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Jail for BJP MLA
Raising the bar |
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Refereeing gaffes
The real battle: equal opportunity
Salaam Salim
Nepalese economy hit hard by political uncertainty
A battleground for India, China
window on Pakistan
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Jail for BJP MLA
THE award of seven years’ rigorous imprisonment to Orissa’s BJP MLA Manoj Pradhan by a fast track court for his role in the 2008 Kandhamal communal riots is timely, though opinions may differ on the quantum of punishment for the kind of crime he had committed. He, perhaps, deserved exemplary punishment like life imprisonment. The communal riots had broken out following the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four of his associates on August 23, 2008 in Kandhamal. Pradhan, who got elected from jail where he was an undertrial, was Saraswati’s disciple. The Kandhamal district had witnessed unprecedented violence that left many people (mostly Christians) dead, while houses and places of worship were damaged in the carnage. Over 25,000 riot victims had fled from their homes out of fear and stayed in relief camps. The violence had caused international concern. Mr Naveen Patnaik’s BJD-led government came under attack from many sections for its poor handling of the violence because of its alliance with the BJP. Tuesday’s verdict notwithstanding, the last word is yet to be said on Pradhan. He has already said that he will challenge his conviction in the Orissa High Court. Of the 14 cases filed against him, he has been acquitted in seven. Of the remaining, three relate to murder and four to torching of churches and houses. His conviction for seven years’ imprisonment can lead to his disqualification from the State Assembly, but not before the three-month period of appeal. Of course, politicians contend that disqualification should not apply till all legal options, including an appeal before the Supreme Court, are exhausted. Pradhan’s conviction once again brings to the fore the increasing menace of criminalisation of politics and its consequent threat to the democratic institutions and the quality of governance. The BJP, which claims to be a “party with a difference”, should not have given ticket to him in the last Assembly elections. Playing on the people’s emotions and the communal lines clearly drawn at the hustings, the BJP may have succeeded in getting Pradhan elected to the legislature, but it inflicted incalculable damage on the system. Subsequently, it lost power in the state after the Biju Janata Dal dumped it and went alone in the elections. This menace can be checked only if political parties deny tickets to criminals like
Pradhan.
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Raising the bar THE University Grants Commission has set norms linking teachers’ promotions and increments to performance. This is how it should be in today’s globalised world where competition is stiff and inefficiency penalised. Few will dispute that excellence should be rewarded and mediocrity discouraged. Promotions in the academic world used to be automatic, granted as a matter of right to every college or university teacher after he/she has completed a certain number of years. There was a fast-track route for merit-based promotion, but was misused at times by those well connected. However, a blind enforcement of the set criteria may not produce the desired results. It is commendable that teachers will be judged on the basis of their teaching, research and published work. But quantity should not outweigh quality. The undue focus on research at the college level earlier had led to the proliferation of substandard research work. Every college teacher struggled to get a Ph.D. to become a Principal. A good teacher need not be equally good at research and a good researcher may not make an effective teacher. The overall suitability of a candidate for a post should be judiciously judged. The maximum tenure of a college Principal has been fixed at 10 years. This will open up the Principal’s office to more teachers. In addition, to end stagnation among college teachers, the UGC has created the post of Professor in colleges. What is more, the controversial proposal to let college students evaluate teachers has been dropped after teachers’ opposition. Since the salaries of the college and university teachers have been raised to respectable levels, it is certainly reasonable and desirable for the UGC to expect better standards from those engaged in teaching. The profession will, hopefully, attract fresh talent and minimise, if not eradicate, the shortage of teachers, especially in professional colleges. The UGC norms will doubtless help in raising the quality of higher education in general and of teaching in particular. |
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Refereeing gaffes
FIFA
World Cup 2010 is still young and there may be many memorable events
in the days to come, but two things are already etched in public
memory. One is the never-ending drone of vuvuzelas, which reminds one
of a million bees descending on the stadia, and the other is the
unbelievably inept refereeing decisions. Two of the howlers came on
Sunday. England’s Frank Lampard had a goal disallowed although it
was clearly over the line in its clash with Germany. Then Mexico
suffered when Argentinian striker Carlos Tevez was not given offside
when he scored its first goal. These errors appeared even more jarring
when shown on the big screen. Unfortunately, FIFA rules do not allow
taking into account such “evidence”. What was all the more
shocking was that the world body initially tried to gloss over the
blunders, with FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot saying the next day that
“errors should be part of the game”. What he perhaps ignored was
the worldwide furore over such inexcusable mistakes. After all, they
affected the very course of the tournament, with some of the teams
getting knocked out undeservedly. With the debate raging, FIFA
President Sepp Blatter was forced to apologise and even agree to
re-consider goal-line technology. But he was still patronising,
saying: “it is not the end of a competition or the end of football;
this can happen”. It should not. It is essential that mistakes
are reduced to the minimum. Whether this foolproof system comes
through goal-line technology or video replays should be immaterial.
