The Edit Page

Justice J Chelameswar confirms our worst fears about

the higher judiciary. That system of appointing and transferring judges is arbitrary and non-transparent. The
judiciarys internal functioning eschews transparency
and accountability prerequisites of a robust democracy. The revelation calls for immediate reforms in the
working of the collegium and larger overhaul of the appointment system.
Judges are appointed by a collegium, or a group of senior justices a two-decade-old innovation meant to safeguard judicial autonomy. The collegiums working is
shrouded in mystery, its word is the law. Walled from
scrutiny, the group has spawned a system that privileges
access and familiarity over merit. Justice Chelameswar
has let in a sliver of light, revealing that reality is even
more dispiriting than our imagination. The collegiums
functioning is in contravention to judicial decisions
second (1993) and third (1998) Judges case that gave it
shape. The 1993 order states that decisions on appointments must be unanimous and all opinions must be conveyed to the government; making written
records implicit. In 1998, the order makes it explicit; requiring that the opinion of all members of the collegium
with regard to recommendations for
appointments/transfers be put down in writing. But as
Justice Chelameswar says in his as yet unpublished letter to the Chief Justice, there is no system of recording
the collegiums discussions or the individual recommendations of members, making it possible to disregard dissenting views. In effect, all decisions on appointing and
transferring judges have been entrusted to a tiny group.
This is unacceptable in a democracy.
A fair and transparent system that is accountable to
the people is essential to ensure a robust and independent judiciary. Such a system seems a way off. But the
Chief Justice should take the first small step, heed Justice Chelameswars advice and let sunlight into the opaque
workings of the collegium. It is the only way to restore
peoples faith in the system.

Excess capacity and cheap capital could trigger a massive investment spree

For a New Marshall Plan

create demand for the output. But
that calls for bold thinking and imaginative leadership.
Bold thinking and imaginative leadership led to the reconstruction of
bombed out, war-ravaged western
Europe after World War II. Under the
Marshall Plan, the US spent about
$13 billion, or a little over 1% of its
T K Arun
four-year combined GDP over 1948-51,
rebuilding Britain, France, Germaome pronouncements at the ny, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands and
just-concluded Hangzhou other west European nations. After
G20 summit were music to the Marshall Plan, too, the US spent
the ears of Communists huge amounts of money on Europewith strong views on neolib- an reconstruction: $7 billion a year
eral growth and no audience to hear over 1951-61, well over 1.5% US GDP
them out. Overcapacity in steel is a over these years. The US spent monglobal problem that calls for a collec- ey rebuilding Japan as well.
Of course, Europe rebuilt itself.
tive response, said the G20 leaders.
Crises of overproduction are, of cou- But it was not just Europe that gainrse, a capitalist failing that Commu- ed. The US gained immensely, exporting all that Europe wanted to im- The signs are there
nists have gloated over all along.
In fact, there is overcapacity in pr- port, using the funds it got from the
actically all commodities, their pric- US as aid, a large part of it as grants. used to build up economic capacity
eshave slumped, plunging commodi- Till the crises of the early 1970, west- and everyone prospered.
Why should this model of finding
ty-dependent countries in Latin Am- ern Europe, the US and Japan expererica and Africa into recession. Expo- ienced a golden age of growth that an outlet, via cheap and plentiful finrt-oriented Asian economies have no built unimagined and unprecedent- ancing, for surplus production that
gets deployed as valuable economic
demand for commodities that they ed prosperity.
The Soviet Union, too, staged a re- capacity in countries that desperateconvert into manufactured exports,
principally for America and Europe, markable post-War recovery but co- ly need it not get replicated now?
because demand has flagged in these uld not sustain the pace, grew sclerotic and eventually collapsed. In the To Asia and Africa
rich regions.
early post-War years, its Comecon In fact, there are attempts to reprodSend Cheap Capital
did for eastern Europe what the Mar- uce this model, although at far smallOnly countries with a strong domes- shall Plan had done for western Eu- er levels of ambition. When the Japatic demand base, like China and In- rope: sent out funds to finance imp- nese finance over 80% of the `. 1,00,000
dia, are in a position to sustain fast orts of plant, machinery and experti- crore needed to build a high-speed
train service between Mumbai and
growth. Their demand is not big eno- se from the Soviet Union.
The model was simple. Cheap, Ahmedabad at an interest rate of
ugh to take the slack from lower demand in the rest of the world. So, the plentiful financing was provided by 0.5% a year, to be repaid over 50 yeaworld is trying to figure out how to countries that had plenty of capacity rs, this model is at work.
As also when China launches an
force China to pare its steel capacity, to produce the things the recipient
half the worlds total, down from 800 countries wanted to import, to build Asian Infrastructure Development
up their domestic economic capaci- Bank to build a massive new silk romillion tonnes.
To dismantle built-up capacity is ty. Exporters found markets, cash- ute. Individual, piecemeal efforts to
one way of solving excess produc- strapped importers got financing for create demand in one country for sption and falling prices. Another is to their purchases, the imports were are capacity in another are already
underway. Two things prevent these
efforts from being scaled up into a
new Marshall Plan.
Unlike post-World War II Western Europe, Asia and
Western Europe and Japan had, in
the immediate post-War era, the insAfrica lack institutional capacity to absorb huge
titutional capability to absorb large
amounts of capital; building that should be the priority amounts of foreign investment and

