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The reason for Indian democracy’s downslide is collapse of judiciary | Scroll Adda
The reason for Indian democracy’s downslide is the collapse of judiciary
Few people know more about India’s courts than Indira Jaising. In a career spanning more than half a century, Jaising has practised both at the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court.
On this episode of ‘Scroll Adda’, she speaks to Shoaib Daniyal on the ills plaguing the judiciary. Dynasty has taken over the courts, she says, leading to a lack of intellectual development. Bright young lawyers without family contacts are forced to leave litigation.
The judiciary is not doing its job of being a check on the executive. Jaising argues that this government is simply ignoring the Constitution and the courts are unable to stop it. ‘The reason for Indian democracy’s downslide is the collapse of the judiciary,’ she says.
Meanwhile, public movements like the Jantar Mantar protests, sparked by the Chief Justice’s ‘cockroach’ comment, show that anger against the judiciary is boiling over into the streets.
Producer: Raghav Kakkar
Host: Shoaib Daniyal
Editor: Hyder Habib
Chapters
00:00 Precap
02:12 ‘Sons of judges are judges’
13:10 The cosy relationship between collegium and government
21:09 Government is ignoring the Constitution
25:29 Basic structure is dead
31:30 The Ram Mandir judgement
35:50 Corruption and the judiciary
39:30 The fear of contempt of court
45:36 Judges and cockroaches
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
28 Aug 2026
Is the Indian middle class dying?
After independence, the middle class ruled India. High-quality university education, good urban infrastructure, and law and order in metros: the government strove to meet white collar India's needs.
Today, however, argues investor Saurabh Mukherjea, that is not the case. He says the middle class lacks political leverage despite contributing the most towards taxes.
In a new book, Breakpoint: The Crisis of the Middle Class and the Future of Work, Mukherjea, along with Nandita Rajhansa and Sapana Bhavsar, argues that falling employment, stagnant wages and exploding debt driven by social media envy means the Indian middle class is facing an existential crisis.
Host: Shoaib Daniyal
Producer: Priyali Dhingra
Editor: Hyder Habib
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
26 Jun 2026
From militant to chief minister: the remarkable life of Mizoram’s Zoramthanga |
In 1966, a 22-year-old Zoramthanga joined the Mizo National Front and started an armed struggle to secede from the Indian Union.
Over the next two decades, he was on the move: India, East Pakistan, Burma and, after East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971, Rawalpindi.
In 1986, the MNF ended their rebellion with the signing of the Mizoram Peace Accord with Rajiv Gandhi’s government. Today it is seen as one of India’s most successful attempts to end an insurgency. Since the accord, Mizoram has been the most peaceful state in the Northeast.
In a remarkable turn of events, Zoramthanga, who had spent two decades fighting the Indian Union, became a chief minister of a state in the Union in 1998.
On Scroll Adda, he tells us about his remarkable life.
Host: Shoaib Daniyal
Producer: Priyali Dhingra
Editor: Hyder Habib
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 19 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
38
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
0
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