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Enforcing RTI Enough food for all Odds against Hillary |
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Africa: neighbour across the ocean
Busy Minister
News analysis Menon deserved better Universe too complex for even God
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Enforcing RTI LOK Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s statement that the Right to Information Act is applicable to those holding constitutional posts like him and the Chief Justice of India comes close on the heels of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan’s opinion to the contrary. Mr Chatterjee, who knows his law, has said that the right to information is duly enshrined under the Constitution and all constitutional offices are created under the Constitution, making the implementing legislation for the RTI binding on constitutional functionaries. Central Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has also echoed a similar view. Parliament is the chief repository of people’s will and since the Lok Sabha Speaker has come forward and taken the lead in advocating the widening of the RTI’s scope, it would only be fair if all other constitutional functionaries like the Chief Justice of India and the judges follow suit. This will indeed strengthen the RTI and give a big boost to the people’s right to know. The judiciary’s unique position in the constitutional scheme of things is well known. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary. While the people have great respect for the judges, the latter too have been championing the cause of the people’s right to know. Moreover, the judges themselves invoke the right to know when they found their own interests in jeopardy. How can the same right not be invoked when people demand information or accountability of the judges? Judges generally hold the view that the functioning of the judiciary is transparent as the proceedings take place in the open court and every judgement is a public document which is subject to fair and constructive criticism. However, after the RTI Act came into force, though decisions of all functionaries have come under scrutiny, the judges have been seeking exemption. As a result, little is known about the functioning of the judiciary on the administrative side. Undoubtedly, all judges have to work without any interference insofar as their judicial work is concerned. It will, however, be a setback for the RTI if the judges seek immunity from the Act. The judiciary, for instance, should have nothing to hide in the criteria and procedures it follows while appointing judges. There are other non-judicial matters in the judicial system that, to be effective, should be open to public glare.
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Enough food for all FOR the people struggling to cope with the rising food prices, the Union Agriculture Ministry’s advance estimates for 2007-08 that the country will have a record production of foodgrains, pulses and oilseeds should provide some relief, possibly some hope also. The recent unseasonal rain had caused worries about the wheat yield. Thankfully, the damage seems to be limited. The record-output prediction comes soon after the cheerful reports of a “near-normal” southwest monsoon forecast. Both predictions may help restraint global speculative trading in commodities. India has contributed to the rise in food prices by purchasing wheat in the international market. Good production back home may obviate the need for any more imports. Besides immediate steps, the current price rise calls for a long-term strategy to cut wastage and raise production. The government’s own assessment is crops worth Rs 55,600 crore are lost post-harvest every year. The tardy, expensive and inefficient procurement process should propel the government to mechanise foodgrain handling as is done in advanced countries. The shortage of labour now being faced in Punjab and Haryana mandis is another reason to go in for mechanisation. This will help bring down the cost of foodgrains and make them affordable for the common people. There is no shortage of food. Only it is too expensive and beyond the reach of the poor. The consumer pays a high price, the grower gets less than his cost and the middleman fattens at the expense of both. This calls for new ways of handling the foodgrains, from the farmer to the consumer. To further raise agricultural production, it is also important that more capital investment is made in agriculture and farmers are given close to global prices. This will spur them to bring more area under the high-yielding crops. The minimum support price should be paid only to avert distress sales. To raise farm productivity, the Central and state authorities should spend more on research, make available world-class farm inputs at reasonable prices and rope in agricultural universities to provide extension services to farmers.
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Odds against Hillary HILLARY CLINTON’S victory in Pennsylvania will keep her going for some more time. That is till some more primaries are over in early May. But there is no indication as of now that she will win. In fact, the odds are still stacked heavily against her. Barack Obama continues to be in the lead on all parameters of the campaign. He has won more delegate votes, more states and has more money in his kitty. Even at his present pace, he has more chances to win the Democratic nomination than Hillary. She has to not only keep the Pennsylvania trend but also garner a higher percentage of votes to clinch an edge over her rival. Financially, she is nearly broke and would have to either raise resources or go in for a loan, which could be risky. The point to be noted is that at the end of the Pennsylvania vote, the contest remains as close as it has been for the last six weeks or so. The primaries continue to conform to the pattern established in the early ones. The youths, blacks, Hispanics etc continue to back Obama while Hillary has the support of a majority of women and the elderly whites. There is little to believe that the primaries in North Carolina, Indiana, Oregon, Kentucky, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico, and caucuses in Guam will be swayed by one of the candidates in such a way that there will be dramatic turnaround in his or her fortunes. Hillary Clinton’s main hope lies in how she can influence the super delegates who are free to vote for any candidate. She does not have the financial clout but she has enough doughtiness to continue in the race. As for Obama, he has little reason to accept suggestions that he become Hillary’s running mate for vice-president and end the deadlock. While the Democratic Party is caught in the primaries, the Republican nominee has been enjoying a field day insofar as campaigning is concerned. Thanks to the absence of a rival, many voters increasingly see him as “Presidential”. Any further delay in sewing up the contest for the Democratic nomination will only strengthen the Republicans, though the American party tradition is to forget all rivalries and rally behind the official nominee.
