EDITORIALS

PF in private hands
Ensure maximum returns to subscribers

THE State Bank of India will no longer be the sole manager of the employees’ provident fund. Three private financial institutions -- HSBC, ICICI Prudential and Reliance Capital -- will also get a share of the PF corpus, amounting to Rs 2.4 lakh crore with an annual addition of Rs 30,000 crore.

Since the SBI had delivered low returns in recent years and the government, often, had to chip in to ensure the guaranteed rate of interest to the employees, it was felt private fund managers should be roped in to handle the PF money more efficiently. After bids were invited, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation finalised the three firms.

Since provident fund is often the only post-retirement security employees have, it is, therefore, natural for many contributors to get anxious about the future of their money in private hands. The Left and the BJP, once again united on an issue, have already decried the “move to give workers’ money to private companies”.

The BJP has described it as an “economic prize given to private firms for the kind of politics the nation saw during the past 15 days”. The inclusion of Mr Anil Ambani’s Reliance Capital has, perhaps, given rise to such allegations as the industrialist is closely aligned with Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh. The EPFO selected these companies because their bids were the lowest. Two others -- HDFC and Birla Sun Life -- were rejected on legal advice as they had offered to manage the PF money at zero fee.

The part-privatisation of the PF management has followed two years of efforts by the EPFO’s finance and investment committee and materialised as the government has got rid of the Leftists. Central employees’ pension funds, too, are likely to go the same way. Since a part of these funds is to be deployed in stock markets, there is uneasiness among some sections of employees.

There are the risk-takers and there are the risk-shirkers. The government can give them a choice between guaranteed and market-driven returns. After all, crores of employees trust mutual funds and insurance companies with their hard-earned money, much of which finds its way into stock markets.

ISI’s Taliban
Ample proof of Pak complicity

THE US has at last realised that terrorist violence in Afghanistan cannot come to an end unless Pakistan’s ISI is forced to snap its links with the Taliban. The Americans are worried because the number of their casualties in Afghanistan has been rising alarmingly. They have lost more lives in this war-torn country than in Iraq.

They have now provided CIA-gathered incontrovertible proof to Pakistan to nail Islamabad’s lie that “any assertion” of the ISI’s links with the Taliban is “not believable”. Washington appears to be convinced that the recent suicide attack at the Indian Embassy in Kabul was the handiwork of a militant group aided by the ISI. The US knows better than any other country that the ISI, which fathered the Taliban, continues to support the extremist movement irrespective of the pressure from the world community.

Since the US has for the first time openly asked Pakistan to stop playing ball with the Taliban, the world will expect it to ensure that its “critical ally” in the war against terrorism ends its subversive programme in Afghanistan and eslewhere.

In fact, to some extent, Washington, too, is to blame for the Taliban surviving the US-led multinational onslaught on the militant movement in Afghanistan. The US did not take a serious view of the fact that most of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders found refuge in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Of course, it kept on pointing out to Pakistan that Islamabad should do “more” to tame the militants operating from its territory.

But the US was never as determined as it ought to have been. The result is the emergence of Taliban leaders like Moulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani and Baitullah Mehsud. They have spread their network to almost every corner of Pakistan’s NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) besides in large parts of Afghanistan.

There is still time to destroy the Taliban and other militant groups root and branch. Delay will be dangerous. If they succeed in becoming part of the government in Kabul owing to their rising clout in Afghanistan, the extremist ideology will get legitimacy. And then the battle against terrorism will have been lost forever.

Ishmeet Singh
His was the voice of promise, hope

IF the death of Ishmeet Singh is being mourned by millions of his fans as if he was related to them, it is not just because he was a promising singer. It is because he was also blessed with qualities like humility, kindness and dignity, which are rare in today’s world, all the more so in a 19-year old.

Before he won the Voice of India contest, he too went through tough grilling like other contestants. Unlike many others, he remained unruffled winning the hearts of millions of viewers. That is what made him a role model for not only teenagers, but also their parents and grandparents. This was the kind of boy who could motivate all whom he met.

