Judicial delays: A systematic issue or a conspiracy caused by criminalisation of politics?

    Today the Hon. CJI made headline for a very different reason. He shared his emotions, which may be anger, helplessness or even frustration on the poor condition of Indian Judicial System with crores of pending cases and drought like scarcity of judges and related infrastructure. Where cases per judge are in thousands and time period for cases goes is not in just months or years but decades.

The data on pendency is available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and some perspective on Criminalisation of politics can be found in this article in The Hindu. 

    Data suggests that a criminal has more chances of winning an election than a clean candidate. And a party is also more likely to field a crorepati criminal rather than a clean candidate. Only in reserved category (SC/ST) seats, candidates with clean background (and also non-crorepati's) have more chances of winning. In 16th Lok Sabha we have 34% MPs facing criminal charges, up from 24 and 30 in 2004 and 2009 respectively. The trend is clearly visible. In some states, 40-50% MLAs are facing criminal charges. Law commission's 244th report  on electoral disqualification deals with this issue in length and propose many suitable reforms. 

What is interesting is that the action of Civil Society (eg. PUCL) and Supreme Court's laudable decisions in PILs that have done a lot positive in the direction of reducing criminalisation of politics. Be it mandatory disclosure of pending cases and income , or declaring section 8(4) of RPA unconstitutional, that allowed convicted members to appeal, such initiative have shown hope. But we still have made very little progress. May be that's why the present political system is so keen to reform judiciary rather than implementing the already suggested (and many accepted) reforms by various commissions and committees.

    Amidst all this, it's perplexing that while we seem to be a very keen country on reforms,we keep talking about doing business index, investor friendly environment and a clean bharat and so on, three basic reforms in our democratic system, that are 1) reforms in Criminal Justice System, 2) Police reforms and 3) Electoral reforms are pending for so long! (And let's not even talk about Health and Education and save that for some other day.) Should we really be surprised at all. Isn't it so clear! It's the beneficiary of the present system who are the biggest hurdle in the way of any reform or progress. Why criminal-politician-rich-corrupt nexus would want to have these reforms and would make it difficult for themselves to keep a hold on power. How can we expect a legislator who himself or herself is facing criminal charges to make laws for an efficient police and an effective criminal justice system. What is more devastating is that even the people has given up hope and the data on winnability of criminals indicates nothing but that. May be people think that unless the real power is being wielded by the criminals, there is no point in wasting their vote in electing a few clean people. Moreover, when the majority is criminal and corrupt , what would a few be able to do. If this mindset has crept in, it is really a sad thing and should not be allowed to happen. Unless we have democracy in the political parties, we can not have real democracy.

    The sad thing is that , all these things are known, well discussed and understood and yet are unable to pass through the systematic inertia. These are not even election issues. The governments have been successfully diverting attention from governance deficit to mundane emotional issues. Events like IPL water wastage instead of failure in managing water, and sloganism instead of substantial issues have got more public attention. People are more emotional than rational. May be that is why our CJI made an emotional appeal as nothing else have worked yet. I think it is the time to go beyond merely saying "Justice delayed is.... justice denied". We have to ask for it, as if it is a matter of life and death! (wait a minute, isn't it already).

A simple proposition for increasing tax base and simplifying tax regime in India

    In India very small percentage of people (less than one third can be a rough guess) earn enough to pay tax and even a smaller percentage (less than 5%) actually pay. We have a small tax to GDP ratio (about 18%). 

There are two strange things. The famous 80:20 rule applies here too. Rather it become 90:10. Of those who pay tax, 90% pay 10% of the tax (those earning below 5 lakh per annum) and 90% of tax come from very rich that are less than 10% of the taxpayer population.

And secondly, as clear from tax GDP ratio , its the indirect tax which plays a huge role in total tax collection.

Two main reasons i think why tax collection are,

1. the tax rates are too high and 

2. poor perception of government due to corruption. People think the govt is taking almost a third of their income and wasting it.

I think the tax rates for lower income group should be minimized so that people can have a better standard of living. They anyways pay a lot of indirect tax whenever they purchase any product or service. I have this proposition of lower tax rates with mandatory investment in long term bonds. My idea seems very simplistic but I think we should at least think in this direction. It is just the first draft and is open to suggestions and revisions based on advice of experts.

