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Quest for consensus Work in harmony |
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Dam at last Now, rehabilitate the displaced THE Sardar Sarovar dam has reached its court-ordained height of 400 feet and the construction has come to an end. It has evoked mixed reactions from those who have been supporting the project and those who have been opposing it. The foundation stone of the dam was laid in 1961 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a great votary of dams as powerhouses of India’s future.
The Asian giants
Jai Hind
Skewed representation in Chandigarh Corporation Looking for a return to Diego Garcia Legal notes
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Quest for consensus BUILDING consensus among the ruling and Opposition groups over major policy issues, particularly those related to foreign affairs, has special significance. This has been the tradition in India since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru. Thus the initiative launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to consult the Opposition parties, beginning with the BJP, over issues having a bearing on the country’s future is a welcome development. His luncheon meeting with Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mr L. K. Advani, Mr Jaswant Singh and Mr Brajesh Mishra on Tuesday came after he called on the former Prime Minister to greet him on his 82nd birthday. Mr Vajpayee reportedly used the opportunity to apprise Dr Manmohan Singh of the feeling in the BJP that the UPA government was keeping the main Opposition party in the dark over crucial policy matters. The BJP has been critical of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, as it believes that the waiver law — the Hyde Act — allowing nuclear trade with India will jeopardise India’s nuclear weapon programme if certain provisions in the Act were not ignored while finalising the 123 Agreement. The BJP’s stand, though unjustifiable, remains unchanged despite the Prime Minister’s clear-cut assurance, in and outside Parliament, that under no circumstances will his government allow the country’s strategic and other interests to be compromised. The principal Opposition party has also described as a gimmick all the “out of box” ideas floated by President Pervez Musharraf, including his latest four-point formula offered through a media interview, for peace between India and Pakistan. But Dr Manmohan Singh has expressed the view that any suggestion that helps establish peace is welcome. The two countries seem to be engaged in some crucial discussions through back-channel diplomacy. A consensual approach will obviously make it easier for the UPA government to take any major decision when the time comes. It is, therefore, quite logical to link the Prime Minister’s initiative with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s forthcoming visit to Islamabad, ostensibly to invite General Musharraf for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting in New Delhi. Even otherwise, consensus always provides added strength to the government to deal with other countries. |
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Work in harmony THE Chief Justice of India-designate, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, says there is no “confrontation” between the legislature and the judiciary. His statement is reassuring as it comes at a time when there is a general impression that the two wings of the state have been at loggerheads on various issues. According to the principle of separation of powers under the Constitution, the tasks, functions and the roles of all the three wings — the legislature, the executive and the judiciary — are clearly cut out. There should be no cause for confrontation among these wings because each of them is expected to perform its duty within the prescribed parameters. Of course, problems are bound to arise if one wing tries to overstep its limits. It is, therefore, essential that all the three wings appreciate one another’s limits and do not cross the Laxman Rekha. While Parliament is mandated to enact laws, the judiciary has been empowered to apply the doctrine of legislative competence to examine whether the law so enacted, partly or wholly, is intra vires or ultra vires the Constitution. For instance, the Supreme Court can declare any law passed by Parliament as null and void if it feels that it is inconsistent with Part III of the Constitution dealing with the fundamental rights. In doing so, the Supreme Court is not appropriating to itself any new power but merely exercising what the Constitution has granted it. As Justice Balakrishnan has pointed out, the judges do not do anything on their own accord. They act only when people knock on the doors of the courts against any arbitrary or illegitimate action by the legislature or the executive. When a citizen approaches the judiciary, it is the fundamental duty of the judges to adjudicate upon the issue in accordance with the law. Undoubtedly, for the smooth functioning of democracy, the legislature and the judiciary should appreciate each other’s role and work in harmony, without rancour and misunderstanding. Herein lies the spirit of the Constitution. |
