Should water be moved to Concurrent List?

The Union Ministry of Water Resources has for long been arguing for a shift of water to the Concurrent List without any serious expectation of its happening, but has now begun to pursue the idea more actively. The Ashok Chawla committee, which was primarily concerned with the question of rationalising the allocation of natural resources with a view to reducing the scope for corruption, was reported by the media to have recommended inter alia the shifting of water to the Concurrent List. There seems to be no such specific recommendation in the draft of the Committee's report that one has seen, but the possibility is referred to in the text and there is an Annexe on the subject. These developments have revived the old debate.

Let us first be clear about the present constitutional position in relation to water. The general impression is that in India water is a State subject, but the position is not quite so simple. The primary entry in the Constitution relating to water is indeed Entry 17 in the State List, but it is explicitly made subject to the provisions of Entry 56 in the Union List which enables the Union to deal with inter-State rivers if Parliament legislates for the purpose. This means that if Parliament considers it “expedient in the public interest” that the “regulation and development” of an inter-State river, say the Ganga or Yamuna or Narmada, should be “under the control of the Union”, it can enact a law to that effect, and that law will give the Union legislative (and therefore executive) powers over that river. That enabling provision has not been used by Parliament. No law has been passed bringing any river under the control of the Union. Under Entry 56, Parliament did enact the River Boards Act 1956 providing for the establishment of River Boards for inter-State rivers, but no such board has been established under the Act. That Act is virtually a dead letter. The reasons are political, i.e., strong resistance by State governments to any enhancement of the role of the Central government.

Is the present constitutional division of legislative power relating to water between the Union and the States satisfactory? The Centre does not think so. None of the Commissions that has gone into the subject so far has recommended a change, largely because it seemed unrealistic. (The Sarkaria Commission thought that a change was unnecessary.)

The present writer had earlier argued against a move to shift water to the Concurrent List on two grounds. First, a move to put water into the Concurrent List at this stage will be generally regarded as a retrograde step that runs counter to the general trend towards decentralisation and enhanced federalism, and it will face serious political difficulty because there will be stout opposition from the States. Secondly, an entry in the Concurrent List will mean that both the Centre and the States can legislate on water, but the Centre can already do so in respect of inter-State rivers under Entry 56 but has not used that power. It seemed sensible to use that enabling provision, and also re-activate the River Boards Act, rather than pursue the difficult idea of a constitutional amendment to bring water on to the Concurrent List.

It will be seen that the above arguments against pursuing the idea of moving water to the Concurrent List are practical ones: the political difficulty of doing so, and the fact that the Centre can do certain things even without such a shift. That does not amount to a statement that there is no case for the shift. Let us ignore political and practical considerations, and ask: if the Constitution were being drafted for the first time now, where would one put water? The obvious and incontrovertible answer is: in the Concurrent List. There are several reasons for saying so.

First, it appears that to the Constitution-makers ‘water' meant essentially river waters and irrigation. This is quite evident from the wording of the entries. In that context, it might have appeared appropriate to assign the primary role to the States, and provide a specific role for the Centre in relation to inter-State rivers. However, even from that limited perspective, a primary rather than a secondary or exceptional role for the Centre might well have been warranted: most of our important rivers are in fact inter-State, and inter-State (or inter-provincial) river water disputes were an old and vexed problem even at the time of drafting the Constitution.

Secondly, that limited perspective is in fact inadequate. Water as a subject is larger than rivers; ponds and lakes, springs, groundwater aquifers, glaciers, soil and atmospheric moisture, wetlands, and so on, are all forms of water and constitute a hydrological unity; and there is more to water than irrigation. If the environmental, ecological, social/human, and rights concerns relating to water had been as sharply present to the makers of the Constitution as they are to us, it seems very probable that the entries in the Constitution would have been different. (Incidentally, there are serious concerns now relating to groundwater — rapid depletion of aquifers in many parts of the country, the emergence of arsenic and fluoride in many States, etc. — and it is interesting that there is no explicit reference to groundwater or aquifers in the Constitution.)

Thirdly, the Constitution-makers could not have anticipated the sense of water scarcity and crisis that now looms large. It is clear that while action will be called for at the State and local levels, the perception of a crisis casts a great responsibility on the Centre: national initiatives will definitely be called for.

Fourthly, a new factor not foreseen even a few decades ago is climate change and its impact on water resources. This is a subject which is still under study and research, but it is clear that coordinated action will be called for not only at the national level but also at the regional and international levels. The Central government has necessarily to play a lead role in this regard.

The theoretical case for water being in the Concurrent List is thus unassailable. Of all the subjects that are or ought to be in the Concurrent List, water ranks higher than any other. The practical and political difficulties of shifting it there remain, but these would need to be overcome.

However, if those difficulties prove insuperable, then we have to settle for the second best course (a modest one) of greater use by the Centre of the legislative powers relating to inter-State rivers provided for in Entry 56 in the Union List, and re-activation of the dormant River Boards Act 1956. It would further have to be supplemented by recourse to the wide-ranging provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 (EPA). It is of course possible for Parliament to legislate on a State subject if a certain number of State assemblies pass resolutions to that effect: that was the route followed in the case of the Water (Control and Prevention of Pollution) Act 1974.

At present, the EPA is being extensively used by the Centre for water-related action. For instance, the Central Groundwater Authority was set up in 1998 by a notification under the EPA. More recently, when it was considered necessary to set up a National Ganga River Basin Authority this was done under the EPA, instead of following the right but difficult course of enacting legislation under Entry 56.

Finally, putting water into the Concurrent List is not necessarily an act of centralisation, though it could lead to such a development. That danger is real and needs to be avoided. Legislation and executive action must continue to be undertaken at the appropriate level (Central, State or local) in each case. The subsidiarity principle, i.e., the principle that decisions must be taken at the lowest appropriate level, will continue to be valid.

U.N. Convention against Corruption Ratified by India

India ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption on May 12, 2011. The convention, which is the first legally binding international instrument used to fight corruption, sets out ways for countries to prevent and criminalize corruption, and it requires countries to return assets obtained through corruption to the state from which they came. According to convention, member-countries are bound to render mutual legal assistance towards prosecution of offenders as well in tracing, freezing, and confiscating the proceeds of corruption.

The ratification by India comes as the country reels from several corruption scandals that have led to everything from sacked ministers to hunger strikes. In its resolution 55/61 of 4 December 2000, the General Assembly recognized that an effective international legal instrument against corruption, independent of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (resolution 55/25) was desirable and decided to establish an ad hoc committee for the negotiation of such an instrument in Vienna at the headquarters of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The text of the United Nations Convention against Corruption was negotiated during seventh sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Negotiation of the Convention against Corruption, held between 21 January 2002 and 1 October 2003.

The Convention approved by the Ad Hoc Committee was adopted by the General Assembly by resolution 58/4 of 31 October 2003. The General Assembly, in its resolution 57/169 of 18 December 2002, accepted the offer of the Government of Mexico to host a high-level political signing conference in Merida for the purpose of signing the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

In accordance with article 68 (1) of resolution 58/4, the United Nations Convention against Corruption entered into force on 14 December 2005. A Conference of the States Parties is established to review implementation and facilitate activities required by the Convention.

In accordance with article 68 (1) which reads as follows: 
"1.This Convention shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit of the thirtieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. For the purpose of this paragraph, any instrument deposited by a regional economic integration organization shall not be counted as additional to those deposited by member States of such organization. 
2. For each State or regional economic integration organization ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to this Convention after the deposit of the thirtieth instrument of such action, this Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the date of deposit by such State or organization of the relevant instrument or on the date this Convention enters into force pursuant to paragraph 1 of this article, whichever is later."

