Jarring names
The Sanskritised names given to the new Bills in connection with the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act are a reflection of growing linguistic chauvinism gaining ground in the country, and the utter insensitivity of our rulers to the demands of a truly federal and diverse polity (Editorial, “Rebooting the codes”, August 14).
It should not go unnoticed that the word ‘Sanhita ‘ harks back to the Vedic days. The proceedings in Parliament and interventions by most of the Ministers already create an impression as if the entity ‘south of the Vindhyas’ does not exist. The grotesque names given to many central government programmes are already unintelligible to the South.
Manohar Alembath,
Kannur, Kerala
Renaming the three criminal laws is to be seen as a direct and forceful imposition of Hindi. When district courts function in the regional language of the respective States and when the High Court and the Supreme Court of India use English, a renaming of laws in Hindi is pointless.
Changing colonial laws with the goal of updating them is fine, but change to a Hindi name is unnecessary. An attempt to impose Hindi in a country that has wide linguistic diversity is atrocious.
Sai Aparna Mushunuri,
Bengaluru
There can be no two opinions that our criminal codes have many anachronistic sections and clauses which need to be revamped or replaced. But resorting to a ‘cut and paste’ exercise in most parts of the codes and changing the nomenclatures to suit the Hindi-mania of the present dispensation are unwise measures. It is distressing that a surreptitious attempt is being made to force Hindi down the throats of non-Hindi speaking States.
Ayyasseri Raveendranath,
Aranmula, Kerala
Hasty passage
The purpose of a parliamentary committee is to ensure scrutiny of Bills, deter hasty legislation and to enhance the accountability of the executive to Parliament. In recent years, the government, with its assertive majority, is circumventing the scrutiny and the recommendation of the committees and is passing legislation without constructive debate. Bills passed in a hurry, later became contentious issues, increasing the ordeals of the judicial system. A responsible and accountable government is a bedrock principle of a parliamentary democracy. Executive dominance sidelining parliamentary democracy is antithetical to the vision of the founders of the Constitution.
M. Rishidev,
Dindigul, Tamil Nadu
Data needed
It is sad that our elected representatives have not realised that their actions are demoralising us. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariat must put out data on each Member’s attendance, debate participation time and walkout/abstention rate.
Gopalaswamy J.,
Chennai
