P A G E
Wednesday, February 3, 1999
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E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Wednesday, February 3, 1999 |
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Softening
US attitude
PRE-BUDGET
BLUES |
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Pushing
states into fiscal quagmire
A
Christian at heart
Rivals
in Afghanistan |
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Softening US attitude THERE has been a subtle but significant shift in the perception of the USA and India on mutual relations. Gone are the days when the Clinton Administration insisted that India should confess to the crime of Pokhran blasts before being allowed re-entry into the civilised world as a born-again peacenik. Now it has learnt to look at this country’s compulsions and good-neighbourly intentions, and also the popular desire to assert its sovereignty. India, on its part, has quietened down after the tub-thumping jingoistic rhetoric of last year and is adjusting itself to live in a world of irreconcilable differences. The USA now concedes India’s right to decide the size of its nuclear deterrent force, even though it still disapproves of the Pokhran blasts. This was the sticking point and the new mature and open-minded stance denotes progress. All these points are there in the joint statement and the press briefing by the two sides, but buried deep under the dense diplomatic prose. The two countries have, in effect, promised to work for broadbasing the ties and have suggested a series of measures like the USA facilitating the release of sanctioned loans by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank ($ 3.680 billion in all). This could come within this month. That will be the signal for the government to start serious efforts at consensus building on signing the CTBT. A broad agreement already exists on this with the Prime Minister telling the UN in September last that India would not stand in the way of the treaty coming into force once the other 44 countries ratify it; he also repeated this in Parliament but added that this would not come about under coercion. That was clearly an allusion to the hawkish US stand and when it changes, a major hurdle in India initialling and later ratifying the CTBT will be removed. There are two other
points, apart from the CTBT and the size of the nuclear
force this country should build. One is the need to
tighten the laws on export of nuclear material and
technology and the other is the US proposal to agree to a
moratorium on the production of fissile material by all
seven nuclear weapons countries. It is an idea in an
embryonic form and India will cross the bridge when it
comes to it. From the eighth round of talks a few things
have become clear. One, the USA now realises that the old
policy of treating this country with benign neglect would
not do; South Asia is a strategic area and because of its
sheer size and economic strength (in relation to its
neighbours) India cannot be ignored. Somewhere along the
way Pakistan’s renewed efforts to establish a
full-blown theocratic state too has played a role in
modifying the US attitude. All this was evident from the
unscheduled telephonic talk President Clinton had with
the Prime Minister. Two, by sheer persistence, India has
managed to convince the USA that it genuinely feels the
need to further arm itself in view of the security threat
which “is not confined to South Asia” alone and
that it has no idea of striking a threatening posture
against any country. This is a far cry from the middle of
last year when a hectoring Washington and a defiant Delhi
stood groping for ways to talk to each other. |
Sharif’s unending battles PRIME Minister Nawaz Sharif’s battles with one Pakistani institution after another have established that he is a great fighter, indeed! But, sadly, it has never been for a cause. It has been just to settle his personal scores. A record of sorts! His ongoing tussle involving the biggest newspaper group of that country is aimed at silencing his most vocal critics in the media. The group that owns multi-edition Urdu daily, Jang, the most widely read publication in any language in Pakistan, and The News in English, has never hesitated to expose the corrupt practices indulged in by Mr Sharif, his family members, friends and colleagues in the government. This is intolerable for the Prime Minister whose government enjoys a clear two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. Though he has come to power through a democratic process, he is behaving like an autocrat. He has acquired a bloated ego after successfully taking on his political challengers and those who dared to pose a threat to his authority in other arenas — Mr Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari as President, Mr Sajjad Zahir as Chief Justice of Pakistan and Mr Jehangir Karamat as army chief. There is a pattern in all this, reflecting his belief, though misplaced, that anyone who comes in the way of his functioning has to suffer. Mr Nawaz Sharif began his
battle against Jang by first asking its management to
tone down certain reports and articles through
intermediaries. When the method did not work, he conveyed
his desire for the dismissal of some of the senior
journalists, including the Editor, Ms Maliha Lodhi,
Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington during Ms
Benazir Bhutto’s Prime Ministership. When this too
was ignored, he decided to teach the defiant (or
valiant?) proprietors a lesson. He asked the Income Tax
Department to do the job. It obliged the Prime Minister
and soon the Jang group was slapped with a notice that it
owed to the department Rs 200 crore as income tax. The
government also discovered that the Jang management was
guilty of evading Customs duty amounting to Rs 60 crore.
