 |
Saturday,
May 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Yet another MiG crash Counting the criminals Vidhan Sabha turns 50
How corruption subverts the system |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kaun Banega Crorepati DSP?
How to have more Captain Thapars
Gujarat: final blow to PM’s credibility
|
Yet another MiG crash MiG-21s are called "flying coffins" but on Friday they brought death and destruction on the ground in a thickly populated area of Jalandhar. The pilot reportedly bailed out but a large number of innocent civilians paid with their lives for no fault of their own. The accident puts more question marks on the airworthiness of these ageing aircraft and gave a new urgency to the demand of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament in its 29th Report that they should be immediately phased out. The paradox is that the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, is equally categorical that the MiG variants with the IAF, especially the MiG-21s, are still fully fit to fly. Since Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis had made a similar assertion earlier, one has to discount the "flying coffin" theory. What is incontrovertible is that these planes have been tumbling out of air far too often. According to one estimate, the IAF has lost 100 pilots in 283 accidents during the past nine years and most of them involved MiGs. That is an unacceptably high figure. The nation needs to know the reasons for this scandalous failure. Many experts are of the view that the MiG-21 of the 1960s vintage is not quite the villain of the piece that it is made out to be. In fact, it is indeed safer to fly than the MiG-23/27, although its accident rate is higher than those involving twin-engine fighter aircraft like the Jaguar and MiG-29. The real problem perhaps lies with inadequate training of pilots. In the absence of a suitable advanced jet trainer, most pilots get their training on subsonic aircraft like Kiran. When they have to suddenly make a qualitative jump to the highly demanding supersonic aircraft flying at Mach 2 speed, they find themselves at sea. The switchover is like a Maruti driver being suddenly put behind the steering wheel of a Ferrari. Similarly, the maintenance and overhaul quality of the aircraft is not what it ought to be. The combination of such factors has cost the IAF dear. The loss of so many planes has depleted its strength and has had a debilitating effect on military balance. More important is the loss of young pilots. What is inexcusable is that despite all this the issue of an AJT has been hanging fire for decades. Even now, Delhi has not made up its mind. The steps that should have been taken yesterday cannot wait for tomorrow. India just cannot cope with recurring MiG tragedies. |
|
Counting the criminals THE Supreme Court direction to the Election Commission of India for starting the process of preventing lawbreakers from becoming lawmakers is an important step in the right direction. Mr M. S. Gill during his term as the Chief Election Commissioner had on his own taken several measures for discouraging criminals from entering politics. Now that the Supreme Court has laid down a series of guidelines for discouraging lawbreakers from entering the country's legislatures. The Election Commission should logically find it easier to monitor the antecedents of candidates against whom criminal cases are pending in courts of law. Henceforth candidates will have to furnish details of the cases pending against them, the nature of the crime they are accused of having committed, and whether they had ever been convicted. They will also have to provide details of the cases registered against them six months before the filing of nominations. The guidelines are fairly comprehensive and should go a long way in starting the process of getting criminals out of politics. However, a close reading of the apex court's directive would make some people wonder whether the guidelines can really prevent criminals from contesting elections. As of today, there is no way criminals can be kept out of the political process if they have not been convicted of the crimes they are accused of having committed. That is the law and the Supreme Court has made it clear that it has no intention of bending the principle that recognises everyone to be innocent in the eyes of the law unless found guilty. However, to say that the apex court could not have gone beyond making the candidates reveal their past and present criminal profile is to ignore the role that judicial activism has played in removing the flaws in the system of governance. It is clear that as far as the political parties are concerned not many have any compunction in doing political business with known criminals. In fact, it pays to offer tickets to known criminals. The element of fear ensures their victory. Why single out Phoolan Devi and the Samajawadi Party of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav for giving electoral politics a criminal face? The apex court should have taken another logical step to make the guidelines it has laid down to become really effective in preventing criminals from contesting elections. It should have directed the executive to make provision for the setting up of special courts for a day-to-day hearing of pending criminal cases against winning candidates. After all, the Allahabad High Court agreed for a daily hearing of the Ayodhya dispute at the initiative of the Centre. The solution is obvious. But the lack of political will has resulted in lawbreakers occupying the position of lawmakers. In case the political leadership refuses to set up special courts for speedy disposal of cases against elected representatives, the apex court should itself take the next logical step for providing an effective mechanism for discouraging
