Say no to power populism
HARYANA Chief Minister Bansi Lal has done well to reject the demand for free power and water to agriculture.

Gender-friendly campus
LAST year the Supreme Court laid down the guidelines for dealing with cases of sexual harassment at the workplace.

A ‘banana war’
Till the other day the USA and the UK were close allies, raining death and destruction on Iraq. Even now they bombard selected sites at will in this unfortunate country

Question of conversion-II
A pertinent national agenda
by B. G. Verghese
HINDUTVA takes pride in the past. This is perfectly legitimate.It is, however, a very different matter to retreat into the past.

Army: a risky thought
by Pritam Bhullar
The other day, the Chief of Army Staff, Gen V.P. Malik, said that we should have a "leaner-meaner" Army.

Adding punch to India’s defence
Security and strategy
by Maj-Gen Himmat Singh Gill
WHAT should worry any military thinker no end, is the varied inventory of the Armoured Fighting Vehicles.

Counter violence at home
by Kiran Bedi
WE HAVE no effective provision in law to address the problems of domestic violence.

75 Years Ago

The "Tej" case
THE case of Mr Deshbandhu Gupta, Editor of the "Daily Tej" under Sections 153-A, 505(C), came up for further hearing this morning.

Say no to power populism

HARYANA Chief Minister Bansi Lal has done well to reject the demand for free power and water to agriculture. And that too within 24 hours of the evergreen CM-in-waiting, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, raising the issue at the Delhi rally of his party. Actually, Mr Chautala went on overdrive in criticising the state government and by way of diverting attention to himself, pledged to rush to the succour of the kisan by supplying the two vital inputs free. This approach displays bankruptcy of ideas on agriculture. For politicians of Mr Chautala’s ilk — and they are in large numbers in every state — power and water are all there is to agriculture. They firmly believe that the kisan’s prosperity is inversely related to the rates of electricity and irrigation water tariff. Lower them and the rural community is richer; abolish them to help the kisan reap a harvest of "kanak", as the word means gold and not merely wheat.

This tunnel vision is the bane of Indian agriculture. This explains why development of agricultural infrastructure like canals and link roads is stunted or they are in varying degrees of disrepair. Other than for wheat and paddy, a reliable marketing structure has not developed for agricultural produce. Growing sugarcane and cotton as also vegetables has become a gamble with the middleman always winning. There are other issues with considerable destructive potential for the future. They are the deteriorating quality of irrigation water, excessive use of chemical fertiliser, mindless pumping out of underground water and absence of a drainage system. These ticking timebombs are beyond the vision of leaders like Mr Chautala as they go out hunting for votes.

Mr Chautala’s passionate demand is particularly unfortunate in the middle of a thorough reorganisation of the electricity system in the state. True, agriculturists should get power at a lower rate not because of what they do but because of the time of the day they receive supply. Night is the favourite time when power flows uninterrupted villagewards. That is when there is virtually no demand elsewhere. Two, they could be charged at a preferential rate of 50 paise a unit, going up by that amount every year until it is just above half the rate for general users. This proposal was accepted at a conference of the Chief Ministers.The demand for free-supply projects the kisan as a chronic freebooter in a particularly emaciated system. Punjab too should review its tariff structure and the budget day is ideal.

Gender-friendly campus

LAST year the Supreme Court laid down the guidelines for dealing with cases of sexual harassment at the workplace. The order meant that women teachers too could seek relief because the school, college or university where they are employed is their place of work. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court inadvertently left out an increasing number of girl students from the ambit of its order on sexual harassment. The shortcoming in the Supreme Court’s order is now sought to be made up by a model code of conduct against sexual harassment of women on the campus and in colleges. The code of conduct has been prepared at the initiative of the Vice-Chancellor of Madras University, Mr P.T. Manoharan. A copy of the code has been sent to Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah in the hope that she would use her influence to get it implemented in all educational institutions across the country. The need for a model code of conduct against sexual harassment in educational institutions should be seen in the context of the increasing number of such complaints by girl students and women teachers. The response from the educational fraternity is positive. The Tata Institute of Social Sciences and the SNDT University in Mumbai have already asked for copies of the code prepared by Madras University. The preamble to the code says that it has been prepared to deal with claims of sexual harassment in which students and staff members were either victims or assailants.

