The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Use and misuse of PIL
Striking the right balance

In keeping with the directions of the Supreme Court the Punjab and Haryana High Court has laid down guidelines to deter non-serious public interest litigation (PIL) petitions. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Augustine George Masih has asked the court's registry to ensure that the petitioner discloses information on his source of living, what public interest he espouses and work he has done in this area, and particulars of any previous PIL filed by him. It is not enough for a petitioner to mention in an affidavit his address and claim that he is public-spirited and thus filing a PIL petition.

Along with the Right to Information Act the provision of public interest litigation has empowered citizens to seek judicial solutions to public problems. Many civil society activists and social groups have done commendable work in highlighting issues of public importance and the judiciary has encouraged them by penalising acts of omission and commission by those in power. However, in recent years the powers guaranteed by both the RTI Act and the tool of PIL have been misused by some publicity-seeking, self-serving and habitual complainants. This has forced the judiciary to act in order to curb the flood of PIL petitions in courts. In some cases costs have been imposed on petitioners. The Supreme Court fined a petitioner Rs 50,000 for alleging that former Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia had a conflict of interest in the Vodafone case since his son worked in a firm involved in the deal with Hutchinson Essar.

Given the backlog of pending cases, judicial time is precious and should be respected. Penalties in frivolous cases are, therefore, justifiable. But this should not tilt the judicial scale to another extreme so that courts start throwing away even significant petitions on one pretext or the other. What is required is that the courts should be provided with adequate staff and infrastructure so that justice is delivered without inordinate delay.

Festive spirit
Spread joy, not pollution

Each year the festive spirit of Diwali is marred by the din of crackers and rising pollution levels. Pollution levels peaked in New Delhi this year. In Chennai particulate matter in the air more than doubled and the decibel levels went far beyond the permissible limit. Clearly a green and eco-friendly Diwali, about which much noise is made periodically, remains merely wishful thinking.

The bursting of crackers is no doubt an inextricable custom associated with India's major festival. Perhaps the after-effects of Diwali would not have been taken so seriously had the consequences of air pollution, especially those linked with the fireworks, not been so hazardous. Air pollution not only increases the risk for respiratory and heart diseases, but also leads to skin allergic reactions. An exposure over a long period can also cause lung cancer. Besides causing problems to those suffering from respiratory ailments, air pollution is particularly harmful to children and pregnant women. What is worse is that pollution caused due to firecrackers is not confined to only those areas where these are burst. According to experts, the air carries the suspended particulate matter that multiplies during the Diwali days to other areas as well.

Indeed, it's nobody's case that Diwali alone is responsible for the deteriorating quality of air. It would be equally preposterous to suggest that the authorities concerned are not doing anything. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board not only succeeded in its drive for clay Ganesha idols, but also came up with a digital campaign to stress upon the harmful effects of crackers. Closer home in Amritsar, the SGPC reduced the time of the fireworks show at the Golden Temple last year as well as this year. However, data shows that air pollutant levels rise with each Diwali. Indeed, the government can't be seen as a spoilsport out to dampen the enthusiasm of festival revelers. Yet suitable action against those who defy the firecracker regulations is certainly in order.

Thought for the Day

The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident. — Francesco Guicciardini

ARTICLE

Women’s emancipation
Prejudices against them still rampant
by S. Nihal Singh

Women around the world have won rights and emancipation up to a point, but they are far from being the equal of men and are still struggling to find their place in the sun. A remarkable day-long seminar recently held in Delhi, billed as “Winning Women: A dialogue between India, France and Germany” with French, German and Indian sponsorship, led to many questions, the answer varying in degree depending on the stage of a country's development.

A striking aspect of the debate was the conclusion that great as progress has been in women's march to equality since the days of the Suffragettes, prejudices against them are still rampant and the lot of a woman in India is different only in specifics, rather than in her inability to hold her head high. Indeed, participants brought a rich matrix of experiences and professions ranging from Indian feminists and a lawyer to a French philosopher and a film-maker and an office-bearer of a research organisation with formidable academic degrees, a German political scientist who is a member of the Greens Party, a state parliamentarian suitably dressed in a green blouse.

The Institute Francais, a co-sponsor, even brought out its big gun in the field of women's emancipation, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem of Moroccan origin, who is a minister for women's rights and is the spokeswoman of the French Government. The one disappointment of a highly nuanced debate was the fact that the session on “Women & Power” dealt with women's problems in positions of authority in private and economic organisations, rather than grappling with issues relating to women wielding political power, a subject of immense possibilities. Perhaps the association of the German and French embassies in sponsoring the debate was an inhibiting factor.

