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Republic of Bihar Facts and faiths |
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More for the old
A welcome move
Lessons for life
Food policy
blunders along Inside
Pakistan Overshadowed sons
of iconic fathers
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Facts and faiths THE Central Government has done the right thing in withdrawing the affidavit the Archaeological Survey of India has filed in the Supreme Court on the Ram Sethu issue. As we have pointed out in these columns, the ASI had made some unwarranted comments about the historicity of Ram and other characters in the Ramayana. These are matters of faith for which no archaeological or historical evidence is needed. Ram lives in the hearts of millions of people in India, South East Asia and the world over. They do not need any evidence to believe in his virtues that made him the Maryada Purushothama. It was clearly the mischief of those who drafted the affidavit to mention that there was no historical or archaeological evidence to prove that Ram and others existed. In any case, the ASI’s contention was not religious in nature. The matter in dispute is the “Adam’s Bridge”, also called “Ram Sethu”, that lies underwater near the Palk Strait. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has been protesting against the Sethusamudram project on the ground that it would destroy the “Sethu” which it believes is part of the bridge built during Ram’s time to rescue Sita from Ravan’s captivity. It is a story ingrained in the minds of people and there is no need for any proof to substantiate it. Scientific and archaeological evidence suggests that the “Sethu” is a natural formation that occurred over thousands of years. In saying so, there is no need to refute the story of the conquest of Lanka by Ram and his soldiers. That is where the ASI erred causing needless embarrassment to the government. Now that the government has made amends on the ASI affidavit, any agitation on this issue is unwarranted. Since the matter is before the Supreme Court, the parties concerned should convince the court about their stand so that it can come to a definite conclusion on the advisability of continuing the dredging work to complete the Sethusamudram project, which is to this region what the Suez Canal was to the whole world. Given the emotional nature of the issue, the BJP will do well to refrain from giving it a political colour in the mistaken belief that it will fetch votes. It should also bear in mind that the Sethusamudram project was initiated when the BJP-led NDA was in office. |
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More for the old WHEN elections approach, governments usually turn populist and announce sops which may unsettle their budgetary calculations since the overriding aim is to woo the voter. The Union Government on Thursday approved the expansion of the National Old Age Pension Scheme to cover all senior citizens, aged above 65 and living below the poverty line. Some 1.57 crore elderly people are expected to benefit from the enhanced pension. The scheme will cost the exchequer Rs 4,300 crore in the current financial year. Although it is a jointly funded scheme of the Centre and the states in the 50:50 ratio, the ruling parties care more for squeezing political mileage out of it than implementing it with the same enthusiasm. The Centre will “re-launch” the scheme on November 19, to coincide with the birthday of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The pension amount of Rs 400 may not be much, given the steep rise in the prices of essential commodities and medical costs. Yet, something is better than nothing. Despite the systemic corruption and leakages, hopefully, the pension money would reach the needy and deserving. Care of the aged and other vulnerable sections of society has to be on the agenda of every political party, especially in a market-driven economy. The government has embraced pro-market policies of the West without adopting the social security system prevalent in the US and European countries. No doubt, the government is making efforts to help the elderly and the poor, but in a half-hearted way. The Centre and the states should jointly evolve a comprehensive, foolproof social security set-up for the needy. At present there are numerous overlapping welfare schemes at the Central and state levels without their effective implementation and monitoring. A lot of money meant for social welfare goes into wrong pockets.
