Collegium may not be perfect, but then NJAC will be dangerous!

One need not elaborate the problems with the present system of elevation of Judges for the higher judiciary, by the collegium of serving judges.

It is opaque, self-serving, fraught with nepotism, lacks professionalism and unscientific.

How nice it would be if we can have a better system!

Does NJAC fits the bill?! Sadly, it is not.

Why?

NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commission), is a six member body, and will have three judges, the law minister and 2 independent members.

The catch is here. These two members are appointed by another committee having two politicians and one Judge. Thus these 2 members could be anybody agreeable to politicians. We all know how much credibility the political class in India holds, in-spite of having some of the best political leaders among us.

Now, we possibly have two members agreeable to the politicians, plus the Law minister, makes it exactly 50% strength of 'political sympathizers' in the NJAC. All they need is one more judge who has a tilt towards govt, if not a clear bias. Then the NJAC can easily select judges who are 'soft' to the government.

Thus, over a period of time, we will have more judges in the higher judiciary who have been elevated 'thanks' to the political masters, and in all probability soft towards the govt. So, there is all possibility, that NJAC will degenerate into another 'collegium' of the Parliament!

What will happen then? The independence of the Judiciary will be reduced to paper. The consequences will be irreversible, dangerous, and possibly destroy the spirit of the Constitution.

We will lose the last bastion that can stand a totalitarian govt.

And consider these:

1. The democracy, though vibrant in India, has not matured enough. When United Kingdom can run its democracy much smoothly without a written constitution, we struggle to run ours even with a detailed written constitution! Horse trading, Parliamentary impasse, Ordinance getting defeated in the floor are common to us. Thus, we are yet to mature.

Can an immature parliamentary democracy start tinkering with the judiciary? Is it not commonsense that we should put our own house in order first, before we poke our nose into neighbor's house?

2. Second is the process of election itself. In-spite of the marked improvement in the manner elections are conducted in India, and their general acceptability; the elections are far from being perfect. We all know how the voters are influenced. We all know about the inaccurate -rolls. Above all we have the first-past-the-post system, which throws up representatives who could have got more votes against that for! Thus, the parliament that we have has its serious limitations before it could arch forward to catch the absolute power, that it can get in an ideal democracy.

3. Third is the question of 'who will rein the govt, if it does a blunder?' What options we have? Only an independent judiciary can do that! If we take out that option, the next choice will be a coup d' etat. Do we want that?

Thus, though collegium has its own problems, let the Judicial independence be not disturbed. Let's keep the Parliament away from interfering in the higher judicial appointments. Let's see if the collegium system can be improved without interference from outside. That would be a useful discussion in the right direction.

My two cents!

Understanding the Govt: Part 18: Black Money and Black markets

“Aunty, what is Black money? What is the black market? I keep hearing so much about it. Why is it said to have been stashed away in Swiss banks?”

“Raju, I am glad you asked! Indeed when I was a child, I thought black money referred to the colour of the note or currency kept in some black box! Ha-ha!

To understand these, let’s assume a village ruled by a good king, with a population of 1000. He has a small army of 50 horsemen, and 50 soldiers and a small government with few officials.

Now, salaries have to be paid to the army and the officers? In addition, there will be other office expenditures too? To maintain all these, the king did what all other kings used to do, that is, collect a share from what the citizens produced. This share collected by the king or his government is generally called as Tax.

This was collected in the village market, when the citizens came to sell their grains or products they manufactured. This was called as ‘sales tax’. The king got Rs. 60,000 in this.

Meanwhile, the king came to know that, there are some items that were not produced in his village, but imported from neighbouring villages that were also sold in the same market. The king imposed a tax on them too. This was called as ‘customs duty’. This gave him Rs. 20,000.

The king also came to know that some items manufactured in his village were not sold in his market, but taken out of the village to be sold to other villages. So, the king taxed them at the place where they were manufactured. This was called as ‘excise duty’. This gave him another Rs. 10,000.

Then the king also taxed the rich people in his kingdom. This was called as ‘Income tax’. This gave him Rs.10, 000. Thus he got a total of Rs.1 lakh, and his revenue and expenditure was thus balanced. He could run his government efficiently and keep people happy.

But, the following year, a problem arose. The income came down to just Rs.70, 000. The worried king tried to find the reason. The reason was simple: his officers showed records where sales in the market had dropped. But, his intelligence department said that, production had actually increased, but it’s not coming for sale to the market!

It meant that some of the products were being sold secretly outside the market. What was sold outside the market was not known to government officers, hence not taxed, and thus the government lost the tax! Besides, absence of correct information about the quantum of produce and sales, led to wrong policies from the govt.

So, the king sent his officers to search and arrest all those who sold products outside the market. It was a difficult task, as people sold it secretly in every place possible, like their own homes, fields, roads etc. All these illegal trades happen in secret and is called as ‘black market trade’.

Thus ‘black market’ is a collective term used to describe any location, where any illegal transaction happens. It could be any place, including   homes, offices, even open roads or cars where such illegal deals are struck and goods exchanged!

The unaccounted money that is earned in such transactions is called as ‘black money’! Black money is nothing but normal money, but is earned by illegal means by cheating government officials and accounts.

The money earned in this manner cannot be deposited in the bank, as the government can verify the bank account and easily identify illegal money! So this black money remains as cash only!

But, soon, the black marketers started sending the money to banks outside the village, which was beyond the control of the king, where no one asked for accounts. One such ‘village’ is Switzerland, where the source of bank accounts are not questioned, and hence many black marketers have deposited their cash there.