French philosopher Genevieve Fraisse made the interesting point that women had now progressed from being excluded to being discriminated against. India's Mrinal Pande felt that the import of Western models of state had distorted women’s problems; she juxtaposed the unrepentant male against the invisible woman and pointed to male prejudices in the failure to give fair representation to women in legislatures. Nor is it wine and roses for women in prosperous Germany. According to Professor Ute Klammer, legal equality of the sexes is not matched by the ground situation, with women mostly in poorly paid part-time jobs and they get half of men's pensions.

The French film-maker and essayist Caroline Fourest pinpointed the problems imported by migrants from the former colonies bringing their macho culture and make up for their subculture in ghettoised suburbs by committing rape, often against their own women who are not properly dressed in their view. On the other hand, in German political scientist Brigitte Triems's view, violence against women was not culture specific. Indian lawyer Vrinda Grover suggested that women's rights be equated as human rights. She recognised the role of feminism in India and said all crimes, not only violence against women, had risen in the country. She said misogyny and patriarchy were the worst aspects of the Indian scene. In a swipe at her Western colleagues, she said there were no international takers when women fought economic injustice.

German Greens parliamentarian Andrea Lindlohr patted herself on the back by recounting that there was 36 per cent of women representation in the Bundestag (Parliament) today, but said as an aside that women tended to avoid one-to-one situations. Martha Crawford-Heitzmann of mixed French-American nationalities with a set of formidable academic degrees holds a senior position in AREVA research, but avoided questions of politics and power.

Indian journalist Shoma Chaudhury, who juggles her onerous job with bringing up children, has an understanding husband, complained of misogyny in India. She believes economic empowerment in the answer and said women bring in a passion to a job men often lack.

One of the tri-nation dialogue’s organisers is the symbol of Indian feminism, Urvashi Butalia, a director of the Zubaan publishing company who co-founded Kali for Women in 1984. She has focused on the oral history of the subcontinent’s partition publishing “The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India” in 1984. How far this unique dialogue will go in giving fillip to the feminist movement remains to be seen. But it certainly gives a new dimension to women's problems in the country. India, after all, is part of a universal problem accentuated by the prevailing levels of poverty. But the macho culture is not unique to the Indian male.

Perhaps the next dialogue will focus on the fascinating subject of Women and Political Power. Women politicians have made their mark in the politics of several countries. Take Germany's dominant politician Angela Merkel, who has just won a new term in office. India's own Indira Gandhi became an icon in her lifetime. Her conduct of the Bangladesh war with Pakistan and her diplomacy preceding it won her the admiration of the Bharatiya Janata Party leader and future Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who compared her to the Goddess Durga. The imposition of the internal Emergency was the other side of the coin.

There have been other remarkable women leaders such as Britain's Margaret Thatcher, who won renown as the Iron Lady until she was dethroned in a party coup. Women who exercised power largely behind the scenes such as Argentina’s Evita Peron are perhaps in another category although she later assumed office. The greater is the pity therefore than this area was left unexplored in an otherwise path-breaking conversation among women of distinction from three countries. The next dialogue should be expanded to include participants from other nations.

The India International Centre, one of the sponsors of the recent dialogue, can perhaps seek the help of generous donors who are uninhibited in discussing political power and the world of women. For instance, one trait women in political power share is their reluctance to treat questions of governance as gender specific. Perhaps they do not wish to be seen as wearing the pants.

MIDDLE

Publishers and publishing
by Harish Dhillon

Though I have over a dozen books to my credit, I have failed to establish a comfortable relationship with the world of publishers and publishing. My first short story was published in The Illustrated Weekly in 1959 when I was 18. I sent them the manuscript and it was published. It was as simple as that. It was the same with all my other short stories: they were readily accepted by various journals and Sunday papers, most of them by the Sunday Tribune. Many of them were translated into other Indian languages. The same thing happened with my two novels in the 1970s - they were accepted almost immediately.

Then most magazines and Sunday papers, including The Tribune, stopped publishing short stories. I did write two more novels but failed to find a publisher. My association with publishers and publishing seemed to have ended.

Then in 1995, publishers came into my life again. I was commissioned to write a book, a book, which till date, gets a reprint once or twice every year. Six commissions followed in quick succession. Then one of my publishers brought out a collection of my short stories which was panned by both critics and readers. At the end of two years, the publisher offered me the unsold copies at a heavy discount. I bought them and they made useful gifts for my former students, till one girl I gave a copy to, looked strangely at me and I asked:

“Did I give you a copy before?” She nodded her head.

“This is the fourth copy you have given me.”

