{"id":11388,"date":"2017-11-04T14:15:23","date_gmt":"2017-11-04T08:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=11388"},"modified":"2017-10-30T14:17:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T08:47:47","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-november-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-november-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 November 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Q.1) The government has recently launched the the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, or Saubhagya Scheme. \u00a0In this context,What are the major problems of power sector in India? What are the causes of these? (GS-3)<\/p>\n<p><b>Context:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Government of India has launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, or Saubhagya Scheme.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is Saubhagya scheme?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Saubhagya scheme was launched on September 25<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 2017.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scheme will provide electricity connections to over 40 million families in rural and urban areas by December 2018.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is the need for the scheme?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Village electrification programme like Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana, launched in July 2015, realised that a large number of household is still remaining without access to electricity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moreover, the scheme aims at ensuring the coverage of households as opposed to only villages.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A village is declared to be electrified if 10% of the households are given electricity along with public places such as schools, panchayat office, health centres, dispensaries and community centres.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How this scheme will make a difference?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scheme will help to meet its global climate change commitments as electricity will substitute kerosene for lighting purposes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Easy access to electricity in turn will also help in improving education, health, connectivity with the multiplier effect of increased economic activities and job creation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What is Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana is a Government of India scheme, launched on 25<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> July 2015.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The DDUGJY is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Power.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Objectives:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ministry of Power, Government of India has launched Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana for rural areas having following objectives:<\/span><\/li>\n<li>To provide electrification to all villages,<\/li>\n<li>Feeder separation to ensure sufficient power to farmers and regular supply to other consumers,<\/li>\n<li>Improvement of Sub-transmission and distribution network to improve the quality and reliability of the supply and<\/li>\n<li>Metering to reduce the losses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The power sector of India: a quick glance:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s <\/span><b>ranks third globally<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in terms of electricity production.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sources of power generation in India range from <\/span><b>conventional sources such as coal, lignite, natural gas, oil, hydro and nuclear power to viable non-conventional sources such as wind, solar, and agricultural and domestic waste.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Electricity comes under the concurrent list.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Problems of power sector in India:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The deeply troubled power sector accounts for almost <\/span><b>one-tenth of all bank loans in India.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The power sector is also facing <\/span><b>significant technological challenges<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as the cost of solar energy continues falling.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Increasing power generation costs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> due to limited fuel availability, poor financial health of State Discoms, high AT&amp;C losses have contributed in suppressed demand projections by State Discoms<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Power plants and utilities face major <\/span><b>constraints and delays regarding the availability of land<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and obtaining the requisite environment and other clearances for the projects.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apart from these, there is a significant amount of <\/span><b>shortage of manpower and machinery equipments<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Government initiatives:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ministry of Power, Government of India, has taken various measures to achieve its aim of providing 24X7 affordable and environment friendly <\/span><b>&#8216;Power for All\u2019 by 2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Government of India has initiated <\/span><b>10-year tax exemption for solar energy projects<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> order to achieve India&#8217;s ambitious renewable energy targets by the year 2022. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The revised Tariff Policy was notified by Ministry of Power with a focus on \u20184 Es\u2019 i.e. <\/span><b>Electricity <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for all, <\/span><b>Efficiency <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to ensure affordable tariffs, <\/span><b>Environment <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for a sustainable future, <\/span><b>Ease of doing business <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to attract investments and ensure financial viability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) for urban areas provides for:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution networks in urban areas;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">metering of distribution transformers\/feeders\/consumers in urban areas; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IT enablement of distribution sector and strengthening of distribution network.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Operationalization of Power System Development Fund (PSDF) shall be utilized for the project proposed by distribution utilities for:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">creating necessary transmission system of strategic importance;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0installation of shunt capacitors etc. for improvement of voltage profile in the grid;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">installation of standard and special protection schemes; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Renovation and Modernisation of transmission and distribution systems for relieving congestion; etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> scheme has been launched for operational and financial turnaround of Discoms.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Q.2) Although the strength of India ,socio-economically, is rooted in agriculture,But since decades the country has been witnessing the distress of the rural economy to a considerable extent. What are the major problems of rural indian economy? What are the drawbacks of rural wages programmes in India? (GS-1)<\/p>\n<p><b>Context:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rural wages in India over the past few years seems to get over looked.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This collapse and stagnation deserves a closer look than it has received thus far.