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Sunday,
November 17, 2002, Chandigarh, India   |
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Time to implement Dharam Vira panel recommendations in toto
Harihar Swarup
PM unhappy with VHP’s plan
Humra Quraishi
Remembering
S.P. Singh
Gora was a fighter all his life
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SPECIAL FOCUS: POLICE REFORMS-I
The Indian police is once again under a scanner. The National Human Rights Commission has in its six-monthly review found more than 630 cases of custodial deaths. The first phase of Godhra tragedy has allegedly painted the Gujarat Police in vivid colours of bias. Elsewhere, most of the state police organisations are reporting omissions by their departments. We hear of agitations and protests by constabularies in several states including Orissa, Manipur and Bihar. We also hear of efforts to modernise the police forces in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. However, some of the stories make sad reading. For example, MLAs of Jharkhand have pressurised their Chief Minister to lower the entry age in the Police Department from the all-India norm of Tenth class pass to Seventh class pass “to help local tribal population enter the police department”. In Nagaland, the minimum age for recruitment is Eighth class pass. In Delhi Police, there is no dearth of postgraduates; at least three Ph.Ds are non-gazetted officers there. The Indian Police Service has the reputation of being the most overeducated service in the world! However, after 1974, no state has conducted periodic reviews of their police by constituting state police commissions. Some of the significant recommendations of the National Police Commission and several other reports still require to be implemented. The other forum to review police reforms is the annual Conference of Directors-General and Inspectors-General of Police. For two days each year, they examine matters of national security, VIP security. However, criminal intelligence has been put on the backburner. Reforms in the criminal justice system occupy low priority amongst the peer groups responsible for bringing about social change. Things are on the slide and were it not for the momentary hiccups suffered by the print media, attention would be even more remotely focused on this aspect of public life. On Mach 24, 1861, the House of Commons in London passed the Police Act for India, establishing a uniform system of policing. Consequently, the British Army based in India passed on the work of policing into civilian hands. The Superintendent of Police, who was on deputation from the Army, was given a new uniform but was still known as Kaptan Saab. It is a pointer that the police system in the last 140 years has not undergone any major philosophical shift! It could not be, as the Police Act of 1861, with its amendments, is the oldest legislation in the world still operative in any nation. Many of the problems of today’s policing can be put at the doorstep of this legislation which our democracy refuses to unburden itself, after the rest of the world, including Pakistan, which originally followed the same Act, abandoned it decades ago. From where do we start to reform the police system in the country? I have an unconventional approach to the problem, having seen the working of a very large number of provincial police departments. It may sound amusing for a common reader, but a significant reform in the police system should begin with all the police stations, police posts and police outposts. They should be provided adequate stationary to put on record the collected evidence and undertake all administrative work. The amended Criminal Procedure Code of 1974 had ordered the courts to provide copies of police cases free of charge to all accused brought to the court on trial. However, there was no follow-up action. Taking the route of convenience, courts ordered the police investigating officers to provide to the accused copies of their files. The police protested, but many courts threatened police with contempt and individual investigating officers fell in line. To meet their basic stationary requirements, police officers sought expenses from ordinary people who reported to the police station to file their complaints. Now the practice is that you may pay for getting your complaints registered either in cash or instead at least provide a quantity of writing paper. There is no good reason why a common man, particularly a person with no means to sustain the illogical police demand, should keep on doling out money for the police to sustain the criminal justice system of his area. Corruption in this regard was discussed in the Conference of Anti-Corruption Officers, organised by the Central Bureau of Investigation, in 1978. The Centre was advised to ask the States to re-evaluate the requirements of stationary in police work as a follow-up of the amendments made in the Criminal Procedure Code. No State implemented it. An offshoot of this recommendation was the State’s responsibility to meet the full expenses of disposing of the unclaimed dead bodies. Police officers, particularly in urban areas, have to handle a large number of dead bodies each year discovered as unclaimed in the more crime prone areas. In the rural countryside, the problem becomes acute because of the transportation costs. Reform in this aspect is long overdue. It costs a police officer anything from Rs.1,500 to Rs.5,000 to bring an unclaimed body to the police station for necessary paper work, take it to the hospital for post mortem and its final disposal. The costs currently incurred by state police departments to meet such exigencies vary from Rs.300 to Rs.1,000 per body. In Delhi, there is impress money, but it is too meagre. Once policemen in North India have discovered unverified dead bodies and threw them into the nearest running irrigation canals, for some other unfortunate police station down the