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Mamata relents Harvard’s Guru — Lalu CAT out of the bag |
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Eenadu did its duty
Darjeeling and the wake-up call
The lure of the
Koh-i-Noor A fateful year for global justice Inside Pakistan
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Mamata relents TRINAMOOL
Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has done well to end her 25-day-old indefinite fast. Whether she took the decision in response to the appeals by President APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s offer of talks over the acquisition of land for Tata’s small car project in Singur, her action has saved the situation from taking a turn for the worse. With her condition deteriorating with every passing hour, the state government was contemplating removing her to hospital, whatever the merits of her fast. Her health had become a matter of concern for the entire nation. In a way, fast can be used for political blackmail. Ms Mamata Banerjee was doing no service to the cause of economic advancement in the state. She had put her life to great risk for getting the ambitious Tata project cancelled, alleging that the government had acquired land for the purpose without adopting the proper procedure. She also charged the Buddhadeb government with using coercive means to obtain letters of consent from some of the farmers. But these matters could be sorted out through talks and in a peaceful manner, rather than arousing passions. Where was the need for holding the state to ransom by going on an indefinite fast? The Chief Minister deserves appreciation for not succumbing to such pressure tactics as indulged in by Ms Banerjee, who is given to impulsive actions. Cancellation of the project would have caused a big dent on West Bengal’s belated efforts to woo investors to the impoverished state. It would have sent out wrong signals to business houses, which are now looking at West Bengal more favourably than ever before. The state has already been left far behind in the race for industrialisation mainly due to the naxalite menace and the shortsighted policies of the previous Left Front rulers. It has a large army of the unemployed whose ranks will continue to swell unless jobs are created on a massive scale by setting up more industrial plants. Nothing can be allowed to come in the way of economic progress. Of course, the state as also the entire country need well-laid-out policy guidelines for acquiring land for establishing industries so that the affected farmers are not deprived of adequate compensation. |
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Harvard’s Guru — Lalu RAILWAY
Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had a very flattering session with students of the Harvard and Wharton Business School. In sharp contrast the state of Indian Railways is far from flattering to the minister, who is revelling in his role as a guru for management students in premier institutions in India and abroad. Doubtless, the railways have achieved a remarkable financial turnaround in the last two years and the home-spun cynics who forecast a collapse into bankruptcy have been proved wrong. But the performance of the railways is not just about its financials. Railways is one of India’s biggest service providers touching the lives of almost everyone, regardless of class, caste, business, profession and socio-economic strata. And, the railways are truly non-discriminatory in extending equally appalling services to all sections of passengers, from the posh first class AC to the plebian second class. Even as business school students are gushing over Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav’s stellar performance at the helm of the ministry, the Delhi State Consumer Court has delivered a stinging rebuke. The court has asked the Minister to spare some of the railways’ much-publicised profit of hundreds of crores for improving the conditions of platforms and trains. The court has been scathing in its criticism of the abysmal conditions of services, ranging from stinking toilets and insanitary conditions of the coaches to the dirty disorder on platforms and pathetic treatment of passengers. It is just as well that Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav met the business students at the National Rail Museum, where some gleaming beauties are decorating Diplomatic Enclave, and not on a railway platform or in a train, which may have given them a better appreciation of the services that the railways is known for. Perhaps, instead of being taken for a ride by the minister’s words, the students would do better to travel by train even in Bihar, the railway minister’s state, and see for themselves the state of the railways. That may act as a reality check for the railways and serve the interest of passengers as well. |
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CAT out of the bag THE Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice has rightly rejected the Union Government’s proposal to abolish the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and the State Administrative Tribunals (SATs). Over the years, these tribunals have been playing a notable role in redressing government employees’ grievances about their service matters and hence there is no reason for the Centre to think of doing away with them. Otherwise, these will add to the workload of the high courts. As it is, the high courts are overburdened with a huge backlog of cases and any transfer of the tribunal cases to these courts will lead to a total breakdown of the system. In this context, the parliamentary committee rightly smelt the Centre’s real intentions in having tabled the Administrative Tribunal (Amendment) Bill, 2006, in the Rajya Sabha in last March. It aptly said that the Bill would undermine the independence of the judiciary and violate the basic structure of the Constitution. The committee rightly voiced fears that the Bill, if enacted in its present form, would give overriding powers to the executive to make CAT dance to its tune. Who would like to see tribunals succumbing to the dictates of the executive? It was after a long thought that the tribunals were set up and these have, certainly, reduced the burden on the high courts. True, some of them have been facing problems like vacancies of judges and lack of infrastructure. But these reflect the respective governments’ lackadaisical attitude towards the tribunals and not because they cannot serve useful purpose. There may, however, be need for modifying the procedures to help the administrative tribunals work better. We need a system in which a vacancy is filled expeditiously and a successor named for a post before a vacancy arises. If the system has to function effectively, Parliament and the state legislatures should bring in the necessary reforms, not abolition. |
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All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the State.
