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Friday,
March 14, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Landmark judgement Middle-of-the-road policy
Unleashing an “unjust” war |
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Floating Swadeshi ideas How concerned are Indians about Iraqis?
Smart phones coming
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Landmark judgement Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling quashing a major portion of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2002, is a historic development. The three-member Bench’s judgement, asking candidates contesting elections to declare their assets and all pending criminal cases against them at the time of filing their nominations is a landmark verdict and a reaffirmation of the supremacy of the people’s will in a functioning democracy. What the court has said regarding the infamous piece of legislation is a vindication of the apprehensions voiced in various quarters on the government’s attempts to deny the people their legitimate right to know about the antecedents of those in the electoral fray before exercising their franchise. It is also a reiteration of the apex court’s earlier fiat that people’s right to know is sacrosanct and can never be short-circuited by the powers that be. It has ruled that Section 33B of the amended Act did not pass the test of constitutionality as it imposed a blanket ban on dissemination of information to the voters about the candidates. Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government did not seem to
gauge the mood of the people ever since it started circumventing the Supreme Court’s May 2, 2002 ruling and the Election Commission’s subsequent directive of June 28, 2002. The Tribune, in particular, has been consistently championing in these columns the need for political parties to implement the court’s directive so that the people can exercise their right to know. However, it was not to be. Every effort was made to draft a Bill that would seek to protect the skin of politicians. In the name of consensus, political parties met twice — on July 8, 2002, and August 2, 2002 — to enact a law that was seen as a watered down version of the apex court’s order. President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam’s queries to the Centre on the Ordinance’s failure to take cognisance of Section 8B of the RP Act (which provides for disqualification of candidates facing court proceedings in two separate heinous crimes) were not answered. He specifically asked the Union Government about the Ordinance’s silence on the question of assets and qualifications. However, since his powers are limited, he had to sign on the dotted line once the Ordinance was returned to him by the Union Cabinet. Criminalisation of Indian polity has reached its peak and the dangerous nexus of politicians and criminals in our representative institutions needs to be broken. The role of money power in the elections should also be checked. What kind of a society we are advocating when our Parliament and state legislatures cannot weed out criminals and hoodlums? Since elections give an opportunity to people to make an informed choice and select the best of the lot, every effort must be made to educate voters about the criminal antecedents, assets and qualifications of the candidates. The legislation in its present form does not help people because it provides for submission of vital details only by the elected candidates to the presiding officers of the legislatures. The Supreme Court has rendered a great service to the country by declaring the new legislation as null and void as it curtails the voters’ freedom to vote even though it is equal to the fundamental right to expression as guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution. Now that the highest court of the land has said that the legislature had no authority to ask the instrumentality of the state to disobey its May 2, 2002, order and directed the Election Commission to issue a fresh notification for implementation (prospective and not retrospective), wiser counsel should prevail on our politicians. |
Middle-of-the-road policy India’s position is quite dicey in the context of the US-led imminent war against Iraq. India has been one of those few countries with which Iraq has had consistently friendly relations. It has been supporting Delhi’s viewpoint on the Kashmir question in every international forum, including the Organisation of Islamic Conference. It has given all the favours it can in the matter of oil supplies. Obviously, India too feels greatly disturbed at the plight of the Iraqi people. That is why both the government and the Opposition have made their positions clear that Iraq should not be subjected to war unless there is authorisation from the United Nations Security Council. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee declared the government’s stand in Parliament on Wednesday that there should be no unilateral action against Iraq because “it will undermine the UN and also create a grave crisis”. He also opposed the American idea of regime change though in a guarded language. He was unambiguous when he said: “If a regime change has to come about, it should be done by the people of that country.” This is not the job of any outside power. If he was non-committal on the issue of allowing American fighter planes to use Indian facilities, the Prime Minister was right. He was at his diplomatic best when he brushed aside the question by saying that the war clouds should disappear in the coming days in
