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Reports started appearing in February 2012 that an investigation by the Italian Attorney-General’s office into alleged unethical dealings by Finmeccanica, state-supported defence conglomerate, had taken into its ambit corruption in Rs. 3,500 crore deal signed with India by the firm’s subsidiary AgustaWestland for the supply of 12 AW-101 helicopters to ferry the VVIPs. A year later Italian police arrested the Chief Executive and Chairman of Finmeccanica SpA, Giuseppe Orsi. He was charged with paying bribes of Rs. 360 crore to middlemen to swing the VVIP chopper deal for AgustaWestland’s from India when he was heading the subsidiary.

In February 2010 AgustaWestland signed Rs. 3,546 crore contract for supplying 12 helicopters, edging out American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky’s S-92 Superhawk. Italian probe alleged that Orsi and others paid money through intermediaries. Prosecutors alleged that the former Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi was paid through his cousins to tweak the terms in the tender to favour AgustaWestland so that it could bag the Indian contract. Main Characters – Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa – directors of the Chandigarh-based IT outsourcing firm Aeromatrix. Haschke was also till 2009 on the board of MGF Emmar, according to SEBI. He had secured citizenship of Switzerland as well as of the U.S. and reportedly knew the tricks of the trade in the defence sector.

Christian Michel: British consultant, confidante of Orsi, who had companies in Dubai and London. He had been active in Indian defence sector and got the big share of 51 million Euros as commission for influencing the contract in favour of AgustaWestland. Giuseppe Orsi: Former CEO and Finmeccanica. Arrested in 2013. In October 2014, a lower court acquitted him and former CEO Bruno Spagnolini of corruption but convicted them of falsifying invoices, sentenced them to two years prison term. On April 7, 2016, Italian Court of Appeals (equivalent to India’s high court) overturned the verdict and sentenced Orsi to four and a half years prison term for corruption.

Sanjeev Kumar Tyagi (Juli): A cousin of former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi, old friend of Gerosa. His name appeared in conversations between Haschke and Gerosa which were taped by the investigators in Italy in 2012. The Enforcement Directorate had questioned him in October 2014. He is said to have introduced ACM Tyagi to Haschke at a farm house party in Delhi. IAF chief (Retd.) Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi: Was IAF chief between 2005-07. He has denied all corruption charges but admitted to having met Haschke.

Italian Court of Appeals’ judgement refers to the Tyagi brothers – Juli, Docsa and Sandeep Tyagi. The judgement, running into 226 pages, makes mention of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Ahmad Patel and Pranab Mukherjee who had earlier headed Defence Ministry at only a few places. India had paid Rs. 1,620 crore to AgustaWestland and encashed the Rs. 250 crore guarantee in January 2014. After winning a legal case in Italy in June 2014, India also encashed Rs. 1818 crore guarantee held in Italian banks, thus the total amount recovered was Rs. 2,068 crore. Three AW 101 choppers were delivered before the deal was cancelled. IAF is now using six Mi-17V5 helicopters for ferrying VVIPs like the President, Vice-President and the Prime Minister. Alleged payoffs and Italian court’s latest order provided ammunition to the BJP to train guns on the Congress and target Sonia Gandhi in and out of Parliament which is in the second part of the Budget session till May 13. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Rajya Sabha that the “”bribe giver has been convicted and now the bribe-taker has to be identified.””

Sonia Gandhi has demanded an impartial probe, dismissing all allegations as “”false.”” She said: “”The government is there for two years, an inquiry is there. Why don’t they complete it as early as possible and impartially. Former PM Manmohan Singh said: “”There is no case, my party will respond.””

Parliament session is likely to witness both the BJP and the Congress trading more fire over Choppergate and the heli-storm is unlikely to blow over soon.”

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Article136.png”” alt=””Article136″” />Mowgli, the wolf-child raised by a pack of wolves in the blockbuster The Jungle Book, based on Rudyard Kipling’s timeless stories on the book, has raised a significant question: whether the feral children really existed in India. A feral child is a human child who has lived in the company away from human contact from a very young age and has little or no experience of human care, loving or social behaviour and crucially of human language and grows up with wild animals and such children continued to shock the world with their sudden appearance in forests. Mowgli has always evoked a sense of wonder and curiosity among readers and more recently when the John Favreau-directed film The Jungle Book hit the theatres across India.

Was Mowgli real? Did a boy like him really exist in some remote forest in India living with wolves. Was Kipling’s story some real-life incident?

Probably the best known and widely published story of feral children in India, was that of two girls Amala and Kamala, claimed to have been recovered from a wolf-den in 1920 in the then undivided Bengal’s Midnapore district. The story goes, a local priest, Joseph Amrito Lal Singh saw a mother wolf and cubs, two of whom had long, matted hair and looked human. After considerable preparations and difficulties the two human ‘creatures’ were captured. They turned out to be girls. The ‘creatures’ were taken to an orphange in Midnapore, where the Reverend and his wife were stationed. Singh described them as “”wolfish”” in appearance and behaviour.

