 |
|
Leave judiciary
alone Mittal
invades Orissa |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Monsoon
worries Punjab is uneasy with power situation It is almost an annual feature. There are wild conjectures about the date when the monsoon would enter the region. That their predictions frequently go off the mark does not bother the weather experts. While rain brings respite from the gruelling heat, residents of cities and towns dread their sewerage systems getting invariably choked.
Curbing immoral
trafficking
Toothbrush contest
Naxal menace A
little “excess”, a little “technique” Chatterati
|
|
Mittal invades Orissa It
is a credit to the almost predatory image that Mr Laxmi Niwas Mittal has acquired as an “acquisitions king” that within a few hours of his landing here in India, rumours were rife that Tata Steel was worried and they were raising their stake in TISCO to pre-empt a possible hostile bid. While both parties sought to dampen such intriguing speculation, there is no question that where the men of mettle go, men in business suits feel a bit of a flutter in their stomachs. Fresh from Arcelor shareholders’ approval of his multi-billion dollar takeover of Arcelor, Mr Mittal landed in Orissa with a huge carrot. This was no acquisition, but Mr Mittal’s first major greenfield project – a 12 million tonne capacity steel plant to be built from scratch, with an investment in the region of Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore. It was bad news for Jharkhand, as Mr Mittal was unhappy with the processing of their proposed project in that state. Though no pull-out was announced, Jharkhand will get the message. Mr Mittal is not only looking at iron ore and coal reserves in Orissa, but also port facilities and other infrastructure. He is clearly eyeing not just the domestic market, but also exports to steel-hungry countries. But he has not ruled out acquisitions later. Candidates are few and limited but they better watch out. With more and more states getting competitive as far as infrastructure and business environment is concerned, there is now a premium on efficient and transparent processing of mega-investment projects. Companies, both big and small, are fairly mobile and will move their plans to where they feel they are getting the best deal. Chief Ministers will feel the pressure to balance the development and investment needs with concern about the environmental and human displacement. The pressure can work to the good – but only if politicking is eschewed for high-performance and decisions taken on merit. |
|
Monsoon worries It
is almost an annual feature. There are wild conjectures about the date when the monsoon would enter the region. That their predictions frequently go off the mark does not bother the weather experts. While rain brings respite from the gruelling heat, residents of cities and towns dread their sewerage systems getting invariably choked. Farmers, relieved, silently pray to the rain gods not to shower their bounty in excess. Otherwise, floods could ruin their crops. If rain is inadequate, it means additional expenses on paddy. The authorities, meanwhile, sleep blissfully, unprepared to deal with either drought or floods. The annual ordeal begins even before the arrival of the monsoon. As the hot and humid weather makes life miserable, people in small towns come out on roads to protest against frequent and unscheduled power cuts. Irate villagers blocked traffic on the busy Jalandhar-Amritsar road at Kartarpur and Beas for more than an hour on Friday to express their anger at power cuts lasting up to 10 hours. The Banga-Phagwara road was also closed to traffic for about an hour as protesters damaged property of the Punjab State Electricity Board at Nurmahal. A PSEB official admitted to power cuts ranging from three to four hours in Patiala, Ludhiana and Amritsar, and up to seven hours in the smaller districts. The shutdown of the Nathpa- Jhakri hydel unit in Himachal Pradesh last week also contributed to the grim power scenario in Punjab. As if this was not enough, two units of the Ropar thermal plant were also closed. This time the Punjab government has not purchased any power to meet the shortage. In recent years, the power problem has not been addressed seriously in Punjab. There have been hardly any attempts to add to the existing power capacity. Power reforms have been put on hold and little effort has been made to bring in private power suppliers. Power pilferage, transmission losses and free power supply to farmers have contributed to the present shortage. |
|
Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.
