Cooling Conflict in Manipur

Peace cannot return to Manipur till cures arrive for policy ills

By Sudeep Chakravarti


It was bizarre even for Manipur, a state at the forefront of India’s intended push into Myanmar and farther south-east, an increasingly important security and geo-economic brick in this regional house of dreams. It also highlighted how charged the process of conflict management is.

On 10 May, several cadres of a faction of the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) assaulted security guards at a district hospital south-west of state capital Imphal. The guards had prevented the entry into a ward by Ningthoujam Nongdren Khomba, leader of the faction. The rebels left after a while in a flurry of off-road vehicles.

The good news: the leader and cadres were fortunately unarmed during the visit. They had formally signed a memorandum of understanding with the state and central governments only the previous day, 9 September, to enter into peace talks. As a gesture, 44 members of this KCP faction had given up 22 automatic and semi-automatic weapons, and were evidently housed in a nearby camp of Assam Rifles.

Technically, such memoranda amount to ceasefire, not formal surrender, as a lengthy prelude to rehabilitation and integration. (Such absence of conflict is taken by government to mean peace.) This face-saver—sometimes through the strangely-worded “suspension of operations”, or plainly worded “ceasefire”—is designed to defang what in jargon are non-state armed groups. There are several dozen in various states of play in Manipur, a roiled geography of wounded ethnicity, religion, ideology and ego. A state half the size of Haryana on most days makes administering the vastly larger Assam—home to similar conflict—look like a walk in the park.

There have been notable successes in curbing conflict in the past three years. On 9 September, the state and central governments also signed pacts for suspension of operations with two major groups of Kuki rebels, the Kuki National Liberation Front and the Kuki Revolutionary Front, and a few rebels of the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup. This last like KCP is also faction-ridden, and belongs to what the security establishment terms VBIG, or valley-based insurgent groups. It’s a moniker for rebels largely of Meitei extraction, and resident of the vast Imphal valley ringed by hills. These hills form the redoubts of the tribes, among them Kukis and Nagas. While three major Naga rebel factions squabble over domination in Manipur, they are generally ranged against other ethnicities.

A total of 155 rebels came to ground with an impressive amount of arms and ammunition on 9 May. This followed earlier rounds of agreements over the past several months with rebel groups and factions involving several hundred rebels. This is in addition to arrests and deaths. In 2012, more than 600 rebels were arrested, and more than 300 either surrendered or entered into creatively worded deals. Many rebels were killed.

Several leaders have also been arrested, the most high-profile being Raj Kumar Meghen, chairman of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), in 2010. Meghen, better known by his nom de guerre Sana Yaima, was apprehended with the support of authorities in Bangladesh—for decades a haven, like Myanmar, for several North-East Indian rebels groups.

The combination of a relatively India-friendly government in Bangladesh, cultivation of Myanmar by India, increased security pressure in India, and even local disenchantment with rebel groups has triggered such interdiction, arrest and deals. But while weakened, UNLF is still a force, though not perhaps as influential as the People’s Liberation Army, a left-wing group that has deepened relations with the Communist Party of India (Maoist). At any rate, relative success in Manipur led the home ministry to declare in its report for 2012-13: “…these (valley-based) groups are in a state of disarray and the likelihood of their shunning the path of violence has increased considerably.”

The government hasn’t yet gathered courage to acknowledge the master chefs of Manipur’s alphabet soup: successive governments of India and Manipur, and the security establishment. From the late 1960s, a steady infusion of political and policy arrogance, administrative mismanagement and increasing corruption-fuelled heartburn. UNLF, which demands a United Nations-monitored plebiscite to decide the fate of Manipur, was only the first manifestation. China and Pakistan—and later Bangladesh—stirred the pot for their own geopolitical ends.

It continued to be peppered by India’s security establishment, which played off one ethnicity or group or faction against the other. Then there are those who thrive on the economy of conflict.

And so, while it is a fine thing to lessen conflict, peace cannot return to Manipur till the cures arrive for such ills of policy, of governance.

