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Right choice Another medical
college Quota vacancies |
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SEZs are welcome
What’s in a name?
Why China should
rethink its India strategy US signals pullback from
Iraq Legal
notes
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Another medical college Four
months ahead of the assembly elections, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced an Id gift — a medical college for Punjab’s Muslim-dominated town of Malerkotla. In the run-up to elections, politicians usually make promises, which often they find hard to keep if and when returned to office. It is bad enough if the Chief Minister does not mean to deliver the gift he has promised. But it would be worse if he does. It is not sure the Congress would regain power. Even if the party does, there is no certainty that Capt Amarinder Singh would again become Chief Minister. However, in the event that both probabilities do materialise, the crucial question is: does the state need another medical college? Is Malerkotla the right choice for locating a medical college? Malerkotla is close to Patiala, which already has a medical college. Such a college will not help the people of Malerkotla as such. Admissions to medical colleges are done through an entrance test and local students have to first clear the test. It is not that being a resident of Malerkotla would entitle them to admission in the proposed college. Malerkotla is a picture of neglect and the Chief Minister has rightly sanctioned Rs 62 crore for its development. What the town, like many others in the state, really needs is access to quality education and health facilities. A well-equipped hospital for Malerkotla makes sense, but not a medical college. The location of any major institution or creation of a new district should not be based on political considerations. If the state does need another medical college, its location should be decided on merit. There are neglected districts like
Ferozepore, Mansa, Gurdaspur and Ropar. The existing government medical colleges are terribly short of teachers and do not have sufficient equipment for want of funds. Their unhealthy plight has been highlighted by The Tribune in a recent series of reports on medical institutions in the region. The medical college at Faridkot functions from godowns while the medical university operates from a guesthouse. The priority should be to set right the existing hospitals and colleges before promising new ones. |
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Quota vacancies One
significant feature of the recent judgement by the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench is its directive to the Union and state governments not to carry forward the unfilled vacancies meant for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes for years together. The five-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal has ruled that the government will have to introduce a specific timeframe hereafter to fill vacancies. Unfortunately, though the rules framed by the Centre and some states allow carry over of the vacancies up to three years, this has been continuing indefinitely, to the detriment of the administration. It is also adversely affecting the interests of the reserved categories. The apex court has directed the government to apply cadre strength as a unit in the operation of a post-specific, and not vacancy-based, roster system. Given the scope and magnitude of the problem, the task of filling vacancies is not going to be easy. For instance, as on May 1, 2005, the Centre had identified 26,302 backlog reserved vacancies in direct recruitment quota and 30,534 in promotion quota. It is not clear to what extent the special recruitment drive has helped the government to clear the backlog. However, given political will and whole-hearted bureaucratic support, there is scope for improvement. The judgement should be viewed as a sincere attempt by the apex court to secure a better deal for the SCs, the STs and the OBCs. If there is no perceptible improvement in the representation of the reserved categories in the Central and state services, the governments will have to formulate suitable strategies to increase their representation. The apex court has now banned the clubbing of unfilled posts with current vacancies. Consequently, the government has no alternative but to implement the roster system as directed. Clearly, reservation should not lead to the perpetuation of vacancies for want of suitable people among the reserved categories. The ruling is particularly important because of the court’s word of caution to the government that if it fails to tackle the problem of excessiveness in positive discrimination, the court will decide on complaints filed by aggrieved employees on merit. |
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Our life is frittered away by detail ... simplify, simplify. — Henry Devid Thoreau
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SEZs are welcome Right