— A proverb |
Curbing immoral trafficking The
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Bill 2006, introduced in Parliament on May 22, prior to the session’s conclusion, was apparently referred on June 2 by the Speaker to the HRD Parliamentary Standing Committee for examination and reporting back, within three months, to both Houses of Parliament before its passage. Consistent enquiries from the Ministry, Women and Children, have only just ascertained that the Standing Committee invited written public comment, giving a two-week response period that has unfortunately ended. Although public notices are said to have been published, the publicity to this process/procedure has clearly remained inadequate. It is hoped the committee considers time-extension for public inputs, for this important issue would undoubtedly benefit from greater public discourse. The country has waited for 20 years to move these amendments — the law, framed 1956, revised 1978, was last “strengthened” in 1986 and the concerned ministry/department has taken 13 years since launching draft alternatives, to move law amendments. A few more days for public inputs and debate are unlikely to cause any serious delay. Furthermore, extended time can play out simultaneously with the committee — yet to convene on this issue — taking it up. The ITPA revisit — to give it greater clarity, stronger teeth with more stringent punishment and most importantly, mechanisms and means to implement, so that the law assumes its rightful avatar as a tiger-in-the-field, capable of instilling fear to effectively curb immoral traffic and prevent/extricate victims from vicious vice-traps — is long awaited. Strengthening the nation’s capability to tackle one of its most horrendous and escalating problems — human-trafficking for exploitation, primarily sexual exploitation, is a key issue of our times. There is much to recommend in the draft under consideration. To first address its strengths, a significant positive is the removal of separate child/ minor categories. This created confusion in action in the past. The amendments erase all references to minor; take the age of childhood straight up to 18 years with punishments for child-trafficking/ child sexual-exploitation far more severe. It enhances punishments across-the-board for traffickers, brothel-runners, pimps, procurers and clients which, if implemented, would provide more meaningful deterrents than present levels. Some gaps remain, but minor. Other positives: deletion of Section 8, that lent itself to gross misuse as it further doubly victimised the prostituted person — for seducing and soliciting — when for the most part they were in circumstances outside their control. Proposed deletion of Section 20 on similar grounds is, however, a more mixed-bag requiring further thinking through — Section 20 allows removal of a prostituting person from any place only by a magistrate’s order. Deletion of this section without concomitant explicit provision for the circumstances in which women-in-prostitution can be removed to facilitate their rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration lays open loopholes/vulnerabilities that will be used to the detriment of the victims of the prostitution trade and to its proliferation-curbing. This is an example. Lack of careful calibration is evident in several other new sections that otherwise form unexceptional introductions such as 5A,B.C & 13A& B. Variously, these precisely define trafficking; lay down severer punishment for traffickers/ abettors, including life imprisonment on second conviction; fines and/or imprisonment for those visiting/found in brothels for sexual exploitation of victims of trafficking; create sorely-needed new mechanisms, i.e. constitution of a Central authority and state authorities to effectively undertake prevention and combat trafficking offences, plus a financial memorandum supporting the setting up of the Central authority. More thought is, therefore, needed to eliminate some obvious ambiguities that will open loopholes for rampant exploitation if not carefully addressed at this point; as importantly, to the adequacy of the provisions made to tackle the daunting, explosive tasks ahead. Taking the second issue first, the financial memorandum’s estimates of required funds are at best measly. The requested budget caters exclusively to the setting up of the Central authority to be appointed by the Central Government (what happens at the states’ level where without earmarked-fund-support nothing takes off?). At the Central level provision is only for salaries and supporting infrastructure totalling Rs 3.49 crore a year, without a paisa for the activities the authority must undertake to be a viable agency. Juxtapose 3.49 crore against the proposed subsidies exceeding Rs 6 crore for 500,000 female condoms to be distributed to “commercial sex workers” for AIDS prevention and the ironies are self-evident! What about budgets for the setting up of facilities for half-way houses, counselling, skill-building, other rescue-and-rehabilitation work, massive awareness/alternatives