Instead of taxing, make it mandatory to invest in long term bonds for social and physical infrastructure. This will include govt. bonds, municipal bonds, long term infra bonds and long term (5 yr +) deposits etc. When people will invest in municipal bonds, they will be able to see how that fund is utilized and will have an ownership feeling.

My proposal is like this.

Annual income (Rs.)	Tax rates	Exemption detail	Target
Upto 3 lakh	No tax		Low income population
3-10 lakh	10%	Exemption on investment in insurance and long term bonds upto Rs 2 lakh The tax seems to be less but we will remove all other exemptions like LTA HRA etc and overall process will be greatly simplified	Most of service class population Purpose is to simpify tax process for 5-10 lakh Rs income group
10-20 lakh	15%	-minimum 10% of income above 10 lakh to be invested mandatorily  -More exemption on upto 30% of income above 10 lakh, that is upto 3 lakh) for long term investment -5% surcharge on tax on income above 10 lakh	Middle class with white color jobs, professionals (Removing HRA and home loan exemption would balance the lower rate of tax. This will help reduce interest rates and inflation in real state sector)
		Now focus on rich who does not pay tax. its better to make certain part of income to be mandatorily invested instead of taxed	special tax saving bonds with moderate return should be made for them
20-50 lakh	20%	-minimum 10% of income above 20 lakh to be invested mandatorily (in addition to mandatory investment of 1 lakh in previous slab) -exemption on upto 30% of income above 20 lakh(that is upto 9 lakh max) on long term investment (in addition to 3 lakh exemption of previous slab) -10% surcharge on tax on income above 20 lakh	high income professionals (encourage investment and avoid tax evasion)
50 lakh  to 2 cr	25%	-minimum 10% of income above 50 lakh to be  mandatorily invested (in addition to 4 lakh) -more exemption upto 30% above 50 lakh -10% surcharge on tax on income above 50 lakh	small businessmen who do everything to avoid taxes, investment in capital infrastructure can be exempted
2 crore and above	30%	-minimum 10% of income above 2 cr to be invested (in addition to 19 lakh) -up to 30% of income above 2 cr can be invested in long term bonds without tax -more rebate can be given on special bonds above 1cr value for tax saving purpose only that may have low returns (say 5%)	Instead of 30% tax, make 30% investment. even if rerun is low, tax saving itself is 30%.

With lower tax rates some simplification should also be done to balance that. All exemptions on HRA, LTA etc should be removed and only insurance (health and general), PF and pension fund should be exempted. HRA contribute to higher rent and ultimately the landlord or the home loan giving bank get what the govt. should have got. Exemption on Home loan should also be removed as it also contribute to high home prices and high interest rates which makes real estate even more costlier and contribute in making a bubble in this sector. Simplified calculation would help easier assessment and greater compliance.

This will solve many problems,

1. with lower tax rate, tax base will increase

2. presently banks are stressed because they are financing long term projects while there income is from small term saving accounts. We must have a separate long term fund in terms of a strong bond market to fund long term infrastructure projects.

3. the purpose of tax is to invest in social infrastructure. If we make people invest directly in these developments, people will be more willing to pay tax.
4. the black money would be redirected to white economy and bubble of real estate will also come deflate  as black money has a huge role in high real estate prices.
5. A municipal/panchayat level fund mgmt body can be created to utilise this fund in local area and infra dev like hospital, road , transport, water mgmt etc. This will provide better infrastructure investment in local area governance.


We need to have a change of mindset about how we tax our citizen and how much value we provide to them from the tax they give to the government.

Note:

Some idea of data from this blog

How many Indians pay income tax

A reply to Mark's advertorial on free basics and net neutrality

    Surprisingly facebook is trying too hard to portray free basics as internet. Full page ads in leading newspapers and editorials (more like advertorials) to let people believe that free basics is a charity that facebook want to do to help poor Indians. If instead of spending crores in those ads, facbook would have given free data poor people, it would have helped them get internet access but that's not their real agenda.