action, yet the delayed one! Mrs Sonia Ghandi struck the right note at a Congress conclave in expressing her anguish and debarring the acquisition of fertile productive land of farmers for setting up special economic zones. Several issues are involved and several interests are at stake in this approach, which need careful consideration of policy makers. First and the foremost issue is that of the food security and access to food. Food security issue involves the availability of food on a sustainable basis and access to food entails purchasing power in the hands of the people. Not to speak of food in its comprehensive sense, India is short of even foodgrains from the point of view of nutritional needs of the people. Foodgrain surpluses, whenever they occur, are spurious statistics in their very nature, because it is a situation of only supply exceeding the demand. Demand is always at a price and depends upon the purchasing power of the buyer. Even after about six decades of Independence, at least one-third of the population in India does not have enough purchasing power to meet their food requirements at reasonable levels of calorie consumption. It is, therefore, imperative that on the one hand availability of food should not decrease, rather must increase in a sustainable manner, and should be available at a reasonable price. On the other hand, purchasing power of poorer sections of society must improve in order that their access to food is enhanced. On the supply side, there should not be any squeeze on the availability of fertile productive land which is already developed and is yielding high, particularly the double-cropped irrigated areas of the country. It takes huge investment to develop land for intensive cultivation and provide it with irrigation water for the purpose. If such lands are eaten up by urbanisation, industrial expansion, malls, colonisation and industrially oriented special economic zones, it will be hard to compensate the loss of highly productive land through development of equally productive new lands. If this process of urbanisation through various approaches is not controlled and rationalised, there is every possibility of increasing the fragility of the food security of the country. This does not, however, mean that industrial development be stopped. There is a dire need to create large-scale avenues of gainful employment, but without encroaching upon the fertile and highly productive agricultural land. There are huge areas in every state which are low-productivity areas, and in some states there are barren and marginal areas that do not and cannot sustain the populations depending upon this land. These are exactly the populations that are poor and left out from the mainstream development of the country. If special economic zones or small industrial townships are made to come up in these areas, the development of the country will become inclusive in its very nature. Locating the special economic zones near the cities and developing posh colonies, malls and housing complexes encroaching upon fertile land lead to the escalation of land prices. Houses and establishments in these areas are appropriated by the rich and moneyed non-resident Indians only. Small land-owners, whose land is acquired against their will by the government, are left high and dry. There is already a hue and cry raised by the farmers and their organisation whose land has been acquired, and political parties are fishing in troubled waters. If such acquisitions continue, these can ignite social unrest and a large majority of have-nots can create upheavals in society. The most difficult case is of states like Punjab, where almost the total area is double-cropped, the irrigated area is more than 96 per cent and cropping intensity is 188 per cent. Every additional grain produced in this state adds to the marketable surplus and accrues to the food stocks of the country. Every reduction in production affects the food surpluses adversely. Yet, even this state has low productivity areas in the Kandi belt and south-west districts with brackish water. These are exactly the areas in relative distress due to low productivity, lack of sufficient quality water for irrigation, biotic and abiotic stresses on growing crops and lack of employment opportunities. If special economic zones and industrial townships are placed in these areas and districts, it will have less adverse effect on food production and ameliorate the economic condition of the people who are really poor and in distress. There is no point in locating special economic zones, industrial hubs, townships and malls in central Punjab and near big cities, when there are more deserving areas outside of this region in dire need of such economic establishments. There is always a question of accessibility of the special economic zones and infrastructure available in such less-developed and low-productivity areas. We need to realise that these areas are also parts of the state and have an equal right to development; rather they have better claim because of the very fact that they are underdeveloped. With the establishment of such zones and townships, these areas will also come into the mainstream development and better infrastructure will be created out of necessity. These days there is no area or village that is not covered adequately in respect of communication. Power distribution network is in place everywhere. Shortage of power is not peculiar to these areas alone. It is only the quality road network which needs to be developed and it can be done in an equally cost-effective manner in any part of the state, and these areas deserve that much. Given these infrastructural facilities, any industrial or service sector enterprise will have no hesitation in moving to these areas. Then comes the question of farmers whose land is acquired. No doubt, the state has the right and prerogative to acquire any land for public purposes or development projects, yet the farmers whose land is acquired cannot and should not be taken as mere statistics. They are also human beings with family and social obligations and are equal citizens of democratic India. Their rights and aspirations should not be ignored. If their land is to be acquired, they must be paid at least double the real market price and their housing and livelihood should be ensured through providing appropriate employment in these industrial and service sector zones and parks. Also, training facilities must be created to develop their capacities for handling new jobs under the changed environment. Thus, where food security of the country must not be jeopardised in any manner and interest of the dispossessed farmers must be protected, location of such zones, towns and parks must be rationalised to serve the areas that are at a comparative
disadvantage.