He said the girls walked on all four and had calluses on their knees and palms in doing so. In September 1921, both girls became ill and Amala, the younger died. The story attracted attention and debate. After the news broke out, anthropologists and doctors cast doubts on its veracity as the account was reported and promoted by one source, Singh himself, who claimed to have discovered the girls. Finally, a French surgeon Segre Aroles, concluded in his book L’ Engime Des Enfants Loups (Enigma of wolf children) that the story was a hoax.

Then the best account of wolves nurturing children in their dens, is contained in a obscure pamphlet printed at Plymouth in 1852 with a title “” An Account of Wolves Nurturing Children In Their Dens.”” The author of this pamphlet was Major General Sir W H Sleeman. This pamphlet had detailed six cases of wolf-children excerpts of which were produced in Sleeman’s journey through the kingdom of Oude in 1849-1850. What Sleeman wrote was “” wolves are numerous in the neighbourhood of Sultanpoor and indeed all along the banks of the Goomtee river, among the ravines that intersect them, and a great many children are carried off by them from towns, villages and camps.””

Sleeman’s writings on the whole gives an idea how numerous wolves were in the then Oudh (Awadh). So severe were the depredations they carried out that Sleeman says that a particular kind of nomads used to make a living by selling of gold and sliver braclets, necklaces and other ornaments which were worn by the children, whom the wolves carry to their dens and devour and left at the entrance of these dens. Sleeman says in February 1850, a wolf-boy was found in Chandour, ten miles from Sultanpoor and caught. “”There is now (February 1850) at Sultanpoor, a boy, who was found alive in wolf’s den about two years and a half ago. A trooper was sent by the native Governor of the district to Chandour, to demand payment of some revenue, was passing along the bank of the river near Chandour about noon, when he saw a large female wolf leave her den, followed by three whelps and a little boy. The boy was on all fours and seemed to be on the best possible terms with the old dam and the three whelps and the mother seemed to guard all four with equal care; they all went down the river and drank water, without perceiving the trooper, who sat upon the banks watching them.

As soon as they were about to turn back, the trooper pushed on to cut off and secure the boy, but he ran as fast as the whelps could, and kept up with old one. The ground was uneven, and the trooper’s horse could not overtake them. They all entered the den and the trooper assembled some people from Chandour with pickaxes and dug into the den. When they dug out six or eight feet, the old wolf bolted with her three whelps and the boy. The trooper mounted and followed by the fleetest young men of the party, who secured the boy and let the old dam and her three cubs go on their way.”” Sleeman recounts the men took the boy to the village and had to tie him for he was very restive and struggled hard to rush into every hole or den they came near. The boy growled and snarled. He rejected when any cooked meat was put near him, but when any raw meat was offered, the boy seized it with avidity, put it on the ground under his hands, like a dog and ate it with evident pleasure. The boy was handed over to the Raja of Hasunpoor, who then handed him over to one Captain Nicholett, the officer in charge of the First Regiment of Oude Local Infantary of Sultanpoor. The boy lived under the care of the Captain’s servants for almost two years and suddenly died in August 1850.

At Chupra, twenty miles east from Sultanpur, a wolf boy was caught in 1849 when his wolf family came out of the jungle and go down the stream to drink water. He was later identified based on his birthmark and a hot-water scald mark, as a cultivator’s son had been lifted by a she-wolf from the village almost six years ago. In 1843, a shepherd of the village Ghutkoree, 12 miles from the cantonments of Sultanpur, saw a boy walking on all the fours by the side of a wolf, as he was out of the flock. The boy was caught with great difficulty and escaped into the jungles when the shepherd was asleep. In 1867, hunters near Bulandshahar rescued a young boy from a wolf-den and took him to Agra Medical Missionary Training Institute. He was christened Dina Sanichar, the boy who was born on Saturday as he was brought to the Missionary on a Saturday.

According to Valentine Ball, a pioneer geologist working with the Geological Survey of India, an accomplished ornithologist, wrote the most detailed portrait on Sanichar in his book Jungle Life in India (1880) and said Sanichar was the only known wolf-boy who survived into adulthood and died due to tuberculosis in 1895. Despite more than 20 years at the orphanage, nobody could get him to speak, but they did manage to train him to wear clothes and eat cooked food. Two cases were reported elsewhere, one from Shahjahpur (1858) attested by two different military officers and another at 1860-1861.

