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Dil Hai Hindustani Melting glaciers |
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Punjab’s killer roads Traffic needs better management Road accidents claim 2,500 lives every year in Punjab. In 1990, when militancy was at its peak, 2,467 persons fell to terrorist bullets. Despite the obvious conclusion that more people die in road accidents in a year than they did during the days of militancy, no serious effort has been made to make life safer on roads.
Appointments, or disappointments?
From the visitors’ book
Water loss by grain exports Wheat stocks set to fall Himalayan blunder
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Dil Hai Hindustani
This calls for three cheers, though it is about dualism, and of a necessary and desirable kind in an increasingly globalised world. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has lived up to his promise — made in January at Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Mumbai – of granting dual citizenship to all people of Indian origin who migrated abroad after January 26, 1950. Pakistan and Bangladesh remain the exception, for obvious reasons, and few would cavil at this given the political realities in the subcontinent. The Union Cabinet’s decision to accordingly amend the Citizenship Act 1955 is a major advance over the first move by the National Democratic Alliance Government in this direction. The scheme of dual citizenship, though open since September 2002, was restricted to people of Indian origin (PIO) in 16 countries. Mr Manmohan Singh assured Indians abroad that he would extend it to all countries and simplify the rules as well. The Cabinet decision to increase the ambit and ease the formalities for dual citizenship would go a long way towards encouraging the Indian abroad to rebuild connections with his “home” country. It is a moot point whether this connection would ensure their participation in Indian’s development process, for not all those who live abroad have the means or motivation for economic and business engagement. Regardless of that, every one of them is entitled to connect and sustain his emotional and cultural bonds with the country of origin; and, any discrimination of dual citizenship being restricted to PIO for some countries was untenable. The dual citizenship would mean waiver of visa for PIO and entitlement to the same rights as granted to NRIs, including ownership of non-agricultural property. With over 15 million people eligible for the scheme, it is now for the bureaucracy to ease the way by making the papers and procedures simpler for ensuring that the objective of the Prime Minister’s decision is achieved. |
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Melting glaciers
It is really strange that the grim news about the depletion of glaciers in the Himalayas and elsewhere does not send alarm bells ringing as loud as it should. Perhaps we do not think of making amends because we have a false sense of security since the inevitable consequences have not started affecting us directly as yet. Ironically, the abundant water in rivers that is our lifeline is in itself a sign that the glaciers are melting at a dangerous rate, thanks mainly to global warming. Heavy snowfall that we are blessed with occasionally makes us complacent. Projections say that at the current rate, most of the glaciers might simply vanish in the next 100 years or so. The consequences of that will be too cataclysmic to even comprehend. There will be flash floods galore. Mountain ecologies will get destroyed, leading to widespread desertification. Ocean levels will rise and coastal cities will be threatened. Man is one “intelligent” animal which has the capacity to reason and yet does the maximum harm to ecology, little realising that it is putting the very existence of its race in jeopardy. Take global warming for instance. Everyone agrees that it is playing havoc with the planet but no one does much about it. We are so engrossed in making our today
comfortable that we just do not think of tomorrow. That, in effect, means that we are bartering away the future of the coming generations for our narrow ends. The current mindless exploitation of natural resources is a clearly
short-sighted. It is already too late to fully undo the damage but at least the future losses can be minimised. Remedial measures need to be taken on an SOS basis. Global warming is not the handiwork of any one country, although the developed world is the main culprit. This is one issue which concerns everybody and there is need for making a universal effort to save the earth. |
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Punjab’s killer roads
Road accidents claim 2,500 lives every year in Punjab. In 1990, when militancy was at its peak, 2,467 persons fell to terrorist bullets. Despite the obvious conclusion that more people die in road accidents in a year than they did during the days of militancy, no serious effort has been made to make life safer on roads. Consider the government’s indifference: three persons daily get killed on a 12-km stretch between Tanda and Dasuya and the fact has been highlighted by a World Bank report. Yet the killer patch, which has the highest accident rate in Asia, has not been improved. Countrywide, some 80,000 people die on roads in a year compared to 4,000 such deaths in the US, where the number of vehicles is four times more. The traffic police, which has compiled accident data, blames heavy vehicles for most mishaps. Yet there is no formal training of truck drivers. Driving licences can be obtained easily. The police has been trying to get liquor vends shifted from the highways, but the Excise and Taxation Department refuses to see the obvious danger to health and life of the people. The liquor lobby’s clout is well known. Further, the government has failed to make highways wide enough to accommodate the rising number of vehicles. Congestion on roads is also responsible for frequent accidents. Vehicular traffic has grown 10 times in Punjab in the past 10 years, but the infrastructure growth rate has been just 2 per cent. The issue is too serious to be left only to the police, which anyway takes more interest in issuing challans than in managing traffic. Holding seminars or road safety weeks will help only up to a point. Introducing road safety as a subject in schools is a sensible proposal that deserves action. While public transport needs to be made more tolerable, the tendency to use private vehicles can be discouraged with higher taxes. Speeding cannot be curtailed as long as every district in Punjab has a separate speed limit. Accident deaths provoke no public revulsion or
official action to counter the menace. |
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The man who has no imagination has no wings.
