What do the Urdu lyricist Javed Akhtar and his speech in the parliament have to do with the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959? Nothing, really! But on what grounds can a poet or writer claim ownership over her work. And why have beggars, surrogates, and sex workers been criminalized for decades, being denied the right to sing and dance in public spaces? This episode of The Longest Constitution examines, through the lens of The Copyright Law, the kind of work which is ‘visible’ and that which is ‘invisible’ and the overwhelming burden of invisible work on women.

**Reading material: **Reddy, Prashant, T. and Sumathi Chandrashekaran, 2017, “Akhtar Rescripts Copyright Law” in, Create, Copy, Disrupt: : India's Intellectual Property Dilemmas, OUP: New Delhi.Kotiswaran, Prabha, 2021, “An Ode to Altruism: How Indian Courts Value Unpaid Domestic Work”, EPW, Vol. 56, Issue No. 36.Ghosh, Jayati, 2013, “Women's Work in India in the Early 21st Century”. Available at: http://www. sundarayya.org/sites/default/files/papers/jayati. pdfBhatia, Gautam, 2018, ‘Something of freedom is yet to come: The significance of the Delhi High Court’s decriminalization of beggary; Available at:https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2018/08/10/something-of-freedom-is-yet-to-come-the-significance-of-the-delhi-high-courts-decriminalisation-of-beggary/
If you have missed out on The Longest Constitution Season 1, check here: ( "The Longest Constitution with Priya Mirza")You can follow Priya on social media:Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/thelongestconstitution_/ )Twitter: ( fundamentallyp )Linkedin: ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-mirza-73666310/ )

You can listen to The Longest Constitution podcast on IVM Podcasts Network, Spotify, YouTube Music, Gaana, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Find other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: ‎IVM Podcasts, or on any other major podcast app.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.