To leave nothing to chance, it was found out, or
invented, that in 1996-97 the group had declared net
sales of Rs 78 crore to the Income Tax Department, but
the figure was given as Rs 200 crore to the Audit Bureau
of Circulation with a view to securing a bigger quota of
newsprint. The group was alleged to have committed the
same crime while declaring the figures for 1997-98: the
sales of Rs 126 crore for income tax purposes, and of Rs
198 crore for newsprint. It is difficult to believe even
for a layman that a professionally managed newspaper
organisation will behave in such a foolish manner, when
it has the reputation of never sparing the government for
its wrongs irrespective of who is at the helm of affairs.
Yet the Prime Minister’s advisers were convinced of
the charge. The matter went to court. In the meantime,
the group’s bank accounts were frozen and government
advertisements banned. Truckloads of its newsprint supply
was also seized off and on despite the government’s
denials. The government, however, suffered the biggest
jolt on Tuesday in this seven-month-old war when the
Supreme Court ordered the release of newsprint as
required by the Jang group. This has come after the
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has accused the
Nawaz Sharif regime of trying to curb the Press freedom
by adopting devious tactics — it has been
terrorising certain smaller publications too for carrying
anti-government write-ups. The whole thing appears to be
assuming serious proportions. If it develops into an
issue of the Press versus the government — about
which one should have no doubts now — Mr Sharif
should know who will have the last bite. |
Tremors in Timor THE spurt in State-sponsored acts of violence in East Timor have once again put a question mark on Indonesia’s commitment to granting independence to the former Portuguese colony. Last week the Indonesian Parliament sent out a weak signal on the status of East Timor while adopting pro-democracy reforms for the national elections on June 7. However, the international community gave more importance to the promise of independence for East Timor than to the pro-democracy electoral reforms. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed the hope that Jakarta would fulfil the promise of granting independence to the disputed territory “under certain circumstances”. But a sharp surge in paramilitary violence in the troubled province has forced thousands of people to flee their homes in terror, according to the accounts of international aid workers. The crackdown is being seen as an attempt by the security forces to terrorise the people into giving up their demand for independence. Indonesia occupied East Timor in 1975, after Portugal withdrew as a colonial power, although the UN has not recognised its authority. That Indonesia still has reservations on the issue of granting independence to East Timor is evident from the statement of Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas. He has been quoted as having said that the issue of independence would be considered by a new People’s Consultative Assembly in Jakarta only if the offer of autonomy is rejected. In the same breath he added that there was no question of holding a referendum for ascertaining the people’s preference. His argument that a plebiscite could throw East Timor into turmoil “given the clash of interests between pro-independence groups and those who favour continued integration with the rest of Indonesia” is being seen by the international community as an attempt to confuse the issue. A senior army officer too
added to the confusion by stating that the military,
often accused of committing atrocities, would not stand
in the way of the civilian rulers in Jakarta granting
freedom to East Timor. However, before the
pro-independence groups could applaud him he added that
“such an initiative should not hurt the dignity of
the Indonesian State”. Against this backdrop the
contention of Mr Manuel Carrascalao, a former member of
the regional Parliament, that the paramilitary forces
were not willing to give up their control over East Timor
sounds more credible. Mr Carrascalao is the brother of a
former Governor of East Timor, Mr Mario Carrascalao, and
a widely respected community leader. For how long
Indonesia would be able to resist pressure from the
global community to give up its illegal occupation of
East Timor remains to be seen. In UN-sponsored talks in
New York Portugal insisted that any autonomy agreement
must be supported by the people of East Timor — a
proposal supported by the USA, Australia and the European
Union. To confuse the global community on the issue of
independence Indonesia decided to transfer the imprisoned
East Timorese leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, to a special
detention centre “for a house arrest in name
only”. However, Jakarta refused to respond to the
suggestion of another East Timorese leader and a Nobel
Laureate, Mr Ramos-Horto, that “to prove its good
faith the government should first pull out its troops
from the occupied territory and release all political
prisoners”. |
PRE-BUDGET BLUES THE Indian economy is in crisis. The misdirected effort to “kick-start” the economy out of the crisis having failed in the current year, a sombre Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, has at last admitted the truth about the state of the economy. He is also talking of a hard budget for the coming year, 1999-2000, which ordinarily should mean that additional imposts might be proposed to raise additional revenue for the government. There is no sign yet, however, that Mr Sinha properly comprehends the nature and dimensions of the economic crisis. His alibi that he had inherited the problem from his predecessors in the Finance Ministry too is fatuous. What makes it totally unconvincing is that he still relies on more of the same so-called “economic reform” policies which have landed the Indian economy in a crisis and aggravated it by their mindless application in the current year. The meagre and fitful economic growth, which has been achieved in the nineties, has been designed to satisfy the demand in the market, which is backed by purchasing power, and which has tended to concentrate in fewer and fewer hands. The private investment has necessarily been geared