P A G E
Saturday, July 18, 1998
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E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Saturday, July 18, 1998 |
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This
visa politics
Law-makers’
privileges |
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Sheer
case of bad selection |
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This visa politics While it can be readily conceded that every country has a sovereign right to grant or deny visas to citizens of other countries, the US denial of the entry permit to a number of scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), professors from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the head of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) is in bad taste, to say the least. In fact, this goes against the value system that America stands for. The AEC Chairman, Mr R.Chidambaram, had sought a visa to attend an international conference on crystallography where he was slated to serve as vice-chairman. This was a purely scientific activity, the promotion of which the UN Charter and humanity are committed to. By denying the visa to Mr Chidambaram, the USA has, wittingly or unwittingly, introduced cold war politics in matters of science and technology. At first, Washington maintained that there was no denial of visa since Mr Chidambaram had withdrawn his application. When the Indian AEC chief disputed this claim, the USA justified this as a "policy decision" to deny visas to selected people, particularly scientists in the nuclear field "to prevent unwanted transfer of technology". This is a very strange logic. How can the presence of Mr Chidambaram in the USA for a few days for an international conference lead to transfer of technology which in itself is a highly intricate exercise? Has Washington no confidence in the men and the system operating in the USA? Or, does it wish to accuse Indian nuclear scientists of indulging in espionage activity while in the USA? The Indian track record in such matters has been totally clean. India has achieved a breakthrough in the nuclear field by its indigenous efforts. The Alabama conference would have only provided an opportunity to the scientists from other countries to exchange ideas. But by acting as a global policeman, the USA is not only interfering in the free flow of ideas but also spoiling the global atmosphere for a frank exchange of information. This is against the norms of civilised conduct and decency. It is shameful that the USA should have justified its visa move on the ground that it had put similar curbs on the Soviet Union and the other Warsaw Pact countries. The revival of cold war hysteria will neither be in the interest of the USA nor can it help promote the goodwill which a large number of Americans have for this country. What is regrettable is that the visa moves come at a time when the Americans have eased sanctions on agricultural products and the Senate has even adopted an amendment giving President Bill Clinton the authority to lift trade sanctions against India and Pakistan. We in India have always admired the USA for championing causes of human dignity, freedom of expression and information flow. By denying visas to the Indian scientists for routine global meetings, the USA has not only gone against the spirit of the founding fathers of America, but also lowered its dignity in the eyes of its own people. The growing signs of intolerance on the part of the Clinton administration show that it is not sure of itself. This is surely not a healthy development for the USA's value-based democracy.  |
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| A face-saver
in
the post The postal strike, like most of the recent agitations of government employees, was eminently avoidable. It was needlessly allowed to go on for eight agonising days. Those who had chosen the path of striking work had forgotten the supreme consideration—the interest of the public, of which they, as social beings, are a part. Essential services in the vital realm of communication were paralysed. Too much stress was laid on the Justice Talwar Committee recommendations which will have to be accepted one day—some day—because a judicial mind has kept the interests of the employees as well as those of the government in view while delving deep into the problems faced by working people with regard to pay and service conditions. If the Union Communications Minister Sushma Swaraj had paid attention to the talks between the employees' representatives and the top men in the Postal Board, the inconvenience faced by the post-dependent people all over the country would have ended on July 15. "Tough measures" were planned instead. The "help" of the Army Postal Services was put forth as a threat and as a way to end the strike. Such intimidatory tactics do not work with workers in the key segments. The members of the Federation of the National Postal Organisations (FNPO) and the National Federation of Telecom Employees (NFTE) have done well to return to their places of work. But they must realise that they have not got anything more than what they were getting. The search for a face-saver yielded this mere assurance from the Minister: the issues would be "sympathetically and expeditiously settled". The postal services will take at least a fortnight to become normal. Will the Talwar Committee recommendations be acted upon during this period? Mrs