Current government priorities Essay Example for Free

Current government priorities Essay How far does the budget reflect current government priorities? Governments view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it Ronald Reagan In my coursework I shall be discovering what the annual government budget is, what it is spent on and why, correlating this with current priorities. I shall be investigating to what extent does the governments expenditure reflect on these current government priorities i. e. the amount spent on defence, the education sector and social protection. I shall be mostly using secondary research, through using websites and maybe books. I will compare spending from previous budgets to the current one and find out where changes, if any, have been made. Through figuring out where the money is spent, I can discover what the main priorities are but not neglecting the fact that some sectors are larger and undoubtedly require money being spent, e.g. Healthcare and public order safety. Government expenditure is vital for the efficient running of the economy. The need for much of the government expenditure arises from the facts that some goods will not be provided at all by a free market economy (public goods) and that others will be under-provided (merit goods). It is spending on these goods that accounts for a large proportion of government spending (health, education, police and defence, among others). Some government expenditure is aimed at providing a safety net for the less well off in society and ensuring that they are able to survive in the event that they lose their jobs or have insufficient income. The department that deals with the allocation of most of this money is the Department of Social Security. Other government expenditure is aimed at various areas that may be considered important in a developed economy providing a transport infrastructure, supporting the work of local government and servicing any debts that may have been accumulated in the past. Fiscal policy refers to government policy that attempts to influence the direction of the economy through changes in government spending or taxes. Fiscal policy can be contrasted with the other main type of economic policy, monetary policy which attempts to stabilize the economy by controlling interest rates and the supply of money. The government in power needs to ensure that the budget expenditure is divided correctly and proportionately to the areas that require it most. This depends on the government priorities. The two main instruments of fiscal policy are government spending and taxation. Changes in the level and composition of taxation and government spending can impact on the following variables in the economy: On aggregate demand and the level of economic activity; the pattern of resource allocation and the distribution of income. Fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and taxation to manage the economy. The main changes in fiscal policy happen once a year in the Budget. It is in the Budget that the Chancellor sets the levels of taxation and government expenditure for the next fiscal year. The fiscal year runs from 6th April one year until 5th April the following year. This is why the budget is usually in March. The changes in it come generally into effect in the following month. Fiscal policy is based on the theories of British economist John Maynard Keynes. Also known as Keynesian economics, this theory basically states that governments can influence macroeconomic productivity levels by increasing or decreasing tax levels and public spending. This influence, in turn, curbs inflation (generally considered to be healthy when at a level between 2-3%), increases employment and maintains a healthy value of money. Unfortunately, the effects of any fiscal policy are not the same on everyone. Depending on the political orientations and goals of the policymakers, a tax cut could affect only the middle class, which is typically the largest economic group. In times of economic decline and rising taxation, it is this same group that may have to pay more taxes than the wealthier upper class. Similarly, when a government decides to adjust its spending; its policy may affect only a specific group of people. A decision to build a new bridge, for example, will give work and more income to hundreds of construction workers. A decision to spend money on building a new space shuttle, on the other hand, benefits only a small, specialized pool of experts, which would not do much to increase aggregate employment levels. Graph to show inflation rates in the UK compared with the United States and Canada. Monetary Policy involves changes in the base rate of interest to influence the rate of growth of aggregate demand, the money supply and ultimately price inflation. Monetarist economists believe that monetary policy is a more powerful weapon than fiscal policy in controlling inflation. Monetary policy also involves changes in the value of the exchange rate since fluctuations in the currency also impact on macroeconomic activity (incomes, output and prices). Basically, it is the process by which the government/ bank controls the supply of money, or trading in foreign exchange markets. Monetary policy is generally referred to as either being an expansionary policy, or a contractionary policy, where an expansionary policy increases the total supply of money in the economy, and a contractionary policy decreases the total money supply. Expansionary policy is traditionally used to combat unemployment in a recession by lowering interest rates, while contractionary policy has the goal of raising interest rates to combat inflation or calming an overheated economy. The government receives its money from many different areas, the graph on the next page shows exactly where from and how much: As from the chart we can see that the largest proportion of governments income is due to income tax that at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½157bn it is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½63bn more than the 2nd largest. Tax comes in many forms, as shown by the chart and when totaled up it is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½587bn, this breaks down to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½9,650 for every man, woman and child in the UK per year. What is the money used for and spent on? Well the money that the government has gathered from its many different forms of tax is spent entirely on the public. The pie chart below clearly represents what these different sectors are and how much money is actually spent on them. As we can see social protection is predominantly the largest sector that government spending is allocated with a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½57bn lead on the second largest, health, at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½104bn. From this chart it can be easy to assume that the areas with the largest spending would be those that are the largest priorities. That can be accepted to a certain extent to where you look deeper within that and take into account that some sectors are larger than others and therefore require more money to keep them running, i.e. social protection. Now I shall look at the different sectors and analyze each one, looking at the governments main aims and objectives and comparing whether the money they are spending on each one is reflecting that; for example if in public order and safety the government wanted to initiate huge crackdown on underage drinkers and vandalism then surely the money spent in that area would be increased dramatically. I