It states that "in all matters of sexual harassment, the university/college shall be aware of the extreme personal sensitivity of such issues and shall maintain confidentiality".

It is evident that the framers of the code have relied on the apex court’s order. It clearly states that sexual harassment includes any verbal, physical or other misbehaviour, including comments or gestures of sexual nature. It covers eve-teasing, unwelcome remarks, jokes causing or likely to cause embarrassment, sexual innuendos, sexist remarks, nuisance telephone calls and displaying pornographic or similar material in public or even in private and forced physical contact. Under the provisions of the model code every educational institution would be required to set up a grievance cell for investigating the complaints of sexual harassment. The procedure suggested in the code is clearly meant to discourage bogus complaints from being made, for that would amount to "reverse harassment" of the alleged tormentor. The basic objective of the code is to convert educational institutions into centres of healthy interaction between boys and girls, and teachers and students. That self-evolved laws against sexual harassment in educational institutions would have a positive impact is evident from the fact that the male staff of Madras University provided the utmost cooperation to members of the multi-disciplinary committee for framing the code. It goes without saying that only a handful of malcontents give educational institutions a bad name. The objective of the code is to prevent big or small fish from polluting the stream of knowledge.

A ‘banana war’

Till the other day the USA and the UK were close allies, raining death and destruction on Iraq. Even now they bombard selected sites at will in this unfortunate country. But they are fast moving apart following the outbreak of a trade war between themselves. Of all the goods, it is the bananas which threaten to turn them into each other's adversaries. The development can also serve as a fresh proof in support of the often-heard argument that American foreign policy decisions are invariably dictated by its economic interests or those of its multinational corporations.

Britain, like other European Union (EU) members, is favouring the import of bananas from the poor Caribbean countries, mostly members of the Commonwealth. Reports have it that there is an element of sympathy among the British public for the former colonies. Their interest is natural in their former subjects, specially when they are poverty-stricken and deserve support. To ensure that the Caribbean bananas are available at highly competitive rates in the British market, the country has issued preferential import licences for the purpose, like most other European Union(EU) nations. This has put what is known as "dollar bananas" — supplied by USmultinationals from their big plantations in Central and Latin American countries — to a great disadvantage. The US multinationals, particularly Chiquita which controls much of the banana business from Central and Latin America, are furious at the British government. They have enormous clout in the US administration because of being major contributors to both Democratic and Republican party budgets. Immediately after being approached by these big business houses, the Clinton administration reacted on expected lines. It lodged its protest at the World Trade Organisation and slapped the UKand other EU countries with punitive duties totalling $520 million on their selected products. The British goods hit by the new US trade regime include cashmere wool, clothing items, bed linen, biscuits and handbags. For launching this "banana war" Chiquita is learnt to have passed on to the Democratic Party fund managers $500,000, and the US politicians are not ashamed of functioning as "mercenaries" for multinational corporations.

Interestingly, the UK is on the forefront of the EU's hectic efforts to expose the dirty US game. First the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, made it known to Mr Bill Clinton on the telephone that his country could not be taken for granted as a US supporter even in matters of trade and commerce. Then he asked his Trade and Industry Minister to summon the American Ambassador in London and convey his country's strong feelings over the issue. The British government has declared the US action on behalf of multinationals as "irrational" and "unacceptable". The American bullying tactics show the extent to which the USA can go to safeguard the interests of its business giants. Britain, which has lost much of its stature by remaining an attachment to the USA in international politics for quite a long time, will gain a lot if it does not bow before the American might in this escalating trade war. The UK is, after all, fighting for the economic interests of those erstwhile colonies which mainly depend on banana exports for their survival.

Question of conversion-II
A pertinent national agenda
by B. G. Verghese

Likewise, the real or imagined wrongs of history can only be redeemed by what we make of the future. Caste is no part of the essence of Hinduism but a later accretion that gradually assumed a life and meaning of its own. It became ritualised, divisive and oppressive as it hardened into an immutable hierarchical social structure. It permeated both religion and culture, the non-ritual aspects thereby influencing both Christianity and Islam in Indian social practice, though more lightly than among Hindus. However, even as the rigours of caste have begun yielding to class, it continues to operate harshly among conservative sections of Hindu society fearful of losing the privilege of "status".