Swaraj alone knows the answer and even the Prime Minister does not seem to know the details of the plan for the settlement of the issues. However, his cryptic statement in Parliament made good news. Living from strike to strike is not a pleasant situation either for the employer or for the employee. For all practical purposes, the impasse continues. Only the stand-off has temporarily gone out of sight. That there would be no victimisation of the strikers was a known condition for the restoration of "normalcy". More than six lakh persons will get full pay for doing no work! This is good for the families of those who have to fight for their rights. But this is not an ethically mandated stand. Bread must be earned by the sweat of one's brow. The motto of the postal department is uninterrupted "seva" at day time and at night. All concerned must realise the value of dialogue in resolving contentious issues. It will be unrealistic for Mrs Swaraj to claim “success through negotiations”. It will be an act of self-delusion for the FNPO and the NFTE to proclaim that they were asking for a candle but they managed to get the moon. The plain fact is that the Postal Board has to shed its bureaucratic attitude and meet the demands of the postal employees. Justice Talwar has given a good dispensation. To cripple work is to impede progress. We live in the age of speed post. Let there be no occasion on which there is no post. |
| TRAI order set aside The sale of application forms and guidelines to private Internet service providers (ISPs) was to start on February 18 when the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) put the spanner in the works just one day prior to the D-date. It not only stopped Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) from providing cellphone services in Delhi and Mumbai but also dismissed the new Internet policy as invalid. It was a strange bunching of two totally different cases, which derailed the process of privatising the Internet services. While the ISPs rued this decision, private operators providing paging and cellular phone services were ecstatic that the entry of the MTNL into the Rs 2600-crore lucrative market had been banned. There were many red faces in the MTNL because it had promised its international investors in its recently floated GDR issue high returns on the basis of the possibility of providing services in these two metros. The stand of the Department of Telecommunications was that its power to issue licences to new service providers was supreme and the role of the TRAI was only to settle disputes between it and private service providers. The matter predictably went to court and now the judgement of the Delhi High Court has brought about yet another reversal of fortunes. It has struck down the TRAI order, thus paving the way for permitting the DoT to grant licences to private ISPs as well as allowing the MTNL to enter the cellular phones and paging services in Delhi and Mumbai. Significantly, the High Court has left the question open whether the MTNL was an existing service provider for cellular phones. The MTNL claim in this regard has always been vociferously challenged by private service providers and it is quite certain that the legal battle on the issue will continue for a long time to come. The latter claim that with the MTNL becoming the third service provider in these cities, their operations — which are already reeling under the impact of huge licence fees — would simply sink into the red sounding the deathknell of the nascent industry. While it is true that the TRAI overstepped its authority in this undesirable turf war, there is need for clearly defining its powers. As per the court orders, it can only make recommendations or render advice but it is not mandatory for the government to follow its advice. That gives rise to genuine fears that if the government tries to monopolise certain fields - as is its wont -- what is the remedy available to the industry. The apprehension is that the regulatory body without adequate teeth would hardly evoke any confidence in the investors and foreign telecom companies. It is necessary to ensure that there is a neutral referee which can not only provide a level playing field but can also make available to the consumer adequate services at competitive rates. |
| Law-makers’ privileges Rules should be same for rulers too by Joginder Singh Democracy is firmly enshrined in our country. The elected representatives, both to the State Assemblies and Parliament, are expected to perform a major public service not only in the area which elects them, but in the entire country. The live telecast of Parliamentary proceedings brings to the public eye instantly their utterances, behaviour and performances. Certain privileges are conferred on the law-makers under Articles 105, 122, 194, 361-A of the Constitution of India and the Rules of Procedure of Parliament with Article 118. Broadly, the privileges could be codified as under: There is a complete freedom of speech to the legislators. This is an additional right over and above what is guaranteed under the Constitution. But this is exercisable only in the House. The only check or regulation is in terms of what may be provided in the Rules of Procedure of Parliament and regulated by the Presiding Officer of the House. If such a right is used outside the four walls of the Houses, then a legislator can be liable to legal action for any infringement or violation of the justifiable rights of the individuals.  