Skip to main content

United nations goals take backseat: India lags in creating just, peaceful, inclusive society

By Gagan Sethi* 
Goal 16 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals may have focused, among other things, on access to justice for all. But facts show that India’s effort towards achieving the goal is anything but satisfactory, whether it is provision of infrastructure, human resources, or public investment into achieving the goal. Worse, when it comes to the marginalised communities, access to justice particularly takes backseat.
A nationwide survey on access to justice, conducted by Bengaluru-based NGO Daksh, in 305 courts across 170 districts of 24 states, interviewing 9,329 litigants, gave startling results. The loss of wages and business for litigants attending lower court hearings was estimated at over Rs 50,000 crore a year at an average of Rs 1,746 per case per day. If one adds to this the cost incurred by litigants in a year on payment of legal fees and other expenditure, the figure reaches a whopping Rs 80,000 crore annually or 0.70 per cent of India’s GDP (in 2015-16).
Pointing out that “majority of litigants strongly felt that delay in their cases is caused because judges do not pass orders quickly”, the survey report states that more than 60 per cent of the litigants said the delay was caused because the judges did not pass orders quickly, while about 50 per cent said that it was because of lack of adequate judges. The marginalised communities suffer the most, suggests the survey. In majority of cases involving poorer and marginalised sections, the lawyers appointed by courts are “not allotted” through legal services authorities (without any fees). Of the 9,329 cases, only in 132 of the survey respondents, or less than 2 per cent, said they availed the facility. The rest got lawyers based on reference from family, or friends, or colleagues, or other acquaintances.
There is no dearth of data suggesting poor infrastructure and human resources as the main hurdles in access to justice. A report by the Centre for Research and Planning of the Supreme Court (October 2016), titled “Subordinate Courts of India: A Report on Access to Justice 2016”, stated, “If the demographic standard of 50 judges per million of population is applied, with a population of 1,210.6 million (Census 2011) India requires a total of 60,530 judges to reach a judge-population ratio of 50 per million.” It pointed out that India has a judge-population ratio of 18 judges per million as on December 31, 2015, one of the worst in the world. Australia has 48 judges per million, while England and Wales have 56 judges per million. If the 19,634 “serving magistrates” of England and Wales are included, the ratio shoots up to 342 judges per million. China has 147 judges per million.
That the marginalised communities suffer the most because of poor infrastructure and human resources is clear from the Supreme Court taking strong exception to tardy implementation of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Criticising the government’s “indifferent attitude” towards the Act, a bench headed by former Chief Justice TS Thakur, observed in December 21, 2016 that “the constitutional goal of equality for all the citizens can be achieved only when the rights of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are protected. The abundant material on record proves that the authorities are guilty of not enforcing the provisions of the Act.”
Facts released by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in December 2016 showed that from 2013 to 2015, only 43.3 per cent of the total cases registered (13,8077) under the Act were disposed of by courts and 25.7 per cent of total cases disposed of by courts (59,779) ended in conviction. “In certain states, that is Andhra Pradesh (6.3 per cent), Gujarat (3.1 per cent), Karnataka (3.5 per cent), Maharashtra (7.6 per cent), Odisha (4.3 per cent), Tamil Nadu (7.5 per cent), Telangana (7.5 per cent) and West Bengal (3 per cent), the conviction rate was in single digit,” an agenda note put forward for discussion before the ministry reads.
The International Dalit Solidarity Network notes non-implementation of laws prohibiting caste discrimination, especially the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and ignoring of “several UN human rights bodies” which have “underlined the need for strong enforcement of laws to prevent and eliminate discrimination”. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has “expressed deep concern about the non-implementation of legislative measures to protect the rights of Dalits in a large number of affected countries”, while UN Special Rapporteur has called it as one of the “contemporary forms of racism.”
An international survey carried out by the World Justice Project, placed India among 133 countries in rule of law index, well below at least two peer countries Brazil (52nd) and South Africa (43rd). An editorial notes, the poor ranking is the result of “insufficient attention” to access to justice, pointing towards the fact that India hasn’t yet ratified “UN conventions on torture, rights of migrant workers and their families, and protection against enforced disappearance.” Calling it a “serious lacuna” it adds, one would also need to look into factors like the need to handle “major emerging challenges such as urbanisation, the housing deficit, access to power, water, education and health care.”

