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The veto power RBI upbeat on growth It’s the pits |
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Sight of the tainted
Tragic tale of tailpieces
Supreme Court museum on India’s legal history Defence notes Follow Up
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The veto power There is no longer any ground for ambiguity about whether India should continue to press for veto power as a prospective permanent member of the UN Security Council. During his four-day visit, the one issue on which UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan gave a direct, answer was that India should entertain no expectations of veto power in an expanded Security Council. “The new permanent members are not designed to have a veto. The proposal is establishment of additional permanent members without veto,” was Mr Annan’s plainspeak. At one level this buttresses India’s case for permanent membership as a frontrunner. The emphasis on the contribution of India and Indians to the UN system is but an acknowledgement of a country and people that can no longer be ignored in the emerging international order. At another level this is a signal that New Delhi would do best to accept what is feasible now and press its claim for veto status at a later stage. It is in the nature of those at the helm of organisations, such as the Permanent Five in the Security Council, to cling to their perceived exclusive prerogative; in this case it is the power of veto. India is seeking reform consistent as it is with the size and the role it has been playing in world affairs. This is a legitimate contest between states and the denial of veto power does not invalidate India’s case for the ultimate international status. However, pragmatism dictates that an all-or-nothing approach would be self-defeating. New Delhi should settle, even as a strategic move, for the best on offer now and leverage its presence in the Security Council to acquire greater clout at a later, appropriate juncture. In moving towards this objective, it is now essential that not only the UPA Government but all parties act as one in favour of a permanent membership without putting too fine a point on the veto, which is not available off the shelf. |
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RBI upbeat on growth The Reserve Bank of India’s annual monetary policy statement on Thursday raised the key reverse repo rate by 0.25 per cent to 5 per cent. This means banks will get higher interest on their short-term deposits with the
RBI. The bank rate and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) have been left untouched. This indicates no change in the interest rates on long-term deposits of banks with the RBI. The present money supply in the system remains intact though demand for credit is on the rise. This signals a possible firming up of interest rates in the coming months. Both Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and RBI Governor Y.V. Reddy are not in favour of raising the interest rates. This is because more expensive loans may slow down the demand for credit and hit the current boom in the housing, automobile and other sectors. The world over, however, interest rates are inching up. In India too pressure is building up on banks to raise the interest rates. There is a bit faster-than-expected offtake of credit and a slowdown in the mobilisation of deposits. Besides, the government plans to go in for higher borrowings. According to the central bank’s own admission, the present robust cash inflow into the emerging markets, including India, will be hard to sustain. All these factors point to a possible hardening of interest rates in the months to come. Keeping inflationary pressures in check is a challenge for the government. The RBI hopes inflation will stay at 5.5 to 5 per cent. This is despite the global oil prices ruling above $50 a barrel and the Finance Minister refusing to cut the excise duty on oil. The RBI is upbeat on growth prospects. With a likely normal monsoon, agriculture may help the GDP grow at 7 per cent. Since economic fundamentals have not changed much in the past six months, the RBI’s wait-and-watch stance appears justified. A worrying factor is, however, the widening fiscal deficit. With Leftist pressures unrelented and the Congress itself turning populist, the fiscal situation appears somewhat uncertain. |
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It’s the pits The arrest of Lt-Col S.P. Singh (retired) for demanding and obtaining bribe has shocked the nation. As the District Sainik Welfare Officer at Bathinda, his job was to ensure that ex-servicemen and their families received their rightful dues in time. The post he held is reserved for retired service personnel as only such a person can understand the problems of ex-servicemen. But what the Lt-Col did is unthinkable. The brother of a Squadron Leader who sacrificed his life in the Kargil war approached him for a grant the State Government had announced for martyrs like him. He promised to help him get the grant of Rs 2 lakh if he was paid a hefty bribe of Rs 50,000. After much bargaining, the bribe amount was brought down to Rs 40,000. The Lt-Col sat on the cheque for one whole month till he was paid Rs 20,000 as part payment of the bribe. Unfortunately for him, the victim was smart enough to get the welfare officer trapped while receiving the bribe. He had no pangs of conscience when he harassed the family of Sq-Ldr Ajay Ahuja, who made the supreme sacrifice for the country. If he could do this to a martyr’s family, it is imaginable what he would have been doing to lesser jawans and their families. It is indeed difficult to believe that he once donned the uniform, commanded soldiers and swore loyalty to the Army whose motto is — nation before self. He is a disgrace not just to the Army but to the whole nation. The Indian armed forces are one of the most disciplined in the world. Both in times of war and peace, the forces have proved equal to the onerous tasks entrusted to them by the nation. It is one of the few institutions in the country that is free from corruption. Yet, of late, there have been instances when some of the officers were found wanting as in the Tehelka case and the fake killings in the Northeast and in Siachen. If anything this shows that there are institutional drawbacks that allow such black sheep to enter the services and cause disrepute to them. It is by awarding deterrent punishment to such worthless characters that the image of the services can be kept beyond reproach. Hopefully, his dismissal from service is just a beginning. |
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Nothing in life just happens. You have to have the stamina to meet the obstacles and overcome
them. — Golda Meir |
Sight of the tainted Democratic polity and the institutions that are meant to serve it need to be continuously nurtured. In India where the democratic tradition is young and its institutions were set up only after Independence, these institutions were expected to be handled with respect and tender care.
