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Power struck
Shackled science |
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Bring bigwigs to justice
Compulsory voting
He held her hand
Stablising South Asia
Watchdogs must get smarter
Delhi Durbar Corrections and clarifications
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Power struck
The
public outrage over the non-supply of water and electricity, inordinate delay in the air and train services over the weekend following a power grid collapse is understandable but it is not an uncommon occurrence. Almost every winter there is a massive breakdown of the power system, resulting in consequent inconvenience to the public and loss of industrial production. It is not an insurmountable problem. Those (mis)managing the power sector in the northern region are quick to blame the fog but don’t have the grace to own their share of responsibility. It is amazing a rising power like India can be crippled by a handful of non-performers. It is well known that power tripping can be avoided if the line insulators are cleaned up before the onset of winter. The Power Grid Corporation hires machinery and helicopters for use by the state electricity boards on 80 per cent payment of the cost. Since it is an expensive exercise — though nothing compared to the havoc played with normal life of citizens in the region — state governments and power boards do not like to spend their limited resources on these and allow citizens to go through a harrowing experience every year. It again comes to poor governance and distorted priorities. Fog-resistant polymer-made discs are available to replace the existing porcelain insulators. But this is expensive and requires effort apart from a mindset to serve society. This is something the self-servers at the helm badly lack. It is not fog that brings life to a standstill — as newspaper headlines proclaim. It is the vote-driven, short-sighted ruling politicians who are to blame for the systemic mismanagement. Power is a state subject. Whatever efforts the Centre makes to push reforms to insulate state boards from political interference and make them financially viable are resisted by myopic state politicians. They do not mind giving power free for votes. Influential and industrial users tend to steal power with official connivance. Customers oppose moves to hike tariffs. Where will money come from for buying fog-resistant technology or replacing the worn-out transmission system?
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Shackled science
That
the Indian scientists can compete with the world’s best is an acknowledged fact. But this eminence is despite the environment in which they work, not because of it. One can well imagine what they could have achieved had they not been fighting against odds. Now even the Prime Minister has conceded this ugly fact. Speaking at Thiruvananthapuram after presenting the Panambilli Govinda Menon award to former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair on Sunday, Dr Manmohan Singh regretted that red tape, political interference and lack of recognition of good work contributed to a regression in Indian science in some sectors. He has reflected the frustration of many a scientist. In fact, the notorious brain drain is a direct consequence of this dissatisfaction. Dr Manmohan Singh has exhorted scientific institutions to introspect and put in place mechanisms for greater autonomy. That can indeed ease the problem but only at in-house level. What is needed is insulating the science sector from bureaucratic meddling. Nosey politicians and babus have tried to corner power and influence in every sector of life, including science. There can be a turnaround only if his government plays a proactive role in giving autonomy to the scientific community. The way some Indian scientists made good after going overseas should have set the alarm bells ringing but it did not. While it is desirable to get the sons of the soil back to their country, what is all the more necessary is to address the genuine grievances of those who have been trudging on right here all these years. The atmosphere of favouritism has kept them from giving off their best. Letting in some sunshine can produce dramatic results. Indeed, the imbalance can be set right by encouraging women to join the scientific domain. But whether it is men or women, it is necessary to nurture them all with a friendly, respectful approach. Only then can original, useful research take place.