Cricket, hockey, tennis and basketball etc have already started
putting technology to good use, but FIFA has been stubborn. It wants
to experiment with two more refereeing assistants but is hesitant to
using videos. The consequences have been disastrous. The bloopers have
cost FIFA dear. It should no longer keep its head in the sand. At the
same time, there is need for improving refereeing standards. |
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A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good. — Samuel Johnson
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The real battle: equal opportunity
IT is a thousand pities that 62 years after Independence, India is still talking of and suffering from caste obsessions. Read “gotra” as an extension of caste and we have “honour killings”, acts of medieval barbarism at the behest of khap panchayats, being defended and debated. The motive for the most part is no longer religion or ritual even in some degree, as it once may have been, but crudely political, through vote-banking, a scramble for preferment by reservation in an economy of shortages, and a claim to superior social status in an upwardly mobile society that has traditionally been based on hierarchy, not merit. The current debate has been triggered by the suggestion that caste enumeration be made part of the 2011 census after it was discontinued post-1931. The proffered rationale is that an accurate caste enumeration will enable the government better to target affirmative action programmes in its social welfare and other efforts to ensure inclusive growth. This is a fallacy. Such numbers and classifications are and can be made available— and perhaps more accurately — through the National Social Sample and similar data collection exercises. The Constitution abolishes untouchability and only mentions caste in the specific context of the Scheduled Castes. Contrary to popular belief, it does not refer to “backward castes” but only to “socially and economically backward classes” (and to “weaker sections”) in respect of whom a commission may be appointed from time to time to investigate and make recommendations for ameliorating their condition. Hence the Backward Classes Commissions under Kaka Kalelkar and B.P. Mandal. Nor does the Constitution refer to a casteless society per se but speaks of “equality of status and opportunity”, “fraternity” and a uniform civil code, all of which obviously rule out caste as a defining societal principle. We are not there by any means. So, why reverse gear half way through the journey and give a fillip to caste through the Census? All parties have elaborate caste and community breakdowns of the electorate for every constituency and woo them assiduously, the Left as much as any other. Policies and appointments are made with an eye on winning the support of these groups for electoral advantage. The talk of targeting welfare schemes through more nuanced caste enumeration is just so much humbug. Indeed reservation, and reservations within reservations, have become a crutch. There has been strong resistance to any exit policy, and creamy layers have become a new privileged and exploiting class, determined to prevent the less fortunate among their community to rise and proper. Everybody, it seem, wants to be declared “backward” in order to move forward” on crutches. The process of sanskritisation or movement up the caste ladder is being reversed and retribalisation is taking place. This spells ill for the nation and can only breed mediocrity. One antidote would be to declare the entire populace backward so that none is more equal than others! The real answer, however, lies in affirmative action in favour of the poor and the disadvantaged and to waste out the constitutional provision for SC/ST reservation over the next decade or so on the basis of a rational exit policy, universalisation of education and other rights-based measures. Caste must be seen not in isolation but holistically as part of other behavioural attitudes such as gender or minority status. Majority and minority in terms of social behaviour are not numerical as much as attitudinal categories. Parsees do not behave as “minorities”; Hindutvadis do. Likewise, the majority Sinhala in Sri Lanka suffer from a minority complex. Gender relations (including dowry) are to a large extent guided deep down by property and property-derived status considerations. Hence the ugly and murderous phenomenon of female foeticide. One supreme example of attitudinal resistance to social reform is the blindly perverse opposition to legislating a uniform civil code on the totally false premise that this can only be done by abrogating personal codes. With reference to the UCC, many perfervid secularists are truly diehard communists, allied in a common conspiracy to protect male property rights and slot people into castes, sub-castes and communities. They are truly enemies of equality and fraternity. Those who oppose caste enumeration must, therefore, take up the cudgels against “minorityism” and gender discrimination as part of broadbased social reform. The goal must be to strive for equal opportunity (not more and more reservation), a fundamental constitutional promise. Equal opportunity legislation has been pending for a year but is being opposed. Why is no one agitated? It is because we have been so busy tilting at windmills that the true enemy is often not discerned. It is the battle for equal opportunity that must be fought and won. Social reform too must be pursued not just by the state but by communities and individuals. There is so much social rot around that we tolerate in the belief that it will just go away. Where are the contemporary versions of latter day social reformers? The Church seeks the scheduling of scheduled caste converts, indirectly perpetuating caste and mocking its own faith. Others are no better. Jagmohan, the former civil servant and minister, has written of reforming and reawakening Hinduism in a new book just published. Maybe, one of the reforms we should consider is the restoration of religious instruction in schools so that children know about the country’s many faiths and can imbibe their high moral values. This would be perfectly in keeping with true secularism and attune young minds to essential values of equality and
brotherhood.
