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Editorials | Article | Middle | Oped | Reflections

EDITORIALS

Wasted talent
Help implement ban on child labour
T
HE Centre’s decision to ban employment of children below 14 years at homes, hotels and dhabas from October 10 is most welcome. Those violating the order will invite punishment ranging from imprisonment to fine or both. As it is, child labour in hazardous jobs is prohibited under the law.

Parity in uniform
Women can also strengthen Army
M
ORE than a year after the Union Cabinet approved the scrapping of the women’s special entry scheme under the Army’s short service commission (SSC), the Army and the government have finally acted to bring men and women on a par in the SSC.




EARLIER STORIES
Banish the thought
August 2, 2006
Stop it now
August 1, 2006
For affirmative action
July 31, 2006
File notings must be shown to public: Aruna Roy
July 30, 2006
Captain’s pack
July 29, 2006
Moving ahead
July 28, 2006
Pak N-stockpiles
July 27, 2006
Limits of power
July 26, 2006
Bloated babudom
July 25, 2006
Do what you say
July 24, 2006
Suicides tell no tale
July 23, 2006


Castro and his Cuba
A dream that never came true
T
HE ceding of power by Fidel Castro, though for a temporary period, is a milestone in the history of Cuba. Reports from Havana suggest that the Cubans are yet to reconcile themselves to a situation where the charismatic leader who ended the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista 47 years ago is no longer in command.

ARTICLE

Hot pursuit
Need to check infiltration
by Gen Ashok K. Mehta
H
as hot pursuit become hot air? Gen Pervez Musharraf’s latest warning to India against hot pursuit is that it will be “paid back in the same coin”. The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson even said: “This could trigger a nuclear war”.

MIDDLE

The Punjabi Roti
by Renu Bhardwaj
R
oti is an inherent part of Punjabi culture; it is synonymous with Punjabi cuisine. Punjabis are not only addicted to it, they are proud of it.

OPED

Dangerous medicines
Beware of harmful side-effects
by Sanjeev Singh Bariana
M
edicines and drug combinations that have been banned globally for their potential for harmful side-effects continue to be available in the Indian market. The long list of such drugs include medicines like analgin (brand names include Novalgin), nimesulide (Nise, Nimulid), cizapride (Ciza) droperidol (Droperol), phenylpropanolamine (included in combination medicines such as D-Cold and Vicks Action 500) and piperazine, besides several others.

A crusader for justice
by Chitleen K. Sethi
D
r DC Saxena was a one-man army. A crusader who fought relentlessly for righteousness, even if it meant rubbing the high and mighty the wrong way, inviting trouble for himself.

Legal notes
CJI cracks the whip on vacant posts
by S.S. Negi
T
he lack of administrative support by state governments to the judiciary in filling up of a large number of vacancies in the subordinate judiciary across the country has been worrying the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal. 

Editorial cartoon by Rajinder Puri

From the pages of


 REFLECTIONS


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Wasted talent
Help implement ban on child labour

THE Centre’s decision to ban employment of children below 14 years at homes, hotels and dhabas from October 10 is most welcome. Those violating the order will invite punishment ranging from imprisonment to fine or both. As it is, child labour in hazardous jobs is prohibited under the law. The latest order widens the definition of hazardous occupations, bringing within its purview work in the households and dhabas, including roadside eateries, hotels, resorts and so on. It is a timely and salutary step, but it is doubtful whether it would be implemented in letter and spirit. Experience suggests that the governments — at the Centre and in the states — have failed to enforce the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. As a result, there are about 90 million child workers today.

Poverty is the main reason for child labour. Either it makes parents choose to submit their children to all kinds of activities or it acts as a catalyst for child trafficking, which is already recognised as a criminal activity worldwide. Thus, in addition to effective implementation of all the existing laws, tackling poverty should form an essential part of reducing child labour. As only a dire financial crisis compels the parents to send their children to perilous tasks, the government should take all possible measures to increase the income of these parents. This would automatically reduce the need to send innocent children to factories making bidis, carpets, glass bangles, fireworks or households as domestic help.

