Law and National Development
“Access to Justice to all
has to be the mission.”
I am delighted and thankful for being invited to give the
What a phenomenal transformation that has taken place in the society in the intermediate centuries, as we see now! Science and Technology has revolutionized our ways of life, transportation, communication, healthcare, education delivery and in general human advancement. At the same time, every thing about humanity, we cannot be proud of: Abundance and abysmal poverty co-exist. There are people who do not earn even the minimum for subsistence, there are atrocities on women and there are many social evils, like corruption, still evading permanent eradication. While nations are working to improve the lot of people and leap frog in development, there are forces at work to impede by way of extremism and terrorism. Law is about preserving the values, understand the lessons from the past and build a strong foundation for the development and growth of a nation giving due respect to the freedom of the individuals without infringing on other’s freedom, perform one’s duties and responsibilities. Society has to be dynamic to make progress and prepare itself for the challenges of the future. In a democratic society the legal system provides the basis to deal with human beings in a fair and objective way. With this background, when I am with you, I would like to talk on the topic “Law and National Development”.
Evolution of Legal System
Legal systems have evolved over time, in nations often referring to practices followed in other countries also. When they originated, the nations were not as connected as today within themselves and with others. Certain laws and principle governing international activities have also been evolved. The technology has made possible globalization of many activities. Multinational companies have percolated the whole world. People of multi cultures contributing to nations have become normal rather than exception. The technology growth is making possible newer areas to emerge as challenging proposition to legal community. The vision of legal community for the 21st century is to aid the dynamic development process with a close interaction with Science and Technology with an ethical approach. Let me give an example of a humanitarian activity in my country.
Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI)
In
The 108 Ambulance movement has become a friend to all the rural and urban citizens of the states that they are operated in. In the three years, EMRI has touched 2 million lives and has saved over 40,000 lives. Our mission is to spread EMRI system to the entire country with a target of saving over one million lives annually by 2010. EMRI is a modern service with high-tech communication system, GPS system, interlinked network with well maintained ambulance system, always waiting to deal with any emergency occurring at any point in the state.
The above example shows any developmental mission is multi-disciplinary with legal system playing a crucial role. Our mission in every nation is to accelerate developmental process. Now I would like to share with you certain ideas based on my experience about the linkages of many disciplines with the legal system which have direct connection to the development and growth of any nation.
Judiciary and Linkages
I have studied the judiciary and legal process in my country. Every citizen wants purity in the system. As you are aware, there are several interfaces in the total system. They are:
1. Political Leaders
2. Law makers – MPs and MLAs
3. Citizens
4. Administration (Public & Private)
5. Police
6. Scientist & Technologist
7. Lawyers and
8. Judges – Supreme Court, High court, District courts
9. Media
Every interface has to work with a common vision of the development mandate for the country. It has to be transparent and pure; then only an integrated solution with a development focus will emanate. Many of the real life problems are complex, but the common goal of national development can provide appropriate timely solution. I would like to explain how every system has to function for a common purpose with integrity.
1. Political leaders
Political leaders should set an example for the civil society with a vision for the nation and engaging in development politics. There is a need for the political leaders to respect the law and ensure that the processes of power is not used to circumvent the law of the land.
2. Law makers
There is a need to simplify the Law, discard irrelevant and old Acts with a certain periodicity. Make the system in such a way the dispensation of justice takes place fast and fair. Our education system should promote legal literacy through formal and informal mechanisms particularly for the rural community.
3. Citizens
Citizen should have respect for others’ rights and also attempt to use the legal system for good purposes and not for petty, selfish ends or for power politics.
4. Administration
The Administration should be responsive, proactive and also innovative to keep pace with contemporary changes and expectations. Administrator should use technology like e-governance to give fast decisions in all respects.
5.Police
Police system should function in a way that good citizens will have faith and nothing to be afraid of. They should not succumb to any external pressures in delivery of justice. They should protect honest officials in discharging the duties. Police personnel should be facilitated with perks and remuneration consistent with their performance expectations.
6.Scientist and Technologist
Scientist and technologist have to be partners with the legal community and evolve legal frameworks for introduction of new technology in the system, so that the judiciary is able to administer justice with speed using the benefits of technology and also ensure that the technologies are used keeping the ethical values and principles in mind. In emerging technologies the legal frame work must be developed without time lag while the technology itself is developing.
7. Lawyers
Legal profession is not a mere business but it has the responsibility to unfold truth. Therefore they should abide by the principles of professional ethics. Law school should engender such values at the beginning and senior Lawyers should become role models for the youth.
8. Judges – Supreme Court, High Courts, District courts
Make truth prevail irrespective of the level of the stature of the affected parties. Speed of delivery of justice is crucial for the citizens. Create a mechanism for handling of societal crimes. Courts have a tendency to give the benefit of doubt to the accused purely due to technical reasons of law. Here, I am reminded of the statement of the famous Indian Lawyer Nani Palkivala, who said “law is somewhere and justice is somewhere else”.
9. Media
Media should remain vigilant and pro-active. However, they should apply adequate caution not to pre-judge issues or sacrifice truth for sensation. A synchronized working of all the nine constituents with national development and human welfare as focus will lead to a happy society.
Now I would like to present technology, development and the law.
Multi Dimensions of Technology
Technology has multiple dimensions. It can bring great welfare; if misused it can result in disasters. It can be treated in a protective manner for reasons of competition or geo-politics, limiting its benefit. For example, the developments in chemical engineering brought fertilizers for higher yield of crops while the same science led to chemical weapons. Likewise, rocket technology developed for atmospheric research helped in launching satellites for remote sensing and communication applications which are vital for the economic development. The same technology led to development of missiles with specific defence needs that provide security for the nation.
