As the cynical calculations of politicians open more than one can of legal worms, this issue of Ensouth is preoccupied with recent political events.

         Even as India seems set to emerge from decades of mediocrity, caste and community based reservations neatly gift wrapped in affirmative action rhetoric seems to be sucking us back into a morass from which we are yet to emerge. As I write this message, Rajasthan’s Gujjar community is sealing off highways. Meanwhile, the ‘backward’ Meena community who are primary beneficiaries of job reservations thus far have threatened to start a civil war if the Gujjar’s don’t back off.  In Excluding Judicial Review, we look at the continuing attempts of the political classes to create unequal reservations for favored communities and then ban the courts from examining the legality at these laws. 

          In much the same vein, a respected publisher and printer who expressed contrarian views on venerated Maratha warrior king Shivaji have been wrung through the criminal prosecution machine and the Supreme Court had to intervene to stop the charade. In Shoot the Dissident, we look at the right of an individual to express views that differ from those of some of our political masters. 

          For the third of our subjects, we turn reflective as we turn from the specific to the universal. In The Culture of the Law, we examine the manner in which our cultural moorings influence how we enforce our laws. 

          Finally, it will be our privilege to address another two-day workshop on How to Acquire a Company in Bangalore on August 10^th and 11^th, 2007 and we hope to see some of you there.

Ranjeev C Dubey

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