Kumble bids adieu

The manner and timing of Indian Test captain Anil Kumble's retirement from international cricket does not go with his personality. It has to be said. For, he has always avoided spotlight preferring to keep his deepest feelings to himself. In many celebrated moments in a long and distinguished career he has not let the abundance of joy sway him. Small wonder then that his official website carries an observation about him by Sachin Tendulkar: "Extremely, extremely, extremely tough." His strong character is proved by the fact that he resisted the temptation of leading India into the fourth Test against Australia during the current series between the two countries. Instead, he made up his mind to quit during the third Test itself at the national capital's Ferozeshah Kotla ground, and announced it hogging all the limelight and emotions as the match ended in a draw. He might have realised that a serious finger injury he had suffered in the encounter would render him unfit for the next tie. That could not have, however, prevented him from being a part of the team and watching the match from the sidelines. Yet, he preferred to call it a day instead of wasting his own and others' time. The thought of saying goodbye to the international arena must have weighed on his mind for some time. Admittedly, he had also come in for criticism on the home turf for not doing enough as a player and a captain. Such criticism was unfair to the man who was the second highest wicket-taker among leg-spinners in Test cricket behind Shane Warne of Australia and the third of all bowlers after Warne and off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka claiming over 600 Test wickets. He is one of the only two bowlers in the history of cricket to have taken all 10 wickets in a Test innings --- incidentally at the same field at which he called it quits --- the other being Jim Laker of England. He was awarded Padma Shri way back in 2005.

In one stroke Kumble has silenced his critics. He has told them that they had underestimated the player who, as one of his contemporaries has remarked, was "a true fighter", "thoroughly a true gentleman," and a "great ambassador of cricket." Extremely well bowled, one would say.

Younger generation abhors politics ?

By V.Y. Kantak

The Indian Institute of Public Opinion in a nation-wide survey of 1, 00,000 voters between the age of 25-35 expressed their unwillingness to opt for a political career in the country. If history is past politics and politics present history, future generations will not look back on this age with pride. The irony, as will be explained later, is that no point of principle drives any political party in their search for office of profit.

A dozen young men met N.R. Narayanamurthy in Bangalore in August and urged him to enter politics and multiply Infosys's culture of excellence. Jobs would be going a-begging then for a billion Indians. "When will we have people like you going for elections?" They asked in deadly earnest. The founder-chairman of one of India's most innovative ventures laughed at this suggestion of giving up his business "to do something for his country".

One mustn't tar parliamentarians with the gangland brush. The Prime Minister, who called himself "a politician by accident" in the peroration no one was allowed to hear, would cut a bizarre figure in gangland. So would Rahul Gandhi, whose pious efforts to relate energy security to the tale of two Vidarbha housewives introduced a whiff of Sunday school idealism into frenetic politicking. In zooming in on him, the cameras lit on others like Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Sadly, they are there only because of paternal precedent. Politics is not a career option for the meritorious young of good family and with a sound education.

Even the worthy few accept that it is an underworld activity that must be played by underworld rules. I remember Indira Gandhi's great comeback at Rae Bareili when two venerable Congressmen, A.P. Sharma and Uma Shankar Dikshit, were her campaign managers. Suddenly, there arrived on the scene M.L. Fotedar, then popularly described as a Nehru-Gandhi family retainer, and took over the show. While Dikshit spent his time sitting up in bed propped up with bolsters and hot water bottles, Sharma explained, "You see, in an election various things have to be done that cannot be associated with people of our stature." It is this aspect of electioneering that drew sneers when V.P. Singh postured as 'Mr Cleaner' while quietly stabbing in the back his allegedly Bofors-tainted boss, 'Mr Clean'-Rajiv Gandhi

The lashings and thrashings that passed for a debate exposed the mental calibre of our MPs. The nuclear deal's promise of access to American technology and nuclear fuel was a non-issue. So was the expectation of additional foreign investment of up to $40 billion over the next 15-years. No one examined Manmohan Singh's assertion that the deal will increase nuclear generation tenfold and end the almost daily power cuts. The recent decline of India's annual economic growth rate largely because of the electricity shortfall was ignored. Fervent nationalists should have noted that though 14 of India's atomic reactors will be subject to inspection, the International Atomic Energy Agency will have no say over strategic installations. But the jailbirds and invalids, the bribe-givers and bribe-takers cared nothing about nitty-gritty issues.

