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Gujjar agitation ends
DMK divorces PMK |
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Labour pains
Petrol price hike
Athletic ambitions
Panchayat elections Advance the clock to
save power A unique model that can help our farmers
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Gujjar agitation ends THE nation has heaved a sigh of relief over the settlement the Gujjars have reached with the Rajasthan government. The 27-day-old agitation had caused considerable hardship to the people of Rajasthan and neighbouring states. It also cost nearly 40 lives. It is difficult to understand why the settlement could not be reached earlier. Neither the Gujjars nor the government has emerged the winner in this unnecessary bout of political wrestling. It should have occurred to the Gujjars that whatever be the genuineness of their demand, they had no right whatsoever to disrupt rail and road traffic and use dead bodies to bargain with the government. They should also have realised that the Supreme Court’s cap on the total quantum of reservation did not give the Rajasthan government much elbowroom. On its part, the state government could not get away with the claim that it had not promised Scheduled Tribe status to the Gujjars. The agitation is one more reminder that political parties should desist from the practice of making all kinds of promises to the voters and then conveniently forgetting them once they come to power. But for the perception that the state government had gone back on its promise, the Gujjar agitation would not have assumed such proportions. Besides, in a democratic set-up like ours, the best option the government had was to engage in talks with the agitators, rather than use muscle power against them. The heavy toll of lives was totally preventable. Whatever the provisions of the agreement — 5 per cent assured reservation is one of them — they should be implemented in both letter and spirit. Now that the crisis is over, the government would be tempted to sit over the agreement in the hope that things will sort out on their own. It was such a hope that forced the government not to do anything about the Gujjar demand once the agitation was called off last year. In order to prevent another confrontation, the government should do everything possible to implement the agreement and settle the grievances of the Gujjars, once and for all. |
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DMK divorces PMK THERE has never been a dull moment in Tamil Nadu. It is not because DMK Chief Minister M Karunanidhi is a veteran of script writing or AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa knows how to grab attention. There are minor players stalking the Tamil political stage who also need their 15 minutes in the public eye. This time, the party in the news is the Patali Makkal Katchi (PMK) of Dr S Ramadoss. Usually, the PMK comes to notice when the junior doctor in the family, Union Health Minister Anbumani (son of the party’s founder), takes up momentous national issues such as smoking by Bollywood figures. Of late, the PMK has been in the news for its running feud with the DMK which heads the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) in Tamil Nadu. It has now been cast out of the alliance. Though the DMK has only 96 seats in a House of 234, the break with the PMK, which accounts for 18 seats, will not affect the government as it enjoys the support of the 35 Congress party MLAs. The provocation for dumping the PMK is said to be the inflammatory remarks of a leading PMK functionary. Dr S Ramadoss had announced long back that his party would not remain an ally of the DMK for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The two parties are also locked in a contest for the vote of the Vanniyar community, of which the PMK sees itself as the custodian. The PMK has been repeatedly aiming barbs at the DMK and actively opposing the DMK government’s policies, industrial projects and land acquisition for airport expansion. With no love lost between the two, they were expected to separate. There is no indication of the UPA dropping the PMK ministers at the Centre as the DMK is not hostile to Dr Anbumani Ramadoss who tried, in vain though, to soften his father’s attacks on the DMK. What needs to be watched is whether the PMK drifts towards the AIADMK and how the Congress party utilises the opportunities of the situation. |
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Labour pains ON the one hand, Punjab has more than 40 lakh unemployed youth, many of them taking to drugs for lack of work. On the other, there is a shortage of labour to transplant paddy. Over the years, the increasing dependence of Punjabi farmers on labour from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for paddy cultivation has kept local youth off farms and driven them to a take-it-easy lifestyle. High aspirations and a get-rich-fast approach have led many of them to explore opportunities abroad. Since migrant workers were easily available and ready Now with the launch of government programmes like Bharat Nirman and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme as well as infrastructure and housing projects, there is enough work for the labour, nearer home and at higher wages than what they were paid in Punjab. Besides, Punjabis in general and farmers in particular do not sufficiently appreciate the migrant labour’s contribution to the state economy. They look down upon the “bhaiyyas”. Faced with the labour shortage this season, the farmers complain of high wages the limited number of available migrant workers demand. Already, costlier diesel and fertilisers have shrunk whatever little gain they had expected from the increased minimum support price for paddy. Also to blame for this year’s unexpected “labour pains” was the government policy to delay paddy sowing to coincide with the monsoon arrival. The shortened transplantation period led to a scramble for migrant labour. Farmers are reportedly spending nights at railway stations to grab workers on arrival. Some farmer leaders have approached the government to encourage the indigenous production of paddy transplantation machines commonly used in major rice-producing countries. Despite labour pangs, the country expects a bumper paddy crop, thanks to the experts’ prediction of a near normal monsoon. That should have a cooling effect on the domestic as well as global rice prices. |
