India Legal - 4 November 2019

NDIA EGALL STORIES THAT COUNT
` 100
I
www.indialegallive.com
November4, 2019
NCW:
Guardianship rights
Abhijit Banerjee: Noble
ideas for better governance
STORIES THAT COUNTSTORIES THAT COUNT
`` 100100November4 2019November4, 2019NN
AsdesignatedchiefjusticeofIndia,JusticeSharadArvindBobdehasshownhisadroitness
inironingoutproblemswhichcouldhavejeopardisedtheSupremeCourt’sfunctioningand
articulatedauniqueviewontherighttoprivacy
ThePeacemaker

UR cover story this week zooms in on
Sharad Arvind Bobde who will be
sworn in on November 18 as India’s
47th chief justice. It will be a sobering
day for the judiciary and for the
nation, not only because of the solemnity of the
occasion but also because continuity and consti-
tutional propriety will have been maintained.
I seem to be stating the obvious. What I am
doing, actually, is observing what could be a 2019
Diwali blessing on the apex court: a return to nor-
malcy and propriety and, hopefully, a signalling of
the maintenance of the independence of this
institution as, perhaps, the most powerful guar-
antor of the strength of the edifice of the separa-
tion of powers and constitu-
tional governance.
The word “return” is used
here with deliberate intent.
Normalcy, distressingly, see-
med to have taken flight during
the last several years with the
controversy over the NJAC, the
four judges’ rebellious presser,
attempts to impeach then CJI
Dipak Misra, the refusal of the
Executive in following the Memorandum of
Procedure in order to fill the vacant seats in the
Court and the uncertainty over whether Misra
would abide by the convention of recommending
his next most senior Justice, Ranjan Gogoi, to
succeed him and whether the centre would balk at
this decision should he make it… the now-dis-
missed sexual harassment charges against the
outgoing chief justice….
It just never seemed to end. And cynics, per-
haps rightly so, were ready to believe anything.
The current ruling dispensation is not exactly in
love with the higher judiciary. It seems eager to
see those judges on the bench whom they per-
ceive, because of past records, to be more sympa-
thetic to its views on privacy, religious disputes
like Ayodhya, rule by Executive fiat and ordi-
nances, the use of law enforcement agencies for
political vendetta, human rights and habeas cor-
pus. The possibility of supersession and indeco-
rous manipulations hangs over the system like a
Damoclean sword.
Even if the Lord is to be thanked for small
mercies, it does come as a relief that Bobde’s
appointment was de rigueur. As our cover story
points out, Bobde is an officer and a gentleman
and an incorrigible peacemaker who played a
cardinal role in defusing the crisis that erupted
on January 12, 2018, because of the press con-
ference held by four senior puisne judges of the
Supreme Court against then CJI Misra’s style of
functioning as the administra-
tive head of the Court.
Bobde’s role in resolving
tensions and restoring normal-
cy within the Court in the fol-
lowing days may remain hidden
from public knowledge “until
one of those protagonists writes
their memoirs to recall those
events which tested the Court’s
resilience”, says the cover story.
According to one perceptive journalist, Bobde
brokered peace between Misra on the one side
and the four most senior judges—Justices J
Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur
and Kurian Joseph—on the other.
It is also propitious that Bobde’s appointment
comes at a time when the Supreme Court, for
the first time, is functioning with 34 judges—
the sanctioned full strength. It reached its cur-
rent number in September when CJI Gogoi
administered the oath to four new judges recom-
mended by the Collegium and cleared by the
Supreme Court. The four new faces were former
chief justices of various High Courts—V
Ramasubramanian of Himachal Pradesh High
Court, Krishna Murari of Punjab and Haryana
THE CJI’S CROWN
OF THORNS
Inderjit Badhwar
O
ItispropitiousthatJusticeSA
Bobde’sappointmentcomesata
timewhentheSC,forthefirsttime,
isfunctioningwiththesanctioned
fullstrength.Thishappened in
SeptemberafterCJIGogoi
administeredtheoathtofourjudges.
Letter from the Editor
4 November 4, 2019

| INDIA LEGAL | November 4, 2019 5
High Court, S Ravindra Bhat of Rajasthan
High Court and Hrishikesh Roy of Kerala
High Court.
With this enhancement, the Supreme Court
threw open the doors of two new courtrooms,
Numbers 16 & 17, much to the delight of
lawyers and litigants who huddle and jostle for
hours in the serpentine corridors of the Court.
The number of judges was increased to 34 fol-
lowing the passage of the Supreme Court
(Number of Judges) Bill of 2019 into law.
This increase followed the CJI’s plea to the
prime minister to enlarge the number of
judges. The Supreme Court (Number of
Judges) Act, 1956, originally provided for a
maximum of 10 judges (excluding the CJI).
This increased to 13 through the Supreme
Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act,
1960, and to 17 in 1977. Subsequent increment
followed: In 1986, the strength was 25, exclud-
ing the CJI. Subsequently, in 2009, it went up
by five to a total of 30; but the Court never
worked at full strength as it is doing now.
T
oday, Bobde has his hands full. The
Supreme Court is celebrating its 70th
year. Its image, as our cover story
observes, is far different from what it was in its
early years. Its sheer new size poses a challenge
in ensuring its coherence. With the demand to
set up regional benches of the Supreme Court
coming from Vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu
himself, the stakes for safeguarding the image
of the Court as the only institution where
every citizen can have faith in protecting and
promoting the ideals of the Constitution, are
very high.
The office of the CJI, our cover story points
out, “epitomises the institution of the judiciary
itself, although he himself is only first among
equals in the Supreme Court. The CJI, as the
administrative head of the Supreme Court, pro-
vides leadership to the entire higher judiciary
by seeking to ensure discipline and accounta-
bility of the judges. He exercises this responsi-
bility formally through the collegium by mak-
ing recommendations to the centre to appoint
and transfer judges of the higher judiciary and
is expected to protect the institutional interests
vis-à-vis pressures from the executive”.
In addition, as the head of the judicial fami-
ly, the CJI is also expected to perform an infor-
mal role in redressing complaints against indi-
vidual judges by setting up in-house inquiry
committees to probe them. The CJI also exer-
cises his powers through High Court chief jus-
tices to withdraw work from those judges who
defy his advice to quit if the committee finds
substance in complaints against them. The CJI
also has the power to permit investigative agen-
cies such as the police and the CBI to probe
allegations against judges and register FIRs
if necessary.
The oath of office that the new CJI will be
administered, as spelled out in the Third
Schedule of the Constitution, may sound sim-
ple on the face of it but it sets the bar high:
“I, Sharad Arvind Bobde, having been
appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of India, do swear in the name of God that I
will bear true faith and allegiance to the
Constitution of India as by law established, I
will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of
India. I will duly and faithfully and to the best
of my ability, knowledge and judgment perform
the duties of my office without fear or favour,
affection or ill-will and that I will uphold the
Constitution and the laws.”
Good luck, Mr CJI. And welcome to your
crown of thorns.
Today,CJI-designate
JusticeBobdehashis
handsfull.TheSupreme
Courtiscelebratingits
70thyear.Itsimageis
fardifferentfromwhat
itwasinitsearlyyears.
Itssheernewsize
posesachallenge
inensuringits
coherence.Thestakes
forsafeguardingthe
imageoftheCourtare
veryhigh.
Twitter: @indialegalmedia
Website: www.indialegallive.com
Contact: editor@indialegallive.com

ContentsVOLUME XII ISSUE51
NOVEMBER4,2019
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(Web)
6 November 4, 2019
SPOTLIGHT
16
The government’s plan to
downgrade the post of the
Chief Information
Commissioner and other
information commissioners
is seen as another nail in the
RTI coffin
Choking
Information
LEAD
12Peacemaker at the Helm
As the future head of the judicial family, CJI-designate Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde
has shown his adroitness in smoothening out schisms within the apex court and
articulating a unique view on the right to privacy

Followuson
Facebook.com/indialegalmedia
Twitter:@indialegalmedia
Website:www.indialegallive.com
Contact:editor@indialegallive.com
Cover Design: ANTHONY LAWRENCE
As nations fight obesity and diabetes, there is
an increasing realisation that regulations can
also help as increased taxes on junk food
and sugary drinks can significantly bring
down their consumption
38
HEALTH
The Fight
Against Fat
REGULARS
Ringside............................8
Courts ...............................9
Is That Legal...................10
International Briefs..........36
Media Watch ..................47
Satire ..............................50
Time for
Retribution
The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal
has investigated and prosecuted suspects of
the genocide in the 1971 liberation war and
sentenced five to death
48
The pioneering work of the Nobel Prize-winning trio of Dr Abhijit
Banerjee, his wife, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer in alleviating
poverty using Randomised Controlled Trials can help the government
deliver services more efficiently and tackle difficult challenges
19
ECONOMICS
Noble Ideas for Better
Governance
The GST has had its
share of glitches, leading
to a fallout on consumers
and states. A 12-member
panel has been formed
to suggest reforms and
changes
Policy
Blues
Encouraging English
The SP of UP’s Balrampur district has asked policemen to brush up their English
skills and start reading newspapers in that language to grasp SC and HC orders
42
STATES
Back to Square One
The Rajasthan government’s decision to opt
for an appeal against the acquittal of all six
accused in the Pehlu Khan case is an admis-
sion of the failure of its soft-Hindutva stance
MYSPACE
The feeling is gaining ground that India should follow the example of
several other countries and accept that marital rape is a crime
It’s All About Respect 30
COLUMN
Recommendations made by the
National Commission for Women
are a welcome attempt to address
the problems relating to laws on
children and guardianship rights
24
FOCUS
Win-Win for
Women
The Medical Council of India
has said that postgraduate
medical students must practise
in rural areas before they get
their degrees
Call of Service
GLOBALTRENDS
27
34
44