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Dam at last THE Sardar Sarovar dam has reached its court-ordained height of 400 feet and the construction has come to an end. It has evoked mixed reactions from those who have been supporting the project and those who have been opposing it. The foundation stone of the dam was laid in 1961 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a great votary of dams as powerhouses of India’s future. However, unlike the 741-feet-high Bhakra Nangal Dam which he inaugurated two years later, the Sardar Sarovar dam became both costly and contentious. Work on the dam began in 1987 but it has been plagued by confrontations and controversies. A key issue has been that of the rehabilitation of the thousands of families, which have been displaced because of the project, and the loss of rich, fertile land that has been submerged. The dam will have a storage capacity of over 65,000 cusecs of water and will generate 1,450 MW of power by the end of the month, which will be drawn by Gujarat and the neighbouring states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It will help to irrigate 18 lakh hectares of land and has a canal network of over 80,000 km covering 8,200 villages in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It will also provide drinking water to more than 20 million people. The focus now should be on reaping the dam’s benefits and on making sure that the displaced persons are rehabilitated in a proper manner. The Narmada Bachao Andolan has all along been creating public awareness about their plight. The government has been lacking in sensitivity on the issue and it has done precious little for them. They must be given alternative land, if available, jobs where practicable and certainly adequate monetary compensation. Now is the time to set controversies at rest and focus on the future, both of those who benefit from the dam and those who have been ousted because of it. Increasing the dam’s height can wait till the displaced persons are properly rehabilitated. |
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Parodies and caricatures are the most penetrating of criticisms. — Aldous Huxley
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The Asian giants
ASIA has emerged as a vital theatre of global economic dynamism and security concerns. It is important because three major Asian powers — China, India and Japan — since the end of World War-II seem poised to define the texture of global power equations, with far reaching consequences for intra-Asian relations. The perceptive scholar and analyst in Brahma Chellaney has tried to explore in his latest book« the contours of Asian and global relations in the context of economic and strategic rise of these three countries. The much acknowledged rise of the three Asian powers is caricatured in a comparative perspective by the author in his phrase, “ Soaring Dragon, Rising Tiger and Assertive Godzilla”. The factors that are propelling this rise have been carefully identified and the challenges that confront the sustained momentum of their rise, ranging from demographic dimensions to the issues of political ideals, systemic constraints, ideologies of nationalism and governance, have been commented upon. In all these, China naturally enjoys the advantage of “leadership, vision and a result-oriented approach” over its other two Asian competitors. But China also has to be prepared to face the consequences of rising income gaps and rural, peasant unrest. The authors’ discussion of China’s comparison with India on winning in the long run is objective and insightful, though he avoids any firm conclusion. No one would disagree with Chellaney in his assertion that Asia is not Europe. Economic inequalities, political differences on the questions of dictatorship and democracy, bitter legacies of conflicts and domination are highlighted as distinguishing features, though one should not forget that all these issues played their role in Europe as well. It is true that large Asian countries like China and India may not come under the US hegemony on the pattern it is evident n Europe, but no one should undermine the fact that the US has its troops stationed in Japan and a number of other Asian countries, and many more Asian countries may not be averse to forging unequal and one- sided strategic ties with the US to the latter’s advantage. If Asia is different from Europe, as it is, then why should Chellaney still see a “compelling rationale” behind the vision of an “Asian Union”. Nehru pursued this vision during the fifties and got