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Monday,
August 18, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Message from Red Fort Missiles for terrorists? Pre-poll gimmick |
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Mischief of the Single Directive
A stopover at Dhaka
Chamravattam’s love affair with chips & bytes
CONSUMER RIGHTS
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Message from Red Fort PRIME
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s sixth Independence Day address from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort was directed as much towards Pakistan as it was towards India. His impassioned peace plea to the reticent neighbour was not couched in the language of politicians but of statesmen. He used the tender bonds generated by Noor to strike a rapport with the ordinary people across the border. What he was getting at was that 56 years of strife has only brought misery to the two countries. Good relations between the two are not an option but a necessity. It was quite a change from his “aar paar ki ladai” stance of not too far ago and showed that Mr Vajpayee is determined to bury the past despite repeated provocations. That he was doing this in the face of violent exhortations to the contrary by some sections of the Sangh Parivar made his repeated initiative all the more creditable and poignant. Whether or not Pakistan treats this offer as a sign of weakness remains to be seen, but the Indian Prime Minister has left no one in doubt that he is willing to walk the extra mile in quest for the elusive harmony and concord. For the domestic audience, Mr Vajpayee’s message was to shed the narrow outlook and think big. The sheet-anchor of his vision for a better tomorrow was the announcement that the country would send its own spacecraft, “Chandrayaan-one”, to the moon by 2008. Some may cavil that this bold dream does not gel with the general deficiencies and squalor. But the recent strides made by the country in various fields are a healthy sign that it is now poised to take the big leap. The announcement of the Rs 350-crore moon mission can indeed be a demonstrator that India is now raring to claim its rightful seat on the table of world powers. Equally bold is the pledge to double the country’s agricultural production by 2010. Setting up target dates and sticking religiously to them is the only way some real progress can be made. An Independence Day speech has to have a feel-good factor. Mr Vajpayee provided it in good measure by underlining the infrastructural strides made and being made. The shadow of elections was unmistakable in the speech. He had sops for everyone, with the main focus on agriculture and the small-scale sector. Mr Vajpayee’s vision for the future seems quite clear. That is why his rating with the voters is going up. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about his party. Its slipping position will, hopefully, goad it to shed its inertia and walk forward in step with Mr Vajpayee. |
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Missiles for terrorists? THE
arrest of missile smuggler Hemant Lakhani by the FBI is a major achievement for the US authorities engaged in counter-terrorism operations. But it is an alarming development for India too. The man, charged with smuggling Russia-made surface-to-air missiles into the US, is believed to have links with the Mumbai underworld, which played a major role in the 1993 serial bomb blasts in India’s business capital. This shows that India will have to further gear itself up to safeguard its interests from militants armed with high-tech weapons. Who knows how many Lakhanis are there quietly working to supply such weapons to those involved in destructive activities? The availability of weapons has never been a problem. Today’s terrorists are, however, reportedly interested in portable missiles more than any other weapon because of the system’s capacity to shoot down commercial airliners. It is a different matter that Lakhani, a British national of Indian origin, was caught with a Russia-made shoulder-launched SA-18 Igla missile, designed to shoot down low-flying aircraft or helicopters. The development is bound to cause concern as it indicates that international terrorism continues to remain a major threat to life and property. The US-led drive against the menace is yet to succeed in silencing the trouble-makers forever. Innocent lives continue to be lost in different parts of the world as a result of terrorist violence. Of late, terrorists have become active in Afghanistan again where a major campaign was carried out to destroy the problem root and branch. Something is definitely wrong somewhere. The US is, perhaps, not getting adequate cooperation from other countries to take the anti-terrorism war to its logical conclusion. To win the war, there should be no distinction between the terrorists who pose a threat to American interests and those to other countries. The US will have to come down as ruthlessly on terrorists trained in Pakistan as elsewhere. How paradoxical it is that Pakistan, which has been sponsoring terrorism in India, is an ally of America in the fight against militancy? No one can ignore the reality that the US needed Pakistan for dealing with the Afghanistan-based Taliban and Al-Qaeda. But it is also essential to eliminate the Pakistan-based terrorists with their infrastructure, training camps, etc, to send the right message across the world. |
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Pre-poll gimmick MADHYA
Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh’s decision to form three new districts — Ashoknagar, Burhanpur and Anupnagar — despite the Election Commission’s directive not to do so at this juncture is unfortunate. The issue in question is not whether he has the right to form new districts but his refusal to heed the warning of the Election Commission that the reorganisation of districts at a time when arrangements for the Assembly elections are being finalised would seriously hamper its working in the area. After anomalies were detected in the preparation of electoral rolls, they have reportedly been corrected. The data is now maintained and stored districtwise. Issuance of photo identity cards to the voters has already begun. The creation of new districts will require changes in the software and computer programme for the generation of PICs in the new as well as the three earlier districts affected by the reorganisation — Guna, Khandwa and Shahdol. This will also dislocate the work of setting up polling stations and appointment of polling parties. It would have been proper had the government followed the Election Commission’s suggestion to defer the decision until the elections are over. However, the Chief Minister was only looking at his vote bank. Clearly, creation of more districts are no guarantee for administrative efficiency. On the contrary, they will lead to overbureaucratisation and other problems. More to the point, they will be a drain on the exchequer as more money will go to pay wages. The problem becomes more acute in smaller states. Even if more districts become necessary for large states such as Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or even Madhya Pradesh, how does one justify the same for small states such as Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh? Haryana, for instance, has as many as 19 districts, followed by 17 in Punjab and 12 in Himachal Pradesh. Each state is burdened with a high wage bill. Unfortunately, instead of decentralising the administration, these districts have only resulted in a higher measure of centralisation. The upward shift of authority from the collectorates to the secretariats and the movement of experienced personnel in the same direction has gradually corroded the role of the District Collector or the Deputy Commissioner. The centre of administration has shifted from the district to the secretariat, thus weakening the most important link in administration. All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his. —Oscar Wilde |
Mischief of the Single Directive THE
Central Vigilance Commission Bill, 2003, was passed by the Rajya Sabha a few days ago. It has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. The legislation seeks by Clause 26 to validate the very practice which the Supreme Court had struck down a few years ago in the case of Vineet Narain and others versus the Union of India. This judgement was the culmination of a series of orders in what came to be known as “the hawala case” based on the disclosure of the diaries of a businessman showing payments to a number of politicians, bureaucrats and others. By this judgement, delivered in December 1997, the Supreme Court had invalidated the so-called Single Directive of the Union Government. The Single Directive was first issued in 1969 and amended from time to time. It gets its name from the fact that it is a consolidation of a number of instructions to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). By this directive the Union Government laid down that prior sanction of a designated authority would be necessary before the initiation of an investigation against officers of the government, nationalised banks and public sector undertakings above a certain level. There is already a provision in the criminal law requiring sanction from the Union or state government, as the case may be, in the case of prosecution of public servants. The Single Directive goes beyond this and requires sanction of a designated authority even for the purpose of investigation. The new legislation seeks to amend the law under which the CBI functions so as to ensure that officers above the Joint Secretary level and certain other persons are not inquired into or investigated without the permission of the Central Government. At present the CBI performs three kinds of functions, many of which go beyond the level of Central public servants. The skeletal Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, under which the CBI operates does not limit the investigatory functions of the CBI to public servants. The CBI may investigate any offence or class of offences notified by the Union Government, subject to certain conditions in respect of matters within the jurisdiction of states. The Supreme Court’s final judgement in the Vineet Narain case appears to have been written primarily with Central public servants in mind. But the CBI investigates other cases in addition (as, for example, economic and other criminal offences) in respect of which the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) may not necessarily be the appropriate authority to overview its functions. The new legislation grants it supervisory powers over the CBI in respect of corruption cases alone. In fact, even this could create future difficulties in the federal scheme unless proper constitutional provision is made. Also, the CBI takes up investigation in various cases upon the special directions of courts of law. This last practice is not statutorily provided for but has developed over the years. Clearly, these three categories of functions which the CBI performs need to be placed on a sound statutory basis. The CVC legislation does not really attempt this. Nor did the Supreme Court in the Vineet Narain case really help in this. The Supreme Court, having reached its conclusion on the invalidity of the Single Directive, suggested further that the CBI be placed under the overall direction of the CVC to ensure its “efficient functioning”. It also suggested that the CVC itself be placed on a statutory footing. But it did not pay adequate attention to the statutory basis of the CBI. The new legislation appears to adopt the CVC-CBI aspect of the court’s suggestion but nevertheless seeks to revalidate or revive the Single Directive. This