Political Stability is the Pre-requisite of Economical Stability

This April 2014, once again people of India are going to decide the fate of thousands of people going to contest the Lok Sabha elections. This Parliamentary election is more significant in a broader sense as the outcome of the election will decide the destiny of the country. Rights of the people, their basic needs like health, education, food and the allocation & distribution of national resources more and large depend on this election.

Political stability in a country can lead to positive cascading effects in socio-economic scenario too. Only a healthy and conducive state environment can induce the people to invest in the productive and developmental activities. Good infrastructure can further reinforce the decision of entrepreneurs and favourable taxation and banking policies motivate the investors to spend their surplus money in feasible business options.

People across the world are desperately searching for lucrative business opportunities, despite of great potential and resource availability multinationals and foreign investors are reluctant to invest in India due to political instability and unnecessarily stringent laws. India witnessed economic reform in the year 1991, but even after the passage of two long decades our economic policies are still rigid and unfriendly in numerous manners.

In 2012, government decision on the approval of hundred percent FDI in retail sector was opposed by many political parties  and groups on a large scale. Realty sector which was on the bloom of its growth in the early years of past decade is losing its shine in the recent time. The reason for this lack lustring growth is the scarcity of funding and investing in the Indian realty sector. Various real estate giants are these struggling for proper funding.

The potential industries in India are Education, Entertainment, Health, Banking, Agriculture, IT and Technology these sectors experienced  fair growth in consecutive years. But, industries are still waiting for the desired outcome and it is only possible in a conducive and healthy business environment which can only emerge in a politically stable conditions.

Multi-lateral trade can generate multi-dimensional benefits like mobility of resources, transaction of ideas and technologies, optimum utilisation of resources, expansion of market, employment generation and cultural developments.

Political stability is not only essential for FDI, FII and establishment of MNCs, but it is equally indispensable for domestic organisations, Indian MNCs, MSMEs and cooperatives. It is the high time for Indian voters to choose a right political party which may give a right direction to the country and lead the country towards inclusive growth.    
                                                                       
                                                                                   By Kislay Pandey - Corporate Matters Advocate 

A New Company's Act May be on its Way

The Sahara-SEBI case will go down the history as it brought focus on investor protection issue. We witness Supreme Court issuing well researched, landmark orders on the violation of its regulatory framework and jailed the offenders.

Two companies of the Sahara group issued securities and mobilised a large sum of money (more than Rs 24,000 crore) from over 3 crore investors without complying with SEBI'S regulatory framework for public issues.

SEBI had received 3,375 applications for refund of money amounting to Rs 25.37 crore. While scrutinising, SEBI found in several cases the details provided by the investors did not match with the database submitted by the Sahara entities. The court had ordered Sahara to immediately refund the money to the investors.

After this fall out the corporate affairs ministry is willing to modify the existing loopholes in the current legal regime that deals with shares and debenture sales. According to the clause of Section 67, sale of securities to more than 50 people is currently considered as a public issue and, therefore, open to close regulatory scrutiny. If only 49 entities subscribe to a share or debt issue, it is deemed private. This law stands debatable.

 This clause has rooms for different interpretations .Does it specify the time period in which the securities are issued? Is it possible to have multiple, simultaneous offers to 49 entities each? These questions are unanswered.

A top official of the ministry was quoted saying that one way could be to close it when framing rules under the New Companies Act although nothing is been specified as how the amending would take place. The Act was passed by the Lok Sabha in December but has to be cleared by the Rajya Sabha.

                                                       by Kislay Pandey - Advocate, Supreme Court of India.

Elimination of Racial Discrimination by Kislay Pandey - Advocate, Supreme Court of India

It is very unfortunate that spending two long centuries in the slavery and sacrificing the life of thousands of people to emancipate the nation from the humiliated existence, we the people of India forget our past and majority of us don't know that every year on March 21 the world observes International Elimination of Racial Discrimination Day. Since ages socially deprived and underprivileged people have been facing the wrath of dominant people in the society, just because of different colour and origin.

This year the day is going to be more thoughtful for all of us, as the world has lost a great stalwart of equality who spent whole life in fighting against racism, but always in a peaceful manner following the footsteps of the 'Champion of Equality' the ever inspiring Mahatma Gandhi. The death of Nelson Mandela is a great lost for all who believe in human equality, but his life can give a purpose to our future and motto to the 'Mission Humanity' 

This day, we have to ask ourselves that, why we are promoting racial discrimination  by sitting silent ? Why we forgot to welcome and respect guests from all parts of the world? Even in the capital of India we are condoning racial practises, racism against people from North-East and African. Recently our inhuman behaviour with Nido, a young guy from Arunachal Pradesh was assaulted and brutally beaten by some miscreants in New Delhi, who latter succumbed to his injuries.

