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Blow against the corrupt Children are not for killing Mulayam in trouble |
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A foreign policy challenge
New Year’s eve
Courage in clarity Celebrating a tradition of learning Smile at the customer,
or else!
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Blow against the corrupt WEDNESDAY’s judgement by the Supreme Court Constitution Bench upholding Parliament’s right to expel members for their involvement in the cash-for-query scam is highly commendable. It vindicates The Tribune’s relentless campaign against corruption in high places and its strong endorsement of Parliament’s legitimate and constitutional duty to expel members caught accepting bribes on camera. No one can ever endorse what the 11 MPs did. It shook the conscience of the country when people watched on television their elected representatives taking bribes ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1,10,000 for asking questions in Parliament. At a time when corruption has assumed alarming proportions, polluting governance at various levels, the judgement will act as a deterrent and a warning to the politicians to behave or face action. MPs and MLAs are lawmakers and ought to be role models for the citizens in their conduct and actions. Consequently, if they forfeit the people’s confidence by acts unbecoming of their high position, a legislature will have to expel them if nothing else than to keep the image of the institution unsullied. Undoubtedly, the judgement will greatly help smoothen the relationship between the legislature and the judiciary. The Bench headed by outgoing Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, by a majority of four to one, rightly held that the judiciary has no role to play as regards the proceedings in Parliament and that the members’ expulsion, through separate resolutions, were constitutionally valid. It held that under Article 105 of the Constitution, Parliament had powers to regulate its proceedings and while doing so, it could expel any member for misconduct. Such an action could not be called “invalid, illegal or unconstitutional” or as violative of MPs’ fundamental rights. Significantly, while upholding Parliament’s right to expel members for misconduct, the Bench made it clear that it could exercise the power of judicial review of any action by Parliament and such action could not amount to interfering with Parliament’s functions. One cannot differ with this observation because the judiciary has been empowered to apply the doctrine of legislative competence to examine whether a law made by the legislature is constitutionally valid or not. This is not to give the apex court overriding powers over Parliament but to protect the citizens’ fundamental rights from any arbitrary action by the executive or the legislature a fact rightly reiterated by the Bench. |
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Children are not for killing THE shocking spectacle of children’s mutilated bodies being fished out of a drain in Nithari was so unnerving that everybody convinced oneself into believing that this was a one-off ghoulish deed of an inhuman duo. But now it is becoming more and more obvious that there are many more Nitharis in the country. Skeletons are literally tumbling out of various places, including from an abandoned rice mill in Muktsar belonging to former Congress MP Jagmeet Singh Brar. It is too early to give a clean chit or point an accusatory finger at anyone but what is certain is that four children aged between nine and 13 years were tortured to death. Their bodies had been tied with ropes, mutilated and partly burnt. Perhaps these belong to the four children of migrant labourers who had gone missing on November 14 last - ironically, Children’s Day. One girl might have also been molested. Like in Nithari, parents of the missing children had been running from pillar to post in search of them, and had been accusing the police of inaction. What causes extreme disquiet is the fact that 50 persons went missing from the area in 2006, including eight children below 12, five girls and three boys. In Patna too the police has arrested a child killer who used to lure young boys and girls to parties organised by him and later butchered at least nine of them. What is unbelievable is that he was at this grim and cruel activity since 1995 but still eluded the police. Since the victims happened to be from poor families, the police never investigated the cases vigorously. That raises some very uncomfortable questions. Is justice only for the rich few? Had the police been alert, many of these lives could have been saved. Inaction not only allows murderers to go scot-free, it also encourages many more to go for inhuman pursuits like killing the children who are always the most vulnerable. Over 45,000 of them go missing in India every year, according to the National Human Rights Commission. The trauma and the sense of insecurity prevailing among the public are more than justified. It should prick the conscience of those who control the police administration across the country. Children are not for killing. |
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Mulayam in trouble THOSE who believe that the Rashtriya Lok Dal ministers resigned from the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh only on the issue of sugarcane price surely does not know the MP from Baghpet. It is all part of Mr Ajit Singh’s game plan for the UP elections, which will be held soon after the elections in Punjab are over. The RLD chief has been negotiating with the Congress for a suitable post for himself at the Centre. The resignation has not yet rendered the UP government a minority government. As it is, there is no immediate threat to the government, though parties like the BJP and the BSP have been clamouring for President’s rule. The setback for Mr Mulayam Singh is more political than numerical. In any case, the UP government has more or less completed its tenure. That a constituent unit of the ruling group has decided to quit the government virtually on the eve of the elections does not show the Samajwadi Party in a good light. This will only strengthen the perception that the ruling alliance is a sinking ship from which outfits like the RLD are escaping. The Chief Minister’s bid to retrieve some lost ground by seeking a prompt confidence vote in the Assembly has been upset by Governor T.V. Rajeswar’s equally quick decision to prorogue the House. This rules out the convening of a quick session of the Assembly to make a political point. There is also no certainty that the Governor will dissolve the Assembly if the government recommends it, particularly because of doubts whether it enjoys majority support. All this will have a deleterious effect on the Samajwadi Party, which is hardly in the pink of health, whatever the Chief Minister and his confidant Amar Singh may boast in public. It did not do well in the recent municipal elections from which the BSP chose to remain absent for strategic reasons. The BJP did well in the elections having won nine municipal bodies. And to make matters worse for the ruling combine, incidents like the Nithari killings and the bold stand taken by the Lucknow University vice-chancellor against some student leaders enjoying SP’s patronage have brought disrepute to the government which even provided armed guards to undesirable elements in the University. For the UP Chief Minister, misfortune does not seem to come alone. |
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I’ve been very blessed. My parents always told me I could be anything I wanted. When you grow up in a household like that, you learn to believe in yourself.
