Better Custodial Care Needed for the Marginalized

                                      Dr. Saumitra Mohan

                Prison administration is an alienable part of our justice delivery system which, many feel, calls for urgent relook and attention. The prison administration in India has existed almost unchanged since its inception though a nomenclatural change has been effected in the meanwhile. Our prisons are  no longer called ‘jails’ and have been christened as correctional homes today in keeping with the changed ethos.

                Even though the prison infrastructures have improved drastically over the years, a recent report alleges that we still have a long way to go as far as our treatment of the inmates inside these correctional homes are concerned. Whatever has come out through a recent study titled, ‘the Death Penalty Research Project’ is definitely not very uplifting. The researchers at Delhi’s National Law University (NLU) in this first ever comprehensive study of the socio-economic profile of prisoners serving death sentence in our jails have found most of them to be from economically vulnerable sections, backward communities and religious minority groups.

                The said study found our prison administration plagued by fundamental flaws where the death penalty seemed to be an instrument in systemic marginalization of prisoners from vulnerable backgrounds. Almost 75 per cent of the prisoners interviewed were from ‘economically vulnerable’ and socially disadvantaged groups. Over half the death sentence awardees worked in unstable unorganised sector and worked as auto drivers, brick kiln labourers, street vendors, manual scavengers, domestic workers and construction workers. About 19 per cent of those on death row had attended only primary school. Many prisoners were disadvantaged on both counts; nine out of ten who had never attended a school were also economically vulnerable. This is important because a prisoner’s economic status and level of education directly affects his ability to effectively participate in the criminal justice system to secure a fair trial.

                Delineating their socio-economic background, the resultant report discovered that more than 80 per cent of the prisoners facing capital punishment never completed their schooling and nearly half of them began working before they became a major. Moreover, around 25 per cent of the convicts were juveniles between the age of 18 and 21 or above 60 years when the crime was committed. Among those facing death penalty, dalits and tribals constituted 24.5 percent while over 20 percent belonged to religious minorities. As it appears from the report, Indians belonging to the economically backward and vulnerable sections have found it difficult to bear the burdens imposed by our criminal justice system while handing out death sentences. As a result, it has been noticed that the death penalty often disproportionately affects those who have the least capabilities to negotiate our criminal justice system.

                The NLU report makes it clear that its findings do not necessarily suggest that the state authorities intentionally discriminate against poor or less educated prisoners. But the report does allege that the system is so loaded that there is a degree of indirect discrimination at work which worsens the chances of fair trial for prisoners from disadvantaged backgrounds. Yet issues pertaining to fair trial rights and treatment of prisoners on death row by the criminal justice system are almost never discussed with the required gravitas. Indirect discrimination happens against such prisoners when a seemingly impartial and innocuous practice impacts particular groups negatively, even if it is not purposely directed at the groups.

                But given the irreversible nature of the death penalty, it is particularly important that fair trial rights are scrupulously safeguarded in such cases. International human rights discourse agrees that every death sentence imposed following an unfair trial violates the right to life. Hence, the report suggests that the only way to end this perceived injustice is to impose an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a first step towards abolition of the same. The Law Commission of India, in a report last year, recommended the abolition of the death penalty in phases, beginning with ending it for all offences except those related to terrorism.

                Indian criminal justice is allegedly said to follow several practices which hurt the poor and the marginalised much more than others. What needs investigation is whether these practices are the outcomes of entrenched social and economic inequalities or whether they have become a form of institutionalised indirect discrimination? The Law Commission said in a report last year on the death penalty, “The vagaries of the system also operate disproportionately against the socially and economically marginalized who may lack the resources to effectively advocate their rights within an adversarial criminal justice system.”

                In the vaguely feel-good ambience, the Death Penalty India Report comes as a rude shock. Principles of custodial care remain theoretical for them, although it is obligatory for the police to take care of their well-being and health. One just hopes that the findings of the report would nudge the prison administrators and policy makers to sit up and take notice to make meaningful interventions to ensure the rights of the undertrials to have a well-oiled justice delivery system in the country.

*The views expressed here are personal and don’t reflect those of the Government.

