O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Bolt from the Blues
A triumph to savour
What a tour it has been! Right from the Boxing Day Test late December last to the exhilarating, nerve-wracking second final of the Commonwealth Bank ODI series, it was one roller-coaster of a ride. There was something for everyone — top notch Test cricket followed by some entertaining ODIs, quality batting, bowling and fielding, some bruising encounters on and off the field, and in the end, it must be said, the comeuppance of a cocky, arrogant Australian cricket team.

Sanctions no solution
Only diplomacy can succeed with Teheran
The Iranian nuclear issue has again come into sharp focus with the imposition of fresh sanctions, for the third time, against Teheran. Iran is being punished for its refusal to cap its nuclear programme, suspected by the international community (read the US and its European allies) as being aimed at producing weapons of mass destruction.

• Thought for the day

ARTICLE

Kosovo and after
Challenges from declaration of independence
by G. Parthasarathy
Pluralistic states, still grappling with problems of strengthening national unity, while recognising and cherishing religious, ethnic and cultural diversities, are now confronted with the challenge of how to deal with the unilateral declaration of independence by the Muslim majority Kosovo region of Serbia. Kosovo was an integral part of Serbia since the 12th century, with the invading Ottomans defeating the outnumbered Serbs in the epic battle in 1389 before Kosovo was eventually absorbed in the Ottoman Empire in 1455.

MIDDLE

The wedding
by Punam Khaira Sidhu
Typically, Lohri sees winter slowly ebbing out. But February 2008 saw winter make an unexpected boomerang. The hardest hit were weddings with night-time “muhurats”. Bride, bridegroom, Baraaat, Baraaatis, family and even the catering staff shivered their way through the ritual celebrations. With an armful of invitations to attend I had resorted to sorting the cards weekwise and then mentally indexing the weddings by the day of the week. So it was the Sawhneys on Monday and the Bansals on Tuesday and the Gargs on Friday. The system worked well until one Friday.

OPED

Why waiver is not enough
Non-institutional loans a big burden on farmers
by Ranjit Singh Ghuman
The proposed debt relief measure for farmers in the Union Budget needs to be viewed as a crisis management measure and a damage control exercise. The political alliances, parties and farmers’ unions of all shades must understand that a very large section of Indian farmers are passing through a serious crisis, which, if not solved, may result in social, economic and political upheaval.

Behind the crisis in Latin America
by Paul Vallely
It is the worst diplomatic crisis in Latin America for many years. At the weekend, the Colombian army crossed the border into Ecuador to kill a Colombian rebel leader, and 16 other guerrillas, who were sheltering there. The move outraged the government in Ecuador, which broke off diplomatic relations with its neighbour and helicoptered 3,000 of its own troops to the border area.

Legal notes
Justice H.R. Khanna, a beacon for judges
by S.S. Negi
The Supreme Court in a full court reference on Wednesday remembered one of its most distinguished judges, Justice H.R. Khanna, easily identified as a pioneer who stood up for citizens' rights and in the process put his own career at stake. Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan led the entire legal fraternity in paying a glowing tribute to Justice Khanna, with whose death a chapter closes about a rare breed of steely judges who never buckled under pressure.

EDITORIALS

Bolt from the Blues
A triumph to savour

What a tour it has been! Right from the Boxing Day Test late December last to the exhilarating, nerve-wracking second final of the Commonwealth Bank ODI series, it was one roller-coaster of a ride. There was something for everyone — top notch Test cricket followed by some entertaining ODIs, quality batting, bowling and fielding, some bruising encounters on and off the field, and in the end, it must be said, the comeuppance of a cocky, arrogant Australian cricket team. For all their claims of playing the game “hard but fair,” Ricky Ponting’s men successfully alienated many a fan - even earning the description of a “pack of wild dogs”. The tour has changed many things in world cricket, and its effects will continue to be felt.