8 November 4, 2019
Anthony Lawrence
RINGSIDE
KV Chowdary
Ex-CBDT Chairman
Mukesh Ambani

The centre and Facebook sparred in the
Supreme Court after the former, citing
national security requirements, asked the
social media giant to help it decrypt pri-
vate messages on its network. Attorney
General (AG) KK Venugopal told the apex
court that “a terrorist cannot claim priva-
cy, to say they cannot decrypt is not
acceptable”.
Facebook owns WhatsApp, which is
used by over 400 million Indians to send
several hundred millions of text mes-
sages, photos and videos using end-to-
end encryption. This means that only the
sender and the recipient can read what’s
sent, and nobody in between, not even
WhatsApp itself! In an affidavit, the gov-
ernment said that it wants to frame new
rules to govern social media “keeping in
view the ever-growing threats to individual
rights and nation’s integrity, sovereignty,
and security”.
But Facebook’s lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi,
who incidentally was Venugopal’s prede-
cessor as AG, told the apex court that the
company was not obliged to share users’
data with the government. He said Indian
laws neither mandated companies to
share data with government agencies, nor
placed the onus of facilitating a process
of decrypting messages on them. “The
rules say if I have the key, I could give the
key. But I don’t have the key myself,”
Rohatgi said, referring to Facebook or
WhatsApp servers which are located out-
side India.
The Supreme Court will now consoli-
date all pending cases on the issue from
lower courts across the country and hear
them from the last week of January.
Courts
—Compiled by India Legal Team
No stay on Metro car
shed in Aarey, says SC
The apex court made it clear that
construction of the Mumbai Metro’s
car shed at Aarey colony in Mumbai will
go on uninterrupted and its status quo
order given earlier was only on further
felling of trees. “There is no stay on the
Metro car shed project. Our status quo
order is with respect to felling of trees,"
said a two-judge bench.
The bench also sought a detailed
report on the number of trees trans-
planted to make amends for felling. It
wanted the report to also state whether
the land was being used for any other
purpose. However, the bench was
assured by the counsel representing
Maharashtra and the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation that no further
felling of trees had taken place after its
order and the land would be used only
for building the car shed.
The centre got the go-
ahead from the Sup-
reme Court to re-build the
Guru Ravidas Temple in
the Tughlaqabad forest
area of south Delhi and at
the same place where it
stood earlier. It told the
Court that it will allot 400
sq m of land for recon-
struction.
A two-judge bench of
the Court also agreed to
the centre’s suggestion
that a panel will be formed
consisting of devotees and
the land handed over to it
for construction. It directed
that the panel be formed
within six weeks. The cen-
tre was also given a pat on
the back for coming up
with a feasible and amica-
ble solution on the issue.
The Court, however,
put a ban on all kinds of
commercial activity within
and outside the area ear-
marked for the temple. It
also made it clear that the
construction will only take
place on the land allotted
for the temple.
The request from the
Guru Ravidas Jayanti
Samaroh—the body
spearheading the move-
ment for the temple’s con-
struction—that the con-
cerned land be handed
over to them was also
turned down by the Court.
The body was in charge
of the demolished temple
and was looking after
its affairs.
Earlier, the temple was
brought down by the Delhi
Development Authority on
the instructions of the apex
court. This had led to
massive protests by the
followers of Guru Ravidas
in Delhi, Punjab and
Haryana. The Court, keep-
ing in mind the sentiments
of the devotees, after hear-
ing them, had re-examined
its order and softened
its stand.
SC sanctions re-building of Ravidas temple
Centre, Facebook
face off in SC
over encryption
SC issues notice to
Chhattisgarh CM
While staying the trial in the Chhatti-
sgarh sex CD case, the apex court
also issued notice to CM Bhupesh
Baghel, an accused, on a request from
the CBI to transfer it from the state. The
CBI said in its plea that Baghel was
threatening the witnesses. It had regis-
tered a case against Baghel in 2018,
when he was the state Congress presi-
dent, based on a complaint that he,
Vinod Verma, a former
BBC journalist, and others
had tried to frame then
PWD Minister Rajesh
Munat in a fake sex CD
case. Baghel was also
in jail over the case.

ISTHAT
What are the legal remedies
available to a victim of do-
mestic violence other than
approaching the nearest mag-
istrate’s court?
According to the Protection of
Women from Domestic Vio-
lence Act, 2005, a victim of
domestic violence can app-
roach the Protection Officer
appointed under the statute.
Protection Officers are
nominated by the state gov-
ernment and have the power
to ensure shelter, medical
assistance and help for filing
a complaint with the magis-
trate. These officers also
educate the aggrieved person
on all rights available under
the Act. They are also res-
ponsible for preparing the
domestic violence report on
behalf of the aggrieved wo-
man and submitting it to
the magistrate.
— Compiled by India Legal team
Role of a Protection Officer
How does a magistrate take cogni-
sance of an offence?
When a magistrate takes cognisance of
an offence, it means he has taken
notice of it legally, with the intention of
initiating proceedings in a court. Any
magistrate of first class or second
class, who has been especially
empowered by the chief judicial ma-
gistrate and is competent to inquire into
or try such offences, may take cogni-
sance of an offence after receiving a
complaint or after he has received a
police report or has received informa-
tion from any other person or after
being aware of the alleged offence.
Offence Procedure
?
Ignorance of law is no excuse. Here are answers to frequently asked
queries regarding matters that affect us on a day to day basis
What is a habeas corpus
writ petition?
Habeas corpus is a Latin
term which literally means,
“you may have the body”.
The writ is used by courts
to order the physical pres-
ence of a person to find
out if he has been illegally
detained, thus violating his
fundamental rights.
Articles 32 and 226
empower the Supreme
Court and High Courts,
respectively, to exercise
such powers under
habeas corpus to protect
fundamental rights and
ensure release. The pro-
tection of life and personal
liberty is a fundamental
right under Article 21 of
the Constitution which is
violated in case a person
is illegally confined.
What are the things one must
keep in mind while buying a
health insurance policy?
Purchasing a health insurance
policy is a must as expenses
can go through the roof and
dip into your savings in case
of medical emergencies.
However, there are some
guidelines that must be fol-
lowed while buying a policy.
You need to know that there
are restrictions on coverage.
Special attention must also be
paid to the clause that exclu-
des pre-existing diseases and
it is mandatory you disclose
all major and minor health
issues to the insurance provi-
der. Then there are other iss-
ues like the waiting period be-
fore certain diseases can be
covered, restrictions on vari-
ous expenses related to hos-
pitalisation, co-payment, pre-
conditions for renewal and
upper limits for age at entry
and for renewal.
Policy Blues
Power of
Courts
10 November 4, 2019

Lead/ Supreme Court/ Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde
Peacemaker
Asthefutureheadofthejudicial
family,theCJI-designatehas
shownhisadroitnessin
smootheningoutschismswithin
theCourtandarticulatingaunique
viewontherighttoprivacy
By Venkatasubramanian
USTICE Sharad Arvind Bobde
will be the 47th chief justice of
India (CJI) with his elevation
almost certain following outgo-
ing CJI Ranjan Gogoi’s recom-
mendation to the government
naming him as his successor.
Bobde, who is expected to be sworn in
on November 18 following Gogoi’s retir-
ement, will be at the helm till April 23,
2021, when he completes 65 years, the
age of superannuation for SC judges.
The office of the CJI epitomises the
J
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Justice Bobde is uniquely qualified to take up
the many challenges facing the apex court

institution of the judiciary itself, alth-
ough he himself is only first among equ-
als in the Supreme Court. The CJI, as
the administrative head of the Supreme
Court, provides leadership to the entire
higher judiciary by seeking to ensure
discipline and accountability of the jud-
ges. He exercises this responsibility for-
mally through the collegium by making
recommendations to the centre to appo-
int and transfer judges of the higher
judiciary and is expected to protect the
institutional interests vis-à-vis pressures
from the executive.
As the head of the judicial family, the
CJI is also expected to perform an infor-
mal role in redressing complaints agai-
nst individual judges by setting up in-
house inquiry committees to probe th-
em. The CJI also exercises his powers
through high court chief justices to wit-
hdraw work from those judges who defy
his advice to quit if the committee finds
substance in the complaints against
them. The CJI also has the power to
permit investigative agencies such as
the police and the CBI to probe allega-
tions against judges and register FIRs
if necessary.
But it is not because of these reasons
alone that Bobde’s tenure is anticipated
with huge expectations. His turn to lead
the judiciary comes at a crucial time
when the Supreme Court completes 70
years of its existence and with its image
far different from what it was in its early
years. Today, the Supreme Court com-
prises 34 judges, including the CJI, and
its sheer size poses a challenge in ensur-
ing its coherence.
With the demand to set up regional
benches of the Supreme Court coming
from Vice-president Venkaiah Naidu
himself, the stakes for safeguarding the
image of the Court as the only institu-
tion where every citizen can have faith
in protecting and promoting the ideals
of the Constitution are very high. It is
with regard to this that many consider
Bobde uniquely qualified to take up this
challenge, although the principle of sen-
iority is cast in stone.
In the history of the Supreme Court,
January 12, 2018 signifies a sad chapter
because of the press conference held
then by four senior puisne judges of the
Supreme Court against then CJI Dipak
Misra’s style of functioning as the
administrative head of the Court.
Bobde’s role in defusing tensions and
restoring normalcy within the Court in
the following days may remain hidden
from public knowledge until one of
those protagonists writes their memoirs
to recall those events which tested the
Court’s resilience. According to one per-
ceptive journalist, Bobde brokered peace
between Misra on the one side and the
four most senior judges—Justices J
Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B
Lokur and Kurian Joseph—on the other.
Bobde was one of the two judges of
the Supreme Court who had rushed
within hours of the press conference to
the residence of Chelameswar where the
presser was held. The other was Justice
L Nageswara Rao. Bobde, like the other
judges of the Supreme Court, was com-
pletely taken by surprise by the presser,
which was being shown live on televi-
sion. He, therefore, sought to under-
stand his colleagues’ concerns and
resolve them in the following days.
As an immediate step, he advised
them to avoid the public fora to discuss
internal issues of the Court and use
internal mechanisms instead. Bobde
was then sixth in seniority after the CJI
and, being in line to become the CJI in
future, he was uniquely placed to act as
a bridge between Misra and his critics
within the Court.
T
he uploading of the collegium’s
resolutions and the judges’ roster
of work for fresh cases on the
Supreme Court’s website after this were
considered Misra’s overtures to regain
the trust of his estranged colleagues.
However, not many knew or spoke
about Bobde’s role behind the scenes in
this reconciliation. Tensions were,
indeed, simmering in the Court in the
aftermath of the press conference, but
things were more or less under control
as the Court continued to present a pic-
ture of a functioning court despite inter-
nal schisms.
Bobde is the son of Arvind Bobde,
former advocate general of Mahar-
ashtra. He practised in the Bombay
High Court and Supreme Court for
over 21 years. He was appointed addi-
tional judge to the Bombay High Court
on March 29, 2000. On October 16,
2012, he was elevated as the chief
justice of the Madhya Pradesh High
Court. On April 12, 2013, he joined the
Supreme Court.
Among his notable judgments, the
one declaring the right to privacy as a
fundamental right stands out.
Delivering a concurring judgment as
part of the nine-judge bench in Justice
K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India on
August 24, 2017, Bobde agreed with
at the Helm
Histurntoleadthejudiciarycomesata
crucialtimewhentheSupremeCourt
completes70yearsofitsexistence,and
withitsimagefardifferentfromwhatit
wasintheearlyyears.Itssheersize
posesachallengeinensuringcoherence.