It would count ‘direct discrimination’ if a school or college refuses to give an admission to a student just because of origin or skin colour then it is absolutely inhuman. The constitution of India in article 14 guarantees equality before law that everyone should be treated equally before the law. Article 15 reaffirms and strengthen the Article 14, that no one shall be discriminated on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. Despite of clarity in the law of the nation,  it failed completely to eradicate racial discrimination from the society.

We had warmly accepted the Valentine Day in just 20 odd years, now humanity expects same enthusiasm and pace to abolish racial discrimination, an evil which created animosity and hatred among people of the land. Let's think and ponder on this issue and do not slaughter humans, slaughter discrimination inside your heart, mind and ego.

Child Labor in India: Where Have We Failed?

“They began work at 5:30 and quit at 7 at night. Children 6 years old going home to lie on a straw pallet until time to resume work the next morning, I have seen the hair torn out of their heads by the machinery, their scalps torn off, and yet not a single tear was shed, while the poodle dogs were loved and caressed and carried to the seashore.”                                                          -Mother Jones

In spite of the massive sensitization drives and numerous welfare policies, legislative bills, administrative actions and legal remedies, a large number of children continue to remain in distress and have been spending their lives in turmoil. Today 27% of the total population of India is below 14 years of age, millions of children are forced by the economic considerations to join the labor force. According to a survey report of International Labor Organization (ILO), India has the largest number of child laborers in the age group of 10-14 years, followed by Bangladesh on the 2nd position and Pakistan on the 3rd. The number of children employed in various industries, less than 14 years of age was 17 million which comprised of 9.5 million males and 7.5 million females, according to a statement given by Union Law Minister in Upper House of the Parliament on March 20th, 1995, thus it could be well ascertained that every 8th child in India is a worker.

Children who work in these industries are exposed to hazardous work conditions and paid a pittance for their long hours of work, ultimately suffering wage exploitation too. Notwithstanding with the ambit of Indian Constitution, the employers surpass the guidelines enshrined with respect to child labor, as it maintains that:
1.    No child below the age of 14 shall be employed to work in any factory or in any hazardous employment (Article 24).
2.    Childhood and Youth are to be protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment (Article 39(f)).
3.    The state shall endeavor to provide within a period of 10 years from commencement of Constitution free and compulsory education for all children until they complete age of 14 years (Article 45).

A research study of UNICEF reveals that there are more than 1 lac child laborers in the age group of 5-15 in the carpet industry of Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, the Glass industry at Firozabad houses 50,000 child laborers, and another 50,000 are accommodated in the Zari-Zardozi industry in Lucknow, the capital of state of Uttar Pradesh. The Lock industry of Aligarh employs approximately 10,000 children as labour, needless to add that the city is home to the legendary Aligarh Muslim University and is known by the name of Mecca of education. Meanwhile the brass industry of Moradabad in the same state has 30,000 child laborers. 79% of the working children are from rural areas and the remaining come from the urban poor segment of the society. Children working in these settings are exposed to the common risk of abuse, in some cases sexual abuse too. Hence an evil leads to another evil subsequently and makes mockery of the law we have framed to put a check on such acts, in order to achieve the goal of controlling crime against children, it is necessary that we should be eradicating the evil of child labor, so that every child has a chance to become the light of the world.

We the People of India

The very first line on the Preamble of the Indian Constitution which grants us many rights for Justice, Liberty, equality and Fraternity, starts with a heavy statement “WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA”. This line has depth in its meaning. It clearly emphasise that all the rights comes to the citizens along with the responsibility. Responsibility towards the nation for its ultimate betterment and development.

In the world’s biggest Democracy, it’s the people who make government and the government serves the public. We, the humans have the natural tendency to blame others for all the shortfalls. But we should not forget that it is not the government who makes a country. Without commenting on any political scenario of our country, I would just like people to notice that things work with complete harmony and consent of the public. People of the country makes or breaks the country.

And therefore, we the people of India has to come out of our comfort zones and start working or rather start participating in the nation’s development. It’s the high time for everyone to take the initiative and be responsible for the country instead of just playing the blame game. An alert and aware citizen is an asset for the country. If each of us start do a good deed, it will help the country to become a better a place to live. And for the least, if everyone stops doing ill activities and seize the wrong deeds, it will make the country much more credible and it will grow infinite.

