The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Reds shine in Shimla
Another setback for Congress

IN the run-up to the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, expected in November, the sparring state Congress leadership has been put on notice as its 26-year-control over the Shimla Municipal Corporation comes to an abrupt end. In the 25-member corporation the Congress tally has slipped to 10 from 15, while the BJP’s has risen from eight to 12. Reasons for the Congress’s ignominious defeat are familiar: factionalism and poor choice of contestants. As it happened in Punjab, the Congress ticket was given to candidates based on their loyalty to leaders rather than merit, past performance and acceptance among people. Central and state Congress leaders try to expand their own areas of influence rather than work as a team for the larger good.

The BJP can draw comfort from the Congress defeat but its own performance is less than satisfactory despite being in power and having state machinery and resources at its command. The unexpected winner is the CPM, which has grabbed the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, thanks to the first-ever direct elections, which the Dhumal government introduced to weaken the Congress hold over the affairs of the state capital. Running the cash-strapped Municipal Corporation with just three members will be an uphill task for the CPM. The BJP government may squeeze funding if its diktat is not honoured. The Congress may demand its own pound of flesh for extending support.

By handing over the top two posts to the CPM, the residents of Shimla, it seems, have rejected both the Congress and the BJP, which are seen as responsible for ruining Shimla’s greenery and old-world charm. Taking turns in power, both parties have allowed chaotic urban growth, succumbing to pressures/temptations of the land mafia and builders, while citizens lament the deterioration in civic amenities. The CPM team will have to draw support of the two main parties without acceding to their illegitimate demands. Though small, the CPM victory should lift the sagging spirits of the Left, which is in retreat almost everywhere.

Tigers no more
Predators’ decline cause of concern

Tigers are dying at an alarming rate. It might be too early to say what exactly caused the death of three tigers in Uttar Pradesh in as many days recently, but given the past record, the needle of suspicion will point to man-made causes. The situation in Maharashtra is even worse, with five deaths this year. While not much has been done in Uttar Pradesh, in Maharashtra, once the state government found itself in the spotlight, it then asked its guards to shoot armed poachers who refuse to surrender on sight. Funds allocated years ago were made available for a special tiger protection force, and many extra patrol vehicles have been deployed.

With decreasing habitat, tigers are squeezed into ever smaller areas, which denies them adequate space to live. On the other hand, as mercury soars, tigers and other protected species in sanctuaries have only a limited number of watering holes to go to, and this makes them easy targets of poachers. It has often been seen that the major cause of poaching of tigers is the illicit trade in tiger body parts. In spite of all attempts of the government to stop them, poachers seem to have an upper hand in this battle of wits with the often ill-equipped and outnumbered forest guards. It has been seen that, after most incidents, the first attempt is to classify the death as natural. If the evidence is overwhelmingly contrary to this premise, only then is further action taken. Not only this, experts often point to the lack of patrolling by guards, of the absence of intelligence gathering efforts against poachers, shoddy investigation once an incident occurs, and a lack of accountability.

While on the one hand India has said that it will share the expertise it gained by running Project Tiger with other nations, on the other hand it has been rather lacking in providing protection to the tigers it seeks to protect. Ironic, indeed.

Thought for the Day

The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one. — Malcolm Forbes

ARTICLE

The provision of subsidies
A close look at incentives and concessions to the rich
by Sucha Singh Gill

Subsidy is a compensation paid to either the private producer of goods and services by the government for charging/ fixing a price less than the cost of production or alternatively goods or services provided by the government to people or a section of people freely or at a concessional price. This involves the diversion of public revenue for the provisioning of some commodities, goods and services.

The rationality for subsidies emerges from the nature of commodities. There are some commodities which generate externalities in addition to realizable value from their use/sale. These commodities are called merit goods. The services like education, research, health, construction of roads, bridges, railways, parks, etc, or the provision of clean drinking water, sewerage disposal, supply of cooking gas, etc, come in the category of merit goods. Consumption of these goods is socially desirable and serves the social cause or welfare of society. The promotion of consumption of these products promotes social welfare. This provides a logic to supply them at prices which are lower than their cost of production.