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The test of a man’s or woman’s breeding is how they behave in a quarrel. — George Bernard Shaw
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Africa: neighbour across the ocean THE First Indo-African Forum Summit convened by Dr Manmohan Singh earlier this month was a truly welcome initiative that lays the foundation for an important new strategic and economic partnership. The 53 states of Africa constitute a sixth of the world’s population and a quarter of the United Nations’ membership. Neither factor can be ignored if India wishes to play the role it aspires to on the world stage as an emerging power. In so doing it is not seeking to compete with China or anybody else but to establish its credentials as a credible partner in the resurgence and development of Africa, a plundered and neglected continent with manifold problems of poverty, hunger and ethnic strife, and beleaguered despotisms, as in Zimbabwe. All the more regrettable that the Forum Summit, attended by 14 heads of state and other senior African leaders, was treated as something of a side show by the media and political elite. Coverage was minimal and a great opportunity lost to educate the people about the import and significance of the meeting. Here were heads of African regional groupings who could have enlightened readers and viewers of nascent trends towards attaining the new goals Africans have set for themselves as this continent awakens. Some important an-nouncements were made. The Prime Minister announced a vast increment in market access through a duty-free tariff preference scheme covering at least 50 LDCs, 34 of them from Africa. These will cover almost 95 per cent of India’s tariff lines and over 92 per cent of global LDC exports. This is, therefore, a very substantive concession that should stimulate both indigenous production and exports. Facilitating this will be an enhancement of India’s five-year line of credit of $2.15 billion commencing 2003-04 to $ 5.4 billion over the next five years. This will be distributed both bilaterally as well as through newly forged regional economic communities. This is important as Africa has realised that its balkanised markets are an impediment to growth and that regional consolidation is essential through connectivity, infrastructure development, skill formation and exploitation of scale. Additionally, a sum of $ 500 million is being allocated to enhance India’s Aid to Africa budget in the form of project grants. Capacity building and grassroots development are both important, including gender budgeting as African women perform a greater role in farm operations than do women in Asia or Latin America. To this end, emphasis is being placed on little and medium enterprises, micro-credit, small farms and capacity building, with a doubling of Indian scholarships at all levels and augmenting its technical training slots. An imaginative new programme planned relates to a proposed India-Africa Volunteer Corps that should provide a wonderful new opportunity for Indian and African youth to work together in development programmes on both sides of the Ocean. Nothing could be better calculated to spark interest, friendships and imagination that this initiative. However, none of this will work effectively without a considerable strengthening of the Africa desk in the MEA and other relevant ministries, especially Commerce, and the establishment of a broad-based Indo-African Council embracing many disciplines, institutions and NGOs. The establishment of Departments of African Studies in select universities and the encouragement of greater African news coverage by the Indian media in different regions of Africa should also be on the agenda. The Delhi Declaration issued at the end of the Forum Summit pledged to develop within a year a joint plan of action at a continental level and an appropriate follow up mechanism to implement the Framework for Cooperation. Momentum should not be lost. It has been resolved to hold the second India-African Forum Summit in Africa in 2011 and there is much than can tangibly happen on the ground before that deadline. Corporate India can be expected to show growing interest in this venture. Africa is an emerging market and is a continent hugely endowed with rich mineral and other natural resources, including hydrocarbons, coal, uranium, diamonds and much else besides. Joint ventures and mining leases offer prospects and could carry with them dynamic new concepts of corporate social responsibility as India must give as much and even more than its takes from Africa. Indians and certain communities — Gujaratis, Sindhis, Tamils and Goans among others — have long been familiar with Africa and there is an important Indian diaspora spread across the continent. Africa is where Gandhiji first learnt and practised satyagraha. The Forum Summit recalled this and committed both sides to working for reform of the UN and Bretton Woods systems in keeping with the changing ground realities, assuring both India and Africa a permanent seat in a restructured Security Council and working to strengthen the role of the General Assembly. It also pledged to work for comprehensive and universal disarmament, and cooperate in fighting terrorism and in combating the menace of climate change. There is reason for quiet satisfaction at the outcome of the First India-Africa Forum. The task is well begun; but there is a lot of hard work ahead.
