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Friday,
April 26, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Reforms on Punjab agenda New growth barometer |
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Crumbling pillars of governance
Suicide
or murder
World
order through Indian eyes
Why
money fails to make us happy
Experience
jail at least once: Laloo
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Reforms on Punjab agenda THE fiscal management initiatives announced by the Punjab Government on Wednesday may hurt some, but there was no other alternative for treating the ailing state economy. The White Paper, released by the government recently, lists various factors responsible for the financial mess. These include the ever rising salaries of the employees, mounting debt burden, heavily subsidised social and economic services, slow growth of revenue and loss-making PSUs. Punjab’s fiscal deficit has been among the highest in the country. The state government has been living on borrowings with expenditure overshooting revenue. On top of it, the state’s growth rate has fallen lower than the national average. Populist decisions to appease certain sections and strengthen vote-banks had over the years ruined the state economy. Despite normalcy having been restored years back, the expenditure on the police had doubled in the last five years, an major part being spent on VIP security. The winding up of the six police districts, created during the days of militancy for effective policing, was long overdue. VIP security has cost the exchequer heavily, apart from being a public nuisance. Short-statured leaders, surrounded by security guards, try to look larger than life. They have been rightly cut to size. That the drastic cut in VIP
security covers the Chief Minister as well as his Cabinet colleagues is bound to win public approval and silence the critics, if any. For the first time, somebody has realised the need for having a Fiscal Responsibility Act in Punjab. The top-heavy police and civil administration may now be forced to shed part of their fat with the ban on new recruitment, redeployment of identified surplus staff, the offer of VRS and the discontinuation of deputations from other states. The strength of the IAS
and IPS officers will also be curtailed. The ban on foreign trips of ministers and officers will help the exchequer. This should remove misgivings, if any, that the measures are targeted only at the junior employees. To carry out the reforms, the Chief Minister needs public cooperation and also support of even opposition parties which may otherwise try to exploit the hurt caused to a section of the employees. Capt Kanwaljit Singh, the Finance Minister in the previous SAD-BJP government, has shown political maturity by accepting the gravity of the situation and suggesting to the Chief Minister to involve other colleagues, irrespective of their political affiliations, to hammer out a common minimum programme for the development of the state. Secondly, there is need to create a social security network to bail out those in economic distress, whether unemployed or those rendered jobless suddenly, whether the aged or the disabled. The ban on government recruitments will shrink job avenues for those passing out of colleges and universities. There is an urgent need to woo private investment into the state to create fresh employment and self-employment opportunities. NRI money and skills can be tapped. An immediate workable economic agenda can minimise the pain to be caused by the shakeup of a sleepy administration. The Chief Minister can draw inspiration from his Kerala counterpart who faced a prolonged strike by the employees but did not yield ground on reforms. The steps taken by the Amarinder Singh government have generated a positive environment. The crackdown on corruption has created a favourable atmosphere for the Chief Minister to proceed in his mission, irrespective of the consequences. |
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New growth barometer THE first Human Development Report (HDR) prepared by the Planning Commission has exploded the myth that income alone determines the quality of life and the level of growth. The conventional indicators like the gross domestic product (GDP) and the per capita income have been proved to be incapable of presenting a complete picture of people's well-being. Thus, Kerala tops the rankings for 2001 ( the Human Development Indices, the HDIs in short) despite having a serious unemployment problem and an income level much lower than in many states. The new indicators of the country's achievements related to longevity, education, the command over resources, etc, have highlighted two other factors: the size of the states and the efficiency of the delivery mechanism. Smaller states like Punjab ( occupying the second place) and Haryana ( at number five) have shown excellent performance both during the eighties and the
nineties, the period covered by the HDR. This strengthens the case for division of states like UP with an unwieldy size. The demand for Harit Pradesh, Poorvanchal, etc, should be considered as legitimate in view of the latest reality. The other factor brought into sharp focus is that the allocation of funds from the Centre. It cannot guarantee development in real terms unless the money received is used properly with the different agencies constituting the delivery system performing efficiently. This may lead to a