Highlights of Convention

Prevention

Corruption can be prosecuted after the fact, but first and foremost, it requires prevention. An entire chapter of the Convention is dedicated to prevention, with measures directed at both the public and private sectors. These include model preventive policies, such as the establishment of anticorruption bodies and enhanced transparency in the financing of election campaigns and political parties. States must Endeavour to ensure that their public services are subject to safeguards that promote efficiency, transparency and recruitment based on merit. Once recruited, public servants should be subject to codes of conduct, requirements for financial and other disclosures, and appropriate disciplinary measures. Transparency and accountability in matters of public finance must also be promoted, and specific requirements are established for the prevention of corruption, in the particularly critical areas of the public sector, such as the judiciary and public procurement. Those who use public services must expect a high standard of conduct from their public servants. Preventing public corruption also requires an effort from all members of society at large. For these reasons, the Convention calls on countries to promote actively the involvement of non-governmental and community-based organizations, as well as other elements of civil society, and to raise public awareness of corruption and what can be done about it. Article 5 of the Convention enjoins each State Party to establish and promote effective practices aimed at the prevention of corruption.

Criminalization

The Convention requires countries to establish criminal and other offences to cover a wide range of acts of corruption, if these are not already crimes under domestic law. In some cases, States are legally obliged to establish offences; in other cases, in order to take into account differences in domestic law, they are required to consider doing so. The Convention goes beyond previous instruments of this kind, criminalizing not only basic forms of corruption such as bribery and the embezzlement of public funds, but also trading in influence and the concealment and laundering of the proceeds of corruption. Offences committed in support of corruption, including money-laundering and obstructing justice, are also dealt with. Convention offences also deal with the problematic areas of private-sector corruption.

International Cooperation

Countries agreed to cooperate with one another in every aspect of the fight against corruption, including prevention, investigation, and the prosecution of offenders. Countries are bound by the Convention to render specific forms of mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring evidence for use in court, to extradite offenders. Countries are also required to undertake measures which will support the tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of corruption.

Asset Recovery

In a major breakthrough, countries agreed on asset-recovery, which is stated explicitly as a fundamental principle of the Convention. This is a particularly important issue for many developing countries where high-level corruption has plundered the national wealth, and where resources are badly needed for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of societies under new governments. Reaching agreement on this chapter has involved intensive negotiations, as the needs of countries seeking the illicit assets had to be reconciled with the legal and procedural safeguards of the countries whose assistance is sought.

Several provisions specify how cooperation and assistance will be rendered. In particular, in the case of embezzlement of public funds, the confiscated property would be returned to the state requesting it; in the case of proceeds of any other offence covered by the Convention, the property would be returned providing the proof of ownership or recognition of the damage caused to a requesting state; in all other cases, priority consideration would be given to the return of confiscated property to the requesting state, to the return of such property to the prior legitimate owners or to compensation of the victims.

Effective asset-recovery provisions will support the efforts of countries to redress the worst effects of corruption while sending at the same time, a message to corrupt officials that there will be no place to hide their illicit assets. Accordingly, article 51 provides for the return of assets to countries of origin as a fundamental principle of this Convention. Article 43 obliges state parties to extend the widest possible cooperation to each other in the investigation and prosecution of offences defined in the Convention. With regard to asset recovery in particular, the article provides inter alia that "In matters of international cooperation, whenever dual criminality is considered a requirement, it shall be deemed fulfilled irrespective of whether the laws of the requested State Party place the offence within the same category of offence or denominate the offence by the same terminology as the requesting State Party, if the conduct underlying the offence for which assistance is sought is a criminal offence under the laws of both States Parties".

Some of the Scams in India

1) 2G Spectrum Scam
We have had a number of scams in India; but none bigger than the scam involving the process of allocating unified access service licenses. At the heart of this Rs.1.76-lakh crore worth of scam is the former Telecom minister A Raja – who according to the CAG, has evaded norms at every level as he carried out the dubious 2G license awards in 2008 at a throw-away price which were pegged at 2001 prices.

2) Commonwealth Games Scam
Another feather in the cap of Indian scandal list is Commonwealth Games. Even before the long awaited sporting bonanza could see the day of light, the grand event was soaked in the allegations of corruption. It is estimated that out of Rs. 70000 crore spent on the Games, only half the said amount was spent on Indian sportspersons.
The Central Vigilance Commission, involved in probing the alleged corruption in various Commonwealth Games-related projects, has found discrepancies in tenders – like payment to non-existent parties, will-full delays in execution of contracts, over-inflated price and bungling in purchase of equipment through tendering – and misappropriation of funds.

3) Housing Scam
Congress party politicians, bureaucrats and military officials have been accused of taking over a plush Mumbai apartment block intended for war widows. After the story broke in local media the government sacked the powerful chief minister of western Maharashtra state, who is a member of the Congress party.
Following a CBI probe, the environment ministry ordered the demolition of the 31-storey building in January, citing the violation of environmental and land-use rules. The Arabian Sea-facing block with 103 apartments is built in an upscale Mumbai district. Apartments were sold for as little as $130,000 each, while local media estimated their value at $1.8 million each.

4) IPL Scam
The recent scam in IPL and embezzlement with respect to bidding for various franchisees. The scandal already claimed the portfolios of two big-wigs in the form of Shashi Tharoor and former IPL chief Lalit Modi.

5) ISRO and Devas Deal
The deal which caught Antrix in controversy is the Devas deal. Devas is a Bangalore based Multimedia company. The Devas multimedia was set up by one US based company namely Forge Advisors. Most of the members of this Devas multimedia are ex – ISRO officials. The Devas Multimedia had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Antrix in 2003 . According to this deal, Devas will get 90 % of the S band transponders of two Indian satellites on lease for its digital audio broadcast services. The two new Indian satellites whose S transponders are getting to Devas on deal were GSAT 6 and GSAT 6A.

Devas Multimedia and Antrix signed the contract in 2005 January. But Antrix didn't informed either space commission or union cabinet that the lion portion of the capacity of these satellites will be leased to Devas Multimedia. Usually the S band transponders are used for strategic purposes and here it was leased to a private firm.

6) Loan Bribery Scam
Top officials of Indian banks, lenders and financial firms have been accused of taking bribes to grant corporate loans. The bribes were allegedly paid by private finance firm Money Matters Financial Services (MONE.BO), which acted as a "mediator and facilitator" for the loan beneficiaries.

7) Telgi Scam
Abdul Karim Telgi had mastered the art of forgery in printing duplicate stamp papers and sold them to banks and other institutions. The tentacles of the fake stamp and stamp paper case had penetrated 12 states and was estimated at a whooping Rs. 20000 crore plus. The Telgi clearly had a lot of support from government departments that were responsible for the production and sale of high security stamps.

8) Satyam Scam
The scam at Satyam Computer Services is something that will shatter the peace and tranquillity of Indian investors and shareholder community beyond repair. Satyam is the biggest fraud in the corporate history to the tune of Rs. 14000 crore. The company’s disgraced former chairman Ramalinga Raju kept everyone in the dark for a decade by fudging the books of accounts for several years and inflating revenues and profit figures of Satyam.

9) Bofors Scam
The Bofors scandal is known as the hallmark of Indian corruption. The Bofors scam was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s; when the then PM Rajiv Gandhi and several others including a powerful NRI family named the Hindujas, were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India’s 155 mm field howitzer.

The Swedish State Radio had broadcast a startling report about an undercover operation carried out by Bofors, Sweden’s biggest arms manufacturer, whereby $16 million were allegedly paid to members of PM Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress. Most of all, the Bofors scam had a strong emotional appeal because it was a scam related to the defense services and India’s security interests.

10) The Fodder Scam
If you haven’t heard of Bihar’s fodder scam of 1996, you might still be able to recognize it by the name of “Chara Ghotala ,” as it is popularly known in the vernacular language. In this corruption scandal worth Rs.900 crore, an unholy nexus was traced involved in fabrication of “vast herds of fictitious livestock” for which fodder, medicine and animal husbandry equipment was supposedly procured.