Reforming the Indian Electoral System

                                                                                                *Saumitra Mohan

            While the many Cassandras and prophets of doom kept predicting the failure of Indian democracy because of her humongous size and mind-boggling diversities, India not only has continued to survive in one piece but has actually grown stronger than ever before. Notwithstanding certain institutional weaknesses and some structural problems, the country through carefully nurtured democratic infrastructures and superstructures built up one of the most vibrant liberal democracy. And one of the institutions which has never failed us and has always stood the test of time is the Election Commission of India (ECI).

            Elections in India bring out the real character and strength of the world’s largest democracy. Since the first general elections in 1952, Indian democracy has been marching from strength to strength adding more and more feathers to our body politic. And ECI has gradually been evolving and developing its own mechanisms, modalities, techniques, rules and norms to ensure an almost peaceful change of government at the national and provincial levels amidst an ambience of cynicism and despondency. Today, ECI is one of the most sought after Indian agencies for sharing its expertise and experience in the conduct of democratic elections across the world. However, the critics and observers have been pointing to many problem areas in our electoral system and have accordingly suggested certain electoral reforms to make our democracy further stronger.

            Be it noted that ECI has introduced several reforms from time to time in the conduct of elections in the country which inter alia include switch-over from ballot paper to electronic voting machine (EVM), proxy voting for NRI and service voters, introduction of partial right to rejection through NOTA (None of the Above) in keeping with section 49 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951, induction of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) for reinforcing transparency in the voting, introduction of Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to pre-empt impersonation and bogus voting, conduct of elections under the supervision of ECI Observers and Central Police Forces (CPF), use of information technology for bringing further efficiency and transparency in the conduct of elections, bar from contesting elections for the convicted criminals and introduction of a Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during the elections. However, there still remain certain areas crying for attention.

            First and foremost, one negative offshoot of EVM voting is the fact that the contesting candidates or the political parties get to know as to which polling stations have voted for them and which have not, something which was not possible in the ballot voting system as all the ballot papers of a particular constituency were duly bundled and mixed before they were actually counted. The latter made it well-nigh difficult to figure out the voting trends. However, one can easily find out from the EVM counting process, as it exists, as to which set of voters has favoured a candidate or a political party thereby making it possible to identify the rival voters and victimize them in various ways. It is learnt that ECI has already suggested to the Government of India the introduction of ‘Totalizer’ which would pre-empt any such negative eventuality of witch-hunting the hapless voters for their democratic choices as experienced in many regions of the country.

            The critics feel that ECI’s all effort to cleanse the electoral system of the negative influence of money power goes down the drain once it expects the candidates to spend their own money on election campaigns. Many political parties argue that if the ECI expects a candidate to spend the permissible, within-ceiling amount (Rs. 70 lakh for a Parliamentary constituency and Rs. 28 lakh for an Assembly constituency on an average), then how does it expect them to marshal that money for the campaign. The political parties or the candidates are forced to indulge in corruption and corrupt practices because of the huge financial requirements of an Indian election. That is why, many have suggested that ECI should not only increase these expenditure ceilings which are absurd given the size of the constituency, but they should also be customized to the nature and character of the constituency.

            After all, the expenditure requirements of a rural or urban constituency or a big or small state can’t be the same. Again, while expenditure ceiling for an Assembly constituency is 28 lakhs, it’s a measly 70 lakhs for Parliamentary constituency even though the latter has seven Assembly constituencies comprising it. Hence, these expenditure ceilings need to be staggered and customized after factoring the real expenditure requirements of the different constituencies. A big legal discrepancy here is the fact that even if a contesting candidate exceeds ECI stipulated expenditure ceiling, he/she can’t be disqualified to be a legislator. So, in effect, the expenditure ceiling remains a paper tiger in the ultimate analysis.

            Another long-time but very important proposal has been the state-funding of election expenses of the contesting candidates. While the proposal involves humongous expenditure for a poor, developing country like India but a beginning can definitely be made with respect to election expenses of, at least, recognised national and state parties polling above a certain percentage of votes and meeting such other conditions as may be specified by ECI. Funding of political parties by corporate houses or businesspersons is also quite opaque. This needs to be streamlined and made further transparent for weeding out the influence of ill-gotten money on our elections and for bringing about a level playing field in our electoral system.