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Salaam Salim
Recently I read an article about the water woes of the famous Keoladeo National Park at Bharatpur. Apparently, UNESCO was planning to revoke its World Heritage status and it was all because of some petty wrangle over the waters of the Gambhir river. The article took me down memory lane to the year 1979 when as an impressionable child I happened to meet Salim Ali, the great ornithologist, in this very national park. In those days my father was posted at Bharatpur and we had hordes of relatives and friends descending on us in the winters, ostensibly to renew old bonds but with the not-so-hidden agenda of a visit to the Ghana Bird Sanctuary (as it was then called). So we dutifully took the relatives for the mandatory boat-ride and introduced them to the sanctuary’s avian residents. On one such sojourn, aboard a boat aptly named ‘Painted Stork’, I spotted a stationary boat with a camera on a tripod and also what looked like a telescope. An old, bearded, bespectacled man with a peaked cap sat patiently watching the antics of what I later learnt were Siberian cranes. Intrigued, I turned to the boatman seeking to know the identity of the old gentleman. With a how-can-you-not-know-him look the boatman told me it was ‘Salim Sahib’ himself. Apparently the ‘Birdman’, as he was affectionately called, came to Bharatpur every winter and spent hours observing birds in their natural habitat. Soon after our boat ride, we saw Salim Ali’s boat gliding in to the landing area. As soon as he alighted, we rushed towards him excitedly and clamoured for his autograph which he gave with an indulgent smile. With innocent arrogance we asked him why he visited the bird sanctuary to which he simply and sincerely replied: “I am working on long-term conservation measures for the bird sanctuary.” He was more than eighty and yet there was a determined glint in his eye and a suppressed passion in his bearing. He had the quick gait of a man in a hurry to reach his goal. Later I learnt that Salim Ali’s efforts were largely instrumental in getting the sanctuary its deemed national park status. This chance meeting with the ‘Birdman’ was the start of my life-long passion for birds. Salim Ali’s books adorn my bookshelf and I never get tired of narrating the episode of my chance meeting with Salim Ali to anyone who cares to listen. But it saddens me to think that a petty water dispute will forever destroy the monumental conservation efforts of this grand old man. I guess conservation of avian habitats is not a priority in a country with a huge homeless human
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Nepalese economy hit hard by political uncertainty
IN November 2005 while reaching a 12-point agreement in New Delhi, the then seven-party alliance and former Maoist rebels had pledged to restore lasting peace and democracy in Nepal by ending the decade-long armed insurgency. Then with the support of the national and international community, the political parties made the April 2006 movement a success with the aim of attaining mainly two things. One, making the Himalayan nation have lasting peace and democracy by drafting a new constitution through the Constituent Assembly and establish a “new” Nepal with inclusive and accountable governance structures. Two, the people of Nepal must have economic prosperity and social progress. Four years have passed since then. But neither the country has witnessed lasting peace with a new constitution nor has it moved towards economic progress. Rather the ongoing political deadlock among the big three parties — the Unified CPN-Maoists, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML — has put the peace and the constitution-drafting process on the backburner. All the major political actors are responsible for not only prolonging the transition period along with political uncertainty but also for pushing the country’s economy towards a serious crisis. Even after the identification and diagnosis of the economic growth constraints Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate has been one of the lowest in South Asia for a long time. Records show that Nepal is the only country in the region whose real GDP growth rate declined during the period 2003-2008 (3 per cent) in comparison to that in 1997-2003 (4 per cent). According to the World Bank’s latest report, the GDP growth rate in Nepal for the fiscal 2009-10 is estimated at 3.5 per cent. The growth rate was 5.3 per cent in 2007-08. The government expects agricultural growth at 1.1 per cent against the earlier projection of 3.3 per cent, whereas non-agricultural growth is expected to come down drastically to 3.6 per cent from the 6.6 per cent as projected earlier. Though the Nepalese economy is largely based on agriculture, which contributes 33 per cent to the GDP, it has been badly affected by drought and non-seasonal rain in recent years. Even the investment in agriculture and irrigation remained at as low as 0.55 per cent of the GDP in the fiscal year 2009. Taking this into consideration, the World Food Organization has warned Nepal that it is likely to face a hefty shortage of foodgrains — 400,000 tonnes — in the current fiscal year. The fragile economy was