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Maoists in the mainstream Eviction time |
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Applying precedents
Year of the farmer
“Tamatar”
Against the dole Guns fall silent in Somalia’s capital Chatterati
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Maoists in the mainstream THIS must be a rare instance of the triumph of both hope and experience. The decision of the Maoists to end their 10-year insurgency and join an interim government vindicates the hope that they would partner the Seven-Party Alliance in giving new direction, and content, to Nepalese democracy. The historic eight-point agreement between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist supremo Prachanda shows that the experience of mainstream parties with the rebels so far is positively tilted in favour of wider participation in mainstream politics. The Maoists’ declared readiness to join hands with the SPA to build a new democracy is an extraordinary—even global—landmark. The South Asian, and particularly the Indian, experience of communist participation in parliamentary politics has broken new ground in political inclusiveness. The developments in Nepal go further in that it was a joint struggle against a repressive king, who has been stripped of all power. He may not even have a ceremonial role if the new constitution decrees Nepal to be a republican state. The Koirala-Prachanda pact is a decisive advance: both sides have agreed to form a new interim government based on an interim constitution to pave the way for election of a constituent assembly. The Maoists have agreed to dissolve their local governments and committed themselves to free and fair elections, human rights and press freedom. There is reason to be optimistic that, having come so far to join hands with the political parties, the Maoists would go the remaining mile to renounce their aim for an armed revolution. It is now a certainty that the present Parliament would be dissolved, and the interim government formed as early as within a month. Mr Koirala has shown himself to be a leader who is determined to seize both the moment and the mood created by the movement for democracy to meet popular expectations in the widest sense. These attempts for a revival of democracy and competitive multi-party politics in Nepal deserve the support of both India and the international community.
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Eviction time Lutyen’s Delhi will undergo quite a change if the political parties are evicted out of their offices and asked to move to RK Puram, Mehrauli, Badarpur or wherever. The step is being taken in keeping with the instructions of the Supreme Court and it is hoped that the parties will not act like squatters as some of their MPs did. Some of the parties have opposed the move and demanded that they should be in the thick of things, close to Parliament and other such institutions in the heart of the city, but they should realise that party offices in bungalows meant for residential purposes are a source of constant annoyance. Their location in the new institutional areas will involve commuting some distance but that is a small price to pay for preserving the residential character of the area. There is opposition from some quarters that the guidelines to calculate the size of the plots to be given to various parties have been so drawn as to benefit the ruling party. The largest four-acre plots are to be given only to parties which have a combined strength of more than 200 in both Houses of Parliament. Only the Congress qualifies on that count. But some cut-off yardstick just has to be applied. The real problem will arise on another count. The strength of parties keeps changing in every election. Supposing the BJP goes beyond the 200-mark in a future election. It will immediately start clamouring for bigger accommodation. Regional parties from smaller states will also be always at a disadvantage. Or, will they encroach on the neighbour’s plot? Now that the parties have got highly prized chunks of land for running their affairs in the national Capital, perhaps they should spare a thought for the housing needs of the common man also whom they represent. Ordinary citizens have been done in by the rising prices of roti and kapda itself. The phenomenal increase in the rates of real estate has put makaan out of their dreams. Perhaps, the Cabinet will do something for the forgotten people who send MPs to Delhi with some purpose beyond acquiring property.
