Why Do We Work Eight Hours a Day?

By Talal Al-Khatib

A steel worker cutting with a blow torch.

 

In the United States, Labor Day is celebrated the first Monday of September to honor the contributions workers have made to the country. To mark the occasion, Americans close their office doors to head to the beach, fire up the barbecue and shop for bargains.

For many countries in the rest of the world, however, May 1, better known as May Day or International Workers' Day, is the annual holiday to celebrate the labor movement. Because of its significance, May Day has become an occasion not only of international celebration, but also widespread protest, entirely fitting given that the first May Day was sparked by a labor demonstration. And although the holiday today isn't well recognized within the United States, May Day is in fact of American origin and came out of the struggle to get workers the right to an eight-hour workday.

In August 1866, the newly constituted National Labor Union urged Congress to pass a law mandating the eight-hour workday. The group's efforts fell short on the national level (and the National Labor Union eventually dissolved some seven years later), but the message trickled down to the states.
In 1867, the Illinois Legislature passed a law mandating an eight-hour workday. The legislation may have been intended to hand a victory to workers, but employers simply refused to cooperate.
On May 1, 1867, a citywide strike in Chicago devolved into bedlam as police clashed with demonstrators. Police suppressed the strikers with force, effectively allowing private employers to continue skirting state law.

In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant issued a proclamation that guaranteed both a stable wage and an eight-hour workday, but it only applied to government employees. Workers in private enterprise hoped they could get the same legal guarantees in a national law.

In the 1870s and 1880s, the eight-hour workday became a key demand of labor unions across the country. The National Labor Union had dissolved, but in its place rose other groups, such as the Knights of Labor and later the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (the precursor to today's American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, or AFL–CIO). May 1 also became an annual day in which to organize strikes and hold demonstrations in support of the movement. As workers' demands were continuously rebuffed, calls came for an armed uprising.

In 1886, labor unions called for a national strike for a shorter workday, a call which drew over 300,000 workers to demonstrate in support on May 1. In Chicago, strikes turned to violent conflict between workers, a mix of anarchists and socialists, and strikebreakers in the Haymarket area between May 3 and 4. In the aftermath of the violence, labor leaders associated with the local movement were round up, tried and executed.

What would become known as the Haymarket massacre served to both galvanize the movement among its supporters as well as weaken labor in the view of the public, who had seen its violent side, one of the reasons why Americans commemorate the labor movement in September instead.
In 1890, the government for the first time began tracking the number of hours workers put in every week. That year, full-time manufacturing employees worked an average of 100 hours a week and building tradesmen were on the job an average 102 hours. Even if the labor movement had gotten louder and more aggressive with its demands, little had changed in terms of workers' conditions.

For the rest of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, labor groups won the right to an eight-hour workday typically on a local level or across an industry group. In 1916, railroad workers won the right to an eight-hour workday and overtime pay with the passage of the Adamson Act. Decades later, the National Industrial Recovery Act, enacted to combat the Great Depression and later replaced with the Wagner Act, provided for the establishment of maximum workweeks and minimum wages. Still, it wasn't until the 1950s that most Americans actually achieved the eight-hour workday.

Vin Diesel exposes his softer side as a part-time philosopher on Facebook

By GREGORY E. MILLER

On the surface, Vin Diesel appears to be the ultimate Hollywood tough guy. Those bulging muscles. That shaved dome. The bottom-of-the-ocean deep voice. His apparent disdain for smiling and sleeves. If he weren’t an action- movie star, he’d be a bouncer — which he was, at New York nightclubs like Tunnel in the ’80s.

In movies such as the “Fast & Furious” series and “xXx,” he jumps off moving cars, drives through flames and throws a lethal punch. For “Riddick,” the third film in its franchise, out this Friday, Diesel handily rips more than a few sci-fi creatures a new one.

So one imagines that, in his spare time, Diesel relaxes by crushing the throats of rogue coyotes or working out until he pukes. Not updating his Facebook profile. And certainly not posting platitudes of the variety one might find adorning a poster in a dentist’s office.

Meet the nation’s oddest action hero.