to increase supplies in the market to help stabilise and in some cases even bring down the prices in the up-market of goods and services of elitist interest. It has not been relevant for mass needs. Inflationary pressures to the extent they have been moderated from time to time have indeed coincided with the scaling down of investment, both public and private, to depress the overall demand, including of the middle classes. In this scheme of things the masses have faced an increasing scarcity as well as high prices of articles of essential mass consumption with a marginal adjustment downwards from time to time only in the rate of price rise. Fiscal consolidation, which is unquestionably a matter of high public concern, must be the first priority for budget-makers. They must, therefore, address, above all, the question of inflation, though overall inflationary pressures appear to have subsided for the time being. Successive governments in the nineties have failed to perform this taxing task. But the reduction of development expenditure has been the preferred reform option of successive Finance Ministers in the nineties to bring down the fiscal deficit of the government and control inflationary pressures down to a manageable level. They have, however, side-stepped the responsibility of mobilising resources to carry out the essential tasks of maintenance of orderly administration and security, internal and external, and development of social and material infrastructure for economic growth with price stability. While the consumption expenditure of the government has been rising, its fiscal policy has been inspired by the idea of moderating the rate of direct taxes to mop up a part of the incremental incomes of the rich individuals and business corporations. High rates of direct taxes are supposed to have led to poor compliance and the hoarding of black money. There is no evidence, however, that the drastic reduction in tax rates has improved compliance, and black money has disappeared. An upswing in private investment and that of the community by taxation of incomes, wealth and the consumption of individuals and business corporations, and an improvement in the efficiency of the economic growth process too have not taken place. What has actually happened is a dramatic increase in the vulgar and ostentatious consumption of the rich and a slow-down of the overall economic growth. It has also gravely impaired the ability of public authority to provide for even its essential current consumption and maintenance expenditure. The highly adverse social and economic repercussions of the privatisation of the economic growth process have become stark. This is reflected not only in the shortages of essential supplies and services, and weakening of the economic and social infrastructure but also in the increasing inefficiency of the administrative and law and order machinery. The narrow social base of the privatisation of the economic growth process initiated in 1991 has indeed constrained the revenue raising capacity of the government and emasculated its developmental role. This has had economic and social implications of an adverse nature for the growth and stability of the Indian economy. The market-oriented private investment has not grown and, combined with poor infrastructure facilities, material and social, Indian private enterprise has been moving away from manufacturing to trading in imported commodities and services and financial speculation. The entrenched vested interests in the economy have been allowed to enhance, unchecked, their economic and political clout, but they have become more and more parasitical. They have tended to be alienated from the economic needs and development aspirations of the mass of the Indian people. The most trying problem for Mr Sinha to tackle in the framing of the budget this year is not a normal one. The conflict of interests in the economy, society and polity has always and everywhere placed limits on fiscal options. But the options now available to Mr Sinha are even more severely and sharply limited after the launching of the programme for the privatisation-liberalisation-globalisation of the Indian economy. He is indeed barred from making even a feeble and guarded move away from the pro-rich, pro-private corporate business fiscal policy for mobilising sorely needed additional resources for the government. It is, however, still open to him to at least plug the huge leaks of revenue and improve direct tax collections by removing the plethora of exemptions from payment of direct taxes and selective tax incentives for corporate business when the tax rates have been brought down drastically and now stand below the rates prevailing even in many developed countries. The proposition that lowering the rates of direct taxes improves tax compliance and increases revenue yield has not been as valid as it is claimed to be by interested quarters. The rate of increase in the realisation from direct taxes is still far below the rate of growth of the GDP when income disparities have increased and the gains of whatever growth has taken place have been monopolised by the upper strata of society. The reduction in the rates of indirect taxes, excise and Customs duties, across the board is now being considered as the signal for a start of which is smugly called the second stage of the so-called economic reform process. This move is open to question and should be undertaken with caution and circumspection. Its revenue implications should be carefully considered. The need to raise additional revenue, after all, is very pressing and should not be cavalierly sidetracked. The Customs duties have already been scaled down below even what is required under the WTO obligations and have led to a spurt in competitive imports, which have hurt local industry. This position needs to be corrected. Something positive in this direction is being urged by even sections in the corporate industry, and adjustments in this direction seem to be in the offing. There is no case at all for zero duty on the import of capital goods for setting up power and fertiliser plants and refineries. It is unfair for the Indian manufacturing and capital goods industry, and stands in the way of the development of its full potential. The government must create conditions for making Indian industry as a whole competitive to begin with in the domestic market and eventually in the global market. The most questionable, however, is the disinvestment scheme drawn up in the Finance Ministry to drain away the resources of the public sector undertakings. This is not a scheme for raising additional resources but transferring resources from the public to the private sector. The public sector undertakings will be denuded of resources for productive investment for the government to use them for its consumption expenditure. What Mr Sinha has to