As mentioned, there is very little to choose between the Congress and BJP when it comes to agendas, which is precisely why Lal Krishna Advani, "willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike", made a mess of his case, never able to rise above diatribe. He wants to claim credit for a repackaged 123 agreement but such sophistication was lost on his currency-brandishing henchmen, whose features told us why the younger generation wants achievers like Narayanamurthy in parliament. He would appreciate the need to build good governance on the convergence between the Congress and the BJP, at least on crucial foreign policy issues.

Jaswant Singh picked up the Israel ball after Rajiv Gandhi and P.V. Narasimha Rao set it rolling. Vajpayee started the economic and strategic talks with Singapore that allowed Manmohan Singh to finalize the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement and three significant defence pacts. Vajpayee first hailed the United States of America as India's "natural ally". He acknowledges his debt in nuclear policy to Narasimha Rao who inherited the decision from Rajiv Gandhi who, in turn, derived inspiration from Pokhran I. Despite its concern for energy, the UPA would have no qualms about endorsing the National Democratic Alliance's enunciation of Pokhran II's military objectives.

Those with long memories may recall Vajpayee accusing Narasimha Rao of stealing the BJP's economic clothes. Those in the know of current affairs are aware that P. Chidambaram has no quarrel with the BJP general secretary and Bangalore MP, Ananth Kumar, who chairs the standing committee on finance. The objection to this system of understanding at the top and a huge chasm below is not that it is elitist but that it exposes the leadership on both sides to the mercy of hoi polloi with little grasp of (or interest in) necessary measures like the pending bills to enhance the voting rights of foreign players in proportion to their stake in private sector banks, raise the cap on foreign equity in insurance firms from 26 to 49 per cent and allow private sector participation in the pension sector.

A battle has been won. But with the Left Front on the warpath, the BJP licking its wounds, Mayavati determined not to be done out of third front laurels and Amar Singh beginning to feel his oats, the war has just begun. The bigger war is with the gangland that threatens to engulf us all and drown all values and standards. It can be averted not by framing more laws to be evaded, avoided or subverted but by people like Narayanamurthy responding to younger generation's plea. When will that happen? One can but end where one began with Shaw's Saint Joan, "How long, O Lord, how long?" INAV

Small and medium enterprises

By Narendra Sharma

The world economic crisis has cast its shadow on various sectors of the Indian economy. It has taken a toll on jobs, especially in the employment-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as export-oriented industries. The corporate sector has also made moves to prune jobs on the plea of financial crisis.

The US financial crisis, which is hurting developed and developing countries cutting across continents, has hit the Indian economy at a time when the job situation has become precarious. There has been a sharp decline in public sector employment as a result of the Government's policy of liberalisation, privatisation, "to meet competition in the globalised free market economy". At the same time, employment in the corporate sector remained almost static, for it preferred to go in for capital-intensive growth despite multi-pronged Government support.

Since the globalised market offered opportunities for more jobs in the export production industries, which later found place in Special Economic Zones, these are going to be at the receiving end because of the global financial crisis. These SEZs and Information Technology Parks were expected to provide jobs to a few million unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and technologically advanced personnel. The fate of this sector and the jobs therein will have to be closely watched.

Eighty per cent of the country's proprietary peasantry is composed of small and marginal farmers. The number of landless rural workers is growing due to the crisis in the peasant economy. This keeps the domestic market weak. The economic crisis is going to hurt them most because migrants from rural areas will now find urban areas inhospitable. Jobs, even skilled ones, will become scarce.

Reports show that one lakh jobs have already been lost in Ludhiana which happens to be the largest centre of small and medium engineering and textile enterprises in North India. The SMEs are also centered in Delhi, Faridabad also and their fate will not be any different. The Government must see that they are assured of needed credit and will not be allowed to suffer.