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Bring bigwigs to justice
The
Punjab and Haryana High Court has rightly deprecated the manner in which tainted IAS and IPS officers and politicians are evading justice by circumventing the system and getting away with light or no punishment at all. Referring to the Ruchika Girhotra molestation case in which the accused, former DGP S.P.S. Rathore, after 19 years of trial, got away with a minor punishment of six months’ jail, Justice Ranjit Singh observed that this was a classic example of how justice delayed was justice denied. In this case, Rathore either delayed the trial or influenced the investigating officers to ensure that the charges against him were relatively minor instead of what many perceived it to be his abetment to Ruchika’s suicide. While Ruchika killed herself in 1993, three years after she and her family were relentlessly harassed, Rathore rose to become the DGP before superannuation. Unfortunately, bigwigs who are expected to follow the rules themselves flout them with impunity. In an affidavit to the High Court in April 2008, the Punjab government had stated that criminal, vigilance and departmental cases were pending against 25 IAS and 10 IPS officers of the state. Though these figures need to be updated because of increasing cases against them since then, there is no doubt that many of them have become a law unto themselves. They grab prime land, take bribes and withdraw public money for personal aggrandisement. This has become a routine affair and yet, they are not made accountable for their crime. Even if some are arrested, they subvert the trial and go unpunished. It is in this context that Justice Ranjit Singh’s suggestion for putting cases involving bigwigs on the fast track merits urgent attention. The process of sanction for the prosecution of tainted bigwigs also needs to be expedited. Recently, while the Punjab government denied permission to the CBI to prosecute the Assembly Speaker for allegedly accepting bribe during his tenure as minister in the 1997-2002 Akali-BJP government, two IAS officers also involved in the case got away scot free. What prevents the government from taking action against them?
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Write to amuse? What an appalling suggestion!/I write to make people anxious and miserable and to worsen their indigestion. — Wendy Cope
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Compulsory voting
The
Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2009, passed recently by the state Assembly making it “compulsory” to vote in elections to municipal corporations has justifiably invited a lot of comment. On the face of it, making voting compulsory sounds like a good idea as it requires citizens to perform what is arguably their most important duty. That is possibly why it has been getting approval ratings of 80-90 per cent in various TV polls. However, as the saying goes, “the devil is in the details”. And the details in the case of this Act are delightfully vague. For example, the Act says, “It shall be the duty of a qualified voter of the municipal corporation/municipality/ panchayats to vote at the election of the municipal corporation/municipality/ panchayats; however he will be free to cast his vote in favour of none of the candidates contesting elections as indicated in Sub-Section (2).” One, therefore, expects Sub-Section (2) to throw light on how one casts one’s vote “in favour of none of the candidates”. Let’s see what Sub-Section (2) says. It “indicates” that “The qualified voter shall cast his vote in favour of none of the candidates contesting election, in the manner as may be prescribed by rules, in case where he does not want to cast his vote in favour of any candidate.” This raises the question, where will the “rules” come from? The “Memorandum regarding delegated legislation,” which is a part the Act, clarifies as follows: “Sub-Section (2) of the new section 16A/15B/34B proposed to be inserted in the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949/Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963/Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993, by this clause empowers the state government to prescribe by rules, the manner in which the qualified voter shall require to cast his vote in favour of none of the candidates contesting election.” This is where the “details” become important. The “manner in which the qualified voter shall require to cast his vote in favour of none of the candidates contesting election” will be decided by the state government. There is a well-known method for casting votes in favour of none of the candidates: that of having a button saying, “none of the above” on the EVM. This is well-known because it was recommended by the Election Commission of India to the Government of India in 2001. It was repeated in a letter (No. 3/ER/2004) written to the Prime Minister on July 05, 2004, by the then Chief Election Commissioner. And a petition filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties seeking this provision is pending in the Supreme Court. The mere provision of a “none of the above” (NOTA) button is, of course, not enough. The votes polled by NOTA should also be counted, and if NOTA gets more votes than any of the contesting candidates, none of the contesting candidates should be declared as elected. A fresh election should be held in which none of the candidates who contested the earlier election should be allowed to contest. It has been said that the above procedure is very cumbersome and that a poor country such as India cannot afford to have repeated elections. But should someone be declared elected if the largest number of qualified voters actually voting do not want anyone of the contesting candidates to be elected? With the