programmes to block supply channels and for hotfoot pursuit/ repeated raids on all forms of traffickers, near and afar, without which there will be more law and more of the same in the field. An overriding lacuna in the proposed amendment Bill is the lack of a sharp, clear-cut policy perspective highlighting trafficking and prostitution as practices derogatory to the dignity of the human being and violations of human rights/constitutional rights set out in India’s Constitution: malevolencies requiring priority, concerted societal thrust with adequate resource backing to reduce to irreducible minimums. A well-honed, comprehensive preamble should provide categorical policy direction and philosophical underpinning for the law’s effective use in a simultaneous multi-pronged attack to root out traffickers and trafficking, block supply channels, and provide exit to those currently caught in the vice-traps. For what half a century of legislation on the books with little ground effect has primarily shown is gross failure to act, due to ignorance and lack of understanding of the existing provisions to penalise the gamut of traffickers/profiteers, including users. The minister’s statement of objects and reasons is curiously weak. It limits itself to a feeble reasoning that “implementation of the Act is hampered by the existence of certain provisions of the Act such as Sections 8 and 20” as the most commonly invoked provisions and directed towards the prosecution of the trafficked persons resulting in further victimising the victim. This sole logic argues: “Thus, with a view to focusing on traffickers and to providing for stringent punishment, it is proposed to amend the Act.” This weakness of policy direction, together with loose words/unnecessary predicating clauses, particularly in Sections 5A&C, insert new ambiguities that will entangle action. For instance, when punitive measures exist for keeping a brothel/ allowing premises to be used as a brothel, why predicate proof of trafficked status for prostitution on clauses of force, coercion, use of power or inducement? Will not prostituted persons be coerced/induced to declare the agency (as they do in courts even presently)? Can there be an agency to be a part of a brothel? Are brothels legal in India under any circumstances? As crucially, hinging punishment of brothel-customers on “sexual exploitation of a victim of trafficking” provides an alibi with the need to prove the purchase of a trafficked victim! These (and other points) must be raised and addressed, if the intent is the elimination of the loose-ends to end trafficking for prostitution and not to open fresh ambiguous spaces of “voluntary prostitution” and legitimisation without
legalisation.
|
Toothbrush contest In
the normal course, my path seldom crosses that of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade (MRTP) Practices Commission. I take the low road, so to say and the august Commission the high, but now I have a festering grouse against the commission for, thanks to its recent ruling, I am awash in toothbrushes of all sizes and colours and I have the dubious distinction of being the proud (and victimised) owner of no less than 20 dozen of them. When the toothbrush contest was announced, I let out a wild whoop of joy for entering slogan contests is the “in” thing with me and of course, I have nothing to show for my numerous forays into the contests arena except a red face and a gunny sackful of grievances and you can appreciate my plight when I say that I have failed to bag even an “early bird” prize. I made a mad dash to the nearest general store and began to frantically buy up toothbrushes and more the merrier. Putting on my thinking cap, I got down to strenuous work writing slogans in 10 words or less and in next to no time, a clutch of them was ready and off they went to the postbag address accompanied, of course, by an empty toothbrush carton. The tantalising first prize in the toothbrush contest was an all-expenses paid round-the-world air trip and I could feel it in my bones (and teeth) that the thing was in my (air) bag. In between spells of slogan writing, I daydreamed about my imminent departure on that global air trip, and I drew up an elaborate itinerary. My first stopover after leaving Bangalore would be Singapore to shop for Japanese cameras, VCRs and other electronic goodies, Bangkok, Tokyo, Honolulu (with a surfing vacation on Waikiki beach thrown in as an add-on bonus), Los Angeles, Washington (to say hello to my old pals George and Laura Bush) and returning home via London, Frankfurt and Zurich. I bought up more toothbrushes, too, till I had almost cornered the entire availability of toothbrushes in the neighborhood shops and action taken against me for hoarding. Then one fine morning, without due, advance warning, the shoe dropped and the cookie crumbled. The newspapers reported that the MRTP Commission, in a “landmark” ruling, had held the toothbrush contest as “unfair” and a “restrictive” trade practice and had issued an “ex-parte injunction” — what and awful judicature phrase! — against proceeding with the contest. So here I am saddled with 240 soft, medium and hard toothbrushes with spring action angular handles and rounded, sterilised nylon bristle tips that can reach the incisors and molars in the upper storey and not quite knowing what to do with them. In a desperate bid to liquidate my hoarded stock, I have resorted to 24-hour, non-stop brushing of my teeth and so much so, I now have the shiniest white teeth among the rate-paying denizens of Ward F, Division 113 of Bangalore City Corporation, but with the toothbrush contest having gone “phut”, pearly smile has been wiped off my lips and an eager world deprived of a chance to take a long, hard and critical “dekko” at my gleaming
