 |
|
Now New Delhi Towards fiscal fitness US worries in Iraq |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Protecting human rights
Monk in Mongolia
Stamp scandal exposes spoils system
CONSUMER RIGHTS
|
Now New Delhi THE
feel-good factor on the economic front has got an unexpected surge of adrenalin. New Delhi has won the bid to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the face of stiff competition from Hamilton. The very fact that it could do so with the help of a last-minute offer of $7.2 million shows that it is no longer an impoverished nation on dole. In a way, the Asian “sleeping tiger” has proved that it has risen from its slumber and is ready to meet the affluent world on equal terms. Canada’s protests in this regard are churlish. After all, wasn’t it also offering $ 3.8 million to the member-states? Just because India offered more should not make it cry foul. In any case, money is not the only thing that tilted the scales in India’s favour. Developing countries have been dominating the field all along, considering that Canada has already hosted the Games four times whereas India is only the second Asian nation after Malaysia (1998) to get it, despite the fact that it is home to 50 per cent of the Commonwealth population. The Rs 295-crore cost of the Games, which the government has agreed to bear, is no doubt steep but sponsorships and other avenues are expected to generate at least Rs 400 crore. As Prime Minister Vajpayee said in his televised address during the voting at Montego Bay in Jamaica, it will offer new market opportunities. More than that, it can spur a host of development activities in Delhi besides upgrading the sports infrastructure. The example of the 1982 Asian Games is before us. Modern stadia, flyovers and colour TV transmission were some of the gains made 21 years ago. History can repeat itself now. But the most valuable is the can-do spirit that it has generated. True to the “New Frontiers and New Friendship” theme, India has thanked Pakistan for supporting its bid. Perhaps the neighbours can find more avenues to come closer. Now if only the country also gives a quantum jump to its sports performance! The host nation should aim at topping the medals tally. |
|
Towards fiscal fitness THE
Finance Ministry’s Mid-Year Review, released on Friday, contains few surprises and officially confirms what is already known. The economy is on the path to faster-than-expected growth. That may cheer the state governments facing the electorate in the near future. A few weeks ago the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Dr Y.V. Reddy, had made a little conservative projection about the overall GDP growth rate being “6.5-7 per cent, with an upward bias”. But mandarins in the Finance Ministry sound more optimistic, hoping for a 7 per cent growth. What is more, they talk of a double-digit growth in agriculture. If that happens, then the growth figure might well cross the 7-per cent level. True, the current industrial revival has been fuelled by a strong monsoon-led agricultural rebound. The two sectors that have got a special mention in the review for excellent performance are steel and automobiles. The rising steel prices have spelt recovery for an ailing PSU giant like SAIL. Banks are getting loan repayments that they had almost written off. The uptrend in the stock market has revived the fortunes of financial institutions like the UTI. The foreign exchange reserves are at an all-time high of $92.6 billion with a build-up of 17.2 billion in the present fiscal alone. This is despite the outflow of $5.18 billion on account of the redemption of Resurgent India Bonds. The government’s emphasis on the development of infrastructure and housing in the last few budgets has yielded fruits. The falling interest rate regime has spurred demand for housing, benefiting the cement and steel sectors and generating employment. The gap between the interest rates in India and the developed world is still very glaring. The RBI needs to shed its conservative approach and learn lessons from the aggressive stance adopted by the US Federal Reserve during the recent recession. It should help the Indian industry tap emerging opportunities from outsourcing. Meanwhile, the government has to resume the economic reforms. |
|
US worries in Iraq NOTWITHSTANDING the noises being heard these days, the US is unlikely to leave Iraq completely to the Iraqis as sought by the resistance forces. But Washington definitely seems to be reworking its strategy to end the embarrassment the Bush administration is facing with bodybags coming to the US almost everyday. President Bush cannot afford the loss of US lives at this rate ( over 400 soldiers have been killed in Iraq so far) in view of the November 2004 elections. His worries have become more acute with the CIA’s latest assessment that the Iraqi resistance has a “broad” base and is formidable enough to sustain itself. The fear is that the attacks on US interests will escalate, with the situation going out of control. A low-intensity war is taking shape in Iraq. The US counter-attacks are only helping the resistance forces. Their number — over 50,000 today — may increase considerably if there is no immediate change in the US strategy. The Governing Council appointed by the US Administrator in Iraq, Mr Paul Bremer, has failed to serve the purpose. The council is, therefore, to be replaced with a new set-up by June next year. An Iraqi leader— obviously close to the US — may be asked to constitute an interim administration to run the affairs till elections are held. Is it an honourable exit strategy available to the US? Whatever it may be, “it does not mean we would physically leave the country any sooner”, as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says. In the words of Defence Secretary Colin Powell, the Americans are “looking at all sorts of ideas and we do want to accelerate the process of reform”. Perhaps, the thinking gaining ground is that there must be a remote-controlled administration run by the Iraqis with not much visible presence of US soldiers. This may reduce the number of American casualties, the immediate concern of the Bush administration. But, in view of the prevailing situation, it amounts to inviting chaos to take over. The whole world will blame the US for such a state of affairs. President Bush is fumbling in Iraq and does not know what to do. It will take time before he does. Thought for the day Anarchism is a game at which the police can beat you.