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Busy Minister BEING a student of political science, I was curious to know how our so-called popular government is run. Hence I befriended the Private Secretary of a minister. Next date I was in his office at sharp 9 a.m. Hardly had the staff arrived when a waiter did appear with hot steaming tea. Undoubtedly a cup of tea is welcome to begin a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. routine. I started yawning, waiting for the honourable minister. My watch announced 12.30 p.m. when he graced his cushioned chair. Observing that “Sir” looked tired (even before he started the day) the P.S. ordered coffee to cheer him up. The ceremony of coffee being over, the P.S. told the worthy “boss” that a few young chaps who had come with a college trip wanted to seek his blessings. “Yes, yes, bring them in. “The minister spent half an hour chatting with them gleefully. Then bending doubly the P.S. asked: “Sir, the files...”. The minister nodded and the liveried peon placed (Ough ! committed a blunder) Two piles of files on the table. Instantly with a stern face the worthy minister remarked: “Who asked you to begin an overworked man’s day like this? Till midnight I was at a dinner hosted in honour of the P.M. of Japan. The visiting dignitary extended an invitation to our PM and me too to visit Japan.” Anon his face radiated with deja-vu over the forthcoming visit abroad. “A great honour for you, sir,” the staff chanted consistently. Coming down to the earth the minister remarked: “Right now I have to attend a seminar to be presided over by the worthy Prime Minister. You understand. Only the files to be referred to the PM you put up tomorrow. “Sir, the rest..............” the P.S. faltered. “Can wait till I get time. At present I am awfully busy. O.K.” The minister rushed outside. “Sir you had called a meeting of the representatives of unions of employees ............... They are .................” The PS almost ran to keep pace with him. “Some other day .........” was the reply. Next moment the honourable minister drove to his destination. So much fuel burnt simply to give “darshan” in the office. What if fuel were to make a hole in his pocket? I wondered. Lunch time was over yet there was no sign of the worthy minister. One of the anxious visitors inquired the P.S: “When would the ‘Sahib’ come?” Assuming airs the latter replied chewing green cardamom,” Sir is attending book release ceremony of one of his classmates. Then he is to inaugurate a flower show” “What next .............?” The visitors asked furiously.” He will wind up the worldly activities by attending a religious discourse by a saint. You know he is deeply interested in spiritual matters, no cribbing brother. An awfully busy minister that he is”. Saying this the P.S. got busy with the bundle of files on which hangs your and mine fate. Yesterday must have been over like this. The day to come too will end like today because the minister is “busy”. Development of the country can take care of itself. I was a much wiser man than I came in the
morning.
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News analysis CHIEF Minister P.K.Dhumal has sought carbon credits for Himachal Pradesh for contributing to India’s greenery. Carbon credit certificates are earned by countries or organisations, which adopt clean, green technologies, to save on energy consumption and reduce toxic emissions. These certificates can be bought and sold like other commodities under the UN-sponsored treaty on climate change, the Kyoto Protocol. Polluting industries buy these certificates to continue with their emissions. The idea is to give financial incentives to those avoiding or reducing pollution and penalise the polluters. Deforestation accounts for one-fifth of all greenhouse-gas emissions. Discussions are being held to identify incentives for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation under the new treaty on climate change, which will come into force after the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012. Mr Dhumal has asked the Centre for Rs 1,000 crore in lieu of carbon credits earned by the country for maintaining the forests. None at the Centre has yet responded to the demand. However, if Himachal Pradesh succeeds in getting its voice heard in Delhi, this could set a precedent and other hill states with large areas under forests too would knock on the door for compensation. There is nothing wrong with that. Mr Dhumal’s argument is valid. He says since the forests in the state (and also elsewhere) were taken over by the Centre in 1976, the state has suffered an annual loss of Rs 100 crore. People dependent on the forests for their livelihood have suffered as a result of the ban on tree felling. Timber has become costlier. If the state had allowed agriculture, horticulture or industrial projects on the area under the forests, it would have benefited more in terms of revenue, claims the CM. Like other politicians in the state, Mr Dhumal is no lover of forests. He is just trying to cash in on the forest wealth of the state. Because of the successive governments’ neglect, Himachal Pradesh has lost a large part of its forest cover. Builders and corporates have been allowed to chop trees to raise concrete structures to meet the growing demand for residential and commercial space. Encroachments have been regularised, thus putting pressure on civic amenities. Shimla is bursting at the seams and water is a recurring problem. Vehicle pollution, like everywhere else, remains unchecked. Himachal’s greenery and climate are the main attractions for tourists. If the Centre had not nationalised forests, the hill state would have long ago lost much of its forest wealth as also