14 November 4, 2019
capacity to think, read and write in pri-
vate and is often exercised in a state of
privacy with the exclusion of those not
intended to be spoken to or communi-
cated with, he suggested. It is not possi-
ble to conceive of an individual being
able to practise a profession or carry on
trade, business or occupation without
the right to privacy in practical terms
and without the right and power to keep
others away from his work, he said.
T
o Bobde, the right to privacy is
embodied in our constitutional
provisions in several ways. Non-
interference from the State is required
by Article 26 to enable every religious
denomination to maintain institutions
for religious and charitable purposes.
Article 28(3) recognises the right of a
student attending an educational insti-
tution recognised by the State to be left
alone and not compelled to take part in
any religious instruction unless his
guardian has consented to it. Future
developments in technology and social
ordering may well reveal that there are
yet more constitutional sites in which a
privacy right inheres that are not at
present evident to us, he envisaged.
Agreeing that the right to privacy is
not an absolute right and can be reason-
ably restricted given a sufficiently com-
pelling State interest, he insisted that
such restrictions must satisfy the tests
applicable to whichever freedoms guar-
anteed by the Constitution they affect.
Thus in 2013, as part of a two-judge
bench, he declared that no Indian citi-
zen could be deprived of basic services
and government subsidies for the lack of
an Aadhaar card.
Bobde also headed the in-house com-
mittee comprising himself and Justices
Indira Banerjee and Indu Malhotra
which gave a clean chit to Gogoi in the
sexual harassment allegations levelled
against him by a former Court employ-
ee. This was a trying moment as he had
to maintain public confidence in the
robustness of the institution to inquire
into allegations against its own head.
He also suffered from a probable
conflict of interest as his own elevation
as CJI had to be cleared by Gogoi,
though it was a mere formality.
The in-house committee’s reluctance
to make its report public, therefore, will
always be cited by Bobde’s critics
against him.
the other judges on the bench, but
sought to put forward his own analysis.
He traced the natural right of privacy to
common law as early as 1604. He expla-
ined how Chapter 17 of the Indian Penal
Code, 1860, treats trespass against prop-
erty of an individual as a criminal offen-
ce, thus embodying the right to privacy.
Bobde also articulated in his judg-
ment why individuals would choose to
retain their privacy even in public.
Privacy, he said, must also mean the
effective guarantee of a zone of internal
freedom in which to think. “The discon-
certing effect of having another peer
over one’s shoulder while reading or
writing explains why individuals would
choose to retain their privacy even in
public,” he wrote. It is important to be
able to keep one’s work without publish-
ing it in a condition which may be
described as private, he reasoned. The
vigour and vitality of the various expres-
sive freedoms guaranteed by the
Constitution depends on the existence of
the corresponding guarantee of cogni-
tive freedom, he added. Privacy is,
therefore, necessary both in its mental
and physical aspects as an enabler of
guaranteed freedoms, he explained.
Freedom of speech and expression, to
illustrate, is always dependent on the
Lead/ Supreme Court/ Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde
Journalistsintheknow
sayBobdebrokered
peacebetweenthen
CJIDipakMisraonthe
onesideandhis
colleagues(fromleft)—
JusticesKurianJoseph,
JChelameswar,
RanjanGogoiand
MadanBLokur—on
theother,afterthey
heldapressconference
onJanuary12,2018,
againstMisra’sstyle
offunctioning.
UNI

Spotlight/ Chief Information Commissioner
16 November 4, 2019
HERE is news that the De-
partment of Personnel and
Training (DoPT), working
directly under the prime
minister, is slowly killing
the Right to Information
Act. In July 2019, Parliament passed a
bill to amend Section 13 and Section 16
of the RTI Act to review the terms of
Central Information Commissioners
(CICs) and State Information
Commissioners (SICs). The amendment
said that their appointment will be “for
such term as may be prescribed by the
Central Government,” and that salaries,
allowances and other terms of service of
the CIC/IC “shall be such as may be pre-
scribed by the Central Government”.
The clumsy reason given for this am-
endment is that, at present, Chief/Infor-
mation Commissioners enjoy parity with
the Chief/Election Commissioners and
this was not acceptable as the Election
Commission is a constitutional body,
while Information Commissions are
only statutory bodies established under
the RTI Act, 2005. This is a cooked-up
excuse to justify the final slaughtering of
the RTI Act and to choke the informa-
tion flow available to people.
According to the draft rules being
framed by the DoPT, the terms and con-
ditions of the CIC, including pay and
perks, would be the same as of the cabi-
net secretary, which is significantly
lower than of the Chief Election
CostlyDowngrade
Accordingtoanewgovernmentplan,thetermsandconditionsoftheCICwillbethesameasthatofthe
cabinetsecretaryandlowerthantheCEC’s.Isthisasignalthatthispostisnothighontheprioritylist?
By MG Devasahayam
T
FIGHTING FOR
TRANSPARENCY
A group of activists
protests against
amendments in the
RTI Act. The
Opposition claims
that the government
is trying to choke the
information flow
Anil Shakya

the government in power.
The argument from the government’s
side has been that the jobs of ICs have
become sinecures for a favoured few and
therefore, need not be given much
importance. This is indeed true and has
been the root cause for the degeneration
of the RTI Act and the dismal imple-
mentation of its provisions. Most of the
Commissioners appointed were of low
calibre and products of the spoils system
and had no idea of transparency in gov-
ernance and the key role information
plays in achieving this. The functioning
of most Information Commissions has
become tedious as could be seen from
the recent happenings in Karnataka
wherein all nine ICs charged the CIC
with “misconduct and abuse of power”
and wanted him suspended.
T
he “halal” operation on RTI
started soon after the Act was
enacted in 2005 after several
years of struggle by civil society. This is
what the preamble of the Act says:
“Whereas democracy requires an infor-
med citizenry and transparency of infor-
mation which are vital to its functioning
and also to contain corrup-
tion and to hold Govern-
ments and their instru-
mentalities accountable to
the governed.” The objec-
tive of the Act was to
secure access to informa-
tion under the control of
public authorities in order
to promote transparency
and accountability. Yet
from the very beginning, it
was a like-dislike relation-
ship between the govern-
ment and the people.
Rooted in the colonial
years of autocratic gover-
nance and secrecy in gov-
ernment, India’s bureau-
cracy resisted RTI from the
start. They felt uncomfort-
able with the severe dilu-
tion of the Official Secrets
Act which most of them
worshipped. So they started to sabotage
the Act from within by packing the In-
formation Commissions with retired
bureaucrats and other favourites from
different walks of life. With an opportu-
nity for rent-seeking, politicians were
elated. In the event, hundreds of hard-
core retired bureaucrats who had rev-
ered the Official Secrets Act while in
office and had toed their political mas-
ters’ line became “agents of transparen-
cy” and began catering to the needs of
an “informed citizenry”.
In 2011, former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh himself joined the
chorus against the RTI Act when he
took a stand at the sixth annual conven-
tion of Information Commissioners in
Delhi that “RTI Act needed a critical
review”. He was of the view that the Act
was adversely affecting the “deliberative
process” in the government and the effi-
ciency of officers. He went on to say that
the government was being flooded with
RTI requests having no bearing on pub-
lic interest. He said this situation was
“undesirable” as it was stretching the
limited time and resources available
with the government. Further, he
Commissioner. Those of the central ICs
will be similar to those of a secretary to
the government. State CICs will draw
pay and perks equivalent to that of a
secretary (or chief secretary of the
state), and ICs of the state may get the
pay and perks of additional secretaries
to the government. Besides, the CIC
and the ICs will have a fixed tenure of
only three years as against the five now,
which is the same as that of Election
Commissioners.
At present, apart from salary, CICs
and ICs avail of sumptuous allowances
and several perks and benefits on a par
with Election Commissioners. If the CIC
and ICs are downgraded, several of
these perks and benefits would be lost.
This may also mean that they are
likely to be downgraded several notches
in the “Table of Precedence” from 9A
where the CEC, Comptroller and Audi-
tor-General, and Chairman, UPSC, are
placed to position 23 occupied by the
secretary to the government. What is
worse, from an autonomous and inde-
pendent statutory institution, Informa-
tion Commissions will be reduced to one
more department doing the bidding of
In2011,formerPM
ManmohanSinghjoinedthe
chorusagainsttheRTIAct.He
saidtheActwasadversely
affectingthe“deliberative
process”inthegovernment.
ArunaRoy,thedrivingforce
behindtheenactmentofthe
RTIAct,counteredSingh.She
saidthatanymovetodilute
theActwouldonlyenforce
sanctiononpublicaction.
RightsactivistMedhaPatkar
putitcandidlywhenshesaid
thattheambitoftheRTIAct
shouldactuallybewidened
forthesakeoftransparency
ratherthandilutingit.

