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Blind Laws



“The media went after Lalit Modi, then A Raja, then Sharad Pawar and now they are after Bhopal. It will just pass,” said an official whose job it is to manage the perception about the government. He does not think Bhopal would have any long-lasting negative impact on the image of the UPA government.

Quarter of a century after the Bhopal tragedy, the collective conscience of India suddenly seems to have come alive. The fact is that, given India’s legal structure, this was the only possible conclusion of this case, in which the accused were charged with death due to negligence. The moral outrage is just that.

Indian Penal Code (IPC) 304A (causing death by a rash or negligent act) was applied when Salman Khan ran over people, the drunk wife of a colonel smashed her car into an auto and killed two last month in Delhi and yes, when roughly 15,000 were killed by a callous and greedy company. Mind you, if you were a teetotaller who has never jumped a red light in your life and by misfortune killed one in an accident, the same section would apply.

Two points, therefore:)

1) Driving under the influence of alcohol must attract higher punishment – imprisonment, fine and ban on driving for a certain period. If such drivers cause death, they should be charged with murder. Or at least, culpable homicide not amounting to murder. In fact, this was the charge against Salman Khan until the Mumbai high court dropped it.

2) Industrial disasters must lead to heavy fines on the company. Affected people must be compensated handsomely. The fear of the fine must be such on the companies that they would never think of a cost-cutting measure as Union Carbide in Bhopal, which was the direct cause of the disaster.

All these require new laws or modification of existing ones. After the current cacophony is over, the media and the civil society groups must try to take the debate to a more meaningful level.

Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the direction of the public discourse. The controversy over the nuclear liabilities bill is a pointer. India needs specific laws such as the nuclear liabilities bill to fix responsibilities and ensure immediate compensation to victims in the event of industrial accidents.

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Posted by Varghese K George on Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 9:22 pm 
Filed under India, Policy and Politics · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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  • Narendra

    What prompted the High Court to drop charges against SK? Who is responsible? If an industrial group takes care of bureaucrats and politicians, it is implicit that all communications and potential charges are diluted – how do we ensure that these scenarios do not happen?

    If someone pays for a posting/ position, they feel honour bound to collect while on a seat. The implications of corruption are deep and widespread.

    Tata tea ads notwithstanding, most people accept the norms of dealing with the Govt at various levels as these are the norms. We’ve created them and are now riding a tiger! We have an aged bureaucracy headed by a class of person chosen for public charisma and wild promises made ever 4-5 years. Is there any analysis of professional qualifications/ education/ experience of other spheres? Companies use balanced scorecards to ensure uniform performance across several parameters – Govt agencies use the to analyse bidders and service providers abroad.

    Possibly we could ask the IIM’s to propose a similar model for politicians right from the panchayat level.

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  • Ram

    YES FOLLOW PRESIDENT OBAMA’S LEAD AND HEAVILY FINE COMPANIES WHO CREATED D/CRERTE DISATERS IN FUTURE LIKE UNION CARBIDE/DOW IN BHOPAL, BP IN USA AS ALL OUR LEADERS KNOW IS O APE THE WST BLINDLY IN WRONG THINGSAND DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DEFEND RIGHTS OF POOR CITIZENS LIKE OBAMA. WHY ARE THE HOLY TRIMUVIRATE OF CONGRESS GOVERNMENT IN DELHI SILENT-PM SINGH, sUPREMO SONIA AND SON -RAHUL GANDHI! INDIA HAS BECOME A FEUDAL STATE WITH ITS L;AUGHABLE CALIMS TO MODERNITY AS POLITICAL POWE HAS BECOME JAGIR OF FAMILIES LIKE GANDHIS, KARUNANIDHI, JAYALALITYHA, LALOO YADA\V AND MULAYAM- BECAUSE CONGRESS AND ALL MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES WANT MAJORITY POPULATION OF ILLITERATE INDIANS SO SLEAZE, CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY CAN FLOURISH TO BENEFIT THEM FOREVER AND EVER———————-MEDIA IS TOO CULPABLE AND IT DOES NOT GIOVE THE HOLY TRIMUVIRATE A HARD TOME AS IF THEY ARE ABOVE THE LAWS OF INDIA!