stream, to rediscover! No one has attempted to find out how the police department tackles this problem and how the state meets with its obligations officially. It is a case of encouraging corruption and malpractices, and the police officers get no shoulder to weep upon. For the last 30 years, no state government examined the administrative ills of the police department. The problems of policing are becoming too difficult to handle. Police officers now prefer to pick and choose their complainant so that they are in a position to meet the expenses of official investigations, which the ordinary police officer must undertake. The country is still 70 per cent rural and therefore, is very poorly policed. The normal strength of a rural police station is one Assistant Sub-Inspector, two Head Constables and 12 constables. In the past five decades, a new practice emerged: instead of providing a meaningful increase of investigating staff in the civilian police, state governments created armed police forces and diverted the personnel as attached patrolling staff to police stations. This was a serious malpractice. Armed police forces acquired the virus of corruption immediately from their civilian brothers. Being armed, they often behaved in an indiscipline manner, and occasionally become criminals in uniform. For years such persons were made to live in tents and become pictures of “brutish, nasty and bad”. Our immediate concern should be to revise the strength of the rural police stations in the country, increasing the working hands by at least 50 per cent, without changes in the existing jurisdictions. Such increases can be done by an order of the State government instead of instituting a Police Commission and wait for its report. The present arrangement of attachments can be abolished. Some of the existing State Armed Police battalions can be abolished and the released manpower can then be retrained in the system of civilian policing. The detailed reviews can be taken up at leisure. In 1961, the De Silva Committee Report on Model Rural Police Station Building Designs was circulated to all states for implementation. None implemented this. The result: our rural police stations, with some dramatic exceptions, function from outdated two-room premises. If they do not have lock-ups, the arrested persons are bound by ropes to their beds to spend overnight, before they are presented to the magistrate the following morning! The Central Finance Commission has provided funds to the State police forces. However, in many cases after the release of funds, the States, already running huge overdrafts, have diverted the police funds to pay salaries of their other civilian government servants. Modernising the police force to meet the audit objection was undertaken symbolically. The policemen have a right to live under agreeable conditions. Some States have tried to meet the huge deficit in police housing, but no State, as a policy, has provided for 100 per cent police housing for its personnel. Yet, the States expect police officers to function round the clock without meeting their own obligations. If policemen protest, agitate or offer dharna, then ostensibly they have a good reason to behave thus. Our list of reforms can be very long because other aspects of police functions today cry for redressal and relief. The common man is not interested in the working of its police departments until he is a part of the men in khaki, and then it is too late for the individual to protest. The VIP once caught and then subjected to police ‘culture’ seeks to get himself out of the situation. Once out, he attempts to take revenge on the individual policeman who gave him a bad time while in police custody. In seeking redress to his grievances, the VIP is still unconcerned to enquire why such misconduct took place in the first instance. Too much emphasis has been laid on improving the salaries and other emoluments of the policemen. The policeman is, however, not being given a place of respect. There are limits to providing monetary compensations. If the States were to honour their own obligations to help the criminal justice system work efficiently, the policeman would be willing to put extra effort in his job. He is looking for better social recognition because he represents the State while wearing the uniform, and such recognition is ample satisfaction as reward for his toils. Consider Bihar constables’ stir, six years ago, for modern fire arms to combat the Naxalites who were better equipped with modern weaponry. Despite the government’s warning of punishment for indiscipline, the strike went on and the government had to assure them that better weaponry will be provided. Such happenings are unheard of in other parts of the world. This is the classic case of a government abrogating its fundamental responsibility to provide efficient machinery for the maintenance of law and order for its people. Before I conclude, I wish to record a warning. Rome was not destroyed because of lead poisoning. It was destroyed internally when its criminal justice system collapsed. Attila the Hun gave a small push to allow it to collapse overnight. The same is bound to happen in India, if we are incapable of setting up properly our house of public law and order. The writer is former Director-General, Indo-Tibetan Border Police