criminals from entering politics. |
|
Vidhan Sabha turns 50 THE Punjab Vidhan Sabha, which celebrates its golden jubilee on Friday, has come a long way since its first session on May 3,1952, at Simla with Bhim Sen Sachar as Chief Minister. Punjab was large and unfragmented then. Recovering from the trauma of partition, the state under able and by and large uncorrupted administrators and legislators faced the post-Independence challenges with courage and conviction. Refugee resettlement was a formidable task successfully accomplished. Development of agriculture and industry was another. Clash of interests and personalities, apart from narrow-minded politics, led to the division of Punjab and formation of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Of the 152 seats in the joint House, Punjab was left with 117, Haryana with 90 and Himachal 68. Far-sighted political stalwarts like Sir Chhotu Ram in Haryana, Y.S. Parmar in Himachal and Partap Singh Kairon in Punjab ably guided the region through the turbulent times and laid the foundations of modern development. The Green Revolution catapulted Punjab and Haryana to the top slot. Now when the legislators, novices and veterans, sit together in a spirit of bonhomie and nostalgia, they should also pause and reflect on the decline of democratic traditions, the ups and downs the Vidhan Sabha has gone through over the years, and judge on their own where weaknesses have crept in, and what can be done to set them right. There is lot to learn from the experience of elders, particularly when the assemblies in the three states do not have legislative councils where elder statesmen could share their expertise and experience. Today the region is passing through a critical phase. Development has slowed down. It is the need of the hour to rise above narrow individual and political interests to present a picture of oneness to face the economic challenges in the post-WTO era. The three sister states can join hands, politically, administratively and economically, as was suggested by a recent conclave of their Chief Secretaries, to take advantage of the strengths of one another. The legislative experiences of the three have been far from happy. Haryana specially earned the notoriety for frequent defections. The conduct of members in an assembly, irrespective of their state and political affiliations, leaves much to be desired. How to conduct oneself with dignity inside and outside the Vidhan Sabha is the biggest challenge before the present legislators. Together, they can work out a code of conduct and reforms to bar the entry of criminals into politics. Any crackdown on corruption should have been normally welcomed by all parties. In Punjab it has divided them with MLAs of the opposition busy seeking pre-arrest bails. While celebrating the golden jubilee of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, the members need to ponder how to face unitedly the two most important challenges before all the three states: of corruption and development. |
How corruption subverts the system EVERY time a corruption scandal breaks out we exclaim: This is the limit. Very soon, however, we find that our acceptance levels have arisen and the next scandal touches a new low. We can distinguish between three phases in post-Independence corruption. Phase I was characterised by extraction of money from the system as a corollary of development. A mild illustration of this phase is provided by the modifications wrought in the original masterplan of Chandigarh to yield the extant layout of Neelam-cinema row of shops-cum-offices in Sector 17. A morally dubious though legal “trick” from this phase is worth recording. In the 1960s when Beas-Sutlej link was being planned, a road had to be laid from the administrative office to the work site. The road was deliberately made a kilometre longer so that the staff could become entitled to travelling and daily allowances. Phase I soon made way for phase II in which corruption has become a substitute for development. Phase III, ushered in by the Punjab Public Service Commission scam, seeks to reserve future earnings exclusively for the scions of those who have benefited from phases I and II. Punjab has a well-earned reputation for being a prosperous state. It is a measure of this prosperity that a crore of rupees in cash has been locked up in the treasury as court evidence. Punjab, indeed has come a long way from the time when court evidence