Society Stands on Law

“If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.” 
― Winston Churchill
The inevitability of law in a society cannot be questioned, everyone and everything has to abide by some or the other law.  To maintain the balance in the society in all disciplines, there has to be a legal system so that those who err could be punished and a broader message should prevail, which would ultimately remove the fear of power from the minds of the feeble.

Law enables individuals to fight for their rights, from the top brass of an organization to an ordinary employee, if found guilty against the greater good of the society or an individual, could be tried according to the law of land. In all the law-abiding societies of the world, people can plan their lives ahead without any fear & work in safe atmospheres, those who are entrepreneur, can easily do the business in trust. Law empowers everyone to fight for what is right and just, in the fight against corruption & felonies rampant in the societies throughout the globe. From defending us from the evil and promoting common good, law has an array of functions which provide meaning to the very word ‘civilization’. In some places it resolves disputes concerned with limited resources & encourages people to the right things in life.

Law does have its share of criticism too, it is important to learn that numerous voices of criticism are raised against laws which don’t seem to achieve the set goals of common good. The flow of benefits from the existence of law should not be stopped by the observance of law; else the welfare would lose sight to the dark of anarchy. Some people argue that if the law goes into wrong hands, it can become an instrument of evil, a means by which a country’s rulers can rob people of their property and oppress minority groups. If not used as an instrument of evil, it can very well become its accomplice by exploiting public officials from doing what should be done to prevent crime. As the scope of law is too wide, it grants people their important rights and encourages them to exercise them, thereby fosters a culture of destructivity which involves complaint and compensation that alienates people from each other, and discourages people from helping each other, thinking that doing so might result in their being involved in the complex legal processes.

A brutal incident that took place in Delhi during December 2013 is an example, how the fear of law and its misuse has silenced the insights of humanity amongst the common man, when the victims lied on the roads for hours amidst heavy traffic, and nobody stopped for their help in wake of the fear of probable police exploitations. Law should not propagate the feeling of fear amongst the members of the society.  It is true that a fine jurisprudence always has to limit people’s freedom as some of the harms it does could be easily termed as the side effects of the jurisprudence attempting to achieve it set goals but it should not overlook humanity in any case, so as to make fairness prevail in the society.

Why the Justice is delayed (denied)?

“Truth never damages a cause that is just.” 
- Mahatma Gandhi
Let’s look at how the process of justice impartment takes place, as far as the criminal cases in the Indian courts are concerned, all the investigations are done by the basic law enforcement agencies, such as Police or CBI, which ultimately reports to the government and make justice captive of the powerful. Prosecution is also constituted by the government, which comprises of an important figure technically known as Advocate on Record (AOR) or Deputy Governing Council (DGC). Thus it could be very well understood that two of the most important perspectives of Justice completely belong to the domains of the government.

The government also looks after the financial management of the courts for their smooth functioning, with a significant control over the flow of the funds, the government could be believed to control the capacities of the courts directly. Justice being a common concern for both the Central and State governments, both of these are responsible for providing the courts with funds. Thus, it could be well ascertained that the government indirectly controls even the process of trial through its control on funding. There is no doubt that the courts are duty bound to impart expeditious justice and fairness, there are numerous bottlenecks. The increasing work pressure of the courts raises the matter of writing and publishing of judicial proceedings, decision and orders and their timely updating on the respective websites of concerned courts.  The existing tradition of writing and reporting judicial proceedings, decisions and orders needs immediate reviews with utmost care in order to enhance the efficiency of the courts.

In other words, it could be said that scope of justice & fairness lies very much within the government’s span of control, as the courts and the justice they provide are a clear subject to the manipulation of governments.  To a great extent the justice is virtually executed and very much manipulated according to the wish and will of the ruling government. India has been suffering from the dangerous illness of corruption since long and needless to say that it has intruded in to the judicial system on which rests the responsibility of providing justice to the citizens at every cost. The Judicial system is no less corrupt than any of the other institutions & agencies existing in India. Corruption occurs with the absence of the basic virtue of accountability of doer towards the taker on various grounds, such as legal, social, ethical & personal, whatever are the mechanisms, and everything falls scarce of the effective measures to deal with it.

The growing impact of media houses and other such organs of public voice fell apart due to the fear of contempt; as a result of which corruption continue to exist. The Supreme Court has also complicated the matter by removing judges even from the ambit of criminal investigation; as a result, one cannot even register an FIR against a judge framed with bribe charges without the prior permission of the Chief Justice of India. Thus, the supremacy of judiciary is maintained in every situation, be it pro-people or against. It has essentially become highly self protective and taken the form of a closed and opaque box through which neither light can enter nor can pass through, and hence justice gets delayed at the outset and ultimately denied if going by the reason.