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The minister must
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Not by lathis Handle the jobless with compassion Anyone who would have seen the police in action at Chandigarh’s Matka Chowk on Thursday would have definitely thought that he had strayed into a war zone. Lathis, water canons and tear gas shells were freely used. The targets were not hardcore criminals but agitating unemployed teachers and health workers from Punjab. The striking farmers were also caught in the melee.
Repeating Mandal
mantra
People not for
labelling
Dateline
Washington Change system to
make policing people-friendly
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Lanka peace meal The
announcement of talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE), once again raises hope of cessation of hostilities. The fact that the very scheduling of talks, made public by the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference, is seen as a breakthrough underscores how far the peace process has crumbled. Nevertheless, the opening for both parties to return to the negotiating table — without conditions and even without a clear political agenda — marks a pause in the drift towards war. For this reason alone, the talks should be welcomed. Both the GoSL and the LTTE should be prevailed upon to create a climate that facilitates resumption of the dialogue. Nearly 1500 have died and over two lakh people been displaced because of the undeclared war which has intensified in the last four months, and it is imperative to avert a full-fledged war. The Co-Chairs, who represent 58 donor countries, including Norway as the peace talks facilitator, have called upon the two parties to end the violence immediately. Colombo has expressed certain reservations about the content of their statement and these cannot be glossed over. The GoSL has every right to deal with military threats to the unity and integrity of the island republic. This sovereign prerogative cannot be equated with the LTTE’s terrorist violence, especially by an international community which ceaselessly proclaims its commitment to fight terror. Therefore, any attempt to equate the GoSL and LTTE, or seek withdrawal of the Sri Lankan army from the territories of which it has now wrested control would be futile, if not counterproductive. The LTTE has no sanction as a state, and even its claim to be the sole representative of the besieged Tamils is increasingly being challenged. Against this backdrop, of greater importance is the Co-Chairs’call to the LTTE: to abide by all agreements, renounce terrorism and violence and show that it is willing to make the compromises needed for a political solution within a united Sri Lanka. Unless the Co-Chairs make the LTTE fall in line and recognise the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan state, their efforts may be frustrated again. |
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Not by lathis Anyone
who would have seen the police in action at Chandigarh’s Matka Chowk on Thursday would have definitely thought that he had strayed into a war zone. Lathis, water canons and tear gas shells were freely used. The targets were not hardcore criminals but agitating unemployed teachers and health workers from Punjab. The striking farmers were also caught in the melee. Being without a job is a curse in itself. The police brutality made the agitators twice cursed. It is just that the government tends to handle even despair with a cruel display of force. This is not an isolated case. Similar heavy-handed methods have been used at the spot several times in the past one month. All that the agitators wanted to do was to hand over a memorandum to the Chief Minister. Surely, they were not asking for the moon. If not the Chief Minister, a senior politician or bureaucrat assigned by him could have given a patient hearing to a delegation of teachers and others. Such display of compassion could have eased the confrontation. But that was not to be. What the government does not seem to realise is that qualified persons not getting even lowly jobs are bound to feel frustrated and disillusioned. Their number in Punjab alone runs into 35 lakh. Even if jobs cannot be arranged for them all at one go, there is no justification for targeting them like criminals. Only governments insensitive to the suffering of the people resort to lathi charges. The action is tantamount to adding insult to injury. So many jobless persons moving about aimlessly can only add to social unrest. What happened in states like Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar spawning the Naxalite movement is a chilling reminder. The government will be doing itself a world of good by generating more jobs instead of engaging itself in beating those struggling for employment black and blue. |
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Everything you do can be done better from a place of relaxation.