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Keeping politicians at bay Two visits which enabled a vertical interaction with police colleagues by way of a passing out parade of police officers in Uttar Pradesh and the other for a Tennis Championship in Madhya Pradesh, proved beyond any doubt, the compelling need for urgent implementation of one of the most important recommendations of the National Police Commission (NPC). Which is, to insulate the police from illegitimate political interference — a recommendation made nearly 23 years ago which continues to be a crying need. Before I elaborate on the specifics of the recommendation, here is what I gathered on the sidelines. SCENE-I Most of the UP police officers are on a roller coaster ride. None of them know for how many days or months will they be in their present assignments. There are innumerable instances when officers have been posted and transferred, more than once, in one single day, forget about months and years. I found officers reconciled to letting their families be run by their wives. In fact, police families today are single parent homes, in view of the prevailing insecurity of postings. SCENE-II Each Cabinet Minister of the State is also a Prabhari i.e. administrator of a district. He is the Chairman of the District-Committee on personnel matters to decide transfer and postings of the police officers besides others. The Secretary of the Committee is the Collector, an IAS officer. The Superintendent of Police of the District is a mere member. On my query on how the system works, it was learnt that when proposals of transfers etc are placed after the Committee, the Chairman again consults the area MLAs who is turn have their own lists. Hence, at times, transfers are inordinately delayed, besides bringing in all the problems of patronage, nepotism and indiscipline. The above scenario is at the district level. Now at the State level, the Chairman is the Chief Minister himself with State Home Secretary the Member-Secretary with the Director-General of Police as a mere member. This Committee looks into transfer and posting of all sensitive and senior ranks. If all what I learnt from the sidelines is true, then this is a tragedy for a professional organisation, as well as the state where such a situation prevails. All of this is, against all tenets of professional management, command, control and leadership. Policing is a hierarchical institution, which requires a command structure based on the use of appropriate responsibility, accountability, sensitivity, discretion, discipline and order. Dilution of command and control means having “Bahadur Shah Jaffar’s at the helm...” and that is not what a nation, which is fighting terrorism requires. Nor is it the spirit of our Constitution. These are our own practices, by way of executive orders in the garb of “guidelines” (sic) based on a British-made Police Act of 1861 — unfortunately which is still on the statute book. If challenged in a court of law, I am confident these guidelines will be declared null and void and contrary to notified police rules. Additional agony is that the Police Department carries out these guidelines as legal orders without questioning them. At the most, a few Police Chiefs would lose their positions but certainly not their jobs. In the present scenario, observance of these practices make the top leadership positions mere decorations without appropriate powers of human resource management. And remember the key to good policing is its man-management. In other countries, Police Acts focus on responsibilities rather than control by the minister or governments and lay down in clear terms how that responsibility has to be discharged. For instance, the main function of the Secretary of State in the United Kingdom is to exercise his powers “in such a manner and to such extent as appears to him to be best calculated to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of the police”. The English model of police system provides for a tripartite structure consisting of the Secretary of State representing the political executive, the local Chief Constable equivalent to our DGPs, representing the Police Department and the Police Authority representing the community. The Act requires the Secretary of the State to determine objectives for policing of different areas and this has to be done by him in consultation with the other two i.e. the Police Department as well as the Policy Authority. A statutory instrument containing the objectives determined under this provision of law has to be laid before Parliament. Therefore, the Chief Constable’s powers are not infringed, instead he is facilitated to perform to the best of his capability. The basic principle of sound management is that accountability begins with responsibility. And in a disciplined force it begins with the leader: the manner he is selected; the basis of his selection; the capability of the selectors; how is he allowed to exercise his responsibility; the manner of removal; and the methodology of accountability. I have personally read the appointment order of a Police Chief, which says “appointed as police .......... of .......... till further orders”. Why further orders? Why doesn’t the order say for a period of two or three years? Just because the Act of 1861 gives the power of ‘Superintendence’ and ‘Control’ to the political executive doesn’t mean that this is not required. By such orders, discretion is retained to transfer the Chief at any time for any reason without a right to appeal. We shout from the rooftops that we are the largest democracy in the world but in practice we may be the biggest dictators. So what are we asking for? A stable, professional, non-partisan, accountable police chief. And this is possible only when the core recommendation to this effect made by the National Police Commission is accepted. Through the statutory appointment of a State Security Commission the appointment of the leadership will be neutral and accountability will be higher. This core recommendation is the key to the beginning of all police reform. And the necessity could not be higher in view of the prevailing hiatus between expectation and performance. India wants its GDP to be of 8 per cent and above according to the Tenth Five Year Plan. This is achievable only in a peaceful and safe environment, which can come from secure borders and internal security. Therefore, I do not think this a big price to pay. Perhaps, yes, it does demand surrender and sharing of power with acceptance of equal status for all high and mighty, rich or powerful. The writer is Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi Police. |