While both cricket teams would be exhausted and looking forward to some well-earned rest, it is the Indian lads, superbly led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Anil Kumble earlier, who will be holding their head high. It was a fractious, toughly fought tour. After the Boxing Day Test loss came the landmark Sydney Test. For Australia, it was a record 16th Test win - but their celebrations did not last long, with the controversies that were generated by their behaviour. Then came the fantastic Perth win, and while in the end, India had to be satisfied with drawing the series and a much-deserved second spot Test ranking, they were still holding their head high.

And into the ODI series, there was a stir over excluding some seniors like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. The selectors’ emphasis on youngsters with an eye on the future has paid off handsomely. What is more, while India’s batting has always had a special lustre, and Rohit Sharma is a creditable addition to the pack, India’s young bowlers came into their own: Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar were the stars. There was one veteran who wasn’t going anywhere but to the top - Sachin Tendulkar, with those fantastic knocks of 117 not out and 91, regained the spot of No 1 ODI batsman, displacing Ponting. Australia, in fact, are barely holding on to their top spot ranking. And in the mix was the swan-song of the much-loved cricketer Adam Gilchrist, not to mention Harbhajan Singh, who braved sledges and boos to have the last laugh, dismissing bete noires Hayden and Symonds. A tour to ponder over for a long time.

Sanctions no solution
Only diplomacy can succeed with Teheran

The Iranian nuclear issue has again come into sharp focus with the imposition of fresh sanctions, for the third time, against Teheran. Iran is being punished for its refusal to cap its nuclear programme, suspected by the international community (read the US and its European allies) as being aimed at producing weapons of mass destruction. Iran’s claim that its nuclear enrichment activity is only meant to generate power has not been found convincing. The US and its allies want nothing less than freezing of the controversial project. With a view to putting more pressure on Teheran, Britain and France, backed by the US, moved a fresh resolution in the UN Security Council which was adopted on Monday with all of its 15 members — with the lone exception of Indonesia — voting in favour of it. The sanctions — travel bans, freezing of assets of people associated with the nuclear programme and monitoring of Iranian financial institutions -- may further escalate the crisis rather than helping in getting it defused.

Significantly, the five permanent Security Council members have demonstrated unanimity on the issue for the first time. But this has come about as a face-saving exercise. Russia and China, which have been opposed to the use of coercive tactics, agreed to go along with the US, Britain and France only after the resolution on Iran was diluted considerably. Russia and China, which have their own economic interests to protect in Iran, reportedly adopted the new approach to prevent the issue from getting more complicated.

The way the provision of imposing Security Council’s sanctions is being used may further erode the credibility of the world body, which has already suffered much damage in the context of Iraq. Sanctions are unlikely to help find a solution to the Iranian crisis. The US cannot think of the military option also today because of its experience in Iraq and the recent disclosure of its own intelligence agencies on the Iranian nuclear programme — that it has nothing to do with nuclear weapons. Even the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the issue has presented a mixed picture. With Iran cooperating with the IAEA in the latter’s efforts to establish the truth, the use of diplomacy appears to be the right course to end the crisis.

Accord with Madhesis
Nepal buys peace in the plains

The eight-point agreement signed last week between the ruling Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) is a historic development that would be welcomed to take forward the peace process in Nepal. First and foremost, the agreement ensures that the Madhesis in Nepal’s southern plains bordering India will end their current 16-day agitation and join the process for the elections to the Constituent Assembly scheduled for April 10. The Terai region has been on the boil for months with a string of strikes, demonstrations and violent protests that have left over 75 dead, hundreds injured and economic activity disrupted. The Madhesis have been demanding autonomy, due recognition of their rights and proportional representation in all state sectors, including elected bodies. Neglect of their demands, far from making the movement fade, fuelled further anger and resentment; more, and more militant, groups surfaced to fight for Madhesi rights; and, the force of the issues made politicians abandon mainstream parties to take up the cause of the Terai.

The volatile situation in the Terai and the unrelenting opposition of Madhesi groups to the election left the SPA Government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala with little choice but to negotiate. The Madhesi groups that have rallied under the banner of the UDMF made talks possible and have wrested the best possible terms in the prevalent situation. The government has given a commitment to recognise Madhes – along with other regions — as a federal autonomous region of Nepal. The agreement is unequivocal on a statutory provision for equal representation to all ethnic, including marginal, groups in all sectors. This means that the Terai people would gain due, and deserved, representation including in the Constituent Assembly as well as the Nepal Army.

