court to give precedence to a Russian court order over an arbitration agreement between two companies. We will have to wait and see what prevails in this situation: the sovereign authority of Russia, the sovereign authority of the United States, or the arbitration agreement between private parties. This jurisdictional warfare and alignment are highly contemporary issues, particularly in light of President Putin’s recent remarks describing India as a reliable partner.

3. Vrinda Shukla, When a distorted autopsy denies justice

Why do only government hospitals conduct autopsies when there are often insufficient resources and trained personnel, and when videography is sometimes carried out only under significant political pressure? An article by an IPS officer argues that private hospitals should also be engaged in the process. She makes the case in light of the recent Twisha Sharma incident.

4. Nirbhay Rana, No Policy around Weather Appropriate Clothing

This article highlights a policy flaw: the prescription of school, industrial and institutional uniforms often ignore local weather conditions. I see the same problem in my profession as well and have never been able to understand why practicing lawyers are required to wear black coats and move around courts in such extreme summer heat.

5. Shashi Tharoor, Change happens in mundane Politics

When we are angry or hurt, it is natural to want to overthrow the source of our agitation. That source may be an individual or the existing system itself. However, Shashi Tharoor argues in this article that many institutions in India continue to function and that meaningful engagement with them remains possible. One can work through various institutions, interact with different stakeholders, and prepare well-crafted advocacy notes to bring about change. We must not forget that, flawed as our institutions may be, we would be worse off without them. I particularly loved one passage in the article, which deserves to be quoted in full,

If all else fails, take your case to court. But for that, you need to have a case, not just a set of slogans or memes expressing your frustrations. Turning “this is unfair” into “this violates Article 14 or Article 21” makes you impossible to ignore.

Meeran Chadha Borwankar, in another opinion piece, has been highly critical of this editorial. She is an IPS officer who has worked within the system and argues that despite being part of it, she was unable to bring about meaningful change, as were many of her colleagues. This raises an important question: who is actually capable of bringing substantial change to society, or at least who is best positioned to do so?

6. Sakshi Sadashiv, Building Robots to act like Humans

Among the new jobs emerging in India is that of a physical AI trainer. Such individuals perform their regular jobs while wearing multiple devices, including cameras, allowing AI systems to observe them and learn skills that may eventually be transferred to robots. This category of work gained wider public attention in India after Pronto, the Bengaluru-based home-services startup, became embroiled in controversy over allegations that it sent camera-equipped workers into customers homes to collect footage for physical AI training. The article highlights that several firms, such as Micro1, Egodata, Humyn Labs, Neocambrian, XP Robotics, Human Archive and Cynlr, are involved in training robots to replicate human behaviour and physical skills.

7. Access to Justice in the Age of AI: Evidence from U.S. Federal Courts

I have not yet read the paper, but it appears to be quite interesting. The abstract states that the number of self-represented litigants in U.S. federal courts is increasing dramatically. Such cases are apparently placing a greater burden on federal district courts, as judges are required to process more cases. Moreover, these cases are not being resolved more quickly; they are simply being filed at a faster rate.

8. Laurie Clarke, How much of our personalities are determined at birth?

The article is an extension of the longstanding debate between nature and nurture. Are we primarily products of our genes, or are we shaped by our circumstances? It discusses an interesting case in Italy where an accused person reportedly received relief from the court after it was established that he possessed what was described as a “warrior gene.” The article argues that a substantial portion of our personalities is determined at birth and that only a relatively small part is shaped by life experiences. Here is an interesting passage.

The human genome is an unwieldy beast: there are 23 chromosomes, containing around 20,000 genes between them. These are further subdivided into about three billion “base pairs” – the smallest unit in the genome – which are typically conceptualised as pairs of letters that unfurl in a particular sequence. All humans share 99.9% of their DNA, meaning only a miniscule 0.1% of the genome accounts for our differences. We now know personality differences are polygenic and poly-environmental: meaning many genes and small life experiences combine to create who we are.