said, honest bureaucrats felt discour-
aged from expressing their views on files
as they feared that these would be dis-
closed in the replies.
Singh’s remarks came against the
backdrop of the controversial 2G memo
of the finance ministry released by the
Prime Minister's Office following an
RTI application. The internal memo had
brought P Chidambaram under the sca-
nner in the 2G case and created a deep
political crisis in the government.
Singh came under an avalanche of
criticism. Aruna Roy, who was the driv-
ing force behind the enactment of the
RTI Act, countered him when she said:
“Any move to dilute the RTI Act will
only enforce sanction on public action.
It cannot improve efficiency at all.” In-
cumbent CIC Satyananda Mishra was of
the view that some people in the govern-
ment thought that disclosure under RTI
could inhibit their free expression of
views. But the overall benefits of RTI
will outdo that inhibition. Any dilution
of the Act is not good for the country.
Rights activist Medha Patkar put it
candidly when she said that the ambit of
the RTI Act should actually be widened
for the sake of transparency rather than
diluting it. According to her, bureau-
crats will be scared of writing anything
on a file only if they are doing some-
thing illegal or favouring a person. Ma-
ny RTI activists agreed with her.
T
he BJP also jumped on the band-
wagon and criticised Singh and
asked whether the government
was scared of the Act. BJP spokesperson
Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “The PM says
that honest public servants are reluctant
to put their views across. Such com-
ments are highly objectionable and run
counter to the basic tenets of the RTI
Act. The PM seems to suggest that RTI
is wastage of time and expenditure. It
also appears that the PM is giving stren-
gth to the argument extended to exempt
certain institutions from the RTI Act.”
He further said, “Have the recent expos-
es on scams made the government turn
its back on the RTI?” and proclaimed
that “BJP will contest any attempt to
dilute the RTI”.
Yet, when the BJP government came
to power, it not only diluted but buried
the RTI fathoms deep. Why
are they doing this? Is it to
cover up the acts of corruption
and deceit like the Rafale
scam, trading of MLAs/MPs,
draining the Reserve Bank
of India, mounting bank
frauds, massive transfer of
wealth to the super-rich
through predatory projects,
severe mismanagement of the
economy, illegal electoral
bonds and buying/stealing of
the people’s mandate?
The process of dismember-
ing the RTI commenced with the CIC’s
categorical order in 2013 that political
parties would come under the purview
of the RTI Act as they are the “building
blocks of a constitutional democracy”.
The CIC’s ruling was well-reasoned on
general, legal and financial grounds.
Consequently, the CIC directed these
political parties to designate PIOs and
Appellate Authorities in a time-bound
manner and respond to RTI applica-
tions expeditiously. The parties were
also directed to comply with the provi-
sions of Section 4(1) (b) of the RTI Act
by way of making voluntary disclosures
on the subjects mentioned in the said
clause. There has been zero compliance
by political parties and the matter, chal-
lenged in the Supreme Court, is pend-
ing. The question is, “Who is Afraid of
the RTI Act?”
The core objective of the RTI Act is
to empower the people. By burying it,
the Modi government would be disem-
powering the people. What a travesty.
—The writer is a former
Army and IAS officer
CLEAR MOTIVE
Home Minister Amit Shah said that
there was a need to reduce RTI
applications; Chief Information
Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava
18 November 4, 2019
TheprocessofdismemberingtheRTI
beganwiththeCIC’sorderin2013that
politicalpartieswouldcomeunderthe
purviewoftheActastheyarethe“building
blocksofaconstitutionaldemocracy”.
Spotlight/ Chief Information Commissioner

Economics/ Nobel Prize/ Randomised Controlled Trials
HE 2019 Nobel Prize in
Economics was awarded to
three economists, includ-
ing one of Indian origin,
Dr Abhijit Banerjee, for
their unique approach to
identifying effective ways of providing
services like education and healthcare
and delivering welfare subsidies like
food rations, minimum employment
guarantee and universal basic income.
Underlying their research is the dev-
elopment of what is known as experi-
mental economics. Unlike the physical
sciences, where one can get exact ans-
wers through repeated and controlled
laboratory experimentation, economics
deals with people and does not lend
itself to such controlled testing. As a res-
ult, traditional economics has generally
been normative, relying exclusively on
theory, logic and analysis of past data.
The experimental approach proposed
by Banerjee and his cohorts uses ran-
domised controlled trials (RCTs) similar
to those used in testing the efficacy of
new drugs. Two groups of people are
created, one the experimental group to
which a new policy initiative is adminis-
tered and the other a control group
which is administered an alternative ini-
tiative. Differences between the respons-
es of the two groups are then used to
understand the efficacy of the applied
policy initiatives. Such trials are being
used to evaluate the impact of a wide
variety of projects—everything from
water purification tablets to microcredit
schemes, financial literacy classes to
teachers’ performance bonuses.
The answers from these experiments
could eventually benefit the poorest of
the poor—the 865 million people
(roughly 13 percent of the world’s popu-
lation) who live on less than `16 per day.
Some critics of their work have argued
that their experiments use subjects
TheMagicBullet
ThepioneeringworkoftheNobel-winningtrioinalleviatingpovertyusingthemedicalmodelofRCTs
canhelpthegovernmentdeliverservicesmoreefficientlyandtackledifficultchallenges
By Sanjiv Bhatia
T
PIB
ANSWERS FOR POVERTY
Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi

on improving educational outcomes
show that addressing children’s current
learning gaps, rather than following an
over-ambitious uniform curriculum, can
lead to significant learning gains. The
“chunauti” programme introduced by
the Delhi government in 2016 to check
student dropout rates and improve edu-
cation quality was based on this experi-
mental research. The programme
divides students into groups based on
their learning abilities, with remedial
tutoring by the better teachers to the
weakest students. Subsequent research
shows that targeted remedial education
provides educational outcomes far supe-
rior to free books and mid-day meals.
Banerjee’s research on the rural job
guarantee programme, MGNREGA, is
also quite revealing. Contrary to popular
belief, he finds that MGNREGA has
been extremely helpful to the rural poor.
Almost 2.2 billion person-days of work
was generated by the programme, cover-
ing around 50 million households and
over 200 million people. Nearly 80 per-
cent of the money ended up in the right
hands. It also reduced urban migration,
by allowing people in rural areas with
access to MGNREGA to stay at home
rather than go to the city to find work.
But as the programme is inflexible—
people can’t find work whenever they
need because public projects to accom-
modate their labour cannot be created
instantly—Banerjee recommends uni-
versal basic income which pays every
poor person a minimum guaranteed
income so they have something to fall
back on without having to deal with the
vagaries of MGNREGA. This under-
standing was the genesis of the NYAY
scheme introduced by the Congress
party before the 2019 election.
A
nother large government welfare
programme where experimental
economics can provide useful
answers is the food distribution system
in India which provides subsidised
rations to the poor. Given the many dif-
ficulties in storing and moving food and
the “losses” in the distribution process,
should the focus be on providing food?
Is it possible to think of it as a general
income support programme for the poor
and leave the design of individual pro-
grammes to the states? Let each state
decide, based on outcomes from RCT
studies if they wish to give out food or
food stamps or just skip it all and hand
out cash. Or perhaps, combining MGN-
REGA and the food distribution pro-
gramme into a universal income scheme
might be the most efficient and cost
effective way to help the poor.
These kinds of experiments in social
economics can greatly help the govern-
ment deliver services more efficiently.
The efficacy of alternative approaches
can be studied using sample groups and
the data analysed to see which method
works most efficiently and consistently.
RCT is a tool that must be incorporated
into the provision of government servic-
es, especially as it relates to the distribu-
tion of welfare among the poor.
Governments have the power to do
enormous good but also tremendous
damage. Policy makers that use a
thoughtful and evidence-based
approach to policy making can effective-
ly tackle difficult challenges. But those
that may not be “aware” enough to make
rational choices. The science of econom-
ics is based almost entirely on the
assumption that people make rational
choices—economic models do not fit
nicely if this assumption is violated.
Banerjee defends his work by arguing
that because the poor have so little, they
have to put more careful thought into
their choices. With `16, they have a ch-
oice of two pounds of rice or four ban-
anas, and they have to choose wisely.
Rationality of choice is, therefore, built
into their compulsion.
An example of the kinds of issues
Banerjee and his cohorts study is the
problem of teacher absenteeism in gov-
ernment schools in India. According to
a national survey, on any given day, al-
most one in four (25 percent) of teach-
ers are absent from their jobs. To better
understand how to incentivise teachers
in these schools, Banerjee created two
groups: schools in which the teachers
were offered short-term contracts with
incentives for extension tied to perform-
ance and in the other, lower pupil-
teacher ratio. They found significant
improvement in both the attendance of
teachers and the performance of their
pupils when teachers were hired on
short-term contracts with incentives
tied to performance.
Other experiments done by Banerjee
20 November 4, 2019
UNI
ADDRESSING THE GAPS
Banerjee and his cohorts studied the issue of
teacher absenteeism in government schools
Economics/ Nobel Prize/ Randomised Controlled Trials

that force ad hoc, top-down politics-dri-
ven decisions on the people can cause
irreparable harm.
B
anerjee’s approach to finding
localised solutions also tangen-
tially endorses the Gandhian phi-
losophy of local government (Panchayat
Raj). Banerjee’s work provides intellec-
tual support for Gandhi's vision by argu-
ing that experiments like the ones they
conduct involving local people must be
an integral part of policy making, espe-
cially when it pertains to the delivery of
services to the poor. Evidence-based pol-
icy making must replace politics-based
policies. This will require politicians and
bureaucrats to spend significant time in
impoverished areas to better understand
what works and what doesn't. Making
policies sitting in an air-conditioned
office in New Delhi will never solve the
problems of poverty.
The RCT approach is not without its
detractors. Critics like economist
Jagdish Bhagwati argue that while the
experimental approach may appear
ideal for small-scale projects, it is
unsuitable for evaluating broader
macro-economic, political and institu-
tional issues that are the root cause of
poverty. These larger systemic issues—
increased economic freedom, stable cap-
ital markets, labour reforms—may have
a more profound impact on poverty
than focusing on individual behaviour.
Others, like Nobel-winning economist
Angus Deaton, dismiss the RCT
approach entirely stating that “demon-
strating that a treatment works in one
situation doesn’t necessarily imply that
it will work the same way elsewhere”.
There are also issues of possible dis-
connect between the time and money
required to study policy interventions
and the short-time horizons of donors
and governments. A policy intervention
may prove to be highly effective in a
small control group but maybe rejected
on political grounds. Notwithstanding
the criticism, Banerjee’s research shows
that many government programmes
proclaimed to be magic bullets of yester-
day become failed ideas of today.
It is, therefore, vital that countries
like India, with millions in poverty and
limited public resources, have an inde-
pendent project/budget evaluation office
to provide policy makers with non-parti-
san facts on the true cost and effective-
ness of government welfare and poverty
alleviation schemes. Banerjee’s work
suggests that small pilot studies can be
conducted by specialists to understand
the benefits and the costs of proposed
government interventions. Once the
government starts a programme, it is
seldom terminated, and it is, therefore,
best to evaluate its effectiveness upfront
using experimental studies.
Dr Abhijit Banerjee, his wife Esther
Duflo, and Michael Kremer rightly
deserve the prestigious Nobel Prize in
Economics for their pioneering work in
alleviating poverty using the medical
model of RCTs to aid in answering the
question “what works”. Their research
adds another dimension to the expand-
ing field of economics by dividing big
issues into outcome-focused experi-
ments at the individual and group level.
In acknowledging their contributions,
the Nobel Committee wrote: “The
research conducted by this year’s
Laureates has considerably improved
our ability to fight global poverty. In just
two decades, their new experiment-
based approach has transformed devel-
opment economics.”
—The writer is a financial economist
and founder, contractwithindia.com
EMPLOYMENT FOR ALL
Desilting work in Kolar as part of MGNREGA
.karnregs.kar.nic.in