When the death is so tragic and unexpected, conspiracy theories are bound to do the rounds. But from available accounts, it seems that there was no foul play in his drowning. However, the absence of a lifeguard rankles. All these are afterthoughts which cannot bring back Ishmeet. The Tribune expresses its heartfelt sympathies to his parents and family members, whose despair can only be imagined.

By coming to the limelight from the obscurity of Ludhiana, Ishmeet filled many
hearts with the hope that they, too, could dream big and also make those dreams come true. Once he had become a celebrity, he used his status wisely to promote social causes.

One hopes that those saddened by his death would channelise their energies in constructive pursuits. That would be the best way to perpetuate the memory of Ishmeet Singh, who appeared on the musical horizon like a shooting star.

Thought for the day

When a man seeks your advice he generally wants your praise. — Lord Chesterfield

ARTICLE

Undesirables in House
Change in law can prevent their entry
by K.N. Bhat

IN December 2005, 10 members of the Lok Sabha and another from the Rajya Sabha —among others — could be confident that demanding and accepting cash for raising questions in the House would not expose them to prosecution. Even if such a practice was a crime, they were immune under Article 105(2) of the Constitution, a la JMM case (1998).

The 11 who were caught in the cameras, however, had reason to be aghast because their expulsion from the House was unprecedented. Such a step was not contemplated in any provision of the Constitution, including Article 102 that sets out the grounds for disqualifying an MP.

The challenge to the House resolutions by the expelled MPs (Raja Rampal’s case — January 2007) was rejected by the Supreme Court. The action of Parliament thus stood the judicial scrutiny. Therefore, after Raja Rampal’s case, the JMM dicta continued to be a shield only against prosecution in courts of law — not against drastic steps like expulsion by the House. And no “MP on sale” could think that cash for vote is in any way less serious than cash for query.

But on July 22 as many as 22 MPs were unconcerned of any consequences — they had the audacity to defy the party whip and cross over — surely not for love and affection nor even in the name of that last resort, patriotism. The MPs were ready to lose a few months of the remaining tenure through a possible House resolution or through the Speaker’s action under the anti-defection law — the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution.

The latter, however, is a long process as is by now well known. The Speaker has to act as a quasi-judicial tribunal guaranteeing the needed procedural safeguards and the Speaker’s verdict is subject to a judicial review by the High Courts or/and the Supreme Court.

An expulsion by the House or under the Tenth Schedule will curtail only the remainder of the term of the current Lok Sabha. All these MPs can contest the next election to be held in 2009 or earlier. The expulsion does not result in any disqualification. In any case, after the term of the House expires, proceedings under the Tenth Schedule do not survive. The anti-defection law has never been a deterrent — it is no more than the threat of ill luck in next birth.

Between now and the last day in the House, our dare-devil MPs of July 22 fame will remain members, despite expulsion from their respective political parties. In fact, they continue to be deemed members of the very political party that expelled them because there is no such category as “unattached” among the MPs, says the Supreme Court (Vishvanathan’s case -1996).

These MPs, like the condemned prisoners awaiting execution, need not fear of any consequences for whatever they do in the House as long as they are members. They can vote as they like — a second violation of the whip has no greater consequence than that of the first. They can even be asked to uphold the Constitution as ministers!

Their voting rights cannot be suspended either — except, perhaps, by a House resolution that is yet to be tried. These MPs, therefore, can be of tremendous nuisance value in a House with such a dubious and shifting majority. They can embarrass, threaten or hold the government to ransom every now and then.

Historically, the record of success of complaints against engineering defections
has been dismal. The pioneering efforts attributed to Mr Veerappa Moily in 1984 ended in his acquittal on the ground that the tapes were held to be not admissible
in evidence.

Moily would have been happier if he were to be exonerated — that aspect could not be gone into on account of the flaws in our criminal justice system. The Ajit Jogi tapes of 2003 were not the original ones — hence open to the accusation of having been tampered with — consequently not good enough evidence.