— Stephen C. Paul and Gary Max Collins |
Repeating Mandal mantra
As
expected, the Bill for OBC quotas was finally introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 25. After going to the Standing Committee, it is expected to be passed in the winter session of Parliament later this year. It is likely to come into effect from the academic session next year. According to the bill, 27 per cent seats in Central Government-funded institutions of higher education, including the IITs, IIMs and the AIIMS, will be reserved for students from the Other Backward Classes. The Bill makes a few concessions to blunt its critics’ opposition. The proposed reservation will not reduce the existing number of general (unreserved) seats. Implementation will be staggered over three years so that the institutions can expand to accommodate the additional number of students. A hefty sum of Rs 16,500 crore will be provided to the institutions for infrastructure and faculty to cope with increased numbers. To placate the south Indian political parties, staunch advocates of quotas for OBCs, even the concept of “creamy layer” — that those among the OBCs who are not economically or socially backward should not be eligible for reservations — will be set aside. The CPM’s stand that the “creamy layer” should be excluded from reservations will be ignored. Despite all the protests, the government seems determined to go ahead with the Bill. The irony is that all political parties are united on this socially disastrous proposal. Lured by the prospect of electoral gains, political parties don’t care if they exacerbate caste rivalries and sharpen caste conflict in our society. The OBCs are a group of socially and educationally backward castes which are extremely heterogeneous. According to the Mandal report, there are 3,783 such castes. In Karnataka alone, there are over two hundred of them. These castes could be divided into three broad categories. At the bottom are service and artisan castes such as barbers, carpenters, washermen, water-carriers, potters, blacksmiths and oil pressers. Most of them are landless and illiterate. As the market economy expanded and the “jajmani” system of patronage in villages declined, these castes rapidly lost their traditional livelihood and joined the ranks of agricultural labour. They can’t afford to send their children to school. After a few years in the village primary school, most of these children drop out. Because of their poverty and dependence, they are vulnerable and exploited by the upper layers of the OBCs. In the middle rung of OBCs, there are shepherds and nomadic castes engaged in rearing livestock, and numerous castes of small and marginal subsistence farmers who survive by cultivating their own small patches of land. They often supplement their income by working as agricultural labourers. Their children rarely go beyond primary school. At the top of the OBC hierarchy are the dominant castes such as Jats and Gujjars in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, Kunabis (or Marathas) in Maharashtra, Yadavs and Kurmis in UP and Bihar, Okkaligas in Karnataka, and Vanniyars in Tamil Nadu. They are, by and large, substantial landowners, numerically preponderant, politically powerful and enjoy high social status. They are the effective rulers in rural India occupying positions in state cabinets, state legislatures, panchayati raj institutions, cooperative sugar factories and cooperative banks. For example, despite being less than 35 per cent of the population, the Kunabi-Marathas in Maharashtra occupy over 70 per cent seats in the legislature, over 80 per cent positions in the State Cabinet and control most of the cooperative banks, sugar factories and a large number of medical and engineering colleges. The children of these dominant caste families go to high schools and colleges, including, in some cases, expensive private schools. They are the ones who seek admissions to central institutions of higher education including the IITs and IIMs. Obviously, if the test of `creamy layer’ is not applied, the children of this upper layer of OBCs will monopolise the reserved seats. The net result will be to further strengthen the already rich and powerful dominant castes. This may fit the electoral calculus of politicians. But it leaves the really needy and deserving lower OBCs high and dry. Behind the consensus on this issue is the pervasive hypocrisy of our political class. If they are so keen to uplift the OBCs, why do not they reserve 27 per cent of all seats in legislative assemblies and parliament? The CPM’s double-speak is the ultimate in this respect. They preach one thing to Manmohan Singh in Delhi and practise exactly the opposite in West Bengal. Till recently, they looked upon caste as a remnant of feudalism and focused only on class. Now, attracted by the vote bank politics, they support caste-based quotas. When the Mandal Commission asked for a list of OBC castes, the then Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu proudly claimed that they had no such list. Yet their own state cabinet and party’s central committee and politbureau are dominated by the Bhadralok higher castes. They pay lip service to “creamy layer” but quietly accept the contrary decision. If the politicians’ interest is self-serving, what explains the fact that this policy being supported by sections of the intelligentsia, including some among the educated upper castes? One reason is the general ignorance about ground realities. Many progressive people are sympathetic to the cause of helping the stigmatised and exploited backward classes. They do not realise that there is heterogeneity and inequality among backward castes and the genuinely backward castes at the bottom of the hierarchy will not benefit by this policy. If intellectuals support this policy, they are only providing legitimacy to the electoral ambitions of political parties. Left out from these equations are the voices and aspirations of millions of poor OBCs who belong to the service and artisan castes, in whose name this quota is being instituted, but who will not have the opportunity to actually fill it. These groups do not have the political muscle to be able to make their case in the media or before parliament. So, the OBC quota Bill will be passed in the coming winter session of parliament. Rs. 16,500 crore will be spent on already well-endowed institutions of higher learning. Meanwhile, primary and secondary schools in the rural areas where the genuine and deserving OBC children study will continue to be neglected and starved of funds for buildings, infrastructure and teachers. These children cannot even dream of going near the gates of an IIT and IIM. But the politicians will boast of uplifting the OBCs. This is the tragedy after 60 years of
independence.
