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Scams and the system Lawyers are in the wrong |
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Mining mania in Haryana
Politics of slums
Indian Idle
VAT, octroi can’t go together Root vegetable that’s hard
to beet US court upholds assisted suicide law
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Scams and the system ONE will have to stretch one’s memory really hard to remember when Parliament and the public had a constructive debate on any policy issues last. Most of the time of the two august Houses and public debate in the media and elsewhere is frittered away in slanging matches/disruptions/ walkouts and, worse, over the scams and scandals which crop up faster than mushrooms. Since this has been going on for years now, the country today resembles a ship adrift and at the mercy of waves and storms. Obviously, this is affecting the health of the nation and some thinking and correctives are long overdue. Yet, the people’s representatives are merrily engaged in squabbles — petty or otherwise — smudging the blueprint for the future. Since almost all parties have scamsters in their ranks, thanks to the prevailing lack of principles and values, widespread corruption and criminalisation of politics, they seem to welcome the outbreak of a new scandal, considering that it deflects attention away from the misdeeds of their own men. It appears as if a scam by members of one party is an excuse for those of another to indulge in a bigger racket. The question is how long this sorry state of affairs can continue and the political system withstand the strains it is coming under. Things have already gone too far and India is no longer in a position to take this overload. Ironically, even an exposure of scams and scandals — through means fair or foul—never ends in due punishment being meted out to the real culprits. The impression among the general public is that the political class stands exempted from the consequences of indulging in such patently unethical-cum-illegal activities. Whether it is Tehelka, Telgi or the Taj, the fodder and now Bofors, either all the truth has not come out or the guilty have not been punished. In such a dismal scenario, can the public be entirely faulted for being a tax defaulter, when everyone knows full well that a major chunk of his or her hard-earned money paid as tax will go towards lining the private pockets of politicians who even charge for asking questions in Parliament? We have a Prime Minister whose honesty and integrity are beyond reproach. Ideally, he should have no occasion to defend his colleagues for one reason or another, but carry on with his onerous tasks. He will win more admirers by going ahead and being a reformer than an apologist.
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Lawyers are in the wrong THE manner in which some lawyers at Delhi’s Tis Hazari Courts have been on strike since January 2 in protest against the creation of a court in Rohini, a Delhi suburb, cannot be justified. It was irresponsible on their part to have raised slogans in front of the Supreme Court on January 4. This kind of behaviour was wholly unbecoming of the profession. The continued strike has paralysed the functioning of the courts in Delhi and is causing untold hardship to litigants. It is hard to understand how a new court will affect the lawyers’ interests. On the contrary, it would help litigants coming to Delhi from far off places and speed up the dispensation of justice. The Delhi High Court has rightly condemned the strike and passed a resolution, excerpts of which were carried in The Tribune (Oped Page, January 18). Significantly, it has directed the judges not to buckle under pressure and dispense justice in the courts whether the lawyers were present or not. To meet the grave situation created by the strike, the High Court has issued a set of guidelines to the judges on how to pass orders without the assistance of lawyers in the cases listed before them. Strikes by lawyers holding society to ransom are totally unacceptable. Moreover, the Supreme Court has time and again ruled that lawyers have no right to go on strike or give a call for boycott, not even for a token strike. Specifically, the apex court ruled that the lawyers could be barred from practice if they resorted to strike. In an important judgement in May 2003, a five-Judge Constitution Bench headed by the then Chief Justice, Justice V.N. Khare, ruled that if a lawyer holding a vakalatnama of a client abstains from attending to court in response to a strike call, he shall be personally liable to pay costs. This will be in addition to damages which he might have to pay his client for the loss suffered by him. The lawyers should see reason and call off the strike in public interest. They do not enjoy the support of the people whom they are supposed to serve.