frustrated. China is now trying to build a new Asian community under the “East Asian” banner, and prospects are as intriguing as ever. Besides Asia’s own internal problems, the fact also remains that the US and possibly even Europe may not like to see Asia united to emerge as an alternative pole of global power and influence. The underlying thrust of Chellaney’s study is on China. The other two Asian powers’ rise has been looked at in relation to China’s rise. This comes out clearly in three of the five chapters of the book -- Asian Geopolitics of Energy, Equations in Strategic Triangle and Averting Strategic Conflict in Asia. As growing economies, all the three Asian major powers are in search of assured energy supplies at affordable prices. In this search, China has definitely been ahead of India, and perhaps also Japan. China has more cash and adopted a focused political approach to do so. This is also evident in China’s search for other raw materials needed to keep its factories churning out consumer and industrial products. China’s Africa summit in late 2006 was a typical example of its “aggressive” diplomacy in search of energy and mineral resources. Chellaney has done well to link up this economic dimension with military access and the approach of energy-seeking Asian powers. He sees China’s energy-military capabilities (“string of pearls”) as indicative of its offensive intents. This is only one side of the story. It must be recalled that during the 1996 missile standoff in the Taiwan Strait, the US clearly threatened China of blockade in the South-China Sea area, the only access to sea that China has. Any other country in China’s place would look for alternative sources of energy and critical supplies if and when the worst of such blockade indeed takes place. China seeking outlets in the Indian Ocean (Gwadar) or the Bay of Bengal (Sittwe) should also be understood as a defensive move. Strategic and economic cooperation with both Pakistan and Myanmar cater to China’s needs for its “remote” and generally neglected western region. While focusing on the emerging strategic equations, the author seems to be awed by “China’s assertive projection of power”, in contrast to what he describes as “Japan’s pacifist constitution” and “India’s smug didactic world view”. He also joins the new breed of strategic analysts who have made it fashionable to attack Nehru and his “doctrinaire nonalignment”. Chellaney is aware that Indian and Japanese policies have undergone major shifts but he does not account for the shifts adequately while contrasting them with China. While indulging in Nehru-bashing, the scholars like Chellaney should also answer if India had credible alternative options during Nehru’s time which it did not exercise. Under the given constraints, nonalignment worked as a reliable balance of power policy for India. Yes, China’s 1962 offensive was not anticipated properly, but it has always been an unpredictable power for even the super powers of those decades like the US and the Soviet Union. By the time one finishes reading Asian Juggernaut, one is left with a feeling that the study mixes serious scholarship with emotive opinions. Everything which could be said on this otherwise very absorbing theme has been said, sometimes with careful analysis and sometimes without that. As a consequence, several contradictory propositions are advanced and left unexplored. For instance, at one place Chellaney says that “India-Japan strategic alliance can offset Sino-Pakistan axis”; then he also talks about an “India-China-Russia” axis to help build multi-polarity. At this stage, Chellaney should have paused to assess the US reactions to either of the two propositions. Will not the US dominate the India-Japan strategic alliance if it is forged without redefining US-Japan defence alliance and arrangements? In that case will it really be possible for India not to be a “junior partner” of the US in a possible China-containing exercise? Again, at one place Chellaney asserts that “China is dividing Asia”. Thirty pages later he asks his readers to accept that “China can be a positive influence in Asia”. While blaming China for dividing Asia, he also ignores the fact that the Chinese economy has, in fact, integrated the East-Asian economies with that of its own by making them partners in its own manufacturing boom. Yet again, Chellaney surmises, “China and India cannot build enduring peace without China reaching out to Tibet”. Here which Tibet he is referring to? For China has integrated what it considers as its own Tibet. Journalists of the world are encouraged to visit Lhasa and sing the praise of China’s control there. If Chellaney has the Tibet of Dalai Lama in his mind, there is no way that China will come to terms with it, and the Chinese have left no one in doubt about
that.
Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan by Brahma Chellaney; Harpin Collins Publishers India.
