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Saudi-Pak N-deal Don't be petty Feel-good time |
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Witnesses against prosecution
The way we live, the way we die
Punjab’s finances under Congress rule
Quality thermometers should only be sold
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Saudi-Pak N-deal THE
Saudi and Pakistani denial notwithstanding, the reported Riyadh-Islamabad secret deal on nuclear cooperation is a major setback for the non-proliferation efforts. Mr Arnaud de Borchgrave, Editor-at-Large of UPI, who has made the world aware of the significant development, knows Pakistan as he has reported from there for several years. His information is bound to have grains of truth. Whether the deal was clinched during the recent visit to Islamabad by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Abdulaziz, the de facto Saudi ruler, or previously, the disturbing project is bound to aggravate regional tensions. There is the possibility of the US already being aware of the secret goings-on between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, both closer to the George Bush administration. The American pressure on Iran through the International Atomic Energy Agency to come clean on its nuclear programme may be, besides other things, aimed at allaying the Saudi fears about the perceived threat to its security from a future nuclearised Teheran. Whatever the American reaction, Saudi Arabia is unlikely to be satisfied with the Iranian cooperation extended to the IAEA officials enquiring into the matter. The Saudis are afraid of Iran more than even Israel not only because of the Shia-Sunni factor but also owing to their old enmity getting complicated. Pakistan has found a golden opportunity to mint money to sustain its nuclear programme. The secret agreement with Saudi Arabia has it that Islamabad will provide nuclear knowhow to Riyadh in exchange for free or cheap oil from the West Asian Kingdom. This means a substantial dollar flow to Islamabad for implementing its dangerous designs. Pakistan is also trying to exploit the India-Israel defence agreement for seeking favours from various countries, including Saudi Arabia. In any case, Islamabad is a pastmaster in exchanging its nuclear expertise for acquiring what it desperately needs. It got the latest missile technology from North Korea by helping Pyongyang on the nuclear front. Its deal with Saudi Arabia is, therefore, the second incident of Pakistan violating the non-proliferation regime. This irresponsible behaviour of a nuclearised nation should not go unchallenged. Powerful world capitals, particularly Washington, should act quickly before it is too late. |
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Don't be petty THE importance of the coming elections to four state assemblies cannot be overemphasised. The elections are virtually a curtain-raiser for the Lok Sabha polls early next year. It is, therefore, only natural that both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress make every effort to win these elections. They are particularly crucial for the Congress as it has been ruling these states. If they slip out of its hands, it can as well forget its dream to stage a comeback to power at the Centre. In all these states, the BJP is in a position to give a tough fight to the ruling party. In the past, the party had ruled Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on its own. As Chhattisgarh was part of Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has deep pockets of influence there also. All this shows how tough the contest will be. Both the Congress and the BJP have already begun their campaigns, though they are yet to announce their candidates or their arrangements with other parties. All the electoral signs suggest that there will be a photo finish. Naturally enough, the voters are all excited. All this is as it should be. What is disconcerting is the low level of campaign issues the two parties have hit upon. Ideally, the voters would like the Congress to campaign on whatever success the states have achieved under its leadership. The party has a right to ask for another term so that it can take the socio-economic programmes it has initiated in these states to their logical conclusion. Similarly, the BJP has every right to point out the failures of the Congress and seek votes for an alternative strategy of development. Instead, petty issues are highlighted with a view to scoring minor points. In Madhya Pradesh, a rape victim was paraded on the rostrum from where the Prime Minister spoke. That the rape took place several years ago and the guilty were punished were overlooked in the BJP's bid to paint the MP Government in the darkest hues. In the process, embarrassment was caused to even the Prime Minister. Now the big issue is whether Rs 1 lakh was paid to her before she was brought to the campaign as alleged by Chief Minister Digvijay Singh or not. Whatever the truth, there is nothing edifying in the issue. Equally ridiculous is the Congress charge that the Union Health Ministry is responsible for the sudden increase in dengue cases in Delhi. The charge that the Centre has been trying to create an artificial shortage of power in a state also belongs to this class of frivolous issues. Elections are an occasion to debate issues that concern the voters. Those who are afraid of addressing them turn to emotive issues to obfuscate the voters. It is for this reason that sensible people have been arguing against using even the Ram temple issue in elections. The electoral debate should be raised to a lofty level in order to give an opportunity for the voters to judge dispassionately the claims and counter-claims of both parties. Needless to say, this responsibility devolves upon the BJP and the Congress. |