shall compare what was spent on those sectors in the year 2006 and compare that with the budget released in 2007. Taking into account inflation, which from 2006 to 2007 was 3% I can work out whether spending, has increased by a lot, remained the same or dropped. To begin with I shall look at the area of social protection, which is the largest of all spending. Social protection consists of policies and programs designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labor markets, diminishing peoples exposure to risks, enhancing their capacity to protect themselves against hazards and interruption or loss of income. In 2006 the government spent à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½151bn on social protection whereas in 2007 they spent à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½161bn, which even after taking into account inflation this is still a dramatic increase. This could by due to the fact that unemployment has risen from 2006 2007 and with employment and training being an area of social protection, more money is being spent to try and bring the figures down again. The next sector that I shall look at is the environment. Protecting the environment is a major concern for todays government; well it has been for many years but even more so now. As Britains industry continues to expand and destroy most of our beloved countryside and pollute our skies, pressure groups and environmentalists increase the strain on the government to protect and instigate new legislation to help reduce the effects of the unstoppable industry. In attempts to keep these groups happy the government invests more money every year to meet their demands. Examples of these include the à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½800m environmental transformation fund and funding for cleaner ways to produce energy such as wind farms and nuclear power. There has been an increase of expenditure for housing and environment from 2006 2007 of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4bn, which concludes the fact that it is an ever-increasing issue. This research indicates that current government spending in the environment does directly reflect the fact that is a main priority. In the past 3 years it has shown that the government has increased its spending by around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4bn per annum on the environment. If compared with other sections of spending, the environment ranks lower in comparison with others, such as social protection. This could signify that the environment is not classed as such a high priority; although relating to my earlier point of stating that the some areas are larger and therefore require more money suggests that it is not less of a priority. However, it could also be due to the fact that the government believes that protection of the population and the healthcare too are more of a priority than preserving the environment. So it can be looked at in both ways. I myself believe that the government thinks the environment is less of a priority and therefore less money should be invested there. Healthcare in Britain is different to that in most other countries in the way that we have adopted a system called the National Health Service. The NHS is paid for through our taxes and so therefore offers healthcare for everyone in the UK and securing the provision of comprehensive, high quality care for all those who need it, regardless of their ability to pay or where they live or their age. The aims set out by the Department of Health are to: * Supporting activity at national level to protect, promote and improve the nations health; * Securing responsive social care and child protection for those who lack the support they need. The key objectives for pursuing these aims are to: * To reduce the incidence of avoidable illness, disease and injury in the population. * To treat people with illness, disease or injury quickly, effectively and on the basis of need alone. * To enable people, who are unable to perform essential activities of daily living, including those with chronic illness, disability or terminal illness, to live as full and normal lives as possible. * To maximise the social development of children within stable family settings. These aims and objectives are generic to most years of the NHS but as research and new technologies develop the spending must increase to match demands of the population. In 2002 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that by 2008 there would be the largest ever increase in health spending at à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40bn. This is a huge enlargement of the budget spending and obviously shows that health is a main priority if the government is willing to increase its spending by this much. It has been released that every year there shall be an increase of around 4% on health spending. Although the government is injecting a large section of the budget into health care it is not dramatically increasing it every year and sacrificing other sectors money to pour more into healthcare. The government is slowly increasing the amount spent in health and all the time, every year introducing new legislations and targets to make the NHS a more efficient and improved service for everyone within the UK. We are determined to maintain our disciplined approach, determined not to make the old British mistakes of paying ourselves too much today at the cost of higher interest rates and fewer jobs tomorrow Gordon Brown This quote suggests that by not putting too much money into a single sector it reduces the chances of having an economic backlash in the future. I agree with this and believe that by making smaller steps and gradually increasing expenditure it improves the economy at a much greater scale in the long run and prevents unwanted repercussions that may damage the economy. By pushing more money into the sectors it could cause the desired effect to become counter-productive and hinder more than help. Some people believe that the budget is only increasing in the health sector by such amounts because the ongoing criticisms have driven the government to improve its image and please the people to keep the current party in power. Fostering high standards of education is the Governments greatest responsibility. In England this responsibility lies with the Departments for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). About 93 per cent of children are educated in state-run primary and secondary schools; the remainder go to independent schools that rely on privately-paid tuition fees. Through these central government organisations, the provision of education in the UK includes monitoring and improving standards in schools, colleges and universities; ensuring that everyone no matter what disability or special need they may have is included and has access to high quality education; promoting work experience for young people and vocational training for employees; and encouraging lifelong learning. Through the British Council, the Government actively promotes education in the UK to countries all over the world. Other major organisations help to guide and make welcome some 275,000 overseas students who currently enjoy the advantages of living and studying in the UK. Before June 2007 schools were the responsibility of the former Department for Education and Skills. Education is gradually becoming increasingly more important within the UK as greater than ever numbers of young graduates roam the job market relegating others without degrees into a league of themselves. To employers education is the main thing