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Resisting temptation Inspired protests Simian secret |
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Need for new world organisation
Resemblance blues
Human rights and police reforms Nigerian scam claims many victims in India
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Resisting temptation THE appointment of Mr T.S. Krishna Murthy as the next Chief Election Commissioner has brought to an end a political controversy. The government has rightly followed the convention of appointing the senior-most election commissioner as the CEC. The practice began when the Election Commission became a multi-member body. The controversy had arisen as reports had appeared that the government was toying with the idea of bringing in an outsider as the CEC. An influential section of the ruling party had argued that the government could not afford to have an over-independent CEC when it was readying itself to hold an early election to the Lok Sabha. The bitter experience the BJP had when Mr J.M. Lyngdoh refused to play ball with it on advancing elections in Gujarat was what prompted it to look for a pliant CEC. Needless to say, if the Prime Minister had succumbed to peer pressure and looked for a new CEC from outside Nirvachan Sadan, the whole election process would have been under a cloud. However impartial and honest such a person may be, the people would still view him and all his decisions with suspicion. It is true that the government enjoys powers to appoint a CEC of its choice. In fact, it was by exercising such a power that the government made the commission a multi-member body when the Constitution recognises only one person as the CEC. This was done to clip the wings of the then CEC, Mr T.N. Seshan, when it found that he had become unmanageable. However, it should also be remembered that the expansion did not serve the purpose, as Mr Seshan knew how to put the two ECs into place. If anything, this shows how important the CEC is in the present scheme of things. Since the exit of Mr Seshan, a convention has evolved in the commission whereby the three members take all important decisions collectively. It should be said to the credit of Mr Seshan’s successors that they all behaved judiciously and sagaciously in discharging their responsibilities. Now that the government has decided to follow the traditions of appointment, it should be all the more careful in filling the vacant post of election commissioner. Only a person of impeccable credentials should be appointed to this post. Political parties would do well not to politicise the appointment in the larger interest of free and fair elections. |
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Inspired protests IT is heartening to note the return of some calm to the Noida and Greater Noida region after four days of violent protests and bandhs against the decision of the Mulayam Singh Yadav government to disband Gautam Budh Nagar. The real situation will be known only after the strong police presence is removed. The agitation has already scared many major companies which have their offices in the burgeoning industrial area. This type of uncertainty can affect the economy of the region. The authenticity of the agitation is suspect. It seems to have been spearheaded by vested interests. Real estate developers, bureaucrats and certain politicians benefited from the formation of new districts and they are in the forefront of protests. While a sensitive handling of the situation is called for, that does not mean that the Chief Minister should succumb to the armtwisting methods employed by the protesters. The very premise that more districts are needed for better governance is faulty. Invariably, the formation of new districts results in proliferation of bureaucracy and avoidable expenditure. Undoing the damage caused by Ms Mayawati for populist reasons was a step in the right direction and there is no valid reason to retract it, except that the friction caused by it can be harmful for the Samajwadi Party in the elections. Noida town, which is now a showcase of modern urban development, was a wasteland till a quarter century ago. Ever since the then Chief Minister Narain Dutt Tiwari created the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, the township has grown phenomenally. The success story has been repeated in Greater Noida. The township’s administration worked independently of the district administration. These are now an extension of the national capital. The Centre and the State should work in tandem to ensure that their promising future is not compromised. It is equally important that adequate measures are taken in the rest of the State where the new districts are being abolished. |
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Simian secret WHO is a monkey and who is not? Researchers claim that our simian soulmates do not understand grammar. That is a very thin dividing line between man and his forefathers. In any case, the mauling that the recognised forms of grammar is taking in this age of instant communication carries a grim message for mankind. That is, if mankind ever loved the rules of correct human communication. It is not clear whether the evolutionary reverse swing is responsible for the slow death of grammar. It could well turn out be a case of the proliferation of bad grammar causing the reverse swing. A week after the news was officially broken, people in strait-laced Singapore were urged to act like monkeys for the sake of their country. Monkey is the zodiac sign for the coming lunar year and behaving like our forefathers is expected to bring good luck to the human race. Chinese communities across the globe will herald the start of the year