Moribund Judiciary means Limping Democracy

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A person becomes sick and his condition is worsening rapidly. His family members take him to the emergency department of the local civil hospital. If it takes 3 days (I am just throwing up a number) for the emergency department to assess him and take next step, will you call it an effective Emergency Services? No, rather this will be a blot on the very term ‘Emergency’. If it takes courts years to decide a case of murder, will you call it a functional judiciary? Not at all!

The very concept of a democracy is existent on basic premise: where there is injustice, there shall be a redressal system. Hence, judiciary is sine-qua-non for a meaningful democracy. A sleepy and exhausted judicial system will result in a limping democracy. And that is precisely what is happening in India! The slow and over-burdened judicial system has failed to take adequate care of the grievances of the citizens. If a murder trial takes years to decide, it is tantamount to pushing the aggrieved party to immense physical and mental torture, leave alone punishing the victim to the desired extent.

Think about it! Where does lie the problem? Before I go into these issues, let me throw up a few common scenarios:

  1. Why do we have paucity of judges? When a district has number of hospitals (main civil hospitals to Community hospitals to Primary Health Centers) and hundreds of doctors to cater to the health needs of its population, can a single-digit number of judges tackle the legal health of the district?

    Why judges are such a scarcity? Rather why such a crisis is produced? Why judges are made such a precious commodity? Are they very costly to the system? No, they are like other gazetted officers, essentially affordable. It deifies any logicthat our judicial system is so severely understaffed.

    I remember a car accident involving my family member took 3 full years to be decided in a Haryana court. This is simply ridiculous. Looking at the pace of the case, I got a feeling that the whole judicial system had adopted a sadistic attitude, where both parties suffer endlessly. Believe me, it is totally un-necessary. We as a state and country can afford to make our judicial system more efficient.

  2. There is a perception that the judiciary has not been aloof from the virus of corruption. It raises more doubts when it is left to the State government to select judges for the district and lower courts.

    The solutions:

    1. Obviously, we need more courts and more judges to expedite the cases. A paralyzed judiciary is a great deterrent to the functional democracy.
    2. The judges should be selected by a centralized judicial commission and out- of – state postings should be a norm even at the lower courts.
    3. The judiciary should be free from political interference.

      A healthy judicial system will help our democracy to be more mature and transparent.

Negative Voting: Empower Us ASAP! Can Not Wait!

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I was delighted to read this news item that SC is still acting upon the issue of negative voting as a voter’s right. This right still exists, but is not simple to carry out and majority of the people do not know about it. Negative voting as a right should be as simple as casting a ( positive) vote. And this right will be revolutionary in many steps: the right to cast a negative vote will bring the real power to the voters. If this is combined with a provision to set a minimum percentage of votes to be gained to emerge victorious, this will fundamentally weed out goons of our political system. Think about it: this is a real right which is long due.

The full news story is: (NDTV)

The Supreme Court on Feb 23, 2009 referred to a larger bench the question as to whether a voter should be permitted to cast a negative vote during elections.

A two-judge bench of Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi said the issue needs to be examined by a larger bench as the question involved interpretation of a citizen’s fundamental right.

The bench also requested the Chief Justice to refer the matter to an appropriate larger bench for further consideration.

People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), an NGO, had approached the apex court seeking directions to the Centre to ensure amendment to the Representation of People’s Act (RPA) so that a voter can mark “none of the above” in the electronic voting machine.

This is because presently a voter if he or she desires not to cast vote in favour of any candidate, he or she should mandatorily inform the presiding officer of the polling booth.

Such a pre-condition was violative of the citizens right under Article 19(2) (Freedom of Expression and Speech) and makes the voter vulnerable to threats and intimidation from political parties, the PUCL had state

Halva: What is the Origin of this Word?

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My wife asked me that day:” What is the origin of the word ‘Halva’ (हल्वा)? I said it is a Hindi word. She came across her one of the East European colleagues savoring a dish which he so proudly declared as Halva. When my wife confronted her what was that halva all about, he sheepishly admitted- even though he continued to munch the delicacy- that he did not know the details, but halva was not something new to him. And obviously he had not purchased it from an Indian grocery store. The halva that East European guy was eating looked and tasted same as we know in our Indian culture.

So when my wife threw the question at me , I was not prepared to think that halva could be anything but Indian or Hindi. Thanks to the internet technology, I passed the question on to Google and pat came the reply: Halva is a derived from Arabic word “alāwa” which means sweet!