QUOTE: “You angels can turn hate to love, change poison into medicine and replace doubt with dreams.” -Vin Diesel NUMBER OF LIKES: 100,718

Here’s a typical Facebook post from Diesel: a photo of the actor in a car, his hand gripping the wheel as he stares out into the distance. Overlaid atop the image are these words: “Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. You must never miss the opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you.” Diesel attributes the words to Alexander Graham Bell. Google seems to disagree.
The star’s fans couldn’t care less — more than 130,000 of them have liked it.

Diesel’s most viral post to date is a Valentine’s Day video of him crooning Rihanna’s ballad “Stay” (sample lyric: “Funny you’re the broken one/ but I’m the only one who needed saving”) in a dark room with the music video projected on a wall. Not only does he attempt a few falsetto notes, he throws in some kissy sounds at the end.

The result of all this un-John- Wayne-like behavior? Diesel, with 46 million Facebook fans, is the second most-liked actor on the social network site (only Will Smith has more, with 49 million).
Diesel told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year that Facebook once asked him to visit its offices after seeing his initial success with the social media platform. He even joked that Facebook owes him “billions of dollars.”

“What Facebook didn’t realize is something very big was about to happen, and that was — for the first time in history [ . . . ] I started talking to people,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “In the realest ways.”

“When I started talking to the fans, I became the No. 1 page in the world. Over Coca-Cola, over huge companies. And it was only because I said: ‘Hi, guys, I love you.’ ”

Social media experts attribute his Facebook success not necessarily to who Diesel is, but what he’s posting. At their best — or worst, depending on your point of view — the actor’s posts are highconcept and chock full of cheese.

NUMBER OF LIKES: 168,912

“As a community manager, it’s awful,” says Christianna Giordano, a digital strategist at Cohn & Wolfe and a featured blogger for Social Media Today, citing Diesel’s infrequent posts and lack of direct responses to his fans. “But it’s very obviously him. That’s why the 46 million fans comment.”

Breaking the mold of celebrities who hire others to handle their social media, Diesel has said he posts everything himself. Which might explain a few things.
A typical Diesel post offers a few words of inspiration — sometimes quoting others, sometimes from his own mouth. “Confidence . . . never deny yourself of it, for it costs you nothing and leads to great things . . . /smile.” Or “Being male is a matter of birth, being a man is a matter of age, but . . . being a Gentleman is a matter of choice.”

“I totally acknowledge as a fan that it’s super cheesy,” says Giordano. “I think that people respond to it because he can be personal. It’s very inspirational, [what] with him having come from meager beginnings.”

Diesel, 46, was born Mark Sinclair in Manhattan to an astrologist mother, Delora. The actor has said he does not know his father, but was co-parented by his stepfather, Irving H. Vincent, in Greenwich Village.

As a child, Diesel, along with his brother Paul and a group of pals, roamed the Village streets, looking for trouble. Crystal Field, executive artistic director of the Theater for the New City for four decades, remembers the day a 7-year-old Diesel and his gang sneaked into the theater, not realizing anyone was there.

“He told me that they came to vandalize the place — he used the word ‘vandalize,’ ” recalls Field. “They proceeded to tell me . . . they weren’t going to attack me, but they were going to tear things up and write on the walls.”

Field, who frequently worked with at-risk youth, had other plans for the rebel without a cause. “I said, ‘Listen, don’t you think it would be much more valuable for you to be in a play?’ ” she says.
Upon consideration, Diesel agreed. His role was in something called “The Dinosaur Door.” (Nearly 40 years later, he would post on Facebook: “Never forget your child inside cause that’s where dreams are made.”)

Bitten by the acting bug, Diesel adopted his stage name while working as a bouncer — Vin short for the last name acquired from his stepdad, and Diesel for his boundless energy. After a 1998 role in “Saving Private Ryan,” his first studio film, he hit it big with a string of movies in the early aughts. “Pitch Black” made him an action hero, “Boiler Room” proved he could act, and “The Fast and the Furious” and “xXx” made him a bona fide star.

Getty Images

Vin Diesel steps out on the town with his girlfriend, Mexican model Paloma Jimenez.