of the monkey on Thursday. Singaporeans have been told that a bit of monkeying around can actually help heal the wounded economy of their city-state! Who is responsible for our evolution from monkey to man is still being researched. But the general conduct of civil society across the globe should be seen as evidence of man leaving the monkey, but the monkey in him not leaving the man. Unusually reliable sources claim that a monkey with a bad throat - it had difficulty producing the recognised sound for communicating with fellow monkeys - is responsible for inflicting what we recognise as human speech on its future generations. They have followed us in our journey to civilisation and organised speech. Some of them still live on the fringe of human habitation. It is, perhaps, the sight of monkeys living in luxury apartments behaving more or less like them that makes our simian cousins create havoc whenever they decide to visit us. What a rare punishment Is avarice to itself? — Ben Johnson |
Need for new world organisation Mankind has always been confronted with the challenge of eliminating the divisions in it, which are more psychological than physical, and more social and political than natural. These divisions have obviously been created and successfully utilised by the vested interests to serve their narrow selfish ends. The divisions will not, therefore, end until the scope for utilising them for the selfish purpose is eliminated. The need is to evolve a social order which will leave no such scope. Can we devise such social order internally in each country, and internationally the world over to tackle these common problems of the world? Nationalism was once a force which served to unite the sub-national groups, to form a nation for united effort for common development and progress, and to eliminate the group conflicts and bring about peace and tranquillity for a large section of the humanity. But the narrowly conceived national interests soon gave rise to misguided patriotism and jingoism, resulting in wars between nations, one more deadly than the other. The first and the second world wars, which were the result of misdirected spirit of nationalism, led to the half-hearted attempts at organising the nation-states first into the League of Nations, and then into the United Nations, for preventing future wars and for the common development of mankind. The first body, on account of its loose constitution, feeble structure and ineffective operation was never taken seriously by anyone, whether the strong or the weak. The constitution and the operations of the second organisation have more than proved the worst fears that were expressed at the time of its establishment. The dice were heavily loaded, by its constitution, in favour of the strong, and with their veto power, they were free not only to defy the assembly of the nations, but also to resort to any unilateral action for their own advantage. The forum so far has failed to prevent wars, give relief to the needy and to uphold the rights of the weak and the just. On the other hand, the forum has been used by the powerful for justifying the unjust, for blocking the desirable measures, for promoting their selfish interests, and for deriving the maximum benefit to themselves. The constitution and the functioning of the present UN is power-oriented and not people-oriented, and they have, in fact, accorded power a legal status above that of the people. The adage that might is right has been legally sanctified, and power is granted a licence for its unbridled play. The assumption that those with greater economic and military power have a higher sense of wisdom and responsibility betrays a feudal tendency. It is neither rational nor democratic. On the other hand, the psychology of man works to the contrary, and history has proved it more forcefully in international life. History repeats itself because man commits the same mistakes. In spite of the horrendous experience of the power play of the past, we have been forced to create the structure of the UN giving primacy to power. The result was foregone. Even since its establishment, no less than 130 small and big regional wars have taken place, many times more human beings have been killed, injured and maimed, property destroyed, the environment ruined and resources wasted, than the two world wars together did, and the process goes on unrequited every day. What is worse, there is the emergence of an absolute power, figuratively called the super power, which has arrogated to itself the power of policing the world and has virtually displaced the UN. Power is being ostensibly used in defence of democracy and humanity, but is in effect being unashamedly exercised for self-aggrandisement. The uncontrolled naked dance of this power has become an international terror. No nation state, no section of humanity nor even democracy in any part of the world is safe, unless it pays its obeisance at its altar. Along with it has come a pile of the deadliest nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and the increased insecurity for the entire planet. We were forced to accept the power-based structure of the UN for without it the powerful nations would not have joined it, and without them, the purpose of the organisation would have been frustrated. But even with them, one now experiences the futility of the organisation every day. How can one create a world organisation devoted to world peace and progress, disarmament, security of life, to raising the standard of living of every human being, devoted to the protection and promotion of the environment, to bringing about equitable distribution and consumption of resources, and to the planning of population, and which, at the same time, is democratically