Author: Mona Gupta, New Delhi In spite of setbacks like drought, swine flu and Sharm el-Sheikh, UPA has made steady progress at the start of its second innings by taking some crucial steps. But it has plenty of problems to deal with. In its first 100 days, UPA 2 has had to negotiate some sharp bends with drought and swine flu but it hasn’t lost momentum. But then it has to run a five-year marathon. Following is the analysis of the first 100 days of the UPA government on 10 major sectors. 1. Judicial System: The judicial reform journey started three months ago with law minister Veerappa Moily. He had a smooth drive till now. Moily’s roadmap on judicial reforms had four major components • Make judges declare assets • Make them accountable for misconduct • Reduce the huge pendency of over 3 crore cases in trial courts and the high courts • Speed up the snail paced justice delivery system. The UPA government is in the final stages of preparing a blueprint on appointment of ad-hoc judges for clearing the backlog and tune up the justice delivery system to reduce the average life of litigation from 15 years to 3 years. Priorities: • To reduce pendency of 3 crore cases to manageable levels by 2011 • To reduce litigation life from 15 years to 3 years by 2011 • To bring in a law to make judges accountable for misconduct Misses: • Judges Assets Bill way off the mark, SC judges virtually make it redundant • Promise of laptops for trial court judges by 2009 not kept • No concrete plan to persuade states to increase trial court judges’ strength Challenges: • Finance. Will Centre assist states? • Executive’s role in appointment of judges • Will the impeachment mechanism finally be simplified? 2. National security: The home ministry continues to be on its toes, maintaining the pace it set last December while launching its grand plan of shoring up the country’s security and intelligence infrastructure after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. First 100 days of the second UPA government appears encouraging. There’s perceptible improvement in intelligence sharing, which shows in the fact that the country has not witnessed any terror incident beyond the disturbed zones of Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast. However, the continuing Maoist mayhem remains a major concern particularly. The recent chief ministers’ conference on naxal issues showed encouraging results with non-UPA ruled states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal showing signs of narrowing differences over security matters. Hits: • Four NSG regional hubs — Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai — get operational on time • Peaceful conduct of Amarnath yatra, World Badminton Championship and Independence Day celebrations despite threats Misses:• Increasing casualties among securitymen in anti-naxal ops • Jharkhand, despite being under central rule, continues to be a soft target for Maoists • Alleged fake encounter cases in Manipur virtually derail peace process, raising questions over methods of security forces Challenges: • Ridding states of naxal presence. Hope rests on the upcoming grand anti-naxal operation • Strengthening nationwide security, intelligence infrastructure • Handling the boiling Northeast. Focus has to be on a solution to Naga issues; elimination of Ulfa in Assam 3. Health: Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has probably been the country’s busiest cabinet minister. With a global pandemic — the first in 41 years — threatening to infect two billion people across the globe over the next two years, which includes 33% of India’s population, health minister has his hands full. Besides swine flu, Azad’s crusade against fake drugs has made his critics sit up and take notice. Ghulam Nabi Azad has also been working hard to fill vacant medical posts in rural areas. Doctors willing to work in farflung areas have been told they will earn double of their urban … [Read more...]