I have put my comment in bold inline with Mark's advertorial in Times of India. I also used some of the arguments given in various newspaper editorials. 

From 

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/free-basics-protects-net-neutrality/

"Free Basics protects net neutrality" by Mark Zuckerberg

To connect a billion people, India must choose facts over fiction

In every society, there are certain basic services that are so important for people’s wellbeing that we expect everyone to be able to access them freely.

We have collections of free basic books. They’re called libraries. They don’t contain every book, but they still provide a world of good.

We have free basic healthcare. Public hospitals don’t offer every treatment, but they still save lives.

We have free basic education. Every child deserves to go to school.

ME: Internet cannot provide health without doctors, education without teachers.

Khan Academy , CrashCourse and thousands  of youtube instructors and teachers are doing great job of providing free education . That would not have been possible without a neutral ISP (Internet Service Provider). Net Neutrality is essential for keeping the internet as it is, promoting freedom, encouraging innovation and generating value.

And in the 21st century, everyone also deserves access to the tools and information that can help them to achieve all those other public services, and all their fundamental social and economic rights.

That’s why everyone also deserves access to free basic internet services.

ME: Yes, free basic “Internet” and not “free basics”. Mark is again using terms “internet” and “free basics” interchangeably as he was using internet.org for internet.

We know that when people have access to the internet they also get access to jobs, education, healthcare, communication. We know that for every 10 people connected to the internet, roughly one is lifted out of poverty. We know that for India to make progress, more than 1 billion people need to be connected to the internet.

That’s not theory. That’s fact.

Another fact – when people have access to free basic internet services, these quickly overcome the digital divide.

Research shows that the biggest barriers to connecting people are affordability and awareness of the internet. Many people can’t afford to start using the internet. But even if they could, they don’t necessarily know how it can change their lives.

Over the last year Facebook has worked with mobile operators, app developers and civil society to overcome these barriers in India and more than 30 other countries. We launched Free Basics, a set of basic internet services for things like education, healthcare, jobs and communication that people can use without paying for data.

ME:Yes, issue is affordability and awareness, and that’s exactly why everyone deserves access to whole of internet. (it’s because of you I have to say “whole of internet” , Internet ceases to be itself as soon as it’s not whole but a part of it. Internet is internet, you can’t take out a part from it and still call it internet. How can one person decide what is “basic” internet??

More than 35 operators have launched Free Basics and 15 million people have come online. And half the people who use Free Basics to go online for the first time pay to access the full internet within 30 days.

ME:This does not make sense. If they are ready to pay for internet then why they came on freebasics? Most likely they have started with free basics because they had no internet access as no ISP was there. If they had a choice why won’t they use internet.

So the data is clear. Free Basics is a bridge to the full internet and digital equality. Data from more than five years of other programs that offer free access to Facebook, WhatsApp and other services shows the same.

If we accept that everyone deserves access to the internet, then we must surely support free basic internet services. That’s why more than 30 countries have recognized Free Basics as a program consistent with net neutrality and good for consumers.

ME:Well, It’s clear that you want people to get internet, and apparently you don’t have any commercial interest, then why don’t you just give them the real internet instead of FreeBasics of internet.org?

Who could possibly be against this?

Surprisingly, over the last year there’s been a big debate about this in India.

Instead of wanting to give people access to some basic internet services for free, critics of the program continue to spread false claims – even if that means leaving behind a billion people.

ME: Wow, what an emotional call! How suddenly so much love for those billion people? This is from a company which, in spite of having 125 million Indian subscribers, refuses to be sued in India, claiming to be an American company and therefore outside the purview of Indian law. Nor does it pay any tax in India. And what is basic internet again?

Instead of recognizing the fact that Free Basics is opening up the whole internet, they continue to claim – falsely – that this will make the internet more like a walled garden.

Instead of welcoming Free Basics as an open platform that will partner with any telco, and allows any developer to offer services to people for free, they claim – falsely – that this will give people less choice.

Instead of recognizing that Free Basics fully respects net neutrality, they claim – falsely – the exact opposite.

A few months ago I learned about a farmer in Maharashtra called Ganesh.

