Mumbai: Union Minister for law and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad was in Mumbai on Friday to speak at a seminar on the amendment of laws and advocacy in the nation at the University of Mumbai.
“The fundamental philosophy of the government is to reform and perform in order to transform,” said the Union minister, informing since 2014, the Modi government have successfully repealed 486 laws and bills, which were active since the British regime.
“We want to make India a transparent society for the ease of business. And this whole process is done in a complete democratic process,” he added.
The senior BJP leader, whose career as a practising lawyer is now suspended for being a minister, is known for representing the deity “Ram Lalla” in the Babri masjid demolition case.
He informed India is about to become a sector of arbitration as the government will soon establish an autonomous arbitrary counsel headed by retired chiefs of justice.
Since Narendra Modi was re-elected to power at the Centre in May, the government has made some serious amendments in law. These include passing the “Triple Talaq Bill” and abrogation of the Articles 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Triple Talaq is effective in extreme Islamic countries like, Pakistan, Egypt and Afghanistan. India is a secular country and such laws must cease to exist in the country,” asserted the senior politician.
He added a number of female employees in public sectors including the armed forces have now rose to one-third of the total number of employees.
“Triple Talaq had never been the main agenda, gender empowerment is. It is for empowering the women of our country and it has nothing to do with religion,” said the 65-year old.
The minister said Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the nation’s first home minister, was right in handling the Kashmir issue after the independence. The implementation of Articles 370 was a historic blunder.
Laws like the anti-corruption act, right to education and information, child marriage act, were not applicable in the valley, which led to rise in barbarism and violence. There was no reservations for the minorities as well.
He also mentioned that the implementation of Article 370 by the nation’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a historic blunder, as with an increase in violence and dominance of extremism, the state has been suffering even today, and also Nehru’s belief in Sheikh Abdullah was proved wrong as soon as he was arrested later and was kept in prison for 11 years.
“Over the years, a large amount of taxpayers money has been used by the ruling families of the state to spread terrorism and separatism in the state,” he said, informing 153 acts of the Constitution have been merged to the state of Kashmir and there is a a rise in number of applications in the armed forces where 29,000 Kashmiris have applied for jobs in the army.
Prasad informed there will be a boost in the Indian judiciary system as the supreme court has decided to install 1,070 special courts in the nation, which will be officially notified on October 2.