Sudeep Chakravarti is the author of Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country and Highway 39: Journeys through a Fractured Land. This column focuses on conflict situations in South Asia that directly affect business.

source: Livemint

Arunachal Pradesh Beats Karnataka in Investment

By Asha Rai
Bangalore, Sep 13 : Karnataka is a classic case of a state supposedly set on a trajectory of fast growth finding itself decelerating. In this sense, it mirrors India's growth story where projections for sustained, long-term growth have been abruptly reversed.

According to RBI data for the fiscal 2012-13 , Karnataka was placed a miserable 12th in terms of attracting investments, slipping from its second position the year before and fourth in 2010-11 . Last year, Karnataka managed to attract just 20 projects and accounted for just 1.5% of the envisaged cost of projects for which institutional assistance was sanctioned in 2012-13 against 12% the earlier year.

It's galling that a small state like Arunachal Pradesh, more in the news for Chinese incursions than for industrial enterprise, is two ranks ahead of Karnataka in the investment sweepstakes. Worse, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh - which is being split into two, and which has been racked by violent protests - has consistently stayed in the top 5.

Andhra Pradesh has managed to remain at the top in terms of attracting investment in the past four years, whereas Karnataka has slipped in and out of the list.

The reasons for Karnataka's fall from grace as a favoured investment destination and a showcase for modern India are not far to seek. Policy paralysis and political instability the state has witnessed in recent times are coming home to roost.

In particular, the past two years have been bad as the state has had no administration to speak of. With the BJP government trying to hang on to power at any cost amid ballooning corruption scandals, a jailed chief minister and a breakdown in civic services, there was no interest in governance. With politicians engaged in survival, the bureaucracy went into slumber, resulting in the current pathetic scenario.

It looks like the second rank in 2011-12 was courtesy the empty hype of the Global Investors' Meet of 2010. As TOI reported earlier, it transpires that less than 5% of the total Rs 4 lakh crore investment was actually implemented. The story of the second edition of GIM (in 2012) is worse: less than 0.5% has been implemented.

Doing business in Karnataka is getting increasingly difficult, says industry. Single-window clearance, in reality, means approaching more than a dozen agencies; it takes 4-6 months to get a company started; and land acquisition is well nigh impossible. The South Korean giant Posco pulled out its $6-billion steel investment due to a gridlock over land acquisition.

"It's becoming practically impossible to do public-private partnership projects honestly at scale. There have been dishonest ones at scale and honest ones that are popcorn stands. But the grid box of honesty at scale is missing," says Manish Sabharwal, chairman, TeamLease Services, a temp-staffing company.

The government's failure to be an enabler is another issue. Says civic analyst Ashwin Mahesh: "In the past, we used to focus on enabling investments by the state - in science and technology, infrastructure, policies -and left it to others to develop the society and economy using these inputs. In recent years, this has changed. Now, the state itself wants to be the developer of the economy, or leading politicians in the state government want to do it themselves. This is mired in illogic and conflict of interest."

It's not a stretch to link this lack of enablement with the massive scams our politicians have found themselves mired in recently.

All of which means that the country's seventh largest economy is less attractive than those of its less-fancied neighbours. Instead of spurting ahead, Karnataka will first have to pull itself out of the hole that it has dug for itself.

Sikkim United, Mohammedan Sporting win in Durand Cup

Riding on two goals from Adelaja S, Sikkim United beat Assam Regiment Centre 3-1 after coming from behind in the first encounter at the Ambedkar Stadium.

New Delhi:  A spirited performance from Sikkim United and Mohammedan Sporting Club help them register victories in their respective quarterfinal league round matches of the 126th Durand Cup Football tournament, here on Thursday.

Riding on two goals from Adelaja S, Sikkim United beat Assam Regiment Centre 3-1 after coming from behind in the first encounter at the Ambedkar Stadium.

In the next game, Mohammedan Sporting too came out from an early set back to trounce Army Green 4-2.

S Adelaja (40th and 59th) and MD Lepcha (89th) scored for the Sikkim team after TS Workham Anal (19th) gave lead to the Assam side.


Playing in the Durand Cup for the first time since 2006, star-studded Mohammedan Sporting rode on twin strikes from Tolgay Ozbey (27th and 36th) and a goal each from Collin Abranches (61st) and Penn Irechukww (90th).

For Army Green, Sanaton Singh (5th) and Subrata Sarkar (52nd) found the net.

