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Poor George! Karzai’s idea |
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Why stagger elections?
The ‘office of profit’ issue
Painless proforma
Authentic organic farming Time to start on Haryana’s new Capital The “dark matter” of the US trade deficit
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Poor George! IN politics the best laid plans of mice and men can go awry. Mr George Fernandes would not have, however, liked to bow out – being defeated by 413 out of 448 votes in the contest to remain as president of the Janata Dal (U). The fiery Lohia socialist who was the enfant terrible on the political scene in the 1960s and ‘70s is but a pale shadow of the trade unionist who could bring Bombay to a halt – with his phenomenal following among
railway men, bus workers and taxi drivers. The Bombay Bandh man turned “Giant-Killer” when he felled the Congress boss and fundraiser S.K.Patil in the 1967 Lok Sabha elections. This was a turning point followed by a chain of cataclysmic events – the railway strike, the JP movement, the Allahabad High Court judgment unseating Indira Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, declaration of the Emergency, the jailing of Opposition leaders and activists, the Baroda Dynamite Case – that saw Mr Fernandes emerge as one of the inspiring symbols of resistance against an authoritarian regime. Mr Fernandes, who won the election from Muzaffarpur jail in Bihar, was part of the Janata Party government till it split, when he defended the Morarji Desai ministry but deserted to join Charan Singh. In or out of government, Mr Fernandes remained in the news. His longest stint in government was during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance. Ironically, this was a time – as part of the establishment, which he had for long years resolutely opposed – the socialist was seen as betraying all that he had stood for. Once opposed to nuclear weapons and a champion of disarmament, Mr Fernandes turned a stout advocate of India as a nuclear power; he sold his secularist credentials for a mess of pottage when he became a shield for the Sangh Parivar’s communalist violence and defended the indefensible massacre of Muslims in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. His credentials were further soiled by the Tehelka sting operation on defence deals, though nothing conclusive has yet been proved against him. At the end of it all, Mr Fernandes finds himself with few comrades and fewer allies. At his age, he can only learn to enjoy his lonely years.
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Karzai’s idea Afghanistan
President Hamid Karzai’s visit to India will be remembered more for the interesting trilateral cooperation idea he has floated than anything else. He wants India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to reach an understanding for “quicker progress and economic betterment” in the region. This is, of course, possible but only when these countries —- which have a lot in common culturally and otherwise —- keep politics aside and concentrate on transit trade and cultural exchanges at the initial stage. There can be no better mission than being partners in progress. Once we have stakes in shared economic growth through a “tripolar structure of cooperation”, it will be easier to find mutually acceptable solutions to even knotty subcontinental problems. The difficulty, however, is how to make Pakistan realise the significance of this brilliant idea. Pakistan, perhaps, still looks at Afghanistan against the backdrop of its unrealistic policy of acquiring a strategic depth. India has been pressing Pakistan for a long time for allowing the transit facility to take Indian goods to Afghanistan and beyond —Central Asia and the nearby markets — but in vain. Anyone with even rudimentary understanding of economics will agree that Pakistan too will be a major beneficiary. But the rulers in Islamabad are of the view that this is not possible so long as the Kashmir question is settled. This negative attitude will take us nowhere. It must be shunned in the interest of growth and stability. If Mr Karzai wants his idea to be translated into practice, he should take it up also with Islamabad as soon as possible. He has the experience of successfully persuading Gen Pervez Musharraf to let India-bound Afghan exports pass through Pakistan. Once the three countries work out a mechanism for granting the transit facility to each other’s exports, it will give the much-needed fillip to economic activity throughout the region. This will also promote peace and stability by making it difficult for terrorist outfits to find new recruits.