9. Johnathan Bi in conversation with Jeff Kripal on Religion

The guest on this podcast studies religion and teaches Rice University. I found the conversation deeply enlightening because it helped me understand why philosophy may ultimately be more important than politics. After all, what is politics trying to achieve? Even if complete equality and fairness were achieved, individuals would still suffer unless they found satisfactory answers to the deeper questions they carry within themselves. The conversation also helped me understand why spiritual leaders often present solutions that may not withstand strict scrutiny but nevertheless seem to produce transformative results for those who are suffering. The guest compared this phenomenon to the placebo effect, wherein a substance with no inherent medicinal properties can still produce healing because it influences the patient’s mind. We should approach religion, and indeed all religions, through the lens of the plurality of human experiences. The problem with religion is that while it may provide answers, it can also confine individuals within rigid identities. We should take individual experiences seriously rather than dismissing them as merely anecdotal or rejecting them because a nineteenth-century materialist framework tells us to do so. The richness of such experiences often cannot be tested within controlled scientific environments. People with thick skin and highly analytical minds may sometimes find it difficult to experience what others describe as miracles.

10. Prime, Capharnaum (2018)

The movie raises an important question: should people who are unable to provide for themselves continue having children? The title of the movie means “chaos” in Arabic. It is derived from a biblical town condemned by Jesus as one of the three cities that refused to repent despite witnessing his miracles of healing. There is a beautiful scene in the movie in which a child pleads and says the following,

Zain: I want to make a complaint against my parents. I’d want adults to listen to me. I want adults who can’t raise kids not to have any. What will I remember? Violence, insults or beatings, hit with chains, pipes, or a belt? The kindest words I heard were get out son of a whore! Bug off, piece of garbage! Life is a pile of shit. Not worth more than my shoe. I live in hell here. I burn like rotting meat. Life is a bitch.I thought we’d become good people, loved by all. But God doesn’t want that for us. He’d rather we be washrags for others. The child you’re carrying will be like I am.

That moment stayed with me because it was not an isolated incident. Since returning from Mauritius, I have either witnessed or heard of at least four births among relatives and acquaintances where the child was a girl. Across these otherwise unrelated families, I noticed the same emotional pattern: polite celebration, muted joy, and an undercurrent that said what everyone was too “civilized” to say aloud.

For someone who has spent more than three decades watching Indian society change, particularly upper and upper-middle-class society in Bihar, this was revealing. We often assume that certain social prejudices belong to an earlier India. That with education, urbanization, constitutional law and economic mobility, old hierarchies naturally weaken. Yet perhaps some prejudices do not disappear but merely learn better manners.

I have seen, firsthand, families continue having children in the hope that the next one would be a boy. I know a woman I have long regarded with affection, like an aunt, who has four daughters, suffered multiple miscarriages and eventually had a son. It was only after the birth of that son that she seemed to receive the full respect and acknowledgement she had long been denied within her immediate family.

I had assumed that such forms of son preference would have declined significantly by now. That assumption may have been naive.

Some time ago, I attended a celebratory gathering hosted by someone I know whose family had just welcomed a son after two daughters. During the conversation, he casually mentioned that he had been confident all along that this pregnancy would result in a boy. I asked how he could possibly know that. Had he somehow obtained access to prenatal sex determination, despite the legal prohibition? His answer surprised me. No, he said. The doctor conducting the ultrasound had not said anything. Instead, he had brought along someone who knew how to interpret ultrasound images and could infer the sex from what appeared on screen. What struck me was not merely the anecdote itself, but the excitement with which it was narrated, as though this were a form of clever ingenuity rather than anything requiring moral reflection.

That account shifted something in my understanding. Perhaps the more brutal historical practices one used to hear about son preference have become less common. But if that is true, the underlying preference has not disappeared but simply been adapted. And that is the more uncomfortable truth.

The law prohibits sex determination. The state formally insists that daughters and sons are equal. Courts have affirmed equal inheritance rights. Dowry is illegal. The language of constitutional morality is clear.

Yet social morality often remains something else entirely. Part of the answer is economic. In much of Indian society, especially beyond elite circles, a son is still perceived as long-term social security: the child imagined as remaining connected to the parental household, caring for ageing parents, and preserving continuity. A daughter, however loved, is still socially imagined as someone who will eventually belong to another household. Family wealth continues to be mapped through male continuity, despite legal reform. And dowry, regardless of its legal status, persists in social expectation. Raising a daughter, in many households, remains associated with significant future expenditure.

None of this justifies discriminatory preferences. But understanding why a social behavior persists requires more than moral condemnation.