The writer is Senior Fellow, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi
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People not for labelling Madam, it is not a safe place for you to go. We may even have to inform the police of your visit. The village is a kind of settlement inhabited by Sansi community— a criminal tribe. I had my tour programme and, therefore, decided to stick to it contrary to the advice of my colleague and staff. I must admit the staff had genuine concern for my safety for the suggestions continued to come to accompany me on that so-called dangerous route. There was no need to take anybody along except the accounts person. The District Officer at Karnal had been informed for this settlement was in his jurisdiction. The ‘D’ day came and I set out on a journey with the great feeling that I had decided to visit a place which had hardly been visited by officers of the department from Chandigarh. On the other hand fear and apprehensions gripped me. Will the settlers be difficult or rude or shout slogans? Will they physically assault? Had I made a mistake? On arrival at Karnal, the district officer joined me for a little over the one-hour journey. I got the feeling that the district officer had altered some people enroute. We arrived at the settlement at about 11.30 a.m. The weather was hot and unfriendly. Any way we were received by the Headman of the settlement along with other five or six people. This settlement was in an isolated place with barren land and hardly any trees. Large pieces of land lay unattended with no cultivation at all. Unfinished mud houses in dilapidated condition were the only thing perhaps owned by the people. There were one or two brick houses as well. These perhaps belonged to the head man and his colleagues. The village well had dried up and there was no safe drinking water, no school and no health facilities. There was not even a small shop from where purchase could be made. We all stood for about an hour for there was no place to sit to listen to the inhabitants’ woes and worries. They asked for many thing like employment, water, school for their children, health centre etc. By now my fear had vanished and I felt quite relaxed. Suddenly, the headman invited me to his house. I saw the sign of disapproval on the face of the district officer and he whispered “please do not go to the house”. How could I refuse with all the respect and regard given to me? I went to the headman’s house and spent a good half an hour listening to their experiences. In fact, they served me tea as well and invited me to visit again. I am not sure whether they continued their old professional criminal activities. But when I asked them about their work and wages, their stark reply was: “We go out for miles in search of work, if we are lucky we do get work otherwise we return empty handed. Some days we hardly have one meal. The villages nearby do not give us work for we are labelled as Sansi”. Their life’s experience was painful enough to remind me as to what one expects from people living under these
conditions. |
Dateline Washington
Leaving Afghanistan unfinished and starting the Iraq war has not only let the Taliban and its Pakistani supporters off the hook, but radicalised world opinion against the US and spawned several little al Qaidas Professor Scott Atran is
an expert on Islamic terrorism who teaches at the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor and at the National Center for Scientific
Research in Paris. He has been briefing senior government officials in
Washington on the evolution of global jihadi networks in the Middle
East. In an interview, Atran says if the United States had
concentrated on the war in Afghanistan and opted for sanctions against
Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq, things today would have been
very different. Is al Qaeda any weaker as a result of the U.S.-led
war on terror? Al Qaeda doesn’t really exist any more. It has
been operationally dead for a long time. They haven’t done an attack
that’s specifically al Qaeda since Tunisia in 2002. In`A0terms of
their central command and control they have been out of the picture
for a long time. They don’t know who many of the terrorists are and
couldn’t even communicate if they did know. My suspicion is al
Qaeda had nothing to do with the London bombers. What happened was
those guys tried to get in touch with al Qaeda and that’s they way
they were caught. But as far as al Qaeda is concerned, as an
operational group that is able to carry out logistical and tactical
operations, it is finished. After 2003, Washington’s focus
shifted to Iraq. The war on terror started with Bin Laden as a target.
Did the invasion of Iraq adversely affect the war on terror? Yes.
The war in Iraq has also radicalised Muslim opinion around the world.
It has alienated most of Europe.
