[WpProQuiz 1176]
[WpProQuiz_toplist 1176]
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
Search results for: “”
-
Taking care of Vulnerable Homeless People
Context
- In India, the northern states face extreme weather in peak winter and summer. Hundreds of homeless people die in winter due to harsh cold conditions and, in summer, due to intolerable heat.
Click and get your FREE Copy of CURRENT AFFAIRS Micro Notes
Why homelessness needs attention?
- Lack of record: There is an absence of official records enumerating deaths due to homelessness. It undermines the scale of the crisis in the era of statistics and showcases states apathy.
- Extreme poverty: Homelessness is one of the worst forms of marginalisation as most homeless individuals suffer from malnutrition and extreme poverty.
- Poor health condition: Access to healthcare facilities and their affordability is also a hurdle. Exorbitant conditions affect mental health in many cases.
- Vulnerability to violence: Moreover, these conditions also give rise to drug and alcohol consumption. It creates a conducive situation for substance abuse. Such circumstances increase an individual’s vulnerability to violence, especially in the case of women and children.
- Social castigation: Stigmatisation and social marginalisation compound their precarious situation. In a nutshell, homelessness strips a person from all human rights.
Reasons for homelessness
- Extreme poverty,
- Inadequate affordable housing,
- High levels of inequality,
- Discrimination,
- Low wages,
- High rents,
- The soaring cost of living
What are the estimates of homelessness in India?
- The 2011 census estimate: Nearly 17.7 lakhs people as houseless, however, the census fails to capture the entire homeless population.
- Commissioners of Supreme courts: since census are conducted in every 10 years, this data is decadal old. As per the Commissioners of the Supreme Court, 1 percent of the urban population is homeless, making it a population of ~37 lakhs.
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs: Ministry conducted a third-party survey in 2019 to identify the urban homeless. It estimates that approximately 23.93 lakh people are homeless. Population increase and the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled the rise in the homeless population.
What is the “Shelter for Urban Homeless (SUH)” Scheme about?
- The scheme seeks to provide shelter to the urban poor. SUH is a sub-scheme under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM). The scheme guidelines mention the following provisions:
- All weather permanent shelters will be open for 24 hours.
- Permanent community centre for at least 100 people for every 1 lakh population.
- Each one should cater to 50-100 persons depending on local conditions.
What are the problems in shelter homes?
- Entry level barrier: Homeless people face entry-level barriers in accessing public shelters due to local issues such as shelter location, entry fees, and identification proof for verification.
- Non-availability of IDs: Most of the homeless are in the informal economy, lacking necessary documentation like voter ids, Aadhar card, etc. It makes them ‘invisible’ in the eyes of the city administration, and their voice remains unheard.
Addressing the issue of homelessness
- Responsibility of ULBs: The responsibility of accessing the homeless population rests with the urban local bodies. Local authorities need to conduct surveys to assess the homeless population.
- Decentralisation of funds: State governments must implement the 74th Constitutional Amendment in its true spirit. Its implementation will empower ULBs, which can then bring all the shelter homes under the ambit of SMCs and train them to manage local issues.
- Ensuring the benefits through ULBs: It can help them to secure benefits and guarantee the convergence of various government schemes, thus also addressing deep-rooted issues like violence and exclusion.
Conclusion
- The aim of providing housing for all will remain a distant dream if the homeless are not covered. Sheltering the homeless is a crucial link in the overall housing continuum. The state governments need to empower municipal bodies to ensure the decentralisation of governance.
Mains Question
Q. Discuss the problem of Homelessness in India? What are the challenges in addressing the homelessness problems and suggest the solution for it.
-
Reforming the Election Commission
Context
- A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is examining a bunch of petitions recommending reforms in the process of appointment of members of the Election Commission.
Click and get your FREE Copy of CURRENT AFFAIRS Micro Notes
Electoral reforms and reluctant Governments
- Long pending reforms: A list of over 20 reform proposals was compiled in 2004. More proposals were added to the list over time and are pending with government.
- Ineffective model code of conduct: These range from strengthening the Commission’s inherent structure to handling the misuse of muscle and money power during elections, which violate the Model Code of Conduct.