His star power waned, however, in the mid-aughts with critical duds such as “The Chronicles of Riddick” and “The Pacifier.” But interestingly, since he joined Facebook in 2009, Diesel’s boxoffice cred has risen. That same year, the fourth “Fast” film grabbed $363 million and the fifth (released in 2011) netted $628 million. This year, the sixth and most recent installment has earned a whopping $787 million so far. And just last week, Diesel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as his model girlfriend, Paloma Jimenez, and their children (daughter Hania, 5, and son Vincent, 3) stood by his side.

You’ve gotta wonder if the career rebirth is helped by Diesel’s enormous Facebook presence. After all, he calls his fans “angels.”
“Truly phenomenal & superb actor. A credit to his gender. He deserves to be recognized,” one fan recently wrote on his page.
After the (unintentionally or not) hilarious “Stay” video was picked up all over the Web, Diesel responded — where else? — on his Facebook page.
“Naturally, I became self-conscious . . . and thought maybe I shouldn’t have exposed myself like that . . . ,” he wrote. “Then I had dinner with my dad, and surprisingly . . . he said he loved it . . . and thought it was deep on a few levels . . . P.s. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, you don’t have to be perfect . . . just believe in yourself.”
Life coach Sherri Ziff, author of the November book “Hollywood Epidemic: Fame, Celebrity & Other Allusions,” says Diesel represents the new masculine ideal. “He’s a badass with a moral compass.”

QUOTE: “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.” -Nelson Mandela. NUMBER OF LIKES: 168,912

Those who know Diesel in real life say the image of a soft guy stuck in a thug’s body is not just an act.
Antoinette Kalaj, who plays one of Diesel’s consorts in “Riddick,” says the actor was generous with career advice on the set.
“He is someone that really worked hard for his career from the beginning,” she says. “He just always says, ‘Stay true to yourself and be you. Do what you love. Don’t ever change for this business.’ ”
Neil Napier, who also appears in “Riddick,” got a taste of the star’s true self at a cast dinner before shooting began. Diesel opened up about his love of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, he wrote the foreword for the book “30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons.”
“We started talking about the mythology of ‘Riddick’ and why he was so passionate about this series of films that he fought to make this last one, and it moved on to why he loved playing ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ ” says Napier. “I was schooled a little bit.”
Perhaps it’s no surprise that Diesel loves a good fantasy. What else would you expect from a man who has no shame posting on Facebook a photo of himself standing on a balcony and peering out into the great beyond — with these words of wisdom: “Be you . . . believe in you . . . and allow for tomorrow’s dreams.”

EXIM Bank To Focus On Horticulture And Handloom Sector, Northeast India

EXIM bank to focus on horticulture and handloom sector, Northeast India

Guwahati, Sep 3 : Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM) will aggressively promote the horticulture and hand loom sector of the eight states of Northeast India.

TCA Ranganathan, Chairman & Managing Director of EXIM bank who in Guwahati on Monday to attend a programme on promoting horticulture sector in the Northeast region said, "Northeast India has the advantage of going for high end horticulture and handloom products."

He added that there is some problem somewhere as these sectors are not developing in the desired level. "We have roped in companies including ITC, Godrej Agrovet and Emami Group to figure out as why the sector is not developing to the desired level."

He said that the bank will work for improving the distribution- marketing and positioning of the horticulture products. "Across the world there is going craze for organic agriculture produce and ethically branded textile. The region can take advantage of both this aspects to position itself."

Ranganathan said, "We will draw a road map for sustainable production while also identifying avenues to create markets and linkages for farmers and entrepreneurs from the region."

India is the second largest producer of both fruits and vegetables globally after China accounting for 14 percent and 12 percent respectively of world production. However India's share in global export of horticulture products is low.

According to EXIM bank, India's export of horticulture products is US$2.7 billion (1.3 percent of global exports) as compared to china's export of US$ 18 billion (9 percent of global exports).

Akademi Award A Boost For Northeast Writers: Janice Pariat

By Manosh Das

Shillong, Sep 2 :  The first person from Meghalaya to receive Sahitya Academy award in English literature, Janice Pariat, is all about humility.

