Synopsis This volume of essays written in A.G. Noorani’s trademark lucid and accessible style deals with crises in various institutions including the judiciary, the civil services, and elections. It highlights the process of accountability in these institutions, the citizens’ right to know and correspondingly the states’ accountability to the people. It analyses the working of commissions of enquiry, the decline in the quality of the political process in recent years, the amplitude of article 370 on Kashmir, and the armed forces. The essays are thought provoking and comparative in approach drawing examples from British and American experiences. This volume demonstrates how citizens can assert their rights and bring to account those who wield power. The issues raised have far reaching consequences and are recurring themes in India’s politics, making this collection of enduring interest. Shorn of knotty legal details, yet replete with quotations, citations and references for interested readers, this collection of essays will interest all sections of the legal fraternity. It will also be of relevance to political scientists, journalists as well as interested lay readers.