- Judicial intervention because of reluctant Government: It is hoped that the Bench will also examine electoral reforms suggested to governments by successive Election Commissions over the last two decades or so.
Issue of appointment of election commissioners
- The Dinesh Goswami Committee in 1990: It is suggested that the Chief Election Commissioner be appointed by the President (read: executive) in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of the Opposition (and in case the Leader of the Opposition was not available, then consultation be held with the leader the largest opposition group in the Lok Sabha).
- Statutory backing for collegium led appointment: It said this process should have statutory backing. Importantly, it applied the same criteria to the appointments of Election Commissioners, along with consultation with the Chief Election Commissioner.
- The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution: The commission under Justice M.N. Venkatachalam, said that the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners should be appointed on the recommendation of a body comprising the Prime Minister, the Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
- The 255th Report of the Law Commission: Chaired by Justice A.P. Shah, said the appointment of all the Election Commissioners should be made by the President in consultation with a three-member collegium consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition of the Lok Sabha (or the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha), and the Chief Justice of India.
What is T.N.Seshan case?
- Conferred equal power on election commissioners: The T.N.Seshan case conferred equal powers on the Election Commissioners as those enjoyed by the Chief Election Commissioner (referring to the Chief Election Commissioner as primus inter pares, or first among equals).
- Equal protection was not conferred: Supreme court offered majority power, whereby any two can overrule even the Chief Election Commissioner. Yet, it did not accord the Election Commissioners the same constitutional protection (of removal by impeachment) as is accorded to the Chief Election Commissioner.
Why security of tenure is important for Election Commissioners?
- Hesitancy to act: Without security of tenure, they may hesitate to act independently, which they otherwise might if they were truly secure.
- Junior to chief election commission: In the absence of full constitutional security, an Election Commissioner could feel they must keep on the right side of the Chief Election Commissioner.
- Remain loyal to government: They might also feel they should remain within the ambit favoured by the government.
- Fear of non-elevation: An Election Commissioner can never be sure whether they will automatically be elevated to the top post because nowhere has elevation been statutorily decreed.
What are the suggested reforms?
- Same procedure for removal of judge: It is suggested measures to safeguard Election Commissioners from arbitrary removal, in a manner similar to what is accorded to the Chief Election Commissioner, who can only be removed by impeachment, which is by no means easy.
- Appointment by collegium: While the Chief Election Commissioner should be appointed by a collegium, this must apply equally to the Election Commissioners.
- Reform by constitutional amendments: The Election Commissioners must now equally be protected from arbitrary removal by a constitutional amendment that would ensure a removal process that currently applies only to the Chief Election Commissioner.
Conclusion
- Reforms in election commission is absolutely necessary but manner of reforms is debatable. Judiciary’s role is not to reform the institution but to deliver the justice. This might be another case of judicial overreach in legislative domain any reform. Any reform in election commission has to come from legislature.
Mains Question
Q. What are the necessary reforms in Election commission of India? Why security of tenure is important for election commissioners?
-
[Sansad TV] Diplomatic Dispatch: India & Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence
Context
- India has recently been elected as the new chair of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI).
- In the election for the Council Chair, India received more than a two-thirds majority of the first-preference votes and was followed by Canada and the US, respectively.
In this article, we shall examine how Artificial Intelligence can be a game changer for India.
What is GPAI?
- GPAI is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the responsible development and use of AI, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth.
- Its establishment was announced during the 2018 G7 Summit by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron. GPAI was officially launched on June 15, 2020
- It is the league of leading economies including India, USA, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, and Singapore.
- GPAI will be supported by a Secretariat, to be hosted by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, as well as by two Centers of Expertise- one each in Montreal and Paris.
What makes it a special initiative?
- First of its kind: GPAI is the first initiative of its type for evolving better understanding of the challenges and opportunities around AI using the experience and diversity of participating countries.
- Collaboration: In order to achieve this goal, the initiative will look to bridge the gap between theory and practice on AI by supporting cutting-edge research and applied activities on AI-related priorities.