It is for this reason that conversion to Christianity and Islam has appealed to the disadvantaged among the Scheduled Castes. Ambedkar led millions of his followers to Buddhism. The mass conversion to Islam witnessed in Meenakshipuram in Tamil Nadu in the early 1980s followed the same pattern. Meanwhile, the Christian missionary effort has largely moved away from "saving souls" to working among the disadvantaged and oppressed. Conversion, exceptions apart, is a somewhat unintended consequence of that endeavour.

There is, however, a common threat the world over from fundamentalisms of all kinds: Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Sikh, Zionist. They imperil liberal values everywhere by defining themselves as chosen people with a heavenly mandate to fulfil. Some new and small but growing Churches, especially American, do believe in proselytisation, unlike the mainstream Catholic and Protestant denominations. Some of them now use Internet. Their approach can be crude and even offensive. These are not Christian radicals with an agenda of social reform in pursuit of liberation theology. Some evangelical Churches have a presence or counterparts in India. They would be well advised to review their role.

Reverting to caste, it is necessary to recall that the Christian Indian leadership consciously declined the offer of reservations made to it in the Constituent Assembly. Yet today, the Church seeks to retain the benefits of reservation and affirmative action for SC converts to its fold. This is very different from advocating anti-poverty programmes for the downtrodden. It should be given up as it goes against the grain of Christian precept and the larger goal of eradicating caste in whatever form and wherever it exists.

The case of the Scheduled Tribes is different. Many tribal communities profess simple faiths associated with nature worship which shape their world-view. Emerging out of the isolation of their hill and forest fastnesses, their encounter with more sophisticated and technologically advanced peoples can be traumatic. The search for identity and assurance that follows often leads to a process of conversion almost by osmosis rather than by proselytisation.

Many tribal communities have through years of acculturation and assimilation become Hinduised or Hindu. But they understandably chafe if placed at the lowest rung of the caste ladder. Such a social warrant of precedence has become unacceptable with the progress of education and empowerment. In the circumstances, Islam and Christianity appear to offer an alternative. In the Northeast, Christianity is spreading through education and a process of modernisation. This is evident in Arunachal despite its being barred to Christian missionaries and Christian schools unlike the Ramakrishna Mission and secular private schools which have been made welcome there.

That conversion can sometimes or in some manner lead to "deculturalisation" is true, especially in manifestations such as language, dress and music, and the reluctance anymore to participate in certain festivals associated with the former faith. This stems from the trap of treating culture as part of religion. But this is not axiomatic. Certain symbols are deliberately adopted to differentiate the "convert" and endow him with an identity distinct from the proximate dominant category. Thus, in the Northeast, certain tribes first adopted Hindi for fear of Assamisation but later switched to English.

Likewise, there have been battles over script. Later, with identity assured, these same tribes have begun to reach back to rediscover their roots which are gradually reclaimed with pride. Witness the Sanamahi and Seng Khasi movements among the Vaishnavite Meiteis and Khasi Christians, and the drive to restore Kok Borok in Tripura in place of the Bengali script. To attribute secessionism and insurgency in the Northeast to Christianity is again erroneous. The Meitei, Tripura, Bodo and ULFA underground insurgents are not Christian but, in many cases, Hindu. Simplistic slogans can be misleading.

Nevertheless, the failure to inculcate in the Indian mind a sense of culture being a secular tradition is at the root of much misunderstanding. Some Indian Churches are now consciously seeking out indigenous forms.

This said, people worry that 50 years after Independence India is not more "integrated". Some are impatient and see in this a national weakness, and possibly product of an international conspiracy.

India is far and away the most diverse country in the world. Its unity is, however, closely related to the degree to which it respects and celebrates its inherent diversity. What is little understood is that over the past half a century the country has been in transition from a latent to an active diversity that is likely to produce instability unless accompanied by rapid social change. Further, as the Constitution suggests, unity can be preserved only if "the dignity of the individual" is assured in relation to his political, economic, social and cultural concerns.