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What’s in a name? We
are not born with any name; our name is an after-birth phenomenon and once it is attached to us it sticks. The name is like a fabric — soft and silky. It is also a mirror of personality. Man is mortal but name is not. Recently The Tribune carried a news item that the Himachal Pradesh School Education Board has allowed a Chamba-based girl, who got her sex changed, to change her name. A team of surgeons from PGI Chandigarh had issued a certificate confirming the change of sex. Sherashta Kumari was, therefore, allowed to change her name to Shreshth Kumar. An indelible imprint of a memory, which has refused to fade out, suddenly appeared when a newly appointed minister had not called me by the name gifted by my parents but used a shorter version. It was the year 1954 and my first assignment with a newly appointed minister in the former State of PEPSU. Before joining I was secretly briefed that he was unschooled in administrative functioning and was not well educated. I was thus advised to be extremely careful in handling all matters. I found him to be a handsome middle aged public leader who wore a rich dhoti and kurta with aplomb. However, my first meeting with him belied all the appearance when he welcomed me by calling “Muker” and not “Mukerjee.” He continued with his performance for sometime and used the shorter version. I was shocked and there was agonising squeeze in my stomach. However, I controlled my ego and dumped it in the garbage. I rushed to the Chief Minister, who had put me to this assignment, and explained my problem. He smiled but assured that the matter will be settled. Next day I was summoned to his room. The minister had justified his action by telling that he always called his elder son “Bhagtay” while his name was Bhagt Ram. Similar was the case with his younger son whose name was Ram Lal but he always called him “Ramu”. In the same manner he had called me “Muker”. It was explained to him that these shorter versions were correct in the case of his sons but not with a government employee. He mended his ways and it was a narrow escape for me! The old and familiar names from big cities are gone and new indigenous ones have appeared in their place. The people of older generation feel lost. However, there will always remain some exceptions where citizens have themselves given the names and no administration can terminate these. Just look at Chandigarh. Can the Tribune Chowk, the Labour Chowk or the Matka Chowk be changed? These hopefully will continue to be called by these names. After all, name is essence of
existence. |
Why China should rethink its India strategy The
India–China security interface formed the subject of intense bilateral discussions at a recent Track II meeting in the capital at which senior retired military officers from both countries were present. Both countries carry a great deal of historical baggage, positive and negative. On the plus side are the centuries old linkages between the two great civilisations, the regard that the Chinese have for Dr Kotnis for his dedicated help during the Sino-Japanese War (which led former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji to meet with the descendants of the doctor during his visit to India some years ago), the fact that India stood with China for its representation in the United Nations from the earliest days, and later, the leadership role that both countries together played in the emergence of the Non Aligned Movement. The minuses are the War of 1962 and the cold vibes that developed for a couple of years before that following the annexation of Tibet and, of course, the fact that China has, over the years, interacted with South Asian neighbours, Pakistan in particular, in a manner prejudicial to India’s security concerns. There has been transfer of arms and missile and nuclear technology and a political posture almost bordering on the confrontational. This nexus, between China and countries in India’s immediate neighbourhood has put Indian security interests under considerable strain and has contributed to the deliberately inimical positions that some of them have taken against us from time to time. Chinese assistance in the development of the Gwadar port in Pakistan standing at the mouth of the energy critical Gulf of Hormuz and in Myanmar has added to the disquiet. There are reports that similar help in port development may now be on its way in Sri Lanka. Clearly, China is seeking a foothold in the Indian Ocean littoral region and this should be viewed by our security planners with the seriousness that it deserves. There are, of course, several positive developments in the last few years in the interface between the two countries. Bilateral trade has boomed from $ 500 million ten years ago to just under $ 19 billion last year and the pace of growth is likely to be maintained. By 2010, this figure could reach $ 50 billion, making China India’s largest trading partner, ahead of the USA. Several Indian companies are now operating in China. Measures to facilitate cooperation in the competitive energy sector have been initiated. At the political level too, statements made by Chinese leaders and the agreements concluded between the two countries talking of strategic and cooperative relations and providing for the settlement of the long outstanding boundary dispute within a political framework are healthy signs. An MoU for defence cooperation was signed by the two Defence Ministers in June 2006, visits of military leaders have been exchanged at the highest level and joint exercises have been held between ships of both navies. More recently, an agreement to cooperate in the fields of Science and