A few black marketers, make false entries in their account books, and show black money as legally earned money. This is referred to as ‘money laundering’. If this false accounting is done involving someone from another country, then it is referred to as ‘Hawala transaction’, where our black money is exchanged for currency of another country.

Now you understand ‘black money’ and ‘black market’ issues, Raju?!”

“Very well Aunty! Can government not stop this black marketing and black money?”

“It’s very difficult Raju. Can the government monitor 24x7 what every person is selling or buying? So, as long as people transact without billing or accounting, there will be black money. Therefore, unless people demand a bill for every sale or purchase made, black money can’t be controlled.”

“Does it mean that in any transaction we have, we should insist on bill and not do anything without bills?”

“Yes Raju! Because, every bill generated is a document and it helps government officials calculate taxes due correctly. For every bill not given, some black money is created!

What imposes a danger to the country is that such black money can be used to buy from mercenaries, items  that are banned by government like  guns, illegal drugs etc. Now do you realise the dangers of having black money in the country?

“Oh yes Aunty! I understand. From today onwards I will do my bit to reduce black money. I will insist on being given a bill for every transaction, Aunty!”

Vani aunty smiled at Raju. She wished that every youngster in the country does the same. 

Understanding the Government: Part 17

Aunty, Raju and the Shanbhag settled at the nearest eatery. Aunty started to gently question the Shanbhag. The Shanbhag had become at ease with aunty now.

“Why are you govt servants, always busy? Can't your work be organized?"

“Madam, we are busy because, our priorities are changed daily. There is no set work. We work as per orders from the Tahsildar or the DC sir.”

“Don’t you  have any written down work definition and allocation? Every day you get orders on what you need to do for that day?”

“No! We do have written down work allocation. But, over a period of time, the ad-hoc work given to us from our seniors is double that of the routine work! We always seem to be doing these ad-hoc work rather than our original work!

So, we can’t plan our day. Even though we plan, it will be disturbed by ‘urgent work’ that is imposed on us! So, we do the easiest thing: keep quiet and wait for the day-to-day command from the top!  

Although there are more than 30 or 40 government departments, only five departments have staff at village level. They are the Revenue department, the Forest department, Rural development department, Agriculture department and the Education department.

All other departments’ piggy back on us for anything! May it be census, registration of birth and death, pulse polio, election, you name it and we are part of it!

Over the last 100 years, population has grown almost 5 times, but administrative divisions have not grown in proportion. Going by the ratio that was followed while establishing districts 100 years back, we ought to have five districts in place of one. Bifurcation has happened in case of some large districts only. Thus, we are burdened with so much work, that we end up not doing any work properly!

Indeed madam, most of the public are not aware of these things. They don’t even know their rights, leave alone laws and regulations! When government says that not knowing law is not an excuse, I feel like laughing!

Because, such assumption can be made only in a society where literacy rates are quite high, say above 90%, and people can access information easily. Here, with just 30% of the population seeking and completing college education, and inadequate attempt by governments to educate the public on the rules and laws, how can we make people responsible for everything?

For registration of voters, the public is responsible. For birth and death registration the public is responsible. For everything the public is responsible!

If that is the case, why are governments not spending on educating the public? Where are the innovative mass communication programmes? Why are government systems still old and unable to cope  with the demand? Why are governments not responding to the public? Is it in the governments’ interest to keep the public uneducated? Aren't we a democracy?!”

Shanbhag stopped his long speech! He drank a glass of water.

Raju was dumbstruck. He never knew so much! Suddenly, he seemed to understand how an aged system is struggling to cope up with idealistic expectations of a modern society! It looked like both the government and society wanted to win the race using an old 1947 model car!

“Aunty, why can’t we improve the system? Why can’t we make drastic changes in the administrative set up and modernize it? Why are governments more interested in giving individual benefits to people rather than bringing systematic changes? Is that because such changes won't result in votes in the next elections? ”

“Raju, you are right. Such systematic changes don’t fetch votes in the short period of five years, thereby accorded low priority by the popularly elected governments! The scarce resources are spent largely on popular vote garnering schemes!!"

“But then, who will do this important work? Who will bring in systematic changes? Which government will invest on common infrastructure of education, health, roads etc? And which government will take upon itself to educate and create awareness amongst the vast population of this country? How can anybody continue to run government with an aged and dilapidated system?”

“Raju, it would require statesmen at the top, to go beyond electoral politics. And that would also require the people to appreciate such efforts. May be somebody has to start it somewhere. Else, one fine day the system will collapse! And then it may lead to chaos everywhere or even civil unrest!"

Already we are seeing breakdown of basic services and systems. We hear break-down of law and order, non-functioning hospitals, dysfunctional schools, and unfriendly government offices. What more we are waiting for?

If anti-government movements like Naxalism are spreading fast, one reason is the absence of good and responsive governance.  Indeed the rise of the people against corruption and such other issues in recent days are pointers to the rulers that public won't tolerate things for long. The clock is ticking!"

"But, aunty, why don't such movements last long enough to enforce a change?"

"Good question Raju. That is due to the heterogeneity in our country, where people are divided on all possible lines; race, religion, caste, language and what not! These differences do not allow us to come together so easily! Even if we come together, it doesn't last long! This has come as a blessing in disguise for the leadership in our country to look at short term benefits and get away with it! We need a government who can put national interest above political interests!"

"But, aunty, I guess things can't go on like this forever. We will have leaders who will unite the people. We will demand our rights and get them! We will also have good government!"

Vani aunty smiled. "Yes, Raju, when I see you, I get that hope. The youth in this country have to demolish those walls that separate us, and unite us. Then the force unleashed will demand and get what it deserves, the best!"

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(I must thank Srinand Kaushik for prodding me to continue this series of writing about government and polity in simple language.)