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Why stagger elections? THE Election Commission deserves to be praised for having ensured free and fair elections in Assam on April 3 and 10. The voter turnout on both polling days was between 65 and 70 per cent. This shows the people’s tremendous enthusiasm to participate in the democratic process. However, they will have to wait for a full four weeks to know the results. The counting of votes will start on May 11 after the elections to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry are over. There seems to be no justification for the commission to go in for spreading the elections over several weeks. Last time, the Lok Sabha elections were held in five phases spread over two-and-a-half months. This time, while the 294 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal will have a five-phase poll on April 17, 22, 27, May 3 and 8, Tamil Nadu, which has 234 Assembly seats, will go to the polls on May 8. The Kerala elections will be held on April 22, 29 and May 3 and those in Pondicherry on May 3 and 8. The commission justifies staggered polls for security reasons and logistics. This is quite understandable. But the governments are not short of security personnel to conduct elections. Staggered elections pose their own problems. A five-week-long election exercise cannot but stretch the forces and leave crucial gaps in security. Consider the Naxalite attack on the Jehanabad jail in Bihar last November. Though the Assembly elections there passed off peacefully, the commission’s insistence on saturation security cover went to the advantage of the ultras who timed their attack to coincide with polling elsewhere in the state. In West Bengal, the commission has taken a number of measures to ensure orderly elections. We are sure these were necessary. But a five-phase poll is, certainly, unwarranted. The commission could have ensured a one-day poll now with a little more planning and homework. The voter should not be made to wait for weeks to know the result of his using the right to elect his MLA or MP. Casting a vote is more important an exercise than buying a lottery ticket.
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Behold the child, by Nature’s kindly law/Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw. — Alexander Pope
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The ‘office of profit’ issue THE present controversy over the “office of profit” raises some basic issues of parliamentary democracy. Only an impartial analysis of the origins and purpose of the provision in Britain from where it has been adopted along with some anomalies in the Indian Constitution could clear the air from mutual mud-slinging. This is an attempt in that direction. Four main phases as the system evolved in Britain and got adopted in India could be traced. The historic origins of the provision of disqualification from the membership of the House of Commons could be traced to its long fight to jealously protect its independence from the feudal peers, the ordained clergy (Lords temporal and spiritual) initially and later equally from the inroads by the Crown. The Curia Regis or the King’s Council is the Gangotri of the present parliament in Britain. Its four functions — the judicial, the administrative, the military and the legislative — evolved over centuries into separate wings, and as the power of the House of Commons grew, it debarred the rest from being part of it. The true separation of powers began with the Act of Settlement of 1700 which forbade “persons having offices or places of profit under the King or securing the promises from the Crown”, from sitting in the House of Commons. The provision was later amended to allow the ministers to sit in the Commons. But even now there is a limit of only 95 ministers who could participate in any voting. The strict provisions were not relaxed even after the House of Commons assumed full control over the government which has to be its representative and responsible to it. The principles involved in the modern phase are that the ban was necessary to protect, firstly, the impartiality of Parliament members and, secondly, ensure devotion to parliamentary work, as those having offices of profit are not supposed to have enough time for Parliament work. The earlier principle of separation of powers and conflict of interest continues to guide in fixing the disqualification. These were put in the statute, The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975. In the case of India certain departures were made while drafting the Constitution. The Drafting Committee consisting of B.R. Ambedkar, Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyer, K.M.Munshi and others had set aside the “elaborate enumeration” of all the circumstances which would disqualify a person from being a member of Parliament that had been prepared by the constitutional advisor, B.N. Rau, and adopted a simple but generalised five-point formula as it stands in Article 102, which includes “1. if he had held an office of profit under the Government of India or the government of any state other than office declared by Parliament by law not to disqualify its holder”. This formulation, unlike that in the UK, is an all-inclusive one, including any office under or related to Government not so declared by the Act of Parliament, to be an office of profit. This was bound to create untold effects as in a growing nation several posts and positions were bound to be created which could not be every time excluded by legislation. This was realised late and a bold attempt was made during the Emergency by Indira Gandhi through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment by reformulating the clause by omitting a few words which read as “If he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the government of any state, declared by Parliament by law to disqualify its holder”. This restricts disqualification only to those so stated in an Act of