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Mining mania in Haryana IF illegal mining continues in Haryana despite a change in the government, the frequent interventions by the Supreme Court and a relentless campaign by the media and eminent personalities like Swami Agnivesh, it only shows how influential the mafia behind it is. The widely known nexus of mine owners, contractors and politicians is so powerful that no matter which party is in power, the money-spinning nefarious exercise goes on unchecked. A son of a former Haryana Chief Minister was known for his active involvement in mining. Now reports suggest that a Faridabad-based political family is patronising this business. It is against this family-blessed mafia, active in Haryana’s Mewat district, that Swami Agnivesh plans to campaign. How the laws are violated and the rules twisted for profit is well known. Companies acquire mining rights in certain areas, but extend their areas of operation with official patronage. After the Supreme Court came out strongly against quarrying, certain companies put up public notices that they had closed down, but continued operations in reality. The loss is not just to the exchequer for evasion of taxes, which in itself is huge, there are other illegalities perpetrated with impunity. Through unsafe and unauthorised mining, there is exploitation of labour. Those engaged in this hazardous activity suffer from respiratory diseases with no medical help at hand. As farmers lease out land to miners for small profit, their lands’ fertility deteriorates. The massive quarrying in mountains and river beds threatens the ecological balance. The government is not blind to the damage excessive mining can cause; it only lacks the will to act. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has to take steps to ensure that the mining mafia does not get the upper hand.
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Every man is wanted, and no man is wanted much. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Politics of slums IF one wants to know how deeply India is poisoned at heart and contaminated at soul, one should study the phenomenon of slums, induced squatting and illegal constructions in its cities. In essence, the cities are the spiritual workshops of the nation and they mirror the mind and motivation of the people. In our cities, we can see more clearly than anywhere else how moral chaos and confusion is creeping, like cancerous cells, into the machinery of governance and how a corrupt coalition of selfish elements — from politics, the bureaucracy and the citizenry — is rapidly extending its sway over civic and national affairs and how even the top leadership of the country remains unmindful of the huge damage that the continued proliferation of slums, squatting and illegal constructions are causing. Already, the Indian cities are among the most indisciplined, and they have the largest and the worst slums of the world. They have the highest rate of road accidents per 1000 vehicles. Over the years, in our urban areas, particularly metropolitan cities, strong groups of grabbers of public land have emerged. They, in connivance with unhealthy political elements, occupy sizeable chunks of public land illegally and set up, usually with the aid of slum lords, what are called “jhuggi-jhompri” colonies. These colonies have a large number of residential units and quite a few commercial and industrial ones. All the three — the squatters, the slum-lords and the political elements — combine to constitute a mutually self-serving network. The squatters get free occupation of land, free use of municipal services like water and access to free electricity by way of illegal tapping from the streetlighting system. The slum-lords derive huge pecuniary benefits by way of renting out a portion of land. The political elements, besides listing slum-lords as their free political workers and securing finances from shops and factories, create huge blocks of “bonded” voters which significantly improve their chances of winning elections, be they of a local body or state legislature or Parliament. On the other hand, the responsible political elements in public life who oppose such pernicious activities, including blatant violations of laws and merciless ravages of the cities, not only get the block hostility of the “created voters” and threats from the slum-lords and their musclemen, but also run the additional risk of being dubbed as anti-poor in general. Clearly, the three actors — the squatters, the slum-lords and the political elements — form a “coalition of illegalities” in which they reinforce one another’s vested interests. The subordinate local officials of the police and civic bodies are also roped in by way of “bhatta”, that is, a predetermined fixed amount paid regularly as bribe. Thus, a network of corruption also comes into being. Ironically, such “coalitions” of illegalities and such networks of corruption are virtually recognised by the Election Commission, which has otherwise been amending rules after rules and issuing instructions after instructions to ensure purity and fairness of the means employed by the candidates seeking elections and political parties sponsoring them. Why should it not debar from participating in the election process all those who commit gross violations of laws, rely on corrupt practices and employ unfair and impure means? Strangely, if there is an individual act of illegality or corrupt practice, the Election Commission takes action. But it chooses to look the other way if there are mass violations and mass corrupt practices which knock out the very basis of purity and fairness. An equally pernicious and widespread phenomenon, similar to that of unauthorised occupation of public land, is the illegal construction of additional space in private properties. Herein, the land and building