means that so far as corruption cases involving Central public servants and companies and agencies under the control of the Central Government are concerned the CBI would be under the control of the CVC, and yet the real power to sanction investigation would not be with the commission but with some other designated authority empowered by the Single Directive. Even when the Vineet Narain case was being argued, the then Attorney-General had sought to justify the Single Directive on the analogy of the Supreme Court’s earlier judgement in the case of K. Veeraswami versus the Union of India and others (1991) (Volume 3, Supreme Court Cases 655). In that case the Supreme Court had held that that so far as the registration of a case under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure against any member of the superior judiciary is concerned, prior permission is required to be taken from the Chief Justice of India. However, it is doubtful if this analogy can be extended to the senior officers in the executive branch of the government. As the Supreme Court pointed out in Vineet Narain’s case, the independence of the judiciary from executive interference, which is protected by the Constitution, requires safeguards. This cannot, therefore, be treated on a par with the so-called Single Directive. There is a strong likelihood of this aspect of the new legislation being struck down by the courts. In any case, the CBI has outgrown the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act under which it was conceived and still functions. Both the CVC legislation and the earlier Supreme Court’s judgement have the effect of adding more authorities to which the CBI becomes answerable. Now the CBI will be controlled by the latest CVC legislation, and by the previous Act and also by the directives of the court issued from time to time asking it to investigate this or that case. This is not a satisfactory state of affairs. In fact, the “court-driven” jurisdiction has a mixed record and is a little studied dimension of the CBI’s jurisdictionary ambit and experience. It has resulted in a certain ad-hocism which has sometimes damaged the investigation and prosecution of cases. It can be argued, for example, that while the Supreme Court’s intervention in the hawala cases certainly resulted in the initiation of prosecution, at least in one respect it did not help the investigation. It perhaps hustled the prosecuting agencies into filing cases without fully completing their investigations. As a result, the prosecution of Mr L.K. Advani, for example, in the hawala case was later quashed by the Delhi High Court largely on a point of investigatory methodology. Finally, events have shown that it is not merely financial corruption that must be the main focus of a Central investigative agency. India has not yet found a satisfactory answer to the matter of public accountability and culpability in inter-communal killings. Most states seem to perform badly when it comes to the prosecution of the offenders if they have political linkages, irrespective of the party in power. The debate, therefore, needs to transcend the CBI, the CVC and the existing judgements on the subject. The real need is for a Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) which would be largely independent of political control. Such an institution already exists in many countries. It should be answerable to high judicial authority as is the case with the Procurator-General in France. This will serve a long-felt need and go some way to restore faith in the rule of law in India. This would also perhaps meet the concern of the international community that genocidal crimes ought to be tried internationally where national jurisdictions fail to provide adequate remedies. This concern led to the establishment recently of the International Criminal Court. There are several problems with such a standing international criminal court. But the legitimacy of the concern that has led to its establishment must be recognised. Genocidal or quasi-genocidal crime must not go unpunished in India. To establish an independent national statutory agency to bring the offenders to book, a constitutional amendment may be required. Corruption has many aspects; tinkering here and there will not
do. The writer is an eminent advocate at the Supreme Court of India. |
A stopover at Dhaka THE
85-seater outdated Fokker Friendship flight operated by Bangladesh Biman took exactly 30 minutes to reach the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, being only 300-odd kilometres from Kolkata. As the flight took off, dull and slow Bangladeshi music almost lulled us to sleep. One wished for Runa Laila’s lively dama dam mast qalandar. Interestingly, Bangladesh’s national anthem, Amar Sonar Bangla, is written by Gurudev Tagore! The Biman’s matron-like aging and stout airhostesses had all the qualities which airhostesses should not have. They rudely slapped down plastic trays each having a slice of an oily cake, two limp insipid cookies, a sandwich supposed to be of tasteless cheese, washed down by the saving grace of a Coke. Indeed, an airport is the preview of a country. Stepping into Dhaka’s so very mediocre and dull Zia International Airport seemed as if I had travelled at least 40 years back into time. A signboard showed the way to “Prayer Room on first floor,” for devout Muslims to offer their namaaz. Bangladesh is a Muslim country. Had such a practice been in multi-religious India, it would have created chaos. Religion has still not taught us peaceful co-existence. From behind a counter, an airport official yelled “Heathrow! Heathrow!” obviously referring to London airport while another one shouted “Moscow! Moscow!” to the passengers to collect their boarding passes to these destinations. Rather than an airport desk, it looked more like a crowded college admission counter where registration forms were being handed to