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A foreign policy challenge
THE year 2006 ended with India facing a strange dilemma in conducting its foreign policy, when Iraq’s Shia leaders, with American acquiescence, executed former President Saddam Hussein. This untimely and unwise move, with Iraq under foreign occupation is bound to increase sectarian tensions, with the country hovering on the brink of a civil war. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s reaction to the hanging was measured and appropriate, pointing out the adverse consequences of this action for national reconciliation. But, even as the Shias and Kurds who constitute 80 per cent of Iraq’s population were celebrating the event, duly backed by neighbouring Iran and with neighbouring Sunni majority Arab States like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait feeling quietly relieved, Indian political parties sought to make domestic political capital, portraying the entire episode as against Muslim sentiments. A major challenge in 2007, particularly on dealing with issues in our western neighbourhood, is that foreign policy is being made hostage to communal politics. We are being told by influential political circles that while it is alright for former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to visit Israel and to invite Israeli companies to West Bengal, New Delhi should compromise its security interests and end military acquisitions from Israel, even as China strengthens its military sinews with Israeli collaboration. More astonishing is the criticism being voiced against the presence of American-led NATO troops battling the Taliban in Afghanistan, as though American withdrawal and the return of the Taliban will promote India’s national security. Have we forgotten that the Taliban, with ISI backing, provided bases to groups like the “Harkat ul Mujahideen” to wage “Jihad” in Jammu and Kashmir, assisted the hijackers of IC 814 in Kandahar, attacked our consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad, killed our road construction engineers in Afghanistan and demands that all Indians leave their country? The year 2007 is also set to see erosion in American global influence, as events in Iraq and Afghanistan have established the limitations of American military power. The AK 47 rifle, the suicide bomber and the improvised explosive device can inflict horrendous casualties on even the most powerful armies. The US will now be more prudent in exposing its forces to foreign adventures. An energy-rich Russia led by the dynamic Vladimir Putin is emerging as a significant player in the world stage. The Russians have demonstrated that they have the will and the capability to roll back the adverse impact of American-inspired political changes in the former Soviet Republics, like Ukraine , Georgia, or Kyrgyzstan. The main leverage that Russia wields is not military power, but energy resources. Ukrainians and Georgians have learnt that defiance of Moscow can lead to cold winters. New Delhi would do well to bear this in mind as it prepares to welcome President Putin on Republic Day. It has to fashion new dimensions to its energy and military relationship with Moscow. Russia recognises that unlike its relationship with China, it has no long-term differences in interests with India. It has remained a reliable partner on areas ranging from space to nuclear fuel. Nearer home, the challenges India faces in 2007 remain formidable. New Delhi has thus far dexterously dealt with the transition from monarchy and feudalism to democratic governance in Nepal. Bringing the Maoists into the democratic mainstream will remain a challenge. But what is of immediate concern is the political future of Bangladesh, where the forthcoming elections have been marred by violence and allegations of fraud in voters’ lists. The situation in Bangladesh is so fragile that even the nominally secular Awami League entered into an electoral alliance with the fundamentalist “Khilafat Majlis”, a party whose members include “Jihadis” from the terrorist “Harkat ul Jihad ul Islami”. But with the flip flops of the Awami League on its participation in the elections, Bangladesh appears headed for political violence and instability. India’s expectations of a secular, stable government in Bangladesh may not be fulfilled. It may be unrealistic to expect meaningful cooperation with Bangladesh on issues of concern in such a situation. Unlike in Bangladesh , our problems in Sri Lanka arise not because any one of its major parties harbours anti-Indian sentiments. Our influence there has been limited because the “compulsions of coalition politics” in Tamil Nadu have inhibited New Delhi from effectively backing Sri Lanka’s government to deal with the challenges it faces from the implacably separatist LTTE. New Delhi is, however, going to require Sri Lankan understanding to deal with Pakistan’s refusal to fulfill its commitments under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement. Pakistani obduracy on this score can be effectively countered by ensuring in the forthcoming New Delhi Summit of the BIMSTEC organisation that the Bay of Bengal littoral and hinterland States — Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan — formulate a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, embracing exchanges of goods, services and investment and infrastructure development. To our west, we are set to see continuing terrorism sponsored by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere. The limiting factor in this may be concerns that Pakistan has about its northern borders with Afghanistan, where its support for a resurgent Taliban is inviting the wrath of both Kabul and Washington. The Pakistani calculation appears to be that given its reverses in Iraq, the US will be prepared to accommodate a “moderate” Taliban in the Kabul Government. New Delhi will have to cooperate closely with