Now that an agreement has been signed, both sides must keep faith and work towards realising the objectives of the accord. The most important objective, doubtless, is to ensure that the people of the Terai feel reassured that they belong to a united, sovereign Nepal where they will be treated as equal citizens. It follows that the Madhesi groups, which were driven underground by being banned, should be enabled to take part in the political process. No less important is for the SPA to see the Madhesis as full partners in carrying forward the peace process, of which the April 10 election is a critical milestone.

Thought for the day

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end. — Margaret Thatcher

ARTICLE

Kosovo and after
Challenges from declaration of independence
by G. Parthasarathy

Pluralistic states, still grappling with problems of strengthening national unity, while recognising and cherishing religious, ethnic and cultural diversities, are now confronted with the challenge of how to deal with the unilateral declaration of independence by the Muslim majority Kosovo region of Serbia. Kosovo was an integral part of Serbia since the 12th century, with the invading Ottomans defeating the outnumbered Serbs in the epic battle in 1389 before Kosovo was eventually absorbed in the Ottoman Empire in 1455.

Ottoman rule, which finally ended in 1912, resulted in a steady influx of Albanian Muslims, with the community becoming a majority ultimately in the 19th century. Following the Nazi depredations of World War II, Kosovo became an autonomous region of the People's Republic of Serbia, as a member of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Throughout the 20th century the relationship between the Serbs and the Albanians in Kosovo remained tense and marked by violence.

With the collapse and disintegration of socialist Yugoslavia in the 1990s, tensions in the Balkans rose and the Clinton Administration joined the European Union in "demonising' Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who was dubbed as a "new Hitler". What followed was 78 days of relentless bombing of Serbia by the US in 1999, following which Kosovo was placed under a transitional UN Administration, under UN Security Council Resolution 1244. The UN resolution reaffirmed "the commitment of all member-states to the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, of which the Federal Republic of Serbia was the successor state. It also established a requirement that the post-conflict constitutional process must take full account of the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Serbia. In practical terms, however, Kosovo became a NATO-EU protectorate with the deployment of NATO forces and EU administrators to run the region.

The dangers of appointing European politicians, especially from monolithic Scandinavian countries, with no experience of problems of reconciling the imperatives of national unity with the demands of minorities became evident yet again, when the UN-appointed mediator and former President of Finland, Mr Marti Ahtissari, delivered a draft proposal to the UN, for "supervised independence" for Kosovo, in total disregard of UN Security Council Resolution 1244. This plan was referred to a three-member group comprising former US envoy to India Frank Wisner, Russian Representative Alexander Khuchenko and EU envoy Wolfgang Ischinger. This "Troika" failed to agree on the future status of Kosovo, with the Russians refusing to countenance any end to Serbian sovereignty.

More seriously, the Russians believe, not without good reason, that the Americans and their NATO allies see developments in Kosovo as a part of a larger strategy of "containment" of Russia, through the expansion of NATO all along Russia's borders and even by tacitly backing separatism in Chechnya and elsewhere in Russia. In a larger perspective, differences over Kosovo also reflect tensions between Russia, on the one hand and the EU and the US on the other, over access to the oil resources of the former Soviet Union.

Despite its so-called declaration of independence, Kosovo is set to remain a protectorate of the European Union, administered by over 2000 EU officials and its security ensured by a large NATO troop presence. This is perhaps what Mr Ahtisarri envisaged, when he spoke of "supervised independence". It has been noted that such "independence" enables the Americans to maintain a strategic military base at "Camp Bondsteel' in the breakaway region --- the largest US military base to come up in Europe over the last generation. Moreover, the Americans appear to have plans through "AMBO" --- the Albania, Macedonia and the Bulgarian Oil Corporation registered in the US --- to build a trans-Balkans oil pipeline. This pipeline, bypassing Russia, will bring oil from the Caspian Sea to terminals in Georgia and then by tanker through the Black Sea to the Bulgarian port of Burgas and then relay it through Macedonia to the Albanian port of Vlora for shipment to refineries in Rotterdam and the US West Coast.