— Albert Camus |
Eenadu did its duty INDIRA Gandhi’s rule was at her zenith when N.T. Rama Rao swept the assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh. It was a big blow to the Congress prestige. Reacting to the defeat, Mrs Gandhi said: Who says NTR has won. It is Ramoji Rao who has won. Indeed, Ramoji Rao’s Telugu daily,
Eenadu, had backed NTR to the hilt because his Telugu Desam Party represented the pride and aspirations of the Telugus. The Congress has not forgiven the newspaper and its owner since. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has only picked up the thread from where his predecessors in the Congress had left it off. The only difference is that he has made it a personal issue because
Eenadu had the temerity to expose his land-grab deals. It took off the mask of integrity he wore to hide his manipulations and that of the select few. It all began with the paper publishing a story that the Chief Minister’s men bought at a pittance 376 acres of land belonging to farmers in Kokapet, Narsingi and Manchirevula villages. The government first issued a land acquisition notification for building an outer Ring Road. Later, the land was de-notified for the benefit of the Chief Minister’s men. What they bought at Rs 15 lakh to Rs 25 lakh an acre was sold at Rs 10 crore an acre. Eenadu and its ETV network reported the fraud. That infuriated the Chief Minister, who launched a campaign of vilification against the newspaper, primarily against its Editor-in-Chief Ramoji Rao. The paper, undaunted, published yet another story about Reddy’s “surrender” of 300 acres of land which he possessed in violation of ceiling and other laws. The possession and the surrender did not tally. Even his own Congress members were horrified over the disclosure, not to speak of the Opposition members who sought to move an adjournment motion against the Reddy government. The Chief Minister could neither silence
Eenadu nor ETV. They dug out more to show him in his true colours. Sensing that the action against
Eenadu may boomerang — the paper has a circulation of 1.15 million with a readership of 13.81 million — Reddy resorted to underhand methods. He took steps to harm Rao’s other business, Margadarshi Financiers, which accepted deposits from the public. A Congress MP, Reddy’s man, asked for a Reserve Bank of India inquiry. It was only meant to harass Rao, as there was no concrete proof provided, just an allegation. Why the RBI had to go over the exercise of inquiry is not understood when it told The Hindu, a national daily published from Chennai, that Margadarshi had an “impeccable tract record, with good assets to back it up, with no complaint of default from a single depositor.” The fact that not a single depositor out of 2.5 lakh has asked for the return of his money showed their trust and confidence in Margadarshi. The question is not whether Margadarshi is viable but whether the RBI can order an inquiry on mere allegation. Even otherwise, most leading newspapers have some type of financial base to fall back upon since they gulp money in gallons. Still, the bigger question that confronts the country is the misuse of the government’s untrammeled authority to torment a newspaper or a TV network if it dares to expose a Chief Minister or the fraud perpetrated by his men. Should a newspaper tell? This is always a difficult decision to make because in the process of doing so, it runs the risk of annoying someone somewhere. In the case of the government, the tendency to hide and to feel horrified once the truth is uncovered is greater than an individual. This is so because, to use the official jargon, “repercussions” are wider. What are they? Who assesses them? How real are they? These questions are never answered. Somehow those who occupy high positions in the government — chief ministers and others — labour under the belief that they can do whatever they like. And they get annoyed if any news which they do not like appears in print, or on the screen. Their first attempt is to contradict it and dub it mischievous. Later, when it is realised that a mere denial will not convince even the most gullible, a lame explanation is offered that things have not been put in “proper perspective.” Probably at that time, the government gets away with its version of the story. But what is not realised that such methods only decrease the credibility of official assertions. Even honest claims of the government begin to be questioned. In a democracy, where faith stirs the people’s response, the government cannot afford to have even an iota of doubt raised about what it says or does. Not finding