they look at on CVs, dismissing experience and background for the simple number on the piece of paper. So education is a main priority for the government to try and make Britains children as well qualified as they can be, pushing the economy further up the ladder and improving things for all. So education for the government has became a huge priority and this can be shown by the recent announcement to raise the school minimum leaving age to 18; offering college courses and apprenticeships and also A-Levels to every child. Implementing this new legislation would obviously require a huge increase in the budget allocated for education, which would either mean another increased tax, which has happened for the past 11 years while Gordon Brown had been Chancellor, or sacrificing other areas of spending to improve education. Making these decisions requires undoubtedly many months of thinking and consultation before arriving at a suitable judgment. In the 2007 budget report, the government announced that investment in education and skills would rise to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½90bn by 2010/2011. In a clearer spectrum, there is a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4bn increase from 2006 to 2007 then a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5bn increase from 2007 to 2008 and therefore proves that the government is gradually increasing the percentage increase spent on education annually. In evaluation it can be said that although there isnt a dramatic increase in the spending on the education sector, there are other factors that affect the efficiency of it too. For example money may not be being spent efficiently in the employment and the social protection areas, which are having a direct effect on the education, this can easily be mistaken as problems within the education spending rather than stepping back and realising that it could be issues somewhere else. Increasing the funding in education and training programs could significantly reduce unemployment levels (a major concern for the government) and increase the productivity per worker. In the UK the productivity per worker is substantially lower than other countries such as the US and Germany by as far as 30% in 2002. I believe that education is a major priority for the current government as competition from other countries towers above Britain and with the productivity per worker as low as it is, surely suggests that something within the education sector must be improved to raise our working standards. As the investment in education carries on rising at such rates it must be taken for granted it is becoming an even greater priority, especially with other countries almost mocking us with their efficiency. In 2007 we missed 24 of our 57 targets set by the government in education which raised awareness of the problem widely and brought it to the forefront of priorities. I believe in Britain we need better qualifications to lower unemployment and bring our workforce into the productivity ranges we need to compete with other countries or otherwise our place in the worlds economy will gradually being to fall. In comparison with previous years spending the 2007 budget does not seem to have any major, out of place differences with previous years and generally it appears every sector has just risen with the same annual percentage. However it is within these sectors where the money expenditure has changed. Implementing new legislations and programs, eliminating ineffective ideas and changing the dynamics of how each area is run is where the change in money being spent has taken place. This is a pie chart to represent the budget was spent in 2006: In 2007: In conclusion the amount spent on each sector does reflect the amount to which it is a priority but many other factors must be taken into account when judging that. Some areas such as social protection are such a far larger sector than that of industry, agriculture, employment and training and therefore will ultimately require more money to keep it running smoothly and keep the economic balance. Other areas may be of greater importance and priority such as education, but by spending ridiculous amounts of money on it will be counter-productive and cause many long term problems so despite the fact it is more of a priority, by spending less money on it does not reflect that. By reviewing past years budgets and comparing them with more recent ones it is possible to find where greater amounts of spending has occurred and what sectors are gradually having a greater percentage increase in their spending annually. Another reason why spending doesnt reflect current government priorities is because although spending may not increase that much, time and effort to reorganise and implement new legislation to improve an area could equally suggest that it is a priority but money would not solve it, just improving the efficiency would. Sometimes spending money on one area will directly affect another positively anyway such as improving education will also improve employment and training. As a general rule the governments role is to keep inflation low, keep unemployment low, balance in international trade and maintain a flourishing and prospering economy. The government has been investing large amounts of money into training schemes and other projects that have ultimately led to the unemployment rate falling to 5.2% in February 2008. The claimant count was 793,500 in February 2008, down 2,800 over the previous month and down 126,500 over the year. This is the lowest figure since June 1975. The claimant count has now fallen for 17 consecutive months. This shows that the investments into training and education has led to the fall in unemployment which proves my theory that spending in other sectors subsequently helps others. One could just quite plainly say that the government spending does not reflect current government priorities or otherwise if it did then there would be a perfect economy because the money spent would be used to its full potential in exactly the right places, doing exactly the right thing; lowering unemployment, improving healthcare, lowering inflation etc. I believe that the difference in the previous budget and the current one describes the extent to which the budget reflects current government priorities better than the looking at the budget itself as the current priorities will determine how much spending will increase in each sector and those with the larger increases (after taking into account inflation) show that they are more of a priority than those with little or no increase. Generally, the government invests the money into areas which is sees to be crucial for the future, so dependent on the priorities, the budget is spent taking into account these and areas of needed development; so if it isnt spent directly reflecting government priorities, it has taken these into account and spent it most wisely considering areas that need improvement but are not always priorities. Bibliography http://tutor2u.net/economics/content/topics/fiscalpolicy/public_spending.htm http://www.bized.co.uk/virtual/economy/policy/tools/government/ http://tutor2u.net/economics/content/topics/fiscalpolicy/public_spending.htm http://www.bized.co.uk/virtual/economy/policy/tools/government/gexpex.htm http://budget2007.treasury.gov.uk/page_09.htm http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget/budget_07/bud_bud07_index.cfm http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/spending_review/spend_index.cfm http://budget2006.treasury.gov.uk/page_09.html http://www.adb.org/SocialProtection/default.asp http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/Documents/UK_Economy/Fiscal_Policy/ukecon_fisc_policy99.cfm http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780198776222/carlin_chap05.pdf http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/index.htm http://www.ntd.co.uk/idsbookshop/details.asp?id=844 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ http://www.bized.co.uk/virtual/bank/business/external/policy/expl.htm http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page7489.asp