cumbersomeness of the voting process having been significantly reduced by the use of EVMs, is any price too heavy for an effective democracy? Why has the Gujarat State Assembly chosen not to specify this method and leave it to the state government is not really clear. The “Statement of objects and reasons” of the Act says that “It is absolutely inevitable for strengthening the democratic fabric of the country which is the basic feature of the Constitution of India that each and every citizen discharges his obligation to the nation by exercising his pious right to vote at elections. It is observed that due to low turnover of voters to discharge their duty by exercising their right to vote, the true spirit of the will of the people is not reflected in the electoral mandate.” The “object” of the Act, therefore, is stated to be “to achieve the goal of reflection of the true democratic will in the elections of the local self-governments… to make legislative provisions to make the duty to exercise the right to vote in the elections to local self-governments a statutory obligation.” The semantic jugglery of converting a right into an obligation apart, is it not worth thinking about why does “each and every citizen” not exercise his “pious” right to vote at elections? And is democracy, a basic feature of the Constitution, fostered merely by the voters casting their votes regardless of whom they are voting for, and do they actually have an effective choice while casting their vote? “Why do voters vote the way they do?” is a very complex question that cannot be answered with one simple reason. It does not seem to occur to the political establishment that the quality of candidates nominated by the political parties might be a contributory factor, and might itself be causing the much-touted “voter apathy”. This is where the December 21, 2009 statement of the Gujarat Chief Minister that the objective was to “bring the voter, rather than the political party, centrestage” and to “strengthen democracy” becomes relevant. Political parties have been functioning, and controlling the governance of the country, without being on the “centrestage” for far too long. It is the political parties who, in a way, control or at least constrain the choice of the voters. They do this by the control they have on deciding on who can contest the election on their behalf. Prospective candidates are known to have had to even pay substantial sums of money to get party nominations in some parties. In others, the price of nominations may well be not cash but in kind. And once a person gets elected to the legislature, his/her choice of what to vote for and what to vote against in the legislature is again controlled by-guess who-the political party…by virtue of the whip and the anti-defection law. It is, therefore, high time political parties were brought centrestage and their internal functioning made visible to the public. Voter turnout cannot be increased so long as the internal functioning of political parties is shrouded in the secrecy of the decisions taken by the “High Command”. Democracy in India can best be strengthened by the political parties practising democracy in their internal functioning.n The writer is a former professor and Director-in-Charge, IIM, Ahmedabad.
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He held her hand Their
romance began the day they got married. She had never set her eyes upon him before that and neither had he had a glimpse of her till then. It was that kind of era. You met your life-partner at your wedding and fell in love thereafter. That he held her hand in the car while they drove off was probably a major scandal of the time. For the next 62 years they were a couple with vastly different persona but with a chemistry that was gentle and sizzling at the same time. They had six children and managed to raise them all with grace and fortitude, despite modest means, for them to become fine citizens of the world. They had their quarrels too and, sometimes, long periods of not talking to each other, but even as a young boy I knew that my grandparents were a really special couple and that they cared for each other no end. He was tall and handsome; she was tiny but somewhat portly. He was a stickler for punctuality; she was quite laid back. He was intelligence personified; she was a little slow on the uptake at times. He held a postgraduate degree in English; she had attended only a few primary classes at school. He was blessed with a sense of wit; she would laugh heartily at his jokes. At times he would crack some really hi-fi ones which went over her head, but he would also repeat some old jokes for her benefit at which she would be in splits as if she’d heard them for the first time. They were quite a team! Six children were apparently packed off to school and college every morning without much fuss. In situations that called for a cool head, it would be my grandmother who maintained her poise even if her husband was infuriated at the turn of events. On their 60th anniversary, they were looking like shy newly weds, ensconced together on their throne-like seats. The whole clan was present to greet them. I had discovered that anniversary cards were available only till the golden jubilee. Not too many people needed them beyond that. As I watched them hold each other’s hands, I realised once more that their love was not the sort that was to be explicitly displayed, but the genteel, graceful sort that existed in the eyes, in the smiles, in the holding of hands. When he left us forever a couple of years later, she didn’t cry much. She remained silent for long periods though, and it was an effort to get her to talk. Earlier this month, she passed away too, and now whenever I look up at the sky, I know that he has held her hand once again, never to let it
go.