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Rural economy in India: An overview:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India is known as an agricultural country, as most of the population of villages depends on agriculture. Agriculture forms the backbone of the country\u2019s economy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The agricul\u00adtural sector contributes most to the overall economic development of the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The features of Indian rural economy are as follows:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Commercialization of Agriculture:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the present days, a large part of rural economy has been opened up, which has made commercialization of agricul\u00adture possible.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Rural Society under the positive impact of Urbanism:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many industries have been flourished in rural areas, which are rich in the resources needed for the setting up of industries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Urbanism also brought development of rural roads and transport and communication.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contacts with the urban areas have created awareness among the rural masses about consumer goods.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, due to green revo\u00adlution, the income levels of the rural people have increased, which encourages such consumption of goods possible.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Government initiatives:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA):<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MGNREGA attempts to address two of the key concerns related to poverty in India: unemployment and a flagging agriculture sector.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The present policy frame of MGNREGA is based on three-pronged accomplishment to alleviate and reduce poverty in the country which constitutes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stepping up of economic growth<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Direct strike on poverty through employment, income-generating programmes and assets creation for the poor and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Human and social development policies for the poor and the needy.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or DDU-GKY: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is Government of India youth employment scheme.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It aims to target youth, under the age group of 15\u201335 years. DDU-GKY is a part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), tasked with the dual objectives of adding diversity to the incomes of rural poor families and cater to the career aspirations of rural youth.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Prime Minister\u2019s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jobs created by the Prime Minister\u2019s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), generates employment in rural and urban areas by initiating new micro enterprises and small projects.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Make in India Programme:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The main aim of the Make in India programme is to generate employment in the manufacturing sector.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Startup India: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under this programme, the government encouraged banks to provide finance to young entrepreneurs to start their own business ventures.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What are the problems of rural wages?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lower income of the people in rural areas is because of the<\/span><b> low prices of agricultural products<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most <\/span><b>new jobs in the rural are for unskilled workers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so the wages and nature of the work are unattractive.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a <\/span><b>strong gender disparity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where the female worker is paid only 70% of what the male worker earns.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the advent of Green Revolution, money wage rates started increasing, <\/span><b>but with the raise of prices, real wage rates did not increase<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Increase in wages, unaccompanied by productivity increases, could lead to a wage-price spiral<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, thereby offsetting the positive impact of initial increase in real wages on welfare. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If increase in wages in one sector leads to subsequent increase in wages across the economy, the <\/span><b>competitiveness of the economy could be negatively impacted.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What are the drawbacks of rural wages programmes in India?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Objectives of one program conflict with those of others, and there is no institutional mechanism for reconciling them.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poor norms of fixation, enforcement, implementation and coverage in various parts of the country are other important drawbacks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Different wages are fixed for the same work in different sectors. Thus there is no justification of labour cost.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The funds which are allotted for a particular wage program is not supervised. Hence, it is not used with honesty.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>There is ardent insufficiency of manpower, training and efficiency to run these rural wages programmes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.3) The Supreme Court has successfully managed to bring down its case backlog below 60,000 through concerted efforts. In light of the above statement, discuss the reasons behind the case backlogs in the Indian judiciary. What are the various factors worsening the situation in India? What are the suggested ways to improve the present situation? (GS-2)<\/span><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Reasons behind the backlog<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Vacancies of judges<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With about 30 million cases pending in various courts across the country, Indian judiciary is struggling to clear a huge backlog. If on an average three persons are involved in a case, then there are at least 90 million people waiting for justice.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bulk of these cases is pending in subordinate courts thronged by poor litigants \u2013 who bear the brunt of the snail-paced system.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of late, the problem has been compounded by the unprecedented increase in judicial vacancies across the three tiers of Judiciary. Official figures show, the SC is short of five judges, 24 High Courts have 464 vacant judges post and 4,166 at the subordinate courts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Tiff between Judiciary and Government<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Appointment to the Supreme Court and high courts are done by a collegium of the top court. But judges in the subordinate courts are appointed by the state high court. The stand \u2013 off between the government and the Supreme Court collegium over a memorandum of procedure has made things worse for judicial appointments in the higher judiciary.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tussle between the government and the Supreme Court has adversely affected the efficiency of the judiciary. The arrears are mounting and new appointments are not being made.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Judge-population ratio<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a sanctioned strength of 21,000-odd judges, subordinate courts are under tremendous pressure as almost a quarter of the posts remain vacant, thanks to lack of advance planning and a poor recruitment policy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Law Commission and the Supreme Court recommended that India should have 50 judges per one million people, but the ratio continues to be abysmally low at 17 judges per one million people.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Department of Justice has said the problem of shortage of judges is being addressed through a two-pronged strategy. Firstly, by filling up the large number of vacancies and secondly, increasing the sanctioned strength of judges.