tourism, the mainstay of the state’s economy. Yet the states must be encouraged to maintain and enhance the green cover. Wetlands and other water bodies are also essential to keeping the environmental balance and, therefore, can be allowed the same benefits as forests. The problem is: how should one calculate in monetary terms the benefits accruing from forests and wetlands? India is yet to evolve a mechanism for compensating states for excellence in environment management. On the recommendations of the Eleventh Finance Commission, the Union Government has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for rewarding the states whose forest cover is higher than the national average. But there are disputes about states showing the area under trees as forests. Himachal Pradesh does this to enhance its green cover. Others, like Punjab, deny the existence of forests, shown in the official records, to reclaim land for builders and land mafias. Anyway, it is significant that at least realisation is dawning about the need for preserving the environment and earning carbon credits. The World Bank has predicted that carbon trade can be another IT sector for India. The corporate sector is quite excited about the prospects. At present carbon trade is estimated at $30 billion and is expected to touch $100 billion soon. India can get a 15-16 per cent share of this trade, according to the World Bank. About 300 steel forging units of Ludhiana have formed a special purpose vehicle called Ludhiana Hand Tools and Forging Envirocare to sell carbon credits in the developed world. Delhi’s power department plans to earn carbon credits from its waste-to-energy project. The mandatory use of solar water heaters in government buildings, hospitals and hotels in the Capital will also fetch it carbon credits. Some 50 companies under the FICCI umbrella have asked the government to ensure a legal and regulatory framework for CDM (clean development mechanism) projects and treat carbon credits as export earnings. Last winter when Europe faced a severe chill, companies in India warmed up at expectations of higher profits. The colder weather pushed up Europe’s consumption of energy and greenhouse-gas emissions. This meant Europe needed to buy more carbon credits to offset the emissions. India and China are the world’s largest suppliers of carbon credits. Last November India had generated 29 million carbon credits while 129 million were in the pipeline. Under the Kyoto treaty developed countries can fund green projects in developing countries to meet their own targets of reducing emissions. India reportedly has got the highest number of carbon credit projects in the world. This has also given a boost to the consultancy business, which is fast spreading in the metropolitan cities as well as smaller towns like Bilaspur and Indore. Coal-based power plants are now less favoured except in states like Punjab where the leadership is unconcerned about the environment.
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Menon deserved better Our High Commission in Pretoria did not consider it proper to receive the award, as it was a personal honour for the former Defence Minister. As I read this report, I remembered Menon’s funeral in Delhi on a Sunday in October 1974. Given the role he played in London before and after Independence and in Jawaharlal Nehru’s Cabinet, it was only reasonable to expect a large gathering of mourners and VIPs. But at the electric crematorium, only a few people, mostly journalists and Kerala Samajam workers, had turned up. More than the priests, it was the late
V.K. Madhavan Kutty of the Malayalam daily Mathrubhoomi who supervised the cremation. It was difficult to believe that the man whose detractors had accused him of corruption and other charges lay there without any trappings of wealth, power or pelf. A bachelor, who subsisted on endless cups of tea and biscuits, not to mention books, Menon did not have any relative with him when he died in the Capital. He was a loner who suffered on that account. A well-known, malicious writer who once served under him in London never missed an opportunity to ridicule him after his death. Menon has been accused of many things. Even Psyche Abraham, a much-married lady, has in her recently published autobiography accused him of making a pass at her. In all this, few remember that as Defence Minister he had the vision to set up a string of ordnance factories to free the defence forces from the stranglehold of munitions suppliers. Similarly, he had the foresight to set up at least one Sainik School in every state to promote national integration and encourage the youth to join the services. But for many, Menon was the villain of the piece, the man responsible for the defeat India suffered at the hands of the Chinese in 1962. Few realise that flush with the victory against the Portuguese in
Goa, there were jingoistic feelings in Parliament that found a reflection in the policies that led to the humiliation in the Northeast. Familial relations never mattered to
Menon, who used to win from North Bombay. So when the turn came for setting up a suitable memorial for him in New Delhi, it was not a relation but a journalist-friend, V.K Madhavan
Kutty, who took the initiative. Thanks to him, there is a statue of Menon in New Delhi on a road named after the former Defence Minister. He had excellent relations with journalists. Thus when The Searchlight editor
T.J.S. George was arrested for his thunderous editorials against then Bihar Chief Minister
K.B. Sahay, it was Menon who “airdashed” to Patna to defend him. Never before had the Patna High Court witnessed such a large gathering as when Menon turned up to plead the editor’s case. Surely this much-maligned man deserved better.