The most talked about was the case in 1972, when Shamdeo, a four year old boy, was discovered in the forests. He had dark nails, sharp teeth and fingernails that looked like hoods. The boy had severely matted hair and tough calluses on his elbows, knees. The boy enjoyed hunting chickens and bonded with dogs fast. He never learned to speak and did some sign languages and was admitted to Mother Teresa’s Home for the Destitute and Dying and died in 1985. The boy was found in the forest Musafirkhana, 20 miles from Sultanpur. One may wonder, why almost always boys, aged between eight and 12 years of age and not a single case of wolf-man, that was reported.

Saleeman offers an explanation. He says that after some time, the boys either die from living exclusively on animal food, before they attain the age of manhood or are destroyed by the wolves themselves, or other beasts of prey in the jungles, from whom they are unable to escape. Over the centuries, many stories of feral children have been told, fortunately virtually all of them have later been revealed as hoax. Feral children–if they ever existed– are relics of the past. Yet, the stories remain with us. Part of the reason, feral children have long captured the public’s imagination is that they symbolise humanity’s ambiguous relationships with other animals.”

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Article139.png”” alt=””Article139″” />In the changing geopolitcal environment coupled with China’s expansionist designs both on land and at sea, the Narendra Modi government is resetting ties with the United States of America which visiting Defence Secretary Ashton Carter called a “”strategic handshake.”” After dithering for nearly 15 years, India quietly buried the outdated policy of non-alignment by allowing access of its defence facilities to the American military on a reciprocal basis. New Delhi cannot afford to lose out on the technological revolution critical for its security and national interest. There is a Bill in the US Congress seeking to bring India on par with NATO in the transfer of sensitive defence technology.

Defence experts emphasise there is a message for India’s extended neighbourhood especially China. “”India needs more support as it cannot stand against China on its own either militarily or economically. Some kind of message had to be sent. It does not mean we are allying with the US,”” they observed.
Significantly, Carter’s sojourn to this country comes at a time when the US Congress is considering the US-India Defence Technology and Partnership Act which encourages the US President “”to coordinate with India annually to develop military contingency plans for addressing threats to mutual security interests to both the countries.

Concluding his four-day visit to this country from April 10-13, Carter and his host Defence minister Manohar Parrikar strongly signalled their cooperative intent when the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Understanding (LEMOA) would be signed in the next few weeks or months. The US has similar arrangements with more than 80 countries.

Carter spoke about his desire to advance consultations for cooperating in developing aircraft carriers as well as jet fighter technology. Two pathfinder projects were announced to co-develop a Digital Helmet Mounted Display; and a Joint Biological Tactical Detection System. It is unlikely that production of these will begin any time soon. Defence acquisition from the US has grown at an aggregate exceeding ten billion Dollars. With Presidential elections scheduled in the US in November doubts have arisen about the bilateral defence cooperation with India. That is why the Department of Defence in Washington is trying to establish the first ever country specific unit, the India Rapid Reaction Cell in hastening progress in spheres like co-production of aircraft carriers and jet fighter engines.

The attempts of the Barrack Obama administration to strengthen India’s defence is aimed at cutting down China to size. Impartial observers stress India’s reconsideration of foundational agreements with the US is pragmatic. New Delhi has the right to withhold its consent to LEMOA. At the same time India remains wary and unhappy about the US handshake with Pakistan. There is no doubt once LEMOA is concluded it will give American aircraft and warships access to Indian military bases for logistical purposes including refuelling and repair.

Reciprocal Basis

Indian military will also enjoy similar access to the US bases. This will qualitatively transform India’s relations with the only global super power. The Logistics agreement had been first proposed in 2004 but the Congress led UPA government developed cold feet. Then Defence minister A K Antony believed it was too intrusive and could also be perceived as India side stepping the Non-Aligned Policy.

The joint statement refers to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. However, Parrikar has been guarded in avoiding any reference to joint patrolling. Even the agreement on sharing data on commercial shipping which was expected to be concluded will be subjected to another round of talks. It is important for India to take a considered view of the repercussions that such a strategic alliance might have for India’s relations with other countries. Meanwhile, Parrikar and Carter will initiate a bilateral maritime security dialogue that includes diplomats and the defence establishments. Indo-US strategic cooperation in Defence has already unnerved certain nations in South Asia’s neighbourhood.

Countering China

Moscow has threatened to stop cooperation in nuclear submarines. China is not pleased with the Indo-US joint statement and has reneged on its promise of massive investment in this country. America watchers are saying that US wants to get India on board in its attempts to “”rebalance”” the situation in Asia. Simply put Washington is determined to counter China’s rise.

In that context a pivotal role is envisaged for India along with Japan and Australia. It has become imperative for Modi to build national consensus on critical foreign policy issues by enlarging defence cooperation in the face of the Hindutva agenda pursued by BJP’s ideologue, the RSS and the fringe elements in the Sangh Parivar.
The Modi government appears to be shedding the country’s strategic diffidence as evidenced in the past. At the same time New Delhi needs to move faster to be able to avail of the opportunities at this juncture.