Positions of Blacks in the Civil War and Emancipation Essay example --

â€Å"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States." The quote mentioned above was proclaimed by African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and served as motivation for African Americans to enlist in the Union’s Army efforts and take an initiative in their future. With President Abraham Lincoln's issue of his Preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, the Civil War developed to be a war to ultimately save the union and to abolish slavery. Blacks overall played a substantial part in the victory of the union, helping them turn the tide against the confederate army. In all, there were roughly 200,000 black soldiers who served in over 100 units in the Union Army and Navy (10 percent of the Union). But while their involvement in war efforts deemed valuable there was tension on many fronts, there were major anti-Black prejudice against black involvement from people in Free states and in the loyal slave states; who were not in favor of arming the Black soldiers and letting them participate in combat. With tha t being said, what were the Social conditions for blacks in the North (Franklin) and the South (Augusta) prior to the war? How did many African Americans participate in the war and in what way? Did these conditions post war? The main purpose of this paper is to monitor African American contributions to the war and illustrate how these contributions changed their social status in society. With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, it forecasted tremendous change for the entire country... ...863. http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/papers/FN0000. †¢ Christy, Jacob. â€Å"Franklin County: Jacob Christy to Mary Jane Demus, August 10, 1864.† The Valley of the Shadow, August 10, 1864. http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/papers/F3004. †¢ Hargrove, Hondon B. Black Union Soldiers in the Civil War. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland, 1988. †¢ Jordan, Ervin L. Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1995. †¢ Mobley, Joe A. Weary of War†¯: Life on the Confederate Home Front. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2008. †¢ Quarles, Benjamin. The Negro in the Civil War. Boston: Little, Brown, 1969. †¢ Wesley, Charles H. Afro-Americans in the Civil War: From Slavery to Citizenship. 1979 ed. International Library of Afro-American Life and History. Cornwells Heights, Pa: Publishers Agency, 1978.

Critical Essay of Mark Twain’s “The Damned Human Race”

Mark Twain, through a heavy dose of satire, irony, and a not-so-subtle attempt at the scientific method, provides readers with an effective, but flawed, argument as to why humans are the lowest of animals in his essay The Damned Human Race. While the essay is successful in providing facts that support Twain's claim of humans have descended from animals, and not the other way around, his bias and pessimism towards the human race in general strongly emanates from the essay, and he does not provide any opportunity for the reader to gather any evidence to the contrary of his beliefs, further limiting the legitimacy of his argument.Twain provides several sound reasons for stating that humans are worse than animals, all conveyed in an effective manner. He makes simple and definitive statements which are generally believed to be true of humans and not animals, and elaborates on these statements to pinpoint just what is wrong with human beings. For example, Twain states â€Å"Man is the onl y Patriot† (Twain). While most believe this to be a positive trait of humans, Twain immediately follows this statement by stating that humans are the only species to kill one another for their countries, writing: Man is the only Patriot.He sets himself apart in his own country, under his own flag, and sneers at the other nations, and keeps multitudinous uniformed assassins on hand at heavy expense to grab slices of other people’s countries, and keep them from grabbing slices of his. And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for the universal brotherhood of man, with his mouth.(Twain) Twain goes to on to point out that humans are the only species that take slaves, are the only species to take more than they need, and the only species that claim religions, and provides specific examples of different types of animals behaving differently in this regard (Twain). His points are effective arguments because he uses facts and strong lang uage to solidify each point that he makes, and does so in a way that leaves little for argument.While the points that Mark Twain makes in his essay are for all intents and purposes true, and he conveys his beliefs in a very effective manner, the essay as a whole is not a successful argument, largely because he primarily uses only one of the three main means of persuasion. Twain provides facts throughout his essay that are generally hard to argue with in regards to the bad things that humans are capable of that animals are not, but does not use emotion to trigger a response from the reader.This could be by design because of his use of heavy satire, and the fact that this was written in a scientific manner rather, which generally are written to not contain the author's emotions. There is a clear lack of ethical appeal, or ethos, in Twain's essay because of the fact that he is writing this in an official scientific capacity, though he is clearly not a scientist. He also does not provid e information that may contradict his beliefs, which prohibits the reader from gathering opposing views of the story.Twain could have easily provided facts and arguments that point out the good things that human beings are capable of that animals are not, such as charities, social welfare programs, and medical care. With that said, The Damned Human Race is an essay containing heavy satire, something that Twain makes apparent almost immediately by stating â€Å"I have not guessed or speculated or conjectured, but have used what is commonly called the scientific method† (Twain).By the time that this essay was published in 1905, Twain was an established as a well-known author, known for his humor and famous works rather than scientific prowess. Also, at this point in his life, Twain was also very open about his overall disdain for the human race in general, perhaps due to circumstances regarding his family and life experiences, though it has been debated that Twain had no more o f a troubled life than most normal people (Byrne 19).All of these things prohibit his essay from being considered a legitimate argument, and points to it being more a rant by the author, however effective it may be. While Mark Twain provides many solid facts about the human race that are true and should be noted by the reader, the heavy doses of clear bias and satire overwhelm any legitimacy the essay could possibly carry. It is also difficult to ignore the cynicism throughout the piece, even in the last line when Twain is describing the human races declension from animals, stating, â€Å"Below us, nothing† (Twain).