11) The Hawala Scandal
The Hawala case to the tune of $18 million bribery scandal, which came in the open in 1996, involved payments allegedly received by country’s leading politicians through hawala brokers. Thus, for the first time in Indian politics, it gave a feeling of open loot all around the public, involving all the major political players being accused of having accepted bribes and also alleged connections about payments being channelled to Hizbul Mujahideen militants in Kashmir.

ABOLITION OF CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA - Strategies for the Eleventh Five Year Plan

In passing the 86th Amendment to the Constitution of India, education is a fundamental right. This has implications for fulfillment of the obligation of the State to ensure that every child is in school. Since most children who do not attend schools are engaged in some form of work or another, it is essential that there is a comprehensive plan to withdraw children from work and mainstream them into schools. In other words the labour department has a crucial role to abolish child labour in all its forms and ensure that children enjoy their right to education. This is indeed a challenging task, but can be attained with concerted effort and a clear perspective.

Child Labour in India
India continues to host the largest number of child labourers in the world today. According to the Census 2001, there were 12.7 million economically active children in the age-group of 5-14 years. 3 million during 1991 (Population Census) thus showing an increase in the number of child labourers. Workers in general are classified into main and marginal workers1 by the population census. Census data shows that there is a decline in the absolute number as well the percentage of children (5-14) to total population in that age group, classified as main workers from 4.3 percent in 1991 to 2.3 percent in 2001. But there was a substantial increase in marginal workers in every category of worker irrespective of sex and residence. As a result, despite the number of main workers declining from 9.08 million in 1991 to 5.78 million in 2001, the total number of children in the work force increased. A large part of the increase was accounted for by the increase in marginal workers, which increased from 2.2 million in 1991 to 6.89 million in 2001. The trends between 1991 and 2001 of declining main child workers along with increasing marginal workers may indicate the changing nature of work done by children. This is also to be seen in the context of decelerating employment growth in general in the economy during the last decade.

According to NSSO estimates WPR for children in the 5-9 age group is negligible and for children in the age group of 10-14, it still continues to be significant though declining. Work has been defined in the Census 2001 as ‘participation in any economically productive activity with or without compensation, wages or profit.’ Such participation could be physical and/or mental in nature.
This work includes supervisory work as well as direct participation in the work. For the first time, the
Census includes part-time help or unpaid work on the farm, family enterprise or in any other economic
activity such as cultivation and milk production for domestic consumption as work. All persons engaged in
‘work’ as defined in the Census are considered workers. Main workers are defined as those who have
worked for the major part of the reference period, that is 6 months or more. And marginal workers are those
who have not worked for the major part of the reference period. All those workers who are not cultivators
or agricultural labourers or engaged in household industry are categorized as ‘Other Workers’.

Magnitude of Child Labour across States
There is across the board decline in the incidence of child labour in the Southern and Western Indian States and UTs between 1991 and 2001. However, there has been an increasing trend in the Eastern and North Indian States and UTs. While the Kerala and Tamil Nadu stories are well known, it is heartening to see that the state of Andhra Pradesh, that had a dubious distinction of having the largest child labour force in the country, shows very remarkable reduction in work-force participation, along with a dramatic increase in the enrollment of children in school. Surprising is the case of Himachal Pradesh, which has shown significant increases in school attendance and in literacy levels. However, there is a dramatic increase in the
percentage of children in the age-group 5-14 years who are classified as workers, both main and marginal.

Nature and extent of child labour and child work: Findings of the Time-use survey

The Department of Statistics, Government of India, organized a pilot time use survey in six states of India between July, 1998, and June, 1999. This study was conducted in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya. The time-use survey shows that boys and girls spend 21.46 hours a week on SNA activities, which is about 47 percent of the time spent by an adult on SNA activities. Girls (6-14) participate in extended SNA activities much more than participant men of all ages. Thus, while girls spend 13.01 hours on household management, 10.64 hours on community services and 11.17 hours on care activities, the corresponding data on time spent by men are 6.76 hours, 7.99 hours and 6.12 hours respectively. More significantly, analyzing the data Indira Hirway states that “more than 32 percent ‘nowhere’ children, who do not go to school, are largely engaged in economic or in extended economic activities. In the case of girls, their low attendance in school is not only due to their participation in economic activities but also due to the responsibilities borne by them in extended SNA activities.”

 EXISTING PROGRAMMES FOR REHABILITATION OF CHILD LABOUR

 Legal Framework
As per Article 24 of the Constitution, no child below the age of 14 years is to be employed in any factory, mine or any hazardous employment. Further, Article 39 requires the States to direct its policy towards ensuring that the tender age of children is not abused and that they are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength. Recently, with the insertion of Article 21A, the State
has been entrusted with the task of providing free and compulsory education to all the children in the age group of 6-14 years. Consistent with the Constitutional provisions, Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986, which seeks to prohibit employment of children below 14 years in hazardous occupations and processes and regulates the working conditions in other employments. In the last 5 years, the
number of hazardous processes listed in the schedule of the Act has increased from 18 to 57 and occupations from 7 to 13.

National Child Labour Programme
A National Policy on Child Labour was announced in 1987 which emphasised the need for strict enforcement measures in areas of high child labour concentration. In order to translate the above policy into action, the Government of India initiated the National Child Labour Project Scheme in 1988 to rehabilitate the working children starting with 12 child labour endemic districts of the country. Under the Scheme, working children are
identified through child labour survey, withdrawn from work and put into the special schools, so as to provide them with enabling environment to join mainstream education system. In these Special Schools, besides formal education, they are provided stipend @ Rs.100/- per month, nutrition, vocational training and regular health check ups. In addition, efforts are also made to target the families of these children so as to cover them
under various developmental and income/employment generation programmes of the Government. The Scheme also envisages awareness generation campaigns against the evils of child labour and enforcement of child labour laws. It is seen that the level of enforcement in the States of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra & West Bengal is encouraging, whereas that in UP, Rajasthan, Madhya  Pradesh & Orissa it is very low.

 ILO-International Programme for Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)
ILO launched IPEC Programme in 1991 to contribute to the effective abolition of child labour in the world. India was the first country to sign MOU in 1992. The INDUS Project envisages direct interventions in the identified 21 districts spread across five states for identification and rehabilitation of child labour. The strategy under the project is to complement and build up on the existing government initiatives.

REVIEW OF PRESENT APPROACH – SOME ISSUES
The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 prohibits child labour in certain occupations and processes alone and their conditions of work are regulated in the rest. The law does not prohibit child labour if rendered for one’s own family in those areas of occupation that has been considered as hazardous. Likewise, it has no purview over regulating the conditions of work if children are engaged to work by the family. The law has also completely left out children working in agriculture. The first step is to clearly enunciate a policy that ‘no child must work-and every child attends a full time formal school’ is not negotiable and that it is a goal that is possible to achieve
.
The NCLP programme which is a consequence of the Child Labour (Prohibition &Regulation) Act, 1986 focuses on the release and rehabilitation of only such children who are employed in those industries as notified in the Act. It has so far been able to mainstream only about 3.75 lakh children. Children continue to be recruited to work in the ‘’hazardous” sector. Many girl children are being left out of getting the benefit of the NCLP program. It is found that a new set of children have taken the place of those who have been withdrawn from work. Further it has been seen that for many practitioners on the ground it is impractical to refuse children from the same neighbourhood or the family, who are in work and out of school because they do not fall under the definition of child labour. If there has to be an end to child labour then the focus must be on total abolition of child labour and in addressing the rights of the universe of children who are out of school.

 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ABOLITION OF CHILD LABOUR
In most societies where child labour has been eradicated, multi-pronged strategies were used. Stringent laws were passed which made child labour illegal. In addition the educational system was strengthened so that children removed from work could go to school.

 INCLUSIVE DEFINITION OF CHILD LABOUR
An analysis of the situation of child labour in India provided in Part I of this document shows that children are working in different sectors across the country. They are to be found working in. Given the varied situations in which children are working, strategies for the elimination of child labour need to be inclusive and non-negotiable. In order to effectively abolish child labour it is necessary to remove the artificial distinction between ‘child labour’ and ‘child work’.