— George Bernard Shaw |
Protecting human rights HUMAN
rights are those rights which inhere in every human being by virtue of being a member of the human family. These are nothing but what had been traditionally known as “natural rights” — rights bestowed upon human beings by nature. “Human rights” are based on mankind’s increasing demand for a decent civilized life in which the inherent dignity of each human being is well respected and protected. Human rights are fundamental to our very existence without which we cannot live as human beings. The courts have been making judicial intervention in cases concerning the violation of human rights as an ongoing judicial process. Decisions on such matters as the right to protection against solitary confinement, the right not to be held in fetters, the right against handcuffing, the right against custodial violence or the rights of the arrestee or the right of female employees not to be sexually harassed at their place of work are just a few pointers in that directions. It would, therefore, be wrong to call it as an act of “judicial activism” when the judiciary, in discharge of its constitutional powers, seeks to protect the human rights of the citizens in case after case where a citizen has been deprived of his life or liberty otherwise than in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law or when the courts insist upon “transparency and accountability” in respect of the orders made or action taken by public servants. The requirement that every State action must satisfy the test of fairness and non-arbitrariness are judicially evolved principles which now form part of the constitutional law. It must, however, be remembered that the Judges, in exercise of their power of judicial review, are not expected to decide a dispute or controversy which is purely theoretical or for which there are no judicially manageable standards available with them. The courts do not, generally speaking, interfere with the policy matters of the executive unless the policy is either against the Constitution or some statute or is actuated by mala fides. Policy matters, fiscal or otherwise, are thus best left to the judgement of the executive. It is, in fact, stating the obvious that courts must, while exercising the power of judicial review, exercise restraint and base their decisions on the recognised doctrines or principles of law. Judicial activism and judicial restraint are the two sides of the same coin. It is, therefore, essential to remember that judicial restraint in the exercise of its functions is of equal importance for the judiciary while discharging its judicial obligations under the Constitution. The courts must be careful to see that by their overzealousness they do not cause any uncertainty or confusion either through their observations during the hearing of a case or through their written decisions, one way or the other, under the cover of judicial activism, they may consciously or unconsciously cause uncertainty and confusion in the law. In that event, the law will not only develop along uncertain lines instead of straight and consistent path but the judiciary’s image may also in the bargain get tarnished and its respectability eroded. That would be a sad day. Judicial authoritarianism cannot be permitted under any circumstances. The courts, therefore, have to be very careful to see that their exercise of judicial creativity for attaining social change is not allowed to run amuck and every court functions within the bounds of its own prescribed jurisdiction. The courts have the duty of implementing the constitutional safeguards that protect individual rights but they cannot push back the limits of the Constitution to accommodate the challenged violation. All this means is that Judges are expected to be circumspect and self-disciplined in the discharge of their judicial functions. The criticism that since the judiciary in India is not elected, it should confine itself to its orthodox role, and leave all other matters to the elected representatives, is based on a grave misconception about the source of power of the judiciary and the role assigned to it. To say and believe that the judiciary is not accountable to anyone is misleading. The Constitution is the fundamental law of the land which establishes the judiciary and empowers it to eliminate those acts of the legislature and / or actions of the executive as are found to be unconstitutional. The courts are the guardians of the Constitution framed by WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIA and have to act according to their conscience to uphold the Constitution. The courts act for the people who have reposed confidence in them. The accountability of the Judges is, therefore, not only to their conscience but also to the people in whom the ultimate sovereignty vests. Judges are the servants of law and function for society and are, therefore, accountable to it. The real source of strength of the judiciary lies in the public confidence in the institution. It is, therefore, imperative that actions of the Judges are transparent and constitutionally