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Tread with care
Who will stem the rot? |
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Helping rape victims
The legal right to food
Gulmarg that was
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Tread with care
THERE is mounting evidence that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, even if there is lack of evidence about who used them and how. This has to be condemned and the world must act to ensure that civilians do not become the victims of these weapons of mass destruction.
President Barack Obama had announced earlier that using such weapons would be crossing the line. Now, in the face of mounting evidence of their use, he is under pressure to intervene in a manner that would demonstrate the US might, without getting US troops on the ground. The US has failed to gain a diplomatic consensus on Syria, and its attempts to bring in the UN Security Council sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have been foiled by Russia, which supports the regime, as do Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt. Now it is under pressure to take unilateral action, and even here the traditional allies have displayed some reluctance to join in the armed intervention aimed at punishing the Assad regime for its alleged atrocities. The civil war in Syria dates back to the March 2011 protests in Deraa. The country has been embroiled in a civil war of attrition, which has come at a huge cost to the civilian population. Over 10 lakh refugees have taken shelter in neighbouring countries like Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey and tens of lakhs have been displaced from their homes. There have been some questions about the kind of forces that would replace President Assad, were he to be toppled. Indeed, the rebels comprise many shades of opinion, including some with radical extremist views. Even as the US seeks to balance a response that demonstrates its might without radically changing the balance of power in the region, it should make all-out efforts to seek a broad diplomatic consensus before undertaking any military action. There is much that can still be done to improve the situation on the ground and stop such atrocities. Any intervention in Syria should be based on a well-thought strategy, duly discussed and debated. Once committed, the US will be in danger of getting sucked into yet another Middle-East conflict which it may find difficult to pull out of. |
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Who will stem the rot? THE wretched men who rule Indian sport are just not letting go. They are unable and unwilling to fathom the tide of public opinion against them. The honorary, unpaid positions they hold in various sports bodies are irresistible to them - as if they're worth all the gold in India. A majority of them don't have the skill and the desire to promote sport and sportspersons.
Yet, most of them rule sport as their personal "jaagir", their fiefdoms. Some of them have been around for several decades. Indian sport and sportspersons continue to suffer. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) remains suspended from the Olympic Movement since last December. The efforts to bring it back into the International Olympic Committee (IOC) fold are being thwarted by the self-serving, greedy, "unpaid" officialdom. The IOA officials, determined to not let go, don't wish to opt for a zero-tolerance policy against corruption. The IOC wants the IOA to bar charge-sheeted individuals from the sports administration in India. The IOC wants the Indian association to revise its constitution, to prevent tainted officials from contesting the IOA elections. The Indian officials want none of that. They say they will not ban officials against whom courts have framed charges; they say they will bar only those officials who are convicted by a court and jailed for a term of over two years. So if a corrupt official is jailed for 18 months, he would be able to subsequently head a sports association in India. Such an election would be examined by an ethics commission. Guess who would appoint this commission? The IOA, naturally. This is a travesty of any notion of good governance. Such a stance makes a mockery of sport, sportspersons and public opinion. Shooter Abhinav Bindra summed up the reason why the IOA officials are resisting action: "More than 50% of the IOA members who attended the Special General Body Meeting have charges framed against them in a court." Yesterday, the birthday of Dhyan Chand, was as good time as any for officials to examine their conscience and do the right thing. It's very unlikely they did that. It's a pity, but it's no surprise. |
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Helping rape victims NOT long ago, in 2009, the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh had announced a compensation of Rs 25,000 for every Dalit rape victim. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, the Congress party chief in UP, had then said that she would shame the Chief Minister by offering her Rs 1 crore if she were raped. This caused a serious law and order crisis in the state and Bahuguna was detained for 14 days after criticising the "compensation" policy.
