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Needless controversy Naxalite menace |
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Police at it again Rule of law must prevail THE report of the Lohian police in Jalandhar district detaining a Dalit in a theft case and his subsequent death due to police torture, shocking as it is, does not come as a surprise. So frequent are incidents of police maltreatment, harassment and death by torture of Dalits that these no longer arouse a sense of revulsion in society.
The coup in Goa
A measure of immortality
Goa heads for political instability Delhi Durbar
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Needless controversy IT is unfortunate that a controversy had arisen over Ahmedabad as the venue for one of the Test matches between India and Pakistan. The Pakistani objection was on account of the riots that took place about three years ago in Gujarat. This argument was totally untenable. It would have been summarily dismissed if the Pakistan Cricket Board chief, Mr Shaharyar Khan, had not been quoted as saying that the real objection was political in nature. And when he quoted the Pakistan's Foreign Office as having advised the Cricket Board to take such a position, it came as a bolt from the blue. This is because cricket boards are sports bodies and their decisions are not guided by political considerations. Predictably, political and sports organisations in India widely criticised the Pakistani decision. Since the Pakistani authorities were caught on a wrong footing, they have come up with the clever stratagem of denying that they ever referred to political reasons. Pakistan has also clarified that its objection to Ahmedabad is purely on security considerations. Although the situation in Ahmedabad is quite normal and Pakistan has nothing to worry about the security situation, it can be given the benefit of the doubt. After all, India had objection to playing Test matches at Peshawar and Karachi when the Indian team toured that country. To be fair to Pakistan, it was quite accommodative towards India at that time. So when Pakistan says that it is not confident of playing in the Gujarat capital, nobody needs to be exercised about it. There are many cities in India, which will be only too glad to offer venues to hold the matches. Reports have appeared that Pakistan would like to play in Chennai. These are all decisions that should be taken in close consultation between the cricket boards of the two countries. In no case should political factors be allowed to influence such decisions. After all, the two countries have a lot at stake in the success of the Pakistani tour. It would be worth recalling that the matches in Pakistan played a major role in bringing the people of the two countries closer. Naturally enough, they expect a lot from the forthcoming tour too. The opportunity should not be missed by such needless controversies. |
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Naxalite menace UNION Home Minister Shivraj Patil's proposal for a unified command to tackle the Naxalite menace is timely, though the idea itself is not new. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in favour of such a command for effective inter and intra-state coordination in tackling the menace. The problem has only worsened during the last few weeks. The CPI (Maoist) activists stepped up violence in the first phase of the Assembly elections in Bihar and Jharkhand. There is tension in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The situation in neighbouring Nepal is alarming. India will have to prevent a regrouping of the CPI (Maoist) groups in both countries. While the affected state governments need to talk to the Naxalites for an amicable resolution of their problems across the table, the unified command plan merits a fair trial. It is expected to remove shortcomings in intelligence sharing and mount a coordinated operation by the states. The Naxalite menace continues to pose a serious challenge to internal security. Every affected state should step in to take up the challenge in close cooperation with the Centre. In recent times, the Naxalite outfits have acquired sophisticated technology, particularly relating to fabrication and firing mechanism for improvised explosive devices and weapons. The Centre should provide the unified command hi-tech weapons to meet the challenge. It should also equip the states with unmanned aerial vehicles to track down the Naxalites in the jungles where they usually hide and operate from. All the same, the Naxalite menace, which is an offshoot of Left-wing extremism, should not be treated as a law and order problem only. It has to be tackled on both security and development fronts. The funds under the Backward District Initiative, the Central Road Fund and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna should be utilised judiciously to accelerate the pace of development in the country's 60-odd Naxalite-affected districts. Priority should be accorded to integrate the implementation of all Central and state schemes in health care, education and employment generation with maximum involvement of panchayati raj institutions and local community-based organisations. |