sound, and their vast power is used in public interest to uphold the majesty of law and the Constitution — to uphold which they subscribe to the oath when entering upon their office. Erosion of credibility of the judiciary, in the public mind, for whatever reason, is the greatest threat to the independence of the judiciary. Eternal vigilance by the Judges to guard against any such latent internal danger is, therefore, necessary lest we “suffer from self-inflicted mortal wounds”. The societal perception of Judges as being detached and impartial referees is the greatest strength of the judiciary and every Judge must ensure that this perception should not receive a setback. To the extent that judicial activism is making the legislative and executive branches function properly in accordance with the rule of law, the courts’ functioning is unexceptionable, but we must remember that the sole check on judicial power is the use of proper judicial restraint by the Judges in the discharge of their functions. The courts must, however, not shy away from discharging their constitutional obligations to protect and enforce the human rights of the citizens, and while acting within the bounds of law must always rise to the occasion as “guardians of the Constitution”, criticism of “judicial activism” notwithstanding. Society has placed Judges on a high pedestal. They must justify that position remembering forever that the Constitution does not give unlimited powers to anyone, including the Judges, at all levels. The writer is Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, and a former Chief Justice of India. The article is based on his address delivered at the Sapru Law Institute, Allahabad, on November 11, 2003. |
Monk in Mongolia WHEN the Indian Ambassador, Rev Kushak Bakula, himself offered to take me to the Gandan monastery in Ulanbataar, which alone had survived the Communist regime in Mongolia, I jumped at the offer. The inconvenience of getting up early on a day when the day temperature hovered around -20 degree centigrade did not bother me much when I could also look forward to a sumptuous breakfast at the Indian Embassy. To my surprise I found a long queue of Mongolians, young and old, waiting at the Embassy gate in bone-chilling cold. Before I could ask Sonam, the Ambassador’s secretary, who brought me from the hotel in his Pajero, whether they were visa-seekers, he told me that they were ordinary people who visited the Embassy to seek the Ambassador’s blessings. They had not come empty-handed. Everyone of them had brought some gift for Rev Bakula — a packet of butter or a bouquet of flowers or a small scarf or some cash. In turn, they would get a piece of ochre thread as a symbol of his blessings. It was amazing to find their reverence for the Ambassador, who was the Head Lama of Ladakh and a former Member of Parliament and the Minorities Commission. At the monastery, I found parents holding up their infants for his blessings. They also wanted him to name them. He seemed to have a large repertoire of names to choose from. The monastery was overflowing with people and they all sought his blessings. Nobody went back disappointed. I had another taste of his popularity when I flew back from Ulanbataar to Beijing. Rev Bakula was in the Executive class and I in Economy. A little after the plane took off, he sent word through an airhostess that he wanted me and Sonam to be beside him. As I sat next to him, I noticed that a queue of passengers had been formed in the aisle to seek his blessings. Everyone of them got a piece of thread, and some his autograph on anything they could lay their hands on — a book, a newspaper or their air ticket folder. Whenever the Ambassador visited the countryside, the people would gift him cows and horses, which he would, in turn, gift to the people themselves. Sonam is fond of narrating an incident when Rev Bakula saved the nation from anarchy. The people had risen in protest against the Communist regime. A Tiananmen Square-like situation appeared inevitable with the people blocking the main square in the Capital. As an Ambassador, he was not expected to take sides but he summoned up courage to invoke the Buddha’s teachings to persuade them to end the siege. Calm was restored at Ulanbataar but the Communists could not last long. The withdrawal of the Soviets from Mongolia came as an act of redemption but it brought with it economic problems too. I learnt to my utter horror that the woman who swept the floor in the embassy was a postgraduate doctor. My guide was a doctor-turned-journalist-turned-teacher, who later became a minister and received President K.R. Narayanan at Ulanbataar with some Malayalam words he had learnt during our time together. Such was Rev Bakula’s popularity in Mongolia that no prime minister from Rajiv Gandhi onwards thought it necessary to call him back. Even after he completed his diplomatic assignment, he retained his links with Mongolia where he had set up a school for Buddhist monks until they were snapped when death snatched him away on November 6 and his mortal remains were consigned to the flames on November
