There is little doubt that the practice of handing out freebies undermines both democracy and development. But the problem doesn’t lie just with the opposition
Constitutional authorities in India have recently spoken about key challenges the country is facing.
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) has said that there is “diminishing” space for the opposition, that there was no longer any mutual respect between the Union government and the opposition, and that these developments pose a threat to Indian democracy.
The chief minister of Rajasthan recently spoke about lack of “tolerance” in the country and urged the prime minister to speak out against violence.
The Union law minister flagged the issue of pendency of cases in courts – almost 5 crore.
Finally, the CJI blamed the government for the inadequacy of judicial infrastructure and lamented that 80% of the 6.1 lakh prisoners are undertrials and the “process has become the punishment”. He labelled prisons as ‘black boxes’ and prisoners the most vulnerable.
The CJI’s comments a few days later in Ranchi point to the anguish in the upper echelons of the judiciary when he said that media is “running kangaroo courts”, expresses “biased views” and runs “agenda driven debates”. He stated that many issues are difficult for the judges to decide but the media jumps into the fray all too quickly. He highlighted the threat to the judges after retirement. He also responded to the argument that judges – being unelected – should not get into legislative and executive areas by pointing to the constitutional responsibilities placed on the judiciary.
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