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Fault finding It is now 3/11 Criminals as teachers |
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The right to reject
Birds of a feather
Arif Mohammed Khan remains afloat in the choppy sea of politics. — Photo by Mukesh Aggarwal
Defence Notes
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Fault finding One advantage of being an Opposition party is that it does not have to list its achievements during election time. Recounting the failures, real as well as imaginary, of the ruling dispensation is good enough. The Congress is utilising this benefit to the fullest in the run-up to the Lok Sabha poll. It has made a comprehensive list of “sins, shames and scams” of the NDA government which includes everything from the Tehelka scandal to the Judeo case. The second focus of attention in the 55-page chargesheet is the “regime’s failure to keep any of its poll promises”. The most important of these is the rampant unemployment. As of now, the BJP is dismissive of the whole exercise, with party president M. Venkaiah Naidu smugly saying that “it is a stale and pale document…. The (Congress) party’s spin doctors are trying to revive it and bring it out of the intensive care unit with expired medicines”. Actually, the Congress is not taking recourse to any medicine here but only narrating the many symptoms of the body politic which are serious indeed. The moles and warts can take the shine off the BJP’s supposedly glowing skin. What cannot and should not be lost sight of is the fact that scandals were there galore during the regime indeed. Many of them were unceremoniously pushed into the grave but have the potential of springing back to life during election time. BJP spin doctors have quite a Herculean task at hand to undo the damage. This time no emotive issues like the Ram temple or
terrorist threat are in the limelight. So, the bread and butter
matters like employment situation, condition of farmers, prices of
essential commodities and corruption in public life are likely to have
a larger-than-life shadow on the election scene. The NDA must address
the challenges at hand with all seriousness for the sake of its own
health. |
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It is now 3/11 Even 24 hours after the Madrid bombings the official word on who could be behind the dastardly attack was blurred. The survivors and families of the victims of the explosions that killed close to 200 people and wounded 1500, were battling with their trauma and grief. The global community looked baffled by the outrage. Was 3/11 meant to remind America and its allies about the destructive potential of the terrorists in spite of the post-9/11 measures to hunt them down? The Spanish government would like to believe that the bombings were planned by Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna, ETA, whose name stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom. It first emerged in the 1960s as a student resistance movement opposed to General Franco's repressive military dictatorship. Today Spain's Basque country enjoys more autonomy than any other. Yet, ETA and its hardline supporters remain determined to fight for full independence. So far ETA has targeted only policemen and politicians.
Never ordinary civilians. Spain could have been chosen by the Al-Qaeda
network for having broken rank with the rest of Europe by siding with
America for combating global terrorism. White House sources have
dismissed the e-mail message from an Arab organisation to the office of
a West Asian newspaper in London claiming responsibility as unreliable.
Be that as it may, the latest incident has the potential to damage
President George W. Bush's re-election campaign. He has bungled in
Baghdad and the global campaign against terrorism too has gone terribly
wrong. |
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Criminals as teachers A new unsettling dimension has been added to the practice of copying in Punjab. It is not just some unscrupulous examinees exchanging bits of information among themselves. Even reports of teachers’ involvement in this unhealthy practice are not uncommon. What comes as a shock is the report that a plus two student, who refused to cooperate in copying by a VVIP’s ward, was stripped by certain teachers on examination duty at a school in Bathinda. The Controller of Examinations was denied entry into the centre by the superintendent. The school Principal pointed out that special invigilators were put on duty for the wards of certain VVIPs. Do these persons deserve to be called teachers? They are criminals and should be dealt with as such. Imagine the trauma of the boy who refused to oblige the so-called teachers in the nefarious practice and stood his ground. How can he take the remaining tests after what he has been subjected to? The state education authorities can reclaim the students’ as well as the public’s faith in the fairness of the examination system only by bringing the culprits to book without delay. Copying is only
one aspect of what ails school education in Punjab. If the once
progressive state ranks 16th in literacy in the country, none has
