Human Rights Violations in Police Custody

Human rights are the basic rights of every individual against the state or any other public authority as a member of the human family irrespective of any other consideration. Thus every individual of the society has the inherent right to be treated with dignity in all situations including arrest and keeping in custody by the police. Rights of an individual in police custody are protected basically by the Indian Constitution and by various other laws like Code of Criminal Procedure, Evidence Act, Indian Penal Code and Protection of Human Rights Act. The term `custody' is defined neither in procedural nor in substantive laws. The word custody means protective care. The expression `police custody' as used in sec. 27 of Evidence Act does not necessarily mean formal arrest. In India with special reference to Kerala and evolution and development of the concept of human rights and various kinds of human rights violations in police custody in different stages of history. Human rights activists and various voluntary organisations reveals that there are so many factors contributing towards the causes of violations of human rights by police. Sociological causes like ambivalent outlook of the society with respect to the use of third degree methods by the police, economic causes like meager salary and inadequate living conditions, rampant corruption in police service, unnecessary political interference in the crime investigation, work load of police personnel without any time limit and periodic holidays, unnecessary pressure from superior police officers and the general public for speedy detection causing great mental strain to the investigating officers, defective system of recruitment and training, imperfect system of investigation and lack of public co-operation are some of the factors identified in the field survey towards the causes of violations of human rights in police custody.

The Impact of Integrated Marine Fisheries ‘Development Project Among the Artisanal Fishermen in Kerala

Despite various intervensions, artisanal fishermen remain one of the weaker sections in Kerala's society. Host of the welfare and developmental programmes introduced for them had produced very little impact on their living conditions. Further, they are unable to compete with mechanised sector for fishing. Host of the technological development which had taken place after Indo-Norvegean Project favoured the growth of mechanised sector. As a consequence of this, fishing become unviable for artisanal fishermen who propagate the idea of ” sustainable development” in the fishing industry. It is commonly believed that an integrated approach may help them to improve their living conditions substantially. In the light of the above background the scholar has made an attempt to study the impact of Integrated Marine Fisheries Development Project among artisanal fishermen in Kerala It is realised from the findings of the study that the most important needs of artisanal fishermen arecredit facilities and marketing support. Without marketing linkages effective credit management is not possible. Marketing activities and credit management are interdependent

Indian Law on Control of Vessel Sourced Pollution in Maritime Ports

Maritime ports are inevitable for India’s economic development. The very existence and sustainable development of ports depend on clean port environment. There is a notion that shipping is an over regulated industry. But in India, it is being operated under sub- standard conditions, raising crucial issues of environmental pollution in the country’s ports. The negative impacts of vessel sourced pollution on the eco-fragile coastal peninsula can be detrimental to the living conditions, health and interests of the coastal population. It can disturb marine life and imbalance the aquatic ecosystem. The present study analyses control of vessel sourced pollution in Indian ports from an economic and ecological perspective. The study investigates legal reasons behind the weak control, regulation and monitoring over vessel sourced pollution in Indian ports. The loopholes in the legal system are identified and suggestion made to implement stronger enforcement. Unless, vessel operations are properly regulated in ports, the trade and economic prospects of India will be jeopardized.

A study of the hydrological features of the shelf water along the west coast of India with an attempt to explain their influence upon the living resources of the region

The objective of the present study is to elucidate the hydrological conditions of the shelf waters along the southern half or the west coast of India and their relation to the sooplankton bionase and pelagic fish resources. Data from six hydrography-plankton sections worked during the 1972-75 period of cape camerin. Quilon. cochin. Kasaragod. Karwar and kotnagiri formed the basis of the present study.Stations were fixed along the transects 10 nautical miles apart. Starting with the first station at around 15 metre depth and were usually occupied 5 to 8 times in an year at an interval of about 6 weeks. Data relating to oil sardines and macherel fisheries were availed from published information relating to the period mainly of the Central Marine fisheries Research Institute. The range of different parameters namely temperature. salinity. density and dissolved oxygen at different depths and their sloping features against the coast are discussed. Three seasons. namely south-west monsoon (summer monsoon). north-east monsoon (winter monsoon) and hot weather season are designated and data of the core months of each of these seasons considered in the study.

Health, Education and Employment in a Forward-Backward Dichotomy Based on Standard of Living Index for the Tribes in Kerala

The Paper unfolds the paradox that exists in the tribal community with respect to the development indicators and hence tries to cull out the difference in the standard of living of the tribes in a dichotomous framework, forward and backward. Four variables have been considered for ascertaining the standard of living and socio-economic conditions of the tribes. The data for the study is obtained from a primary survey in the three tribal predominant districts of Wayanad, Idukki and Palakkad. Wayanad was selected for studying six tribal communities (Paniya, Adiya, Kuruma, Kurichya, Urali and Kattunaika), Idukki for two communities (Malayarayan and Muthuvan) and Palakkad for one community (Irula). 500 samples from 9 prominent tribal communities of Kerala have been collected according to multistage proportionate random sample framework. The analysis highlights the disproportionate nature of socio-economic indicators within the tribes in Kerala owing to the failure of governmental schemes and assistances meant for their empowerment. The socio-economic variables, such as education, health, and livelihood have been augmented with SLI based on correlation analysis gives interesting inference for policy options as high educated tribal communities are positively correlated with high SLI and livelihood. Further, each of the SLI variable is decomposed using Correlation and Correspondence analysis for understanding the relative standing of the nine tribal sub communities in the three dimensional framework of high, medium and low SLI levels. Tribes with good education and employment (Malayarayan, Kuruma and Kurichya) have a better living standard and hence they can generally be termed as forward tribes whereas those with a low or poor education, employment and living standard indicators (Paniya, Adiya, Urali, Kattunaika, Muthuvans and Irula) are categorized as backward tribes