Counting blessings at 64

BRP Bhaskar
Gulf Today

As India enters the 65th year of Independence, it is grappling with some serious problems that have been dogging it since long. However, it has several blessings to count. The country’s pace of growth in the era of globalisation has been second only to that of China, which embarked upon the path of liberalisation 13 years earlier than India and is now believed to be the world’s second largest economy.

Industrialisation was high on the agenda of successive Indian governments. Latest statistical data indicate that the country has entered the post-industrial phase with the service sector contributing 55.3 per cent of the gross domestic product last year as against the industrial sector’s share of 28.6 per cent and the agriculture sector’s 16.1 per cent.

Per capita income has recorded a phenomenal increase — from Rs1,126.9 in 1950-51 to Rs54,227 in 2010-11. The flip side of the economic story is that about 40 per cent of Indians are below the poverty line.

At the time of Independence, agriculture contributed more than 55 per cent of the GDP. While the rise in agricultural production made possible by the Green Revolution put an end to the chronic shortage of grains a large section of the population lacks access to food.

This fact points to skewed development. The cases of farmers’ suicide reported from different parts of the country even as the economy booms testifies to the growth of inequalities despite efforts by Central and state governments to provide relief to the affected sections.

At the moment, the country’s main worry is high inflation, estimated last year at 8.72 per cent. Official measures to curb the money in circulation have pushed up interest rates to levels that could slow down the economy.

The Constitution, which came into force in the third year of Independence, gives primacy to “justice — social, economic and political.” The test of the nation’s success, therefore, lies not in the GDP figures but in the extent to which it has progressed towards the proclaimed goal.

India takes legitimate pride in that, unless China, it has achieved economic progress under a democratic political system. Unlike other democratic societies, it is highly heterogeneous and has been the scene of contention between sectarian forces in all its history.

The banning of “Aarakshan,” a Hindi movie dealing with the contentious issue of reservation in schools and in government service, by three states following scattered protests is a reminder that the problem of social inequality is still alive. The caste census now under way may provide a clear picture of the current status of the various communities and help reorganise the reservation system on a realistic basis.

In one sense, the terror problem the country faces is a mutated form of communal animosities in the subcontinent which intensified under Britain’s ‘divide and rule’ policy. The National Investigation Agency, set up specifically to deal with terrorism cases, registered its first success with a court handing down multiple life terms for two accused last week.

The internal dimension of India’s terror problem is no less important than the external one. When Mumbai, which has borne the brunt of terrorism in the country came under attack again this year, official agencies attributed it to local elements aligned with foreign groups. However, they have not been able to produce any credible evidence so far.

The enforcement of resurrected colonial laws which gives impunity to armed forces units posted in some border states and the fake encounters reported from different parts of the country from time to time reveal that the democratic system remains highly deficient. A few days ago a Supreme Court bench observed that those responsible for fake encounters must be given the death penalty. It is a welcome if belated acknowledgement by the apex court that custodial killing is cold-blooded murder which deserves no mercy.

The judiciary has earned much praise for its contribution to the deepening of democracy by ensuring that the basic freedoms are available to all citizens. However, the high cost of the judicial process severely limits the poor’s access to it.

A glaring weakness of the constitutional system has been its inability to deal effectively with corruption at the higher levels in all limbs of the state. On Tuesday Anna Hazare, social activist from Maharashtra, who has been leading a national campaign for a tough anti-corruption law, will go on a fast to force the government’s hands in this regard. The outcome of this campaign may determine the course of Indian democracy at least in the short run.

In the absence of justice independence is a myth, says AHRC

The following is a statement issued by the Asian Human Rights Commission on the occasion of India's Independence Day:

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) congratulates Indians on their 65th Independence Day. The world's largest democracy, has come a long way from what it was in 1947 - an impoverished and underdeveloped nation - to become the third largest economy in the world in terms of purchase power parity. While in the immediate neighbourhood and for the most of Asia, democracy could only make cameo appearances, India maintained its democratic framework of administration, and is pushing forward, trying to bring wide-ranging changes in its administration, which has the potential to enable Indians to realise more of the democratic dream the founding fathers of the country promised to the people on 15 August 1947.

Yet, it is a cruel paradox that this great march forward has not benefited the majority of Indians, an issue that has the potential, if it is not addressed properly, to challenge the very existence of the country and its democratic roots. In that, 65 years of independence has brought not many substantial differences to many Indians in their daily realties in life, particularly concerning the notion of justice, other than for a ritualistic change of guards in New Delhi and at the state capitals.

What Indians achieved 65 years ago is not just an end to the colonial rule. 15 August 1947 was the defining moment of the power of non-violence. Yet violence has remained the primordial nature of authority in India, sanctioned by statute, as it is in the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 or time an again put to use through the daily and manifold forms of torture perpetrated by the police and other law enforcement agencies in India, against which there is still no law in the country or any functioning accountability framework.

Freedom is meaningless in the absence of the right to be informed. Not merely through the avenues opened up by the Right to Information Act, 2005, a watershed legislation concerning freedom of information in India. Freedom to be informed also means proper investigation of crimes, irrespective of the accused person's political and economic influence. This freedom implies the right against extrajudicial execution and encounter killings; the right against disappearance and arbitrary and incommunicado detentions and the right and avenues to seek remedies against injustices.

Freedom and rights have a universal language, translated into exercisable and accessible realities by everyone. This however cannot be achieved without properly functioning justice institutions. Today, one of the most neglected and thus the least developed area in India is its justice framework. Having a few cases decided, thereby setting standards for international and domestic human rights norms need not imply that the jurisprudence laid down is translated into quantifiable and thus realisable rights to the people. Should that be the case, right to housing and freedom from forced and unjustifiable eviction would have been a reality to most of Indians since the Olga Tellis case. The reality of forced eviction, without at least just and acceptable compensations, and artificially created depletion of livelihood options to thousands of families living in states like Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh should not have happened in India. After the Prakash Singh case, unwarranted political interference in policing should have stopped. Since the D. K. Basu case, custodial violence should have been reduced to a bare minimum in India. The fact that it is not the case is amble proof to the reality that mere judgments need not bring in change. In that the social engineer's role of a court can be very much limited to reported cases, worthy of being footnoted later, than of any meaning should the country does not consider improving its justice framework as a priority issue to be addressed.

Freedom without justice lacks substance. What India, and through the Indian freedom movement, the sub-region has achieved 65 years ago, is just not the freedom to decide ones own destiny. It is much more than the mere liberty to remain free. The concept of freedom has engraved in it the notion of justice. Yet it is this very notion that India is yet to indentify and make it a reality for its citizens. What was achieved 65 years ago was not a ritualistic change of flags at the Red Fort. It was the freedom to cast the destiny of a state, that of its citizens and of its future generations.

Without justice, freedom and the celebration of Independence Day would remain mere rituals.

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.