It is a pity that the nation has been seeing a decline in the functioning of these institutions, particularly Parliament. Rather than growing in influence and exercising power on behalf of the people it is supposed to represent, it has been suffering from progressive corrosion and debility. To bring about sanity and some change for the
better would require a consensus among In the 1950s and 1960s — maybe until mid-70s — when Parliament was young — and so were some of us — a day spent in the gallery was an enriching experience. Now a citizen who has spent a couple of hours in the gallery or watched on TV how members behave starts asking questions that should worry our Honourable MPs: Is this the kind of Parliament the country fought for during 100 years of its freedom struggle? Is this what the founding fathers of the Constitution
really wanted and the nation of one billion people deserve to get? Are these men, who claim to serve the people, really bothered about their duty to the nation? Parliament is housed in a magnificent building any nation can be proud of and the people still look at its portals with respect, almost awe. But our MPs do not know that the people are increasingly looking at what happens inside its high-domed chambers with a high degree of cynicism. Intolerance of the others’ views, daily walkouts, uproars, hitting below the belt, exchange of invective at times spiced with abuse and the storming of the pit of the House have become a common sight and have replaced serious deliberation of public affairs and policy in both Houses. More serious, however, is the sheer dereliction of duty in a vital area that gives Parliament its essential power to keep the executive in check — the power to sanction money for running the administration and the right to know whether it has been spent for the purpose approved of by Parliament. What the nation has been watching with dismay is the casual manner in which Parliament chooses to pass the Budget these days. It is unfortunate that last year the Lok Sabha sanctioned money for the government without any scrutiny, with the opposition boycotting most of the Budget session picking up the issue of the tainted ministers. This week again the NDA has resorted to a boycott of Parliament with the result that over Rs 51,000 crore is likely to be voted on Monday without asking the government how it spent the money Parliament sanctioned for it last year and how it will go about spending so much money from the national exchequer this year. Every rupee collected from the taxpayer is sacred and meant to be spent with a prudent housewife’s caution and for a specified public purpose. How will Parliament ask the executive next year how it has spent this year’s allocation when it never bothered to bring the government’s demands and policies under scrutiny before vote? The presence of the tainted ministers, which has thrown the present Parliament into crisis for the second year in a row, is certainly not in the interest of the country and cannot be pushed under the carpet. But the NDA’s choosing to boycott Parliament, particularly the Budget debate, is no service to the country either. It is a revolting sight to see many tainted ministers not only in Parliament but also in State legislatures. They are there because most political parties have a tendency to reward criminals and the corrupt of society with party tickets in return for the help given by them at the ground level. Many of these criminals and the corrupt have landed in Parliament and the State legislatures and have been given ministerial berths. The compulsions of the coalition era and inability of the national parties like the Congress and the BJP to win enough seats in Parliament and the State legislatures has made them dependent on smaller parties which are under greater influence of the tainted men than the two national parties. These small parties, in turn, exercise a sort of political blackmail on the government of the day dependent as it is on their support for survival. The experience of the NDA under Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been no different from that of Dr Manmohan Singh. Each has been having his own flock of the tainted in tow. Neither can have felt comfortable in the company he has had to keep in a coalition era where survival of the governments comes to take precedence over moral dilemmas. Whatever the arguments about the desirability of giving tickets to men and women against whom criminal charges have been framed, Dr Manmohan Singh cannot throw out Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav because of the 24-member RJD which is a part of his government. Mr Vajpayee had a similar problem in throwing out Mr George Fernandes and some other ministers whose ouster could have been hazardous for his equally fragile coalition. Central to the issue is the question how at all the tainted men gain entry into political parties and get elected to Parliament and the State legislature. And also essential is the failure of the entire political system — Parliament, the judiciary and the Election Commission — to keep the malevolent elements out of the election system, Parliament and the State legislatures. Every wing of the State is finding itself powerless in stopping men, who have either amassed enough money or muscle