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Time to implement Dharam Vira panel recommendations in toto Unfortunately, our police continues to have the image of a brutal, corrupt and a mercenary force. It was the legacy of the British rulers, but gratefully adopted by our leaders after Independence. Its accountability is to the person in the seat of power, not to the law of the land or the people. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, in his first address to the Police Chiefs after Independence, said “During the foreign rule, the police was known for its efficiency but that efficiency was based purely on what is known in the police ranks as Jabardasti or force”. He further observed “You are writing the first chapter of the history of India. So you would write it in a manner that the future generations may remember you with respect and affection”. Unfortunately, he died with his dream unfulfilled. Sadly, departmental accountability has given way to political accountability. Prof David H. Bayley, a distinguished authority on the police system of India says “In India today, the dual system of criminal justice has grown up — the one of law, the other of politics. With respect at least to police, decisions made by the police officials about application of law are frequently subjected to partisan review or direction by elected representatives. Thus the autonomy of police officials in specific and routine application of law has been severely curtailed’. He says, “Police officers throughout India have grown accustomed to calculating the likely political effect of any enforcement action they contemplate. Fearing for their careers and especially their postings, they have become anxious and cynical”. The police during the British rule was to maintain law and order and the authority of the British Crown in India. The Police Act was enacted in 1861. Can we imagine that in this age of globalisation, our police is still governed by this Act? The IGs’ conference from 1947 had been demanding a National Police Commission (NPC) . Ultimately, it was set up in 1977. An outstanding civil servant, Dharam Vira, an ICS officer, was appointed its chairman. The Commission realised that the crux of efficient policing is the “effective and the amiable street presence of a well qualified, trained and motivated constable”. When the Commission went round the country, it found that policemen were certainly not the servants of the people. It observed, “In police stations, complaints were recorded not according what a complainant reports but as the leaders or the bigwigs desire. Even the suspects’ names were changed and in a number of cases there was no registration for fear of the involvement of the local bigwigs”. The Commission also remarked, “The manner in which political control has been exercised over the police in this country has led to gross abuse, resulting in the erosion of the rule of law and a loss of police credibility as a professional organisation. The threat of transfer is the most potent weapon in the hands of the politician to bend the police down to his will”. In 1980, the Commission recommended far-reaching reforms. It also prepared a draft Police Act to replace the 1861 Act. It recommended setting up of the State Security Commissions on the pattern of the Japanese Police. The Chief Minister will be the ex-officio Chairman of the Security Commission. There will be two members from the State legislature, one from the treasury benches and the other from the Opposition to be appointed on the advice of the Speaker. The remaining four members are to be appointed by the Chief Minister from among retired judges, top retired government servants, social scientists or academicians of public standing. The DGP was to work as the ex-officio Secretary. A committee comprising the UPSC Chairman, Union Home Secretary, State Chief Secretary, the seniormost amongst the Chiefs of the Central Police organisations and the serving State DGP, will select the DGP. When the report was presented to then Union Home Minister Giani Zail Singh by Dharam Vira, he remarked “Dharamji, what sort of report you have produced? I cannot even ask the Sub-Inspector what to do”. Dharam Vira replied: “You cannot ask any Sub-Inspector what to do. It is the law of the land and you cannot go against the law”. The NPC envisaged three-fold accountability of the police — to the people, to the law and to the organisation. Surely, if the police was accountable to the law, there would have been no terrorism in Punjab and there would have been no secessionist movement in Kashmir. Ajit Bhattacharjea, in his report on Ahmedabad riots in 1969, had observed, “The police failed to take firm action for the first three days and this was not a matter of slackness but policy”. This has been repeated again in Gujarat — vote bank politics with a partisan police not daring to challenge the biased mindset of the political leadership in such grave situations. Civil and police authorities await orders from their political bosses i.e. the Chief Minister before taking any action. The then Union Home Minister, Inderjit Gupta, in a letter to the Chief Ministers, observed: “The popular perception all over the country appears to be that many of the deficiencies in the functioning of the police of our country have arisen largely due to the overdose of unhealthy and petty political interference at various levels — the misuse of police for partisan purposes and political patronage quite often extended to corrupt policemen. Added to this malady is the prevailing system of inadequate public accountability of police performance”. According to media reports, the Bhopal police had published a list containing the names of 133 politicians and political activists against whom warrants were pending. One RJD MP, nicknamed Shabu AK-47, is reportedly named in more than 32 criminal cases, wanted for