snappers. |
Naxal menace Travelling
by horse back is the fastest mode of communication in the tribal-inhabited remote and interior forest areas of this (East Godavari) district,” said my guide during a visit to the Naxalite-Maoist-affected parts of the Andhra-Orissa Border Special Guerrilla Zone (AOBSZ). I heard that with disbelief while we were travelling in the Eastern Ghats from Rampa Chodavaram, headquarters of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) project, to Chinturu in bordering Khammam district. “The tribals here”, he added, “have little capacity to assess and quote a suitable price for their produce. They sell them dead cheap to traders from the plains, who make huge profits”. Some months ago, in an interior forest area, my guide bought two sacks full of mausambi, each with 100 fruits, all for Rs 2 a piece; they would cost Rs 8 a piece in the towns. To me, a native of East Godavari, a very prosperous district and one of the rice bowls of India, the striking differences there — in connectivity and levels of development — were rather incomprehensible. Another surprise in store was that along the road for a stretch of nearly 50 kilometres, one could spot just one settlement of some 15 dwellings, and down below, on either side, were deep ravines. The villages are scattered way off the road and trekking is the only mode of commuting. The scale of Maoist violence has not been high in East Godavari’s forests, but the quietitude is misleading. In Maredumilli, near Rampa Chodavaram, Maoist sympathisers in Rajahmundry and Kakinada procure logistics (dress material, medicines, provisions, etc) and stealthily transport them further beyond Maredumilli, deep into the forests, sometimes with the connivance of forest department officials in their vehicles, who are either sympathisers or have been coerced. Having read that the Maoists operate weapons “production units” deep inside forests, a security official in Rampa Chodavaram was asked whether one existed there. “We have some vague information that they are fabricating rocket-launchers somewhere in these forests”, he replied. Rocket-launchers were recovered for the first time in the country in Malkangiri forests, Orissa, in 2002. The Maoists have used rocket-launchers with partial success on at least a dozen occasions since 2003 in Andhra Pradesh, including in AOBSZ. The guerrillas twice made failed attempts using rocket launchers, etc, to blow up the police station in Gudem Kotta Veedhi (better known as G K Veedhi), the mandal (taluk) headquarters, Visakhapatnam district, my next stop in the AOBSZ. Two streets –– GK Veedhi (Gudem new street) and Gudem Pata Veedhi (Gudem old Street) comprise Gudem village. I was advised against visiting G. K. Veedhi and was told that it is a “proper liberated area”. Here the Maoists routinely hold up vehicles, ascertain the credentials of passengers, thoroughly check vehicles and let them go only after satisfying themselves that they are not police. Here, much as in several other Maoist-affected parts of the country, for reasons of safety, the police travel incognito in public transport. By sheer coincidence I did not run into a rebel squad, as they were camping elsewhere. At the weekly market, in this age of e-commerce, one could not miss noticing that a tribal was bartering his load of tamarind for something, to a trader from the plains! Watching barter for the first time was an experience to me. Thereafter, we sat at a kiosk and bought a bottle of “bottled mineral water”, where I was introduced to the stringer of a vernacular daily. While he was explaining to me that the Maoists have an excellent informer network in the area, two teen-agers approached us, intently watching the strangers that we were. The Maoists virtually run a parallel administration in GK Veedhi. They are known to have collected “taxes” and “fines” from non-tribal government employees; approximately, the equivalent of 15 days of salary per annum. As in many other affected areas, they have virtually evicted the civil administration and occupied its space. They confiscate medical supplies of the state health department upon arrival and promptly distribute them among the tribals. Committees have been formed to fight for water, education, health and cyclone relief and to oppose bauxite mining in a forest land. For almost a year now the Maoists have killed many civilians, branding