Thus, compensation to the producers is justified in social/public interest. The provision of defence, internal security, etc, also comes on this category. The argument of redistribution of wealth especially in favour of the weaker sections also provides logic justifying subsidy. The supply of cheap foodgrains through the public distribution system (PDS) or provision of low cost houses for the poor come in this category. Encouragement of investment for economic development justifies subsidy on capital goods to those producers who make investment.

The provision of subsidy is possible in the situation when the concerned government has sufficient surplus revenue. In the absence of surplus revenue the government will have to resort either to public borrowing or to the diversion of resources from more productive spending towards less or non-productive spending. In other words, the absence of surplus funds with the government leads to the opportunity cost of provisioning of subsidy which is very high. Thus, subsidy can be provided by a government on a sustainable basis if the government can afford through surplus revenue generated via high tax collection or realisation of greater non-tax revenue.

In the contemporary situation, the budgetary provision of subsidies is being considered as unsustainable both with the Union Government as well as with the state governments. In view of the mounting debt burden of the states and the Union government an influential section of policy-makers and mainstream economists target a cut in subsidies to contain budget deficits. This is the reason why that in the last budget (2011-12) the subsidy on food, fertilisers, petroleum, kerosene and LPG had been brought down to Rs.1.44 lakh crore from Rs.1.54 lakh crore in 2010-11.

In fact, the new economic policy introduced in 1991 has shifted the terms of discourse in such a way that the whole system works to the advantage of the corporate sector. This includes the use of one nomenclature for the benefit of one section of population and another nomenclature for benefit to other sections. The benefits to the common people are termed as subsidies while benefits to the rich are called as tax incentives and exemptions.

The policy makers and mainstream economists debate about the rationalisation of subsidies as a means to reduce them to contain budgetary deficits. They hardly mention to reduce tax incentives and exemptions to the corporate sector. The benefits given to corporate the sector under this nomenclature are colossal compared to the benefits given to the common people in the name of subsidies. In fact, tax incentives and exemptions to business in the corporate sector are more than three times the amount of subsidy given by the Union government to the common man. In the 2010-11 budget business in the corporate sector was provided a subsidy of Rs.4.61 lakh crore. This included 3.73 lakh crore as exemptions for Central excise and customs duties and Rs.0.88 lakh crore as profit and investment linked deductions and freebies.

The benefits to the business in the corporate sector have been more than three times those of the subsidies to the common man. There is pressure to cut subsidy to the common man but no such things are talked about in policy papers or in public debate. This brings out that there is distortion in the debate on subsidies in states as well as in the Union budget.

There has been one-sided discussion on the concession the common people to the complete silence on the subsidies to the rich. This distortion in the debate has concealed a powerful mechanism of income transfer from the common people to the corporate sector. The private corporate sector accounted for 13.1 per cent of the GDP of the country in 1993-94 which increased to 24.9 in 2009-10 while the share of agriculture in the GDP declined from 28.4 per cent to 15.3 per cent during this period. The organized sector, which employs on 7.6 per cent of workforce of this country, corners about 45 per cent of the GDP while the unorganised sector, which employs 92.4 per cent of the workforce receives 55 per cent of the GDP.

There is continuous shift of the GDP from the unorganised to organised sector and from the public sector to the private corporate sector. This has created a wide inequality in the distribution of income and wealth in the country. This process has largely shifted the gains of the fast rate of income growth from the common people to the upper sections of society who constitute a small minority. The National Commission on Enterprises in the unorganised Sector (NCEUS), popularly known as the Arjun Sengupta Commission, has brought out that 77 per cent of India’s population (2004-05) has been poor and vulnerable living at Rs.20 per capita per day consumption. The Tendulkar Committee with lowered (nutritional) poverty norms worked out that the proportion of the poor in the country stood at 37 per cent of the population. In spite of the infamous controversy on poverty norms of Rs. 26 per day per capita consumption for the rural poor, there is consensus within the Planning Commission (2012) that 70 per cent of the population deserves special attention to achieve inclusive growth. On the other hand the number of fabulously rich Indians, whose name appears in the various lists of globally rich persons, and the number of crorepatis in parliament has been rising very fast during the last 20 years. These outcomes are the result of the corporate model of growth where the rich are the greatest beneficiaries.