through manipulation and scandalous misuse of power, from occupying positions of authority. The courts have failed so far to tackle such worthies irrespective of which coalition government they have chosen to join. Also, joining, or propping up a government, and using their position for a sort of blackmail has given them some sort of an immunity from ouster. The Supreme Court has passed the buck to Parliament wanting it to pass a law that would prevent the criminals and the corrupt from contesting elections. Parliament, in turn, cannot pass such a law because political parties cannot come to an agreement on the question who exactly can be regarded as a criminal and at what stage — after his conviction or after charges have been framed against him in a court. Before the last parliamentary elections, the Election Commission proposed that anyone against whom charges had been framed by a court should be banned from fighting elections. This was stoutly opposed by the BJP which was ruling at that time, the Congress which was sitting in the opposition and other parties. Such a law, if passed, would not have required an amendment to the Constitution, but only a slight change in the Representation of the People Act. But there were no takers among the political parties who do not mind supping with those who must be weeded out of the political system. Such elements, whether on the treasury benches or in the opposition, are equally a threat to the entire democratic
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Tragic tale of tailpieces
For no known reason The Tribune seems to have taken the line that no morning can be regarded as having begun well until a few tailpieces of the “middles” have been put to the sword. This, however, is not difficult to understand as the operation of the editorial blue pencil is an occupational hazard all writing has to face. But in this case serious trouble arose from an unexpected quarter. The matter came to the notice of the head of the local S.P.C.A. who was an ardent believer in the society’s policy that ducking puppies’ tails is an act of savage cruelty deserving condign punishment. As it happened he had had a long convivial prohibition-defying evening the day before and was seeing the entire world in a thickish haze, with his perception of thing in general more than a little blurred. It was not easy but he managed to get tails and tailpieces thoroughly mixed up in his mind and reached the conclusion that it was the newspaper that was responsible for the monstrosity perpetrated on the canine species. So thanks to his massive hangover, his S.P.C.A. blood was well and truly up and he ordered the prosecution of the paper for the extreme cruelty of which he thought it had been guilty. And then my dream came to an end! That was quite a relief but the dream was very unpleasant while it lasted. But of course trouble does not always wait for a driver to have a hangover before making its appearance. On the other hand it can also land itself on an unsuspecting person even when he is as sober as the proverbial judge. That definitely was the experience of a friend of mine during his stay in war-time Oxford. As an undergraduate he had managed to acquire a second hand midget of a car at a throw-away price. One evening heavy mist had descended on the town and visibility had been reduced to just a few yards. Even the roadside lamp posts showed only dim lights as you reached close to them. So, this driver who never touched drink, took great care to remain right in the middle of the road by crawling between the lamppost lights. Until — horror of horrors — he found that what he had taken to be street lights turned out to be the head lamps of a huge hulking bus. By then there was no time left to take any evasive action and the two vehicles met with the small car bonnet ending up wedged gently below the bumper of the bus. In England, as is well-known, the traffic laws are enforced with great strictness and even the highest in the land — the members of the Royal family — are not spared if they get on the wrong side of the law. So my driver friend was duly prosecuted for the mishap and found himself in the local magistrates’ court. As the damage because of the accident had been negligible, he was let off with a small fine but he had to face the criminal charge. Drunken driving has doubtless become a menace of very grave proportions in the modern world. In most countries drivers on the road are put through breath-analyser tests to see if the alcohol in their blood stream is above the percentage permissible under the law, and if it is, they are prosecuted even in case they have not been involved in any accident. In fact, in one western country the scope of criminal liability has been sought to be extended beyond what at one time was thought to be the maximum that was possible. A guest at a very small party had dined and wined very well — though not too wisely — and taken the wheel of his car. He had driven for a few minutes before meeting with a bad accident and got killed. For this it was the host couple who were prosecuted: the view was taken that it was their duty to prevent the guest from driving in the condition in which he was. Actually the case failed on technical grounds but this shows the trend of thinking on the part of the
authorities.