An astute observer recently noted: "Clinton's war against Yugoslavia and pro-Albania (stance) was thus crucial to secure Vlora's strategic location." Both Clinton's Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and Vice-President Dick Cheney reportedly have longstanding links with Halliburton, the company that prepared the AMBO feasibility study for the oil transport corridor.

Despite the haste with which the US and its major NATO allies - the UK, Germany and France -- have recognized the new separatist entry, there are serious differences within the EU about according recognition. Countries like Spain, Cyprus, Greece and Rumania have expressed reservations about what has transpired. Individual EU countries have, therefore, been given the freedom to choose their own course of action. Similarly, even though the Organization of Islamic Conference has welcomed the declaration of independence, only a few Islamic countries like Albania and Turkey have thus far recognised the separatist entity. In Africa where separatism is frowned upon, South Africa has called for further negotiations for a settlement acceptable to both Serbs and Albanians. While Bangladesh has been cautious, Pakistan "supports the legitimate aspirations of the Kosovars" without yet according formal recognition.

With the LTTE describing the developments in Kosovo as a precedent for a "Tamil Eelam", Sri Lanka has made it clear that it would not recognise the separatist entity. Within ASEAN, with the exception of Malaysia, other members have varying degrees of concern about the developments in Kosovo, with Vietnam categorically ruling out recognition.

Both India and China have reservations about the events in Kosovo. New Delhi has spoken of the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states and expressed the belief that the issue should have been resolved through consultations and dialogue between the concerned parties. Dr Manmohan Singh's government seems to disregard the implications of such diplomatic obfuscation. Separatists in Jammu and Kashmir are overjoyed, with Shabir Shah hailing "Kosovo's Independence Struggle" and asserting that the day is "not far of when Kashmir will be free." His compatriot Yasin Malik appeals to the "world community, especially the EU, to play a Kosovo-like role to get the dispute in Kashmir settled".

The head of the US-based so-called "Khalistan Affairs Centre", Dr Amarjit Singh, welcomes the developments in Kosovo and proclaims that India's views are coloured by the "aspirations of a number of 'nations' like Kashmir, Assam and Nagalim in general and Khalistan in particular". India is a pluralistic, secular country, which barely a generation ago faced the trauma of partition driven by religion. It has no option but to join Russia and other like-minded countries in denying legitimacy to separatism in Kosovo.

MIDDLE

The wedding
by Punam Khaira Sidhu

Typically, Lohri sees winter slowly ebbing out. But February 2008 saw winter make an unexpected boomerang. The hardest hit were weddings with night-time “muhurats”. Bride, bridegroom, Baraaat, Baraaatis, family and even the catering staff shivered their way through the ritual celebrations. With an armful of invitations to attend I had resorted to sorting the cards weekwise and then mentally indexing the weddings by the day of the week. So it was the Sawhneys on Monday and the Bansals on Tuesday and the Gargs on Friday. The system worked well until one Friday.

The evening chill was penetrating and the moisture lent the wind blowing a freezing intensity. It was a day for a warm quilt and a scalding cuppa or a rum toddy. But there was a wedding to attend. A colleague’s sister’s wedding. The colleague in question was a nice guy, affable and helpful and I was determined to attend. So I coaxed my husband away from his files, got him dressed in a Bandhgala, and pulled out a little used overcoat for him. The driver had been given dinner and a hot cup of tea and it was almost 9 pm.

I short-circuited my own ablutions. A long coat can hide a lot of sins. So I got into one. Next came a snug woollen stole around the head and neck. A quick spray of perfume that hung in a misty, fragrant vapour and crisp notes slipped into the traditional ‘Shagun’ envelope and we were ready. As I wrote out the names of the couple to be joined in matrimony, and added our best wishes, my vigilant spouse espied the RSVP mobile number. Ever the cautious bureaucrat, he decided to call the RSVP mobile to check if the Baraat was on time, so we were not too early or too late, on that chilly evening.

