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Friday,
September 26, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Home, not sweet home Musharraf’s fixation SAD loses face in Delhi |
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Governance going by default
Dining out
What
ails universities in the region?
Joshi left in
a limbo?
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Home, not sweet home LAST time when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee returned from a foreign tour, all he had to do was pull party president Venkaiah Naidu up for a controversial statement he made about his being a "Vikas Purush" and Mr L.K. Advani a "Loh Purush". The Union Cabinet and the party fell in line and everybody knew that the BJP would go to the next polls only under his leadership. This time he has a far more difficult problem to handle. Given his excellent equations with HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, it is possible that the latter might withdraw his resignation from the Cabinet if the Prime Minister insists him to do so. However, the situation arising out of the Rae Bareli district court exonerating Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani while deciding to frame charges against six others accused of the same crime has already done severe damage to the party. The HRD Minister's sulk is not exactly because he has been found prima facie guilty but because he sees it as part of a deliberate policy to keep him on the sidelines and letting Mr Advani have a field day. Mr Joshi has been nursing the grievance that he has not been getting his due. For instance, his tenure as party president, which is remembered for the Ekta Yatra that culminated in an airlift from Jammu to Lal Chowk in Srinagar, was cut short. He was inducted in the Cabinet but he has, otherwise, been not allowed to play more than a marginal role in the party. The cold-shouldering he has been getting from party men at a time when the whole party should have come to his aid is what has rubbed salt into Mr Joshi's wounds. Of course, some party leaders, who have been sulking on the sidelines, have gravitated to him but that is no consolation for Mr Joshi, who has visualised himself as a member of the Vajpayee-Advani-Joshi troika. As Mr Vajpayee tackles the Joshi problem, he will realise how divided the BJP is despite the claims of being a party with a difference. By asking Mr Joshi to remain in the Cabinet, he would only expose himself to charges of sheltering charge-sheeted people. If circumstances force Mr Joshi to press with his resignation, he would like to have the leadership of the party, which Mr Advani, who has his own ambitions and a greater control of the organisation, would not grant. In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has begun exploiting the BJP's chief ministerial candidate Uma Bharati's discomfiture over being charge-sheeted along with Mr Joshi. The case against them can go in their favour only if the BJP goes to the polls solely on the Hindutva plank, which has its own pitfalls. Of course, much will depend on how Mr Vajpayee tackles these problems on his return, particularly in an election year. In any case, homecoming cannot be as pleasant an experience as conversations with world leaders. |
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Musharraf’s fixation GENERAL
Pervez Musharraf’s UN General Assembly speech is on expected lines. It reflects Pakistan’s obsession with Kashmir and its irrational interpretation of the happenings in the troubled border state for over a decade. The truth is that the military-controlled regime does not want a solution of the problem. Hence its refusal to make a commitment on ending cross-border terrorism. The infrastructure for terrorist training in PoK and Pakistan remains intact, and so is the communications network it has set up for terrorists. The General’s so-called invitation for “sustained dialogue” is meaningless so long as the proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir goes on. His proposal for ceasefire along the LoC is an exercise in propaganda. He should know it better than anybody else that once cross-border infiltration ends, the ceasefire question will become redundant. Nothing positive is possible unless Pakistan changes its mindset. The Kashmir problem cannot come to an end simply by raking it up at every available forum. Pakistan cannot hide its sponsorship of terrorism by covering it up with “freedom struggle”. If the reality in Jammu and Kashmir is what Islamabad wants the world to believe, the people there would have never participated in elections. It was not without reason that the global community appreciated the enthusiasm shown by the people in exercising their franchise in last year’s assembly poll. This happened despite the threat to the voters’ lives from the terrorists and the boycott call given by the pro-Islamabad Hurriyat Conference. The people changed their rulers in a peaceful and democratic manner. Can this happen in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including the Northern Areas, or even in Pakistan? The people in PoK and the Northern Areas have no democratic freedoms as enjoyed by their brothers and sisters in Jammu and Kashmir. A dialogue process had begun with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee extending his hand of friendship at Srinagar in April this year. The opportunity may be lost if Pakistan persists with its present policies. |
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SAD loses face in Delhi THE