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Feel-good time THE festival season is the feel-good time and this sentiment has been noticeably strong this year. Confidence in the intrinsic strength of the economy is palpable. People have money in their pockets and are not hesitant to spend it either. This fact is also underlined by the fact that the demand for cash, which predicates spending, has been particularly robust this Divali. Several factors have combined in the right proportion to bring about this welcome situation. The monsoon has been satisfactory, with the result that the performance of agriculture has been favourable and the rural economy is upbeat. This prosperity has been reflected in the urban markets as well. Yet, prices have not moved upwards sharply. The fruits of privatisation have started trickling in. Even foreign investment has been picking up. Numerous feathers in the air encourage one to conclude that the worst is nearly over and the country is all set to surge ahead financially like never before. About time too, because other comparable countries have already been performing at a much faster clip. But this enthusiasm has to be tempered with many imponderables. Any rosy prediction will be meaningful only after the gains have been suitably consolidated. The situation is still in a flux and does not allow even an iota of complacency. Take the monsoon, for instance. The country depends so much on bountiful rains that all its calculations can go haywire if precipitation is below average for even one or two years. Since the rainfall has been satisfactory this year, it is the best time to make arrangements so that there is enough cushion available in the future to take care of any eventuality. Similarly, too much rides on the oil prices. The prosperity of the country is equally dependent on political stability and peace. Of late, the public seems to have realised that the perennial agitations have been a drain on the economy. Even the employees appear to have understood it, and have gone a little slow on the dharna-bandh front. That still leaves out the political steadiness. Fortunately, elections are approaching and this is the time for all parties to be on their best behaviour. There may be charges and counter-charges galore, but no one may like to rock the boat. That is one more reason to believe that the positive sentiment will hold. Thought for the day Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two made four. If that is granted, all else follows. — George Orwell
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Witnesses against prosecution THE
recent revelations about the appointment of public prosecutors in the cases of the Gujarat carnage of last year were shocking enough. Even more so, on a second look, is the Deputy Prime Minister's defence of the Narendra Modi government on the issue. On a second look because, at first glance, Mr L. K. Advani's observation would appear unexceptionable. So much so that it can even make the Supreme Court's ruling on the issue seem unduly harsh and even a bit illiberal. This, however, testifies not to the truth of his proposition, but only to the sophistry of the BJP stalwart. For those who tuned in late, the Supreme Court told the Gujarat government on October 9 to appoint new public prosecutors to conduct the cases after getting their antecedents verified and their names vetted. The court, which issued this unusual order because it had "no faith left" in the government's fair treatment of the cases, was taking cognisance in particular of reports that most of the public prosecutors originally appointed were members and office-bearers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or closely connected with it. Obviously, the court accepted the implied argument that the connection could affect adversely the conduct of the cases, where key witnesses had "turned hostile" and then went back with a vengeance to their original versions of the violent incidents. The reports related to some of the worst cases. The public prosecutor appointed for the Sardarpura case in Mehsana district where 33 persons were burnt alive, and the Dipda Darwaja case in Visnagar in the same district, where 11 were killed, was VHP state General Secretary Dilip Trivedi. For the Naroda-Patiya and Gulmarg Society cases in Ahmedabad, where over 140 persons were burnt alive, the public prosecutor appointed was Mr Chetan Shah, who was on the VHP advocates' panel for over two decades. For no less than 121 cases in Panchamahal district, the choice fell upon district VHP President Piyush Gandhi. The public prosecutor for the Best Bakery case, a byword for attempted official subversion of justice, was a close relative of Vadodara city VHP President Ajay Joshi. In most of the affected districts, the public prosecutors for cases, in which VHP activists were the main accused, were supporters of the same organisation. The motive behind such appointments is not a mystery, considering other indications of the Modi regime's attitude towards the cases. It has been repeatedly noted that, while arrests in the Godhra case were made under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), no arrest was made under that law in any of the post-Godhra cases on the flimsy — and, many would say, even false — ground that there was no evidence of "conspiracy" in these. Mr Advani, again, had earlier propounded the underlying principle when he said that Godhra was a case of "terrorism" while the post-Godhra violence was only an instance of "communalism". It has also been revealed that public prosecutors in the Godhra cases are paid at the rate of Rs 7,000 per hearing and their counterparts in the post-Godhra cases Rs 400 per day! Reacting to the court ruling in the "Hardtalk" programme on the BBC the next day, Mr Advani raised a basic issue. Said he: "If in a particular Bar or in a particular place so many lawyers, almost a majority of them, are associated with a certain ideology, you cannot on that account bar them from doing what is a normal duty." He, of