16. |
Stamp scandal exposes spoils system
THE
beaming smile on anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare’s face as he emerged out of the Bombay High Court premises said it all. The public interest petition he filed before the court regarding the multi-crore fake stamp scandal masterminded by forger Abdul Karim Telgi netted the biggest fish in the history of India’s police force. The Special Investigating Team probing the scandal under the court’s supervision had just indicted Mumbai’s Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Sharma. A report prepared by the team found Sharma guilty “on nine grounds of omission and commission” as Commissioner of Police, Pune, nearly two years ago when the scandal broke. “A thorough investigation would lead all the way to Mantralaya, the state secretariat,” Hazare had said earlier after filing his petition. Sharma’s indictment came just days after Mumbai’s Joint Commissioner of Police Sridhar Vagal was arrested for his links with Telgi. As more heads in the Mumbai Police threaten to roll, the spotlight is on the spoils system that has come into being over the years in Maharashtra and other parts of the country. “In the past two decades or so people approached politicians for postings. Now there are rumours of money changing hands. Officers who pay for postings are not likely to serve the people but look forward to multiplying their investments,” says former Mumbai’s Police Commissioner Julio Ribeiro. “Now even at the Sub-Inspector level there is lobbying for posts,” Ribeiro lamented. The veteran police officer, who has openly blamed Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal for the deterioration in Mumbai’s police force, has called for transparency and accountability in appointments to senior positions. In a number of signed articles in the recent past, Ribeiro has hit out at Bhujbal for directly overseeing transfers and postings in the police force. A number of like-minded citizens from Mumbai like former Home Secretary Madhav Godbole, Ribeiro, former Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Ronnie Mendonca and others have joined hands to lobby with Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to implement the promises made to Hazare regarding postings and transfers of officials in government departments. After Hazare went on an indefinite fast in Mumbai on Independence Day last, Shinde promised to appoint an expert committee to oversee appointments in the government departments. “We would like the government to honour the promises made to Hazare,” says Ribeiro. With its credibility at stake, the Maharashtra government has fast-forwarded plans to bring about transparency in the transfer and postings of officials. Draft copies of the rules governing transfer of officials have been prepared and sent to Ribeiro and Godbole for vetting. “We will vet the rules, consult experts in the matter and give our suggestions and opinion to the government,” says Ribeiro. Ribeiro though wants to go further at least in the matters concerning the police department. He wants transfers and appointments to the police force to be codified as suggested in a public interest litigation petition filed before the Supreme Court by former Director General of UP police and BSF Prakash Singh. “As per the recommendations made by the National Police Commission, a security commission should be appointed to determine postings and transfers of police officials all over the country,” feels Ribeiro. The body should have figures like the Home Minister, Leader of the Opposition, sitting or retired judges to maintain credibility of the appointments in the police department. However, Ribeiro and his fellow crusaders are determined to make use of the available mechanisms to expose the malaise in the system. The Maharashtra Government’s Right to Information Act hurriedly sent to President APJ Abdul Kalam for assent following Hazare’s fast is proving to be a favourite tool. An application under the Act will be forwarded to the Public Information Officer under the Director-General of Police for the file pertaining to the posting of Vagal to the sensitive crime branch of the Mumbai police. The application filed on Rs 10 stamp paper requests for a copy of the file with
notings by the authority concerned in public interest, says Ribeiro. “This is the first application we are making under the Right to Information Act, so let’s wait for the results,” Ribeiro says when questioned on the possible delaying tactics the government could adopt to keep the file under wraps. Vagal was shunted out of the crime branch to the low-profile Intelligence Department on the eve of the Cricket World Cup in South Africa earlier this year. A police Inspector who arrested 25 big bookies from a hotel in suburban Mumbai alleged that they were all released after Vagal intervened. It is believed that Vagal was posted to the crime branch in the first place at the personal intervention of senior politicians and the release of the file on his transfer would prove to be explosive. Also providing much grist to the mill is the amount of unaccounted wealth allegedly unearthed from Vagal and his subordinates. Media reports here have it that investigators have traced unaccounted wealth to the tune of Rs 25 crore from Vagal. However, his subordinates, including a police Inspector and a Sub-Inspector, who dealt with Telgi on a day-to-day basis after he was arrested in 2002 had amassed wealth to the tune of Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 cr, respectively. According to police officials here, Telgi is suspected to have amassed a fortune between Rs.17,000 crore and Rs.22,000 crore by printing and selling fake stamp papers in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu through the 1990s. |