There was another lull in my writing career. I did write another book, a biography but no publisher would touch it. After the last debacle, I did not blame them. I filled in these sterile years by accepting two ghost writing assignments. I don’t know if these were ever published. But after I finished the second assignment, my client asked if there was any unpublished work which he could buy off me. I ‘sold’ the biography to him, though I warned him about the publishers' response to it. My lean period passed and once again commissions came my way. Then three years ago one of my publishers asked me to help in the editing of a manuscript.

“It is just your kind of book."It was a biography. It went on to become something of a bestseller. I was happy to see my work in print, even if under another name, but I wondered how it had found a publisher after all. I got my answer this year.

There was tremendous pressure from my friends, former students and readers to bring out a collection of my middles. I approached a dozen publishers and received the same answer.

“Books of middles do not sell.” They would publish it if I put up the cost of production. Two former students put up the money and the book is due to be released next month. I hope, like the biography, this too will prove the publishers wrong and turn out to be something of a bestseller!

OPED WORLD

Common interests bring India, Russia closer
Russia’s sophisticated diplomatic and strategic policy offers India a model to pursue. Moscow has evolved a worldview with an independent and positive role in the region while keeping an eye on geopolitical stability and balance of power
Zorawar Daulet Singh

For the strategic community, the US and China are the two dominant images in Indian foreign policy. Indeed, of all the major bilateral visits this year, the Prime Minister’s visit to Russia has been the most understated. Yet, both from a global balance of power and a regional security perspective, the Russia factor can no longer be ignored.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS 5 Summit in Durban, South Africa Photo: PTI

Russia and world order

The Syrian crisis has been a turning point. Most observers have been surprised at the resilience of Russia’s Syria policy. Many expected Moscow would ultimately buckle in the path of a western onslaught. Yet, nimble diplomacy and simultaneous signalling through a maritime buildup in the eastern Mediterranean was able to steer the evolution of the crisis. In September, the Russian Navy stated its Mediterranean deployments “can have a serious impact on the current military situation” around Syria. To be sure, the Obama administration did not appear inclined for an escalatory game that could have spilled over onto its regional allies and undermined America’s regional position. Diplomacy became logical and the Russians persuaded the Syrians to concede international oversight over their chemical weapons in return for security and sovereignty.

At a larger level, it is the restoration of a global order regulated by Westphalian norms with the UN Charter as the fulcrum of international relations that makes this geopolitical event more important. The October 21 India-Russia Joint Statement reaffirmed these principles.

Countering radicalism

The other ideational convergence between Moscow and Delhi that found expression in their joint statement is a similar position on radical ideologies. Both states continue to confront the deliberate and spillover effects of radical ideologies that are sustained outside Indian and Russian frontiers. As Putin recently remarked, “Some political forces use Islam, the radical currents within it…to weaken our state and create conflicts on the Russian soil that can be managed from abroad”.

The prospect of a failing and contested Afghanistan suggests a replay of recent history. During the 1990s, India and Russia, along with Iran, had closely cooperated in shoring up the Northern Alliance as a bulwark against the Pakistan-sponsored Taliban. After 2001, India adapted its Afghanistan policy by explicitly supporting the western intervention in the hope that this will transform South Asia’s geopolitical problems. The western strategy, however, could never overcome its internal contradictions: supporting an Afghan state-building effort, and, simultaneously relying on Rawalpindi, a covert sponsor of the Taliban, to wage a counter-insurgency campaign across the Durand Line. The conflict of interests proved insurmountable and Afghanistan and its neighbours are bearing the consequences.

Russia has begun strengthening the Central Asia-Afghan frontier for precisely such a scenario. Russia has decided to double its air deployments in Kyrgyzstan to 20 Sukhoi jets, even as the US is shutting down its only logistical base in Central Asia in nearby Manas, Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan, which hosts 7,000 Russian troops, has extended Russia’s military presence until 2042.

Contrary to popular perception, it is the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a Russian-led military alliance that includes post-Soviet states, and not the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that is the principal security framework for Central Asia. For India to potentially assume any forward operational presence to secure its Afghan investments and general policy cannot occur without a bilateral entente with Russia and, by extension, an arrangement with the CSTO.

The main reason that would constrain an expanded SCO from stabilising Afghanistan is that Russian and Indian threat perceptions may not converge with China on the question of Taliban’s rehabilitation in Afghanistan. Arguably, China could adjust to a Taliban-Pakistan Army sphere of influence in southern Afghanistan to secure China’s Uighur problem and Beijing’s economic investments in Afghanistan.

