Unclogging India,Problems that india must focus on priority basis,for ias mains(essay)

There has been a surfeit of articles giving ideas to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on how to renew and revive India. I have read them with care and found that one simple theme that is close to his heart is not getting much attention. It is the concept of unclogging India. I list 10 ideas to unclog different parts of our nation in increasing order of difficulty. Here is my list.

First, a serious attempt should be made to unclog our jails. Even though jails are a state subject, the BJP could lead with jails in the states that it runs. Currently, the government spends about Rs 3,500 crore on jails housing some 3,80,000 inmates, about 60,000 more than the capacity of the jails. More than 60 per cent of the inmates are under trial. Many of them have been picked up for no apparent reason and have often served even more than the full term of the sentence they would have received had they been convicted for the crime for which they had been booked.

Many are street kids. This is not alright in a just India. In 2005, there was a proposal to amend Section 436A of the Criminal Procedure Code to free undertrials who had served 50 per cent of the term they had been charged with, but to no avail. Implementing this proposal would be a great start.
Second, our ability to provide justice in India requires quick adjudication.

Cases in our courts take too long. There is, of course, the need to create more courts and appoint more judges. But can we begin by applying Peter Drucker’s famous line, “whatever gets measured improves”, to our courts? Can we get all high courts and the Supreme Court to share some statistics in Parliament publicly? Simple statistics, like how many cases they adjudicate each year, how much time, on average, a case takes to reach a judgment. We can go farther and seek an inventory of cases at the start of the year, the number of cases added each year, the number closed and the end-of-year statistic. We could also separate cases into issue-based categories and track their progress by court. The nation needs to know how efficient our courts are.

Third, we need to broaden our tax base, introduce the goods and services tax and simplify our direct taxes, but we should also consider cleaning up the number of tax cases under litigation. A few simple steps could be taken. First, the department could conduct an assessment of past collections from litigated tax cases. What was the number of cases they were successful in and what was their collection percentage, on average, using a simple segmentation of cases? Could the tax department offer the past collection rate as a one-time offer to pending cases by segment to bring them to rapid closure? The other simple suggestion forboth courts and the tax department would be to find out how many cases there are between different government departments or between state-owned enterprises under tax litigation, and see if they can be sorted through arbitration.

Fourth, with emails having become prevalent, we need to ensure that all government files shift to email. Only one copy of the final order and the noting should be stored in paper. Indeed, even this can be digitised and stored electronically. The speed of file movement will change if they move by email rather than paper.

Fifth, cut the multiplicity of identifiers and allow Indians to have a single unique identifier. Avoid getting in tangled in a needless controversy over Aadhaar. Given that 680 million Aadhaar numbers have already been distributed, the government should build on this system, correct it, but not lose it. The number of things it can simplify has often been discussed and cannot be underestimated. Let us move forward and not back.

Sixth, unlock the full potential of Indian banking — corporatise public sector banks, reduce government holding to below 50 per cent but retain the government as the single largest owner. This one act will give the public sector banks autonomy and the ability to compete with freedom. It will make ours the most stable banking system in the world, with private, foreign and listed government-controlled banks serving the national interest.

Seventh, unclog the hospitals. For a country that earns a lot of money through information technology, India has been slow to go digital in core social sectors. We need to strengthen primary healthcare with technology. We need to allow patients to be treated for basic ills remotely and use the services of good midwifes. Technologies like Skype and FaceTime will allow doctors to talk to patients and see them remotely. With the help of a midwife or nurse, this can take care of basic issues.

Eighth, mend state schools. There are 8,00,000 or so primary schools in India. As in healthcare, digital remedies could be used to fix the bottom. Create 22 regional education centres by language, connect schools, provide them with TVs, beam lessons in and create a call-centre operated by teachers who can answer questions. The current teachers could act as tutors. This is not a solution for the best schools but the bottom may improve.

Ninth, unclog our cities. As the prime minister noted in one of his early speeches in Varanasi, Indian cities are filthy. We must strive to create a movement to clean them. This has many dimensions and will take time But three major areas cannot be avoided anymore: first, build cheap and clean public toilets, especially close to slums — experiments like Sulabh Shauchalaya should be expanded and used in all slum developments. Second, well-constructed waste sites close to the top 20 cities in India are critical and existing ones need to be upgraded. Finally, a full revamp of our sewage systems is long overdue. Without this, real progress will be impeded.

Tenth, digitising land records would bea major advance for India. It would take one of the most litigious assets and create a clear basis for ownership. This will be a slow-moving project but we must start somewhere to set things right.