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Police at it again THE report of the Lohian police in Jalandhar district detaining a Dalit in a theft case and his subsequent death due to police torture, shocking as it is, does not come as a surprise. So frequent are incidents of police maltreatment, harassment and death by torture of Dalits that these no longer arouse a sense of revulsion in society. Between October and December last year, 21 cases of atrocity on Dalits were reported. Only last month three Dalit youths of Patrewala village near Abohar in Ferozepur district were inhumanly treated by some influential persons with political links. The initial police inaction led to protests and counter-protests as the whole issue got politicised. Economic backwardness is behind the increasing incidents of crime against Dalits. The Dalits constitute 31 per cent of Punjab's population, but own only 2.25 per cent of the land. About 70 per cent of those below the poverty line are Dalits. That they have been denied their rightful share of development is clear despite a large number of state and Central schemes launched for their welfare. The influx of migrant labour from UP and Bihar has also deprived them of their traditional sources of livelihood. Growing social tension is also a result of lack of development and employment opportunities in Punjab. The latest act of police brutality has taken place in Doaba, where the Dalits are relatively better-off and have access to political power. Any act of brutality leads to a backlash. Talhan, which witnessed Dalit-Jat Sikh confrontation two years ago, falls in this area. However, a counter-action like the mob attack on the Lohian police, may prompt an instant administrative reaction, but does not prevent the recurrence of such incidents. State machinery has to be more responsive to the citizens' needs. The rule of law has to be enforced and the police disciplined. Politicisation of the police is largely responsible for gross violations of human rights in Punjab. The rot starts at the top. |
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Rules and models destroy genius and art. — William Hazlitt |
The coup in Goa
Thanks to Mr S.C. Jamir, the office of Governor is once again in the news. The facts of the case are simple. Four members of the BJP-led coalition government in Goa resigned from the House. The government was said to have lost its majority. Immediately, Congress leaders built pressure on the Governor to dismiss the government without any need of a floor test. The Governor asked the government headed by the Parrikar to prove its majority on the floor of the House. On February 2, the Assembly Speaker declared the confidence motion carried. But before putting the motion to vote amidst noisy scenes and turmoil, he ordered one member out. Within minutes of the Parrikar government winning the confidence of the House, the Governor staged a coup. The Government headed by Mr Parrikar was summarily dismissed. Congress party leader Rane was swiftly installed as the new Chief Minister.The justification given for the Governor's action was (i) that the Speaker's action in having one member removed was unconstitutional and (2) that under Article 164(2) of the Constitution the Governor had full authority to dismiss the government. Under the scheme of the Constitution, each state legislature is supreme and sovereign within the sphere assigned to it. Each House is the master of its procedure. The validity of proceedings of the House cannot be questioned by any outside authority. Even courts cannot question it "on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure" (Article 212 of the Constitution). Smooth and orderly conduct of the business of the House is the responsibility of the Speaker. Within the House and in all matters connected with the business and procedure of the House, his word is final. If the Speaker's conduct is found to be unworthy of the office, he can be removed by the House itself by a resolution. Only in the exercise of his powers under the Anti-Defection Law (10th Schedule) his decisions are subject to judicial review. The Governor cannot constitute himself into a court of appeal over the acts of the Speaker or decisions of the House. The Speaker represents the House and the Governor is not his boss. The Constitution does not give to the Governor any authority to declare an act of the Speaker unconstitutional or to reverse the decision of the House on grounds of procedural irregularity, etc. The Governor's powers are limited to (a) sending a message to the House; (b) addressing the House; (c) withholding assent to a Bill; and (d) in case of failure of the constitutional machinery, to recommend President's rule. As for the Governor's powers under Article 164(1), it is necessary to look at and analyse the text of the article. It says that (a) the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor; (b) other ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister; and (c) the ministers hold office during the pleasure of the Governor. It is clear that a distinction for purposes of this article has been made between the Chief Minister and the pother ministers, and only the latter depend for their continuance on the pleasure of the Governor which in effect means the pleasure of the Chief Minister. Since the ministers are appointed on the advice of the Chief Minister, they remain subject to removal by the Governor at any time on the advice of the Chief Minister. Article 156 of the Constitution also says that the Governor holds office "during the pleasure of the President." Nobody can suggest that that means that the President himself can dismiss any Governor without the advice of the Prime Minister. The fact is that the Governor is appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister and can be removed only on his advice. Article 164(2) says that the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly-quite clearly not to the Governor. The Constitution does