Next to improving the parents’ income is the need to assess the educational requirements of the poor children. There could be no lasting solution to the problem unless those in the 8-14 age-group are provided free, compulsory and universal education. Education is the most potent vehicle for social progress. The government, NGOs, public-spirited individuals and others must ensure that the poor children go to school at any cost. In this context, the Centre’s decision to extend the National Child Labour Project, a scheme to rehabilitate child labour, to all the districts of the country is a step in the right direction.

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Parity in uniform
Women can also strengthen Army

MORE than a year after the Union Cabinet approved the scrapping of the women’s special entry scheme under the Army’s short service commission (SSC), the Army and the government have finally acted to bring men and women on a par in the SSC. Earlier, women could not rise beyond the rank of major and were not eligible for rank-based pay. They underwent training for only 24 weeks, as against 49 weeks for men. With the scrapping of the scheme, women can be promoted right up to Lt. Colonel and will be eligible for rank pay as well. The short service commission is for five years, extendable to 14 years. Men and women will be considered on a par for seniority.

One of the aims of the short service commission is to provide an entry to those wanting a stint in the armed forces, though not necessarily as a base for a life-long career. In the light of the officer shortage plaguing the Army, the SSC was the anchor for the Army’s “do you have it in you” advertising campaigns. However, the shortage continues and there are empty benches still at the Officers’ Training Academy in Chennai where they are trained. The current move should serve to attract more adventurous young women into the forces, giving them a career option like no other. Reports suggest that the option to throw open the permanent commission to women is also under consideration. That is as it should be, and the sooner that happens, the better.

It would be pertinent to point out that issues regarding marriage and children, often raised as potential problem factors, can always be got around with the right attitude. Women form a large pool of ability and resources waiting to contribute to the nation, even in the hitherto male preserve of defence. Given the changing nature of warfare, not to mention the diversity of the security threats facing the country, widening the talent pool will benefit both the Army and the nation.

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Castro and his Cuba
A dream that never came true

THE ceding of power by Fidel Castro, though for a temporary period, is a milestone in the history of Cuba. Reports from Havana suggest that the Cubans are yet to reconcile themselves to a situation where the charismatic leader who ended the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista 47 years ago is no longer in command. Of course, they have been told that once his intestinal problem is surgically sorted out, he would be back at the helm, now occupied by his brother Raul Castro, who, at 75, is younger to him by five years. However, speculations abound about his ability to stage a comeback in view of the Parkinson’s disease he suffers from.

Fidel Castro has always evoked mixed feelings. For some he is the quintessential revolutionary, dressed always in fighting fatigues and ready to take on Uncle Sam and for some others, he is the antithesis of a revolutionary, a tin-pot dictator who treats all his subjects as inmates of a vast open prison. It is no mean task to preside over an ironclad regime for 47 years when the next-door Super Power has been doing everything possible to destabilise him. But is longevity in power the sole determinant for a leader who set out to fulfill the dream of establishing an egalitarian society where everyone worked according to his ability and received according to his needs. Now Cuba is just one of the five countries where communism is the state ideology.

Even the Non-Aligned Movement, of which he was one of the founding fathers, lies in a shambles. Communism no longer catches the imagination of the people, save the Maoists in Nepal and some parts of India. Castro can justifiably pride in the high literacy rate and institutionalised healthcare the Cubans enjoy but on the economic ladder it is at the bottom with post-Mao China surging ahead by shedding its ideological baggage. Cuba is one of the most isolationist nations. Given an opportunity many of Castro’s compatriots will take the first boat available for Florida to enjoy freedom, if not to get rid of their poverty. This is no advertisement for a leader, who set out to conquer the world with his charisma, ideology, freshness and youthful vigour.

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Thought for the day

For all the happiness mankind can gain is not in pleasure, but in rest from pain. 

— John Dryden

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Hot pursuit
Need to check infiltration
by Gen Ashok K. Mehta

Has hot pursuit become hot air? Gen Pervez Musharraf’s latest warning to India against hot pursuit is that it will be “paid back in the same coin”. The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson even said: “This could trigger a nuclear war”.