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Applying precedents THE Supreme Court’s directive to the
High Courts and the subordinate judiciary on Thursday to interpret the previous judgements correctly while examining cases coming before them for decision has not come a day too soon. This guideline has immense importance because if a court wrongly applies the previous judgement while dealing with a current case, it can result in gross miscarriage of justice and consequently defeat the very purpose of the institution of judiciary. The issue in question specifically pertains to a ruling given by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The apex court ruled that the High Court had wrongly applied a previous judgement in Faridabad-based firm AGM Management Services’ case to draw an inference even though the facts of the present case did not exactly fit in with those of the earlier. The apex court set aside the impugned judgement of the High Court which quashed the order of the Faridabad Deputy Commissioner, and also of the Sub-Registrar, refusing to register sale deeds without having “no objection certificates” from the office of the District and Town Planners, Faridabad. The Supreme Court Bench consisting of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice Altamas Kabir made it clear that the courts should not consider judicial pronouncements or observations of the court made from time to time as the statute itself. Just as there is a clear line of demarcation between judicial pronouncements and provisions of the statute, the courts should differentiate between interpretation and definition of the law. Moreover, if the judges, in an earlier ruling, had made an elaborate discussion of the case, it was done for purposes of explaining or interpreting the case properly, and not defining the law. The Bench has rightly asked how an interpretation of the statute can be construed as a provision of the statute. This judgement is pathbreaking because the Supreme Court sought to demarcate the domains of the judiciary and the legislature. It maintained that the courts are only the interpreters of the law enacted by the legislature and not the lawmakers themselves. While elucidating the matter of applying precedents, the apex court ruled that a precedent should be followed only so far as it marks “the path of justice” and not otherwise.
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Reasons are not like garments, the worse for wearing. — Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex
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Year of the farmer
TO restore farmers’ faith in farming, the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) has recommended that the agricultural year 2006-07 (June 1, 2006, to May 31, 2007) may be observed as the Year of the Farmers. The steps recommended by the NCF are simple, doable and affordable. They, however, need a change in the mindset from the one which regards farmers as “beneficiaries” of small government programmes, to that which treats them as partners in development and custodians of food security and national pride. Integrated action on the following five points will help to get our agriculture back on the rails. First, undertake soil enhancement through integrated measures in improving soil organic matter and macro-and-micronutrient content as well as physics and the microbiology of the soil. Gujarat has already issued Soil Health Cards to farm facilities, and other states can do likewise. Second, promote water harvesting, conservation and efficient and equitable use by empowering Gram Sabhas to function as Pani Panchayats. Such Pani Panchayats should foster the establishment of community-managed water banks and the recharge of the aquifer. A sustainable water security system should be put in place, particularly in rainfed areas lacking assured irrigation facility. This will be facilitated by mandatory water harvesting and greater attention to dryland farming. Third, initiate immediately credit reforms coupled with credit and insurance literacy. The Finance Minister has announced a reduction in the interest on short-term loans to 7 per cent, but this should be regarded as the first step in a series of measures, including the revitalisation of the cooperative credit system. Credit support should include attending to the credit needs of farm families for agricultural, health and domestic needs in a holistic manner. Also, in the chronically drought-prone areas, the credit repayment cycle should be extended to four or five years. Credit delivery systems should be engendered since only a small proportion of women cultivators have been issued Kisan Credit Cards in spite of the increasing feminisation of agriculture. Adequacy and timelines of credit availability are vital for institutional credit to be meaningful to small farmers. Four, bridge the growing gap between scientific “knowhow” and field level “do-how” both in the production and post-harvest phases of farming, through a slew of measures — including the training of one woman and one male member for every panchayat as Farm Science Managers; establishing farm schools in the fields of outstanding farmer-achievers; adding a post-harvest technology and agro-processing wing in every Krishi Vigyan Kendra; and organising nationwide lab-to-land demonstrations in the areas of agricultural diversification, food processing and value-addition. In addition, knowledge connectivity as proposed under Bharat Nirman should be accomplished by establishing Village Knowledge Centres throughout the country. Small farmers should not be subjected to administrative and academic experiments in the area of crop diversification, without first linking the farmer with the market for the new commodities. “Crop-livestock-fish” integrated production systems are ideal for small farmers since this can also facilitate organic farming. Low economic risk, high factor productivity, promotion of an integrated farming system, avoidance of ecological harm and assured income must be the bottom-line of all agricultural research and development strategies. Had we adopted a pro-small farmer biotechnology strategy, we will by now have Bt-cotton varieties, whose seeds farmers can keep and replant, unlike in the case of the hybrids marketed by private companies. Scientific strategies should include attention to both on-arm and on-farm livelihoods. We should confer the power and economy of scale on families operating one hectare or less through management structures like cooperatives or group farming as well as contract cultivation based on a win-win model of partnerships for both the producer and the purchaser. Institutional structures like small holders’ cotton, horticulture, poultry and aquaculture estates can be promoted by stimulating the formation of self-help groups at the farm level. Concurrently, we should launch an integrated rural non-farm livelihood initiative by revamping and integrating numerous isolated non-farm employment and income generation agencies such as the KVIC, Small Farmers’ Agri-business Consortium (SFAC), Textile, Leather and Food Parks, Agri-Clinics, and Agri-business Centres. Unless market-driven multiple livelihood opportunities are created, the pressure of population on land will grow, the indebtedness of small farmers will increase, and the agrarian distress will spread. Poverty will persist so long as assetless rural families remain illiterate and unskilled. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme provides a unique opportunity for imparting functional literacy using computer-aided joyful learning techniques. We should use new technologies to leapfrog in the area of human development in villages. At the same time, knowledge without access to the inputs to apply that knowledge will have no meaning. Input supply systems need review and reform. Finally, the gap between what the rural producer gets and what the urban consumer pays must be made as narrow as possible, as has been done in the case in milk under Dr V. Kurien’s leadership. The National Horticulture Board was created for this purpose over 23 years ago, but like SFAC, it also lost its way. It can only be hoped that other expensive new programmes like the Fisheries Development Board, the National Rainfed Area Authority and the National Horticultural Mission will learn from the success achieved by agencies like the National Diary Development Board, the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Atomic Energy Commission, in achieving specific goals in a time-bound manner, and benefit from a strong professional leadership. There is urgent need for a National Land Use Advisory Service, structured as a virtual organisation on a hub and spokes model, the spokes covering the major agro-climatic zones and farming systems, for providing proactive advice to farmers on land and water use though an integrated analysis of meteorological, agronomic and marketing data. There is also need for an Indian Trade Organisation whose mandate is to protect the livelihood and income security of farm and fisher families. At the same time, there should be a Risk Stabilisation Fund and a farmer-centric Minimum Support Price (MSP) and Market Intervention Scheme (MIS). Agriculture in our country is based on the technology of production by masses. As a consequence, it is the backbone of the national livelihood security system. The Indian tragedy of extensive poverty and deprivation persisting under conditions of impressive progress in the industrial and services sectors will continue to persist so long as we refuse to place faces before figures. The NCF has suggested the mainstreaming of the human dimension in all agricultural programmes and policies, the adoption by the National Development Council of the National Policy for Farmers and the establishment of a State Farmers’ Commission by every state government, in order to give voice to the voiceless in the formulation of farm policies, including the preparation of the 11th Five-Year Plan. Let the Year of the Farmer help to shape our agricultural destiny in a manner that farming once again becomes the pride of the nation on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of our Independence on August 15, 2007. The
writer is the Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers
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“Tamatar”
WHY is it that people whom you’ve spent a sizeable chunk of time with and have been close to, never come into your life again once you have moved away, while others, whom you meet only fleetingly seem to cross your path again and again? Perhaps nature allots a specific timeframe for each relationship; in some cases it takes the form of meaningful periods, while in others it is frittered away in chance, occasional meetings. At the beginning of my teaching career, I also doubled as a news reader. The other news reader, who did the news in Hindi, and I, would travel together in the AIR van and became over the months good friends, and yet, once I moved away from Lucknow we never met again and our correspondence too, soon petered out — relationships do not take kindly to being only remote controlled. I did on my two trips to Lucknow, try to meet him. But he had moved and I could not trace him. From the university I moved to my old school. Important features of the school calendar were the sports fixtures that we had with our rival school BCS Shimla. It was a soccer match and I was sitting close to the BCS goal. The pressure was on our side and the BCS goalie did not have much to do. He was a typical “Khadu”, fair, rosy cheeked, with a ready smile and we exchanged some inconsequential comments. The match finished and we went our separate ways. All that I took away was the fact that his friends called him “Tamatar”. Some years later I was travelling on a Chandigarh-Shimla bus. While I was disembarking at Dharampur, a rosy-cheeked youngster looked up at me and smiled. “Tamatar?” I asked. “Yes Sir,” he made to get to his feet. I would have liked to linger and exchange a few words but the conductor was impatient to move on. About four years later, while on our annual trek we stopped for a night at Kotkhai. The boys went to explore the town and returned bearing a bottle of whisky. “This is for you, sir. A chap called Tamatar gave it.” We left early next morning. I promised myself that I would go back to meet him. I never did. Twenty years later, my friend Kabir, then the Headmaster of BCS, celebrated his silver wedding anniversary. While helping myself to the food, I struck up a conversation with a very handsome man - not more than a sentence or two and then we moved away. Later sitting with Kabir, I talked about the Old Cottonian named Tamatar, who had crossed my path in the past, and wished I could meet him. “But you did meet him,” Kabir said. “That was Tamatar you were talking to at the dinner table.” It is six years now and I haven’t met him again. I wonder if the time allotted by nature to our relationship has finally run out. I sincerely hope
not.
