Need For More Accountable and Transparent Judiciary

National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was a proposed body with the authority to appoint and transfer higher judiciary in India. But Supreme Court on October 16th struck down NJAC as an unconsititutional. And SC also upheld the Collegium system of appoinment of Judges (the system where judges are appointed on the basis of its own judgement cases called three judges cases). Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a Sr. Advocate,of Supreme Court and national spokesperson of Congress while expressing his personal views on the recent judgement of Supreme Court, on NJAC,in his article , in TOI date 19/10/2015 mentioned thus:"if an over thousand pages,collection of five judgements,,diligently researched , painstakingly written,bonafide believed in,assiduously dealing with every point urged written after comprehensive and detailed arguments forsaking court vacations, by five of our  truly  outstanding apex court judges,can still be legally and constitutionally,erroneous -- indeed,  grievously wrong n its majority verdict--the NJAC verdict, is the best example"

  In this connection at the out set, let me honestly admit that I'm,neither an advocate by profession, nor any legal expert, nor an affected person directly, but as student of political science and Public administration I'm trying express my views on it. Infact during 70s, during my PG we have been taught,"separation of powers between Legislature, Executive ,and Judiciary,in addition to Supreme Court,and High courts and in the annual exams, we used to get questions on these subjects, as such we were required to have an indepth knowledge to critically examine each issue. And this judgement and many articles being published in News papers, TV discussions, coupled with little indirect interest in the matter, prompted me to concentrate a bit on the issue.
     Many of us know that the Supreme Court has struck down, the NJAC Act amendment bill passed by parliament and required number of state Legislatures which has resulted in clash of interest in Legislature and Judiciary. But every one, including the SC knows that the existing system of Collegium is not only faulty, but also bogged down by inefficiency, favouritism and nepotism  and other vested interests. Infact I have little  personal knowledge of High court of Hyderabad, even during United AP, the functioning of Collegium, we all are aware, how the entire panel recommended by the collegium had been scrapped by the SC, during the CM Kiran Kumar Reddy period, the Govt and HC, had to hang their heads in shame as several allegations had been levelled against many candidates .I'm also aware that a retired Supreme Court judge, brought pressure on one of the Collegium members, to have his nephew 's name included, ofcourse as I said the total panel was scrapped .
       Till 1993 the judges were appointed by the Executive in consultation with Judiciary. In good times the consultation with Judiciary went beyond seeking opinion to attempt a consensus. However the judicial voice was neither dominant nor decisive. In bad times however, Govts, made,calls for " Committed Judiciary" and lot of times indulged in rank favouritism. This reminds me of Ramjeth Malani's famous remark "there are only two types of judges,those who know the law and those who know the Law Minister". It is in this backdrop in 1993 during Narasimha Rao's minority Govt, mandal, mandir with economic liberalisation, simultaneously boiling, that quiet a declaration of judicial independence occurred . In 1998 during Vajpayee Govt, on a Presidential reference, the Court defined the Collegium thus" In the opinion of CJ , of SC,of India. Has to be formed in consultation with collegium of judges.". Presently and for a long time, that collegium consists of two senior most judges of SC, the principal objective of the collegium is to ensure that the best available talent is brought to SC bench. The Judgement went on to increase the strength to 4 in the collegium while a separate collegium of 3 senior most judges were provided for High Courts
    India is the only country in the world, where judges appoint judges.The whole country has been a witness to the collegium selecting some thoroughly discredited persons for the post of Supreme Court / High court judges. No other democracy will accept this farce, a set of judges producing a list of appointees selected through a non- participative, unscientific, utterly opaque and secretive process, and directing the President of India, to sign on the dotted lines. Contrary to what the supporters of this collegium system,claim, it is a non- system. The legendary VR Krishna Iyer, spoke in no uncertain terms, against this travesty. Justice is too serious matter to be left to only legal fraternity alone. Is it not a time to think of making the judicial process less legalistic and more justice oriented?
          Let us be very clear that one of the principles of Natural Justice is that, no one shall be judge in his own cause. Is this principle not violated when this recent judgement was given on the constitutional validity of the NJAC as they were deciding on an issue in which they were an affected party? Similar is the case when parliamentarians decide on issues relating to their own salaries and allowances. Some checks and balances are required in a democratic system and no one should have unbridled powers to decide on issues relating to themselves .
         With SC striking down the NJAC a fierce showdown between SC and Govt is imminent but the question to be asked is why there is an objection to Judges being appointed by the judiciary when politicians raise their own salaries .But when we analyse, some times, the issue in totality, it could hardly be a coincidence. In past six months, the major initiatives, MODI Sarkar seem to led into a gridlock by Team Modi. The virtual derailment of Land Acquisition Bill, Goods and Sevices Tax bill, the Aadhar based cash benefits program and NJAC Act, reflects a perplexing approach -- in instance the out come was predictive and even predictable.
           Lastly I would not hesitate to say that the present collegium system in High Courts as I know it is totally defective, while making selections from the Bar or the Dist, courts as the merit and seniority is given last priority over many other extraneous considerations.It was however heartening that the apex court  admitted gracefully that even the collegium system is faulty and invited suggestions for bettering the system .The Supreme Court being the custodian of the Fundamental Rights of the citizens, needs to be given complete independence .However as suggested there is a need to refine the collegium system making it more transparent and accountable