accordance with his calculations. The Congress too has almost similar views on the Iraqi crisis, as the party’s chief spokesperson Jaipal Reddy stated the other day. It is not without reason that Parliament avoided passing a resolution on the Iraqi issue. Even the word “condemn” has not been used by both the government and the main Opposition party. One has to be very cautious in taking a categorical stand on an international issue in this unipolar world. Moreover, India does not count much so far as the US plan for military action against the Saddam Hussein regime is concerned. The Americans have enough bases in the West Asian region itself to accomplish the task once they finally decide to do it. So, the middle-of-the-road policy that India has adopted is most suitable under the circumstances. Why should India risk its economic interests when it knows that it cannot change the course of events? Not going the whole hog with the US plan and yet not joining the ranks of those opposed to the use of force to resolve the problem is, no doubt, the best course available for Delhi. One has to take care of one’s own interests first. India has, therefore, to concentrate on its contingency plan for tackling the after-effect of the likely war. The government says that it has enough buffer stock of oil to meet the crisis that may be caused by the disruption of crude supplies. The official calculation is, however, based on the assumption that the war would not last long. The nation would like to know what the government is doing to handle the situation if the hostilities do not end so quickly as believed. India depends on the Gulf region for over 60 per cent of its oil supplies. The crisis that will emerge may be quite difficult to manage. It may, in fact, aggravate if people, including the business community, indulge in hoarding of oil and other essential commodities. Then there is the question of 3.5 million Indians living in the West Asian region. Luckily, there are very few Indians working in Iraq. The economy may get a severe jolt if even 50 per cent of the Gulf-based Indians are forced to leave for their homeland. The destabilisation scenario is quite disturbing. |
Unleashing an “unjust” war
When people like Mr Colin Powell say “Time is running out” then, much more than for Mr Saddam Hussein, time is running out for millions of malnourished Iraqi children and their mothers. When Mr Hans Blix says that more months will be needed for the monitoring of a complete disarmament by Iraq, it means that those children may have a few more months of life before the bombs begin to rain, the most powerful and destructive bombs ever devised by human ingenuity. Amidst this the BBC recently staged a debate on “What is a Just War?”, tracing war from the Greeks and the Romans, through Thomas Aquinas, Saint Augustine and the religious thrusts of the “Holy War” crusades and jihads right down to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the principal Catholic Cardinal of Britain, and the Pope. The only non-Christian balance to the debate was a Muslim academic from England and she performed powerfully. Typical of the civilisational foundations of our age the Mahabharata was not mentioned and, therefore, no Bhishma, Dronacharya or even Karna who fought on even though they knew they would lose to the superior moral cause of the Pandavas. Buddhism was brought in through a feather-light participant. Mr Saddam Hussein does not represent a superior moral cause. Far from it. But he has managed to shake the moral conscience of millions of people in scores of countries who have marched against the war and he has brought into question the reasons for the existence of the United Nations itself. No small a shaking up by a dictator. After an election where a ridiculously small number of citizens voted, the popular vote went to Mr Al Gore but the flawed system gave the presidency to Mr George W. Bush. With it descended on him the awesome power of letting loose bombers, tanks, aircraft-carriers and close on half a million men and women to pulverise the homes and lives of millions of Iraqis. An armada whose killing-time is to be regulated by when it becomes too hot to kill. In American history there has never been a war more “unjust”, likely to be unleashed anytime now. It has let loose the open bribery of poor countries like Angola, the Cameroons, and Yemen to vote against promises of tied aid from the USA. Bulgaria has become a key player. Flashed back are dark memories of the USA’s track record of assassination and subversion in Nicaragua, Chile, Panama, Somalia, Hayti and Cuba, the betrayal of millions of Iraqi Kurds and the utter bloody shame of Vietnam. It has churned up