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Threat is serious Setback in Bengal |
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India on green path
Why Jammu burns after Kashmir
Standing in the queue
Why not go in for one rank, one
pension? The story of a little woman Delhi Durbar
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Threat is serious THE Naxalites are able to strike with impunity. Within a few days of the ambush of a group of policemen travelling in a boat in Malkangiri district in Orissa in which over two dozens of them were killed, their counterparts in Bihar struck blowing off a railway track in Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Chapra Lok Sabha constituency. In neither case have the police been able to lay their hands on those who carried out these operations. Even the killers of 13 policemen in Nayagarh in Orissa in February last are yet to be brought to book. What is particularly galling is that the police party, which was ambushed, was part of the anti-Naxalite wing of the Orissa and Andhra Pradesh police. This proves that the Naxalites had better intelligence than the police and they could carry out their operation without any resistance at all. It cannot be gainsaid that the great Indian state is failing to tackle the Naxalite problem. Whatever be the claims of the Chhattisgarh police about the success of the Salwa Judum campaign against the Naxalites, the fact remains that vast contiguous areas covering the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are virtually under their control. It is their writ that runs, as their successive successful operations seem to suggest. It is impossible to believe that all this is the handiwork of “outsiders” as the state governments are fond of claiming. How far removed such claims are from reality is borne out by the precise information they get about police movements in the area. The inescapable conclusion is that the Naxalites are able to exploit the disconnect between the government and the local people. Even 60 years after Independence, this stretch of central and eastern India is one of the most backward. Hospitals, roads, schools and colleges are simply non-existent. Government officials consider their posting in the area as a punishment and keep themselves busy seeking transfers out of the Naxalite belt. The vacuum in administration is filled by the Naxalites, who pretend to be friends of the people and mislead them into armed action against the administration. Naxalism can be handled successfully only if it is not treated as just a law and order problem. Socio-economic steps are as necessary as beefing up security in the Naxalite country.
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Setback in Bengal Some
six weeks after West Bengal’s ruling Left Front suffered a serious setback in the panchayat elections, it has now been worsted in the municipal elections, too. Out of the 13 municipalities that went to the polls, the Congress party and the Trinamool Congress have bagged eight. Each of these opposition parties won in four municipalities. The CPM has lost in a number of its strongholds. Two partners of the CPM-led Left Front — the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc — fought independently in some municipalities against the CPM and managed to win. In the last elections held in 2003, when the Left Front contested jointly, it had won 10 of the 13 municipalities. The outcome clearly shows that the Left Front, particularly the CPM, which had lost in the countryside in the panchayat elections, is also losing support in the urban areas. Some of the municipalities which the CPM lost must have given a shock to the party. It would be wrong to see the results as a vote against the Left Front’s policy of encouraging investment and industrialisation in West Bengal. The state is in dire need of industrial development as well as investments, without which the growing unemployment cannot be checked. More than the policy of land acquisition, which was exploited by the political forces both to the left and the right of the CPM, it was the violence unleashed by the police and party cadres that hurt the electoral prospects of the Left Front. While the Congress party and the Trinamool Congress can be expected to build on the advantage of the election results, the Left Front needs to take stock of its policies and why it is, lately, losing in the state where it has been entrenched in power for over three decades. What will be left of the CPM if it loses West Bengal?