Bluff? Brinkmanship ? Or a serious threat ? Like the attack on Parliament, the Mumbai blasts have revived the challenge of infiltration and cross-border terrorism(CBT) not just from Pakistan but also Bangladesh and Nepal.

For long now, Nepal has been a conduit for infiltration into J&K and the rest of India. The mix of terrorism, insurgency and low intensity conflict sponsored by the ISI is designed to pressurise India into making concessions on J&K.

Pakistan’s proxy war has a long history and began in 1947 with the infiltration of tribesmen into J&K. Despite the India-Pakistan peace process, there is no let-up in the proxy war and violence.

Operation Parakram (2002) highlighted India’s response-dilemma, making it accept the ground reality: discretion is the better part of valour as Jaswant Singh’s latest book, “A Call to Honour,” has revealed. The security forces in J&K have contained the menace through a sound politico-militarycounter-terrorism strategy.

The current attrition ratio of the Army is an unprecedented 1:11, that is for every soldier killed terrorists lose 11 of their own. That’s a big price. While the terrorists are unable to hurt the security forces, they are instead hurting the ordinary people of the state. They have, therefore, been seeking targets outside J&K also,crossing the red line into other parts of India. The ISI is playing the great game of destabilising India. But by using local terrorist nodules,no tell-tale signs are left for the jigsaw.

Pakistan restarted its proxy war in 1988 and till last year, 42,000 persons were killed, nearly 86 per cent Kashmiri Muslims. The period 1992-95 saw the highest levels of infiltration, violence and fatalities averaging annually more than 3000 attacks against security forces and others.

Thereafter, there was a perceptible decline in violence till Kargil was sprung. Violence perked up again. A marked downslide in infiltration and CBT began following Operation Parakram in the wake of the attack on Parliament. For example, against 3,200 terrorist-initiated incidents in1994, the figures for the last three years are: 499,348 and 333 in 2006 so far.

Infiltration has been brought down progressively from 2,417 in 2001 to 597 terrorists who got into J&K last year. Infiltration is maximum during summer when snow over passes north of Pir Panjal melts. Other reasons like Doda by-elections, the Srinagar round table, and India-Pakistan dialogue have to be factored.

Between May and June 2005, in 20 infiltration attempts 58 terrorists were killed compared to 15 attempts for the same period this year when 46 terrorists were killed.Till 5 July, 191 terrorists had sneaked in.

In encounters and operations on an average 920 terrorists were killed, each in 2004 and 2005. Further, substantial recoveries — 550 weapons, 2.5lakh round of ammunition and 5 tonnes of explosives — were made in the last 18 months.

The number of terrorists who surrendered in 2005 was 80 and already this year, it has crossed the 100 mark. This year, the Army had enhanced its kill ratio from 1:8 to 1:11. The Pakistan Army waging LIC on its Western borders has a1:1.85 attrition rate.

At any one time, the terrorist population in J&K is believed to be between 1,600 and 1,800 but never below1,500. Of these 55 per cent are foreigners and the rest from J&K. Despite the commitment made by President Musharraf on January 6 2004, and twice at the height of Operation Parakram, that Pakistan would not allow the use of territory under its control, infiltration and CBT have been business as usual.

The normal 400 electronic messages are exchanged daily between CBT control stations in Pakistan, PoK and J&K. As many as 59 camps are functional across the LoC with at least 2,000 (some say 5000) trained infiltrators, ready as replenishment.

Unable to hurt the Army, terrorists are increasingly targeting civilians, and the paramilitary forces. The hand grenade has become the favourite weapon. Fifty per cent of the 130 grenade attacks till mid-July had been in the Srinagar valley.

Terrorists have outsourced lobbing of grenades to children and civilians for Rs 50 a throw. Tourists and civilians have been made special targets. Last month, nine innocent Nepali labourers were executed. Terrorist atrocities on civilians have elicited no public outrage. In June, at Gul Gulabgarh village, terrorists chopped off the noses and ears of an entire family.

As in early 1990s, terrorists have begun to orchestrate civilian mob protests against security forces. Fidayeen attacks and use of explosive-laden vehicles are also tapering because the security forces have taken deterrent action.