course, hastened to add: "When the Chief Justice of the country makes an observation of this kind it certainly has to be taken seriously and I think that by responding to it, by telling the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court that they (the Modi government) are willing to accept any prosecutor any way in which the court thinks justice can be done, they have given an appropriate response." To sum up the entire reaction: the state government was sweetly reasonable, but the spirit of the court ruling was less than liberal. Mr Advani's main proposition would have been true for many other occasions and contexts. His words, for example, could have been spoken by someone defending the rights of Indian lawyers under the British Raj. Who does not know that the legal profession lent the nationalist movement most of its luminaries? That, in some places in the country, a large section of the lawyers were associated with the politics and ideology of anti-colonialism or, even more specifically, with Gandhism? That this could not disqualify them for judicial posts was a point made in notable instances, into which we need not go here. But, is the ideological ambience in the Gujarat Bar, about which Mr Advani talks so matter-of-factly, quite the same? It could not, in fact, be more different, for the ideology in this case cannot be delinked from the crime being tried in courts. It is not a crime of disaffection, a crime against the state. It is a collection of crimes of the crude and heinous kind, a crime against humanity. It cannot be claimed that the cadre of the VHP committed the crimes without the organisation's involvement and consent, inspiration and instigation. Not after the VHP leadership itself proudly claimed credit for the carnage. Foul-mouthed Pravin Togadia may not be a fair example to pick, but the VHP's model of moderation, Mr Ashok Singhal himself, spoke fondly of the holocaust, in which "whole villages have been emptied of Islam, and whole communities of Muslims dispatched to refugee camps". He proclaimed this as "a victory for Hindu society, a first for the religion". One of the first acts of the state VHP in the wake of the bloodbath was to form a panel of 50 lawyers to provide free legal assistance to those arrested for rioting and looting. Selection of ideologically safe public prosecutors was a logical sequel. For a closer analogy to the ideological climate in the Gujarat Bar, one can turn back to South Africa of the apartheid days. Living legend Justice Albie Sachs, now a member of the country's Constitutional Court, recalling the struggle against racist rule in which he lost an arm and an eye, says: "During the height of our revolution, the revolution for social justice and change in our country, the legal profession was a willing participant in the system of apartheid…" The dominant ideology of the profession did not help it do what the minority of lawyers then, including Sachs, deemed its normal duty. Justice Richard Goldstone, another member of the Constitutional Court with anti-racist antecedents, uses the title of Allan Drury's book, "A Very Strange Society", to describe South Africa and its legal community of those days while talking of the mix of a democratic system for the White minority with racist laws for the Black majority. The analogy, otherwise apt, does not apply on two counts. In the first place, under the dominant ideology in the Gujarat Bar, it is the minority that is denied any benefit of democracy. Secondly, the ideology of apartheid led to two sets of laws, while the ideology of Mr Advani's allusion even argues for a uniform civil code but dictates gross and grave discrimination in the administration and interpretation of criminal law. The "committed" Bar of Gujarat does not exactly shine by
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The way we live, the way we die I have often held the painful belief that it is as important to die well as it is to live well. A significant touchstone of how you have lived your life is how the end comes about — whether you passed into eternity after prolonged hibernation in a vegetable state or you suddenly passed into bliss without a loud snore. The time, the mode and manner in which the end comes about is as much a matter of final reckoning as the quality of life a person has spent. There is the Brownigesque viewpoint, “Grow old along with me — the best is yet to be, the last of life for which the first was made”. It conveys in a sense the pleasure of growing old gracefully and meeting one’s end as a matter of smooth transition from a trouble-free life into a quiet eternity in the onward journey of the transmigration of soul. The metaphysicists will have us believe that the end of one life is the beginning of the other and the changeover from one life to the other is something like the next scene in the eternal Shakespearean drama. That is why even the Bard-on-Avon said “Our little life is rounded with a sleep” and all the “world is a stage” on which one plays one’s “parts” and gets to be judged as good, bad or indifferent. I have known of people whose entire life has remained shrouded in mystery — thanks to the high serious veneer that they maintained sporting a nonchalant countenance in spite of changing circumstances. There was one such celebrated police officer whose career graph had few peers and he was right from the beginning deemed to be cut out for the top. A martinet approach led everyone to believe that he was a “no nonsense” man who never showed his seamy side to anybody. One bad morning we were flabbergasted to read in the newspapers that his corpse was found nude in what was made to look like a watery grave. The rumour mongering started working overtime reversing the impression about the officer to its exact opposite attributing stories and scandals to his “licentious” lifestyle and dangerous liaisons. The court case went in for years washing dirty linen in public