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India on green path Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh has unveiled the “National Action Plan on Climate Change” to make India’s economic development energy efficient. The plan envisages a gradual shift to renewable sources of energy. Economic activity based on fossil fuels is to increasingly give way to one based on sustainable, non-fossil fuels. The plan mandates the setting up of energy benchmarks for each sector and allows trading in energy saving certificates. Industrial units using more than the stipulated amount of energy will have to buy energy saving certificates from those saving on energy. The climate change plan has not come without controversy. It has got delayed due to differences among policymakers over whether the document should include the country’s international stance on global warming and to what extent. The action plan comes ahead of the G 8 summit (in Japan next week), which is expected to debate how to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Some observers regret that the Prime Minister has made no commitment to cut the country’s rising carbon emissions. The new policy document does hammer the fact that India’s carbon emissions per head of population are only a fraction of those in the developed world. Greens outside the government are upset over being denied a say in the formulation of the policy, which, they say, aims to tackle not just an environmental issue but a “humanitarian crisis” and has a bearing on large sections of the population. They are irked by the lack of public debate and transparency over such a vital issue. It is estimated that about 45 million Indians will become “climate migrants” and 75 million people in Bangladesh lose homes. A recent Greenpeace report has warned South Asia of after-effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Ducking the “inconvenient truth” or playing politics helps no one. It is time to share resources, research and technologies to meet the threat posed by climate change. |
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A man should have the fine point of his soul taken off to become fit for this world. — John Keats
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Why Jammu burns after Kashmir
Soon
after taking over as the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr NN Vohra made the first overture to ease the situation in the valley by offering to surrender the land the state government had allotted to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. The Governor is the ex-officio head of the Shrine Board. This immediately caused a backlash in the Jammu region when the BJP and other Hindu organisations called for a bandh and organised protest marches. When the state government formally decided to revoke the land deal and took upon itself the task of providing all facilities to pilgrims except for the religious rituals, the bandh in Jammu was extended for 72 hours. Meanwhile, the BJP national president gave a call for an all-India bandh on July 3 though the party’s prime ministerial candidate L. K. Advani maintained meaningful silence. The local leaders have threatened to extend the agitation till the state government takes its decision back. The situation in the valley is back to normal, but in Jammu large-scale spontaneous protests are going on. As a result, the government has imposed an indefinite curfew. The moot question remains: why is Jammu burning after Kashmir had burnt for 10 days? Is it purely a religious issue, or is there more to it? Apparently, the turmoil in both regions is over a trivial issue. As long as the pilgrims are assured of all the facilities, it should not have mattered much how the task is shared by the board and the government department concerned. There is a need to understand the political dynamics about the manner the events have unfolded in both Jammu and the valley. The significant fact in this context is that the trouble in Kashmir started at a time when there was confusion and demoralisation in the separatist camp. And the new Pakistan government is very conciliatory towards India. The obvious conclusion is that the alienation in the Kashmir valley is not entirely an imported phenomenon; the indigenous causes need to be studied and remedied. Likewise, Jammu’s discontent, which is mainly political, is a long-standing problem. It just needed a flash point to explode. The foremost problem in the state is to evolve a constitutional system which can reconcile diverse interests and aspirations of the three regions in the state. Otherwise, tensions among the regions will continue to feed extremist sentiments all over the state. In Kashmir, they seek secessionist and anti-India outlet. In Jammu, reactions take a communal or integrationist (abrogation of Article 370) form. The divergent reactions form a vicious circle, reinforcing each other. In the 2002 assembly elections the Congress projected Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, a Muslim belonging to the Jammu region, as its chief ministerial candidate. The Congress swept the poll in the region and the BJP was marginalized, and its strength in the assembly was reduced to one. But change at the helm proved to be temporary. Not only did disillusionment soon started in the Jammu region, complaints of discrimination were also raised in Kashmir. Occasionally, echoes of regional tensions were heard in the Cabinet, which was divided on regional lines on many issues. The People’s Democratic Party leader and Finance Minister in the state government, for instance, publicly raised the issue of discrimination against Kashmiri Muslims in the recruitments by the Service Selection Board and the State Vigilance Organisations. It is in this context the PDP, which was a party to the land deal decision of the Cabinet, joined the popular agitation for revocation of that decision. J&K, the most diverse state of India, has ironically the most centralised system. Not to speak of the promise for regional autonomy made by Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah in July 1952, which was never implemented, the state does not have even institutions of democratic decentralization like Panchayat Raj which is in vogue in the rest of the country. The Chief Minister spends a lot of time on receiving complaints in a village and on redressing the people’s grievances, which should be the legitimate domain of panchyats. Likewise, there is no regional board, no district board and no block board which can provide institutional arrangements to attend to the grievances of the people at the respective level. Development is the main plank of the Congress government. But it is no substitute for an urge for empowerment and identity. There is a need for a secular institutional forum of the people at various levels for this. The unrealistic approach of the Congress has led to its gradual isolation firstly in the valley and then in Jammu. It has lessons for the party as it has to reshape its J&K policy by understanding the grassroots realities in the state. Otherwise, it is doomed to suffer in the border state. Coming to the current turmoil in Jammu, it is regrettable that leaders of the Congress took four days to visit Jammu since the trouble began there. The situation was left to be handled by bureaucrats to assuage popular sentiments who are ill equipped for the task. Even the agitators in the larger interests of Jammu must try to prevent religious polarisation. Secular traditions and the secular identity of Jammu have been its greatest strength since the post-Independence era despite many provocations. By raising religious slogans and making the land deal a Hindu problem, they are damaging the cause of Jammu. Muslims of Jammu are as much politically and socially alienated in the centralised political setup as their Hindu counterparts in Jammu. Already, communal clashes have reportedly taken place in the Bhaderwah, Rajouri, Banihal and Samba areas of Jammu. If communal tension spreads it may lead to the division of the state and the Jammu region, which is neither in the interest of Jammu nor of Kashmir nor of India. In this sense, even Muslim extremists were more tactful. They repeatedly assured that they were neither against the Yatra nor the Hindus but only against the government. Jammu is a vital geopolitical bridge between the people of Kashmir and the rest of the country. While they have a right to express their ire against leaders of the agitation in Kashmir and the state government, as good patriots they should draw a distinction between them and the common Kashmiris and not take the onus of weakening their role as a bridge. Lastly, Jammu must realise the potentiality of disciplined and peaceful methods of struggle, which can sustain it for a much longer period and are more effective with far less damage to society, if at all, than violent
demonstrations.n The writer is Director, Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs,
Jammu.