comprised a 10 or a 100- rupee note. It is astonishing that while universities, colleges, hospitals, etc are languishing for want of one or two crore, an individual’s bank lockers can yield as much as 10 crore. The magnitude of corruption, its brazenness, the demeaning of the whole society that it entails, and its far-reaching ill effects all make it imperative that the issue be addressed squarely. The 100 crores guesstimated to be involved in the Punjab Public Service Commission scam seem to be ill-gotten twice over. It is unlikely that the moneys paid to the Chairman as bribe were borrowed from the provident fund or raised by selling inherited property. Much of this money must have been collected as bribes in the first place. Thus we have here the white money distributed among a large number of people being converted into black money in the hands of a few. The white money if left with their rightful owners would have by and large constituted their savings and become available for development of the state. As black money, the amount gets locked up in bank lockers and property, gets squandered on lifestyle, and/or leaves the country. The purpose of money is to generate more money. This is possible only if the money remains in the hands of its rightful owners. Thus corruption is manifestly anti-development. There is yet another aspect of the PPSC scam that is far more pernicious. It slams the door of opportunity on the face of meritorious young men and women. The greatest asset of a society is the innocence of its youth and their trust in the fairness of the system. The great strength of India as a nation arises from the fact that the catchment area for its middle class is truly vast. Any attempt to restrict this catchment area must be viewed with disquiet. Brazenly excluding non-paying but otherwise deserving candidates from the pay perks and prestige of upper-level government jobs brings governance into disrepute, promotes bitterness and cynism among the youth, makes them anti-establishment, and in extreme cases may drive them to seek their fortunes through undesirable means. A large number of young men and women from across the country leave their homes for Mumbai to seek their fortune in Hindi films. Most of them end as extras, waiters, cleaners or worse. It is only a rare few who achieve name, fame and glamour. Although the success rate is statistically very small, it keeps the hopes of a very large number alive. State civil services examination is an important part of a state’s life. Success in it inspires and gives hope to not only the candidates but also their families, friends and even observers. Any attempt to subvert the process, especially by those who are expected to strengthen it, must be resisted. If a capable young person is offered a government job on merit, he will be grateful to the system for its fairness, and will, hopefully, seek to strengthen it. On the other hand if an incompetent person is installed in office for extraneous reasons, he will only have contempt for the system which he will belittle further. An uncharismatic son launched by a filmstar would be bundled out; an incompetent youngster sponsored by an underworld don will be shot; a nincompoop launched by a politician will be flattened at the polls; while the unpromising progeny of a businessman will be impoverished. But, if the public service commission selects an unworthy, the government will have to protect, maintain, and support him for ever. Of the various kinds of corruption, the worst is the one that subverts the system. Stealing a bucket of water from the village well would be objectionable, but poisoning the well in the process would be unforgivable. Campaign against corruption, the more so in the selection for government jobs, should not be viewed as a partisan act or as some sort of a clever move on the political chessboard. Rather, it should be seen and supported as a national movement on the lines of campaign against smallpox or polio. |
Kaun Banega Crorepati DSP? I
always had utmost regard and fascination for the police force. The men in khaki have risen even further in my estimation lately. Imagine, a DSP’s post is worth Rs 2.8 crore and yet these crorepatis are so humble and unassuming. And later in life, they make such wonderful parents too. Only an SSP father could have paid Rs 3.5 crore in all to get his son recruited as DSP (for Rs 2.8 crore) and his daughter as a PCS officer (for Rs 70 lakh). Yours truly is rather slow-witted in knowing the ways of the world. I should have woken up to the reality much earlier, at least on reading a news-item last year that the father-in-law of a DSP had accused him of harassing his daughter for bringing inadequate dowry. The father-in-law had alleged that he had already coughed up more than Rs 1 crore and yet the policeman son-in-law was demanding more. I had thought that the piqued father-in-law was exaggerating figures to get even with the son-in-law. How wrong I was! A Rs 1 crore dahej is highly inadequate for someone in such a highly-priced job. Now that I know better, thanks to the PPSC Chairman case, I will not hesitate one bit while paying