Between 1999 and 2005, 67 cases of Fidayeen attacks were recorded in which 131 terrorists were killed for 237 security forces and 131 civilian fatalities which is an impressive 1:2 in favour of the Fidayeen. Ninety per cent of these attacks were launched by Lashkar-e-Toiba. Interestingly, there has not been a single incident of suicide bombing.

Despite the fencing, sensor technology, three-tier deployment, 900 terrorists killed annually and huge recoveries of weapons and explosives, the ISI has succeeded in maintaining its desired pool of 1,500 terrorists in J&K. This is the number it feels adequate to keep its freedom fight in J&K alive and kicking.

India’s armed might has not been able to degrade Pakistan’s capacity for proxy war. No matter how effective the counter-terrorism strategy and operational tactics, till the source and infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan and conduits in Bangladesh and Nepal are neutralised, infiltration and violence will continue till the cows come home.

The decision by the ISI to reach out to disaffected Muslims in India was made after the demolition of Babri Masjid. A sleeper cell network was formed. At the same time, Nepal and Bangladesh were also placed on the terrorist grid. An elaborate ISI establishment mushroomed in Nepal, centred in the Kathmandu Embassy.

Several Islamic NGOs and charitable institutions with funds from Saudi Arabia grew up. In 1994 the Nepal Police, at the instigation of RAW, busted an ISI cell operating from Hotel Karnali in Kathmandu under codename Operation Tufail. The hijacking of IC814 to Kandahar has made the ISI in Nepal legendary. With a new Nepal in the offing, Indian diplomacy should be able to cut the ISI to size. That will leave Bangladesh with 20 million of its people already in India. Delhi can lose no more time to act against the cult of deniability perfected by Dhaka. Like their comrades in crime in Pakistan, Bangladeshis are asking for proof and evidence.

Returning to hot pursuit, in the mid 1990s, there was a chance to strike at the root of CBT across the LoC but political will was missing. After the attack on Parliament by LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad, India’s coercive diplomacy and Operation Parakram could not end jehadi terrorism which Pakistan has turned into an instrument of its foreign policy, Pakistan’s nuclear equaliser has negated the military option.

It is, therefore, futile crowing over hot pursuit and destroying terrorist infrastructure which is mobile. Soon after 9/11, Pervez Musharraf while asking India to “lay off” said that India should not think it is the US and Pakistan, the Taliban. Even so there are ways and means of raising the cost for Pakistan while reminding it to keep its side of the bargain for India to negotiate on Kashmir seriously and keep the peace process alive. But before anything else, we have to set our own house in order.

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The Punjabi Roti
by Renu Bhardwaj

Roti is an inherent part of Punjabi culture; it is synonymous with Punjabi cuisine. Punjabis are not only addicted to it, they are proud of it.

I realised this when, after living in the south for 18 years, we were shifting to the north for good. The burly truck driver and his sturdy helper from Punjab offered to lend a helping hand to our servants for arranging the heavy boxes in the truck. As my servants staggered and sweated over the boxes, the driver signaled them to get out of the way and pronounced: “main kalla chuk loonga” (I will pick up the boxes all by myself). The servants politely told him it was not possible. “Oye, main Punjabi Roti khadi hai” thundered the driver pompously.

While in the south, I saw many of my South Indian friends muse over Punjabis’ intake of wheat Roti. ‘How can you digest the wheat Roti everyday?’ they would ask. ‘Isn’t it very hot? We get ulcers in the mouth if we consume it too frequently’. None of this happens to Punjabis. On the other hand, the satiety of a meal is incomplete without a Roti for them.

My husband is one such example. You feed him the best dishes of best cuisines of the world, yet he would miss the Roti.

Once when the kids were small I remember my husband taking diet tips from the family doctor for my son who had been operated for septic tonsils. The doctor suggested tens of things sans the Roti. “Can we give him Roti?” asked my husband. Infuriated, the doctor shouted “Is there nothing in the world to replace Roti?” “No”, retorted my husband.

It’s the same addiction for my cousin, Sunny. He just can’t go without a Roti. On my niece’s engagement in Puna, the menu included a mixture of south Indian and Marathi dishes as her fiancé Aniruddha, happened to be a Marathi. The ceremony over, when all of us were enjoying the hot idlis and Pav Bhaji, I overheard Sunny asking another cousin “Is this dinner or heavy tea?” For him there is no perfect meal without the king Roti.