bothered to find out what is wrong with education. Education has spread
quantitatively, but qualitatively it has not improved much. According to
the Punjab Development Report, 2002, the dropout rate in Punjab at the
plus two level is an alarming 78 per cent. Now that the municipalities
and panchayats are also involved in the administration of education,
they should help the authorities in ensuring that every child goes to
school, that evils like copying are banished and the teachers who do not
play the role expected of them should be shown the door. The VVIPs
patronising criminals should also be exposed. |
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When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it. — Jim Rohn |
The right to reject Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishna Murthy’s proposal for
providing the right of rejection to the voters while exercising their
franchise merits a close look. He said recently that he had
recommended the introduction of an option called “None of the above” (NOTA)
in the ballot paper. This right is primarily aimed at helping those
voters who do not consider any of the candidates mentioned in the
ballot paper to be worthy of their votes. The Election Commission is
unable to implement this proposal in the ensuing elections as it has
not been approved by the government. Nonetheless, Mr Krishna Murthy
says that the government should hold an all-party meeting and evolve a
consensus on the issue. Opinions can also be sought from political
scientists, experts on electoral systems, senior journalists and the
general public on the significance of NOTA. The proposal for NOTA is
nothing new. The Election Commission has been trying to convince the
Union Law Ministry since 1998 on its usefulness. In 1999, the Law
Commission had recommended the same with a rider that 50 per cent of
the voters should have exercised their franchise and expressed their
preferences. Later, the late Krishan Kant, the then Vice-President,
had strongly endorsed the same. NOTA, if introduced, will not only
enable the voter to reject all the candidates in the fray, if they do
not come up to his/her expectations but also give him an opportunity
to register his note of dissent. Voting is not compulsory in the
country. However, in the present system, a voter is forced to opt for
a candidate even if he does not approve of his credentials and/or
performance as a representative. The issue in question is: why should
one vote for a person whom he believes to be incapable of playing the
role of a representative? NOTA is, certainly, better than the right
to recall representatives which is impracticable in a country like
India. NOTA might force the political parties and others to select
candidates with a clean record and impeccable credentials. In the
absence of NOTA, the voters are unable to exercise any check on the
political parties. NOTA will also reinforce the principle that each
vote does actually count, infusing confidence and faith in voting
among the disinterested voters. More to the point, it is the best
prescription for treating the three drawbacks of political
socialisation — apathy, anomie and alienation. NOTA already exists in
the US state of Nevada. Thailand, which plans to emulate it, feels
that if the majority of voters cast their votes in favour of NOTA, the
ballot should be re-run with new candidates. But this would entail
huge expenditure. India could introduce NOTA without the provision of
a re-election. Critics may say that such a provision would be as dead
as dodo, reducing NOTA to simple tokenism. But NOTA has got its own
importance. For one thing, it will have a deterrent effect on
corruption and the criminalisation of politics. For another, it will
be an insurance against subversion of democracy. In addition to NOTA,
there is need for a second look at the present first-past-the-post
system which has thrown up problems like the inability to reflect
public opinion fully in Parliament. The Proportional Representation
(PR) system, which has often been recommended for India, aims at
giving representation to all sections of opinion in proportion to the
numerical strength of their votes. The method is based on the belief
that no vote should be lost. The two variants of the system are the
Single Transferable Vote (used in US cities and in Eire) and the List
System (used in European countries). The List System is known for its
mathematical accuracy in reflecting public opinion. It ensures
representation to all parties, big or small, in proportion to their
voting strength. The margin of invalid votes is reduced to the
minimum. It also discourages bribery, extravagance and gerry-mandering.
On the whole, it reflects the more exact divisions of the
electorate. At the same time, it has its own drawbacks. For instance,
it may encourage minority thinking and class legislation. Besides, it
may make the party machinery supreme, reducing the degree of contact
between the representative and his/her constituency. One reason why
the members of the Constituent Assembly were against this system was
their fear that the vast majority of illiterate voters would not be
able to understand the complexities involved in this method of voting.