every time there was any progress in the trial. Today the perception about the man is altogether different from what it was in his lifetime. He will never come back to answer some of the calumny that came to be associated with his name. He was a good man who had a bad end but the world is not willing to concede any allowance for the “good man”. Another officer who spared nobody with his vitriol died playing golf — a facile end to a cynical career. Woody Allen, American film director, writer, actor and comedian, is credited with having said: “It is not that I am afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens”. The idea is well taken. Since one cannot decide on the best way to go it is better not to worry for it. But right till the end one goes on looking for an alibi until the Kafkaesque midnight knock comes for him and him alone. Yet everybody wants to depart from the world in the manner that his good deeds are not forgotten when he is no longer there to defend himself for his weaknesses “when like his sires even his sons are gone.” |
Punjab’s finances under Congress rule
EVEN
after 20 months in office, Punjab’s finances under Captain Amarinder Singh’s government are under stress, weighed down by debt burden, poor revenue receipts and overspending. This is holding up economic development. Even the implementation of reforms is slow. The roots of the problem can be traced back to 1984-85, when for the first time, the state came under severe financial crisis in the form of “'revenue deficit”. Since then, whatever loans Punjab procured were used for funding the revenue deficit and not for capital formation. The worst year was 2001-02, when revenue deficit touched Rs 3,781 crore as against Rs 40 crore in 1984-85. Irrespective of the political shades, the financial health has continued to deteriorate, first at a slow and steady pace and, then, at galloping speed since mid-90s. The latest diagnosis of the financial health report-card makes sad reading. The state has been logging huge revenue and fiscal deficit, unsustainable public debt and where most of the receipts are pre-empted by committed expenditure. Despite the reforms and measures taken to jack up revenue receipts and compress government’s wasteful, non-productive expenditure, Punjab continues to be in a coma. The key question is how not to allow it slip into “terminally ill” stage. Every day, Punjab needs at least Rs 15 crore to pay salaries, Rs 10 crore to repay interest and Rs 5 crore for office expenses. Against this daily expenditure of approximately Rs 30 crore, the revenue receipts are about Rs 22 crore. This mismatch adds to a whopping Rs 2,900 crore shortfall at the end of the year which is met through borrowings. The more the borrowings, the deeper the debt quagmire. By the government’s own admission, the employees are the highest paid in the country. Yet, they have been given another dearness allowance slab, payable at the rate of 59 per cent, instead of 55 per cent, from July 1 implying an additional annual burden of Rs 118 crore. This, when over 6,000 special police officers (Home Guards) are without pay for the past three months and 50,000 plus “'idle”' employees are getting their salaries — Rs 1,000 crore per annum. Punjab has just completed census of its employees and prepared a master manpower register, showing a figure of 321,811. But it has been slow in implementing many of its own reforms, including right-sizing of the government and taking care of the identified “surplus” pool. For their re-deployment, since retrenchment is ruled out, Punjab Civil Services (Re-deployment of Surplus Employees) Rules, 2003, are still in the embryonic stage. The Punjab-style profligacy is classic. Paradoxically, while finances remain under stress, the political executive votes for itself the best of pay, perks and privileges, when the state is unable to meet its committed expenditure form its own sources and had to scale down its Annual Plan-2003. The MLAs have already voted for themselves a financial bonanza of Rs 8.50 crore, besides other pecuniary benefits down to Qualis. Similarly, the income-tax of the ministers is paid by the state. It is a different matter that the “'jet-set” Chief Minister’s own air hopping has crossed Rs 6 crore since March 2002. Punjab has just emerged from an overdraft of Rs 300 crore. There has been change of guard in the state’s Department of Finance. The new Principal Secretary, Mr B.R. Bajaj, has taken over from Mr K.R. Lakhanpal, who had presented five consecutive budgets beginning 1999-2000. Now the question is how to speed up the pace of economic and financial reforms, accelerate disinvestment in loss-making public sector undertakings, revive industry and resuscitate the green revolution, make diversification and contract farming effective and build infrastructure. Equally important is how to inject political will, build political consensus and win public confidence to achieve what was initiated in the larger interest of the state and as promised in the Congress’ election manifesto. Capt. Amarinder Singh must be given credit for having accepted the clutch of measures as proposed in the two budgets presented since March 2002. Punjab has drawn up a blueprint for the implementation of these measures through a mid-term fiscal programme. It has also signed MoU with the Centre, promising to undertake necessary reforms and adhere to the targets of fiscal correction, as envisaged in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003. As on date, Punjab’s debt stock is Rs 36,853 crore, revenue deficit Rs 3,766 crore and fiscal deficit Rs 4,422 crore. The current salary bill is Rs 4,556 crore and pension bill Rs 1,356 crore. The debt stock is over 45 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP). And a debt stock of beyond 20 per cent of GSDP is considered a sign of bankruptcy. Despite best efforts, the fiscal measures to shore up revenue and bring down expenses have not