R Prasad

1995

23.7

EU-27

30.9

US
JAPAN
24.6

CANADA
5.9
2.3

CHINA
BRAZIL
INDIA

2.0
RUSSIA
2.4
2.6
1.2 1.3
S AFRICA

REST OF
WORLD

13.3
3.0
2.4

Physician,
Heal Thyself

2.7

23.9%

0.4

8%

17.9

16.6%

22.4

The police sketch looks like

my caricature! Send them one
of my recent photographs!

*US & Canada

Citings

MATERNITY LEAVE AMENDMENT

Why Target Only Mums?

Sutapa Banerjee
Last month, the ministry of labour announced in a Cabinet note some amendments in the Maternity Benefit Act,
1961, the most significant one being
that women, working in private and
public sectors, will soon get maternity
leave of 26 weeks, more than double of
the existing 12 weeks.
While many, including womens groups, have endorsed this move, there is
actually little to cheer. The rationale
for the extended maternity leave period presumably is providing a longer
time at home for the mother to recuperate and spend time in childcare while
retaining pay and the security of a job.
This, goes the logic, should lead to larger numbers of women returning to
work, a step in the direction of gender
equality. But this reasoning is flawed.
First, this benefit will apply only to
the formal sector, which in a large
number of cases flaunts gender neutrality in its policies and practices.
Women comprise a mere 30% of employees overall and this figure tapers to
16.4% in the mid-management level,
falling to 10.6% at senior levels. An occupational bias in jobs the concentration of women in certain industries
like administration and human resources and junior customer service
roles, is quite predominant. Clearly,
these perceived gender-neutral policies have not helped.
Affirmative action is called for not to
favour women but simply to correct existing biases and level the playing field.
A judicious mix of legislation and incentives is needed. In addition, behavioural design offers a promising new
tool. In this context, this legislation is
likely to be counterproductive, even as
it can be effective in different form.

Extending maternity leave from 12

weeks to 26 weeks takes India right to
the top 10% of countries in this domain. The top 10% comprise mostly the
Nordic countries, where the higher
amount of leave is more often than not
a combination of maternity and paternity leave in the use it or it lapses format where it cant be transferred. This
ensures a more equal division of domestic work and fosters paternal involvement in childcare responsibilities.
Global research shows that shouldering a disproportionately higher share
of childcare and family responsibilities has been a significant deterrent to
women rejoining work.
So, what is a 26-week maternity leave
likely to do in a country where labour
force participation by women is one of
the lowest in the world? And in a country that ranks 124 out of 136 countries
in the gender equality index?
One, it will reinforce the deep-set belief that childcare is the sole responsibility of the mother, ignoring all evidence that points to the presence of the
father leading to better child development, and sharing of domestic chores.
Two, this benefit applies for two
children, making it a cumulative 52
weeks of paid leave. Its not hard to
imagine how this will pan out in the
private sector at the time of recruit-

Sure, Im a working mother. Is there

any other kind?

Is there a philosophical justification in the tradition followed

by some Hindu temples of banning the entry of women and
those belonging to religions other than Hinduism? In Hinduism, as in other religions, it is
important to talk of scriptural
sanction because even the Gita
says that scripture is your authority as regards the determination of what is to be done
and what is not to be done.
Vedic literature comprising
Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas forms the source of Hindu
philosophy and religion. In the
texts, the question Is spirituality the prerogative of a few, gifted individuals, or is it for everyone? is raised and discussed time and again. They univocally declare that all regardless of gender, caste or origin
have the right to liberation.
The Mahabharata recommends obedience to parents, preceptors, kings and hermits;
performance of Vedic rites;
digging wells; making of presents to the dvijas; abstention
from violence; absence of wrath; truthfulness, adhering to
purity and peacefulness; maintenance of family; and performance of sacrifices in honour
of pitras, or ancestors; and performance of paka yajnas.
All Hindu scriptures state
that ahamkara is the chief
obstacle in the path leading to
attainment of moksha. For an
atman to become Brahmn, it
has to discard ahamkara and
treat everyone as equal, as an
extension of oneself. There is
no place for xenophobia in
Hinduism. The word atman as
used in the metaphysical sense
does not denote number or
gender. Atman is neutral.