The Yoga Guru Ramdev is yet another admirer of Roti against the Western fast foods and Pizzas. ‘Pizza means health ko pi ja’…(pizzas are a great health hazard) I heard him announcing on the TV the other day. As my father listened beaming, my younger son, a great lover of Pizza, fumed “is pizza any different from Roti? It is a thick Roti with veggies on top of it instead of stuffed into it as in a stuffed Roti” he tried to console himself.

And the size of the roti counts too for Punjabis. Give them the thin, small Gujarati rotis and they will think you are mocking their appetite. At a small restaurant in Balsar (Gujarat) we saw a driver pouring his wrath on the poor servant when he served a Gujarati thali to him with six small puris , the size of golgappas. “Kya atta khatam ho gaya hai?” he shouted “why are you serving me these sample rotis?” As the proprietor tried to explain, he stormed out of the restaurant and asked a passer-by: “Sher-e Punjab kitni dur milega?”

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Dangerous medicines
Beware of harmful side-effects
by Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Medicines and drug combinations that have been banned globally for their potential for harmful side-effects continue to be available in the Indian market. The long list of such drugs include medicines like analgin (brand names include Novalgin), nimesulide (Nise, Nimulid), cizapride (Ciza) droperidol (Droperol), phenylpropanolamine (included in combination medicines such as D-Cold and Vicks Action 500) and piperazine, besides several others.

All these drugs, some of them popular, non-prescription, medicines, are banned in most Western countries. Analgin, a painkiller, has been linked to bone marrow depression. Cisapride is used for acidity, but has been known to cause irregular heartbeat, as is droperidol, an anti-depressant. Nimesulide is effective against fever and pain, but has been associated with liver failure. And phenylpropanolamine (PPA), a decongestant used in several cough and cold medicines, has been linked to incidents of stroke.

The Government of India has issued more than 70 notifications banning different medicines and medicine combinations. Etoxic, an environmental group based in India, has listed a number of drugs that have been banned in the European Union and USA, but continue to be sold in India. The ‘Banned and Bannable Drugs’ published by the Voluntary Health Association of India, has listed all the “questionable drugs” in the Indian markets.

The issue came up for a detailed discussion at a workshop relating to healthcare in Chamarajanagar district of Karanatka, recently. The workshop was organised by the Communication for Development and Learning (CDL), an awareness group.

Speakers pointed out a lack of government initiative in spreading awareness among people. They stressed the health hazards related to such “questionable medicines and combinations”.

A paper titled ‘Cashing in on a brand name’ by Vijay Thawani and K.J.Gharpure, has pointed out that “consumers in the Third World get third rate treatment from the pharmaceutical industry, who sell them junk in the name of medicine. The companies have adopted a new technique of marketing new formations under old brand names without informing consumers. These companies exploit people’s faith in brand names. They also hide behind antiquated laws which do not ban the launch of new formulations using old brand names”.

The paper points out that “Disprin is known for its aspirin content (acetyl salicylic acid with calcium carbonate and citric acid).The company launched ‘Disprin plus’ with much fanfare. However, the new ‘Plus’ is actually minus the aspirin”.

Dr H Sudarshan, a Padma Shri awardee who has done pioneering work in tribal care, said that as per the drug laws, when two or more drugs are sought to be combined, the resultant product is required to registered with the Drugs Controller General, New Delhi. The state governments do not have the power to approve any new combinations. In actual practice a number of drugs banned in one state are available in other.

Quoting from the ‘Banned and Bannable Drugs’ by the Voluntary Health Association of India, certain drug combinations with questionable rationality were pointed out. These included Atorvastatin and Amlodipine; Mosapride and Pantoprazole; Tamsulosin and Finasteride; Domperidone and Omeprazole; and Glibenclamide, Metformin and Rosigitazone (widely used in diabetic treatment).