Afghanistan and review its position on the continuing validity of the Durand Line as the international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. At the same time, common ground can be sought on proposals put forward by both India and Pakistan on the issue of J&K through a dialogue, which should, however, not be Kashmir centric. 2007 could well emerge as the year when nuclear sanctions against India by the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group ends. Imaginative diplomacy is going to be required if this is to be achieved. But New Delhi should realise that this would not have been possible if President Bush was cast in the same mould as some of his predecessors, like Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The US is going to remain the pre-eminent world power in coming years. New Delhi would be well advised to build a durable partnership with the US in the remaining two years of the Bush Presidency — a partnership that recognises that while we may differ on some issues, there are many issues on which we can agree. But for this to happen, considerations of national interests will have to prevail over “compulsions of communal and coalition politics”.
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New Year’s eve
WHAT was the most memorable New Year’s eve for me? Well, the one I spent running! I had to catch the Prayagraj Express on the 31st at 10 in the night. No great shakes as I had been boarding the train often. I started at half past eight-well in time. Suddenly I found the character of the traffic change from the usual rash to Brer rabbit mad. People were sozzled, it was clear, the way cars and ear-splitting mobikes were ripping through. My taxi reached Connaught Place at 9.15. another 10 minutes, I thought. But, what was this? No vehicle could enter the mad place. I pleaded with the traffic cop. He was firm and, seeing the ocean of humanity it seemed impossible that anything could drive through. He advised that I take another route. But a scooter rickshawallah told me there was not other route and one had to walk. I realised I was walking through a friendly wall. Perfect strangers just shook me by the hand. Some hugged and their breaths laden with rum nauseated me. There was mad dancing and shouting. Then I saw a man begging for help. He was almost weeping. It seemed he had great difficulty in walking and whether I could help. I was no ortho, yet I looked at his feet. He was wearing a pair of new shoes — the right shoe in the left foot and vice versa. I corrected the foot fault. He was so grateful that he offered to be a friend for life and brought out a flagon of whisky. Could I at least share it with him? I tore myself off. Hardly a minute, and I was forcibly included in a dance group. I pleaded that I had to board a train and could they let me go. I was talking to inebriated amoebas. It was only 10 minutes to 10 now. I dashed through the human waves and kept on running. Two minutes now, and I still had to run up the stairs and reach the last platform. I started panting but could not reduce speed. I dashed down the stairs. The first whistle of the train blew. I was now a hundred metres runner, in, for a photo finish. As I reached the compartment, the train started moving. I collapsed near the door and the attendant had to help me to the coupe. “You should have started early enough”, he gave the avuncular advice! So this is how I “celebrated” the New Year’s
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Courage in clarity
THE voice on the phone said: “Am I talking to Rupa Bajwa’s mother? Rupa has won the Sahitya Akademi Award.” Mrs Rajwant Bajwa had taken such calls in the past, but this was special. Bajwa was being recognised in her own country. The young author of The Sari Shop would have been the toast of the literary world, if only they could find her. The Amritsar-born author likes to communicate through her writing—her book, and sometimes her articles when she feels compelled to respond to issues that strongly move her. Bajwa’s The Sari Shop is set in Amritsar, and the protagonist, Ramchand, works in a sari shop in the old city. His interaction with his customers and his attempts to better himself are skilfully captured in the novel, which has won high literary praise and has been a bestseller in the UK, the US and in India. The book has been translated into most European languages, including French, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Greek and Spanish. The Sari Shop (published 2004) is a realistic work that holds a mirror to society, and ultimately, to all of us who comprise that society Bajwa did her schooling in Amritsar, where her mother taught for many years till her retirement. Her father, Swarn Singh Bajwa was an SE with the Punjab State Electricity Board and they settled down in Amritsar. The following are the excerpts from an exclusive interview: What was your immediate response, when you got to know that you have won the Sahitya Akademi Award in English 2006? I was very surprised. I was under the impression that older and more experienced