O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Only a mouth-freshner
Focus on education, health welcome
Thank Mr P. Chidambram’s budget for small mercies: he has raised the personal income tax exemption limit by Rs 10,000. The IT exemption limit for women is up at Rs 1,45,000 and for the senior citizens at Rs 1,95,000.

Diplomats under fire
LTTE carries terror to a new high
Even by the predatory standards of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the shelling of a helicopter carrying diplomats in Sri Lanka’s eastern district of Batticoloa is unprecedented.

• Thought for the day

ARTICLE

Not So Grand Old Party
Governance must have ethical foundation
by B.G. Verghese
India’s Grand Old Party sometimes seems to grow more tired by the day — of principles. Does the Congress have a death wish in this 60th anniversary of Independence and the150th anniversary of 1857, both of which promised a new dawn? This sad reflection stems from several recent events since the beginning of the year.

MIDDLE

Name game
by Vibhor Mohan
I'VE always shared a love-hate relationship with my name. It was a gradual change from a stage when I could feel the pain of my classmates trying hard to correctly pronounce and spell my name to my becoming obsessed with the fact that I have the privilege of having a rare identity.

OPED

News analysis
Punjab politics goes in for big change
by Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Punjab politics has changed. Though the political actors have more or less remained the same over the years, the character of politics has changed. There is a visible shift in Sikh politics, which dominates the political horizon of the state. And in the process this shift has impacted the over-all political landscape of the state.

Legal notes
Keep out bias in Confidential Reports, says SC
by S.S. Negi
The annual Confidential Report (CR) of a government official is a vital document on the progression of his career and should not be used as a ‘fault finding’ process, but made a tool of human resource development (HRD) to help in improving the administration.

• Skim the cream

• Anti-ragging guidelines

Improve our own film awards
by Shakuntala Rao
Now that the US Motion Picture Academy award (better knows as the Oscars) presentations are over, and so has another round of ritual finger-pointing where Bollywood producers and directors lament about how their films are left out in the cold, one is baffled at the intensity and shrillness of the debate.

 

REFLECTIONS

EDITORIALS

Only a mouth-freshner
Focus on education, health welcome

Thank Mr P. Chidambram’s budget for small mercies: he has raised the personal income tax exemption limit by Rs 10,000. The IT exemption limit for women is up at Rs 1,45,000 and for the senior citizens at Rs 1,95,000. The education cess goes up from 2 to 3 per cent, which is intended to boost secondary and higher education. The excise duty on petrol and diesel is down, but it may not lead to an immediate cut in the fuel prices. Edible oils will become cheaper, but cigarettes will cost more. Mouth fresheners will cost less, but buying helicopters abroad will be more taxing. These are small bits of general interest from an otherwise drab fare. Unlike Mr Lalu Prasad’s populist gestures, Mr P. Chidambaram’s was an unexciting show — hardly in keeping with the hype generated worldwide by the 9 per cent growth story. At best, it is a middle-of-the-road, benign budget.

The budget has a clear focus: to curb the price rise, increase public spending on education and health and revitalise agriculture. But the Finance Minister does not go beyond some tinkering here and there. Take inflation. He has cut the duty on cement and edible oils, and stopped futures trading in wheat and rice. Agriculture, however, needed a still bolder initiative. The Finance Minister has restricted himself to the raising of banking credit and strengthening of the irrigation network. The need is to boost the supplies and stagnating productivity of food products. The poor crop of pulses in Myanmar and Turkey may not let the prices fall. The Economic Survey also estimates a lower-than-expected wheat production. So the “dal-roti” issue will continue to haunt the UPA government.

Laudably, the Finance Minister has raised public spending on education by 34.2 per cent and on healthcare by 21.9 per cent. Even though painful, the increased cess on education will provide additional resources for improving education at the secondary level apart from giving the much-needed push to vocational training. The dropout rate at this stage is very high. The high rate of unemployment among the educated discourages many from pursuing higher education. Though the Budget carries a welcome initiative to create jobs for the physically challenged and provides more funds for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and other rural employment schemes, it has ignored the urban unemployed.

