Nelson Mandela International Day: Alleviating the misery

July 18, which is the birthday of Nelson Mandela, is celebrated as the Nelson Mandela International Day, recognising and rededicating his commitment to human rights, conflict resolution, and reconciliation. This day is special to the prison officials across the globe as the day is also utilised to promote humane conditions during incarceration; to raise awareness about inmates being an inalienable part of society and to value the work of prison staff as a social service of particular importance. 

Nelson Mandela fought apartheid for decades, was sentenced to an astounding 27 years in jail and stood at least four trials. He observed, "It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones." 

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. These rules are known as the Nelson Mandela Rules in honour of the great South African leader. Over 100 different rules were studied by the UNGA and these were revised in nine thematic areas — prisoners' inherent dignity as human beings; vulnerable groups of prisoners; medical and health services; restrictions, discipline and sanctions; investigations of deaths and torture in custody; access to legal representation; complaints and inspections; and terminology and staff training. Also Read - Water wisdom Like the rest of the world, the Indian prison system is overstretched and inadequately managed, which impacts the prisoners, their families and society as a whole. 

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data, Indian prisons had an average occupancy rate of 118 percent as on December 31, 2020. There are a total of 1,347 prisons — including 606 sub jails, 413 district jails, 145 central jails, 88 open jails, 44 special jails, 29 women jails, 19 borstal schools and three others than the above jails. Against the capacity of a little over four lakh inmates, the prisons host a little under five lakh prisoners — putting pressure on infrastructure, resources and staff. 

As of April 2022, there were 773 districts in India but the number of district jails has been much less at 413. A large state like Uttar Pradesh, which has 75 districts, has only 61 district jails despite the fact that the state accounts for 22 percent of the country's prison population. No wonder the state has the worst occupancy rate at 177 percent, followed by Sikkim and Uttarakhand. These figures point towards a lack of coordinated effort in the direction of addressing the problem where it hurts the most. 

Transportation of inmates to and from courts, hospitals, etc. is an expensive and manpower-intensive activity. There is a need to break away from the traditional 'central, district, and sub-jail' concept and just increase the capacity of the existing prisons to align the prison system with the locations of the courts in the country. It will reduce the logistics cost to the exchequer in the longer run. It will also help in the proper segregation of convicts and undertrials. Convicts can be confined in the central jail only. Each state needs to prepare a five-year plan to create facilities to address overcrowding issues and provide humane conditions in the prisons.  

The reason for excessive overcrowding is the number of undertrial prisoners who account for 76 percent of the total occupancy. Faster trials, liberal bail provisions, and scrupulous adherence to Section 41 (A) of CrPC by all components of the criminal justice system alone will alleviate the situation. No single wing of this system can be blamed for this abject failure. 

There are instances of undertrial prisoners who languish in jails because they cannot pay for the surety or the bail bond. The state and district legal aid authorities can step in to find a solution to this problem as the surety and bond amounts are not very large. Prison administration can also play a positive role in such cases by enrolling such undertrial prisoners in the wage-earning programmes. As per the jail manuals, only the convicts can be made to work and earn wages. But by making an exception on humanitarian grounds for such poor inmates, a number of undertrials will gain their freedom and a sense of empowerment after securing bail with their own hard-earned money. 

There are huge staff vacancies in prisons across the country. Thirty percent fewer supervisory, watch & ward and medical and paramedical personnel are available for day-to-day functioning — straining the life-work balance of the staff and denying them in-service training opportunities. It also adversely affects the morale and motivation of the prison staff. The sanctioned staff strength is nowhere close to the strength mandated by the Model Prison Manual approved by the Home Ministry. 

The issue of parity of pay and allowances of the prison staff with the police department is yet to be put to rest. It is a daily struggle for the prison staff to ask for these basic perquisites. 

This day is supposed to celebrate the prison staff as well. But unfortunately, like other streams of service in the khaki, the number of awards and recognition available to the prison officials is minuscule. There are no awards for best-managed jails in small and large states, like those for the police stations. The union home ministry should consider instituting these awards to keep the mojo of the staff intact. India, like the rest of the world, has moved away from retributive incarceration to a reformation and reintegration agenda for its prisoners. 

India ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1979, which remains the core international treaty on the protection of the rights of prisoners. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) states that prisoners have a right to the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. 

A lot has been achieved in the last decade due to judicial activism and the efforts of some motivated prison administrators. Now is the time for a concerted effort by all to overhaul the prison infrastructure and human resources which costs a fraction of expenditure compared to the expenditure on the other components of the criminal justice system. 

http://www.millenniumpost.in/opinion/nelson-mandela-international-day-alleviating-the-misery-486172

On Gurugram Streets on a Rainy Day

हरे कृष्णा हरे जाम

हरे गुरु हरे ग्राम|

Gurgaon now Gurugram boasts of being the Millenium City. What earned this sobriquet could be the offices of several IT companies and grand edifices and Malls which are touted not as shopping places but as a destination and tourist attraction.

While the concentration of IT companies brings in thousands of young minds to the city along with revenue, it is certainly not this alone that should earn Gurugram this sobriquet. Silicon Valley in the US is home to the who's who of the world IT industry. But then Silicon Valley is also known for the 6th highest GDP in the world, and the best air, and water supply anywhere on the planet Earth. The infrastructure there is awesome and always being upgraded.

And here is our Millennium City overwhelmed by one hour's downpour. Thousands of motorists were stranded everywhere. Engines stalled. People abandoned their cars on the roads and trudged home in knee-deep water. NH 8 gets flooded and large pools of water create a huge splash.

And to make matters worse rains are invariably accompanied by power cuts.

Most of us believe that the reason for these ills is faulty planning and engineering. Most of the HUDA sectors have been carved out by acquiring village shamlat land. Each village used to have a big pond that served as a receptor for excess water. With the disappearance of these water bodies and disregard for the natural slope of the area stormwater management has become difficult.

The greedy governments have sold every inch of land even earmarked for parks, schools, and other community facilities in these sectors making us all suffer. The traditional and natural nullahs and streams have also been sold and big projects have come upon them to meet the ever-increasing housing demand.

Unlike Panchkula, Gurugram is not a zero hawker city. If you want to sell fruits, just start doing so on any pavement or footpath in Gurgaon. All that you need to do is to perhaps grease the palms of a few unscrupulous municipality or police officials. It is nobody's business to see how many hawkers, rehris and other vendors have illegally occupied the public footpaths. Whatever trash their businesses generate, goes into the drains which are seldom cleaned. Cleaning of drains may be a major issue in Delhi but not in your Millennium City.

Plastic bags are the bane of city drains. If a small state like Himachal Pradesh can ban the use of plastic bags, why can't the bigger states like Haryana do so? Can the local municipality not enforce such a ban? It would make the city look better. At present, you see plastic trash everywhere.

Thank God the heavens did not decide to open up today! Imagine what would have happened.

It is time the Gurugram officials were slapped on their wrists by their political masters to get their act together and take corrective measures immediately and engineer corrections in the next few months.

SHARBATI WHEAT OF MADHYA PRADESH AND PUNJAB PRCTICES

 Recently I bought a bag of Sharbati wheat at Rs. 44 per Kg. Normal MP wheat sells at around Rs. 40 a kilo. The third in the hierarchy is the Rajasthani wheat selling at Rs 30-32 a kilo. There is great demand for these varieties and I am told the farmers use no or little chemical fertilizers but reap a rich harvest earning handsomely or twice as much as the farmers in Punjab.

Wheat grown in Punjab is sold at Rs. 22-24 and there are few takers other than FCI. The rich farmers in Punjab themselves do not eat their own produce!

I would urge our Punjabi farmers and their so-called unions/associations to follow the Madhya Pradesh model by growing better varieties using no or little chemical fertilizers. It will restore soil health and the health of people. A particular area of Punjab has witnessed an explosion of cancer cases. A switch to healthier farming practices may reverse the cancer trend.

Better quality wheat will surely be in great demand for local consumption and exports. It will be a win-win for all.

Do the Punjabis have it in them to do it?