— Muhammad Ali |
Appointments, or disappointments?
The method of selection of judges is woeful and must be remedied. The Supreme Court judges can be trusted to decide cases independently and correctly. They perform a good job, but regrettably there are many, who could have under a better system of appointment of judges, performed the much-needed public duty, but have retired simply as High Court judges. The problem of disposals by keeping the judge strength at the same level, even when appointments to the High Courts are not made promptly, is easily solved. If a judge at 62 is efficient, healthy and has a reputation for integrity, he should be continued for a year or two more as ad hoc. Judicial governance is woefully inadequate in the country. The main reason is protocol, not with the government but with the judges. Take the case of ad hoc judges in the High Courts and the Supreme Court. They are simply not appointed because of protocol. The colleagues on the Bench refuse to recognise that a person who has retired and is re-appointed ad hoc can retain his seniority - he must sit last; he must sit in the court as the juniormost judge. Why this indignity which no Puisne Judge with self-respect would agree to? This unnecessary pomp and protocol of judges must be pierced by the judges themselves. Another suggestion concerns the tenure and age of retirement of judges. There should be no sense of elevation to the highest court. The High Court judge should be persuaded to join the Supreme Court, not be elevated to it. This could only be achieved by increasing the age of retirement of High Court judges from 62 to 65 years (the age of retirement of Supreme Court judges). I have recently introduced a Private Member’s Bill in the Rajya Sabha titled The Constitution (103rd Amendment) Bill, 2004. Hopefully, it will evoke a response from the Union Law Minister. As regards the present selection of High Court and Supreme Court judges exclusively by a collegiate of five of the seniormost judges of the Supreme Court, all the judges in the highest court should be consulted. The closed circuit network of five judges should be disbanded. Mere seniority of the judges may certainly mean more experience, but if there is to be a collegial appointment (as under the present system), it must be after a consensus from amongst all the Supreme Court judges. Disciplining of High Court judges (i.e. all measures short of impeachment) must be left entirely to the judges of the highest court — no interference by anyone, neither the Bar, nor bar associations, nor the politicians. And this does not require any special law. The Chief Justice of India as the head of the judicial family can do this. However, on appointment of judges, there must be more inputs from outside the select coterie of five judges. It is not that (since 1993) good judges are not appointed to the Supreme Court under the present system, but sometimes better judges are overlooked or ignored. Often, it is those who will not call on the judges of the highest court. For instance, Justice Pendse, who retired some years ago as Chief Justice of Karnataka, is now busy arbitrating with great success. His income in the year after he retired was reportedly Rs 1.30 crore! He was truly an outstanding judge who disposed off cases with the same speed and efficiency as did the late Justice J.C. Shah. When this writer suggested Justice Pendse’s name to be brought to the Supreme Court from the Bombay High Court, Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee, when he was in the Supreme Court, repeatedly said that Justice Pendse was the country’s best High Court judge. Though his name was recommended to the Chief Justice of India, Justice Pendse was successfully prevented from coming to this court for two reasons: first, he was a “naughty boy” since when he was first asked to go from Bombay to Karnataka as Chief Justice he declined (for personal reasons), incurring the displeasure of the then Chief Justice of India. And secondly, because of the “Bombay lobby” against him. The Bombay lobby consists of the judges of Bombay in the Supreme Court. This phenomenon was and is regrettable and must be avoided. The Chief Justice can always ask his colleagues from Calcutta, Bombay, Allahabad or other High Courts on merit or demerit of someone from that High Court. But don’t always rely on such assessment. It can be warped or tainted. Sometimes when you know a person too well, you can give an exaggerated opinion of some of his/her qualities, good or bad! Another aspect is the Supreme Court’s