The winners of the group qualify for the semifinals.

In India, Apple is actually willing to play the “cheap” card to sell iPhones

By Nandagopal J. Nair

Apple has been straying from Jobs' vision in India. Reuters/Sivaram V

Apple made it clear yesterday that it isn’t interested in the low end of the smartphone market. But in India, where the company trails its rivals badly, Apple has in fact been willing to sacrifice margins to boost sales.

The key to understanding Apple’s pricing strategy in India is the rupee, which has declined sharply this year. Most multinational corporations have responded by raising prices on everything from TVs to laptops. Smartphones, too: Market leader Samsung hiked prices by 5% last month.

But not Apple. It is using the falling rupee as a lever to boost its paltry 4% market share. Redington, one of the two distributors for Apple in India, told Bloomberg that Apple is selling its smartphones and tablets this year at the same prices it did in 2012. That’s despite the rupee’s 15% decline against the US dollar since the beginning of 2013.

After years of neglecting India, Apple has adopted a strategy there that’s more like a hungry upstart than global giant. It was the first smartphone maker to introduce buyback schemes in India, a move since copied by competitors like Samsung, BlackBerry, and Sony. It also rolled out a staggered payment scheme earlier in the year. The response has been overwhelming, and Apple’s sales in India surged 400% in the April-to-June quarter, albeit from a low base.

If Apple demonstrates the same pragmatic approach with the iPhone 5C, it could challenge Samsung’s dominance in the high end of India’s smartphone market. At current exchange rates, the iPhone 5C could be priced around 35,000 rupees ($553), according to consultancy IDC, which would be 16% cheaper than Samsung’s premium offering, the Galaxy S4.

Even at that price, Apple will not be able to compete with local players like Micromax and Karbonn Mobiles, which sell good smartphones for as little as 19,000 rupees. But that shouldn’t bother Apple. With India predicted to replace the United States as the world’s second largest smartphone market by 2017, there will be plenty of room for Apple to grow at the higher end of the market.

Betel Nut Bridges The Gap Between Rich And Poor in Meghalaya

By Pooja Bhula

Eating paan isn’t new to Indians and in cities such as Mumbai, you’re introduced to it by the graffiti of red spit stains left by many. In Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, Kwai (paan/betel leaf with lime paste and areca nut) is consumed by all--kids, men and women--and is available everywhere, be it paan shops, people’s houses orconferences.

But Meghalayans don’t leave behind any red trails and it also has a cultural significance. As per the folklore of Khasis, a major tribal community of Meghalaya, it acts as an equalizer between the rich and poor.

As the story goes, a rich man and poor man were childhood friends belonging to the same hills, but the latter moved to a distant village after marriage. Whenever the poor man visited his native place to meet family, the duo spent hours together and the rich man offered him sumptuous meals.

But villagers gossiped that the poor man was merely boasting about having a rich friend, compelling the poor man to invite him home. The rich man promptly agreed, but the poor couple ran out of food. Villagers didn’t spare a morsel and disappointed with nothing to offer, the poor couple killed themselves. That night a notorious thief entered their house and saw the dead bodies. Fearing that villagers would blame him, he too killed himself. Pained at the reason of his friend’s death, the rich man prayed for a way to keep customs alive without causing the poor to suffer.

Since then offering Kwai to visiting friends is a part of Khasi etiquette. The areca nut signifies the rich man; lime paste and betel leaf--the husband and wife, and the place between the lower lip and gum where Khasi women keep the tobacco is the thief’s hiding place.

With inputs from Bindo M Lanong and a book on Khasi folklore

Drug Smuggler Slur on Mizo Health Minister

By Linda Chhakchhuak

Aizawl, Aug 12 : Even as the first Amphetamine Type Substance (ATS) rehabilitation centre is to be opened here to cater to Mizoram’s first batch of meth-heads, a media war is raging between the ruling Congress and the Opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) over the alleged involvement of Health Minister Lalrinliana Sailo in pseudoephedrine smuggling. The MNF had called a 5 am to 5 pm bandh on Tuesday to protest his continuance in the State Cabinet.

But what has become the unlikely ‘victim’ of this mud-slinging is the law and people’s confidence in the government’s ability to pin down criminals, particularly those smuggling drug as their power seems proverbially far-reaching.

