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Boosting the ties UP police fails
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Supping with
politicians More Marx for management students The discipline of management is obviously in need of new gurus and newer mantras. Only recently have management schools — and the corporate class — discovered value in the wisdom of such unlikely sources as Shakespeare’s plays and Kautilya’s Arthashastra.
Ninth Schedule
can’t help
The initiation
Human
Rights Diary The Chinese
challenge in outer space Chatterati
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UP police fails again Public
passions and anger over the Nithari killings are understandable, but the manner in which some lawyers and outsiders attacked the two accused — Moninder Singh Pandher and Surendra Koli — when they were taken by the police to the sessions court in Ghaziabad cannot be approved of. Had the police not belatedly saved the two by throwing a ring around them, the irate mob would have almost lynched them. This would have impaired the administration of justice which might lead to their severest punishment under the law. The lives of both the accused are very important at this juncture to get the whole truth and both deserve protection for the smooth and orderly conduct of investigation and trial so that all the guilty of the most heinous of the crime can be brought to book. Both should be tried in accordance with the law and severe punishment must be given to them, if found guilty by the court. If people, more so lawyers, behave like a kangaroo court and take an ex-parte decision, the courts and the process of law can be used by the defence counsels of the accused to their advantage. Keeping in view the public fury over the dastardly killings, the avoidable incident in the Ghaziabad court was not entirely unexpected. This brings into sharp focus the total failure of the district administration and the police in providing suitable security to the accused. The CBI authorities did request the state police to tighten security around the accused. This request was based on the apprehension that on several occasions “high profile accused” had been roughed up by Ghaziabad lawyers. It is surprising how the UP police — whose record is full of black marks — did little in this regard. Disturbingly, mob attacks on the accused in the courts have increased. Not long ago, one Appu Yadav, an alleged rapist and murderer, was lynched and castrated by about 50 women in a Nagpur court. In another incident, a 15,000-strong mob lynched four of the six accused of murdering one Masahara Yadav in Sahuri of Bihar’s Begusarai district. The Ghaziabad incident once again proved that the police must provide tight security to the accused whenever they are taken to the court. It is necessary for giving them the punishment they deserve. |
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Supping with politicians The
discipline of management is obviously in need of new gurus and newer mantras. Only recently have management schools — and the corporate class — discovered value in the wisdom of such unlikely sources as Shakespeare’s plays and Kautilya’s Arthashastra. Now comes the news that students of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, want to do their course internship with the CPM. Obviously, inviting Railway Minister Laloo Prasad and the CPM’s Sitaram Yechury for classroom exercises in IIM-A has inspired the students with ideas for widening their learning horizon. Doubtless, there is much that these management students can learn about political and social conditions in which business and industry have to operate. Or, being students of management, which need not be confined to business, they might find new vistas for their professional zeal. On the face of it, choosing an anti-capitalist party like the CPM may appear a little strange. Yet, the CPM commands exceptional brand equity manifest in its influence over national affairs, which is out of all proportion to its political spread and numerical strength in and outside of Parliament. How a party avowedly of the poor has ascended to such primacy — and media visibility — is worth studying. And the CPM could do with a little more management savvy as it treads the uncharted waters of economic reforms. In fact, such synergy between management and politics may be to the benefit of both. Which means that IIM students should look at parties other than the CPM, too. Most of our parties are, indeed, badly managed and would make excellent management case studies. They might even benefit from taking these students as interns. So, it is time aspiring managers also looked at internships with, among others, the Congress, the BJP, the Samajwadi Party, the BSP, the Telugu Desam, the DMK and the AIADMKs. Political parties are bound to proliferate and, in the unfortunate situation of an economic downturn, at least there would be enough openings for these bright, young minds! This apart, will the politicians feel comfortable with the presence among them of the students who, full of hope and confidence, could question the validity of their platitudes? |
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Blessed are the horny hands of toil!