Eenadu or its TV network cowering to the Chief Minister’s threat or blows, the state government has brought up a case of alleged criminal defamation against Ramoji Rao for having published material on the Home Minister in July 2006, six months later. When the government becomes vindictive or decides to misuse powers, it stops at nothing. Who knows to what extent it would go to punish Rao or
Eenadu for having dared to join issue with the Chief Minister? To what use is the freedom of expression which the constitution guarantees when the Andhra Chief Minister has thrown them to the wind? In a free society, the media has a duty to inform the public without fear or favour. At times it is an unpleasant job, but it has to be performed because a free society is founded on free information. If the Press were to publish only government handouts or official statements, there would be no one to pinpoint lapses, deficiencies, mistakes or frauds. In fact, the truth is that the media is already too niminy-piminy, too nice, altogether too refined, too ready to leave out. The government shouldn’t ask for more. What
Eenadu has exposed is only the tip of the
iceberg.
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Darjeeling and the wake-up call WE were on a holiday to the distant hills of Darjeeling this summer. A meandering drive to the getaway Zone and vicinity of the beautiful lush tea gardens glittering resplendently with rays of the morning sun offered a visual fiesta to the eyes. The serenity of cool and calm surroundings was well complimented by the radiance of the village gals who, while picking leaves in the tea-gardens looked picture-perfect with their traditional dresses, dangling ear rings and jubilant laughter. The shy, curious glances at the passers-by, demure demeanour and a cane ‘tokri’ for a piggyback made them look ravishing to the eye. The brilliance of the landscape, the simplicity of its natives and the subtle aroma emanating from the expansive tea gardens were enough to make us forget the “din” of the towns and the cities and helped in “connecting the landscape with the quiet of the sky” to put it in Wordsworthian terms. The resort, where we chose to stay, was no different in terms of the picturesque scenery than it promised. Also, it reigned abundant in solitude and was a great anodyne for our city-bred distraught nerves. We looked forward to a great peaceful time and lot of undisturbed sleep after hectic long days of sight-seeing and trekking.But that was not to be. We were all awakened in the morning, rather early to be precise, with a loud, hoarse but persistent hankering call. The cry in the wilderness was so consistent at measured intervals and amazing precision that our children too got up, all of a sudden, feeling disturbed and irritated. We all sat in our beds sleepy, tired and nonplussed. All our attempts to sleep after that were successfully thwarted by the incessant wakening call of the chanticleer. He seemed to have no intentions to dither or stop for the time being. My son was the first to protest. “Papa, stop him... I can’t sleep, it gets on my nerves and I really want to sleep!” He was restive and persistent with his pleadings. “What can I do? I am already at my wit’s end, son,” said my husband. “Papa, please do something... make him stop, somehow.” “Beta, one can only wring his neck, if you so want but neither I nor anybody else can stop him forcibly,” said my husband expressing his helplessness. As the hapless conversation between the father and children continued, I drew the window curtains aside to have a closer look at the nature’s eternal but marvellous time-keeper, I saw the wonderful, white chanticleer with a radiant, crowning “kalagi” performing his duty diligently and determinedly, unmindful of the sleeping world around him. His natural beckoning was a beautiful ode to the rising sun and its sheer beauty and perhaps also a call to his countrymen “to wake up” and rise! And all this poised brilliantly against the backdrop of the lustrous splendour of Nature that scoffed at the jet-set pace of our civilisation and its technical advancements. Forgetting the reproaches of my still sleepy son, I could’t take my eyes off the beautiful spectacle but could only marvel at the inimitable creation of God and its innumerable
wonders! |