One could argue that such attitudes survive because economic mobility and meaningful social security have not reached large parts of society. That would be a familiar explanation. But it becomes less satisfying when one observes even relatively privileged families, including educated households and government employees, participating in similar attitudes.

Which raises a harder question. If constitutional morality has formally entered public life, why has social morality remained so resistant? Is this merely about economics? Or is cultural conditioning far deeper than we are willing to admit?

I personally know one family with two daughters who took a very different route. The parents invested seriously in both daughters’ education. Both became engineers. One now lives abroad with her family; the other settled in another Indian city after marriage. I mention this cautiously. I do not yet know what old age looks like for those parents. I do not know whether their daughters will be physically present, emotionally available, financially supportive, or some combination of all three.

No single family’s story can settle a structural question. But the stories above points toward something worth taking seriously. Where economic confidence exists, gender anxiety appears easier to overcome, not necessarily because attitudes are changed, but because the underlying material calculation shifts. If that is even partially true, the implication is uncomfortable: social reform may require more than the right values. It may require the conditions under which those values become viable.

A society in transition contains contradictions. Upper-middle-class Bihar may no longer openly reject a girl child. There are no visible scenes of mourning when daughters are born. People celebrate. Sweets are distributed. Social media posts appear. But celebration is not the same as acceptance. And acceptance is not the same as equality. If joy still comes with hesitation, if a son still carries a different emotional and social weight, then the prejudice has not vanished but has simply become more polite.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Here’s a question: what do you think is more powerful?

Knowledge is powerful?

Wealth is more powerful?

Position is more powerful?

Here’s another variant of the same question:

King/State hold real power?

Religion/Priest/Maulana/Bishop/God hold real power?

Wealth/capitalist/industrialist hold real power?

Making the more contemporary sense of the question - which individual do you think is the most powerful?

Modi is more powerful?

Ramdev baba is more powerful?

Ambani is more powerful?

This question is asked by George RR Martin in his book “A Song of Ice and Fire” which is also adapted in HBO’s series “Game of Thrones”.

Here’s the question:

This is a dialogue between two of its characters Tyrion Lanister and Lord Varys. 

It’s okay if you haven’t seen the show or read the book. 

Basically, the question is that if three powerful people representing three different powerful institutions sit in the room and between them is a guy with a sword. And each of these people try to influence him to kill the other two. Who would live and who would die? 

This isn’t merely a hypothetical question but reflects real-world dynamics. While the likelihood of Modi, Ambani and Ramdev Baba being trapped in a room with a gunman is improbable, the ongoing conflict between the institutions they represent is very real. 

Who is more powerful between state, religion and corporations? Who is more powerful between Modiji, Ambani and Ramdev baba? Is there any objective way to measure this?

Until now, you either have the answer to the question or you don’t have either way let’s test your answer.

You think the State currently represented by Modi is the most powerful?

• Consider the Farm Laws where the state had to yield and take back the laws and the Ram Janmabhoomi Ayodhya case which illustrates how deeply held beliefs can override political and economic concerns.

No, now you think Religion represented by gurus like Ramdev baba is the most powerful?

• Then consider Sabrimala Temple Case wherein the state and courts established constitutional morality overriding religious opposition.  

You think corporations in a capitalist society led by Ambani are the most powerful. 

• Consider the State decisions like demonetization and lockdowns which significantly impacted businesses, regardless of size.

You think none of them are powerful but from the original paragraph think the sellsword who has the sword in his hands has the ultimate power to decide the fate of each of these individuals. 

Well if that’s the case, why does the military, judiciary, and media who could be considered as modern-day sellswords often defer to government officials, who may lack specialized training?

Confused enough now?

Tyrion Lannister shared this confusion, and Lord Varys offered this explanation:

Tyrion asked, “Did you mean to answer your damned riddle, or only to make my headache worse?”

Varys smiled. “Here, then. Power resides where men believe it resides. No more and no less.”

“So power is a mummer’s trick?”

“A shadow on the wall,” Varys murmured, “yet shadows can kill. And oftentimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow.”

The interpretation from the above passage is that the real power lies in the belief of an individual. The king/state has authority, the priest/religious gurus have divine influence and the industrialist/rich man has wealth. What the sellswords would do would depend upon what does he value the most - his loyalty to the king, fear of the divine or greed for gold. 