aspiring hopefuls. Strangely, Dhaka airport totally lacked in cheerfulness and excitement of hellos and byes. One could sense an undercurrent of gloom and tension. The airport’s stony-faced staff seemed to be highly suspicious of passengers. Even the liquor bottles and luggage (only items in the duty free shop) stood at attention, like soldiers awaiting execution. An outdated bus took us to an equally outdated faraway Sundarbans Hotel to spend the night-in-transit. The hotel seemed more like a hostel. A bellboy with a duster flung on his shoulder entered the room with an aerosol announcing, “Spray for mosquitoes” and he fizzed the room thoroughly. Interestingly, a few mosquitoes had hummingly given me company in the flight too! Next morning, after a poorly served bland breakfast, we left for the airport. I saw that most of the cabs were smart Toyotas with numberplates in Bangla. There were none in English. In sharp contrast, Bangladeshi buses, rather lorries, were like huge old tin trunks with small high windows, reminding one of prison vehicles carrying convicts. “Green Bangla taxi cabs” plied, cycle rickshaws being the cheaper transport. Hoardings of Bata, Berger Paints, Raymond, Philips, etc splashed over the taka-currencied city’s skyline. The Sonar Bangla Bank offered education and housing loans. Interestingly, Dhaka’s icecream was appropriately branded “Iglo”. Despite the modern ads, the country’s poverty was very obvious. The people were ill clad, skinny with burden writ large on their faces. And to think that this is Dhaka, once renowned for its mulmul, which even the royalty
prized. |
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Chamravattam’s love affair with chips & bytes
Tirur (Kerala): Twenty years ago, when Kayillath Sudhakaran Nair brought home the cute black and white television set that he had bought from Kuwait, it was celebration time in Chamravattam, a tiny hamlet on the banks of Nila in Malappuram district. “People, mostly agricultural workers, flocked my living room in the evenings to watch Chitrahaar on the ‘cinemappetty’. The early birds sat cross-legged on the floor, chewing betel leaves and staring goggle-eyed at the screen. There was an occassional clap, a sigh. The TV was the star of the day, and for the first time in my life, I found myself a stranger in my house...” recalls Sudhakaran Nair, and adds with a broad grin: “Look how times have changed.” Nair’s idiot box ushered in a new era. It was perhaps Chamravattam’s earliest encounter with information technology, and it started on a humble note in 2003. Chamravattam in Thriprangod Panchayat, famous for its Lord Ayyappa temple, has now another feather in its cap. It has become the first fully e-literate village in the entire country, thanks to the Akshaya programme. “You will find at least one techno-savvy member in each of the village’s 850-odd families,”' says Geeta Pius, the mission co-ordinator of Akshaya, with an unmistakable glint of pride in her eyes. The new breed of computer literates belong to different age groups ranging from 12-year old Kakkodi Salahuddin to septugenarian Pakkupurayil Bhaskaran Master. “Even tribals from remote areas like the cholanaikkars, are regular visitors to the centres.” The hub of Chamravattam’s IT revolution is a small room, equipped with five personal computers, a server and a printer. The flow of students would begin right from the daybreak, and go on till the midnight. “We are forced to keep open the centre till midnight to train a regular batch of autorikshaw drivers who visit the centre after 11 pm after their work,” says Abdul Rafeeq who runs the Akshaya centre at Padinjattumuri. Chamravattam’s love affair with chips and bytes began last year, when the Malappuram District Panchayat joined hands with the State’s IInformation Technology Mission to kick off the e-literacy campaign in the district. The project involved setting up of multi-purpose IT-enabled Akshaya Kendras for every two wards, each catering to approximately 1,000 families. The training modules were conceived and designed in Malayalam language, with each module to be 15 hours per person. The focus was on functional IT literacy training to enable trainees to use computers confidently in data entry, operational basics, sending and receiving e-mails, viewing CDs and downloading info from Internet. Though the Akshaya centres were inaugurated on May 22, it was a week later that the programme started rolling in the district. The initial hiccups that the organisers faced, were mainly psychological. The less-educated, the burqa-clad women in particular, had a few inhibitions. Once they were convinced, the flow to the Akshaya centres picked up. “It’s been fun all the way,” says K. Fathima, a primary school teacher, who has started enjoying her Internet surfing. “My children too have become computer addicts.” Every centre in the district has a minimum of 5 PCs and imparts the 10-lesson, 15-hour training package, charging a meagre Rs 2 per lesson. That makes Rs 20 for an entire course. “Kerala will be made the country's first fully e-literate State in three years”, announced Chief Minister A.K. Antony while inaugurating the Akshaya centres (multi-purpose community technology centres) on May 22. A specially-developed interactive CD-based tutor helps the instructors to impart lessons. The CD has commentary in Malayalam and animated games to make the learning process easier and colourful. At the end of the 15-hour course, the trainees had to undergo an online test. A message appears on the screen of the successful candidates: “Congratulations; you have gained computer literacy.” Chamravattam marks the beginning of a success saga, if the IT mission’s claims are to be believed. Many villages are set to follow Chamravattam’s example. Kootilangadi, Mambad, Marakkara and Chelembra are vying to become the first panchayat in the country to go e-literate. The IT mission has also