            Another incongruity pointed out by the critics is the existence of undemocratic political parties in a democratic country. While all our political parties vouch for democracy and democratic ethos, they themselves run some of the most undemocratic organisations in the country. Most of these parties seldom conduct their organisational elections to elect various functionaries. Organisational positions and posts are handed out as a favour from the party bosses. Entry into a political party’s managerial positions is very opaque. Being dynastic, party functionaries are mostly selected than elected.

            States like Haryana have shown ways by stipulating minimum educational and other qualifications including owning a sanitary toilet for being eligible to contest elections to the local bodies. It has long been argued that similar minimum qualifications, educational or economic, are introduced for our legislators as well. The usual refrain being that if there could be minimum qualification for a peon or a clerk, then why not for our lawmakers who also hold such significant positions like Ministers, Chief Minister or Prime Minister. Even though such a stipulation could bar a huge percentage of our population from participating in electoral politics, a time has definitely come to start debating the advisability of such a qualification.

            The MCC stipulations and norms which ECI so religiously and steadfastly enforces during elections often seem to have gone overboard. Now that elections are stretched over two to three months, the developmental works almost come to a screeching halt. Even though emergent and critical works are allowed but the approval procedures are so rigorous that more often than not many welfare and developmental interests of the common people stand compromised. Hence, it is suggested that all such schemes and programmes which have been announced and budgeted prior to the announcement of elections should be allowed to be executed without any conditions though announcement of new schemes by interim government may continue to be banned. Time has come to trust the wisdom of voters to see through the machinations of the political class to actually tell the chaff from the grain.

            Post-poll violence has come out as another area of concern in recent times. It has often been noticed that voters and workers of opposition or rival factions/parties are victimized once the elections are over. Ergo, it is suggested that not only CPF should continue for, at least, a month after the results are announced, but ECI should also take initiative to evolve an MCC for non-election times so that cadres and workers of political parties coexist peacefully and operate without fear or favour after the elections. Such an MCC should also stipulate against any incendiary or vandalistic politics including holding of strike or bandh, lockout or sit-in (dharna) or destruction of public properties in furtherance of their political interests or demands. It should also be made mandatory for the contesting candidates to ensure the removal of defacement from the private properties which is never done once the elections are over. The Apex Court has already given specific rulings in this regard. The same should be strictly enforced and the onus to compensate against such destructions should be on the organisers of such vandalistic politics.

            Even though paid news are religiously monitored and guarded against as one of the important tenets of MCC, still ECI has found it very difficult to actually identify paid news by a section of the media. Paid or not paid, different media houses often appear to be hugely tied to the coattails of one or the other political party. Some of these media houses have often turned out to be interested players taking clear side of one or the other party. The same could be easily noticed in the way they present or project their stories or news. The wide variations in the projections of an exit or opinion polls or an electoral survey also give a tell-tale hint of their alignment with one or the other political party. Again, ECI’s paid news norms are silent on the party mouthpieces, something which need to be clarified. So, ECI should definitely come out more clearly and strongly against the direct or indirect identification of some media houses with one or the other political party.

            It has been usually noticed that ECI effects a huge number of transfer of officials at various levels in the run-up to the elections. While all these transfers are sought and justified by the opposition parties, the ruling party has often been found to be aggrieved. Often, these transfers have been done just a day or two before the election which, many believe, do not serve the purpose as they come off as mere cosmetic changes. As most of these transfers are made on the basis of unverified complaints, assumptions or presumptions, usually no disciplinary proceedings are initiated against any of these officers. As these officers are never given an opportunity of being heard or explaining themselves, the transfers not only harm their reputation but also violate the tenets of natural justice. The officers transferred are forever tarnished for being aligned or prejudiced and their services are never taken for any future ECI elections because of the chip on their shoulder.

            Another problem noticed during the recent West Bengal elections was regarding proclamation under section 144 Cr.PC during the 48 hours before elections, something which is done in every election. But the way the 144 proclamation was made and enforced during the recent West Bengal Assembly elections, many felt the same was overdone as it almost amounted to curfew on the day of election, much to the detriment of the political interests of many candidates. Those doing 144 announcements were not trained and often gave the impression of a curfew being imposed on the day of poll thereby dissuading many voters from coming out to vote. Coming in the wake of heavy deployment and route marches by CPF, such a move further backfired. ECI definitely needs to think through and evolve a protocol for doing the same more discreetly in future to ward against any such eventuality.