So, if the sellswords value gold, the rich man could sway him. If he respects the crown/laws, the king’s command would prevail and if he fears the divine or seeks redemption then the priest might have the strongest claim. 

Each of the contemporary examples given above highlights how power shifts based on who controls the sellsword (armed forces, media, judiciary or public sentiment).

• When the state (politicians) controlled the sellsword, the government won (e.g., Kashmir Article 370).

• When religious forces influenced public sentiment and judiciary, faith won (e.g., Ram Mandir).

• When wealth influenced policies, media and legal outcomes, business tycoon won (e.g., Reliance Jio, Adani Ports). 

Power in India, just like Game of Thrones, depends on who the enforcer believes holds the real power. 

The modern-day states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Assam were once integral parts of the expansive Bengal Presidency. The administrative evolution of these regions, leading to their recognition as distinct provinces, is an important chapter in Indian history.

Legislative History:

1. December 12, 1911: Announcement of a separate state at Delhi Durbar

   The Delhi Durbar of 1911, held to commemorate the coronation of King George V, witnessed a significant announcement. The British Crown declared its intention to carve out separate provinces for Assam and Bihar, marking a crucial step towards administrative reorganisation.

2. March 22, 1912: The Government of India Act, 1912

   The political decision announced at the Delhi Durbar was formalized through the passage of the Government of India Act, 1912. This Act, which received royal assent on June 25, 1912, served as the legal instrument for the creation of the Province of Bihar and Orissa. The Act's primary objective was to restructure the Bengal Presidency, resulting in the establishment of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and Assam as distinct provinces.

3. March 26, 1912: The Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and Assam Laws Act, 1912

   This Act, officially passed by the Governor-General of India in Council, came into force on April 1, 1912. The Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and Assam Laws Act, 1912, was enacted to ensure the continuity of existing laws within the newly formed territories. Its core purpose was to maintain the applicability and enforceability of the laws that were in force under the Bengal Presidency within Bihar and Orissa, as well as Assam.

Significance of 22nd of March vis-a-vis The Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and Assam Laws Act, 1912:

Section 9 of this Act is particularly significant for lawyers in India. It explicitly addresses the adaptation and modification of existing Indian laws which later envisaged under the provisions of Article 372 of the Constitution of India.

This direct reference highlights the enduring relevance of the 1912 Act's principles of legal continuity and adaptation, which played a crucial role in shaping the post-independence legal framework of Bihar and the wider Indian legal system.

This connection is vital, as it demonstrates the historical roots of legal processes that gave us what we know today as savings clause, transitional provisions, preservation clauses or repeal clauses.

Creation of Orissa and Jharkhand:

The administrative landscape of Bihar underwent further transformations with the separation of Orissa into a distinct province in 1936. Subsequently, in 2000, the state of Jharkhand was carved out from the southern districts of Bihar, marking another significant reorganization.

Final notes:

The separation of Bihar from the Bengal Presidency in 1912 was the culmination of various administrative, political, and socio-cultural factors. Simultaneously, there was a growing and increasingly vocal sentiment among the Bihari populace for the creation of a separate province. This demand was largely rooted in a distinct linguistic and cultural identity that differentiated the region from Bengal. As the saying goes, "Identity makes the state and not the other way round."

The large-scale celebration of Bihar Diwas gained significant momentum starting in 2010, largely through the initiative and efforts of the Bihar government under Nitish Kumar. Recognizing the importance of this historical milestone, the Bihar government annually declares March 22nd as a public holiday across the state. What is important here to highlight is we can’t really remove our colonial history, and what we’re celebrating today is the work done by them.

Different institutions like Patna University and High Court of Patna created on this day still functions and roots back the history to this day. The Patna High Court started functioning from March 1, 1916 ceasing the jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court over Bihar and established an independent judicial administration. Similarly, Patna University came into existence on October 1, 1917. The establishment of the university was a result of a committee appointed by the government on May 19, 1913, to facilitate the creation of a university in or near Patna. This laid the foundation for the expansion of higher education in Bihar.

Today this day is important to celebrate this statehood and showcase the culture and state identity. For lawyers in India, understanding the historical context of Bihar's formation, particularly the legislative underpinnings, provides valuable insights into the evolution of Indian law and its continued relevance. The foundations laid on March 22, 1912, continue to shape the legal landscape of the region and resonate across the nation.