controversy over the Central Plan assistance to the states as now there will be new gainers and losers if the HDR is accepted as the basis for the purpose. There is no reason to ignore the new indices. Of course, the deprived people of a state not doing well in terms of the new development criteria cannot be left uncared for, but some way should be found to ensure that poor performance is not rewarded. It is heartening to note that the report has established that corruption and good governance cannot go together. Corrupt practices at every level of the administration and in every area of activity are assuming alarming proportions. It is true, as the report says, this cancerous growth cannot be arrested merely through privatisation and deregulation. Those in a position of authority have to be made accountable for their actions and their functioning must be
transparent. The report provides ammunition to those not happy with the economic reforms introduced in 1991. It says that certain states did better during the eighties compared to their performance in the nineties, the beginning of the reforms era. The uncomfortable reality had led to a silent debate in the Planning Commission even before the report was released by the Prime Minister on Tuesday. Whether the debate is still on is not known, but the truth remains that the gains of the reforms are not reaching the villages and the poverty-stricken people in ample measure. They constitute the massive majority and should not be left out. This may lead to serious consequences in the long term. |
Crumbling pillars of governance THE quality of governance, among other ingredients, largely depends on the quality of the civil service as well as education. The all-round deterioration that we see today is mainly because of a sharp decline in the standards in these critical areas. The civil service no longer inspires the confidence of civilians. Some critics go to the extent of debunking it as "uncivil". This is not a fair criticism, though it does often act as an obstructionist force instead of being an instrument of forward-looking moves and socio-economic changes. The main problem with a large army of Indian Administrative Service personnel is their statusquoism on the negative side. Rightly or wrongly, they also seem to have acquired the label of being spineless. Exceptions are surely there, but exceptions do not make rules. Of course, those at the helm know where the shoe pinches. Still, the correctives initiated to overhaul the system are either half-hearted or misplaced. Things have come to such a pass that the administrative services, which are supposed to be impartial, fair and just in the discharge of public duties, more often than not, act at the whims and fancies of political masters or their patrons. Where are the elements of fearlessness and fairplay which were the strong points of civil service officers till the sixties? The officers belonging to the ICS and the early batches of the IAS had the reputation of giving opinions honestly. Their value judgement was fair and objective. Even Sardar Patel talked about these traits. Underlying the need for an independent civil service, he observed, "Today my secretary can write a note opposed to my views. I have given that freedom to all my secretaries. I have told them, "if you do not give your honest opinion, then you had better go. I will bring another secretary.... I will never be displeased over a frank expression of opinion." Do we have leaders of the Sardar Patel class? In fact, this is the primary reason why, in place of frankness, sycophancy is the order of the day. Most IAS officers hardly protest or express their dissent on crucial matters for fear of punishment. Safety first! This is the golden rule. That is the reason why most administrative officers these days endorse whatever their masters want. Rules are broken to serve vested interests. Clauses and sub-clauses are wrongly interpreted and reinterpreted to suit the convenience of the powers that be. How can we serve the public cause in these circumstances? How can we retain the value system when operators and manipulators set the pace for events and non-events? How can we maintain the thrust of development if 87 paise of a rupee are eaten away by administrative overhead costs? This harsh fact has been known to political leaders, but, then, who cares to improve matters? As a former DGP from Tamil Nadu put it, "The uncertainty that hangs over well-meaning civil servants and the lack of sympathy on the part of the political bosses go to show the extent of moral degradation that has set in the institutional values in the politics of administration" Indeed, what we see on the politico-administrative front is distressing. Equally disturbing is the state of education and related institutional arrangements that are meant to serve society. Two areas of major concern are: the office of Vice-Chancellor and Public Service Commissions. In Punjab, two major scandals have shaken the people's confidence in the system. One is related to the conduct of Mr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia as the Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, who was, mercifully, removed on the charge of molestation. What happened on the campus at Patiala is shockingly shameful. Then we have scintillating stories of corrupt practices in the Punjab Public Service Commission directly involving its chairman, Mr Ravi Sidhu. If jobs are "sold" for huge amounts then, pray, what future holds out to bright youngsters? They are denied jobs simply because they cannot afford to bribe their way. When we published a letter from a highly educated youngster, Ms Nisha Kaura of Raikot in
