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A Dangerous Measure
Letters The gains to the economy from thismove are nil. The argument that this isnecessary for attracting direct foreigninvestment does not stand scrutiny. Thebiggest developing country recipients of foreign capital (such as China todayand Taiwan and South Korea in the 1980s) have had major restrictions oncapital flows. We know from our ownexperience that portfolio investment inflows have no stimulating effect onproductive capital formation. On thecontrary, they lead either to undesirable appreciation of the exchange rate(leading to recession andunemployment) or to a mere pile-up offoreign exchange reserves whichactually involves the economy as awhole borrowing dear and lending cheap. According to the government’s ownpronouncements, the economy iscurrently doing very well. In such acontext, exposing the country tounpredictable movements in capitalflows creates a potential for fragility and crisis that is completely avoidable.This is of particular concern becausethe stock market is alreadyexperiencing a speculative boom. We urge the UPA government todesist from such an unnecessary and dangerous measure. K S KRISHNASWAMY, Bangalore; ASHOK MITRA, Kolkata; S P SHUKLA, New Delhi; S L SHETTY, Mumbai; AMIYA BAGCHI, Kolkata; NIRMAL CHANDRA, Kolkata; PULAPRE BALAKRISHNAN, Kozhikode; AMITAVA KRISHNA DUTT, Notre Dame, USA; JEAN DREZE, Delhi; CHAITALI BOSE, Gurgaon;PRABHAT PATNAIK, New Delhi; JAYATI GHOSH, New Delhi; MOHAN GURUSWAMY, New Delhi; T S PAPOLA, New Delhi; AJIT SINGH, Cambridge, UK;KNARAYANAN NAIR, Thiruvananthapuram;K NAGARAJ, Chennai; PRABIRJIT SARKAR, Kolkata; SUDIPTA BHATTACHARYA, Shantiniketan; KANNAN SRINIVASAN, Clayton, Australia;MAHMOOD ALAM ANSARI, Silchar; BISWAJIT HALDER, Murshidabad; NITESH SAHAY, Quebec, Canada; and 140 other economists Subscription (Rs) Six One Two Three months year years years Institutions – 1250 2300 3300 Individuals 500 935 1750 2500 Concessional Rates Teachers/Researchers – 685 – 1800 Students – 450 – – Concessional rates are available only in India. To avail of concessional rates, certificate from relevant institution is essential. Remittance by money order/bank draft preferred. Please add Rs 35 to outstation cheques towards bank collection charges. Institutions – 1500 – 4150 Individuals – 1250 – 3500 (US $) Air Mail Surface Mail Institutions 1yr 2yrs 3yrs 1yr 2yrs 3yrs Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 80 150 200 65 120 175 Other countries 150 275 375 90 170 240 Individuals Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 50 90 125 30 50 75 Other countries 100 175 240 65 120 170 All remittances to: Economic and Political Weekly Hitkari House, 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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Director : S L Shetty Economic and Political Weekly April 1, 2006 (Continued from p 1222) In instances of communal riots, most governments, not only in India but all over the world, have viewed justice only as a compensation for damages incurred by the victim. This does not address restorative issues of justice nor does it attempt to initiate any reconciliation for both perpetrators and the victims. It is in this context that the Best Bakery case and other previous attempts by the state to provide justice to victims of communal riots need to be analysed. In situations of communal riots, attempts have been made only to address retributive aspects of justice. Restorative justice, on the other hand, asserts that since crime is a violation of people and relationships, there is an obligation to set things right. Also it involves the active participation of victims, offenders and communities in the search for solutions which promote reconciliation and reassurance. The Best Bakery case perhaps forms the best example for seeking to rectify lacunae in the criminal justice system. At a procedural level, the state has constituted judicial inquiry commissions, provided compensation to victims and in rare cases punished the perpetrators; but it has become important to envision justice beyond purely state-centric legalistic interpretations. It is, thus, essential to address the trauma that victims and their families encounter at the time of riots and even after the actual act of violence, through reconciliation tools like healing and sustained dialogue at a community level. In communally sensitive areas of Gujarat, this approach to justice, where both victims and perpetrators are brought together, could provide an opportunity for reconciliation. In India, the community-centred approach to local issues adopted by gram panchayats, through informal mechanisms, promotes reconciliation and relationship building. The Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre in Chennai has been involved in enhancing similar goals of justice outside the criminal justice system. Initiatives to restore justice could draw from such indigenous approaches to ensure an accountable and efficient functioning of the state-centric judicial system. B RAJESHWARI New Delhi Here are some guidelines fortake up to six to eight months from the address, day-time phone numbers andauthors who wish to make date of acceptance to appear in the email address. submissions to the journal. EPW. Every effort will, however, be made (The email address of writers in the Special to ensure early publication. Papers with Article, Commentary and Discussion immediate relevance for policy would be sections will be published at the end ofEPW welcomes original research papers in considered for early publication. Please the article.) any of the social sciences. note that this is a matter of editorial * Authors are requested to prepare their * Articles must be no more than 8,000 judgment. soft copy versions in text formats. PDF versions are not accepted by the EPW. Authors are encouraged to use UK Englishprocessed. EPW invites short contributions to the spellings (Writers using MS Word or paper has appeared earlier in a different on occasion considered for publication. changes/additions, deletions of version, we would appreciate a copy of references, minor changes, etc, as this this along with the submitted paper. poses challenges in processing. Readers of EPW are encouraged to send comments and suggestions (300-400 words) immediately on receipt with a reference * Graphs and charts prepared in MS * All submissions will be acknowledged Office (Word/Excel) or equivalent software on published articles to the Letters column. number. Quoting the reference numberare preferable to material prepared in All letters should have the writer’s full name in inquiries will help. jpeg or other formats. * Every effort is taken to complete early and postal address. * EPW posts all published articles on its web processing of the papers we receive. site and may reproduce them on CDs. Since we receive more than 35 articles Address for communication: EPW encourages researchers to comment every week and adequate time has to be Economic and Political Weekly, on Special Articles. Submissions should be provided for internal reading and external Hitkari House, 1,000 to 2,000 words. refereeing. It can take up to four 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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* Articles accepted for publication can details for correspondence: postal epw.mumbai@gmail.com Economic and Political Weekly April 1, 2006 A Dangerous Measure
WRestorative Justice
T(Continued on p 1292)
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