persuaded some leading banks in the district to advance loans to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, to help prospective Akshaya centre operators. The mission also organised a special computer mela in the district. “The response was overwhelming,” claims Geeta Pius. “Hundreds of PC firms turned up for the show. The prices came down unbelievably, thanks to bargaining.” The State government has spent around Rs 150 lakh on the programme, mainly to support the core group behind the project and partner agencies which have assisted in creating software tools such as Keltron and CDIT (Centre for Development of Information Technology). The Akshaya project, says State IT Minister P.K.Kunhalikkutty, is the most extensive programme aimed at bridging the digital divide, ever attempted in the world. “The 4000-odd literacy centres in the state will be linked to the Akshaya kendras for the effective implementation of the continuing education campaign,” adds Nalakath Sooppy, the Education Minister. Unlike the Phase I of the programme which has been successfully implemented in Malappuram, the Phase II would involve statewide implementation, with the active participation of the Panchayathi Raj institutions, NGOs and the private sector in Kerala. “We are now confident that this programme would turn a huge success,” says Pius. “I still remember the eyes of a young physically handicapped youth with no legs to stand on, who came everyday to the Akshaya kenda in Korman beach, Tanur, to have his IT lessons. Those eyes radiated a rare sense of energy. We hope to see more such eyes.” |
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CONSUMER RIGHTS THE
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says that its analysis of 12 brands of softdrinks bought in Delhi showed pesticide residues beyond what is permitted under the European Economic Commission norms. Pepsi and Coke have hotly contested the test results and have demanded that a committee of experts look into the results and also test the samples independently. Meanwhile, the government has constituted a committee for the purpose. Whatever may be the final verdict, the CSE report has focused attention on the inherent weaknesses in our food laws. Ever since we embarked on the process of economic liberalisation, we welcomed with open arms, multinational companies to set up shop in India. However, we have not reviewed and upgraded our laws in tune with the international standards and we need to do this immediately. Secondly, the controversy has got the consumers, thinking about food safety and that’s really welcome. Going by the reports from different cities, consumers have stopped serving colas to guests in their homes, schools and canteens have banned the drinks and even restaurants in several cities have stopped serving colas in deference to the wishes of their clientele. This is perhaps the first time that the Indian consumers are reacting this way to an issue that concerns food safety and this shows a discernible shift in their attitude. Today, thanks to the aggressive marketing of colas, children have completely got hooked on to these drinks and have stopped consuming more nutritious and healthier drinks like tender coconut water, lemon juice, fruit juices and lassi. Hopefully, this will re-introduce them to natural and more nutritious drinks. Thirdly, the report should turn the attention of the government, civil society and citizens to the most serious problem of pesticides and toxic industrial effluents that are turning our water, vegetables, fruits, food grains and even milk, unsafe. In several parts of the country, the ground water has turned highly toxic because of indiscriminate use of pesticides and release of untreated effluents by industries. Though the state governments are expected to test the ground water quality and treat those found to be unsafe, not every state has bothered to take up this work diligently. Come monsoon, and the drinking water supplied by the municipalities become too unsafe to drink. They could contain microorganisms that can cause anything from hepatitis, typhoid to cholera and gastroenteritis. If today, consumers are forced to spend money on water purifiers, bottled water and other soft drinks, it's because of the failure of the civic authorities to supply clean and safe water to the citizens In the past, studies conducted by the Central Food and Technological Research Institute, Mysore, had shown the presence of highly toxic heavy metals like lead, chromium, arsenic and mercury in green vegetables grown in and around Mysore, Karnataka, thanks to untreated effluents released by industries in the area. The Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, had also reported similar contamination of vegetables including potatoes, mustard, mint, cauliflower, peas and ‘methi’ with heavy metals like mercury, lead, arsenic, chromium and
nickel. |
Man has been provided with sense organs to praise God and remember Him. The ears should listen to the glorious and merciful deeds of the Lord; otherwise they are but useless holes. The tongue should sing God's praise; otherwise it can be compared to a croaker inviting its enemy, the serpent. Man should smell the scent of Tulasi leaves offered at God's feet; the eyes should enjoy admiring the bewitching forms of God while the legs should circumambulate the holy shrines of Vishnu and the hands should serve Him; otherwise they will be akin to the dull ladle which distributes frumenty. — Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Hinduism is not a question of mere tolerance of other religions but the acceptance of all religions. — Swami Vivekananda Wealth does not keep company after death, O friend! — Guru Nanak Make haste and do what is good; keep your mind away from evil. If a man is slow in doing good, his mind finds pleasure in evil. — The Dhammapada |
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