Parliament. The Janata Government that had romped home later in an omnibus disclaimer of the 42nd Amendment restored the original clause (1) on disqualifications through the 44th Constitutional Amendment in 1978. The Article 102 lays down the same set of disqualifications for election as well as continuing as a member. This, according to a Supreme Court judgment of 1953 (Election Commission vs. Venkata), provides for “both pre-existing and supervening disqualification”. In the light of these interpretations, the untold effects of this omnibus formulation of Article 102 are now being faced. Another important departure that has been made by the Constitution-makers was to empower the Election Commission through the President or the Governor in the case of the state legislature to decide on the cases of disqualification under Articles 103 and 192. This they must have thought is appropriate as the Election Commission decides on any disqualification of a person at the time of scrutiny of nominations; they can as well sit on judgment on disqualification even after election. As is pointed out by the constitutional authorities like Durga Das Basu, the formulation of this Article is also very vague as to “If a question arises as to whether a member of either House Parliament has subject to any disqualification mentioned in clause (1) of Article 102”, the question shall be referred to the President who “shall” act according to the opinion of the Election Commission. The President would be flooded with petitions as anyone can do so as is being done now. A situation has arisen in which the functioning of Parliament and state legislatures will get vitiated in endless petitions relating to disqualifications. Since the issue belongs to all parties and for all time, the Prime Minister should convene an all-party meeting to sort it out. Some of the points that could be considered are: The issue of disqualification of members is the exclusive purview of Parliament and it has the right and authority to make any legislation with regard to it. The amendment that has been proposed to Clause (1) of Article 102 by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment is a possible solution out of the imbroglio, particularly in the light of disqualification introduced for defections by the 52nd Constitutional Amendment. This amendment is a safeguard against any last minute allurements. The mandate of the Election Commission ends with the conduct of elections and it should not be burdened with post-election controversies which should best be left to Parliament or courts. Another related issue needed to be considered. If the purpose of disqualifications under the office of profit is to avoid what has come to be known as “pay-roll” vote in Parliament, in the modern industrial society with some of the multinational and even national corporations controlling economic power equal or more than the governments, what should worry is not the pay rolls of the government but those by private economic empires. This is tried to be overcome by the House of Commons by introducing the practice of initially declaring compulsorily by all members their financial interests. This practice has to be enforced by the Lok Sabha through legislation, if
necessary. The writer is former Political Editor, The Financial Express.
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Painless proforma COME November and every retired employee drawing pension from a bank has to fill in a prescribed proforma declaring that he is alive. It is only after giving such an undertaking that the pension for the next 12 months is released. This is an annual feature and a painful reminder that the days are numbered and the inevitable can happen any time. It is a very distressing fact that in old age our compatriots and companions keep on falling by the wayside and every morning in the “obit” column of The Tribune I see some old associates or dear ones being snatched away. The proforma is a cruel reminder and snatches the joy of receiving the small amount. This age-old format should be replaced just as desi ghee has given way to cholesterol-free oils or just as the old romantic passions of the hero and heroine running round trees and the rose bud appearing to suggest a kiss, has been replaced by a big embrace by Bollywood. There are many pain-free proforma that can be introduced to bring cheer to their faces. For instance the proforma could only say “Certified that I, Mr XYZ, has not kicked the bucket so far”. Another alternative could be “Certified that an amount of rupees one thousand as pension has been disbursed to me as on First November, 2006 towards meeting all the major and minor expenditure including Do Waqt Ki Roti”. Yes, there are pensioners who receive a very meagre amount even today! It is true that when darkness and depression invade us, happiness rises. I realised this when I was seriously ill but with the grace of God and kindness of His representatives in the Post Graduate Research Institute, Chandigarh, I recovered, much to the surprise of many! One fine morning, after a few years, I was back in the badminton hall in my sports kit. Everyone gathered around me and there was a look of surprise on their faces as to how this fellow has managed to come back hale and hearty. Realising their anxiety I told them when I reached the Kingdom of the Lord I found that the Information Technology has even reached there and the Almighty was surrounded by computers, latest gadgets and experts. Standing before Him, I told my name and that I was from the city of Chandigarh. Frantic search was carried out on all the latest computers but no such person from Chandigarh was available on the “Hit list”. However, they could locate one Mukherjee from Patiala (this was my city of birth but I kept mum !) The Lord was annoyed, overruled the Devil and giving me the “benefit of the doubt” sent me back to the earth. There was a burst of laughter all-around and everyone realised that I had
arrived!