The subsidisation of the private corporate sector in the name of tax exemption and incentives and provision of concessional facilities/bailouts has been going on for more than 20 years. The use of different nomenclatures for different sections of the population has not only distorted the debate on subsidies but also concealed a powerful fiscal mechanism of transfer of income and wealth from the poor to the rich. It is time to change the nomenclature of tax incentives and exemptions and term them as subsidy to the private corporate sector and make it a focus of discussion.

The subsidy to the rich has little justification in economic literature especially in the era of fast-growing inequalities in society. In view of the growing inequalities, the common person deserves subsidies and support. The highly rich sections which spend a large income on ostentatious consumption and distort the value system of society especially from the corporate business community, need to be taxed to finance the programmes meant to alleviate poverty and generate employment.n

The writer is the Director-General, Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, Chandigarh.

MIDDLE

On trail of a man-eater
by Donald Banerjee

It was the summer of 1988 when Tribune Photo Editor Yog Joy (now no more in our midst) and I set out from Chandigarh on the trail of a man-eating leopard, who had killed a young cyclist in Morni Hills.

We made the uphill drive to this Haryana hill resort, making our way through the narrow and dusty winding road. A not-so-happy Haryana Chief Conservator of Forests warned us about the non-motorable 2 km trek through the forests to reach the spot where the spotted big cat had made its kill.

I was reluctant as my senior colleague had suspected angina problem. But who could stop that great cameraman, whatever the odds. Before I could say Jack Robinson, Yogji had already marched 10 steps ahead. A forest guard offered to give a lift on his motor-cycle. With Yogji occupying the pillion seat, we began our journey. After a bumpy 10-minute ride, with me doing some brisk walking and jogging, we barely covered 500 metres.

Another 10 minutes and we came across a slope and in the bushes we spotted one of the slippers of the boy. The cycle could be seen a little ahead in the khud. We were in the man-eater’s territory. I could feel goosepimples all over imagining the big cat sizing me up as the next meal.

The forest guard broke my nightmarish imagination with the words: “The villagers have taken the half-eaten body to the village for cremation.” He then pointed towards the smoke billowing out from a cluster of houses in the valley ahead, indicating our destination another 1 km ahead.

It seemed to be an endless journey as we made our way towards the village.The receding sunrays were a clear indication that it was well past afternoon.

We finally trudged into the village and were greeted by villagers who were living under the fear of the big cat attacking their cattle.

“The ‘tendua’ killed a dog two days back. But now it has started killing humans. The cyclist was the second victim of the leopard, which the villagers said had now tasted human blood, and would not spare anyone.

Taking quotes from the villagers and with Yogji adding more pictures of the cremation to his snaps of the slipper and the cycle lying in the khud, we took leave of the villagers.

“Don’t go. It is too late. You can go tomorrow,” suggested a couple of village elders, who warned us about the dangerous trek back through leopard territory. As we talked, a patch of cloud blocked the sunrays. A couple of ‘bhotia’ dogs started barking with intermittent growls. The children were told to go indoors.

I did not show it, but the talk of the beast having tasted human blood was enough to stir my imagination about the dangers lurking on the return trek through leopard territory. But then, a couple of youngsters from the Morni side of the village agreed to accompany us. We grabbed the opportunity and began our return trek. As we walked back, three more joined us on the way. They clapped their hands and made loud noises with cymbals. Seeing the young men marching with confidence, the fear of the man-eater evaporated. Yes, I had read that even after becoming a man-eater a leopard does not lose fear of humans, unlike the tiger, who becomes bolder. We passed the khud where the boys had been attacked and were back at the Morni rest house before sunset.