largely buoyed up by remittances from the Nepalis working abroad —- they contributed 22 per cent of the GDP. But the remittance is not sufficient to adjust the trade deficit and cope up with the balance of payment problem and the liquidity crisis. Despite all this, the government and major political parties are least bothered about taking urgent remedial measures. The International Labour Orgaisation’s latest report says, Nepal produced around 400,000 new unemployed workers every year. Despite the growing number of Nepalese going abroad to work, the number of the unemployed has not declined because there are little employment opportunities in the country. According to the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries, over 600 different types of companies which were closed during the Maoist insurgency are yet to resume their operations. Political uncertainty, frequent bandhs, unnecessary hassles created by labour organisations, scarcity of fuel and increasing hours of load-shedding (more than 12 hours a day) have adversely eroded the competitiveness of Nepali industrial sector. By looking at the cost incurred by each sector, on an average, a one-day bandh would cost Rs 1.96 billion — the industrial sector alone would suffer a loss of over Rs 346 million. The deteriorating law and order situation, the lack of an investment-friendly environment and the rampant culture of extortion, intimidation threats and abduction of industrialists mainly by Maoist cadres have been discouraging investors to come to Nepal. Due to lack of faith in the system and poor credibility of the government Nepalese investors and common people have started to deposit their fix assets and sending their money abroad, mainly to India. As a result, the country has been faced with a serious liquidity crisis since last October. A source in Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal, claims that over Rs 10 billion has already flown to India for different investment purposes in the first quarter of this fiscal year.
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A battleground for India, China
Sri Lanka
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is treading a fine line courting both China and India at the same time, trying to strike a balance in keeping the two Asian giants happy, but the task is not proving to be an easy one. Both countries proved to be near indispensable allies during the nearly three-year-old war the government waged against the Tamil Tigers with China being one of the country’s main arms supplier while India assisted with military intelligence and also kept under control the anti-Sri Lankan sentiment that erupted in Tamil Nadu from time to time during the military operations. After the end of the 30-year-old war more than a year ago, now it seems to be the payback time for Sri Lanka with both China and India wanting their pound of flesh. Both are eager to get a foothold in development activities, particularly in the north and east of the country. It was as a part of this balancing act that President Rajapaksa undertook a three-day official visit to New Delhi recently where he signed seven agreements, including the ones to provide for the opening of Indian consulates in northern Jaffna district as well as one in the southern town of Hambantota, where the Chinese are developing what will become the country’s largest port. The Independent Sunday Times in a recent editorial said the Indian move to open a consulate in Hambantota, which also happens to be the home town of the President, was “because of Indian fears of the growing Chinese influence in Hambantota district, particularly in view of China’s involvement in the harbour development project.” The fears may not be confined to one side. As President Rajapaksa was away in India, the Vice-Premier of China, Zhang Dejiang, arrived in Sri Lanka on a three-day official visit to further cement the increasing economic cooperation between the two countries. In addition to the port in Hambantota, China has offered financial assistance of US$200 million to build an airport there and is already working on a coal power project in the north-western town of Norochcholai and has won government approval to develop the railway line and the main highway to Jaffna. While he has been giving with one hand to China, President Rajapaksa has not allowed the Indians go bare-handed either. During his visit, he signed agreements to allow the Indians to develop the Palay air base in Jaffna as well as a cement factory in Kansasanturai in the north which had been abandoned for many years due to the war. While these developments are taking place, Rajapaksa also has to comprehend with his political opponents back home who are turning the heat on him, particularly with regard to the moves to sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India. While the UNP, the main position party, has been guarded in its comments regarding the agreement only stating that it should be made public before being signed, left-inclined Democratic National Alliance (DNA) has been ringing the alarm bells that CEPA would mean Sri Lanka would end up being a protectorate of India with locals having to compete for jobs in their own country. Newspapers, too, have joined in with warnings about going ahead with such an agreement which would allow Indians to live and work in Sri Lanka without any reciprocity for Sri Lankans in this connection. “Even Indian barbers can come and work here,” said a news item in the Lakbima News, sounding alarmist at the possible outcome of such an agreement. The Sunday Times wrote in an editorial — as the Buddha warned his disciple Ananda with regard to the temptations that are on offer in life— “all we can say is, ‘Beware, Mahinda’ when you go to India and they throw these laddus, boondi, jelabis and gulab jamuns at you.” Overall, Sri Lankans seem to be more India-phobic than China-phobic, but irrespective of the fears they may entertain, the island-nation seems set to be the new battleground between the two Asian giants. |