In Pakistan there was an announcement by a general that they would leave bin Laden alone. Pakistan is not serious about this [war on terror]. They never were. They go into Waziristan whenever the United States applies pressure. They get beaten up by the tribesmen and then they come back out. That has just got all the mid-level officers angry. They are not going to do anything to catch bin Laden. Of course, opinion in Pakistan, like elsewhere, is radicalised against the United States. If the United States had concentrated on Afghanistan and put sanctions against Saddam Hussein the results would probably have been very different. The world gave support for the Afghanistan invasion, not the Iraq one. Does Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have the support of the army in the war on terror? The Pakistani army is very much split. Americans who have been involved in the hunt for bin Laden are stunned by the sympathy of the ISI [Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence] for the Islamists. Musharraf himself has committed to some kind of alliance with the United States. They are playing some kind of double game. Musharraf, especially since the jihadis have been trying to kill him, has been concentrating on actually trying to work with the United States but the army itself isn’t all that interested. The ISI will only help if it serves their interest and getting bin Laden doesn’t serve their interests. Why would they want to stir up the population? In what way have terrorist groups evolved since September 11, 2001? In terms of the al Qaeda-inspired groups – European and Middle East groups –they have become much more highly diversified. There was never really any recruitment into jihadi groups, it is all enlistment. Even in the al Qaeda heyday, when they came to Afghanistan, they only took 15-20% of the people when they came knocking at their door. But now it is almost totally self-enlistment. In Europe it’s through the Internet. They meet one another, get together and get inspired by things they hear. It is now a media-driven, transnational political awakening. It happens to be dynamic in terms of its ideology. Suicide bombings and spectacular acts of terrorism keep it flowing into people’s minds and makes it sort of a ready attractor for people who are not particularly happy with the way things are going in the world. And they see through the Internet and the media that things aren’t going that well. It’s pretty much self-starting. The difference is you can take out one of these groups and have no effect other than inspire another group. Whereas in the past if you took out an al Qaeda operational chief like Mohammed Atef or Abu Zubaydah or Khalid Shaikh Muhammad it would have profound effects on their ability to operate. This isn’t the case any more. This is both good news and bad news. The good news is that they are really not very capable of large-scale, massive operations. In the London bombings plot who knows to what extent they would have been able to do this. Such a complex plot by so many amateur actors leaves them open to being caught. What made al Qaeda such a formidable adversary was the fact that they were pretty well organized and tightlipped about their activities. The bad news is that these groups are so decentralized and dispersed that the standard ways of trying to deal with these things, especially through the intelligence of police networks, aren’t all that efficient. Fortunately again they are pretty much amateurs and bungle most of the things. Is there any way a war on terrorist groups can be won? I don’t think it’s going to be winnable through strictly police and military actions. It is very similar to the anarchist movement. The people who joined the jihad are fairly well educated and at least as well off or better off than the surrounding population. Engineers are the category most represented in the jihad. There are also physicians and computer specialists. These are highly motivated people and they are committed, which is not the case of the police and the regular army against them. And they are dispersed all over the place. How do you fight something like that? You could do good police work. This idea that you should try to defeat Salafism is crazy – it is an ideological movement and is not necessarily inherently violent. You can’t tell a Christian fundamentalist don’t believe in fundamentalism. The thing is to try to move people within their own belief system to less belligerent paths. How would you rate the Bush administration’s war on terrorism? They have succeeded in pretty much destroying al Qaeda but in the process they have created a lot of little al Qaedas and of course they have alienated most of the world from the United States. The big gorilla on the block that is almost never mentioned in U.S. discourse is oil – fossil fuels. This whole thing about Iraq and Iran would mean very little both in the West and in the Muslim world if it wasn’t for the strategic competition for these resources. In the next few years the competition will only be getting more intense. You have been briefing senior government officials on the evolution of global jihadi networks in the Middle East. What have you been telling them? I have been telling them about ways to defuse the tension with Iran and the Palestinian-Israeli front, which most people in the world consider to be the principal faultline of world conflict today, and the idea here is that sacred values, symbolic values are more important in cultural clashes than are material values. For example, we proposed peace deals to the Palestinian refugees and the Israeli settlers – what we find is that when we offer them material incentives then their outrage and violence increases. But if they are offered non-material incentives like an apology violence goes down and support for a peace deal goes up. Those kinds of things work a lot better than material incentives. I’m trying to open lines of communication with the Hamas. The Hamas would really like to not have to depend on Iran. They have Islamist ideology but they have no global jihadi agenda. They have never let al Qaeda have any influence over them. And their association with the Hezbollah is simply a matter of necessity to survive. They would be willing to talk to the Israelis, in fact they are trying to. Was the international boycott a factor in Hamas softening its stand and opting for talks? There are a number of converging things that caused Hamas to soften its position. One is the reality of governing. They are now responsible for a government. They have to make their society viable.`A0 And the other was that they were stunned by the effectiveness of the boycott. But the willingness is absolutely genuine. We have been doing negotiations, we have been getting Kassam missiles back. They are waiting for a gesture from the West but the United States by law can’t talk to them and the Israelis are completely paralyzed — the government is in chaos. You just got back from Gaza. How successful has the Israeli security barrier been in containing terrorism in the region? Zilch. Zero.