Ludhiana district, before the elections in Punjab, I was accused by some critics of playing a partisan role. This was far from my wildest thought. I was purely prompted by the desire to give the people a picture of harsh social realities. Informed sections, of course, know how jobs are auctioned by the powers that be and how the booty is pocketed individually or shared selectively. We at The Tribune are not in the business of playing games in favour of one party or the other. Our interest lies in promoting public good through the dissemination of authentic information and taking a principled stand. The questions raised by Ms Kaura definitely stirred the conscience of a very large number of The Tribune readers. Full marks to the girl who showed rare courage and guts to state facts. Privately, many persons talk about the rates "fixed" for every category of jobs offered by the PPSC or other agencies. What is true of Punjab is equally true of Haryana and most other public service commissions as well. The dimension of Mr Ravi Sidhu's operations should be an eye-opener. Nothing can be more shameful than such acts of public betrayal. How can we expect the police and the general administration to be just and fair in a corruption-ridden atmosphere? If jobs could be bought by paying lakhs of rupees, then the first priority of these "successful persons" would, understandably, be to fleece the public and suck the system. Who cares for merit and public interests? Perhaps, not even most of our honourable parliamentarians. We cannot solve problems by shouting and stalling parliamentary proceedings. Does the conscience of our MPs prick at the fact that it costs the public exchequer over Rs 17,000 per minute to keep Parliament going? Amidst the sickening state of affairs public disenchantment with the failure of the system is but natural. There is no accountability. Merit is hardly rewarded. Mediocrity and safety rule the roost. No wonder, all forms of corruption, racketeering and "fixing" have assumed alarming proportions. Instead of a civil order, we now see a powerful parallel economy and a virtual parallel government run or supervised by unscrupulous persons. Any reasonable hope? Can't we discard structures that block social justice and good governance? Can't we do away with hackneyed attitudes directly flowing from distorted education and related institutions and the deformed bureaucratic structure that rest on false values and are unrelated to the realities of life? Bringing about a change will, of course, involve transitional pains and adjustments. The ruling elite is probably not yet willing to set the right pace for social and economic justice on secular and egalitarian principles. Everything seems to be divided and subdivided on crude vote-bank calculations. This needs to be challenged vigorously. In his book, “Revolution in the Revolution”, Regis Debray wrote: "History advances in disguise; it appears on the stage wearing the mask of the preceding scene, and we tend to lose the meaning of the play. Each time the curtain rises, continuity has to be reestablished. The blame, of course, is not history's, but lies in our vision, encumbered with memory and images learned in the past. We see the past superimposed on the present, even when the present is a revolution." We are probably not cut out for a revolution. Of course, there are serious signs of unrest. But what is to be done if vision happens to be terribly blurred. For that matter, even the mask has lost the shine of the "preceding scene". What is more, the twin pillars of governance — the civil service and educational institutions — are showing signs of crack. The road ahead is littered with the remains of the frenzy, fanaticism and all forms of distortions. Even the concept of secularism and liberal democratic values are being twisted and tattered by opportunist politicians, spineless bureaucrats and their collaborators. Should we give in? Certainly not. We must keep our head high and not lose sight of principles and values while pursuing the desired changes in a determined manner. Why not make a fresh beginning with a reoriented civil service and the police force with revamped and thoroughly reformed education system and public service commissions? They can set the right pace for good governance. |
Suicide or murder I
was employed in PMO in Patiala State. As a rule the PM spent summers in the cool climate of Simla (now Shimla). Being the summer headquarters of the Viceroy, the Governor of the Panjab and the Resident for Panjab States, Simla suited the PM. The State had over a dozen houses of its own. “Oakover” was the residence of the Maharaja, whenever he wished to spend some days there or he had an official business. Otherwise Chail was the hill resort of the ruler and his harem. This happened in 1944. One day a middle-aged Sikh with his teenaged son came to our office. With tears dripping down his salt and pepper beard, he narrated his tale of vow. Unluckily his married daughter failed to give birth to a male issue, despite eight or nine years of her marriage and her inlaws wanted to remarry their son. To get rid of her, they strangulated her and made it a case of suicide by bribing the police. With joined hands, he swore by his son that what he was saying was true. He pleaded that the culprits be awarded suitable punishment for their crime. We sent for the relevant file from the police. When I went through it, a very crucial point came to my notice. The post-mortem examination report stated that there was ash in both hands of woman. Now anyone taking one’s own life by hanging, must use both hands and there is no question of ash in them. It appeared that the poor woman was scrubbing utensils when she was dragged and after strangulating her, the corps was hung on a tree trunk and declared that she had committed suicide. The file was sent back to the police with orders of the PM that it should be reopened and the case sent for trial in the competent court. After several months we received a communication from the police that the deceased’s husband and father-in-law were sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment each. Her mother-in-law and sister-in-law were given the benefit of doubt and acquitted. A simple entry in the post-mortem examination report demolished the story of suicide. The adage “The murder is out” was proved true at last. |