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Supreme Court museum on India’s legal history
Preservation of all important historic documents, texts, treaties, judgements and articles associated with the country’s legal history till the end of British rule and of the short period of Independent India by the Supreme Court in its museum is a step in this direction. The museum, established in 1994 on the initiative of then Chief Justice of India M N Venkatachaliah, has preserved the records of all important cases, including the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, two Prime Ministers — Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi — for the future generations to know what impact these events had on the history of the country. “The museum is the mirror to the history, development and dispensation of Indian legal system and this was the core idea behind its establishment,” says Supreme Court Registrar General BM Gupta. The new “single-pillar round” museum building that has come up within the majestic complex of the apex court, was inaugurated on September 27, 2001, by then Chief Justice of India A S Anand during the golden jubilee celebrations of the Supreme Court. Mr Gupta says the whole idea behind setting up of the museum is to house and preserve the objects, artefacts and documents of antiquity and significance, depicting the growth of judiciary and development of the administration of the justice in the country. The photographs and exhibits kept there show an amalgam of the past and the present of our judicial system. In a way, the museum has emerged as a unique centre of the country’s judicial heritage, not only from January 26, 1950, when the Supreme Court came into existence but since ancient times. Perhaps very few people know that initially from the date of its inauguration, the Supreme Court had functioned from the “Chamber of Princes” in Parliament House and continued to function there till 1958 when the present building was ready. The judgements preserved also relate to the important cases dealt with by the federal court before Independence. These documents, which otherwise are rare for the common man, will be accessible easily to the general public during the museum’s visiting hours. The other items preserved include old furniture used by judges, the deed of spiritual succession of March 23, 1519, registered in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, a 20th century wig worn by a judge of the Bombay High Court, a cap of the Privy Councillor of the same period in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, a classic inkpot used by the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court in the 20th century for writing judgements. The ground floor gallery of the museum traces the history of the Indian legal system from the ancient period to the British time. It depicts the Indian legal system through various periods with the help of relevant texts, artefacts and other exhibits. An impression is created at the entrance of the ground floor by displaying the logo of the Supreme Court — Dharamchakra upheld by the Lion Capital of third century B.C. — in an appropriate ambience. The “Harappan seals and the head of a priest” of that period, symbolising the existence of some sort of law in the ancient urban civilisation of India, Emperor Ashoka’s edicts from Girnar in Gujarat, the Nalanda Copper plate of the 9th century A.D. are some rare exhibits displayed in the ground floor gallery. |
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Defence
notes The Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence has asked the
government to investigate and bring to book those guilty for the large number of mine-related deaths during Operation Parakram, the year-long standoff which India had with Pakistan following the attack on Parliament. A recent report of the committee points out that of the 473 Army personnel killed and 1,401 injured during Operation Parakram, 60 were killed and 142 injured in mine-laying operations. This constitutes about 15 per cent of the casualties suffered by Army during the operations. Expressing shock over the outdated and defective stock of mines with unworkable fuses used for laying the mines, the committee felt that the matter should be investigated and those found guilty should be “brought to book”. Jet trainer
delayed There has been a tardy progress in the development of the Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), says the parliamentary committee. IJT has problems relating to its heavier weight and low-thrust engine. Even though two prototypes developed by HAL have completed more than 150 hours of flying, they are still not near the desired performance level. Another 350 hours of test flying will be needed before the aircraft receives a final clearance. Incidentally, HAL has had problems with the French engines, which it originally contracted for the aircraft and is now depending on the Russian engines. However, this has also not gone down well with the committee, which feels that dependence on foreign engines was not good and that efforts should be made to develop indigenous engines. One such engine, Kaveri, for the LCA is also far behind schedule and the DRDO has been criticised for the delay and cost overrun in the development of this engine.