|
CONSUMER RIGHTS THE Maharashtra State Electricity Board cuts off power supply to a consumer without any valid reason and forces him and his family to live without electricity for over two months. The consumer forums at the district and state levels, whom he approaches for justice, think that Rs 5,000 is adequate compensation for the suffering undergone by him as a result of the board’s arbitrary action! Would the members of the forum settle for such a sum if they were forced to live without power supply for over two months? Obviously not, but Mr C.M.Kadam had to knock at the doors of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to send this message across. And the apex consumer court this time did not mince words while expressing its displeasure at the miserly computation of compensation by the lower consumer courts. Said the Commission: “The State Commission took a serious view of the default committed by the officials of the electricity department, yet, found the compensation (Rs 5,000) awarded (by the District Forum) to be sufficient”. The Commission then went on to point out that if the members of the District Forum or the State Commission had suffered a similar fate, then they would have found the amount to be totally inadequate. Saying that there was miscarriage of justice, the Commission raised the compensation to Rs 33,500 at the rate of Rs 500 for every day the consumer remained without power supply (RP No 604 of 2003). It also awarded Rs 5,000 as costs to the consumer and said the entire amount paid to the consumer should be recovered from the employees of the electricity board responsible for the negligent service. The National Commission has for some time been reminding those who sit in judgement over these cases not to lose sight of the basic concept of consumer protection embodied in the Consumer Protection Act and to ensure that damages awarded by them compensate the consumer adequately. But obviously, the message is yet to percolate down to all the consumer courts in the country. In the case of S. Somasundaram vs Sri Chakravarthy International Matriculation Academy, for example, the National commission pulled up the lower forums for awarding Rs 10,000 to the parents who had lost their only child on account of the negligence of the school and increased the compensation to Rs 2 lakh. The child had fallen into a septic tank left uncovered on the school premises. Similarly, the Commission increased the compensation awarded to Mr D.D.Trikha, who suffered irreparable damage to his urinary bladder as a result of negligent catheterisation, from Rs 20,000 to Rs 1.20 lakh. While doing so, it reminded the District Forum and the State Commission of the suffering undergone by the patient as a result of the negligence of the
doctor (RP no 1142 of 1997). Again, it chastised the Gujarat State Commission for awarding Rs 50,000 to the parents of Mr Hitesh Kotak following his death as a result of medical negligence and revised it to Rs 5 lakh (FA No 341 of 2001). Even though he was earning a salary of Rs 4,061, the State Commission found Rs 50,000 to be adequate compensation on the ground that he might not have lived long as a result of a heart condition that he suffered. Saying that this conclusion was baseless, the apex consumer court observed that the State Commission had put a small price on Hitesh’s life. Hopefully, this order will bring about the required attitudinal change in the lower consumer courts. |
Let the liberal ones and those who have taken the vow of serving other promoters of general welfare, may the night and dawn be sweet. — Rigveda (1-90-7) Truth is equal to all, and open to all universally. It leads to fearlessness, strength and self-reliance, whereas dependence on an extraneous principle such as Creator-God leads to weakness, and self-abasement, unless it is surrender through pure love with a sense of belonging. — Shri Shankaracharya God is the only spouse, all other beings are his brides. — Guru Nanak Do not wait to have a harp and rest by degrees; why not take a harp and begin here? Why wait for heaven? Make it here. — Swami Vivekananda Hinduism with its message of ahimsa is to me the most glorious religion in the world. — Mahatma Gandhi O Son of Being! How couldst thou forget thine own faults and busy thyself with the faults of others? Who so doeth this is accursed of Me. — Baha’u’llah |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