            Compulsory voting has also been recommended by many given the apathy of a substantive number of voters to come out to vote. Many of us are often found cursing the government of the day for doing or not doing a something but we ourselves have been found wanting in shouldering the responsibility bestowed on us by the Constitution of India i.e. exercise of our franchise at the hustings in favour or against a particular candidate which later decides the nature and character of the Government in power.

            Hence, it is argued that voting must be made mandatory and compulsory for the voters to have a more representative government unlike a government ruling on depleted voter support. It is further argued that a candidate should, at least, poll a minimum 51 percent of votes before being declared elected. It is also suggested that since our first past the post system does not reflect the real mandate of the people, hence proportional representation could be toyed with so as to give our parliament a more representative character. So a political parties polling 40 percent votes should have at least 40 percent seats in the legislature. However, critics have warned against such a system because of its complications and unsuitability to the complexities of our plural society.

            In these times of information technology and against a background when the government has the finger and iris prints of all the citizens in the country through Aadhaar Card, it is suggested that ECI should start exploring the possibility of online voting making it possible for more and more Indian nationals to participate in the electoral process from anywhere in the world. At least, the finger and iris prints should soon be implanted in the EPIC cards for removing any possibility of impersonation.

            As the fate of our democracy depends on the efficiency and effectiveness of the election machinery and the level playing field it ensures to the different stakeholders in the system, it is very much advisable that ECI does start discussing and debating some of these reforms in the extant electoral system for making our elections more free, fair and peaceful to the satisfaction of all. One is sure that ECI shall come true to the expectations and faith reposed in it to carry out the task as enshrined in Article 324 of the Indian Constitution.

*The views expressed here are personal and don’t reflect those of the Government.

           

           

            

West Bengal: The Sun Rises in the East

                                                Dr. Saumitra Mohan

                The just concluded elections to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly were unprecedented in more ways than one. While the popular mood of the electorate was more or less known to everyone as also corroborated by the various opinion and exit polls, but the same was overshadowed by the overpitched performances from all the stakeholders as the polls progressed. These elections saw the apex electoral body in a hyperactive avatar which at times appeared unwarranted to many observers. The elections also witnessed diminishing journalistic standards as a section of media compromised its professional ethics by allegedly becoming interested players in the ensuing political game. But one clear winner out of this churning has been our democracy. The loud electoral verdict vindicated Abraham Lincoln who once said, “you can fool some people all the time, all the people some of the time but not all the people all the time”.

          What was most surprising is the fact that the major discourse of the elections this time was dripping with negativity. So, while they kept debating certain negative developments and alleged scams, there was hardly any genuine attempt at dispassionate review of the performance of the reigning dispensation with respect to governance and development to vet and analyse the many developmental initiatives West Bengal saw during the last few years. So, notwithstanding a blinkered judgement about the governmental performance and the consequent electoral outcome by a section of media, the same turned out to be hugely at a variance with the ‘General Will’.

          Now with eggs all over their face, the same carping Cassandras have acknowledged the developmental coup d’état effected in West Bengal during the last five years. West Bengal experienced administrative initiatives such as creation of newer districts and police commissionerates, financial restructuring and rationalisation by way of decentralisation of DDO administration and introduction of Financial Advisor system , introduction of Right to Service Act and Administrative Calendar to ensure time-bound service delivery and an accountable administration, revisitation of rules and laws including introduction of ‘self-attestation and self-declaration’ to spare citizens’ running around for court affidavits or attestation by gazetted officers, improved revenue mobilisation and deepening citizen-government interface through creative e-Governance tools led to improved work culture. The same also became possible due to intensified supervision and monitoring at all levels.

          West Bengal witnessed, perhaps for the first time, a slew of welfare schemes sponsored and funded solely by the state government. Many of these initiatives, schemes and programmes turned out to be pioneering and path-breaking, earning kudos from national and international authorities. Be it agriculture, education, health, infrastructure, social welfare or any other sector, there was a customised scheme for any and every segment of the society thereby making West Bengal probably the lone state where the government benefits under reached almost 100 per cent of the populace.