Mission accomplished, we drove back, forgetting those moments when I imagined the big cat sizing me up as its next meal.

OPED-HERITAGE

So little left, so badly ignored
Punjab, one of the oldest provinces, is perhaps the only state where records or archives have not been organised after Independence. The meagre share of records available after Partition is scattered and the record office has been neglected
Kirpal Singh

AFTER joining the Sikh History Research Department, Khalsa College, Amritsar, in 1950, I frequently began visiting East Punjab, subsequently known as the Punjab Record Office at the Mall Road, near the General Post Office and Christ Church, Shimla. At that time, the Keeper of the Record was Dr Gulshan Lal Chopra, a First Grade Officer who had done PhD from London.

Precious historical records suffer because of bureaucratic and political apathy

On my enquiry he told me that whatever records he had brought from Lahore were acquired with a great difficulty after the Partition of Punjab in 1947. Before Partition, the Punjab Record Office was well organised, as we find a number of research monographs published by this department.

The Partition of Punjab was effected under the Mountbatten Plan, 1947. After World War II, elections were held in England. The Labour Party included in its election manifesto the Independence of India. Fortunately, for India, the Labour Party won the election. Clement Attlee was elected Prime Minister of England and he decided to grant Independence to India.

The Cabinet Mission was sent to India with a ‘Plan’ to divide British India in different zones and have a confederation at the Centre with some important departments like defence, foreign affairs, communication, etc. The Indian National Congress and the Muslim League both rejected that Plan. The British Government declared June 1948 as the final date by which political power would be transferred to India.

Transfer of power

In order to give practical shape to this process, Lord Wavell formed an Interim Government consisting of representatives of all political parties. It included the representatives of Congress, Muslim League, Sikhs, Parsis, etc. It could not work smoothly as there were always conflicts and quarrels. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the Vice-President of the Interim Government, got fed up with its working and threatened to resign. Consequently, Viceroy Wavell was called back and Lord Mountbatten was appointed Viceroy for the transfer of power to Indian hands.

Lord Mountbatten agreed to his appointment on certain conditions. One of the conditions was that all the original records relating to the transfer of power to India, pertaining to India would be his personal property. Consequently, all the records relating to India's Independence were taken to his hometown Broadland, near Southampton, in England. Their copies were made simultaneously, forming eight volumes with the title “Partition Proceedings”. Later, the sets of these volumes were given to the India and Pakistan governments.

Lord Mountbatten arrived in India in March 1947. After consulting Indian political parties and the British Government in England in May 1947, he formed the Mountbatten Plan.

According to the Mountbatten Plan, India was to be divided into two countries—India and Pakistan. The provinces which had a substantial non-Muslim majority were also to be partitioned. In this way, Puniab and Bengal were to be divided and Assam was added at the instance of Jinnah.

Under the Partition Plan of the Central Government, the Partition Committee was formed to steer through the process of partition. Similar committees were formed in the provinces to be partitioned. Later on, sub-committees were formed in every department.

In the partition sub-committee of Punjab meant for the Record Office, Dr Chopra, the Keeper of Record, argued that the Khalsa Darbar records of Maharaja Ranjit Singh might be transferred to East Punjab, along with some Gurmukhi manuscripts and Persian manuscripts relating to Sikhs and of general nature. These were agreed to be transferred. Two guns relating to the times of Guru Gobind Singh were also included. When it was a turn of dividing the old coins, one Muslim member of the Partition Committee raised the point that first they should enquire from the Central Steering committee or the Partition Committee whether the record office had to be divided or not. Till the reply the work of partition of record might be deferred.

The Central Steering Committee had already decided not to divide the records preserved by the Central government or provincial government. Thus, very meagre records were brought to East Punjab.