— James Russel Lowell |
Ninth Schedule can’t help Now
that the dust and din
raised by the Supreme Court judgement of January 11 on the Ninth
Schedule of the Constitution have somewhat subsided, it may be time for
a careful study and a dispassionate assessment of the verdict. The
media – particularly the electronic – was quick to harness and flag
knee-jerk reactions from political pundits and jurists even before they
had time to read and digest the judgement in the Coelho case. The
theory that came handy and was immediately projected all over was that
of the threat of an imminent confrontation between the legislature and
the judiciary. Our Constitution works on the basis of institutional
checks and balances. The respective roles and jurisdictions of the
executive, the legislature and the judiciary are clearly defined and
delimited by the Constitution. The legislature represents the people,
controls the government and makes laws, and no one can interfere with
its freedom and authority to do so. The courts have to adjudicate
disputes, interpret the Constitution, "declare the law" and
pass the necessary orders "for doing complete justice". The
Supreme Court is the final authority for interpreting and pronouncing on
the vires of a law. Any law which is violative of constitutional
provisions is invalidated. The power of judicial review has always been
there with the Supreme Court and cannot be taken away by any subterfuge
like the inclusion of a law in the Ninth Schedule or by providing that
certain categories of laws shall not be "called in question in any
court". If Parliament passes a law and the Supreme Court declares
it ultra vires, both are doing their duty and there is no
question of a confrontation. Also, sometimes, the executive and the
legislature are reluctant to take or implement the necessary decisions
for fear of displeasing a section of the people and alienating their
votes. They may leave the job to the judiciary and privately feel quite
happy with what is called judicial activism. Again, there is no conflict
or clash. Generalities apart, the Constitution as it came out of the
Constituent Assembly contained the right to property as a judicially
enforceable fundamental right in Articles 19(1)(f) and 31. The property
clauses came in the way of zamindari abolition and land reforms.
The implementation of important measures of agrarian reforms passed by
state legislatures was held up. To save the zamindari abolition
laws in general and certain specified Acts in particular, the
Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, inserted new articles —- 31A
and 31B and Schedule Nine. Article 31B provided that Acts and
Regulations specified in the Ninth Schedule could not be invalidated by
any court orders. Only 13 land reform laws were then scheduled. After
the Constitution (44th Amendment) Act, 1978, omitted the property
clauses from the fundamental rights, there was no justification left for
the Ninth Schedule. But, instead of repealing the Ninth Schedule, the
powers that be started putting it to political use. The schedule soon
became a safe haven or a dumping ground for all controversial laws of
doubtful constitutional veracity which the government wanted to keep
away from judicial scrutiny. The unholy lawless laws were turned into
holy cows. All attempts to legalise the illegal, to protect the
unconstitutional and to evade or escape judicial scrutiny need to be
strongly deprecated. In the Kesavananda Bharti case in
1973, the Supreme Court, as part of its exercise in creative
jurisprudence, propounded the unique doctrine of basic structure or
features of the Constitution. Despite inclusion in the Ninth Schedule, a
law could be challenged on the ground of being violative of the basic
features of the Constitution, and the power of judicial review to
question whether a law was in pursuance of the Directive Principles
could not be taken away. This was followed by the Supreme Court
judgement in the Waman Rao case which said: "Laws included
in the Ninth Schedule on or after 24 April 1973 will not receive the
ipso facto protection of Article 31B. Those laws shall have to be
examined individually for determining whether the constitutional
amendments by which they were put in the Ninth Schedule damage or
destroy the basic structure of the Constitution in any manner."
Also, in the Minerva Mills Case, the Supreme Court said that
omnibus withdrawal of legislation from judicial review undermined the
basic structure of the Constitution. The nine-judge Constitution Bench
has now unanimously ruled that "all amendments to the Constitution
made on or after 24 April 1973 by which the Ninth Schedule is amended by
inclusion of various laws therein shall have to be tested on the
touchstone of the basic or essential features of the Constitution
reflected in Article 21 read with Article 14, Article 19 and the
principles underlying them`85. Even though an Act is put in the Ninth
Schedule by a Constitutional Amendment, its provisions would be open to
attack on the ground that they destroy or damage the basic structure if
the fundamental right or rights taken away or abrogated pertains or
pertain to the basic structure". The January 11 judgement has
been called historic and path-breaking. It would, however, be seen that
it is very largely a reiteration of the existing law as declared by the
Supreme Court in earlier cases. The Supreme Court speaks of its own
innovative basic structure doctrine having become an axiom but still
fails to conclusively define, delimit and list the basic features. The
Constitution is supposed to be the basic law of the land. The verdict in
the Bharti case sought to divide its provisions into two
categories by inventing the basic features doctrine. The verdict in the
Coelho case now has gone a step further by, in effect, dividing the
fundamental rights into some more and some less fundamental vis-`E0-vis
the basic features. The fundamental rights in Articles 14, 19 and 21
and principles underlying them are mentioned as the basic features. But
what about other fundamental rights — in Articles 13, 17, 32? Are they
not part of the basic features? And if all the fundamental rights are
taken to be the basic features which cannot be violated even by
constitutional amendments, are we not getting back to the pre-Kesavananda
Bharti situation under the Golaknath regime under which the
fundamental rights were transcendental and immutable and Parliament
could not take away or abridge them by constitutional amendment? The
interpolation of the so-called basic features doctrine in the
Constitution has raised other fundamental questions of the Supreme Court
exceeding its jurisdiction and trying to read in the Constitution what
is non est. Here, however, it is enough is discount the
"axiom" thereby. If the legislature, the executive and the
judiciary all concentrate on performing their assigned tasks and
exercise self-restraint to respect their jurisdictional limits, there
would be no serious institutional conflict situations in our polity.