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Authentic organic farming Organic means relational – that which is based on relationship; that which supports life. Organic farming is based on ecological processes and principles of agro ecology. It is also based on the idea of human communities working in cooperation and partnership, dignity and freedom. There was an old conflict between chemical or industrial agriculture and organic farming. There is now a new conflict emerging between authentic organic agriculture based on small, bio-diverse farms aimed at local markets and a pseudo-organic agriculture based on large-scale, monoculture, corporate farms, aimed at export. Organic farming emerged as a systemic alternative to industrial agriculture, which destroyed biodiversity, polluted ecosystems and food with agrichemicals, uprooted and displaced small farmers, and undermined local markets through subsidized long distance supply. The ecological, social and economic crisis generated by chemical/industrial agriculture also called the Green Revolution has created the imperative to seek alternatives. Industry, which brought us the Green Revolution, now wants to launch the Second Green Revolution, based on the same logic of ecological non-sustainability and social exclusion. The Second Green Revolution from the industrial perspective includes both genetic engineering and biotechnology as well as export oriented industrial farming based on input substitution. Punjab, the land of the Green Revolution, is also becoming the land of the Second Green Revolution, with corporations like Monsanto selling its seeds and companies like Reliance Industries, Bharati and ITC entering Punjab agriculture with an idea to create retail, commercial infrastructure in Punjab’s 12,000 villages. Groups like DMA labs grow vegetables and fruits for exports. Pseudo organic farming is based on destruction of small farms and uprooting of small farming communities to create large, export oriented industrial farms, in which farmers become laborers and serfs, instead of sovereign producers. Pseudo organic farming is based on destruction of biodiversity and creation of monocultures. It does not build on the essential ecological processes of renewal of soil fertility, rejuvenation of water and biodiversity. It merely substitutes chemical inputs with “organic” inputs. This is input substitution, not agro ecology. Agro ecology is the scientific basis of authentic organic farming. Authentic organic practices are based on principles of self-organisation.. Ecologically, self-organisation implies the capacity of living organisms and agro ecosystems to renew fertility through rejuvenation of soil micro organisms and recycling of organic matter, manage pests through building resilience and creating pest predator balance, conserve water, conserve and renew biodiversity. The seed giving rise to seed, the earthworm creating soil fertility, are examples of the self organizing capacity of nature and living systems, which are the basis of a sustainable self-organizing agriculture. Socially, self-organisation is Gandhi’s Swaraj (Self rule, self governance, self organisation). It is the basis of food sovereignty – the right to produce in freedom. Social and ecological self-organisation reinforce each other. Small farmers working in cooperation with the soil and plants can only provide the care and attention required to facilitate nature’s self-organisation. Food sovereignty, therefore, rests on agro ecology and both are built on principles of self-organisation. While self-organising in production is embodied in principles of agro ecology, self-organising in distribution is embodied in principles of localization – priority to production for local consumption and local and domestic markets. Localization as economic self-organisation ensures that local food needs are met and local food security and livelihoods strengthened to prevent malnutrition, hunger and poverty, and unemployment. It also provides the ground for cultural diversity in food systems, supported by biodiversity in agricultural systems. Pseudo organic methods are built on destruction of the self-organising capacity of human communities and agro ecosystems. Instead of biodiversity performing ecological services on small farms, monocultures based on input substitution mimic large-scale industrial agriculture. Instead of organic production being based on food sovereignty – the sovereignty of small-scale producers to produce food for themselves, their communities and countries – pseudo organic focuses singularly on large-scale production for exports, uprooting small farmers and undermining people’s food security and sovereignty. They are