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Message from Lal Masjid Women in jails Time to act |
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Suicide by farmers
Meals, ready-to-eat!
Why the “Musharraf System” will stay in Pak Punjab budget has failed to target tax evasion Delhi Durbar
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Message from Lal Masjid The
Pakistan government, particularly President Gen Pervez Musharraf, must be feeling relieved with the crisis involving Islamabad’s controversial Lal Masjid finally coming to an end without seeing much bloodshed. Putting pressure on the militant clerics and students of the two madarsas associated with the mosque after Tuesday’s gun-battle between them and the Pakistan Rangers apparently paid off on Wednesday. The security forces’ use of tactics associated with psychological warfare on those challenging the writ of the State from within the mosque-madarsa complex led to the surrender of the students. The head administrator, apparently trying to run away as a burqa-clad woman, has been taken in custody. The interrogation of the clerics and the other militants may lead to the uncovering of more than what meets the eye. The two clerics — Maulana Abdul Aziz and his deputy and brother Abdur Rashid Ghazi — controlling the mosque and its madarsas, Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Faridia, appeared to be itching for trouble for a long time. Apparently egged on by others, they encouraged students to behave as vigilante groups in open defiance of the law. The end of the standoff after the government declared a curfew in the area and gave an ultimatum with a deadline, extended till Thursday evening, for vacating the complex in a peaceful manner shows that firmness in handling militants pays off. It has been proved once again that militants or terrorists are nobody’s friends. Pakistan, therefore, must be forthcoming in cooperating with India in tackling terrorism. The Lal Masjid episode is, in fact, a clear case of reaping what is often sown. The Lal Masjid clerics have been actively involved in jihadi activities. They reportedly had contacts with terrorist outfits, including Al-Qaida and Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammed, yet the government kept quiet all these years. The present administrators of the mosque have been following in the footsteps of their late father, Maulana Abdullah, known for his jihadi speeches. The mosque-madarsa administration fell out with Gen Pervez Musharraf when he declared his support for the US-led “war on terror” after 9/11. The Pakistan government’s cautious approach in dealing with the Lal Masjid extremists is understandable. Yet these elements must be made to understand that their activities can no longer be tolerated in the interest of peace and stability. President Musharraf has been promising to the world that he is against terrorism. The time has come for him to crack down on the vast networks the extremists and fundamentalists have built across Pakistan through madarsas or otherwise. It is in the interest of Pakistan itself and the subcontinent.
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Women in jails JAILS serve the two purposes of punishment and reformation. The former presupposes that the inmates are deprived of certain comforts they would have otherwise enjoyed and the latter enjoins upon the jail authorities to provide the prisoners certain basic facilities. As the Tribune investigation into the condition of women in the jails in Punjab has revealed, the jails do not fulfill the functions of a reformatory. In all the jails, which have designated female wards, the inmates have to face umpteen problems ranging from excessive overcrowding to non-availability of sanitary napkins or its substitutes. Allowance has to be made for the fact that a majority of them are “undertrials” who may or may not be guilty of the offences listed against them. The jail authorities promptly quote chapter and verse from the centuries-old jail manual to explain away their helplessness to change the system. Nothing, however, prevents popularly elected governments from amending the archaic laws so that the conditions in the jails are improved. In the past, most leaders in power had experienced jail life having taken part in the freedom struggle. Nowadays, too, leaders go to jails for reasons that do not redound credit to them. Many of them are aware of the problems in the jails. Yet, the pity is that they have not attempted any remedial action. Otherwise, the situation would not have been as pathetic as the Tribune reporter had found it. It’s nobody case that the prisoners should be provided exotic food but they should at least be given wholesome food so that deficiency of vitamins and minerals do not lead to impairment of health. Many women prisoners face psychological problems. In fact, it is because of such problems that they land in the jail. Under these circumstances, providing psychiatric support to the needy is unavoidable. Thanks to equal opportunities and other reasons, more and more women are coming into the workplace. It also increases their chances of taking to crime, especially of passion. The growing percentage of women in jails is a reality from which there can be no escape. Adequate arrangements will have to be made to strengthen the facilities for them. In any case, 60 years after Independence, the jail authorities cannot blame the British-made laws for the miserable condition of the women in jails.