acute sensitivity to appointment of only retired judges to tribunals. This is often regarded by critical members of the public as “the judges looking after their own”. It is good and essential to have the Supreme Court to oversee all actions of the government, whether or not first vetted by commissions or tribunals, but sometimes our court does go too far. When faced with the appointment by the NDA government of the Commerce Secretary, as Chairman of the newly constituted Competition Commission under the then enacted Competition Act, the former Chief Justice of India did not enquire about his technical qualifications for the job but was only reported to have made the following remarks: “It is a direct encroachment on judicial functioning. It is a direct onslaught on the high courts. A few years later, the government may replace all the 26 judges of the Supreme Court with bureaucrats. You must restrain your hand.” The government cancelled the proficient and technically qualified Secretary’s appointment. The result: the Competition Act, passed by both Houses of Parliament, and assented to by the President, has remained a dead letter for over a year now. And the government is simply too embarrassed to do anything about it. In the UK, the Chairman of the Commission for Technological Convergence is not a judge, but a renowned economist. And the Competition Commission there is headed by a distinguished Queen’s Counsel with special expertise in this field. Our judges should appreciate that in this technological age, the order of the day is “greater and greater expertise”. Why can the Supreme Court not oversee the decision of a tribunal or commission, manned only by technocrats? Why must they only oversee a decision of a tribunal manned by judges? After all, arbitrary awards of non-judges are scrutinised by the higher judiciary. Why can decisions of tribunals, manned by those who have never been judges, not be similarly scrutinised and vetted? The court’s “dignity” is in no way offended if it has to oversee a tribunal’s decision, manned by non-legal experts. Just as the technocrat would and must learn something from the judges, the judges too would learn and must learn from the technocrats. The ultimate saviour of an independent judiciary is the brave individual judge. If fear is infectious, so is
fearlessness! Excerpted from the Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer Foundation Lecture delivered by the writer at Kochi on June 11, 2005. |
From the visitors’ book
It has always been a worthwhile experience for me to go through the old visitors’ books at the historic officers’ mess at Phillaur. Apart from affording wonderful glimpses into history, they showcase some excellent specimen of English wit and satire if one went through the pages of first half of the twentieth century. Opening with a notable remark from Hector (“hectoring”) Dennys, the then IGP of Punjab in December 1915 —“With grateful thanks for many happy days” — in spite of the ambient World War I travails, it contains so many interesting observations on the life spent at Phillaur. AWN Whitehead, an IP officer, remembered the mess for “delicious barley water!”. K.D. Wagstaffe a police probationer came from Kasur for his riding test and rounded up by remarking: “A good show although some people found the wall of the riding school too high”. What was perhaps most interesting was the record of a flirtatious exchange of banter between W.H. Woods and Miss Audrey Toms. Finding each other quite noticeable at the Police Training School Mr Woods remarks in the strain of a male chauvinist: “Jolly boys but a bit advanced”. Blessed with irrepressible wit Miss Tom replies: “Jolly girls but much more advanced”. God alone knows how far they went ahead in repartee. F. Boatman on his retirement from police service records in the “profession” column “late Indian Police” and hastens on to remark: “I regretted the word ‘late’.” H.M.D. Scott remembered Phillaur for “excellent oranges” and H.W. Hale, a former Principal, mentioned only “Phillaur plus dogs”. The Indian counterparts compared to the British have been either too prolix in their remarks writing almost an inspection note in the “remarks” column or too reticent — almost to the extent of being impudent. One remark which stands out in the book comes from Mr Ashwani Kumar, IP, the first Indian Principal and later on the Police chief of Punjab. As DIG Jalandhar Range in March 1956 Mr Kumar visited the mess and after a comfortable stay wrote: “Ate like a pig and slept like a log”. Long live Mr
Kumar.
