Archaic Laws Perpetuating Ills of Colonial Rule

Various Human Development Indices, like infant mortality, illiteracy, per capita income, bring out the obvious backwardness of our society. Justification is that these are remnants of Colonial Rule, under which we had little or no freedom of taking corrective actions against these scourges. However, gaining freedom has changed little. Assertion is that in view of our large population and enormous backlog of development, it is going to take 'time' to correct the ills. By 'time' they may mean life time of several generations or even many centuries. The apprehension is justified, because during over 60 years of self rule we have gone backwards.

Regrettably, our mentality is still slavish. We do not recognize the ills of the colonial mind-set for governance and have failed to amend it. Recently, farmers of a large State have agitated against acquisition of their land at grossly unfair rates of compensation. The Chief Minister of the State ducked any blame, saying that the land acquisition and payment of compensation was done under the existing laws, which were inherited from the colonial era. If so, are we ashamed of our inaction and aroused enough to take corrective actions urgently?

Corrective actions have to encompass all the laws framed during the Colonial Rule. We should not be lulled by the notion that the entire inherited ‘steel frame of governance’ is appropriate for a free India. We need to review and amend suitably whole of the inherited Laws, as a matter of life and death for the bulk of our population.

Also, we may have to enact new laws to suit the prevailing wave of development across the World harnessing modern Science and Technology. Some areas are land use, pollution control, deforestation, decentralized planning and implementation, empowerment of the lowest income group and upwards and several others.

Creditably, we have since enacted new laws governing village Panchayats, Nagar Panchayats, Municipal Councils and Corporations. But, have we enacted similar laws for Tribal Areas? Are Tribals empowered to formulate their own Plans for education, health care, roads, communications, and banking and indicate their priorities? If yes what is the operating mechanism? Is prior concurrence of Tribals mandatory for locating in their region any new activity which may affect their dwellings, livelihood and such other basic rights? Or, is it left to the wisdom of the commonly wooden machinery of the Government? The neglect is all pervading. One may be shocked to learn that the list of Subjects for Mail to PM does not include Tribals or Forests!