the never-ending terrorism and brutality of Israel in Palestine as it continues to occupy 72 per cent of Palestine land and fights, with American aid, not to allow Palestinians to live undisturbed even in the 28 per cent of the territory that is left to them. For years the US administration has downsized the United Nations, not paid its subscription, and blanketed the Security Council with vetoes on the Israel-Palestine issue. It did not keep the United Nations informed about the timetable of opening warfare against Iraq in 1991. Today it wants to destroy the United Nations by vowing to go to war even if it loses the Security Council vote. What is infinitely worrying is its slap-lash plans for after the “regime change”. West Asia will be in turmoil from end to end if the USA divides Iraq into three parts, each to be ruled by an American general like MacArthur without any thought of Iraq’s age-long civilisation, statehood and pride in its independence. An Iraq with no worthwhile opposition to take over rule. Already America holds in economic
thrall countries like Egypt, Bahrain and Qatar. Already it has an uneasy stand-off with Saudi Arabia after years of political coziness and influence. Already through the strident voices of Rumsfeld and Cheney America lets loose not only the dogs of war but also the monster of colonialism. The new post-World War II incarnation of colonialism already keeps in chains most of the Third World. Through American military outposts whether in straight fighting as in the Philippines or in “training” as in scores of countries, the sole super power shows its ugly face not as a leader towards democracy, civil liberties and human rights but as a face only too similar to the power which made friends with dictators and helped them to keep their people under despotism. The Indian administration with politicians most of them semi-educated, and a bureaucracy, educated but frightened, fawning and unprincipled, prefers to keep India’s voice to be a mumble in these troubled times. It keeps its eyes shut to the phenomenon that, in the most critical trial since the end of World War II and the birth of the United Nations, the key players are still the powers, excluding China, who were the big colonialists and many of the others, in the Security Council and outside it, who are countries turned into lapdogs with “aid” equal to bribery. Poor Turkey, how will it balance self-respect and bribery to make itself a base to kill others? Very large countries like India, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico are not asked to join the anointed powers to help settle crises like the present one. In the game of realpolitik Bulgaria is more important and India accepts this humiliation. Some Americans, even former Presidents like Mr Jimmy Carter, see what harm America is inflicting on the world and on itself by the intensive watch on its own citizens, the snipping off of civil liberties and the suspicion of all non-whites who enter it. In virtually equating Islam with terrorism, in its disregard of the non-aligned nations and of the Organisation of Islamic Countries, the USA is shoving the world to an “unjust” era. After bearing it for six years self-respecting Britons are rising to shake off Britain’s “poodle” era. For the first time in modern history there is an opportunity to bring a rogue leader to heel under supervision, to restructure the United Nations, to make it a body that can be a true and strong referee. And an arrogant United States of America seems set to blow it. —
The writer is a veteran journalist and commentator. |
Floating Swadeshi ideas When I asked my friend, “ Let us go LLR Marging?” He was bamboozled. “What is that?” he asked. I said, “It is swadeshi of Malling, Since our swadeshi pride has made us re-christen. The Mall as Lala Lajpat Rai Marg, Malling has to be LLR Marging”. “I don’t hear many people in the town calling The Mall as Lala Lajpat Rai Marg. And don’t you think that it is a longish name for time-tested, tongue tasted — The Mall?” he asked. “Longish!” I said, “Think of Sant Baba Shri Shri Ek Sau Aaath Durbal Nathji Marg at Ragarpura in Delhi. When one has to send a letter to somebody known in that street, he writes SBSSESADN Marg. Full name of the street, if written, consumes the envelope.” My friend thought for a moment and then said: “But there has to be acceptability, of such names among the people, yaar. You cannot force a name from above — swadeshi or videshi. After all, why don’t people call it LLR Marg?” “For that matter, why don’t people call Connaught Place (youth’s CP) as Rajiv Chowk and Connaught Circus (CC) as Indira Chowk?” I tossed a question at my friend. “As simple as that. These names are not acceptable to the people.” he was sure. “But dear, think of Mani Shankar Aiyar and his vision when he gave these names — Indira Gandhi (CC) embracing her son Rajiv Gandhi (CP)....” He did not allow me to complete the sentence and said: A name has a history behind it, yaar, and these are petty minds that try to wipe the history off. Here in Shimla, Lord Ripon is Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Lady Reading is