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Time to act Appeals
for water conservation, like the one made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the water ministers’ conference in Delhi on Wednesday, do not have the desired effect unless the water wasters are penalised and the precious natural gift is adequately priced. User-charges have for too long been advocated for discouraging water waste and generating funds to manage water resources more efficiently. However, political compulsions prevail. State-level politicians refrain from raising water charges and some, driven by populism, even waive these. Still worse, they supply free electricity that results in the over-use of ground water. As the water level dips, its extraction becomes costlier. The second important point the Prime Minister has made is about decentralising water management and forging partnerships between the government and citizens. Water is a state subject and inter-state water disputes are on the rise. Again, politicians spend their energy more on asserting their rights over natural water and fighting with neighbours than on harvesting rainwater that goes waste. Funds available for water management are often diverted or misused. The latest CAG report in Punjab points out that 331 villages were denied water and 2,129 traditional sources of water could not be revived despite the availability of funds. The situation could perhaps improve if funds go direct to the panchayats, which can involve NGOs and concerned citizens in the save-water drive. The quality of water too is deteriorating due to the flow of industrial waste, fertilisers and pesticides into rivers and canals and the ground water too gets polluted. This has led to a mani-fold increase in water-born diseases and even cancer cases. Here too the panchayats can be more effective in creating awareness. Global warming is already making its impact felt. Three months ago a UN report had warned that climate change could inundate coastal India, including Mumbai, and the per capita availability of water after some time could fall to a half. The earlier the reality sinks in, the better.
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Conscience is thoroughly well-bred and soon leaves off talking to those who do not wish to hear it.
— Samuel Butler |
Suicide by farmers
Suicides
by farmers have been under discussion in many fora, including the media, recently. The basic factor is that it is a micro-level problem being dealt with at macro- level. Visits are made to affected areas by VIPs, and various steps are announced to improve the general state of agriculture. The problem, however, is at the individual level. The cotton belt in southern Punjab is an agriculturally richer area than the rest of the state and yet the number of suicides is more there. The main factor driving farmers to suicide is indebtedness. It results from two factors. The first is low yields and thus farmer not getting enough income to meet his needs and to repay the loan. Secondly, farmers tend to over-borrow and use it for purposes other than agriculture. In his recent article in The Tribune, Prof Sucha Singh Gill has rightly observed that “when the farmer is unable to pay bank or cooperative loans, he resorts to borrowing from village moneylenders at exorbitant rates of interest”. Before cooperative and commercial banks actively came into crop and other agriculture sector loans, the government used to give loans called “taccavi”. These are given from the government treasury and disbursed to needy farmers for seeds, fertilizers, etc, by revenue agencies. “Taccavi” loans are also given in the case of damage to crops in floods or famine conditions. Like all loans, “taccavi” carries an element of interest, and in the case of a delay in repayment, penal interest is also levied. In the case of a farmer’s inability to pay, micro-level relief is available. Deputy Commissioners have the discretion to waive off any part of interest. They can also extend the time for repayment. Now, there are other agencies like cooperatives and commercial banks that have progressively entered the field of rural credit. As per RBI guidelines, commercial banks are required to do 40 per cent of their total lending to priority sectors. Within this 40 per cent, 18 per cent is to go for agriculture. Banks have seldom