The lure of the Koh-i-Noor The boy was the Duleep Singh, the last Sikh ruler of the Punjab, and the prize his new imperial masters had made him travel 4,200 miles to deliver by was the Koh-i-Noor diamond - the mysterious and terrible stone of emperors. The 186-carat gem, whose name means Mountain of Light in Persian and was described by one Mughal emperor as being “worth half the daily expense of the whole world”, carried with it a curse and a 750-year bloodstained history of murder, megalomania and treachery. But its passage to Britain in 1851 carried a different meaning: it was a carefully-choreographed exercise in establishing the majesty of the Raj - and the one-way flow of material riches from it. Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General of India who was credited with masterminding the subjugation of the Punjab in the Second Sikh War in 1849 and subsequent surrender of the diamond, ordered that Prince Duleep, London’s new puppet Maharajah of Lahore, deliver the Koh-i-Noor in person. 127 years later, British diplomats began the delicate task of dealing with a forceful request from Pakistan - on whose territory the Koh-i-Noor was surrendered - that the diamond be returned. Secret government papers released under the 30 year rule this week at the National Archives in Kew, west London, detail how in 1976 officials at the Foreign Office formulated a firm rebuttal to the Pakistani claim on what had literally become a jewel of the British Crown. The demand for the restoration of the diamond came from the Pakistani prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in a letter to his British counterpart, James Callaghan, in 1976: An internal memo from one senior civil servant in the secret papers read: “The stark facts are these: i) We have the Koh-i-Noor diamond, whether or not our possession of it is legally justified. ii) We have made it clear that we are keeping the diamond, adducing the best arguments to support our contention.” Replying to Mr Bhutto, Mr Callaghan said: “In the light of the confused past history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, the clear British title to it and the multiplicity of claims which would undoubtedly be made to it if its future were ever thought to be in doubt, I could not advise Her Majesty the Queen that it should be surrendered to any other country.” The Koh-i-Noor was mined in India in around 1100 and probably originated from Golconda in the southern region of Andhra Pradesh. The shape and size of a small hen’s egg, the diamond rapidly attained a sinister mystique. It is probably not entirely coincidental that the Koh-i-Noor is reserved for use in crowns used by a female member of the British royal family. A Hindu text from the time of Koh-i-Noor’s first authenticated appearance in 1306 states that the stone carries a curse lethal to any male owner. The hex read: “He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God or a woman can wear it with impunity.” By the 16th century, the stone had fallen into the hands of the first Mughal emperor, Babur, whose son was the first to fall foul of the “curse” by being driven from his kingdom into exile. The story has it that Nadir Shah, the conqueror of the mughals, was preparing to return home after sacking Delhi in 1736 when he realised that the great diamond was missing from his booty. He was supposedly tipped off by a disenchanted member of the mughal emperor’s harem that his enemy kept it hidden in his turban. Using an old war custom, Nadir Shah proposed an exchange of turbans, which the defeated ruler could not refuse. As the gem fell to the ground from the unfurling cloth and caught the light, Nadir Shah is said to have proclaimed: “Koh i noor.” After the assassination of Nadir Shah, another victim of the curse, the diamond passed through the hands of his successors, each dethroned and ritually blinded, until it was passed in return for sanctuary to Ranjit Singh, the Lion of Lahore, self-declared ruler of Punjab and father of Duleep Singh. Prince Duleep was made a ward of the British Crown complete with an annual stipend of 50,000 pounds. He converted to Christianity, became a member of the racy circle of the young Edward VII and died in poverty in Paris in 1893. The former Indian high commissioner to London accused Britain of “flaunting” the riches of empire when the Queen Mother’s 1937 Coronation Crown was carried atop her coffin in 2002. The mere suggestion last year that the same crown may eventually pass to Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, should her husband become king, was enough for New Delhi to renew its request. A spokesman for the High Commission in London said: “The Indian government has a legitimate claim on the diamond. We hope to resolve the issue as soon as possible.” Behind closed doors in Whitehall, it is unlikely that the position outlined 30 years ago has changed. By arrangement with