Reports also show that the construction industry finds itself in a jam. The crisis has hit it hard. Huge complexes are waiting for buyers. This despite the fact that only a few months earlier, the prices of multi-storey flats seemed to be skyrocketing and builders were optimistic of attracting buyers. That optimism has vanished. And thereby hangs the tale of construction workers also.

The IT industry of India which had made a mark in the world market, is one of the sectors which is likely to suffer. It was heavily relying for its growth on exports. One report said that around one-third of the IT industry has already suffered a decline owing to the world financial crisis. IT and ITES employees are invariably highly paid employees though they enjoy no job security.

Similarly, the booming hotel industry is steadily hurtling towards an unhappy situation. FDI is moving out, tourist traffic is not what it was expected to be. The world financial crisis is affecting it adversely. The point is that if it grows, the number of employees increases and vice versa.

Most of the job losses remain invisible but not all. The case in point is that of the Jet Airways which had overnight terminated the services of 1900 employees without any advance notice, flouting the law. Young men and women refused to take it lying down. Dressed in their Jet Airways uniforms, they paraded and also declared their intention not to allow Jet Airways to fly.

It was shocking that Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel sought to justify the patently unjustified Jet Airways move. It was more interesting that Petroleum Minister Murli Deora expressed his unhappiness at the Jet Airways move. It is another matter that two days later, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal announced on October 17, 2008 reinstatement of the employees, saying they are "my family" and can join work from tomorrow.

Jet Airways and King Fisher have forged an alliance and even invited the public sector Air India to join them. Air India, on its part, came up with its own highly controversial plan. It offered to its 15,000 employees a voluntary scheme to go on leave without pay for three to five years. The scheme still remains on the board. The rising cost of fuel bill arrears of the airlines is stated to be the cause of these moves. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is said to have expressed his strong displeasure at the Air India scheme.

The point is that only a few years earlier, these private airlines were in a mood to buy dozens of aircraft and passenger traffic was booming. The onset of the world financial crisis has made them punish their employees. In this respect, there is no difference between the approach of the public and private sector managements. They actually show inability to find other ways to economise the airlines' operations as many airlines in the world are stated to be doing.

The recent violence in Maharashtra's various stations where young north Indian recruits had gone to appear in tests for a job with the Railways had nothing to do with the world financial crisis. But they do point to the serious employment situation in the country. It is recalled that during the NDA regime, when Nitish Kumar was the Railway Minister, a similar situation had arisen: for 20,000 jobs of gangmen and other equivalent jobs, the Ministry had received 75 lakh applications including those from MA students. There were violent attacks against Biharis in Assam and against Assamese traveling trains through Bihar. The entire recruitment exercise was then abandoned.

It is expected that the UPA Government during its remaining period at the helm will remember this while dealing with the economic crisis and will not look only to safeguard the interests of the corporates. (IPA Service)

Administration of Justice on Fast Track

By M. L.Dhar

Delivery of justice is an inviolable constitutional entitlement of every citizen. The founding fathers of our constitution accorded high priority to delivery of justice, be it social, economic or political. India prides over its glorious judicial system and cherishes independence of its judicial institutions.

The Indian judicial system comprising the Supreme Court, 21 High Courts and a large number of subordinate courts enjoys vast powers catering to the judicial needs of more than one billion people. The courts are the custodian of the laws and protector of people’s rights and an insurance against arbitrary exercise of power. The common man has faith in the Indian Judiciary is demonstrated by the large number of cases it is handling each year. During the last quarter of 2007, over 3.5 million cases were filed in subordinate courts across the country, out of which about 3.3 million were tried.

With people turning to judiciary in quest of justice, the courts have got overburdened with both civil and criminal cases awaiting disposal.

The pendency has been on increase which is becoming a cause of concern and the common man, expecting expeditious and inexpensive justice, asking why mills of justice are grinding so slow. According to the Chief Justice of India Justice Shri K.G. Balakrishanan ‘the growing population, increasing awareness of rights and abiding confidence of the people in the judiciary saw a litigation boom which our judicial set up was not sufficiently equipped to handle."

According to legal experts, there are a number of reasons afflicting the Indian judicial system. Underfunding of judiciary, neglect in improving judicial infrastructure over the past decades, inordinate delays in filling up vacancies of judges and very low population-to-judge ratio are some of the major factors that require immediate attention to improve the performance of judiciary.