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Stablising South Asia
As 2010 dawns, the overall geo-political and security scenario across the globe will appear to be distinctly dismal with 2009 not having witnessed any significant political breakthroughs towards peace and stability. Severe recession plagued the world’s economy as never before and the scourge of terrorism unrelentingly expanded its global footprint in more dangerously innovative forms. Unbridgeable chasms in managing the world’s environment and climate continued to bedevil the developed and the still developing fraternity among nations where billions still remain deprived of the most basic sustenance. Nearer home, South Asia presents a bleak picture with most of our neighbours suffering, apart from economic deprivation, political instability underscored by the ever-expanding spectre of terrorism. Mercifully, as alluded to by our no-nonsense Home Minister, India did not witness any major terror strikes in 2009 with over a dozen of these strikes perhaps averted, thanks to some improvements in our overall security architecture, besides the always welcome “luck” factor. Terrorists and all those agencies, predominantly foreign and now some home grown, which mastermind terror will undoubtedly be waiting in the wings to fructify their evil agendas soon for 365 days without a major terror act in the Indian hinterland would be unpalatable to them. As such, 2010 could prove to be very challenging to India’s security apparatus, besides, once again, testing the resolve of the Indian state to combat terror. India thus has to look inwards to ensure its own well-being by itself, and as an extension of its ethos and values and as the premier power in this region, do all it can to stabilise South Asia. To our immediate west lies the most dangerous expanse of the world, namely, the Af-Pak region. Pakistan, globally acknowledged as a fountainhead of terror, is at the cross-roads with its own existence as a nation-state under grave threat attributable to those very elements of the Taliban and al Qaida it nourished for years to foment terror in India and Afghanistan as an extension of its myopic state policy. Almost daily major acts of violence all across Pakistan have virtually brought it to a halt, but is Pakistan still sincere in combating terror or will its death wish take it to further ruin? An unstable albeit nuclear-armed Pakistan in the danger of imploding has severe security implications for India and we thus have to monitor the overall situation with great caution. Though adopting a posture of benign neglect towards them may have some takers in this country, yet indifference towards Pakistan may not prove prudent in the long run. As we remain firm in not restarting the composite dialogue till the 26/11 perpetrators are brought to book by Pakistanis and as unambiguously stated by our Prime Minister that no redrawing of boundaries could be ever considered, India could mull over two steps in the larger interests of peace and stability for this region. We must impress upon Pakistan that, in Afghanistan, India’s sole interest is to bring peace and development to that hapless nation and thus Pakistan must refrain from carrying out any anti-India activities there. Accordingly, the first step India could contemplate is that if Pakistan officially commits to genuinely stop abetting terror, India may once again offer a no-war pact on the lines of one that was suggested by the Prime Minister in Amritsar four years back. Consequently, Pakistan could safely withdraw as many troops they wish from their eastern border to pursue their internal war against the Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists more vigorously. The second step could be to invite the main centre of power in Pakistan, namely their Army Chief, Gen Kayani, for a frank ‘one-to-one’ discussion with the Indian government on some security collaborative measures which need to be taken. Our democratic dispensation in India will naturally be hesitant to have parleys with the Pak Army Chief in India instead of their political leadership and thus such meetings could be managed even outside the country in a confidential manner. Nevertheless, as we must upgrade our badly