Last year Ganesh started using Free Basics. He found weather information to prepare for monsoon season. He looked up commodity prices to get better deals. Now Ganesh is investing in new crops and livestock.

ME:And who provided commodity prices, weather information etc?? It’s the government. And how he was supposed to access it? Through Internet. A lot of info is on internet, not on freebasics? If you would have given him internet, he would have done even better. Why the facebook is coming between the information and the user? you are first yourself creating a gap and then claiming to  make a bridge to fill that gap. 

Critics of free basic internet services should remember that everything we’re doing is about serving people like Ganesh. This isn’t about Facebook’s commercial interests – there aren’t even any ads in the version of Facebook in Free Basics. If people lose access to free basic services they will simply lose access to the opportunities offered by the internet today.

Right now the TRAI is inviting the public to help decide whether free basic internet services should be offered in India.

For those who care about India’s future, it’s worth answering some questions to determine what is best for the unconnected in India.

 ME: Why private companies are so much concerned about public services. Can you really do that? You can help the government to do that by paying taxes properly. As Evgeny Morozov said, “This is the Internet monopolies’ agenda of hidden and mass-scale privatisation of public services”. Instead of people demanding that the state provide access to various services — from drinking water to transport and communications — people are being led to believe that a few capitalists from Silicon Valley will provide all these services. We will have Internet connectivity instead of education, and Uber will provide private taxis, instead of public transport. To paraphrase Marie Antoinette, let the people have cake instead of bread.

What reason is there for denying people free access to vital services for communication, education, healthcare, employment, farming and women’s rights?

How does Ganesh being able to better tend his crops hurt the internet?

ME: Really, this is all you want but still want to limit access to internet?

It’s not Ganesh, my friend, it’s you who is hurting internet.

We’ve heard legitimate concerns in the past, and we’ve quickly addressed those. We’re open to other approaches and encourage innovation. But today this program is creating huge benefits for people and the entire internet ecosystem. There’s no valid basis for denying people the choice to use Free Basics, and that’s what thousands of people across India have chosen to tell TRAI over the last few weeks.

ME:People didn’t choose that, you misled them! You never told that clicking a button would send a mail to TRAI. You never explained how FreeBasics is not in violation of net neutrality.

Choose facts over false claims. Everyone deserves access to the internet. Free basic internet services can help achieve this. Free Basics should stay to help achieve digital equality for India.

 ME: Digital equality will come for lower data prices.  The main barrier to Internet connectivity is the high cost of data services in the country. If we use purchasing power parity as a basis, India has expensive data services compared to most countries. So instead of giving people select websites, give them free data. There are various models of doing this. 

Why are you so keen to monopolise access to internet, oh, let me correct myself, you are not providing access to internet, you are breaking it up and selling parts of internet. Are you still not clear that the very reason facebook exists is that there is a free internet.

 Everyone, please take a informed decision. Raise your voice to save the internet. for more , please read newspaper editorials on net neutrality and visit the website http://www.savetheinternet.in/

some links:

http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-editorials/why-india-needs-free-wi-fi-not-facebooks-free-basics/

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/free-basics-protects-net-neutrality/

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/its-a-battle-for-internet-freedom/

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/crony-connectivity-and-internet-for-us/article8042342.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/nothing-free-or-basic-about-it/article8043146.ece

http://blog.savetheinternet.in/

Freedom restored: IT Act section 66A declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court

"Yea......"

That was my reaction after seeing the much awaited judgement on the constitutional validity of article 66A of Information Technology Act 2000. This article has been widely condemned for being draconian and curtailing freedom of expression given under article 19(1) of the constitution of India. Despite Supreme Court guidelines, the act was misused to harass citizen expressing their view online.

Thanks to Shreya Singhal for filing a PIL to save the freedom of expression from the abuse of this law.

"...Counsel for the petitioners argued that the language used in Section 66A is so vague that neither would an accused person be put on notice as to what exactly is the offence which has been committed nor would the authorities administering the Section be clear as to on which side of a clearly drawn line a particular communication will fall."

The Supreme Court has given an excellent judgement that not only describes how vaguely this law was formed and applied even worse but also emphasize the significance of freedom of expression as a fundamental right.

