Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Topics to be taken one by one
Please add to these and also fine tune the topics here - we will write our opinions on all these in the days to come -
- Relation between center and states - to increase the union list?
- Local parties or National parties for States?
- US-India Nuclear Deal - good or bad
- India -Russia defence and other relations
- India-SriLanka relationship over the last two decades
- Indian foreign policy
- Indian Mining and Minerals Policy
- Small states are better than bigger states - the problem of telangana
- Dalit upsurge and recent developments
- Bharat Nirman - its progress
- China-India border relations and foreign policy
- Judiciary activisim and Parliamentary constraints
- Sports in India other than cricket
- Aritist's freedom of expression and its restrictions
- India 's growth story and its inclusiveness
- RBI and its role in credit policy and inflation
- Political politics and developmental politics
- coalation, hung, minority and majority governments
- Effect of the electronic media
- Violence in Internal India
- The case of Iraq and Global war on Terrorism
- Energy Conservation and Global energy apetite
- Conservation of environment and the reduction of green house gases
- the plight of farmers and agriculture in Indian states - should it be included in the union list
- Police encounters and National Police policy
- Crisis in Bangladesh
- Natural calamities and readiness of the government
- effect of the slowdown in the US Economy on Asia and India
- Caste prominence in Indian states
- Human Rights and its more and more details
Human Rights
Human rights refers to - "the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled", often held to include the right of life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression and equality before law
The United National Human Rights Declaration states: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
This was adopted by the UN General assembly in 1948 after the barbarism of the second world war and this Human rights declaration is not legally binding on the member states
two Covenants – International
Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and International
Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1966. India signed both
these International Conventions in 1979
The UN is the only international body which has legal jurisdiction for universal human rights legislation and the first international body to make a human rights declaration
The UN Human Rights Council is the organ with the investigations into Human rights violations
along with the international court of justice which is the principle judicial organ of the UN
Human rights legislation commonly contains:
Security rights - against rape, murder, involuntary suicide etc
liberty rights - freedom of thought and expression etc
political rights - protesting peacefully, participating in the public etc
due process rights - against abuses like improper trail and imprisonment
equality rights - equal citizenship and before law etc
welfare rights - education, paid holidays etc
group rights - protection against ethnic genocide etc
Property rights Vs Human rights is a delicate matter and many views are expressed on this issue.
UN High Commissioner of Human rights - to study and monitor human rights
There are also many other international bodies and legislations that deal with the human rights in normal and war/emergency times
Human rights are in the human history from as back as 2000BC and can be referenfed in Bible, Vedas, Quran and all other religious books of the past
china does not have any human rights in the period of confucius
Persia has a very good record of Human rights from 6th century BC under Cyrus the great and they were well documented - the first ones - on a cylinder
Maurya empire in the 3rd century also has unprecedented human rights under Ashoka the great
The revolutions in USA and France were the corner stones for the establishment of human rights in a structural way in the early modern world
Types - Positive(govt should take action to try and legislate them) and negative (govt should not take action to remove them!) Human rights
Three generations of Human rights - civil and political rights, social and cultural rights, and third generation rights are solidarity rights
criticism of human rights is that the concept has its roots in cultural imperialism and a poilitcally liberal outlook which is generally accepted in western europe, japan, india and north america but is not taken as a standard elsewhere. Also, some argue it has the effect of christianity on it!
And so, islam has its own set of human rights which apply only to them and not to all human beings!!
Human rights violations and abuses include those documented by non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, World Organisation Against Torture, Freedom House, International Freedom of Expression Exchange and Anti-Slavery International.
the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Costa Rica are the only (mappable) countries that did not violate at least some human rights significantly. Rest all the countries including the biggest of the democracies in the world are all included in violations of human rights
Indian Perspective:
More concern is on Woman and child abuses
Abuses against STs, nomadic tribes and other backward castes and communities
Resettlement and rehabilitation
destitute conditions of the people below poverty line
insurgency
Trafficking in woman and children
human rights awareness
Human rights protection Act 1993 - 11 annual reports are given so far and the 12th annual human right report for 2005 is also out
The United National Human Rights Declaration states: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
This was adopted by the UN General assembly in 1948 after the barbarism of the second world war and this Human rights declaration is not legally binding on the member states
two Covenants – International
Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and International
Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1966. India signed both
these International Conventions in 1979
The UN is the only international body which has legal jurisdiction for universal human rights legislation and the first international body to make a human rights declaration
The UN Human Rights Council is the organ with the investigations into Human rights violations
along with the international court of justice which is the principle judicial organ of the UN
Human rights legislation commonly contains:
Security rights - against rape, murder, involuntary suicide etc
liberty rights - freedom of thought and expression etc
political rights - protesting peacefully, participating in the public etc
due process rights - against abuses like improper trail and imprisonment
equality rights - equal citizenship and before law etc
welfare rights - education, paid holidays etc
group rights - protection against ethnic genocide etc
Property rights Vs Human rights is a delicate matter and many views are expressed on this issue.