LAKSHA PUSHPARCHANA IN MY HOUSE ON 18th October 2015

On 15/10/2015 my brother who is an advocate by profession, Mr Srinivas Rao Harkara,and his wife Vijaya performed CHANDI HOMAMU,MAHA LINGARCHANA,etc and top Pundits from Vijayawada, came over here to do the archanas and homams. It was really a great event happened in our family, and we all felt blessed. Many great scholars like Sri Subramanya Shastry GHANAPATI, and other few great upasakas also visited to bless us,which I felt it was a memorable event. Sri

Subramanya Shastry ,while giving the blessings narrated the importance of this homam being done during the NAVRATRI s, and iam delighted to know that he was honoured by the GOVT as one of the best VEDA PUNDITS and surprised to know from Mr ArvindaRao IPS , a Retd, Director General of Police,that this gentleman is only one among the few (hardly 2/3)are only available in both AP&TS put together ,who can give BHASHYAM on Vedas, in a traditional way.He was telling me that there may be some people in Tirupati, VedaPathashala, but they can only teach with reference to syllabus, in the texts, but where as, Mr Sashtry, does it in a traditional way. Here again, Mr ArvindaRao is great scholar in Sanskrit and who can give beautiful commentary on Upanishads. Luckily, he gave me a book which he has written on BhagavatGita.

In line with this, my wife Rama wanted to perform PUSHPARCHANA. On 18th October , two days later we also, performed LAKSHA PUSHPARCHANA ,with jasmine flowers,in our house,10 pundits Brahmins,had come and 10 times VishnuSahasranamarchana, along with LalithaSahasra namam, with Kunkumarchana was done, and we called only very few people mainly our family members and very close relatives,because of the space constraints .iam attaching few photographs of the Archana for better appreciation of my FB friends.

DEVELOPMENT Vs. RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN INDIA

The recent lynching of 50 year old Muslim , in Dadri, of Greater Noida, in UP, by a Hindu mob, allegedly for killing  a " calf" and eating it's meat,was a deeply disturbing incident. Apparently a mob of about,200 people reached the house of Mr Akhlaque on the night of September 28th,and beat him to death, while seriously injuring his son,battling for life, whose fate is not known as of now.I felt very much disappointed to note and find that the Union Home Minister ,Mr Rajnath Singh,was content to call it " unfortunate" and urged people not to give a communal colour , instead of ordering to bring the culprits to book.The same logic had been echoed by Union Tourism Minister, who is also MP from the area .One thing I fail to understand ,that in the event  if cow is slaughtered, should the slaughterer be killed as a punishment? Can the life of an animal be placed above human life?

        Infact I have the highest regard for the present Govts, as whole of India , seeing Mr Modi, voted him to power with absolute majority, expecting that he would make and unmake things, and listening to his speeches ,we could come to the conclusion that he wouldn't tolerate any such indecent things nor corruption issues,and expected that he would condemn. But I am sorry to say that, no such thing happened,after such heinous crime; nor the corruption issues that came to the fore in MP ( VYAPAM ) , which is not only disappointing but disgusting also.