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Universe too complex for even God IF we were visited by aliens from a distant planet, would we fall on our knees and worship them as gods? The difficulty of getting here from even our nearest neighbour, the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, constitutes a filter through which only beings with a technology so advanced as to be godlike (from our point of view) could pass. The capabilities and powers of our interstellar visitors would seem more magical to us than all the miracles of all the gods that have ever been imagined by priests or theologians, mullahs or rabbis, shamans or witch doctors. Arthur C. Clarke, who died in March, said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” If we could land a jumbo jet beside a medieval village, would we not be worshipped as gods? The technology of interstellar travel, and the scientific knowledge on which it would be based, are as far beyond us as our present-day knowledge surpasses that of Dark Age peasants. But now the question arises: In what sense would the godlike aliens not be gods? Answer: In a very important sense. To deserve the name of God, a being would have to have designed more than just a jumbo jet or even a starship. He would have to have designed the universe. And therein lies a fundamental contradiction. Entities capable of designing anything, whether they be human engineers or interstellar aliens, must be complex and, therefore, statistically improbable. And statistically improbable things don’t just happen spontaneously by chance without an explanation trail. That is what “improbable” means, as creationists never tire of assuring us (they wrongly think Darwinian natural selection is a matter of chance). In fact, natural selection is the very opposite of a chance process, and it is the only ultimate explanation we know for complex, improbable things. Even if our species was created by space alien designers, those designers themselves would have to have arisen from simpler antecedents – so they can’t be an ultimate explanation for anything. No matter how godlike our interstellar aliens may be, and no matter how vast and wonderful their starships, they cannot have designed the universe because, like human engineers and all complex things, they are late arrivals in it. Intelligent design “theorists” (a misnomer, for they have no theory) often use the alien scenario to distance themselves from old-style creationists: “For all we know, the designer might be an alien from outer space.” This attempt to fend off accusations of unconstitutionally importing religion into science classes is lame and disingenuous. All the leading intelligent design spokesmen are devout, and, when talking to the faithful, they drop the science-fiction fig leaf and expose themselves as fundamentalist creationists. The distinguished molecular biologists Francis Crick and Leslie Orgel advanced a version of the notion, probably tongue in cheek, called “Directed Panspermia.” Life, they argued, could have been “seeded” on the early Earth by a spacecraft packed with bacteria. Maybe little cellular machines like the bacterial flagellar motor were designed by ingenious nano-technologists from Betelgeuse. But you still have to explain the prior existence of the Betelgeusians and how they became so advanced and godlike. Even if Betelgeusian life was, in turn, seeded by another rocket from Aldebaran 4 billion years earlier, eventually we have to terminate the regress. We need a better explanation, such as evolution by natural selection or an equally workable account of the painstaking R&D that must underlie complex, statistically improbable things. Gods, if they are complex enough to be capable of designing anything, are, by virtue of their very complexity, not in a position to design themselves. Theologians attempt two (mutually incompatible and pathetically inadequate) answers to this unanswerable point. Some say their God is not complex but simple. This obviously won’t wash. No simple god could design bacterial flagellar motors or universes. Presumably recognising the justice of that, other theologians go to the opposite extreme. They admit that their god is complex, but assert that he had no beginning: He was always there and always complex. But if you are going to resort to that facile cop-out, you might as well say flagellar motors were always there. You cannot have it both ways. Visitations from distant star systems are improbable enough to attract ridicule. A creator god who had always existed would be far more improbable still. The writer, an evolutionary biologist, is a professor at Oxford University. His most recent book is “The God Delusion.”
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NEWS that South Africa’s prestigious award – Order of the Companions of
O.R. Tambo – could not be conferred on the late V.K. Krishna Menon for his “excellent contribution to the fight against colonialism and the apartheid system in South Africa” on Tuesday because nobody from his family could be contacted did not come as a surprise.