Kamla Nehru.” He added, “I mean the hospitals.” “Well, well, Deen Dayalji was a known social activist and Shyama Prasad Mukherji paid tribute to his organising capabilities by admitting that had there were two Deen Dayal to support him he would have transformed India. And Kamlaji, we all known that she was the self-effacing wife of our beloved first Prime Minister of India,” I uttered the words in my swadeshi mood. “That is all right but how are these two personalities associated with the hospital in Shimla, yaar,” he failed to understand the swadeshi logic behind the change of names. My reply was, “Let there be no association. Do you think that all the ladies of Shimla are Ranis of Jhansi? But Ladies Park here has the swadeshi glory of being called Rani Jhansi Park.” “Then go ahead and swadeshify the Lower and Middle Bazaars also because these are pure Middle English words”, he floated an idea. It set me thinking. This naamkarna sanskaar could be a vote-catching device for the politicians. Since the time my friend floated the idea, I was on the lookout for two vishudh Bharatiya politicians (preferably dead) after whom the bazaars could be named. In the transition period, let the government re-name the two as Neechoo bazaar and Beechoo bazaar in public interest. That would satisfy Hindi-wallas who always crib that the sarkaar was not doing much to promote Hindi.
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How concerned are Indians about Iraqis? It is protest time in most of the civilised nations of the world. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children came out on the streets to protest against the impending US-led war against Iraq. The protest covered capitals of nations which were long-time allies of the USA. But they could not put up with unilateral military action which threatened one of the oldest civilisations in the world. The world-wide protests symbolised the anguish of people who were shocked at the arrogance, ruthlessness and disregard for human life exhibited by one super power and its side-kick. President Bush called Iraq a “threat to the USA”. This was laughable. Baghdad was not involved in the September 11, 2000, attack on the World Trade Center. Unlike North Korea it was not processing plutonium nor buzzing American aircraft over the Korean Sea. And unlike Pakistan, it was not sheltering some of the close aides of Osama bin Laden. How then was Iraq a threat to the USA? The US determination only confirms its contempt for world opinion, and anything can happen in the next few days. British Cabinet Ministers, we are told, are ready to quit in protest against Prime Minister Tony Blair going along with President Bush. The Western alliance and NATO are irrevocably split and the United Nations will be the scene of an open brawl. The universal public protest is the only heartening sign in the otherwise gloomy situation. Sadly, India is nowhere in the picture. Millions of Indians are busy cheering their cricket heroes and debating the Duckworth and Lewis rule which governed rain-hit matches. Some thousands of people marched in Mumbai and movie maker Mahesh Bhatt spurned a White House breakfast-cum-prayer meeting and called President Bush the worst villain in the world. Otherwise, life goes on as usual. The lack of outrage against the plight of the Iraqi people reflects badly on India and its people. The BJP-led government in Delhi pussy-footed around the issue and was not even willing to pass a resolution in Parliament condemning the US aggression. Where was the conscience of former giant killers like Mr George Fernandes? Was the involvement in the Tehelka and other scams so deep that it had rubbed away any decent human feelings for the plight of Iraq? One longed for the days when Indians poured out on the streets to protest against the merciless US bombing of Vietnam. Even before that the Marxists had organised protests over the UK-French attack on Egypt following its nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1952. Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Nehru and then Indira Gandhi, never hesitated to raise their voices against the brutal war acts of the USA and were not afraid to offend the bully from Washington. Those days can only be a dim memory. Today, we have a government and so-called leaders who have sold their souls to American whims and promised support in the fight against global terrorism. How can we expect any help when the USA and the UK have proved themselves to be the biggest terrorists on the issue of Iraq? The BJP always had a soft corner for the illegal acts of the USA. Its allies in the government have to go along because they do not want to be out of power over any threat to the government on this issue. But then any country gets the kind of government it deserves. Events over the past few years clearly indicate that we as a nation have stopped feeling. Gujarat is still an open sore, but the public kudos for Chief Minister Narendra Modi are more than condemnation for him from small groups. How much did Indian society contribute to the rehabilitation of the Gujarat riot victims? How much was the share of