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Setback to
quotas Volte-face makes sense Twice cursed |
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People want to bury the hatchet
Sleep over it
Russia’s imitation democracy
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Setback to quotas The Supreme Court’s stay order on the implementation of the Central law providing for 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes in institutions like IIMs and IITs for 2007-08 is welcome. It is a big blow to Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh in particular and the UPA government in general. Clearly, Mr Arjun Singh went ahead with the enactment of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, without proper homework and with an eye on elections in some key states, including Uttar
Pradesh. He refused to see reason despite widespread protests from engineering and medical students belonging to the general category. The stay order does not come as a surprise because during the hearings on a batch of petitions, the Centre failed to convince the apex court about its logic and rationale behind fixing a 27 per cent quota for the
OBCs. The Bench consisting of Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice L.S. Panta has ruled that the 1931 caste-based census could not be a determinative factor for identifying the OBCs for the purpose of providing reservation. It deplored the manner in which the legislation was enacted without a fresh survey. Since 1931, there has been no caste-based survey in the country despite the Supreme Court’s various rulings, including the 1992 Indira Sawhney
judgement. Such a survey by the Centre is also a constitutional requirement under Article 340. Without a fresh survey on the
OBCs’ condition in the past 75 years, how could the Centre go ahead with the legislation using data that had lost its efficacy? No wonder, the Act failed the test of judicial scrutiny. Thursday’s ruling is equally significant because the apex court has voiced its concern about the fate of general category students due to continued quotas. It said, “reservation cannot be permanent and appear to perpetuate backwardness”. It rejected the Centre’s stand that reservations would be staggered in three years by correspondingly increasing the total number of seats in these institutions (as recommended by Mr M. Veerappa Moily’s Oversight Committee). In a welfare state, affirmative action can be done to help backward classes, but it should not be “unduly adverse to those who are left out”, the Bench said. When the final hearing of the petitions begins in August, the Centre would need to do a lot of explaining. |
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Volte-face makes sense It is gratifying that wiser counsel has prevailed and the Punjab Government has said before the Supreme Court that it stands by Section 5 of the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act (PTAA). Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had touched a hornet’s nest by announcing earlier that he was going to scrap the section, which gives a legal guarantee to the flow of Punjab’s river waters to Haryana and Rajasthan. The statement had, quite expectedly, caused a furore in these States. No doubt, Mr Badal made this statement during electioneering also but it revolted against all tenets of inter-state agreements, which just cannot be obliterated unilaterally. As it is, the PTAA is slippery on legal sanction and a presidential reference on its validity is pending before the Supreme Court for the past three years. Abrogation of Section 5 would have compounded the problem manifold. Although Punjab’s standing counsel has contended before the apex court that no statement was ever made by Mr Badal, he did make the controversial announcement, which he has now wisely retracted, knowing full well that this will earn the displeasure of the Supreme Court. The pressure exerted by the Akali Dal’s partner BJP might have also contributed to this change of mind. Perhaps, Mr Badal himself was well aware that although it was there in his party’s election manifesto, such a unilateral decision was bad in law It is unfortunate that contentious issues like water distribution are raked up during elections and public sentiments are aroused to feverish pitch. The abrogation of the inter-state water agreement did not help Capt Amarinder Singh regain power. That should be a lesson to his successor. Haryana and Punjab - and for that matter others like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu - should learn to live like good neighbours instead of being daggers drawn on various contentious issues. It is the politicians who encourage divisive tendencies for their narrow gains. |
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Twice cursed After running from the proverbial pillar to post, a 48-year-old woman, raped at Kala Singhia near Kapurthala last month, has because of media reports got police protection against some of the accused who are still at large. Her plight instead of being an isolated case, is representative of the general police insensitivity. Most victims find the hearts of the policemen as hard as the walls of police stations. Instead of going after the culprits, they make life miserable for the victim herself. That is why many cases of molestation go unreported. After all, who wants to be further humiliated? Whether this is a result of apathy or connivance varies from case to case. But the end result is that the victims continue to suffer despite strict court orders in this regard. The Kala Singhia episode could happen only due to police indifference because the woman had been protesting earlier also that her life and dignity were at danger, but nobody listened to her. She was dragged out of her