Aims and Objectives
- In collaboration with partners and international organizations, GPAI will bring together leading experts from industry, civil society, governments, and academia to collaborate to promote the responsible evolution of AI.
- It will also help evolve methodologies to show how AI can be leveraged to better respond to the global crisis since COVID-19.
Themes of working
- Responsible AI: RAI’s mandate aligns closely with that vision and GPAI’s overall mission, striving to foster and contribute to the responsible development, use and governance of human-centred AI systems, in congruence with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- Data governance: It aims to collate evidence, shape research, undertake applied AI projects and provide expertise on data governance, to promote data for AI being collected, used, shared, archived and deleted in ways that are consistent with human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, economic growth, and societal benefit.
- Future of work: Its mandate is to conduct critical technical analysis on how the deployment of AI can affect workers and working environments as well as how workers and employers can better design the future of work.
- Innovation and commercialization: Its mandate is to study and recommend tools and methods to drive international collaboration on AI R&D and innovation,
About Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- AI is a constellation of technologies that enable machines to act with higher levels of intelligence and emulate the human capabilities of sense, comprehend and act.
- Thus, computer vision and audio processing can actively perceive the world around them by acquiring and processing images, sound and speech.
- Natural language processing and inference engines can enable AI systems to analyze and understand the information collected.
- An AI system can also take action through technologies such as expert systems and inference engines or undertake actions in the physical world.
- These human-like capabilities are augmented by the ability to learn from experience and keep adapting over time.
- AI systems are finding ever-wider application to supplement these capabilities across various sectors.
Potential of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to provide huge value to different sectors and can become a key source of competitive advantage for firms.
(1) Healthcare: Helps address the issue of access to healthcare facilities, particularly in rural areas that suffer from poor connectivity and the limited supply of healthcare professionals.
(2) Agriculture
- It can address challenges such as inadequate demand prediction, lack of assured irrigation, and overuse/misuse of pesticides and fertilizers.
- Improves crop yield through real-time advisory, advanced detection of pest attacks, and prediction of crop prices to informed sowing practices.
(3) Smart Mobility, including Transports and Logistics
- Autonomous fleets for ride sharing,
- Semi-autonomous features such as driver assist, and
- Predictive engine monitoring and maintenance.
(4) Retail
To improve user experience and sale through:
- personalized suggestions,
- preference-based browsing
- image-based product search
- customer demand anticipation
- improved inventory management
- efficient delivery management
(5) Manufacturing: To create a flexible and adaptable technical system to automate processes and machinery to respond to unfamiliar or unexpected situations by making smart decisions.
(6) Energy: Energy system modelling and forecasting to decrease unpredictability and increase efficiency in power balancing and usage.
(7) Smart Cities: Integration of AI in smart cities and infrastructure help meet the demands of a rapidly urbanizing population and provides enhanced quality of life.
(8) Education and Skilling
- Improving the learning experience through personalized learning,
- automating and expediting administrative tasks, and
- Predicting the need for student intervention to reduce dropouts or recommend vocational training.
AI and Climate change
- AI is a disruptive paradigm that has greater potential to assess, predict, and mitigate the risk of climate change with the efficient use of data, learning algorithms, and sensing devices.
- It performs a calculation, makes predictions, and takes decisions to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
- By developing effective models for weather forecasting and environmental monitoring, AI makes us better understand the impacts of climate change across various geographical locations.
- It interprets climatic data and predicts weather events, extreme climate conditions, and other socio-economic impacts of climate change and precipitation.
- From a technical perspective, AI offers better climatic predictions, shows the impacts of extreme weather, finds the actual source of carbon emitters and includes numerous other reasonable contributions.
- This enables the policymakers to be aware of the rising sea levels, earth hazards, hurricanes, temperature change, disruption to natural habitats, and species extinction.
