Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation a newly-constructed war memorial and take part in a convention of ex-army men during his visit to the city on October 14.
"Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met Prime Minister at the latter's residence yesterday and invited him for dedication of the war memorial on October 14 in Bhopal and also for participation in an ex-army men's convention to be held the same day.
"The Prime Minister has accepted the invitation to visit Bhopal for both the events," an official of the Public Relations Department said today.
Chouhan also extended invitation for the war memorial event to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, besides Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs, he said.
The war memorial on Arera Hills has been erected as a tribute to soldiers from Madhya Pradesh who sacrificed their lives while protecting the country. The memorial carries the names of all martyrs from the state.
"The independence of the judiciary is a basic feature of
the Indian Constitution. Common citizens as well as businesses repose immense faith in the integrity of the judicial process. Our government has taken various initiatives to improve the judicial infrastructure and administration," Modi noted.
He said the enactment of Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act for speedy resolution of commercial disputes is a step in that direction.
Modi said the government has been working on a strategy for convergence of existing tribunals. This will help transform the existing complicated tribunal system into a simpler structure.
"We need to simultaneously facilitate a vibrant ecosystem for alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration, mediation and conciliation. This will provide additional comfort to investors and businesses. More importantly, it will also ease the case-load on Indian courts," he said.
He said, today, corporates and financial institutions want legal experts who can help close business deals and transactions without any disputes and litigations. If a dispute arises, corporates want to resolve them quickly through arbitration, without going to courts. For this, they require specialised arbitration lawyers.
"India has no dearth of brilliant lawyers and judges. India also has a large number of retired judges, engineers, and scientists who can function as competent arbitrators in various fields. India's economic interests shall be better served by a higher number of arbitration experts and lawyers. This in turn requires widening the ambit of legal education in India. There is need to develop specialised arbitration bar associations," he said.
He also said there is a need to have professionally run arbitral institutions which can deliver international standards of services at reasonable costs to businesses in India.
Recent trends, he said, indicate that Asian centres like Hong Kong and Singapore have emerged as preferred arbitration destinations. As popular business hubs, they also rank high in the levels of Ease of Doing Business.
"Thus, availability of quality arbitration mechanisms is an integral component of Ease of Doing Business, to which our government is committed," the Prime Minister said.