        Ofcourse , after so many days of silence, our PM  chose to comment on the incident at an election rally,in Bihar,and I personally feel, he must have been hoping to take advantage of both time- lapse,and the distance,as he didn't say any thing substantial . Infact,the sad part is, on the same day , an independent MLA from J&k, was thrashed by the BJP MLAs in the precincts of Assembly itself,for having served " beef" in the party being organised by him and don't think, that the party MLAs have been reprimanded , no..not at all.PM never bothered to say a word on this, but instead,he preferred to meekly relay , our President of India Mr Pranab da,'s statement .I do not know why our PM is tolerating the unparliamentary language being used by the leaders of his party, consisting of statements that are  bound to affect if not restrained, his ambitious program of Development .

              Yesterday in India Today TV, at 10 pm, during the discussion, it was mentioned that 25 litterateurs had submitted resignations,.The spate of resignations, from the positions in Sahitya Akademi,and return of awards by eminent people would no doubt ,send wrong signals to the society. Following Nayana Tara Sehgal, Ashok Vajpayee , a leading feminist writer, from Kerala, SaraJoseph,returned their awards.Their decision is attributed to the fact that they are highly critical of Akademi's silence on the murder of its member Mr Kalburgi etc,and the communal atmosphere in the backdrop of Dadri killing.In this connection ,we should know that a writer speaks out when his / her conscience is numbed beyond pain.Yes, the Akademi is an autonomous body,but one is refrained from speaking out.Its silence is silence of the state .Even the once formidable Media Adviser to our Former Prime Minister Mr Atalbihari Vajpayee , Mr Sudhindra Kulkarni , had ink thrown on his face for taking a stand , a former Pakistan ForeignMinister,Mr Kasuri's book launch event,which was opposed vehemently by BJP's ally Shivsena . As per Prime minister Modi,who leads BJP, a party that has promised itself,as extending its hand to the common man,words have to match the deeds.

          Consuming vegetarian or non- vegetarian food is a matter of ones personal choice. These incidents are happening at a time when we are trying to showcase INDIA as an advanced power and asserting our bid for a permanent membership in UNSC.Are not there other pressing concerns,like poverty, climate change and corruption,that need to be addressed before INDIA can claim its legitimate place as global power? Unless people belong to all religions feel safe, we can not grow into an advancd country.

                   Our Prime Minister therefore,should act,tough,in terms of law enforcement. And issue strictures to his party's leaders to stop making such divisive rhetoric.He must immediately stop to combat these or else,every talk of Develment,every effort to make INDIA Digital,and every exercise to bring in FDIs" will be futile, according to me.The PM may be an RSS man,but if he wants INDIA to develop as he says,he is supposed to create an atmosphere conducive for every culture to flourish .

SWAMI DAYANAND SARASWATI-- A LEGENDARY SAINT

    Few days ago I received a message from Swami Paripurnananda Saraswati,of Sreepeetham Kakinada, ,inviting me to attend "SPOORTHI SABHA" being organised in honour of SWAMI DAYANANDA SARASWATHI,a legendary Saint, who went to heavenly Abode in the month of September,2015 ,in "Jaladrushyam" .I was supposed to attend the meeting but to my misfortune ,the meeting was held at 6/30pm and since it would go beyond 10/30pm,I didn't venture to go. However important it may be, and despite strong urge , night driving to such far off places is problem because of advancement in age(above 65 years) .Thanks to electronic media, the Bharat TV,had telecasted,the whole proceedings and Swamijis like Chinna Jiyyar,Head AhobilMutt, Head Ramakrishna Mutt, were there on the Dias .All Swamijis spoke about Dayananda ji and his contribution to the nation at large.The meeting went up to 10pm and swami Paripurnananda ji ,being main architect of the program,was the speaker,who dwelt at length on personal experiences he had with Swami Dayananda Saraswati,during his 26 years of " SISHYARIKA ".As a boy when he went to Swami Dayananda ji, he neither knew English ,nor Hindi ,nor Sanskrit ,but still utmost affection was shown, and was groomed there , where he learnt not only languages, like English, Sanskrit ,but also taught Vedas, Upanishads ,and became an expert in oratorial skills, with the blessings of Swamiji, Dayananda.One has to listen to the experiences,of Swami Paripurnananda ,it was really an excellent narration ,which Infact ,one can not afford to miss, if one is lover of such discourses.Since the same must have been made available in YouTube ,those who missed it can as well make use of it.