          While the subsidised Rs. 2/kg rice through its ‘Rajya Khadya Suraksha Yojana’ helped it reach out to the socio-economically weaker sections, scholarship or financial support for the girl child through its ‘Kanyashree’ scheme ensured that we have less and less girls dropping out of the formal education system as reflected in their improved enrolment. Distribution of free cycles, free textbooks and free shoes for the students, 100 percent availability of girls’ toilet in every school (from 49 percent in 2011), 100 percent coverage of MDM (from 65% in 2011), an ITI or a polytechnic in almost every block, more and more primary, upper primary or high schools (six to ten times jump numerically from 2011) , establishment of newer colleges, universities, medical/ engineering colleges and hospitality institutes are some of the shining examples of the interventions made in the education sector.

          Health is another sector which saw massive interventions and infrastructural improvements through such programmes as special niche schemes for the children e.g. ‘Shishu Saathi’, establishment of fair price medicine shops (where costly medicines are made available at almost half their prices), establishment of Sick Newborn Care Units or Sick Newborn Stabilizing Units in almost every block, a number of super-speciality hospitals, Mother and Child Hubs, Intensive and Critical Care Units, Trauma Centres, free diagnostic and medical services for every segment of the society and overall improvement in all services also resulted in improvement of many health indicators including improved immunisation and institutional delivery (from 68% in 2011 to over 90% in 2016) as well as drastic decline in maternal and infant mortality rates.

          The state saw introduction of innovative practices leading to increased agricultural productivity and yield through a well-coordinated backward-forward linkage programme. So while specially-trained manpower provided real-time expert advice to the farmers through a scheme of ‘online expertise sharing’ via computer tablets, the government also came out with special schemes to encourage newer agricultural techniques and practices, resulting in an overall optimism among the farmers. The extension of ‘Kisan Credit Cards’ to more than 80 per cent of the farmers was another extraordinary feat achieved by the state which made agricultural credit easily available to the needy farmers. Establishment of a number of Krishak Bazars or Farmers’ Markets, water harvesting schemes like ‘Jal Dharo Jal Bharo’, new agricultural colleges or more and more farmers’ schools further helped the sector. Besides, the quick disbursal of crop compensation to the farmers who were distressed due to climatic vagaries also kept the agricultural sector buoyant. Similarly, the sector saw further expansion and extension of irrigation potential in the state.

          Distribution of land to hundreds of thousands of landless through its ‘Nijo Griho, Nijo Bhumi’ scheme, welfare schemes for minorities and underprivileged communities including unskilled and semi-skilled labourers, scholarship programmes such as ‘Yuvashree’ and ‘Shikshashree’, a number of pension schemes for various segements, monthly honoraria for folk artists through its ‘Lok Prasar Prakalp’ and many such schemes improved social security of the downtrodden. The state witnessed six times jump in the budgetary allocation for the infrastructural works thereby resulting in huge improvement in connectivity and power scenario of the state. Be it tourism, urban and rural development, animal husbandry, public health engineering, sports or industry, the state has done remarkably better than ever. Humongous amount of hard work has yielded rich dividends by way of greatly improved sanitation status, creation of skilled and unskilled employment for the people and manifold increase in the number of state beneficiaries in the social sector have all got reflected at the hustings.

          But the most striking performance has definitely been in state’s success in changing the face of ‘junglemahal’ or hills where militancy of the naxals or the statehood movement has been almost eliminated. Both the regions are not only peaceful but have also witnessed unprecedented developmental works and improvement in all development indicators. The success of the government on these scores has been acknowledged and lauded by all and sundry. Kolkata, because of the good work done in last few years, not only escaped the ignominy of inclusion in the negative list of dirtiest cities of India, but has also come to be recognised as a much better and more beautiful metropolis than it ever was.

          As a result of improved revenue collection and financial discipline, the state’s capital and agri-rural development expenditure jumped six fold, the plan, physical and social infrastructure expenditure more than trebled thereby making West Bengal clock an economic growth rate of almost 11 percent, 3.5 percent more than the national average. It is really surprising to note that financial support to the industrialists and entrepreneurs is termed ‘incentive’, but expenditure made on social welfare programmes is called ‘populism’ or ‘dole’. Notwithstanding the negativism of the critics, one is sure that West Bengal shall continue to march on the path to development to reclaim its cherished place in the sun.

*The views expressed here are personal and don’t reflect those of the Government.