The government has touched a raw nerve through the hasty passage of the criminal law amendment with almost no debate in both Houses of Parliament, got the Presidential assent equally in a jiffy, and gazetted the same within 100 hours.
The assertion that the new law has removed the British legacy has few takers regarding the hit-and-run penalty clauses. The new law imposes a fine of Rs.10 lakh and or seven years imprisonment if the perpetrator of the accident runs away from the accident spot without providing emergency assistance to the victim and not informing/surrendering to the nearby police authorities.
On the surface, this provision looks okay. India occupies the top slot on the dubious table of road fatalities (1,50,000 every year), and the government’s desire to reduce these numbers drastically is a welcome move. But the lawmakers have not considered the ground reality with particular references, etc., to the truck drivers.
It is an open secret that truck drivers involved in road accidents are invariably beaten up and killed at times. Hence, they invariably escape the accident spot to save their lives. The argument that this provision is not exclusively meant for truck drivers but for all drivers is weak.
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Unlike the rest of the society, which also drives vehicles and gets involved in road accidents, truck driving is a livelihood for truck drivers. Their career. They are the sole breadwinners for their families, with no social security benefits whatsoever because the Indian trucking/transport segment is unorganised with no genuine leadership. Besides, truck drivers have no umbrella organisation to voice their concerns to the authorities. Driver concerns are not the trucker lobby’s priority agenda.
Stiff Penalty
The penalty under the new dispensation would put them behind bars for 10 years or a huge financial penalty, which they can ill-afford and which will immeasurably impact their families.
Truck drivers fear the mob frenzy in such incidents. They have to run away to save their lives. Hence, they are up in arms, leading to spontaneous stoppage of trucking, affecting the movement of essential and non-essential goods. Such stiff penalty opens up doors to more corruption on highways.
We are seeing drivers’ ‘steering chodo andolan’ despite the government’s assurance that the new law’s implementation has been kept in abeyance until a discussion is held with a truckers’ lobby. Significantly, the strike by truck drivers since New Year’s eve – sporadic, of course – is voluntary, and the truckers’ lobby has nothing to do with it. Yet, the government says it would discuss it with them, much to the chagrin of striking drivers, who have voluntarily resorted to this work stoppage.
Fleet owners are in a soup. Already, India is faced with a 22% shortage of drivers. The new law has led to more drivers abandoning vehicles and returning home to explore alternative careers.
All the talk of a $5 trillion economy soon and India reaching the third slot globally behind the United States and China will remain a pipedream if truck drivers stay away from steering wheels, thus impacting the production and distribution of goods for domestic and export markets.
Buying Time?
The government is perhaps buying time to avoid antagonizing the huge truck-driving community that constitutes a huge vote bank given its rural connection in the run-up to the elections soon.
Whether the government dilutes, if not overturns, the harsh provisions of the criminal law amendments after the installation of the new government is uncertain. Drivers have no love lost for the truckers’ lobby, which has waded into an uncertain territory. Has it taken the truck drivers for a ride?
Drivers’ anger is yet to subside. It is simmering. How long would these drivers be able to avoid earning their daily bread by not driving trucks?
Normal life has not yet been affected due to a shortage of essentials. Nor have the agitating truck drivers resorted to violence on highways. Even political forces inimical to the ruling party have not yet jumped into the fray to cash in on the brewing crisis.
So, there is less pressure on the government to intervene and sort out the self-created monster. Is the government giving drivers a long rope to diffuse the crisis on their own? A tricky question.
(Main image on top by Chartviboon C.Watananun from Pixabay)
The author is a seasoned business and economic journalist. He can be reached at konsultramesh@gmail.com. The views are the author’s own, and The News Porter bears no responsibility for the same.
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