had the banking sector exceeded 14 per cent against the target of 18 per cent. Here again, most of these loans are given for the purchase of tractors and other machinery and very few as crop loans. The cooperatives provide the bulk of the crop loans. When it comes to the recovery of these loans, there is no readily available machinery which can deal with individual cases for waiving interest/penal interest and rescheduling of payment, etc. In the absence of this, the lending agencies start their punitive procedures for recovery, driving farmers to suicide. Professor Gill has correctly observed that “lenders recovering their loans by taking away milch animals, agricultural implements and the like, in full public view, is the worst kind of insult that the farmer has to bear”. But his suggestion that the government should provide jobs to one member of the family so that he can earn and repay the loan is not practical. Solving unemployment is a wider issue. Similarly, empowering Panchayati Raj institutions is not the panacea. It is not only the farming sector that borrows. In fact, borrowing for commerce and industriies is far more and so are the failures in these sectors. However, in the case of loans to industry and commerce, the government has put in place a machinery dealing with defaulters. Under the Industrial and Financial Reconstruction Act, a semi-judicial (BIFR) mechanism has been set up. If a borrower is unable to pay, in terms of laid-down criteria, he can approach the BIFR. From the time his application is admitted, a semi-judicial process is set in. Recovery is suspended. There is no further levying of a penal interest. Interest is also charged only at the bank rate, which is generally lower than the rate of interest. Steps are taken to appoint an operating agency to evolve a viable and acceptable solution. In case the bank or the loanee is not satisfied, it can approach the appellate court (AAIFR). The process goes on till a satisfactory solution is evolved. Banks have their own Debt Recovery Tribunals. Here again recovery proceedings are semi-judicial. A full chance is given to the loanee to be heard. No such mechanism has been provided for the rural loans. Here under a simple order passed by the revenue agency, punitive measures for recovery are set in to the dire disadvantage of the farmer. It is this inability to pay in the face of drastic measures coupled with public humiliation that drives the farmers to suicide. The role of the Deputy Commissioner has been highlighted (M. Rajivlochan, May 24, 2007). No doubt, the Deputy Commissioner remains the kingpin of the field administration and provides the necessary leadership. That does not take away the role and responsibility of other departments like those related to agriculture, cooperatives and irrigation. There is rather unjustified criticism of the bureaucracy. The bureaucracy has been criticised even to the extent of “clouding the thinking of the political elite. However, the people and the political elite need to be beware of the bureaucracy in meeting the challenges posed by the crisis of farming and farmers’ suicide” (Sucha Singh Gill, June 13, 2007). This is rather a sweeping statement. There is an element of compliment also. One never thought that the bureaucracy is so intelligent and persuasive that it can even cloud the thinking of the political leadership. Let us not forget that it was the bureaucracy led by officers like the late S. S. Grewal that brought about and later sustained the Green Revolution in Punjab. Whereas macro-measures for increasing productivity with a special emphasis on small farmers and other aspects of rural development should go on, farmers’ suicides need to be analysed and dealt with at the micro-level. A machinery has to be set up for the agriculture sector and the rural sector on the same lines as the BIFR/Debt Recovery Tribunals where the borrower gets some immediate relief as also an opportunity to put forward his case and be heard at the individual level. He should be helped by these agencies to arrive at a viable solution. Depriving him of his possessions and honour become the real reasons for suicide. The farmer needs to be dealt with compassionately. Setting up a machinery for this purpose is the need of the
hour.
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Meals, ready-to-eat!
Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister Dr M. Karunanidhi has claimed that his government’s Noon Meals Scheme has resulted in record school enrolment and to buttress his claim, he has made available to newsmen reports filed by census-takers. Let’s read thru’ one such report. “Good morning, ma’m. I’m taking a census of all school-going children. How many children in the age group 5-16 are there in your household and what are their names?” “Yes sir, there are three boys — Tamizhkudimagan, Puzhaendi and Muniyandi.” “How old is Tamizhkudimagan and since when has he been going to school?” “Well, sir, Tamizhkudimagan is 16 years old and a regular wart hog, that’s what he is! You ought to see him gobbling down cabbage and cauliflower curry and beet root soup. You should see his glowing complexion, thanks to eating mounds of cabbage and cauliflower and beet-root.” “In the name of Periyar, what’s that about cabbage and cauliflower and beet-root?” “What I meant, sir, Tamizhkudimagan is so studious in school that he has already learned to spell difficult words like cabbage and cauliflower and beet root. You also wanted to know since when he has been going to school? Well, sir he has been regularly attending school since yesterday when he learned that drumstick curry was to be served. He simply loves the stuff.” “Mmm.. it all sounds veey wonky, but okay, what about Puzhaendi? How old is he and when did he join school?” “Puzhaendi is 14 years old sir and his culinary preference is finely chopped onion and potato garnished with coriander leaves and fried in groundnut oil and served with coconut chutney.” “In the name of Anna, what’s that about onion and potato and garnishing? Are you pulling my leg?” “What I meant, sir, Puzhaendi has stood at the top of his class in food science and he already knows about the food value of chopped onions and potatoes and that they should be garnished in groundnut oil if their essential vitamins are to be preserved. He joined school just this morning when he learned that Rajnikanth sarr would be coming personally to serve the noon meals.” “It all sounds very fishy, and frankly the layout around here sticks. Okay, what about Muniyandi?” “Well, sir Muniyandi is a little type of 12 and he’s a light eater — a little curds rice with lime or mango pickle and a bit of ladies finger curry and he’s thru.” “In the name of Kalaignar, what’s that about curds rice and lime pickle?” “What I meant, sir, education has done wonders for Muniyandi and he has already learned that Tamil Nadu is a top producer of curds rice and that it exports lime pickle and ladies finger.” “Has Muniyandi gone to school today?” “No, sir, he’s at home watching SUN TV. He learned that pumpkin soup was to be served today and he simply doesn’t relish that vegetable.” “Thank you, ma’m. You’ve been most cooperative. Good
day.” |
Why the “Musharraf System” will stay in Pak Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf is widely viewed as a military strongman who should be pressed to hold free and fair elections this year. Both the characterization of Musharraf and the policy recommendation are misguided. Musharraf’s problem is that he has failed to act swiftly and ruthlessly to set Pakistan’s politics on a proper course, and he knows -- better than his critics -- that given the complexity of Pakistan’s internal problems, the holding of free and fair elections might not check Pakistan’s drift toward extremism. Musharraf does deserve criticism for the deterioration of Pakistani civil society. About his only defense is that things were worse under his predecessor, the insecure Nawaz Sharif. Musharraf had a golden opportunity to set things right and develop a strategy that would build up civilian competence and allow for the army’s retreat from governance. He missed it. After his coup he rejected advice that he impose emergency rule for a few months, meanwhile ordering the intelligence services to round up the extremists they had nurtured for years. But as a strongman Musharraf had a fatal flaw: He wanted to be liked. Since then his actions as a politician and leader have been consistently flawed. He implemented a crazy scheme of local government that further destroyed Pakistan’s civilian bureaucracy. He refused to allow former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Sharif to return to Pakistan and meet a real electoral test. And he fabricated a phony political party to provide the illusion of popular support. He also entered into alliances with the Islamists (only to betray them) and with a party responsible for rule by terror in certain areas of the country. As a general, Musharraf got mixed reviews from his peers. As a politician, he has shown little talent. His one strength, until Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry defied him, was that his opponents were even less inspiring. Musharraf’s rule has not been without merit. Going against the views of army hard-liners, he lobbed one Kashmir proposal after another at the Indian government, putting it on the defensive. Under Musharraf, Pakistan’s position has changed from insistence upon a plebiscite (something India will never allow) to one of several alternative arrangements, all designed to save face