Public confidence in the law is at an all-time low in the State, especially after the Health Minister flanked by the Commissioner of Excise Lalbiakmawia and jt director of Health Lalsawma, jointly addressed the press recently with both the senior government officials going all out to defend the politician against such allegations.

While there is every chance that the Minister could be a victim of MNF’s smear campaign, several people spoken to said that the officials defending a politician in such a hot case ‘just stinks.’

The case in point alludes to a seizure of two tablet stripping machines and the arrest of a person Rampanmawia in August 2012. The tablets are stripped and loaded in bags for easy transport and concealment, State Excise and Narcotics sleuths say. He claimed that Sailo had given him a wholesale drug licence which belonged to Sailo’s son Jacob Lalrinpuia, under which he had opened a drug store at Zokhawthar, the trade gateway to Myanmar. Pseudoephedrine can be bought by wholesalers under the strict vigilance of the N & DPSA and used as a cover by people who want to smuggle the stuff out.

An interesting point was added to the whole story when it was revealed at the Health Minister’s press meet that the Excise Commissioner Lalbiakmawia had run to Sailo ‘as soon as Rampanmawia was arrested by the narco-sleuths in whose possession they found Lalrinpuia’s drug license and knowing that Lalrinpuia was the Health Minister’s son, the Commissioner dashed off to report this to the Health Minister.”

The question that is being raised – did the State’s top anti-narcotics officer need to do this? Why did he do it? According to Excise and Narcotics department sources, the Commissioner is trying to explain this point, but has so far failed to satisfy anyone.

The Minister denied giving Rampanmawia the license, but, he too could not explain why and how as the Health Minister of the State he had got issued a wholesale drug license to his son, who was a minor and studying in a school in Delhi in 2010. His son, was neither in the medicine trade nor did he own a firm complete with a qualified pharmacist, which is the main criteria for being issued such a license under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Sailo excused himself by assuring that his son’s license had been cancelled due to the controversy. To add to the murkiness, the Jt Director Health told media that no criteria exists for issuing such a major drug license.

Rampanmawia confessed in his statement that he managed to buy prize real estate in the capital worth crores of rupees during 2012 which begged the query as to his source of money, as in the same statement he said his livelihood was trading in tobacco and fertilisers across borders till 2005.

Meanwhile, the MNF revealed that in December 2011, a haul of tablets along with stripping machines was made from his rented residence by the Mizoram Narcotics Cell. But unable to find Rampanmawia, the alleged owner, the case was dismissed by the court as the pseudoephedrine turned out to be fake. But this point fits Rampanmawia’s statement made to the Excise cops in the August 2012 case wherein he has revealed that in December 2012 the tablets he bought turned out to be fake as he was conned by his Silchar contact.

Excise and Narcotics officials, who have nabbed smugglers under the Narcotics & Psychotropic Substances Act (N&DPS), say that they are disillusioned that not a single pseudoephedrine case has been convicted by the courts. Such a dreadful controversy could not have come at a worse time as the State’s young lives are being ruined by the surge of meth from across the international border.

Now A Unique Call Centre For Pregnant Women

By Vinita Chaturvedi 

Here's a piece of good news for the pregnant women of Assam, which will go a long way in the uplift of the women, if adopted by other states too.

Management and Research Institute (HMRI), an initiative under the Ajay G. Piramal Foundation, in association with Assam National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) have set up a formal and organised call centre for pregnant women in Assam under the Central Government's Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) scheme. Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, formally inaugurated the MCTS Call Centre at HMRI office premises in Guwahati on September 01, 2013.

Other distinguished dignitaries present on the occasion of the launch ceremony were Dr. Partho Jyoti Gogoi , the Regional Director of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India and Smt. Anuradha Gupta, Additional Secretary and Mission Director of NRHM, Govt. of India along with the senior leaders of HMRI and Piramal Foundation.

The call centre pioneers an innovative concept to provide complete services to pregnant women and children in the state of Assam, thereby reducing the Maternity Mortality Rate MMR and Infant Mortality Rate IMR through this initiative. A state-of-the-art application software has been developed by HMRI especially for this project, which will enable the tracking of the progress during the entire pregnancy period of the expecting woman starting from the time a woman conceives up to the time the child is delivered till the immunisation processes are completed.