election of Mr Prahlad Singh Chandhok as President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee signals a new phase in Sikh politics, both in Delhi and Punjab. The victory of the faction lead by Mr Param Jeet Singh Sarna has come as a major loss of face for the Shiromani Akali Dal that had made this contest a prestige issue. Senior Akali leaders had been camping in Delhi to ensure the success of the opposing faction, but to no avail. Mr Sarna is a veteran, who has been the president of the DSGMC twice. He has been very vocal in his opposition to Mr Parkash Singh Badal, who, he declared, "has lost control over Sikh politics." He is an erstwhile protégé of the SGPC chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra. In the last year's general elections, SAD was ousted from the DSGMC largely because of the efforts of Mr Sarna and Mr Tohra. Now that Mr Tohra has joined hands with Mr Badal, the former issued statements asking Mr Sarna to merge his faction in Delhi with the SAD, but without success. Both groups were evenly matched till the end, when another Tohra supporter-turned-opponent, Jathedar Ranjit Singh, chose to support Mr Sarna. That Mr Sarna's group has been supported by the Congress is well known. Mr Chandok, the new president, is incidentally a former acting president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress. The DSGMC's coming back in the hands of the Congress is significant particularly because the party remained alienated from the Sikh community after the 1984 riots. The Akali Dal, which had swept into power in 1995, following the BJP forming the government at the Centre, has been swept aside. Apparently, Sikhs in Delhi have responded to a different tune as compared to their counterparts in Punjab. While the SGPC has never been controlled by anyone but the Akalis, it was the Congress that ran the DSGMC for many years through Jathedar Santokh Singh. Given the unstinting support that the BJP gave to the SAD leaders, the victory of the Congress-backed group will cause much consternation in the anti-Congress camp.
This party is a moral crusade or it is nothing. — Harold Wilson |
Governance going by default GOVERNANCE is in the news again, but everybody talks of symptoms rather than roots. They only talk of changing the railway safety norms or human rights. Methods of governance are not discussed. So, the finger is always on the immediate political pulse and the fact that all parties follow the slippery path is ignored. In fact, during the last five years Mr Nitish Kumar has been the only Railway Minister who addressed the problem of railway safety. The country, used to the experience of the freedom movement and the post- Independence decades with “high commands”, “saintly idioms”, “satyagraha” modes and “idealistic”goals, is not coming to grips with the operational and functioning aspects of coalition governments and decentralised institutions. There is an atmosphere of unease with unanswered questions. In every problem I am outlining there is the exceptional institution and the person who have worked out the solution. But they are the exception, not the rule. It is the general turnaround which is difficult. The withdrawal of the direct economic role of the state in India was accompanied by a conscious policy of decentralisation designed in the late eighties and nineties of the last century, setting up of regulating bodies for the infrastructure and industrial sectors and a constitutional third tier of the government and the emergence of NGOs and cooperatives in the fields of land and water, rural activities and social infrastructure. As far as the regulating bodies are concerned, recently there has been a sharp attack by a group led by the Principal of the Administrative Staff College of India. After the good professional studies released for public discussion by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) under Dr S.L. Rao, a professional economist, including a discussion paper on the principles of tariff fixation, there has been little worthwhile work, and, in fact, a number of state-level commissions have acted in a fairly non-transparent manner. For example, in Gujarat if the long range marginal cost of power was worked out and the implications of the availability tariff indicated as the CERC’s discussion paper argues and as for example the Maharashtra regulator has worked out, the farmer would know that he is paying the efficiency cost of energy and the resistance to the justified increase in electricity prices may have been less. In any case, it would have been demonstratedly unjustified. The whole question of the structuring and manning of these bodies has been opened up for debate. As Minister of Power, I appointed the Member, Planning Commission, Mr M.N. Srinavasan, the no-nonsense former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, as the chairman of an advisory committee to the minister on senior appointments in the power parastatals. This transparent appointing procedure was introduced after quite some introspection in the CERC Act introduced in Parliament in August 1997. However, I am told that this provision has been removed in later legislation and the selection processes for such appointments are now again chaired by political persons with the unedifying spectacle in some cases of secretaries to the government openly lobbying for post-retirement perks in this form. Experts also bring out the incongruity of controllers manning the regulating bodies after retirement. The management of regulation is obviously an issue of the highest importance and needs to be discussed openly and transparently. More generally, the committee on examination and training reform for the higher civil services, which I chaired, has also argued that apart from examination and training reform, the management of civil services is the crux of the issue. It endorsed the proposal that while the political executive has the right to make executive appointments, if unusual decisions are taken, say a transfer in less than three years, then a spoken order must be placed on file as to the exact nature of public interest served in the decision remains on paper. I can say from personal experience that the most venal pressures are exerted at the time of appointments. Also reform is easily subverted. In the rapid changes taking place in the country and the world in the twenty- first century, the higher civil services will, as is obvious, have to be at the cutting edge of being the protectors of the poor, the oppressed, the vulnerable and the underprivileged. The