Politics

Corrupt India

We received a comment from Mr Osuri Devendra Phanikar, a social activist from Andra Pradesh. To ensure maximum visibility and effective discussion on the critical issue, we are publishing his comment as a post.

Our democracy is standing on three legs of the constitution of India, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. The corruption has eaten away most of the two legs the Legislature, the Executive. And we are limping on only leg that is judiciary. The demon of corruption is trying to expand its fangs in to Judiciary too. If ...read more

You might Not be the Owner of the Land Registered in your Name – The Land Acquisition Act says so

Do you know a 100 year old Act may deprive you of your property in a couple of days?

The Land Acquisition Act, 1894 gives considerable power to the government to to acquire any land for “public purposes”. The Act is being misused by both State and Central governments to acquire multitude of lands specially in the rural areas in the illusion of development and urbanization.

Purpose of the Act

Acquisition of land was a primary requirement of the British in order to carry out some of their most ambitious projects ...read more

10 MEASURES TO TACKLE THE ISSUE OF FARMER SUICIDES IN INDIA

I still remember my road trips from Jaipur to Delhi on weekends. My mother had to pack food everytime as there was no restaurant on the entire route. Now things have changed. NH8 has a number of malls and food chains including MC Donalds and CCD. These restaurants leisurely replaced the farm lands on the highway.

This depicts the plight of farmers more than anything else. The farmers near Delhi have an opportunity to sell their lands instead of killing themselves. But all Indian farmers are not that fortunate.

Aamir Khan’s Peepli ...read more

When will they celebrate their Independence? Common plight of Indian and Pakistani Fishermen

India and Pakistan share many things together. One such thing is their consecutive independence day. Today I thought of addressing an issue which is vital to both the countries. No, its not Kashmir. It is something more fundamental that concerns me today.The detention of Indian and Pakistani Fishermen cross border can no longer be ignored by us.

Official Statistics

According to the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum 159 Pakistani fishermen are detained in India on the other hand 547 Indian Fishermen have been detained in Pakistan. Moreover India has 200 Pakistani and Pakistan has about 350 Indian boats ...read more

India’s Cruel Torture Bill

Statistics

1. Every year number of custodial deaths increase considerably.

2.  From 1994-2008; 16,886 custodial deaths were recorded.

3.  In 2007-08; 188 and 1789  people died in police and  judicial custody respectively.

Definition of Torture

Article 1 of United Nations Convention against torture, 1984 defines torture as:-

Any act by which public officials intentionally  inflict severe pain or suffering ( physical or mental) to a person for fullfiling certain purposes like seeking information or a confession, punishment, intimidation or discrimination of the victim.

Indian Position

India signed the UN Convention against ...read more

The CRPF will be soon dead

“Joining CRPF was the biggest mistake of my life. I have realized that the country doesn’t honor its soldiers and it is better to take voluntary retirement after 20 years of service than to be treated as a pawn” says an anonymous CRPF jawan. His opinion reflects the thoughts of thousands of CRPF jawans who have been treated worse than a cattle both by the state and their departments.

Most of the soldiers in the paramilitary forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have lost their faith in the system and think ...read more

The ugly truth regarding the Women Reservation Bill

The Women’s day this year was indeed very special, the parliament passed the Women Reservation Bill with full vigor.

The reservation for women in the political front emerged with the Panchayati Raj Act, 1992 which was passed in Rajeev Gandhi’s tenure. The Act provided for women’s reservation upto 33% in the Panchayats.

Subsequently demands for women’s reservation in Parliament and state legislatures were raised . In 1996, the then Prime Minister H.D. Dewe Gowda promised to fulfill these demands. After almost 13 years; the Women’s Reservation Bill [The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008] was finally ...read more

Will the quality of justice improve by the creation of National Judicial Service?

National Judicial Service has been one of the most political-legal contentious issues in the judicial history of India. The debate has continued for years. On one hand the law ministry and the legislature intends to introduce the National Judicial Service in the country where as on the other hand the judiciary intends to postpone the same.

Why do judges oppose the commission of All India Judicial Service?

There are four basic ways of judicial appointments:-

1. By political institutions (Partially practiced in Italy and South Korea)

2. By judges themselves (Japan, Iraq and India)

3. By non-judge members (Brazil and Most American States)

4. Through Election ...read more

Are we prepared to deal with another Bhopal Gas Tragedy? With Civil Nuclear Liabilities Bill its hard to imagine

The victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, one of the world’s worst disasters are still facing the consequences of the unfortunate incident. The legal framework in 1985 was inadequate to conduct a fair trial of Union Carbide and its CEO Warren Anderson. The U.C.C paid a settlement amount of 470 million dollars to the victims, considering it as its moral obligation. No criminal or civil proceedings were initiated against the notorious Multinational Union Carbide. The decision of Bhopal Gas Tragedy still considered a black chapter in the judicial history of India.

Instead of rectifying ...read more

Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in Afghanistan:

An Insight Story

“We had a land problem with another villager and it was the 5th year that due to the dispute we weren’t able to work on the field, this dispute had taken the life of my elder niece as well. We spoke to woloswal (district attorney) many times and he said that take the case to Kabul – and sometimes said talk amongst yourselves and reach to some conclusions, we are busy with the ongoing insurgency don’t have the means to settle your disputes.

One day he sent someone maybe a judge to find out about our dispute and he ...read more