organised both for policy-making and its implementation, and maintains effectively the rule of law and punishes its violations through democratic process. There is no problem without a solution. A world parliament consisting of the representatives elected by the people from the constituencies drawn on the basis of the population spread across the nation-states and a world government elected by such parliament seems to be an obvious answer. But in such an arrangement it may be feared that the populous nations may have an undue advantage, unless the value of the votes from such countries is suitably reduced to ensure a balanced representation. This done, parliament so constituted, and the government elected by it, should have all the powers to devise measures to solve all common problems facing mankind, and to enforce the solutions. The international judicial forum suitably structured can help the parliament and the government, wherever necessary, to implement the objectives of the world organisation. The obstacles to this desirable measure will be many. The powerful nations will not cooperate, the nation-states will refuse to forego their sovereign power, the regions rich in resources will not share them with others, the vested interests in the present economic, political, social and religious orders will resist the changeover, and the militarists will refuse to part with their privileges. Fortunately, the European Community has shown the way, though that experiment is confined to a limited area. To facilitate the eventual establishment of the world parliament and the world government, we may begin with the constitution of the organisations on the pattern of the European Community, across the appropriate regions of the world with suitable modifications, if necessary, to accommodate the regional peculiarities. What is most necessary is to change the fossilised mindsets of the peoples everywhere. The most difficult thing in the world is to change the human mind, and when the concepts such as those of the world parliament and the world government demand of the people to switch over their minds from the age-old beliefs, biases and prejudices, the resistance is bound to be stronger. But on the positive side, we have the instances of the acceptance of the jurisdiction of the UN and the European Community. Even these ideas were new and unfamiliar when originally conceived. The threat of common dangers to mankind, which cannot be averted except by common efforts, has also been dawning on the minds of the people everywhere for some years now. The time is ripe for an intellectual revolution to push the world towards a new era by launching such a revolution. Only a revolution of this kind will help us eliminate the present malignant forces, and realise the goal of the world parliament and the world government for the benefit of all. n The writer is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India |
Resemblance blues WHENEVER a child is born there is mad rush to find a name. Every relative and acquaintance feels free to make a suggestion. Some come out with names that are more of tongue twisters and are unpronounceable. Now there are books galore exclusively devoted to names to further complicate the matters. And, of course, one can always consult a pandit or an almanac. In some cases the parents very prudently go through the exercise well before the child is born and present a fait accompli to the world. Such people are considered killjoys and spoilsports depriving scores of busybodies the pleasure of meddling and making unsolicited recommendations. It is a different matter that the main character in this drama; the poor child who has to live with the moniker all his life; has no say whatsoever. Another issue of immediate interest and debate is whom does the offspring resemble (other than a monkey); the mother or the father. Both sides (the mother’s as well as the father’s) are equally sure that the child resembles their side; pointing out imagined similarity of the various features and complexion. When our daughter gave birth to a son the inevitable debate started. We in all sincerity felt that the baby had definitely taken after our daughter but our son-in-law’s parents were more than sure and equally emphatic that the newborn was an exact replica of their son. The controversy went on for a few months. The child’s parents’ views on the subject were not available because they lived in London and they wisely refrained from giving their opinion. All they cared for was that the child was theirs jointly and they loved him. The main antagonists were I the maternal grandfather and the paternal grandmother; in short the Nana and the Dadi, respectively. The Dada and the Nani took no sides and were amused onlookers. The grandson was really very cute with curly hair and looked cherubic. I was amazed at the effrontery of the Dadi. We were at Shimla and they were at Delhi. So on one of my tours I took along a photo and showed it to the Dadi and asked her to identify the person. She remarked that it was a very good picture of the grandson. I could not hide my excitement and triumphantly announced that the photo in question was of our daughter and was taken more than 20 years earlier and I showed her the date and the entire album. The Dadi was dumbstruck. However, there has been an ironic twist. Now the boy is in his teens and very much resembles his father. It seems that somewhere in the process of growing up from babyhood to boyhood the father’s genes have overtaken the mother’s. The Dada and Dadi, who too live in London now, have not raked up the issue of resemblance and have mercifully spared me a few blushes and a well-deserved kick in the pants. But still I keep my fingers crossed.