Tired of politicisation of such issues, the judiciary is waking up to the need for a proper rehabilitation programme for a growing number of rape victims, who also face violent, life-threatening attacks on their person and family members. On Monday the Supreme Court ordered the Madhya Pradesh government to pay Rs 10 lakh in compensation each to the two schoolgirls who were gang-raped by 16 men last year in Indore district. The girls were earlier awarded a compensation of Rs 2 lakh, which a Bench led by Justice R M Lodha found to be "highly inadequate." The apex court blamed the state government for "making a mockery" of the relief and rehabilitation measures. In the hinterland, the rape victim is not only socially ostracised, often the high caste men influence the police to write the report favouring the culprit. Poor families need monetary support to pursue the long-drawn legal battle as well as to survive through the ordeal. Often parents of minor rape victims have to leave their homeland to protect the girl's identity. In this context, the order passed by the Bench comprising Justices RM Lodha and MB Lokur, enlarging the scope of a PIL petition filed by a rape victim's father from Nilokheri tehsil, Haryana, by deciding to go into the entire gamut of problems of rape victims -- their social and financial rehabilitation included -- is a welcome step. A uniform policy across states will check the politicisation of compensation money on caste and other lines as was witnessed in Gujarat and UP. |
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We adore chaos because we love to produce order. —M. C. Escher
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The legal right to food
THE National Food Security Bill, just passed by the Rajya Sabha, constitutes a shift from the welfare-based approach to a rights-based approach. It gives a ground to the right holder to claim a defined quantity of food as his legal entitlement, and in case of denial, take recourse to courts for its enforcement. This makes India probably the only country to recognise that ensuring food security to citizens is not only moral and ethical but also a legal imperative as well. The Bill has generated a vociferous debate amongst political classes, economists and industrialists. The debate has raised certain valid concerns which need to be addressed to make the right effective such as restructuring of the Public Distribution System (PDS), identifying genuinely those for whom the law is meant and putting measures for ensuring proper and adequate funding with an effective monitoring of the system. In this regard the advocates of the Bill may draw lessons from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, which have been quite efficient in running the PDS, as also from states like Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Orissa, which have seen an enhanced percentage of the population accessing cereals from the PDS along with a reduction in leakages. These states have achieved these results by largely using simple technological fixes such as computerisation, doorstep delivery and a global positioning system to track foodgrain movement and improve transparency in the system. Experience of these states can help in dispelling the notion that the food security proposal is impracticable. However, some of the arguments against the move are weak and misplaced. An argument especially made in political circles is about the timing and intention of the government in introducing the Bill after dithering or choosing to wait after four years of promising it. The introduction of the Bill at this stage is seen as a 'game-changer' for reaping electoral fortunes and for hoodwinking people and diverting public attention from inconvenient issues. Even if these arguments are assumed valid the question that remains is about their relevance in the working of democratic politics. It is undisputed that winning power is an integral aspect of democratic politics. The fundamental question is what vision, policy choices and priorities and how convincingly does a political party incorporate them in its pursuit for winning power. A piece of legislation that yields political capital can also be pro-people. MNREGA is an example that admittedly brought political dividend to the party and it simultaneously gave relief to a vast number of poor people. What matters is the political wisdom and acumen of a political party to assess how people would respond to its policy choices and the timing of its implementation. Another issue raised concerns the Bill's financial burden. Some have described the Bill as a 'nightmare', while others as a 'money-guzzling measure'. There may be some rationale behind these charges but a realistic assessment by many experts reveals an 'exaggerated nature of these charges'. India at present spends about 0.9 per cent of its GDP on food subsidies. If the right to food as envisaged is accepted, the cost would rise to 1.25 per cent, entailing only an additional expenditure of 0.35 per cent of the GDP. Calling such a marginal enhancement a 'nightmare' or a 'money-guzzling' step does not sound convincing, especially when India's spending on social welfare entitlements is much lower than other countries in the South Asian region. According to the latest report of the Asian Development Bank, India spends only half the average social protection expenditure (as a proportion of the GDP) of what the lower middle income countries in Asia spend. The report gives India a score of 0.051, below most of its South-Asian peers. Enhancing social spending by just 0.35 per cent of the GDP should not cause any nightmares. It is significant to note that almost every political party has extended its support, in principle, to the Bill but at the same time insisted on the acceptance of its amendments as a precondition for the passage of the Bill. These amendments range from proposing the enhancement of the quantity of food entitlement, offering