zone Group, one of South
India’s leading property
developers is headquar-
tered in Bengaluru. Set up
in 2004 under the able
leadership of Dr. S. Vasudevan,
Ozone Group is an established player
in the premium housing, residential
township developments, commercial
developments, business parks, SEZs,
retail mall and hospitality sectors with
projects in Bengaluru, Chennai,
Mumbai and Goa. Driven from the
front by Dr. Vasudevan, who is an
architect by profession and whose
vast business experience of more
than three decades in property
design and development brings
invaluable proficiency, Ozone Group
has carved a niche for itself with proj-
ects that conform to world-class stan-
dards in terms of quality, fit and fin-
ish. What augurs well for the group
is also the fact that it has strong
financials and a highly capable talent
pool. The company is founded on
three fundamental pillars of Quality,
Customer Centricity and
Transparency.
Ozone Group has been consis-
tently amongst the top-selling realty
brands in South India’s premier realty
market during the last few years. Till
date, the company has already deliv-
ered 13.50 million sq. ft Another 43
million square feet is in the planning
& implementation stage. The compa-
ny has already delivered 12 projects
across Bangalore, Chennai &
Mumbai and is currently in the
process of developing over 25 proj-
ects catering to several different cus-
tomer segments, from affordable
housing to mid-segment to luxury
and lifestyle housing.
The company’s keen focus on
high standards for design and sus-
tainability is evident in the partners it
has chosen to collaborate with
including CPG Corporation,
Singapore, for design. WATG London
is one of the architects and master
planners who are associated with the
Ozone Group, while Fiona Environs,
Dubai and Site Concepts Pvt. Ltd,
Singapore, have been roped in as
landscape consultants. The compa-
ny has attracted investments from
leading private equity funds and
financial institutions like HDFC
Infrastructure Fund, India Bulls, Yes
Bank, and PNB etc.
The management is headed by
Group CEO Mr. Srinivasan Gopalan,
who has extensive knowledge of the
real estate sector. He strongly
believes that people, processes and
technology are the driving force for a
company’s success and is an avid
advocate of the virtue of innovation,
sustainability and environment friend-
ly development. The company has a
400 strong professional employee
base in India and abroad with offices
in GCC countries, USA, Singapore,
Australia, and Canada. Currently
Ozone has a 6,000-strong customer
base with around 20 percent of its
customer base accruing from interna-
tional markets.
Some of the projects of Ozone
Group include Ozone Urbana, WF48,
Residenza, Evergreens, Oasis,
Verdana and Pole Star in Bengaluru;
The Metrozone, The Gardenia and
Greens in Chennai, and Mirabilis, The
Autograph, The Gateway and Kings
Ville in Mumbai. Commercial develop-
ments include Ozone Manay Tech
Park in Bangalore and Ozone Techno
Park in Chennai. Ozone Group is also
planning a hospitality project in Goa.
Awards & Recognition
Ozone Group has won several
awards & accolades for quality con-
struction, design innovation, cus-
tomer service, branding and CSR
activities. These include: Ozone
group being conferred one of the
Most Promising Real Estate Brands
of Asia, The Metrozone project win-
ning the CNBC Awaaz Best
Residential project in Chennai,
CREDAI CSR award, Asian Real
Estate award for Best Township of the
Year, Reality Plus Township of the
year, South, Most Admired Upcoming
Project of the for The Gardenia, in
Chennai, among other. Recently the
CEO of Ozone Group was conferred
as the Inspirational Leader 2018 from
the reputed Asian Business Summit
Committee 2018.
The projects are explained in
detail below:
Bangalore
Ozone Urbana, adjacent to KIAL,
Bangalore
WF48, Opposite to VR & Phoenix
Mall, ITPL Road, Whitefield,
Bangalore
Pole Star, Opposite to Manyata
Tech Park, Bangalore
Oasis, Plotted Development Off
Sarjapur Road, Bangalore
Verdana, Plotted Development,
North Bangalore
Green View Koramangala, Central
Bangalore
Chennai
The Metrozone, Anna Nagar
Chennai
The Gardenia, Anna Nagar,
Chennai
Greens, Next to ELCOT SEZ,
Sholinganallur, Chennai
Mumbai
Mirabilis, Kalina, Santacruz,
Mumbai
The Gateway, Andheri West,
Mumbai
The Autograph, Dadar, Mumbai
Kings Ville, Wadala, Mumbai
Corporate Profile
O
Advertorial

Focus/ Child Guardianship Laws
24 November 4, 2019
OMEN are the natu-
ral guardians and
they should be rec-
ognised as such. The
National Commi-
ssion for Women
(NCW) recently recommended to the
Union Ministry of Women and Child
Development that laws pertaining to
guardianship rights should be reviewed
and amended. Viewed as a move to
shake the roots of patriarchy, these steps
are, if anything, long overdue, and if and
when passed, will be a definite win for
women in India.
On August 31, 2019, the NCW re-
viewed the existing laws which deal with
guardianship rights. The Hindu Mino-
rity and Guardianship Act, 1956, and
the British-era Guardianship and Wards
Act, 1890, are the two main instruments
which dictate the guardianship rights of
a mother, father or a third party.
Section 6 of the Hindu Minority and
Guardianship Act, 1956, stood out dur-
ing the consultation. It states that if a
child is born to a wedded couple, the fa-
ther becomes the natural guardian. The
mother’s right comes only after him.
However, in case of a child born out of
wedlock, the mother gets the natural
guardianship followed by the father
who has no legal accountability or
responsibility.
The mother gets the custody of
the child until five years, in case of a
separation or dissolution of the mar-
riage, after which the child’s preference
is considered.
Stating that the provisions of Section
6 of the Hindu Minority and Guardian-
ship Act is in direct conflict with equali-
ty rights enshrined in Articles 14 and 15
of the Constitution, the NCW called for
granting equal guardianship rights to
both the parents. According to the
Commission, this would provide recog-
nition and respect to single and aban-
doned mothers and rape survivors
with children.
This, combined with the recommen-
dation to remove the word “illegitimate”
from Section 6(b), is seen as a push
towards gender equality. No child is ille-
gitimate, according to NCW, keeping in
view the rights of a child.
India is a signatory to the United Na-
tions Convention on Rights of a Child,
which gives every child an equal right.
Win-WinForWomenAslewofrecommendationsmadebytheNationalCommissionforWomenisawelcomeattemptto
addressproblemsrelatingtolawsonchildrenandguardianshiprights
By Papia Samajdar
W
UNI
ALL ABOUT RIGHTS
The suggestions of the NCW will
benefit single mothers

desert their young ones.
Though there is very little compre-
hensive nation-wide data available, acc-
ording to the Child Welfare Committee
in Ranchi, Jharkhand, every month there
are at least three to four cases of aban-
doned children. These children are often
the result of rape or the father refusing to
accept the child and the mother.
“Societal stigma and discrimination
against unwed mothers remain the key
reasons behind abandonment,” stated
Sita Swansi of Diya Seva Sansthan, an
NGO based in Jharkhand working
against women’s trafficking. “Girls get-
ting trafficked often get pregnant. When
rescued, societal pressures are the key
reasons why they abandon these chil-
dren,” she said.
According to Srikant Kumar, mem-
ber, Child Welfare Committee (CWC),
Ranchi, the parents of minor girls
becoming mothers force them to
abandon their children,
fearing societal problems. Even single
mothers who
are economically able to
support their children face
discrimination.
The fight for gender
equality is an ongoing one.
Though the judiciary has
time and again helped in
this movement, laws need to
be amended to keep up with
the changing times.
The most important fac-
tor in most of the cases has
been the “best interest of the
child” when it comes to
guardianship or custody. In
Githa Hariharan vs Reserve
Bank of India (1999), the
Supreme Court held that no
preferential rights for either
of the parents can be given
as the welfare of the child is
of paramount importance.
Justice Umesh Banerjee,
while presiding over the
case, further ruled that in
Section 6(a) of the Hindu
Minority and Guardianship
Act and Section 19(b) of the Guar-
dianship and Wards Act, the phrase
“and after him” should be read “in
absence of”. (This means that if the
father is not present, the mother has
the guardianship rights—instead of
her getting the rights only after the
father's death.)
T
he Law Commission in its multi-
ple reports has also recommend-
ed that discrimination against
women relating to guardianship be
removed. It has argued that the Hindu
Minority and Guardianship Act has kept
women on a much lower pedestal com-
pared to men.
In 2015, a landmark and progressive
judgment by a bench comprising Vik-
ramjit Sen and Abhay Manohar Sapre of
the Supreme Court ruled in favour of
the single mother. The appellant was a
single lady and a Christian. Her applica-
tion to get guardianship rights without
disclosing the biological father’s details
had been rejected by the court where
Removing the distinction
between “legitimate” and “ille-
gitimate” attached to a child’s
identity would be a very big
step, feel experts.
“I welcome the move by
NCW in recommending that
women should be given equal
guardianship rights across all
personal laws and the Guar-
dians and Wards Act,” said
Flavia Agnes, a women’s rights
lawyer and co-founder of
Majlis, a law centre in Mumbai
which provides legal services to
women and children, to India
Legal.
“The stigma attached to an
unwed mother needs to go. She
is the sole guardian of her child
already, but there is social stig-
ma against both the mother and
the child. A change in law is the
first step towards doing away
with social stigma and will send
a clear message,” she added.
Her opinion resonated with
other child rights’ activists. “All laws
should ensure equality and the recent
recommendations to amend the Hindu
Minority and Guardianship Act is a pos-
itive move towards it. Amending acts is a
small yet important step towards ensur-
ing equality. Currently, a huge number of
children are abandoned as they are born
out of wedlock.
“Our societal support system and
customary norms discriminate against
such women and children. The move
will decrease the number of unwed mo-
thers who are forced to abandon their
infants due to social hardships,” said
Indrajit Bose, Director, Advocacy and
Policy Development at Miracle Founda-
tion, a Delhi-based NGO working on
prevention of child abandonment.
Being born out of wedlock remains
one of the biggest reasons for children
being abandoned. Coupled with pover-
ty and a social structure which is
unsupportive, young unmarried
women, rape survivors and abandoned
or separated women are often forced to
“Iwelcomethemovebythe
NCWinrecommendingthat
womenshouldbegivenequal
guardianshiprightsacrossall
personallawsandthe
GuardiansandWardsAct.”
—FlaviaAgnes,women’s
rightslawyer
“Societalstigmaand
discriminationagainst
unwedmothersremainthe
keyreasonsbehindchildren
beingabandoned.”
—SitaSwansiofDiyaSeva
Sansthan,Jharkhand,working
againstwomen’strafficking