A sleepy voice answered the number. “Is the Baraat on time?” queried my husband. The sleepy voice answered with more than a hint of irritation, “What Baraat ji?” My husband was fairly irritable too, but obligingly supplied the groom’s name from the invitation card. “Arre Bhai sahib”, said the now amused voice, “that wedding is next Friday”. “You are one week too earlyji”, he chided even as I flushed with embarrassed apology to my thunderous browed spouse.

The car stood waiting. We were both dressed and had nowhere to go. But thank God we hadn’t landed up at some strange wedding only to discover our mistake and returned two hours later, cold and disappointed. The husband, fortunately, was gracious enough not to rub in the mix-up too much except the occasional jibe about ‘extreme’ punctuality. It’s good to be early for appointments, he will remind me but not one week too early. After that, I have a written schedule for our wedding attendances stuck on my pinboard with RSVP mobile numbers to avoid future mix-ups.

OPED

Why waiver is not enough
Non-institutional loans a big burden on farmers
by Ranjit Singh Ghuman

The proposed debt relief measure for farmers in the Union Budget needs to be viewed as a crisis management measure and a damage control exercise. The political alliances, parties and farmers’ unions of all shades must understand that a very large section of Indian farmers are passing through a serious crisis, which, if not solved, may result in social, economic and political upheaval.

Will this measure, however, provide a lasting solution to the farmers’ problems and the farm sector crisis? Would the farmers not be beleaguered again by the same crisis? What about the non-institutional loans from arthiyas, money-lenders and others taken by farmers, which are not covered under the waiver announced in the budget? Would there be any solution to the problem of farmers’ suicides?

The policy measures and signals from the Central Government do play a significant role in deciding the fate of the agricultural sector and farmers, though agriculture is a state subject. The coverage of crops in the purview of the minimum support price (MSP), the fixation of MSP, allocation of funds for research and development (R&D), the thrust and direction of R&D, the country’s food requirement etc., lie in the hands of the Union Government.

Nevertheless, the state governments and regional political parties have a rather a bigger responsibility for the development of agriculture in particular, and rural economy in general. The habit of passing the blame to the Centre even for those measures which they could take at their own level cannot exonerate them.

Instead of taking pro-people but hard decisions, they often resort to competitive political populism. Lack of resources at their disposal is being projected as one of the biggest limitations for their non-performance. At the same time, they make little effort for mobilising additional resources at their own level.

Though it is true that the criteria for resource allocation (from the Centre to the states through the Planning Commission and successive Finance Commissions) need a thorough review yet the states should not pass their inefficiency and non performance to the Centre.

The resource allocation criterion of the centre has been disfavouring the better performing states and the debt relief, too, would tantamount to same. The best performing states like Punjab, in terms of high debt recovery, are bound to have a very small share from debt-waiver and OTS.

Being a success story of the green revolution, Punjab has been contributing the largest share of wheat and rice to the central pool for well over four decades. In the process, it has suffered grossly, on account of ground water depletion, soil erosion and environmental degradation.

Thousands of farmers have committed suicides as a result deceleration of agricultural growth since mid-1980s. The overdue loan in Punjab is about 15 per cent as the recovery rate of institutional loan in Punjab is 85 per cent, highest in the country. It is thus estimated that Punjab farmers may be benefited by any amount between Rs. 800 crore to Rs. 1000 crore. Compared to their sufferings and contribution to the nation’s food security this benefit is far less.

According to National Sample Survey Organization, every farmer household in India, on an average, was having an outstanding loan of Rs. 1258. In Punjab it was Rs. 41576 (highest in the country) in December 2003. Thus, in all, the amount of outstanding loan on Indian farmers was Rs. 54,649 crores. This amount must have gone up very high by 31 December 2007.