The real diversity of India lies in the vast cohorts of Bharat that make up the base of what has been an expanding social pyramid. The country’s population has grown from 336 million to a billion since 1947 and will only stabilise 60 years hence at around 1700 million. The more homogenous elites and upper classes initially provided the bonding of unity to the new nation at Independence even as the diverse mass lay quiescent and submerged in multiple layers as submissive vote banks.

Gradually, with the spread of education, communications, development and the rise of social and political consciousness, even new cohorts of the submerged and oppressed mass have gained empowerment and seek identity and a place in the sun. The Green Revolution, for instance, empowered the upper layers of the intermediate castes while reservations, among other factors, created assertive dalit and tribal communities which are now on the march. This is a mighty on-going drama that has engendered a new grassroots social dynamic and upward mobility that seeks space and must be accommodated.

The process will not exhaust itself before another 20 years or more and may take yet another 30 years thereafter to stabilise. The struggle for access to political and economic opportunity, social and environmental justice, gender equity and the affirmation of identity, cultural expression and human rights will create intense ferment. It will be necessary to discard dead habits, caste and certain related mores and construct a new social contract through a process of adjustment, revalidation and renewal.

On finding release, the full range of India’s diversity will require the mediation of social reform. Fraternity and a new social order are therefore a necessary concomitant of economic liberalisation, globalisation and political reforms.

Accordingly, far from moving from diversity to unity, which for many denotes "stability", India is progressing from a sub-optimal unity to an awakened diversity, exposing innumerable little traditions contained within an overarching civilisational frame that has always made India India and something more than a mere geographical expression. Management of diversity calls for the creation of democratic and social space and not a steamroller.

The alternative is violence. Bihar offers a foretaste. The carnages there are part of a gory drama of the feudal overlordship of oppressive landed castes clashing with a rising army of the underclass, lower castes, landless sharecroppers and tribals. Vested interests have not merely thwarted agrarian reform but the universalisation of primary education and the uplift of the girl child as well.

Hindutva derives sustenance from conservative elements drawn from the upper and middle layers of the Hindu social pyramid whose revivalist "cultural nationalism" is antithetical to the relentless social upthrust from below. It undermines true Hinduism and inhibits social reform. The Hindutva project is contrary to the new reality and dynamic of emerging India. It selectively exalts the past and defies the future. The modernising liberalisers in the BJP understand this and it will occasion no surprise should they at some stage feel compelled to sever their moorings.

The VHP and the Bajrang Dal rile at conversions. But what have they done for the underdog? The record is singularly barren. The Ramakrishna Mission and some others apart, Hindu society appears to have turned its back on social reform. Where are the great reformers like Rammohun Roy, Vivekananda, Gandhi and Ambedkar? Why are there no great movements for social change when the times cry out for it? Bindeshwar Pathak’s Bhangi Mukti drive is one among the exceptions that leap to mind. These questions must be asked and frankly debated. The recent Dharam Sansad, as reported, addressed none of these issues. Instead, it wanted that the Tehri dam be not constructed as a matter of religious merit and preached "reconversion".

The new generation of Muslim leaders in India has broken out of the post-Partition ghetto and must exert itself to secure social reform. It can no longer leave the field to the orthodoxy or lose itself in nostalgia, clutching at symbols.Education will make the community competitive.Fundamentalisms feed on one another. The madrassa is no substitute for modern education. The politicisation of the gurdwaras is polarising the Sikh community. Likewise, sections of the Church have got embroiled in property and other petty disputes which do them little credit and detract from the dedicated secular social work that has otherwise been a hallmark of the Christian community.

Reservations are in danger of becoming a crutch in the absence of an exit policy. Affirmative action serves an important purpose; but it is intended to be a means of change by providing opportunity rather than an end in itself. However, reservations have become contagious with more and more sections of society claiming "backwardness" or seeking to re-tribalise in various parts of the country. This spells regression. The real answer to equality and social justice is education and making available the benefits of reservation to the lowest strata of the most underprivileged. India has to become an achieving society and not glorify poverty, backwardness and a bygone past.

