Pairokar

By: Parmanand Pandey Apart from being a festive season, it is also a season of elections in different Bar Associations of Delhi. The elections of Tis Hazari Bar Association, which is known as Delhi Bar Association will be held in the last week of October and that will be preceded by a week for the elections of Delhi High Court Bar Association. Immediately after DBA’s elections Rohini Bar Association’s elections are to be held. In the first week of December elections for Delhi Bar Council will take place for which the campaigning has reached feverish pitch. Elections are like oxygen for any democratic organisation. They make an organisation lively, the flurry activities of the sitting office bearers and other contestants become conspicuous. For months together members are flooded with phone calls SMS’s and emails. Thanks to the technological revolution in the field of communication, letters have almost been done away with. SMS and sending of Emails have been outsourced. It is a complete...

By Parmanand Pandey Supercilious and self-righteous conscience keepers of media persons were up in arms when they learnt that the West Bengal police have arrested a top ranking Maoist leader from Lalgarh disguising as journalists. The policemen posed themselves as the correspondents of a foreign newspaper. They took the help of a local journalist to reach the Maoist leader. The logic of media persons is that every profession has to observe certain codes of conduct which should not be encroached upon by other professionals for vested interests because that erodes the credibility of the profession. They say that the policemen have arrested the Maoist leader because the Media has credibility and it also shows that the police or for that matter the system of the state, has completely failed to do what it is expected to do. This puts a big question mark on the efficacy and the efficiency of the police and the state. This also shows that the police are still living in the era of feudalism...

By Parmanand Pandey The way Justice P.D. Dinakaran, the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court is trying to give the caste and communal colour to the opposition of his elevation to the Apex court is indeed very sad and tragic. What is all the more disturbing is that the reaction of National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes over this issue, which by stretch of imagination is very nasty, ugly, stinking and in bad taste. Corruption is like a cancer. We may believe or not, it has spread to the entire polity of the Indian state. However, it is quite satisfying that people have very high expectations from the judiciary. But it gets dashed when they come to know that those who are appointed to the high posts of judges are not above board. One of the former Chief Justices of India, Justice Bharucha was on record that 20 per cent judges in the country were co...

By Parmanand Pandey Tragic death of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy in a chopper crash on the hills of Nalla malla is sad, very sad; but the political drama that has started even before the charred body of the late YSR was laid to rest is a sadder event. It is reported that 148 out of 170 Congress MLA have already signed on a letter of allegiance for Shri Jagan Reddy, son of the late Shri Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy. The way these MLAs lost no time in expressing their fealty to young Jagan Reddy is certainly a matter of grave concern for the democracy because the army of sycophant MLAs of Andhra Pradesh have not left any to make a farce of it. It is our culture not to speak ill of anybody after his/her death but YSR was not anybody. He was a public figure and he cannot be spared from critical appraisal. There is hardly any doubt that he was a dynamic leader bubbling with energy and innovative ideas. But at the same time, there can be no denying that the public perception...

By Parmanand Pandey Among the many roles that the media has to play is the building of a just and egalitarian society with emphasis to inclusive growth. It has not only to serve as the mirror of society-be it good, bad, ugly or beautiful as is often stated by some people. It has to see that the perpetrators of atrocities on weak and humble do not go scot-free, that the corruption is banished, if not completely at least in good measure, that iniquitous administration of justice and governance and distribution of wealth is got rid of, that the gender bias is removed etc. It may be recalled that the Press played a remarkable role during the freedom struggle. After independence every thing changed radically. Technology rightly got the place of pride. The shape and presentation of the news and views got metamorphosed. Television and Internet appear to be ultimate revolution but it will continue to amaze as this is an on-going process. One gets awestruck with virtually mind-blowing changes...

By Parmanand Pandey One would be dumbstruck to hear the language of Ms Rita Bhaguna Joshi, the Chief of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee that she used against the U.P. Chief Minister Mayawati while addressing the meeting of Mahila Congress Workers in Moradabad. She said that ‘It is shameful that the U.P. Chief Minister is doling out Rs two lakh to the victims of rape.’ There is nothing wrong to this extent but what she said after this was enough to shame and benumb any civil society. In her simulated rage she went on ‘I say these women to throw that amount at the face of Mayawati. I will pay Rs.one crore to Mayawati as compensation if she is raped.’ Some were wonderstruck whether this gutter language was coming from the mouth of the UPCC Chief but then some were there who clapped in applause. Rape is, no doubt, a ghastly crime. It kills a woman every day that she lives. No amount of compensation will wipe out her mental agony and pain. But then that is not the issue being discussed her...

By Parmanand Pandey Lalu Prasad Yadav, when he was the Chief Minister of Bihar used to brag, ‘Jab tak hai somese me aaloo, tab tak rahega Bihar me Lalu (So long the Samosas are made of potatoes, Bihar will be ruled by Lalu). He had many times said that he would rule Bihar for at least twenty five years. When he shifted from Bihar to Delhi after getting his wife saddled as the Chief Minister of the State he boasted number of times inside and outside Parliament that one day he would certainly become the Prime Minster of India. One may recollect that when Lalu was returned to power in Bihar for the third consecutive time he had pooh-poohed the idea of development in the State. He even ridiculed the theory of modernisation, computerisation and developmental activities of Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh who had got drubbings at the assembly elections by saying that if the development had been the criterion of popularity in the people, then Naidu should not have got battered. This was hi...

Much has been written, discussed and debated about the conduct of judges and advocates. However, we many times find the cases of indiscretion by judges and advocates as well; in and outside the courtrooms. Sometimes it is deliberate but more often than not, it because of misunderstanding and ignorance. There is an Advocate act, which defines and demarcates the duties, rights and limitations of the advocates. Bar Council of India and the Bar Councils of the states derive their strengths and powers from the Advocate Act, 1961. Thus the Bar Council of India and Bar Councils of states are the statutory creations or bodies. On the other hand, judges are governed by the service rules and the code of conduct as formulated by the High Courts from time to time. Even the judges of the Supreme Court of India have framed the code of conduct for themselves regarding the declaration of assets etc. The maintenance of dignity and the decorum, however, largely depends on the particular judge. As far as...

Some journalists appear to be gripped with the virus, which commands them to become from news provider to newsmaker, that too, not through assiduous efforts but by their cheap and abominable deeds. Thanks to deep and pervasive reach of the media such journalists do get wide publicity, which serves to their perverted desires and goals. It is a welcome evolution indeed that journalism has metamorphosed from ‘Mission to ‘Profession’. Objectivity becomes the easy causality in missionary journalism. Even today it can be witnessed in the politically or religiously indoctrinated newspapers or magazines. For example, nobody accepts objectivity from the ‘People’s Democracy’, ‘New Age’, ‘Christian Times’, ‘Radiance’, ‘Organiser’, ‘Panchjanya’, or ‘Desabhimani’. These newspapers and magazines purvey certain facts and comments, which reflect to their political or religious lines. Preponderance of missionary zeal is essential in such type of journalism. Most of the newspapers or magazines in India,...