The proposed debt-waiver and DTS (Rs. 50,000 crore + 10,000 crore) is about 25 per cent of the institutional loan as on March 31, 2007 and only 1.7 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). To manage the crisis of 3.47 crore marginal and small farmers and 87 lakh other farmers, this is not a big deal.

The non-institutional loan is the biggest evil because of its high proportion and high rate of interest. According to certain estimates, the share of non-institutional loan in total loan of the farmers ranges from 50 to 55 per cent. The debt-waiver and the OTS did not take into account that aspect of the debt problem.

This non-institutional loan burden also needs an appropriate solution through one time settlement. At present, there is hardly any rural indebtedness act (barring Haryana) in India. The arthiyas do not have licenses to lend money to the farmers. As such there is a need to regulate the money lending business of the arthiyas.

To avoid such a crisis in future, the agricultural sector, as well as the rural economy, needs a systematic diversification. That needs region-specific special measures at the central and state government levels. It is clear from the past development experience that the uniform agricultural rural development policy would never address the region/state-specific problems.

Two most vital inputs and determinants of development are education and health. Unfortunately, the public delivery system in these two vital areas has already collapsed in rural India and the private delivery system is beyond the means of most rural people. Clearly, a sizable proportion of the rural population shall remain uneducated, unskilled and, of course, ill-health. As a consequence, they shall not be able to come out of the agriculture and village.

The issues pertaining to increasing number of marginal and small land holdings, the shrinking net return from agriculture, diminishing employment opportunities in agriculture and rural areas and an ill-equipped workforce, needs to be addressed both in the short and long term. Evidently, the solution shall lie in massive public investment in agriculture and rural economy. The development of the non-farm rural sector and employment therein is a must. In the absence of a holistic approach towards the rural economy, any exercise like the loan waiver shall prove to be only a temporary crisis management measure.

The writer is Professor of Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala

Behind the crisis in Latin America
by Paul Vallely

It is the worst diplomatic crisis in Latin America for many years. At the weekend, the Colombian army crossed the border into Ecuador to kill a Colombian rebel leader, and 16 other guerrillas, who were sheltering there. The move outraged the government in Ecuador, which broke off diplomatic relations with its neighbour and helicoptered 3,000 of its own troops to the border area.

Colombia’s other neighbour, Venezuela, also reacted. It also expelled Colombia’s diplomats and ordered thousands of troops, tanks and fighter jets to the border. Venezuela’s fiery president, Hugo Chavez, also warned that war could break out if Colombia crossed into Venezuelan soil. The Colombians say they first bombed a rebel camp on their own side of the border. They claim that rebels hiding across the border in Ecuador fired on them, so they crossed the border to fight back.

The Ecuadorean president, Rafael Correa, called that account an outright lie: “It was a massacre,” he said. The Colombian troops were backed by military planes, suggesting the raid was pre-ordained. When Ecuadorean troops reached the rebel camp they found the rebels were killed in their sleep “in their pyjamas”. The rebels were “bombed and massacred as they slept, using precision technology.”

Colombian military sources seemed to corroborate this by revealing that US intelligence helped target the rebels by disclosing that the rebel’s deputy leader, Raul Reyes, was sporadically using a satellite telephone, whose signal could be pinpointed.

In Colombia a left-wing group of rebels called the Farc – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – has been fighting the government for more than four decades. Their declared aim is a fairer wealth distribution in the country, which has a huge divide between rich and poor. But they finance their armed struggle by trading in cocaine and political kidnapping.

Their base is in the remote rural regions of the country but they also take shelter in Ecuador and Venezuela which each have a porous border over a thousand miles long with Colombia. The Colombians accused their neighbours of turning a blind eye to the rebels’ presence.

Colombia is ruled by a right-wing populist, Alvaro Uribe, a Harvard-educated lawyer who is a staunch ally of the Bush administration. Since coming to power in Colombia in 2002 he has maintained a hardline policy against the Farc rebels, who killed his father during a kidnap attempt. Washington has poured billions of dollars in American aid to support the Colombian military. As much as 90 per cent of all cocaine on American streets comes from Colombia, the centre of the world cocaine trade.

