Page 54 - BANKING FINANCE JUNE 2016

FEATURE

lodged in UP prisons cost the state Rs 74 lakh.) But the out profit but make it clear this should not be "subordi-
model also assists in rehabilitation by skilling prisoners for nate" to the welfare of the prisoners," Roy says on email.
life beyond bars. And finally, as per prison wisdom, a 'busy
convict is an easy convict'. The conservative view has long argued that prisoners
don't deserve market minimum wages because the state
Prison brass say convicts are never pressed into work, al- sponsors their bed and board anyway. Also, their crime or
though they may be nudged. "We first select people who alleged crime denies them equal wage rights. So income,
know the work, then bring in those interested but un- however paltry, ought to be regarded as a bonus.
skilled," explains VK Singh, DIG prisons, Telangana. The as-
sembly of electric metre boxes for Hyderabad-based But the reformist view is that even prisoners have families
Linkwell Telesystems, and steel furniture for SS Industries to support outside, and a decent income earned in incar-
are in-sourced to the central and open prisons in ceration will not only help their kin, but also give them a
Cherlapalli. sense of purpose and dignity. (In some cases in Tihar, 25%
of the convict's income is remitted to the family of his vic-
"We vet companies for security risks, potential environ- tim). But even though companies are less wary of their as-
mental pollution, risk to prisoners' health, their business sociation with prisons today, calling it their CSR, jail au-
plans, and other factors. We have valuable land and we thorities know they still have to tread lightly. "If we strike
don't want firms that only wish to take advantage of our too hard a bargain on remuneration, companies will stay
real estate," Singh maintains. Not to mention captive away," points out VK Singh.
labour. The prison-industrial complex worldwide has been
under greater scrutiny in recent years. Kiran Bedi, former IG prisons, Tihar is credited with plant-
ing the PPP model in Delhi prisons in the '90s. "Today
Contracting companies in China and America have been prison reform is a movement and big companies want
condemned for their exploitative prisoner wages (as low their association with it to be visible; earlier they kept a
as 2 cents an hour) - and for profiting off the taxpayer, as low profile because it could have been be construed as
prisons are usually state funded. Moreover, companies forced work," she says.
don't have to worry about absenteeism or health benefits
and pension. Signs of changing times are evident from the number of
jails being roped in. While Spark Minda plans to set up a
Nikhil Roy, programme development officer at the Lon- unit in Nagpur as well, Himalaya is scoping out Kerala,
don-based Penal Reform International, believes there's Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Bedi, for one, is upbeat. "I
nothing wrong with the profit motive. "It's the exploita- am glad companies are coming in and skilling prisoners at
tion of prisoners that we need to guard against. Hence, a low cost. Entering a prison is not risk-free, and yet they
the Mandela Rules (the UN's recently revised standard come here instead of employing elsewhere. I look at it as
minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners) do not rule the glass half full." (Source: Times of India)

Court orders trial in coal block case

Stating that "facts and circumstances" brought on record prima facie "establishes the hatching of a criminal conspiracy
after careful calculation and minute planning", a Delhi special court has ordered former Minister of State for Coal
Dasari Narayan Rao, former Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda
and 12 others to be put on trial. They face charges of criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy in a 2008 allo-
cation of a coal block in Jharkhand.

Special Judge Bharat Parashar, ordering framing of charges over alleged irregularities in the allocation of the Amarkonda
Murgadangal coal block, said prima facie it "appears that facade of various companies has been created as a smokescreen
to cover up the actual payoff" of Rs 2 crore to Rao by Jindal through his "group of companies or associated companies"
to secure a coal block for his firms Jindal Steel Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).

54 | 2016 | JUNE | BANKING FINANCE

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