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If you have bright plumage, people will take pot shots at you. — Alan Clark
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A welcome move Press
reports that the Lok Sabha Speaker wants to apply the principle of “no work, no pay” to those legislators who disrupt proceedings in the House has been universally welcomed. The legislators, with tongue in their cheek, term it as an abridgement of their parliamentary privileges, but the masses find this self-glorification laughable. The conduct of such legislators is a standing shame to the nation and calls for immediate action. A recent study by a civil society organisation found that in the 13th Lok Sabha the time lost due to disruptions was 22.4 per cent while in the 14th Lok Sabha, which commenced in June 2004, it went up to 26 per cent. Each minute of Parliament costs Rs 26.035. Under the parliamentary rules, a legislator has to sign the attendance register when he comes in the morning. He is paid a daily attendance honorarium of Rs 1,000 per attendance irrespective of the fact that he may just attend for five minutes out of a normal five-hour daily sitting. Dealing with the delinquent individual legislator is manageable under the rules of procedure. The more serious problem is when gross disorderly conduct by a large number of legislators makes the sittings of the legislatures impossible. In such a situation the Speaker, perforce and against his inclination, is forced to adjourn the House. The damage to the dignity of the House and the nation is for everyone to see. But the legislators still draw their daily allowance, suffering no monitory loss. Is the Speaker powerless to direct no payment to the legislators in such a case without a specific provision in the rules of procedure, which the legislators are not willing to change? I submit no. Though there is no specific rule permitting the Speaker to direct no payment to members in case the House is adjourned because of disorderly conduct, the Speaker would have the inherent power to so direct. In the Mays parliamentary practice it is noted that the Speaker of the House of Commons (U.K.) has the power to suspend a member for conduct falling below the standard the House is entitled to expect and in certain cases the practice includes withholding the member’s salary for the period of suspension. Admittedly, the power to suspend the House in case of members misconduct vests in the Speaker. Parliament has not codified the privileges of legislators and thus the precedents of the Speaker of the House of Commons would be equally available in India. The principle of no work, no pay cannot be doubted because of the law laid down by the Supreme Court (1990). In that case, the Bank of India employees went on four hours strike but joined the duty for the rest of the day. But the bank deducted the salary of for the whole day. Similarly, legislators who are paid the daily allowance for attending the session, at least for the good part of the day, but because of their own disorderly conduct force the Speaker to adjourn the House against his own volition, cannot in all fairness ask to be paid their daily allowance, which would mean rewarding them for their misconduct. As Lord Denning in one of his judgements (1980), (no doubt dealing with the workmen but the principles would be applicable to legislators also) said: “I ask: is a man to be entitled to the wages for his work when he, with others, is dong his best to make it useless? Surely not. Wages are to be paid for services rendered, not for producing deliberate chaos”. The Supreme Court has accepted this interpretation of the law and has held that “it is not only permissible for the employer to deduct wages for the hours or the days for which the employees are absent from duty but in cases such as the present, it is permissible to deduct wages for the whole day even if the absence is for a few hours.” The legislators cannot complain that why everyone should suffer because of the disorderly conduct of a few delinquents. But a sobering reflection will remind them that legislators have passed laws imposing a collective fine in a locality because of a few unsocial elements when admittedly a majority of the residents are law abiding. Courts have upheld such legislation in the interest of general public good. Surely, legislators should not cavil at applying the same standard to themselves when they electorally claim that they are the true servants of the public. A question can be asked that even if there is uncertainty about the law, why at least the government party and certainly the ministers, who would be against the adjournment of the House, cannot resort to the Gandhian method of self- sacrifice, especially when they are celebrating the centenary of Gandhian Satyagrah. If the government party or the ministers were to announce that they would forego the daily allowance for the days that the House is suspended for disorderly conduct by the Opposition it would set a very high principled precedent and shame the Opposition into following either their example or so behave that whatever the provocation, the House would not be adjourned. I may in this connection note the precedent of Kuldip Nayar, the eminent journalist and nominated Rajya Sabha member (retired), who during his term had written to the Chairman that he would not draw his daily allowance when the House was adjourned because of disorderly conduct. His request was accepted and no allowance was paid to him for those days. Thus a voluntary renunciation as a sort of
self-repentance and as a tribute to the memory of the Father of the Nation should at least be practised by the ministers and the government party, which claims to be the inheritor of the Gandhian values. I have no doubt that in such circumstances the Opposition too will fall in line to avoid being called hypocrites, as Dr Ram Manohar Lohia used to describe those politicians whose words did not match their deeds. There is one other alternative that I am suggesting. If the Speaker with his noble determination refuses to adjourn the House even if there is disorderly conduct and thus no work can be done, yet automatically the government party will have to remain in the House. If the Opposition in those circumstances chooses to walk out, it would invite the ridicule and anger of the electorate. This moral force will then shame the legislators, both in the government and the Opposition, to calm down. I know my suggestions look unreal but what is happening in our legislatures is so embarrassing that it calls for different and innovative
methodology.