mafia, the landlord of the property, the buyer of the additional space, the tenant who rents the space and the political elements who support the illegal activities, all constitute a self-serving network. The constituents of this network develop a strong vested interest, as everyone of them gains from it in one way or the other. These gains act as a cementing force among the constituents of the network and they all vote in favour of the political elements who support such activities. More often than not, the political elements themselves are no other than the sponsors of the land and building mafias. As in the case of unauthorised occupation of public land, the staff of the local body is also roped in by way of bribes or influence of political elements for threats of the mafia. Huge multi-storeyed buildings come up, where one storey or two could have been constructed. Several crores are thus made illegally at the expense of the environment and civic amenities. The Election Commission takes no notice of this network, though the entire phenomenon is saturated with illegalities and malpractices. Apart from destroying the purity and fairness of the election procedures, it provides huge ill-gotten money and other resources to the political elements and thus not only puts the honest political elements at a disadvantage but also strengthens further the forces of corruption in society. Much bewailing about the spread of corruption goes on in the media and at other public fora, but hardly anyone realises that corruption cannot be eliminated or curtailed as long as it yields rich pecuniary, political and electoral dividends without any risk of being brought to book by anyone, not even by those who hold constitutionally protected offices. Since the power of the corrupt goes on increasing in the electoral system, honest persons continue to go out of it. Fortunately, the intervention of the higher judiciary has sometimes been sought and its directions to the executive obtained, as recently happened with regard to the demolition of illegal buildings in Delhi. Admittedly, government by judges is not an attribute of healthy governance, but it is necessary in view of the conditions obtaining today, when both the executive and the legislature are virtually abetting large-scale infringement of the laws which, ironically, they have themselves enacted. I have no doubt that if the higher judiciary had not intervened in certain cases, our cities would have been more disorderly, our environment more degraded, our monuments more abused and our people more cynical than they are at present. We should also ask ourselves a fundamental question: What sorts of people are we? These days, as a major cause for poor and corrupt governance, we often hear of the failure of the institutions — failure of the executive, Parliament and other semi-public organisations. But we rarely hear of the failure that lies at the root of the these failures, that is, the failure of “we — the people”. It is we — at least a substantial number of us — who have first to drain out poison from our hearts and remove contamination from our souls. Then alone will a new building block for a new national edifice be available. The writer is a former Union Minister of Urban Development.
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Indian Idle GONE are the days when
the common man had to wait for five years to cast that one vote. The man in the street now has a chance to vote almost five days a week. All thanks to the rash of reality shows on the tube. Reality TV has given rise to a new vote bank. That which exercises its power not through the ballot box but the idiot box. In this new Great Indian Voting Challenge, the SMS has overtaken the EVM (electronic voting machine) by a thumb-ing majority. Right now, the world’s largest democracy is busy casting its vote for new leaders. Not those who roam the Central Hall of Parliament, but those who’ll enter the Hall of Fame. From “Fame Gurukul” and “Nach Baliye” to “The Great Indian Laughter Challenge” and “Indian Idol 2”, India is going truly mobile to exercise its vote. And from Srinagar to Salem and Kota to Kolkata, the Indians are leaving no button unpressed to ring in a new order. Move over the Laloos and Vajpayees. The Abhijeet Sawants and Surinder Pals are now the new poster boys of vote politics. And the latest constituencies going to the polls are none other than our living rooms, where “har seat” is “hot seat”. Reality TV has redefined election jargon. It now goes beyond the battle of the ballot. Here is the new poll code decoded: “India has voted and the winners are….” This is not a Prannoy Roy building suspense while announcing election outcome on the small screen. It’s Mandira Bedi who has pulses racing, not just for what her noodle straps already reveal, but for the Fame Jodi No1 results she’s about to reveal. If the “Kashmir factor” swings the popular vote, it means that the J&K boy Qazi Tauqeer has swept the poll in a reality show. When contenders win by a “heavy margin”, it stands for their victory over robust rivals on the sets of “Nach Baliye”. The “model code of conduct” is violated when an Avijit tries to sabotage the chances of a fellow contestant and gets voted out of “Fame Gurukul”. “A humiliating defeat” is not just about losing at the hustings. It’s the humiliation that a participant suffers on getting a tongue-lashing from judge Anu Malik in “Indian Idol 2.” And “booth capturing” takes place in the living room-turned-polling station when family members try to snatch the remote from your hands just as you’re memorising the number flashing on the tube at which you have to SMS your vote. With this slew of reality shows keeping the nation busy voting in the idle time, the Indian Idle in front of the small screen is finally getting centrestage. And I’m in the reckoning for Indian Idle
too.