Technology has been concluded. It would appear that the past is behind us and a rosy future lies ahead. If only life were so simple! The boundary dispute is not about to be solved in any hurry. Without going into any specifics, the trade-offs that the Chinese want are not something to which India can agree and possibly, the reverse is also true. With the increasing growth and modernisation of the Chinese Navy, it can be presumed that a more active presence in the waters of the North Indian Ocean is only a matter of time. The ports being developed in our neighbourhood are not mere economic assistance programmes but facilities which can be used to advantage in sustaining such deployments. There is also little reason to believe that China is ready to scale down its political and military linkages in our vicinity. Talk of ‘encirclement’ of India might sound alarmist but clearly the portents are not reassuring. There is no doubt that China would be the predominant power in Asia and second only, though by far, to the USA. The Chinese themselves are quite confident on this score despite their protestations, quite reasonable, that they would still be a very poor country. The real question is where India is seen to be. If a weak India is what meets the Chinese interest then, obviously, their continued involvement in the South Asian surroundings and the relationship with Pakistan would be the chosen direction to go. This, in turn, would make India more nervous of its security and, logically, lean towards a relationship with the USA, Japan etc which might not be very palatable to the Chinese. In effect, both countries would end up in a trap ‘containing’ each other which would be disadvantageous to their interests and, at the same time make the US led western allies feel more comfortable. A strong and confident India, on the other hand, would lead to the country being more ‘independent’ of the USA and consequently, propel a more multilateral world order in which China, Russia, India could become important players along with the USA, EU, Brazil and Japan, with the first still way ahead but having to become more responsive to the others. But for this, China would need to reconsider its position and attend to India’s sensitivities. This is not likely to happen in a hurry but it appears that the Chinese are beginning to review their options. The forthcoming visit of President Hu Jin Tao in November may give some indication of whether this is, indeed, in motion. India has always seen China as a source of potential concern, whether as a threat or a rival or a competitor. It also needs to reconfigure its own options. While good relations with the USA are clearly very important, they must be placed in the context of a larger framework of strategic relations with other players on the multilateral table with sufficient distance being maintained from all. But for this to happen, its security concerns will need to be met. Positive relationship between the two Asian giants is, therefore, essential. Cooperation, and not containment, is the way ahead. The writer is a former Director-General, Defence Planning Staff |
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US signals pullback from Iraq In
the firmest indication yet of a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, America’s most senior general there and its top civilian official have drawn the outlines of a political and military plan that could see a substantial pullout of US troops within 12 to 18 months. Tuesday’s announcement looked like a strategy change although President Bush’s aides deny any “dramatic shifts” in policy. It came after Mr Bush’s spokesman acknowledged on Monday that the President had cut and run from his signature promise that America would “stay the course” in Iraq. In a joint press conference in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador, laid out a series of political steps that he claimed had been agreed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, including a crackdown on militias, a peace offer to insurgents and a plan for sharing oil revenues. The measures, to be taken over the next year, would amount to a new “national compact” between the Iraqi factions, he said. At the same time, General George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, said the training of Iraqi security forces – essential for any orderly US departure – was 75 per cent complete. Within 12 to 18 months, he said, they would emerge as “the dominant force in Iraq,” even though some residual US military presence would be needed (as President Bush himself has indicated). The rare joint press conference took place amid deepening political turmoil in Washington, where leading members of Mr Bush’s own Republican party are demanding a radical rethink of US strategy in Iraq. They argue that current policies had all but failed, as sectarian and anti-American violence threatened to overwhelm the country. Coming after the White House formally abandoned Mr Bush’s previous “stay the course” formulation for US policy, the appearance by Mr Khalilzad and General Casey seemed part of a carefully choreographed exercise to signal, without explicitly saying so, that a timetable for pull-out – long rejected by the President – was in fact taking shape. The clear purpose was twofold: to reassure voters a fortnight before mid-term elections that the administration had a workable policy for Iraq and that, all appearances to the contrary, that policy was achieving some success. Though some 90 US troops have been killed this month, and Iraqi civilian deaths are running at 100 a day or more, General Casey maintained that 90 per cent of the attacks were occurring within a 30-mile radius of Baghdad. But even he acknowledged the timetable was at the mercy of events on the ground, which Washington was largely powerless to shape. American troop levels might actually have to be increased to cope with the continuing violence in Baghdad, where a return to order is vital if the country is to be stabilised. Mr Khalilzad offered no certainty of a political settlement, and mentioned no timetable for disarming the Shia militias. This is the issue which could tear asunder Mr al-Maliki’s government, some of whose members have ties with the largest of the militias. Washington has not disguised its frustration with Mr al-Maliki’s government and its refusal to confront the