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Jai Hind
IN September 1992 it rained incessantly for a number of days in northern Kashmir and all the rivers and streams were swollen inundating low-lying villages on their banks. Many houses had collapsed, food supplies and other essential items were washed away or rendered unusable. Though (muddy) water was everywhere there was not a drop of drinkable water in many villages. One such small village was just across the main highway near our Brigade HQ at Drugmulla in Kupwara sector. A dreaded militant whom we had codenamed “cobra” belonged to that village. We decided to do some thing for that village. A word was sent that I would visit the village so that our arrival was not construed as an other “cordon and search operation” to further compound their misery. When we arrived heavy drizzle was still there. We found the village in real misery. Some villagers reluctantly collected around our small party which was apparently unarmed (though we had taken some “precautions”). As I showed desire to go round to inspect the damage, the villagers offered help to keep my shining boots from getting spoiled which I declined saying that I had come to share their misery and not to impress them with my turnout, or words to that effect. Accordingly I walked in knee-deep mud. By the end of my round, almost the entire village had collected around us, including women and children. With mud up to our knees and soaked to skin by the drizzle we must have made a very poor spectacle. But it did not deter me from giving a little speech showing our concern for their plight and that we would give what ever help we could, despite our meagre resources. I also spoke that it was “Allah’s Kaihar” (Divine retribution) for something which the village must have done, hinting at Cobra’s connection with the village, which they all knew very well. As I finished my little talk, our Army truck with cooked food and a water trailer arrived (as planned). A tent was pitched for distributing food and water, first to the children and thereafter, under the supervision, of village elders, to others. We also promised to loan some tents to those whose houses were destroyed and to provide some dry rations to the needy (which we did the very same day). The villagers became very talkative and appreciated our help. During our short interaction with them, to my utter surprise, some of them raised pro-India slogans. It was a calculated gamble which paid off; we might as well had been ambushed. The villagers were won over and dreaded “Cobra” was defanged. My experience of Nagaland, Manipur and Kashmir is that if you are sincere, the populace responds very positively and in far greater measure. As we took their leave, they collectively shouted “Jai Hind” to me. Some days later when DC Kupwara visited that village, he was
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Skewed representation in Chandigarh Corporation Chandigarh has the highest literacy rate in the country and therefore is expected to have the most representative population in terms of democratic participation. But the recently concluded elections for the Municipal Corporation has thrown up some startling facts. The political demographics of Chandigarh are no different from the rest of the country. Here too, the political power remains concentrated in the hands of relatively well-to-do families. A close look at the three Municipal Corporation elections since this civic body came into existence in 1996 belies all claims of equal representation for all categories and socio-economic strata. It is very obvious that the victorious councillors in these three elections have come from the business class. Those nominated to be councillors are predominantly from the service class. The pattern has been very uniform for every political party that emerged victorious, even though each has a significantly different political ideology. In all the three elections the representation of the socially and economically depressed classes remains marginal. This is quite ironical considering the fact that the lower middle class, which is also the working class, forms a majority of the city’s population. In 1996, the BJP-Akali Dal swept to power winning 15 out of 20 elected seats. In 2001 Congress had a majority winning 13 out of 20. Now 2006 has thrown up mixed results with the Congress emerging as the single largest party with 12 seats. The dip is attributed to the fact that it has lost its stronghold over slum voters while the BJP seems to have lost its urban base. Again, a look at the social and economic background of a handful of elected members from the deprived section of the society shows that only those who have been politically well connected have been able get into the Corporation with the help of the parties they represented. This marginal representation of the lower classes is paradoxical if we keep in mind the fact that it is the people of precisely these lower classes who turn out for voting in large numbers. For those not familiar with the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, it is today a 35 member civic body where 26 members are elected directly by the people and the remaining nine are nominated by the Chandigarh Administrator i.e. Governor of Punjab. Prior to the polls, concluded earlier this month, the Municipal Corporation consisted of 29 members out of which 20 were elected and the rest nominated. Incidentally, the percentage of votes polled in the Municipal Corporation elections has been quite unimpressive. It was only 45.5 per cent in 1996, which declined to about 31.75 per cent in 2001. It has again gone up to 45.72 per cent in 2006. The decline in turnout in 2001 could be attributed to several factors such as factionalism, floor crossing, power mongering, etc. This perhaps antagonised the middle class voters to such an extent that they became apathetic to Corporation