Indian Journal of Law and Justice, Vol. 11, No. 01 (Part-03)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/4000

EDITORIAL

For decades now legal fraternity has been preoccupied with attempts to explain the relationship between legal and social change in the context of development and society. They viewed the law both as an independent and dependent and variable (cause and effect) in society and emphasized the interdependence of the law with other social systems. In its most concrete sense, social transformation means the change the society envisages in keeping with the demands of social, economic, political and historical factors. Social change brings about a change in the thought process of the people living in the society. Social change also has an impact upon the governance of a country. Such changes impact upon the rights of the people and also subaltern thoughts.

Law is the reflection of the will and wish of the society. It is responsible for the social transformations. The relationship between law and society works in a circular motion. On one hand the law changes the society and compels the society to be changed according to it. And on the other hand society changes the law as per its demands and needs. Legislated law, judicial interpretations, and custom and usages having the force of law play an important role in bringing about social change. When law changes the society it is the sign of beginning of the development of the society. When society changes law it is the sign of maturity of the society. The Shahabano case, Vishakha case, transgender case, the Nirbhaya case, Shabarimala case, Triple Talaque case environmental cases were some of the areas where the commonest of the common man was able to raise a voice and say how the law must be, what must be the punishment etc. The change required in the society can be initiated by a single person also and this has been proved in India right from Raja Ram Mohan Roy; Eishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Dayanand Saraswati to Mahatma Phule, Mahatma Baseswar, and Mahatma Gandhi up to Mother.

Teresa, Baba Amte, Anna Hazare! Thus the demand takes root and compels the government to either reform the existing laws or make new or even delete the existing unworthy laws.

Education too is a very important instrument of social change. Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. As a result of rapid industrialization, growing urbanization and changes in the human intellect society needs to change in order to cope with the gradual changes. Education can initiate social change by bringing about changes in the outlook and attitude of people. Present education system is totally mechanized and homogenising which curbs the individual thinking and self-learning.

Education is the root cause of social and cultural changes that takes place within the society. Education has been and is being played as an agent of socialization of the youth so as to reach the expectations of the society. Technology is another instrument of social change and development. With the introduction of technology in all walks of life, minimal knowledge of technology is the need of the hour.

Keeping the current developments and the emerging trends in mind, the Department of Law, University of North Bengal, had organised the National Law.

Conclave on the theme “Law as an Instrument of Social Change: Issues, Challenges and Emerging Trends” in November 2019.This special issue of the Indian Journal of Law and Justice is an anthology of the selected papers presented in the Conclave which intends obtain the bird’s eye view of the changes that have occurred and to ascertain how the jurists interpret the phenomenon of change.