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For every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing. |
Petrol price hike The
hike in petrol and diesel prices has understandably led to countrywide protest meetings and bandhs. If there is no letdown, these protests will continue — whether the government will modify its decision or stick out as the Petroleum Minister and the Finance Minister demur on financial grounds is anybody’s guess, especially now that general elections are imminent, both as the state and central levels. Unfortunately, one misses a serious, unbiased discussion on such a vital aspect. This would require calling a joint meeting of political parties, forcing them to It is true that the Prime Minister has taken personal interest in the matter and has written to all the ministers to rein in their enthusiasm for foreign tours and other avoidable expenses. It is not known whether the BJP-ruled states have done a similar exercise, which they would have to or suffer adverse political consequences. It is suggested that refinery companies are making unconscionable profits and a windfall tax should be imposed on them — a good suggestion. There is also the need for other viable additional proposals even in the present set-up to at least reduce the consumption of petrol and thus prevent the economy from getting overheated. Take, for example, thousands of crores of rupees spent by members of Parliament and state legislators as constituency development funds. Apart from the constitutionality of the matter which is pending in the Supreme Court, the implementation of this scheme has come in for very sharp criticism from the office of Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. It has also evoked comments from no less a high dignitary than Mr Somnath Chatterjee, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. In that view, even if the BJP was to be initially non-cooperative, let the The effrontery of this proposal shows how our political system has degenerated to self-aggrandizement, to the neglect of social conscience. This scheme needs to be immediately scrapped — not only is it a question of preventing the misuse of public funds but it also rather shows insensitivity to public perception. Apart from that, it is against the very basics of fair play that public funds are only at the disposal of the government. No one will grudge legislators from persuading the executive to spend money in their constituencies, which they consider in the interest of the public — say, for a college building or a hospital (some legislators may have done so, but then one swallow does not make a summer). There are too many scandals, with official reports certifying the gross misuse of the scheme. By scrapping this scheme, a big amount will be available to the public exchequer which will act as a cushion to this petrol hike. TV channels and newspapers are daily giving stories of how two-wheeler manufacturers have been compelled to increase the prices of their products by more than half with a consequential addition to the woes of even middle and lower-middle classes. Does not all this call for self-introspection by all in authority so as to cut down the expenditure on petrol by at least halving the consumption.? To start with, all senior officers of the government, the judiciary, the public sector and even the private sector should reduce their petrol consumption by half. I know it may cause inconvenience to them, but in times of national crisis, surely, the country can demand this small inconvenience. I remember when the US was having an acute shortage of gas during President Carter’s time, he went public by remarking that “there is no shortage of gas” provided the Americans will agree to put on warm pullovers in their homes during winter and thus save gas. During the time when friends of neo-liberalism and conspicuous consumption had not dulled our social conscience, as a practical necessity, we in this country had also pooled our transport. I remember when high court and Supreme Court judges and high officials were not provided a free car and petrol, the judges saved on petrol and also kept their own expenses within manageable limits by car pools — without feeling any kind of embarrassment. The same request could be made to these dignitaries again. Further, why is the government encouraging big cars. Even though it has not succeeded, the US continues to at least harp on the manufacturing of smaller cars for saving petrol (though the powerful auto lobby there has always sabotaged any such attempt). But it should be easier in India as we have no such powerful lobby at present. Another suggestion, which is not only for saving petrol but also for This will cut down the use of private cars.
Also a rule requiring that during the busy parts of the day like office-rush hours (in Delhi, say, between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., and between 5.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.), no car with one passenger (excluding the driver) will be permitted to ply, again an encouragement to pooling cars, using Metro trains more often, and also pooling small buses. Of course, it will be inconvenient to the small minority of car-owners, but this small sacrifice will save immense public expenditure, which could usefully be transferred to child development schemes. Look at the shameful statistics (provided by the Report on the State of World’s Mothers, submitted by the Save the Children organisation) that over 53 per cent of the children in India under five years — 67 million — live without basic health care facilities (one -third of all children in the world). At the end, may one mention the unmentionable in the context of economic reforms and the government claiming 8 to 9 per cent growth and being proud of Indian billionaires being included in the Forbes Fortune list — could we contemplate the heretic thought of just increasing the highest rate of income tax by 1 or 2 per cent (incidentally, our highest rate is lower than that in the US). This suggestion, though being mentioned in the context of the petrol price hike, is, in fact, a little cry in favour of reducing the inequalities in our country where, to our shame, 77 per cent of the population cannot afford to spend more than Rs 20 per day.