AMENDMENT TO THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) ACT 1986
Enforcement of the law is a key strategy. But in the case of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, there are a number of loopholes, which makes the law ineffective. The Child Labour Act must be non-negotiable and the word “Regulation” should be removed from its title so that child labour abolition becomes non-negotiable. In the same spirit the penal provisions must be enhanced, employment of child labour must be deemed as a cognisable offence and the enforcement machinery strengthened several
times over so that the message is clear that child labour will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

A NEW NATIONAL CHILD LABOUR ERADICATION POLICY
Several changes have occurred since the drafting of the National Child Eradication Labour Policy in 1987. A re-examination of all the laws and policies pertaining to working children is critical. There must be consistency in the constitutional and legal provisions pertaining to children’s rights especially their right to education and wellbeing.

REVISED NATIONAL CHILD LABOUR PROGRAMME (NCLP)
Transitional Education Centres
The current National Child Labour Programme (NCLP) needs to be revamped. NCLP schools must be converted into Transitional Education Centres (TECs) which are both non-residential and residential. It is very important that the guidelines for TECs are very flexible, adapting to the local situation.Every child rescued from work would have to be brought to a local TEC and the TEC would have to accept all children who are rescued from work. These TECs must act as bridges and the children are to be handed over to the
SSA programme. This will have to be decided on a case-by-case basis. Each TEC should have facilities to accommodate at least 50 children at any given point of time. It is proposed to have 30 TECs (non-residential) in each of the 600 districts in the country. These TECs’s would be equipped for at least 50 children at any given point of time. However, it is expected that there would be even more number of children due to the intensive campaign, awareness building as well as enforcement of law. The NCLP scheme must be flexible enough to take all such children and if necessary merge a couple of TECs in one place. It is envisaged that 45 lakh children would be benefited by this arrangement.
Some children who are rescued from work have no security in terms of their family or community and are, therefore, in a highly vulnerable position of exploitation. The residential TEC’s would be the first post where such rescued children would be sent. It is proposed to have 2 residential TECs in each district with 50 children in each. Even here, depending upon the demand there must be flexibility to increase the residential TECs and if necessary, modify the non-residential TECs to residential ones, within the budgets that
are provided for. It is envisaged that 3 lakh children would benefit from this over five years.

 Migrant children
The NCLP needs to recognize the special situation of migrant child labourers. These could be children who have runaway from home or children who migrate seasonally with their families. Given the extent of intra-state migration, additional TECs must be set up in states/districts from where families migrate and linkages must be established with local schools so that children have a residential facility when their parents move out for work.
Temporary TECs could also be set up in areas where people migrate for work such as to the brick kilns, salt pans, sugar cane areas, to name a few. Local NGOs could be supported to run these temporary TECs so that children get health and education facilities and are not roped into work.

 NCLP Project Society at District level
Each district would continue to have a District Child Labour Project Society under the NCLP program with the District Collector as its Chairperson and a committee that assists and advises the staff. It would have to however expand its operations to going beyond running of special schools. It would add the component of an intense social mobilisation through the social mobilisers, along with taking up the TECs.

Social Mobilisation
Given that eradication of child labour is not an easy task, preventive strategies are more sustainable in the long run. One of the major preventive strategies, which must feature in any national child labour eradication policy, is the role of social mobilization and community participation. It is vital to ensure that children stay at home and go to formal government schools rather than leave home to work full time. There has to be a national campaign to invoke public interest and large-scale awareness on this issue, there is a need for an extensive awareness generation campaign launched over a period of time at the Centre and State on a sustained basis. Required budgetary provisions for such a mass campaign must be provided for in 11th Plan.

 Social Mobilisers
Child labourers are spread across the country; working in dispersed villages and slums. The eradication of child labour cannot be done by the labour department alone, as it is so under-staffed. Labour department needs to have a cadre of youth volunteers who can be trained as ‘Social Mobilisers’ who will be responsible for withdrawing children from work as well as monitoring school dropouts and children with irregularity of attendance. It is understood that if such children are not tracked they would join the labour force as
child labour. It is proposed to have 5 social mobilisers in each of the 6202 Blocks in the country. Each of the social mobilisers would be responsible for 200 children and it is envisaged that through their activity the status of more than 3 crore children would be monitored. 

 Survey of child labour
It is necessary that the government commission research and surveys on different aspects of child labour in the country. This is important since the last countrywide enumeration of the working children was held in 2001 Census and the incidence of child labour may have undergone change since then with population growth and the large-scale migration of workforce.

SYNERGY BETWEEN ALL CONCERNED DEPARTMENTS
Ministries and departments have different roles to play in order to ensure that children removed from work are properly rehabilitated and do not go back into the work force. 

 Department of Labour
The department of Labour’s function is to identify and rescue child labour and ensure that all the children who are out of school in an area are covered; Enforce law- and action against employers of children; Counsel rescued children and mainstream them into formal schools; Coordinate all the concerned departments of education, police, youth, welfare panchayat raj, and women and child development and establish protocols for collabourative action; Establish TECs for children rescued from labour.

 Department of Education
The department of education has the task of integrating all out of school children which includes child labour and school dropouts into the school system and ensure that children enjoy their right to education. Their function is to prevent children from joining the labour force the education department must ensure that all children in the 5-8 years age group are enrolled and retained in schools; through SSA pay attention to children in the 9-14 age groups like child labour, migrating children, street children, domestic child workers and school dropouts and never enrolled children and provide for residential and non-residential bridge courses, seasonal hostels, mobile schools and work-site schools for children who migrate with their families must from the very beginning be linked to a formal government school. 

 Department of Home/Police
The role of the police is, booking the right cases under the Child Labour Act and all other relevant Acts; take complaints all missing children and track them and follow up in the best interest of the child and their right to education. 

Department of Youth Affairs
The Nehru Yuvak Kendra Sangatanas (NYKS) under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has a huge network of youth clubs across the country. They must spearhead a campaign against child labour and for children’s right to education in the entire country. 

 Department of Panchayat Raj
The Ministry for Panchayat Raj /Rural Development is to ensure that all gram panchayats fully monitor the status of children in their area. It must also provide training for the gram panchayats to track children and protect their rights

 Department of Women and Child Development
The Ministry must strengthen Child line and expanded to every district of the country. A Juvenile Justice Board and a Child Welfare Committee (CWC) must be set up in every district as required in the JJ Act of 2000. There is a need for the Labour department to coordinate its activities with the CWC. 

 Involvement of Judiciary
There has to be an orientation for the judiciary and establishment of procedures for making the courts child friendly. Children must not be allowed to make forays to the Court till they turn hostile. There is a need to also establish mobile courts for quick and timely action to rescue children and book cases.

 Role of Gram Panchayats
At the level of gram panchayats, children would not be statistics but will have specific names. If children are not found in the village or with their family, there must be an immediate enquiry into their whereabouts. As a first step they must lodge a police complaint and pursue the matter till children are found and rescued from whatever location they might be in. A list of all such children who are not in the families must be drawn up and consolidated at the mandal/block/ and district level. It must be monitored at the State level and reviewed systematically.

 Vocational Training for children in 15-18 years age group
The Labour Department should assist children who have completed Class X to get vocational training by linking them up to local ITIs, NGO run vocational training programmes and private sector initiatives. They should not run vocational training centers as the track record of vocational training centers set up by the labour departments is extremely poor. The labour department should instead help older children to get placements in the job market.

TRAININGS
Youth volunteers, gram panchayats, school teachers, officers of labour department and so on must all be given training about child labour and their respective roles in abolition of child labour. Training modules are to be prepared on the issue of child labour and education. All the participants must have a legal literacy and have a full knowledge of children’s rights and their entitlements, the role of various departments, and awareness of the schemes and programs meant for children.