The Essential Goal Of Witness Protection Law Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 15 Words: 4539 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Witness is an important constituent of the administration of justice. By giving evidence linking to the charge of the offence the witness performs a sacred duty of assisting the court to discover the truth. This is the reason why before giving evidence he/she either takes an oath in the name of God or makes a solemn affirmation that he/she will speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Essential Goal Of Witness Protection Law Essay" essay for you Create order The witness has no risk in the decision of the criminal court as he is neither the accused nor the victim. The witness performs an important public duty of assisting the court in deciding on the guilt or otherwise of the accused in the case. He sacrifices his time and takes the trouble to travel all the way to the court to give evidence. The witness performs an important public duty of assisting the court in deciding on the guilt or otherwise of the accused in the case. He sacrifices his time and takes the trouble to travel all the way to the court to give evidence. The witness should therefore be treated with great respect and consideration as a guest of honour. Unfortunately, all these are seen not to be happening in the courts. There are two broad aspects to the need for witness protection. The first is to ensure that evidence of witnesses that has already been collected at the stage of investigation is not allowed to be destroyed by witnesses resiling from their statements whi le deposing on oath before a court. This phenomenon of witnesses turning `hostile on account of the failure to `protect their evidence is one aspect of the problem. This in turn would involve special procedures to be introduced into the criminal law to balance the need for anonymity of witnesses on the one hand and the rights of the accused, on the other, for an open public trial with a right to cross examination of the witnesses, after knowing all details about witnesses. The other aspect is the physical and mental vulnerability of the witness and to the taking care of his or her welfare in various respects which call for physical protection of the witness at all stages of the criminal justice process till the conclusion of the case. This can be done by the introduction of witness protection programmes. While the first aspect of protecting the evidence of witnesses from the danger of their turning hostile has received limited attention at the hands of Parliament in some special statutes dealing with terrorism, there is an urgent need to have a comprehensive legislative scheme dealing with the second aspect of physical protection of the witness as well. Further, both aspects of anonymity and witness protection will have to be ensured in all criminal cases involving grave crimes not limited to terrorist crimes. The implementation of such a law would involve drawing up: (a) Procedures for granting anonymity to witnesses and also (b) Introducing Witness Protection Programmes in which personal protection is granted to the witness; sometimes by shifting the witness to a different place or even a different country; or by providing some money for maintenance or even by providing employment elsewhere. Unfortunately, all these are seen not to be happening in the courts and the countries. When the witness goes to the court for giving evidence there is hardly any officer of the court who will be there to receive him, provide a seat and tell him where the c ourt he is to give evidence is located or to give him such other assistance as he may need. In most of the courts there is no designated place with proper arrangements for seating and resting while waiting for his turn to be examined as a witness in the court. Toilet facility, drinking water and other amenities like food and refreshment even are not provided. The witness bears all this to get nothing in return at all. The witness is not adequately compensated for the amount of money he spends for his traveling and staying in the town where the court is located. Rate of allowance fixed long back are quite unrealistic and not adequate to meet the minimum needs of the witness. Steps should therefore be taken to review the scales of traveling and other allowances taking into account the prevailing cost in the area where the court is located. What is worse is that even the allowances fixed are not paid to the witness immediately on the apparent ground that funds are not available. The re are also complaints of corrupt officials of the administration who draw the allowances and do not pay them to the witnesses. This is an unpardonable crime against the witnesses. Therefore effective steps have to be taken to ensure that payment of the allowances to the witness is neither denied nor delayed. Fool proof arrangements should be made to see that the allowances are paid immediately away. On top of all this, the witnesses and their families also face problems regarding safety. Yet, the witnesses help the court to give better justice without any fear of their life and property. The court in return should also show its gratification in an appropriate manner. Chapter1. PROBLEMS FACED BY A WITNESS ________________________________________________ The witness is one of the most important sources of information in discovering the truth about the case, but the pains and troubles he/she has to undergo to help the court is a lot as well. A major problem is about the safety of the witnesses and their family members who face danger at different stages. They are often threatened and the seriousness of the threat depends upon the type of the case and the background of the accused and his family. Many times crucial witnesses are threatened or injured prior to their testifying in the court. If the witness is still not agreeable he may even be murdered. In such situations the witness will not come forward to give evidence unless he is assured of protection or is guaranteed anonymity of some form of physical disguise. Some times holding of in-camera proceedings may be sufficient to protect the interest of the witness. I however the circumstances indicate that the life of any particular witness is in danger, the court must take such m easures as are necessary to keep the identity of the witness secret and make arrangements to ensure protection to the witness without affecting the right of the accused to cross examine him. The threat from the accused side may be before he gives his statement before the police officer or evidence in the court or after the conclusion of the trial. There is a growing tendency of subjecting the witness and his family members to serious threats to life, abduction or raping or damaging the witnesses property or harming his image and interest in other ways. The witness has no protection whatsoever. Many countries in the world have enacted laws