plotting to kill at least five persons and is a prime suspect in the murder of Chandra Shekhar, a CPI (ML) leader. In electioneering, nobody can paste the posters of the rival candidate in his constituency. He will have to pay with his life. As per media reports, a man was shot dead in 1998 trying to defy this ban. He is moving about freely because a political boss needs him. Had it happened if the police was accountable to the law? Over 27,000 arms licences have been issued in Ferozepore District (Punjab) illegally. A large number of these had been issued to persons from outside the state with fictitious addresses. Haryana police, who unearthed it, admit the role of a minister and four MLAs from Punjab. Though the NPC’s recommendations have been widely welcomed, these have made no impact on the Centre and the States. National Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice J. S. Verma says, “The NPC recommendations need serious consideration and early implementation to create conditions conducive to the independent functioning of police force”. The NHRC has urged the Supreme Court to insulate the investigative functions of the police from the political and other extraneous pressures and restore people’s confidence in the police. It is time the NPC recommendations were implemented in toto. We must have State Security Commissions to help state political leadership evaluate the performance of the state police. These will also be the fora of appeal against illegal orders as also deal with representations against arbitrary transfers, denial of promotions etc. To involve local people in policing, we should either have a district police authority on the pattern of UK’s County Police or, as suggested by the NHRC, a District Complaint Authority comprising the District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and the District Judge. A statutory body like South Africa’s Independent Complaints Authority is also needed. The writer is former Director-General of Police, Punjab. |
Bo & his party come a long way Both Bo Yibo and the CCP have grown together. The CCP has come a long way since its first Congress in 1921 which took place in a conspiratorial manner in a houseboat near Shanghai. Bo joined the party four years later in 1925 when it was in formative stage. During the Anti-Japanese war, he was a leading member of the CCP-led resistance for Shanxi province. In 1945, he was elected a member of the CCP Central Committee at the Party’s Seventh Congress. During the Chinese Civil War between 1946 and 1949, he was First Secretary of the CCP North China Bureau and Vice-Chairman of the CCP-led North China People’s Government. After the constitution of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949, he was appointed the Finance Minister. As a revolutionary veteran, who survived the Cultural Revolution, Bo is still considered one of the powerful popular figure in China today. As in India, perhaps, in China too, sons, daughters and spouses of revolutionary leaders join politics and manage to get important positions but lately, there has been a break with the past; the offsprings were not automatically given positions of power. Bo Yibo’s son, Bo Xilai, has been the Mayor of Dalian but failed in his bid to acquire a seat in the powerful Central Committee. It took three years — 1991 to 1993 — for Bo to complete two volumes of his memoirs. The first volume covers the period from 1949 to 1956 and the second deals with developments from 1957 to 1966. In the preface and postscript of the twin-volumes, he writes that in preparing his memoirs, he had consulted documents in the CCP Central archives and received the cooperation of the Party history researchers. Book reviewers say Bo reminiscences are most authentic document since the formation of the People’s Republic of China under the Communist regime and its subsequent growth as a powerful nation. Memoirs contain many valuable new facts, anecdotes, insights and noteworthy, particularly, are reference to Mao’s statements not available elsewhere. Bo himself played a major role in China’s economic decision-making during most crucial period in Communist China’s history. He shed new light on such domestic events as Gao Gang-Rao Shushi affair, the anti-rightist campaign, the Great Leap Forward, economic rectification in 1961-62 and the Socialist Education Campaign. The years — 1958-59 — were crucial period in Mao’s psychological evolution. He began to show increasing concern with the problem of his succession and was worried about his impending death. He feared that the political system that he had spent his life creating would betray his beliefs and values and slip out of control. His apprehension about the future developments of China was closely linked to his analysis of the degeneration of the Soviet system. According to Bo, Mao believed that the then US Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles’s idea of inducing peaceful coexistence within the socialist world was already taking effect in the Soviet Union, given Khruschev’s fascination with peaceful coexistence with the capitalist west. This caused China’s strained relations with USSR. Mao wanted to prevent this and the result was launching of Cultural Revolution. While Mao did not live to see China and the USA shaking hands and a diehard Communist regime embracing capitalist pattern of economy, Bo with his one foot in grave, has reconciled with the harsh reality. |
PM unhappy with VHP’s plan Now that the elections in Gujarat are less than a month away, political temperatures are soaring not just in Gandhinagar but in New Delhi too. The Vishva Hindu Parishad has threatened to go ahead with its controversial “Desh Dharma Raksha Yatra” from Godhra on November 17 though the Election Commission has banned it and even the Godhra authorities have withdrawn the permission given earlier. The VHP’s