remember before he presents his budget this year is that
there is need for serious and honest retrospection. He
must find out what actually went wrong for his
guesstimates and assumptions at the time of framing of
his last budget to become grotesque in the course of a
year. This is necessary for a meaningful revision of the
policy prescriptions accepted by him for dubious reasons
and under pressure of vested interests, domestic and
foreign. This may be too much for him to do, considering
his performance in the given economic, social and
political environment. |
A nightmare of history FROM times immemorial, the male-supremacist ideology is linked with women’s role in society. Frailty is esteemed in women, especially with rising economic mobility. This becomes a signifier of male pride: he is rich enough to keep her idle. But male physical strength, in contrast, is significantly powerful both in legend and reality. As Andrea Dworkin has put it “laws and customs protect it; art and literature adore it; history depends on it; the distribution of wealth maintains it.” Within this system, men form the subject of heroism/villainy who soak the earth with blood, while women, along with precious stones and material wealth, form his booty. The different yet related strains of men’s domain of power — the power of self, physical strength, the power of naming and owning, of terror, of money and sex — are instrumental in producing the stereotypes we have of women today, and the practices which accompany such representations. Although much has been written in recent years on the rights of women, less attention has been paid to female genital mutilation. Millions of women all over the world face this shameful mutilation that has a negative effect on their physical as well as psychological health. Medically unnecessary, painful and extremely dangerous, these operations continue even today. Due to the exposure of this subject by human rights activists and the recent United Nations Conference on Women, the issue of women’s rights over the control of their sexuality has come into the foreground of the feminist movement. If international interest is channelled towards a positive change in patriarchal social structures which work adversely on women’s selfhood, the practice of female genital mutilation, restrictions on abortion, birth control or the natural expression of one’s sexuality, could be put to an end. After the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights concerted efforts must be made to launch and implement a campaign to eradicate clitoridectomy (the excision of the clitoris) and infabulation (the scrapping of the labia and the sealing of the wound with only a small opening for menstruation and urination). One account of the routine violence and sexual repression waged against women by ancient custom is female genital mutilation. At the age of six, according to tradition, a little girl of six is held down by her women relatives while a blunt knife is used to scrape off her clitoris, and her raw wound stitched with inch-long acacia thorns. From recent research in the field we can get a clear picture of this problem in Africa, Europe, North America, Pakistan, Latin America and other parts of the world. An intensive study drawing on an immense wealth of ethnographic material and the insights of psychologists, doctors, anthropologists as well as on trans-global explorations has been carried out in Ghana where about 30 per cent of women undergo clitoridectomy. Human rights’ workers have spent years working on women’s health issues. This has taken many on a wide survey of women’s history, working with women across cultures, enabling them to define certain strategies at the national and international level for the prevention of this terrible practice. The evidence that such field-work puts forward convinces me that most of the tribal or Islamic cultures generate such practices to maintain a false sense of stability, unlike their mythological traditions which provoke creative development and change with an eye on the future. The Eritrean campaign in Ethiopia is one of the few movements in Africa which have been trying to educate women, teach them to read the Quran so that they would know for themselves that nowhere is it mentioned that such mutilations of the genitals are essential to a woman’s beauty, or that without such an operation women would be unable to control their sexual desires. Many have been victims of social conditioning which forces them to believe in this reasoning. It seems that it has now become more of a cultural duty rather than a religious one. Female mutilation is supposed to have originated in central Africa from where it spread to Egypt. Not until the Muslim invasion of Egypt in the eighth century did it finally find its way into the cultures of many Islamic countries as far as Pakistan and Indonesia. If the chador does not prevent the full expression of sexuality, genital mutilation certainly kills all the pleasure, and thus the question of temptation does not arise. Women in these societies are the guardians of the family honour, and any illicit relationship with a man would dishonour the males of the family. This belief, therefore, restricts women from expressing their sexuality. Genital mutilation is an additional precaution, but does not fall in the area of sunnat acts which are considered sacred but not obligatory. No female repression is permitted under this body of Islamic law, which, unlike Christianity, supports the legitimacy of the sexual urge in women. The human rights abuse of
women in these countries is given legitimacy by culture
and tradition. The mainstream human rights organisations
have overlooked gender-based violence within the family.