"I'm honoured. I hope this would be a step in recognizing the enormous wealth of English literature written in this part of the world by several young writers," the Assam-born Khasi author, who grew up in Shillong said over the phone from the UK.

Janice won this year's Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, which is given to writers below the age of 35 years (usually for their first book), and awarded for work published in any of the major Indian languages recognized by the academy.

"The wonderful thing is that unlike most literary prizes, there is no discrimination/preference among novels, short stories, poetries, dramas - each are valued for their own worth," the young author said.

Nomination process for the prestigious award begins with a list of works sent by a preliminary panel of 10 referees. The works are then considered by a three-member jury selected by the president. Either by a consensus or a majority, the members then recommend a book for the award.

Asked on her take on contemporary writers in English in the northeast, Janice said, "Though I can't claim to be familiar with all the literature being written in English in the region, it certainly feels like an exciting, thriving phase. Aruni Kashyap's novel 'House with a Thousand Stories' has just been published, and so has Prajwal Parajuly's 'Gurkha's Daughter'. All this, of course, follows the literary accomplishments of established writers such as Temsula Ao, Mamang Dai, Mitra Phukan, Dhruba Hazarika, among many others".

"From Meghalaya, we have the very talented Robin Ngangom, Anjum Hasan, Siddhartha Deb, Daisy Hasan, Desmond Kharmawphlang, Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, Samrat Choudhury, and several upcoming poets and writers (many of whose writings have been featured in Pyrta - the online literary journal that I edit). We have wonderful support system in place - whether something more formal like The Northeast Writers Forum, or an encouragement and informal mentorship that established writers offer to younger ones," she said. Janice attributed the coveted award to "all the story-tellers in my life".

When asked what got her into writing, Janice said, "I wanted to make sense of and re-imagine the world. Also, I wasn't particularly skilled as a musician or a painter and I had to choose a profession." On what keeps her writing, she said, "For the same reasons why I started writing in the first place - it's not really a choice."

The Seven Sisters Project

A phone call away

By Hansika Chopra


The Seven Sisters Project, aimed at bridging the information gap in the north-eastern States, uses the mobile phone to record stories on issues that concern and interest people of the region

“We came to this village in 1984. I was quite young at the time when I came with my parents and grandparents to settle in this area,” narrated Rajiv (name changed), an inhabitant of the Chakma settlement in Sibinosora in Mizoram. Residents of the settlement were forcefully evicted by prominent students’ bodies.

“In 1991, the State government introduced the New Land Use Policy (NLUP) programme for activities such as horticulture among many others. So the concerned village councils of Tlabung, and Lungsen had sought approval from the forest department to allow us to use these lands for these developmental projects under the NLUP programme. The then forest Minister, Mr. Zalawma, had ‘verbally’ allocated these areas…We toiled hard for many years and developed horticulture projects under the NLUP programme,” recounts Rajiv. Today, each of these projects is worth Rs. 20-25 lakh each. The evicted families have been forced to part with the hard work of over two decades and are struggling for a roof over their heads.

Rajiv’s story was recorded on telephone at the Seven Sisters Project’s toll free helpline number. Many such stories are finding an outlet thanks to the project which is a first of a kind cell-phone based revolution, aimed at bridging the information gap for the people living in the seven states of north-east India.


Arunachal Pradesh: Recurring soil erosion by NoaDihing River has forced people to relocate to forest land

Although the dearth of access to traditional media in the north-east has caused information gaps, the region has witnessed a massive cell phone and social media revolution. Making use of cell phone penetration, the project has introduced a toll free number (08376952143) where anyone from the seven states can call and record their reports or listen to previously recorded messages and comment on them, hence facilitating awareness among residents across the region.

The functioning of the project combines an interactive voice response system and the use of its Facebook page to create a mobile reporting network throughout the north-east region. The reports are filtered by a moderator and are published through the Seven Sisters Project’s website (www.sevensistersproject.org), Facebook page, Twitter handle and Soundcloud.