World order through Indian eyes THE world is going through a moral and spiritual crisis. Terrorism is an expression of this crisis. Can humanity survive this new threat? “If we are to survive,” says Dr S. Radhakrishnan, India’s famous philosopher, “We have to effect a moral and spiritual revolution.” The crisis is not new. It had begun before World War II with the growth of such ideologies like Fascism and Nazism. Now that the age of ideologies is over, we can no more hold the world within the framework of an ideology. And yet there is no way by which humanity can advance except by accepting a framework — a world order. And this world order must be a moral order. If men had gone through two world wars and much devastation during the last century, it was because the ideologies that dominated the world were not moral. They were far from it. Indeed, while capitalism was inequitous, communism was tyrannical. They discredited themselves. Today globalisation is offered as an alternative to capitalism. But it is as inequitous as capitalism. Perhaps, that is the character of Western civilisation. It is unable to put up with a moral order. Has the East something nobler to offer? Let us recall the thoughts of India’s eminent sons. They had a definite view on the kind of global order they wanted to promote and the role they wanted India to play. The Rig Veda (3000 BC), the oldest scripture of the world and the most sacred document of the Hindus, has this message for humanity: “walk together, speak in concord, let your hearts be in agreement, let your minds be united that we all may be happy.” Ashoka, judged the greatest emperor by history (3rd century BC), still speaks to India through his Rock Edicts. Thus, in Rock Edict VI, he says: “There is no higher service than the welfare of the whole world.” He dedicated his life to the service of the world. According to D.R. Bhandarkar, the historian, Ashoka was seized by a great passion for the moral elevation of the whole world. “Ashoka shines,” says H.G. Wells, “and shines alone, a star.” To Vivekananda, the greatest Hindu missionary, it is India’s spiritualism which is the centre of India’s life. It is the principal note, he says, around which every other note comes to form a harmony. It is this spiritualism which, through aeons of time, evoked the highest devotion and the greatest sacrifice. Gandhi is the supreme example. No other country could have produced a Gandhi. Indian civilisation is universal. It is the only primordial civilisation to have survived in tact. Its appeal was to humanity. It never spoke of “we” and “they”. It never degenerated into a narrowly defined religion. Gandhi was a nationalist. He was also an internationalist. It is not nationalism that is evil, he used to say, but narrowness, selfishness and exclusiveness. “My nationalism is intense internationalism,” he once asserted. His nationalism included the good of all. Hatred of other peoples had no place in his nationalism. He loved the British, but not their system. And he never wanted India to gain at the expense of other nations. “I do not want India to rise on the ashes of other nations,” he had said. But while he was ready to keep the doors of India wide open, he did not want to be swept off his feet by the winds of the world. He wanted India to be firmly rooted on its own soil. It is here that he would not agree with the Westernised people of India, who are ready to copy the Western way of life. Gandhi was a universalist. “I do not subscribe to the doctrine of Asia for Asians if it is meant as an anti-European combination,” he told the Japanese parliamentarians. Sri Aurobindo, the great mystic of India, saw the world as a union of free independent nations with unity in diversity as the cardinal principle. Naturally, he would have opposed globalisation, which seeks to destroy the sovereignty of nations. He saw the civilisational advance of man as a march of nations, the most advanced being in the front and the backward at the rear. And he saw India at the head of this civilisational march. There are only two alternatives before mankind, he used to say: a world founded on the principle of centralisation, uniformity and a mechanical unity, and a world union founded on the principle of liberty and variety. The Indian civilisation is based on freedom and variety. To accept a uniform world will do violence to the very foundation of our civilisation. The very spirit of India is for universalism. All its leaders were universalists. But it does not mean that they loved India less. Tagore was a true universalist. He was against all forms of extreme nationalism. But he neither believed in a universal doctrine or a universal way of life. “We must seek for our own inheritance and with it buy our true place in the world,” he had said. Tagore was a great lover of India. “I shall be born in India again and again. With all her poverty, misery and wretchedness,” he said, “I love India best.” He was proud of the great rishis of India, who had left for posterity so much of “imperishable thoughts” behind. Religion is a unifier. But not Book and Church. They separate men, Tagore said. It was a reaching out to humanity that was the religion of Tagore. Nehru was a firm believer in a world order. According to him, “if there is going to be no world order, then there might be no order at all left in the world.” He believed that a world government is the only remedy for the world’s sickness. Like Tagore, Nehru was against extreme nationalism, but he also asserted that without nationalism, one remained rootless. Rootlessness is one of the principal causes for this nation’s malady. The world is going back to moral standards. America, which tried to build a civilisation purged of morality, has discovered to its dismay that a world without morals will be like going back to the law of the jungle. Terrorism is one of the offshoots of an immoral world. Unless we bring back a moral order, we cannot contain the evil in society. Dr Radhakrishnan says that only on the rock of moral law and not on the shifting sands of political and economic expediency can we build a civilised society with individual freedom, social justice and political quality. And India has had a longer record of adhering to morality than most of the nations of the world. |