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Human rights and police reforms
The National Human Rights Commission report for 2001-02 assumes special significance in the light of its directive to the Centre and the states to implement the National Police Commission report or the Dharma Vira Committee report (1981) with a view to ensuring independence of the police in the investigation of crimes. It says that despite repeated reminders, the Centre had expressed its inability to make progress on the ground that the “Police” is a State subject. Consequently, crucial recommendations of the NPC relating to the constitution of state security commission, selection of Directors-General of Police, insulation of investigation from undue pressure and so on could not be implemented. The report quotes the Centre having said that it could at best “lead” and “give guidance” to the states and nothing more. The NHRC, however, does not buy this argument. It says, for instance, that there is no political and administrative will on the part of the government to revive the quality of policing in the country to save it from the “catastrophic extraneous influences” that are ruining the investigative work of the police. The NPC report is comprehensive in its nature and scope. It strongly felt the need for reorienting and realigning the police administration and defining its role and accountability. India’s administrative structure does not permit faithful copying of the British system. Nor would prevailing social and political conditions allow total adoption of the concept of accountability to the law. The NPC, therefore, evolved a compromise between the British ideal of the “police being answerable to the law and law alone” and the old Indian principle of “obeying and executing all orders of any competent authority” (Section 23 of the 1861 Police Act). It recommended a “compromise” by categorising police tasks into the investigative, the preventive and those that are service-oriented. It suggested that investigative tasks should be completely independent of executive control. The NHRC report refers to the partisan role of the Gujarat police during the Godhra riots and recommended implementation of the NPC report which laboured considerably to minimise political interference in police work and end the civil executive’s control over the police. Taking the Godhra riots as a “warning” and a “catalyst”, the NHRC urged the Centre and the states to act with determination to implement police reforms. It stressed the need for a credible mechanism for selection of Directors-General of Police and directed the Centre to pursue the matter with the states. The NHRC report examines the crucial role of the police in the protection of human rights. More disturbing than the sins of omission like the continued practice of untouchability and persistence of child labour is the phenomenon that the police, being the protectors of human rights, have become their major violators. As a result, life and liberty, the most basic human rights, amply protected by the Constitution, have become the worst casualties. There are numerous cases of death in police custody on account of physical torture. Police encounters are often a euphemism for murdering persons whom the police regard as dangerous criminals and whose prosecution and conviction according to the law of the land are very difficult because of serious handicaps in securing evidence against them. The Constitution guarantees protection against self-incrimination. Yet, third degree methods and inhuman treatment during interrogation and detention of persons in police custody are rampant and make a mockery of the guarantee. No doubt, terrorism must be rooted out, insurgency curbed and killers of innocent people dealt with swiftly and sternly. The police and security forces must be fully and adequately equipped and supported in every way to counter terrorist onslaughts. But law enforcers just cannot stoop to the level of the criminal. The rule of law has to be observed even in the most trying and tempting situations. With a view to ensuring prompt and accurate reporting to the NHRC in respect of cases of custodial death, the NHRC had recommended that the post-mortem examination in respect of all such cases be video-filmed and that the film be transmitted to the commission, so as to enable it to make an independent assessment as to the cause of such deaths. In its last annual report (2000-01), the NHRC had pointed out that Maharashtra, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands had not complied with the recommendation on video-filming while Bihar, Gujarat, Nagaland and Kerala were still considering the adoption of the Model Autopsy Form prescribed by the commission. In modification of its instructions, the NHRC, in its latest report, has directed that while its directive regarding the videograph of the post-mortem examination in respect of a custodial death would remain in force as before, this would be applicable only when the preliminary inquest by the magistrate had raised suspicion of some foul play, or when a complaint alleging foul play had been made to the authorities