UN High Commissioner of Human rights - to study and monitor human rights
There are also many other international bodies and legislations that deal with the human rights in normal and war/emergency times
Human rights are in the human history from as back as 2000BC and can be referenfed in Bible, Vedas, Quran and all other religious books of the past
china does not have any human rights in the period of confucius
Persia has a very good record of Human rights from 6th century BC under Cyrus the great and they were well documented - the first ones - on a cylinder
Maurya empire in the 3rd century also has unprecedented human rights under Ashoka the great
The revolutions in USA and France were the corner stones for the establishment of human rights in a structural way in the early modern world
Types - Positive(govt should take action to try and legislate them) and negative (govt should not take action to remove them!) Human rights
Three generations of Human rights - civil and political rights, social and cultural rights, and third generation rights are solidarity rights
criticism of human rights is that the concept has its roots in cultural imperialism and a poilitcally liberal outlook which is generally accepted in western europe, japan, india and north america but is not taken as a standard elsewhere. Also, some argue it has the effect of christianity on it!
And so, islam has its own set of human rights which apply only to them and not to all human beings!!
Human rights violations and abuses include those documented by non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, World Organisation Against Torture, Freedom House, International Freedom of Expression Exchange and Anti-Slavery International.
the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Costa Rica are the only (mappable) countries that did not violate at least some human rights significantly. Rest all the countries including the biggest of the democracies in the world are all included in violations of human rights
Indian Perspective:
More concern is on Woman and child abuses
Abuses against STs, nomadic tribes and other backward castes and communities
Resettlement and rehabilitation
destitute conditions of the people below poverty line
insurgency
Trafficking in woman and children
human rights awareness
Human rights protection Act 1993 - 11 annual reports are given so far and the 12th annual human right report for 2005 is also out
Monday, February 19, 2007
Answer for the Topic No: 1
(limiting myself to 250 words max.)
The death penalty is given by the Judiciary for some of the henious crimes committed which the judiciary feels that the guilty should be given the capital punishment. Even thought the capital punishement is scrapped in and violently opposed in some of the countries around the world, we have this in our country still prevailing and more recently, many of the accused in long pending cases were given the death penalty by the supreme court and those verdicts are hailed as "the wheels of courts runs but slowly"! But, taking into consideration, the long time the trails has taken and the changes in the very details of the case and the lifes of the accused and the victims, there has to be some other way, where the Judiciary which takes its own course of law should be overcome with a heart and the situational crisis being considered and here is the Presidential clemency gets its significance. Though the Presidential clemency is not judicial in nature, it some times proves to be a useful tool in the hands of the head of the parliament, as time passes, the accused may remorse him/herself who then may not be rewarded with the capital punishment.
But, to think overboard, it is better, if the capital punishment as such is striked off following the international human rights policies and then there will be no need for a presidential clemency on a whole.
Answer from Shinoj for Topic No: 1
the power of clemency is given to the president by our constitution is only to correct the error of law which may have crept in during any process in the case. death penalty awarded by a lower court is conformed if the supreme court uphelds it.in this case a fool proof study of the whole case is done and death sentence is awarded.so in such a case,if our constitution has given the president of india such a power to overrule a award of a reputed constitutional body,it is only to make sure that such a person who have done such a crime is completely legible to be deprived of his life.so the presidential clemency gives the scope to look into a case with a humane view.so the awarding of such a sentance should continue as long as it is prescribed in the books of law.and if the mercy petition is rejected,execution should obviusly follow.so the constitution of india has made sure that no persons life is taken away easily,that is why the law has prescribed such a long procedure,with ample scope of correction i.e.clemency.hence we respect a persons right to life and the same is deprived by the procedure established by law by adopting a due prcocess of law.so the so the presidential clemency following an death penalty by court is completely justicable both by law and social values.
The death penalty is given by the Judiciary for some of the henious crimes committed which the judiciary feels that the guilty should be given the capital punishment. Even thought the capital punishement is scrapped in and violently opposed in some of the countries around the world, we have this in our country still prevailing and more recently, many of the accused in long pending cases were given the death penalty by the supreme court and those verdicts are hailed as "the wheels of courts runs but slowly"! But, taking into consideration, the long time the trails has taken and the changes in the very details of the case and the lifes of the accused and the victims, there has to be some other way, where the Judiciary which takes its own course of law should be overcome with a heart and the situational crisis being considered and here is the Presidential clemency gets its significance. Though the Presidential clemency is not judicial in nature, it some times proves to be a useful tool in the hands of the head of the parliament, as time passes, the accused may remorse him/herself who then may not be rewarded with the capital punishment.
But, to think overboard, it is better, if the capital punishment as such is striked off following the international human rights policies and then there will be no need for a presidential clemency on a whole.
Answer from Shinoj for Topic No: 1
the power of clemency is given to the president by our constitution is only to correct the error of law which may have crept in during any process in the case. death penalty awarded by a lower court is conformed if the supreme court uphelds it.in this case a fool proof study of the whole case is done and death sentence is awarded.so in such a case,if our constitution has given the president of india such a power to overrule a award of a reputed constitutional body,it is only to make sure that such a person who have done such a crime is completely legible to be deprived of his life.so the presidential clemency gives the scope to look into a case with a humane view.so the awarding of such a sentance should continue as long as it is prescribed in the books of law.and if the mercy petition is rejected,execution should obviusly follow.so the constitution of india has made sure that no persons life is taken away easily,that is why the law has prescribed such a long procedure,with ample scope of correction i.e.clemency.hence we respect a persons right to life and the same is deprived by the procedure established by law by adopting a due prcocess of law.so the so the presidential clemency following an death penalty by court is completely justicable both by law and social values.
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