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  • http://www.mycarhelpline.com Mycarhelpline

    It does . However been as depicted in chart sales went up from 2500 to 7000 units of benz and many luxury cars – BMW n Audi are seen so frequently on road. But – it does heads turns for one who aspires to owe these cars.
    One can get reviews on entry segment Audi A4, Benz C n BMW 3 series on http://www.mycarhelpline.com

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  • Tsenam

    when you didn’t do anything right in your life,then you feel everything fake like Communists china does.

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  • tsenam

    It is more funny that ,people like you talk about democracy as you never had this pol-system in your nation and ,that’s is ruling by the lost brother of muammar gaddafi.

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  • Anup

    Ajay,

    What if babu’s start demanding bribe to run the software (in other words, let the software deposit money to the accounts of the targeted beneficiaries) every month ? We shouldn’t forget that the there will be a huge chain of officers for maintaining all the process at different levels.

    But unfortunately, this scheme is definitely going to get what the UPA wants…. the votes in next elections. Majority of the poor, illiterate voters are not going to care about what 2G or CWG was/is. They will vote for a party who will promise direct money transfer in their accounts.

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  • corrupt congress party

    this is nothing but a scheme to skim the money from the poorest of poorest indians and as per the corrupt congress records and the many congress gunda ministers involved this is sure fire way of looting them. one should be wary that such schemes are thought of and launched by the lungi wearing chodu-umbram and (the one who got elected by fraud in last election and who had been the master mind of all the countries biggest scams)
    this sardar prime minister has no guts to start any thing that is beneficial to indians and is simply a yes man to his master the italian maid so there is no credibility there. t
    the fact is that these scamsters would never give up unless they are all in tihar jail and soon.

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  • nkbansal

    There are a lots of ways of corruption here. Congress or their ministers will send money to wrong accounts. Where money is transferred will not be transparent. If all transfers are first publicly announced on internet, and then there is a private party scrutinizing this money transfer i.e. who is getting the money, may be then corruption may be less. I have my all doubts, how UPA government will change its nature of corruption. UPA has designed it as another method of corruption.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/bikram.singh.395017 Bikram Singh

    You cannot keep on inventing new bicycles to keep your learning (read skimming) process on. Instead of Cash Transfer, which are a source of headache in Australia (centerlink) as well with a far smaller population, work could have been done on improving the PDS system. In your lingo, that is one bicycle that we have fallen of many times so…!? Your observations about Australia are totally flawed because you have given a layman’s account. I have spent 5 years in Australia and Centerlink was one of my objects of study. Today I’ve friends who are working with the Aus govt and hear routine rants about the porousness of the system. And all this with a population that would note exceed the combined population of Delhi and Mumbai..! Have you forgotten that in April this year only the Aus govt had to pass an order prohibiting the usage of centerlink’s money for booze, cigarettes, porn and gambling…!?
    So ‘mate’ take it easy with inaccurate analogies..!

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  • Anonymous

    while it is true that there could be many glitches in the implementation initially of the Direct cash transfer, enough time has been invested to somehow make modifications in existing systems to see that the genuine needy get their due and not be robbed by not the rich but by the very same poor people. One would not expect a poor to rob another poor but that is just what seems to happen at the grass roots level. This may fail but it is definitely worth trying and who knows once implemented with modifications based on the problems over a period of time the scheme may work out to be best. Also this is the only way for the government to reach the Aam Admi without middle men. the officials cannot be deemed as middle men. There would be problems with the officials as well. But that problem also can be solved with technology over some time,

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  • “Q”

    Darling…………………. ….Kya ab apne Swiss bank account me seedha pahuch jayega ?

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