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A fateful year for global justice THE death of Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator whose secret police killed and tortured thousands of dissidents, helped seal 2006 as the most fateful year for war criminals and other human-rights violators since the Nuremberg trials of 1946. At the same time, the docket of human-rights crimes is growing larger and more ill-defined than ever. Just as the nature of human-rights violations is evolving, so must the international community’s response. The International Criminal Court at The Hague, in the Netherlands, will need extra resources to handle all its cases and adjudicate the messier ones. And regional and national courts deserve more support, because they are closest to the complexities on the ground. This year’s successes should boost the world’s momentum, even as human-rights matters are growing complicated. Consider, first, the relative clarity of the accusations against those heads of state who met their fate or had charges brought against them this year. At the time of his death, Pinochet faced unambiguous charges of ordering his secret police to kill at least 3,197 people and torture about 23,000. He died less than three months after Chile’s Supreme Court lifted the immunity that had been protecting him. Like Pinochet, Slobodan Milosevic died this year before the end of his trial. Also like . Pinochet -- but on a larger scale -- . Milosevic controlled a large military and police operation that was responsible for many of the 200,000 deaths in the former Yugoslavia during his reign. Saddam Hussein, by contrast, lived to see his sentence, and the charges against the former Iraqi president have been as unambiguous as those against Pinochet and Milosevic. Saddam, always in strong control of the Baath Party and Iraqi armed forces, was sentenced Nov. 6 to hang for crimes against humanity in the execution of 148 men and children from the Iraqi town of Dujail in 1982. Tuesday, Iraq’s appeals court upheld the ruling and called for Saddam to be executed within 30 days. If that doesn’t happen, related trials are planned that would address his involvement in the deaths of as many as 200,000 Iraqi Kurds. Also in 2006, Charles Taylor, the former Liberian dictator, was captured and sent to The Hague. Additionally, former Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam was found guilty, albeit in absentia, of genocide after the 12-year trial of one of Africa’s bloodiest governments ended. That Pinochet, Milosevic and Saddam all met their fates - and that many others are being brought to trial - might suggest that the world is finally catching up with its war criminals and human-rights violators. But these are the faces of yesterday’s criminals. Those yet to meet justice are a different lot: greater in number and more difficult to define and prosecute. First, governments have found a way to blur their connections with killers and rights abusers, particularly in poor countries. In Sudan, government officials repeatedly deny that they support the Janjaweed militias that have killed roughly 200,000 civilians in Sudan’s Darfur region and displaced several hundred thousand more. And, yet, the Sudanese government is widely believed to arm and back the Janjaweed. Until Alvaro Uribe became Colombia’s president in 2002 and empowered his armed forces, that country’s administrations relied heavily on paramilitary groups to battle the leftist FARC insurgency. These paramilitary groups often engaged in more egregious killing and torture than the FARC rebels. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as many as six African countries have at times backed proxy militias in a struggle for power and natural resources. Those militias have contributed to a large share of the 4 million deaths in Congo since 1998. More complex than these blurry relationships between governments and war criminals is the growing number of collapsed states. In these places, warring clans and ethnic groups account for most war crimes. Leaders of such groups are diffuse, and the killers often act independently. Matters have grown more complicated in the 60 years since Nuremberg. 2006 was indeed a successful year. Let’s hope the world doesn’t have to wait another 60 years for its next big leap forward against war criminals and human-rights abuses. By arrangement with