The short and honest answer to why I chose to study law is that I had to study something, and studying law was my way of securing a seat in a decent college in a big city. I believe this is what any student contemplating their further studies should do, as it has paid off well for me.

In the past 10 years, I have been able to land a job in one of the highest offices in my home state, secure a seat for my master's at a SEBI-run institution in Mumbai, and land a job in a BSE-backed securities exchange in Mauritius. All this became possible because I chose well, not exactly what to study during my undergrad, but where to study it.

At various stages of my life, I have either asked myself this question or someone has asked me, either during interviews or regular conversations. My answer has always been tailored to win the context in which it was asked, and I have never attempted to answer this question in a deep and meaningful way until now.

The first time I asked myself this question was when I finished school in 2013. I distinctly remember my father asking me what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't have any plans until then, but I had to have an answer, so I said I would study English Literature from Delhi University. He asked me about the prospects after studying that. I said I could prepare for the Civil Services Examination and work in government departments. My answer was at the intersection of a standard template for any student born and raised in Bihar and my interest in literature.

Up until then, I knew for sure that I was naturally better at words than numbers, and a career in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics was not well-suited for me. My 12th-standard marks were also a representation of this, so I completely ruled out applying for IIT and NIT examinations. I don't know how students approach college examinations now in 2024, but back in 2013, most of my friends from defense school who couldn't get into the armed forces would appear for all examinations to secure a seat in any college for any course. My approach was also pretty much the same, with the only filter being that I was done living in a small town, and I wanted to move to a big city, preferably either Delhi or Bangalore, because I had relatives in both places.

I moved to Delhi in 2013 and realized that securing a seat for a course like English Literature based on my 12th-standard marks was not possible. I had been humiliated by a professor in one of the colleges, who, after looking at my marks sheet, told me that with those marks, I wouldn't do anything in life. After wandering from North to South Campus, I realized that I could only get admission to one of the evening colleges in South Campus, and I would have to study Political Science there.

I told my father that I wanted to return home and give myself some time to think about what I wanted to do with my life. At that point, I knew I was better than what I was receiving, and I wouldn't be happy with the options I then had.

I researched and looked for my options, and that's when law came to my rescue. I learned about the program, and unlike admission to Delhi University, it required an entrance examination, and mathematics was only 20 marks. I thought to myself that this was my second chance in life, and it seemed pretty doable. I communicated my decision to my father and took a gap year to prepare for the law entrance examination in a coaching center in West Delhi.

Up until then, I had only heard of a senior from school who had cleared CLAT to secure a seat at NUJS Kolkata. I wasn't close to him, so I never called to ask about how to go about my preparation. Thankfully, I found a guy from school who also decided to study law, and we rented a place together and started our respective preparations.

This CLAT preparation developed my interest in law and I would always look forward to Sunday for law classes. The class was conducted by a practicing lawyer named Mr. Sanyog Vyas. He shaped my formative understanding of law, and it was his lectures that helped me sail through my Torts and Contracts paper even after I got into law school.

Even at that point, I was only interested in English and law classes, and I hadn't really worked hard for mathematics and IQ.

I applied for three law entrance examinations - CLAT, AILET, and Christ University - and luckily got into Christ. I was lucky because my scores in other examinations would have left me nowhere again.

Anyway, here are my top take-aways from the answer to the title of this essay for anyone who's contemplating the decision of finding the right college (not limited to law school):

• Choose a college over a degree, a teacher over a subject:

  When you're contemplating the question of what you should study after 12th standard, you must keep in mind this principle, i.e., to choose a college over a degree. They say that one should study what they're interested in and thus should choose their degree accordingly. Well, this argument has some merit, but according to me, not entirely. Your interest matters; that helps sustain a career, but what matters above all is the institution that is going to help you kick-start your career. A good college is going to place its average student somewhere in the real world; a bad college is not going to place its best student anywhere. Now, we're all different, come from different backgrounds, facing different challenges, thus a good college is very subjective and varies from person to person. But here's some of my objective criteria based on my experience that could potentially help anybody navigating the right college to commit to:

• Choose a college in a city:

  A college placed in a metro city would have better access to people, institutions, both public and private, and all the rich and smart kids would go there. So, if you're someone from a remote village in Bihar, you must at least aim for a college in your district. If you're someone from a district, you must at least aim for a college situated in the capital of your state, if not the top metro cities in India.