Applications of AI for Climate Change mitigation
The following are the few areas in which AI can directly help mitigate the risks posed by climate change:-
- AI-assisted prediction models for climate change mitigation
- Role of machine vision in climate informatics and forecasting
- Recent trends in AI to reduce carbon footprints for a sustainable environment
- AI for earth hazard management
- AI to promote eco-friendly energy production and consumption
- AI-assisted expert systems for climate change risk prediction and assessment
- AI-assisted big data analytics Synergy of IoT, big data, cloud computing, and AI techniques in climate change prediction and mitigation
- Machine learning for a sustainable green future
- AI in reducing the impacts of global warming
- Deep learning for sustainable earth surveillance and earth informatics
India’s AI Potential
- AI is expected to add US $967 billion to Indian economy by 2035 and US $450–500 billion to India’s GDP by 2025, accounting for 10 per cent of the country’s USD 5 trillion GDP target.
- It is pertinent to note that India has recently launched the National AI Strategy and National AI Portal.
- It has also started leveraging AI across various sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare, e-commerce, finance, telecommunications, etc. with inclusion and empowerment of human being approach by supplementing growth and development.
- By joining GPAI as a founding member, India will actively participate in the global development of Artificial Intelligence, leveraging upon its experience around the use of digital technologies for inclusive growth.
Way forward
- Citizens should be brought to the table during the process of policymaking.
- It will open the door to collective intelligence.
- Also, there should be an effort from companies, ML practitioners and researchers.
- Finally, governments should take measures to revisit policies.
-
Protests against Vizhinjam Port
Kerala’s ambitious Vizhinjam port project for a transshipment container terminal is caught in protests and violence.
Vizhinjam Port Project
- In 2015, the Adani Group signed a concession agreement with the Kerala government to build India’s first mega transshipment container terminal at Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram.
- The ₹7,525 crore project — an all-weather deep-sea port with a depth of 24 meters — can service large megamax-sized container ships.
- This natural port has no littoral sedimentation, obviating the need for periodic dredging and lowers maintenance costs.
- The port, which is well-connected to the hinterland, will handle 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units in Phase-I and another 6.2 million TEUs when completed.
Significance of the project for India?
- Transshipment hub: The Vizhinjam Port holds the potential to attract a large share of container transshipment traffic that is now handled by Colombo, Singapore or Dubai.
- Important shipping lane: It located just off the International Shipping Lane and close to the East-West Shipping Axis.
- Cargo handling: A large share of India’s exports and imports that are now transshipped through these international ports can be handled at Vizhinjam.
- Reducing logistic costs: It would mean a sharp reduction in shipping costs and lead time. This will go a long way in reducing overall logistics costs and making manufacturing competitive.
- Employment generation: It will also create thousands of jobs – directly and otherwise.
Reasons for protests
- Local fishermen fear displacement and loss of livelihood. They blame higher tides and increasing coastal erosion on the project.
- Protests has some leftist leaning inherently opposing every development project.
- A Latin Catholic Church has been at the forefront of the protests.
- Many right-wing outfits have thrown their weight behind the project and want its quick completion.
- They blame foreign funding for what they call ‘anti-development’ protests.
-
What is SHAKTI Policy?
Ministry of Power has launched a scheme for procurement of aggregate power of 4500 MW for 5 years under SHAKTI Policy to help states that are facing power shortages and help generation plants to increase their capacities.
SHAKTI Policy
- SHAKTI is an acronym for Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India.
- It was launched in 2018 to provide coal to stressed power units which lack coal supply.
- It seeks to provide coal linkages to power plants which lack fuel supply agreements (FSAs) through coal auctions.
Need for such policy
- SHAKTI is a policy designated by the government for the allocation of coal among thermal power plants in a transparent and objective manner.
- It aims to transfer the benefits of linkage coal to the end consumers.
- The scheme is supposed to be beneficial not just for the infrastructure sector, but also for the public sector banks which have huge loans unpaid at the end of the power companies.
- The companies, which did not have coal linkages before the introduction of the Shakti Scheme, would benefit when they would get domestic fuel supplies through auction at competitive rates.
- The scheme also aims to reduce the dependence on imported coal and promote domestic industries.
- With this policy, the government also aims to reduce dependence on imported coal.
Coal linkage scenario in India
- Coal linkage to the power sector is governed by provisions of the New Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP), 2007.