materialised. The returns from excise and sales tax, remain dismally low, not counting the hefty revenue leakage estimated at Rs 5,000 crore annually. The state transport sector is also a drag on the exchequer. Whatever measures the government had announced on sales tax or levy of “user charges” on the social and economic services it provided to the people had to be either withdrawn or watered down in the face of stiff political resistance from within the Congress, as also the public outcry. Primarily, because the state had not done its homework and had failed to take stakeholders into confidence. The measures introduced in the state’s interest were: withdrawal of free power to agriculture pum-sets and free water for irrigation and rationalisation of the user charges to recover at least the operation and maintenance costs. The government intended to improve the tax:GSDP ratio through better tax compliance, compression of non-productive revenue expenditure. But again failed. The process of disinvestment in loss-making PSUs has remained grounded. Similarly, the government decided to scrap non-practicing allowance to the government doctors, increase rate of discount for commutation of pension from 4.75 per cent to 8 per cent, frame new rules and a contributory pension scheme for new recruits into the government, introduce Exim forms, computerise information collection centres and introduce VAT from April 1, 2004. In all these efforts, political obstacles came in the way. Yet, forced by internal and external pressures, the Chief Minister rolled back several of these measures. This stand earned him the acronym of a “Roll Back Chief Minister”. He was also smitten by his own colleagues. It is time without vote bank interests, politicians lost at least once so that the state may win to achieve sustainable economic growth and build up a sound financial foundation. |
Quality thermometers should only be sold WITH Dengue and other fevers running high in several parts of the country, clinical thermometer has become an essential buy. A good clinical thermometer should respond to body temperature within eight seconds and once the mercury column moves up, it should stay there till you have noted down the reading. Of course it should give an accurate measure of the body temperature and the graduation and numbering on the stem of the thermometer should be clear enough to facilitate easy reading. However, if you look at the thermometers available in the market, very few fulfill the criteria, though clinical thermometers were brought under mandatory ISI quality certification two years ago. The Bureau of Indian Standards says that it has authenticated the thermometers of 10 manufacturers and given them the licence to use its quality seal. However, according to the Clinical Thermometers Manufacturers and Importers’ Association, most of them have not been able to bring into the market their products because they have not yet got the approval for their models from the Department of Legal Metrology under the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs or the required licence from the Department of Weights and Measures, that come under the state governments. Under the Standards of Weights and Measures Rules, all clinical thermometer manufacturers have to get the license from the Department of Weights and Measures, which will also test and authenticate the thermometer. But before that, the manufacturers have to get their models approved by the Department of Legal Metrology, Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs. In addition, the Clinical Thermometers (Quality Control) Order 2001, issued under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act makes it mandatory for all manufacturers to get the ISI quality seal from the BIS. It was way back in 1988 that the Union Government first notified quality specifications for clinical thermometers under the Standards of Weights and Measures (General) Rules. As per these Rules, all clinical thermometers had to be graduated in degree Celsius as per the metric system and the quality and accuracy of every thermometer had to be verified and stamped by the Department of Weights and Measures, which was the enforcing authority. However, this was never implemented by the state governments. Manufactures went to court against its implementation on the ground that consumers were not used to thermometers graduated in degree Celsius and would buy unlicensed thermometers graduated in degree Farenheit. It was only in 2001 that a stay issued against its implementation was vacated. (Now the thermometers will be graduated in both Celsius and Farenheit). Meanwhile, the markets were full of sub-standard thermometers. The Consumer Education and Research Centre, Ahmedabad, which in 2000 tested 17 brands of thermometers sold in the market, found all brands failing in the accuracy test. As consumer demand for better quality thermometers mounted, the government incorporated the BIS standards in the Weights and Measures rules. It also brought thermometers under mandatory certification to be issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Now the manufacturers are opposing this dual regulation. They argue that once they take the licence and quality certificate from the BIS, they should not be forced to go through the same procedure once again by the state governments. |
The Divine Light dwells in the human mind and the human mind is the emanation of that Light. — Guru Nanak O Son of the Wondrous Vision! I have breathed within thee a breath of My own Spirit, that thou mayest be My lover. Why hast thou forsaken Me and sought a beloved other than Me? — Baha’u’llah Rules have to appeal to reason and must never be allowed to crush the spirit within. — Mahatma Gandhi Knowledge, like religion, must be experienced in order to be known. — E.P. Whipple The more we have the less we own. — Meister Eckhart |
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