Prof. (Dr.) Gangotri Chakraborty
Chief Editor

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 23
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    ‘Divided by borders united by the Himalayas’: A Cross regional Policy Paper on the ‘Third Pole effect’, focusing on the issue of Water Crisis and Climate change in South Asia
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Rodricks, Abhisekh; Bhattacharjee, Shibasish
    Most of the countries in South Asia like Bangladesh,China, India and Pakistan derive their water sources from the Hindu Kush mountains. It holds the largest stretch of frozen water outside the polar territory for which it it’s referred to as the ‘Third Pole.’ There exists an imminent threat from both the climatic and ecological variations coupled with human activities.Signs of water stresses have been found in majority of the affected regions. More than a billion people are living and thriving off this geo-climatic zone which has therefore, become a region of man-made exploitation. If the predictions, in respect to, growth of population, latent demand for agricultural and energy resources along with climatic variations are not made accurately, the actual stress on the Hindu Kush Himalayas(HKH), can never be assessed correctly, and hence actions taken may not lead to the pre-set goals.
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    Legal and Regulatory Issues of Privacy and Data Protection in E-Commerce and Social Transformation
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Rai, Sambhavna
    The concept of Right to privacy with that of data protection has gained enormous attention over the years. With the technological advancement our society has witnessed transformation both good and bad in abundance. Talking about the social transformation it is pertinent to mention that traditional society abhorred privacy and there were hardly any data to be protected . But time changed and society valued their seclusion and preferred to be left alone without interference from other fellow human beings. With the mushrooming borderless technology people became even more conscious of their data and valued privacy unlike their forefather who abhorred it.
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    Biotechnological Advancement and Its Impact on the Society
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Limbu, Numa
    Technology has made a huge advancement in 20thCentury, it has in a dynamic way changed the life of human beings. With increase in technological information there has been tremendous growth of database of scientific knowledge. Improvements in technology leads to increase in knowledge and information further creating better technology. Firstly, it was the computer technology that brought about a global impact on the activities of human beings. Further internet provided exciting new possibilities for electronic communication. The human life no longer remained the same. Later with biotechnological advancement there was rapid change in the quality of life. It is also considered as one of the most controversial scientific advancement. Generally, biotechnology means application of technology to the practice of medicine.
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    Use of Technology in Access to Justice
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Baladhikari, Surja Kanta
    Access to justice is not only concerned with the way the judicial process functions but improving the way disputes are resolved. The process of availing justice showcases that it is time-consuming, unaffordable, unjustifiably combative and inexplicably steeped in opaque procedure and language. Promotion of access to justice includes factors2 of dispute containment, dispute avoidance and legal health promotion. A legal issue must be first recognised and be dealt with by selecting the appropriate service. Justice must reach the non-lawyers who are unaware that there is a situation where a legal problem must be resolved, contained and avoided. Access to justice must spread to use of technology in courts and the way society is involved in the process of administration of justice. Services such as selecting the appropriate service for the legal issue is very important as this determines the efficacy of the judicial process. United Kingdom provides citizens advice service this enables the citizens to handle some of the legal situations on their own when legal services are provided online similarly like that of other online services of the State. These online legal services can be provided in three forms – web-based services, commercial or NGO’s; subscription-based access or alternate business structures or legal publishers. The services which are provided can also be provided where citizens can compare the prices which will be available at competitive rates. Subsequently services can also be streamlined by providing guidance upon procedural and substantive issues. Along with services it is the need of the hour that judges start accepting e-filing, virtual courts, online dispute resolution, digital evidence, deposition of witness online for instance in Jammu and Kashmir where due to geographical limitations citizens might not be able to travel to reach the courts for testifying due to snow or landslides, whether it means they do not have access to justice? The paper critically analyses the role of the stakeholders in the administration of justice put together in providing access to justice to citizens through use of technology.
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    Social Memory in Internet Age
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Shinde, Vishal B.
    Someone might ask a question that why do we need to forget something? It can also be argued that memory to store information then whyto forget something willfully? Remembering is a positive whereas forgetting is a negative task etc. Though these questions seem valid, we have to take the fact in mind that remembrance is not necessarily beneficial all the times. Similarly, forgetting is not necessarily a negative task all the times. Forgetfulness has its own value. In this paper researcher attempts to explain importance of forgetfulness and social memory in the internet age. Researcher has also tried to through some lighton how the forgetfulness could benefit our society and Remembrancecould prove harmful to the society in certain situations.This piece of research is to explore the value of forgetfulness against the concept of Remembrance. Why forgetting is necessary in several situations and how Remembrance can prove to be harmful is discussed here in detail.