militias. By arrangement with The Independent |
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Legal notes Conservationists
have raised a hue and cry on the depleting tiger population and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set up a task force to take immediate measures to protect the big cat, but the rules framed by the government seem to be in conflict with one another. This was brought to the notice of the Supreme Court by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an international wildlife conservation organisation. Their counsel, Raj Panjwani, said that though the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has been set up by the Centre under the amended Wild Life (Protection) Act, 2006, the Environment and Forest Ministry has not even constituted a standing committee on it. Besides, the NTCA has virtually been brought into “direct conflict” with the National Board of Wildlife monitoring all “tiger projects”. A Bench, headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, has sought a report from the Centre on how it plans to tackle the problem in view of setting up of the new body and what is the feedback from states having major tiger conservation sanctuaries. Under the amended law, states have been empowered to notify an area as a tiger reserves and draw plans for protection of the big cat on the recommendation of the NTCA. The WWF counsel expressed apprehension that instead of finding a solution, the whole tiger conservation process would get only get “duplicated”. Early hearing on convicted legislators The Supreme Court has been urged to complete the hearing of a petition for quashing of clause 4 of Section 8 of the Representation of People Act (RPA), which protects a legislator convicted in a criminal case from disqualification pending his appeals in the higher court. An application for early disposal of its PIL was moved by the NGO – Lok Prahari – on the issue last week and a Bench, headed by the CJI, said that this was an important matter needing early disposal. NGO activist S N Shukla, contesting the case as a petitioner-in-person, submitted that retention of such a provision in the RPA was “defeating” the democratic process as convicted legislators continue to enjoy immunity against disqualification even if convicted for heinous crimes like murder, after getting bail from the appellate court. In this context he cited the case of UP MLA Vijay Singh awarded life sentence for the murder of former legislator Braham Dutt Dwivedi. Since it takes a long time in deciding the case by the Supreme Court, the last court of appeal, the tainted legislators continue to move scot-free and even complete their full tenure. “It is a mockery of democracy,” Shukla argued. Directive on BSF powers In an interesting matter pertaining to grant of special powers to the Boarder Security Force by the Union Government in 1969 and 1974, the Supreme Court has directed a judicial magistrate in Tripura to take them into consideration while deciding a case against an Assistant Commandant of the force. The commandant had ordered seizure of 50 bags of sugar carried in a jeep towards the Bangladesh border after intercepting it a short distance away from the actual border. The police had subsequently charge sheeted the jeep owner for smuggling of the commodity to the neighbouring country where it was in great demand at that time. But the magistrate had ordered an inquiry against the commandant by his superior officers as how he had intervened in the matter, which was outside his jurisdiction. The magistrate in an interim order said carrying of sugar in a jeep away from border was not an offence unless proved otherwise by concrete evidence. The apex court, however, stayed the inquiry against the commandant and directed that the magistrate, while deciding the case, would take into consideration special powers given to BSF in border areas under the notifications of 1969 and 1974 by the Union Government. The BSF is empowered to intervene in revenue matters in border states of Punjab, J and K, Gujarat, West Bengal, Assam and Tripura to prevent smuggling, the force submitted. |
See the cowherd at his task. With a staff in his hand, he drives the cow into the shed at night. So does age drive the life of men towards death. — The Buddha O people! Serve you Lord, who created you those before you, So that you may be conscientious. —The Koran Why should we cast him out of our mind who is the Lord of our life and soul? All that we eat and wear is impure without
cherishing him. — Guru Nanak Do what you do best, but do it for the love of God, not fame or riches, and you will begin helping the whole world. —
Mother Teresa Civil disobedience presupposes willing obedience of our self-imposed rules, and without it civil disobedience would be a cruel joke. —
Mahatma Gandhi Until we cherish God in our hearts, all our eating, drinking and merry-making is in vain. —
Guru Nanak When God is forgotten, life stands scorched and burnt to ashes. — Guru Nanak |
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