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Why money fails to make us happy HOW is that in spite of today’s advanced level of prosperity we are less happy than our parents and grandparents were some decades ago. Perhaps we are pursuing happiness too hard and not in the right direction — the increase in our desires comes out to be more than our advancement or progress. We want a scooter, than a car, then a newer model in a year or two and thus there is no limit and that is the sphere of the materialistic advancement and prosperity. Perhaps we would be happier, if we all slow down in this aspect. Here is an interesting excerpt from the book “Luxury Fever : Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an era of Excess”: "Prosperity has not brought happiness, money can buy most things, but not happiness, more so peace. What was once a luxury, has become necessity; from on foot to cycle, scooter, car, different models every 2-3 years. From nothing to radio, to television, to cable, to web, to Internet, to phone — then cordless, then mobile. So there is no end. So this endlessness causes stress and consequences of the same in the form of various physical ailments and those of mind. Happiness has evaded the well off more. It is problem of plenty, then you need more and your desires, and wants go on increasing and multiplying leading to problems. One of the remedies of unhappiness is keeping yourself busy so that there is no time for being miserable and unhappy. One rarely sees a busy person, unhappy.” Exercise also wards of unhappiness as then you are concentrating on exercise and have no time for brooding. Another thing we should do is to keep one’s desires limited mostly to necessities and to minimum. With TV, Cable, Internet etc, no time is available for socialisation. With more money, needs and wants go on increasing endlessly and that is the cause of unhappiness. Contentment is the key to peace and real happiness. In this context scouts’ motto leads one to happiness: a scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties. A scout does a good turn to everybody. |
Experience jail at least once: Laloo AFTER
a string of top film stars, Bihar’s irrepressible leader Laloo Prasad Yadav is on the celebrity chat show “Jeena Issi Ka Naam Hai” on Friday, where he advocates a jail stay for every citizen at least once. “Everyone should go to jail at least once. I’ve been a hundred times. Even Krishna (Hinduism’s most popular divinity) was born in jail,” the former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo tells the amazed anchor, actor Farouq Shaikh. Rabri Devi, Yadav’s wife and Bihar Chief Minister, is the epitome of a devoted wife throughout the show, letting her media-savvy husband hog the limelight. Flippantly Shaikh asks her if Yadav ever said: “I love you” to her. Amid a roar of cheers and giggles, Rabri Devi replies: “He never got the chance to. But he sent me letters through the milkman when he was in jail.” Here’s a chance for all of Yadav’s loved ones to express their affection as “Jeena Issi...” has invited his wife, nine children and only grandchild to talk about the super-celebrity in their lives. Yadav’s eldest daughter Misa reveals how they immediately switch to viewing a news channel when they hear the footsteps of the man of the house. Projecting a joint family bonhomie that seems straight out of Sooraj Barjatya’s films, Yadav’s in-laws Shivprasad Chaudhary and Maharajyo Devi also appear on the crammed podium to talk about why they chose young Laloo to be their daughter’s husband and offered him two cows and 15 acres of land as dowry.
IANS |
A read gift is that which is given to needy men. All else is clever bargaining for greater recompense. Even if it is solemnly declared that it is the right path to heaven still to receive a gift is bad and even though the heaven above is denied, yet to give is good. Willingness to give to the needy without comforting himself by saying, “I have nothing to give” is a characteristic found only in a person of noble birth. Appeasing the painful hunger on the body ascetic who renounced all, exactly corresponds to keeping one’s acquired wealth in a place of safety. Half-hearted misers who hoard their wealth and finally lose it, have they ever experienced the joy of heartily giving to the needy. It is worse than actual begging if a person in order to increase his wealth eats alone without guests. — The Tirukkural *** Vigilance, knowledge, strength of will to take decisive action, these three the ruler of the land must possess. — The Tirukkural *** The leader must know, must know that he knows, and must be able to make it abundantly clear to those about him that he know. — C.B. Rendall, Making
Good in management *** Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. — The Holy Bible, The General Epistle of James *** Riches may enable us to confer them with propriety and grace requires a something that riches cannot give. — Charles Calob Colton, Lacon *** Avarice holds itself poor; charity gives itself rich. — A German proverb *** Man discovers his own wealth When God comes to ask gifts of him. — Rabindranath Tagore, Fireflies *** It is more blessed to give than to receive. — The Holy Bible, The Acts |
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