The electorate has the right to demand a clear reply from the various political parties as to how to lighten the woes of the
masses. The writer is a retired Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi. |
Athletic ambitions
When I saw P.T. Usha, the queen of tracks, at an Indian Olympic Association’s press conference in a five-star hotel in South Delhi recently, my mind went back to my long forgotten schoolday athletic ambitions.
Growing up on newspaper reading of Usha’s achievements, I felt inspired to improve my fast pace and graduate from brisk walking to sprinting. The decision was impulsive but final. And when my neighbourhood cycling companions arrived at the crack of dawn at our Sector 16 bungalow in Chandigarh, I braced myself to share my closely guarded plans with them. I told them that the sky is the limit for a young person who has decided to pursue sports as a career. “For all you know, we may get a chance to represent our country and bring glory by winning medals like her,” I explained to them rather persuasively. The two Kapoor sisters nodded and we picked up our bicycles to park them midway the Sukhna Lake. After parking our bicycles near the Rose Garden, we began jogging to the lake, at least 12 kilometre away in le Corbusier’s well planned city. We reached our destination and were so delighted about meeting our target with stopwatch precision that we forgot all about returning home on a relaxed Sunday morning. It did not occur to us till 8.30 a.m. that the sun was out and that our parents may be worried about our whereabouts. We jogged back leisurely, crisscrossing Chandigarh’s wide roads and green boulevards, like veteran marathon runners in a crosscountry race, half knowing that our parents were getting anxiety attacks back home.
We reached Rose Garden without a care in the world and pedalled back jingling cycle bells all the way. Contrary to our expectation, we did not receive a hero’s welcome on our return. It did not take us long to figure out that in three and a half hours of our absence in a pre-mobile and pre-PCR van era, our family members had telephoned just about everybody in the neighbourhod, exchanged a dozen calls and were considering sending a search party comprising servants and cooks. We were admonished and questioned where we had been without caring to inform them. The two sisters chose to play dumb dolls and left it to me to do all the explaining.
When I told my parents in all candour and innocence that this brilliant athletic mission was inspired by P.T. Usha’s remarkable feat, they smiled indulgently. Perhaps, they were reassured that we were inspired by the right quarters, not news stories of runaway, rebellious children. My mother sat us down at the breakfast table and treated us to her famous semolina pudding to celebrate our safe return. Dr Kapoor strictly advised her daughters not to follow me as if I were the Pied-Piper or hang on to every word I uttered as the gospel truth. My father known for his brevity gently put his head on my head and remarked, “Look before you leap.”
I wish I could muster the courage to narrate this tale to P.T. Usha and the extent to which she inspired
me. |
Panchayat elections Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s political debut began as a sarpanch. Panchayat Minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura was a sarpanch for nearly two decades. Naturally, it was expected that the panchayat raj institutions (PRIs) would be strengthened during the present regime. However, the elections held on May 12 and 26 raise several basic questions related to the health of the grassroots democracy and about the present state of PRIs in Punjab. First, while it was entirely justified to hold the zilla parishad and panchayat samiti elections ahead of gram panchayat elections for valid administrative reasons, the announcement of results of the first phase prior to that of the second was contrary to democratic practice. The sweeping victory of the Shiromani Akali Dal with 85 per cent of zilla parishad and panchayat samiti members on their side, certainly, influenced a large number of uncontested gram panchayats and members in favour of the ruling party. This violated the principle that democratic elections must provide a level-playing field for all the political parties. Second, fresh demarcation of constituencies and allotment of general and reserved categories to seats and for the position of sarpanch, was presumably done after April 11, 2008, that is, after polling to PRIs was announced by the State Election Commission. The Punjab and Haryana High Court taking cognisance of this omission directed “elections to panchayats carved out on or after April 11 be held at a later date along with the election to their parent panchayats”. Consequently, the SEC had to postpone elections to 260 gram panchayats spread over 17 districts to some date after the scheduled election on May 26. Filing of nominations for the gram panchayat elections had to be done between May 13 and 16. However, until late evening of May 13, none that we met in many villages knew that there was a new list of allotments for the seats and the sarpanches! As a result, overnight the game plan of candidacy for contenders had to change – aspirants for sarpanch in the general category, to their consternation, suddenly were told that in the new list it figured in the reserved category! When asked to clarify how this administrative lapse could occur, we were given to