not anywhere say that the Governor has the power to remove or dismiss the Council of Ministers. Only individual ministers can be removed by him on the advice of the Chief Minister. The Council of Ministers must hold office so long as it does not lose the confidence of the House. And, the question can be decided only on the floor of the House on a motion of no-confidence. Also, in parliamentary polity, for continuance in government, it is not necessary to have majority "for". What is required is that the majority should not be "against". The Governor cannot act as a constant policeman over the House. It is not his business to keep a tally of the numbers supporting the government from day to day. He is not supposed to keep making a headcount of MLAs with or against the government. The matter is entirely between the government (the Council of Ministers) and the House. The Sarakaria Commission, the National Commission on the Constitution and the Supreme Court in the Bommai case made the point that the question of support had to be decided only on the floor of the House. The unfortunate stand of some of the Governors has, in fact, been largely responsible for the continuous phenomenon of horse-trading and instability of governments. It is thus obvious that in the present case while the Speaker's conduct may not have been entirely above blame and he may have acted in a partisan manner, the Governor had no authority to declare his act unconstitutional or to arbitrarily reverse the decision of the House. Two wrongs do not add up to one right. The act of the Governor was blatantly undemocratic, patently unconstitutional and positively partisan. Also, it was unprecedented inasmuch as never before any state government in India was so dismissed by a Governor immediately after winning the confidence of the House. All this must have been known to policy makers in New Delhi. The decision to use the Governor's office for the dirty job must have been entirely political and motivated by the desire to keep the Central Government and the Congress High Command away from the odium particularly at a time when elections were on in three states. Goa has been notorious for defections, instability and frequent change of Chief Ministers and governments. With the intense infighting for ministerial posts, the present dispensation is unlikely to last long. Perhaps, the powers that be may gamble for yer another fresh poll. The saddest part of the whole affair is that it once again demonstrates that providing good governance to the people is the last priority of the politicians and parties today. It is all a struggle for power, sharing ministerships, and getting rich quick at the expense of we, the
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A measure of immortality WHAT is the measure of a man’s immortality? I do not mean the Teresas, the Tendulkars, the Bahugunas, the Hussains, the Subhalakshmis, the Oshos, the Bachchans and the Vikram Seths of this world — their immortality is immeasurable. I mean the ordinary people, like me, the school teachers, the railway clerks and the writers of middles, who lead ordinary humdrum lives, with no special talents, no special calling, no special passion. People whose sole achievement is making both ends meet, giving their families a comfortable life, bringing up their children as decent human beings and saving enough for their retirement to be spared the indignity of seeking financial help. Is there a measure of immortality to our lives or do we fade quickly away as soon as our funeral ceremonies are over? This question had haunted and troubled me with increasing frequency in recent years. Then I found my answer four days ago. There were three of us at lunch. Norman, who had studied at Sanawar in the thirties, I, who had been at Sanawar in the fifties and Jasahanjot, who had studied at PPS Nabha, in the seventies. The conversation veered around to the recent change of Principal at PPS. Jasahnajot bemoaned the decline of discipline. “How I wish Mr Cowell was back, it would all be sorted out in no time.” Both Norman and I remembered Sammy Cowell too. He had been a teacher and then the Senior Master in Sanawar before moving on to PPS. From his awesome reputation as a disciplinarian, we moved to his sense of humour. Norman remembered a 1936 report which read: “Norman works in fits and starts. Unfortunately at the time of the exams he failed to have either a fit or a start.” I remembered an August mark — reading in 1954. I was never good at anything in school but did, sometimes, when Mr Cowell pushed too hard, achieve a good academic result. He opened the register for Upper IV A. “First, Harishpal Singh Dhillon.” He paused, looked out of the window for a long moment at the steady downpour outside, then turned back to look at the children and added in a soft, but clear voice that carried to the back of the hall: “Hence the rain.” Jasahanjot remembered an incident from 1972. The Kendals, with their Shakespeareana troupe, would visit all the major schools of India and stage classical plays, mostly Shakespeare. By the seventies they limited themselves to playing an assortment of scenes, rather than full length plays. After one such performance at PPS, which had featured, amongst others, the witches scene from “Macbeth”, Mr Cowell went backstage, congratulated the actors on a fine performance and asked: “Which witch was which?” Almost 25 years after his death, three individuals had come together, purely by accident, and shared memories of him which spanned 40 years. It was a fair measure of immortality. I had found my answer and was
content.