There is much each and every religious community must ponder as it prepares to face the future. There are no exceptions. There is also a great deal that must be done to promote fraternity together with inter-faith harmony and cross-cultural understanding. No suitable mechanism exists for the purpose. The National Integration Council might have played such a role but for its intermittent tenure, with governments using it symbolically as and when politically expedient.

Maybe the National Integration Council needs to be revived on a more permanent basis with a different membership and mandate. Could it be fashioned as an instrument of civil society? There is certainly need for a continuing ecumenical dialogue among and between representatives of all faiths and persuasions, regions and cultures. We must respond constructively to the awakening diversity of India, to the dalit and tribal ferment, the struggle for gender justice, the need to codify personal laws and frame an optional common code. We must meet the challenge of globalisation and reaffirm the moral basis of both State and society.

The controversy over conversions points to a far larger and more pertinent national agenda. Economic and political reforms are undoubtedly important but will be incomplete by themselves without the leavening of social reform to mediate the social change they trigger. This is what we must together address as India enters the new millennium in order to redeem the promise of the Constitution.

(Concluded)

Army: a risky thought
by Pritam Bhullar

WHILE delivering a lecture at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, the other day, the Chief of Army Staff, Gen V.P. Malik, said that we should have a "leaner-meaner" Army with an emphasis on quality. No doubt, quality is an essential pre-requisite to fight a modern war. But cutting on manpower without finding an alternative to meet our operational and counter-insurgency commitments can prove to be a risky exercise.

Our present force levels are based on the existing threats which have not diminished over the years. As it is, General Malik had gone in to cut the Army manpower by 50,000 last year. This reduction is to be carried out in a phased manner over a period of two years. This would result in an annual saving of about Rs 500 crore, an amount that can then be spent on the modernisation of the Army.

Besides a 5 per cent cut in the field force (FF) units, a reduction to the tune of 20,000 personnel is also to be made in the non-field force (NFF) units such as Army Headquarters, Category "A" establishments and training centres. The purpose of this cut is to improve the "teeth to tail"ratio. The saving that accrues from this reduction will be utilised to raise new units. Most of these units comprise force multipliers such as unarmed air vehicle (UAV) flights, electronic warfare (EW) units and reorganised surveillance and target acquisition (SATA) regiments and batteries.

This chopping exercise reminds one of a similar exercise that we carried out in the 1960s when a large number of new units were to be raised. Rather than go to the government to sanction more manpower, we went in for the chopping exercise by ruthlessly using a surgeon’s knife so much so that some of the units became non-functional, while in some others the functional efficiency was adversely affected.

A few example will make this point amply clear. Least realising that a Sherman tank needed a crew of five men, we reduced the number to four. Since we still had a few Sherman regiments on our order of battle (ORBAT), the then Director Armoured Corps (Brigadier Puri), who was not even consulted by the Director, Staff Duties, before going in for the cut, showed his helplessness in using these regiments for operations. With great difficulty, the Army Headquarters had to get the reduced manpower revived from the Ministry of Finance (Defence).

While reducing the manpower at the infantry training centres, the posts of Weapon Training Officer (WTO) and Physical Training Officer (PTO) were abolished. And as a result of the study group convened to reorganise the medical units after the 1965 war, the manpower and equipment were drastically cut. This is the reason why military hospitals are finding it difficult to cope with their duties because of the shortage of manpower and transport. As for the slash on transport, the commanding officer (CO) — a Lieut-Colonel — of a Mobile Field Hospital had to travel in an ambulance because not a single vehicle such as jeep or jonga was left in his unit.

This is not to say that there is no scope for reduction of manpower and equipment in some of the units and formations. But this should be done only after a detailed study of the current commitments and threat perceptions.

Incidentally, our air defence (AD) regiments were Territorial Army (TA) units until a few years ago before we converted them into regular units. Since these TA units had performed excellently well during all the wars, we should revert them back to the TA and save manpower of the regular Army to raise other units. This is one example. There are some similar other areas from where manpower can be saved.

Granted that the operational units can be reduced to about 90 per cent of their strength during an emergency. But this practice should not be made a long-term measure, for it has an adverse effect on the operational efficiency of the units concerned.