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Against the dole THE unemployment allowance scheme formally kick-started by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh raises many issues. Handing over Rs 500 every month to around a million unemployed graduates and postgraduate youth registered at the Employment Exchanges across Uttar Pradesh is a daunting exercise in itself. The scale of the operation and how it will be accomplished is however, the less worrisome part. The fact that Rs 400 crore will be spent during the 2006-07 financial year on young people who may not necessarily be the most deserving candidates for investing the taxpayers’ hard-earned money, is something that needs to be addressed. Large display advertisements placed by the Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Information in the leading local newspapers declares that the allowance can be claimed by graduate and postgraduate unemployed youth “without any criteria of family income or any other condition”. Young men and women between the ages of 21 and 35, who had registered themselves with the state employment exchanges by February 28 this year, may be eligible to receive the allowance. Self employed or those with working spouses have strangely not been eliminated from the state government’s largess. Over the last few weeks, news reports about brokers doing brisk business by helping hopeful candidates acquire domicile certificates, mandatory to claim the allowance, have been appearing. In a sting operation, a local reporter, after greasing the palms of brokers, had managed to get a domicile certificate issued in the name of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of Al Qaeda who was blown up by the US forces in Iraq last week. The chief secretary has ordered a probe into the irregularity. Such miscarriage in the delivery of the scheme, however, is not really the point. What needs to be focused on is something far deeper – the apparent philosophy behind the unemployment allowances per se. Unemployment allowance or dole as it is colloquially referred to first made its appearance during the Great Depression in Britain and the US. Today, in some form, it is still prevalent among other countries in the UK, Canada, US, Poland Sweden, Australia and New Zealand. In India, the Left Front government under Jyoti Basu was the pioneer, with a Rs 50-a-month allowance for the jobless way back in 1979. Later in the early ‘90s it was hiked to a consolidated amount of Rs 2,500 for a combined period of three years. Finally, the allowance was stopped from 2001-02 due to financial constraints. There was speculation on the eve of the Assembly election in West Bengal this year that the Left Front was working on a plan to revive the allowance by effecting some changes in its previous policy. The plan was to establish whether a person is genuinely unemployed or not, and ensure that the allowance was effectively used by the person for some gainful occupation. The Left Front returned to power without the need to resort to such measures. Even in relatively prosperous Punjab unemployment allowance is disbursed at the rate of Rs 150 a month to matriculates who have not completed graduation. A sum of Rs 200 is given to graduates and above who have been registered at an Employment Exchange in Punjab continuously for at least three years. The self-employed are excluded from receiving the dole. The K Karunakaran headed UDF government of Kerala Government had introduced an unemployment allowance in the state in 1982. The monthly rate of the allowance was revised to Rs.120 from 1 April 2000. Like Punjab, Kerala also requires that the family income should not be more than Rs 12,000 a year and the person should be registered for at least three years after attaining 18 years of age. Clearly, even within the national context, the otherwise cash-starved UP offering unemployment allowance of Rs 500 per month is extremely generous. Significantly, it has taken virtually no economic criteria into account that leaves one doubting the real intentions of the ruling party in an election year. In 2000 the BJP-led NDA government in the central had in no uncertain terms ruled out any unemployment allowance to the educated unemployed in the country, stating that “we are not in a position to do so”. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha on 29 November 2000 the then Union Minister of Labour Dr Satyanarayan Jatiya had said that developed countries could do so as they had the resources. But if we look closely, even the so-called developed countries do not dole out allowances completely unconditionally. For instance, in Finland, an unemployment allowance is payable for up to 500 days only. Included in the long list of disqualifying conditions is being self-employed or a private entrepreneur There are lessons to be learnt from Australia and New Zealand. In an effort to restore job seekers’ confidence, arrest a culture of despair, and expand the skills of the long-term unemployed, the Australian Federal Government since 1997 has had a ‘Work for the Dole’ programme much on the lines of ‘Work for Food’ programme. The programme offers individuals on unemployment benefits six-month’s work on community and other projects consisting of two-days work a week in return for a range of training benefits and continued unemployment payments. Activities can include caring for people at community centers, lending a hand in community-based construction projects, assisting with natural disaster efforts, participating in environmental research and fieldwork projects, recording local history, and more. As the Australian government brochure explains, this was to promote a “philosophy of mutual obligation and to encourage the development of a positive work culture.” Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh, the Rs 400 crore a year could have been invested to develop a mechanism to motivate the huge human resource of educated unemployed to play a truly catalyst role. Instead of passively receiving a dole they could have been activated to devote a fraction of their valuable time to the so many unfinished social tasks before the state.
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Guns fall silent in Somalia’s capital MOGADISHU — The thugs manning the roadblocks are gone. The warlords are on the run. And the guns in a city long regarded as among the world’s most heavily armed have fallen silent. Most, in fact, have disappeared from view. Since Islamic militias took control of this city last week, U.S. and other Western officials have worried that Mogadishu’s new leaders would impose a severe, Taliban-style government and harbor terrorists. But after 15 years of deadly chaos, residents interviewed here expressed nothing short of jubilation that somebody has made their city safe, and that for now, the daily crackle of gunfire is finally gone. Anxiety remains, both about the militias’ ability to maintain order and about the possibility that extremist elements within the movement will go too far in imposing Islamic rule. Residents speak of a wave of cinema closings in the first days after the militias took control of the city June 5. Rumors have circulated that public showings of the televised World Cup soccer tournament would be banned. But on this Friday night in Mogadishu, sounds of the match between the Netherlands and Ivory Coast floated through the city. The streets bustled with activity. The city’s largest market, near the site where two U.S. helicopters crashed in 1993, as depicted in the movie “Black Hawk Down,” hummed with business. Mogadishu, the oceanside Somali capital with a population of more than 1 million, remains an impoverished, devastated city of cracked pavement and ruined buildings. After the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, the city’s warlords began fighting one another, creating a humanitarian disaster. With U.N. authority, the United States and other countries intervened militarily in 1992, but continuing violence led them to abandon it to its anarchy three years later. Somalia became one of the world’s most profoundly failed states, without a central government, public schools, a police force, a national army or laws. Warlords set up roadblocks throughout the city to exact tolls. Murders, robberies, rapes and kidnappings became endemic. Every family of consequence and every major business armed its own militia, which traveled the city flanked by pickup trucks mounted with antiaircraft guns. Pirates on speedboats hounded ships near the city’s ports. Out of this chaos grew the Islamic courts that now rule Mogadishu. They started as neighborhood tribunals that doled out often-harsh punishments but began to calm the city’s notoriously rampant crime. As a semblance of order took hold, residents said, the courts grew in popularity and political clout, even among moderate Muslims wary of strict Islamic law. “When you are really sick, you’ll try any kind of medicine,’” Ali Hussein Maalin, 56, a Somali businessman, said in an interview in Nairobi. “We have been sick for 15 years.” The courts expanded into Islamic militias strong enough to challenge the city’s secular warlords, which had enjoyed the financial backing of the CIA, according to widely circulating reports. The United States has neither confirmed nor denied these accounts but has acknowledged supporting the warlords as part of an effort to capture terrorists suspected in a string of attacks in East Africa, including the bombings of U.S. embassies in 1998. By arrangement with
LA-Times–Washington Post