for Islamabad. Musharraf did preside over economic reform, but the World Bank has pointed out that income disparities and rural poverty have both grown while the urban elite make money hand over fist. His treatment of the press has been retrograde. It is Orwellian for American officials to claim that Pakistan is on the road to democracy. Musharraf receives unstinting American support because of his turnabout after Sept. 11, 2001, regarding support for the Taliban and al-Qaida. No one doubts his sincerity regarding al-Qaida; as he writes in his fanciful autobiography, these were the people who several times tried to kill him. But there is room for skepticism about Pakistan’s role with regard to the Taliban. Pakistani officials freely admit that their main concerns in Afghanistan are Indian penetration (which would mean encirclement for Islamabad) and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s dependence on New Delhi. Given this strategic compulsion, it is not surprising that Pakistan tolerates, if it does not directly support, the Taliban; it has no other instrument available to it than this Pashtun tribal hammer. Whatever happens in coming days, we are not approaching the end of the “Musharraf system” in Pakistan. Even if he were forced out of the presidency and ceased to be army chief, his military colleagues would continue to rule from behind the scenes, finding a pliable politician or two to serve as their public face. Abroad, they might get tougher with India (what better way to unite Pakistanis than a crisis with New Delhi?), and they would try to fake it with the Americans regarding Afghanistan: They will not willingly give up their Taliban assets. Perhaps such a second coming of the Musharraf system would work better with a military leader more perceptive than the ebullient but shallow Musharraf. But in the end, the army cannot rule the state of Pakistan by itself. Perhaps it will come to the realisation that what it needs is a strategy for a systematic withdrawal from politics. This would involve heavy investment in the quality and competence of the civilian elite, a rebuilding of liberal Pakistan, and tough measures against defiant, radical Islamists. The United States is paying lip service to a regime that is collapsing before its eyes and that may yet turn truly nasty. Washington treats Pakistan as if it were a Cold War ally, dealing only with its top leadership. The great danger is that this time around, Pakistan may not have the internal resources to manage its own rescue. If that is the case, then in years to come, a nuclear-armed and terrorism-capable Pakistan will become everyone’s biggest foreign policy problem. The writer is senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program of the Brookings Institution and author of “The Idea of Pakistan.” By arrangement with
LA Times-Washington Post |
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Punjab budget has failed to target tax evasion The
presentation of the budget has almost been reduced to just an annual ritual. The much-awaited Punjab Budget for the year 2007-08, presented in the State Assembly on 20 June 2007, seems to be no exception. People were expecting a budget loaded with vision, drive, direction and resource mobilisation. Mr. Manpreet Singh Badal has been pointing to a gross under-mobilisation of tax collection ever since he assumed the responsibility of the Finance Minister. Just two days before the budget presentation, Mr. Badal pointed out that “Haryana’s collection from VAT is in the range of Rs. 7200 crores whereas ours is only Rs. 5200 crores, despite the fact that Punjab is an out-and-out consumer-oriented state. Where is the money, which should come to the state treasury from VAT, disappearing? That is my major concern. By plugging holes in VAT collection, we can certainly collect Rs. 10,000 crore from that tax” he added (The Tribune, June 19, 2007). But then, the billion-dollar question is, who will bell the cat? The present budget, too, could not bell the cat. The Finance Minister’s public revelation speaks volumes about tax evasion and the pilferage of public money. By a simple calculation, Rs. 4800 crore, which could come from VAT, annually bye-passes the state exchequer. Evasion and pilferage in excise and stamp duty, too, cannot be ruled out. Such an evasion has been happening for a long time, and the predecessors of Mr. Manpreet Singh Badal (Mr. Surinder Kumar Singla and Captain Kanwaljit Singh) have, too, been admitting to the problem. The irony of the situation, however, is that in spite of the first hand knowledge about tax-evasion and pilferage, no Finance Minister could stem the rot. The present Finance Minister, too, would not be able to do that unless and until the entire council of Ministers and all the MLAs decide to check this menace. That requires collective political will to curb the ever rising greed and there by, corruption. It is worth mentioning that per capita tax collection in Punjab, as a percentage of per capita income, has been less than 10 per cent. Many states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Orissa, U.P., Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, M.P., Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Assam, have