The demise of Swami Dayananda Saraswati ,has deprived the nation of a great exponent of "BhagavatGita, Upanishads, and Brahmasutra". An unparalleled champion of Hinduism ,having left for heavenly abode,is an irreparable loss to our nation as such.I have heard that he never missed an opportunity to condemn, mass conversions and also he described proselytisation as subtle form of violence against the innocent.

                Swami Dayananda Saraswati was a pillar of Hinduism and was international ly acclaimed as spiritual GURU.He established many institutions to promote Hindu culture,all over the world and as such I feel,the Hinduism will be poor without him.

Swamiji,Dayananda ,-- a master exponent of inclusive Hindu philosophy who declared ,there was not " one God" but " only God" . A teacher of Vedas  who created hundreds of teachers to continue the ancient Indian tradition ,a great organiser, who founded the " Hindu Dharmacharya Sabha" as representative body of unrecognised Hindu religious traditions.He was patriot Saint who like Mahrshi,Aurbindo,and Swami Vivekanda did,and was the latest incarnation in the tradition of nationalist saints of India.

             One of his big moves was,to bring together elders of all indegenous faiths-- whether from South America , North America ,Africa , or Europe - at DELHI ,wherein he declared that all faiths are sacred,and valid,and no faith can be allowed to claim,to be superior, to other faiths.He articulated religious diversity which is the strongest point of Hinduism with most acceptable rationale,and logical manner ,while challenging the claim that some faiths are only true and others are false,which he argued, is the cause of  this widespread hate and violence of the day.In his demise ,the Hindu Philosophy lost its greatest exponent of recent times, is what I could understand from the yesterday's conclave 

A 'revolutionary' change needed in rural India!

We have been hearing a lot about, Digital India,Smart Citites and Swatch Bharat etc, statistics indicate that 60 percent of all the houses in rural India are without toilets. Despite rising incomes and living standards, from India's two decade old economic boom, still has an estimated 626 million people who live in houses without toilets, which means that nearly half of India's population practice " Open Defecation".

     In 1990 , in Latur an earth quake affected area Govt built all the new houses having separate 'Lavatories' unlike the attached ones in urban agglomeration. But it is ironic that all Lavatories' have been converted as store rooms, while people as usual resorted to open defecation. This clearly shows The Govt at that time had pumped Rs 450 crores for the construction of toilets and out of which only about 40 percent toilets have been used for other purposes. 

In India urination and spitting in open places is also very common, besides open defecation and if it is to be changed, it requires the change in the mindset and it also requires some sort of awareness in rural areas. Keeping all this at the back of his mind, perhaps, Mr Modi , introduced " SwatchaBhatat Abhiyan" as this is not only limited to toilets, it covers entire gamut related to cleanliness.
     Cases of " Dengue" are on rise in Delhi, due to mosquito menace and all the Govt hospitals are flooded with Dengue cases. All the Govt hospitals are very dirty with shabby maintainence. These waterborne diseases are caused due to lack of safe drinking water and proper sanitation. This clearly shows how successful is  Swatcha Bharat Abhiyan in our capital city like New Delhi. Another report states that only 58.82 percent of schools have separate toilets for girls and some schools have only one toilet, which is more often very dirty and unclean. A tragic incident in " Dunka" in Jharkhand, where a teenaged girl ended her life by hanging herself because, her parents refused to build an indoor toilet only amplifies the gravity of the situation. 