How long can women wait for these organisations to take
up their cause? It becomes imperative that women across
cultures build their own powerful international human
rights organisations which can respond to their needs at
the grassroots level. |
A
Christian at heart WE live in a world that has crucified Christ, assassinated Abraham Lincoln and murdered Mahatma Gandhi. It has killed Kennedy and King. God’s messengers of kindness and love have, so often, become victims of the baseness and the beast in man. And now, in the last year of this millennium, somebody in Manoharpur has signed against the Steines from Brisbane. It is a departure from the divine dictates. It is violence against the Lord’s will. It is a crime beyond words. It is a matter of national shame. For every Indian. Man’s cruelty to man can only make the millions mourn. And it has. But what had the Steines done to deserve this? Is it only because they had helped hundreds of people who were suffering the pain and languor of sickness? Whom leprosy had given an early old age? The very people who had been discarded by their own kith and kin? And the Steines had done this since the year 1965? For more than three decades? Away from their own hearth and home? By sacrificing their own comforts for the good of others? Was their sympathy for the sick a sin? And for this, Mr Graham Stewart Steines and his two young ones — Philip and Timothy, were condemned to be torched alive? Still, we do not hesitate to call ourselves civilised? Have not virtue and compassion been wholly extinguished from our hearts? Ingratitude, thy name is man. The modern man may have developed the means to ensure ordinary creature comforts. He may have learnt to walk on the moon. He may have even reached the Mars. But, he has polluted the earth. He has not learnt to be a good human being. Or even to live like one. The civilised man of today, living in this age of science, is extremely selfish. Only self-approbation, self-conceit and not self-control are his assets. And thus, even his undoing. The modern man may have learnt to command the weapons of destruction. But he cannot rule his own passions. He may have conquered the outer space, but not himself. And this man (or monster?) claims to be the Lord and Master. Of this wide world that we all live in. Entitled to determine — who should do what. Who should live or die. At his behest and command. At his absolute pleasure. Man does not hate the devil. Can he still love God? Or His children? It is true that “no society can be upheld in happiness and honour without the sentiment of religion”. It is the basis of a civil society. It is a part of our daily life. It is the source of all that is good. The story of religion is closely connected with the evolution of man. One would be incomprehensible without the other. But religion must teach us compassion. It must inculcate in us the quality of love of fellow beings. It must help us imbibe a spirit of tolerance towards the other man’s faith and belief. When we go to God without pride, we shall return without despair. And this is precisely what Mr Graham Stewart Steines was doing. Feeling more for others. Less for himself. Like a true Christian. Living by the Lord’s will. Fulfilling His wish. Loving His children. Carrying His message of service and sacrifice. Caring for the poor. Consoling and comforting the destitute. Doing good to His creatures. Helping the needy. Loving the lonely. Nursing the sick. He was replete with benevolence. His work is his best advertisement. His Christian character is the strongest attraction towards his belief and faith. And for that he was burnt alive. With his two small sons. Why this wrath? Even against the innocent children? And in this land of the Vedas and the Upanishads? Yet his wife, Mrs Gladys Steines along with her young daughter prayed for forgiveness to the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Is their religion not better than that of the man who brought about their end? I may have been a Hindu by birth. That is an accident. Henceforth, I shall be a Christian at heart. A convert? Yes. Not by any
coercion. But by conviction. |
Pushing states into fiscal
quagmire WITH the Centre’s revenue rising only to a just 7 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), the states fear the Union Government will not be able to bail them out when they are financially in dire straits. This was clear from the deliberations of the Chief Ministers’ conference last month in Delhi. And to add to it the situation since then has worsened. The Centre’s profligate spending and pushing the states deeper into a fiscal quagmire has eroded whatever was left of the fiscal federalism. The fiscal produce is no one’s concern, yet the states have to bear the maximum burden of development and satisfy the aspirations of the people. They feel the Centre while planning its budget consults just anyone, but not the states. This is the feeling here and everywhere, may it be Tamil Nadu, West Bengal or Assam. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has been talking to commerce and industry people and other sections, but has not cared to talk to states which together have nearly 30 per cent of the share in the Centre’s kitty. The states have been particularly worst hit by the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission which brought a neat burden of Rs 35,000 crore on them. While announcing the recommendations the Centre did not bother to consult them and create some cushion for them. Once the centre had implemented the new pay scales the states had no choice. The net result is that each state has been forced to cut down its plan expenditure on development. Recession has hit the volume of production and trade and hence the collection of taxes. But who cares ? The Centre announced and the states followed. Not many states have money even to pay the salaries. Since they can not steal, they have to borrow at market rates to pay for the salaries and pensions. Remarkably, the Centre also did not consider it worth to consult the states while raising the retirement age from 58 to 60. Now they have to resist pressure from the employees. The Constitution had certain parameters, but over the years, these have been given a gobye. In the meantime, the Centre has created some 200 centrally sponsored schemes and pushed these to the states. Why these duplications no one knows. What is the domain of the states should be left to them. Again a proposal that the Reserve Bank should allow 50 per cent of the small scale savings collected by the states as ways and means grants is not accepted. Here again while announcing the cut in interest rate, Mr Sinha did not consult the states which collect the small savings. What is the point of a ritual called the Finance Commissions, if the Centre has to go this way. The states do not expect much relief from the 11th Finance Commission. Here, the basic criteria of providing funds by the Centre is under serious question. There are apparently two views — one by a bit prosperous states and the other by those not so well developed. The Planning Commission
has painted a dismal picture in its report to the Prime
Minister. It says there has been a shortfall of Rs 7,000
crore in the states’ share of Central taxes revenue
during 1998-99. Added to this is the pay revision burden
of Rs 35,000 crore. The situation to say the least is
alarming. The net tax GDP ratio against a projected 10.8
per cent is now 9.7 per cent. Last year it was 10.1 per
cent. The debt burden of all the states to total tax
revenue has crossed the 25 per cent mark. Now add to this
the commercial losses of State Power Boards that total Rs
10,000 crore and unknown but huge commercial losses of
other corporations. The situation is indeed precarious.
If all this goes unchecked, the states will just collect
taxes, pay the salaries and pensions like in Himachal
Pradesh now and no development at all. |
Public debate on patent laws
needed AS Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha prepares to finally bell the cat on the contentious issue of patents and intellectual property rights, the country has still to emerge unscathed from the quake that continued to rock the vegetable market. While the unprecedented price spiral in vegetables, especially onions, was the result of deft manipulation by an unregulated private trade, adhering to the TRIPs (Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement will, in all probability, bring in more powerful tremors. Accepting the World Trade Organisation’s dispute panel’s directive to suitably modify the patent laws, the Union Cabinet has conveyed India’s willingness to conform to TRIPs. “My government is fully committed to fulfil its obligations regarding TRIPs,” Mr Sinha said recently, adding that “the government’s position on whether to take the product patent route or the exclusive market route will be absolutely clear after an inter-ministerial group submits its report”. Following the WTO dispute panel’s ruling against India in a case filed by the USA and subsequently by the European Union, India has to ensure compliance with the agreement on TRIPs before April 19, 1999. Interestingly, the patent amendment Bill that was introduced by the Congress Government in 1995, was turned down by the Rajya Sabha. Since then, the controversial issue has been kept in abeyance because of strong opposition from the public and the domestic pharmaceutical industry. Whatever be the route that Mr Sinha finally takes, the fact remains that the patent regime being forced under GATT/WTO will lead to scientific and economic apartheid. Whether it is pharmaceuticals or agro-chemicals, the odds are heavily tilted against the Indian economy. As if this is not enough, the next target is the agricultural research sector and the removal of farmers’ privilege that allows them to save seed from every harvest. And by the end of the next year, patenting of micro-organisms and non-biological and microbiological processes for the production of plants and animals will also come into effect. The undue hurry and panic with which the BJP Government is trying to meet WTO obligations is a cause of concern. It is true that failure to make suitable amendments to the Indian Patents Act will invite trade sanctions. But it also is a fact