Dr N.S. Prashanth, coordinator Health and Biodiversity of the Karuna Trust engaged in healthcare in rural areas in Karnataka said: “certain fixed dose combinations of nimesulide continue to be marketed without due approval of the concerned authorities. These include nimesulide combined with paracetamol (Acilid Plus, Dolomide, Artifen, Nimuzen plus), and nimesulide with dicyclomine (Nise-spas DS). Certain more questionable/banned combinations, such as combinations of bronchodialotors with antihistamines such as Codoric syrup, Noscof tablets and Protussa syrup are available in the open market.

The workshop pointed out certain other combinations also which have been quoted in a well researched publication on drugs and drug policy by Mira Siva and Wishvas Rane titled “Banned and Bannable drugs – unbiased drug information, essential drugs and rational drug policy” presently in the fifth revised edition, published by the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI).

It is worth mentioning that the Government of India has prohibited manufacture, sale and distribution of approximately 70 drug combinations through different notifications. Experts felt that certain categories of the banned drug combinations were available in the open market and implementation of the ban is very poor.

According to Mrs Shangon Dasgupta, director CDL, said that a certain category of questionable drugs including analgin and minor medicines for stomach troubles were available off-the-shelf in common medical shops in different parts of the country. These were not recommended by the doctors and were sold directly by the pharmacists to the unknowing customers.

Ms Bharti of CDL said that awareness groups need to take up the issue in a big way in their respective areas and spread the message among people.

Dr Prashanth said: “firstly, the government notifications banning different drugs were not circulated among the masses. Secondly, there needs to be a wider understanding among the medical fraternity itself on the rational use of drugs and evidence-based practice. The names of the drugs are not easy for a common man to understand. Combination drugs are mostly for the benefit of the pharma companies and are useful only in a few cases. However, most of the drugs sold over the counter are irrational and questionable combinations. We also need to increase awareness among the people on these irrational combinations and banned drugs”.

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A crusader for justice
by Chitleen K. Sethi

Dr DC Saxena
Dr DC Saxena 

Dr DC Saxena was a one-man army. A crusader who fought relentlessly for righteousness, even if it meant rubbing the high and mighty the wrong way, inviting trouble for himself.

As professor of English at the Panjab University, Dr DC Saxena, who died recently at the age of 67, could have led a comfortable life taking classes and writing books but as he told his family and friends, “literature is my love and fighting for justice my passion.”

And while this passion for justice inspired many, he paid a heavy price for it. A price no other citizen of this country has paid so far. Dr Saxena was lodged in Tihar jail for three months for contempt of court by the Supreme Court of India for a petition that he had moved against the then Chief Justice AM Ahmedi alleging that his son and daughter were practising law from his residence.

“Before this case was decided in July 1997, the Bench asked Saxena to withdraw or modify the petition, which he refused. Finally they asked him to tender an unconditional apology. But he did not budge,” recalls his friend Prof P. Sood. “It came as a shock to us. We were expecting some action but not jail,” says his wife who along with son Shailesh would visit him twice a week at Tihar.

The three months in jail however failed to break the man’s spirit. He took to teaching the inmates. Some of these inmates who were released went on to establish the Dr Saxena Vision Foundation in Srinagar which prepares students for civil services. His account of those days were published in a newspaper, “My three-month stay in Tihar has convinced me that those who should be inside jail are outside and those who should be outside continue to rot in jail because of the apathy and indifference of the country’s judiciary.”

Fighting for justice was not new to Dr Saxena. Starting his career as a lecturer at Pilani, Dr Saxena joined the Regional Centre of Panjab University in 1962 from where he was shifted to Rohtak in 1966. “He objected to this and was promptly sacked by the then PU Vice-Chancellor. He fought for his job in the Supreme Court for nine years acting as his own counsel. He won the case and was re-instated,” recalls Mrs Saxena.

Fortified with a Law degree from the university in 1982, Dr Saxena filed public interest litigations involving some of the biggest political names in India.

In 1994, Saxena filed a petition against then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao stating that Rs 8 crore should be recovered from Rao as the cost of using Indian Air Force air craft for campaigning. In an interview to a newspaper, Dr Saxena had said, “The court asked me how I was concerned. I then quoted article 51 of the Constitution of India which lays down that it shall be the duty of every citizen to preserve and protect public property.”

