Shalu Nigam

  Fighting for Freedom Every Day Shalu Nigam 15 August 2023 Politically, India gained independence on 15th August 1947, however, for those on the margins, freedom is not a one-time event, They are struggling hard and fighting for every inch of space and for freedom on a daily basis at every possible space - public or private.  Freedom implies a different sense to different people. For the elite and the privileged, freedom may be a one-day celebration. However, for a woman or a child in a violent relationship, a poor trapped in the vicious circle of poverty, a bonded laborer enslaved by the chains of bondage, or a young girl stuck in a trafficking channel, freedom may be desperately seeking liberation every moment. And there are a million men, women, and children who are entrapped in a similar situation.  The freedom struggle in India has seen a lot of bloodshed and sacrifice by millions. However, several scholars have noted that once India attained independence, it is the powerful and

 The Founding Mothers: 15 Women Architects of the Indian Constitution 2016 The current question of women’s autonomy and rights in India is rooted in the nineteenth century when the quest for independence of the country from British rule was going on and the issues of women’s rights gained a central position in debates on social reforms. Although, at that point in time, the notion of gender justice or gender equality had not gained ground, yet, the social reformers were of the view that something needs to be done about improving the situation of women. Women then were construed as members of the community rather than individuals on their own and therefore, the notion of women’s entitlements was interpreted within the context of the religious, personal, and customary law sphere which never treated women as independent entities. The official colonial and post-colonial discourses in pre-independent India were initiated by male reformers who articulated their thoughts on the abolition of Sa

  “The law is a site where marginalization is challenged and resisted by those who are subjugated. On the one hand, the law reinforces the patriarchal discourse, yet on the other hand, it has the authority to set out the social order. Women and  marginalized groups have used the law to challenge the hierarchy and dominant notions.”   Shalu Nigam  In an online session on Law and Our Daily Lives @  LPPYF- Law and Public Policy Youth Fellowship, a two-month online immersive legal awareness & action research certificate training course and internship program, on 14 th  June 2023.  Session Report Priyanka Negi LPPYF Law and Public Policy Youth Fellowship  is an Online National Summer School Program, a Two- Month Online Immersive Legal Awareness & Action Research Certificate Training Course and Internship Program, from June-August 2023 by  IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute . An informative and interactive panel discussion on “ International Human Rights ”  was held on the 14

  Dowry is a Serious Economic Violence: Rethinking Dowry Law in India  Hardcover – 13 May 2023 This book is about the prevailing practices of dowry, its mechanisms, and the dowry laws as they exist in India. It argues that the practice of dowry is evolving in the commercialized neoliberal while the law has failed to keep pace with the socio-economic changes. Dowry, as it is practiced today, involves gruesome forms of economic violence, including extortion, blackmail, and exploitation of women and their families. The current legal framework ignores this  triad of oppression  consisting of compulsive, arbitrary  dowry demands ,  coercion , and dowry-related  violence,  and therefore, it suggests rethinking the socio-legal discourse surrounding dowry in India.

  Dowry involves a triad of oppression “Dahej naari jaati ka apmaan hai” "Dowry is an insult to females.” (A slogan raised against the immoral practice of dowry in post-independent India) Cameron (2014) categorised the financially abusive partners into three categories: controllers, exploiters, and schemers. According to this study, the controllers use a peculiar combination of abusive behaviour to exert control, the exploiters use various forms of abuse to exploit partners for their own financial needs, and the schemers systematically strategize to steal the women’s money. The despicable goal of the schemers is to shamelessly exploit the relationship and to wrongfully take women’s assets. Using this critical approach to analyse the cases relating to dowry abuse depicts that those who demand dowry are schemers who systematically and brazenly strategize to control not only the women’s assets but also the money that belongs to her natal family. As a controller, the abuser threatens