Shibayan Raha, founder of the project, who was infuriated by the indifferent approach of the central government and fellow Indians towards the north-east, says, “I realised if we can somehow connect people with a platform where they can call a toll free number to record their opinion/stories on issues they care about, then we will be able to at least make an effort to bridge this information gap.” The project uses an open source voice portal technology where the callers can record and listen to messages.

Like Rajiv, Meera, a Chakma refugee staying in Sakunalla, Diyun (Arunachal Pradesh) recorded her story on the helpline about her daughter Aleesha- born at Diyun Health Centre in 2011, who has not been issued a birth certificate.

Another woman in Thwaichung, Mizoram reported that the only source of drinking water for 41 families of her village is a tap that provides water once a week for 30 minutes. Other days of the week people have to walk to a small stream to collect drinking water that is not fit for human consumption. Similar stories of environmental degradation leading to soil erosion and dislocation of families have also come to light.

According to Shibayan, many stories expressing their support and demand for Gorkhaland are being recorded, and have increased in frequency ever since the State government has cut the cable TV supply in the region.

Prabhat Giri from Sikkim University on behalf of the Gorkha students in the University recorded a message on the helpline, urging the politicians who took part in the all-party meeting on August 16 in Darjeeling to take note that four generations have gone unheard while demanding a separate land for the Gorkhas.

The project receives almost daily reports from across the region and has become a beacon of hope for many. “What started as an idea has now gone to become a window for people who had no other means to talk about their issues. The Seven Sisters Radio has now become a source of information gathering, sharing and disseminating for people in these regions,” says Shibayan who is currently planning to take the model to Ladakh.

 Mizoram: This stream is the only source of drinking water for 41 families in Chakma village of Thwaichung.

Indian Government May Ban Gmail Use

The government will soon ask all its employees to stop using Google's Gmail for official communication.

Bangalore, Sep 2 : The government will soon ask all its employees to stop using Google's Gmail for official communication, a move intended to increase security of confidential government information after revelations of widespread cyberspying by the US.

A senior official in the ministry of communications and information technology said the government plans to send a formal notification to nearly 5 lakh employees barring them from email service providers such as Gmail that have their servers in the US, and instead asking them to stick to the official email service provided by India's National Informatics Centre.

"Gmail data of Indian users resides in other countries as the servers are located outside. Currently, we are looking to address this in the government domain, where there are large amounts of critical data," said J Satyanarayana, secretary in the department of electronics and information technology.

Snowden fallout

The move comes in the wake of revelations by former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that the US government had direct access to large amounts of personal data on the internet such as emails and chat messages from companies like Google, Facebook and Apple through a programme called PRISM.

Documents leaked by Snowden showed that NSA may have accessed network infrastructure in many countries, causing concerns of potential security threats and data breaches. Even as the new policy is being formulated, there has been no mention yet of how compliance will be ensured.

Several senior government officials in India, including ministers of state for communications & IT Milind Deora and Kruparani Killi, have their Gmail IDs listed in government portals as their official email.

A Google India spokeswoman said the company has not been informed about the ban, and hence it cannot comment on speculation. "Nothing is documented so far, so for us, it is still speculation," Google said in an email response.

A senior official in the IT department admitted on condition of anonymity that employees turn to service providers such as Gmail because of the ease of use compared with official email services, as well as the bureaucratic processes that govern creation of new accounts.

"You can just go and create an account in Gmail easily, whereas for a government account, you have to go through a process because we have to ensure that he is a genuine government user."

Last week, IT Minister Kapil Sibal said the new policy would require all government officials living abroad to use NIC servers that are directly linked to a server in India while accessing government email services. Sibal said there has been no evidence of the US accessing Internet data from India.

Sunil Abraham, executive director of Bangalore-based research firm Centre for Internet and Society, said he agrees with the government's decision to ban Gmail for official communication and that any official violating this needs to be punished.

"After Snowden's revelations, we can never be sure to what extent foreign governments are intercepting government emails," he said. Abraham, however, called the government's decision a "late reaction", as the use of Gmail and other free email services by bureaucrats has increased in the past.