However, there is complete immunity against civil and criminal proceedings, apart from any litigation through writs about anything said within the legislature. Flowing from the above privileges and enactment of a law on the subject courtesy Feroze Gandhi, the Press too is immune from civil and criminal proceedings, as regards the publications of reports, so far as these are: i) Proceedings of the House; ii) substantially true; iii) not actuated by malice; and iv) not on proceedings of secret sessions of the Houses. Privileges of legislators other than those specifically provided, that is other than freedom of speech, of publication and of voting can be defined by law by Parliament and the State legislatures. It is provided that until a legislation is made, they shall be as they stood at the commencement of the Constitution. No such legislation has been made either by Parliament or any state legislature. Practices and laws are different in different countries. But everywhere there is an insistence on correct and ethical behaviour. The Australian High Court held in 1923 in R. vs Boston and others: “the payment of money to, and the receipt of money by, a member of Parliament to use his official position, whether inside or outside Parliament, is criminal conspiracy”. Similarly, Section 108 of the Criminal Code in Canada renders it an offence for a bribe to be offered or accepted by a provincial or federal member. In federal Canada and several of the provinces, it is considered a breach of privilege. Similarly, Article 1 (6) of the US Constitution contains the “Speech or Debates Clause” which provides that — for any speech or debate in either House, the members of the Congress, by statute, declared a member to be liable to indictment as for a high crime and misdemeanour in any court of the United States for accepting compensation intended to influence a voter’s decision on any question brought before him in his official capacity. The speech or debate clause does not give any protection in respect of the conduct i.e. anything related to the functioning of the legislative powers. In Brewster Vs Histoski, it was held: “Taking a bribe is obviously no part of the legislative process or function; it is not a legislative act. It is not, by any conceivable interpretation, an act performed as a part of or even incidental to the role of a legislator”. In most of the other Commonwealth countries, corruption and bribery indulged in by an MP are regarded a criminal offence rather than a breach of privilege. In the UK the law does not seem to have been finally settled as of now and the issue is being considered by the Law Commission of 1996. In India, the latest Supreme Court judgement on the JMM bribery case has evoked a mixed response. It is a fact that if the country is to improve, corruption should be removed from the framework of the political arena. It is a serious problem and it should not be politicised. Bureaucracy by itself cannot improve the situation. Sometimes bureaucracy itself is mixed up. At the same time, we have to recognise that politics is a game of competition. There is much talk about bringing the Prime Minister under the purview of the Lokpal Bill. But the Bill is not the solution for the malady of corruption. Whether or not the Prime Minister should be under the purview of Lokpal is not such a pressing problem. Except for one former Prime Minister, who is facing corruption charges in the JMM bribery case, we have had stalwarts as Prime Ministers. It will only be fair if the topmost functionary and Chief Executive, namely the Prime Minister, is kept out of the purview of Lokpal. It does not mean that he is exempt from the general laws of the country like the Prevention of Corruption Act. The objective is to keep the Prime Minister free for governing and not be tied down to answering frivolous, false and politically motivated complaints. Governing the country is a tough task. We can ill-afford to have the Prime Minister bogged down in litigation. What achievements would a Prime Minister be able to show if he is to spend all his time answering charges against himself or in appearing before various institutions? Whatever may be said ethical standards of behaviour of the law-makers will continue to be the subject matter of a debate. People expect their rulers to be above suspicion. Some people delight in pulling down those in high positions. But this is the blessing of democracy. Eternal vigilance of the people can only ensure high standards of public probity. The Supreme Court in its December 17, 1997, judgement has laid down a framework for strengthening anti-corruption machinery. Its judgement should be taken to the logical end and a trial given to what it has proposed. Importantly, the Supreme Court has nowhere said that bribery is legal. True, it has not held the bribe-giver guilty. But in looking at this decision we should not forget a basic fact that if both the bribe-giver and bribe-taker are chargesheet-ed,who will give evidence against whom for proving the guilt in a court of law. It has to be understood very clearly that improvement has to come from within the institution. It cannot be imposed by law. The legislature has to set up very high ethical standard. Some cases have been registered involving some former MPs for selling their quotas of LPG and telephone connections. It will only be fair and desirable if Parliament sets up