The full judgement can be found on judis :  
SHREYA SINGHAL Vs. U.O.I.    J. CHELAMESWAR, ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN    24/03/2015

The Hindu coverage of decision
 
After reading the complete judgement, I would like to highlight certain arguments put in the judgement.
The major arguments related to the case were as following:
1. A law can not be help invalid mere for potential abuse:
Answer: Similarly a law can not be held valid for mere assurance that it wont be misused.

"...The possibility of abuse of a statute otherwise valid does not impart to it any element of invalidity. The converse must also follow that a statute which is otherwise invalid as being unreasonable cannot be saved by its being administered in a reasonable manner."

2. Vagueness:
Many sections of the IPC are as vaguely formed as in section 66A (e.g. annoyance, offensive etc.)
Answer: These terms are used in IPC as part that may constitute a crime but 66A considers these actions as crime in itself.
 Any vagueness in law makes it arbitrary and leaves the policy matters in the hand of few low level functionaries to abuse it on their discretion. However, the challenge here is for constitutional validity.

 "...Section 66A suffers from the vice of vagueness because unlike the offence created by Section 66 of the same Act, none of the aforesaid terms are even attempted to be defined and cannot be defined, the result being that innocent persons are roped in as well as those who are not.
....The enforcement of the said Section would really be an insidious form of censorship which impairs a core value contained in Article 19(1)(a). In addition, the said Section has a chilling effect on the freedom of speech and expression."

"...it is clear that Section 66A is unconstitutionally vague."

3.Public order:
"..The Section makes no distinction between mass dissemination and dissemination to one person. Further, the Section does not require that such message should have a clear tendency to disrupt public order."

"....that the offence would only be complete if the words complained of have a tendency of creating public disorder by violence. It was added that merely creating disaffection or creating feelings of enmity in certain people was not good enough or else it would violate the fundamental right of free
speech under Article 19(1)(a)."

4. Right to freedom of speech and expression can not be restricted on any ground other than those specified in article 19(2).
...As Section 66A severely curtails information that may be sent on the internet based on whether it is grossly offensive, annoying, inconvenient, etc. and being unrelated to any of the eight subject matters under Article 19(2) must, therefore, fall foul of Article 19(1)(a), and not being saved under Article 19(2), is declared as unconstitutional."


"...Legislation which arbitrarily or excessively invades the right cannot be said to contain the quality of reasonableness and unless it strikes a proper balance between the freedom guaranteed in article 19(1)(g) and the social control permitted by clause (6) of article 19, it must be held to be wanting in that quality.”

The court gave many references to the judgments given by the US Supreme Court and other courts in the world and that of our own court's to emphasize how important the right to freedom of expression is for democracy and for the freedom per se, and how it must be saved with due diligence from any suppression.

However the Court accepted that Internet as a category of medium of communication different from news and print media due to its nature and speed. The section 69A for blocking certain websites is also maintained to be constitutionally valid.

Summary of judgement:
(a)Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 is struck down in its entirety being  violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved under Article 19(2). 

(b)Section 69A and the Information Technology (Procedure & Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 are constitutionally valid.

(c)Section 79 is valid subject to Section 79(3)(b) being read down to mean that an intermediary upon receiving actual knowledge from a court order or on being notified by the appropriate government or its agency that unlawful acts relatable to Article 19(2) are going to be committed then fails to expeditiously remove or disable access to such material.
Similarly, the Information Technology “Intermediary Guidelines” Rules, 2011 are valid subject to Rule 3 sub-rule (4) being read down in the same manner as indicated in the judgment.

(d)Section 118(d) of the Kerala Police Act is struck down being violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved by Article 19(2)."

    I am truly impressed by the court's judgement and the acumen shown by the learned judge while giving the judgement. This has made my belief in the judiciary and our democracy stronger. I am really proud my Supreme Court and our overall governance structure that has a system of checks and balances to correct its mistakes.