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    Expression Dispute under Copyright Law: A Synthesis Study
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Ghosh, Rima
    Copyright inherently counteracts writers and publishers' conditions for regulating and paying their use of work against the reader and user demands for unlimited access to works at minimum or no cost. Indeed, the fundamental reason for copyright is to prevail over and above the added expenses which copyright monopolies on the public, arising mainly from the monopolistic collection of legal rights, which provide the requisite economic incentives to create and disseminate artistic and intellectual works. The public benefit is the wide variety of creative and academic works and their broad dissemination. There are two types of general expenses: the extra copying expenses and the right to use copyrighted works whose costs are set by the proprietor, and the limits on the use of the previous work in order to produce more works are not to be feared by any healthy competition. The costs and advantages of the copyright system will also change,like the elements of copyright affecting the balance.This work focuses in particular on copyright law, which discusses both the public and the rightsholders' conflicting needs. Any part of copyright law was regulated by idea speech.
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    Biodiversity Laws as a Means to Protect Traditional Knowledge: Issues, Challenges and Success Stories
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Singh, Sonal
    India is a country rich in biodiversity. The associated traditional knowledge has been an important part of Indian culture and society. Being a diversity rich spot, India has been victim of bio-piracy several times, though it has learnt its lessons from haldi, neem and basmati incidents. While it is important for countries to conserve its biodiversity and associated indigenous knowledge, it is also important to protect rights of those who add value to it and make its use more extensive through the tools of intellectual property rights. This results in conflict between biodiversity conservation and intellectual property rights. Biodiversity conservation conventions and statutes seek to achieve a balance between the rights of both. In India, the Biodiversity Act, 2002 provides for requirement of prior informed consent of the indigenous communities before accessing and using the concerned bio-resource. It also provides legal framework to ensure benefit sharing in various forms in case any intellectual property is obtained on the bioresource or the relevant traditional knowledge. However, effective implementation of the same remains a challenge. This ultimately deprives the actual holders of the concerned traditional knowledge who have either nurtured the bio-resources for years. This paper discusses the framework of biodiversity conservation laws as a means to protect rights of traditional knowledge holders in the international and Indian context. It highlights instances where legal framework has been successful in protecting rights of traditional knowledge holders. It also discusses various issues and challenges in protection of traditional knowledge in India.
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    Stigmatization of Mental Health – An Overview of Mental Health Laws and Forensic Psychiatry in India
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Basnet, Srijana; Tamang, Manisha
    In our country the concept of Mental Health is often attached with stigma and prejudication. The lack of mental health literacy among people has led to the violation of human rights and discrimination. People suffering from mental disorder are categorically called mad or lunatics. Mental Health legislation is indispensable in protecting the rights and dignity of persons with Mental Disorders. Forensic psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that applies both scientific and clinical expertise in legal proceedings. It plays an important role in assisting judiciary. Since, there is no separate specialization for Forensic psychiatry in India it is in a toddler stage. This paper presents the overall approach of the Indian legislation towards mental health and the present state of forensic psychiatry in India.
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    Environmental Justice Movement and Ecological Conflicts in India
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Shome, Shubhajeet
    This article provides a view on environmental justice movement in India.Using a combination of the environmental justice (EJATLAS)data base and other sources, I look at the areas of conflicts, violence on environmental activists, protests,changing slogans in the country. This article aims to analyze other visible and invisible areas in violence are manifested. Descriptive statistics and specific illustrations are used to give support above mentioned areas of environmental justice movement in Indian context.I shall then discuss the success of this environment justice movement and conclude with some scope for further research.
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    The Forest Legislations with Special Reference to Forest Right Act (2006) and Its Impact on the Condition of the Indigenous Forest Villagers in North Bengal: A Study
    (University of North Bengal, 2020-03) Basu Majumder (Das), Taniya
    Since time immemorial there is a synergetic relationship between forestry and human beings.A large number of people depends heavily on forest for their livelihood and used to live in and around the forest areas. Forests play an important role in improving the social and economic status of the people by providing direct and indirect employment opportunities. The indigenous community especially the tribal people, the pastoralists, the peasants community, the slum-dwellers as well as the industrialists have a substantial reliance on the major and minor forest produce as the source of fuel, fodder, timber, medicinal herbs or raw material for production and processing. Collection and sale of the different types of minor forest produce are some of the main livelihoods carried out by the forest dependent communities as a part of their subsistence.