Senior Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony said the logistic agreement with the US would pave the way for India becoming part of the American military bloc. The Congress led UPA while in power at the centre was under pressure to sign such a pact. “”We resisted it because it was against national interests.”” The Communist party of India (Marxists) expressed similar reservations.

China’s relative geopolitical strength at any time is that it thinks of itself as a great power. This is based on its historical role as a central political player in Asia. The US is attempting a tri-continental strategy to check Beijing’s rise. Clearly Obama wants to be one of those grandmasters seeking to go beyond foreign policy by getting involved in the ruthless global game of geopolitics.”

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Article138.png”” alt=””Article138″” />Researchers have found moderate-quality evidence that yoga probably leads to small improvements in quality of life and symptoms in people with asthma, but there is more uncertainty about potential adverse effects of yoga and its impact on lung function and medication usage. According to a new Cochrane Review, the results of randomised control trials (RCTs) has found evidence that practicing yoga might be able to improve asthma quality of life and symptoms to some extent. However, researchers also warned that higher-quality studies with more participants would be needed to draw any firm conclusions about the effects of yoga.

“”RCTs with a large sample size and high methodological and reporting quality are needed to confirm the effects of yoga for asthma,”” researchers have said. They found15 randomised controlled trials which involved 1,048 men and women. Most of the trials were conducted in India, followed by Europe and the United States. The majority of participants had mild to moderate asthma for six months to more than 23 years. Six studies looked into the effects of breathing alone during yoga exercise, whilst the other studies assessed the effects of yoga that included breathing, posture and meditation.

Most people continued to take their usual asthma medication while participating in the studies. The studies were conducted over a time period of two weeks to over four years. Asthma is a common chronic disease that affects about 300 million people worldwide. A non-communicable disease (NCD) that causes periodic episodes of breathlessness and coughing, the WHO estimates 235 million people suffer from the disease, while the Global Burden of Diseases Study says the true number may be as high as 334 million.

The episodic onset of symptoms is called asthma attack. During an asthma attack, the bronchial tubes in the lungs become inflamed and narrow, making it difficult to breathe. Attacks can recur for asthmatics multiple times a day or week, with differing intensity, depending on the individual. Asthma is not curable, but through proper medication and appropriate management the disease’s burden can be reduced. In addition to access to medication that relieves both short-term and long-term symptoms, this means providing care to individuals with asthma in which patients are explicitly warned about avoiding inhaled substances and particles and other potential triggers of attacks. These triggers include irritants such as air pollution, tobacco smoke, indoor and outdoor allergens, and harmful chemicals in the workplace, as well as cold air, physical exercise, and emotional arousal.

Since 2015, United Nations has declared June 21 as International Yoga Day and first Tuesday of May is observed as Asthma Day. This year the day falls on May 3. Yoga, the popularity of which has expanded globally, has the potential to relieve some asthma-related problems. However, the effects of yoga for asthma need to be confirmed due to the inconsistent findings of existing studies.

Yoga originated from ancient India and remains an important aspect of India’s diverse culture. Yoga includes such common components as breathing exercises (pranayama), postures (asanas), and meditation (dhyana). It is difficult to know exactly how many types of yoga are being practiced around the world, as different combinations of and variations in components could represent a ‘new’ type of yoga. To our knowledge, types of yoga include, but are not limited to, the following: aerial yoga, Ananda yoga, Anusara yoga, Ashtanga (or Astanga) yoga, Bhakti yoga, Bikram yoga (hot yoga), Chair yoga, Forrest yoga, Hatha yoga, ISHTA (Integral Science of Hatha and Tantric Arts), Iyengar yoga, Jivamukti yoga, Jnana yoga, Kali Ray TriYoga, Karma yoga, Kripalu, Kriya yoga, Kundalini yoga, Mantra yoga, Moksha, Power yoga, prenatal yoga, Purna yoga (integral yoga), Raja yoga, Restorative yoga, Sahaja yoga, Satyananda yoga, Sivananda yoga, stand-up paddle yoga, Svaroopa yoga, Swara yoga, Tibetan yoga, Viniyoga yoga, Vinyasa yoga, and White Lotus yoga.

As a holistic therapy, yoga contains no asthma-specific posture or breathing exercises. The exact mechanism by which yoga may affect asthma symptoms is not fully understood. However, several explanations have been proposed. The first explanation is related to the breathing pattern in yoga practice. One trigger of asthma attacks is frictional stress in airways, which could damage the airway wall, affect the dynamics of airway smooth muscle, and result in mast cell degranulation. Some studies have shown that the tidal volume and breathing rate decrease during yoga practice, which may interfere with the process that triggers asthma attacks.