the application was made as well as the
High Court. They referred to the Guar-
dians and Ward Act, 1890. The applica-
tion court rejected the mother’s claim
under Section 11 of the Act, stating that
the parents need to be notified before it
can appoint a guardian.
The High Court later upheld the
judgment and rejected the woman’s
claim, stating that a natural father could
have an interest in the upbringing of a
child even if there was no marriage. It
stated that in the absence of the neces-
sary party, no case could be decided.
Disappointed, the woman approa-
ched the Supreme Court, which ruled in
her favour. The bench interpreted
Section 11 of the Guardians and Ward
Act by defining the parent as the sole
caregiver in the case of a child born out
of wedlock as in this case.
I
ncidentally, the bench drew refer-
ence from the Hindu Minority and
Guardian Act which gives mothers
primacy over fathers in case of children
born out of wedlock. Muslim Law
accords custody of such a child to the
mother and her relations. The bench
also referred to the Indian Succession
Act, 1925, which gives domicile rights to
a child born out of marriage in the
country where the mother is domiciled.
It also referred to related guardianship
laws followed across the world, to con-
clude that “her maternity would obviate
the necessity of determining paternity.”
In 2016, the Delhi High Court passed
an order directing the passport authori-
ty to amend its software so that disclos-
ing the mother’s name in the application
for a minor is enough. It observed that
the passport authorities can only insist
on the details of the biological father in
case of legal requirement and not due to
procedural formality.
A single mother had filed a plea
in the High Court as the passport autho-
rity had refused to re-issue her minor
daughter’s passport without the details
of the father. She pleaded that the
demand violated the rights of her
daughter. Justice Manmohan ruled that
only the mother’s name is enough in
cases such as regarding a passport as a
single woman can be the natural
guardian and also a parent.
However, not everyone can approach
the courts due to several factors, so
there is a need to amend the existing
laws. “These are positive steps towards
strengthening the rights of women. Ho-
wever, discrimination against women is,
unfortunately, deeply entrenched. Im-
plementing these changes, especially
when it comes to social behaviour may
take a long time,” said Bose.
One hopes that empowering women
legally will eventually translate into
empowering them socially as well.
NATURAL GUARDIAN
In 2016, the Delhi High Court said that the
mother’s name was enough for a child’s
passport if she is a single parent
26 November 4, 2019
Focus/ Child Guardianship Laws
In2015,alandmarkandprogressivejudgmentbyabenchcomprisingVikramjitSen
(left)andAbhayManoharSapreoftheSupremeCourtruledinfavourofthesingle
mother.Itdefinedtheparentasthesolecaregiverforachildbornoutofwedlock.

My Space/ GST Sumit Dutt Majumder
ICCUPS have assailed the
Goods and Sales Tax
(GST) regime from the
beginning. And when
people from the industry,
chartered accountants,
cost accountants, company secretaries
and other stakeholders in the financial
sector met Nirmala Sitharaman, the
Union finance minister, recently, she
told them: “We can’t just damn it. It has
been passed by the Parliament. It has
been passed in all state assemblies. It
might have flaws. It might give you diffi-
culties. But, I am sorry; it is a ‘kanoon’
of the country. I would appeal to you all
to work together to make sure we have a
better frame.”
Her statement is significant in many
ways. First, she is right when she says
that one cannot damn a new taxation
system like GST that has been approved
almost unanimously by Parliament and
all the states. This has been a unique
example of co-operative federalism
where both the centre and the 31 states
decided matters unanimously without
having to resort to voting.
Secondly, she is not in denial mode.
She has acknowledged that there may
have been flaws in GST and promised to
have a better form of GST and sought
the views of the industry and profes-
sionals to this end. Yes, there were cer-
tain glitches such as its introduction
without getting GSTN, the IT infra-
structure, fully operational. Two more
months would have made GSTN ready
before introducing GST.
There were certain policy glitches
too. In the government’s earnestness to
get almost all of the informal economy
transformed into a formal one, the
threshold for payment of GST was kept
very low—at `20 lakh as against the
international standard of `80 lakh to `1
crore. Another policy restriction—the
moment small business made “interstate
supply” of goods and/or services, they
forfeited the threshold benefit. So,
Revenue Blues
Thenewtaxregimehashaditsshareofglitches,leadingtoafalloutonconsumersandstates.A
12-memberpanelhasnowbeenformedtosuggestreformsandrelevantchanges
H
POLICY ISSUES
A GST Council meeting. The finance minister
has promised a better form of GST
twitter.com/PIB_Panaji

many small businesses stopped inter-
state supply and their business shrank.
This restriction remains in respect of
goods. Another policy glitch was charg-
ing GST from the recipient by imposi-
tion of reverse charge mechanism on
transactions with unregistered small
business suppliers. The result was that
the GST payer stopped dealings with
small business. Coming on the heels of
demonetisation, a large number of such
businesses closed. Given that small busi-
ness contributes at least around 70 per-
cent of the total employment in the
country, this resulted in huge unemploy-
ment.
Then, too, many items, around 270,
were kept in the highest slab of duty
that was originally meant for “demerit
goods”. Most of these items were not de-
merit goods. Demerit goods are alcohol
(which is not under GST now), cigare-
ttes, tobacco, diesel and other petroleum
products and fizzy cola drinks, all harm-
ful in various ways. Internationally, de-
merit goods are put in the highest tax
slab ostensibly to reduce consumption.
Also, the number of returns was too
many and too complicated. The knee-
jerk reaction after the collapse of GSTN
led to a return system that was too sim-
ple with many loopholes. This led to tax
evasion, particularly fraudulent avail-
ment of transition credits, i.e. credits of
pre-GST taxes. However, once the flaws
were recognised, the GST Council took
immediate corrective action. In fact,
implementation of GST has to be con-
sidered as “work in progress” for some
more time.
T
he third significant aspect of
Sitharaman’s statement is that
she has promised to have a better
form of GST soon. Now the root cause
of concern is GST revenue shortfall. In
August 2019, GST revenue stood at
`98,902 crore which was the lowest in
the 2019-20 fiscal. In September, GST
revenue dipped further to `91,916 crore,
a 19-month low after the lowest collec-
tion of `85,962 crore in February 2018.
Further, the September GST revenue
declined by 2.67 percent as compared to
the collections in September last year.
However, during April-September
this fiscal, the collections grew 4.90 per-
cent, year-on-year basis. That was
because the collections were good in the
initial months of this fiscal. The main
reasons for such a decline can be traced
to two important factors—economic
slowdown and tax evasion.
First, the substantial decline in over-
all economic activity has led to less con-
sumption and a “demand” crisis, and
that again led to a decline in “supply”.
Not to forget that GST is a tax on “sup-
ply of goods” and “supply of services”.
Therefore, when the “supply” declines,
the tax on it also declines. Being a trans-
action tax, any decline in economic
activity impacts GST collections.
The lower GST collections also ref-
lect lower GDP growth. Several indica-
tors of sales, including those of automo-
biles and FMCG had shown a sharp dip
from the beginning of the second quar-
ter. It was, therefore, expected that
GST collections would be lower from
August onwards than in the months of
the current fiscal. That consumption
declined is also evident from the fact
that in the first quarter of 2019-20, pri-
vate consumption grew by a meagre 3.1
percent, down from 7.2 percent in the
previous quarter.
It must be remembered that the col-
lections in September pertain to the
supply of goods (read sale of goods) and
supply of services (read providing of
services) in the previous month of Aug-
ust. With demand remaining sluggish in
September, a recovery in GST collec-
tions in October also seems unlikely.
Another worrisome factor is that the
collections reported in September are
much below the budget estimate of
`1 lakh crore per month. According to
some estimates, the monthly run-rate
for GST collections has already jumped
to around `1.18 lakh crore for the rest
of the fiscal. With consumption remai-
ning sluggish, meeting the target will
be challenging.
Further, such a fall in GST collection
will hurt the finances of both the centre
and the states. First, the revenue collect-
ed through the compensation cess
which is meant for transferring to the
states may not be enough. So states
may not receive the amount needed for
compensation of their revenue loss.
There may also be delayed and inade-
quate compensation.
Also, due to subdued revenue collec-
tions in other taxes also, the divisible tax
pool, 42 percent of which is shared with
states, will be lower than what was bud-
INHERENT FLAW
A large number of small businesses were
ruined after the introduction of GST
UNI
28 November 4, 2019
My Space/ GST/Sumit Dutt Majumder

geted for. This will reduce the tax devo-
lution amount for states. Further, devo-
lution was carried out last year on the
basis of the revised revenue estimates of
2018-19 presented in the budget. But,
according to the Controller General of
Accounts, actual tax collections were
much lower. It means that last year, the
devolution to states may have been
higher than what was required. If the
centre insists on adjustment of this
overpayment in the current fiscal, that
will further reduce the tax devolution
amount for states.
T
he impact of lower revenue col-
lections by states on their budget
forecasts has also been com-
mented upon in the Reserve Bank of
India Study of State Budgets 2019-20,
released recently. It noted that the
unrealistic revenue forecasts in budget
estimates would leave states with no
option other than expenditure compres-
sion, even for the most productive and
employment-generating heads. This
will be unfortunate. The report also
noted that states would be confronted
with low tax buoyancies, shrinking rev-
enue autonomy under the GST frame-
work and unpredictability associated
with transfers of Integrated GST
(IGST) share of states.
The second reason for the decline in
GST collections is tax evasion. It app-
ears that in the first year of implementa-
tion, the entire GST machinery was
geared towards its successful launch and
removal of glitches. It is but natural that
in the initial stages, emphasis was on
getting the new tax system accepted by
trade, industry and other taxpayers;
compliance issues did not attract much
attention of the taxmen.
But tax evaders took advantage of
the loopholes and resorted to huge
tax evasion. This became evident from
the detection of a number of cases of
fraudulent availment of credit, fake
invoices without any supply, surrepti-
tious removal of goods without payment
of GST, etc.
These detections started from the
second year of GST implementation.
The Directorate of GST Intelligence for
both the centre and states will have to
be strengthened and they should have
excellent coordination.
Through a set of new rules on Octo-
ber 11, 2019, the government has capped
the input tax credit for the recipient at
20 percent of the total credit, pending
the payment of full GST by the supplier.
The idea was to force taxpayers to get
their suppliers to upload their invoices
after full payment of GST so that they
could claim the balance credit.
In light of the uncomfortable rev-
enue situation, the GST Council recent-
ly formed a 12-member panel with offi-
cials from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,
Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab,
the centre and GSTN. The panel has
been asked to suggest measures to aug-
ment GST revenue; it will also look into
a wide range of reforms including
improving compliance, clamping down
on misuse, systemic changes in GST that
will also cover anti-evasion measures
using better data analytics and better
administrative coordination. It will look
into policy measures and relevant chan-
ges needed in the law and measures for
expansion of the tax base under the
GST regime.
All the subjects and issues on which
the panel has to make recommendations
are relevant and the government can
expect to be benefited by its recommen-
dations. However, it has to give its
report within 15 days. That is too short a
time for such a vast canvas of issues.
—The writer is former chairman,
Central Board of Excise & Customs,
and author of the book GST—explained
for Common Man
TherootcauseofconcernisGST
revenueshortfall.Thedeclineinoverall
economicactivity,includingpoorsalesof
automobiles(above,left)andFMCG,has
madeahugedentinGSTcollection.
Twiter UNI

