align="left">We have just completed 55 years as a Republic, and this is a good opportunity to introspect.  With great hope and expectation, the members of the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution on November 26, 1949, and the new Republic came into existence on 26 January, 1950.  By any standard it was an extraordinary occasion.

We have just completed 55 years as a Republic, and this is a good opportunity to introspect.  With great hope and expectation, the members of the Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution on November 26, 1949, and the new Republic came into existence on 26 January, 1950.  By any standard it was an extraordinary occasion.

The recent spurt in terrorist violence and the unresolved Cauvery river water dispute brought to the fore once again the imbalanced nature of our federalism. For long scholars have argued with reason that our Constitution is quasi-federal in nature, and in times of emergency (under Article 352) and imposition of president’s rule under Article 356, it becomes completely unitary. These apart, the states in India are completely at the mercy of the Union for their very existence.

The events of the past fortnight have once again demonstrated the fragility that characterizes the fundamental rights in this country. The Tamilnadu Legislative Assembly found five senior journalists guilty of violating the legislative privileges and sought to imprison them. This episode brings into relief many questions. First, can Article 194, pertaining to legislative privileges, override freedom of expression enshrined in Article 19? Can judiciary adjudicate on the question of legislative privileges?