The law is dynamic and is becoming more critical with the addition of new case
laws, interpretations of clauses of existing legislations and addition of new
legislations. Some of the laws adopted from the British India are becoming obsolete under the changed legal environment. Unless a specific incident or issue is raised, the existence of certain laws and statutes is not felt. Given the changed sociopolitical and legal environment of the country, many a time the existence of laws is of no use. With bulky and increased number of laws, the people are more stressed, as an inherent fundamental principle of legal system is: ‘ignorance of law is not excusable’.
However, there are many statutes which have no applicability in the present day. A drive has begun to verify the existing laws and check the relevance of the same to the present society and initiate the process of repealing them. A few of the state governments have started projects in the said direction. Similarly, the rest of the state governments and Law Commission of India should initiate projects to study the existing legislations to simplify them; a compendium of summary or gist of laws of each category may be brought out. And, a campaign of awareness of important legislations, which are a must to know, may be flagged off.
This issue contains papers on various areas of law. SMD Azash, Bande Subhan and K Rajendra Prasad, have discussed in the paper, “Consumer Rights in Civil Aviation Sector in India”, the state of consumer rights in the aviation sector. With the increasing number of consumers, the number of litigations in the aviation sector is also increasing. There is a need to wrap up the consumer disputes in an amicable way through negotiations with the parties, without causing much loss to the aviation players as some of the reasons may be beyond their control.
The paper, “Socio-Psycho Legal Aspects of Restorative Justice for Crime Victims”, by K S Rekh Raj Jain, with the help of decided cases, argues for justice to victims of crime. The crime may cause irreparable damage or loss to the victims, but in the end, if punishment is awarded to the accused/offender and the victim is left out, then justice is incomplete.
In the paper, “The Social Malaise of Honor Killing and the Need for New Legislation”, the author, D V Srilakshmi enumerates various incidents and stories of honor killing, which is more heinous than many other social evils. The author opines that the present criminal laws are not enough for handling crimes of such magnitude and suggests enactment of well-defined statutes to end the heinous social evils.
Sanu Rani Paul, in her paper, “Legal Analysis of Feminization of Labor in the Unorganized Sector in India”, highlights the increasing role of female workers in the unorganized sector and how they are exploited.
The paper, “Applicability of Sedition Laws in India: Problems and Prospects”, by P R L Rajavenkatesan and E Prema, explains a gamut of sedition laws in India.
The note, “Surrogacy and Prostitution: The Split Self”, by Anubha Srivastava, discusses the pros and cons of surrogacy and the purposes for which it is initiated.
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India
Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario
If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.
Indian Scenario
The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.