elections. However, in the case of weaker sections, particularly the slum dwellers, their participation in voting has been comparatively very high. For example, in the corporation elections of December 2001, the voting percentage in slum areas was as high as 58-60 per sent. The same is true this time also. The middle and upper class voters had shown indifference to polling even during the Lok Sabha polls, as the turnout in the September 1999 Parliament elections failed to exceed 48.35 per cent in Chandigarh. In the May 2004 Parliamentary polls too, only 51.06 per cent voters cast their votes in Chandigarh. In terms of gender, it is interesting to note that the proportion of female members among the elected councillors has been much higher than that of the nominated members. For example, among the elected members, 37 per cent are women councillors in the present house. Whereas in the case of the nominated members the proportion of women members tends to be only 22.2 per cent. The increase in the ratio of women representatives at the local level may be attributed to the 74th Amendment Act, according to which 33 per cent seats have been reserved for women. This principle has not been followed in the case of the nominated members as the 74th Amendment Act does not encourage nomination at the grass-roots institutions. When evaluated on religious lines, the Hindus form an overwhelming majority in the Corporation, reflecting their strenght in the population. The Sikhs, who form only 20.29 per cent of the city’s population as compared to 75.84 Hindus, have got representation almost in proportion to their share in the total population. However, the other minority communities have found no representation among the elected members. But there is a Muslim among the nominated members . Interestingly, the strength of Hindus and Sikhs among the elected representatives has remained almost the same in all the three Municipal Corporations. But in the case of nominated members, the proportion of Sikhs in 1996 was as high as 66.60 per cent which, however, got reduced to 44.49 and 11.11 per cent in the second and third Municipal Corporation constituted in 2001 and 2006. Among the nominated members, no one had ever served in the grass-roots institutions or other such civic bodies. Nor were they ever associated with political parties or interest groups like trade union bodies. However, all the nominated members of the Municipal Corporation are extremely experienced people who have served at senior positions in various governmental departments. Most of these members, as mentioned above, are retired senior bureaucrats, army generals, police officers, doctors, engineers and educationists and the like.
The writer is a Lecturer in Political Science, Government College,
Panchkula. |
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Looking for a return to Diego Garcia FORTY years ago, on Dec. 30, 1966, at the U.S. Embassy in London, representatives of the U.S. and British governments met, as one participant later put it, “under the cover of darkness” to sign an “exchange of notes” giving the United States the right to create what was to become a major military base on Diego Garcia, an obscure British island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, south of India. In doing so they made provision for “those administrative measures” necessary to forcibly deport the entire native population of the island and the surrounding Chagos Archipelago. While Diego Garcia has gained some attention as a key launch pad for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, few know about the expulsion of nearly 2,000 people, called Chagossians, that was eventually carried out between 1968 and 1973 to create the base. Despite the anonymity, the facts are not in doubt: Beginning in 1960, U.S. officials initiated secret conversations with the British government and eventually secured British agreement to provide “exclusive control” of the island “without local inhabitants.” A separate secret agreement provided for $14 million in undisclosed U.S. payments to deport the Chagossians and turn Diego Garcia into a military colony. With the financial and diplomatic details ensured, beginning in 1968, islanders leaving Chagos for vacations or medical treatment on the island of Mauritius were barred by the British from returning and thus marooned 1,200 miles from their homes. The British soon began restricting supplies and by the turn of the decade, more Chagossians were leaving as food and medicines dwindled. In 1971 the U.S. Navy began construction on Diego Garcia and ordered the British to complete the removals. First British agents and U.S. soldiers on Diego Garcia herded the Chagossians’ pet dogs into sealed sheds and gassed and burned them in front of their traumatised owners awaiting deportation. Then, between 1971 and 1973, British agents forced the islanders to board overcrowded cargo ships and left them on the docks in Mauritius and the Seychelles. In 1975 the Washington Post broke the story, finding the people living in “abject poverty” as a result of what the Post’s editorial page called an “act of mass kidnapping.” When a single day of congressional hearings followed, the U.S. government denied all responsibility. After years of protests and strikes, the British government, in 1978 and 1982, paid Chagossians some compensation. It totaled less than $6,000 per recipient. After living with the islanders over four periods between 2001 and 2004, I found that as a group, Chagossians -- now numbering more than 5,000--have been severely and chronically impoverished by the expulsion. In Britain, the High Court in London has twice – in 2000 and 2006 – ruled the islanders’ expulsion illegal under U.K. law. In February the group will return to the court to contest the British government’s appeal of the latest ruling; another victory could finally open the way for a return to Chagos.