*Development educator and practicing OD professional with the voluntary sector, co-founder of Ahmedabad-based Centre for Social Justice, which works on access of justice. Source: Citizens’ Report on Third year of the NDA Government -2017 – Promises and Reality, Civil Society Initiative, coordinated by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan

Comments

TRENDING

Abrogation of Art 370: Increasing alienation, relentless repression, simmering conflict

One year after the abrogation by the Central Government of Art. 370 in Kashmir, what is the situation in the Valley. Have the promises of peace, normalcy and development been realised? What is the current status in the Valley? Here is a detailed note by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties , “Jammu & Kashmir: One Year after Abrogation of Art. 370: Increasing Alienation, Relentless Repression, Simmering Conflict”:

Release of dabang neta: Rule of law can't be allowed to be slave to political rhetoric

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  When we look to politicians for solutions and politics as the 'final solution' for every evil then we are disappointed most of the time. In politics, we knowingly or unknowingly become part of the propaganda tool of the ruling elite which exists everywhere across different castes. We often provide issues and talk about them in binaries which suit our elites. The minorities among the marginalised who have no political space and representation rarely get heard by these majoritarian parties whose agenda remain power communities. Every political party in today's time is following the 'successful' formula of 'democracy' which is keeping the 'powerful' 'jaatis' with them leaving aside the marginalised one. The BJP started this but yes they cobbled together all other communities too through a diverse narrative.

Why are 17 Indian cos, including Sterlite, blacklisted by Norway bank

By Venkatesh Nayak* Readers may recall the gory incidents that took place at Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) in Tamil Nadu in the southern part of India on 22 May, 2018. Thirteen protesters died on the spot when the police opened fire to disperse an assemblage of thousands of local residents and representatives of civil society groups. They were protesting against the adverse environmental impact of the industrial operations of Sterlite Copper which runs a copper smelter plant in the area. Accusations against the company have ranged from polluting local water resources to plans for expanding the installed capacity of the plant without the necessary environmental clearances. A ground report published in The Wire recently, mentions the decision taken by Norges Bank a few years ago to not invest funds from Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) in Sterlite “due to an unacceptable risk of complicity in current and future severe environmental damage and systematic human rights violations

India’s macroeconomic resilience amidst global fragility: facts, factors, forecasts

By IMPRI Team  Under the series, The State of the Economy – #EconDialogue , Center for the Study of Finance and Economics (CSFE), IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi organized #WebPolicyTalk, a distinguished lecture on the topic India’s Macroeconomic Resilience amidst Global Fragility: Facts, Factors and Forecasts, by Dr Deepak Mishra. Dr Deepak Mishra is the Director and Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) , New Delhi. The session was chaired by Dr Rafiq Dossani, Director, RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy , a Senior Economist and the Professor of Policy Analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School . The discussants of the event were Prof Nilanjan Banik, Professor and Program Director (BA, Economics and Finance), Mahindra University, Hyderabad , Dr Pooja Misra, Associate Professor and Area Head, Economics, Birla Institute of Management Technology, Greater Noida and Mr Arvind Chari, Chief Investment Officer, Qua

Upcoming monsoon: No lessons learned from past flooding, waterlogging of Vadodara

Letter to MoEF&CC, Vadodara Municipal Corporation, Vadodara Urban Development Authority, Collector Vadodara, Chief Secretary, Gujarat, GPCB, CPCB and Others by Concerned Citizens of Vadodara*: *** Let us take into account the uncertainty of weather and climatic conditions and the prevalent erratic rainfall. Let us hope that we remember past floods and waterlogging and have learnt lessons from those disasters and tragedies. So, let us act immediately before the upcoming monsoon of 2023. It is apparent that, practically, no lessons have been learned from the past flooding and waterlogging events and from the ill-advised and ill-conceived rejuvenation efforts of Vishwamitri River. No action has been taken yet by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation in terms of identifying and removal of the debris from the ravines, water ways, lakes, ponds, wetlands, and low-lying areas. Instead, dumping of debris and other wastes continues into the river environs. Even clear directions given by the con

Why was this BJP leader forced to call off marriage of his daughter with Muslim boy?