The aviation technology development has led to fighter and bomber aircraft, and the same technology has transformed passenger traffic and helped operations requiring quick reach of support to people affected by disasters. When nuclear science was born in
Since the entire world is moving towards a digital economy, let us see some of the topical issues associated with Cyber Systems.
Cyber Law
Cyber law is an area where many advances are continuously taking place at a fast pace. I would like to cite a few examples.
Now-a-days nations have electronically connected all their economic, defense and national security establishments which will be the target for cyber attacks during a conflict or to create instabilities. In the present law, for example, the jurisdiction will correspond to the location where the crime is committed and where the damage occurs - very often both being the same location. Whereas in the digital world, the crime may originate from a strange place even outside nation’s shores and may damage organizational wealth which will be in the digital form in multiple locations. In the world of cyber crimes, the distinction between fun and crime, accidental and premeditated offences and even indirect and insinuated crimes become blurred. In such situations, the judges, the lawyers, the police and the law officers should be trained to be aware of such possibilities of technology centric crime much the same way they have been trained to understand crime in the physical world. In the absence of such awareness programme, a country can be defeated even without a missile or aircraft attack just through intelligent cyber war.
Hence it is essential to generate a simulation model of the connected economic and defense security system as a cyber / electronic network. This will reveal the need for the evolution of a new policy with redundancy and restriction of external connectivity and external partnership of certain vital establishments. Since the financial system is and will be connected to world economic institutions, each country has to implement a robust encryption system for all transactions through a national encryption policy. In addition cyber laws have also to be derived based on the Information Security standards.
However when a block of countries wage a war against another block, relevance and validity of these standards has to be reviewed leading to the evolution of a new standard. In the globalized economy we have to strike a sound balance between protection of national interest and international partnerships. Another fast moving technological area is Life Sciences which needs a close interaction between legal and scientific community for evolving suitable modification to the existing laws.
Life Sciences and Laws
As you are aware, new technologies like nano-technology, bio-technology and information technology are arising. These technologies are also converging as a triad bio-nano-info leading to nano robots. Nano robots when they are injected on a patient, my expert friends say, will deliver the treatment exclusively in the diseased area and then get digested as it is DNA based.
Laws related to such medical areas are about evolving moral code and for ensuring safety of human lives to prevent un-authorized and unethical systems and practices. Also in the medical area, we are finding increasing application of stem-cells as a curative process. In this area ethics are involved in the use of embryonic cells which have been found to be extremely efficient in curing certain diseases. This issue needs a careful study by legal, social organizations and medical community jointly for enacting appropriate laws.
During one of the discussions, a question came, what is my view on human cloning. I said, human cloning should not be done. The human being of today is the result of millions of years of genetic engineering and the evolution particularly of the human minds; hence I believe human cloning should not be done. However, cloning of human components such as eye, liver, pancreas etc. can take place. Here the law has to be evolved after visualizing the dynamics of cloning on the components and its impact on the society.
Human genome project – ethical issues
Human genome project has led to the mapping of gene sequence of the human population across the globe. This will be the starting point for many overlapping discoveries of bio-medical innovations for many decades to come. The function of each of the 40,000 genes indeed will lead to the understanding of every aspect of our life. Proteomic research in characterization of genes is taking shape. It may even lead to tailor-made medical treatment to suit the person’s genetic make up diminishing the problem of unwanted drug side effects. In our traditional holistic healing system, the same medicine is not given to two different individuals having same disease. Custom built medicine is required looking at the Prakriti (nature) of the individual. Further discovery may even lead to fine tuning of human evolution. But one of the big concerns is the legal ownership of the human genome. The conflict has to be resolved nationally and internationally.
The typical questions which come to our mind are the following: Who is the owner of the results of the human genome projects and the results of the proteomics research? Who should have access to personal genetic information, and how will it be used? Who owns and controls genetic information? How will genetic tests be evaluated and regulated for accuracy, reliability, and utility? Should parents have the right to have their minor children tested for adult-onset diseases? Are genetic tests reliable and interpretable by the medical community? How do we as a society balance current scientific limitations and social risks with long-term benefits? These issues concern the people of many parts of the world. The judiciary community and political system of many countries should work together to evolve a methodology for development of this technology without violation of human rights.
Science and Technology and legal community
A number of benefits have accrued to the legal community itself due to the growth of Science and Technology. The computerized legal proceedings and record keeping today allow much better communication and referrals. Tele-legal activities have also found to be beneficial. Legal communities can also put their own demands on technology. In
Conclusion
The norms of law and justice have to be meaningfully visible and dynamic as social and scientific developments of today outdate those of yesterday. Law cannot remain insulated from reality and it cannot be shackled to what had been ordained decades ago. Realization of social, scientific and economic reality that is ever changing in humanity has to be properly recognized and the scope of jurisprudence widened, accelerated and upgraded accordingly. Law has to be dynamic. Legal research has to be an important activity for preparing the system for facing future challenges.
Every society has laws in one form or the other. The ultimate aim of all laws is to ensure that every individual gets what is rightful and righteous share in all fields of human existence. Denial of that right would amount to negation of the very logic of civilized existence and as such it is imperative that such justice should be available speedily, efficiently and without having to sweat it out.
My best wishes to all the members of
May God bless you.
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam,
29.08.2008