them as police informers. Apparently, an active informer network helped in recovering many arms dumps in the past two years. A media report of May 17, 2006, said that a few days earlier, besides two claymore mines, for the first time in the country 50 shells of ‘pressure bombs’, too, were recovered near Kumkumpudi village. The latter’s finish indicated they were manufactured in a workshop or factory. Pressure bombs are circular in shape, and are easy to fabricate and detonate. To set it off, an unsuspecting person would merely have to step where it is planted. The guerrillas frequently attack the police in GK Veedhi. Barely a few hours after we left, members of the Maoist people’s militia set off a landmine blast in a village in the area, injuring a constable and a home guard. On May 28, 2006, in a sneak raid on a weekly market in Sileru, GK Veedhi mandal, the Maoists shot dead a CRPF jawan, injured another and two tribal women, besides looting two AK-47 rifles. In fact, the rebels make comprehensive preparation before an attack. They conduct thorough reconnaissance and separate teams are tasked with a specific responsibility during the entire attack and the retreat. Reportedly, 60 rebels were mobilised for the raid, but meticulous planning and lightning speed enabled a mere handful to complete it. Without losing time, they all retreated into the forests. “The Maoists appear at a village, melt into these dense forests, and surface at another”, a senior security official of Southern Orissa said, pointing to the impregnable forests lining the hills in Rayagada district, my next and final stop in the AOBSZ. We were at a height of 4000 feet above MSL, on the state highway from Rayagada to Gunupur in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district. The district is a full-fledged guerrilla zone.
The writer is a Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. |
|
A little “excess”, a little “technique” Lord
Blair is always being completely and absolutely honest with us. He is always absolutely convinced he was right to invade Iraq (even when the rest of the world completely realises the opposite). He is always completely and absolutely certain of his own integrity. I call this the “Ho-ho” factor. So all the Fisk radar warnings went off this week when Blair told us that “we have got to address the completely false sense of grievance against the West” felt by Muslims. Completely. Muslims’ “sense of grievance” – fury might be a better word – is “completely” false. Is it? We are screwing up Afghanistan, destroying tens of thousands of lives in Iraq, and America now has a military presence in Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen and Oman - and Muslim grievance is “completely” false. It’s odd, though, how folk think they can get away with this stuff. Take my old chum Professor Alan Dershowitz, who announced on the evening of 11 September 2001 that I was a “dangerous man” because I asked the question “why” about the international crimes against humanity in the United States. This week, in an article in The Independent, Dershowitz was at it again. I especially enjoyed his description of a standard US military torture, “water boarding”. He described it as “a technique that produces a near-drowning experience”. Ho ho. You bet it does. He says that this is torture. But why the word “technique”? Why does it “produce” an “experience”? Actually, the experience is one of drowning, not “near-drowning” - that’s the point of this vile practice. I love these key phrases which are littered throughout Dershowitz’s article, so soft and gentle: “the nature of permissible interrogation”, “questionable means”, “sometimes excessive efforts” and so on. All this, mark you, is premised on one totally misleading statement. “Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of suicide terrorists with no fear of death and no home address have rendered useless the deterrent threat of massive retaliation.” True - if such people existed. But there simply hasn’t been any suicide terrorist with a weapon of mass destruction - not ever. The whole torture fandango gathers weasel words like moss. Take a reference in The Wall Street Journal last month to torture as “aggressive interrogation techniques”. “Technique” again, please note. Chris Hitchens got in on the act last month when he tried to explain the slaughter of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha. Their comrade had just been killed by insurgents. So the Americans may have “cracked up” and “cut loose”. Hitchens describes the massacre at Haditha as “a white-hot few minutes” and, later still, he talks of a “coalition soldier who relieves his rage by discharging a clip”. A few seconds later and he is going on about the “alleged rampage”. Rampage! Ho ho. The point, of course, is that it takes much more than a “clip” of ammunition to kill 24 civilians. And it takes a long time - not a “few” minutes - to go from room to room, amid the shrieking children who are being slaughtered and the women trying to protect themselves from murder to blast that many people to death. Some “rampage”. So what does it take to run the earth these days? Effortless authority, I suppose. A little bit of “excess”, plenty of “technique” and a mere clip of ammunition. Completely and absolutely. Ho