Empirically, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in people with asthma have demonstrated that specific breathing exercises or techniques could help reduce acute exacerbations and rescue bronchodilator use as compared with no intervention, and could significantly improve quality of life as compared with asthma education. However, in a Cochrane review comparing breathing exercises with usual care or asthma education control, data were insufficient to be able to draw conclusions to this effect. Consequently, yoga practice involving breathing techniques may have some impact on asthma symptoms. Breathing exercises in yoga practice could help release suppressed emotion, reduce anxiety and self consciousness, and relax muscle tension. Secondly, certain yoga postures may help expand the chest and increase breath-holding time as well as vital capacity. This could logically have some effect on the lung function of people with asthma. Thirdly, by practicing yoga people with asthma may achieve a sense of relaxation and a positive mood, thus reducing the autonomic arousal factors. Meditation, a common component of yoga, may even help practitioners reach a state of complete mental silence (‘Sahaja’ in Sanskrit), which yoga advocates consider to be an innately therapeutic process beneficial to people with chronic diseases, including asthma. Meditation may also help the control and feedback of respiratory muscles which would be adversely affected by asthma attacks, researchers have said citing several earlier studies done on yoga.

Lead author, Dr Zuyao Yang from the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong commented, “”Our findingssuggest that yoga exercise may lead to small improvements in asthma quality of life and symptoms. However, it is unclear whether yoga has a consistent impact on lung function and we don’t yet know if yoga can reduce people’s medication usage, or if there are any side-effects of yoga for people with asthma.””

Deputy Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Airways Group, Rebecca Normansell, added, “”At present, we just don’t have enough high quality evidence to determine the effects of yoga as a type of exercise for helping people manage their asthma. Because there is uncertainty about the effects of yoga on lung function and use of asthma medication, it’s important that people with asthma continue to take their medication, as prescribed. The findings of this Cochrane Review will help people make more informed choices about their future treatment options.”””

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Article142.png”” alt=””Article142″” />The U.N Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific for 2016 has described India as the fastest-growing large economy in the world. In its report, released in Bangkok on Thursday, it noted that economic growth in India edged up to 7.6% in 2015 compared with 7.3% in 2014. The UNESCAP survey said that private consumption growth continued to be the main growth driver, as reflected in robust services activities relating to trade, finance, transport and communications, and real estate. However, strong household consumption was not broad-based; rural demand was weaker due to muted agricultural activity and slower rural wage growth resulting from sub par monsoon seasons in recent years.

On the external front, the UNESCAP survey said that merchandise exports of India declined on weak orders in advanced economies and lower prices of refined petroleum products, which accounted for more than 13% of India’s total exports. However, as imports also shrank and services exports remained in surplus, the current account deficit narrowed to about 1% of GDP in 2015. Referring to inflation, it said that despite a spatially uneven monsoon and some seasonal spikes in food prices, consumer inflation moderated to 5% in 2015 from 6.7% in 2014. Lower inflation was driven by low global commodity prices, a downward adjustment in administered fuel prices and government measures, such as price checks, anti-hoarding and suspension of futures trading of select pulses. Moderate inflation enabled the Reserve Bank of India to cut policy rates by a total of 125 basis points in 2015.

The Survey termed the near-term growth outlook as positive, and projected the growth rate at 7.6% in 2016 and 7.8% in 2017. It noted that urban household spending is expected to drive economic growth amid steady employment growth and relatively low inflation. Fixed investment conditions would benefit from lower borrowing costs and a more enabling business environment, as reflected in India’s better ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index. Nonetheless, high levels of stressed bank assets and fragile business confidence could constrain investment growth.

The Survey said that the overall strength of domestic demand will depend on progress made in implementing structural reforms and how rapidly large scale stalled infrastructure projects are unlocked. It observed that some progress has been made in reforming fiscal policy, such as the rationalization of fuel price subsidies, but the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) remains an important reform that is being held up due to political deadlock.

On the Government’s recent initiatives to promote inclusive and sustainable development, the Survey said that these measures include programmes to support small and medium-sized enterprises through enhanced credit under the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency bank loan scheme; foster financial inclusion through the Jan Dhan programme under which 250 million people have gained access to modern banking services; create a skilled workforce under the Skill India initiative; make India a manufacturing base; and promote entrepreneurship under the Start up India, Stand up India initiative.

The Government is also placing emphasis on developing sustainable cities under the 100 Smart Cities mission, and harnessing solar and wind energy, with the target being to attain 175 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity by 2022, it said.”