Imagine such an “accha” India

NASA builds world's first flying observatory

NASA has fitted a 17-tonne telescope with an effective diameter of eight feet on a modified Boeing 747 jetliner that the US space agency is using as a flying observatory to study stars.

The infrared telescope called “Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy” (SOFIA) is mounted behind a sliding door that reveals it to the skies.

The jet can stay airborne for over 12 hours and its range is up to 6,625 nautical miles (7,624 miles).

According to NASA, “The data provided by SOFIA cannot be obtained by any other astronomical facility on the ground or in space.”

SOFIA is mobile, so it can better spot transient space events like supernovae and comets.

The telescope, built with the help from German Aerospace Centre (DLR), can easily be repaired or reprogrammed when necessary.

NASA plans SOFIA — now in Germany for its last extensive maintenance and refitting leg — to launch in 2015 which will keep flying for another 20 years, wired.com reported.

Russian award for Viswanathan Anand

Chess greats Viswanathan Anand (India) and Boris Gelfand (Israel) have been selected for the Russian Federation’s ‘Order of Friendship’ award, according to a FIDE release on Friday.

The awards recognise foreign nationals’ contribution to expanding friendship and cooperation with the Russian Federation and to the development of economic, scientific and cultural ties.

Anand and Gelfand played the FIDE world chess championship match at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in 2012.

Shariat court and fatwas have no legal sanction, Supreme Court says

 The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that fatwas have no legal sanction. The apex court said that either Darul Qaza or any mufti cannot issue fatwas and try to enforce against a person who has not approached for religious opinion.

The SC said religion or faith cannot be used to victimize innocents.

The SC said no law has given any recognition to fatwas.

The apex court cited the Imrana case and said fatwas can cause irreparable damage to the rights of an individual.

The SC said though religious opinion as fatwas have a laudable object, it cannot be enforced the moment it breaches the fundamental rights of a person.

A bench headed by Justice C K Prasad said that no religion, including Islam, allows punishing innocent persons and ordered that no 'Darul Qaza' should give verdict which affects rights of a person who is not before it.

The court passed the verdict on a PIL filed by advocate Vishwa Lochan Madam questioning the constitutional validity of Shariat courts which allegedly run a parallel judicial system in the country.

All India Personal Law Board had earlier submitted that fatwa was not binding on people and it was just an opinion of a 'mufti' (cleric) and he has no power and authority to implement it.

The counsel, appearing for the board, had said if a fatwa was sought to be implemented against the wish of the person concerned, then he could approach the court of law against it.

The petitioner had submitted that the fundamental rights of Muslims could not be controlled and curtailed through fatwas issued by 'qazis' and 'muftis' appointed by Muslim organizations.

Rangarajan defends poverty estimates; Says meet global norms

Defending his calculation that three out of 10 in India are poor, former PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan today said poverty numbers provided by him are not conservative estimates and they are at par with global standards.

The expert group headed by Rangarajan dismissed the Suresh Tendulkar Committee methodology on estimating poverty and estimated that the number of poor in India was much higher in 2011-12 at 29.5 per cent of the population.

As per the Rangarajan panel's estimates, three out of 10 in India would be poor. Estimates based on Tendulkar committee methodology, had pegged the poverty ratio at 21.9 in 2011-12.

"I dont think that it is conservative (poverty) estimates. In my view it is reasonable estimates. We have derived poverty estimates independently," Rangarajan told 'Times Now'.

He was responding to the criticism that anyone spending more than Rs 47 per day in cities and Rs 32 in villages would not be poor.

Elaborating further he said, "The World Bank also talks about purchasing power parity terms. The minimum expenditure per day.

They are talking about about USD 2 per day whereas our estimates comes to USD 2.4. Therefore it (our poverty estimates) is in keeping with the international standards".

He explained that the benefits are not being provided on the basis of any poverty line as in the case of food security law which would benefit 67 per cent of the population.

The noted economist believes that it is measure of poverty and measure of understanding how economy is moving. But apart from it there is no immediate policy implication.

He urged the people to look at the poverty line in terms of a household's consumption expenditure per month which is estimated at Rs 4,860 in villages and Rs 7,035 for cities for a family of five people.

Apart from the private consumption expenditure, people also benefit from public expenditure on health, education and other facilities, he said, adding: "poverty line is at appropriate level".

"All of these spendings have gone up in the recent past. That explains why urban poverty ratio is much higher in our estimation," he said.

As per the report submitted by Rangarajan to Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh earlier, persons spending below Rs 47 a day in cities would be considered poor, much above the Rs 33-per-day mark suggested by the Suresh Tendulkar Committee.

As per Rangarajan panel estimates, a person spending less than Rs 1,407 a month (Rs 47/day) would be considered poor in cities, as against the Tendulkar Committee's suggestion of Rs 1,000 a month (Rs 33/day).