the Rs 100 or Rs 200 bribe that friendly neighbourhood cops demand for overlooking minor traffic violations that I occasionally commit. After all, even an ASI makes an investment of a couple of lakhs to get the job and has to make good the principal amount and then earn some profit on it in the quickest possible time. He can’t be expected to do so on the meagre salary that he draws. It is the responsibility of every law-abiding citizen to contribute his mite. My fear is that adverse publicity may force some weak-hearted police personnel to break the age-old dastoor of paying to get the job, bidding to get a lucrative posting and then making everyone pay for their chai-paani. The system has worked admirably well for the cops and their superiors for decades. Disturbing it will cause chaos. Policemen should stand firm in the face of attacks by pseudo-reformers, like a brave colleague of theirs whom I had the privilege of meeting some years ago. A journalist friend of mine had barely come out of his newspaper office when he was accosted by a burly cop who asked him to produce his papers. My friend dutifully pulled out his driving licence and registration papers. This infuriated the cop, who barked: “Do you think I have come into this job after spending lakhs of rupees for seeing these papers? You look every inch a terrorist. Show me a green paper (which in police lingo means a hundred-rupee note) or you are coming with me for interrogation”. Terrorism was at its peak in Punjab during those days and so was the police sewa. My colleague had no intention of experiencing third degree in first person. But he didn’t happen to have the right “paper” with him at that time. So, he pleaded reverentially with the cop who relented. “OK, leave the moped here and go get the paper,” he ordered. My ungrateful friend walked back to his office and rang up a senior police officer personally known to him. The latter asked him to note down the number of the currency note and hand it over to the cop. A few minutes later there was a raid and the cop was caught red-handed. He was duly suspended. The crunch comes only now. The suspended cop came to my friend’s house the next day and touched his feet to seek forgiveness. He was a picture of humility, but certainly not repentance. His plea was remarkable: “Sir, it was merely a case of mistaken identity. If bade aadmi like you start riding a moped, anybody can mistake them to be an aera gaira (ordinary citizen). You should have told me who you are. Please forgive me.” At that time, I was livid at his cheekiness. After knowing that these poor men get the privilege of wearing the khaki uniform only after shelling out princely sums, my anger has vanished. I have forgiven him and all of his ilk. From now on, I will follow the policy of “payment with a smile”. Thank you, Ravi Sidhu, for putting me in such a happy, positive and congenial frame of mind. |
How to have more Captain Thapars I
went to a school function a few days ago. There were more parents visible than children. I do not know where the children were. Perhaps still in classrooms or back stage for their cultural events. The pandal of an auditorium was full of adults, mostly of young parents. Seeing small children perform on the stage, full of energy and joy I felt very reflective. It was not long before I too was in a similar situation and so was my daughter. But how the time flew. I felt as if it was still just a yesterday. I thought I would share this feeling with the audience when asked to speak. Specially invited, also to the school function were Captain Thapar’s parents, mother and father. Remember, the young Captain Thapar who laid down his life for the nation in the Kargil war. This young hero’s picture was unveiled collectively by his parents and me and placed with great respect on the stage. I was deeply moved. While still in my emotional state of mind, I was asked to address the gathering. I immediately asked the audience to ask themselves if they realise that the same children who they are seeing as young kids how soon they will become adults. How fast the time is going to go away. As fast as it sped for them or me. So what is it that they would want their children to remember when they grow up? To my mind, as I understand, they will remember all what they are seeing today, at home or at school. They are closely watching their parents, grandparents, relatives, teachers and others. So, if any one is under the impression that these children are mere kids and would understand nothing, they are perhaps wrong. In fact, these children are already evaluating their parents. They are seeing the behaviour of their father towards their mother and vice versa. I told them “today you are telling a children about the right and wrong, tomorrow they will tell you what you did right or wrong. They will be the products of your actions.” Some will rebel from the wrongs of their parents and some will follow the right actions. But as they grow they will reflect the home environment and the upbringing. “So be aware you are all under a watch, - and soon you will have your small children grow up to be face to face with