house, paraded naked with many neighbours watching and then gangraped. Such shocking callousness can exist only in a society where the victims and not the rapists are socially boycotted. Women are supposed to hide their pain lest the “incident” brings a “bad name” to them and their families. The Kapurthala widow must be lauded for carrying on her lonely struggle despite the apathy of society and the police. Unfortunately, the faith of the public in the uniformed men is badly shaken when a few from their own ranks take to crime, as has happened many times in the recent past. A serving Punjab Police Constable was arrested in Chandigarh last week on the charges of immoral trafficking. An arrested Punjab Police Sub-Inspector has confessed that he kidnapped and raped a migrant girl in Jalandhar last month. In the first study of its kind in the country, an internal police report in Kerala has found 850 of its personnel standing accused of serious crimes like rape, murder, house-breaking, forgery, rioting, immoral trafficking and atrocities against women. They range from the rank of constable to DSP. How can any harassed woman feel confident of going to a police station and narrating her tale of woes? |
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Age will not be defied. —
Francis Bacon |
People want to bury the hatchet
SINCE last year some of us, including Justice Rajinder Sachar, have been arranging a function at Shadman Colony in Lahore, where Bhagat Singh and his two comrades, Sukhdev and Rajguru, were hanged on March 23, 1931. Since this is also the day when people in Pakistan celebrate the birth of Pakistan — the resolution for the creation of a separate state was passed on March 23, 1940 — we either advance the date of the function or postpone it. The last time we held it on March 24. This time we scheduled it for March 19. The celebration is a floral tribute to those who were executed by the British. The authorities in Lahore remained distant last year. Very few people joined locally, primarily because we had made no prior announcement. Our apprehension was that the government would step in to stop even a small function. I had a bit of experience on this subject four years ago. When I was writing my book on Bhagat Singh, I wanted to see the documents relating to the court proceedings and other material. The government refused me access to any of them on the ground that “it didn’t want to get involved in the Sikh problem.” No amount of explanation that Bhagat Singh was hanged long before the Sikh problem arose had any effect. Moreover, he had nothing to do with what the Akalis and others did subsequently. We associated some local radicals this year in Lahore to pay homage to the martyrs. Tahira Mazar Ali, Fakhar Zaman and Abid Ali Minto were the ones. The authorities stepped in a day before the function. They clamped Section 144 on the area, making it illegal for more than five people to assemble. We did not want to violate the government orders, however preposterous they were. The orders surprised me because at one time even the Chief Minister of Punjab in Pakistan wanted to join us to pay homage to Bhagat Singh who belonged to the time when India and Pakistan were one country. However cold the government’s attitude was, we found enthusiasm and emotional response among the intelligentsia and others we approached. They, in fact, wanted to revive the memory of the heroes before Partition and share sentiments of sacrifice and selflessness of those days. There is a welcome change in people in Pakistan. They want to bury the hatchet with India and develop close relations with it. There is an overflowing desire to meet people from across the border and make them friends. Businessmen, whose Chamber I addressed, said publicly that the core issue of Kashmir should not hinder trade between the two countries. They believe that both have no alternative to trade and business. People-to-people contact, which has been given the name of Track II diplomacy, has done wonders. Tension in the two countries has practically disappeared. The unending process of action and reaction is waning. Even the killings at Samjhauta Express have been taken as an unfortunate incident and have in no way lessened the goodwill at the public level. Attempts to exploit the tragedy, as some religious parties tried to do, failed to build up anti-India feeling. Railway Minister Rashid, a hawk, did his best to arouse religious feelings but failed to do so. My assessment is that if New Delhi were to relax visa restrictions, there would be an unending queue outside the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. This is where the Manmohan Singh government has failed, although the Prime Minister has said many a time that he is in favour of granting visas liberally. I do not know who in the government has the last word. Probably, it is the Home Ministry. Whoever they are, their belief is that a liberal visa system would bring in terrorists from the other side as if they come through checkposts. In this respect, Islamabad is worse than New Delhi. The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has to refer practically every visa application to Islamabad which looks dispersed among several intelligence agencies, including the ISI. A few days ago, only one-third of 90 applicants got their visa to attend the South Asian Human Rights Convention at Lahore. Even those who got their visa received intimation a few hours before their scheduled departure. This is not only inconvenient but also humiliating. Persons like Aruna Roy who initiated the movement on the Right to Information got her visa an evening before she was to leave by train. I thought Shankar Menon, who was High Commissioner in Islamabad, before he became Foreign Secretary would be pushing the movement for