Column/ Marital Rape Maithili Shaan Katari Libby
ARLIER this year, during the
final session of the 17th Lok
Sabha, former Union minis-
ter and Congress MP Shashi
Tharoor moved a private
member’s Bill seeking crimi-
nalisation of marital rape. The govern-
ment refused to consider it and later the
MP from Thiruvananthapuram tweeted:
“In response to my question in the Lok
Sabha, the Govt says that they are not
considering a proposal to criminalise
marital rape. Disappointing to note this
regressive stand in denying married
women autonomy over their body. For
BJP, wives are just the property of
their husbands!”
The government’s refusal to even
allow a discussion on the bill meant that
India has chosen to keep the company
of countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Afghanistan, China, several African and
some West Asian countries which have
not classified marital rape as criminal.
As a lawyer, I hear grim stories first-
hand from women who have reached
It’s All About
Respect
Thefeelingisgaining
groundthatIndia
shouldfollowthe
exampleofseveralother
countriesandacceptthat
maritalrapeisacrime
E
Anthony Lawrence
30 November 4, 2019

the point of no return, and are opting
for divorces—which although increas-
ingly common are still frowned upon in
our traditional society. These women
have narratives that invariably include a
picture of a husband who doesn’t ask—
but goes ahead and has sex whenever he
pleases, as though it is a God-given
right. It is a painful and unpleasant
experience for women who have unfor-
tunately been trained to believe that
marriage is suffering, and that it is their
duty as a wife. The very notion of inter-
course being pleasurable for both mem-
bers is alien. A survey done by the
United Nations Populations Fund in
2000 revealed that one-third of Indian
men admitted to perpetrating some
form of sexual violence against their
wives. We, the land of the Kama Sutra,
have evolved into this state of one-sided
selfish pleasure.
T
here are several studies including
those by controversial feminist
writer Germaine Greer that
speak of rape as the greatest weapon th-
at men have to keep women in their “pl-
ace”. We still see it bandied about in the
news—how men threaten to rape wom-
en who talk too much. It is a horrific
and mortifying threat that does chill wo-
men to the core—even strong women.
Using sex to subjugate is a deep-
rooted problem that is simply not being
addressed—not in homes and not in
schools/colleges. In India certainly—and
elsewhere too. Technically speaking, but
for the shield of marriage, these women
are basically being raped regularly.
The Indian Penal Code, 1860, in Sec-
tion 375 defines rape like this: that a
man is said to commit “rape” when he
has sexual intercourse with a woman
against her will, without her consent—
or where that consent has been obtained
under threat, unsound mind, intoxica-
tion or under the influence of sub-
stances, or via impersonation of her hus-
band. A glaring provision is: “Sexual
intercourse or sexual acts by a man with
his own wife, the wife not being under
eighteen years of age, is not rape.”
There have been a few moves made
by the Indian courts to protect women—
particularly minors; however, the judici-
ary appears to be at odds with the legis-
lature on this. Take for instance the case
of Independent Thought (below), and
compare this to The Criminal Law
(Amendment) Bill, 2019.
The case of Independent Thought vs.
Union of India [W.P. (C) 382 of 2013,
S.C.C, 11 Oct. 2017] involved a register-
ed society working for child rights. It fi-
led a public interest petition under Art-
icle 32 regarding the rights of girls ma-
rried between the ages of 15 and 18 ye-
ars. Section 375 of the IPC states the age
of consent for sexual intercourse as 18
years. Therefore, any person having sex-
ual intercourse with a girl below 18
would be statutorily guilty of rape.
However, by Exception 2 to Section
375, a husband could have non-consen-
sual intercourse with a girl between 15
and 18 years without being penalised.
The provision is contradictory to
Sections 5 and 6 of the Protection of
Children from Sexual Offences Act,
2012 (POCSO), which states that aggra-
vated penetrative sexual assault as
defined in Sec. 5(n) by a relative of the
child is punishable by rigorous impris-
onment of 10 years to life plus a fine.
The Court in this case correctly
observed that Exception 2 to Section
375 is arbitrary and violative of child
rights and Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the
Constitution as well as the POCSO Act.
The Court held that it should be read as:
“Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a
man with his own wife, the wife not
being under 18 years of age, is not rape.”
This is, it is submitted, a step for-
ward for the girls of this country.
However, in its most recent bill, The
Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2019,
on the subject, the legislature appears to
have left Exception 2 intact without
changing the age to 18 years!
Another outdated section is Section
198(6) of The Code Of Criminal
Procedure, 1973, which reads as
Earlierthisyear,duringthefinalsession
ofthe17thLokSabha,formerUnion
ministerandCongressMPShashi
Tharoormovedaprivatemember’sBill
seekingcriminalisationofmaritalrape.
UNI

follows: “No Court shall take cognizance
of an offence under Section 376 of the
Indian Penal Code, where such offence
consists of sexual intercourse by a man
with his own wife, the wife being under
fifteen years of age, if more than one
year has elapsed from the date of the
commission of the offence.”
How are other jurisdictions dealing
with marital rape? Nearly 52 countries
have criminalised marital rape. The UK
struck down any exception in 1991, thro-
ugh the case of R v. R ([1991] UKHL
12). This remained unaltered until 1993,
when in R v W 1993 14 Cr App R (S)
256, the court ruled [148] “...Where the
parties are cohabiting and the husband
insisted upon intercourse against his
wife’s will but without violence or
threats this may reduce sentence.”
An April 2019 case further muddied
the concept of marital rape in the UK
when Justice Anthony Hayden termed
marital sex a “man’s fundamental
human right”. The case involved a cou-
ple who had been married for 20 years
but the wife’s condition had
deteriorated to the extent that
consent was no longer possible.
As The Independent (UK) said:
“What hope do victims have if
our judicial system openly priv-
ileges the primal urges of men
over the physical wellbeing of
women? How can those with
disabilities expect to carry out
healthy and consensual rela-
tionships in the eyes of the law
in that context?”
In the United States, state
laws deal with rape. Marital
rape is illegal in all the 50
states of America but the
details of the offence vary from state to
state. Oklahoma, for instance, requires
it to be reported within 30 days,
Connecticut applies forced sex provi-
sions to both spouses, and Maryland has
a higher bar for married couples regard-
ing threats or force.
T
he Australian courts, in the case
of R v. L [(1991) 174 CLR 379],
ruled that a husband could be
found guilty of raping his wife.
In Canada, the case of R v. J.A,
([2011] 2 SCR 40), ruled that the rela-
tionship between the accused and the
complainant has nothing to do with
consent for sexual intercourse. A hus-
band or wife may be charged with an
offence under The Criminal Code
regardless of whether or not they were
living together.
The European Court of Human
Rights in the case of SW v. UK [(1995)]
21 EHRR 363, while upholding the con-
viction for marital rape, stated: “The
abandonment of the unacceptable idea
of a husband being immune against
prosecution for rape of his wife was in
conformity not only with a civilised
concept of marriage but also, and above
all, with the fundamental objectives of
the Convention, the very essence of
which is respect for human dignity and
human freedom”.
Even the Supreme Court of Nepal
has struck down the exception of mari-
tal rape through the case FWLD v.
HMG (2002). The Supreme Court in Jit
Kumari v. Government of Nepal (2006),
ruled that where the offence is the same,
there is no rationality in differentiating
between marital and non-marital rape.
The following sections need to be
struck down: Exception 2 to Section 375
of The Indian Penal Code, 1860, and
Section 198(6) of The Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973. Rape is rape—mar-
riage is no shield.
In the case of Bodhisattwa Gautam v.
Subhra Chakraborty (1996) 1SCC 490, a
criminal complaint based on a consen-
sual affair and a questionable finding of
“rape” due to failure to marry, Justice
Ahmad nevertheless expanded on rape
well. He said: “Rape is thus not only a
crime against the person of a woman
(victim), it is a crime against the entire
society. It destroys the entire psychology
of a woman and pushes her into deep
emotional crises.”
These words apply just as much to
rapes taking place every day within the
four walls of a marital bedroom. It is
time we follow the example of other
countries and accept that marital rape is
a crime. Trust women not to misuse the
provision—trust lawyers not to advise
them incorrectly—and teach men to
respect their women!
—The writer is Barrister-at-Law,
Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn,
UK, and a leading advocate in Chennai
(With research assistance from
RK Padmanaban)
Column/ Marital Rape /Maithili Shaan Katari Libby
Thereareseveralstudiesincludingthose
bycontroversialfeministwriterGermaine
Greerthatspeakofrapeasthegreatest
weaponthatmenhavetokeepwomenin
their“place”.Itdoeschillwomentothe
core--evenstrongwomen.
mup.com.au
32 November 4, 2019

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healing touch
GAL
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JudgmentDay70yearsaftertheAyodhyacasewasfiledinthecourts,afinaljudgmentbytheSupreme
Courtwillbeeagerlyawaited.However,thereislittledoubtthattheissue,whichever
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thecountrydownadangerousroad
Subodh Gupta: Disruptive
power of social media
Jammu & Kashmir:
Administrative turmoil