writers received this award. The Sahitya Akademi Award has come after you won international honours like the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Young New Authors, and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2005 for Best First Book (Eurasia Region). How do you feel about getting honoured in India after being celebrated internationally? It carries a certain meaning because I wrote about my people, about the world I grew up in. I wrote in response to my own society, even though I do believe that human nature remains essentially the same everywhere. And so, being acknowledged by people from this society is definitely important and satisfying. At the same time, it is humbling. What role have your parents played in your being a writer? They let me be. In a fairly conservative and blinkered social environment, they gave me space. I cannot say much, though I deal with words. Words would be inadequate to express the unconditional acceptance and strength that my parents and siblings gave me. By example, they gave me invaluable lessons in not taking worldly success seriously, at the same time respecting it. Lessons in courage. In retaining dignity under all circumstances. In being the same in the face of success and failure. As I said, words are not enough here. How would Ramchand feel about “his” book becoming so famous? I don’t know. I don’t think the famous part would matter to him if the things that pained him remain the same. That is the kind of person he is. How is your next book progressing? Would you like to tell our readers about it? I had a couple of false starts with my second novel. A first novel makes you naively believe that you have found your voice, that you can ‘manage’. The second novel made me realise there will always be new hurdles. Each time will be a fresh struggle. I have finished the first draft of my second novel. It still needs to be worked on. What is it that really upsets you about life? Apart from the external chaos, I think my own shortcomings, mistakes I have made, both as a person and a writer (though I can’t really separate the two) bother me. But I am learning. What makes you truly happy? Truth, love, humour, wisdom, work, peace, freedom...I could go on. Human beings are quite greedy. What do you feel is the most important thing in writing? All of the above. But yes, honesty is extremely important. An ability not to just see the world as it is, but also to look at yourself clearly, at your own flawed being, and go on from there. A writer cannot map a society, people, human lives, times, anything, till she can map herself honestly. Criticism of society is incomplete till you learn to criticise and implicate yourself. And when I say criticism, I mean clarity — criticism without the negative connotations that the word carries. As a writer, you cannot effectively hold up a mirror to society unless you learn the courage to hold up the same mirror to yourself, and face your own image, complete with flaws. When do we expect to see Rupa Bajwa’s next book? Very soon, I hope.
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Celebrating a tradition of learning Kurukshetra
University, the oldest university in Haryana, has undertaken a slew of projects which would continue much well beyond its year-long Golden Jubilee celebrations, coming to an end on January 11. The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr R.P. Hooda, says that “2006, the Golden Jubilee year, provided us an opportunity to plan extensively for consolidation of existing resources on the one hand, and to create new ones on the other. This will enable the university to keep pace with the fast advancing world and at the same time remain socially relevant.” During the year-long celebrations, a spate of academic, cultural and sports events were organised on the campus. Dr Hooda avers that in order to improve the quality and standard of research on its campus, the university has refurbished its research programme. A six-month pre-Ph.D course has been introduced to initiate students in research methodology and subject-specific works and techniques. A research scholar will have to undergo this course prior to his registration for Ph.D. Before submitting his Ph.D thesis the scholar shall have to publish at least one research paper in a specified journal. Dr Hooda says new equipment is being purchased and laboratory and library facilities are being expanded to make the university a research intensive centre. The university has adopted an inter-disciplinary approach in its academic and research programmes. Research is being modernised to integrate it with the development of society. The Golden Jubilee celebrations of the university started with a special convocation on January 11, 2006, at which D.Litt. (Honoris Causa) degrees were conferred upon Mr E. Sridharan, Managing Director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, and Mr H.K. Dua, Editor in-Chief of The Tribune Group of publications. The celebrations will conclude with a special lecture on “Kurukshetra University and Higher Education” by Prof. V.N. Datta, a renowned historian. An Alumni Meet will also be organised the same day. He says a Research, Development and Patents Council has been set up to raise funds for the promotion of research and development activities. The “departments of potential” and the “departments of strength” have been identified to develop them as centres of excellence. In the first phase, a grant of about Rs 430 lakh has been sanctioned