But, unfortunately, as things stand, all three seem to be lacking in
fulfilling their legitimate roles to the full satisfaction of the
people. Also, all three seem to be averse to full accountability to the
people and the Constitution who alone can be regarded as sovereign and
supreme in our polity. Each one of the three organs seems anxious to do
the other’s job.
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The initiation At
the time of my commission in the Army, my wife was in advanced stage of pregnancy. So, my first choice was a peace posting to begin with. Next to that was a posting to Jammu and Kashmir which lies close to Punjab, my home state. The posting to the North-East was the last thing on my mind. As luck would have it, I got posted to the 33 Heavy Mortar Regiment located in Arunachal Pradesh (then known as N.E.F.A.). My first reaction was, of course, that of a little disappointment. However, when I landed at the place I felt fascinated by its beauty. What rang immediately in my mind were the lines from a famous “gazal” that I remembered as, ‘Ye nazare, ye hawa, ye chandni, jee mein aata hai yahien mar jaiyen’ (the landscape, the breeze, the moonlight are all inducing me to end up here itself). In fact, that is what we had come here for — to be ready to die fighting for the country. I had never tasted liquor before reporting for duty here. But, now I knew that this was going to be a long haul in the area. I would better get used to the solitude of these hills, with olive-green colour and the semi-naked tribals all around me. So, I took a conscious decision to drink. It was our dining-in night in the Officers’ Mess of the 1/4 Gorkha Rifles to which our 116, Heavy Mortar Battery was attached. The commanding officer of the unit, Lt-Colonel Sethi and the Second-in-command, Major Gurung inspired both love and respect. We, the new officers, four in number, were lavishly looked after with drinks, though I remained quietly guarded all through. Finally, the four of us were thought to be ready for the fun. We were told that the normal practice was to pull the new officers through the barrel of an artillery gun. Despite the drink, this made us a little jittery. However, Captain Ahluwalia, the Adjutant, put us at rest and informed that the C.O. had instead decided to pass us through the chairs. I saw my three inebriated friends getting stuck in the chairs to the amusement of the gathering, but finally extricating themselves triumphantly. When it was my turn, I offered that I would also do so if my C.O. so desired, but I was otherwise all right. The C.O. immediately reacted, ‘Ab bhi hosh ki batein karta hai, ise ek ‘thullo’, (a big one in Gurkhali) aur pilao,’. (He is still talking sense. Give him another large one). Another “thullo” in, I now knew for definite why people drank. All seemed to be well with the world and it appeared full of friends. Over the next few years, I also learnt that it was terribly important to remain in moderation over the drinks, otherwise instead you may get
consumed.