concerned. The NHRC report emphasised the need to implement the NPC report for the “future well-being” of the country. The politicisation of the police force by political masters must be relentlessly eliminated. Nothing has contributed more to the degeneration of the police force than its manipulation by the power-wielders. Along with the speedy implementation of police reforms, the need of the hour is proper education of police personnel on human rights. Knowledge of the various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code is not sufficient just as the introduction of human rights as a module in the training capsules of the police in some states is not enough. It must be drilled into every policeman — from the Constable to the Director-General of Police — that his/her primary loyalty is to the Constitution and the laws of the land. If these measures are implemented with sincerity and earnestness, the country will see the re-emergence of the law-abiding policeman with a sensitive conscience for human rights, who is not shunned or feared. |
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Nigerian scam claims many victims in India It’s the mother of all online scams. Termed as the 419 fraud or the Nigerian scam, this ‘step-by-step’ swindling has given sleepless nights to the international community and the Interpol. The modus operandi of the scamsters is simple. Surfing the WWW wave, they mass mail on every conceivable e-mail id requesting the help of the recipient for retrieving blocked funds and offer a healthy percentage of these funds as commission. Then they ask the person, who has received the mail, to send in his bank details, signatures on a government-approved document and the credit card number. After the fraudsters get the required attachments, they forge the signatures, siphon off the funds from the victim's bank vault and vanish. This trickery is popularly known as the Nigerian scam because such mails have been traced to Nigeria. They are also known as the 419 fraud because of the Section Number of Nigerian criminal law that applies to it. The money siphoned off is allegedly used to finance drug smuggling and this ‘industry’ is said to be the third largest in Nigeria with reported earnings of $ 1.5 billion a year lending a bad name to the country in the international community. The victims are spread all over the globe. Five Singaporeans were duped of $ 1.1 million last year. Two Canadians lost $ 1,00,000 and the US citizens lose approximately $2 billion annually. Back home in India, the 419 victims are from various age groups and different strata of society. A 56-year-old retired army official, a West Bengal youth and an elderly lady reportedly fell for it last year. The problem is while other countries are busy tacking this menace with whatever means they have, right from creating warn-you Websites to correspondence with the Interpol and planting decoys, little has been done in India. Says noted Supreme Court lawyer and cyber crime expert, Mr Pavan Duggal: “As at the time of writing, the Indian Government has not taken any initiative of any kind whatsoever to counter the scam. Consequently, the issue has not at all been taken up with the appropriate international authorities. Even, the Indian law enforcement agencies do not know how to effectively investigate and prosecute 419 scam cases. A large number of 419 scam cases are neither reported nor registered. The Indian approach is in marked contrast to the approach adopted by the US. The FBI has a large 419 scam cell which deals solely with 419 scams, their investigation and prosecution.” If any Indian, blinded by the bait of greenbacks as ‘commission’ loses money, he can only curse his fate. “At the time of writing, only one criminal case had been registered in West Bengal. This case was registered not under any provisions of the Indian cyber law but under Section 420 of the IPC. There are some major roadblocks in the way. The most prominent one relates to jurisdiction. Most of the 419 scam e-mails originate outside India. The extra-territorial jurisdiction provided under the IT Act is a paper tiger in actual practice. Investigations tend to be deadlocked as the perpetrators of such crimes are based outside India with whom there are no extradition treaties sometimes. Even otherwise, the process of extradition is long drawn. I feel an awareness programme needs to be conducted by the law enforcement agencies to prevent Netizens from coming within the dragnet of such a scam,” Duggal avers. |
There must be place for a God of mercy who can be worshipped and loved. — Shri Adi Shankaracharya If my son wallows in the dust or mud, it is me who have to wipe all the dirt off his body and take him to my lap. — Sarada Devi They who have meditated on the Name have transcended the misery of life. Their faces radiate glory and many are freed along with them. — Guru Nanak Ahimsa means moksha, and moksha is the realisation of Truth. There is no room here for cowardice. — Mahatma Gandhi God is great, and therefore he will be sought. He is good and therefore he will be found. — John Jay |
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