For the corporate sector the budget is mildly taxing, though given the inflationary constraints, it could have been worse for it. The peak tariffs have been reduced from 12.5 per cent to 10 per cent; these are still above the targeted ASEAN levels. While the Central Sales Tax will be reduced from 4 to 3 per cent from April, the corporate income tax rate has not been raised as was expected. What has hurt the companies is the increase in the dividend distribution tax. The information technology companies, which had enjoyed a tax holiday for so long, have been finally brought under the MAT (minimum alternate tax). The stock options given to employees with the aim of retaining talent will come under the fringe benefit tax. The stock market did not take kindly to these announcements, though the sentiment had turned negative right in the morning with reports of massive selloffs in the Chinese and other Asian markets as a side-effect of globalisation.

Mr Chidambaram deserves congratulations for bringing down the fiscal deficit to 3.6 per cent from last year’s level of 4.1 per cent. This has been in accordance with the new fiscal responsibility and budget management law. However, if the states’ finances are taken into consideration, the combined fiscal deficit remains at 6 per cent of the GDP, which is quite high by international standards.

What Mr Chidambaram has not done is equally significant. He has not tinkered with the special economic zones, though he is concerned about the proposed loss of revenue. The booming real estate has escaped his attention, although he cannot be unaware of how realtors are making huge profits. He has given no push to reforms, obviously, because of the ruling alliance’s fears of earning unpopularity. No opening of retail and insurance to FDI. No mention of disinvestment in public sector undertakings; no talk of controlling government expenditure. Silence on these issues speaks of these fears.

Diplomats under fire
LTTE carries terror to a new high

Even by the predatory standards of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the shelling of a helicopter carrying diplomats in Sri Lanka’s eastern district of Batticoloa is unprecedented. Mercifully, the ambassadors of the United States, Italy and Germany were only slightly injured along with 10 others and other diplomats in the delegation escaped unhurt. It is typical, if not outrageously cheeky, of the LTTE — which opened artillery fire against the helicopter — to blame the Government of Sri Lanka for their wanton act of terrorism by taking the plea that they were not informed of the diplomats’ travel itinerary. The international delegation, cruel as this may sound, needs no further evidence of the LTTE”s terrorism. The human rights situation in eastern Sri Lanka, which the diplomats had set out to see for themselves, could not have been brought home with greater force, particularly the LTTE’s utter disregard for human life.

The LTTE has sophisticated military and communication equipment, besides an intelligence outfit. Therefore, the plea of being in the dark about the diplomats’ mission and the helicopter that was targeted, is hard to believe. The attack — coming as it does just after the fifth anniversary of the peace accord that has collapsed with the LTTE’s declaration of a return to war — is a grim reminder of the no-holds-barred battle being waged by the Tamil Tigers. It would appear that they will stop at nothing in their military campaign for a separate Tamil Eelam.

Unlike the United States, which is closer to India’s view of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, which — despite its protestations about being interested in negotiations — should be allowed no quarter unless it renounces armed war, a section of the European Union and Japan take a surprisingly charitable view of the Tamil Tigers. It is time those who deluded themselves about the Tamil Tigers saw the LTTE for what it really was. At the same time, there should be realisation that the legitimate rights and aspirations of the Sri Lankan Tamils are hardly advanced by the kind of terrorism to which the island as well as its minority are held hostage.

Thought for the day

Cheer up! The worst is yet to come! — Philander Chase Johnson

ARTICLE

Not So Grand Old Party
Governance must have ethical foundation
by B.G. Verghese

India’s Grand Old Party sometimes seems to grow more tired by the day — of principles. Does the Congress have a death wish in this 60th anniversary of Independence and the150th anniversary of 1857, both of which promised a new dawn? This sad reflection stems from several recent events since the beginning of the year.

A democratic crisis over Uttar Pradesh has fortunately been averted by the announcement of dates in April for general elections in the state. The voice vote in the Assembly on February 26 was carried by Mulayam Singh as the Opposition walked out in “protest”, presumably because it knew it did not have the numbers as the informal tally of those that remained behind in the House would seem to indicate. At the end of the day, the Congress has been left with egg on its face.