an ethics committee which should not hesitate to punish and even expel the black sheep in its ranks. Only adoption of higher standards by our governors and rulers can improve the political and administrative situation in the county. Since independence about 200 inquiry commissions have been set up. Yet what has happened? At worst, either the Minister or the chief minister involved stepped down. But he came back to power in the next election or at least continued as an MLA or an MP or become a Governor. Civil servants are required to disclose their assets and acquisition of new property, acceptance of gifts and any other financial dealing over an amount Rs 15,000. Since the Supreme Court has said that our legislators are also public servants, it will only be fair to apply the same standard to them as is applicable to other public servants. Since there are no free lunches, everything has to be paid for. Let our rulers also follow the same rules which are applicable to the civil servants. Those entering Parliament or State legislatures should be required to make a public declaration of their assets and liabilities both at the start and at the end of the term. This should be in addition to the annual statements to be filed with the Government. This may look scary to some people. But those who have nothing to conceal should have no cause for worry. The privileges guaranteed to the legislators must surely carry with them the responsibility and obligation to set much-needed higher standards of probity and ethics in public life. (INFA) (The writer is a former Director of the CBI) |
 75 YEARS AGO Beating of Akalis at Rawalpindi Medical Officer’s report A recent Punjab Government Press communique says an account was given of the lawlessness and bad behaviour of certain persons at Rawalpindi on their release from the Rawalpindi and Campbellpore jails. Accounts of the affair which have appeared in the Press have grossly exaggerated the injuries sustained by the protestors during their removal from the neighbourhood of the Railway Station, where they were blocking the traffic and obstructing the public from entering the station. At the request of the Commissioner, the Officer Commanding the troops in Rawalpindi deputed Major McNeill, I.M.S., to examine the injured persons. Arrangements for the inspection were made through the Additional District Magistrate, who agreed to a condition made by some people that they should receive an hour’s notice before the Medical Officer’s visit. Major McNeill and his party found 428 men all lying on beds and were informed that they were unable to move. Shortly after his inspection, however, a number of these men were seen walking about Rawalpindi city, and the same evening they all left Rawalpindi by trains. |
| Growing export of N-products by O.P. Sabherwal India has made significant dents in high technology nuclear exports, ironically coinciding with Western curbs on nuclear materials for India. High density thorium oxide “buttons” fabricated at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) have been exported to the American electrical giant, General Electric Company Power Systems. These buttons were used for continuous monitoring of the cooling gas of big electrical generators. Another major export of sensitive nuclear products executed by India’s Atomic Energy Commission is of costly high technology heavy water to South Korea. India and South Korea drew up an MoU in 1995 agreeing in principle on export of heavy water from India to South Korea. Later, an agreement was formalised setting out the price and delivery schedules of heavy water from India. The entire export schedule for 100 tonnes of heavy water has been completed and prospects of further consignment of heavy water export to South Korea are being examined. Indian heavy water exports to South Korea coincide with construction of a new reactor in South Korea which will use heavy water as moderator. South Korea’s existing reactors, set up with US technology, use low enriched uranium as fuel and light water as moderator and coolant. Heavy water exports have opened the way for further nuclear exports to South Korea. The Korean Nuclear Power Company of South Korea has placed an initial order for supply of Zirconium-4 bars with Nuclear Fuel Complex at Hyderabad. Another notable nuclear technology item in the export pipeline is a $ 0.2 million order for manufacturing beryllium shaft assemblies for a US company. The order has been received by the Beryllium Machining Facility (BMF) at Vashi (New Bombay). Although India has been exporting nuclear items for health and medicinal uses for some years — it exported radioisotopes for medicinal applications worth Rs 1 crore during the last two years — sensitive nuclear technology exports such as heavy water, zirconium bars and high density thorium “buttons” which come under IAEA surveillance have opened up a new line of critical nuclear exports for which only a select few nations have capability. Heavy water exported to South Korea incidentally, is under IAEA safeguards. With Indian nuclear capability developing fast, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is gearing up for export of Indian nuclear products as well as nuclear technology. After the May nuclear tests, rating of Indian nuclear capability has soared. However, the restraint in such critical nuclear exports is that big power political sensitivity — particularly of the United States — having a bearing on the present state of tense relations, has to be kept in view. Even before the tests, India has been approached informally by several countries, including West Asian nations, for export of nuclear technology and hardware but India has been avoiding such exports. There have also been initial enquiries from Thailand on collaboration in nuclear technology development. South Korea, however, falls in a different category since it not only accepts full IAEA safeguards but is within the favoured American ambit. South Korean nuclear power reactors in fact are based on American reactor technology. However, it is learnt that South Korea is being discouraged by the United States from enlarging nuclear cooperation with India. — (IPA) |
