In a recent conversation with National Opinion Editor Vandita Mishra, Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen discusses the “contrast” between the idea of justice to the Constitution and what is happening now, whether or not to hold elections in the pandemic. “Sad choice”, and he believes that South Asian countries can still fight Covid together.
Justice or a trillion dollar economy?
Asked whether economists see a contradiction between the country’s aspiration to become a $5 trillion economy and the common citizen’s aspiration to get justice, Sen said there is a definite difference between the hope of the Constitution moving towards justice. The difference is. In which direction it is going.
“I don’t know if the country in any way aspires to become a ‘$5 trillion economy’ – some people certainly did – but the people mostly wanted basic justice”.
If we go to the official figures:
According to the India Justice Report of 2020, India has one judge for every 50,000 citizens and one policeman to protect 858 people.
According to the data released by the National Judicial Data Grid (NZDG), 5.75 million cases are pending in Indian High Courts (HC), and 38.15 million cases are pending in District Courts (DC). The total number of cases is a staggering 43.90 million.
A total of 47,10,676 cognizable offenses were registered in India during the year 2015, including 13,80,043 Special and Local Law (SLL) offences. In 2016, the figure reached 48,31,515 cognizable offences, including 18,55,804 SLL offenses and 29,75,711 Indian Penal Code (IPC) offences.
In 2019, a total of 51.5 lakh cognizable offenses including 32.2 lakh Indian Penal Code (IPC) offenses and 19.4 lakh Special and Local Law (SLL) offenses were registered across the country.
While the government is busy aiming for a $5 trillion economy, these facts and figures continue to scream the need for better and speedy justice in the country.
Election or pandemic?
During the recent Bengal elections, questions were raised on the need to hold elections amid the pandemic. What missed among those questions was that elections and democracy go hand in hand and this is a constitutional requirement that cannot be ignored. But amid the pandemic?
One of the most dangerous moves by the Election Commission in Bengal elections was to organize them in 8 phases. If security and FIR voting were a concern after this move, more security could have been deployed to ensure a fair election. But the month-long election in the midst of a pandemic has drawn critical scrutiny from every direction.
After the completion of 4 phases, clubbing of the remaining phases was demanded, but the Election Commission rejected the demand under the Representation of the People Act of 1951, which mandated 14 days between the date of poll and the date of poll. The difference has been pointed out. On. Since each phase was notified separately, there was not enough time to piece together the remaining phases.
But if this was the case, the Election Commission should have taken this decision much earlier.
Many people highlighted the idea of not holding elections, but it would have its own consequences. The decision would have been bad for both the Trinamool Congress, which has for years affiliations with Bengal and the BJB, which was very keen to take up the position in the region.
“They couldn’t have said at the time, ‘Let’s not have an election, which would have suddenly seemed like a lack of confidence. For secular parties, especially the Trinamool, trying to cancel the election, the BJP has no chance.’ It felt like giving”, Sen said.
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