The List System is in vogue in countries like Belgium, Denmark,
Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden and
Switzerland. The West German system is also recommended for India as
it ensures representation to political parties in Parliament according
to their respective shares of votes. Moreover, it has a law for
regulating the functioning of political parties. The Law on Political
Parties (Parteiengensetz) has now become an important guideline to
policy formulation. It also makes parties disclose the sources of
their funds. More important, the West German Constitution provides
for “constructive vote of no-confidence” which is often recommended
for India to prevent a crisis situation like the defeat of the Atal
Bihari Vajpayee government by one vote in the Lok Sabha on April 17,
1999. Had this provision been there, the Congress would not have been
able to topple the Vajpayee government and force a mid-term poll to
the Lok Sabha in October, 1999. How suitable is the French run-off
system for India, now being advocated by activist groups in the US? A
significant outcome of the 2002 French Presidential election is not
the increase in the vote share of Mr Le Pen but the good dispersal of
the remaining votes among other candidates. In this election, there
were 15 other candidates on the ballot, 12 of whom received over 2 per
cent of the vote. The three leading candidates (Mr Chirac, Mr Le Pen
and Mr Jospin) together received barely more than half the vote.
However, this or the US-type may not be feasible in India. We need to
evolve a system so that by splitting of votes, candidates who poll
less than 50 per cent of the total votes may not get elected. The
Tarkunde Committee on Electoral Reforms appointed by Jayaprakash
Narayan (1974) had recommended the adoption of a “mixed system”. This
is an improvement over the existing one without basically altering its
features. On the one hand, it would help maintain close contact
between the representative and his constituency. On the other, it
would reinforce the principle that a legislature should fully reflect
the various trends of public opinion. Even while examining the
suitability of the various electoral systems for India, the new
political party or alliance that comes to power at the Centre after
the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections should go ahead with NOTA. Indian
democracy has come of age. However, times are changing and a voter
must be educated and intelligent enough to distinguish between the
right and the wrong. The principle of universal adult suffrage, though
good for a democracy, has come under strain. India cannot march ahead
with most of its voters being illiterate and uneducated. Worthy of
consideration in this context is the suggestion for voters’ councils
to educate citizens on the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates,
political parties and in the judicious exercise of their franchise.
Prescription of a minimum academic qualification for voters may come
in conflict with the principle of universal adult suffrage. However,
for the time being, voters’ councils are a must to help people elect
the best representatives to the 14th Lok Sabha. |
Birds of a feather I always suspected that politics is a mixed bag where metaphors, meanings and marriages too get mixed up. At the best of times it is hard to say who is with or against whom. The confusion gets worse confounded at election time. It is hard to keep up, mixing and matching tunes to fit the ever-changing scene of alliances. As the BJP discovered, it may be easy to switch from the DMK to the AIADMK, but it is difficult to ensure that campaign material would keep pace. And so it came about, that an audio tape pitching for a DMK-BJP alliance was played at a BJP public meeting in Kanyakumari minutes before Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani arrived for the launch of his Bharat Uday Yatra. I only hope that Ms Jayalalithaa, whose AIADMK is the BJP's current ally, has not got wind of it. The tape plays a conversation between two voters, one of whom talks in glowing terms about Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which the other laps up with enthusiasm. Then the second voter drops a brick. "I have always voted for the rising sun (the DMK symbol)", he says, revealing that he is a DMK loyalist. Now, the first voter is not in the least stumped. Pat comes his reply: "So what? Karunanidhi (the DMK chief) and Vajpayee are very close. Voting for Karunanidhi's party is the same as voting for Mr Vajpayee." The audience was amused but not the organisers, though party secretary L Ganesan put a brave face on it by asking a functionary to "play the latest tape". Now this is not the first time that propagandists and politicos have got the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All-India Anna DMK mixed up. This reminds me of the time when Giani Zail Singh made no distinction between the Kazhagams, which Kamaraj had described as " two birds of the same feather". In mid-1982, as part of his presidential election campaign, Zail Singh was to address MLAs in Tamil Nadu. For the first time ever, both the Kazhagams were on the same side, though the DMK was a Congress ally. The AIADMK too had extended support to Zail Singh, the Congress candidate, on the ground that he belonged to the Backward Classes for whom he had done much. Therefore, "principle" took precedence over political rivalry. The Dravida Kazhagam, the forerunner of the two Kazhagams had already decreed that all Dravidian forces should whole-heartedly support Zail Singh for President. So, when Zail Singh was addressing the DMK MLAs, he praised MGR (the then AIADMK supremo) and thanked the AIADMK legislators for their unstinted support and for rising above narrow party politics. Some hours later, when he spoke to the ruling AIADMK legislators in the presence of MGR, he showered fulsome praise on his arch-rival Mr M Karunanidhi and profusely thanked the DMK for its wholehearted support. Both
parties, and partymen, sat through the meetings without a titter
although many an amused look was exchanged in silence. Both the
Kazhagams were embarrassed and neither mentioned it publicly. Only the
late Murasoli Maran later remarked, in private: "What difference does
it make? The ballot paper is not separate for the DMK and AIADMK.