subsidised pulses in addition to wheat and rice, extending the coverage of the Bill from 67 per cent as presently suggested to 75 per cent of the population and some even asking for a universal coverage. Keen to ensure the passage of the Bill, the government has accepted some of the proposed amendments, at least partially if not fully. It is widely reported that the government is considering to undo a provision contained in the Ordinance that introduced a cut in the annual allocation of foodgrains in case of 18 states like Tamil Nadu which now will get extra grains (but at the existing APL rate of Rs. 8.30 a kg for rice and Rs.6.10 a kg for wheat). The move will cost an additional Rs 5,000 crore. It is obvious that such actions on the part of the government will put an additional burden on the treasury. What puzzles and hurts a common citizen who believes in and values the importance of parliamentary democracy is the doublespeak and a hypocritical position of various political parties. Should we describe such a development as 'paradoxes of democracy' (to sound charitable) or 'vandalisation of democracy'? On the one side parties are vying with one another to demand that the government should take immediate and serious fiscal and economic decisions, removing policy paralysis to contain the rising fiscal deficient, food price inflation and the steep fall in rupee value; on the other, the same parties are proposing several amendments to the Bill as a precondition for its passage even if the acceptance of these amendments would put an 'astronomical additional burden on the exchequer'. What is the 'mystique' behind parties taking such a 'self-contradicting' position? One does not need to guess too much. The continuous disruption of Parliament sometimes creates doubts in the mind of the common public about motives of both sides in the game. The attitude of the government equally sounds baffling. While on the one hand we see the government announcing day in and day out one or the other measure claiming them to be aimed at checking the developing economic crisis, restoring the climate of confidence for investment, clearing long-pending mega projects that were hampering the cause of growth; on the other hand it displays a desire to compromise its own economic prudence and principles of effective governance by moving at least 10 amendments to the Bill that incorporate major suggestions of opposition parties and supporting its allies to get the Bill passed. Suggestions contained in most of these amendments were strongly rejected by the same government earlier. If the country is convinced that growth has to be ensured and that it has to be inclusive and that the same should have the common man's face and that its fruits, instead of remaining confined to the few, must trickle down to the bottom, then the answer lies in striking a balance between growth and
redistribution. The writer is a member of the Law
Commission of India
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Gulmarg that was
DURING October, 1983, I got married and 'we' went for a honeymoon to Srinagar and from there to Gulmarg by a tourist bus. As we were alighting from bus, we had the first encounter with the falling of snow-flakes. We were so delighted that we dispensed with tea or lunch with our fellow tourists and preferred to go to heights on mules to enjoy more of snow. While moving upwards, in addition to two mule-keepers, three more locals joined in. They kept on telling us that we could enjoy a sledge-ride at the heights. We kept listening to them. On reaching the heights, we were greeted by a landscape full of heavy snow. Those locals showed us one wooden cart called the sledge and said that they would push it from one end of the ground and we would reach the other by sliding on it. As the other side was quite deep, we didn't like the idea and refused to hire the ride. They tried to convince us for some time and on their failure, demanded Rs 500 from us. To our argument that when we did not avail the service, why should we be made to pay, their reply was that they had come with us from such a distant place, wasted their time, hence we would have to pay. To our reason that we never agreed with them for riding the sledge, they countered that they had been explaining all this for long and we had been listening to them with patience and never told them that we would not ride. After arguing for some time the locals firmly said that we would take money from us, come what may. Finding no tourist around, frustrated and feeling helpless, I cried furiously: "Look Khans, your demand is totally unjustified. I am not going to pay you anything. You are five and we are two, we are tourists, you are locals and there is no tourist around here to save us. You can easily make out we are newly married. My wife is wearing gold ornaments and being a tourist, I am carrying a good amount of cash. You loot all this, kill me here and take my wife! Do I have any option?" The next moment there was an eerie silence and one person with folded hands said "Sir, what are you talking? You are asking us to loot our sister and kill you? How did this idea come to your mind? You are our esteemed guests and we cannot think of any such thing. If you feel our demand is unjustified, we are going back. Don't pay us a penny but before that think about us and our families." Seeing the situation comfortable, we discussed the matter with them. We also understood that tourists were their only bread and butter. They did not have any other source of livelihood. If due to some misunderstanding they had wasted their time on us, their daily earning was lost. They had their point and we paid them half of their demand. In the evening, we kept on discussing the incident and the simple, clean-hearted "pahari" people of Kashmir. Today Srinagar is bleeding, thanks to our politicians and these petty earners, who are least interested in politics, are made to suffer, for no fault of
theirs.