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Human Rights Diary NO school bus stops here to pick up children. No postman comes here to deliver the mail. Not even a curious visitor turns up to know anything about them. They are refugees from Bhutan who are sitting in protest in front of the United Nations House at Kathmandu. Most of these refugees, over one and a half lakh, constituting one-sixth of Bhutan’s population, are spread all over Nepal and India without much of shelter or succour. The UN gives most of them two square meals. “That is the maximum we can do,” says UNHCR representative Abraham. “It is, however, criminal to keep them in camps for so long.” Reminiscent of the Afghan camps in Pakistan, over the years, children are born into refugee households that do not know other realities. The camps have become a base for pro-democracy dissent activity against the present Bhutanese establishment. The refugees are not radicals. They have never questioned the monarchy which is history in the country, Nepal, where they have sought refuge. But they do want to have a future. It was not that the prospect of greener pastures attracted them. They were forced to leave their lands and homes. The Royal Bhutan government found them too insistent on the question of democracy and human rights, too restive against the king’s occupation of large tracts of land. They still want to go back to the same setup, confident of overcoming the difficulties in Bhutan and work for the country’s development. But neither Bhutan, nor any foreign nation, is bothered about their future. A law was passed by what was known as Parliament overnight - some 16 years ago - to declare Bhutanese of Nepal origin non-citizens. They were born in Bhutan. Their fathers and forefathers had lived there for hundreds of years. Yet they were bundled out. The Bhutanese officials forced many to sign a document of voluntary migration. About one lakh of them who could trace their ancestry to Nepal took shelter in the country, already in dire economic straits. They petitioned to Kathmandu which took up the case with Bhutan. After negotiations spread over months, Bhutan agreed to take back 600 families. Even they await repatriation. The American government has volunteered to absorb 60,000 of them in the US. The proposal has, however, been met with conflicting responses. Many Bhutanese refugee leaders feel that while the offer was welcome, the US should be exerting pressure on Bhutan to deepen democracy by taking back its nationals and restoring their dignity and right to be full citizenship of that country. Others feel that the proposal is not a long-term solution to the problem and could, in fact, act as a destabilising factor within Bhutan and among the refugees. US ambassador James F Moriority to Nepal said it was a human problem which required immediate attention. He didn’t react to the plea to remonstrate with Bhutan except to say: “We are in touch with India.” New Delhi should have been active. What is happening in Bhutan or the manner in which one and a half lakh citizens were pushed out should have made India to take some steps. An authoritarian regime which is solely dependent on it for defence should have been pressured to get refugees back to their homes. But New Delhi is afraid to even ask questions lest Bhutan should be annoyed and tilt towards next door China. New Delhi should, however, recall how Bhutan sealed its border in 1950 when the Tibetans were running away for refuge elsewhere. It cannot afford to go near China. Bhutan, on the other hand, knows from its experience that India has never given it any room for grievance. In fact, New Delhi is revising the existing treaty for deleting any curb that Bhutan may be feeling. Diplomatically and economically, the two countries are close to each other. Therefore, India’s role becomes all the more important. The people or organisations with which I interacted at Kathmandu expressed the urgent need for India to take an active role in resolving the refugees’ issue. With its tradition of multi-party democracy, its pluralistic society and its role as a leading economic power in the region, India is seen the only power in the region which could and should involve itself more closely and urge Bhutan to sit with its community in exile to resolve the issue. But refugees have a difficult experience. T.N. Rizal, leader of Bhutanese refugees, said that even though he pinned his hopes on India, he was convinced that it would not step in to help. His own experience was not a happy one. When he reached India as a refugee, he was put in jail. The authorities threatened him either to leave India or spend the rest of his life in jail. He preferred to travel to Nepal because it allowed him to live freely and propagate the cause of refugees. A report by the South Asian Human Rights (SAHR) organisation has put the whole thing in perspective: “A major human rights deficit in the South Asian region is the prolonged exile of Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal and India. Both host governments have often ruthlessly cooperated with the Bhutanese government in forced repatriation, arrest or denial of freedom of association and expression to the refugees. This tri-governmental alliance has demobilised the Bhutanese refugee population. Their visibility is low and all attempted solutions lack coherence.” My fear is that one of the consequences of allowing the problem to fester is the possibility that dissatisfaction and unrest among the refugees could lead, over time, to fomenting militant sentiments. This could create new conflicts in the region. India could experience the negative fallout of this situation. The Naxalites’ strongholds are not too distant from the refugee camps. Contact between the two is said to have been established on a regular basis. Some day the militants may shut down the camps and move out. Bhutan would be more exposed to dangers than today. New Delhi will also get involved, willy-nilly. It is time that it develops South Asia as a region that values and strengthens human rights and democracy. |
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The Chinese challenge in outer space China