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Goa heads for political instability
Barely has a new government led by the Congress taken office in Goa when ambitious MLAs from the party are threatening to topple the fledgling Pratapsingh Rane government. At least six MLAs, who call themselves party loyalists for fighting the recently ousted Manohar Parrikar administration, are crying hoarse at being kept out of the new government. Providing them ammunition is Rane’s perceived closeness to Parrikar. During his tenure as Leader of the Opposition during the BJP reign, he was known to go soft on important issues, much to the chagrin of the young turks in the Congress. However, observers say, the Congress high command had little choice but to opt for Rane as head of the Goa government. The party was looking for a strong Hindu leader to prevent the BJP from monopolising the affections of voters belonging to the majority community. The appointment of Luizinho Faleiro as Chief Minister when the Congress was in power more than five years ago and his subsequent elevation as party President was used with devastating effect by the BJP. Aided by a section of the Congressmen themselves, the grand old party was systematically portrayed as an outfit of the Christian community. The Congress is now hoping that Rane will rein in the Hindu voters moving rightwards even while retaining the minorities. Rane, who was sworn in as Chief Minister for the sixth time, is now under pressure to crack down on Parrikar and the BJP. In his first press conference, Rane warned of action against Speaker Vishwas Satarkar, who he alleged, had tried to kidnap his deputy, Philip Neri Rodrigues, ahead of Parrikar’s trust vote. Rane went on to say that his government was contemplating action against Satarkar and several policemen who were brought in to prevent Rodrigues from voting in the trust vote. The proceedings ended in a fiasco as the Speaker called the vote and declared Parrikar victorious even while marshals and policemen were still evicting Rodrigues. The new Congress government plans to set up a special investigating team to investigate a number of decisions taken by the previous BJP government. Party sources say, the exercise will be aimed to dent the public perception of Parrikar, who enjoys a clean image. Teams of the state police will be formed to probe contracts awarded by Parrikar on the eve of the International Film Festival in December last. Contracts worth Rs 150 crore were awarded to spruce up Panjim directly by Parrikar’s office without inviting tenders to expedite the process. However, Rane’s own government is on tenterhooks since the Congress-led coalition is tied with the BJP with just 18 MLAs in the 40-member state legislature. It, however, enjoys a minor advantage since the Speaker, a BJP man, cannot vote except in case of a tie. While desperately trying to keep its flock together, the Congress has begun to woo more malcontent MLAs from the BJP. The Congress will also have to work hard to ensure the re-election of four BJP MLAs who quit last fortnight as representatives of the new ruling front. The Congress-led coalition has already begun scraping the bottom of its bag of goodies to keep its flock intact. Young Independent MLA Philip Neri Rodrigues was made Deputy Chief Minister as part of the deal to pull him out of the BJP camp. Two rebel-BJP MLAs have already been inducted into the Cabinet with the hope of getting them re-elected. According to Congress party sources, Rane himself may be required to make the ultimate sacrifice if Monserrate gets re-elected a few months down the line. Word is out that he would be made Chief Minister for his role in breaking the BJP’s legislative party. However, Rane, a shrewd political operator, may still pull out a few tricks to show Monserrate his place, say observers. Congress MLAs themselves say the ground is sufficiently fertile for Parrikar to stage a counter-coup by winning over Congress MLAs left at the back of the gravy train. “My workers are disappointed as I have not been inducted into the Cabinet. I am under pressure to resign,” party spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu told journalists before party leaders like Mrs Margaret Alva flew down to Panjim to pacify him. Observers say governments in small states of India are inherently unstable despite stringent laws like the newly amended legislation to combat defection. The Congress could topple the Manohar Parrikar government by winning over just four BJP MLAs. The election of the UPA government at the Centre last May encouraged the local Congress unit to work at toppling the Manohar Parrikar government. Their work was made easier since Parrikar had himself consolidated his hold in