Oil opportunity

The crude oil price is all time low. It is a golden opportunity for an energy deficit country like ours. We must import and store excess amount of crude as buffer stock to meet future demands. This is the best investment for our forex reserves.
We import 80% of our oil and this bill is almost half of our forex reserves. With buffer storage, we can insure against a future price rise. This simple step can not only ensure energy security but also economic security.

I hope some one in the government is already working on it.

Rainbow of income: Lets get rid of poverty line

    Poverty line has always been a work in progress in India. It has been a issue of great debate. How to determine it without coming out with an absurd idea of a living standard has been a huge challenge to the panning brains of our country. Last year there was a huge controversy with the planning commission of India coming out with figures of about Rs. 32 per month per head which was later reduced to Rs 27. Though lot of ridicule was invited with such announcement, the reality is that the figure was per head per month for a family of five which turn out to be about Rs 4000 per month. What perplexed me that while condemning planing commission  for its insensitivity towards the poor, people easily sidelined the fact that there are more than 20 crore (200 million) people in India actually living with lesser income. So who should be given priority while being careful in drawing such a line which can be a matter of life and death in terms of the facilities being provided to the poor.

   Today this idea struck me that why not have a continuum of poverty or economic status instead of a single 'in or out' line. I call it the "Rainbow of income". I have deliberately kept the term poverty out of it to keep it away from all the controversy but at the same time giving the better picture of the economic condition of the people and economic equality of the country as a whole. This is the initial thought and can be developed further.

Here is the outline of the concept of this Rainbow of Income which is like the VIBGYOR of the colours of the rainbow.

LINE            FAMILY INCOME PER MONTH              PRIORITY

Red line       Rs 5,000 or less           All basic needs with focus on survival as well as dignified life

Orange line  Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000     Food, Water, Health, Basic education, Employment

Yellow line Rs 10,000-Rs20,000    Heath, Housing, Education, Employment, Skill development

Green line   Rs 20,000-50,000        Higher education, Income security,Health insurance

Blue line      Rs 50,000-100,000      Better services at a fee

Indigo line   Rs 100,000-500,000    Better investment opportunities

Violet line    Rs 500,000 and above Opportunities and incentive to contribute to the society

                    As you can see that these can be sub-grouped in poor, middle and rich class. The last line (violet line and Indigo lines) can be called Gold lines and Silver lines also respectively and I have left the Diamond line (billionaires) which is for the super rich. The items in the priority are indicative and can be expanded with due deliberation. The idea of an exclusion list is also very good in terms of targeting the government programs. However, I believe that all services should be as universal as possible. That would not only reduce targeting cost but also give everyone a sense of equality in terms of attention from the government. It is sometimes a little demotivating for a middle class person to know that her tax is funding the welfare schemes and she is not getting anything out of it. Although she may choose not to take those benefits but excluding her from the schemes she herself is funding may sound unfair to anyone. There is seemingly a conflict between individual rights over larger good but that conflict can be transformed in to a synergistic collaboration with due diligence.

The AAPrising

    The Aam Adami Party has come out as a face of the aspirations of Aam Adami as well as a reaction to deteriorating trust towards our political class. Its a simple distinction between institutional politics as it has become and instrumental politics as it should be. Politics for the sake of power is an open invitation to corruption while using politics as a tool to serve people and develop the country, no matter who is in power, is what the AAP offers.

    The vicious cycle of corruption which starts from politics has to be broken. First someone 'invests' money to come in power and then misuses his power to get the 'return' on that investment. The people and the democracy remain limited only to the ballot box. The politics has become a business while it used to be one of the greatest kind of service to the people. The AAP has given people hope that they won't have to choose between the devil and the deep sea. It has also forced the existing political parties to think again that they can not go on ignoring the people. The politics is not just about winning elections but also about delivering governance to the people.

   In an era where honesty and truth does not seem to be valued, this new movement has given a hopeful picture which takes us away from cynicism and actually talk about real participation of the people. Lets hope this movement will achieve it's objective. Otherwise, as Mr. Kejriwal says, it's not the question about what AAP, his party, would do, it's about what we, the people of India, would do!

