Riday Mukherjee

https://doi.org/10.64823/ijlpg.2601009

Abstract India's shift towards digitally mediated governance has reshaped the citizen-administrative state dynamics. Biometric identity framework (Aadhaar), faceless assessment in the income tax administration, direct benefit transfer system and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 are expected to be efficient, leak-proof and targeted, but leave questions unanswered before the court. This article questions whether the digital governance ecosystem in India has sufficiently harmonized the efficiency of administration with the fundamental rights of privacy, equality of substantive rights, and procedural rights in Article 21, 14 and due process. The article uses the doctrinal approach to examine the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of India on 'informational privacy' and 'proportionality', as well as the statutory framework of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023; and the administrative practice of algorithmic and automated decision-making in welfare and taxation. It believes that the judiciary has created a functional test of proportionality for privacy interests, but this test continues to be under-respected when it comes to algorithmic exclusion and automated adjudication, where reasoned decision making and meaningful review are often lacking. The article then envisions a calibrated approach that combines proportionality review with a compulsory duty of explaining algorithms and a system of independent institutional oversight, ensuring that enhanced efficiency in government does not sacrifice constitutionally protected rights.

https://doi.org/10.64823/ijlpg.2601010

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has enabled the creation and dissemination of highly realistic deepfake content, creating significant challenges for electoral integrity and constitutional democracy. This paper critically examines the impact of deepfakes on democratic elections, with particular emphasis on the constitutional tension between safeguarding electoral processes and protecting freedom of expression. Adopting a qualitative, interpretivist and inductive approach, the research relies on secondary data comprising academic literature, legislation, judicial decisions, governmental reports and policy documents, analysed through thematic analysis. The paper finds that deepfakes can facilitate political misinformation, voter manipulation, identity impersonation and declining public trust, while existing legal frameworks remain insufficiently specific to address election-related synthetic media. A comparative assessment of India, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States demonstrates significant differences in legislative clarity, platform accountability and election-specific regulation. The research further establishes that excessive regulation may suppress legitimate political expression, whereas inadequate regulation may undermine informed democratic participation. It therefore advocates a proportionate constitutional approach based on clear and dedicated deepfake election legislation, stronger platform accountability and transparency, technological detection, digital literacy, judicial oversight and international regulatory cooperation. Such measures can strengthen electoral integrity while preserving the fundamental democratic value of freedom of expression in the digital era.

https://doi.org/10.64823/ijlpg.2601007

The increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technologies, and big data analytics into criminal justice systems is transforming the collection, authentication, analysis, and evaluation of digital evidence. While these innovations enhance investigative capabilities through automated data processing, forensic analysis, facial recognition, and predictive analytics, they also create significant challenges for evidentiary reliability. In particular, the proliferation of AI-generated content and increasingly sophisticated deepfakes has complicated the authentication of digital evidence, while predictive policing systems have raised concerns regarding algorithmic bias, transparency, accountability, and due process. Although existing scholarship has examined these technologies individually, relatively little research has explored their combined implications for digital evidence and criminal justice decision-making within a unified analytical framework. This research paper evaluates the implications of AI-generated content, blockchain authentication systems, and predictive policing technologies for the reliability, admissibility, and legitimacy of digital evidence in contemporary criminal justice systems.

https://doi.org/10.64823/ijpeh.2601002

The climate issue is twofold centred on cities. They are the greatest contributors to emissions that accelerate warming and they focus the population and resources that are endangered by warming. That dual exposure is the beginning point in this paper and it poses a more difficult question than one can reasonably have with a typical survey. It is not merely the issue of what climate change does to urban ecosystems that are problematic, but why the instruments of managing urban ecologies continue to fail to match the magnitude of the challenge. It bases its argument on the numbers provided by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, UN-Habitat, and some recent peer-reviewed literature, labeling the reaction to climate change in urban areas as being ambitious and lacking in coordination. Medellin green corridors and other examples of nature based interventions demonstrate that urban green areas can be used to quantifiably cool the city. However, their advantages are not equally spread and their form of governance is disregarded in a fragmented polycentric system of municipal networks, ministries of the national governments and private actors which are not accountable to each other. The discussion has come to the conclusion that it is no longer the knowledge or even technology that would be the decisive constraint on the action taken to improve the urban climate. It is the structure of governing: who governs, who funds and who cools off the first.

https://doi.org/10.64823/ijlpg.2601006

Global supply chains, characterized by the growing engagement of multinational enterprises, has exacerbated concerns surrounding business-related human rights violations such as labour exploitation, environmental damage, unhealthy work environment, and other fundamental human rights abuses. This has catalysed the transformation of discretionary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices into mandated Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence (CHRDD) framework where businesses are obliged to conduct assessment of human rights risks, preventing and mitigating adverse human rights impacts, and providing remedy. This paper interrogates whether India ought to implement a mandatory CHRDD framework and how to achieve it, through analysis of conceptual framework of human rights due diligence, evolution of international law on corporate human rights and the regulatory regimes introduced in France, Germany and the EU. Subsequently, the paper will scrutinise India’s legislative landscape including the Companies Act 2013, Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) regime of SEBI, existing labour and environmental legislation, constitutional provisions and judicial trends to gauge the adequacy and effectiveness of the legal system in curbing corporate human rights risks.

https://doi.org/10.64823/ijter.2505014

ABSTRACT Instead of being mutually exclusive, strong states and a strong centre are dependent on one another. Powerful centres could not exist without strong states, and vice versa. State-centre cooperation is facilitated by the Indian Federation. Disparities in race, religion, and culture undoubtedly point to a federal organisation, and intergovernmental cooperation is necessary. One of the most important factors in achieving the optimum results from cooperative federalism in India, a multi-party democracy, is political coherence. Even though the Indian constitution lays out the roles and powers of the union government and the state in detail, the government does not function in a vacuum. However, it is frequently observed that barriers arise when it comes to rendering decisions. This essay concentrates on how the objective of cooperating federalism is still unachievable due to these divergent political interests and beliefs. Additionally, this study offers suggestions for the future.