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Increasing literacy<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Albeit at a slow pace, the number of cases being filed every year is increasing. An interesting reason for the same, apart from depleting moral conscience, is increased awareness, with increased<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">literacy. Kerala, for example, gets 28 new cases per 1,000 people. It has a literacy rate of over 90%. Jharkhand, which has a literacy rate of around 53%, gets four cases per 1,000.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Lower Courts<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the National Judicial Data Grid website as on December 31, 2015, 2.6 crore cases are pending only in lower courts of which 41.38% cases have been pending for less than two years and 10.83% have been pending for over 10 years. This is a resultant of rampant <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bribes for bail<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">postponing dates<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Reason for it getting worse<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the number of judges increased six-fold in the last three decades, the number of cases too shot up 12-fold, as per the 2012 report of the National Court Management Systems (NCMS).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even by conservative estimates, the number of cases reaching courts will touch 15 crore, requiring at least 75,000 judges in the next three decades, the report said.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With growing literacy and income, more and more people are likely to approach courts, contributing to the burgeoning backlog of cases.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Solutions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a need to have access to high resolution data on judicial processes at both the high court as well as the lower court level. A number of courts do not have data under the \u201cDate filed\u201d column, the most crucial piece for identifying delays.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fast track courts have proved their mettle, &amp; their importance cannot be emphasized enough. On the recommendation of the 11th Finance Commission, 1734 Fast Track Courts of Sessions Judges were sanctioned for disposal of old pending cases and the said scheme was to end on 31-3-2005.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Out of 18,92,583 cases, 10,99,828 have been disposed of by these courts. Keeping in view the performance of Fast Track Courts and contribution made by them towards clearing the backlog, it can be further put to use.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mobile courts that help taking justice to the door-step of the rural would significantly help in fighting the backlog.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 was enacted to provide free and competent legal service to the weaker sections of the society to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. To achieve that objective, Lok Adalats are being held at various places in the country and a large number of cases are being disposed of with lesser costs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mobile Lok Adalats are presently in place in different parts of the State of Bihar and on the lines of steps taken by the High Court of Patna of holding mobile Lok Adalats, the other High Courts need also work on the same lines so that speedy and affordable justice could be made available to the litigants at their doorsteps.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ministry of Law &amp; Justice is going to draw a Gram Nyayalayas Bill with an objective to secure justice, both civil and criminal, at the grass-root level to the citizens, which would be the lowest court of subordinate judiciary and shall provide easy access to justice to litigant through friendly procedures, use of local language and mobile courts wherever necessary.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No judge specific metrics are available. With simple metrics like frequency of case disposal per judge or categorisation of subject matter with respect to judges, a great deal of accountability and trust would be brought into the system.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New technology should be leveraged, and not just technology for data collection. Artificial Intelligence is fast maturing and with further advances in machine learning, standardised data collection can assist judges in forming judgements. A software developed by Nine Research Institute in China helped 300 judges handle 1,50,000 cases, reducing their workload by a third.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Significant progress has been made towards computerisation of courts. However, computerisation must include within its ambit the standardisation of data collection across courts and not merely computerisation within silos.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Video conferencing is statutorily provided but rarely available in practice and infrequently used even if available. Accountability needs to be fixed on individuals causing repeated delays in dispensing justice.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Case management hearings should be introduced after pleadings have been completed by both parties where timelines are set and the court should impose sanctions against parties that fail to adhere to these timelines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian judiciary should also consider a consolidated \u201cAdjournment Manual\u201d applicable across all courts which codifies the conditions under which adjournment should be granted in order to reduce arbitrariness.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Economic uncertainty in decision making is further compounded by periodic encroachment by the judiciary in the domain of the executive. Two recent examples are the high court of Tamil Nadu asking the state government to waive farmers\u2019 loans and the highway liquor ban imposed by the Supreme Court. The short term perspective furthered by these encroachments is severely impacting long term predictability, consistency, and clarity of policies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The high pendency in courts can decline only with effective measurement, process overhaul, constant feedback, and by equipping the judiciary with technology and modern tools. This alone can enable the emergence of a new and modern judicial system with the capacity to dispense justice speedily.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The Law Ministry\u2019s Department of Justice discussed ways by which pendency of cases can be reduced.<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The deliberations revealed that the Centre and the States were responsible for over 46% of the 3 crore plus cases pending before the Courts across the country. While all States have formulated State Litigation Policies, a National Litigation Policy is still underway. This Policy will be aimed at providing mechanisms to ensure reduction in Government litigation, and will lay emphasis on exploring alternative means of dispute resolution.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Suggestions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Department went on to suggest the following ways to reduce pendency-<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Appointment of a nodal officer in every department at the Joint Secretary Level to coordinate effective resolution of the disputes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nodal Officer to regularly monitor the status of the cases.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Promotion of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Encouragement of mediation as the preferred form of dispute resolution in service related matters.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives\u00a0 Q.1) The government has recently launched the the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, or Saubhagya Scheme. \u00a0In this context,What are the major problems of power sector in India? What are the causes of these? (GS-3) Context: The Government of India has launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, or Saubhagya&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-november-3\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 November 3<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mains-marathon-answers","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pen-paper-laptop.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704763408},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}