Page 12 - EW-December-1-31-2024-merged

Editorial

GOOD NEW WIND FROM AMERICA have suggested a 3 percent cut result-
ing in a saving of Rs.1.02 lakh crore.
This would contribute 15 percent to
he election of donald trump as cy headed by eccentric space-age bil- the total Rs.7.81 lakh crore which our
the 47th president of the United lionaire Elon Musk and Indian-origin schema suggests can be mobilised
TStates — the wealthiest, most in- former presidential candidate Vivek by the Centre in 2024-25 for invest-
novative and most powerful military Ramaswamy . Their brief is to suggest ment in public education and health
nation worldwide — has shocked most ways and means to slash the Federal (see https://www.educationworld.in/
well-educated and refined people who government’s annual expenditure by a union-budget-2024-25-soaring-ambi-
expect decorum, culture and charac- humungous $2 trillion (equivalent to tion-neglected-foundation/).
ter in government and society leaders. 57 percent of India’s annual GDP and Total establishment expenditure
That the American people have elected 10 percent of America’s). of Rs.7.83 lakh crore (2024-25) on
him to be their executive President, is In India, there is a blanket of si- 3.4 million government employees is
an indicator that the US — its signifi- lence in media on the issue of reduc- much too much. Wasteful expenditure
cant highly-educated minority not- ing government spending classified is patently visible in lavish ministerial
withstanding — which over the past as ‘establishment expenditure’ in the and official bungalows, cavalcades of
two centuries has acquired the repu- annual Union Budget. However for motor-cars, private airline and nu-
tation of a coarse, swaggering nation, over a decade, EducationWorld which merous class IV clerks, peons and
has become coarser. The world has to conterminously with the Union Bud- servitors enjoyed by politicians and
be ready to live with it. get has been presenting a schema/ bureaucrats. Even if ‘drain the swamp’
However, Trump is not an ill wind calculus to slash the Centre’s expen- is not possible, there is considerable
that blows no good. Inevitably some diture under various heads and free up scope for significantly slashing gov-
features on the President-Elect’s re- resources for social welfare spending, ernment expenditure to release re-
forms agenda make eminent good has been a voice in the wilderness. In sources desperately needed in the
sense not only for the American public, the Union Budget 2024-25, establish- social sector.
but also for the long-suffering people ment expenditure (wages, salaries, That’s an early good wind that’s
of India — like America, a democracy operational expenses and overheads) blown from America which is bracing
governed by the will of the people. at Rs.7.83 lakh crore constitutes for a roller-coaster ride under Presi-
The most promising of the reforms 16.29 percent of total Central govern- dent Donald Trump. Let’s hope his
on Trump’s agenda is promulgation of ment expenditure. This is the very bosom pal Prime Minister Modi takes
a Department of Government Efficien- first item under which your editors a leaf out of his book.

URGENTLY REQUIRED JUDICIAL REFORMS is 21 per million cf.107 per million
in the US and 51 in the UK with even
communist China appointing 159 per
he retirement of d.y. chand- courts. It’s the largest arrears case million — the national interest neces-
rachud from office as the 50th load worldwide. The average time sitates extension of retirement age of
TChief Justice of the Supreme taken for resolution of a civil case in upper judiciary judges and simultane-
Court of India on November 10 at India is five-ten years. Clearly Chan- ous increase in the number of judges
the mandatory retirement age of 65, drachud — by common consensus the systemwide with immediate effect.
marks an important milestone in the most technology and business literate Secondly, it’s now plainly evident
checkered history of India’s judiciary. CJI in post-independence India’s le- that the judiciary, unschooled in or-
During his eight-year career as a gal history — should have been given ganisational and business manage-
judge of the Supreme Court and two more time to address the issue of the ment, cannot modernise and stream-
years as CJI, Chandrachud adjudicat- law’s delay. line the judicial system. Therefore,
ed several game-changing cases that Therefore, the first issue that needs external management consultancy
have altered the course of Indian his- to be reviewed is the retirement age firms need to be called in to devise
tory. Among them: the electoral bonds of judges. The mandatory retirement a rules and regulations-based legal
case, Ayodhya Ram temple dispute, of the evidently youthful CJI Chan- system in which loquacious counsels’
decriminalization of homosexuality, drachud is tantamount to wasteful time in presenting arguments and
Sabarimala temple women’s access throwaway of highly experienced ju- cross examining witnesses is circum-
case, same-sex marriages and revo- dicial talent. In this day and age, com- scribed, prolix paperwork is reduced
cation of the special status of Jammu pulsorily retiring highly experienced and adjournments are restricted. The
and Kashmir. “I have left the judicial high court judges at 62 and Supreme experience of the past seven decades
system better than I found it,” said Court judges at 65, is foolish waste of and emergence of India’s mountain-
Chandrachud in his farewell address. talent. In the US, Supreme Court judg- ous caseload is proof that adminis-
But better is not good enough. es serve for life unless incapacitated trative reform of the legal system is
India’s legal system is burdened by illness or voluntary retirement beyond the collective capability of the
with 51 million pending cases of because there’s healthy awareness of judiciary. Democracy, rule of law and
which 83,000 are pending in the the value of judicial experience. In ease of doing business necessarily
Supreme Court, 6 million in 23 high addition to appointing more judges require an efficient legal system. Sine
courts and 45 million in subordinate — India’s judges to population ratio qua non.

12 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2024