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Death for Kasab Tense ties in
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Tri-Service Act Need for a common law for the armed forces For eight years, the Ministry of Defence has been engaged in formulating a tri-service Act, which is to be a common law for the three services. Almost from the time of Independence, all ranks of the Indian Army, the Navy and the Air Force are being governed by individual service Acts.
Nepal Maoists for
regime change
The last salute
A gigantic task Lessons
from fires in cities Chennai
Diary
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Tense ties in Bengal The
reprimand of the Trinamool Congress MP, Sudip Bandopadhyay, by the Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday for ‘unbecoming conduct’ may have closed one chapter in the increasingly uneasy politics of West Bengal. But there is no reason to assume that the truce between political rivals is anything but temporary. Bandopadhyay was accused of hurling expletives at CPM member Basudeb Acharia, who was critical of the Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s absence from the House and of her handling of the issues raised by Mumbai’s motormen. While the opposition called upon Bandopadhyay to tender an apology, the defiant MP refused, declaring that nobody need teach him how to conduct himself in the House. It is to the credit of the CPM that the party gave up its insistence on an apology and decided to treat the chapter as ‘closed’. Some degree of political maturity would have persuaded Bandopadhyay also to relent but even Pranab Mukherjee’s gentle admission that he himself had tendered apologies in the House a number of times failed to move him. The MP’s conduct assumes significance as battlelines get drawn in West Bengal for the crucial civic polls towards the end of this month. Elections for as many as 81 municipalitie, including the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, are widely seen as a dress rehearsal for the assembly elections due next year. The tense and ugly run-up to election so far has made it clear that political rivals will stop at nothing. While the Left Front, with its back to the wall, has launched a belated rectification campaign to set its house in order and cling to power, Banerjee, convinced that the winds of change are overwhelmingly in her favour, is determined to lose no opportunity to trash the Left. In the process, however, the political discourse threatens to cross the boundaries of civility. Ms Banerjee has often been unreasonable and uncompromising. She has been steadfast in her refusal to hold discussions with the state government on issues of public importance or attend all-party meetings in the past, little realising that similar, undemocratic response from the Left Front, if and when she forms the government, will also prevent her from building a consensus on contentious issues. West Bengal consequently does not appear to be heading for the smooth conduct of an election. Unfortunately it seems to be getting ready for an escalation of tension between the Left and the Trinamool Congress.
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Tri-Service Act For
eight years, the Ministry of Defence has been engaged in formulating a tri-service Act, which is to be a common law for the three services. Almost from the time of Independence, all ranks of the Indian Army, the Navy and the Air Force are being governed by individual service Acts. In addition to these service-specific Acts originating from related conduct rules enacted during British colonial rule which were oppressive in nature, the Army Act of 1950, the Navy Act of 1957 and the Air Force Act of 1950 are at considerable variance with one another. For example, the Army Act provides for four types of court martial compared to three by the Air Force and one by the Navy. Successive reports prepared by the parliamentary standing committee on defence have, while observing that punishments meted out to armed forces personnel are often not commensurate with the offences committed, pointed to the need for bringing about uniformity in the dispensation of justice to armed forces personnel. Although Britain and several advanced countries have continually been reviewing their military laws, the Indian military legal system is still rooted in a semi-colonial era. Two years ago, the government created an Armed Forces Tribunal in view of the extraordinarily high incidence of armed forces personnel, mostly officers, approaching the Supreme Court and various High Courts for justice. In 2005, the figure of pending court cases had touched a high of 9.450. The functioning of the Tribunal, which is intended to streamline the redress of grievances of armed forces personnel, can be further smoothened if the services have a uniform law. It took the government 26 years to effect an Armed Forces Tribunal from the day the Supreme Court in 1982 asked it to provide for at least one judicial review in service matters while pointing to serious anomalies in the Army’s justice system. It is to be hoped that the government will take much lesser time to devise a uniform law for the three services.
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Man is only a reed, the weakest thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed.