ho. By arrangement with The Independent |
|
Chatterati While Rahul Gandhi is yet to make up his mind on his role in the party, the list of his teammates, as on his recent birthday on June 19, is more or less ready. Those who continue to be in the list are Milind Deora, Jitin Prasada, Vibhakar Shastry, Sachin Pilot and Pallam Raju. Those who are out are Kuldeep Bishnoi, Naveen Jindal and Ajay Maken. The ones who were never part of the list are Sandeep Dikshit, Deependra Singh Hooda and Madhu Gowda. One who always hits it off with Rahul is Omar Abdullah, who shares interests in bikes and other sports with the young Gandhi. The million-dollar question in the Capital though is whether all these youngsters will win the next time round. Troublesome allies The Congress allies in the UPA have started rearing their heads. They are using every opportunity possible to embarrass the Congress leadership. But what is worrying for the Congress is that even Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD is charting a different course. One can understand the NCP blasting the Congress for messing up the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls and in retaliation fielding Rahul Bajaj for the Rajya Sabha, with the support of the BJP and the Shiv Sena. But now, even RJD’s Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, the rural development minister, has started saying that all the allies should be invited to the UPA-Left coordination committee. The NCP has already registered its protest for not being included in the committee, and apart from the RJD, the JMM and the others too have joined the fray. RJD supreme and railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is already working for the creation of a third front, though he is not as vocal in this game plan as the Left parties are. He is also working over time to get out of the fodder scam mess. Cabinet choreography It’s agenda politics in the UPA. Each cabinet minister is playing populist games and citing the CMP as an excuse. First it was Arjun Singh and his reservation bandwagon. Soon after, Meira Kumar renewed her drive for job reservations in the private sector. Mani Shankar Aiyar has been grumbling about the astronomical sums being set aside for the Commonwealth Games while the socially correct Panchayati Raj ministry is cash strapped. More recently, Kamal Nath cited the infamous ‘Aam Admi’ as the reason for his high profile walkout of the WTO talks in Geneva. He declared that the common man’s interests were not being protected in the international trade dialogue. His ministry says his walk out was part of the CMP script. Hopefully, the cabinet choreographer at 10 Janpath is happy. Dwindling base The Congress party is in emergency mode. Worried about its depleting support base across the country, the party is believed to have recently commissioned a mid-term survey to gauge its popularity. The emerging trends are startling. The party is losing out on its limited support rapidly. In the southern states, there is bad news from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh too present a sorry picture for the party. The party’s prospects in Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi look dismal. The findings have forced the leadership to conduct a review of state leaderships and governments. Most general secretaries are said to be promoting divisions among leaders and the organisation is in total disarray.
|
|
From the pages of Death of Nehru
The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere,” said Jawaharlal Nehru when Mahatma Gandhi passed from our midst. In words reminiscent of his own, the nation has heard the passing of Jawaharlal: “The light is out.” A jewel among men, he was bequeathed to the nation by Mahatma Gandhi. He said of Jawaharlal: “He is as pure as crystal; he is truthful beyond suspicion. He is a knight sans peur, sans reproche. The nation is safe in his hands.” Born to exalted station, he knew the art of being a King. But he was a King with the Common Touch. Attlee called him the doyen of the Prime Minister of the Free World. “Posterity,” Dr Radhakrishanan has said, “will look upon his as one of the great liberators of humanity.” |
The king who aspires to monarchy must ever guard his kingdom with sleepless eyes. He must ever tend his subjects with a father’s love and care, knowing their fears and demolishing their source, rejoicing with them on
occasions of joy. — The Mahabharata I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. You don’t grasp the fact that what is most alive of all is inside your own house and you walk from one holy city to the next completely confused! — Kabir Who can we call bad, whom good, when we see the same God within one and all? The master revealed this as a truth to us. — Guru Nanak Progress comes to those who work hard. — The Upanishads |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