- Under the NCDP, a system of issuance of Letter of Assurance (LoA) was introduced.
- The requests for Linkage/LoA are forwarded to the Ministry of Power for its recommendations.
- The coal availability scenario has, now, emerged from scarcity to adequacy.
-
Supreme Court seeks government’s response on evolving ‘Project Great Indian Bustard’
The Supreme Court sought the government’s response about evolving a ‘Project Great Indian Bustard’ conservation program like the ‘Project Tiger’ to bring attention to the peril faced by the critically endangered bird species.
Great Indian Bustards
- GIBs are the largest among the four bustard species found in India, the other three being MacQueen’s bustard, lesser florican, and the Bengal florican.
- GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent but it has now shrunken to just 10 percent of it. Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats.
- GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland.
On the brink of extinction
- The GIB population in India had fallen to just 150.
- Pakistan is also believed to host a few GIBs and yet openly supports their hunting.
Protection accorded
- Birdlife International: uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered (2011)
- Protection under CITES: Appendix I
- IUCN status: Critically Endangered
- Protection under Wildlife (Protection) Act: Schedule I
Threats
- Overhead power transmission
- Poor vision: Due to their poor frontal vision, can’t detect powerlines in time and their weight makes in-flight quick maneuvers difficult.
- Windmills: Coincidentally, Kutch and Thar desert are the places that have witnessed the creation of huge renewable energy infrastructure.
- Noise pollution: Noise affects the mating and courtship practices of the GIB.
- Changes in the landscape: by way of farmers cultivating their land, which otherwise used to remain fallow due to frequent droughts in Kutch.
- Cultivation changes: Cultivation of cotton and wheat instead of pulses and fodder are also cited as reasons for falling GIB numbers.
Supreme Court’s intervention
- The Supreme Court has ordered that all overhead power transmission lines in core and potential GIB habitats in Rajasthan and Gujarat should be undergrounded.
- The SC also formed a three-member committee to help power companies comply with the order.
Conservation measures
- In 2015, the Central government launched the GIB species recovery program.
- Under the program, the WII and Rajasthan Forest departments have jointly set up conservation breeding centers where GIB eggs are harvested from the wild.
- They have been incubated artificially and hatchlings raised in a controlled environment.
-
In news: Exercise Yudh Abhyas
China expressed concern over the India-US joint military exercise Yudh Abhyas being held in Uttarakhand, about 100 km from the LAC.
Exercise Yudh Abhyas
- Exercise Yudh Abhyas is the largest running joint military training and defence cooperation endeavour between India and the US.
- The exercise aims at enhancing understanding, cooperation and interoperability between the two armies.
- Interestingly, this is the only India-US service exercise continuing in bilateral format.
Why in news?
- The disengagement of troops is still under process after several rounds of talks between India and China.
- Since beginning in May 2020, Chinese and Indian forces faced off in clashes with rocks, batons, and clubs wrapped in barbed wire at multiple locations along the LAC.
- Differing perceptions of border demarcations along the LAC is the reason behind.
- Each country seeks the withdrawal of the other’s forces and a return to the pre-stand-off conditions, but neither China nor India agreed to the conditions.
-
Education as a tool of innovation for the climate change generation.
Click and get your FREE Copy of CURRENT AFFAIRS Micro Notes
Context
- Instead of mirroring a broken development paradigm predicated on an extractive relationship with nature, India can lead with an approach that’s better for both people and the planet. A climate-resilient education system will be essential to realising this opportunity.
Background
- India’s LiFE mass movement: At COP27, India released its Long-Term Low Emissions and Development Strategies (LT-LEDS). This outlines priorities for carbon-intensive sectors like electricity and industry and transport, and emphasizes the role of a Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) as a mass movement towards sustainable consumption and production.
- Education is vital: From behavioral shifts of individuals to the re-shaping of markets, education has a vital role in the LiFE movement.
- Potential of demand side actions: According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this could make a significant dent in reducing planet-warming gases, demand-side actions have the potential to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40-70 per cent in 2050.