democratic urges and aspirations of India, enshrined in its Constitution and its legislation, will have to be met in a fair and transparent manner not only impartially but in spirit, by protecting the rights of the poor and limiting the coercive power of the State. Safety nets will need to be developed and implemented as the market economy expands. The poor woman, the girl child, the minorities, the tribal person, the Dalit, the handicapped and the destitute will need special attention. The primary agency of the government to protect human rights, more particularly of weaker sections of society, is the bureaucracy because it is the enforcer of the law. The court steps in only if the executive fails to implement the law or implement it contrary to the law and selectively. We have to be very clear that the civilised world will judge our country on this basis. It is, indeed, good that we have decided to set up a National Law School in Gujarat, for the lessons it gives, once properly followed, will also validate our special role in the country. There is general disquiet on governance and yet there is very little discussion on the known bottlenecks. It can be genuinely stated that while the need for reform is universal in acceptance, there is hardly any organised political debate and action on the operationalisation of change. The governance debate then is in a cul-de- sac of ideas. For example, there has not been much popular pressure on the legislature to accept the Supreme Court’s judgement on the question of criminals in political activity. The writer, a well-known economist, is a former Union Minister of India |
Dining out AS is customary amongst good neighbours to play host to incoming and outgoing families, in the armed forces, it is referred to as “Dining in” and “Dining out” of an officer and his wife (where applicable) on their arrival in the station and on leaving it. It is more of an honour than a tradition bestowed upon by one’s colleagues on such two occasions. During the dining in, only a welcome speech is rendered by the senior most officer, invariably the Commanding Officer or the President Mess Committee (PMC), but during the Dining Out while the farewell words are spoken, the officer being dined out too has his say. Mostly it is exchange of “You are good, I am good”. In my chequered career spanning 37 years, at least two such occasions are embedded in my memory. One was in 1980, when I was proceeding to attend the staff course at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. Being a long course extending beyond 10 months, it is considered a permanent posting as one is expected to return to the unit not before at least three years — completing the course and thereafter doing the staff appointment of approximately two years or so. The Commanding Officer did not consider it appropriate to dine us out on the pretext that after all I was proceeding on a course and not on posting as the officer continues to be borne on supernumerary strength of the unit during the duration of the course. Not minding it too much, when I returned after three years to the same unit, the Commanding Officer had changed and the gap between him, me and the second-in-command had considerably reduced. So they said that I would be dined in. I stated that since I was not dined out, how could they dine me in. Each taking its own stance, a via media was arrived at that on the same evening we would first be dined out then dined in. The net result was an additional quota of drinks and one was off colours the next day, which incidentally happened to be a Sunday and one could afford to sleep the whole day. The other occasion was when I retired from service, and got posted to the same headquarters but in another branch. So the people quietly forgot to dine me out. However, this was not to be for long. In one of the parties the PMC quietly walked up to me and said that I too was the guest for the evening. On asking about the occasion, he stated that I was being dined out since it was not done earlier on the eve of my retirement. Therefore, both me and my wife were to sit next to the Corps Commander at the dining table. And then the whispering campaign started; the whole seating plan was changed. Later when it came to the speech part, the Chief Of Staff stated: “Here is a unique case where an officer even though retired was posted back to the headquarters. Therefore, we would now dine him in and thus I would request the Corps Commander to present him the formation tie and cravat.” There was a great applause and in the bargain I got a second set of a tie and a cravat which, incidentally, I presented to my son who also happens to serve the same Corps. And again when I finally got posted out the people forgot to dine me out but one fine morning I was told that a courier has arrived to deliver a packet to me. When I opened it, there was a formation memento together with a note of appreciation and apology for the lapse. The latest occasion was, when recently I got posted out. Till the last day while there was a talk about my dining out but no date was fixed even when I cleared my final mess bill and prepared to leave that is when I was told that I would be dined out the next day. This meant delaying my move by one day and being dined out when I am supposed to be stuck off strength. My first reaction was, therefore, to express regret and leave without the dining out. But then on reconsidering the matter that if in my 37 years, on many occasions, if I failed to keep date with my family because my leave got cancelled, or programme got changed or worse the train got late by 24-36 hours when posted to the far East, so one day’s delay will not make any difference. Hence I should not deny myself the honour I am privileged to receive personally from the General Officer Commanding. Thus we attended the party during which, all these incidents were narrated with nostalgia and with the permission of the PMC. I still keep my fingers crossed lest I am dished out the same fate when I finally retire from the new
formation.