daring do threats have disturbed Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. PMO grapevine has it that Vajpayee has been taken aback by the growing belligerence of the VHP. Worse still, this belligerence is directed against a constitutional authority, the Election Commission. The PMO’s displeasure has been made known to the caretaker Chief Minister Narendra Modi. What happens on and after November 17 would reveal whether Vajpayee is in command or not. Keshubhai vs Modi When the media colleague asked the receptionist for an explanation he was told that his tea was waiting in former Chief Minister Keshbhai Patel’s room who wanted to meet him. The scribe, a “pseudo secularist” in the BJP jargon, was pleasantly surprised at the unexpected invitation and he rushed to Patel’s room where the former Chief Minister was waiting for him along with some of his close followers and loyalists. Patel replied in a very cool voice that he was doing exactly the same what the scribe has been doing. While you can talk about it, I cannot as I am a disciplined solder of the BJP, Patel said and burst into a laughter. Both have been working to finish Chief Minister Narendra Modi politically. Kargil-II The MoD took great pains to explain the present prevailing situation in Kargil and that Point 5353 was on the LoC. It also said that Indian army had not suffered any casualties in any such attempt. However, at a recent press briefing the IAF categorically said that the fighter aircraft had been used in late July to evict Pakistanis from a peak in Kargil. The IAF statement nailed the truth which MoD had all along been denying. Although even IAF later realised that it was trudging on unfamiliar path and went about denying any such operation, but it is beyond comprehension why India has been denying the operation — Kargil II — all along. Fact remains that Indian troops had actually to be redeployed along peak 3610 after Pakistanis were evicted from the point with the backing of the IAF. Dry conclave During their stay at the picturesque Cama resort in Mount Abu, none of the Congress Chief Ministers visited the bar room. Held in virtual class-room conditions, the two-day meeting of Congress chief ministers had lectures from experts, panel-moderated discussions and working lunches. Uttaranchal Chief Minister N D Tiwari, who was not seen in Guwahati, was not present at Mount Abu either. Perhaps the veteran Congress leader, who was once seen as prime ministerial candidate, is not very comfortable sitting with Chief Ministers far less in age and experience. Each Chief Minister presented a report card to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the Guwahati Resolve and some of them had to give long explanations for lapses. The hotel staff had not put liquor in any of the rooms and the Chief Ministers, used to a drink or two, would have done without the evening downer. Mann's Dilemma SAD (Amristar) President Simranjit Singh Mann who calls himself a “radical Akali’’ sometimes finds himself in a kinship dilemma with Punjab Chief Minister and brother-in-law, Amarinder Singh. Mann’s wife, Geetinder Kaur is younger sister of the Captain’s wife Maharani Praneet Kaur by five years. In the run-up to the crucial Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) elections, Mann, a member of the SGPC chose not to give unsolicited advise to his ‘saadu’ but secretly wished that he would not tread the sanctity of the holy premises of the Golden Temple. The Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur, who did not cast his vote in the polls, says the week gone by has been painful for him. He was sad to see that his kinsman, once a traditional Akali, had disturbed the peace of the pilgrims by searching the Sarais built by the Sikh Gurus and the Misl Chiefs. He asserts that the Sarais, contrary to Capt Amarinder Singh’s view are a part and parcel of the Golden Temple complex. Mann says it is embarrassing for the family as Amarinder Singh had resigned as MP from Patiala when Indira Gandhi had sent the Army to the Golden Temple and later as Agriculture Minister in the S.S.Barnala’s Cabinet when the latter sent the police to the Golden Temple. Although he does not agree with Amarinder Singh’s opinion on a host of issues, he does not like to broach political issues at family get-togethers. Contributed by T.V. Lakshminarayan, Satish Misra, Prashant Sood, Girja Shankar Kaura, Tripti Nath and Rajeev Sharma. |
Religious slots being drilled into little heads Noam Chomsky had on his last visit here hinted that communalism would reach such proportions in the country that it wouldn’t be even under the control of those responsible for unleashing it... I’m writing this in the context of the VHP’s defiance of the Election Commission’s directive banning religious rallies in Gujarat. Either the BJP and its allies are as usual talking in different voices or the situation is beyond their control. Going by reports that even the Prime Minister’s appeal to the VHP to cancel its yatra has been sidetracked suggests that we are in for trouble. These troubles do not churn up overnight. As one heard a Delhi University History Professor read out some paragraphs to a select gathering here, it was more than shocking: As though a whole new generation of haters is being ‘prepared’ for action! As though religious slots are being drilled into little heads. In the backdrop of this, the much-hyped Children’s Day, and the First Child Education Summit 2002 went by, with politicians like L.K.Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi being the chief guests for the functions having lined upfor the latter event. They had played their role in whipping up communal sentiments and yet they addressed the children. On the contrary, people who talk of the great oneness (yes, there still exist such types!) are not given adequate exposure. I was pleasantly surprised to receive two books — ‘Matter and Non-Matter’ and ‘The Mainstream of Spirituality’ from Chandigarh-based advocate, C.L.Gulati. Written by Naranjan Singh, these books “unfold the concept of one earth, one family ...and demystify spirituality...” I wonder why these books don’t do well on the stands or are not talked about. For that matter, people who talk along apolitical lines are not in focus. J&K overhaul Going by reports here, there’s going to be a complete change in the administrative setup in Jammu and Kashmir. The day the Farooq Abdullah government fell, I could overhear two top officers telling their colleague, Director (Information) S. Narinder Singh, “So you have already started walking in the reverse direction...” Singh looked sheepish as he continued walking away from the duo, perhaps not very certain of his fate as he was said to be close to Farooq Abdullah. Other bureaucrats, perhaps not in the favourite category, played it safe. Asked about the change of guard, they came up with mere mutterings — “A change is always for the good...” As regards the new Chief Secretary, last fortnight, it had zeroed in on Wajahat Habibullah, but rumours said he was not keen. Another report said, bureaucrat Mahmoodur Rahman, on deputation to the Centre, was o back in the State. |
Remembering S.P. Singh I am not surprised that Aaj Tak won the award for best News Channel of the Year in the Indian Telly Awards 2002 given away by Indian TV. Com in Mumbai last week. Obviously the awards covered only Hindi and English news, because some of the channels in the South Indian languages offer formidable challenges in the way of both news sense and reach. I think the award is well deserved for two reasons. It’s only real competitor in terms of reach and viewership is Doordarshan and it has beaten it hollow. The other reasons is its catering to the ordinary viewer in both urban and rural areas in terms of easy communication. Because of this, one can forgive its main irritant for sensitive viewers, its surfeit of advertisements which cut into the news, which might be good for revenue but is bad for news. And for all this, one must give due credit to the late S.P. Singh, the originator of not only the catchy title Aaj Tak but, who, together with Rajindra Mathur in the Hindi print media (alas, neither is now with us) revolutionised the Hindi language for communication purposes. While AIR and DD doddered on with their contrived, artificial Sanskritised Hindi, both S.P. and Mathur brought in the easy, colloquial and, when required, chatty language of communication. And S.P. bearded the lion — Doordarshan — in its own den and his tremendous success there led to an auspicious birth for the independent Aaj Tak channel which followed. I would like to say that the Aaj Tak channel would not have been quite the same without S.P’s preceding brilliance, a man who came from the print media and took to television as if born to it. Besides, S.P. not only revolutionised TV Hindi news, but also discovered new talent (some came over from Newstrack) which is now shining on different TV channels. These include Dibang, Deepak Chaurasia and Sanjay Bugalia, among others. When I congratulated Dr Prannoy Roy for his award for Lifetime Achievement, I told him he was not really old enough for that and I look forward to both Prannoy and his own NDTV channels to be launched in March next year making many more achievements, since both have long been role models for many aspects of Indian TV Rajdeep Sardesai’s Best TV News Anchor of the year is equally deserved because he combines toughness with documentary back-up, which is essential for the kind of difficult personalities, from Lyngdoh to Ashok Singhal whom he takes on. Channel surfing last week, I found that there is a lot to choose from outside of news. Crickettalk is increasing rapidly and I enjoyed three talk shows for different reasons. First, the classic black and white documentary on Don Bradman, which covered everything, from his early financial problems to bringing up a family on miserable fees. Then, of Sachin Tendulkar’s two new talk shows, I liked India Vs, which comes on Star Sports. Sachin is soft spoken and a trifle shy, but very clear, fair and articulate when analysing a match or a cricketer. His second programme was about the one-day match against the Australians in Indore, where he completed his 10,000 runs and it was a delight to watch the match as also Sachin’s feelings before and after completing the 10,000 runs. Then there was our gawky Yuvraj Singh, groping for words, except when talking of his mom, clearly overwhelmed by his star status, but making his passion for the game unmistakable. One of DD’s most disastrous failures has been its complete lack of PR, lack of response to professional queries and no advance publicity in the press (No one monitors DD for its self-publicity on its channels). Its Prasar Bharati Channel should be re-named its Archive Channel, since it mostly exists in the past. Its best programmes are at unearthly hours, but one can come across gems as a recital by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. I always enjoy Serbjeet Singh’s programmes on the Himalayas and last week, somewhere near 2 a.m., when I had woken up for a glass of water, I saw a very interesting programme, Nature Plus by Aradhan Kohli and Sabir Khan on DD Metro. And one must be thankful that if one wants to catch up with a film one has missed or wants to see again, in the course of one week TV had repeats of ‘Sixth Sense’, ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Gone With the Wind.’ You really cannot ask for more, can you? I did, and was able to see my favourite comedy ‘Gol Maal’ four times, and I will see it for the fifth time if I get a chance. |
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Gora was a fighter all his life Why convert? Why not just quit? I mean why not just quit your religion if you feel oppressed by it? Dismiss your priests; reject their advice and their rules. Reject religious ceremonies; take part in only secular festivals. Be your own man. Nobody, not even Jayalalithaa can ban