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Legal notes THE Union Government has brushed aside the hype created on the issue of parallel Islamic courts, known as Darul Qaza and Nezm-e-Qaza, run by the Muslim clergies. These courts issue ‘fatwas’ for settling civil disputes, including dissolution of marriages on the basis of ‘triple talaq’. In its reply to the Supreme Court notice on a public interest petition, which had challenged the authority of Darul Qaza and Nizm-e-Qaza and the fatwas issued by Muftis presiding over them, the Law Ministry has affirmed in its affidavit that these courts have no legal sanctity. The fatwas issued by them are only advisory and not mandatory and they can neither force any person to follow its dictates, nor compel any one to approach these courts. The Ministry took a stand that the institution of Darul Qaza and Nezam-e-Qaza has never been recognised officially as a judicial system in the modern history of India and it is immaterial what role the Qazi had played in administering the Islamic laws before the advent of British Rule, that laid down the foundation of the modern legal system. The PIL has sought a direction to the Union and state governments to ban all parallel Islamic courts for reasons that they were operating in violation of the Constitution.
High security number plates Former Youth Congress president Maninderjit Singh Bitta, who leads an anti-terrorism organisation, has approached the Supreme Court for implementation of the ‘high security number plates’ scheme for all types of vehicles. The idea is to ensure that militants cannot easily fake numbers to carry out their nefarious activities. Mr Bitta has accused state governments of ignoring even the Court notices on the scheme. In a fresh application moved as part of his public interest petition on the issue, he pointed out that the majority of the states, particularly the bigger ones, had not even acknowledged the receipt of notices. Mr Bitta’s main argument was that in most of the terrorist strikes in the country, vehicles with fake number plates had been used and it has proved to be a major impediment in the investigation of such cases. He told the Court that only the states of Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Mizoram, Manipur and some Union territories had filed status reports on the action taken by them regarding implementation of the scheme. The Court has taken a serious view of the fact that more than half of the states have not even bothered to respond to its notices on the petition filed in October 2005. Tackling the NPA menace The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, enacted in 2002 to check the phenomenal growth of non-performing assets (NPA) with banks and other financial institutions, has proved to be a great success as per the Finance Ministry’s report to the Supreme Court on the issue. The Court had sought a status report from the Ministry on the present position of NPAs and steps taken to curtail its growth. The legislation enacted by the Government empowers the banks and other financial institutions to take criminal action not only against its officers who have advanced loans without proper security to private parties but also against those taking the loan. The action taken under the Act has resulted in the prosecution of many of the bank managers and company executives involved in signing of the loan agreements. Many of them have ended up in jail either in judicial custody, or after conviction. According to the Ministry’s report, the NPA with the nationalised banks which stood at Rs 56,473 crore in 2002 has come down to Rs 14,560 crore in 2006. The NPA with all the government financial institutions stood at an alarming level of Rs one lakh crore for the nineties. The Court has also sought details from the Reserve Bank of India about the steps taken by it to enforce its rules strictly, so that the nationalised banks are able to completely wipe out all
NPAs.
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A stands for Vaishvanara. Those who know this, through mastery of the senses, obtain the fruit of their desires and attain greatness. It is very significant that some of the most thoughtful and cultured men are partisans of a pure vegetable diet. As a drop of water is contained in the ocean, so too the ocean is contained in the drop. He who knows the real path of life, knows this well.
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