Justice or Injustice

On the long flight to India, I was browsing and came across an Indian film "Qaidi Band" or "Prisoner's Band". I had not heard of the film, yet was intrigued by the name and decided to watch it.

The film was average, and yet the underlying premise and the facts presented were unbelievable and horrific. It was about under trials in Indian jails who spent years for fairly trivial crimes, without having been found guilty by any court. They were persons who were not well off and could not afford expensive legal help to be out on bail awaiting the trial.

The sad part was that in a significant large number of cases, the time spent by these under trials in jail was greater than the maximum sentence that they would be given, assuming they were found guilty. This makes absolutely no sense no matter what your point of view. It goes against all tenets of natural justice that we as humans know.

I subsequently found that this is not an unknown issue and there are several non-profits are working on the problem.

To me, an obvious solution, which no stakeholder can oppose is that on completion of the maximum time the under trial could get, if found guilty, they should be set free. They should then be given an option of pleading guilty and the case closed or pleading not guilty and the case could continue as would be the normal course. The major difference the under trial is not in jail, but truly as the name implies, "Under Trial".

This kind of approach has several upsides and not a single downside that I could think of or any of the several people I discussed the issue with could come up with.

The primary upside is the obvious one. Undertrials are no longer spending a lifetime in jail. Additionally there are several secondary benefits. The courts get freed of hundreds of thousands of cases and can focus on resolving the balance ones. This itself will mean speedier trials and a more efficient justice system. In a relatively short period of time the clogging of courts will be reduced significantly. And the current major problem, resolves itself.

While this is not at all a perfect solution, its significantly better than the current system. And we should never let Perfect be the enemy of the Good.

There are several interesting articles on this subject that you may like to review.

Justice Under Trial: A Study Of Pre-Trial Detention In India
https://amnesty.org.in/justice-trial-study-pre-trial-detention-india/

Six charts explain how undertrial prisoners in India are denied the right to fair trial
https://scroll.in/article/843539/six-charts-show-how-undertrial-prisoners-in-india-are-denied-the-right-to-fair-trial

Trials and tribulations of undertrials in India
https://www.dailypioneer.com/2017/columnists/trials-and-tribulations-of-undertrials-in-india.html

And the article that brought a ray of hope.

Corporates join hands to help prisoners jailed without trial
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/corporates-join-hands-to-help-prisoners-jailed-without-trial/articleshow/62953228.cms

I on my part have decided to do something about it, in whatever small way I can. I hope you will too.

Can Physics be cool ?

I came across Physicist Michio Kaku when I used a quote in a blog, Goodbye Stephen!
“Not since Albert Einstein has a scientist so captured the public imagination and endeared himself to tens of millions of people around the world,”

His, The Universe in a Nutshell presentation is a must watch. You may have to force yourself. But I think  in the end, it'll be worth it. I learnt more about the history of physics in 40 minutes than I had throughout my life. Wish this was the complete physics course. It covers more. :)

Charles Darwin & The Galapagos Islands

A couple of days ago, I was driving friends who had just returned from a European cruise home. They loved the trip and I was eager to learn about their experiences. It was a long drive and the subject moved to what next. Al mentioned that one of the trips he wanted to make was to the Galapagos. Naturally, I was curious to know why ? And he thought I was joking. Everyone knows that Galapagos is the place where Darwin figured out the Theory of Evolution and has all of the animal species.

I obviously was not paying enough attention in school as I had no idea. But I guess its never too late to learn, and so I checked out the Galapagos Islands. I'm sure most of you know all about it. However if you are like me, check it out. Its interesting and fascinating.

"
History of the Galapagos Islands

Natural History

The natural history of the Galapagos Islands has fascinated visitors since their most famous guest landed there in 1845. Darwin's observations during his voyage on the HMS Beagle laid the foundation for a theory that greatly impacted western thought --the theory of evolution.

Upon rediscovery of the islands, your mind will also reel with delight --leaving you slack-jawed with awe, your camera flashing.

Amid the volcanic geography of these islands 600 miles in the Pacific Ocean, plant life takes root in basalt rock, centurion turtles roam and penguins swim in equatorial waters.

In the 450 years of human history, the islands have been used as prison colonies, naval ports and research stations.

Charles Darwin in the Galapagos

Perhaps our first association with the word "Galapagos" is the name "Darwin." Darwin's visit to the Galapagos Islands had a resounding impact on the formation of his Theory of Natural Selection.

A rather unmotivated and failing medical scholar, Charles Darwin accompanied Captain Robert Fitzroy as a travel companion and naturalist on the HMS Beagle. His book the Voyage of the Beagle is an account of his worldwide journey.

When setting off from England in 1831 for a five-year voyage, Darwin had little ambitions for groundbreaking scientific research. After surveying the coasts of South America, the ship stopped over in the Galapagos Islands.

During his visit to the islands, Darwin noted that the unique creatures were similar from island to island, but perfectly adapted to their environments which led him to ponder the origin of the islands' inhabitants.

Among those that struck Darwin so greatly were the finches that are now named in his honor. Darwin would later base some of his thought from the supposing that these finches were all descendents of the same lineage.

Years later in 1859, Darwin finally consolidated all of his observations into his famous book On The Origin of Species, drastically and controversially altering the scientific view on the biological origins of life.
"
https://www.galapagosislands.com/

And after all of this, The Galapagos Islands is on my "To Visit" list.

For those who want to read even more, about Charles Darwin and the Galepagos Islands, here's an interesting article on the subject.

Gálapagos Islands and Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
K R Shivanna
https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/reso/023/04/0465-0478

Will our startup succeed ?

A friend is at an advanced stage of launching his startup. (Saying 'his' is a way of distancing myself, should it not do well).

And it was but natural that I wanted to do whatever best improves the probability of success. And so I was extremely thrilled to come across a TED talk titled, "The single biggest reason why startups succeed."

Great. All I had to do was find out the biggest reason and ensure it was implemented. Wish life were that simple.

The single biggest reason why startups succeed
Bill Gross

Bill Gross has founded a lot of startups, and incubated many others — and he got curious about why some succeeded and others failed. So he gathered data from hundreds of companies, his own and other people's, and ranked each company on five key factors. He found one factor that stands out from the others — and surprised even him.

And Reia, if you're reading, don't stop working. And wait for timing. Hard work and a great idea matters too. :)