In order to meet the deficiency of records in the East Punjab, the government acquired the private library of Baba Prem Sigh Hoti Mardan. Secondly, records of the Bhandari family of Batala were acquired and added to the East Punjab record office.

Bhandari’s collection related to the First Afghan War, as one of their ancestors was an agent of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Ludhiana dealing with the British. In the process of acquiring these Persian documents, I was deputed by the Keeper of Record to prepare a report as I was working with the Sikh History Research Department, Khalsa College, Amritsar. The records were ultimately acquired.

Punjab and Pepsu merger

After Independence, the Pepsu Government was formed in 1947 and Dr Ganda Singh was appointed as Director of Archives, Pepsu. Dr Singh collected all the records of different states like Patiala, Nabha, Jind Kapurthala, Malerkotla and Nalagarh. All these records were collected in Patiala Archives at the Old Fort, Patiala.

Like other departments, Punjab Record Office and Pepsu Archives were merged under the Keeper of Record, V.S. Suri. He organised the Punjab State Archives at Baradari, Patiala.

Most of the records from the Old Fort were removed to Baradari and records from Simla were also brought there. Due to paucity of space, the records of two rooms adjoining museum in the old Fort could not be brought to Barandari.

The records are still lying there. Some of the Persian and Gurumukhi manuscripts collected were transferred to the Central Public Library, Patiala. It was decided that Punjab Archives would remain at Patiala.

The old building vacated by the Deputy Commissioner’s office was reserved for the archives during the Congress regime under Captain Amarinder Singh. The office at Barandari, Patiala, was vacated. Some of the records were transferred to the Language Department of the Punjab Government, while some of the records remained at Barandari. The government could not organise the Archives at Patiala.

Later, the new government decided to build the record office at Sector 38-A, Chandigarh. So the stalemate continued. As a result, the records are scattered at different places as mentioned above. Unfortunately, the record office has been neglected for years. A number of posts have been lying vacant. Now, an IAS officer has been appointed as Director of Archives.

The deplorable condition of the Punjab Record Office has created a lot of difficulties for research scholars in locating records for research purposes. Punjab is one of the oldest provinces of India and perhaps the only state, where records have not been organised after Independence.

The writer, a prominent historian, was Professor and Head, Punjab Historical Studies Department, Punjabi University, Patiala.

Suggestions for maintaining the records

1. There should be one place where the archives can be maintained once for all.

2. A technical person should be appointed as Keeper of Records of Directorate of Archives. He should be given a regular training for record management in the School of National Archives, New Delhi. The Government of India has established a school for the training of officials from different states of India for record management. It is not open to all. Usually, every state has got trained persons to maintain the records.

3. The Keeper of Record should be transferred. He should be trained for maintaining the record in a proper way, i.e., fumigation, lamination, binding, etc.

4. The Keeper of Record should be granted adequate staff. Some of them may be deputed for training to Delhi.

5. There was an Advisory Committee consisting of eminent historians, government officials and public figures to give advice on the collection of private records. That committee should have the Keeper of Record as its Secretary and may be presided over by the senior-most member of the committee. Its job would be to locate records at various place in private hands and advice the record office for its collection and preservation.

6. A publication section may be added for publication of records. Like Persian Records of Marathas History, published by Bombay Archives, we should also publish Persian Records of Sikh History, Khalsa Darbar records, Peshwa Daftar records etc.

7. The Record Commission of the Government of India has recommended that every State should establish an Oral History Cell in their record offices in order to facilitate contemporary writings.

After Independence, the Pepsu Government was formed in 1947 and Dr Ganda Singh was appointed as Director of Achieves, Pepsu. Dr Singh collected all the records of different states like Patiala, Nabha, Jind Kapurthala, Malerkotla and Nalagarh. All these records were collected in Patiala Archives at the Old Fort, Patiala. Like other departments, Punjab Record Office and Pepsu Archives were merged under the Keeper of Record, V.S. Suri.