The JMM heroes had deposited the bribe money in nationalised banks, hence proving the crime was easy. But they received the shield of the constitutional immunity from the Supreme Court of India. The bribe givers were also acquitted for want of evidence. Recall the prosecution story — in those days with no Rs 500 or Rs 1000 denomination notes, the Rs 3 crore involved had to be transported in huge suit cases via Bangalore airport in commercial flights of Indian Airlines.

Still there was no evidence. The July 2008 tapes apparently do not trace the money to anyone in particular — money by itself is neutral. So far, there appears to be no evidence of payment to the dozen BJP worthies who helped the government to win the confidence vote and the grateful government is unlikely to hunt and unearth the treasure. If rumours are to be believed, many of them were gullible enough to permit “enjoy now on a promise to pay”.

The Representation of the People Act 1951 that governs the conduct of elections debars persons held guilty of committing any of the listed corrupt practices — like bribing a rival, existing or potential, or a voter — from the electoral fray for a period of six years. In effect, the ban operates for two successive elections.

The disqualifications for being a candidate listed under Section 8 of that Act are more than a dozen. Conviction on account of the adulteration of food like adding excess of water to milk, violation of laws against hoarding, offending the anti-dowry law and law against Sati — all carrying the sentences of about six months — would disqualify a person from contesting an election for six years.

Strangely, bribery in the sanctum sanctorum of democracy is of no consequence to our laws. Ms Jayalalithaa was not allowed to contest elections because she was convicted in an excess assets case and the order of stay by the High Court was interpreted by the Supreme Court to mean the “stay of the execution of the sentence” — not of the sentence or of the conviction itself. She had to vacate the chair of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. But Mr Shibu Soren suffered no disability despite his proven felony.

The betrayers will not only play havoc till they are expelled, but will be back soon unless urgent legislative measures are adopted. Measures are obvious and ready if only Parliament has the will to act. All that is needed is an amendment to the Representation of People Act by adding a new Section 8-B reading as follows: “Any person disqualified for being a member of a House pursuant to any provision of the Constitution, including the Tenth Schedule, shall not be eligible for being a candidate in any election to either House of Parliament or of the State legislature for a period of six years from the date of such order.”

The suggested amendment will help to avoid the undesirables from the Houses for a decade or so. That by itself will be a big gain to the nation. Will a minimum of 271 MPs — of whom 28 are tainted — support such a law? May be, there are powerful politicians who are happy with the present state of affairs. That tribe must have always been there — that is why the Tenth Schedule is allowed to remain toothless.

In this context, one is reminded of Thomas Alva Edison, the famous US inventor who, among others, invented a tamper-proof voting machine. Edison presented it to the Congress, hoping to receive an appreciation and indentation. After waiting in vain for long, he called on the person in charge and queried, “My machine is tamper-proof — do you have any doubt?” The answer was, “You are right — it is tamper-proof and that is the problem”.

The writer is Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.

MIDDLE

Horse sense
by Vepa Rao

I WANT to buy some good horses", he said, stroking his bushy beard. I welcomed the elderly gentleman, though it was past midnight. Why not, if I could make an extra buck in the dark!

"Any special qualities you are looking for?" I asked politely. "Well, yes. I want slow, weak, doddering ones, not the strong racing types you know…"

He smiled tenderly at my bewildered face and explained: "They don't have to do anything, in fact they should be incapable of anything worthwhile. The more useless, the better. They should be just alive so that they can be counted in my shed. That's all, my dear!"

"What will you do with them, respected sir?" I ventured. "My boy", he said in kindly tones, "My rivals in the trade claim they own more horses than I do. I must outwit them with numbers". He further explained that lame horses were easier to hold -- good horses could be stolen or they could bolt away to greener pastures. It's just a matter of numbers.

"Are you deeply into horse-trading of some kind, respected sir?" "God, no", he felt offended, " it is a bad word these days. But we are traders all right--especially in the power sector. Horse is our trade mark --you know the word horsepower?"