run for profit, not the health of the earth or of the local communities. The entry of MNC’s in organic agriculture is based on land reforms for the rich, by usurping the lands of poor and marginal farmers. This is what is happening in Punjab, where the government is taking over land by force from small farmers and handing it over to corporations for export of organic vegetables and fruits. When the government was forcefully taking over land in villages near Barnala and farmers protested, one of the farmers, Sarmukh Singh from Jethuke village in Bhatinda, was arrested and died in police custody. The farmers have started a “Zameen Bachao Andolan” to defend their land rights and resist government acquisition on behalf of corporate agribusinesses. Just as chemical farming and GM seeds are driving farmers into debt and suicide, pseudo organic farming, which is corporate-led and export-led is also killing farmers by taking away their land, their livelihoods. An agriculture that destroys biodiversity, uproots local farmers, and leaves local communities without food is not worthy of the label “organic”. To be organic is to be just and fair. An agriculture that turns rural areas into graveyards of farmers cannot be called organic. Organic means life giving. Authentic organic gives life. Pseudo organic is killing life. To remain authentic, organic farming must be biodiverse. Monocultures produce more control, not more food. For farmers they translate into a negative economy of high costs and low returns, which leads to debt, suicides and landlessness.
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Time to start on Haryana’s new Capital THE First War of Independence in 1857 was fought by Haryanvis on their soil. We will be celebrating the 150th anniversary next year. There is no better gift to Haryanvis on this occasion that to locate and start building Haryana’s much needed Capital city. This is an opportunity for the Chief Minister. Haryana as a separate state was carved out of Punjab in 1966 and now, after 40 years, the State Government is pressing the Government of India to establish a separate High Court for Haryana. Regrettably enough, the Haryana
Government still does not seem to be interested in constructing a new Capital. Haryana is still branded as a state having agriculture, but no culture. Geography has added to the problem. It is virtually a suburb of Delhi in more than one sense –Everything worthwhile drifts towards Delhi, be it politics, economics or culture. The political masters of Haryana spend more time in Delhi than the temporary capital, Chandigarh. The truth is, Haryanvis do not feel at home in Chandigarh. A new capital town will also lessen the pressure on
Delhi. A detailed geographical study of Haryana suggests that the Capital of the state cannot be located outside the trapezoid bounded by Gharaunda and Piple on the GT Road on one side, Meham and Agroha on National Highway No. 10 on the other side. Within this trapezoid, there may be three or four sites for favourable consideration. One school of thought, however, is strongly in favour of a well developed Panchkula, and the votaries of this thought are mostly Government employees having some interest in and around Chandigarh. Panchkula is in the extreme corner of Haryana and may not be able to protect the Haryanavi culture for which the state was created. Moreover, its own identity is at stake since the town has almost merged with Chandigarh. For security purposes also this town does not qualify for the seat of Haryana government. The possibility of a Capital around Hissar-Agroha is minimal on account of strong sand bearing winds and extreme temperatures. On the GT Road on the Karnal-Kurukshetra linear strip, the popular choice could be the Gharaunda-Madhuban site or Kurukshetra of Mahabharata fame. However, the state, until recently deficient in food grains, has been able to produce surplus food grains only due to this fertile zone. Haryana, therefore, cannot afford to waste this high fertility gradient for concrete structures. Further the traffic on GT Road remains as dense and undisciplined as ever. Experts in urban planning strongly plead for the Meham — Hansi strip as the capital location. They feel that any area near Chandigarh or Delhi would suffer from the shadow effect of these cities but a Capital between Meham and Hansi can act as a counter magnet. Other favourable factors include socio-economic potential, rich underground water and canal water resources, suitability for landscaping, terrain for natural drainage and availability of plenty of land. It is close to Rohtak and Hisar. Haryana would also prefer the Lutyens style rather than the Corbusier style of buildings.