the business community? On the contrary, we had the unedifying spectacle of the big bosses of the CII stooping low to apologise to Mr Modi for certain critical comments made against him. The likely destruction of Iraq, the sufferings one saw all over, has very little impact on the majority of Indians, particularly those who are affluent. Whatever protests we saw, were organised by the same groups, young people, conscientious objectors who took to the streets every time the world witnessed yet another sordid chapter of suffering and injustice. For the rest, it is life as usual. In Mumbai, it was cricket, parties and page three appearances. So, while the nation is divided internally and bleeding, we are digging up the disputed territory in UP to find out if a temple existed there thousands of years back That is our “major” issue. Maharashtra is going through one of its worst droughts; the government has no funds in the kitty and yet the raging controversy is over the portrait of Veer Savarkar in the Assembly hall! Under such circumstances, where is the time or mindset to think of larger issues, like the impending attack on Iraq? Our protests, if any, will not change the mindset of the American President. But protests mean more than that. They reflect the character of the people and the ability to feel for their brethren in the rest of the world. Because of illegal UN sanctions, millions of Iraqis, including children, have become victims of malnutrition. Was there any whimper from India and its people? A nation which has stopped feeling cannot contribute to humanity. India, with all tall talk about its tradition and culture, is slowly descending to this level. We are even applauding those who were behind it. For many of us, the USA is the ultimate paradise, its Green Card the best status symbol and ticket to success. So why bother if a nation with 2,500 or more years of history and culture behind it is razed to the grounds to boost the ego of one powerful man? Indian people and the media are busy congratulating themselves for the lowering of prices of cars and
airconditioners. The recent budget showed no heart; it was all for the rich. In yet one more step to make the rich richer, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh announced income tax exemption for the money earned by our super rich cricketers who brought “national glory” by defeating Pakistan. Money has corrupted our system to such a level that students of the prestigious Cathedral and John Connon School were caught paying huge bribes to a peon for getting them copies of the question papers for the terminal examinations. The incident hardly caused a ripple. To search for decency, sympathy and outrage against international bullying would be a futile job in today’s India. We now think of ourselves solely, our commitment to society is all but forgotten. I was told that at one of those high-level parties in Mumbai, the high and the mighty were “excited” about the Iraq war. “It will be fun watching the bombing of Baghdad on the CNN. Do you remember the fun and excitement during the Gulf war with the Scud and Patriot missiles whizzing by?” That statement sums up the present level of feeling in India. The public thinking is that the bombing should start after the World Cup final, so that the two direct telecasts do not clash and the excitement goes on uninterrupted. |
Smart phones coming Smart telephones may one day be able to sense when you are too busy to be interrupted and ask the caller to leave a message. Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania are working on the technology that could be used in instant messaging systems and office and mobile phones. Tiny microphones, cameras and sensors reveal body language and computer software analyses the signals to determine whether someone is too occupied to take a call. Pounding a computer keyboard, closed office doors, speaking to another person and the time of day are possible signals of being busy. Four people at work rated how busy they were as sensors monitored the signals. The ratings were correlated with the behaviours and the computer programme picked out the most important signs.
Reuters
$ 500 payout for loss of virginity A
virgin from Dongguan, southern China, has won a lawsuit against a hospital doctor who accidentally broke her hymen during an examination, a news report said on Thursday. The woman was given $ 563 compensation after the accident, which happened during a gynaecological examination at a hospital in Guangdong province, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily reported. The woman successfully argued at the Dongguan City Intermediate People’s Court that the loss of her hymen might impede her chances of marriage.
DPA |
God alone knows the Truth about everything. Most often our judgement is entirely wrong. When we realise this, we repent. Our suspicious thoughts give us no rest. They harass the mind again and again. Therefore, trust in God and leave everything in his hands. Have faith in Him. You will then enjoy unbroken peace. —Swami Shivananda, Peace Your Birthright. |
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