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Chatterati
THE capital has gone completely berserk at this time of the year. The cricket crazy crowd, the absolutely mad soccer crowd and then the marketing of the two sports have made our dilliwalas confused, but excited and busy. For the football lovers, the German Embassy, along with other major Embassies, have the regular drinks, cocktails, mocktails and snacks in plenty. Cocktails named after players from different countries, flags hanging from the ceilings, bar tenders dressed in jerseys and footballs, form a part of the ambience. You can indulge in getting your face painted or getting tattoos on your body. Free drinks are offered to those who support a certain team which scores a goal. So for the next 30 days Delhi has a football/cricket mania. City punters meanwhile are burning the midnight oil placing bets. There are 30-40 bookies in each town and around Rs. 80 crore a day gets turned over on football alone. The youngsters have the football fever going to their heads – literally. They are rushing to hair salons asking for a Beckham or Ronaldhino
cut. Rashtrapati bound Lobbying has already begun for the post of the President of India, that falls vacant next year. And like the current political scenario, even this has acquired a casteist twist. Out of the 10 former Presidents, there are four Brahmins, two Muslims, two OBCs, one Kayastha and a Dalit but not a single Kshatriya. This is the argument put forward by supporters of V. P. Singh, Arjun Singh and Karan Singh. Of late, VP Singh has been trying to mend fences with the Congress President. After all, he was most vocal in supporting her on the foreigner issue. The Thakur card is an ironic footnote to his OBC caste card, but that has not stopped Arjun Singh from lobbying for the job. Karan Singh is still undecided between foreign minister and President of India. But has he to make a choice? Congress sources say that his recent trip to Nepal, however, has dampened his chances of becoming India’s next foreign minister. So Dr Singh has been advised to focus on Rashtrapathi Bhavan instead! Not at home The corridors of power in the capital are empty these days. The summer power cuts, the scorching Delhi heat, the heat of the reservation issue, strikes due to the petrol price hike and other controversies abound – but the ministers are off abroad either on work or just chilling out. Chidambaram and Kamal Nath are off to St. Petersburg, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Priyaranjan Das Munshi and Somnath Chatterjee are away to Europe and the US. Lalu has gone off to celebrate his success in the Indian Railways. Priyaranjan Das Munshi, who heads soccer in India, has obviously gone off to the soccer world cup. Arjun Singh flew off also with his entourage leaving the PM to face the music on reservation. Praful Patel is just back from the Alaska Cruise and is off to Dubai now. Kapil Sibal is also off to Europe. Mani Shanker Aiyar, poor soul, seems quite satisfied for the moment going to Himachal Pradesh. Murli Deora is off to Shanghai, Ambika Soni is in Spain and Subodh Sahai is off to Europe. Accompanying these ministers are MPs and bureaucrats with their paraphernalia. At least the Prime Minister’s Office has now barred secretaries from travelling with the ministers.
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From the pages of Nasser, Arabs and Israel IT is not President Nasser’s ambition to win leadership of the Arab World but his hopes of releasing it through swift military action rather than through the more arduous and less spectacular path of economic achievement, that runs counter to the U.S. purpose of securing Arab-Jewish co-operation on an equitable basis. Without this, Israeli talent and the rich resources of the Arab States will give the Jews a position in world affairs equal to the position which a reunified Germany may claim. The ready offer of arms by Russia, once again channelled through Czechoslovakia, is fraught with the added danger of perpetual conflict between Israel, backed by powerful American interests, and the Arabs drawn into the Communist camp as the price of support with Communist arms. The Seuz Canal dispute is, in fact, a trial of strength between America and Russia.
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When a king invites his kinsmen and friends to the holy sacrifice at his court, he must make time to attend to them or appoint sweet tongued, gentle and caring princes to do so. — The Mahabharata Surely Allah enjoins justice and the doing of good (to others), and the giving to the kindred, and he forbids indecency and abomination and wickedness. — The Koran May your deeds be only righteous. — The Upanishadas
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