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Standing in the queue While much statistical details on population and GDP growth, WPI fluctuations, the male-female ratio, those below the poverty line, those hanging on to this line for dear life, etc, are available in India, there is little or near zero data on the time an Indian spends in a queue during his life time. Waiting for one’s turn at every government office window, railway ticket counter, etc, is a major passtime for an average Indian. Here the average Indian means the common man (aam admi) and not the ubiquitous VIP. The VIPs fall in two categories: “the very important person” and the “very impatient person”. The very idea of a queue is against the Indian genius, disposition and inclination. Besides this, VIPs of both categories outright discard it as a wasteful practice. For one, it is time-consuming and least suited for the man in a hurry, and for the other it lowers the status and dignity. So a common sight at a window is a jumbled up group of people peeping over shoulders to see what exactly the one across the window or behind the glass screen is doing or not doing. He could be engaged in a long conversation with someone on the telephone. If it is a lady across the glass screen, then, perhaps, every one is inquisitive to see what winter jacket she is knitting in the very height of summer. One type of a VIP or, more likely, his “fluncky” may appear from behind the man, behind the glass screen, having sought a rear-door entry to push his paper in front of him. The other VIP, the Very Impatient Person, may simply push everyone aside on the home side of the glass screen and thrust his application through the small opening. Else he may even stand back and make his wife run the gauntlet, claiming ladies privilege. Then there may be a senior citizen who demands priority over everyone else and edges forward. Though in his case there could be a small hitch. He may be gray, bald and bent with age, but without a “senior citizen card” his claim to old age may be summarily rejected by the all-powerful man behind that glass screen. Well, in India, they say there is a way to get around everything. The railways have sidetracked the queue by on-line booking and through the Tatkal facility and, of course, the ever availble agent. This jumbling up is not specific to a counter or a window. Even at a closed gate of a railway crossing or at the traffic light or in a traffic jam, cars, scooters, trucks, buses, etc, don’t subscribe to the idea of a queue. Here again the one who sports a red light on his vehicle or a small line on the number plate saying “government vehicle”, etc, can claim the road. Those with red lights on vehicles prefer to ignore red lights at the crossing. People in some countries are better in adopting the concept of a queue. In Russia of the USSR days, you joined a queue a few hundred yards away from the counter and, on finally getting up to the window, enquired what the queue was for. In some other countries, a “flash pass” frees you from the hassle of getting into a queue. If you travel business class you may be ushered into the aircraft bypassing a disorderly queue. The queue is a great leveller, democratic in spirit and style. Compromising the integrity of the queue or jumping the traffic red light or crowding at a closed railway crossing is very much an Indian practice in this great
democracy.