for witnesses protection. There is no such law in India. The witness also suffers in the court in various other ways. When he comes to the court to give evidence he is often told that the case has been adjourned and is asked to come back on another city. When a case is adjourned, the witnesses in attendance are quite often not paid the allowance s. The witnesses should not be punished by denying him his rightful expenses for no fault of his own. Steps should therefore be taken to ensure that the witnesses are paid allowances on the same day if the case is adjourned. Quite often more than one witness is summoned to prove the same point. The prosecutor may pay attention to reduce duplication of evidence resulting in unnecessary waste of time of courts and expenses. The next portion is about the way the witness is treated during trial. The witness is entitled to be treated with courtesy when he arrives for giving evidence. Similarly, due courtesy should be shown to him when he enters the court for giving evidence. The present practice is to make the witness stand and give his evidence from the place designated for that purpose. Comfort, convenience and dignity of the witness should be the concern of the judge. A chair should be provided for the witness and requested to take his seat for giving evidence. The lawyer for the d efence in order to demonstrate that the witness is not truthful or a reliable person would ask all sorts of questions to him. When the questions are likely to annoy, insult or threaten the witness, the judge does not object and often sits as a mute spectator. It is high time the judges are sensitized about the responsibility to regulate cross examination so as to ensure that the witness is not ill treated affecting his dignity and honour. Therefore the High Courts should take measure through training and supervision to sensitize the judges of their responsibility to protect the rights of the witnesses. So far as witness is concerned, it is his primary duty to give true evidence of what he knows. Unfortunately this is not happening and the problem of perjury is growing. Chapter2. PROPOSED MECHANISM FOR WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAMME ________________________________________________ Public trial and cross-examination of witnesses in open court: Indian laws Section 327 of Cr.PC provides for trial in the open court and 327 (2) provides for in-camera trials for offences involving rape under Section 376 of IPC and under Section 376 A to 376 D of the IPC. Section 273 requires the evidence to be taken in the presence of the accused. Section 299 indicates that in certain exceptional circumstances an accused may be denied his right to cross-examine a prosecution witness in open court. Further, under Section 173 (6) the police officer can form an opinion that any part of the statement recorded under Section 161 of a person the prosecution proposes to examine as its witness need not be disclosed to the accused if it is not essential in the interests of justice or is inexpedient in the public interest. Section 228A IPC prescribes punishment if the identity of the victim of rape is published. Likewise, Section 21 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 prohibits publication of the name, address and other particulars w hich may lead to the identification of the juvenile. Under Section 33 of the Evidence Act, in certain exceptional cases, where cross examination is not possible, previous deposition of the witness can be considered that relevant in subsequent proceedings. The Evidence Act requires to be looked into afresh to provide for protection to a witness. Protection of identity of witnesses: Special Statutes in India In the pre-constitutional era, Section 31 of the Bengal Suppression of Terrorist Outrages Act, 1932 empowered the special Magistrate to exclude persons or public from the precincts of the court. Section 13 of TADA, 1985 and Section 16 TADA 1987 provided for protection of the identity and address of a witness secret. Section 30 POTA 2002 is on the same lines as Section 16 TADA, 1987. Apart from these provisions in special statutes, there is a need for a general law dealing with witness anonymity in all criminal cases where there is danger to the life of the witness or of his relatives or to his property. Protection of identity of witnesses v. Rights of accused Principles of law developed by the Supreme Court and the High Courts In the pre-Maneka Gandhi phase the Supreme Court, in Gurbachan Singh v. State of Bombay  [1]  , upheld a provision of the Bombay Police Act, 1951 that denied permission to a detenue to cross-examine the witnesses who had deposed against him. It was held that the law was only to deal with exceptional cases where witnesses, for fear of violence to their person or property, were unwilling to depose publicly against bad character. At this stage, the issue was not examined whether the procedure was fair. The decisions in G.X. Francis v. Banke Bihari Singh  [2]  and Maneka Sanjay Gandhi v. Rani Jethmalani  [3]  stressed the need for a congenial atmosphere for the conduct of a fair trial and this included the protection of witnesses. In Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab  [4]  the Supreme Court upheld the validity of ss.16 (2) and (3) of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA) which gave the discretion to the Designated Court to keep the identity and address of a witness secret upon certain contingencies; to hold the proceedings at a place to be decided by the court and to withhold the names and addresses of witnesses in its orders. The court held that the right of the accused to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses was not absolute but was subject to exceptions. The same reasoning was applied to uphold the validity of Section 30 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) in Peoples Union of Civil Liberties v. Union of India  [5]  . In Delhi Domestic Working Womens Forum v. Union of India  [6]  the Supreme Court emphasised the maintenance of the anonymity of the victims of rape who would be the key witnesses in trials involving the offence of rape. The importance of holding rape trials in camera as mandated by Section 327 (2) and (3) Cr.PC was reiterated in State of Punjab v. Gurmit Singh  [7]  . In Sakshi v. Union of India  [8]  the Supreme Court referred to the 172nd Report of the Law Commission an d laid down that certain procedural safeguards had to be followed to protect the victim of child sexual abuse during the conduct of the trial. In the Best Bakery Case  [9]  , in the context of the collapse of the trial on account of witnesses turning hostile as a result of intimidation, the Supreme Court reiterated that legislative measures to emphasize prohibition against tampering with witness, victim or informant, have become the imminent and inevitable need of the day. Although, the guidelines for witness protection laid down by the Delhi High