I continued in a my ‘professorial style’ to Bharti and added that a language must be flexible to absorb words from other languages in order to grow and prosper. Thus call it the flexibility of Hindi that it has enriched herself by including words from other cultures and languages. Now does not it sound interesting that Halva- poori or puri (पुरी) is a common hybrid word or phrase used in Hindi. Poori is a purely Hindi word, by the way! The mesage is: Combine and thrive! BY the way, I remember during our hostel days in medical college in India, halva used to be a common agenda when the mess /cafeteria was closed. I remember, my friends Golu and Vinay were pretty skillful on that item!
Between us!

Swat Valley and Islamic Law

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This week Pakistani Government agreed to allow implementation of Islamic law ((Shariya) in Swat valley (bordering Afghanistan).

Obviously this is a victory for Taliban and pro-Taliban elements. India and US have expressed concern over this development. The government of Pakistan has justified this decision by saying that this was necessary to restore peace in the valley.

Conceding to the demands of fundamentalists and extremists, this development has exposed the weakness of Pakistan government. Pakistani political leadership has always been pre-occupied in destabilizing the regional peace (be it India or Afghanistan): Taliban is a creation of Pakistan as the world knows! Let loose the extremism and it comes back to devour you! That is what has been happening there! As the recent times indicate, Taliban seems to be re-emerging in Afghanistan (hence a troop increase by USA in Afghanistan). Similarly, experts say that this so-called peace-making move in Swat valley will actually allow Taliban forces to regroup and re-strengthen.

Ban on Exit Polls: A Welcome Step

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The recent decision by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on opinion and exit polls is a welcome step.

According to the new guidelines, the Commission has barred dissemination of opinion and exit polls by the print and electronic media 48 hours prior to the date of the Lok Sabha or Assembly elections in case of a single-phase election and a blanket ban on these surveys till the end of polling in the event of multi-phase elections.

Obviously free and fair elections are a pre-condition for a democracy. The exit polls being displayed while the whole election process has not been completed, has the potential to introduce the bias.

It may be noted that in January 1998, the Election Commission had banned the airing of exit polls during elections till the final phase of voting. However, this order was challenged in the Supreme Court and was quashed.

The ECI recently again asked the Supreme Court to decide whether there should be a reasonable restriction on the opinion polls during certain specified periods during the election process. The apex court gave a verdict leaving the issue to its discretion to lay down guidelines till the Union Government frames regulations. Hence ECI jumped on this opportunity to bring in a healthy practice.


Tamilnadu Foundation Banned in USA

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Today in a sensational news Times of India reports that the US has slapped sanctions on the charity group “amil Foundation”for its alleged involvement in fund-raising for banned LTTE. The Foundation has been designated under “Executive Order 13224”, which “targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism,” the US Department of Treasury said in a press statement. The foundation is accused of raising money in the US in the name of charities, which ultimately ended up in the hands of LTTE.

It may be noted that Tamil Nadu foundation has been operating as a not for profit (NGO in Indian parlance) in America for many years and many of its Directors on the Board are well-established professionals (doctors, engineers). Dr.S.Palanisamy ( an MD) is its President. Others include: Vice-Presidents: Dr. S. Deivanayagam from Cookeville, TN (Tennesse), Dr. Parimala NathanTampa, FL 33647, Mrs. Mani ManoharanPittsburg, PA 15241. The Secretary is: Mr. P.K. Aravazhi from Naperville, IL 60564 (Ph: 630-430-2158).
The website is http://www.tnfusa.org/boardofdirectors.html but I am sure the website will close down sooner than later.

TN Foundation states its objectives as:
“NF’s objective is to help promote educational, social and other charitable projects in Tamil Nadu as part of a humble attempt by its members to share their fortunes with less fortunate people.It’s aim and objectives are distinctly different from those of the local cultural organizations. In fact TNF is the only organization in the world that is entirely devoted to the promotion of economic, and social welfare of the people of Tamil Nadu.What was started as a small attempt by a few individuals to offer their contributions to Tamil Nadu has evolved into a well-developed foundation through the dedication of several members throughout USA.”
It is hard to say what went wrong, but some of the patrons and donors may not be knowing what had been happening!

Corruption is Our National Religion!