Initiative on AIDS To combat AIDS, the Armed Forces Medical Services along with the US Army Pacific Command recently organised a Peer Leaders Workshop at the Base Hospital in Delhi. Among those present were the Chief of Naval Staff and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, Admiral Arun Prakash, Robert O Blake, Charge de Affairs at the US Embassy, and Lt. Gen J.R. Bhardwaj, Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services. At the workshop a partnership deed was also signed between the Ministry of Defence and UNAIDS to work jointly for controlling the incidence of AIDS in the armed forces. |
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Follow
Up Kulwinder Kaur must have been elated, when the ‘’staff nurse’’ tag was handed over to her. After all, this was a professional degree to turn her dreams into reality. She got married on December 9, 1998, to Jaswinderjit Singh, a clerk in a government school near Dera Baba Nanak. Her dream of a blissful life, however, was shortlived. Jaswinderjit Singh and his family allegedly began demanding more and more dowry. “Physical beatings, taunts, humiliation at every step became the order of the day in her life. Even when she became pregnant, she was not spared,” say villagers. Within two years of her marriage, Kulwinder Kaur was pushed to the wall so much that she had to return to her parents’ home at Dharar village in Jandiala Guru and file a case of dowry under Sections 498 A, 406, 342, and 506, IPC. Jaswinderjit Singh was arrested by the Majitha police. However, when the Majitha SP conducted an inquiry, the sisters-in-law were given a clean chit. The DIG, Border Range, ordered a fresh inquiry by the SP (Detective), Amritsar. In this report her sisters-in-law, father-in-law and brother-in-law were held guilty of physically assaulting and harassing Kulwinder. All, except the husband, were granted anticipatory bail by the court. The boy’s family approached the Home Secretary, who ordered a fresh inquiry. An internal vigilance inquiry was directed into the allegations and counter-allegations by both parties. SP Ajaib Singh conducted a detailed investigation. SP Ajaib Singh discovered “that the husband hatched a plan to take back his wife with mala-fide intentions. He took her to Amritsar on the pretext of paying obeisance at the Golden Temple. He forced her to stay back for the night even when Kulwinder Kaur wanted to return to the village. He took her to a hotel. When she complained of tiredness, he gave her a pill which made her unconscious. Then he took photographs of her naked body. His entire action plan was preconceived and he later showed these pictures in her maternal village with the purpose of defaming her”, reports Ajaib Singh in his investigations. The SP further points out that the wife still had faith in her husband as is evident from her course of action. Back in her in-laws’ village, Kulwinder was totally ignorant of her husband’s moves. He got the photographs developed and went to her parents’ village. He threw the photographs all over to defame his wife. There is another shocking incident on record. On December 19, 2003, at a wedding at her in-laws’ home, Kulwinder Kaur was so badly battered by her sisters-in-law and her husband that she began bleeding profusely and lost her unborn third child. Kulwinder Kaur was not allowed to live a life of dignity. Her two little children everyday witnessed their mother’s physical thrashing and the trauma she was going through. As per the report by the SP, the Home Department will now direct the Majitha SSP to register cases against Kulwinder Kaur’s husband and the family.
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October 27, 1882
Raja Udai Pratap Singh, the enlightened Talukdar of Bhinga in Oudh, has matured a scheme for a suitable institution for the education of the sons of the landed aristocracy of the upper provinces. The Raja is of opinion that the instruction and training given in Government schools and colleges do not fit the sons of landholders for the faithful discharge of the duties and responsibilities which may devolve on them in after life. He also points out that the Wards’ schools have notoriously failed to accomplish the object with the authority of personal acknowledge and experience. He was an inmate of the Lucknow Wards’ schools for many years. He says that the complaints generally made against these institutions are that the inmates have had both their morals and manners corrupted; that their intellectual improvement has scarcely been promoted; and that they have not been taught to properly manage their estates. It is, therefore, not at all surprising that Wards’ schools should not have become popular with the classes for whom they were intended. |
With eyes covered with the film of Maya, you complain that you cannot see God. If you wish to see Him, remove the film of Maya from your eyes. — Sri Ramakrishna
Know it for certain that there is no greater Tirtha (holy spot) than the body of man. Nowhere else is the Atman so manifest as here. — Swami Vivekananda By making faith your bowings and knowledge of mind the aim of your life, you will find God present wherever you look. — Guru Nanak A real teacher is one who is the best among the knowers of Brahman, who has withdrawn himself into Brahman, and is calm like the fire that has consumed its fuel. — Sri Adi Sankaracharya This world is just a gymnasium in which we play; our life is an eternal holiday. — Swami Vivekananda When you are engaged in devotional practices, keep aloof from those who scoff at them, and also from those who ridicule piety and the pious. — Jesus Christ The best hearts are ever the bravest. — Sterne  |
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