  Point to note:

  I didn't sit for placement after my undergrad because a) I wasn't confident that I would get a job, and b) because I thought that being a lawyer, I must know the courts and institutions of my hometown, so I returned to Bihar. But when I applied for Judicial Clerkship at Patna High Court, my application stood apart because I had studied in a good college in Bangalore. This was highlighted and told later to me by the Secretary Establishment who was responsible for conducting the selection process, and later, upon my selection, I was engaged in the Chief Justice's office of Patna High Court. So, you get a sense of how the branding of a city and a college go with you wherever you go.

  There's another point to note here: my college has also given me access to a lot of smart people, and it is important to recognize here that as a human, we're all trying to mimic and impress the people we surround ourselves with. Now, a bad college will set a very low bar for you, and you wouldn't care to work hard because you won't have friends doing remarkable things in life. No matter what I still do, professionally or otherwise, like writing this essay, I still care what some of my peers, whom I have looked up to so much, think about everything that I do.

• Ranking of a college:

  Now, a lot of you would Google and research online to find the veracity of a good college. There are a lot of ranking parameters and results online, but one cardinal rule that any student could follow is to look for a college where any public bank is giving collateral-free loans to a student for their course to a particular college. On an individual level, it is very difficult to measure the associated risk of choosing either a course or a college, but these financial institutions have done that before they provide loans to any student. So, even if you don't need to take out a loan, it's a good parameter to check if, for that course and college, you'd get one from a public bank or not. One good example, from the time of writing this, is the government's National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking and PM Vidyalaxmi scheme. The government has said that students who have gained admission in 860 quality higher education institutions, as defined by the NIRF, are eligible for the loans.

Always remember that, on an undergrad level, you're paying for college, not for knowledge and wisdom (that one only acquires with time and deep personal interest and experience). You're going there because this institution is going to help you become part of the economic and political engine of your country.

College provides you with a bundle of services, and not just your degree. Be conscious of it, and make this decision wisely, because you wouldn't only find your first job there, but also, this is the time when you'd probably find the love of your life.

After two years, I returned to my native village, a small village in Bihar. I met a relative who lives adjacent to my house. He is a middle-aged man with two kids who is now the patriarch of his house.

After a formal greeting, he told me that he has finalized the marriage of his younger brother who is currently working with TCS but wants to prepare for the Civil Services examination. He said that he has told his brother that it’s okay if he wants to prepare - but the decision for a career shouldn’t come in between the decision of marriage. If he cracks the exam, at all, he may find a better-employed girl who’s probably a civil servant too but that won’t give him (in his own language) any “sharireekh sukh” which literally means physical pleasure (not to be confused with sexual pleasure).

He went on to explain how an employed girl wouldn’t meaningfully contribute to the affairs of the family and wouldn’t give much joy to his dear brother either. And whilst he was explaining all of this, his little daughter of almost two years was playing around. 

I jumped onto and interrupted him to ask if he would let his two-year-old daughter work or pursue a career, he proudly declared that he wants her to become a doctor. He continued and proudly recounted how his sisters had contributed to his family’s settlement in Delhi. One sister, he said, had been well-paid and settled in a bank job, but she had chosen to quit and become a full-time homemaker upon her husband’s request. He expressed his desire to instill the same ‘sanskaar’ (values) in his daughter too.

I was called away by my father and couldn’t continue this conversation. But later, I kept on wondering that how this conversation revealed a paradox. My relative's sister had successful career, but after marriage, she became full-time homemaker. Similarly, he wants his daughter to be educated and employed, but ultimately, he expects her to prioritise family duties.

This mindset is not unique to my relative. Many people in Bihar, particularly those from privileged backgrounds, hold similar views. They prioritize family-centric values over citizen-centric ones, limiting the potential of women to contribute to the economy and society.

The consequences of this mindset are far-reaching and I hope more and more people understand this:

1. Population and Health: The well-being of a state is closely tied to the health and education of its population. By limiting women's participation in the economy, we hinder the state's progress.

2. Economic Empowerment: The economic participation of women makes our society more conducive for them - by educating and employing women, we can break the cycle of poverty and create a more equitable society that is safe, just and fair to women.