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Why not go in for one rank, one pension? It needs reiteration that security and safety of a country is the prime prerequisite for its progress. No price is too great to pay to ensure that security. The military plays the most active role in contributing to a nation’s security against external threats and — as is evident in India — internal divisiveness. It is, therefore, mandatory that the defence forces of a country are kept in a high state of health, both professionally by giving them the latest war ware as well as materially. If we want to attract the right material for the military service, their care has to be ensured right till the grave, figuratively speaking. The military is unique and bears no similarity with any other government service. It is literally impossible for any civilian to understand their way of functioning and to read the pulse of their morale. There is, therefore, a strong case to treat them differently in pay commissions so that their structural peculiarities are taken into account while deciding their salaries and emoluments. Putting them in one common basket is bound to create angularities. In a democracy the armed forces must remain under civilian control. No one has ever disputed this incontrovertible precept. The difference lies in translating this into practicable norms. The armed forces rightly understand this to be the control by elected representatives who in a democracy are the real power holders. However, de facto it results in control by the bureaucracy. The institutionalised system of exercising civilian control over the armed forces gets translated into exercising of this control through and by the bureaucracy. The bureaucrats, who are the secretarial staff of politicians and cannot be wished away, end up becoming masters. To substantiate the point I quote an incident from the mid-nineties. The Defence Secretary was visiting Paris as part of the Prime Minister’s large entourage. I, as the Military Attaché, spent enough time with him and got a chance to discuss various issues. One day I asked him who takes the final decision in case there was a difference of opinion on selection board proceedings between the Army Chief and the MoD. “I take the final decision and keep the Raksha Mantri informed,” he said, without even pausing to think. I wasn’t sure I had heard him right. “You mean the Raksha Mantri takes the final decision?” I asked. “No,” he shot back snappily, “I take the final decision and keep the RM informed.” The emphasis on ‘I’ was unmistakable. That is where the rub lies. A decision, taken by the Army Chief with the consent of several other senior Lt Generals who constitute the selection board and on a matter of military profession, gets overruled by a bureaucrat, who is not only his junior in the national pecking order but has never himself worn a uniform. Of late there has been a discontent deluge among the otherwise quiet and keep-aloof military veterans. This has manifested itself even in public outpouring of their grievances. It is, perhaps, for the first time in India that the veterans in such large numbers have aired their voice publicly. The highly damaging and skewed report of the Sixth Pay Commission has provided them with the much needed common cause. One rank, one pension (OROP) has become their clarion call. They want that two military pensioners who retired after equal service and in the same rank should get equal pension irrespective of the time span separating their retirement date. It literally means “same rank— equal service — equal pension”. This demand has been pending since 1984. Prima facie logic for OROP is irrefutable; at least till date no one has given any cogent or convincing argument against it. Almost all mainstream political parties have been including this in their election manifesto and then dumping it. OROP was also included in the President’s opening Address to Parliament in 2004, which makes it a stated government policy. The Sixth Pay Commission has tried to bury the issue. Military veterans feel cheated. For military veterans to take to airing their grievances publicly has been a compulsion rather than a choice. The point was first projected to all the decision-makers of the country through letters and through personal meetings. Reasons for government reluctance in accepting OROP are not comprehensible. Their possible fear that it might lead to a similar demand from others would be unfounded. First, because it is only in the military service that an employee is retired early (80 per cent retirees are in their late thirties). Every other government employee serves up to the age of 60 years. Therefore, an ex-serviceman has to see at least four to five pay commissions — when OROP becomes relevant — in his life time as against one or two such commissions by others. His stakes in OROP are thus much higher. Secondly, the concept of rank is only peculiar to the defence forces. A military person is always referred to by his/her rank even after death. Others only hold posts and have designations but not ranks. Thirdly, whereas other government employees retire by age, the military persons retire by rank; with each promotion to a higher rank getting them two additional years of service. Therefore, the fear of all others also seeking a provision sanctioned for the defence personnel lacks logic. Otherwise, they should have been agitating for free rations too. In fact, when the government some time back gave a“one time increment” to the military pensioners, there was not even a whimper from any other service. Nor could financial outlay be a strong inhibiting factor. The Parliamentary Standing Committee in its 2004 report had computed the annual cost of OROP to be Rs 613.78 crore. Even if inflation is factored in, the amount today cannot be too large for the government to handle. The writer is the Chairman, Steering Committee, Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement.
