Nobody can be in any doubt about the scale of the challenges facing India. With major economic reform required to fulfil its considerable potential and with corruption and inefficiency acting against progress, the news that hundreds of thousands of Indians languish in jail for years while awaiting trial might not seem to be a high priority.
But that would be to misunderstand the way India has to change. For all the major economic modernisation promised by prime minister Narendra Modi – and made feasible by his commanding electoral mandate – it will also be by upholding fundamentals like the rule of law and the administration of justice that India will propel itself into a prosperous future.
The case of the inmates in India’s notoriously overcrowded jails awaiting trial makes for bleak reading. About two thirds of the nearly four million prisoners are yet to have the accusations against them determined in court and some have already served more than half the maximum penalty that could be imposed for their alleged crimes – a threshold that under Indian law requires them to be released, but which is rarely followed.
An oft-quoted phrase in jurisprudence is that justice delayed is justice denied and that is entirely apposite for the hundreds of thousands of inmates who are due for immediate release because of the amount of time they have already served. But the inability of India’s jails to uphold Indian law hints at a much bigger problem.
Another of India’s challenges is the frequency of rape. With a lack of priority given to such cases by some police and with frankly unfortunate comments like the recent one by Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley that the shocking gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy student was a “small incident”, one could contend that it sends the message that crimes of sexual violence are treated as if they were decriminalised. This is abjectly wrong.
Rule of law is not just a phrase for the university lecture hall. It has to be upheld in cases of rape, for prisoners awaiting trial and for all other aspects of Indian life. No reforms enacted by Mr Modi will work if the fundamentals of a civilised society are not functioning properly.
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Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
If you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat
Barbara J King, University of Chicago Press
Last-16
France 4
Griezmann (13' pen), Pavard (57'), Mbappe (64', 68')
Argentina 3
Di Maria (41'), Mercado (48'), Aguero (90 3')
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