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  A marriage of two individuals belonging to different faiths was ultimately postponed as the 'champions' of the social morality dominated the discourse and threatened the father of the girl who happened to be the chairman of Pauri city municipality. Yashpal Benam, a BJP leader, posted the invitation of his daughter's wedding with a Muslim boy from Uttar Pradesh. Both the boy and the girl became friend during their B Tech course and were in relationship. There were reports that they already got married in the court but we don't know the reality. Perhaps the family of the girl wanted to send a message of 'acceptability' and 'appreciation' of such a marriage by the society.

Against genuine pace, spin Rohan Kanhai was best player, on par with Viv Richards

By Harsh Thakor  Rohan Kanhai took creative genius in batting or aesthecism to regions unexplored. He virtually gave the art of batting a new dimension, being the equivalent of a Beethoven or Rembrandt to batting. He in full flow was manifestation of a divine energy. He could literally invent strokes of his own. He could eviserate any bowling attack, in any conditions.

Adherent of Charu Mazumdar who failed to confront policy of annihilation of class enemy

By Harsh Thakor  Communist Revolutionary leader Chandi Sarkar expired at 76 years old at his home in Krishnanagar of Nadia on, 5th April, at 11 pm. He has carved a permanent niche amongst the great Communist Revolutionary leaders of India. Till his last breath he blazed the spirit of revolution. Few leaders in West Bengal, more ressurected spirit of Naxalbari. Only with characters like Sarkar, can the Indian revolution ever advance. With unflinching resilience he defended Mao Tse Tung Thought and concept of peoples War. Chandi Sarkar was born on 15 August 1947 in a landlord family of Maharajpur village of Chandra Police Station of Nadia district. His father’s name was Ashok Sarkar. He was an accomplished sportsman since childhood, being given a trainee job as a for hockey player.

In terms of sheer statistics Sydney Barnes was indisputably the best of all bowlers

By Harsh Thakor  Late Sydney Barnes just reached the milestone of 150. Born at Smethwick, Staffordshire, April 19, 1873. Died at Chadsmoor, Staffordshire, and December 26, 1967. Sydney Francis Barnes was the second son of five children of Richard Barnes who spent nearly all his life in Staffordshire and worked for a Birmingham firm for 63 years. The father played only a little cricket and Sydney Barnes pledged that he never had more than three hours' coaching. Billy Ward of Warwickshire gave him the tutelage in his cultivating the off break from which he developed a leg break.Barnes was a gaunt faced man with wide eyes and an austere expression. Action and Style With a bouncy run up his long strong fingers could spin, swerve and seam a cricket ball in the air at medium pace, a but a stock speed well above medium..He bowled with his middle finger over the seam with the first and third spread on either side. His full circular swing enabled him to produce a smooth, coordinated delive

Killing of Atiq raises questions regarding lapses in cops' professional competence

By Prof Sudhanshu Tripathi*  What next or who next? The ongoing narrative in popular media over the slain Atiq Ahmed began with CM Yogi’s oft-cited speech in the state assembly that “iss mafia ko mitti mein mila denge.” And consequent encounters of four shooters by the UP police involved in the cold blooded murder of Umesh Pal -- the only witness alive in Raju Pal’s broad daylight murder by Atiq and his henchmen -- in February 2023. Further, few more encounters by the UP police since then have boldly underlined the oft-cited zero-tolerance policy of the Yogi government.