the state legislature by cobbling together a band of defectors and unreliable allies with links to the Congress. Aware of the peripatetic nature of Goa’s politicians, the Congress leadership in Delhi replaced the BJP-appointed Kidarnath Sahni with S.C. Jamir at Raj Bhavan nearly six months ago. Parrikar’s colleagues, who were clearly playing both sides of the political divide, only had to raise the stakes till the breaking point before pulling down the BJP government. That happened nearly two weeks ago when Atanasio Babush Monserrate, Town and Country Planning Minister in Parrikar’s Cabinet allowed a large-scale conversion of farmland for commercial use. Parrikar was forced to sack his minister after members of the RSS began to rail against Monserrate. The Congress, which had been wooing Monserrate for his money and muscle power, simply lured the controversial loan-shark out of the BJP. The man who enjoys ambitions of becoming the state’s Chief Minister at the head of a Congress-led coalition walked into the Congress fold with three more BJP MLAs, one Independent MLA and another from the regional Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. Parrikar, an alumni of the IIT-Mumbai, though tried to put up a tough fight by enacting a farcical trust vote with the help of old friend Speaker Vishwas Satarkar. However, Governor S.C. Jamir, who was given a free hand by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, dismissed the Parrikar government barely an hour after Satarkar proclaimed Parrikar victorious after the trust vote. The coming months promise considerable excitement in the tiny tourist state known for its beautiful beaches and laid-back attitude. |
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Chautala pins hope on Independents Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala believes that the Congress has a fight on its hands in regaining power in Haryana. His own calculation is that the INLD will win 37 seats. This means he does not expect a simple majority (46 seats) in the 90-member assembly. If the results are in keeping with his assessment, then he hopes to rope in 9-10 Independents. On the other hand, Bhajan Lal is hoping to secure a two-thirds majority.
BJP loses Goa now The BJP has lost power in Goa after Governor S C Jamir dismissed the Manohar Parrikar Government. Incidentally, Pramod Mahajan is the General Secretary in charge of Goa, where the BJP could not foresee the Congress coup. Now the man, who has faced several setbacks in recent times, is praying for a good show of the BJP in the ongoing Bihar poll. That is because he is one of the two BJP General Secretaries along with Arun Jaitley put in charge of the elections in Bihar.
Andhra MPs’ turf war A turf war is on between two Congress Rajya Sabha MPs from Andhra Pradesh. It is between Union minister Dasara Narayana Rao and Jairam Ramesh. As a minister, Rao has been alloted a spacious bungalow in Lodhi Estate, but he is refusing to vacate the C1/9 Lodhi Gardhen residence. Ramesh finds himself in a dilemma as he cannot take his complaint either to Congress President Sonia Gandhi or Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. This has created lot of bad blood between Rao and Ramesh.
Gaur cool to Uma Bharti Is Sadhvi Uma Bharti backseat driving a la Bal Thackeray in Madhya Pradesh? Though compelled to quit as Chief Minister, she continues to interfere in administrative affairs in her home state. Recently, she was in Bhopal on a week-long trip to spend some time with her family. She also reviewed the progress of the schemes begun during her reign. She is believed to have given her mind to top officials and took strong exception when her staunch supporters cribbed about being sidelined by the Babulal Gaur government. Chief Minister Gaur has preferred to look the other way.
Laloo Yadav and budget One does not know if Finance Minister P Chidamabaram will present a dream Budget for 2005-06. The railway budget will certainly not be one. Busy electioneering in his home state of Bihar, Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has no time to sit with his officials in preparing the proposals. Therefore, it is likely to be a babu budget which is expected to be mostly the status quoist. Contributed by S Satyanarayanan, Gaurav Choudhury and R Suryamurthy |
No action which is not voluntary can be called moral. So long as we act like machines there can be no question of morality. — Mahatma Gandhi Remembering Him one lives throughout eternity, the spelling of His name drives off the enemy. — Guru Nanak Love starts at home and lasts at home.... the home is each person’s first field of loving, devotion, and service. — Mother Teresa  |
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