INDIA IN SHAMBLES, ONLY THE JUDICIARY CAN SAVE US

7 03 2014

        ” INDIA IN SHAMBLES, ONLY THE JUDICIARY CAN SAVE US”

                                            By SRI K C AGRAWAL

       Book released on 7^th March, 2014 at Press Club of India, New Delhi

On this occasion Sri Agrawal said that the post-independence era has seen us toil unremittingly through these 66 long years. Sorrows, sufferings, and uncertainties of life have become the order of the day for the common man. All our hopes are belied and we stand cheated. There seems to be no difference between slavery then and freedom now. If we look back, the present is only an agony and frustration of our shattered dreams and broken promises.

While our guardians enjoy the riches of their self-rule, the people are left in the lurch to live or die with their own miseries. The approximately 5.85 lac odd villages where about 73 percent of our people languish continue to toil under almost the same conditions of poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, and backwardness as they did before independence. It grossly flouts the pledge taken by our founding fathers when struggling for freedom.

People from all walks of lives are disgruntled and frustrated. A state of anarchy can be felt in all walks of life and a rebellion in the making. Protests and agitations are now a regular feature of our country. Forty percent of our country is infected with Maoism, Naxalism, Terrorism and Seditious activism. Demands for divisions and freedom of States are echoing from many quarters of the country and can be heard aloud. 

 Consistent failures of our Legislature and Executive are no more acceptable. The   basic objectives of our Constitution viz., ‘economic freedom’, ‘dignity’, ‘equal status and opportunity’ and ‘fraternity’ must now be fulfilled.

Mere freedom is meaningless unless the people are also free from their perennial wants and uncertainties of life in terms of livelihood, shelter, education and basic necessaries of lives.

Part II of the book narrates how can we still place our country amongst the most prosperous and powerful nations in the world through a responsible and accountable system of governance by making optimum use of our resources involving all the people of the land. Presently only a few working for the rest makes little sense. 

According to Mr Agrawal good governance is like a good mother who works hard for her living and rearing her children. The children also cling to her in affection because they know their mother was doing her best to take care of them.  The book attempts to find out that mother for the people of India with the help of learned judiciary. Establishing the government is a matter of the Constitution and the Constitution is above the Parliament and Judiciary is the Custodian of the Constitution. The Judiciary is empowered to oversee that the Constitution is practised in its true letter and spirit by the Legislature and the Executive.   

According to Mr Agrawal the consistent failures of the governments has happened due to some inconsistent and contradicting provisions in our Constitution. One of these contradicting provisions is Article 37 of Chapter IV, Directive Principles of State Policy. It   stipulates that Article 38 on socio-economic requirements (same as the basic objectives of the Constitution) will be fundamental in the     governance of the country and Legislature shall endeavor their utmost to accomplish these objectives in as short a period as possible. But if the Legislature fails to accomplish this, the same shall not be justiciable in the court of law. This contradicting provision has germinated into large scale laxity and impunity amongst the Legislature and the Executive culminating into no accountability and no responsibility. This work culture has also permeated through the entire work force of the government down the line.

  Judiciary in context with Article 37 has, however, interpreted in Kesavananda Bharati case that what is fundamental in the governance of the country cannot be less important than the Fundamental Rights of the people. This interpretation is a great hope and is like a silver lining in the dark clouds.  This makes Article 38 also equally justiciable like the Fundamental Rights of the Constitution are. For fulfilling Article 38 on socio-economic requirements vis –a-vis basic objectives Mr agrawal has suggested three reforms in the electoral process viz;

Elections every 5 years are a sacred process to elect worthy guardians   and establish a responsible and accountable system of governance. Our present process of elections is highly abusive and obnoxious due to luring the voters. Luring the voters masks the performance of the Legislators and shifts their focus from constructive work to reliefs, handouts, dole-outs and freebees etc. and allurements of quotas and reservations. Similarly accusing and nagging the rival parties and candidates also mask their own worthiness. All such acts germinate into no responsibility and no accountability of our guardians and encourage incapable and dubious characters enter the politics.  

 Just and fair elections must take account of the actual developmental work carried out by the parties and candidates in the past and their future plans to accomplish the Basic Objectives of the Constitution. This is their basic incumbency. Without this specific promise the elections shall remain obnoxious and a self inflicted curse for the people of India.

Mr Agrawal also insists for majority of votes. The present lure of Politics (due to no accountability and no responsibility) attracts many contestants from a constituency. As a result number of contestants is large and one may get elected by securing just 10-20% votes of their Constituency.  This surely is not a mandate of the people and therefore not legal. The Statutes and Laws made by them in the Parliament or State Assemblies in true sense are not legal. He therefore proposes for a two round system as adopted by some countries. It shall also help in weeding out the dubious characters.

 Mr Agrawal also talks to stop criminalization of politics. For this to happen he proposes to debar a tainted candidate from contesting elections. Similarly must be debarred a sitting Member of Parliament or State Assembly until he is acquitted by law. Presently the Parliament and Assemblies have large numbers of such dubious characters.  It is not only a blemish on our Parliamentary system of democracy; it also acts as a horrendous retardant in the proper governance of the country. It gives rise to callousness and malevolence. According to him the Law of humanity stands above all and demands the care of deprived and long suffering   people of our country first rather than a tainted person or Legislator enjoying full liberty, dignity and authority while they themselves are largely responsible for the persistent poor plight of our people. 

Talking of inconsistencies, one of them is lack of qualification of our Legislators, Articles 84 and 173. It permits any Tom, Dick or Harry to be our guardian and destroy the nation to his whimsical overtures. For this anomaly to redress the Judiciary may direct the Parliament to define ‘qualification’.

The other is our Civil services, Article 311. These services are required to create means and avenues for self determination of the people and to develop the rural sector, create infrastructure, municipal and civic services and all that makes the facet of the nation. This Article extends them laxity and no responsibility and no accountability while they are bestowed with enormous powers and authority. Mr Agrawal suggests redressing this Article to make it effective and accountable.

Mr Agrawal has also suggested to upgrade CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) on the lines of a third eye system similar to that of USA, to have a   surveillance of Legislators and Executives on a real time basis to monitoring their activities and performance   and nipping the rising occurrences of scams and corruption in the system right in the bud and save precious time of CBI and Vigilance Commission in investigations and that of learned Judiciary in their adjudications. This may also establish a fiduciary relationship of the government with the people of India. Presently also CAG   does this but their findings become public only after the crime is already committed, serving little purpose of their findings and creating more  controversies.

K C Agrawal

9810191394

Website: indiainshambles.com   

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