Today’s Indian judicial system is a legacy of the British government. After independence, we have continued with the same system without making the required changes. So, at present, the Indian judicial system is overloaded with the legal cases and has become very slow in delivering justice. Many times, the verdict of court cases takes more than decades. It is said that justice delayed is justice denied. This is known to all Indians. Still, the Indian people resorted to the judicial system to get justice. Why don’t the Indians amicably resolve their dispute or conflict among themselves instead of resorting to court? The answer can be explained in the following way.

It is argued that individuals in low-trust countries want more government intervention even though the government is corrupt. It also points out here is what we might call a trust trap. Low-trust societies do not invest enough in citizen-to-citizen mechanisms to resolve issues or disputes. The citizens keep more trust in the state.

But it is observed that the more we rely on the state, the society becomes more and more weak. There is an inverse relationship between a strong state and a weak society. Society becomes weak when it lacks social capital. The developing countries rulers do not like strong societies. So, they do not develop the mechanism to create or develop social capital in society. We, the Indians, are ready to put ourselves at the mercy of the state because we are not to put ourselves at each other’s mercy or create trust among each other.

To conclude, if we make conscious efforts to improve the trust in society, it will reduce the burden on our judiciary.

Low Trust Trap