Court in Neelam Katara v. Union of India (judgment dated 14.10.2003) require to be commended, they do not deal with the manner in which the identity of the witness can be kept confidential either before or during the trial. The judgment of the Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Bimal Kaur Khalsa  [10]  , which provides for protection of the witness from the media, does not deal with all the aspects of the problem. T hese judgments highlight the need for a comprehensive legislation on witness protection. Chapter3. WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAMMES IN OTHER COUNTRIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY ________________________________________________ In the United Kingdom, the judgment of the House of Lords in Scott v. Scott  [11]  required that the exception to the general rule that administration of justice should take place in open court should be based upon the operation of some other overriding principle which ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ does not leave its limits to the individual discretion of the Judge. In the Leveller Magazine case (1979) it was held by the House of Lords that apart from statutory exceptions it was open to the court in the exercise of its inherent powers to control the conduct of proceedings so long as the court reasonably believes it to be necessary in order to save the ends of justice. This was subsequently recognized by the enactment of Section 11 of the (UK) Contempt of Court Act, 1981. Under Section 24 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, 1999 evidence may be given through a live telecast link where the witness is outside UK or is a child. Sections 16 to 33 of the same Act requi re the court to consider special measures of various kinds for the protection of vulnerable and intimidated witnesses. In R vs. DJX, SCY, GCZ  [12]  , the Court of Appeal allowed child witnesses to be screened from the accused. In R vs. Tailor (Gary)  [13]  , various guidelines were issued. The Lord Diplock Commission, appointed to consider various issues concerning the violent confrontations in Ireland, suggested that witnesses could be screened from the accused. In R v. Murphy (1989) it was held that identity of the witness should be kept secret not only from the accused but also from the defence lawyer. In R v. Lord Saville of Newdigate  [14]  the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the Lord Saville Tribunal appointed to enquire into the incident of shooting of 26 people during a demonstration at Londonderry, refusing to grant anonymity to military witnesses. The Court of Appeal held that the approach of the Tribunal was not fair to the soldiers as the risk to them and their families was a serious possibility. In the second round (Lord Saville v. Widgery Soldiers  [15]  , the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the Lord Saville Tribunal to shift the enquiry from London to Londonderry in Northern Ireland holding that the elements at Londonderry in Ireland pose a threat to the enquiry and those who are or will be taking part in it, and in particular, a solider witnesses. The venue, according to the Court of Appeal, should be London only. Further, since there would be live video linkage to Londonderry the public confidence will not be eroded by holding a part of the enquiry in London. The same approach was adopted in regard to the recording of the evidence of police witnesses. Following the ruling of the European Court on Human Rights in Chahel v. UK, the Special Judgment on Appeals Commission Act, 1997 and the Northern Ireland Act, 1998 have been enacted which provide for courts to sit in camera where it was necessary on national security grounds and for appointing special counsel to represent individuals in those proceedings. In Australia, the Supreme Court of Victoria (Australia) in Jarvie (1995) approved of non-disclosure of the names and addresses of informers and undercover police officers as well as other witnesses whose personal safety would be endangered by the disclosure of their identity. This has been followed in a series of other cases as well. Australia also has 8 different statutes (in each of the States) dealing with witness protection but not with the anonymity or screening aspects. Section 2A (1) (b) of the Australian Evidence Act, 1989 deals with special witnesses suffering from trauma or likely to be intimidated. In New Zealand, under Section 13A of the (New Zealand) Evidence Act, 1908 (introduced 1986), protection is available to undercover officers in cases involving drug offences and offences tried on indictment attracting a maximum penalty of at least 7 years imprisonment. A ce rtificate has to be given by the Commissioner of Police to the court that the police officer requiring protection has not been convicted of any offence. In 1997, Section 13G was introduced making protection applicable to all witnesses if their lives were likely to be endangered. In R v. L  [16]  , this provision came to be tested on the anvil of Section 25(f) of the New Zealand Bill of Rights which provides for the right to cross-examination to an accused. The court upheld the provision on the ground that the right of cross examination was not absolute. Under Section 13C (4) the Judge, might make an anonymity order where he is satisfied that the safety of a witness is likely to be endangered if his identity was disclosed. Sub-section (5) of Section 13C provides for the factors to be accounted for by the court and sub-section (6), the conditions to be fulfilled. The power of the court to exclude the public or to direct screening of the witnesses or to give evidence by close circu it television is provided under Section 13G. The 1997 legislation is comprehensive and has been held by the courts to be fair vis-à  -vis the New Zealand Bill of Rights in R vs. Atkins  [17]  . In Canada, the courts have granted more importance to the exception of innocence at stake rather than the needs of administration of justice. In other words, anonymity of witnesses is treated as a privilege granted under the common law unless there is a material to show that it will jeopardize the proof of innocence of the accused. The important cases in this regard are R v. Durette  [18]  ; R v. Khela  [19]  ; CBC v. New Brunswick  [20]  ; R v. Leipert  [21]  and R v. Mentuck  [22]  . In South Africa, the approach is on a case by case basis in order to balance the conflict of interests with a view to ensuring proper administration of justice. Section 153 of the (South Africa) Criminal Procedure Code permits criminal proceedings to be held in camera to protect p rivacy to the witness. Section 154 gives discretion to the court to refuse publication of the name of the accused. The South African courts have permitted the witness to give evidence behind close doors or to give witness anonymity. The courts prefer to prohibit the press from reporting on identity rather than exclude them from the court