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The story of a little woman Ever
optimistic, the district court had 176 cases listed for that day. The judge must have had an easy night because he was on the bench at 10.30 instead of his usual noon entry. Things were looking good. In fine utilisation of his time — and perhaps his talents — His Honour began calling out his cases, one after another he went down the list adjourning each for two weeks. This took two whole hours. Ninety per cent of the cases were adjourned. The logic is to adjourn all but the most urgent. So why not just pick out the most urgent and hear them as priority? The court clerk said: “Dunno, it is always done this way”. It was noon before the first case was heard: attempt to murder at evidence stage: husband and in-laws constantly harassing and finally trying to kill wife. The victim wife was there to give evidence. She had long ago been thrown out of the house. She had filed a first information report against the husband and in-laws with the police. The matter was already four years old and she had been tenacious in trying to wring some relief out of the system. The lawyers in the court were familiar with the case. It was a small town. They knew the woman who came often and alone. They knew the husband who was a powerful property agent —with connections. Today the woman looked thinner, smaller, frailer. Unusually, the public prosecutor was available on the dot and confidently ready with his questions. The prosecutor began his questions. As if on cue, the woman resiled from her statements. The defence had no questions to ask. Two more witnesses, the woman’s father and mother too resiled — claiming to know nothing about any attempt to murder. Once again, the defence asked no questions. The defence naturally had no questions in cross-examination — so convenient was the situation for it. All statements went on record without any objections, remarks or counters. His Honour remained silent throughout. He barely watched the proceedings. He did not once use the court’s prerogative to ask the woman and the main witnesses why they were backtracking now after four years of endurance. He did not urge the prosecution to coax or censure its own witnesses. He did not ask if any pressure was being applied outside court. A case that had taken four years of the court’s time, the state’s money and personnel, reams of paper work and cruel human striving was brought to an end in just 15 well- rehearsed minutes. The judge, the prosecutor, the defence, the lawyers ranged idly in the front rows, the court clerks bent over their ancient ledgers had all seen the play too many times before to rate it more than light entertainment. The bit players changed from time to time but the stock artistes remained the same. They knew the scenes. They knew the lines. They understood the nuance of the plot. The judge could have changed the ending but perhaps knew too well the futility of trying to tamper with this crew to change the ending. The routine of the little lady’s tragedy was boring the cheap seats. Outside the make-belief court, behind the scenes, the woman sat alone. Diffidently through her tears she confided. She had refused to accept her husband’s mistress in her home. He had forced her into another house with her child and become ever more violent until she had had to register a case against him. Now she knew it was her worst mistake. He had never been arrested but got anticipatory bail. The case had taken three years to come up. Meanwhile, witnesses had been bought off, her family threatened and she isolated. The prosecutor told her that her statements alone would have no value and may even go against her. Meanwhile, her husband filed divorce papers in the same court. The public prosecutor was now his lawyer. If the divorce came through she would have no respect in society and no home for herself or the child. She was sorry. She had been foolish. How had she imagined that things would turn out well for her? Now she knew that there was nothing for it but to throw herself on the mercy of her tormentors. The ordinariness of her story gave it the ring of truth. She would go her way, blighted and afraid into a world where no one wanted her. She would live on the crumbs of other’s charity. Why had no one wanted to hear her truth? Why had there been no chance to tell it? Is there no justice at all, really? Maja Daruwala is the Director of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative while Navaz Kotwal is the Programme Coordinator.
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Delhi Durbar Mediaperons generally take Samajwadi Party spokesman Amar Singh’s statements with a pinch of salt. So when he claimed earlier this week that Mulayam Singh Yadav had rejected a BJP offer for the post of Prime Minister in return for his party’s support for its presidential candidate, Bhairon Singh Shekwawat, it was dismissed as yet another tall claim. For a change, Amar Singh was not off the mark. The battlelines for the presidential election were clearly drawn between the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led UPA and the Left parties. Other parties like the SP, the AIADMK, the TDP, the AGP and the INLD were not in the NDA camp but were equally opposed to the UPA. AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa arrived in Delhi and had a meeting with Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chandrababu Naidu, Chautala and Farooq Abdullah. Reporters remember that BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who apparently brought this offer from his party, dropped in to meet these leaders.
Last journey The absence of any top political boss and the three services chiefs from Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s funeral made cynics remark that it should serve as a lesson for those dying. Die in Delhi or else VVIPS have no time even for heroes. Apparently, both the naval and air chiefs were present in the Capital but did not think of requisitioning an Indian Air Force plane for attending Manekshaw’s funeral in Wellington. Alternatively, they could have hopped on to the plane, used by Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju, who was the official representative at the ceremony.
Cops’ fitness UNAIDS hosted a discussion on AIDS in the Capital the other day. Sujatha Rao, National AIDS Control Organisation Director-General, and a representative of the Home Ministry found themselves on different sides of the fence during the deliberations. At the heart of the matter was the controversial issue of whether HIV-infected police officers should be recruited. While the MHA representative defended the government stand that infected officers could not be recruited as policing was a technical job requiring high standards of health, Rao differed, saying: “The government must keep police officers as long as they feel fit and healthy. If they are not well, they will themselves seek rest.” A thunderous applause followed Rao’s remark. Contributed by Faraz Ahmad, Ajay Banerjee and Aditi Tandon |
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