During the Ninth and Tenth Plan only 0.071percent and 0.078% of the total plan outlays respectively were allocated for the judiciary. It has been observed that such meager allocations are too inadequate to meet the requirements of the judiciary. It is said that India spends just 0.2 percent of the gross national product on judiciary. According to the First National Judicial Pay Commission, every State has been providing less than 1% of the budget for subordinate judiciary except Delhi which has provided 1.03%.

Another important issue pressing hard is the enhancement of the strength of judges to speed up disposal of arrears in courts. The sanctioned strength of judges of the High Courts was 725 and working strength was 597 as on March 1, 2007 leaving 128 vacancies. Similarly, with 11,767 working strength of Subordinate Judges there were 2710 vacancies. It is observed that 25 percent of the judge positions remain vacant due to procedural delays.

Based on the disposal of cases in 2006, average disposal per judge comes to 2374 cases in High Courts and 1346 cases in Subordinate Courts. Applying this average the country will require 1539 High Court Judges and 18,479 Subordinate Judges to clear the backlog in one year. The requirement would come down to 770 more High Court Judges and 9,239 more subordinate court judges if the mind-boggling arrears alone have to be cleared in the next two years. According to the 120th Law Commission Report, India’s population-to-judge ratio is one of the lowest in the world with only 10 judges for every million of its population as compared to about 150 judges for the same number in the United States and Britain.

Delay in delivery of justice would not only undermine public confidence in the system but would also impact the efficient functioning of the system. Failure to provide expeditious justice due to long delays defeats the very purpose of just and fair trial especially in criminal cases. It cuts on both sides, on the one side, unnecessary suffering for an accused getting acquitted after a long trial and on the other side, guilty person going scot free due to loss or distortion of evidence as the trail prolongs too long. Therefore, it becomes imperative that the faith deposed by the common man in the judiciary be maintained no matter whatever the cost.

Responding to the gravity of situation the government has employed urgent measures to revitalize the judicial system so that millions of its citizens will receive timely justice. The government has accorded high priority to judicial and legal reforms. It has amended the procedural laws to improve criminal justice system as major portion of backlog pertains to criminal cases. The Criminal Procedure Code has been amended to deal with the problem of witnesses turning hostile.

Fast Track Courts (FTC) recommended by 11th Finance Commission have proved effective in addressing pendency. Keeping this in mind the government has extended the term of 1,562 FT courts operating at sessions level up to 31st March 2010 providing central support to the states. These courts have been doing a commendable job disposing around 11 lakh cases till April 2007.

Addressing the issue of pendency automatically shifts focus to the issue of judge strength and filling up of vacancies particularly in subordinate judiciary which needs urgent attention of the state governments and the High courts. The country has to develop a near zero vacancy culture.

The central government has proposed to set up more that five thousand Gram Nyayalayas at intermediate panchayat levels. ‘’These courts would provide justice in relatively ordinary civil and criminal cases to the rural population. The procedure to be followed by these courts has also been kept simple and flexible so that these cases can be heard and disposed of within 90 days’ period,’’ Shri H.R. Bhardwaj, Law and Justice Minister told Parliament.

Resorting to Alternate Dispute Redressal (ADR) mechanism such as arbitration, negotiations, conciliation and mediation can help in reducing pendency of cases. In many countries such as the United States resolving disputes through ADR mechanism has been highly successful. There is already Arbitration Conciliation Act 1996 containing the detailed scheme of conciliation. The Code of Civil Procedure has also been amended with a view to grow alternate system into the mainstream of justice. However, the problem lies in not having many trained mediators and conciliators. We need to train in conciliation and mediation not only judicial officers but also the lawyers. Moreover, people are to be made aware on a mass scale about the availability of ADR.

At present the institution of cases in courts far exceeds their disposal. Litigation is bound to increase in future as more and more sections of society become aware about their legal rights. This is bound to aggravate further the situation created by pendency and backlog.

The government needs to tackle the current manpower shortfall, inadequate infrastructure, mainstreaming alternate dispute redressal and training on war footing. (PIB Features)