understand that the problem lay with the district authorities to whom the revised list was sent well in advance. Then why did the district authorities default en mass, not disclosing the new list before May 13 evening? Third, the most glaring anomaly was the manner in which votes were cast. A single ballot consisted of names of all contestants in all the categories both general and reserved. Normally the reserved categories included general (woman), Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Caste (Woman), and Backward Caste. Surprisingly, a voter had to put a single tick mark against a name. By default, s/he voted for a single category! Imagine a ballot paper for gram panchayat election has 16 candidates – four contestants for each of the four categories, including general and reserved seats. Suppose 400 voters polled in a gram panchayat constituency in which the sarpanch’s seat was reserved for a SC woman. Suppose that 360 votes were cast to elect the panch/es in the general category. That left 40 votes cast among the rest of the three reserved categories. In a similar situation, a Scheduled Caste woman was actually elected as panch with a meagre score of eight votes! She became entitled to be the sarpanch with a score of eight votes only out of 400 votes polled! Her woes were not over. What if she did not have the majority support of the panches? The SEC received numerous complaints on this score and was still in a quandary. The administration sought to clarify that the panch receiving the majority support of the other panches would qualify as sarpanch. In the face of strong criticism that this would amount to violation of the Constitution, the Chief Minister clarified that status quo would be maintained. The matter still remains unclear. The electoral system is flawed as panches elected without the mandate of the whole constituency would inevitably lack public legitimacy. Most intriguingly, this anomaly had remained unnoticed in the past up to the present. Panchayat after panchayat that we visited gave evidence of the scant respect that panches from the deprived categories enjoyed not only because most of them were thumb-impression signatories but also on account of their having won with single or double-digit votes. Finally, the use of violence, intimidation and threat in whatever form – overt or latent – is inadmissible in a democracy. It is an insult to the citizen’s sovereign right to be denied the exercise of her/his free choice for election of a representative. The Punjab panchayat elections carry the stigma of widespread violence. It’s hardworking farmers lamented that Punjab was turning into Bihar. The panchayat election system in Punjab should be institutionalised to eliminate arbitrariness that afflicts its smooth conduct. The decision making and service delivery systems should be institutionalised through empowerment of the PRIs and its members in the general and reserved categories. Presently, the PRIs in Punjab are heavily top-down structures. And what applies to Punjab applies to other states.
How do we go about meeting the challenges? Recently, Union Panchayat Raj Minister Mani Shankar Iyer organised an assembly of 7,000 panchayat functionaries in New Delhi to put a seal to the Fifteenth Anniversary Charter on Panchayati Raj. The need to institutionalise the panchayat system was the principal concern. Adherence to some common principles that could take different forms under different specificities must inform the evolution of democratic decentralisation. We need to empower the State Election Commissions in the image and substance of the Election Commission of India so that every citizen can be guaranteed the fundamental right of fear-free exercise of
franchise. The writer is Professor S.K. Dey Chair, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi |
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Advance the clock to
save power We all know that electricity is the weakest chink in our infrastructure and the greatest impediment to our economic growth and well-being. That the power crisis has been mounting ever since liberalisation began in 1991 is also well-known. Public investment in generation was sharply curtailed in the fond belief that large private investments will flow into the power sector. Seventeen years down the lane, private inflow remains nowhere near desired levels and power crisis continues to gallop year after year. We refuse to accept that private investors look for handsome profits and returns. Yet our politicians continue to make promises. With no option, industry and business invest hundreds of thousand crores Power shortage in summer is particularly acute. With the onset of Kharif season and water needs for crop-sowing, demand for farm power rises sharply; early sowing of paddy the largest culprit. We should thank our stars for Punjab’s waking up this year and banning of paddy-sowing before June 10. Commercial and domestic load in summer also rises sharply; refrigerators and deep-freezes, air-conditioners and desert coolers. While demand rise is exponential, hydro-generation drops sharply due to depleting water-levels in the river-reservoirs of the North. The net result is acute power shortage. Some forward looking states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have already proved what is possible through novel paths. But most of the country continues in its merry old way and the crisis at the national level has reached such a level that nibbling