1.3 bn Indians accepted critical judicial verdicts: PMModi hails judiciary for striking balance between development and environment protection
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 22
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday praised 1.3 billion Indians for proving skeptics wrong and by wholeheartedly accepting some of the recent judicial verdicts on contentious issues.
Without mentioning the Supreme Court’s verdict that paved the way for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the Prime Minister said, “In the recent past there have been certain big judgments which were talked about across the world. Several apprehensions were being expressed. But what happened? 130 crore (1.3 billion) Indians wholeheartedly accepted these verdicts.”
“For thousands of years India has been surging ahead with these values of faith in justice. This is also an inspiration for our Constitution,” Modi said at the inaugural function of the International Judicial Conference 2020 – “Judiciary and the Changing World” at the Supreme Court.
He praised the role played by the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary in Indian democracy. “Respecting each other’s jurisdiction and dignity, these three pillars of the Constitution have resolved various challenges faced by the country on several occasions…We are proud of having developed such a rich tradition in India. In the past five years, various institutions of India have further strengthened this tradition,” he said.
Talking about some of the recent laws enacted by Parliament, including those on transgenders, “triple talaq” and on the rights of “Divyang” (persons with disabilities), he said no country or society in the world could claim to achieve holistic development without gender justice. He said 1,500 archaic laws have been repealed.
Modi also mentioned the steps taken to give rights to women in military service and in providing paid maternity leave for 26 weeks.
Noting that the Constitution guaranteed gender justice, Modi said India was among few nations which ensured the right to vote for women right after Independence. He also referred to his government’s flagship programme “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” to highlight its efforts to empower women.
Modi praised the Indian judiciary for redefining environmental jurisprudence to strike a proper balance between development and environment protection.
Underlining the need to use latest technology such as artificial intelligence to speed up justice delivery, he said it would help in court management and improve the justice delivery system. “In addition, in the changing times, issues like data protection and cyber crimes pose new challenges for the judiciary,” he said.
“The government is working towards connecting every court to the e-courts system and establishment of national judicial data could result in simplification of court processes,” he said.
Terming the current decade as “decade of remarkable changes in India and the world”, Modi said these changes would occur on every frontier — social, economic and technological. “These changes should be rational, just; in the interest of all and keeping in view the needs of future,” he added.
He referred to India’s economic growth and said five-six years ago, India was the 11th largest economy of the world. But now it was the fifth largest economy of the world, he said, adding India has shown that infrastructure development can happen simultaneously with the protection of environment.