United Nations Convention against Corruption

Corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability. Corruption attacks the foundation of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes, perverting the rule of law and creating bureaucratic quagmires whose only reason for existing is the soliciting of bribes. Economic development is stunted because foreign direct investment is discouraged and small businesses within the country often find it impossible to overcome the "start-up costs" required because of corruption.

In its resolution 55/61 of December 4, 2000, the UN General Assembly recognized that an effective international legal instrument against corruption, independent of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (resolution 55/25, annex I), was desirable and decided to establish an ad hoc committee for the negotiation of such an instrument in Vienna at the headquarters of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly by resolution 58/4 of October 31, 2003. In accordance with article 68 (1) of resolution 58/4, the United Nations Convention against Corruption entered into force on December 14, 2005. For each new State or regional economic integration organization becoming a party to the Convention, the Convention enters into force on the thirtieth day after the date of deposit by such State or organization of the relevant instrument.

However, India stands out as one of the few countries in the world that have not acceded to the UN convention against corruption. This convention, which came into force in 2005, has 140 countries on its list. India, which regularly battles corruption of mammoth proportions, is not.

India signed the convention in 2005 but the UPA government, particularly the department of personnel and training (DoPT), has steadfastly refused to ratify it. Over the years, MEA (which is the nodal ministry for international treaties), has been pushing the government to ratify the convention. The official reason is that India has not yet brought its domestic laws in line with the international convention. But it's been six years and there has been little interest by the government in making India less prone to corruption. India's stand is particularly strange since many Indian diplomats helped to pilot the convention through the UN.

Acceding to the convention could make it easier for India to repatriate the billions of dollars in ill-gotten wealth that have been stashed overseas. Under the convention, asset recovery is a fundamental principle, Article 51 provides for the return of assets to countries of origin as a fundamental principle of this convention.

The convention requires signatories to put in place certain preventive measures—like enhanced transparency in funding election campaigns and political parties—which certainly in India is at the root of a lot of government corruption.

The convention criminalises not only basic corruption such as bribery and the embezzlement of public funds but also trading in influence and the concealment and laundering of the proceeds of corruption. According to UN literature, "offences committed in support of corruption, including money-laundering and obstructing justice, are also dealt with. Convention offences also deal with the problematic areas of private sector corruption."

The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument. The Convention's far-reaching approach and the mandatory character of many of its provisions make it a unique tool for developing a comprehensive response to a global problem.

The UNCAC covers five main areas: prevention, criminalization and law enforcement measures, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange.

The UNCAC also covers many different forms of corruption, such as trading in influence, abuse of power, and various acts of corruption in the private sector. A further significant development was the inclusion of a specific chapter of the Convention dealing with the recovery of assets, a major concern for countries that pursue the assets of former leaders and other officials accused or found to have engaged in corruption. The rapidly growing number of States that have become parties to the Convention is further proof of its universal nature and reach.

Prevention
Corruption can be prosecuted after the fact, but first and foremost, it requires prevention. An entire chapter of the Convention is dedicated to prevention, with measures directed at both the public and private sectors. These include model preventive policies, such as the establishment of anti-corruption bodies and enhanced transparency in the financing of election campaigns and political parties. States must endeavour to ensure that their public services are subject to safeguards that promote efficiency, transparency and recruitment based on merit. Once recruited, public servants should be subject to codes of conduct, requirements for financial and other disclosures, and appropriate disciplinary measures. Transparency and accountability in matters of public finance must also be promoted, and specific requirements are established for the prevention of corruption, in the particularly critical areas of the public sector, such as the judiciary and public procurement.

Preventing public corruption also requires an effort from all members of society at large. For these reasons, the Convention calls on countries to promote actively the involvement of non-governmental and community-based organizations, as well as other elements of civil society, and to raise public awareness of corruption and what can be done about it. Article 5 of the Convention enjoins each State Party to establish and promote effective practices aimed at the prevention of corruption.

Criminalization
The Convention requires countries to establish criminal and other offences to cover a wide range of acts of corruption, if these are not already crimes under domestic law. In some cases, States are legally obliged to establish offences; in other cases, in order to take into account differences in domestic law, they are required to consider doing so. The Convention goes beyond previous instruments of this kind, criminalizing not only basic forms of corruption such as bribery and the embezzlement of public funds, but also trading in influence and the concealment and laundering of the proceeds of corruption. Offences committed in support of corruption, including money-laundering and obstructing justice, are also dealt with. Convention offences also deal with the problematic areas of private-sector corruption.

International Cooperation
Countries agreed to cooperate with one another in every aspect of the fight against corruption, including prevention, investigation, and the prosecution of offenders. Countries are bound by the Convention to render specific forms of mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring evidence for use in court, to extradite offenders. Countries are also required to undertake measures that will support the tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of corruption.

Asset Recovery
In a major breakthrough, countries agreed on asset-recovery, which is stated explicitly as a fundamental principle of the Convention. This is a particularly important issue for many developing countries where high-level corruption has plundered the national wealth, and where resources are badly needed for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of societies under new governments. Reaching agreement on this chapter has involved intensive negotiations, as the needs of countries seeking the illicit assets had to be reconciled with the legal and procedural safeguards of the countries whose assistance is sought.

Article 51 provides for the return of assets to countries of origin as a fundamental principle of this Convention. Article 43 obliges State parties to extend the widest possible cooperation to each other in the investigation and prosecution of offences defined in the Convention. With regard to asset recovery in particular, the article provides inter alia that "In matters of international cooperation, whenever dual criminality is considered a requirement, it shall be deemed fulfilled irrespective of whether the laws of the requested State Party place the offence within the same category of offence or denominate the offence by the same terminology as the requesting State Party, if the conduct underlying the offence for which assistance is sought is a criminal offence under the laws of both States Parties".

Criminalization and law enforcement
As per the convention, each State Party shall adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish as a criminal offence, when committed intentionally, the promise, offering or giving to a foreign public official or an official of a public international organization, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage, for the official himself or herself or another person or entity, in order that the official act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her official duties, in order to obtain or retain business or other undue advantage in relation to the conduct of international business.

Bribery in the private sector: Each State Party shall consider adopting such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish as criminal offences, when committed intentionally in the course of economic, financial or commercial activities: (a) The promise, offering or giving, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage to any person who directs or works, in any capacity, for a private sector entity, for the person himself or herself or for another person, in order that he or she, in breach of his or her duties, act or refrain from acting; (b) The solicitation or acceptance, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage by any person who directs or works, in any capacity, for a private sector entity, for the person himself or herself or for another person, in order that he or she, in breach of his or her duties, act or refrain from acting.

Protection of witnesses, experts and victims: The Convention also provides for appropriate measures in accordance with a State’s domestic legal system and within its means to provide effective protection from potential retaliation or intimidation for witnesses and experts who give testimony concerning offences established in accordance with this Convention and, as appropriate, for their relatives and other persons close to them.

Each State Party also has to take appropriate measures to provide protection against any unjustified treatment for any person who reports in good faith and on reasonable grounds to the competent authorities any facts concerning offences established in accordance with this Convention.

India's Knowledge Economy

Private higher education is one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing segments of post-secondary education at the turn of the 21st century. A combination of unprecedented demand for access to higher education and the inability or unwillingness of governments to provide the necessary support has brought private higher education to the forefront. Private institutions, with a long history in many countries, are expanding in scope and number, and are increasingly important in parts of the world that have relied on the public sector. A related phenomenon is the "privatization" of public institutions in some countries. With tuition and other charges rising, public and private institutions look more and more similar.

Private higher education has long dominated higher education systems in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. There has been a dramatic shift from public to private post-secondary education in Latin America, and Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela now have at least half of their students in private universities. Private higher education is the fastest-growing sector in many countries in Central and Eastern Europe, as also in India. For the most part, this unprecedented growth in the private sector stems from an inability of the governments to fund expansion.