"The Piramal Foundation supports HMRI in addressing the healthcare needs of the under privileged section of the Indian society. This initiative in Assam further reinforces our endeavor in providing technology enabled mass solutions that can provide health advice and support to the remotest parts of India", said Paresh Parasnis,Head of Piramal Foundation at the inauguration.

As MCTS is a Central Govt. initiative, most of the states in India are in the process of implementing this scheme in cooperation with the respective Central and State Governments.

Other services offered by HMRI in association with NRHM in Assam are the Sarathi 104 Health Helpline, ASHA Helpline, ARSH Helpline and the Complaint Logging System.

'Hang them'! Family of Delhi Gang Rape Victim Call For Death Penalty after 4 Men are Convicted of her Murder

• Victim, 23, died after being gang-raped by six men on bus in New Delhi

One will appeal verdict claiming he was only driving the bus at time of attack

Crime shook India and lead to widespread protests about sex attack laws

Comes after teen accomplice given maximum sentence possible in India

Defence claim all four innocent saying it was a show trial to 'appease public'

By Matt Blake

The family of a 23-year-old medical student who died after being brutally gang raped on a bus in New Delhi demanded that her attackers be hanged today as four men were convicted of her murder.
Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma were all found guilty of rape, murder, assault, kidnapping, robbery, and eight other charges at Saket Court, in South Delhi, India.
They were among six people accused of tricking the woman and her male companion into boarding an off-duty bus on December 16 after they had seen a matinee showing of 'Life of Pi' at a shopping mall.

They then raped her using a metal bar to inflict massive internal injuries before beating her friend. The victims were dumped naked on the roadside and the woman died from her injuries two weeks later.

Speaking outside court, the father of the victim, who cannot be identified under Indian law, said: 'Now the court has held them guilty, we want them hanged. We expect nothing else but the death sentence.'

'Hang them': As the four men listened to their verdicts inside the courtroom, chants of 'hang them' could be heard outside as demonstrators called for the death penalty and staged mock hangings

Guilty! Indian policemen look out from a van carrying the four convicted men

Appeal: W.P. Singh (left, centre), defence lawyer for one of the four men, said he planned to launch an appeal on behalf of his client as protesters called for his hanging yards away (right)

As the men were told the verdicts in the courtroom, chants of 'hang them' could be heard echoing outside.
The men, convicted on all the counts against them, including rape and murder, now face the possibility of hanging. They are expected to be sentenced tomorrow.

One of the four, however, is to launch an appeal over his conviction claiming he was simply driving the bus when the attack took place and was unaware of what was happening inside.
The crime, which left the victim with such extensive internal injuries that she died two weeks later, sparked widespread protests across the country and led to reforms of India's antiquated sexual violence laws.

Guilty: A van carries the four men to court in New Delhi. They all now face the death penalty following today's guilty verdicts

A mother's tears: The mother of one of the four convicted men cries upon seeing the news on a court verdict on a TV inside her house at a slum in New Delhi

Their conviction comes a week after their teenage accomplice was jailed for three years for his part in the atrocity.
The sixth accused was found dead in his jail cell in March.
Reading out today's verdict, Judge Yogesh Khanna said the men had committed 'murder of a helpless person.'
The parents of the rape victim, who cannot be identified under Indian law, had tears in their eyes as the verdicts were read. They sat just a few feet from the convicted men in a tiny courtroom jammed with lawyers, police and reporters.

 

Convicted: It comes after a teenager was convicted in August following a separate trial

Punishment: The juvenile faces a maximum sentence of three years under Indian law

AP Singh, a lawyer for the men, said all were innocent.
'These accused have been framed simply to please the public,' he told reporters. 'This is not a fair trial.
Outside the courthouse, where dozens of protesters had gathered, a chant began quickly after the verdict: 'Hang Them! Hang Them! Hang Them!'
Protesters called the case a wake-up call for India.
'Every girl at any age experiences this - harassment or rape. We don't feel safe,' said law school graduate Rapia Pathania. 'That's why we're here. We want this case to be an example for every other case that has been filed and will be filed.'
The teenager, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was given the maximum sentence possible under Indian law.
But despite having since turned 18, the attacker will not be publicly named.
The victim's family called for the teenager to be tried as an adult, accusing him of being the most violent of the attackers.