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Every nation has its own USP (Unique Selling Point). Ours is there too. It is: Corruption in civic life! Winston Churchill- the British Prime-Minister during the 1940s when India was at full peaceful ‘revolt’ (in other words, Satyagraha) to gain independence from British rule- would often mock that India would go dogs if British left them at their mercy! He was fiercely anti -India and there is enough of evidence to point to that mindset. BUT, is his prophecy coming true! Without being pejorative to our country and its citizens, I am afraid that when we look at the civic administration we have set up in last 6 decades somehow conforms to what Churchill said. The sheer indulgence in corruption and lethargic judicial delivery system speak volumes of our commitment of a fair play for common man! The politicians and babus are systematically looting the country and common man finds unable to get a grasp as to where to start to contain this degeneration!

Latest in this story is another high profile bureaucrat who is by the way an Election Commissioner too. He is Navin Chawla. In a country which professes herself to be a democracy, I need not elaborate how important is the role of Election Commission and its officers. Chawla is in another controversy now. A lower court in Jaipur has ordered that the case be investigated about Land-row where Chawla happens to be the accused (click to read the full story). With the patronage of Congress party, as the Indian Law Minsiter Bhardwaj has made it amply clear, Chawla is going to be a Chief EC in weeks to come! It is a bluff to the charges that the current CEC has raised against Chawla.

So much for our liberty and fair rights to vote! Who supervises that: a babu who has not learnt the ethics of beaurocracy!
Never mind! Corruption is our national religion!

My Tryst with Cricket in USA

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Cricket is an alien sports in America. They do not care about it. Desis from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and additionally Sri Lankans and West Indians have however brought cricket to USA. It is said that cricket is being played in USA since many decades, but has hardly gained popularity with locals! Baseball – a sports akin to Cricket (many believe Americans modified Cricket to invent Baseball!) – has also to get some blame for that! Moreover, the distribution of cricket is pretty focal: it is played in cities where the desis have a major concentration. You can count on New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Houston and I believe in California too. I know that in NJ, indoor cricket is available.

However, I had my first rub with Cricket in USA last spring (2008) when I got a chance to play for Springfield Cricket Club (SCC). I was pleasantly surprised when I came to know that Springfield in Illinois have a cricket club and actually have a well-groomed ground with a good pitch. When I joined it they were half through the season. I got to play a few matches for SCC in the tournament being organized by Midwest Cricket Conference . That was a fun! Our team went as far as to Moline ( a 3 hours drive from Springfield) to play matches. Playing on the mat after many years meant I had to flex my muscles and joints properly! But we had good practice sessions and I did it a lot what I love most: Bowling ! The pace has come down with the years, but it was , nevertheless, fairly OK. It seems that I have lost the outswing which used to be my hall -mark!

I played 3 matches during the season and one was quite memorable for me personally! We played against CCI team (from Bloomington): CCI team needed to score 7 runs in the last over to win and I was the bowler. First ball went for duck, second one for four! On next 2 deliveries, batsman could not score, and then I clean-bowled him out on the 5th ball! With abated breath, as both teams watched, my 6th and last delivery was a straight goodlength ball rising to the chest: the (next) batsman flung his bat in vain! That was a fantastic victory! See the score.

Looking forward to 2009 sesssion of MCC tournament! The matches start in May, and our captain Samir Patel says that we ought to start practice from April! Let us see!

5 Newborns Die in a Punjab Hospital as Fire Breaks Out!

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In a bizzare and tragic incident on January 31, 2009 five babies were burnt to death while receiving photo-therapy for jaundice ( generally a benign condition in newborns) in a neonatal unit at Rajendra Hospital in Patiala. Rajendra Hospital is a medical college hospital, run by Punjab Government.

The five new born babies were burnt alive and two others were seriously injuried when the incubators they were kept in caught fire. A total of 10 children, undergoing treatment for jaundice were kept in phototherapy units. Reportedly, a short circuit in the wires of the machine resulted in the fire, charring five infants to death including three boys and two girls.

In the aftermath, After suspending four officials, including a staff nurse, junior doctor and principal of Rajendra medical College Hospital – Minister for Health Education,Punjab, Tikshan Sood has taken the moral responsibility for factors, both under and beyond control, that led to tragic demise of five children yesterday. Mr. Sood -a BJP MLA- has reportedly resigned. Good step at least!
Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has expressed sadness at the death of five infants . A sum of Rupees 1 lakh from the Prime Minsiter Relief Fund has been sanctioned for each of the families of the victims.