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Rationale absurd
THERE is no rationale in renaming Mullanpur as New Chandigarh because both have nothing in common. It is an exercise to cash in on the name of Chandigarh to sell land at a premium. Mullanpur has no potential of its own except that it falls in proximity to Chandigarh and has higher degree of connectivity. It will only put pressure on the city in terms of high intensity of traffic and other amenities. Planners of Chandigarh had a vision and commitment to develop a city with the highest standards of amenities and best quality of life. To protect the city from haphazard development, a buffer was provided in the form of periphery which extended up to 16 km. However the re-organisation in 1966 left the periphery most vulnerable due to its subdivision among the states and the UT. The periphery, which was to protect, has emerged as the most potent threat to the fabric of the city. Mullanpur is highly fragile and eco-sensitive. Urban growth will destroy the flora and fauna of the area. Lack of water will be a major challenge. Punjab has 217 towns, a majority of which are languishing for want of planning and investment. Small dose of investment in these areas will help them become self-sustainable. Small is beautiful and bigger is a disaster, is the new mantra in urban development. Let Punjab define a new order of development, focussing on neglected cities away from Chandigarh. — Jit Kumar Gupta, email Give breathing space There is a need for a town like New Chandigarh as Punjab does not have a well-planned city. But the government should ensure that it provides more access points, especially alternative roads to the airport, bus stand and railway station so that Chandigarh roads do not get congested. It should also be the responsibility of the government to ensure that the beauty and heritage of Chandigarh is not lost. There is no harm in setting up a new township. — Parminder Singh, Ludhiana Stop rape of Chandigarh Congratulations to The Tribune for highlighting this issue. The Punjab Government has already mutilated Chandigarh by assigning sector numbers to the localities in Mohali adjoining Chandigarh sectors. What right did it have to do that? Panchkula could well follow the example. The character of Chandigarh is sacred. New Chandigarh will destroy the aura of the city. Gurgaon and Noida did not rob any other city of its name in developing into enviable townships. They did it on their own strength. Chandigarh will be devoured if the Punjab Government is not checked. — Pratibha JS Sharma, email Identify real players Why are we thinking of the lack of infrastructure to sustain New Chandigarh or the affect on Chandigarh? When jhuggis mushroom, politicians make it their vote bank and allow them to use amenities free of charge. Does this not spoil the beauty of the adjoining area and become a burden on the amenities? The powerful have enforced their will. How can one fight for justice when the very protectors are an interested party? Nothing will come of this debate. If The Tribune really wants to do justice, it should conduct a probe into the genesis of the idea, identify real players, its progress at different stages, the plight of those whose land has been acquired and the compensation received by them. Why Punjab, known for agriculture, is speedily being converted into a concrete jungle? — Dr Sushil Kumar Bali, email Don’t abandon project The decision to develop Mullanpur as New Chandigarh is logistical and laudable. Chandigarh is overpopulated and congested. The standard of living in Chandigarh is too costly and the common man can’t afford it. It is the city of ‘babus’ and wide roads. New Chandigarh should be developed expeditiously, lest the project is abandoned midway following opposition. — DP Jindal, Mandi Gobindgarh Old is gold Mohali and Panchkula have developed as Chandigarh’s satellite towns. The need is to develop more townships in other areas like Anandpur Sahib, Nangal, Jalandhar and Amritsar, with round-the-clock power supply, bus service, schools and hospitals. The clearance of New Chandigarh has cheered property dealers and eminent personalities who have huge land pieces in the area. New Chandigarh may prove to be a white elephant as ample funds will be needed at all times for its maintenance. The government will ultimately shift the burden to business houses and traders. Old is gold and ‘old’ Chandigarh will continue to dominate New Chandigarh. — Rajat Kumar Mohindru, Jalandhar Develop existing cities Chandigarh already is under much strain. If at all the Punjab Government is interested in giving Chandigarh-like lifestyle to its people, it should develop such cities in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and other major cities. It should not take advantage of the ‘goodwill’ earned by