Natural Disaster vs Political Disaster in Andhra

Who says disasters always cause destruction (though that is the defining characteristic) .The situation in Andhra Pradesh(Telangana + coastal Andhra + Rayalseema) suggests the reverse. The turmoil caused by strike of power sector employees resulted into black out of many cities and no talks could yield any result. And then there comes the unusual rescuer, a cyclone, just the news of whose arrival resulted in at least a temporary break in strike. For such instability, whether in the political weather or in ocean, its the people who suffer, but as they say, it happens only in India where one disaster is negating the other!!! Truly, we are a country full of ironies and shocking surprises. Lets hope that the cyclone does not cause any serious damage, but remains there to disrupt the disruption caused by the political cyclone,which is this vacillation between to protest for bifurcation or for no bifurcation!!!

Who killed her???

Today she died. Everyone is shocked and sad. A mix of sadness, anger, frustration and helplessness and gloom. She is no more and it makes no different to her what happens now. But will her death go in vein just like any other case? So many crimes happen everyday and are forgotten with the news of the day, but this time whole country is mourning for her.
Who killed her?

The police?
for not providing protections?
for not filing FIRs for hundreds of such and similar cases happening everyday.
for not taking action on molesters and criminals?

The judicial system?
for being so slow and inefficient that it takes decades and all your earnings to get judgement, but still not the justice. Where advocates and judges have a nexus to delay the case forever. Where all kinds of reforms and accountability measures are just pending like millions of cases.

The transport department?
for letting such illegal buses run in the city and letting those criminals use it without any check. For not providing safe and secure service. for not taking any action on them despite complaints.

The politicians?
for letting all that happen. Do I need to even talk about them? Do they even care?

or
Us, the people, the society? for ignoring hundreds of such cases happening everyday.
for living comfortable despite everyday some crime was happening in the very city we live in.
for not doing anything for inferior and insecure position of woman.
for blaming and shaming the victim for no fault of hers.
for letting woman be treated as a property since the Pandavas used Draupadi as a property in a game of dice.
for not letting them feel equally human?
for not respecting them.
for not being sympathetic but pathetic.
for voting for politicians who themselves are rapists?
for letting the corrupt rule and letting the whole system rote?

what were we waiting for? A gruesome death to shake and awaken our conscience or to happen it to ourself?
Is it gender insensitivity and discrimination, lack of reforms (police reform, judicial reform, social reform, political reform, election reform .......the list is endless) ,corruption, negligence, or moral decay or defeat of humanity?

Till when we will keep ourself in this illusion that "it is not my job to care" or "what can I do about it".

Who is to blame? what be the punishment? or we should rather think on how to make it the last such case ever. There is a great distance to go, but when will we take the first step? when will we start moving? When will be understand that cumulative small steps of millions will make the journey smaller. When will we realize that millions drops makes an ocean. That we need to walk together but we also need to walk alone before we can join others. lets not keep standing, lets move. its time to act. Be vigilant. Use RTI , use vote, use yourself against any thing wrong, no matter how small or big, related to this crime or anything. Because those small things, when left unchecked come out as a monster who do heinous things and then we say we are helpless, weak, alone.

Act! or else we are also among those who killed her...... or let her die.... whats the difference!

Ideas for India

1.      For drinking water issue

Essential commodities like water should not be left for exploitation by private industries. I see no rational why drinking water erstwhile available free should suddenly become 12 Rs per litre.  It’s because of lack of political will and ignorance and hopelessness of public that we are ready to pay 12 Rs for bottled water but we want our domestic supply free. We can pay 10 Rs for a cold drink bottle which may not cost even 2-3 Rs to the company. The govt. should impose higher taxes on such industries and should give open declaration that money collected from such tax will be used in supplying pure drinking water for domestic supply. Govt should not interfere much with market but it should regulate it strongly. I see no reason why Railneer was also 12 Rs per litre. If govt sold Railneer at 5Rs per bottle, the prices of other brands would have immediately come down.

If natural resources like water, air, land, minerals, spectrum etc. will be left unregulated and uncared for, the few influential people will exploit it and the people of India won’t get anything from it, and we will remain a rich country of poor people. Most of such ideas are rejected as wishful thinking but they are not so. We need to restore public trust in the govt. and need a leadership with such vision.