The passion and depth of endless palaver in the Party over whether or not to dismiss Mulayam Singh’s government for its alleged retrospective unconstitutionality following the defection of 13 BSP MLAs after the 2003 election was surely worthy of a better cause. The Congress claims Mulayam’s government is unconstitutional because he lost his majority in 2003 itself, even though it continued to support his ministry from outside as part of a “secular front”. But the fact is that the courts never declared Mulayam’s government unconstitutional.

Mulayam may well be charged with misrule and a gross breakdown of law and order during his watch. But as long as he enjoys the “confidence of the House” he cannot be touched. And if it is argued that there has been a constitutional breakdown in U.P, then the far-fetched plea of his not having the numbers following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the BSP defectors is irrelevant. The further argument that to permit Mulayam to conduct a floor test, as enjoined by the Bommai judgement of the Supreme Court, is to invite horse-trading is equally specious. It is not majorities that have to be won (unless every single member of a legislature is present and voting, which is very seldom), but “the confidence of the House”.

The Quattrocchi case is another example of the Congress consistently putting its worst foot forward to assume a presumed guilt that it strenuously denies. Why should the Congress repeatedly come in between Quattrocchi and the due process of law? It did that when it allowed his London bank account to be unfrozen in 2006 and again by misleading the Supreme Court by keeping silent on his recent detention in Argentina that was not publicly disclosed for 17 days for reasons that do not stand scrutiny.

India and Argentina are signatories to the UN Convention on Corruption, which came into force in February 2006. This provides wide ranging powers in relation to tracking down, investigating and prosecuting national and international corruption in such matters as asset recovery, nullifying bank secrecy laws, joint investigations, sharing of information, extradition and so forth and makes even misuse of “:influence” a cognisable offence. Yet this Convention cannot be fully availed of as India has not incorporated it into its national legal system. Nobody seems to know who is responsible for getting this done and nobody is interested. Why this extraordinary sloth or indifference in dealing with global corruption?

If Quattrocchi is innocent, let him face due process in India and walk free. And if he has something to hide, why should the government keep batting for him - as it would seem from repeated acts of omission and commission in handling the Bofors case.

Then there was the recent case of Nimbus, acquiring cricket rights for television following a bid of several thousand crores and then being made to share this with Doordarshan through an ordinance. The offer to Doordarshan of deferred screening was tuned down on the plea that poor cable viewers in India had a “right” to watch the Indian team play cricket in real time without the awful trauma of watching it over a seven-minute deferred signal. This kind of unprincipled action sends out all the wrong signals and shows up the I&B Ministry — which has successfully denied Prasar Bharati real autonomy over the years - as incompetent, predatory and lacking in principles. If cricket is so important, what about drinking water, schooling and primary health and so much else besides? Is the new motto then to hand out cake if there is no bread?

And what to say of denying Fulbright scholars visas on totally frivolous grounds and demanding that foreign participants to Indian seminars being conducted by bona fide institutions should be subject to tortuous screening as a normal routine. Is everybody a suspect unless otherwise proven to the satisfaction of Pooh-Bahs who are looking for something but are not sure what? Such paranoid illiberalism goes ill with an open, democratic society trying to build a knowledge society.

Quite apart from doing the right thing, societies, like individuals, must do the right thing for the right reason. Governance in particular, even politics, must be built on an ethical foundation if it seeks enduring success.

MIDDLE

Name game
by Vibhor Mohan

I'VE always shared a love-hate relationship with my name. It was a gradual change from a stage when I could feel the pain of my classmates trying hard to correctly pronounce and spell my name to my becoming obsessed with the fact that I have the privilege of having a rare identity.

The credit (or the discredit, previously) goes to my mom, who had taken upon herself the tricky task of christening not just her own children but also a whole generation in our relations. I still remember the day when while coming back from school, I had a serious discussion with her, to understand the legalities of getting one’s name changed.