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What ails universities in the region?
Where regional chauvinism rules the roost
THE “State of universities” articles in The Tribune provide some fresh food for thought on higher education in the region. Sadly, most of them are functioning as ill-managed colleges. Political interference has vitiated the environment in our universities. In foreign countries, when a university professor stands up to speak, even big leaders are eager to know his views on different problems of national importance. In the present-day Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, most of the Vice-Chancellors are political appointees. Academically, they are mediocre with no vision. They treat universities as their fiefdoms and don’t have the time to look after the academic system and output. No doubt, there are honourable exceptions also. But they can be counted on finger-tips. I was amused to find that a commerce teacher supervised the research work of a candidate who was working on criminal psychology in a particular university. Another student was registered for Ph.D even with 51 per cent marks in MA. This is an open fact that the real talent is discouraged and even frowned upon the campus. Where is now the difference between a fake and real university? They are operating as recognised shops of selling degrees. In future, university education will become the privilege of the rich. I share the concern of The Tribune staffers that the steep hike in university fees is agitating the minds of countless students who come from lower-middle and even middle class. The mindless and totally unjustified fee increase must be withdrawn if we want peace in our academic institutions. If the sons and daughters of our peasantry and working class cannot afford to pay their fees, it is a great disgrace for our democracy. The agriculture universities of the region have also become victims of political interference. Research work being carried out there is of poor quality. It is cut adrift from the real needs of the farming community. The different research projects remain confined to the four walls of the campus and they don't reach the farmers. Now we don’t see outstanding intellectuals and reputed scientists on the campus with original ideas and approach. Most of them have no concern for the students. Dr R.B. Yadav Dehati, Fatehabad Decay all over
The article on Kurukshetra University (Aug 11) was aptly titled “Obliging VC, eroded autonomy bane of Kurukshetra.” However, it does not probe the roots of the malaise, namely the appointment of lackeys of the political establishments as Vice-Chancellors. In this respect, Kurukshetra has been particularly unlucky, with a string of, at best, pedestrian Vice-Chancellors, whose expertise lay in “obliging” the then Chief Minister’s sons. Dr Chawla was picked up from the academic backwaters of Jind for Vice-Chancellorship, which was beyond his wildest dreams, as the personal choice of Chautala Jr. However, he has to remain in his good books, unlike his predecessor, because any time he can be reverted to Principalship of the college at Jind, without assigning any reason. No wonder, besides cultivating the Junior Chautalas, he seeks to buy additional insurance, by “obliging” ruling party legislators. Not that the situation in other universities of the region is significantly different, with even widely-believed allegations of appointments and extensions for a “consideration”. Universities are only a microcosm of the macrocosm and only reflect the decay of all our institutions. Prof Dr D.C. Saxena, Chandigarh
No autonomy
Your staffers have done a poor job about the state of affairs in the universities. They have not properly done their investigation research before filing stories. The report about MDU deals mainly with administrative shortcomings, political malice and briefly touches upon the chaos in the teaching departments. It is a well-known fact that the universities in India, with exception of a few, hardly enjoy any autonomy or freedom of functioning. From a peon to a Vice-Chancellor everyone is a subordinate and owes their pay and allowances, perks and residence to their political employer. They have been compelled to surrender their right of objective criticism and have thus become mere babus in the system. They have also learnt to suppress their feelings and know that any exercise in freedom of expression would mean loss of job security, followed sometime by legal battles and acute harassment. The research cannot be carried out because they lack vision and do not interact with the top scholars and scientists in the country or abroad in their respective fields. Ranbir
Singh, Rohtak
Students’ plight
The report on Himachal Pradesh University was enlightening. I remained a student of HPU for four years getting two professional degrees of law and journalism and finally settled for a government job. An HPU student is never confident of himself. An MBA degree holder of HPU does not have a good name of institute behind him. A law graduate has to face the music in court. There he comes to know what he has studied is totally foreign to his profession. Students of arts and science streams have nothing to do but to wait for the government to advertise the posts and preparing in hostel and library for months, developing frustration due to shrinking opportunity in government. What is more agonising is that even for a state civil service, success rate from HPU is very low. Local students, but studying outside HPU, are featuring prominently in the list. The HPU scholar is desperate in search of self-confidence. Jagdish
