The role of the judiciary in the Indian polity has grown significantly over the years. Insensitivity and inertia of the executive and the legislature have turned the common people away from these organs of the State. The masses increasingly look up to the judiciary to redress their grievances, secure their rights and address the neglected issues of governance. The judiciary has also progressively been enlarging the space allocated to it under the scheme of the Constitution. In this context, it i... Read More

The role of the judiciary in the Indian polity has grown significantly over the years. Insensitivity and inertia of the executive and the legislature have turned the common people away from these organs of the State. The masses increasingly look up to the judiciary to redress their grievances, secure their rights and address the neglected issues of governance. The judiciary has also progressively been enlarging the space allocated to it under the scheme of the Constitution. In this context, it i... Read More

PRASHANT BHUSHAN* The judiciary in the country today has come to enjoy enormous powers. It is not only the arbiter of disputes between citizens, between citizens and the State, between States and the Union, it also, in purported exercise of powers to enforce fundamental rights, directs the governments to close down industries, commercial establishments, demolish jhuggis, remove hawkers and rickshaw pullers from the streets, prohibits strikes and bandhs etc. In short, it has come to be the mos... Read More

PRAKASH SINGH*   The Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment on September 22, demolished in one stroke the colonial police structure which was hanging like a millstone around our necks for nearly 145 years. The Police Act of 1861, it may be recalled, was designed by the British to raise a police force which would be "politically useful". The Revolt of 1857 had shaken the foundations of the British Rule in India. It was, therefore, felt that they must have a police which would ... Read More

B P Mathur* Quality of governance is increasingly being realized as the primary reason behind the most remarkable development success stories of rich countries of the West, as well as the Asian tigers, such as Japan and Singapore. It is widely recognized that India's poor record on economic, social and ethical fronts is largely due to poor governance. Most experts hold the view that the Weberian model of public bureaucracy, which constitutes a career with a system of promotion based on se... Read More

A WOMEN ORIENTED POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAMME IN KERALA S Venkat Narayan * Are women poorer than men? This question needs to be looked at from a human resource and capabilities perspective. We will then find that women are in fact poorer in terms of endowments as well as opportunities and lag behind men with respect to education, health, employment and other social indicators. Gender inequalities in the income distribution, access to productive inputs such as credit, command over propert... Read More

The concept of patients' rights is relatively new and largely unknown in India. Patients' rights often lie embedded in various laws. Patients are generally ignorant of their rights and without the know-how to claim them. There exists an urgent need to examine the relevant laws and conventions and extract from them a charter of Patients' Rights. Dr. G.A.D'Costa, FRCS Edin, Mr. Raj Vaidya, M. Pharm and Ms. Deepali Naik, M. Phil have painstakingly compiled various aspects of Pati... Read More

Common Cause had filed a writ petition in the High Court of Delhi seeking installation of Close Circuit Monitors in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in government hospitals around the country to ensure that there is a check of the activities of hospitals staff and the condition of the patients in the ICUs. It was urged that this would also contribute to the wellbeing of the patient by obviating the need for the relatives of patients to enter the ICUs to visit their wards. Notices were issued to the... Read More

COMMON CAUSE had been receiving oral complaints from various sources that teachers engaged by private schools on contract basis are being maltreated. Obviously, the victims cannot raise their voices for fear of being thrown out. A study conducted by our organization confirmed the rampant malpractices in private schools. We took up the matter with the Department of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi and requested them to introduce a monitoring system for watching over the teachers engaged by p... Read More

OPENING OF SAVINGS BANK ACCOUNT IN POST OFFICES One of our members, Mr. Vijay Kumar Taneja, CLS (Retd.), 27-B, Pusa Road, New Delhi-110005, had encountered a problem in opening a Savings Bank Account at a Post Office because of the insistence of the Post Office staff on one particular mode of `Introduction'. He approached the Postal authorities for making the procedure more consumer friendly. The Postal authorities have reiterated their earlier instructions on the subject in a circular d... Read More