I nodded and guided him into my underground stables. The underground bit thrilled him. It matched his midnight visit.

The elderly gentleman was impressed with my collection of horses. He examined them carefully and chose a few dark ones explaining "they are easier to hide till
the display time comes". He pointed at a few white ones and asked: "can you get them painted black, my friend? I don't want them to catch my rivals' eyes easily. Horses can be lured out of the stables with greener grass! Times are bad, you
know. Ha, ha!"

"But respected sir", I protested, " I am not into the business of painting horses". "Doesn't matter, my boy. In that case, can you get them tainted? That's the least you could do".

"But sir", I protested again, "they are already tainted! That's why I am selling them so cheap, and keeping them safely here, underground". I narrated how these horses ate up fodder in other houses stealthily, how some of them kicked to death smaller animals witnessing their crimes etc.

"Great!" the gentleman's belly shook with laughter. " I see, they can't run away easily. But I hope that at the time of counting, they won't cross over to rival side".

"No, respected sir", I assured him solemnly, "we have damaged their vital organs adequately to suit leading buyers like you. They can't even move on their own! We have taken other precautions too. We follow the principles of horse-trading in our great country very, very strictly!" He was satisfied.

OPED

EU lessons for SAARC
Case for promoting supra-nationalism
by Syed Nooruzzaman

THE idea of regional integration and its enormous advantages are bound to get highlighted whenever there is a discussion on the unique success story of the European Union. Europe as we know it today is mainly because of the efforts of the EU, earlier called the European Economic Community.

The people there are enjoying the fruits of thinking beyond their territorial boundaries. They have allowed supra-nationalism to replace nationalism in most areas of human activity.

If this can happen in the case of Europe why can the story not be replicated in South Asia? As the situation prevails today, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which will hold its annual meeting in Colombo soon, is finding it difficult to deliver what it is supposed to do.

Many experts believe that it may never grow into a powerful and dynamic grouping like the EU because of geographical, historical and other factors. But there are others who are convinced that SAARC can play its expected role if the governments of the member-countries are forced by the media, civil society and other non-government players to work seriously and methodically for regional integration.

We will have to first propagate the benefits of collective efforts for development as can be seen in the 27 countries which constitute the EU. Of course, new Europe has to go a long way to reach the level of growth in old Europe. But the countries in new Europe are destined to gain considerably in the years to come.

When there is an opportunity to do business in as big an area as a continent, with the countries’ territorial borders having become irrelevant, there will be no dearth of growth opportunities.

Actually, borders are barriers to economic development and these must be rendered meaningless by having a credible mechanism for the purpose.

As the Ambassador-Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to India, Ms Daniele Smadja, pointed out during an interaction in Chandigarh, the EU’s success primarily lies in making people in the member-countries less sensitive about their national territories.

The EU has created institutions which take care of these countries’ economic, political and other interests to the extent of at least 80 per cent.

There are credible support systems and funding arrangements for the regions which require special attention.

This is necessary because if there are engines of growth in the EU like France and Germany, there are countries and regions which must get financial and other kinds of assistance to tackle their employment and other problems.

There is an element of distrust particularly among the countries of old Europe. But this is natural as they have a long history of baying for each other’s blood. They have fought two world wars. However, there is a positive side too.

These countries are convinced that there is no better alternative to remaining united in the interest of peace and progress. The Europeans have developed institutions which incessantly work towards this end under the EU umbrella. It is, therefore, not surprising that there has been no war in Europe after the EU came into being.

Is this not a strong argument for the South Asian nations to allow SAARC to become the caretaker of their interests in as many areas as possible? They have to choose between development and discord. Of course, their drive for economic advancement is a little more difficult because of one big country – India – having borders with all the others in the SAARC region.

They have to eliminate the distrust that an immediate neighbour has about another neighbour. This is besides the problems associated with nationalism. According to the great Indian thinker Kautilya, by nature people don’t trust their immediate neighbour. This problem has not been as pronounced in the case of the EU members as it is in SAARC.