But before we could initiate the process, I reached senior school, where one teacher after another started admiring my name. Over the years, my classmates also became comfortable with the “tough” name. The biggest compliment came from my out-of-school friend, who preferred to call me by my official name, not the “common” nickname.

Even the last traces of doubts were cleared at our school farewell party. Our juniors made some interesting comments on a girl in our class named “Abhi” who had got herself re-christened to “Ruhani”. The punch line was: “Abhi thi ye kabhi, Ruhani hui hai abhi abhi.” This convinced me that had I changed my name, it would have created unnecessary confusion, with some of my friends continuing to address me by my old name.

Though most people are pretty okay with the name given to them, some parents don’t want to take any chances. I had a colleague, who could not find a suitable name for his girl child even after two years of searching on the Internet. The moment anybody would inquire about her health, he would immediate ask for a list of suggested names but would politely turn down all of them. While his wife wanted a relatively unheard of name, he was keen on a name that did not end with the letter “A”.

For some, naming their next generation after celebrities is the best tribute to someone they’ve been long obsessed with. I had an aunt who was hell-bent on naming her daughter “Diana” in the early 80s. It was only after her mother-in-law convinced her that the girl would be ridiculed in her school that she dropped the idea.

The issue did not end there as the family had a tough time finding a name beginning with the alphabet suggested by the family priest. A Congressman once remarked that the fact that we have so many “Rahuls” is a proof of the popularity of the Gandhi family.

Unlike narcissists, who love to have key rings of their name’s first letter, some take it easy. For instance, I have a cousin, who decided to turn her nickname “Winky” into her official name by adding “Preet” as suffix to it. She says doing this had saved her from people coming out with nasty short versions of her name, as now she knows what she’d be called by someone who thinks “Winkpreet” is too long.

But all attempts to impress my wife with such stories proved futile. The other day she used the search engine on the Internet and brought me a printout of more than five dozen people who shared my name. It’s not a rare identity anymore, I guess!!!

OPED

News analysis
Punjab politics goes in for big change
by Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Punjab politics has changed. Though the political actors have more or less remained the same over the years, the character of politics has changed. There is a visible shift in Sikh politics, which dominates the political horizon of the state. And in the process this shift has impacted the over-all political landscape of the state.

The Congress party, which had become a hated organisation in the 70s and 80s, at least for 90 per cent of the Sikhs, is no longer in that position. In fact, there is a visible change in the perception of the Sikhs not only in Punjab but also in Delhi and elsewhere, with regard to the Congress.

The Sikh peasantry, who used to be unflinching supporters of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab’s countryside, especially in the Malwa region, has considerably tilted towards the Congress. The Assembly election results prove this point. It is the first time that the Akalis have almost been wiped out by the Congress in the Malwa heartland.

And in Delhi, where Sikhs were killed in thousands in the 1984 riots for which the Congress was blamed, have also turned in good numbers towards the party.

The elevation of Dr Manmohan Singh to the office of the Prime Minister by the Congress has played a significant role in changing the mind-set of the Sikhs, especially those living in urban areas. Captain Amarinder Singh also played a major role in bringing the Sikh peasantry closer to the Congress in Punjab, especially in the Malwa region. Sikhs, by and large, appear to have buried the past and have developed a new relationship with the Congress.

Amarinder Singh played the Sikh card during the past five years and left no stone unturned to win over a significant chunk of the community to the Congress’s side. He used his Akali background to win over the Sikh peasantry in the Malwa belt. In Delhi, Akali leaders like Paramjit Singh Sarna and his brother Harvinder Singh Sarna, have moved close to the Congress. And in Punjab, the Sarna brothers are close associates of Amarinder Singh, who is a most fierce opponent of the SAD leader, Parkash Singh Badal.

Interestingly, Hindus and Dalits have considerably moved away from the Congress. In big cities, they have come close to the BJP. In small towns, a rapport has been developed between the Hindus and the SAD.

In the changed scenario, SAD leader Parkash Singh Badal has also come out with a new political strategy. He has started enrolling important Hindu leaders in his party. He put up some Hindu candidates in the Assembly elections and some of them have also won. From a political party of Sikhs, the SAD is on the verge of becoming a party of all communities.