What are the challenges facing the education sector and children at present?
- School closures during the Covid pandemic affect productivity: school closures during the pandemic have led to a learning deficit that’s getting reflected in reduced test scores. This will likely impact productivity and per capita income levels in the long term. One year of school closures could reduce GDP levels by anywhere from 1.1 to 4.7 per cent by mid-century, according to a paper by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- Hinderance to the economic mobility: The lasting impacts of Covid-19 could hinder economic mobility for a generation of Indians and alter the arithmetic for public finance.
- Climate change impacts children more: Climate impacts are already disrupting children’s learning and well-being globally. For instance, extreme heat reduces students’ learning levels and causes physiological harm. Schools are temporarily shut down and children’s health is affected due to persistently poor air quality in cities like Delhi.
- Disasters and displacing families affecting children: Debilitating deluges are permanently displacing families, often leading to children (and disproportionately girls) dropping out of schools and being trafficked or subject to child labour due to distressed household incomes. As these disasters grow more frequent and intense, we must prepare the infrastructure, content, and delivery of the public education system to protect the most vulnerable citizens, many of whom will be climate refugees.
- Anxiety about the future: The lived experiences of climate-induced disasters and anxiety about the future are causing despair and dread among young people. This is compounded by digital platforms and news cycles that don’t linger long enough to make sense of challenges or build a widespread understanding of breakthroughs like the significant reductions in the costs of renewable energy.
How can the climate education system be used to both prevent crisis and create opportunity?
- Creating a strong and inclusive climate-resilient education system at national level: At a national level, a strong enabling framework for a climate-resilient education system shall cover matters from curricula to nutrition to school building codes in a climate-changed world. With its scale and reach, the public school system is not only a source of learning but also shelter, clothing, food, and community for millions.
- Programs in states shall be implemented according to the local demands: Design and implementation in states and districts should be shaped by existing local needs and anticipated climate risks. This could involve infrastructure investments so school buildings can double up as emergency shelters in cyclone-prone areas and capacity additions so government schools in mega-cities that are destinations for climate migrants can integrate and empower children
- Emphasize should be on social and emotional learning: Students’ mental health needs should be served through an empathic expansion and an emphasis on social and emotional learning. Across the board, children should be able to access clean water and nutritious food.
- Technical curriculum with indigenous knowledge shall be applied: Curricula can be infused with scientific and technical know-how alongside indigenous and local knowledge. In pockets, there are already innovative initiatives under-way where non-government organisations are adding tremendous value through contextualisation and close work with communities.
- Integrating biodiversity conservation learning process: Students should be taught about the potential of integrating biodiversity conservation with regenerative agriculture. Youth must be empowered and encourages to take civic and climate actions from waste management to recycle, to lake restorations and to make their city more liveable.
- Fostering critical thinking: The cross-cutting imperative should be to foster critical thinking instead of rote learning so that the next generation can embrace complexity and make informed choices.
Way ahead
- There is a need for climate education across society rather than simply at the primary and secondary levels.
- There is need to retrain workers in industries that have a future in a green economy.
- So is the need to priorities technical training in colleges and universities so we can rapidly accelerate our decarbonization pathway.
Conclusion
- We can’t afford to be narrowly focusing on technical training for the innovation, research, and development of climate technologies. Rather, we should develop strong analytical capabilities and holistic thinking about societal transformations and how new technologies will be embedded in communities. As Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist put it, “the ‘invisible hand’ always grasps for more”.
Mains question
Q. Climate change is rapidly altering the environment and economy, especially affecting children. In this light, Climate resilient education systems can be used to prevent crises and create opportunities. Discuss.
-
Doubling court strength won’t end pendency: Supreme Court
Judiciary is overburdened because of the system, says Chief Justice of India Chandrachud; he points out that it is already difficult to find good lawyers to fill judicial vacancies in High Courts.
What is the news?
- The Supreme Court has said that increasing the number of judges will not demolish the perennial problem of pendency.
- It noted that it is already difficult finding good lawyers to accept the call to the Bench in High Courts.