to modernise the laboratories and research facilities in these departments. The university will set up a Centre for Science and Technology to cater to the research needs of the industry; a Centre for Corporate Research to meet the human resource requirements of the business world; a Centre for Haryana Development Studies to advise the state government on development issues; a Centre for Remote Sensing, Geographical and Geophysical Studies for disaster and water resources management; and a Centre for Dalit Amelioration Studies to devise appropriate policies and welfare schemes for the disadvantageously placed section of society. An ambitious project of equipping the central library with a state-of-the-art Computer lab with 200 internet connectivity nodes and CD-Rom devices has been completed. A separate computer lab, with internet connectivity, has also been set up in girls hostels to meet the needs of women research scholars during odd hours. The university will subscribe to on-line journals in a big way in place of traditional journals, which are becoming increasingly expensive. A state-of-the-art Golden Jubilee Reading Hall is being constructed. Computer networking is being provided in all departments at a cost of Rs 2 crore, so that each teacher can have access to libraries and research journals anywhere in the world through internet. The university has introduced a scheme of Scholar-in-Residence for the university teaching departments and institutes. The five-fold aim of the scheme is to enrich the academic life on the campus; to create a quest for quality lectures and discourses; to inspire the faculty and students to excel in academics; to inculcate in students and young teachers reverence for intellectual giants; and to promote coherent thinking and organised reasoning through an integrated series of lectures by experts and scholars in various specialised areas. In view of the resource crunch being faced by institutions of higher learning nation-wide, the university has adopted a concept paper on self-financing as a means of resource generation. In its Golden Jubilee Year, the university established a museum dedicated to Haryana's heritage. In a short span of four months, the museum, “Dharohar”, was enriched by a unique collection of artifacts depicting the cultural heritage of Haryana. The university is considering a plan to develop another campus across the
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Smile at the customer,
or else! Beijing’s new law criminalising bad customer service sounds humorous at first. It’s fun to imagine calling the cops on a snooty shoe salesman. But as funny as it sounds, the new law – which makes it illegal for Beijing sales clerks to be rude to their customers – is no joke. It not only exposes the bizarre contradictions of China’s brand of authoritarian capitalism, it makes the West’s policy of reforming the world’s most populous nation through engagement look positively silly. Fourteen years ago, Beijing was denied the 2000 Olympics largely because the memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre was too fresh. But by 2001, Olympic organizers figured that awarding the Games to Beijing in ‘08 was less an international stamp of approval than it was a challenge to China to clean up its act. The logic was simple: Exposure to the world – including tens of thousands of foreign journalists – was a greater incentive for China to honor international human-rights conventions than was yet another rejection at the hands of the International Olympic Committee. In theory, that wasn’t a bad idea. Despite the complexities of geopolitics, it is astonishing how insecure a nation’s leaders can become in the face of hordes of foreign tourists and reporters. Last year, before the start of the World Cup, many German officials and pundits were deathly afraid that their countrymen would be less than gracious hosts to millions of visiting soccer fans. Their worries, it turns out, were unfounded. But if you’ve ever been to Beijing, you might understand why Chinese officials have become obsessed with their countrymen’s manners. Two decades ago, writer Bo Yang, who has been described as a Chinese Voltaire, was pilloried on the mainland for writing an essay titled “The Ugly Chinaman,” in which he excoriated his countrymen for being, among other things, too loud and too crass. That officials in Beijing are now in open agreement with Yang is a sign that some things have changed. Beijing officials are not just targeting shopkeepers; they have launched a massive public-service campaign to encourage capital dwellers to be more friendly and outgoing, as well as to curtail such behaviors as littering, spitting in public and cutting in lines. Etiquette books have been distributed. New cabdrivers are taking courses in politeness. To spread the love, officials have begun to target the growing number of Chinese tourists who travel abroad. The Spiritual Civilizational Steering Committee of the Communist Party – yes, it’s actually called that – is on the verge of publishing a handy guide that will, according to a government newspaper, ensure that the behavior of Chinese tourists is “compatible with the nation’s economic strength and its growing international status.” Gordon G. Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” says the shopkeeper law, which goes into effect next month, is proof that the Olympics will not democratize China in the way some had hoped.
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