bit by bit is the only solution. One of the easiest of these nibbling solutions is adoption of summer-time; advancement of the Indian clock by 30 minutes in April-September. Isn’t the Sun way up in the sky when we begin work in summer? Couldn’t all those precious day light hours be used productively and electricity saved by saying good night half-an-hour earlier? When the entire country switches to new time on April 1, there is no dislocation whatsoever. Summer time is standard practice all over the world. It was even adopted by India during World War II. If the British could do it 70 years ago, can’t sovereign India which calls itself a knowledge power adopt this simple practice? Surprisingly, among the topmost priorities of Pakistan’s new democratic government was advancement of Pakistan’s clock by another 30 minutes i.e. four and a half hours ahead of GMT instead of five. And, this step was being taken to mitigate the power crisis. This was advancement throughout the year; not during the summer months alone. Does it not hurt when a democratic Pakistan is clear of its priorities and decides to act? Will we ever learn to decide and act? Or, is endless debate and file-notes our only mission? |
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A unique model that can help our farmers Manuel Antonio V. Vargas and his wife Ana Libia own just one-and-half acres of land in Costa Rica’s Rio Frio area. By Indian standards, they are considered marginal farmers because of their land holding. Consider how much they earn from that land – about $5,500 a month (Rs 2.20 lakh). Can you name any marginal or small farmer in India earning so much from a small piece of land? Manuel and Libia, a traditional farmer family, were engaged in producing traditional coffee beans, rabbits, etc. Then, they began to produce ornamental plants. In 2004, the couple produced hydroponic lettuce, a high-value leafy plant, that can be eaten raw. Its salad is very popular in the US and other countries. Lettuce changed the fortune of this couple. They have put up a green house in an area of 5,000 sq meters to grow lettuce with hydroponic system in which water, not soil, is used as base to grow plants in PVC pipes. They also grow lettuce in the gravel mixed with organic matter in the green house. Manuel and Libia are not the only family to achieve exemplary success in Wal-Mart, a big company in organised retail business, has changed the farmers’ lives not only in Costa Rica but also El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua. Farmers in those countries are associated with Wal-Mart that ensures definite market for their produce for several years. Stories emerging from the fields of Costa Rica and other small Latin American countries prove that agriculture can be a viable occupation for even small, marginal and medium farmers. Costa Rica is a fine example. Unfortunately, this is not the case in India. The farmers of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and other states have a lot to learn from the changing profile of Costa Rica’s agrarian economy. Here most small and marginal farmers face financial distress and other problems owing to non-viability of their agricultural operations. In Punjab, which has about 70 per cent of small and marginal farmers, several cases of suicide by farmers have been reported. Himachal Pradesh’s farmers can, certainly, achieve a big success in case they follow the Costa Rica model of growing vegetables and fruits. Some parts of Costa Rica have a striking similarity with those of Himachal Pradesh. Farmers in Costa Rica, known for producing the best quality coffee beans, have been switching over fast to high-value cash crops, specially leafy and other vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, sweet pepper, squash and strawberry. Hortifruti, a company of Wal-Mart’s Agriculture-Industrial Development Division in Central America, has authored the success story of most Cost Rican farmers. It has launched a “fertile ground” programme in Costa Rica under which the farmers have been motivated to shift to diversified crops. Under this programme, farmers get technical know-how with regard to good agro practices such as rational use of water, agro-chemicals, plant protection, on seed quality, crop rotation, post harvest management and timely payment. These farmers tieup with Hortifruti, an exclusive supplier of vegetables for the Wal-Mart stores in Central America. Stock is lifted twice a day from the farmyards and farmers are given the best price. However, the farmers are not bound to supply their entire produce to Hortifruti and can sell it elsewhere. Most farmers, who have achieved growth up to 300 per cent in the past few years, have not only enlarged their landholdings but have also set up their own vegetables and fruit washing, sorting, grading and packaging centres with the help of Wal-Mart-Hortifruti. As their income grows, they have started living in style. They send their children to the best schools. A significant feature of this arrangement is the elimination of middlemen. In India, it is the middlemen who make a fast buck and the producer and consumer suffer most because of them. In Costa Rica, however, farmers supply their produce directly to Wal-Mart distribution centres from which it is forwarded to Wal-Mart’s various retail stores for sale. The distribution centres, centrally air-conditioned, are well managed high-tech |
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