18 ... ... ... ... .. T E N Y E A R S O F T H E C O M M I S S I O N I N R E T RO S P E C T presented a comprehensive memorandum to the Prime Minister on this subject in April 1997. That analysis contributed in large measure to India signing the Convention on 14 October 1997. Ratification, however, is still awaited, despite the repeated urgings of the Commission. 3) Police, Prisons and the Administration of Criminal Justice 2.26 The issue of police reform was first raised by the Commission in 199596. The Commission urged the Government to implement key recommendations contained in the Second Report of the Police Reforms Commission which dated back to 1979 and dealt, inter alia, with the need to insulate the investigative work of the police from political and other "extraneous" influences. Subsequently, detailed submissions were made to the Supreme Court on this matter in the case Prakash Singh vs. Union of India. The needed reforms, however, remain elusive and the country has continued to pay an unconscionable price as a result. Indeed, the Commission has recently been constrained to revert to this matter in a different context: its Proceedings of 1 April and 31 May 2002 in respect of the situation in Gujarat deal at some length with the imperative need to proceed expeditiously with police reform and the grave consequences that can and have resulted - in more than one State - from a failure to act on this subject. 2.27 The need to re-write the Indian Prisons Act, 1894 was initially raised by the Commission in 1994-95 and has been pursued ever since, progress to alter their Acts and Manuals along contemporary lines having recently been made in certain States. In addition, the Commission has made continuous efforts to address issues such as over-crowding in jails, the lack of sanitation, delays in trial, the health of prisoners, the payment of wages, the remission of sentences and the release of prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment. 4) The Three "Unfreedoms" - Hunger, Illiteracy, Early Death: Striving for Economic and Social Rights 2.28 India is a party to the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which specifically recognizes the "fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger"; the "right of everyone to education", asserting that "primary education shall be compulsory and free to all"; and the "right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health." N AT I O N A L H U M A N R I G H T S C O M M I S S I O N