
LEGACIES & LEARNINGS: A CASE STUDY OF OIL SPILLS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION
Oil spills cause severe distress to marine and coastal ecosystems and impair the livelihoods and health of people who are dependent on these ecosystems. These impacts have been studied and documented for decades, which has led to more effective…

DECODING MARINE PROTECTED AREAS IN INDIA – PART I: UNDERSTANDING THE LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS
In the current era of the Anthropocene, humans have become the major driver for planetary changes in the physical, chemical and biological properties of the air, land and the ocean. The exact year/ decade of the beginning of this epoch is…

ROLE OF MARINE INSURANCE IN OIL POLLUTION IN INDIA
All too often, “the asserted divide between public and private international law suggests that the two occupy different, mutually exclusive domains. On the one hand, public international law comprises the legally binding rules and principles…

UNDERWATER COMMUNICATION CABLES: VULNERABILITIES AND PROTECTIVE MEASURES RELEVANT TO INDIA PART-2
This is the second and concluding part of an article on submarine communications cable systems relevant to India. Part-1 focussed upon providing an overview of these systems and the vulnerabilities to which they are subject. This concluding…

UNDERWATER COMMUNICATION CABLES: VULNERABILITIES AND PROTECTIVE MEASURES RELEVANT TO INDIA PART-1
This two-part article aims to provide Indian policy-makers and lay readers alike with an overview of submarine communications cable systems in India, highlighting their criticality, their vulnerabilities, and the inadequate protection they receive…

RISE OF THE ROBOTS: WEAPONIZATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The history of human civilisation is a complex tapestry of individual and collective human development in the humanities and sciences interwoven with an apparently insatiable quest for power. This article concerns itself with some contemporary…

NAVIES AND THE ‘USE OF FORCE’- ANALYSING AN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN THE US NAVY AND SEAGOING FORCES OF THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS PART 2: ADDRESSING THE LEGAL ISSUES
The preceding segment of this two-part article had set the context within which three important legal questions needed to be explored: (1) Do IRGCN gunboats classify as warships? (2) Do their harassment-actions constitute a level of ‘use…

SEA LEVEL RISE AND CLIMATE REFUGEES: A CASE OF INADEQUATE INTERNATIONAL LAW
Key messages >>>
If we are able to make right choices to arrest the increase in greenhouse gas emissions now, the impact of sea level rise can be reduced to an extent and so can the number of climate refugees.
Overall, climate…

CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO VERDICT OF INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE: AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE
On 25 February 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its verdict in favour of Mauritius, over the sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago and asked the United Kingdom (UK) to hand over the disputed islands to the former. It…

EMPLOYMENT OF UNMANNED MARITIME SYSTEMS IN THE INDO-PACIFIC: LEGAL IMPLICATIONS AND THE WAY AHEAD
On December 16 2016, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) seized an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) in the EEZ of the Philippines, approximately 50 nautical miles North-West of the Subic Bay. The UUV belonged to the United States (US)…