Since we have gone into the exercise of reducing manpower from units and formations as also for improving the "teeth to tail ratio" several times in the past, there seems to be little scope, if any, for further cuts. The only way to save on the regular Army manpower is to give some commitments to the part-time Army, that is, the TA. The TA can take on some of the operational tasks and almost all the second-line-of-defence duties during the war. This will reduce the defence budget to a considerable extent. The saving thus made can be utilised for the modernisation of the Army.

Adding punch to India’s defence
Security and strategy
by Maj-Gen Himmat Singh Gill

WHAT should worry any military thinker no end, is the varied inventory of the Armoured Fighting Vehicles, AFVs, another name for our tanks that clutter up the mechanised forces of the country today. Not that this in itself was not a most unhappy situation to find ourselves in, the reported deal to now import 300 odd (only six armoured regiments worth) T-90 tanks from Russia, leads one to quite frankly conclude that, one, all is not well in the existing production and assembly lines of our AFV factories in India, and two, that the much proclaimed D.R.D.O., Main Battle Tank project "Arjun", has run aground somewhere, before it had a reasonable chance to even take off. Both these developments in the equipping profile of the tank corps, which is any country’s vital decision-making organ in the conventional or nuclear battlefield, has serious ramifications for our national security.

Today, the country’s tank fleet consists of the Upgunned T-55s, Vijayanta (105 mm smooth bore gun), T-72 Ml (125 mm smooth bore), and the Arjun MBT now under indigenous production with its 120 mm gun. All these tanks, mount different calibered main guns, using different types of ammunition like the FSAPDS, HESH and HEAT projectile. The wide range of tanks, guns and their munitions, makes for complicated training schedules for personnel, costlier production, (because of different production lines and techniques), and a very elaborate and diverse maintenance and repair regime. The supporting infrastructure for overhaul, modernisation and new production, sometimes all in one nodal point, has its own problems, at the factory floor and at the user’s end. It was unwise for us to have gone in for such a large family of tanks, starting first with large imports of the United Kingdom’s Centurion tank in the 1950s, and then the T-Series from the Soviet Union, now Russia, never realising that sooner than later, we would have to indigenously produce our AFVs, or suffer the consequences.

No offence meant, but it would have been in the fitness of things, had the Defence Research and Development Organisation and others entrusted with the task of producing the country’s new tank the Arjun, displayed more vision and competency in their endeavours and allocated mission. The mass production of the tank is nowhere in sight. At the same time, machines being machines, even the existing fleet of the country’s other armoured units, needs a constant up-date in essential improvements, like the repowering of the Vijayanta tank engine to quote just one example, so that the nation’s battlefield punch is kept in a state of operational readiness at all times. Herein too, the conglomeration of tanks in service, makes maintenance and modernisation a very difficult task.

The reported move to import the T-90 tanks has further complicated matters. Before we rush in, however, to blame the present government for going in for this deal, let it be in all fairness said, that such transactions do not take place overnight. It takes months of General Staff Qualitative Requirement, GSQR debate (simply put, ensuring that the armoured corps gets the basic tank they want), prolonged negotiations at government to government level, and User Trials by the troops, (I wonder if this was done in the case of T-90), before a tank can, or should be, inducted into service, from abroad. This not withstanding, the moot point is, that will not the T-90 induction retard the pace or even the very future of the ongoing indigenous Arjun tank project, which commenced as why back as 1974? If it does, then someone has some explaining to do, considering that an Arjun today costs Rs 10 crore a piece.

Furthermore, putting it very bluntly, should the country read between the lines, and deduce that the MBT Arjun project has still a long way to go (at its present unhurried pace, with only a few dozen tanks to be produced in the next few years), and that the imports now were an absolute must for the mechanised forces. Even here there is an anomaly. Having accepted 300 T-90 tanks, do we have the assembly or production lines in position, to produce this tank in our country? And for arguments sake, even if we have planned for such an arrangement, would it be the T-90 or the Arjun tank, which would be our MBT for the coming Millennium?

