Protecting The Lawgivers

The Constitution (One Hundred and Fourteenth Amendment) Bill, 2010 seeks to make long overdue amendments to Articles 217(1) and 224(3) of the Constitution of India, which peg the retirement age of high court judges at 62. Introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 25, 2010, the Bill takes its cues from the 39th report of the parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice, that the retirement age of high court judges be "brought at par with the retirement age of [judges] of the Supreme Court", who presently retire at 65. However, while the objectives of the proposed amendment are laudable, the Bill in its present form may have an adverse impact on the length of the term of Supreme Court judges, unless its enactment is paired with a definitive policy on the age at which judges will be appointed to the Supreme Court.

Multidimensional Life

All of us see the world and life from our limited perspective. If we knew this, then we would not be in conflict with others. But we assume that what we know is the whole truth and that the other is wrong. And hence there are conflicts all over the world, basically because my truth does not agree with yours, although both of us don't know that we are both only partially correct, and are both likely to be wrong. We strongly hold on to our partial or wrong concepts, and fight over it, tooth and nail. When the final picture emerges, or with the passage of time, when we look back at the past, we will often see how our words and actions were often wrong.

Our knowledge is partial and incomplete. We form our central core from this partial truth, and hence are prone to get into conflicts with others. If we recognise that we don't know the whole picture, we are likely to become less aggressive and more humble, which will pave the way for more peace and joy on earth.