that while the developed countries are violating almost every clause of the WTO Agreement, India is trying to be more loyal than the king. And herein lies the grave danger. All that the inter-ministerial group is examining is to see which of the two routes is better — a choice between the devil and the deep sea. And it is primarily for this reason that the ministerial group is vertically divided on the contentious issue. While Science and Technology Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Defence Minister, George Fernandes have voiced their opposition to any tinkering with the Indian Patents Act, 1971; the other two ministers, Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde and Industries Minister Sikander Bakht have strongly supported the move. In such a situation, any amendment to the Indian patent laws will have to be pushed through without a consensus. The GATT/WTO system is based on the principle of reciprocity and mutual advantage. Unfortunately, for many of the advanced economies it only is an instrument to prize open the developing country markets. For instance, the USA continues to defy the WTO by not adhering to 17 of its decisions, including that of the dispute panels. And in complete violation of trade norms, it has unilaterally launched economic sanctions and actions against more than 70 developing countries. None of the member-countries, including India, have objected to the grave violations that the USA has been indulging in with impunity. Nor has India objected to the TRIPs Agreement being modelled on the lines of the outdated US patent law. And yet, India fails to cite the American precedence for not accepting the unequal doctrine of intellectual property rights. In fact, the US Senate has already passed an amendment authorising the state to refuse ratification to any international treaty that goes against American economic interests. After all, if the USA is not willing to accept any international provision that goes against its laws of sovereignty and restricts economic growth, why should India be asked to give up its economic independence? The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in its latest report on the least developed countries, has devoted a complete chapter to broken promises. Accordingly, the developed countries are increasingly making or creating provisions that go beyond the normal obligations under the Uruguay Round agreements. In addition, the rich trading block often has high expectations with regard to market access commitments, reduction of tariffs and elimination of non-tariffs — where a differential and more favourable treatment has been granted to developing countries. It is in this connection that Mr Sinha’s over-enthusiasm to accept the patenting regime is misplaced. After all, with the developed counties not willing to make any operational provision for the promotion of technological innovation and transfer of technology, one of the underlying objectives of TRIPs, India has little advantage to wrest home from an unequal international obligation. Neither the inter-ministerial committee nor the Forum for Parliamentarians on Intellectual Property Rights is advocating safeguard mechanisms that ensure any significant technological growth in the years to come. Strange that in a country where byelections and state assembly elections are held at the drop of the hat, people are not being consulted on such important but controversial issues. Recently, Switzerland went in for a referendum to find out whether the country should allow genetically engineered food to be sold or not. Why can’t a public debate and a referendum be held in India before the ruling party decides to meet the WTO obligations in complete disregard of the negative impact that such a policy decision will have on the masses? (The writer is the
author of GATT to WTO: Seeds of Despair) |
Rivals
in Afghanistan “KEEP your eye on Afghanistan,” many voices in the West are saying. German experts, archaeological and political, are said to be turning their eyes towards “New Japan” and many Frenchmen are no less keen upon penetrating that hitherto mysterious country. It has just been announced that a German Minister is about to be appointed for the first time to Kabul, and great efforts are to be made, according to the Berlin correspondent of the “Times”, to exert German influence in shaping the ideas of the Ameer for the development of his State on modern lines. It is stated that a considerable number of Germans are already working in Kabul, and that more are on the way. The electrical plant by which Kabul is lighted is in charge of a German engineer. A German architect is said to be planning and directing the work on the new quarter of the city, where a modern palace for the Ameer and all the foreign legations are to be built. The Afghans are evidently not exclusive in the invitations they have extended to the West. Frenchmen, as well as Germans, are welcomed there. Whether Englishmen will feel quite so much at home is another matter, but you may depend upon it that Scotsmen will not be lacking! — Our
Correspondent |
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