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VAT, octroi can’t go together THE Punjab Government is going to announce soon the abolition of octroi. In the changed scenario of the VAT-regime, the abolition of octroi is a sound economic principle. But as the government wants to get political mileage out of its abolition, it may become bad politics. In a true VAT-regime (both at the Centre and state levels), octroi along with other commodity taxes will have to go because the latter are not in tune with the former. VAT has been implemented in the country after a long struggle. Our traditional commodity tax system implied tax on tax, commonly known as the cascading effect of tax. In the pre-VAT era whenever a tax, say sales tax, was imposed on a commodity, it was automatically levied even on the amount of taxes, which had already been paid. Which is why now the payment of VAT by the dealers/sellers at the final stage allows them the refund of taxes paid at earlier stages. So far the state-VAT in our country has replaced only the sales tax, while the Cen-VAT has replaced the Union excise duty. But ultimately VAT implies that a single tax is to be levied only on the value-added component of a commodity at different stages of production/distribution and not on the amount of commodity taxes, including octroi, which if already paid, has to be refunded. A number of committees and commissions have identified octroi as regressive, anachronistic and undesirable tax and have recommended its abolition. In India only a few states like Punjab are continuing with this outmoded tax, which has now become inconsistent in the VAT-regime. The most crucial issue is the proposed replacement of octroi by such commodity taxes as turnover tax, entry tax and local area development tax. These alternatives were suggested by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in a study got conducted by the Punjab Government. But this study refers to the pre-VAT scenario, when there were multiple commodity taxes. When in the post-VAT regime we are moving towards a zero cascading effect of tax, these taxes have no place. Moreover, after signing SAFTA and other international trade agreements it has become crucial to avoid the cascading effect of tax so as to reap the full benefits of globalisation. For taking VAT to its logical end, we have to ultimately move to an integrated goods and service tax, where even Cen-VAT and State-VAT will become redundant. The logic that octroi constitutes a sizeable source of revenue for the municipalities is not tenable. In 2003-04 the municipalities in Punjab earned a total income of Rs 781 crore, of which octroi constituted Rs 481 crore, i.e. 61 per cent. It means the municipalities earn about 40 per cent from non-octroi sources like property tax, which is much more progressive and equitable than octroi. The imposition of octroi is also a bone of contention among influential sections of society. Whenever municipal limits of a city are extended they put pressure on the government to protect their business interests by artificially restricting the municipal limits, thus depriving the municipalities of their legitimate share in revenue. However, in case of property tax there would be less pressure. Further, tax evasion in case of property tax is more visible and monitorable, whereas evasion in case of octroi is invisible and the amount of tax evaded could be anybody’s guess. Further, to enhance collections from property tax a complete survey of residential and other properties being used for commercial purposes like schools, daycare centres, beauty parlors, nursing homes, paying guests, PCO & STD centres, shops, marriage palaces, banquet halls, etc, should be conducted. Tax on the unauthorised use of properties can yield a sizeable income. Then spacious houses can also be retaxed. Even one-time settlement of property tax arrears can boost the municipal revenue. Even profession tax on unaided private schools, doctors, lawyers, cable operators etc can yield a considerable income to the municipalities. Then schools and other commercial undertakings, having their own transport system, can be charged on per seat basis and the money so collected may be transferred to a municipal core fund, which can be created to reimburse the loss on account of octroi abolition. Then there are many non-tax sources of municipal revenue in Punjab, whose revision is long overdue. For example, the fee for issuing a birth certificate can be rounded off to Rs 10 (at present it is Rs 7) and for male child it can be increased to Rs. 50 in municipal corporations and A-class municipalities. The licence fee for opening a commercial establishment, which is charged at a flat rate of Rs. 100, can be made more progressive. In fact, an item-by-item analysis of these sources will reveal the potential for additional resource mobilisation by the municipalities. Further, a mere 8-10 per cent increase in taxes like state excise duty can substantially compensate the loss from octroi abolition. Even a mere 5-6 per cent surcharge or cess on VAT can wipe out the entire octroi loss. The argument given against the abolition of octroi that the municipal staff will become surplus is also not logical. Where does this staff go whenever octroi is privatised. Most of the municipal services in Punjab have to be privatised sooner or later. Already street lighting solid waste collection and disposal, sanitation, upkeep of urban parks, etc have been privatised. For proper monitoring the delivery system the existing staff can be employed after some reorientation. And to fix responsibility, these officials can be asked to give a certificate in connection with the completion of work/service. The buildings of octroi posts can also be used as complaint centres where an ordinary resident can easily lodge complaints against faulty services. In fact the abolition of octroi is sound economics but since it is being used as a political tool it would become bad politics. ———— The writer is the UGC Emeritus Fellow, Department of Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala.