people-to-people contact. But, if anything, the facilities have lessened during his tenure. He signed recently in Islamabad a protocol to make the travel between the two countries easy. So far there is no difference and the authorities — in the ministries and at the airport — continue to harass the Pakistanis as before. Every Indian in Pakistan and every Pakistani in India is a terrorist unless it is proved otherwise. Above all, both sides issue visas only for three cities. An ordinary visitor has also to report to the police on arrival or his movement from one city to the other. Their story of travails is harrowing. What is sustaining the effort to be friendly is that the desire for contact on both sides is too strong to be diminished by rude behaviour of the police on either side. However, one thing which the Pakistanis are carrying back to their home is that the Indians are not enthusiastic about people-to-people contact as the Pakistanis are. This impression is spreading. The difficulty in getting visas is proving to be an aggravating factor. New Delhi has even violated the conditions of SAARC visa. Parliament members, judges and vice-chancellors are entitled to go across without visa. The facility is there as long as they are occupying a particular office. India has cancelled the arrangement unilaterally to make the yearly renewal of visa obligatory. The authorities in India continue to labour under the impression that most of terrorism is because of the “liberal” visa policy. People-to-people contact cannot go forward so long as the mindset of the bureaucrats on both sides does not change. I do not see it happening because the prejudice is too deep and the interference of the intelligence agencies is too pervasive.n
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Sleep over it
THERE is justice in this world. Even a skeptic like me finally had to admit it. I will tell you how. It all started when I left the cocoon of my house in Guwahati and the warm protection of Phul Kumari. She took care of me so much that she would dutifully walk into my room every morning to draw all the curtains so that the rude sunrays could not penetrate my room and wake me up. Though I did not expect such concern from my roommate in the college hostel where I moved into later, I did not expect to be ridiculed either, for I loved to hit the bed early at night and get up late in the morning. Eventually I became the butt of many a joke. Friends suspected that I was genetically related to Kumbhkarna, who woke up only to have his Himalayan meals. I took such comparisons in my stride. Rather, I slept over them. Time changed. And the place too! So did the face of my tormentor. It was no longer my roommate, who made nasty comments, but my soulmate who poked fun at me. Even the genetic theory was replaced by the environmentalist viewpoint, with my husband justifying my obsession for the state of inertness to my Assamese origin (a few jealous people called Assam a place of lahe, lahe, meaning slow and the image stuck). Since I do not belong to the “Argumentative Indian” category, I took it all lying down. But a visit to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi the other day changed everything for me. There were huge banners that advertised that March 21 was the World Sleep Day. In fact, the Department of Sleep Studies of the premier hospital organised a seminar to highlight the importance of sleep in our daily life. This is what I was looking for. All my life! I did not have the time to attend the seminar but the theme surely got my interest hooked. Enough to do a lot of sleep-related research on the Internet. And finally I learnt all that should be learnt to defend my passion, including a few interesting quotes like “without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds” or “a good laugh or a long sleep are the best ones in the doctor’s book”. Now, if someone tells me to cut down on my favourite pastime, I am confident enough to tell that person to open his eyes to sleep…n |
Russia’s imitation democracy MOSCOW — Russia’s Republican Party, a small liberal grouping led by parliamentary deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov, ceased to exist last week after the country’s Supreme Court upheld a decision by the Ministry of Justice not to re-register the party. “The decision was absolutely predictable,” said Ryzhkov, 41, a four-term deputy and lonely voice in parliament who has railed against the Kremlin’s centralisation of power. “Independent politics no longer exists. It’s the Kremlin’s decision who can participate in electoral politics. And our courts just rubber-stamp these decisions.” But even as the Kremlin works to marginalise its democratic opponents, however weak, they help the process along with infighting, ego clashes and fear of the Kremlin’s ability to expunge what little official status they still enjoy. The parties and movements that make up Russia’s democratic opposition are numbingly numerous; among its major strands are old-line parties such as Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces, which were significant players in the 1990s; Ryzhkov’s defunct Republican Party; and Other Russia, a diverse and pugnacious coalition whose main strategist is chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. They expend a lot of energy accusing each other of being Kremlin stooges or second-guessing who might join forces with the Kremlin at any given moment. “The problem is very bad personal and political relations between the parties, old conflicts and a deficit of will to be united,” Ryzhkov said in an interview. “We need more courage and to take risks.” Electoral laws pushed through parliament last year by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party have forced more than half of Russia’s 