M D Nalapat
Although
efforts have been made over the past twenty years to bring Islamic
banking into India — a country that has more Muslims than Pakistan — as
yet the Reserve Bank of India and its master, the Union Finance
Ministry, has not given permission for the same. The reason is simple.
Across the financial establishment in India, the influence of US and EU
financial interests is overpowering. Several senior civil servants have
their close relatives working in such institutions, and therefore accept
the advice given by them. Certainly, banks in foreign countries will
not want the Indian government to clear the way for the establishment of
Islamic banking centres, for that may result in funds flowing from
Zurich, London, Frankfurt and New York (all major “Islamic” banking
locations) to Mumbai or Kochi. Acting on cue, the monetary and finance
authorities in India have continued to block access to Islamic banking
avenues, thereby denying millions of observant Muslims in India a chance
to keep their assets in safety.
As has been mentioned earlier in these columns, the “British” law that boosters of the Nehru family such as Amartya Sen and Sunil Khilnani are so proud of pointing to is in reality English law for colonial subjects, a construct very different from English law for Englishmen. The laws in India give overwhelming powers to the administrative machinery, and no redress to the citizen except through the goodwill of some other governmental agency.Over time, the duration of cases in India has lengthened in a way calculated to resemble the “yugas” of the ancient Indian epics (each of which lasts millions of years). Many civil cases take sixty to ninety years to finally get decided, while in a criminal matter, the final verdict usually comes after the convict has passed away due to old age. Days ago, there was a “superfast” judgment delivered in a Karnataka court against an individual accused of the murder of a software company employee. The time taken was five years, and this is only the first stage. Even at such a “superfast” pace, the appeals process can drag on for fifteen or more years before conclusion. India’s judicial system is now internationally known for the frequency of “stay orders” and the length of time that it takes for verdicts to get delivered.