Obviously, the SAD is worried over the dilution of its base amongst the Sikh peasantry, especially in the Malwa region that had remained a backbone of Akali struggles launched by the party from time to time since 1960. And on the other hand, the Congress is upset over holes in its support base in the urban areas.

And sustained political struggles and morchas have become a thing of past. The SAD, the main votary of morcha politics, is no longer its advocate. Badal, who used to be a main player in Akali morchas, has switched over to the politics of dealing with the immediate concerns and worries of the populace.

Neither the SAD nor Punjab has gained anything from such political struggles during the past 60 years. In fact, the State has suffered huge losses on both the economic and the human fronts.

Obviously, Badal has learnt lessons from the past but some other Akali leaders with a radical mindset have not done so. But such radical leaders have become more or less politically irrelevant at the moment in the state’s political equations. Politicians did not raise a single emotional issue, such as transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab, in the recently held elections.

From emotional and identity related issues, Punjab politics has moved to issues related to development, economy, agriculture, education, unemployment, welfare of dalits and other poor sections of the society. The Congress and the SAD focused on these issues in their advertisement campaigns.

For people of Punjab, the future of their wards has become the most important issue. There is a dominant feeling among them that the future of their kids is insecure. They want to hear from their political leaders that what they would do what is needed to make the future of their wards secure.

It appears that the turbulent period of Punjab politics is over. For the past 10 years, the political scene has not witnessed any major upheaval except the bitter political fights between Amarinder Singh and Badal. However, that phenomenon did not impact the over-all political scenario in the state in a big way. People, by and large, dismissed it as personal fight between the two.

What is clear is that the leader who will deliver on the development front will remain relevant in the state’s politics. Others are bound to perish politically sooner or later. There seems to be no political space for leaders having a reputation as rabble rousers. Respect for visionary leaders has started growing among the people. It is good for the polity that people have themselves introduced the element of accountability amongst politicians. Those politicians failing the test of accountability are losing their popularity fast.

Legal notes
Keep out bias in Confidential Reports, says SC
by S.S. Negi

The annual Confidential Report (CR) of a government official is a vital document on the progression of his career and should not be used as a ‘fault finding’ process, but made a tool of human resource development (HRD) to help in improving the administration.

This has been laid down by the Supreme Court as a guideline to the heads of departments for writing the CRs of their subordinates. Care needs to be taken more in the case of defence, paramilitary and police officials as the personnel of these forces are engaged in maintaining the nation’s security and law and order.

The issue arose with regard to a case of a top ranking Karnataka police officer S T Ramesh of the 1976 IPS batch. His CR for a brief period of one year (1996-97) had ‘adverse’ entries, allegedly made at the behest of a senior officer due to a personal grudge. From the records the Court found that in his entire career since joining the service, all of his seniors had described him as ‘excellent, outstanding, very good, intelligent and an officer of high integrity’.

A bench of Justices A R Lakshmanan and Altamas Kabir, while laying down the guidelines, cautioned the heads of departments not to let their ‘personal bias’ reflect in the CRs of their subordinates, as it does not augur well for the administration, specially in the security forces where discipline is the ‘mantra’ of success.

Skim the cream

The Government has come up with an altogether new philosophy on the extension of 27 per cent reservation to OBCs in institutions of higher learning, claiming that the concept of ‘creamy layer’ would not apply to the quota in educational institutions as it is different from recruitment in government jobs.

This has been stated by the Government in its fresh affidavit to the Supreme Court, filed in response to its notices on a bunch of petitions challenging the validity of the new Reservation Act passed last year. The Act extends to the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in institutions of specialised learning like IITs, IIMs, and AIIMS.

The Government has claimed that under Article 15(5) of the Constitution, no specific provision has been made about reservation and the quota for OBCs in the Central Educational Institution (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 was only an affirmative action for the purpose of admissions to backward classes in such institutions.

The Centre said since the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in these institutions existed as per the constitutional provisions, the same has now been extended to the OBCs also to provide them equal opportunities.