"Use of official government email would also make it easier to achieve greater transparency and anti-corruption initiatives. Ministers, intelligence and law enforcement officials should not be allowed to use alternate email providers under any circumstance."

Justice For Assaulted Tripura Doctor After 15 Years

Agartala, Sep 2 : After waiting for 15 years, a doctor from Tripura, who was picked up by two police officers and tortured in police custody has finally got justice. The Tripura high court on Thursday held the two police officers guilty of human rights violation and slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of them.

The case was pending for judgment with the Agartala bench of the Guwahati high court ever since Sanjit Reang filed his writ petition in 1998, alleging that the then deputy superintendent of police, Arindam Nath, who is at present the SP (traffic), and the officer in charge of West Agartala police station, Rupak Chakraborty, who has retired now, beat him up in police custody without any valid reason.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Deepak Gupta and justice Subhashis Talapatra observed that the incident was a gross violation of human rights because Reang was arrested and tortured in police custody without proper evidence.

Reang, who was posted in a remote location at that time, had come to his home in the Bijoy Kumar Chowmuhani area the city when one night a police team led by Nath and Chakraborty stormed the house and picked him up.

"Branding me as a collaborator of a banned militant outfit, they took me into custody and beat me up severely, which resulted in irreparable damage to my body. However, ultimately, they could not prove any of the allegations levelled against me," Reang said.

Reang's counsel, Chandrasekha Sinha said, "This was a clear case of violation of human rights by the policemen. The verdict has established the high-handedness of police in the name of raids and anti-insurgency operations in Tripura."

Government advocate Abhijit Ghosh said, "The incident occurred during such a period when militancy was at its peak and there was panic and tension among the civilians. We argued that it was difficult for police to immediately establish Reang's association with the militants." He added that the state government will take the decision as per the high court's direction and if the accused officers so desire, they may move the Supreme Court.

Police said the raid had been conducted on specific information of militant movement in the house. Later, it turned out that before the policemen could reach, the militants had fled.

Here’s Why India is Never Going To Be Safe For Women

By Sidin Vadukut

Protests can't succeed unless India's streets are well-policed and its courts are quick and efficient. Reuters/Danish Siddiqui

 

A few days ago, after news of the sexual assault case in Mumbai broke out, someone on Twitter said something that got me thinking. A female resident of Mumbai, presumably, lashed out after seeing the umpteenth tweet asking women in Mumbai to “take care” and “be safe.”

Enough of this patronizing nonsense, she said. Instead of asking women to “take care” it was time that men actually did something to make the city safer for women.

In the days since that attack, such outbursts from men and women alike have become common. And they have been part of a much broader collection of discussion and debates about women’s safety. There are several concurrent threads to these debates: How can we teach our men to respect women better? Is violence against women an expression of social faults, if so which ones? How can these faults be alleviated? How does the portrayal of women, women’s issues and violence against women in mass media play a role in making things better or worse? Should minors involved in sex crimes be treated as adults? What can we do to make our neighborhoods safer? More recently there has been substantial debate on the trivializing of the idea of rape in the form of jokes and in other contexts not directly related to sex crimes.

Essentially, I suppose we are all trying to figure out how India can be made safer and more empathetic for all women. And these lines of questioning are legitimate. They might eventually help us make our cities, towns, and homes safer. But not immediately, not right now.

Right now, make no mistake about it, we need something that forms the foundation of a safe society: a functioning law-and-order system. No amount of soul searching, cultural self-flagellation, sex education, local activism, and behavioral conditioning will succeed unless our streets are well-policed and our courts function with speed and efficiency.

And this is exactly why I am afraid India will remain an unsafe country for women for the foreseeable future. Now I know this is not the message that many campaigners for women’s safety want to hear. Many of them are optimistic that some kind of governmental or non-governmental campaigning will make India safer. But as long these campaigns are divorced from a substantial overhaul of law and order mechanisms, they will not work.

Let us just take the case of of the city of Mumbai, arguably India’s most commercially important metropolis. Mumbai has a sanctioned police strength of approximately 45,000 officers. Around 3,000 of these posts are currently vacant. The effective number police on the streets are even lower. The New Indian Express recently said that Mumbai had a serving police force of 33,000 officers.