recently shot down an aging Chinese weather satellite – a signal that China will not abide by the doctrine of US space superiority outlined in the new National Space Policy released in October by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The policy states that “freedom of action in space is as important to the United States as air power and sea power.” Further, it declares that the United States reserves the right to “deny such freedom of action to adversaries.” That was a very large bet, and it appears that Chinese President Hu Jintao has quickly called America’s hand. Which raises the question: What cards is the US holding? The aggressive US position rests on what the National Space Policy calls a “solid civil, commercial and national security space foundation.” This foundation was established by a consortium of the military and aerospace giants and is increasingly maintained by a flock of entrepreneurial start-ups. The policy further states, “In this new century, those who effectively utilise space will enjoy added prosperity and security and will hold a substantial advantage over those who do not.” Clearly, China intends to grab that added prosperity. After successful manned launches, it (as well as India) has announced plans to land on the moon in the same time frame as a scheduled US return. That return is in question as a new Congress looking for easy budget cuts faces a nation apathetic about space achievements. Recent surveys show the US public generally uninterested in the new agenda of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. My experience suggests they are mostly unaware of recent private manned space efforts conducted by those aforementioned start-ups. Why should we care about missiles threatening low Earth orbit? When the Chinese get on with re-absorbing Taiwan – the most likely trigger for a US-China confrontation – US drivers may find that the navigation systems in their SUVs (not to mention their ambulances) aren’t working. Low-flying US military spy satellites are the first target of the new weapon, but the slightly higher GPS (global positioning system) satellites that guide US weapons systems are also attractive to Chinese war planners. Or, what about when the censorship-savvy Chinese government decides it has had enough of Howard Stern corrupting the youth and takes out Sirius satellite radio? Could America respond to such hostile actions? Certainly, the US could file a diplomatic protest, as they did with this month’s test and as they do when the Chinese blatantly steal US intellectual property. Beyond that, there’s not a lot to be done short of a military assault on Chinese space-launch facilities. Satellites are expensive to launch and nearly impossible to defend. Because they are ultra-lightweight, any sort of physical shielding or anti-missile system is impractical. Orbital mechanics prevent acrobatic maneuvers, and GPS must maintain reliable positions. Don’t expect to see concrete enforcement of the National Space Policy. Congress and the American people must recognize the strategic truth in the policy’s warning about prosperity. Prosperity always has been directly related to a nation’s level of exploration and innovation. Shakespeare has Brutus remind us that “there is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallow and miseries.” It is not lost on China’s leaders that their great nation forfeited world leadership by suddenly abandoning an ambitious program of naval exploration in the 15th century. This withdrawal was followed by a period of painful national humiliation at the hands of foreign barbarians. That error will not be repeated. China has made it clear that it will aggressively assert its space policy at every turn. The United States must be prepared to compete in space if we intend to remain prosperous and relevant in the 21st century. Supporting exploration and investing in the new generation of space technology companies are critical to our national security. In the long run, the sands of the moon are far more important than the sands of Iraq. By arrangement with
LA Times-Washington Post |
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Chatterati Releasing
a book on the economy is a very tricky thing when you are a Finance Minister. But Mr P. Chidambaram has managed to pull off this difficult task quite easily, thanks to his columns when he was out of government. Getting the PM to shower lavish praises is not easy. But then the PM is also, after all, an economist. Getting Rahul Gandhi to sit and listen in rapt attention is not easy. But it helps if you have Jagdish Bhagwati pour immense praise in between bits of economics. All this and more were the ingredients of the launch of the compilation of Chidambaram’s efforts as an economic columnist during his years in the political wilderness. The eve of beauties, the mix of media personalities, the power of tycoons and the large posse of lawyers crowded out regular book lovers, of course. This was a major display of editorial powers and political power. Two major debates that were live on TV ensured that the book launch found its way into the homes that matter. The question of whether good economics makes for good politics clearly, in Chidambaram’s view, has only one answer. It does if it is managed by the right people. Being able to pack figures with view points is clearly something the author manages easily. But given his razor sharp legal skills he can also pretty much argue for the side he chooses to. Clearly everybody loved the book. Even those who had to take professional digs at it, did so with humor and caution. Rhythm of life An evening which brought together the likes of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shanker and fashion designer Rohit Bal on the same platform? Sufi music! The guru was present to launch the new Sufi album by vocalist Zila Khan, titled Sar Masti; Bal’s attendance was explained by his appearance in a video made on the album. Sar Masti is a tribute to the legendary Sufi poet Amir Khusrau. Sar Masti has the same old words that were used in the time of Hazrat Amir Khusrau. The artiste has just given new music and new rhythm to them. Zila has changed the beats in those old words. It’s the rhythm that unites everyone, according to the Sufi tradition. Music acts as a medium to reach God, especially this type of music, which transfers the individual to the higher planes of life. It was an evening of surprises, to say the least. To begin with, we came to know that designer Rohit Bal has acted in a music video, and that too, sung by none other than Zila Khan. When the video was shown on the screen, Sufi strains competed for attention with Rohit’s head banging. Ah! When Sri Sri Ravi Shankar came, the crowd hushed up for a while, and they all wanted to seek his blessings.
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With mighty armies, a general may win many wars, with the power of his position, a king may crush many enemies. But neither armies nor power can help a man crush his evil desires. Only will power can do so. — The Buddha Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. — Mother Teresa One meets God when one lives without hope in the midst of hopes. — Guru Nanak |
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