lagging and ageing military preparedness, India must not remain indifferent to the happenings inside Pakistan and the small yet civilised constituency for democracy and sanity inside Pakistan needs our encouragement. Importantly, India must also impress upon the U.S. that for stabilizing Afghanistan, more than a unilateral approach, getting together all the principal players of the region like Russia, even China, Iran, India, Pakistan and itself to collaborate, under the UN banner, may prove beneficial to that fragile and impoverished country. Towards our East, after years of an uneasy relationship with Bangladesh, the scenario is positively encouraging with the friendly regime of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handing over the bulk of the Bangladesh-located rebel ULFA leadership to India. This major goodwill measure needs to be reciprocated in a substantial manner by our government and we need to address the problems of the Farraka Barrage, the Tin Bigha corridor, the trade deficit problems with equanimity and in a spirit of cooperation. India must make maximum use of this window of opportunity to cement a multi-faceted relationship with Bangladesh, especially during the forthcoming visit of its Prime Minister to India. Notwithstanding the fact that Dhaka’s military establishment and intelligence agencies( predominantly its Directorate General Forces Intelligence) have had very close linkages with both the Chinese military and Pakistan’s ISI, a fresh approach to foster security relationships with them be tried. The cooperation of Bangladesh is vital for peace in our restive North-East region. With Nepal, over the years, our relationships have been peculiar of love and hate. Nepal, since the end of monarchy, has itself been witnessing a fratricidal struggle owing to the power and ideological struggles between the pro-democracy elements and the Maoists. Notwithstanding the Maoists’ unfavourable perceptions of India, the visit of Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar to India in August 2009 was indeed a promising beginning for Indo-Nepalese relations. India must strive for the speedy implementation of the various trade and river waters treaties in existence and those signed recently. We also need to give a fillip to the Bilateral Consultative Group on Security to address all security issues, including cross-border crimes. However, Nepal has to be firmly told that anti-India activities being masterminded by the ISI from Nepal, especially of sending in trained terrorists and the use of Nepalese territory as a conduit for smuggling in fake Indian currency to India has to be dealt with effectively. The Indian establishment needs to work out long-term strategic-cum-intelligence arrangements with the Nepalese establishment, notwithstanding the current opposition to it by pro-China elements inside Nepal. In addition, fencing of the currently open Indo-Nepal border could be thought of, besides revisiting the 1950 India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Though we have warm relations with Sri Lanka, India does not appear to be proactive in furthering its multi-faceted relationship with the island territory. With the Chinese ever active in the implementation of their “string-of-pearls” strategy, it is embarking on the construction of the strategic port of Hambontota in Sri Lanka, which has security implications for us. And now with Tamil Tiger Prabhakaran out of the way and the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, India could consider supplying most of the military equipment for the Sri Lankan armed forces as possible and carve out newer areas of cooperation with its tiny neighbour. India has to prevent the Chinese doing a Myanmar in Sri Lanka. The world acknowledges our “seat on the high table” and the potential of India as a significant global player in the coming years . A strong, secure and self-reliant India must play its major role to bring peace and stability to South Asia and the world at
large.
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Watchdogs must get smarter THE chairman of the US Federal Reserve has blamed poor financial regulation for the financial crisis and defended the record of America's central bank.