Chandigarh. — Lajpat Rai Thakral, Amritsar Won’t make it ‘heaven’ Townships near Chandigarh are bursting at the seams. Mullanpur Garibdas area came to the notice of realtors, politicians and bureaucrats due to its proximity to Chandigarh. The area is in the hands of cooperative societies, politicians and big and small developers. The intervention of the Punjab Government will regulate development. But a city does not become liveable just because of its wide roads, parks and exotic trees. The rule of law is the first ingredient of any good living area. People of Punjab want to live in Chandigarh because most Punjab cities have become dirty and lack law and order. Name it ‘New Heaven’, it will not be different from any other Punjab city. — Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar Hell that is Mohali The Punjab Government is very quick in executing projects, but tardy in maintaining them. Mohali is next to Chandigarh, but there is a marked difference between them. Chandigarh is heaven while Mohali is hell. In Mohali, the money meant for the city goes into the pockets of politicians. The same will happen in New Chandigarh. A worst city is going to be made out of the best city. — Dr PS Jassal, Ludhiana Watch what you say A seasoned politician like Parkash Singh Badal should not pull wool over the eyes of the people. Mullanpur Garibdas can be developed on the model of Chandigarh but not as New Chandigarh, which means an extension of the UT. It is absurd. He should desist from ruining his image by indulging in unwanted stunts. — RK Kapoor, Chandigarh Get ‘new’ Corbusier The Punjab Government must implement similar development policies in other cities and set right the horrifying condition of the state. People don’t want malls and showrooms as much as they need basic amenities. The government must look for a new Corbusier to plan the town. The problems of parking, water and roads are minor if considered before hand. — Arshdeep Singh, Mohali Let Punjab have its way Food production is declining. We must save agriculture land. We should go for high-rises near the cities. To divert the issues of unemployment, corruption, rising prices and scams, politicians touch the nerve of the masses with ideas like New Chandigarh. Baddi in Himachal and Pinjore and Kalka (Panchkula extension) are connected to Chandigarh. No one objected to their development? Why should the development of Mullanpur, with various seasonal rivulets and where the land is not good for crops and the input cost high, be objected to? The development in Chandigarh has only been towards Panchkula. The area near Punjab has not been brought under any major project. Instead, slum colonies have been set up. The other political parties of Punjab are silent on this issue due to the polls. The contention that only a few politicians and influential persons will benefit is incorrect. Most of the land being acquired belongs to poor village residents who opted for land pooling. As regards a new town at a distance of 40 km, why did the Centre not sanction a defence university at Fatehgarh Saheb for which land was offered to it? Instead, it was sanctioned to the neighbouring state. How can Punjab, whose fiscal health is alarming, develop a new city at a distant place? — Col (retd) Balbir Singh, email Counterproductive It is claimed that New Chandigarh has been conceived as a self-sustaining city to cater to the spillover of Chandigarh and Mohali. It will just have the opposite effect. The UT Administration had got a study carried out in 2008 for evolving a comprehensive mobility plan for Chandigarh Urban Complex. It was recommended that underpasses should be provided as traffic volumes have far exceeded their capacity. With additional traffic entering city roads through New Chandigarh, we may need elevated highways. Punjab is planning an expressway in Mohali. This needs to be given the highest priority. The Centre has appointed a committee to regulate development around Chandigarh. It needs to be given statutory powers so that its decisions are implemented and the character of Chandigarh is maintained. — Harish Sethi, email Will meet same fate as
New Mohali, Aerocity Why doesn’t the Punjab Government first help people whose hard-earned money is stuck in the then-much-hyped New Mohali and Aerocity projects? Why does it want to bite more than it can chew? Its coffers are already empty. The common man is being taken for a ride again. Once plots are sold at inflated prices, the project will meet the same fate as the previous ones. The crescendo which is being built through this exercise should be used not only to stall this adventure, but also bail out the real end-users who are facing the brunt of delayed projects, in which the government has already lost interest. — Paramvir Singh, email |
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