'He should be hanged irrespective of whether he is a juvenile or not. He should be punished for what he did to my daughter,' said the mother of the victim, said soon after the verdict was announced.

Anger: Indian women participate in a silent procession to mourn the death of the gang rape victim

Fury: Protesters demanded swift justice in the case and wide-ranging reforms to sex crime laws

Horrific: The girl was savagely attacked when she boarded a bus with a male friend after a trip to the cinema in December

Anger: The savage assault caused outrage throughout India. Protestors are pictured trying to break through a police cordon during a demonstration in New Delh

A dream destroyed: A man bows his head at a candlelit vigil for the 23-year-old student who died after being gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi

'You may as well set the juvenile free, if the sentence is only three years for heinous offences like rape and murder,' she added tearfully.
The mother also said she would appeal against the verdict in a higher court.
'I am not happy with this judgment. At least in this case, the juvenile should have been sentenced to life,' the victim's brother told Reuters news agency.
The government, facing immense public pressure, had promised swift justice in the case.
The convicted defendant was tried as a minor on charges including murder and rape. The time he spent in a juvenile home since he was arrested in December will count as part of his three-year sentence.

Terror: The 23-year-old woman died after being gang raped by six men who also used a metal bar to cause massive internal injuries

The sentence is likely to cause further anger in a country attempting to turn a rising tide of violence against women and which has passed a new law toughening sentences for adults convicted of sex crimes

The attack set off furious protests across India about the treatment of women in the country where police say a rape is reported every 20 minutes.
A government panel set to suggest reforms to sexual assault laws rejected calls to lower the age at which people can be tried as adults from 18 to 16.
On July 17, India's top court also refused to reduce the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16 years. However, it later agreed to hear a new petition seeking to take the 'mental and intellectual maturity' of the defendant into account and not just age.
Four of the teenager's co-accused are still on trial and face the death penalty if convicted. Closing arguments began on August 22 and verdicts are expected within the next fortnight. A fifth accused, the alleged ring-leader, killed himself in his jail cell in March.

'IT SENDS A BAD SIGNAL': CAMPAIGNERS CALL FOR CHANGE IN LAW AFTER TEENAGER WAS TRIED AS A JUVENILE

The defendant could only receive a maximum sentence of three years because he was 17 at the time of the attack

The teenager, who may not be named, was tried as a juvenile because he was 17 at the time of the

attack.
The maximum penalty that could be imposed by India's Juvenile Justice Board was three years.

In January, authorities ruled he was 17, citing school records, which shocked the victim's family and others clamouring for him to face the death penalty.

In response to the public outcry after the rape, the government fast-tracked tougher laws against sex crimes, but it resisted calls to change the juvenile law and return the adult age to 16 from 18.

India's Supreme Court is currently hearing a petition filed by Subramanian Swamy, an opposition politician and lawyer, that calls for the law to be reinterpreted rather than changed.

Swamy wants the 'emotional, intellectual and mental maturity' of juvenile offenders to be assessed when deciding whether to try them as a juvenile, rather than basing the decision on age alone.

'I felt that, with the kind of rape that took place, if (the juvenile suspect) got off lightly it would send a bad signal to society,' Swamy said.
He plans to launch an appeal against the verdict reached today if the Supreme Court rules in favour of his petition later this year.

The teenager pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges including rape, murder and robbery. His trial was held behind closed doors to protect his identity and media were barred from reporting on any details of the proceedings.

During his trial, he has been held at a juvenile detention facility for violent young offenders in Delhi and kept away from other inmates for his safety.

The youth left home when he was 11 and got work in a roadside eatery, his mother said in January.
In recent years he lived as a semi-vagrant, washing buses and collecting fares, according to a police report.

After leaving home, he never returned and his mother said she thought he was dead until police arrested him in connection with the gang-rape.

Some 33,000 crimes were committed by juveniles in India last year, the highest number in a decade, but there has not been a large spike, according to Home Ministry figures. Juveniles commit a tiny proportion of total crimes in India and far less than other nations such as the United States.