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Root vegetable that’s hard
to beet THE humble beetroot has always been a bit of a poor relation to other, trendier species in the vegetable world. Perhaps it is because of its association with war-time rationing (it was often used as a substitute for soft fruit in jam). Perhaps it’s the memory of the cheap pickled variety that adorned school dinners (and its irritating side-effect: the indelible red stains). Whatever the reason, it has never had quite the cachet of, say, fennel or artichokes. Now all that is changing. Beetroot has now been anointed by health experts as a “superfood” — virtually fat free, rich in iron and magnesium and possibly cancer-preventing to boot. It even boasts its own diet — in which followers have to eat beetroot three times a day, alongside other vegetables and whole foods. Dismiss it as yet another food fad if you will, but Warwickshire County Cricket Club adopted the Beetroot Diet in 2004 - and won the county championship that season. It is also rich in folic acid, which is known to be helpful in reducing the risks of birth defects if taken before conception and in the early stages of pregnancy. The weight-conscious actress may also have appreciated the vegetable’s lack of fat and the fact that there are only 36 calories per 100 grams. In addition to B vitamins, iron and zinc, beetroot is a good source of vitamins A and C, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium, as well as protein and fibre. Researchers have recently labelled the vegetable a “mood food” because it contains a compound called betaine that is known to relax the mind and help with depression. And there have even been claims that beetroot could be Nature’s Viagra, as it has high levels of the mineral boron, which has a role in the production of sex hormones. Yes, beetroot is now much more Jamie Oliver than school dinners. 10 things you never knew about beetroot * Its Latin name is Beta vulgaris and it is part of the Chenopodiaceae family of vegetables, which includes Swiss chard and spinach. As well as the root, which can be baked or boiled, the leaves are edible and can be either eaten in salad, or steamed. * It originated in the Mediterranean in pre-Christian times and was often left as an offering to the god Apollo at his temple in Delphi. * The world’s heaviest beetroot weighed 23.4kg (51.48lb) and was grown by Ian Neale from Somerset in 2001. * Beetroot — which is related to the sugar beet — has one of the highest sugar contents of any vegetable. Up to 10 per cent of beetroot is sugar, but it is released slowly into the body rather than the sudden rush that results from eating chocolate. * Pickled beetroot became popular after the Second World War, when farmers began growing crops in the summer as well as winter. * The Russians use beetroot to make a soup called borscht, and in Australia, it is a popular topping for burgers. * English folklore states that if a man and a woman eat from the same beet, they will fall in love. * The Elizabethans prepared beetroot by wiping it with fresh dung before cooking it. * The red pigment in beetroot — betaline — is used as a food colouring in a wide range of foods, including frozen pizzas, tomato paste and strawberry ice cream. * Beetroot was first used as a vegetable dye in the 16th century — later, the Victorians used it as a hair colouring.