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Article141.png”” alt=””Article141″” />Taking a serious note of the death of 11 children with special needs in a rehabilitation home in Jaipur, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the State Chief Secretary, Director General of Police and Director General of Health Services and sought a reply within two weeks. Taking suo motu cognizance of the incident, the Commission has observed that the contents of the press reports, if true, raise a serious issue of human rights violation of the child victims. As many as 11 children have died in a State-run Home in Jaipur, under mysterious circumstances in the past 12 days.

Allegations of government’s failure in maintaining the upkeep of the Home have also been reported as the reason behind the incident. Reportedly, the children were referred to J.K. Lone and SMS Hospitals when their condition deteriorated, probably after drinking contaminated water at the Home, the NHRC said in a statement. Meanwhile, there is outrage in the State over the deaths with the women’s groups and civil society organizations demanding the resignation of the Social Justice Minister Arun Chaturvedi.

Three children from the home are still admitted in the ICU of J.K.Lone, one is recuperating in the General Ward while eight others were discharged after treatment. The Rajasthan Health Minister Rajendra Rathore visited the hospital and enquired about the health of these children. Describing the episode as unfortunate, the civil society groups have said that the government had not only kept these children with mental retardation in sub-humane conditions but was also guilty of violating the directions of the Rajasthan High Court which in 2003 had asked the State to ensure all such homes should have adequate facilities for good food and other facilities including a provision for a clinical psychologist.

Expressing surprise that the State Child Rights Commission, the State Human Rights Commission and State Child Welfare Committee were silent on these deaths, the civil society groups have said that all these people had also lost the moral right to continue on their posts. The joint statement was issued, among others, by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, National Federation of Indian Women, All India Janwadi Mahila Samiti, National Muslim Women’s Welfare Society, Beti Zindabad Abhiyan, and Centre for Advocacy and Research.”

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Article140.png”” alt=””Article140″” />Things have come to such a pass that there is a backlog of 30 million cases. It was finally left to the Chief Justice of India Justice T S Thakur to make an emotion appeal to the Narendra Modi government to rectify matters speedily at a meeting of chief ministers and Chief Justices of the High Courts in the national capital last Sunday. If the Prime Minister was caught on the wrong foot, he wasted no time in having a closed door session with the CJI to sort out matters. The judiciary and the centre as well as the states will have to work in concert without wasting time in dealing with the backlog issue on a priority basis. Let us not forget the adage that “”justice delayed is justice denied”” especially as those large number of undertrials continue to languish in jails without bail. The talk of the judiciary being overburdened has been going on for years with decision makers inexplicably compounding matters.

Allowing matters to drift in respect of one of the main pillars of the democratic system is rather disconcerting. The role of the states cannot be undermined. This is particularly so when the litigant and especially the teeming poor have to wait endlessly for justice being entirely at the mercy of the lawyers and the judges. The judiciary and the executive have to accept responsibility for the abysmal state of affairs because of the crumbling and poor infrastructure facilities, dilatory judicial procedures and non-cooperative lawyers who have a vested interest in seeking repeated adjournments which is summarily granted.

Judiciary’s Performance

Despite these burgeoning problems legal experts acknowledge that the judiciary has performed admirably having seen through some tumultuous times and emerged with flying colours. Nearly three decades back in 1987 the Law Commission had recommended the appointment of at least 30,000 judges. That figure has now risen to 40,000. It reflects poorly on how well the rule of law is implemented.

Sample the statistics of the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB). In 2014 there were nearly 418000 people crammed in jails all over the country. This is nearly 100000 in excess of the capacity of 356000. What is shocking is that 67% of them are undertrials. The situation is alarming while the political class is on its own trip and the common refrain of the judiciary is that it is overburdened.

As chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi had suggested that judges should reduce their leave and extend their working hours to reduce the backlog. Even though this would not have erased the humongous backlog but certainly gone some distance in reducing it. Even though it is accepted that any person is innocent until proven guilty, the reality of daily life is entirely different when it comes to an alleged criminal. Lets consider what needs to be done urgently. The country requires no less than at least 50 judges for every million people but the present strength is barely 15-16 judges.

The BJP-led NDA government appears to be dragging its feet on the 170 odd names for being appointed as High Court judges recommended by the Collegium of the Apex Court. Last year in October the Modi government suffered a setback when the Supreme Court rejected the National Judicial Appointments Committee Act and the 99th Constitutional Amendment which sought to give politicians and civil society a final say in the appointment of judges to the highest courts.

“”It is difficult to hold that the wisdom of appointment of judges can be shared with the poitical executive. In India the organic development of civil society, has not as yet sufficiently evolved. The expectation from the judiciary, to safeguard the rights of the citizens of this country, can only be ensured by keeping it absolutely insulated and independent, from the other organs of governance,”” Justice J S Khehar, the presiding judge on the five-judge bench, affirmed in his separate judgement.