rejection. Her Prevention of Forcible Conversion Act (which is really Promotion of Forcible non-Conversion) would be useless when you choose to assert your freedom to cast away your religion and caste. What a sense of liberation that would bring! Gora, the late founder of the Atheist Centre in Vijayawada said, “When slaves stand on their feet, they find themselves as tall as their masters. Others mount when slaves stoop. The widespread adoption of atheistic philosophy is the way to put down the slave-mind and to establish all round equality by the full expression of the freedom of the individual”. Gora adds that the appreciation of the freedom of the individual, gives a fresh orientation to the systems of life — ethical, political, economic, aesthetic and technological. Customs and governments no longer dominate over man; he becomes their master. In his book, Positive Atheism, Gora wrote: “The slave mind, contained in religious faith abetted inequality. By weak submission, slaves permitted capitalists, autocrats and aristocrats to ride roughshod and made tyrants of their brethren. Tyranny does not end until slavery is abolished, and slavery does not go until theism is abolished”. Gora points out that Moses, the Buddha, Socrates, Confucius, Jesus, Mohammed, Voltaire, Marx and Gandhi, who tried to rouse the masses to fight tyranny, were all condemned by their contemporaries as heretics, if not altogether as atheists. Vested interests persecuted them for disturbing the current systems and beliefs. Thus Meletus made Socrates drink hemlock; Jesus was crucified for uttering ‘blasphemy’. Moses, Mohammed and Marx were banished from their native lands for preaching revolution. Gandhi was assassinated for non-Hindu leanings. “Nevertheless, heretics of every age were prophets for future generations”. The proposition of atheism is simple and straightforward. There will be difficulties, of course, given the social conditions of India, but these can be overcome, if one stays steadfast to one’s principles and if one asserts one’s social and political rights. Gora was a fighter all his life. He lived a life of Gandhian simplicity and devotion to truth and non-violence. He met Gandhiji several times and had discussions with him on atheism, which Gandhi didn’t approve of. He couldn’t be admitted to the Sevagram Ashram. It took several meetings before Gandhi reluctantly respected his philosophy, saying that an honest atheist is a better person than a religious hypocrite. Born in 1902 as Gopalarajulu in an orthodox family, Gora took a master’s degree in natural sciences and taught in various colleges in South India and Sri Lanka. He was twice dismissed for his atheistic views, and finally resigned in 1940 to found the Atheist Centre and to take part in the freedom struggle. He and his wife, Saraswathi, along with his nine children, five daughters and four sons, devoted their energies to running the Centre and its affiliate organisations of social work. The Centre has become an influential, radical institution among the people of Vijayawada and neighbouring areas. One of its notable activities was a monthly dinner where guests irrespective of community or caste were served beef and pork. This was meant to break down religious barriers. Gora travelled widely, propagating his views, including in the Soviet Union. He died in 1975 while addressing a public meeting in Vijayawada. There is a memorial to him in the municipal park. This year marks his hundredth birth anniversary. |
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Past mid-nineties, revolutionary Bo Yibo, is known in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as “Party immortal”. As he made his appearance at the opening session of the Party’s 16th National Congress in Beijing last week, he was lustily cheered. Bo is among the last revolutionaries and, importantly, Mao Zedong’s contemporary still alive. Mentally alert, though physically weak, the secret of his longevity is said to be his love for swimming. He was the swimming partner of Chairman Mao and the two builders of the Chinese Communist Party discussed political matters even in the swimming pool. In his two-volume memoirs “Recollections of certain major decisions and events”, Bo has revealed how Mao discussed state matters with him while swimming. In later years, Mao had become slightly hard of hearing. One day Bo was swimming with the Chairman. Mao asked him what the production of iron and steel would be for the next year ? Instead of replying to the query, Bo told him that he was going to take a sharp turn in water; Mao misunderstood him and thought he had said “double”. Bo says in his memoirs: “Later in the day, I heard Mao announcing that the national production of iron and steel would be double next year”. Nobody had the gumption to question the Chairman.
During a trip to a prominent city in Gujarat last month, a senior scribe was startled to be told by the reception of a Dak Bungalow that his morning tea could not be served in his room. 
After exchange of greetings, the mediaperson asked the angry old man of Gujarat “what was he up to” these days. 
The more the Ministry of Defence tries to hide fact the more it gets into embarrassing situations. The latest one being that on “what has being
described by the media as Kargil-II,” as a senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officer said. In late August the MoD had at the instance of Defence Minister George Fernandes issued a statement where it was clarified that no operation had been launched by the army units along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kargil in the remote region of Jammu and Kashmir. It was issued after news reports in various dailies talked of unconfirmed reports regarding an operation being launched by the Indian army to dislodge Pakistanis from a peak which they had occupied in the recent standoff again due to lack of patrolling by a certain unit. The eviction had been described by the media as Kargil-II.