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Lessons for life YOU know it only when you play that the game of golf is so different and unique in many ways. It is for all seasons and all ages, for the young and old alike. It is perhaps the only game played on the principle of fair competition, with due regard to the handicap of players. It lays bare the strengths and weaknesses of your character and temperament; it provides a mirror for self discovery. It has such a close parallel to life that nothing beats it in learning from experience. The golf course, like real life, has both roughs and fairways. While you play, you accomplish many things. You relax and exercise simultaneously; you enjoy walking on the morning dew in the fairways, hear birds chirp, feast your eyes on the flowering trees and plants and nurture friendships. You also come across all kinds of people, cool and composed, pleasant and friendly, arrogant and insolent and senile and argumentative . Soon after I started playing, I became painfully aware that I am impatient, temperamental and casual and I lack concentration. These disqualifications for a good golfer also do not stand in good stead in real life. Never before did I know about these infirmities with such intensity. On the face of it, the game seems to be an easy one. It looks as if there is nothing more to it than taking a correct stance, having proper grip and concentrating on the ball. That sounds simple in theory, but is far more difficult to practice. When anything goes amiss, which it often does, the result can be ruinous. If the stance and swing mismatch, the ball may go into the rough or land in a bunker. To be a good golfer, you need to concentrate, be focused and at ease with yourself. You cannot play under tension. To stay on in the fairway, you have to be patient, persistent and unnerved. You also have to persevere to be able to putt after landing on the green. You have to have a winning streak, a killing instinct. A good start is no guarantee of success. Well begun may not always be half done. All is well that ends well is far truer in golf than anywhere else. Lesson from golf are aplenty. The mantra for success is not to worry or be in a hurry. Golf serves a warning against acting in haste and repenting at leisure. You learn how sensitive your performance is to your state of mind. You also come to realise that aggressiveness, anger and impatience, on or off the course, are of no avail. Golf brings home the futility of misdirected efforts in any walk of life. It also demonstrates that there is always a chance to make amends. There is time to pause and ponder, reflect and introspect and learn from mistakes. To steer clear of roughs, the game of life too has to be played with composure and in harmony. Above all, golf makes you realise that we mortals learn very little from experience. We continue repeating the same mistakes day in and day out. How nice it would be if the game of life is played like a good game of
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Food policy blunders along India
is giving the impression of a food shortage economy in its desperation to import wheat at any price from the world market. Yet, the situation is not as bad as is being projected. Such an abrasive policy stance sends wrong signals in the international market and affects market sentiments, pushing the prices up. The Indian demand, howsoever small it may be, has a highly significant impact on prices in the world
market.
The last eight months proves the point, and now some eight lakh tons of wheat is being imported at just a little less that US$ 400 per ton. It is the expressed intention of the government to import five million tons of wheat this year that has pushed the prices up. Market sentiments are affected irreversibly by such announcements. It appears the policy makers in this respect do not have the needed professional acumen of operating in the market, especially in the international market. Let us see what the decision makers in the central government have done in this respect. First they disposed off food stocks through export of over 35 million tons in five years up to September, 2005, out of which more than 12 million tons was wheat and 23 million tons, rice. These exports were made, in large part, below the BPL prices, and in the name of structural adjustments in the food stocks. In 2005, by September, India exported over five million tons of rice and 0.72 million tons of wheat. By the end of the year our food managers started crying shortages and announced their decision to import one million tons of wheat. This, while we still had some six million tons of wheat in our stocks. This created sentiments of scarcity and farmers and traders started holding back wheat from the market. Government procurement fell short of the target, in spite of the fact that wheat crop was not a bad harvest that year. Yet the government lowered their production estimates to justify imports. As a consequence, the country ended up importing five million tons of wheat at huge cost. These sentiments of shortages continued even this year despite record harvest of wheat crop of over 74 million tons. In misplaced panic, the government banned forward trading in wheat, which did not permit real price discovery and further created sentiments of shortage in the domestic market. Traders and bigger farmers started holding back the produce from the market. To top the blunders, wheat exports were banned, imports were made duty-free and announcements were made to import wheat on government account. Duty free imports were intended to bring the prices down. One wonders, how on private account, imports of product at prices higher than the domestic prices could bring the prices down! All these policy elements had a reverse impact on the market and hurt the domestic producers, who were being paid less than two-thirds of the international prices. The natural expected consequence was strong demand from the farmers for higher prices, at least equivalent to the international prices. They were, and are, right