3. Raising Aspirations: Running a family is hard, but being part of an economic engine is harder - by teaching children to aspire for more challenging and rewarding careers, we can foster a growth mindset and promote economic growth.

4. Setting a Good Example: People from privileged backgrounds have a responsibility to set a good civic example. By promoting citizen-centric values, they can inspire others to do the same.

It's essential to recognize that our cultural mindset can either empower or restrict us. By glorifying stay-at-home women, we're not only limiting their potential but also hindering the progress of our state.

I believe people evolve over time, and I hope my relative does too. However, given his privileged background as an upper-caste individual living in Delhi, his views on women’s roles are concerning. If he holds such opinions, for now it’s very disheartening to imagine the perspectives of those less privileged.

1. Advent of social media platforms:

   I have always liked reading on the Internet and have admired people who write well. If I recollect today of my earliest interaction with the Internet, it’d be from my period of adolescence reading pages like “I hate when someone flirts or talks to my crush” on Orkut and later “The Ultimate Quotes” on Facebook. At one point in time, I was very active on social media platforms myself and was pretty good at it. I have liked receiving thoughtful comments from friends on the content that I had been posting. But I had stopped using social media because I realized that I couldn’t be in an environment and not be affected by it. It was not only about creating my content but consuming some of the content that I have never really subscribed to and being affected by it in some or another. I have realized I have no control over what I’m consuming and only creating for appreciation and algorithms and not for myself. These platforms stopped fueling my soul.

2. Email Newsletters/YT Videos:

   The next meaningful electronic transition in my life came when I switched to subscribing to newsletters and creators on YouTube. Today most of the things that I know and learn from the Internet are through these platforms. I have now long been reading the world through the prism of newsletters. I like the distraction-free interface of old emails over all the "cool" social media platforms. I derive so much value and enjoy watching YT videos too and hold some of the YouTubers in very high regard.

3. Blogging/Vlogging/Podcasting:

   There are various products/services people make and provide on the Internet. For me, it has always been the choice amongst what I have been consuming the most - texts in the form of blogs/newsletters, videos on YT and very recently podcasts. Of all these contents, I consume texts the most so naturally it’d be wise to start with online writing and maybe someday host a podcast. I had however on one of my worst days uploaded a video on YT as well to see if that could make me feel good but it didn’t feel natural to me - I looked very uncomfortable in camera and the underlying message didn’t seem to be communicated either so consequently that video was taken off from the face of Internet. I feel the right place (for someone who’s just starting out creating content on the Internet) should be a place which isn’t too overwhelming or too isolated. Both the feelings of being seen by too many known people or not being seen by anyone at all could be paralyzing for a lot of us.

4. Brief stint on Medium:

   Inspired by a writer named Richard Reis on Medium, I have thought of writing 52 pieces, one each week in the year 2020. I have failed miserably with that resolution just two months into the year. I deleted all that I had written soon after. My life was very chaotic back then, and there was little dedication let alone discipline to do justice to the task that I had undertaken. But this stint gave me some sense of writing online, how to structure my thoughts and make it publication-ready.

5. Buying my first domain:

   I wanted a piece of the internet in my name. The next question that I had was what name should I have for the domain. I have thought enough of this and this question alone was not letting me move any further. I eventually thought that it doesn’t matter if I love or hate my name; I’m never going to make the effort to change it ever so I thought this’d be a good idea for the domain to be in my name itself. I have prefixed it with the determiner “the” in my name to give a unique structure to my domain name. Having decided on the name for my domain, I researched around and found Godaddy to be a suitable website to buy my first domain. The domain that I’m using to write this piece was bought almost a year ago but I haven’t started using it because I couldn’t come up with the right place to host my website. The obvious option that I have had was WordPress but it’s been too expensive for me.

6. Enter Substack:

   I have been reading and following various writers on Substack. I thought of Substack as another Medium. But it was Dave Pell who, when moved his entire newsletter called NextDraft to Substack brought my serious attention to learning that one can also host their website on Substack. And Michael Dean’s List enlightened me that this can be done just for USD 50 for a lifetime.

I am glad that I have finally taken this plunge to make and start this space and I am very hopeful about its progress. Thank you, Substack for providing this platform and much obliged to the world of the internet for coming into existence. May you live longer than all of us!