you.” Today the country needs men and women of character, to protect and preserve national security and integrity. Otherwise, who and where else will we get young women and men of the kind Captain Thapar was. Each of these children need to be soldiers and police officers in their own way to be ready to protect and defend the nation. If we do not prepare them for this now then it may get too late! The country may not have brave soldiers, missionary police personnel and patriots any more. Each citizen of this country has to be prepared to be a “Senapati”. For this, it is not necessary that she (he) adorns a khakhi uniform. A Senapati is one who is patriotic, brave and disciplined. She or he is a person of character. She (includes he) could well be a protector wearing civil clothes. Eternal vigilance and preparation for any eventuality will be a citizen — Senapati. Today is the time for that preparation. And having men and women of character is not mere idealism. It is a constant effort to regularly evolve to live and grow the right way for a larger purpose. Hence I went back to remind the parents and teachers present that since very soon these children will become our auditors, let us groom them in such a way that they grow up to say “thank you” to their parents and teachers. They express their gratitude in word and deed for having given them a purpose in life and made them men and women of strong character of which they are proud. Just as today we remember Captain Thapar and thousands of other young soldiers who laid down their lives to preserve national integrity. These brave men and women will live in Indian history as long as mankind lives. To make this happen, the present day parents and teachers have to be role models for whatever price it takes. The choice is: pay the price now or face the consequences later. But then it may already be too late! |
|
|
Gujarat: final blow to PM’s credibility THE arithmetic in Parliament helped the government defeat the censure motion against it but the damage Gujarat has done remains. This is evident not just from the resignations of Ram Vilas Paswan and Omar Abdullah and the Telugu Desam’s walkout during the vote but from the fact that Gujarat dominates not just political but economic activity wherever you go. Gujarat and Sonia Gandhi so overwhelmed last week’s annual meeting of the CII that it was hard to remember that the businessmen gathered in Delhi’s Taj Palace Hotel were there mainly to talk about the economy. In the five years that I have assiduously attended the CII annual meeting I have never witnessed a session better attended than the one on Gujarat. Perhaps, because despite the government’s protestations to the contrary we all know in our hearts that Gujarat has been the final blow to the Vajpayee government’s credibility. It has been such a heavy blow that only a miracle can restore what has been lost. The rot at the government’s core first became visible when the Tehelka scandal broke last year but after Gujarat it is not just rot that is visible but evil. Oddly, it has been the government’s reaction to both Tehelka and Gujarat —perhaps more than the events themselves — that have exposed its most deplorable side and again, oddly enough, in both cases the first reaction was a good one. With Tehelka the Prime Minister began by describing the scandal as a warning bell. He promised to deal firmly with the guilty and take urgent measures to eliminate corruption from the corridors of power. But then everything seems to have gone awry. His government has punished those who exposed the scandal and taken almost no steps to punish those caught with their hands in a till filled with black money on nationwide TV. The same sort of thing happened with Gujarat. The Prime Minister went to Ahmedabad (albeit after an inappropriately timed holiday in Nainital) and condemned the violence and Narendra Modi’s inability to control it. He read him a sermon on ruling and rajdharma and then to the astonishment of most people went off to Goa and said the opposite. It was those responsible for Godhra who were to blame, he said, and added a lot of needless and insensitive comments on Islam’s jehadi aspects and the inability of Muslims to live in peace anywhere in the world. It was only after this that the world got up and started paying attention. There have been adverse reports (some that found their way into the press) from several European embassies with some comparing what happened in Gujarat to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany and others evoking comparisons with apartheid. The Prime Minister has only himself to blame. As leader of a country that is home to the second largest Muslim population in the world, he cannot appear to be Prime Minister only of the Hindus. His speech in Goa ended up doing almost as much damage to his government’s image as the violence did. It is against this backdrop that Sonia Gandhi made her first major speech to the organisation that represents nearly all of India’s biggest business houses. She was invited to open the annual meeting and there was a visible skip in her walk as she approached the stage trailed by businessmen and bodyguards. She began with a smile and a sly, little dig that caused much laughter in the audience and much anger later on when the Prime Minister heard about it. She said, ‘When the leader of the Opposition is invited by the country’s leading industrialists to start off their annual get-together, it is natural to speculate — now, what could be the motive; what sort of political winds are blowing and in what direction!’ Most of the economic ideas she put forth were banal and very much from the school of Congress doublespeak. We will have a mixed economy. Has nobody told her yet that this is what we were ruined by in the bad old days of socialism? She will strengthen the foundations of agriculture, accelerate the creation of new employment opportunities, revive investment in infrastructure and industry, strengthen the public sector as well as have privatisation. Wonderful! What she did not tell us was how she plans to achieve these things and why 40 years of Congress governance failed to achieve them in the past. If she failed, though, to say anything that indicated that she had given serious thought to the economy she made up by scoring on the secularism front. Here she was not just coherent but convincing. The meeting was being held against the backdrop of Gujarat, she said, where it was a ‘colossal tragedy’ that economic success had been accompanied by increasing social discord. ‘Gujarat has been a model CII state. It is among India’s most urbanised and industrialised regions. It is India’s most globalised society. In the 1990s, its economic growth rate was on a par with that of the East Asian Tigers. It has produced outstanding businessmen and women’. If her words were not enough to make the businessmen present realise how badly Indian industry and India’s image had been hurt by the collapse of the rule of law in Gujarat, there was a special session devoted to the subject. A session so crowded that extra chairs were brought in to accommodate the audience that listened in a silence so quiet you could hear yourself breathe. At this session journalists and businessmen who had been to Gujarat described in gory detail what they had seen — the rape, murder and brutalisation and the evident complicity (or breakdown) of the state law and order machinery. A minister from Narendra Modi’s government, Suresh Mehta, and a BJP MP tried to give the other side of the picture. Investment was going on as were school examinations, they said, and the government had done everything to bring the violence under control but the audience seemed unconvinced. And, if you talked to people afterwards nearly all said that Gujarat had caused enormous damage and the only dispute was on if this was going to be temporary or long term. By the time the two-day meeting reached its concluding session, that was addressed by the Prime Minister, it was clear that where Indian industry was concerned the government had lost the high ground. Vajpayee was clearly irritated by Sonia's remarks at the inaugural session and made it clear. 'If invitations to inaugurate or conclude conferences could make them speculate about an impending change in the direction of the political winds, then I must say that such people seem to think that chambers of commerce and industry have more power to make and unmake governments than the people of India'. He went on to warn Sonia not to 'count one's chickens before they are hatched'. As we filed out of Vigyan Bhavan after the Prime Minister's long, dreary speech, there were many who said they could not understand why he should have felt the need to respond to Sonia's jibe. Perhaps, because in his heart even he knows that the damage done by his government's stand on Gujarat could be irreparable. Even sacking Narendra Modi now might be too little, too late. |
Strive for the best Work for the highest.... Sojourn not in the solitude of sin, Wake up and walk in the path of glory.... Do your best and leave to God the rest. Aim at the highest and work at the fiercest, Follow the path of saints and sages... Catch the substance and leave the shadow, Work like a Trojan, fearlessly, ceaselessly. Shrink not from duties howsoever hard they be, They are stepping stones to the crown of life. Step by step we can reach the sunny way; Drop by drop we can fill the cup of life... Share your joys with others, Speak ill of none in life, Slay the ego, crown the egoless Self... Work on and march without fear or fright, For He is the guardian of all travellers on the Path.... O man, forget not the divinity in you Enkindle the Spirit with the fire of your heart, Be brave in the struggle of life, God is your protector, your Lord and your Guide. —Yogi M.K. Spencer, How I found God *** Those who live without reproach truly live. Those who live without renown do not live at all. —The Tirukkural *** He who has climbed out to the tip of a tree branch and attempts to climb farther will forfeit his life. —The Tirukkural *** There is no odour so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. — Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Economy |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