India has been doing a lot to weaken this negative neighbourhood factor, but the problem requires more imaginative handling by all SAARC members. They have to think beyond national boundaries. Like the EU members, we in SAARC have to have a dream or a vision for shared growth for improving our living standards.

We have to make up our mind to endeavour together for collective good. We have to ensure that supra-nationalism becomes more powerful than nationalism without compromising our vital national interests.

The media, the NGOs and other such agencies have to make people aware of the advantages of supra-nationalism.

Once people get convinced that this is the best way to improve their standards of living, politicians will also start singing similar songs.

There will be areas of disagreement, but these should not be permitted to prevent the SAARC nations from reaping the fruits of thinking and doing things collectively. Actually, the ambitious trans-national Asian highway project and the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) are the results of thinking on these lines.

Any development idea requires funds for getting it implemented. But this is not impossible today as there are international institutions ready to help with as much money as we need provided we are serious about achieving a set target. Unfortunately, SAARC has not been forthcoming to make use of the offers for funds made to it so far.

For example, the EU has approached the SAARC secretariat to help the grouping for regional integration with € 10 million. The EU wants this money to be spent for better connectivity and customs clearance arrangement. Two years have elapsed since the offer was made, and now the fear is that the EU will close the chapter if the SAARC secretariat continues to behave the way it has been doing.

Borrowing money from elsewhere, however, is not the only way to arrange funds for the development of the SAARC region. A mechanism can be created to generate funds from within SAARC as the EU does. But there must be the will to accomplish the task.

Turkey steps back from the brink
by Nicholas Birch in Istanbul

Turkey’s highest court pulled the country back from the brink when it narrowly rejected calls for the ruling party to be shut down and its leaders banned from politics for allegedly undermining the secular state.

After 30 hours of debate, six judges voted in favour of banning the party, four voted for financial penalties and one rejected the case. Seven judges would have had to vote in favour of the ban for it to pass. Instead of that nuclear option, the court contented itself with censuring the AK party (AKP), with all but one judge voting to remove half the party’s state funding.

Calls for five-year political bans against 71 AKP politicians including the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the President Abdullah Gul were also dropped. “There’s only one word to describe my reaction to the decision,” said Koksal Toptan, AKP’s speaker in parliament. “Phew.”

Edibe Sozen, a senior member of the government, said she was “delighted”. “Turkey’s democracy will be strengthened by this decision, I have no doubt about that,” she said, as she walked towards the AKP’s Ankara-based headquarters to celebrate. The court case was sparked by the AKP’s efforts to end a ban on headscarves in universities.

Since a senior prosecutor brought the indictment in mid-March, Turkish politics has been paralysed, blocking the country’s halting EU bid and pushing decades-long tensions between pious and secular-minded Turks to a boiling point.

“Turkey desperately needed an immediate lowering of pressure,” the AKP’s Minister of Culture Ertugrul Gunay said yesterday. “I think this decision will help with that.”

The judgment came as something of a surprise. Packed with judges appointed by a fiercely secularist former president, the court has sparked major debate twice over the past year with decisions against the government. The political chaos has severely hit Turkey’s rapidly growing but fragile economy.

“The AKP has a lot of lessons to learn from the ruling,” said Atilla Kart, a senior member of the secularist chief opposition party. “I hope [senior party members] remember the content of the speeches that were made after last year’s electoral victory,” he added, referring to Mr Erdogan’s promise to be a party for all Turks.

The headscarf debacle was not the only mistake AKP has made. Many centrist voters who backed the party for its sound economic management have been turned off by Mr Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rhetoric.

Patrick Cockburn adds: Sighs of relief in Washington and European Union capitals were almost audible after Turkey’s top court ruled against closing the governing AK Party. It was the latest round in a struggle between Turkey’s old establishment, with its bastions in the army, the bureaucracy and the judiciary, and the Islamist coalition supporting the AKP. Neither side is strong enough to win an outright victory and their escalating battles will continue to destabilise the country.