There is tremendous differentiation in private higher education internationally. Harvard University, with its endowment measured in billions of dollars, could hardly be more different from a newly established "garage university" in El Salvador offering specialized training in a few fields. Some private institutions are highly focused in specific fields, such as the world-renowned INSEAD international management school in Paris. Others are large multipurpose universities like the Far East University in Manila, with more than 100,000 students. Some are among the most prestigious institutions, like Waseda or Keio in Japan, Yale in the United States, the Ateneo de Manila in the Philippines, or Javieriana University in Colombia.

Higher education in India is gasping for breath, at a time when India is aiming to be an important player in the emerging knowledge economy. With about 300 universities and deemed universities, over 15,000 colleges and hundreds of national and regional research institutes, Indian higher education and research sector is the third largest in the world, in terms of the number of students it caters to. However, not a single Indian university finds even a mention in a recent international ranking of the top 200 universities of the world, except an IIT ranked at 41, whereas there were three universities each from China, Hong Kong and South Korea and one from Taiwan.

On the other hand, it is also true that there is no company or institute in the world that has not benefited by graduates, post-graduates or Ph.D.s from India: be it NASA, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Bell, Sun, Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Cambridge or Oxford, and not all those students are products of our IITs, IIMs IISc/TIFR or central universities, which cater to barely one per cent of the Indian student population. This is not to suggest that we should pat our backs for the achievements of our students abroad, but to point out that Indian higher educational institutions have not been able to achieve the same status for themselves as their students seem to achieve elsewhere with their education from here.

The experience over the last few decades has clearly shown that unlike school education, privatization has not led to any major improvements in the standards of higher education and professional education. In higher education and professional courses, relatively better quality teaching and infrastructure has been available only in government colleges and universities, while private institutions of higher education in India capitalized on fashionable courses with minimum infrastructure.

The last decade has witnessed many sweeping changes in higher and professional education: For example, thousands of private colleges and institutes offering professional courses, especially engineering courses, appeared all across the country by the late 1990s and disappeared in less than a decade, with devastating consequences for the students and teachers who depended on them for their careers. This situation is now repeating itself in management, biotechnology, bioinformatics and other emerging areas. No one asked any questions about opening or closing such institutions, or bothered about whether there were qualified teachers at all, much less worry about teacher-student ratio, floor area ratio, class rooms, labs, libraries etc. All these regulations that existed at one time have now been deregulated or softened under the self-financing scheme of higher and professional education adopted by the UGC.

It is not that the other well established departments and courses in government funded colleges and universities are doing any better. Decades of government neglect, poor funding, frequent ban on faculty recruitment and promotions, reduction in library budgets, lack of investments in modernization leading to obsolescence of equipment and infrastructure, and the tendency to start new universities on political grounds without consolidating the existing ones today threatens the entire higher education system.

The economics of imparting higher education are such that, barring a few courses in arts and humanities, imparting quality education in science, technology, engineering, medicine etc. requires huge investments in infrastructure, all of which cannot be recovered through student fees, as high fees will make higher education inaccessible to a large section of students. Unlike many better-known private educational institutions in Western countries that operate in the charity mode with tuition waivers and fellowships (which is one reason why our students go there), most private colleges and universities in India are pursuing a profit motive. This is the basic reason for charging huge tuition fees, apart from forced donations, capitation fees and other charges. Despite huge public discontent, media interventions and many court cases, the governments have not been able to regulate the fee structure and donations in these institutions.

It is not only students but also teachers who are at the receiving end of the ongoing transformation in higher education. The nation today witnesses the declining popularity of teaching as a profession, not only among the students that we produce, but also among parents, scientists, society and the government. The teaching profession today attracts only those who have missed all other "better" opportunities in life, and is increasingly mired in bureaucratic controls and anti-education concepts such as "hours" of teaching "load", "paid-by-the-hour", "contractual" teachers etc. With privatization reducing education to a commodity, teachers are reduced to tutors and teaching is reduced to coaching. The consumerist boom and the growing salary differentials between teachers and other professionals and the value systems of the emerging free market economy have made teaching one of the least attractive professions that demands more work for less pay. Yet, the society expects teachers not only to be inspired but also to do an inspiring job!

On the other hand, many teachers are also exploiting the situation. Due to acute shortage of teachers the Universities, especially the new Universities, are found to be at the receiving end because of constant job hopping by teachers for better pay packets. Sometimes, this job hopping goes to the level of professional black mailing.

Yet another worrisome trend in higher education and research is the emerging government policy of according deemed university status to national labs and research institutes, so that these institutes can award their own Ph.D. degrees, without having to affiliate themselves to a university or fulfilling any other role of being a university. It was expected that these national (or regional) laboratories would employ selected scientific manpower generated from the colleges/universities and nurture their talents towards specific applied goals. But this did not happen, as the national labs became more sophisticated versions of university departments drawing better monetary and infrastructural support and publishing research papers, for which they need research students, who cannot be retained and tapped unless they are promised research degrees.

Traditionally, colleges and universities have been non-profit institutions, operating under legal authority from the State to provide education and engage in research and other education-related activities. These institutions have been owned by non-profit agencies, such as religious organizations, educational societies, and others that have legal authority to own and manage them. For the most part, these arrangements do not permit the institutions to earn a profit, while they are guaranteed a high level of autonomy. In some cases, the university is "owned" by a sponsoring organization, in others by the academic staff and administrators, and in still others by boards of trustees or governors that may be partly composed of academics or dominated by outsiders.

With the stress on cost-recovery measures, many areas of study, including the humanities and social sciences and even the natural and physical sciences, have come under great pressure. Only the marketable areas of study may survive. With the universities emphasizing revenue-generating programs, Darwin's law might come into operation, and other areas of study, however important they may be, could fade away. A significant increase in fees for general education might shift enrollment from general education to professional education.

The trend toward privatization has also created serious problems concerning equity in higher education. While the government is to a great extent able to ensure that protective discrimination policies are followed in government colleges and private aided colleges, resistance to such policies is much higher in the case of self-financing institutions. While the overall elasticity of demand may not be high, such elasticity may certainly be high for the economically weaker sections. In other words, under privatization even if the size of total enrollment does not change, the composition might change in favour of the better-off sections of society.

The government's inability to control the quality of education in private colleges is also being increasingly felt. The first choice of parents and students in general is the government colleges, and when they fail in that endeavour they seek admission in private colleges, where admissions criteria are relaxed for those who can pay the high fees. Unfortunately, even strong proponents of private higher education call for government to take responsibility for regulating quality in the system. But given social, political, and economic factors, the government seems to feel severely handicapped in regulating quality in private institutions. Generally, once recognition is granted to a private institution, which is not a very difficult process, the government is unable to enforce any of its conditions. This is true to some extent even in the case of State-aided private colleges. State grants are rarely delayed for any reason. Massive erosion of quality in private colleges might lower the overall quality of higher education.

Conflicts that arise between national manpower needs and the short-term market signals that influence private higher education institutions have also had serious impacts. The long-term consequences can include manpower imbalances--both shortages and gluts.

In the whole process of privatization, universities might well become more and more efficient, but the important question is: "efficient to do what?" They become financially efficient, generating more and more resources, but in the process lose sight of their main academic goals and objectives. Activities hitherto peripheral to universities tend to become the dominant ones. Universities tend to undertake increasingly more commercial and quasi-commercial activities--such as, consultancy, sale of physical products and services, publication of books, training, and so on. Herein lies the great danger of privatization and to the very development of higher education in India.

Women Empowerment

When it comes to women there have been a few important happenings in the recent past. For the Indian women there were the 73rd and 74th Amendments (1993) to the Constitution, providing for the reservation of seats in the local bodies of panchayats and municipalities and, of course, the post 1995 measures by the government that formed the icing. It is a different issue that the cake was missing.

The government of India had floated zealously its grand ideas for the country by declaring the year 2001 as Women's Empowerment Year, with a focus on achieving the "vision in the new century of a nation where women are equal partners with men". What followed was a spate of programmes and schemes with fine names: Swashakti and Stree Shakti for women's empowerment; Swayam Siddha to benefit nearly a lakh women through micro-credit programmes, Balika Samrudhi Yojana for the girl child and a horde of various other projects, doubtlessly with intentions of going about a greater common good.