We should have local level water treatment plants to filter at every outlet of a local sewage/nala to a river.

Increase awareness among public not to waste and pollute water.

MNREG schemes should be used for employing people for cleaning of rivers and water harvesting projects.

2.      Increasing transparency and accountability

RTI is one of the biggest act passed by legislature. It has tremendous potential to ensure accountability and increase transparency of the system. Currently our bureaucracy (Babus) take it as a burden and it s not being used them as a tool to fight corruption. If all departments and offices make suo moto disclosure of their work including implementation of programmes and the account of the way public money is spent, even a corrupt person can’t dare to make money on loopholes of the system. The suo moto clause of the RTI act empowers officers to save themselves from the pressure of corrupt system and it will put a check on victimization of honest officers.

The finance is the backbone of any country. The weak payment and banking system can’t check while money getting converted to black money. A lakhs and crores of rupees starting from the center level are siphoned out before it reaches the grassroots. A direct payment system is a solution to remove such obstacles.

In this direction, including post offices in the banking system can be a major step forward. Thus govt. can be directly sending money to the beneficiaries to their post office accounts. India has a very huge network of post offices and every village have a post office. We can have a central database connected to state database further to district database and village database which will be connected through  post offices. All records of beneficiaries will have account info, and their money should be electronically transferred.

Moreover, all the financial transaction should be made online. All payments for contracts and purchases should be done online so that all transactions are recorded in the bank statement. This will also help in accounting and auditing and will increase transparency.

 

3.      Utilising tax revenue for social upliftment

The tax burden should be well targeted and directed for specific schemes. Tax can be used as a tool to regulate market and direct public money to where it should be spent.

1. Tax on soft drinks  --> use for water treatment and free drinking water

2. Entertainment tax on private channels --> to increase education expense

3. Tax on alcohol and tobacco  --> health expenditure

4. Tax and penalty on polluting industries --> for keeping air clean and river water pure

5. Either remove subsidy on diesel or impose higher tax on diesel cars/SUVs. Subsidy on CNG/LPG and electric cars and on public transport (not just metro but also better bus service for villages too)

4.      Improving the system: Transport, health, education and administration

i.  The market highly depends on the transport and supply.The increased cost should be handled by
-making better roads so that less fuel is spent and less pollution
-making the supply system faster by removing bottlenecks on roads like making functioning of toll plaza smooth, bypasses from crowded cities, fencing NHs
ii. Removing role of middleman as much as possible specifically for agricultural products and making storage facility for products so that supply side bottlenecks can be managed
iii. More expenditure should be made to provide better teachers. More incentives should be given for rural school teachers.
iv.The routine functions of the district administration like issuing certificates etc should be fully automated and computerised so that IAS officers can spend more time in planning and development.
v.All data starting from panchayat level should be digitalised; it will make data handling easy.
vi. UID, census, land revenue management, certificate issuance and other public service can be directly served by such database.
vii.Higher education and research should be made more attractive by increasing the scholarships and stipends for research students.
viii.Video clinics should be established in every tehsil/sub-district level so that specialists can provide consultation to patients.
 

With cleaner air and water, we will have less diseases and load on health facilities will be less.

Natural resources should be utilised in a sustainable manner by public, the private companies should be regularised so that people's money is spent on people. Let us take back the public money to serve the people.

5.      Understanding People

Suppose there is some garbage on the road. Now there can be five kind of responses

1. people see the garbage and start throwing more garbage there...making it worse just like people spit exactly where its written not to or park at no parking.

2. people see it, curse the other people and the system but don’t do anything. However, they, at least do not add to the problem

3. people see it, condemn it, and make effort to clean it by themselves...that’s out NGOs and active civil societies

4. there are the people who create awareness and lead people with a vision to keep it clean..our leaders, which are very few there for creative issues like this.

5. and finally people who make the structural arrangement to get it clean and make sure it do not get dirty again by strengthening the system. That’s the executives..our bureaucrats.

These last two have most important role and we need to include the civil societies with us. With a participative system we can easily get support of second and third too and then the first have no reason to make it worse.

Ultimately all power lies with the public but it is too ignorant or unorganised to use it.