The conflict has intensified since April 2007, when a battle began over who would succeed Ahmed Necdet Sezer as president of Turkey. The army and judiciary made clear their objections to the foreign minister and deputy leader of the AKP, Abdullah Gul, but were outmanoeuvred. The AKP won re- election with 47 per cent of the vote. It was inevitable that the army and the judiciary would counter-attack.

It is that counter-attack which has stalled, though the Turkish General Staff is not about to abdicate its role as co-rulers of Turkey. The AKP may win elections, but the army is still widely trusted.

The immense rallies last year after attacks by the Kurdish PKK showed the continuing strength of Turkish nationalism. Superficially, the division may be between the secular traditions of Ataturk and the more Islamic AKP, but the divisions are complex and affect every segment of Turkish society.

For instance, if the AKP had been banned, it would immediately have intensified the conflict between the Turkish state and its Kurdish minority, many of who voted for the AKP in the last election. But the AKP itself has shown scant regard for the rights of the Alevi minority who, in turn, make up as many as 20 per cent of Turks.

The AKP represents pious businessmen from Anatolia, religious conservatives and newly-enriched members of the middle and upper middle class. It was extremely careful after it first came to power in 2002 not to openly undermine Turkey’s traditional centres of power in the army and bureaucracy. It also did not directly challenge the constitution rigged in favour of the military since the coup of 1980.

The narrow decision by the court not to close the AKP means that, for now, Turkey has stepped back from the brink but the battle will go on. The secular opposition parties are too decrepit and self-serving to be able to replace the AKP but the ruling party remains a long way from controlling the Turkish state.

By arrangement with The Independent

Delhi Durbar
Deft handling

There was sharp division among political observers over Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s refusal to heed his party diktat to relinquish his post before the trust vote debate. While Left sympathisers were not happy with his stand, there was a large section across the political spectrum which enthusiastically backed Chatterjee’s decision to place the high office of the Speaker above partisan politics.

But even Chatterjee’s bitter critics have changed their stance after the “cash-for-votes” sordid drama was enacted during the recent tumultuous Lok Sabha session. There is an overwhelming view that it was Chatterjee’s deft handling which ensured that the situation did not get out of hand.

Political parties admit it would have been a different story if Chatterjee had not been presiding over the House during this session. In fact, the Speaker’s quick decision to set up a Parliamentary panel to enquire into the “cash-for-votes” episode has pushed the BJP on the backfoot. They are in a fix as it could end up indicting its own MPs by participating in the proceedings and also be blamed for kicking up unnecessary dirt on the floor of Parliament.

Secret diplomacy

With India launching a major diplomatic initiative to solicit support for the Indo-US nuclear deal, it is common knowledge that India has despatched its envoys to all the 45 member countries of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the external affairs ministry has been maintaining a stony silence on these visits.

One official had a rather amusing explanation for the undue secrecy shown by the ministry. ''Suppose we announce that a minister has been assigned to visit a
country like, say Serbia, while the secretary is to go to Paris, the minister may feel hurt and start wondering why he was not chosen to go to Paris, the official remarked rather earnestly.

Rhyme ‘n’ rhythm

Everybody knows now that the best debater trophy during the trust vote debate in Parliament has gone to National Conference chief Omar Abdullah. Omar Abdullah’s electric performance immediately set off a comparison with Rahul Gandhi’s speech on the same day. The general opinion was that the NC leader was several shades better than the Nehru-Gandhi scion.

Rahul’s brave new speech was hijacked by two least expected characters – Kalawati and Mayawati. While the former was Rahul’s real-life protagonist for the N-deal story he narrated in the Lok Sabha, the latter was, as usual, BSP’s sacrosanct queen. So miffed were BSP MPs over these rhyming names, they prevailed upon Rahul to shorten the name to “Kala”. The Congress’ crown prince was finally left with only “Kala”, whereas Omar had everything going for him.

Contributed by Faraz Ahmad, Ashok Tuteja and Aditi Tandon