In a majority of 4:1, the bench rejected the NJAC Act and the Constitution Amendment as “”unconstitutional and void.”” It held that the collegium system, as it existed before the NJAC, would again become operative. The Bench admitted that all is not well even with the collegium system of “”judges appointing judges””, and that the time is ripe to improve the 21-year-old system of judicial appointments.

A disappointed Union Law minister Sadananda Gowda observed the NJAC was backed fully by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. It had 100 per cent support of the people. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi described the judgement as flawed as it ignored the unanimous will of Parliament, half the State Legislatures and the will of the people for transparency in judicial appointments. One wonders if the judiciary is considered as a non-productive organ of the state as less than one per cent of the union budget is spent on it.

At the same time the government’s initiative might be laudable in setting up commercial courts without separate manpower and infrastructure for it. The unfortunate part is nearly seven decades after gaining independence, access to affordable and timely justice remains a distant dream. On his part Justice Thakur has alluded to making amends, if needed, in the Collegium. This might moment for the Centre in undertaking direly needed reforms in the country’s obsolete land laws. To sustain fast growth India needs to overhaul its legal infrastructure. There is need for expanding the lower judiciary in all the states along with speeding up the judicial process.

Technology needs to be exploited to meet fresh challenges in the judiciary along with ensuring that access to law is widened along with infusing necessary confidence in the justice system.”

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Article144.png”” alt=””Article144.png”” />A new trend has heralded in Kerala with film stars and directors crossing swords in the Assembly elections to be held on May 16. Unlike voters in the rest of Southern region, Kerala has been politically conservative in letting film stars contest elections.However, ace Malayalam comedian Innocent Vareed Thekkethala’s victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Chalakudy constitutency, has made the political parties to field film stars in the coming elections. That perhaps explains the one-off electoral win of someone from Malayalam film industry.Ace film-maker Ramu Kariat, who directed the path-breaking move Chemmeen, was elected to the Assembly in 1964 from Nattika constitutency in Thrissur district as an independent backed by the Communist Party till the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 when Innocent became an MP.

Even yesteryear super star Prem Nazir, an ambivalent Congress supporter, dithered over entering electoral fray. A headcount of the aspirants and probables from Malayalam film fraternity for the Assembly elections on May 16 shows that Innocent’s win was a watershed moment. Innocent trounced Congress veteran P C Chacko in Chalakudy in 2014 general elections. Kerala gave a thumbs-down to film-maker Lenin Rajendran who tested the electoral waters twice from the Ottapalam Lok Sabha constituency in the early 1990s. All three major parties in the polls–Congress, CPI (M) and BJP– have roped in a handful of matinee idols to woo the voters. Among the Left probables is actor Mukesh from Kollam, a known CPI (M) fellow traveller, though the party toyed with the idea of fielding KPAC Lalitha, another know Left sympathiser, from Vadakkanchery assembly constituency, but the veteran actress backed off citing health issues in the wake of a vociferous protest. While CPI (M) will support actor-turned politician and Kerala Congress (B) leader K B Ganesh Kumar, who snapped ties with the ruling UDF, in Pathanapuram, Congress has roped in noted character-artist and comedian Jagadish to take on him in the constituency. As BJP has fielded actor Bheeman Reghu against them, Pathanapuram is expected to witness a triangular ‘star war’.

Another star contestant Mukesh, a permanent presence in slap stick films and known for films like ‘Ramjirao Speaking’, will be contesting from Kollam assembly constituency on a CPI (M) ticket. CPI (M) chose Mukesh in the key constituency with the belief that his multi-faceted personality as a writer, TV host and producer besides actor, could easily strike a chord with the people. Film directors A Rajasenan and Ali Akbar would be trying their luck from Aruvikkara and Koduvally assembly constituencies respectively. The names of actor Siddhiq and Ashokan had also been under active consideration of different parties. The list of actors who may plunge into the electoral battle is slowly growing, Sreenivasan, Nedumudi Venu are the likely candidates.

Is Kerala showing new signs this time around? Will the coastal State also turning into Tamil Nadu style of politics where actors, directors and film writers are at the helm of affairs of the State. Keep a close watch over Kerala’s electoral scene over the next fortnight.”

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RebootingIndia.png”” alt=””RebootingIndia”” />Having gained valuable insight in developing the unique identity card for a billion people in five years, Nandan Nilekeni, founding Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) and Viral Shah, worked at the intersection of policy and technology leading to the design of the government’s payments and subsidy platforms using Aadhaar. They have proposed some big ideas that can redesign existing systems and save the government a mind boggling estimated Rs One trillion annually. This is equivalent to one per cent of the country’s GDP which is enough for two Golden Quadrilateral road systems across the country or in sending 200 Mangalyan missions to the Mars annually. It is also sufficient to provide minimal health insurance to every family in the country for three years. It is entirely technology driven.