The president in Ecuador is a young left-wing economist, Raphael Correa. Colombia, he said, has “a foul and lying government that doesn’t want peace.” In Venezuela the charismatic leftist president Hugo Chavez, backed by his country’s vast oil reserves, is attempting direct the continent away from the influence of Washington. He called Colombia “a terrorist state” and described President Uribe as “a criminal,” acting for “the United States empire”. By contrast he called Raul Reyes a “good revolutionary”.

By arrangement with The Independent

Legal notes
Justice H.R. Khanna, a beacon for judges
by S.S. Negi

The Supreme Court in a full court reference on Wednesday remembered one of its most distinguished judges, Justice H.R. Khanna, easily identified as a pioneer who stood up for citizens' rights and in the process put his own career at stake. Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan led the entire legal fraternity in paying a glowing tribute to Justice Khanna, with whose death a chapter closes about a rare breed of steely judges who never buckled under pressure.

The stand taken by Justice Khanna against the Emergency and suspension of citizen’s rights though, cost him his own right of becoming the CJI, with him being superseded by Justice A.N. Ray. But he had no regrets and rather, was happy that his standing up gave a new strength to the judiciary. The institution evolved and grew, as was reflected in the apex court’s several landmark rulings on fundamental rights in the post-Emergency era.

For him, career priorities had no meaning if he had failed in his duty as a protector of the Constitution to uphold its most cherished chapter-III on fundamental rights. When four of his brother judges – A.N. Ray, M.H. Beg, Y.V. Chandrchud and P.N. Bhagwati – virtually surrendered before Indira Gandhi and justified the suspension of fundamental rights during the Emergency, his was the lone dissenting voice.

His stand was vindicated soon with the Supreme Court correcting its mistake and Justice Chandrachud admitting that it was a big mistake on his part. Justice Khanna, despite extreme pressure, stood tall for the citizen’s right at a time when over one lakh people with the entire opposition leadership were bundled into jails and the much eulogised Indian media, asked to bend by Indira Gandhi, started crawling.

He also made a great contribution in laying down the foundation for protection of rights in the Keshvanand Bharti’s case when chapter-III of the Constitution was put to test. In the words of the CJI, Justice Khanna’s views were the beacon light for the Indian judiciary.

Low salary

When the Government recommended hikes in the President and Vice-President’s salaries, there was also a murmur among the Supreme Court judges about their low salaries and a heavy workload. But neither the CJI, nor the other judges, thought it prudent to take up the issue with the executive as it would have looked rather embarrassing. The judges wanted the sixth pay commission to take note of the judges' low salary. Finally, as the word reached the pay panel, it took note of the judges’ grievance and agreed to look into the matter.

As per sources the total pay package of the CJI, including all allowances, comes close to Rs 65,000 per month and those of the other apex court judges nearly Rs 60,000. This is apart form the official accommodation, vehicle and the facilities of some helpers in the residence. But considering the hard work they have to put in a day between 7 a.m. in the morning and till late in the night to study each case listed for the day, with a Bench seized on an average of between 75 to 100 cases every day, the judges think their pay packet is not matching their work.

Revival of insurance

In an important ruling relating to the revival of the insurance policy on default of payment of premium, the Supreme Court has ruled that it can only be done during the life time of the insured person and duly conveyed to the insurance company within the grace period when he was still alive not beyond that. Neither could any legal heir of the insured claim revival even on the ground that the premium was sent before the death of the insured person.

The ruling came in the case of Jaya Chandel from Himachal Pradesh, who had claimed full benefit of her husband’s Rs 1.5 lakh LIC policy despite it becoming inoperative due to non-payment of annual premium of Rs 12,821 in time before the death of her husband. Jaya’s stand was that the cheque of the premium was sent by her husband before his death along with the requisite late fee.

But the apex court ruled that there is no provision in the Insurance Act that the legal heir could claim revival of the policy. The Act provides that it can be revived only during the life time of the insured person. The second important condition attached is that it has to be duly approved by the insurance company, as mere sending of the revival fee was not enough.