Column/ Rural Stint for Doctors Dr KK Aggarwal
HERE are four types of
patients. The first are ig-
norant patients who form
the majority and belong to
rural India or the rural-
urban belt in cities and
metros. They depend totally on doctors
for treatment and decisions. They may
or may not have access to Google but all
of them need affordable healthcare. The
second are informed patients who read
Google and visit the doctor with half-
baked knowledge and information. The
third and fourth group are the empow-
ered and enlightened patients, respec-
tively, who want to share decision-mak-
ing with their doctors. These are the
patients who will go for the best servic-
es, hospitals and doctors.
It is the first category that is more
important and both MBBS and post-gr-
aduate doctors need to understand and
study the concept of affordable health-
care for this population. During my
MBBS studies, CT scan, angiography,
echocardiography and advanced lab
facilities were not available and yet we
managed patients with very low morbid-
ity and mortality. This was possible
only because we were stationed in a
rural set-up.
If a medical college is situated in an
urban set-up and students get exposed
only to well-off patients, they will not be
able to learn rural and semi-urban
healthcare systems and the needs of the
community. It is true that under Article
21, health is a fundamental right and
under Article 14, we need to provide
uniform care at the national level. But
what is more important is not the mag-
nitude of care but the standard of care.
The magnitude of care may differ
from facility to facility, but the standard
of care should be the same. Whether the
person comes from a rural or urban
background, he should receive the same
standard of care.
I recall my first clinical posting in a
district hospital of Wardha in Maha-
rashtra way back in 1979 when I was
posted with one Dr Kashyap. Together
A Village to Call My Own
TheMedicalCouncil
ofIndiahas
recommendedthat
PGmedical
studentsmust
servethreemonths
inadistricthospital
beforetheygettheir
degrees.Thisisa
welcomemove
HEALTH FOR ALL
It is imperative for
doctors to learn rural
and semi-urban
healthcare systems
and the needs of
the community
T
thebetterindia.com
34 November 4, 2019

we were supposed to see 200 patients in
two hours. I told him that this was prac-
tically impossible, but he taught me how
to screen and use the principle of triage
(the sorting of patients by priority for
treatment, evacuation or transport) in
OPD settings.
Kashyap reduced 50 percent of the
patients in the first five minutes using
this principle. There was a practice of
issuing medicines for only three days in
the district set-up. He first asked those
who had come for refilling of the pre-
scription to raise their hands and segre-
gated them. Then he asked those with
worsening of clinical symptoms to raise
their hands. And the rest were told to go
to the compounder for medicines for the
next three days.
Then he asked those with itchy les-
ions in their finger webs to raise their
hands. Scabies was common in that
area. He gave all of them common ins-
tructions on how to use benzyl benzoate
on their skin. This filtered out another
25 percent of the patients. The
compounder was again asked to dis-
pense the solution to all. Then he asked
those with seasonal fever, cough and
cold to raise their hands. Another 15
percent did so and common instructions
were given and the compounder asked
to dispense medicines to them. Now he
was left with just 10 percent of the
patients. These were either new or old
cases which hadn’t improved even after
three days of treatment. He had over 90
minutes to see them. We saw them with
enough time to have a cup of tea also.
This type of understanding, knowl-
edge and training can only take place
when one has gone though the rigours
of a rural set-up. In our rural posting,
we were told how to treat a patient with
minimum expenses and investigations.
If that is not taught to us, we’ll never be
able to understand and practise medi-
cine and surgery in an area with mini-
mal investigations, drugs and treatment.
So I am personally for a rural posting
within the MBBS or PG course and such
students should go to rural areas after
they have been given the degree or
passed the exam.
P
ostgraduation in medicine in
India is for three years and a
three-month rural posting can
begin at the start of the third year. After
a student has completed his post-gradu-
ation, he will not be willing to go and
practise in a rural area. A third-year PG
student is senior enough to handle all
emergencies.
When I was the national president of
the Indian Medical Association, most
medical students were against a com-
pulsory posting in rural areas after do-
ing their PG or MBBS. Those posted in
a rural set-up for a year after MBBS
should be awarded a diploma in rural
medicine or rural surgery.
In my medical college—Mahatma
Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences,
Wardha (Maharashtra)—in Sevagram,
which is eight km from Wardha, in the
first three months, we were allotted five
families in a village and we were sup-
posed to look after them for the next five
years. Our community medicine exam
was based on what we had done with
those five families.
Currently, there is a move by the gov-
ernment to have PG medical students
compulsorily serve three months in a
district hospital before they get their
degrees. The decision of the Board of
Governors of the Medical Council of
India was endorsed by the Central
Council of Health and Family Welfare
(CCHFW), the apex advisory body with
representation from state governments,
legislature, health ministry, NITI Aayog,
and so on.
The resolution adopted at the meet-
ing reads: “Considering the importance
of medical education, the CCHFW re-
solves to take steps to increase the avail-
ability of doctors and specialists in the
country to improve access to quality and
affordable health care. The CCHFW fur-
ther resolves for adoption and smooth
implementation of District Residency
Programme as may be provided for by
MCI through regulations.”
Instead of opposing a rural stint,
medical students should see it as a step-
ping stone to enhance their skills and
knowledge. After all, isn’t that what
serving the community is all about?
—The writer is President, Confederation
of Medical Association of Asia and
Oceania, and Heart Care Foundation
of India
BRIDGING THE RURAL GAP
The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical
Sciences in Maharashtra
stjohnseducare.in

36 November 4, 2019
US President Donald Trump’s auda-
cious idea to host the next G-7 meet-
ing at his own resort in Miami was typical
of the real estate tycoon but now that he
has withdrawn after a storm of protests,
the issue has focused attention on one of
the most ambitious and controversial proj-
ects under the Trump banner.
If it had gone through, G-7 leaders
would have come face to face with a six-
foot-high portrait of Trump painted by a
local artist which acquired notoriety after it
was discovered that it had been bought for
$10,000 with funds from the supposedly
non-profit Trump Foundation. The paint-
ing hangs in a prominent spot in the resort.
The Trump Organisation bought the Doral
Resort & Spa for $150 million in 2012, and
it was renamed Trump National Doral.
Set in an oasis of luxury in the heart of
Miami, it is a spectacular five-star resort
with 693 guest rooms and suites, six pools,
four restaurants, four golf courses, a spa
centre, conference rooms and ballrooms.
The resort occupies 800 acres.
In May 2019, it was
reported that the resort
was in “steep decline”
financially, when its net
operating income had
fallen by 69 percent—
from $13.8 million in
2015 to $4.3 million in
2018. Trump has also
been sued by dozens of
contractors who worked
on the renovation project.
In 2016, a Miami-Dade
County Circuit Court jud-
ge ordered the resort to be foreclosed and
sold unless the Trump Organisation paid
$32,800 to a Miami paint supply company,
which it did. Ever since Trump purchased
the resort, he has challenged local property
tax assessments every year. In 2017, the
resort settled a lawsuit from a guest
whose back, face and arms were bitten by
bed bugs.
Doral is the only golf resort in Florida
to boast four onsite 18-hole courses—The
Blue Monster is the jewel in the crown,
having regularly hosted prestigious PGA
Tour events. The guest rooms and suites
at Trump Doral are located in villa-like
lodges adjoining the main clubhouse, sur-
rounded by stunning tropical landscaping.
The lodges, where the G-7 leaders would
have stayed, feature connected rooms, pri-
vate balconies, luxury fittings and total pri-
vacy. Downtown Miami is less than 30
minutes away.
International Briefs
Trump Trumped
trumphotels.com
Carl Juste Miami Herald Staff

The 2019 Interbrand Best Glo-
bal Brands Report has a sur-
prise: Facebook dropped five
places to #14 this year. Uber and
LinkedIn have joined the ranks of
the world’s most valuable brands
as they made their debut this year.
Apple, Google and Amazon re-
tained their hold as the three most
valuable global brands, respective-
ly. Apple and Google retained
their top positions for the seventh
consecutive year. Apple’s brand
value grew by nine percent to
$234,241m, while Google’s grew
by eight percent to $167,713m.
The remainder of the Top 10 com-
prises Microsoft ($108,847m),
Coca-Cola ($63,365m), Samsung
($61,098m), Toyota ($56,246m),
Mercedes-Benz ($50,832m),
McDonald’s ($45,362m) and
Disney ($44,352m).
Other top performers include
Gucci and Adobe. The combined
total value of the Top 100 is
$2,130,929m, an increase of 5.7
percent from 2018. The report
says that for decades, “the disci-
pline of brand-building was based
on the concept of brand position-
ing, but in today’s accelerating
markets, customer expectations
outstrip static brand positions”.
Biggest Brands
E
ach year, Lonely Planet publishes
its Best in Travel guide, based on
inputs from travel writers, social
media influencers and a panel of travel
experts. The latest lists the 10 countries
and cities chosen for their “wow” factor
for 2020.
Leading the list is India’s neighbour,
Bhutan (see pic below), chosen for its
strict “high-value, low-impact” tourism
policy. Visitors get a chance to walk along
mountain trails unsullied by litter and in
the company of people whose Buddhist
beliefs put them uniquely in tune with
their environment. Bhutan is already the
world’s only carbon-negative country and
the kingdom is set to become the first fully
organic nation by 2020. So it’s only going
to get more beautiful. And with a daily fee,
it won’t be getting any more crowded.
Number two on the list is England. A
bit of a surprise but the guide rates it high-
ly for the English coastline, with wind-
swept piers, delicious fish and chips, and
picturesque beaches. The England Coast
Path will open in 2020 and will cover
3,000 miles, the longest continuous trail of
its kind in the world, granting access to the
country’s entire coastline for the first time.
Next on the list is North Macedonia,
bordering Greece. The tiny nation in the
heart of the Balkans is already renowned
for gastronomy, ancient tradition and nat-
ural beauty.
Close behind is Aruba, which is experi-
encing a creative revival, with international
and local artists adorning street walls and
pop-up carnivals. Aruba is also into sus-
tainability to maintain its palm-fringed
and pristine beaches.
Swaziland makes the list with its cul-
ture, adventure and legendary wildlife
while Costa Rica comes in next, rated high
for sustainable tourism. Costa Ricans
understand the importance of preserving
their slice of tropical paradise. Ninety per-
cent of the country’s energy is created by
renewable sources, and it could become
one of the first carbon-neutral countries in
2020. The catchphrase pura vida (pure
life) is more than a saying; it’s a way of life.
Number seven on the list is the
Netherlands, with its stunning cities and
over 35,000 km of cycling paths to explore
attractions beyond cities. Liberia is a bit of
a mystery but it boasts idyllic beaches, and
some of West Africa’s best surfing.
In the ninth place is an old favourite,
Morocco, which is experiencing a revival
with improved infrastructure and Africa’s
first high-speed train which takes you from
Casablanca to Tangier in just two hours.
Ancient medinas are getting a makeover in
historical places like Fez and Marrakesh,
and it will be crowned Africa’s first Capital
of Culture in 2020 in celebration of its rich
heritage. Rounding it off is Uruguay, with
its Atlantic shoreline, a burgeoning wine
industry, bubbling hot springs and endless
open spaces of the pampas.
The Best Destinations, 2020
David-Lazar/ photographylife.com

India Legal - 4 November 2019

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