Dr Saxena’s sense of right and wrong was not limited to the courts. He would refuse to join striking teachers. “He always said ‘I do not teach for money.’ And there is no excuse for not teaching,” added his younger daughter Manisha.

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Legal notes
CJI cracks the whip on vacant posts
by S.S. Negi

The lack of administrative support by state governments to the judiciary in filling up of a large number of vacancies in the subordinate judiciary across the country has been worrying the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal. He has not only been consistently asking the states to improve the situation through judicial orders but has also been exhorting the executive, time and again from public platforms, to wake up to the call. Otherwise, the burgeoning burden of pending cases with lower courts would become unmanageable and the judicial system might collapse one day.

In a recent order, a Bench headed by the CJI, expressed grave concern over non-filing of yearly time schedule for appointment of judicial officers. “It is absolutely necessary to evolve a mechanism for speedy determination and filling of the vacancies of judges at all levels” the CJI said. The exercise includes not only determining the vacancies but holding of the annual recruitment exams for judicial officers, timely declaration of results and holding of interviews and speedy appointment process. The CJI was also not happy with the layback attitude of some high courts in this matter of great public importance as the appointment of judicial officers is processed by state governments only in consultation with them and their approval.

Kin’s job claim

Compassionate appointments for the kin of a government employee in the event of his death cannot be allowed as a rule because providing jobs to dependents is not a statutory right but only aimed at mitigating the hardships of a family due to the sudden demise of the bread earner, says the Supreme Court.

The Court pointed out that normally government employment should be in conformity with Article 14 of the Constitution allowing every candidate equal opportunity to compete on merit, and that this rule cannot be departed from except in compelling circumstances exposing the kin to extreme sufferings. The Court gave the ruling in a case from Jammu and Kashmir, quashing the state high court’s order for grant of employment to a PWD employee on compassionate grounds. The claim was made nine years after the death.

Probation laws

In order to clear ambiguity about probation pleas, under the Probation Act empowering courts to release a convict on probation in offences of a particular nature where the sentence is not death or more than seven years imprisonment, the Supreme Court has said that the probation plea would only be considered either under Section 360 of CrPC or the Probation Act.

The Court was of the view that two statutes with “such significant differences could not be intended to co-exist at the same time in the same area as such co-existence would lead to anomalous results.” The Court clarified that provision of Section 360 CrPC normally are applicable to convicted persons not under the age of 21 years or any woman accused not awarded death penalty or life sentence. But the scope of Probation Act is much wider as it applies to any person found guilty of committing an offence not punishable with death or imprisonment for life. The other distinction between the two provisions pointed out by the apex court was that under Section 360 no Probation Officer was required to be appointed by courts to supervise the conduct of convict released on probation, which appointing such officer was must under the Probation Act.

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From the pages of

November 25, 1971

On the brink in Pakistan

The declaration of emergency throughout martial law-ridden Pakistan is an index of the state of desperation to when Gen Yahya Khan has been driven. Furious on having been caught in a web, he may indulge in another dangerous gamble, and the escalation of border incidents shows the way his mind is working. But he would be capping a folly if he were to bank upon the international community’s support in foolhardy adventures. For the frustrations he has been facing in Bangladesh, both military and political, he blames this country and wished to make it a scapegoat. The “undeclared war” which Pakistani rulers claim “already exists” is meant to mislead the world into believing that an Indian invasion has actually been launched. The truth of the matter is just the reverse. Foreign observers have confirmed that while Pakistanis believe that war is inevitable, New Delhi spokesmen regard it as a certainty only if Pakistan seeks it as a diversionary tactic or for other ends. 

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Generally our ignorance clouds this glowing truth. We reconcile ourselves by blaming fate for our accidents. The learned one knows that the cause of the accident was some deed in the past; not fate. He examines his past behaviour and makes amendments for the future.

—The Bhagavadgita

Non-violence is not a weapon of the weak. It is a weapon of the strongest and bravest.

—Mahatma Gandhi

Transcend the mind to the aura of knowledge, at the centre of which lies pure Bliss.

—The Upanishads

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