Russia’s eastern “pivot”

Dmitry Trenin, a Russian analyst, recently observed that Russian foreign policy is likely to continue “a geopolitical shift towards Eurasia and the Asia Pacific Region” and a “further distancing from the US and Europe”. Another scholar, Igor Okunev, argues Russia is “embarking on a pragmatic and sharp policy in the spirit of Realpolitik” and “moving away from its pro-European orientation”.

Could Russia’s evolving worldview make it more amenable to a subservient alignment with China? Russia’s self-image as an independent great power rules out such a prospect. Even during the dominance of the westernisers, Moscow refused to accept an unequal partnership with the West. It is unlikely to accept one with China. Of China’s 14 neighbours, Russia and India are the most important in continental Asia. Historically, it was the Soviet decision to normalise ties with China in the mid-1980s that persuaded India to follow suit in 1988. By 2008, Russia and China had solved all their territorial disputes.

In the contemporary phase, Russia and India’s China policies appear similar. At a global level, both find it beneficial to collaborate with China whether in the UN or in BRICS. For Russia, China is a useful partner to restrain any unilateralist impulses of the West.

Regionally, and, on the Russian and Indian peripheries, however, the China factor becomes more complex and competitive pressures often form the backdrop to interactions. Although neither Russia nor India want to participate in a regional Cold War against China, neither is willing to entertain a Chinese sphere of influence in Asia. As Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov remarked last year, “It is important to prevent…the Asia Pacific Region from going beyond the limits of natural and mutually stimulating competition and following the negative path of heated rivalry or even confrontation.”

Russia’s Asia Pacific policy, Sergey Lavrov more recently stated is, “aimed at a stable balance of power”. Russia’s actual conduct underscores this approach clearly.

In April this year, Russia and Japan began a new push to resolve their 70-year territorial dispute over the Kurile Islands and normalise relations. A former Japanese diplomat recently remarked, “The most important element for breaking a territorial stalemate is the international situation…the chance to settle the dispute is still there”. For Japan, it is all about China.

For Russia, it is also part of a quest to restore some of its Pacific influence, develop new energy linkages and develop the Russian Far East. Russia has recognised that tapping maritime East Asia will require new transportation options such as shipped liquefied-natural gas (LNG) or sub-sea pipelines rather than its traditional focus on continental pipelines to Europe and China. Japan and South Korea are world’s largest LNG importers absorbing 50 per cent of global supply. Japan imports 96 per cent of its gas of which Russia’s present share is merely 8 per cent. Russian gas will offer a secure and much shorter line of communication to an import-dependent Japan.

Both the Foreign and Defence Ministers of Russia and Japan are starting their first round of dialogue this November. Russian President Putin and Prime Minister Abe have held talks four times this year, most recently at the APEC summit in Indonesia.

On the Korean peninsula too, Russia’s eastern “pivot” is palpable. Both Russia and China are competing in leveraging their geopolitical location to offer new Eurasian lines of communication to East Asia, which has traditionally relied on the maritime route to Europe. In September, Russia opened a 54-km rail link to the North Korean port of Rajin as a pilot project to potentially link the entire Korean peninsula with the Trans-Siberian Railway network.

Moscow’s ties with South Korea have grown wider with trade touching $25 billion in 2012. Russia has been assisting South Korea in developing its space programme since 2004, and this August put another South Korean satellite into orbit. In industrial R&D, South Korean companies such as Samsung and LG rely on innovation and software development centres in Russia for their leading-edge consumer electronic products. In the automobile sector, South Korea is the only East Asian economy to have opened a complete manufacturing facility in Russia with a high degree of local components.

In South East Asia, Russia is pursing a clear policy of assisting Vietnam and Indonesia’s military modernisation. Russia is now the third-largest foreign investor in Vietnam after Japan and Singapore. Russia is also helping Vietnam renovate Cam Ranh Bay, an old deep-water harbor that served as an important Soviet naval base during the Cold War. Importantly, the select capabilities that Russia is providing Vietnam — submarines, frigates and fighter aircraft armed with anti-ship missiles — all indicate an attempt at enhancing Vietnam’s interests in the South China Sea. By 2016, Vietnam will have 6 kilo-class diesel submarines that are more advanced than the ones Russia has supplied to China. Russia is increasing the bargaining space for Vietnam and enabling it to engage China more confidently on the South China Sea dispute.

India’s interest

Too much of Indian security discourse is animated by the China factor, often at the neglect of defining Indian interests in various issue areas or in assessing structural trends in global and regional security or in political economy areas. The main ideational challenge before India is to construct a role for itself in the Asia Pacific region that is not simply a reaction to China’s rise.

Russia’s sophisticated policy offers one model to pursue just that — an independent and positive role in the region that also keeps an eye on geopolitical stability and balance.

The author is a PhD candidate at the India Institute, King's College London.