The Anarchy that's India

The Anarchy that's India

One of the essential features of a just society is that the rule of law must prevail.

A guy who violates the law must be afraid that the law enforcement agencies will catch up with him and he'll have to be afraid that he'll need to face the consequences of his action.

Similarly, one who is innocent must have the confidence that even if the circumstances may portray him otherwise, the legal system will provide justice and declare him to be innocent.

And in both the above cases, the concerned parties must be sure that justice will not only be done, but will be done within a reasonable span of time.

Sadly, in India, we can't be proud of our legal / judicial system. With some benevolence, positive bias and affection towards our nation, we can claim that justice prevails in a majority of cases. However, when it comes to timely justice, we can't even offer such a benefit of doubt.

Take a look at this essay revealing startling data about the low conviction rates in our judicial system:

• State of Criminal Injustice 

With the kind of low conviction rates that prevail in India, we face two very significant kinds of problems, both of which are critical ones:

• Those who wish to follow the rule of law do not have an adequately strong motivation to do so.
• Those who wish to violate the rule of law can, with impunity, go right ahead, with the confidence that the law may never catch up with them.

This results in situations which are quite crazy even for fairly rich and powerful individuals.

For instance, several public figures who have done so much during their life time for India were "named and shamed" during the infamous Harshad Mehta scam a few years back. The cases went on and on. A few of those who were so named were eventually declared to be innocent. Sadly, they had died by the time the judgements came. Their entire life from the time aspersions were cast on them would have been a mess, with all and sundry, kith and kin, relatives and friends, colleagues and classmates thinking and wondering whether they were involved in the scam or not?!?!?!?

If this is the fate of the rich and mighty who would have obviously been in a position to come up with a team of excellent advocates to argue on their behalf, one can only imagine the plight of the lesser mortals.

To quote a couple of examples from the western world, one just needs to look at Bernard Madoff and Rajat Gupta. Within a short period after the initial accusations, investigations were completed, trial was completed and sentencing was also completed. The former is presently in jail and the latter is likely to go to jail soon enough.

On the other hand, in India, Ramalinga Raju of Satyam (who admitted to violating half a dozen laws) is out on bail and I have a lurking suspicion that he's likely to stay free for a long time to come while the cases move from one court to the next. Possibly till he breathes his last.

If we, the people of India, do not wake up and improve our judicial system, the consequences would not be palatable to our future generations.

Regards,

N

Scientists sentenced for not predicting Earthquake

Scientists sentenced for 

Not predicting an Earthquake!!!

I've come across stuff that's crazy.

I've certainly come across stuff that's incredible.

But then, I thought that the limits were reached when Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake in the year 1600 for such beliefs like "the sun is a star; there are several other stars like the sun; there are many other planets, probably including other planets with intelligent beings living in them;". (Do search the net for further details)

Apparently not. We still have ridiculous stuff going on around the world even today.

Take a look at:

Scientists sentenced to jail in Italy for not predicting an Earthquake!!!

And I was mistakenly thinking that we're now living in a world which, by and large, is rational and that we encourage a scientific temper.

Regards,

N

My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady

Just came across an interesting article about the good old Marshmallow Test and the new interpretation that some researcher has come up with:

• Marshmallow Test - The Modified Version

I tried to think about a few other areas where the results and inferences from this test can be applied, and it looks like there are quite a few areas in the Indian context:

• People litter on the streets, people spit around, people urinate liberally all over the place
• People smoke in "no-smoking" zones
• People don't bother to put their mobiles on "Silent mode" even in hospitals and theatres
• People don't bother to obey traffic rules (like wearing helmets, stopping at a red signal, etc.)
• People don't hesitate too much to give or take "minor" bribes
• People are perfectly willing to violate virtually any rule or law if they are reasonably sure that nobody "out there" is noticing.
• People either don't bother to vote in elections or don't hesitate to vote based on considerations such as a couple of hundred bucks, the caste of the candidate, etc.

Once you've taken a look at the link above about the Marshmallow test, you'll appreciate the connection!

Perhaps the solutions to many problems of the country depend on creating a virtuous cycle so as to successfully break the vicious cycle that we're currently caught in!

Regards,

N

Silent suffering of Assamese Citizens

Silent suffering of Assamese Citizens

We're repeatedly hearing stories about Gujarat Riots of 2002, Sikh suffering of 1984, Bhopal victims, etc.

These stories keep getting highlighted all over the media ad nauseum.

For the past several years (perhaps decades), there has been a constant "problem" of illegal immigrants from across the border into the North Eastern states, especially in Assam.

The recent flare-up led to lakhs of people being impacted. When I say "impacted", I mean "devastated". They've lost their homes, all their belongings, their certificates, their ID proofs, their property documents, their bank pass books, their clothes, etc.

There was some degree of media coverage while Assam was actually burning.

Unfortunately, I've not come across too many media stories following up on issues pertaining to:

• The number of people actually impacted
• The nature of difficulties faced by them
• The number, adequacy and quality of relief camps
• Whether any medium-term sustainable solutions are being thought of for those who are adversely impacted.
• What happens to the school-going children?
• What about the livelihood solutions for adults?

I could probably go on and on with further questions.

I don't have ready answers.

What I do know, however, is that our National media needs to take up these questions at least on a weekly basis and keep up the pressure on the Government to do the needful.

Or else, we're sowing the seeds of disenchantment which may, in turn, cause our Assamese brothers and sisters to think of options which will certainly not be within the realms of what we as a nation would be happy to live with.

Regards,

N