this ratio ranging from 12 per cent to 18 per cent. Punjab can raise the tax-GDP ratio above the present 9 per cent to at least 13 per cent by better tax compliance and bringing additional services and activities into the tax net. By enhancing the credit-deposit ratio in Punjab, which has all through been below 50 per cent, the State can also fetch additional resources for investment. In the case of many other states it is much higher than 50 per cent and in the case of Maharashtra it is near 95 per cent. To raise this ratio, the state would have to attract industrial investment by providing world class physical infrastructure, commensurate socio-political environment and corruption-free and transparent governance. Along with under-mobilisation of taxes, another evil is pilferage of public resources. A huge amount of funds gets siphoned off on the way. Thus, the development agenda and the public exchequer in Punjab have become a victim of tax evasion, pilferage of public money and insensitivity of political leadership and civil bureaucracy. According to a very modest estimate, out of a tax potential of Rs. 1, one third goes to the state exchequer and the remaining two-thirds is being shared by potential tax payers, tax collecting machinery and the persons who matter. At the national level, the estimated size of the black economy ranges between 40 and 45 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By that logic the size of the black economy in Punjab (at the present size of GDP) must range between Rs. 35,000 crore and Rs. 40,000 crores per annum. There is, thus, an urgent need to downsize the size of the black economy in Punjab. Even if half of the above amount is realised every year, the state would have additional resources to the tune of Rs. 17500 to Rs. 20000 crores. Then the Finance Minister would have enough resources to jack up the state development plan much above Rs. 10000 crore, as envisaged by him, from the present level of Rs. 5111 crore, during the next five years. Such a massive resource mobilisation, along with utmost frugality, would enhance the state’s capacity to effectively carry out the development agenda of the state.
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Delhi Durbar Ever since BJP leader L.K.Advani fell out with the RSS over his pro-Jinnah remarks in Pakistan, he has been making desperate attempts to win back its confidence. But he appears to have met with little success in this matter. His hard-hitting speech at the party’s recent national executive, which was clearly targetted at his successor and present BJP president Rajnath Singh, failed to have the desired affect. Perhaps that explains Advani’s absence at a recent high-level policy-making meeting of RSS pracharaks. Advani’s aides maintain he was invited but he could not make it because of Sahib Singh Verma’s death. His detractors say he was never invited. The moot point is that Rajnath Singh participated in the deliberations, clearly indicating that the Thakur from Uttar Pradesh continues to enjoy the confidence of the BJP’s ideological mentor. Overkill The BJP’s ongoing smear campaign against the UPA’s presidential candidate Pratibha Patil has now become a classic case of overkill. Readers and viewers now tend to gloss over reports about Patil’s “murky” past. In fact, the BJP’s decision to persist with its campaign has created fissures both within its own ranks and in the NDA. Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav is apparently unhappy with the BJP’s decision and has told its top brass that its strategy will prove counter-productive. BJP leader Arun Jaitely had apparently shot down the suggestion from his colleagues that his party move the Supreme Court against Patil. As it happened, Jaitley was proved right as the apex court rejected the petition. Wooing jawans With ex-servicemen becoming increasingly visible in politics, the Congress is going out of its way to woo them It recently appointed ten retired officers as members of the National Advisory Committee of the party's ex-servicemen department. The appointees include senior officers. With the BJP having taken a lead over its opponent in this regard – it has Jaswant Singh ,a former army officer as leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha and another retired officer B.C.Khanduri as Uttarakhand chief Minister – the Congress is apparently keen to make amends. Like for like Call it coincidence or a well thought-out plan, the Congress has recently followed the logic of caste, regional and community identity in its recent appointments, both inside and outside the party organisation. It replaced one Patil with another (Shivraj made way for Pratibha) in the final selection of its Presidential candidate. Ambika Soni, who hails from Punjab and was looking after Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, has been replaced by R. K. Dhawan, another Punjabi. Similarly, A.K.Antony, former Kerala CM, who was in-charge of Karnataka affairs, has been replaced by M. M. Jacob, a fellow Keralite. Contributed by Prashant Sood, Tripti Nath and Anita Katyal |
If God turns away his gaze of favour, He reduces even kings to a blade of grass. |
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