   The entire Govt, machinery has to take part, right from Grampanchayat level to Central Govt ,in providing facilities and educating them to make to make use of those facilities. In this type of revolution, the parties are public/people and the Govts, have to religiously follow to achieve the targets. Our civic authorities are very callous and lethargic, which is the main reason for this mosquito menace.The resources crunch, also may be one of the reasons, for failure of authorities, but the negligence on the part of the staff concerned, is unpardonable.
    Swatcha Bharat Abhiyan" started in the year 2014 but it looks that it has some inherent problems.Critics suggest that, the installation of toilets is done without consulting the users ,and that is the recipe for the unused toilets and that is because the human software - psychology is main important, than the hardware, when it comes to, persuading people to change a habit.
     The importance of having toilets was highlighted in Prime Minister's first Independence Day speech. He said that the Govt would ensure to provide toilets to all within 4 years," we are in the 21 century and yet there is no dignity for women as they have to go out in the open to defecate and they have to wait for the darkness, to relieve themselves. Modi in his speech said development and progress as such is nothing if you can not ensure the dignity and respect of the millions of people especially women in India.
      In this connection it is relevant to mention here, that providing toilets to one and but making the rural masses to use them is another big affair. We are seeing Railways provide toilets but we all know how shabbily, they are being used by our own people. The same is the case with toilets near bus stations and other public places. Infact for all this people are also responsible for its proper use, which shows our culture and it is required to fight for it seriously. 

Long term remedies to stop farmer suicides

Reading about the farmers suicides and deaths has become norm of the day. These farmer deaths are prevelant in Telangana, AP, Karnataka and Maharastra too. At the commencement of Telangana assembly the KCR very cleverly to pre-empt opposition onslaught has announced Rs. 6 lakh (which is slightly more than AP CM's compensation)  exgratia to the affected families.
   A Telugu daily carried a heart wrenching story of lady while committing suicide,by consuming some pesticide left a small two line note. A note was addressed to her mother asking her mother not to misunderstand her and requested her to pay the debts by selling the produce which is available in their house and to give their two kids on adoption to some needy or else handover them in a destitute' s house. and her husband being small agricultural labourer having a debt of 51/2 lacs of rupees, she was unable to bear the burden she committed suicide. What is noteworthy is her commitment to pay the debt. Even if 1 out of 100 our leaders, bureaucrats and Govts have that honesty or sincerity, so many farmers would not have committed suicides.

      The Govt are shamelessly disputing about the figures deaths and pass the buck by saying that the previous governments are resposnsible for their plight. The villages are now turning into burial grounds with so many deaths happening everyday. No doubt it is the responsibility of the Govts to come to the rescue of the destitute families by distributing compensation but this itself is not a permanent solution. Unless the root cause is addressed, the spate of suicides will never stop. Both the State and Central Govts are paying compensation without addressing the he core problem.
MS Swaminathan, Jayati Ghosh and many other experts gave many recommendations to address the problem and successive Govts have never paid any heed to such reports which are lying idle in the cup- boards of the Govts.
                We all know two thirds of our agriculture is rainfed, the irrational monsoon, due to climatic changes is one of the important reasons for this heavy toll .The average size of land holding is shrinking while the political corruption failed the cooperative movement,estimates of World Bank and Planning Commission reveal that the yields of several crops in  India are much lower by any global standards . For instance, the average yield of rice per hectare in India is around 2.2 Tonnes while in Austrlia it is 6.2 tonnes, in USA it is 6 tonnes, while in China 4.6 tonnes.
            Greedy traders in collusion with corrupt Babus squeeze the farmers in markets and the administration fails to act firmly. As per Jayati Ghosh committee, on formers suicides, appointed by the then United AP Govt, whose recommendations still hold relevant. The committee has recommended setting up of  Price Stabilization Fund to protect the farmers from the volatlity of the markets. It proposed expansionof crop insurance to ensure income security to farmers when crops fail. It also recommended effective disaster management to be implemented and also Govt's policies to address the agrarian crisis.

            While paying good compensation to the families of farmers committing suicides is a short term remedy. I feel implementing suggestions given by experts may provide benefit farmers. To prevent these deaths State and Central governments should continuously extend all the required help to them and should continously appeal them not to resort to extreme step.