It has stopped suicide bombers. The facts are there. It has caused a
severe drop in the ability of organisations to do suicide bombings.
But it hasn’t been successful against anything else. It is obvious
the wall didn’t work. Now the Israelis don’t know what to do.  |
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Change system to make policing people-friendly Although
the rampant ‘corruption’ among public servants in general and the police in particular is all too well-known, a recent expose of a conspiracy by some officials of the Delhi Police to frame a citizen indicates the abysmal depth to which the rot has spread in the ‘steel frame’ of our bureaucracy. The target was a witness of a woman’s molestation by an inspector, who apparently insisted on giving his testimony despite dire threats. So, a group of policemen, including the molestor-cop, 2 SHOs and 2 sub-inspectors allegedly decided to ‘fix’ him on false rape charges with the help of a couple of lawyers and a woman who played the role of a rape victim. The nightmare of the witness began with the proverbial midnight knock on his door by a police team, which proceeded to thrash him in front of his family and the entire neighbourhood before hauling him away. The charges: Raping a woman in his car. A woman was paid to have intercourse with someone whose blood group matched that of the witness, and also contact a lawyer, a co-conspirator, at a district crime court, who planted more ‘evidence’ on her. The police then planted ‘evidence’ of rape in the car of the witness, who was even asked to provide a semen sample in the police station. He went on to spend 52 harrowing days in jail, and was eventually acquitted only on the basis of a DNA test. Although a court ordered an investigation against six police officials in the case on August 11, the fact of the matter is that it may just be the tip of an iceberg. Indeed, police officials are actually empowered by the law of the land to question or detain anyone anytime on the pretext of just about anything. Those unfortunate enough to land in custody are often subjected to third-degree torture which can be traumatic enough to scar people for life, physically as well as mentally. Cases of custodial death are not unknown, with people simply being beaten to death. Some prefer to commit suicide. The Indian Penal Code (IPC), which defines crime and punishment, is based on British criminal law and came into force in 1862, while the machinery for prevention and punishment through the criminal court system is contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which dates back to 1898. Even the Police Act came into force in 1861. All these had one overriding assumption: the subjugation of ‘natives’ by the enforcing British officers. So, when section 41 of the CrPC grants powers to a police officer to arrest anyone without a warrant from a magistrate, the assumption was that the ‘officer’ would be British and the arrested person an Indian. Likewise, sections 129-131 (maintenance of public order and tranquility, using force if necessary), sections 149-153 (the preventive powers of the police) or section 156 (police investigation) all grant sweeping discretionary powers to the police, thanks to phrases like ‘reasonably complaint’, ‘credible information’, and ‘reasonable suspicion’. Nowadays, when only money matters, the system encourages abuse of official position and rampant corruption. A survey found that over 90 cent of people found the police untrustworthy, corrupt and brutal. It is high time that the penal and criminal procedure codes are rewritten. Unfortunately, our members of Parliament nowadays are too busy squabbling among themselves, and the average politician too engrossed in making money, to care about things such as true freedom from the British by changing the system they put in place. |
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From the pages of The Delhi assassination
One more heinous crime has been added to Delhi’s shameful record of lawlessness with the murder on Thursday night of Baba Gurbachan Singh, head of the Nirankari mission. While it is unfair to expect the police to guarantee total security for every citizen, the assassinated leader was known to have been a marked man. An attempt to kill him was made only five weeks ago. It is really surprising that Delhi’s much talked of Lieut-Governor and Police Commissioner did not think it worth their while to heed the warning from Durg and the subsequent appeals for help from Baba Gurbachan Singh’s followers. If Delhi is indeed becoming ungovernable-as some in the administration and many outside think it is-a few changes in the executive hierarchy are clearly indicated. Concentration of authority in the hands of a few chosen people seems to have made things worse for the citizen.
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