Chat Room

2014

BRICS

Steve Jobs
Businessman

Countries share of global GDP

21.8%

And one
more thing.

The combined share

of rich countries
EU-27, North
America* and Japan
in global GDP fell
from nearly threefourths to just over
half between 1995
and 2014. During
the same period, the
share of Brics, led
by China, has grown
almost three-fold

54.3%

Was last years survey by a travel portal that ranked the defunct Alcatraz Jail as Americas top landmark beating the
Golden Gate Bridge, Lincoln Memorial and even the Statue
of Liberty the catalyst for Telanganas new jail tourism
initiative? While quite a few other prisons around the world
are iconic tourism magnets from the Tower of London
and the Cellular Jail in Andaman to Nelson Mandelas prison at Robben Island it is brave of Telangana to launch
such a tourism offering in a country where most regard incarceration as the corollary of unfortunate career choices,
not a holiday pastime. Forking out `. 500 to wear coarse prison
clothes, eat watery gruel, clean the cell and sit all day behind
old jail bars with just mosquitos for company would not be
deemed an irresistible offer, especially given the all-day, airconditioned temptations of malls.
Nevertheless, the enthusiastic officials who launched Feel
the Jail should investigate why no one has yet availed of the
delights of Sangareddy District Central Jail built in 1796 by
the Nizam of Hyderabad. Maybe sponsored or compulsory
tours should be organised for obvious target groups to increase footfalls. They should not think that just because no one
apparently wants to go to jail even for a lark, the cautionary
intention of the scheme has succeeded.

tk.arun@timesgroup.com

Developing Power
EU-27, N AMERICA, JAPAN

Cell Tale: Come to

Jail to No Avail

convert it into productive capacity.

Countries in Asia and Africa, the
places most in need of ports, roads,
railway tracks, power plants, telecom towers, schools and hospitals,
have limited demonstrated capacity
to absorb huge amounts of investment. Aid and large budgets produce
loot and corruption.
The second, more basic problem,
is the absence of bold, imaginative
leadership at any level.
The combined GDP of the US, the
European Union, Japan and China is
about $49 trillion 1% of which is
nearly $500 billion. Borrowing costs
are next to nothing. Building towns
and ports in Africa and Asia could
absorb large numbers of West Asian
refugees flooding Europe as well as
Chinas steel.
The point is to first build institutional capability where it is absent
and then use it to build economic capacity. Impossible? Ask Indias Metro man, E Sreedharan, or Rwandas
Paul Kagame. What is missing, really, is bold, imaginative global leadership. Which is why G20 meets are turning into hollow exercises.

Bell Curves

0.5

A compulsory tourist visit for habitual

lawbreakers serves a bigger purpose

ASHOK VOHRA

Some Sound REIT

Proposals from Sebi

A recent consultation paper put out by the Securities and

Exchange Board of India (Sebi) seeks, rightly, to amend and
make up to date the norms and regulations pertaining to real
estate investment trusts (REITs). The investment vehicles offer steady attractive returns and we do need to coagulate funding for much-needed investment in townships and built spaces.
The Sebi paper seeks to broaden the definition of real estate
or property to include hotels, hospitals, convention centres
and other such rent-generating assets, notified as infrastructure by the finance ministry, which is unexceptionable. The
proposal is also to prudentially and transparently liberalise
REIT holdings in special purpose vehicles (SPVs). Real estate
assets are usually held through multiple
layers of investments as each project may
come with its own set of investors, landowners, development partners, etc. Such
multilevel holding structures are required for ease of unbundling and scalability.
The current REIT regulations define an
SPV as a company or firm that holds not
less than 80% of its assets directly in properties and does not
invest in other SPVs. The regulators move is to limit REIT
controlling interest to not less than 50% in an SPV, so as to provide greater operational flexibility. Besides, the Companies
Act 2013 does allow a company to invest through two layers of
investment companies.
The paper also seeks to tweak other rules: increase the number of sponsor groups in REITs from three to five, realign guidelines for associates and related parties as per the Companies
Act, and provide some flexibility on minimum shareholding
and 20% investment in under-construction properties. In parallel, we need to operationalise the Real Estate Act, 2016, and
purposefully revamp regulatory oversight.