Sometimes it is better not to know the difference or our differences." |
Arif Mohammed Khan in his new ‘avatar’ There is nothing to be surprised about Mr Arif Mohammed Khan, a former
Union Minister, having joined the BJP. His keenness to take the plunge
had been in the air for a few months. Perhaps, he was looking for the
appropriate time. His decision has come with the BJP showing unusual
eagerness for Muslim support in the Lok Sabha elections. It suits him
more because the BJP-led NDA is better placed to recapture power at
the Centre than any other combination of parties. He can get a Cabinet
position even if he does not contest the election. But he has a
different and morally appealing explanation. He says there was “an
offer” from the Sangh Parivar to help “remove the divide between the
Hindus and the Muslims”, and he happily accepted it. His argument is
that there was no better way to respond. Keeping aside what transpired
between Mr Khan and the other side, his presence in the BJP can be
interpreted as an expression of the party’s desire to transform its
profile. Whether this will make the party acceptable to all sections
of society, however, remains doubtful. Mr Khan, who comes from
Bulandshahar’s (UP) cluster of 12 villages inhabited by
tradition-loving Pathans, had almost made clear his next political
destination in November last year. He told an interviewer: “I do not
want to remain imprisoned in a situation where I have to evaluate the
Congress vis-ŕ-vis the BJP. How can the initiator of communal
politics (Congress) be better than the beneficiary of that politics
(BJP)? In fact, it is the Congress which, by reversing the Shah Bano
judgement and opening the gates at Ayodhya, plunged the country into
communal chaos.” Mr Khan may be right, but he did not believe the BJP
was promoting the values dear to him when he resigned as BSP General
Secretary in protest against Ms Mayawati’s decision to align with the
saffron party to form her government in Lucknow. Declaring then as his
“national duty to launch a campaign against the BJP” for its role in
the 2002 Gujarat tragedy, he said: “Since I stand committed to
fighting against communalism and the BSP deciding to align itself with
the BJP, I see no moral way out but to part company so that I can
devote myself totally to the cause of the fight against divisive
forces.” Understandably, he has his compulsions-how to remain afloat
in the choppy sea of politics. Mr Khan, whose claim to fame is
mainly based on the spirited speech he made in Parliament over the
Shah Bano case, appears enthusiastic about promoting communal amity
from his new platform. But it all depends on how long he remains where
he finds himself today. His checkered political career shows that he
is an expert in party hopping. As a student leader in the early
seventies, he endeared himself to the late Chaudhary Charan Singh, the
most popular Jat leader of UP. Mr Khan organised a successful
agitation against Indira Gandhi’s move to do away with the minority
character of Aligarh Muslim University. As a result, he found a berth
in the Charan Singh Cabinet in UP. He came to the national political
stage with the formation of the Janata Party government at the Centre.