Ben Bernanke also called for urgent improvements to financial oversight to prevent a repeat of an economic storm that he said could ultimately prove to be "the worst in history". In a speech to the American Economic Association in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday Mr Bernanke argued that low interest rates in the first five years of the new millennium were "appropriate" for the time and had not caused the "bubble" in US house prices. The Fed has been criticised by some economists who argue that it kept rates too low for too long, encouraging the property boom. The subsequent crash led to a surge in repossessions, leaving lenders with huge losses and the financial contagion quickly spread around the world. Mr Bernanke suggested that the bubble was inflated by poor mortgage underwriting and weak supervision of lenders, and he said this must change. "Surely, both the private sector and the financial regulators must improve their ability to monitor and control risk-taking," he added. "The crisis revealed not only weaknesses in regulators' oversight of financial institutions but also, more fundamentally, important gaps in the architecture of financial regulation around the world. "Stronger regulation and supervision aimed at problems with (mortgage) underwriting practices and lenders' risk management would have been a more effective and surgical approach to constraining the housing bubble than a general increase in interest rates. "Moreover, regulators, supervisors and the private sector could have more effectively addressed building risk concentrations and inadequate risk-management practices without necessarily having had to make a judgement about the sustainability of house prices." Mr Bernanke insisted the Federal Reserve had been "working hard to identify problems and to improve and strengthen our supervisory policies and practices", adding: "The lesson I take from this experience is not that financial regulation and supervision are ineffective for controlling emerging risks, but that their execution must be better and smarter." However, despite his remarks, he said policymakers should not rule out using interest rates as a measure to prevent any future build-up of asset price bubbles. "If adequate reforms are not made, or if they are made but prove insufficient to prevent dangerous build-ups of financial risks, we must remain open to using monetary policy as a supplementary tool for addressing those risks," he explained. "Clearly, we still have much to learn about how best to make monetary policy and to meet threats to financial stability in this new era." Mr Bernanke's speech comes as the US Senate prepares to debate regulatory reforms that would remove the Fed's responsibility for overseeing large financial institutions and leave it to focus on interest rates, a move that has already happened in Britain. Here, the Conservative Party has pledged to reverse this policy and return to the Bank of England its responsibility for supervising lenders. Mr Bernanke has argued against the Senate's move, saying it would damage oversight of the system by removing a crucial monitor. The Fed chairman, who took office in February 2006 following the long reign of Alan Greenspan, has been nominated for another term by President Obama. The Senate Banking Committee voted in his favour last month and, while his nomination remains contentious with some, it is expected to be
confirmed. — By arrangement with The Independent
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Delhi Durbar Feroze
Shah Kotla Ground in Delhi has suddenly earned tremendous notoriety when the India-Sri Lanka one-day cricket match had to be abandoned due to a bad pitch. This has naturally turned everybody’s attention to the role of the DDCA office-bearers, more so its president, who is none other than the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the BJP’s spin doctor, Arun Jaitley. Every time journalists visit his room while a cricket match is on, which these days is the rule rather than an exception, Jaitley is busy watching the match on his TV screen. Just before the winter session of Parliament ended, Jaitley in his passion for the game organised a match between MPs and journalists. He enlisted some top former cricketers like Mohammad Azharuddin to play against journalists. But when journalists asked him to let out Feroze Shah Kotla Ground for this match, he refused to oblige saying he wouldn’t want to spoil the pitch. And this comment became a big subject of discussion in the media when the India-Sri Lanka match was scrapped because of the condition of the pitch. Sajjan Kumar’s lunch for farmers
Congress strongman from outer Delhi Sajjan Kumar is a man who never says die. Ever since he was implicated in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he has often been denied the party ticket and forced to sit out, but he has not lost his zest and zing. Every year he organises a lunch, all vegetarian, for farmers and invites almost every known and unknown media person. This year too he remained unfazed and invited all to his 16, Ashoka Road residence. Through a strange coincidence the luncheon invitation arrived in media offices almost simultaneously with the news from the Union Home Ministry that it has extracted from Delhi’s Lt. Governor Tejinder Khanna the sanction to prosecute Sajjan Kumar for his alleged involvement in the 1984 riots. Ministers reluctant
to go to Africa
It turned out to be quite a herculean task for the government to find a Minister of State to travel as the Minister-in-Waiting with Vice-President Hamid Ansari on his coming three-nation tour of Africa. The Prime Minster’s Office contacted almost every MoS, seeking his/her consent for accompanying the Vice-President. Finally, Minister of State for Labour Harish Rawat reluctantly agreed to go on the trip during which several agreements are expected to be signed by India with Zambia, Malawi and Botswana.n Contributed by Anita Katyal, Faraz Ahmad and Ashok Tuteja
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Corrections and clarifications
Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them. This column appears twice a week — every Tuesday and Friday. We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find
any error. Readers in such cases can write to Mr Kamlendra Kanwar, Senior Associate Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the word “Corrections”
on the envelope. His e-mail ID is kanwar@tribunemail.com. H.K. Dua |
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