Earlier this month, in response to a Right To Information request, Mumbai police revealed that in the first two months of this year 27,740 police personnel had been deployed on VIP security duty, generally meaning they guard politicians. It is unclear if these deployments were short or long term. But there is no question that this substantially reduces the number of police officers the city actually needs on its streets.

An optimistic estimate suggests that, on an ongoing basis, Mumbai police has around 20,000 police taking care of its population of around 20 million residents. Therefore, Mumbai enjoys an effective police coverage of approximately 100 police officers per 100,000. (This number can vary somewhat depending on how you approximate police and population. But by my reckoning, it gets no better than around 165 per 100,000.) The United Nations recommends coverage where a population of 100,000 are served by 220 to 250 police officers.

What about courts? It is common knowledge that Indian courts have millions of cases pending at any given point in time. Yet another Right To Information request, filed by the same applicant in June, found 49,170 cases of crimes against women pending in courts across the state of Maharashtra (Mumbai is its capital). This number has increased by 40% between 2008 and 2012. Of the 14,414 rape cases tried in Maharashtra last year, 13,388 remain pending.

To be sure, better police and faster courts will not solve these problems alone, and columnist Praveen Swami explains this, but I can think of no conceivable solution that does not include better police and faster courts as key elements.

The need for immediate intervention is staring us in the face. So why don’t the people who run Mumbai, Maharashtra or India see this? What prevents them from overhauling the police force and legal system? Why does law minister after law minister lament about the masses of pending cases in Indian courts … and then actually do nothing radical about it?

This situation is doubly ludicrous when you consider that the government is also struggling to create sufficient jobs each year to occupy its exploding youth demographic. The nation is simultaneously drowning in both unemployed youth and undelivered public services.

Is it because these reforms are overly complex?

Cleaning up the courts is admittedly complex. But surely hiring a few thousand policemen can’t be as complex as rolling out multi-billion dollar job guarantees, food security or biometric identity schemes? Those are all initiatives the government has somehow managed to undertake.

Is it too expensive?

One estimate puts the annual budget of Mumbai’s police force at about 6 billion rupees (or $91 million). Almost all of this, around 85%, goes toward paying salaries. Can Mumbai, the beating heart of India’s economy afford to, say, double this? Given that the budget of the city of Mumbai is 280 billion rupees ($4 billion), and the city has a GDP which is at least 10 times as much, an escalation wouldn’t break the bank.

Then why not?

Your guess is as good as mine. But I think it is because overhauling Mumbai’s police or drawing up a radical plan to create new courts and hire new judges is exactly the kind of granular reform that, from a political perspective, Indian governments find difficult to execute. And unless these reforms deliver an immediate return (and one that can be politically leveraged), most stakeholders aren’t going to be interested in at all. In a given term in office there are only so many fights you can fight. So why pick the tough ones?

This is perhaps why the life cycles of legislation such as the Food Security Bill are relatively short, while those of a politically unsexy but economically important nature such as a new Companies Bill take decades.

There is a peculiar pattern that often pops up when “India’s problems” are discussed on social networks or in the comments section of news websites. Somehow while all of India’s problems are all universal—rapes happen in the US also, corruption happens in China also, malnutrition happens in Indonesia also—all the solutions to India’s problems become unique and complex. Police reform is complex, education is complex, food is complex, taxation is complex and on and on.

Not always. Some of India’s problem are simple things with simple solutions that unfortunately have no political capital.

I am afraid efficient courts and more and better police are among these problems. And I don’t think we should expect major reforms any time soon. Of course I hope I am proven completely wrong and Mumbai, and Delhi, and every other local administration immediately implements steps to improve law and order. Volunteer action, social awareness campaigns and neighborhood watch programs can all make marginal improvements. They will not, however, make up for a law and order system that works.

Until that happens—and I have no intention of being patronizing or sexist here—my fellow citizens will have to take care and be safe.
**Sidin Vadukut is a London-based writer. He is the author of three novels and is currently working on a non-fiction book on Indian patriotism.