Without common man in agenda, globalisation leads to frustration

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 31 (UNI) Citing the ill-effects of globalisation, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice K G Balakrishnan today said unless the common man was not in agenda, it would lead to frustration.

''The unrest in Nandigram is an example of ill-effects of globalisation. But I don't want to comment more in this aspect because of the involvement of politics,'' he said, while inaugurating a national seminar on 'Indian Economy: Historical Roots and Contemporary Development Experience' organised by the Centre for Development Studies here.

''In the wake of the Nandigram experience, we have to initiate an enlightening inquiry into what need to be done,'' he said, citing the examples of globalisation in many countries.

Stating that compulsory education had not achieved any tangible result in any part of the country, he said, ''unless we enforce compulsory education for children in the age group from five to 14 years, we will not be able to wipe out child labour''.

It was unfortunate that the drop out rate of students from schools was still very high. In Uttar Pradesh, the rate was 40 to 50 per cent, he added.

Referring to the imbalance in development, he cited the case of a particular state which contributed 27 per cent of the IT professionals in the country. It was ironic that the same state contributed 30 per cent of the sex workers. ''It shows that girls are sold in the open market. Why are we not able to provide employment to girls,'' he asked.

He also pointed out that the Right to Information Act had played only a negligible role to weed out corruption in the country.

UNI