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The “dark matter” of the US trade deficit The United States has had a large and growing current account deficit since the mid-1990s, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is now warning of global imbalances as high energy prices are exacerbating the pressures and “heightening the risk of a sudden disorderly adjustment.” It calculates that higher oil prices directly explain half the worsening of the US deficit in the last three years, while the recycling of petrodollars is indirectly making matters worse by reducing world interest rates and thus prompting American consumers to carry on spending like there’s no tomorrow. Earlier episodes of high oil prices have set ominous precedents, of course. But are we doomed to a repetition of history? This is the majority view among economists and commentators. But two Harvard economists, Ricardo Hausman and Federico Sturze-negger, have challenged – and enormously irritated – the doomsters with the intriguing suggestion that the current account deficit isn’t nearly as large as the official figures suggest. Their starting point is the observation that the US has had a deficit in every year but one since 1983, and while it has been deteriorating sharply, it’s hard to characterise a 20-year phenomenon as unsustainable. They also note that consistent and rising trade deficits imply that America’s net holdings of foreign assets should have been falling (as the figures indicate) and therefore America’s earnings on its overseas assets should have been falling too. But in fact the figures show those earnings have been fairly constant. Hausman and Sturzenegger argue that America has a large amount of intangible and unmeasured overseas assets - the “dark matter” (by analogy with the unseen dark matter in space which astronomers have to postulate to explain gravity). They suppose that US overseas assets can be valued on the basis of their returns, just as properties are valued on the basis of their rentals, or companies on the basis of their earnings. There is also quite a range of evidence indicating that US-owned firms are more productive than their local equivalents. The reason is widely thought to be their intangible know-how and better management techniques, in addition to other intangibles such as brand value. It seems quite likely therefore that the value of US direct investment overseas is understated to some extent in the statistics. However, although there is likely to be some intangible value, it is also likely to be somewhat fragile. To the extent that the value of a business rests on brand, reputation and the expertise of its managers, it can evaporate overnight; we have seen prominent examples in recent times of large companies becoming almost worthless. So even believers in dark matter can’t afford to be completely relaxed about the US current account. The dark matter approach has also unleashed a storm of controversy among economists. In a recent paper, the Federal Reserve Board of New York admits there is a “puzzle” in the fact that US companies earn a much higher rate of return on foreign direct investment overseas than do foreign firms operating in the US. Nevertheless, it argues that the deterioration in the US net asset position has taken a long time to feed through to earnings from foreign direct investment, but is about to do so big time. This is one of the main contentions of the dark matter critics. So is the IMF right to sound its new warning about global imbalances? Surely the truth lies somewhere between the radical dark matter approach and the dire warnings of imminent catastrophe. Hausman and Sturzenegger are right to say a 20-year “unsustainable” deficit needs explanation, and this is likely to lie in the productivity of US companies which invest overseas. But what is probably unsustainable is the pace at which the US current account deficit is deteriorating, exacerbated by energy prices. By arrangement with
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From the pages of Russian riddle
The world was puzzled at the mobilisation of four million men in Russia. Now it knows the meaning of that mobilisation. The huge Soviet military machine is operating against Poland and a situation has been created in which we find all calculations upset. The Soviet military operations have created a new record. The German troops advanced at the rate of 20 miles a day. The Russian troops have advanced at the rate of 34 miles a day. Obviously, Poland cannot prevent herself for long from being overrun. The only encouraging factor in the developments on the Eastern Front is the absence of any indication that Russia has entered the war on the side of Germany. Russia’s main object at present appears to be to protect its own interests.
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Having broken city-shops and strong buildings; And after committing thefts when he returns home, he looks anxiously ahead and behind to avoid detection. But How can he conceal all that from your gaze, O lord? — Guru Nanak Truth is higher than everything else: but higher by far is the living of truth. — Guru Nanak Every object has some life, even inanimate ones. so treat all with respect. — The Upanishads Even a brother’s faith may be swayed. As long as he believes his brother to be the greatest warrior, he claims to repose full faith in him. But when he sees another equally mighty, his faith turns into half-doubt. — The Mahabharata Don’t hope for life, time owns your breath. — Kabir
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