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window on Pakistan With the Pakistan Supreme Court last week ordering the country's Election Commission to launch proceedings against the lawmakers believed to be having fake graduation and other degrees, Pakistan appears to be heading for a fresh political crisis. According to a Dawn report, the Higher Education Commission has dispatched the degrees of at least 934 members of the National and Provincial Assemblies to the universities concerned for proper verification. Whose degree is fake may be known by July 13, the deadline fixed by the Election Commission. Yet the matter is not as simple as it appears. As Dawn says, "it would require references from the speakers of the various assemblies and the chairman of the Senate." The paper has quoted a former Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan to point out that "perhaps 140 members of various assemblies" filed their nomination papers to contest the February 2008 elections with "fake degrees". In an article in The News (June 30) Ameer Bhutto, Vice-Chairman of the Sindh National Front, points out that the degrees of about 1100 lawmakers will be "subjected to closer scrutiny". Which means "almost the entire apple orchard is possibly under infestation" as the total number of the elected representatives at the national and provincial levels is 1163. It was Gen Pervez Musharraf who as President got the law enacted that anyone aspiring to enter any of the legislatures in Pakistan must have at least a graduation degree from a recognised institution. He wanted to prevent some of his political opponents from contesting the elections in February 2008. One of the then ruling General's targets was the present President, Mr Asif Ali Zardari. The matter went to the apex court, which struck down the controversial legislation. But this came about after the 2008 elections had already taken place. So, no one has to bother about his or her educational qualification for contesting polls in the future. Yet the issue remains: who are the lawmakers holding fake degrees? The revival of the degree controversy has put Mr Nawaz Sharif's party, the PML (N), in the most embarrassing position. There are reports that most of the lawmakers with fake degrees belong to the PML (N), which has been talking of "principled politics" ever since the revival of democracy in Pakistan. It is feared that Pakistan will have to go in for a "mini mid-term election" if a large number of its lawmakers are disqualified. They may also have to be punished for having lied to get elected to a legislature. But will they really be punished? They may not, as Ameer Bhutto says, "…an effort is now reportedly afoot to enact a new law, with retrospective effect, to pardon all fake degree-bearing parliamentarians." The Sindh National Front Leader, who has degrees from the University of Backingham and Cambridge University, adds: "Is there no end to this rampage over all norms of ethical conduct? Practically everyone is terrified of the consequences that might be unleashed by invoking Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, leading perhaps to an empty Parliament. But there can be no disagreement on the principle that without a modicum of honesty and sincerity in the forums of power, the process of putting the country on the right track cannot even begin. "Now that the scandal has hit the fan, stories are emerging about some responsible officials and even the head of the Parliamentary Committee on Education receiving threats from people in high positions of authority not to pursue the matter further. Such are the ways of Pakistani 'democracy'." The ultimate comment came from Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani on Tuesday on the fake degree controversy. According to a Quetta-datelined report in The Daily Times of June 30, Mr Raisani said, "A degree is a degree, and it does not matter if it is fake or original." In the opinion of Dawn, "… perhaps, a political-cum-legislative solution is the best way ahead. Legislation with retrospective effect is not something that should be encouraged, especially where it benefits assembly members themselves, but in the present instance it would be a small price to pay for righting a wrong of Gen Musharraf's doing." Those who advocate this line of action to defuse the crisis believe that Pakistan cannot afford a mid-term election at this stage.
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