| The feel-good advertisements by Tavleen Singh In this past week if you have been paying attention to your newspapers you would have noticed series of full-page advertisements released by the Government of India. These advertisements are distinguished by the fact that they invariably have a picture of the Prime Minister at one end and then smaller ones of the Ministers representing the ministry being praised. So, from the Railways we got, under a headline which said ‘10 Giant Steps in 100 Short Days’, pictures of Nitish Kumar and his Minister of State, Ram Naik. From the Ministry of Power we had a slightly more truthful headline “What couldn’t be done in 50 years cannot be done in 100 days —yet we have made a determined beginning. “This was followed by the admission that “To ensure ‘adequate’, ‘quality’ and ‘competitively priced’ power supply to the countrymen, additional 40,000 MW of power, a huge grid system and modern distribution system is required at a cost of Rs 2,80,000 crore. Meaning, we haven’t got the money so it could be a long wait. The Ministry of Steel and Mines was less truthful and used its full page to fulsomely pat itself on the back. There must have been others that I missed and there will undoubtedly be others still. But, the interesting thing about these advertisements is that what they are actually doing is telling us how little the BJP government has been able to do to change the system of governance they inherited from the Congress. The advertisements, you see, recall our Nehruvian Socialist days when Jawaharlal, mesmerised by the Soviet Union, copied even their hopelessly unsubtle propaganda system. They recall a time when most of our people were too illiterate to realise that the advertisements were not just a waste of government money but were an insult to their intelligence. Anyone who has travelled by rail in the past hundred days knows, for instance, that nothing has improved and anyone who lives in Delhi knows that the power situation has been worse this year than almost ever before. And, that even the local government is BJP. They also know that the main problem is management so abysmal that it amounts to criminal negligence. The Delhi Vidyut Board which supplies our capital city with electricity is believed to be so grossly inefficient that it loses nearly half its power on account of transmission thefts and defects. Our new Power Minister, Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, has himself pointed out the flaws in the Delhi Vidyut Board and yet he finds it necessary to issue a feel-good advertisement in a silly attempt to make us feel good. Why? Because, like nearly every other Minister in the new government he has been trapped by his bureaucrats into believing that there is only one way to run a ministry and that way is their way. Propaganda and outright lies are an integral part of their way. Only intelligent, experienced, well-informed ministers can rise above the bureaucracy and the BJP government has not shown us many of these. So, behind the feel-good advertisements is an atmosphere of defeatism and gloom so palpable these days in Delhi’s corridors of power that you can almost smell it in the air. Jayalalitha may have called off her attack for a few brief moments and, on account of Sonia Gandhi’s inability to put an alternative government together, there is a sort of consensus building up now that the BJP government will survive longer than expected but the gloom continues to hang in the air. It emanates from the fact that the BJP Government, and the Prime Minister’s style of leadership, is proving to be a disappointment even to members of the government. “We used to talk of coteries around Rajiv Gandhi” one minister told me on conditions of anonymity. “Well you should see the coterie around Atalji. They’ve simply taken over and are ruling in his name so how can you expect us to provide anything new or inspirational. It’s not possible”. When I heard the same thing from another Minister, and then another, I asked one of them to identify who was in the coterie. It did not take him a moment of hesitation to give me the same list of names that are being bandied about by everyone else who makes the coterie charge. Ranjan Bhattacharya, the Prime Minister’s son-in-law, Brajesh Misra, his Principal Secretary, Shakti Sinha, his personal assistant, Pramod Mahajan and Jaswant Singh. Mahajan has of late, according to Delhi’s power grapevine, been downgraded. When I investigated the coterie charge a bit more, though, I came up with the startling defence that if people were acting in the Prime Minister’s name it was only by default because he himself was a bit “dispirited” by the kind of pressures his coalition