Since independence, India has developed several initiatives for guaranteeing education to its people. Although some progress has been achieved, the ever growing population has always come in the way. What is worrisome is the inconsistency that marks the efforts. Every once in a while, when a programme is to be launched or a report released, the activism comes to the fore. For rest of the time the problem exists but is too commonplace and ubiquitous to rouse strong motivation for efforts.

In contrast to the tragedies of the communities affected by drought, flood or civil conflict, the poverty, powerlessness and ill-health, which accompany illiteracy are not easily captured on the camera and brought to the attention of the international public opinion. Today, 125 million primary school age children are not in school; most of them are girls.

The current literacy rate for women in India stands at 54.16 per cent, vis-a-vis that of 75 per cent for males. Efforts are, however, on for raising the standard of the girl child. There are several programmes being undertaken.

It is true that after years of inflicting damage results cannot be achieved in a day. Nonetheless, consistency in efforts will be better than complacency. It will take some time, but the end result will be rewarding. After all, it is not for nothing that it is said that when you educate a boy you educate an individual, but when you educate a girl you educate an entire family.

Economic Status
Women are the major contributors in terms of economic output, but their contribution still remains to be made visible. Men and women are not equally distributed across the types of work. Women are concentrated in the primary sector and in unskilled and marginal work. 95 per cent of women, as against 89 per cent men, are engaged in un-organised sector, and most of them are found in the rural areas. According to the 2001 census, 90 million women constitute the workforce.

Industries that employ more women than men include, processing of edible nuts, domestic services, bidi manufacturing, spinning, weaving, finishing of coir textiles etc. Women also constitute majority of the workforce employed as nurses, ayahs, paramedics and technical workers. Their contribution goes unnoticed as most of the times they are involved as unpaid or home-based workers, who often get counted as non-working housewives.

In her paper on land laws and gender equity, Prof Bina Aggarwal points out the fact that women are much more dependent on land-based livelihoods. Over the years, while the male workers have been moving to non-agricultural arenas, women have remained where they were, owing to their lower mobility, less education and few assets. She notes, "firstly there is systematic bias against the women and female children's sharing of benefits from the male controlled resources—women without independent resources are highly vulnerable to poverty and destitution in case of divorce or widowhood. They often need titles to avail credit facilities."

In last one decade the Union and State governments have envisaged the eradication of poverty through women-oriented programmes, as a major chunk of the population below the poverty line remains the hapless women. The women can also be benefited in a large measure through generating adequate amount of legal awareness and helping them in making efforts to farm collectively, as is being done by the Deccan Development Society (DDS) in Andhra Pradesh.

Marriage and reproductive health
Although the practice of child marriage is history for most, it still continues to be a reality of life in the rural India, especially in the North and West pockets of the country. Every once in a while, there are shocking incidents (which make it to the covers of popular magazines and hit the front pages of newspapers because of the element of horrific unusualness). The news stirs up people, only to fade away in a couple of days when the oddity has turned boring.

Child marriages, banned by law, continue to take place and yet there is no action against this practice. No amount of legislation will be effective as long as the political will to promote gender equity is absent.

The Dowry Prohibition Act has been in force for five decades, and yet, countless atrocities are perpetrated as a result of this despicable practice that finds favour with scores of the households. Marrying off a boy not only marks an easy road to prosperity, but also is seen as redemption of money spent on the daughter's wedding.

Girls in early teens are "traded off" in the name of marriage to men who are older by nothing less than twenty to twenty five years, for a certain amount of money. This saves them the hassle of dowry as well as the search for a groom! The common practice in rural India is to marry the girls around the age of fourteen or fifteen, triggering off an early motherhood for most. Quite the reason for the reproductive health scenario not being so encouraging.

Another complexity that leaves the women at cross roads is fear of the apparent persecution if she bears a daughter. The startling fact is that, on the whole, women themselves prefer a male child despite the negative impact of this mindset on their lives. This seems to be a culturally conditioned choice. This is also the reason why technologies like ultrasound and amniocentesis are being used to determine sex of the child in the womb.

The apathy towards the gender inequities is evident in the classes that are expected to deliver better.


After all these years, it is sad to see the blatant use of woman as a mere "tool" that can be used at will to achieve various ends, and to see it as a much exploited subject for speeches, seminars, schemes and slogans. The crux is that till socio-cultural attitudes are addressed, there can be little meaningful done for achieving gender parity. Women in India are not lacking in self-confidence, but it is important for them to be realising this individually, as well as collectively. Individual self-confidence can be bolstered by the parental confidence, and through approval and appreciation of the community they are a part of.

Domestic violence
The phenomenon of domestic violence is widely prevalent, but has remained largely unseen. Millions of Indian women have, by and large, grown to accept spousal violence and, worse still, being subjected to humiliation and indignity which cripple them mentally. Afraid of the law, men may not commit acts of violence, but, in turn, resort to psychologically pressurising the woman, which has results still worse in nature.

According to the Crime Records Bureau of the Union Home Ministry, of all cases of crime committed against women every year, almost 37 per cent are cases of domestic violence. Then, there are women—especially those belonging to the middle and upper middle classes—who keep quiet for the sake of the family's image.

Most social workers and counsellors agree that the number of domestic violence cases has increased, but attribute the increased reporting to the growing realisation among women that they have to fight back. Domestic violence among the lower class is accepted, and among the upper class it is swept under the carpet. What we get to see is only the emerging middle class, because here the value systems have changed tremendously, whereas the societal systems have not. Sociologist Mohua Bandyopadhyaya also corroborates the facts: "with more and more women in the work place, the modern male feels under siege, and the frustration is taken out on the woman on whom he feels he can assert his will."

There's more to domestic violence than physical abuse. Emotional trauma can be far more crippling.

Legislative Status
Women in India have made major inroads in various male-dominated professions, including the governmental bureaucracy. In the fields of business, medicine, engineering, law, art and culture, women who were given opportunities to acquire the necessary skills and education have proven themselves capable of holding their own, without availing of any special measures to facilitate their entry. But they have failed to gain ground in the field of politics. Moreover, the agenda of women's empowerment seems to have lost the kind of moral and political legitimacy it enjoyed during the freedom movement, as was evident from the ugly scenes in the aftermath of tabling of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Parliament.

Infact, women are moving in the direction of near equal political participation in only a handful of countries, such as Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. In these societies, women have begun to seriously alter the very nature of politics, making enduring, and substantial gains in every field.

All trends indicate that women's representation in politics requires special consideration, and cannot be left to the forces that presently dominate our parties and government. Today, even the best of female parliamentarians feel sidelined and powerless within their respective parties. Most women in electoral and party politics are an ineffective minority within their own respective political groupings.
The very same male party leaders who compete with each other in announcing their support of special reservations for women, have shown little willingness to include women in party decision-making, or even to help create a conducive atmosphere for women's participation in their own organisations.

In fact, women's marginalisation is even more pronounced in the day-to-day functioning of almost all political parties, than in the Parliament. Therefore, it is urgently required that we take special measures to enhance women's political participation. Our democracy will remain seriously flawed if it fails to yield adequate space to women.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT
The Supreme Court judgement on Sexual Harassment of working women in the case of Vishakha vs. the State of Rajasthan (August 1997) initiated debate on the issue not just among women’s groups, lawyers and activists, but also among women in the workplace. For the first time, behaviour that can be considered sexual harassment has been explicitly legally defined.

“… sexual harassment includes such unwelcome sexually determined behaviour (whether directly or by implication) as:
—Physical contact and advances; a demand or request for sexual favours;
—sexually coloured remarks;
—showing pornography;
—any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.”

The guidelines are significant in that, for the first time sexual harassment is identified as a separate category of legally prohibitive behaviour. Sexual harassment should be considered a separate legal offence not because it is less serious (as some have argued), but because it is taken less seriously.