He joined the Congress following the Janata split. Indira Gandhi
allowed him to contest the 1980 Lok Sabha elections from Kanpur and
made him a minister when she bounced back to power. Mr Khan, once her
bitter critic, was now her great admirer. When Rajiv Gandhi formed
his government after the assassination of his mother, Mr Khan was a
senior member of the Cabinet. He, however, surprised Rajiv when he
opposed the government on the Shah Bano issue. The speech he made in
Parliament earned him the status of a hero. It is a different matter
that the fame that came his way did not help him in enlarging his
support base. It, in fact, eroded his following considerably. But he
was lucky. Mr VP Singh, Finance Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi
government, developed serious differences with the Prime Minister over
the Bofors gun purchase and the HDW submarine deal and resigned from
the Ministry. The moral high ground that Mr Singh occupied over the
issue of corruption made him a national celebrity. The circumstances
brought Mr Khan closer to Mr Singh. He won the 1989 Lok Sabha
elections during the VP Singh wave, but the Pathan leader mistook it
as his own popularity. He could not pull along with the person who had
helped him in his political rehabilitation. The loss of Mr Singh’s
patronage threw Mr Khan into political wilderness. He could not win
an election since then till he became a member of the BSP, though he
tried his luck every time the country went to the polls. He had
parted company with Mr VP Singh, arguing that he could not work with a
person promoting casteist politics. Mr Khan saw in Mr Singh a casteist
politician when the latter as Prime Minister implemented the
controversial Mandal Commission report. But within a few years Mr Khan
became a General Secretary of the party-the BSP-which is a major
beneficiary of caste politics. In October 1999, as a BSP leader, he
asserted in the course of a newspaper interview: “We are fighting the
BJP and my election (purpose) was mainly to stop that party from
coming to power. We achieved our goal of pulling the Vajpayee
government down (in 1998). We will not hesitate in repeating it.”
Since he could not do so, he, perhaps, thought it would be better to
shift to Mr Vajpayee’s side. It will be interesting to watch how Mr
Arif Mohammed Khan functions in his new “avatar”, as he has been
criticising the BJP throughout his political career. |
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Defence Notes It is after a gap of five years that the Indian Air Force (IAF) will revisit Pokhran (March 14) in Rajasthan, which is now famous for India’s nuclear tests, for showcasing its own technical capability and skills and strengths of its pilots at the Vayu Shakti-04. India and Pakistan are now on the road to peace. One of the reasons why the Vayu Shakti show was put off was the Kargil war. The IAF will not be holding back any of its aircraft or the display of any of its ability to strike deep into enemy territory. It will also put on show the latest acquisition: the IL-78 mid-air refueller, which have worked as a force multiplier for it. And most importantly, the Defence Attaches of most countries will witness the fire power of the IAF. A total of 55 aircraft, including the MiGs-29, 27, 23 and 21(bison), Mirage-2000, Jaguars, Su-30 MKI and Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters, will be participating in the show. The highlight of the show will be the breaking of the sound barrier by the soundlessly approaching MiG-29 fighter aircraft and the mid-air refuelling of the two Mirage-2000 aircraft by the IL-78. Also on show is to be the UAVs, which help the Indian military get intelligence from across the border and the round-off will be the breath-taking display of the Surya Kiran aerobatic team. It will be the largest-ever show put up by the IAF at
the Chandan Air Ground Range for which even the Pakistani authorities
have been given a prior intimation. It will also be for the first time
that the IAFs fire power, which is highly regarded for its immense
training value, will be displayed in a phased manner to show its
capability in air defence.
Doctors still in Iran They were among
the first to reach Bam, the quake-torn city of Iran, in late December
last after scores of people were killed unaware. And they still remain
there even after all the medical teams sent from around the world have
gone back home. A team of 12 doctors and 51 paramedics from the
Indian Army have been working in Bam since December 31, 2003, as part
of the operation code named “Sahayta” under Lt. Col (Dr) H.C. Talan.
The first job they completed was to set up a 75-bed hospital just
outside Bam and have till now attended to a staggering 38,750
patients. The team of doctors from the Indian Army remains in Iran
because of the overwhelming response it has got from the locals. As a
result, the Iranian Government has requested India to extend its stay
and now the team will return after March 31, 2004.
Solidarity
show by George Defence Minister George Fernandes, in another show of
solidarity with the soldiers, recently handed over a sum of Rs 35,000
to the Director General of Resettlement (DGR), which has been
collected in two months as part of the contributions made by the
people visiting his office in the Defence Ministry in South Block. |
Do not blame others, the
fault is your own. You only reaped what you sowed. Why then blame
others? — Guru Nanak Cow protection can only be secured by
cultivating universal friendliness, i.e. Ahimsa. — Mahatma
Gandhi Adoration is the essence of religion. It involves a duality
between the worshipper and the worshipped. — Dr S. Radhakrishnan No
man is hurt but by himself. — Diogenes Ingratitude is treason to
mankind. — Thomson |
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