Indian Judiciary: A Backgrounder
- Our Judicial system has been the nation’s moral conscience keeper.
- It speaks truth to political power, upholds the rights of citizens, mediates between Centre-state conflicts, provides justice to the rich and poor alike, and on several momentous occasions, saved democracy itself.
- Despite its achievements, a gap between the ideal and reality has been becoming clear over the years.
- The justice delivery is slow, the appointment of judges is mired in controversy, disciplinary mechanisms scarcely work, hierarchy rather than merit is preferred, women are severely under-represented, and constitutional matters often languish in the Supreme Court for years.
Why there is huge pendency?
There are various reasons for delay of disposal of cases. Some of the important reasons as well as some suggestion and recommendations are as follows:
- Low judge strength and appointment: In High courts of India, there are 1079 approved strength of judges out of which 680 is the working strength. There are 399 vacancies as per the approved strength.
- Process of law: There are lot of hearings in a case, number of adjournments in a case, victims become frustrated of fighting for justice. The accused are misusing the process of law for their benefit.
- Absenteeism of Judges: Judges need vacations to spent time with their family and society. The judiciary is providing them vacations to spent time in the society but some judges need more holidays to enjoy their life.
- Number of appeals available in a case: Appeal provisions are made to satisfy the party or to check justice but litigants made it a means to earn more money from the parties. They make an appeal in every case decided by the lower court.
- Lack of infrastructure: Courts lack of basic facilities like proper washroom facilities, canteen facilities, parking, and library for advocates, sitting facilities for advocates and drinking water facilities.
- Misuse of process of law: There are so many cases which are running for more than 30 years and accused are contesting election and doing the corruption. The delay is often rewarding for the accused.
- Legal education system: Legal education is not capable to produce efficient law professionals. Advocates are not capable do trial efficiently and fast, they need time to prepare for the case that results in slow trial of the case.
Other challenges to the judicial system
- Lack of infrastructure of courts
- High vacancy of judges in the district judiciary
- Pendency of Cases
- Ineffective planning in the functioning of the courts
- Delay in the delivery of judgements
- Lack of transparency in appointments and transfers.
- Corruption
- Undertrials serving Jail
- Outdated laws ex. Section 124A IPC
What led to the underperformance of the Indian Judiciary?
The primary factors contributing to docket explosion and arrears as highlighted by the Justice Malimath Committee report are as follows:
- Population explosion
- Litigation explosion
- Hasty and imperfect drafting of legislation
- Plurality and accumulation of appeals (Multiple appeals for the same issue)
- Inadequacy of judge strength
- Failure to provide adequate forums of appeal against quasi-judicial orders
- Lack of priority for disposal of old cases (due to the improper constitution of benches)
Recent developments:
Proposal for the creation of National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation (NJIC)
- The CJI has pitched to set up a National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation (NJIC) to develop judicial infrastructure in trial courts.
- He indicated a substantial gap in infrastructure and availability of basic amenities in the lower judiciary.
- There is a dearth of court halls, residential accommodation, and waiting rooms for litigants in trial courts, especially in smaller towns and rural areas.
- Experience shows that budgetary allocation for state judiciary often lapses since there is no independent body to supervise and execute such works.
- NJIC is expected to fill this vacuum and overcome problems related to infrastructure.
Way forward
- Creating NJIC: It will bring a revolutionary change in the judicial functioning provided the proposed body is given financial and executive powers to operate independently of the Union and the State governments.
- Appointment reforms: There are many experts who advocate the need to appoint more judges with unquestionable transparency in such appointments.
- Creating All Indian Judiciary Services: It would be a landmark move to create a pan-India Service that would result in a wide pool of qualified and committed judges entering the system.
- Technology infusion: The ethical and responsible use of AI and ML for the advancement of efficiency-enhancing can be increasingly embedded in legal and judicial processes. Ex. SUPACE.
- Legal education: This should be in alignment with the evolving dynamics of the law and must be propagated in trial and constitutional courts. This will improve the competence of the judicial system.
- Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR): ADR mechanisms should be promoted for out-of-court settlements. Primary courts of appeal should be set up.