  Excerpt from my book  Dowry is a Serious Economic Violence: Rethinking Dowry Law in India   (2023) Amazon Centuries ago, when Karl Marx wrote exhaustively about the callous exploitation of workers by the capitalist class, he may not have imagined how in South Asia, women as brides  would be treated as commodities, pitilessly exploited, and violently murdered in their own  homes by their abusive husbands for extorting wealth. As the ruthless oppression of the toiling masses could not be prevented by laws or policies, the merciless torture and murder of women could not be regulated despite establishing a legal mechanism in place. Over the decades, predatory capitalism has irrevocably acquired an altered form, and the free-market approach has devised a new mechanism of manipulation (Faber D, 2018). Similarly, the viciousness of the neoliberal forces, clubbed with patriarchy, feudalism, conservatism, rampant materialism, and excessive consumption propelled by extensive consumerism, is ag

  सामाजिक-कानूनी संदर्भ में असहमति का अधिकार: नागरिकता की पुनर्कल्पना, और लोकतंत्र को मजबूत करने की पहल  24 Jul 2023 असहमति का अधिकार एक महत्वपूर्ण अधिकार है जो हर व्यक्ति को स्वतंत्रता के साथ समाज में अपने विचारों और विचारों को व्यक्त करने का अधिकार देता है। यह एक मूलभूत मानवाधिकार है जो संविधान द्वारा सुरक्षित किया गया है। असहमति का अधिकार सामाजिक प्रगति, नई विचारधारा और सामाजिक सुधार को बढ़ावा देने में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाता है। इस विशेषता से जुड़े अनेक मामले समाज को सुधारने, सामाजिक न्याय को सुनिश्चित करने और समाज में सकारात्मक परिवर्तन को उत्प्रेरित करते हैं।  यहां असहमति के अधिकार के महत्व और इसके सामाजिक प्रभाव के बारे में विस्तार से जानें और कैसे यह समाज में प्रगति को बढ़ावा देने में मदद कर सकता है। अधिवक्ता  डॉ. शालू निगम का यह लेख   आपको  असहमति के अधिकार की महत्वपूर्ण जानकारी  प्रदान करेगा और इस अधिकार की रक्षा में सकारात्मक भूमिका निभाने के तरीकों पर विचार करेगा।  असहमति का अर्थ क्या है? 'आइए असहमत होने के लिए सहमत हों', 'असहमति' शब्द का सार सरल शब्दों में

  The Right to Dissent in the Socio-legal Context: Reimagining Citizenship, Strengthening Democracy ` Let’s agree to disagree’ may sum up the gist of the word `dissent’ in simple terms. Dissent, generally, implies disagreement, criticism, questioning, or protest against the coercive decision or unjust laws and policies imposed by a person/s in authority. Explored in a constructive manner, peaceful and nonviolent dissent may lead to dialogue, open discussions, entrenchment of democratic ideas, undoing injustices, and ending oppression. Collective disobedience often results in a constructive social transformation. However, history depicts that the tyrannical rulers have used tools such as the law and violence to suppress dissent and this repression of diverse voices by the authoritarian states continues during the modern times. Dissent is being construed detrimentally as disobedience and dissenters are perceived as a threat to the law-and-order situation by the authoritarian states. F

  Reimagining Everyday Justice through the Triad of Niti (policy), Nyaya (Justice), and Niyat (Will and Agency) 25 February 2023 http://mainstreamweekly.net/article13169.html by Shalu Nigam Scholars all over the world have defined `justice’ as a broad concept of righteousness, fairness and equity. However, justice has many dimensions and includes comprehending situations of injustices in everyday lives that need to be redressed. More so, from the perspective of the Global South, situations of injustices exist despite having well-written constitutions, laws, and policies, besides the existence of an expansive legal system and the administrative apparatus. Perhaps the governance system lacks the political will to enforce the constitutional values, laws, and policies in the true spirit in which they were framed. At times, numerous laws grant limited rights, also, the laws are being weaponized by the powerful. Therefore, what is required is a combination of elements to foster effective, ef