— The Independent
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US court upholds assisted suicide law THE Supreme Court upheld Oregon’s law on physician-assisted suicide on Tuesday, ruling that the Justice Department may not punish doctors who help terminally ill patients end their lives. By a vote of 6 to 3, the court ruled that Attorney General John Ashcroft exceeded his legal authority in 2001 when he threatened to prohibit doctors from prescribing federally controlled drugs if they authorized lethal doses of the medications under the Oregon Death With Dignity Act. The ruling struck down one of the administration’s signature policies regarding what President Bush calls the “culture of life’’ and lifts the last legal cloud over the state’s law, which is unique in the nation. It also frees other states to follow in Oregon’s footsteps, unless Congress acts to the contrary. Conservatives reacted angrily to the ruling. Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit litigation group founded by Pat Robertson, called it “a disturbing and dangerous decision that can only lessen the value of protecting human life.’’ But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called it “a significant victory for Oregon’s voters,’’ who twice approved the Death With Dignity Act in statewide referendums. Looking ahead to possible Republican efforts to change federal law, Wyden said, “I will fight tooth and nail any congressional attempts to overturn this court ruling.’’ A Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll released Jan. 5 found that 46 percent of Americans support a right to assisted suicide while 45 percent oppose it. Assisting suicide is a crime in 44 states and the District of Columbia. In three states—North Carolina, Utah and Wyoming—the law neither prohibits nor permits assisted suicide. Ohio’s Supreme Court has decriminalized assisted suicide, but state regulations do not condone it. Although frequently described as a “right to die’’ case, Gonzales vs. Oregon was not, strictly speaking, about the constitutional right to end one’s own life. The court has already ruled, in 1997, that there is no such right and did not revisit that holding Tuesday. Instead, Justice Anthony Kennedy noted in the majority opinion that the question was whether Ashcroft acted in accordance with the Controlled Substances Act when he issued an “interpretive rule’’ in 2001, declaring that assisting suicide is not a “legitimate medical purpose’’ for which federally regulated drugs may lawfully be prescribed. Ashcroft’s successor, Alberto Gonzales, has continued the policy. Kennedy was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer. In dissent, Scalia argued that Ashcroft had acted well within his legal powers. “If the term legitimate medical purpose has any meaning, it surely excludes the prescription of drugs to produce death,’’ Scalia wrote. The Oregon Death With Dignity Act was first adopted by the state’s voters in 1994. It permits doctors to prescribe, but not administer, a lethal dose to a terminally ill patient who requests it, provided that the patient is mentally competent. State voters rejected a challenge to the law in 1997; two efforts to override it in Congress, supported by Ashcroft when he was a senator, failed. President Bill Clinton’s attorney general, Janet Reno, declined to act against the law. Between 1997 and 2004, 208 people ended their lives by physician-assisted suicide in Oregon.
— LA Times-Washington Post
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From the pages of Lala Lajpat Rai’s illness It is with the deepest regret we learn that the state of Lala Lajpat Rai’s health has during the last few days been steadily going from bad to worse. The latest report is that his case is now definitely regarded as one of phthisis. If this report is well-founded, we warn the Government with all the strength and earnestness in our power that it will be incurring a terrible responsibility by not releasing Lala Lajpat Rai immediately. The policy that its officers have in some cases followed with regard to prisoners in the same condition of health as Lala Lajpat Rai, that of either taking no heed of nature’s warning until the worst had happened or releasing them when it was too late, is one which, on the face of it, would be incredibly foolish in this case. Even an unimaginative bureaucracy ought to know that if anything untoward should happen in this case, either through an act of omission or commission on its part, the country, to put it mildly, would never forget it.
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Do your duty to the best of your ability without worrying about the results. A farmer has control over how he works his land, yet no control over the harvest. But, he cannot expect a harvest if he does not work his land. —Bhagvad Gita Do you think that God resides in the big temples of marble and gold? He resides equally in the little earthen temple under the banayan tree. —Sanatana Dharma “Their works are like a mirage on a plain”: Works emanating from human folly are based on subjective considerations and thus ultimately prove objectively insubstantial. —Islam Think before you act. When the fruit of your deed can come before you, will you receive them gladly and happily? If you do, then it is a deed
well done. —The Buddha Two pieces of stone rubbed together can make fire. Who put the fire in the stone? —Sanatana Dharma
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