As is well known in defence circles the "Arjun" so hastily handed over for user trials to the Army in 1993, still has to improve upon its first-round-hit probability, which by some accounts is just around 80 per cent at the moment. It has to also take care of its 58.5 tons weight and large width and silhouette, which restricts its manoeuvrability and makes the enemy target acquisition easier, besides complicating its transportation by rail from one theatre of war to another, due to varying rail gauges in the country. A heavy tank necessitates a more powerful power-pack or engine, be it a cast-iron diesel engine, or an engine driven by aluminium gas turbines. One only hopes that these factors have not been overlooked by our planners and scientists at the DRDO, and that the views of the men who have to one day fight in these tanks, have been fully acknowledged and incorporated in the coming production models.

One thing that we always must guard against is the non-desirability of handing down the troops any piece of equipment, that needs further refinement. Lest it be forgotten by our know-all bureaucracy and technicians, it is the threat perceptions and the security tasks assigned to the armed forces, that dictate the holdings of the equipment profile of any Service, and unless our threat perceptions are changing in a feverish fashion from day to day, (god forbid), care has to be taken to reduce the injection of new equipment in fits and starts. Soon we will have the T-90 tanks along with the few odd Arjuns we have been able to field so far. Either of these numbers are not good enough for a viable tank fleet, that should see us through the coming decades. One way out is obvious. We need to either hurry up the "Arjun" project, (augmented with some of the money that would now be going to the T-90 tank purchases), or give a serious relook to the entire Arjun scheme itself in spite of already having spent 24 long years on it, and cutting our losses on a tank that is neither Swadeshi nor foreign, opt for the mass production in this country of the "T" series of the Russian tanks. The country cannot wait indefinitely for the MBT Arjun, required in large numbers as obviously it is, to replace its ageing T-55 and Vijayanta fleet.

The question of the future of the T-90s and the Arjun tank, is the first decision the Raksha Mantri could take in his Ministry. We need a tank with excellent firepower and cross-country mobility, which is easy to handle and is less defect-prone in battle. Our troops not being highly educated, handle best equipment, that is simple and sturdy in design.

Let us give them just this kind of a tank.

Counter violence at home
by Kiran Bedi

WE HAVE no effective provision in law to address the problems of domestic violence. A legislation that was enacted in Mauritius in 1997 could well show India the way to deal with this.

We talk so much about countering the violence in this society. The most effective way to do this would be to start dealing with this at home. Domestic violence is fairly common in this society. Meted out by either spouse on the other or on children, violence is ‘not merely the extreme physical expressions of it through blows or assault, violence includes the threat of physical assault, it includes physical restrictions such as restraint from leaving the house.

The first need is to define what constitutes domestic violence — The Protection from Domestic Violence Act of 1997, gazetted by the government of Mauritius in June 1997, does this most effectively.

It takes present-day realities into account by providing for couples that have lived together "as" husband and wife, not insisting on proof of legally registered matrimony. Such insistence on a legal stipulation frequently excludes a section of people from protection against domestic violence.

It includes "... harassment, maltreatment, brutality or cruelty" as ‘domestic violence’, and even the threat of assault — "intimidation". It includes physical injury as violence, as well as "wilfully or knowingly placing or attempting to place a spouse in fear of injury ..." and "compelling the spouse by force or threat to engage in any conduct or act, sexual or otherwise, from which the spouse has a right to abstain". Confining or detaining the spouse against one’s will or damaging property are also considered violence under the Act.

And it recognises the peculiar circumstances of domestic violence by removing the social crime from the purview of only the police and appointing ‘enforcement officers’ from the Ministry of Women, Family Welfare and Child Development.

In India, domestic violence is treated as any other crime, ignoring the fact that it is more a social crime, a violation of human rights, than a mere violation of property or other laws. In India, domestic violence comes under the purview of criminal law —whether it be the Prevention of Dowry Act, or the Criminal Procedure Code, which lays down procedures for the implementation of the law covering harassment.

But domestic violence is not the same as other crimes such as robbery, murder, or even assault. It does not arise for the same reasons or in the same circumstances ... and therefore cannot be dealt with in the same fashion.

Domestic violence arises in the confines of the home, out of the dynamics between family members, and has to be resolved — and reported — accordingly.

How often are instances of domestic violence reported? And, to emphasise a more problematic area for dealing with such violence, how often are the law enforcing authorities able to solve — or even prove — the issue? This is virtually a rhetorical question — the legal solution to instances of domestic violence is practically non-existent.