room. The important cases are S v. Leepile  [23]  and S v. Pastoors  [24]  . The courts in the US have held that the constitutional protection in favour of the right to confrontation by way of cross examination, as provided in the 6th Amendment to the Constitution, is not absolute and could be restricted for the purpose of protecting witness identity by using video link or by shielding the witness from the accused though not from the lawyers to the defence or the court or the jury. The important cases are Alford v. US (1931); Pointer v. Texas (1965) and Smith v. Illinois (1968). In Maryland v. Craig (1990), the court upheld the procedu re under the Maryland Courtsand Judicial Procedure Code which provided for protection of child witnesses by way of one-way closed-circuit procedure and held that it did not violate the right to confrontation guaranteed by the 6th Amendment. The European Court of human rights has in Kostovski (1990), Doorson (1996), Vissier (2002) and Fitt (2002) recognized the need to protect anonymity of witnesses while, on account of Article 6 of the European Convention, more importance appears to have been given to the rights of the accused. If national courts had determined that anonymity was necessary or not necessary in public interest, the European court could not interfere. The judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Tadic and Delaic cases in the context of protection of witnesses, anonymity, re-traumatisitation and general and special measures for their protection have been discussed in detail. Likewise, the decisions of the International Crimina l Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) (1994) with reference to the relevant statute which provide for protection of victims and witnesses have also been discussed in great detail in the Consultation Paper. Chapter4. PROBLEM OF PERJURY ________________________________________________ One of the main reasons for the large percentage of acquittals is criminal cases is of witnesses turning hostile and giving false testimony in criminal cases. Several reasons are attributed to this difficulty such as inordinate delay in the trial of cases, threats or inducement from the accused, etc. As in criminal cases the prosecution relies mainly on oral evidence the problem assumes critical importance. Witnesses give evidence in the Criminal Courts after they are administered oath or affirmation under the Oaths Act, 1969. Section 8 of the Oaths Act provides that the witness is legally bound to state the truth on the subject. The sanction behind the oath is supposed to be the fear of God, the supernatural dispenser of justice. In practice however it is seen that the witness makes false statements without any regard for the sanctity of the oath or affirmation that has been administered to them. One gets an impression that administration of oath or affirmation virtually gives license to the witness to make false statements before the Court with impunity. There is no doubt there is statutory sanction against the witnesses making false statements in the court. Perjury is made a Penal offence under Sections 193 to 195 of the Indian Penal Code for which adequate punishment is prescribed. Section 195 (1) (b) of the Code provides that no court shall take cognizance inter-alia of the offence of perjury under Sections 193 to 195 except on the complaint in writing of that court or of the court to which that court is subordinate. Section 340 prescribes the procedure to be followed for making a complaint contemplated by Section 195. It requires the court to hold a preliminary enquiry to record a finding that it is expedient in the interest of justice that an enquiry should be made into any offence referred to in Section 195 (1) (b). Thereafter it has to make a complaint in writing and send it to the Magistrate I Class having jurisdiction. The order under Sect ion 340 is appealable under Section 341 of the Code. Section 343 prescribes the procedure to be followed in dealing with the case Section 344 however prescribes an alternative summary procedure. It provides that if the Court of Session or Magistrate of first class if at any time of delivery of judgement in the case expresses an opinion that the witness appearing in such proceeding had knowingly or willingly given false evidence or fabricated false evidence for use in the proceeding, the Court may if satisfied that it is necessary and expedient in the interest of justice that the witness should be tried summarily, take cognizance after giving reasonable opportunity of showing cause, try such offender summarily and sentence him to imprisonment or to a fine or both. Thus it is seen that the courts response to the serious problem of perjury is rather one of utter indifference. Unfortunately, these provisions are rarely resorted to and perjury has become a routine in courts where t ruth and justice must prevail. Perjury can contribute to the wrong person being convicted while the true criminal and a perjurer walk on the streets in freedom. Offering false testimony in a criminal trial is a serious offence that undermines the integrity of the Criminal Justice System. For justice to be done truth must prevail. Witness must be made to take his oath or solemn affirmation seriously. The sentence prescribed for perjury is quite lenient. In the State of New York the sentence for perjury was recently enhanced to 15 years. As the menace of perjury is shaking the very foundation of the criminal justice system it is necessary to curb this menace and the sentence prescribed should be enhanced. CONCLUSION ________________________________________________ Witness is one of the most important constituent of justice. He is one of the most important sources of information in discovering the truth about the case, but the pains and troubles he has to undergo to help the court is a lot as well. By giving evidence the witness helps the courts to give correct judgement and justice. The witnesses have the danger of their lives as well as that of their families. They have the danger of their properties as well. They have to undergo lots of discomfort when they come to give evidence. Even after doing all this they do not get anything in return. Therefore it can be clearly seen that the courts are negligent in the way that they treat the witnesses. Witness protection should take place and already various steps have been taken towards it. Many countries like, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, etc. have a well developed mechanism for witness protection. These mechanisms may encourage even more witnesses to come forward to give their evidence for the greater good. Witnesses therefore should be shown the respect and gratitude which they are actually worth of. The problem of perjury also prevails and it depends upon the witness himself to stop it. Otherwise it can contribute to the wrong person being convicted while the true criminal and a perjurer walk on the streets in freedom.