In villages, those spending less than Rs 972 a month (Rs 32/day) would be considered poor. This is much higher than Rs 816 a month (Rs 27/day) recommended by Tendulkar Committee.

In absolute terms, the number of poor in India stood at 36.3 crore in 2011-12, down from 45.4 crore in 2009-10, as per the Rangarajan panel. Tendulkar Committee, however, had suggested that the number of poor was 35.4 crore in 2009-10 and 26.9 crore in 2011-12

Law Commission of India Submits its Report on Setting Up New Courts in the Country

    Law Commission of India today submitted its report “Manpower Planning in Judiciary: A Blue Print” to Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law & Justice and Communications & IT. 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the report will guide the Government in overcoming the shortage of judges in the judiciary.  Efforts made by the Government for filling up vacancies of judges and setting up new courts would soon lead to curbing of delays and timely delivery of justice to citizens.   Government has already written to Chief Justice of India for filling up the existing vacancies of High Courts and subordinate Courts.  Law Minister gave the assurance that the Government would give serious consideration to the recommendations of the Report and in principle decision has already been taken to increase the number of judges by 20 per cent.  Six States in India: Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Odisha and Punjab have already acceded to this request.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Ajit Prakash Shah, Chairman, Law Commission of India, said that the Commission has tried to use scientific formula to the extent possible to estimate the number of judges needed in the country.

Some of the highlights of the conclusions and recommendations are as below:-

i)             Recruitment of new judges should focus, as a matter of priority, on the number of judges required to breakeven and to dispose of the backlog, in a 3 year time frame;



ii)            Age of retirement of Subordinate judges be raised to 62.



iii)           Special morning and evening Courts be set up for dealing with Traffic/ Police Challan cases which constitute 38.7% of the institutions and 37.4% of all pending cases in the last three years before the Subordinate Judicial Services.

iv)           Recent law graduates may be appointed for short durations, e.g. 3 years, to preside over these special traffic Courts.



v)            Adequate provisions be made for staff and infrastructure required for the working of additional Courts.



vi)           High Courts be directed to evolve uniform data collection and data management methods in order to ensure transparency and to facilitate data based policy prescriptions for the judicial system.



vii)         Creation of additional Courts is one amongst various measures required to ensure timely justice and facilitate access to justice. The Commission recognizes that apart from increasing judge strength, many other measures have to be undertaken for reducing delays, including the application of good judicial management practices such as putting into place timeliness and performance benchmarks.

Solar panels will be installed on the platform roofs to generate 1 MW power

The Railways is planning to generate 1 MW solar power at the New Delhi railway station by installing solar panels on the platform roofs. Officials said the power project that will be implemented on a public private partnership model is a part of the Railways’ initiative to convert some of its stations into ‘green buildings’.

“A consultant has been roped in to conduct the feasibility study. While we plan to install solar panels on roof tops of the platform and the station building, the consultant has been asked to identify the exact locations on the station premises where solar panels can be installed, apart from the cost of installation,” said Anurag Sachan, Divisional Railway Manager (Delhi).

“As per the initial plans, the private partner will install the solar panels and generate power and the Railways will buy power at a pre-determined rate,” he added.

According to railway officials, the New Delhi railway station is spread over an area of the 6,38,467 sq m, including the yard area. Around 4,21,388 sq m of the total is built-up area. The station has 16 platforms. Officials said with no major high rises located in the vicinity of the station premise, generating 1 MW solar power is achievable.

“Once operational, around 25 per cent of the energy requirements at the New Delhi station, which has an average daily demand of over 4 MW, can be met just by solar power,” a senior Northern Railway official said.

Apart from the New Delhi station, the public transporter is also working at converting more stations in the Delhi Division like Bahadurgarh, Deewana and Gurgaon into green buildings. Solar power plants will also be installed at other major stations in the city like Old Delhi, Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar and Bijwasan.

“Once the pilot project at the New Delhi station becomes successful, we will have a model that could be replicated at other stations in Delhi,” a senior Northern Railway official said.

With the Narendra Modi government emphasising on harnessing solar power and taking lessons from solar projects in Gujarat, sources said the initiatives in the field are likely to get priority and easy clearances from the Ministry.

Sources said after senior railway officials made a presentation before the Prime Minister, he instructed the department to “use solar energy more aggressively and install them on the roofs of station buildings and other areas, apart from considering installation of solar panels atop the train coaches”.

“Installation of solar panels on train coaches is possible. It can meet the general requirements like lighting bulbs and running fans in the trains. An experiment is also being done with a toy train running on the Shimla-Kalka route,” an official said.