The Court had sought pointed replies from the Government as to what was the basis for fixing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs and why the economically well off among them should be provided with reservation benefits when they could afford the best of education.

Regarding implementation of a ‘creamy layer’ formula for OBCs in government jobs, the Centre claimed that it has been implemented as per the apex court verdict in the Mandal Commission case.

Anti-ragging guidelines

The Supreme Court-appointed R K Raghavan committee on curbing the menace of ragging in universities and colleges is expediting its work and it has assured the court that its report will be submitted by April.

The aim is that appropriate guidelines could be issued by the court before the next academic session starting in June. The apex court had set up the committee under the former CBI Director in the wake of ragging attaining a dangerous dimension of late, resulting in permanent physical injuries to the victims and even in murders. Many have been driven to commit suicides.

The Apex court has already laid down the guidelines for student unions elections as per the recommendations of the panel set up by it under former Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyndoh panel, which would be put to the test during the next campus elections.

For implementing its guidelines on student union elections, which are closely linked to ragging, the Court has fixed the responsibilities on university and college administrations. They have been warned that they would be hauled up for contempt of court if its order was not implemented in letter and spirit.

Improve our own film awards
by Shakuntala Rao

Now that the US Motion Picture Academy award (better knows as the Oscars) presentations are over, and so has another round of ritual finger-pointing where Bollywood producers and directors lament about how their films are left out in the cold, one is baffled at the intensity and shrillness of the debate.

While there is a general perception that Oscars award the best in the world of film-making truth is, like any other award show, Oscar nominees can be victims of political and popular vagaries. Newsweek reports that some films win because they organise the best pre-voting blitz and parties for the Academy members.

Some actors win because they campaign more diligently. Sometimes it is matter of luck. Was Halle Berry’s performance in Monster’s Ball in 2001 Academy awards better than her fellow contender, Sissy Spasek? Not exactly. Giving an award to the first African American leading actress made better news headlines for the Academy.

If Oscars are not about the best films (or the most talented), why not focus on our own award shows? Except that the reality of award shows in India is quite bleak.

It is not that there is any dearth of awards. Apsaras, Zee Cine Award, Filmfare Award, Sansui Viewer’s Choice awards, and Asianet Film Awards, are just a few that come to mind. Then there are award shows which are held outside of India – Global Indian Film and Bollywood Awards.

Yet these award shows are hardly about the films they are meant to celebrate. They are poorly produced, shoddily edited, and even less appreciated by the stars themselves many of whom don’t even bother to attend. MCs are often young starlets, picked for their centerfold appeal rather than acting prowess. Item number after item number with skimpily clad dancers can hardly entail the celebration of good filmmaking.

Case in point was the recently held Zee Cine Awards which began with Bipasha Basu dancing to the song, Beedi from Omkara. No doubt that the song has been quite a hit but the fact that Omkara is one of the most intelligent films to come out of Mumbai this past year is lost amidst Basu’s gyrations.

The Bollywood film industry has to make room for smaller-budget, critically acclaimed films in their award line-up. While Munnabhais and Dhooms get the cash machine ringing, sometimes the best films are those that are seen by smaller crowds but last longer in people’s collective memory.

In the past few years alone films like Being Cyrus, Dor, Khamosh Pani, Deadline, Morning Raga, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara, and a whole host of small-budget gems have come and gone with little recognition from the industry. Also needed to be recognised and awarded are artists who work behind the scenes.

Every profession throws itself lavish parties and the movie world is no different. Yet those awards should mean something. You can’t care more about the awards than the content of your films.

REFLECTIONS

Does a crow steal someone's wealth or does a nightingale give it? Remember, the nightingale only "speaks" musical words and enchants the world.

— Kabir

In fundamental Buddhism, the emphasis on seeing Truth, on knowing it, and on understanding it. The emphasis is not on blind faith. The teaching of Buddhism is on "come and see", but never on come and believe. Buddhism is rational and requires personal effort, stating that by only one's own efforts can Perfect wisdom be realised.

— The Buddha