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Water loss by grain exports
Other costs apart, it takes about 1,326 litres of water on the evapo-transipration basis, to produce one kilogram of wheat. On the water application basis, the requirement is 3,168 litres. Rice takes at least double the water the wheat requires to produce one kg. of grains. In 2003-04, Punjab exported 17.5 million tonnes of foodgrains — 9.3 million tonnes of wheat and 8.2 million tonnes of rice. This amounts to exporting some five hundred thousand crore gallons of water. This has been done for the last four decades. On the water application basis, the water used is over 1,100 thousand crore gallons annually. About 80 per cent of this irrigation water is pumped from the underground aquifer, because canals do not meet more than 20 per cent of the water requirements of crops in the state This water is exported free of cost because these grains are purchased at the minimum support price, which does not count for the inputs that are supplied to the farmers free. Under the flat rate system too, the cost of pumped water accounts for electricity costs only; that too the individual costs. The social costs of electricity and water do not enter into the calculations of costs of production. Since Punjab hardly consumes any of the foodgrains procured by the government, almost all of these grains move out of the state to the deficit areas of the country or are exported at a huge net loss incurred by the Government of India. Unfortunately, this export of water in the form of foodgrains is not now as welcome a commodity in the country as it used to be. Here, the issue is not the cost of production of foodgrains and the prices being remunerative or not. The question that stares at our face is the sustainability of the system and our not being sensitised enough to understand what we are doing. We need to realise the gravity of our indifference to the harm we are doing to the resource endowment of the state meant for our future generations. It is exasperating that our politico-administrative setup at the state as well as national level is so oblivious of the fast deteriorating situation of our water resources and is not willing to change its mindset and move out of the tranquility of the status quo! We are killing the goose that is laying the golden egg. It is difficult to say whether it is going by default or by design! I, however, suspect the latter. Otherwise, what is the logic in making so-called “structural corrections in food stocks”, a term coined by the Union Ministry of Agriculture, by exporting 18 million tonnes of foodgrains in less than three years at a loss of about Rs 11,000 crore? This amounts to exporting 55.5 trillion litres of mined water of Punjab at such a huge net loss. If these grains were supplied to people who go to bed empty stomach, one could see some logic in it. But, it defies logic, when the government disposes of food stocks in foreign markets at such huge losses to make so-called structural corrections. We need to realise the consequences of such a myopic approach and must stop mining our waters from the underground aquifer, and balance the withdrawal of water with its recharge. This requires improving the water-use efficiency, change in the production pattern that consumes less water and is consistent with the national demand pattern in a dynamic sense as well as sensitisation of our politico-administrative setup to adopt a policy stance that would rationalise the use of scarce water resources on a sustainable basis. This can be done only if water is considered to be a scarce social asset and is priced on the basis of metered supply of water/electric power. If any subsidy is to be given to farmers, it should be on per unit actual use, not through the flat rate system, because the flat rate system is as harmful as free supply of power in respect of over exploitation of underground water resources. Free supply of power, and even flat rate charges that encourage over-exploitation and mining of underground water amounts to no less than committing a crime on society, whatever may be the electoral compulsions of the political parties. Even for national food security reasons, Punjab does not have to per force remain an agricultural state. There is at least 20 million hectares land in the Gangetic plains that float over easily accessible sweet water for irrigation. If this area is developed through consolidation of land holdings, adequate infrastructure development and is supported technologically as well as financially, this can meet the food requirements of the country for several decades to come. Punjab on the other hand, is suffering from an acute productivity fatigue, depletion of water resources, poisoning of soils and degradation of agro-ecology. This region needs rest through adjustments in its production patterns. The extent approach to diversification and the level of effort being made in this direction does not speak of the gravity of the situation. Punjab has to diversify not only its agriculture sector, but more so, its economy. The secondary sector as well as tertiary sector based on the growth of the secondary sector must occupy the centrestage in our policy stance. |
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Wheat stocks set to fall While a drastic reduction in wheat procurement in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh during the current rabi season is imminent, revised norms have led to a never-before dip in wheat stocks below the buffer limits. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) had stocks of 40 lakh metric tonnes of wheat as on April 1, 2005. The total procurement this season from the three states would be restricted to around 150 lakh metric tonnes against the 168 lakh metric tonnes last year, taking the stock with the FCI to 190 lakh metric tonnes. However, a clearer picture would emerge once the procurement season is over in June. Punjab and Haryana together contribute nearly 85 per cent of the Central pool of wheat while the remaining stocks come from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Government of India, in a circular last month, put the normal minimum requirement of stock for the remaining period of the 10th Five Year Plan at 269 lakh metric tonnes as on July 1 of every year. The new policy lays down that out of this total, 171 lakh metric tonnes are required to be wheat and the rest rice, which is in plenty. While wheat procurement in Punjab is expected to be around 91 lakh metric tonnes against the earlier expected 100 lakh metric tonnes, it is expected to go down from 51 lakh metric tonnes to 46 lakh metric tonnes in Haryana while in UP it is likely to be less than 10 lakh metric tonnes against 17 lakh metric tonnes last year. Lower procurement is attributed to