35 parties to disband. The Republican Party, for instance, ceased to exist because it was unable to prove it had more than 50,000 members nationally and branches in 45 regions each with more than 500 members, as required by a re-registration law. The party insists it has 60,000 members and is growing, but the Justice Ministry said it counted only about 40,000. The Supreme Court agreed. The Kremlin, according to party activists and political analysts, has positioned two parties – the dominant United Russia and the newly created Fair Russia, ostensibly a rival to the other – as the principal choices for Russian voters. Both parties, while sniping at each other about economic and social policy, pledge absolute loyalty to President Vladimir Putin. “It’s an imitation democracy with the appearance of competition, but everything is controlled at the center,” said Ryzhkov, who has no chance of returning to parliament unless another party takes him in. In December’s election, voters will cast ballots for a party, not individuals. The parties will appoint their legislative deputies. Under electoral changes enacted last year, the threshold to enter parliament has been raised from 5 to 7 per cent of the overall vote, further increasing the pressure on smaller parties. To survive as an electoral force, they must unite under one banner. So far, that has proved impossible. For the last year, Ryzhkov and Nikita Belykh, leader of the Union of Right Forces, have been discussing some form of unification. “They are very cautious because they are a registered party,” Ryzhkov said, “and any registered party depends on the Kremlin, because the Kremlin can stop any party at any time.” In this month’s regional elections, the Union of Right Forces was tossed from the ballot in five of 13 races it wanted to contest. Belykh charges that there was electoral fraud where the party did run. Still, the Union of Right Forces is reluctant to expand its base by drawing in Ryzhkov and his followers. Belykh said: “If we just unify with him, it could mean that the Kremlin will give more money to Yabloko.” Belykh said he had hoped for a broad new political configuration that would bring in Yabloko as well as Ryzhkov and others. But old feuds interfere. Yavlinsky and Belykh will not join forces with Kasparov’s Other Russia, saying they don’t approve of the presence in the anti-Kremlin coalition of people they describe as radical nationalists and socialists. Kasparov has attempted to galvanise a largely uninterested Russian public against what he calls Kremlin authoritarianism. His coalition has repeatedly attempted to hold demonstrations. It is routinely banned by the authorities and then violently suppressed when people show up on the street. Kasparov and his allies seem as contemptuous of their leadership as they are of the Kremlin. “If you don’t understand that Yabloko and (the union) are not in opposition and are completely pro-Kremlin, then we have nothing to talk about,” said Denis Belunov, a spokesman for Kasparov. The Kremlin is reportedly teeing up its own liberal party, called Free Russia. Little known until recently, the party nonetheless sailed through the re-registration process last year. The party says it has 70,000 members in 55 regions, figures its foes question. Its leader is Mikhail Barshchevskiy, a lawyer and well-known media personality who represents the Russian government at the Supreme and Constitutional courts. The party has been dogged by charges that it is a Kremlin vehicle – either to replace the Union of Right Forces or to use it to siphon off enough of the liberal vote to keep that group out of parliament. He said the party will run in December and will criticise the government when necessary but without engaging in any “open struggle” with the Kremlin. By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post
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Gujjar women pick up guns against terrorists SURANKOTE, J&K — As dusk approaches, Munira Begum, a young tribal Muslim Gujjar woman, shuts the door of her small house and prepares to cook the evening meal. As she starts to light the fire, there is a violent knock on the door. Instantly, Munira Begum picks up a gun kept near the chulha (hearth). Despite a pounding heart, she remembers to cock the rifle and readies her finger on the trigger. In these hills swarming with terrorists, a knock at any door after dusk brings terror and fear in the lives of the villagers. For this is the time when terrorists operating in these areas, mostly foreigners, come looking for food, shelter and other worldly comforts in the Hill Kaka ranges in Surankote Tehsil, located near the Line of Control in the border district of Poonch in Jammu. As the knocks grow louder, with bated breath and heightened tension and her hand still firmly on the trigger of the rifle, Munira readies herself to take on the unwelcome visitors. In earlier days, she would have had no choice but to fulfill the demands for food and other needs of the gun-totting militants. Not any more. As she gets closer to the door, she asks sternly: “Who is it?” “Me. Open the door.” The voice makes her heave a sigh of relief. It is Reshma Bi, her neighbour, come for some urgent work with her. Interestingly, Reshma Bi also has a rifle slung across her shoulder as she treads the half kilometer distance from her house to Munira’s. For too long now, Munira and other women of the twin villages of Marah-Kulali in Surankote have faced the burnt of terrorism and remained its worst victims. Now, the yearning for peace and the desire to lead tranquil lives without terrorist violence has moved these Gujjar women to pick up guns against terrorists. These women have formed an all-women brigade – the first Women Village Defence Committee (VDC) in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Marah-Kulali is a study in contrasts. As a serpentine access road makes its way to the twin villages, the tall and slender Gujjar women can be seen standing on their rooftops, sporting rifles on their shoulders. Indeed, it is a pleasant surprise to encounter these women sporting a rifle on one shoulder and a baby on the other, busy carrying out household chores. “Aawane Sann Te Mengne Sann Roti, Gusal Vaste Paani, Pepsi. Asan Bada Mushqil Waqat Dekhya (In all these years, we witnessed turbulent times and suffered, with terrorists entering our homes, demanding food, shelter, hot water for bathing, Pepsi etc),” explains Munira Begum in the local Gojri dialect. The excesses of foreign terrorists on civilians and sexual assault on local women became increasingly intolerable. Adds Saden Bi, 50, Munira’s mother-in-law, “When militants descended on our homes, they would ask the men folk to step out of the houses. If our men resisted, they were beaten up. There was an enormous amount of uncertainty in our lives.” The trauma did not end there. The vulnerability of the womenfolk was further heightened by these visits. Recalls Sadan Bi, “The dignity and honour of our daughters was at stake.” In some households, the menfolk work in Saudi Arabia, or in the towns of Surankote and Poonch, leaving behind the women who live alone. About three years ago, the terrorists killed a local priest when he resisted his wife’s rape. At around the same time, an old man in the same area was killed when he resisted the militants who attempted to snatch a grazing lamb from his herd. In another instance, an elderly woman who cooked for the terrorists was killed when she asked a gun-toting group to keep their guns away after they had forced themselves inside her house. Mr. Shiv Darshan Singh Jamwal, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Poonch, explains: “That was a turning point as many men from these villages who were in Saudi Arabia including the slain priest brother, went to the holy shrine of Mecca and promised to avenge these killings.” They returned and helped security forces constitute the first ever-Muslim village defence committee in Poonch. This was also the time when army had launched Operation Sarpvinash in Hill Kaka area to flush out the militants who had ensconced themselves well in the biggest militant hideouts ever discovered in the 17-year long insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. The gravity of the situation could well be gauged from the fact that army had to use artillery fire in this operation in which at least 150 foreign militants were killed.
– Charkha Features |
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Delhi Durbar Railway Minister Lalu Yadav has now got an invitation from the Foreign Services Institute of the Ministry of External Affairs to speak on the theme “India of my dreams.” The Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and Dean, Foreign Services Institute, Surendra Kumar is keen on giving trainee Indian and foreign diplomats exposure to a multiplicity of views. Apart from inviting retired diplomats, professors and columnists to lecture at the institute, the FSI has succeeded in persuading Dr Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission, Dr Marshall Bouton, Chicago Council of Global Affiars, Professor Deepak Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management, USA, former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr Shashi Tharoor, Ambassador Lalit Man Singh, maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Bisakha Desai, President of the Asia Institute of New York to be honorary professors at the Institute. Quiet message Media commentators may not regard Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as politically savvy but he has his own way of driving home a message. The Prime Minister used his speech on the World Water Day last week to convey his views on river water disputes among some states. Water sharing, he said, should be viewed as a national issue. He cited a verse of Guru Nanak which refers to water as “father.” Reverance for nature, Dr Singh said, was part of the country’s civilisational heritage. Without referring to the parochial postures of some leaders in the states over disputes such as the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal and Cauvery, the Prime Minister said there was an urgent need to rationalise use of water in agriculture by getting more crops per drop. Yogi’s revolt Gorakhpur Lok Sabha MP Yogi Adityanath, who has had a running battle with former Faizabad MP Vinay Katiyar, has finally decided to field candidates for the upcoming assembly election in Uttar Pradesh causing immense damage to the prospects of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Not only did party President Rajnath Singh try to mollify and satisfy the Yogi, even Leader of the Opposition L. K. Advani tried his best. Vishwa Hindu Parishad supremo Ashok Singhal went to Gorakhpur and used his clout with former Gorakhpur MP Mahant Avaidyanath who had relinqished charge of the Gorakhnath temple to the Yogi. But the young Yogi was in no mood to listen to anyone. The Yogi wanted tickets for his followers and the demand was for almost three dozen seats in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. The electoral fortunes of the BJP appeared bright in Eastern UP after the recent communal riots in Gorakhpur and the earlier one in Mau. Yogi’s followers are unemployed but ambitious youth who are looked after well by the temple funds. Now after the election results, who would have to pay the price for Yogi’s rebellion is a question being debated in the party circles.
———– Contributed by Tripti Nath, Prashant Sood and Satish Misra |
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