in this demand. If we are indeed a wheat or food shortage economy, it is absolutely logical that domestic producers are paid prices higher than the international prices, first to encourage higher production through expansion of area and higher productivity, with higher investment on technology and inputs, and second, to save on foreign exchange costs and more importantly, avoid market sentiments of scarcity in the domestic and international market. Yet all actions and policy positions of the government went in reverse gear and in the wrong direction. In view of the available stocks of food in the country, there is no need to import and cry shortages. Let the policy makers understand that market sentiments and a bullish or bearish environment becomes self-feeding with even one repetition of a wrong policy stance. Yet our policy makers are habituated to continue pressing the same button, howsoever wrong that button may be, and ignore professional advice with impunity. In the first place, there is no cause for panic the government is suffering from. The country has enough stocks to feed the public distribution system till the next harvest of Rabi crop. The country has enough stocks of rice and the new rice crop, which is a very good crop, is in the offing. Worst comes to worst, why cannot rice be distributed in place of wheat at the margin? Why should not school lunch programmes be carried on with rice, which is much easier to cook and distribute to the children? The country needs a well-designed food policy on the stock management and food supply in the PDS and school lunch programmes, which is quite lopsided in its character. On the production front, it is naïve to expect that areas like Punjab, parts of Haryana and western UP will increase wheat and rice by any substantial margin, because these lands have already become virtual cultures and total factor productivity in these areas is on the decline. The logical alternative is to turn attention to the Gangetic plains, where more than 20 million hectare of land is floating over sweet water and the present level of productivity there is much below the potential. Higher investments in technology, land consolidation, individual farm access, higher input use, excess water management, better prices and streamlining the procurement system in these areas can substantially improve the production levels in these areas. On the prices front, there is a need for a complete review and rationalisation of subsidies and output prices. Undifferentiated subsidies must be withdrawn and these must be targeted to the really needy farmers, say farmers having holdings below five acres. Undifferentiated subsidies benefit only the larger farmers, who may not deserve them. Farmers operating hundreds of acres under food grain and commercial crops gain the most while they deserve the least. Small and marginal farmers deserve the most, but get the least and most of them do not derive any benefit from fertiliser subsidies or subsidies like free water and power as is in Punjab. Small and marginal farmers, in large majority, do not have any tube wells. These farmers either use diesel engines or buy water from bigger farmers in the neighborhood, who pump water free of cost due to free electric power. Once the irrational subsidies are withdrawn, the money saved can be given back to the farm sector in the form of remunerative and competitive prices for the farm produce. This way, the larger farmers will get prices commensurate with their real cost of production and small and marginal farmers will gain on subsidies targeted to them. The government procurement system should provide prices at least equal to the international prices, till the food managers and policy makers shed the apprehensions of food shortages, input subsidies should be targeted to the small and marginal farmers only, export market should not be scuttled and forward market must be restored. |
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Inside Pakistan Former
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s presence in his country does not fit in the scheme of things of the President, General Pervez Musharraf. That is why the General decided to send him back to Saudi Arabia soon after Mr Sharif’s arrival in Islamabad from London on September 10, risking contempt of court at a time when the judiciary is asserting its independence in a manner never witnessed before. As if this was not enough, the army-backed government has now barred Mr Sharif from contesting elections, claiming that he remains a convict even after entering into a deal for exile. The General’s formula to remain in power has changed from ‘Minus Two’ to ‘Minus One’. When he grabbed the reins of government in a military coup in October 1999 he used every tactic he could think of to keep both popular politicians, Mr Sharif and Ms Benazir Bhutto, away from the power structure. But those were different times. People had great expectations from General Musharraf. Today they hate him as they earlier hated Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto. As Farahnaz Ispahani says in an article carried in The News (September 11), “Politics does not operate in neat straight lines and certainly is never as simple as ordering trained soldiers to march in single file. Eight years after General Musharraf declared that he would not let Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif influence the course of events, he is negotiating with one through emissaries and trying to prevent the other from returning to the country (Pakistan).” The General, perhaps, believes that the ‘Minus One’ formula will help him overcome the threats to his political survival. But everything remains in the womb of the future. First of all, “it now remains to be seen how the government fares when the Supreme Court gives its judgement on the uniform issue. What happens if the verdict goes against the General? That is when the real drama will begin”, as Dawn commented in an editorial on September 13. Begum vs Begum Politics in Pakistan appears to be taking an interesting turn with Mr Nawaz Sharif’s wife, Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, planning to reach Islamabad soon to intensify the drive against the rule of General Musharraf. The wily General, on the other hand, is devising a strategy to field his wife, Begum Sehba Musharraf, to contest the coming presidential election if the Supreme Court disqualifies him to enter the poll arena. A hint of Begum Sehba taking a plunge into politics has been given by PML (Q) chief Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain. The scene will become more attractive if Ms Benazir Bhutto succeeds in setting her foot on the Pakistani soil in the coming few days. However, it may not be an easy going for any of them. Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, particularly, will have to work overtime to infuse a new life into her party ranks. According to The Nation (September 13), “During the last seven years while the Sharif brothers were in exile the party leaders present in the country had almost lost contact with their workers.” In fact, the entire opposition is in disarray. That may be one reason why “The ‘black day’ strike call of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) failed on Tuesday to send a message of protest to the PML(Q) government on Mr Nawaz Sharif’s deportation”, as Daily Times pointed out in an editorial on September 13. “Many of its (APDM’s) leaders either quietly courted arrest or kept arguing that they wanted to remain peaceful instead of creating trouble. The APDM leadership should not forget that the government would draw strength from their disunity”, The Nation wrote. General Musharraf must be working on a plan to exploit the weaknesses of the opposition to perpetuate his rule. Costly Ramazan The Islamic month of Ramazan, the period of fasting and feasting, has come when most people are leading a miserable life with skyrocketing prices of particularly food items. “The salaried and the lower income classes are the worst hit by the price hike. If as a result of some miraculous price corrective scheme employed by the government the prices are pushed down a shade, the consumers will still be worse off than they were before”, according to The Nation. Most other newspapers have also come down heavily on the government for its failure to arrest the price rise, particularly in view of Ramazan and the coming Eid. Dawn says “the upward trend is likely to continue. The flour prices are up by an average of Rs 2 per kg for different varieties of wheat. “Food inflation in particular and a hike in consumer prices in general can be attributed largely to badly executed faulty policies and market failures”, Dawn adds. |
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Overshadowed sons of iconic fathers Kenule
“Ken” Saro-Wiwa was a Nigerian political author and environmentalist. Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority whose homelands in the Niger Delta had been targeted for oil extraction since the 1950s. Saro-Wiwa had led a nonviolent campaign against environmental damage associated with the operations of multinational oil companies, especially Shell, in the Delta region. After days of incarceration and torture Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Nigerian military government on November 10th 1995, his death provoking international outrage. Saro-Wiwa’s son, Ken Wiwa’s chilling documentary, In the Shadow of a Saint, based on his earlier best-selling autobiography, tells of Ken Wiwa’s fractured political, emotional and philosophical relationship with his father. The daunting challenge of living up to an almost mythically famous parent is the subject of Wiwa’s film. He asks, as credits roll, “My father. Where does he end and where do I begin?” There are poignant moments in the film where Ken Wiwa talks to Zindzi Mandela, daughter of President Nelson Mandela, and Nkosinathi Biko, son of slain South African freedom fighter, Steve Biko. There is camaraderie between the three as they speak about the trials and tribulations of living with the fame of their parents. “The emotional detachment of my father was perhaps necessary,” confides Wiwa in the film, “because he knew what was to come.” With the release of Feroze Abbas Khan’s brilliant depiction of Harilal Gandhi’s story in Gandhi, My Father, we see parallels to Wiwa, Mandela and Biko’s lives. They share famous last names and the enormous burden of living up to those names. Partially based on two books, Gandhiji’s Last Jewel: Harilal by Harilal’s daughter, Nilam Parikh, and Harilal: A Life by Chandulal Bhagubhai Dalal, the film Gandhi, My Father sheds light on the human side of Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi’s non-violent resistance to British rule helped win India its independence but he failed at being a compassionate father. For instance, after Harilal converted to Islam, Gandhi gave a public speech harshly criticising his son’s conversion. “Harilal’s apostasy is no loss to Hinduism and his admission to Islam a source of weakness to it, as I apprehend, he remains the same wreck that he was before,” Gandhi said in the speech. Unlike Wiwa, Harilal never recovered from the animosity between him and his father and died a destitute two months after Gandhi’s assassination. The beginning scene of the film is heart wrenching where Harilal, about to breathe his last at a Mumbai hospital, is asked by an attendant his father’s name. He faintly murmurs, “Mohandas Gandhi.” The nurse chides him, “Gandhi is everyone’s bapu but who is your bapu?”. The film’s uniqueness is its depiction of Gandhi as a person, a difficult patriarch whose ideals shaped a nation but hurt his family. This is not the story of a loser as history has told us about Harilal but rather a story about a lonely man’s struggle and angst to come to terms with and live up to his father, not a Mahatma. Abbas and Wiwa’s films are the first to break the silence to tell us touching stories of children living under imposing and sometimes loveless shadows of their famous parents. |
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