low yield on account of the untimely rain in March. The procurement has also fallen because farmers and traders have resorted to hoarding wheat in expectation of a price rise. The perceived shortage of wheat may derail crop diversification plans. Punjab Agro Industries Corporation and Hafed of Haryana are trying to diversify the cropping pattern and encouraging ‘contract farming’. The area under wheat cultivation in Haryana and Punjab during 2005-06 has decreased to 22.88 and 33.40 lakh hectares from 23.55 and 34.08 lakh hectares, respectively, during 2001-02. However, there has not been much reduction in production during the three years. The average monthly off-take of wheat is around 13 lakh metric tonnes. This will leave with the FCI a balance of 151 lakh metric tonnes on July 1, 2005, against the new buffer norm of 171 lakh metric tonnes. It is learnt that the government may allow private parties to import two million tonnes of wheat without paying any duties. Meanwhile, the market prices of wheat have started rising and may touch Rs 750 per quintal. FCI Senior Regional Manager, in Haryana, T.C. Gupta rules out any real shortage of wheat because “the procurement during the current season will fall short by just about 5 lakh metric tonnes as compared to the off-take of about 155 to 160 lakh metric tonnes during the current year. A marginal increase of 3 to 5 per cent in off-take is unlikely to pose a problem since we have 40 lakh metric tonnes of wheat in stock as on April 1, 2005. The market prices are rising because of speculation only and once it is realised that there is no real shortage of wheat, the market prices will come down.” His counterpart in Punjab, Mr K Siva Prasad, refused to comment, expressing ignorance about the changed buffer stock norms. |
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Himalayan blunder The stand of the Indian government in relation to the Nepal crisis has been far from satisfactory with every passing day it seems Indian diplomacy in relation to Nepal is utterly failing out. The Indian government doesn’t seem to have any vague idea as to how to handle the crisis in Nepal. It is, no doubt, true that the Indian government is sincere in its effort to find out a way for the reestablishment of democracy in Nepal. But the question arises at what cost? It is at the cost of our own security concerns? This is a very big question, which the UPA government at the centre needs to address. Till date the Government of India has given very confusing signals while dealing with Nepal. Across party lines in India there is a clear understanding that democracy is the right path for the stability and security of Nepal, but can the monarchy in Nepal be ignored? The monarchy in Nepal is all powerful and the Indian government cannot negate this fact as such the Indian government has to take the honourable Nepal King into its confidence while dealing with the crisis. The Government of India has already acknowledged the fact that the Maoists in Nepal pose a grave long-term danger to the Indian internal security concern. As such all efforts should be made to crush the Maoist insurgency in Nepal. The Indian government has already declared the Maoist movement as a terrorist movement. If the Government of India is sincere about its official position in relation to the Maoist, then what needs to be seen is proper implementation of its official stated policy at the ground level too. What is required immediately is the restoration of full military help to the Nepalese Army to handle the Maoist insurgents. This should, however, be packaged with an official assurance on the part of the Nepal monarch of total restoration of democracy in Nepal after the successful handling of the Maoist threat. So far the attitude of the Indian government in relation to Nepal has been extremely confusing. The recent press reports of a so-called secret conclave of Mr Karat, General Secretary of the CPI(M) with Mr Bhattarai, the second-in-command of the Maoist group in Nepal, raise serious questions which the Prime Minister should clarify. The meeting was supposed to have been organised by the IB in Delhi. The initial acknowledgement of the meeting having taken place, as reported by a paper and later on a delayed denial by Mr Karat after three days, poses a big question mark on the official stand of the Indian government in relation to Nepal. Since Mr Bhattarai is already under the high red corner notice of the Interpol, he should have been handed over to the Interpol, if at all he was in Delhi. In this whole episode the PMO has kept a stoic silence. Its now time for the PMO to clarify whether such a meeting had actually taken place and what were the reasons behind it. |
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JANUARY 28, 1891
The Khalsa College movement has received noble support from the Khalsa Chiefs. In fact when His Excellency the Viceroy, His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief and His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor patronised the movement, its success from a pecuniary point of view was ensured. The College Establishment Committee will soon be in a position to open the College, and will be confronted with the important question as to where the College is to be located. This question has already begun to exercise the minds of the Sikh community. There are some people- particularly European gentlemen and a few Sikh gentlemen of the “patriotic” persuasion interested in the movement-who wish to have the College at Lahore. But the general Sikh opinion is that the College bearing the name of Khalsa should be at Amritsar, the headquarters of the Khalsa. And we are of the same opinion too. Of course there would be no great difference if the College be established at Lahore or Amritsar; but still the sentiments of the people should be respected. |
The Buddha will not die; the Buddha will continue to live in the holy body of law. — The Buddha Leisure is a beautiful garment, but it will not do for constant wear. — Anon
It is always better to forsake false beliefs. — Swami Dayanand Saraswati Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning. — Benjamin Disraeli
All other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not the science of honesty and good nature. — Montaigne Birth is the conjunction of the soul with the body and death their disjunction. — Swami Dayanand Saraswati Alms, charity and religious observances cannot equal the contemplation of God’s name.
— Guru Nanak  |
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It’s a bad wheat season this year. Falling procurement of foodgrains coupled with the Ministry of Food and Consumer
Affairs, changing policy regarding buffer norms have alarmed the country. Suggestions of importing wheat are doing the rounds in the ministry.