Sharma, Bharmour (Chamba)
Govt is silent
Many more shocking things are happening in Kurukshetra University. A senior KU official has tried muscle power against the President KUTA for his remarks by inciting the Indian National Lok Dal activists staying in the hostels, who organised a press conference at the hostel and blamed the President, KUTA, for his exposure. The question arises:
what is the government doing after the exposure? Dr Dinesh Aggarwal,
Dr Brijesh Sahny and others, Kurukshetra (To be continued) |
Joshi left in a limbo? UNION Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi’s gambit of sending in his papers to the Prime Minister in the wake of the adverse ruling against him by the Rae Bareli Special Court has failed to set the Yamuna on fire. On the contrary, even his friends in the Sangh Parivar appear to be having second thoughts in backing him. Caught in a delicate situation, Joshi is clearly biding his time and awaiting the Prime Minister’s return home from New York hoping that he is not left in a limbo. On his part, the Prime Minister has activated Defence Minister and NDA convenor George Fernandes to assuage the feelings of Joshi. The speculation that Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani will meet Joshi to iron out the internal power struggle late at night last Monday turned out to be an effort in futility for the latter. A telephone call had gone to Joshi’s residence that Advani was preoccupied in an auditorium savouring the movie “Joggers park”. The underlying message is indeed loud and clear that the political crisis, if any, has been precipitated by Joshi himself which was unnecessary. Sonia’s bid to woo voters Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is making a determined effort at improving her accessability. She has begun a ‘Jan Sampark Abhiyan’. Interaction will get precedence over speech-making during the programme which involves extensive travelling by road. Congress leaders have identified circuits of three-four districts in various states which can be covered by the Congress president in two days. The tours, Congressmen hope, will deliver the goods for the party in the assembly elections and prepare the ground for the main battle of the general elections. Of politics and Kanshi’s health Political expediency is the rule of the game. The best
illustration is that of BSP chief Kanshi Ram, who had taken ill in Hyderabad and was flown to Delhi for treatment. He remained in hospital for a few days with only Mayawati in attendance and a handful of BSP activists. However, all this underwent a transformation after Congress president Sonia Gandhi inquired about Kanshi Ram’s health from Mayawati. There was an endless stream of VIPs calling on Kanshi Ram and wishing him speedy recovery. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani led the way. Mayawati’s praise for Sonia Gandhi drove home the point that a BSP-Congress strategic alliance can cause damage to the BJP in the coming assembly elections . Breaking rules, BJP style On Monday, a fax message from the office of the Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Ashok Pradhan was an eye-opener as it asked mediapersons covering the Bharatiya Janata Party to facilitate the publicity of “Gaon Gaon Ghar Ghar Chalo” programme of the ruling party which was being launched by M. Venkaiah Naidu from Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) on September 26. Since it was strictly a party programme, how come the ministry’s resources were being put to use is the general refrain in media circles. The party is known for breaking rules and conventions. But now things are getting hot for Pradhan, who represents the Lok Sabha constituency which encompasses the newly created district of Gautam Budh Nagar. The Deputy Prime Minister’s office is believed to have sought clarification from Pradhan who is busy preparing his case. Contributed by T.R.
Ramachandran, Satish Misra and Prashant Sood |
A learned humble Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog or even an outcaste, the learned hold with an equal sight. — The Bhagavad Gita Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. — Mahatma Gandhi From the errors of others a wise man corrects his own. — Publius Syrus Man! There is none Who would bear your burden in the world. It’s like resting on a tree of a bird. Drink the elixir of God’s name. Which would make you forget every other game. — Kabir The Ascetic who is ever contented, self-restrained, firm in purpose, mind and understanding fixed on me — he is my devotee, he is my dear (one). — The Bhagavad Gita He is the treasury of goodness Ever youthful he is And full of charity. Worship Him all the time Forget Him not night or day. — Guru Arjan Dev |
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