Particularly in the absence of witnesses or other concrete proof, it often becomes the complainant’s word against the harasser’s. Further, in addition to sexual harassment being a violation of the right to safe working conditions, the guidelines also proclaim it to be a violation of women’s right to equal opportunity in the workplace.

It is the duty of the employer or other responsible persons in work places or other institutions to prevent sexual harassment and to provide procedures for resolution of complaints. Women who either draw a regular salary, receive an honorarium, or work in a voluntary capacity—in the government; private sector or un-organized sectors—come under the purview of these guidelines.

Main guidelines are:

• Express prohibition of sexual harassment should be notified and circulated.
• Prohibition of sexual harassment should be included in the rules and regulations of government and public sector bodies.
• Private employers should include prohibition of sexual harassment in the standing orders under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.
• Appropriate work conditions should be provided for work, leisure, health, and hygiene to further ensure that there is no hostile environment towards women at workplaces and no woman employee should have reasonable grounds to believe that she is disadvantaged in connection with her employment.
• Sexual harassment should be affirmatively discussed at worker’s meetings, employer-employees meetings and other appropriate forums.
• Guidelines should be prominently notified to create awareness of the rights of female employers.
• The employer should assist persons affected in cases of sexual harassment by outsiders or third parties.
• Central and State governments are required to adopt measures including legislation to ensure that private employers also observe guidelines.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT, 2005
The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 was brought into force from October 26, 2006. The Act was passed by the Parliament in August 2005 and assented to by the President in September 2005.

For the purposes of this Act, any conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence if he (a) habitually assaults or makes the life of the aggrieved person miserable by cruelty of conduct even if such conduct does not amount to physical ill-treatment; or (b) forces the aggrieved person to lead an immoral life; or (c) otherwise injures or harms the aggrieved person.

Nothing contained in clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall amount to domestic violence if the pursuit of course of conduct by the respondent was reasonable for his own protection or for the protection of his or another’s property.

Primarily meant to provide protection to the wife or female live-in partner from domestic violence at the hands of the husband or male live-in partner or his relatives, the law also extends its protection to women who are sisters, widows or mothers. Domestic violence under the act includes actual abuse or the threat of abuse whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic. Harassment by way of unlawful dowry demands to the woman or her relatives would also be covered under this definition.

Important Bills

1. Central Information Commission:-
• Central information commission is constituted by the central government through a gazette
notification.
• The commission includes one chief information and not more than 10 information commission.
• All are appointed by the president.
• Oath of office is administered by the president of India according to the form set out in the first
schedule.
• Central information commission and state information commission have power of civil court.
2. Election Commission celebrates diamond jubilee:-
• The president of India recently inaugurated the diamond jubilee celebration of the election
commission of India.
• The commission was set up on Jan 25, 1950. While the rest of the constitution came into force
on Jan 26, 1950.
• Article 324 that created the commission was one of those exceptional provisions given effect as
early as on Nov 26, 1949.
• Until Oct 1989 there was just one chief election commission. In 1991 a law providing for the
appointment of two election commissioners. This law was amended and renamed in 1993.
• The election commission enjoys complete autonomy and is insulated from any kind of
executive interference.
• It also functions as a quasi-judicial body in matters of electoral disputes and other matters
involving the conduct of elections.
• However the decisions of the body are liable for independent judicial reviews by courts acting
on electoral petitions.
Principal functions of Election Commission of India:-
• Demarcation of consistencies
• Preparation of electoral rolls
• Recognition of political parties and allotment of symbols
• Scrutiny of nomination papers
• Conduct of polls
• Scrutiny of election expenses of candidates.
• The national health bill – 2009
• It seeks to provide health , health equity and justice for all Indians
3. National Health Bill- 2009
It seeks to provide health, health equity and justice for all Indians.
Its Important Features are:-
• Right to heath care:- the bill seeks to legalize the right to health care along with other issues
associated with health rights.
• Emergency care:- no individual should be denied emergency treatment because of his inability
to pay fees or due to the requirement for police clearance.
• Patient complaints:- bill seeks to make it mandatory for the hospitals to address patient
complaints on 24x7 basis.
• Name of doctor involved in treatment:- every patient has the right to know the name of
doctor/ nurse involved in his treatment.
4. National Arrears Grid:-
• Union law minister had announced that the national arrears grid and the special purpose vehicle
would implement the action plan to bring down the arrears of cases pending in various courts.
• The action plans should focus on human resource development, infrastructure development and
procedural reforms.
• It is decided that special judges to deal with all pending criminal cases where the term of
sentences was less than 3 years.
• It favored creation of a national pool of judicial officers from retired judges to enable persons
from the pool to be appointed as high court judges.
5. Gram Nyayalayas:-
• The Gram Nyayalayas act 2008 had been enacted to provide for the establishment of the gram
nyayalayas at the grass root level for the purpose of providing access to justice to the citizens at
their door steps.
Salient features:-
• It is aimed at providing inexpensive justice to people in rural areas at their door steps.
• It will have its court of judicial magistrate of the first class and its presiding officers
( Nyayadhikri) shall be appointed by the state government in consultation with the High Court.
• The Gram Nyayalaya shall be established for every panchyats at intermediate level in a district
or where there is no panchayat at intermediate level in any state for a group of contiguous
panchayats.
• Gram nyayalaya shall be a mobile court and shall exercise the powers of both criminal and civil
courts.
• Officiating nyaydhikari will go to villages work there and dispose of the cases.
6. Law commission:-
• It is a non- statutory body.
• Constituted by the government from time to time originally constituted in 1955 and it is
reconstituted every three years.
7. Judges ( inquiry) bill , 2006:-
• The judges ( inquiry ) bill 2006 established a national judicial council ( NJC) to conduct
Inquiries into allegations of incapacity or misbehavior by high court and Supreme Court judges.
• The proposed NJC would consist of the chief justice of India, two Supreme Court judges and
two high court chief justices to investigate high court judge (It has been change again in the new
draft).
• The chief justice of India and four Supreme Court judges to investigate Supreme Court judges.
• The NJC shall investigate complaints submitted by any persons, or upon receiving a references
from parliament based on a motion moved by 50 Rajya Sabha or 100 Lok Sabha m.p.
• If the allegations are proven, the NJC may impose minor measures or recommended the removal of judges. Removal of judges shall be through impeachment by parliament.
8. Biotechnology Regulating Authority of India (BRAI) bill:-
• This Bill would bring about wide ranging changes in the process of regulating research,
transport, import, manufacture and use of G.M product in the country.
Controversy regarding the Bill:-
• According to section 81 of the bill the act will have an overriding effect over other state – level
acts. Activists allege that this ignores the constitutional powers of states over agriculture and
health
• This bill has no provisions for public participation, which is a violation of article 23.2 of the
Cartagena Protocol on bio- safety to which India is a signatory.
• The bill also states that whoever without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public
about the safety of organism and products shall be punished with imprisonment for a term
which shall not be less than six months. But which may extend to one year and with fine which
may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.
• The bill serves to over ride state specific concerns by making the proposed authority solely
responsible for releasing and controlling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) through out
the country and envisages only an advisory role for state.
9. The prohibitions of unfair practices in technical, medical
educations institutions and universities bill:-
• It is drafted by the Human Resource development ministry to provide for a central law to curb
malpractices.
• However in the T.M.A pai , case supreme court held that establishment of private unaided
educational institutions was in the exercise of fundamental rights to occupations under article 19
(1) (g) of the constitution.
10. Communal violence bill:-
• It is communal violence (prevention, control and rehabilitation) bill.
• The bill empowers the centre to intervene to tackle communal violence without the concurrence
of the state government , if it is believe that state is not doing enough to control the violence.
• The bill also empowers the centre to declare any area in any state communally disturbed, if it is
convinced that the state government is not following its directions to control or to check
communal violence.
• The bill gives the central government exclusive power to constitute a unified command to deal
with communal violence.