Prejudice &
Hindu Texts

FILE PHOTO

The system cannot be opaque or arbitrary

CURSOR

Source: Unctad

Judicial Selection:
Case for Overhaul

THE ECONOMIC TIMES | BENGALURU | WEDNESDAY | 7 SEPTEMBER 2016

JOSEPH FARRIS

THE ECONOMIC TIMES

75.4%

18 

ment if the choice is between a male

and a female candidate.
Three, it strengthens the occupational bias with women unlikely to be offered the hard line function- and profit-and-loss-driven jobs that lead to business head or CEO roles in the future.
Finally, global research shows that
incorporating benefits directed at all
employees for instance, making flexible working arrangements a norm
for all work better than measures
overtly directed at women.
Behavioural design offers a new solution that is being increasingly adopted in public policy and businesses. These interventions based on empirical
research help address different kinds
of unconscious biases, including the
gender-based one. While it is difficult
and time consuming to de-bias peoples minds, de-biasing organisations
can be surprisingly fast and low cost.
For example, changing a social norm
is often far easier than changing individual behaviour. There are always a
few outliers who, with suitable inducement and support, will break away
from an existing norm that then make
large numbers fall in line creating a
new norm.
Now imagine if the current legislation was on a non-transferable use of
paternity leave or it lapses basis. A
few successful, high-potential men
using it could become role models for
others and one starts to see a new
norm emerging in the workplace. This
levels the playing field at the time of
recruitment, makes it easier for women to return to work due to shared childcare and domestic duties, and eases
their path up the corporate ladder by
not losing out on seniority.
When asked at a conference what
men could do to advance womens
leadership, Harvard Business Schools Rosabeth Moss Kanter said,
Laundry, food shopping, cooking,
cleaning. Nothing more true has
been spoken.
The writer is former CEO,
Ambit Private Wealth

Progress and
Prospects
JOHAN NORBERG

We have fallen upon evil times, politics is corrupt and the

social fabric is fraying. Who
said that? Donald Trump or
Bernie Sanders? Nigel Farage
or Marine Le Pen? Its difficult
to keep track. They sound alike, the populists of the left and
the right. Everything is awful,
so bring on the scapegoats and
the knights on white horses.
If you think that there has
never been a better time to be
alive that humanity has never been safer, healthier, more
prosperous or less unequal
then you are in the minority.
However, that is what the evidence incontrovertibly shows.
Poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, child labour and infant
mortality are falling faster
around the world than at any
other time in human history.
The risk of being caught up in
a war, subjected to a dictatorship or of dying in a natural
disaster is smaller than ever.
The golden age is now. Were
hardwired not to believe this.
Weve evolved to be suspicious
and fretful: fear and worry are
tools for survival. The hunters
and gatherers who survived
sudden storms and predators
were the ones who had a tendency to scan the horizon for
new threats, rather than sit
back and enjoy the view.
They passed their stress genes on to us. That is why we find
stories about things going wrong far more interesting than
stories about things going
right. Its why bad news sells,
and newspapers are full of it.
Books that say the world is doomed sell rather well, too. I have just attempted the opposite.
From Why cant we see that were
living in a golden age?

Justice Chelameswar has decided to opt out of the Supreme

Court collegium saying there
is no transparency in appointment and transfer of judges. It
is ironical that the countrys
most trusted democratic institution that has never shied
from ushering in transparency and accountability in every
sphere of governance is shying away from infusing the
same transparency in its system. The executive having a
say in the appointment of judges is not a threat to judicial
independence but may be needed to remove the ills plaguing
the collegium system.
M JEYARAM
Sholavandan

Separatists are
Self-Defeating
The two-day meet on Kashmir
can be termed both a success
and a failure: success because
all major political parties of
India participated in the meet;
failure in the sense that Hurriyat and separatist leaders boycotted it, as expected. They
even refused
to meet informally the political leaders
who called on
them. They
have lost a
golden opportunity to present
their viewpoint on Kashmir.
Hurriayat and separatist leaders should realise that strike
call and curfew hurt the Valleys interests more than serving their political agenda.
G K AGRAWAL
Mumbai

Ignorance is
Sure Death
That in Dharmapuri, Tamil
Nadu, a fake bank, Yes ABS
Bank, had fooled people by
getting deposits from them,
collecting money from job
aspirants, etc, points to the
low level of consumerism in
India. People easily believe sugar-coated words and become
victims of fraudulent practices. Frauds are increasing because criminal laws are ineffective. Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) is not possible in
India since a large number of
consumers are ignorant of
happenings around them.
S RAMAKRISHNASAYEE
Ranipet
Letters to the editor may be addressed to

editet@timesgroup.com