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Inside Pakistan PAKISTAN-Afghanistan differences over the Durand Line have frequently been finding mention in newspaper columns since the formation of the Hamid Karzai-led Northern Alliance government in Kabul. The media in Pakistan never misses an opportunity to point out President Karzai’s failures, totally ignoring his achievements. But the severe criticism of his government today is pointless when the issue is Islamabad’s plan for fencing and mining the Durand Line, dividing the two countries. The Afghan leader has only defended his country’s interests by denouncing the controversial idea. The News says in its December 28 editorial: “Agreed, mining and fencing is not the most desirable solution. Agreed, too, that it is not the ‘real manner’ of dealing with terrorism. But the spokesman (of President Karzai) did not suggest what is, and what Pakistan must do to satisfy Afghanistan.” Interestingly, the paper quotes President Karzai’s spokesman as saying that the fencing will be “neither helpful not practical” and “the border is not where the problem lies”. It also points out that Afghanistan wants that “rather than beating about the bush, we must confront terrorists in a real manner”. Is there not enough suggestion for Pakistan to fight terrorism effectively by taking concrete steps against the menace? Dawn like most other newspapers, came down heavily on the Karzai government, refusing to look at the futility of undertaking a gigantic exercise like the fencing of a long and controversial border. “In spite of having been in power for more than five years, Mr Karzai has done nothing to rid Afghanistan of terrorism, and the country’s southern part has become one big battlefield in which Afghan security forces and their American and NATO allies have been fighting a losing battle — and blaming Pakistan for their own shortcomings”, a Dawn editorial said. The Urdu daily Jang went a little further: “Having failed to establish its control over a large part of Afghanistan, it (the Karzai regime) finds it easier to blame Pakistan for promoting cross-border Taliban terrorism, on the lines of India in Kashmir, with a view to attracting international attention.” The general election in Pakistan may be held in November next year, if a senior minister in the Shaukat Aziz government, Mr Shamim Haidar, is to be believed. But no one knows that Mr Aziz will continue to occupy the position of Prime Minister. Speculation is rife that he may be replaced even if the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid) is back to power. Derisively called the King’s Party, the PML is reported to be quietly looking for his replacement. The speculation has become stronger with Federal Minister for Information Mohammed Ali Durrani saying in Rawalpindi on Thursday that the ruling party had not taken any decision to re-elect Prime Minister Aziz for a second term. A report in The News, referring to the minister’s statement, said: “He (Mr Aziz) will only contest for an assembly seat and the ruling party will decide about the new Prime Minister after its victory in the elections.” Reports suggest that some senior PML leader with a reasonably large following may be preferred for this key post. However, there is no doubt about Gen Pervez Musharraf continuing to remain the President of Pakistan. Sports Minister Shamim Haidar, according to The News, told journalists on Thursday: “The next general election will be held in November 2007. However, before that the House will re-elect General Musharraf as President for another five-year term. The President is likely to be re-elected in October 2007.”
The plan to take Lahore back to its old and glorious days has got support from the Agha Khan Trust for Culture, according to a Dawn report. Earlier the World Bank had sanctioned a big loan for the ambitious project. A Dawn editorial says, “it aims at conserving the old buildings inside the walled city as well as restoring the historical quarter to its pre-Mughal and Mughal character. It also envisages the streamlining of commercial activity…” The city will have greater attraction for tourists, as “Several new hotels, showcase boutique bazaars and arenas for cultural activities will be built in keeping with the walled city’s architectural and historical heritage….” The paper cautions: “But to make the plan a success, it is necessary that political interest and commercial greed are kept out.” After all, it is these factors which have robbed Lahore of its old grandeur.
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SOME 155 years ago, a nine-year-old boy carrying a silk cushion was brought before Queen Victoria. His job was simple: To present Britain with the most prized jewel in the sub-continent.