allies had been putting on him. Well, the harsh truth is that the Prime Minister has no right to feel dispirited. Leaders quite simply do not have this luxury. But, because he is new to the job he appears not to realise that his defeatism is infecting the rest of his government and that, on account of it, he has also lost his chance to make the sort of melodramatic changes in government functioning that were expected in his first hundred days. The biggest lost opportunity was the Budget. Yashwant Sinha, a former bureaucrat himself, has shown himself to have been more of a victim of his bureaucrats than anyone else. They were the same bunch who have made all our other Budgets in the past ten years or so and should have been changed before budget-making began. There is talk of changing them now but it could already be too late. Sinha gave us a Budget so uninspired and unimaginative that the gloom from Delhi has spread to business circles in Mumbai. One businessman, a former supporter of the BJP, expressed his despondency in these words, “Vajpayee could be the worst Prime Minister we have ever had. He makes even Deve Gowda and Gujral seem dynamic”. So, the government may survive now, it may even survive longer than a year, but unless the Prime Minister shakes himself out of his torpor its survival may not be worth the country’s while. |
| Sight and Sound Sheer case of bad selection by Amita Malik I sometimes think the faceless committees which chose imported serials down the years for DD have crossed over en masse to Star Plus. Not only to keep the old Union Jack flying but also to save themselves the trouble of choosing new ones. How else can one explain the many times born again To The Manor Born popping up again on Star Plus? Or that too-too British trivia with strictly local jokes, Are You Being Served? which is said to be Mrs Thatcher’s favourite and one is not surprised. What interest does it have for Indians except the odd koi-hai? I am not the only one who thinks that Mind Your Language is unashamedly racist, because what is its main point? That foreigners speak funny English and do not understand local customs. Immigrants might have to put up with such insults in Britain, but why foist it on Asia and particularly the sub-continent? No one grumbles when Yes Minister, which is universal and always topical or some good thriller, like Murder She Said are occasionally revived. One can even put with with Allo, Allo at decent intervals but the recent ones have not been decent. But to keep on flogging British trivia and, more recently, select a serial like Heart Beat, very much English rural intrigues and thick country accents, seems a sheer case of bad selection. It is rarely that one finds something different like Due South, which is different because it is partly Canadian. But clearly Star Plus needs to devote some thought to choosing adult and more sophisticated fare for those who find its popular shows like Tu Tu Main Main and Ooh La La and other juvenile fare from the Nirja Guleri stable totally unwatchable. Which brings us on to the question of genuine comedy and satire on the small screen. I have tried very hard and have not got beyond Ashok Sutradhar on Zee, whose political satire, Zee News Count-Down, is also a satire on TV’s countdown shows. Then Jaspal Bhatti, who, mercifully, is hopping from channel to channel so that he does not bore us on one, and still keeps us in splits with his devastating social satire which appeals to every level of viewer Javed Jaffery, when he is not over-doing it is still tremendous fun. All genuinely Indian and original. As far as TV goes, all the DD anchors who appeared for the National Film Awards function made a hash of things except the coolly professional Komal G.B. Singh. Navin Kohli, normally protected by a table when reading the news, did not know what to do with his hands, except flail them like a windmill. I still wonder why Sarla Maheshwari, one of our finest newscasters rushes in from time to time into outside telecasts. She has neither the vocabulary nor the descriptive power for it. Both these anchors were redundant. Then Jyotsna has picked up this annoying habit of putting in her own bit like. “I asked Pradeep what was his favourite song”. That is none of the business of an anchor. But DD made up for all this and some tactless camerawork which kept on showing empty seats by doing a very good tribute and by far the best on any channel, to Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner Pradeep, with reactions from his peers and some moving moments with him. If it’s football, it has to be DD. It missed for the World Cup final, the two teams coming on to the field and that solemn moment when the national anthems are sung. Then after victory, the run round the field, the exuberance of all, including the French President. DD was too busy showing some loud advertisements. It was DD’s loss, because I switched on to Pakistan TV, where I got far better reception throughout the match, and all those dramatic moments which DD missed. TAILPIECE Some time ago, DD used to carry during prime time news a crude and gory ad for sanitary towels. Now Star News has capped it with a revolting ad, both in visual and verbal innuendo, for male underpants during prime time news. One is surprised and shocked at the lack of taste on a normally refined channel. There is a time and place even for ads. |
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