Courts should be able to look at the totality of the situation, not just the ‘crime’. Currently, even if the judge is inclined to do so, he or she must consider the act within the confines of the given law, and the existing law deems domestic violence in the same way as it does other cases of ‘assault’ — and requires similar types of ‘proof’, which, as per the letter of the law, doesn’t take into account the special circumstances that surround instances of domestic violence.

Addressing the problem of domestic violence should truly be an issue of human rights. And we should not only legislate accordingly, but set up systems that can function effectively, keeping this in mind.

One way to address the problem would be to appoint public ‘guardians’ — enforcement officers, who could be members of non-government organisations, family welfare departments, elders in a locality, that is, senior citizens. Legislation could designate enforcement officers to ensure that the law is not violated, instead of leaving it to police personnel.

It’s only friends and neighbours who are actually familiar with situations of domestic violence. These people should have some legal standing in reporting and dealing with such cases. The law should grant such people the status of non-party complainants with the right to file a report. This would be based on good faith, excluding such complaints from the law on libel.

Such ‘guardians’ would need to be given some training in the law and in gender sensitisation.

Such set-up would allow us to deal with the problem of numbers. We make a huge population ... which gives us not only a huge number of problems to deal with, but also a huge number of people to help deal with these problems.

The Mauritian law has given the Ministry of Women, Family Welfare and Child Development powers to deal with instances of domestic violence. Officers of the ministry have equal powers with police officers to lodge a complaint, order investigations, order the provision of protection, and hear complaints.

This Act also addresses various practical questions such as right to residence, occupation of a family or rented accommodation, rights to goods such as furniture, provision for transportation and protection.

In India we have no provision for protection for a complainant not ... even under the Prevention of Dowry Act. A woman who has complained of harassment goes back to the very people against whom she has complained! What security can she possibly feel in such a situation, and how can she then continue to act on her complaint. She obviously continues to be victimised ... often paying the ultimate price.

The Mauritian law not only provides for police protection at the place of residence, it also provides protection at the woman’s place of work, if so asked for, during transport to and from work or to and from court hearings.

Moreover, the law does not permit anyone to appeal against a protection order that may prevent the ‘accused’ — the person charged with the violence — from access to the victim or the complainant.

Many complainants of domestic violence are faced with eviction from the family home, are cut off without maintenance, and are unable to follow the complaint precisely because they have no means to do so. The Mauritian law lays down clearly that the breadwinner shall continue to provide for the family, including for the family’s residence and livelihood.

The Act has clearly attempted to address the issue from a human point of view, as a human rights issue, and has sensitively addressed the existing realities, keeping even petty practical problems in mind. And if India is to justify its claim to being an enlightened nation entering the new millenium, one of the tasks before us is to do the same.

(As told to Sachita Vemuri) Women’s Feature Service.

75 YEARS AGO

The "Tej" case

THE case of Mr Deshbandhu Gupta, Editor of the "Daily Tej" under Sections 153-A, 505(C), came up for further hearing this morning before Mr G.M. Young, District Magistrate, Delhi, when the accused pleaded not guilty.

Before framing charges, the Magistrate heard arguments of opposing counsels. Lala Shiv Narain took nearly two hours to explain that the articles complained of did not come under the purview of Sections 153-A and 505 (C) as they did not refer to any particular community or class of His Majesty’s subjects but to particular persons who were rowdies and who were after mischief.

In support of a certain statement of facts regarding the recent Hindu-Muslim tension in Panipat, which was published in the "Tej" and which formed the subject of the prosecution, the counsel read extracts from the judgement of the Deputy Commissioner, Karnal, to show that the version given in the "Tej" was unimpeachable.

He also pointed out that the judgement contained a stronger indictment against the people who were responsible for the trouble in Panipat than the articles published in the "Tej".

After the Public Prosecutor addressed the court for about twenty minutes, the Magistrate framed charges against the accused under both Sections and postponed the case to the 13th when defence witnesses will be examined. It is understood that a large number defence witnesses, including Hakim Ajmal Khan, Dr Ansari, Mr Asaf Ali and others from outstations will be summoned.

The counsel for defence made another attempt to get the accused released on bail, but the Magistrate refused it.