Best of Opinion: An opportunity to rethink the infrastructure of justice | Opinion Specials

Hello and welcome to Best of Business Standard Opinion, our wrap of the day’s editorial page. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the strategic sale of IDBI Bank, with Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings set to acquire a 60.72 per cent stake for ₹52,878 crore. The deal, the largest foreign direct investment in India’s financial sector to date, offers an opportunity to revive the government’s stalled privatisation programme. Only 21 strategic sales have occurred in 26 years, while the number of central public-sector enterprises has risen. Today’s first editorial argues that privatisation would free public resources and reduce fiscal burdens. It urges the government to sell its residual IDBI stake and accelerate equity sales in other public-sector companies. The draft National Steel Policy: Vision 2047 targets crude steel capacity of 604 million tonnes by 2047, but today’s second editorial cautions that expansion must be matched by raw-material security, cleaner technology and global competitiveness. With India importing 92 per cent of its coking coal, greater reliance on conventional steelmaking could deepen import dependence and emissions. The policy’s proposals on scrap, renewable energy and hydrogen-based production need commercially viable implementation. Protection against unfair imports must not weaken incentives to improve productivity, particularly as carbon-related trade barriers spread. Our editorial also questions production-linked incentives, stressing that success depends on efficiency, innovation and higher-value products. India’s tribunals suffer from inadequate infrastructure, vacancies and administrative shortcomings, undermining their ability to deliver timely, specialised justice. K P Krishnan argues that the proposed National Tribunals Commission (NTC) must address these systemic failures rather than function merely as a personnel and oversight body. Drawing on the UK’s Courts and Tribunals Service and India’s Passport Seva model, he advocates separating judicial decision-making from administrative support. A professionally managed institution should handle procurement, infrastructure, technology and staffing, allowing judges to focus on adjudication. The NTC legislation offers an opportunity to build this institutional capacity and strengthen state capability across the economy. India’s artificial intelligence (AI) dividend could lie as much in improving existing infrastructure as in building new technology. Vinayak Chatterjee explores how machine learning, predictive maintenance and computer vision can help power networks, water systems, roads and railways detect faults early, reduce losses and improve reliability. India’s smart-meter rollout and Jal Jeevan Mission offer opportunities to apply these tools at scale, while examples from Sweden, Britain and Italy demonstrate their potential. However, fragmented records, incompatible systems and cybersecurity risks remain obstacles. Chatterjee advocates starting with targeted pilots, measuring operational gains and retaining human oversight, arguing that reliable data and effective implementation matter more than technological novelty. In The World in Turmoil: Why Geopolitics Matters, John Andrews examines how geography, resources, demography and climate shape international relations. Chintan Girish Modi finds the book a useful guide to concepts ranging from hard and soft power to debt diplomacy, nuclear deterrence and multipolarity, making it valuable for students, journalists and general readers. Andrews’s provocative questioning of the Global South’s coherence offers India food for thought as it seeks a larger global role. However, the review notes the book’s limited engagement with feminist perspectives and the UN’s Women, Peace and Security framework, while criticising its use of masculinist language to describe military destruction.