The fact that we have one of the most antiquated and painfully slow judicial systems in the world is not news. But when President Pratibha Patil and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee both warn against the decay and decline in the judicial system, it suggests that things are going from bad to worse. The President’s caution that congestion in courts could lead to people being tempted to take the law into their own hands comes not a moment too soon. In August and September last year, 27 people lost their lives in mob lynchings in Bihar alone. And such incidents continue as we saw recently when a mob dragged out a murder accused and beat him almost to death in Bihar. The Speaker’s lament is that more judges – India has only 10.5 judges per million people could mean more delays. He prefers the ‘.quality-over-quantity’ route. Unfortunately, we are short on both. This explains why there are three million cases pending in higher courts, 26.3 million in subordinate courts and a quarter of million under trials, many of whom have been in custody without charges for as long as five years or more. This is because unlike in other sectors that have to adhere to deadlines, the judicial process can drag on forever under one pretext or the other. All court proceedings should be governed by a realistic timeframe, after which those in charge of the justice delivery procedure must be held accountable. Though the Right to Information Act and similar empowering measures are powerful weapons which the ordinary citizen can employ against opaque governmental and bureaucratic mechanisms, it has given rise to ever more litigation. The judiciary should be more selective in admitting petitions and not hesitate to reject those that are frivolous or have the potential to be settled out of court. The so-called ‘fast-Track’ courts too seem to have been caught up in the inertia that pervades the judicial system. In light of all this, it becomes all the more necessary to push through the Judges (Inquiry) Bill that is pending. Here the Speaker has come out in favour of involving outsiders on the grounds that there is no such thing as judicial infallibility, something opposed by many in the upper echelons of the judiciary. But one thing is not in doubt. The judicial process must be made more transparent and accountable. Failing to do [...]
Archive for March 17th, 2008
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Hum Aapke Hain Kaun
March 17th, 2008 
krishna “Hum Aapke Hain Kaun” is a celebration of Indian culture and the importance it gives to relationships and emotions. This movie which was beautifully directed by Sooraj Barjatya and depicted the lavish lifestyle in which an Indian wedding ceremony takes place went on to became the biggest blockbuster of the year 1994. This Barjatya productions movie starred Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Mohnish Behl and Renuka Sahane among the leads. Under the music direction of Raam Laxman, the movie’s soundtracks included 14 songs most of which can still be heard at weddings. The story involves two families and revolves around two lovers (Salman and Madhuri) whose elder siblings (Mohnish and Renuka) have been tied in nuptial knot. The film makes a healthy progress as the married life of the newly wed couple and the love between Salman and Madhuri sets in. But unfortunately, a pregnant Renuka slips on the stairs and dies after giving birth to a baby boy. Unaware of the love affair between, Salman and Madhuri, the families decide to get Mohnish remarried to Madhuri. Considering the emotional state of Mohnish and the importance of a mother for his son, the lovers decide to sacrifice their love. Fate has its own ways and Mohnish discovers the letter Madhuri wrote to Salman and all confusions are removed on the D-day itself. Eventually, Salman and Madhuri get married and the families live happily ever after. A good, entertaining, clean family movie blended with decent humour. The movie’s selling point was the highlights of the values of an Indian society which helped the movie in becoming one of the biggest money spinners ever in the history of Hindi cinema.
No Administered Price for Branded Petrol
March 17th, 2008 krishna A considerable volume of petrol sales seems likely to go out of statist price controls, thanks to higher ethanol blending. Regular petrol is already blended with 5% ethanol. But with 10% ethanol blending set to kick in, it may put smaller engines at a certain disadvantage, due to technical reasons. So users of two-wheelers and older cars may give regular petrol the go-by. Instead, they may opt for “branded petrol, which is not blended with ethanol. More notable is the fact that the price of branded petrol is not quite determined by administrative fiat. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99. So higher usage of branded petrol would mean less of governmental meddling in oil prices. But instead of such reform by default, what is required is proactive policy change and market -determined prices to better allocate resources in the oil economy. Administered pricing of petro-products merely implies unalloyed populism to boost consumption of the non-poor. It means unrevised retail prices, never mind steadily hardening prices of crude oil. And reckless give-away have huge fiscal implications. Instead, what’s required is regular price revision to reflect international scarcity value. Incremental price changes would obviate the need for a steep, cumulative price rise. In tandem, what’s required is rationalisation of taxes on petrol, diesel, etc. It is not entirely true that oil taxes in India – more than 50% of the retail price of petrol, for instance – are strictly comparable with those in several other economies. Abroad, steep oil taxes usually go hand in-hand with a general system of value-added consumption taxes. It means no regressive cascading of rates, and provision for setoffs on taxes paid along the value chain. In India though, oil is out of the VAT regime. The empowered committee on VAT took the position that since oil prices are “administered,” there is no scope for VAT. It amounts to saying that two wrongs make a right! There are other distortions as well. The system of ad valorem oil duties means disproportionate increase in tax revenues in a scenario of dearer crude prices. There are onerous conditionalities attached to the retailing of oil products. It points at much scope for unearned rents. Also, the effective tariff protection for oil refining seems on the higher side.
ALL SET TO WELCOME PROTEAS
March 17th, 2008 Tejinder After defeating Australia at its home and the massive pay-outs of the Indian Premier auction it is a return back to earth for India’s cricketers, who have to mentally prepare themselves for a near one-month grind of Test cricket against South Africa in the heat of a home summer. Colored clothes or dancing girls, felicitations or handing out cheques are yet to come. But just who are the men who will be charged with carrying out this task? All things being equal, picking the squad would not be a tough ask. But all things are not equal at the moment. On Saturday, at the behest of Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of the selection committee, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma were asked to report at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore on Sunday, to undergo a fitness test, ahead of the selection meeting. But on Sunday only Ishant turned up in Bangalore and spent 30 minutes indoors. A report on his fitness will be delivered to the BCCI. The Punjab duo had informed the team management and the board secretary on Saturday that they were fully fit, and were not to go to Bangalore for the fitness test. However, late on Sunday evening, the BCCI convinced the two to report to Bangalore, and they were scheduled to reach Bangalore early on Monday to prove their fitness. The late decision to go to Bangalore and prove fitness rather than simply give an assurance to the board verbally could be a prudent move by Yuvraj and Harbhajan. Only recently the Board of Control for Cricket in India set a precedent as far as recording fitness levels in the NCA are concerned. The BCCI made Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman travel to the NCA to record their fitness levels with Paul Chapman and Paul Close, and they did so without protest. Although these four did not figure in the CB Series, they were not left out for fitness reasons, all enjoyed success in the Test series that preceded the one-dayers. But even if fitness is proved, Harbhajan’s selection may not be something he can take for granted. At least two selectors were not particularly enamored with his efforts in Test cricket in recent times. “You go and check his record and then call me” One selector shot back, when asked if Harbhajan was a certainty; if he was fit. [...]