This might well be one of the solutions that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might want to consider to get his much touted “”sab ke saath, sab ka vikas”” off the ground having remained dormant over the last 24 months since he assumed the high office on the majestic Raisina Hill on May 26, 2014. More and More businesses and industries are being run on software delivered as online services — from movies, to agriculture to national defence. Many of the winners are Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial technological companies that are invading and overturning established industry structures. India now boasts of the world’s third largest internet user base with over 190 million users, many of whom are on smartphones to get online and buy things; as much as 40 per cent of all e-commerce transactions in India are now conducted via mobile phones, bypassing computers altogether.

India is sitting on a demographic dividend and is expected to become the world’s youngest country by 2020, with 64 per cent of its population, roughly 800 million people of working age. “”That is 800 million knocks on the ceiling with a list of demands that include education, emplolyment, good health,better infrastructure, efficient governance and a corruption free society. The economy that is supposed to sustain the weight of these demands has been growing in single digit at around nine per cent a year at the best of times — a flimsy scaffold on which to construct dreams of a better life.

The question is how do we build a foundation strong enough to nurture these dreams and bring them to fruition? As an enabler of peoples’ aspirations, the authors insist this requires a radical rethink of the relationship between the government and its people compared to the one that still seems stuck in a bygone era in its reluctance to embrace technology’s transformative powers. Even for an urban, middle class Indian dealing with the government is cumbersome. Merely starting a new business in India takes weeks; most of this time is spent in completing the required paper work and legal formalities.

Whether it is paying taxes or negotiating complex labour law requirements “”we haven’t built a truly entrepreneur-friendly environment where anyone with a bright idea and some capital can easily start a business,”” emphasised Nilekeni, a former CEO of Infosys, and Shah, who is the co-inventor of the Julia programming language and co-founder of Fourth Lion Technologies. They believe technology can transform government by: (1) Scale – solutions that handle millions of people and billions of transactions; (2) Speed – solution that can be developed in months and years, not decades; (3) Cost — solutions that decrease process and service costs; (4) Enforceability — solutions that can be monitored in real time; (5) Diversity — solutions that work as platforms to foster innovation; (6) Autonomy — solutions that allow government (central, state, local) and its agencies to function independently; (7) Mobility –solutions that are accessible anywhere in the country; (8) Integration — solutions that incorporate the best components across the public private spectrum; (9) Collaboration — solutions that share information and develop partnerships across government; and (10) Inclusion — solutions that lowers entry barriers and widens access for all.

The profound shift of balance of power between the government and the people is only possible because of technology. “”We need to fix our country’s problems at great speed, at scales with high quality while providing solutions that are easy to access, independent of geography and at low cost. “”Technology the great leveller is our only hope of meeting these goals. Many of the states are well run today and the formation of the NITI Ayog and the GST reform will lead to further fiscal consolidation. States should be free to opt for these common platforms because they see a clear benefit in participation rather than through the carrot of money or the stick of the legislation.

The issue of fund flow can be resolved by cutting down the number of schemes and running them more efficiently; equally important, a great proportion of the central funds should be untied, eliminating restrictions on how the money can be spent and allowing states to use their money more effectively. Increasingly India is getting to the point where money itself is no longer the bottleneck. The finances of many states are quite robust. The Centre-State relationship has evolved to a point where “”we believe the centre must provide value beyond money through world class platform development.

The biggest barrier to ideas Nilekeni and Shah believe is mindsets. In a system that clings tenaciously to hierarchy, it is hard to recognise that a 25-year-old ‘techie’ might have better ideas than the veteran official in his fiftees. That value and knowledge lie not at the top of the silo, but at the boundaries across various disciplines. That problem solving is not about big budgets and a cast of thousands, but small teams with shoestring budgets — teams that include technologists, social activists, people who have built successful businesses, domain experts and bureaucrats.

Nilekeni and Shah have identified a dozen great challenges in their book. The first two — Aadhaar and PaHal — have already been scaled successfully. That leaves ten more grand challenges for which ten new start ups are required in the government, each with a team of ten dedicated multidisciplinarian champions. Such teams operating under the authority of the Prime Minister can drive the sweeping transformation and innovative thinking capable of fulfilling a billion aspirations. “”We are much better off dreaming, taking risks, and trying to realise a billion aspirations; at best we risk falling flat on our faces. Far more egregious, and most dangerous to our country, going about business as ususal, leaving a billion voices unheard and a billion frustrations unresolved,””observed Nilekeni and Shah.

The authors agree that the problems are enormous. And these can only be tackled by fast changing technological tools including cloud computing, big data and analytics to move towards a different kind of aggregation, one that is gaining traction in the private sector.

TR

(T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and commentator.)
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