— Blaise Pascal
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Nepal Maoists for regime change OUT on the streets of Kathmandu and other towns in Nepal, Maoists are turned out in strength in a show of force to recover political power — which they lost constitutionally — through coercion and intimidation. Their deadline for establishing a Maoist-led government through a “people’s movement invoking peace and constitution” is May 28 when the elected Constituent Assembly will cease to exist without either any integration of armies or a draft constitution in place. This will lead inevitably to a constitutional crisis and President’s rule. The one person the Maoists are loathe to is President Ram Baran Yadav whom they see as instrumental in the collapse of their government in May 2009. Management of armies and drafting a constitution are really peripheral to the power struggle the Maoists have waged systematically for the last one year. First, they boycotted the House demanding that the President should correct his “unconstitutional action” of reinstating Army Chief Gen Rukmangad Katawal who was dismissed by Prime Minister Pushpa Kama Dahal-Prachanda. This was followed by a three-phase protest and agitation campaign which blocked normal working of Parliament, constitution-making, integration of armies and functioning of the government. Frequent strikes and disruptions by Maoist-controlled labour unions coupled with 12-hour power cuts have severely affected the Nepalese economy and lives of ordinary Nepalis, apparently deluded by the peace dividend. When the protests fizzled out, the Maoists attempted to introduce a no-confidence motion in the House but failed to collect the requisite number of legislators to bring down the Madhav Nepal-led coalition government, supported by 22 of the 25 parties in the Constituent Assembly. The Maoist Struggle Committee launched its fourth and decisive phase, the last battle, on May 2 by bringing into the Kathmandu valley nearly half a million supporters, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nepal and the formation of a national unity government led by Prachanda. While the campaign for the recovery of power has been waged combining threats, intimidation and extortion, the stakes have also been progressively raised. Initially, the Maoists sought a parliamentary resolution correcting Presidential action and asserting civilian supremacy. Later they asked for a change of Prime Minister and were willing to accept anyone but Madhav Nepal. Now, backed by street power, they want a new national unity Government led by Prachanda. They are unwilling to negotiate any terms of the famous “package deal” till Prime Minister Nepal has resigned. It seems they wish to replicate the Red Shirts’ successful coercion of the government in Thailand through weeks of street protests and battles. It is hard to dispute that the Maoists have acted as if they are the government while the ruling authority is reduced to a vacillating state, unable and unwilling to govern for fear of undoing the peace process. The Maoists have neither transformed themselves from a guerrilla force into a political organisation committed to multi-party democracy nor abandoned the armed struggle, for which they are employing the Young Communist League instead of Maoist combatants, who are confined to camps. The late Col Narayan Singh Pun, who negotiated with the Maoists on behalf of King Gyanendra, had predicted in 2007 that in or out of power, the Maoists will subvert democracy to create a single-party state. The most recent internal power struggle among the Maoists has seen the rise of hardliners like Mohan Baidya and C.P. Gajurel at the cost of the moderate party ideologue Baburam Bhattarai who, as Prachanda said, “India wanted to make as the new Prime Minister.” Prachanda calls the ruling establishment as Delhi’s puppet government. Unprecedented in virulence, Prachanda’s anti-India campaign has spread into the interior of Nepal. During the last one year New Delhi should have engaged the Maoists politically instead of tasking RAW and the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu embassy to bring them around. Being a major political force, India cannot wish away the Maoists. It needs to rework its Maoist policy factoring the China card and the escalating Maoist insurgency in India. For the moment, India has put all its eggs in the coalition government basket. “Toppling the government at any cost”, the avowed aim of the Maoists so that a people’s constitution can be unilaterally promulgated, is extra-constitutional and undemocratic. Waiting in the wings is the Nepal Army whose successive chiefs have said they will support any legitimately elected government. Prachanda, who once called the Nepal Army a band of thugs and rapists, is now appealing that it work together with the Maoists. He knows that going back to the jungles is not a viable option. The ongoing indefinite strike, virtually paralysing the government, has the potential to lead to a conflict with the security forces and hurt the economy stricken by 10 years of insurgency, political instability and slowdown in remittances. On the other hand, a negotiated settlement may still be possible before the May 28 deadline to avert a constitutional crisis. Come May 28, legal experts are projecting a variety of scenarios ranging from amending the interim constitution to extending the life of the Constituent Assembly by six months to ordering fresh elections. Article 64 of the interim constitution stipulates that the Constituent Assembly can be extended upto six months in case of an emergency. Any amendment of the interim constitution will require a two-thirds majority which is obtainable only with the Maoists voting in the House. Alternatively on May 28, the government may cease to exist with President Yadav assuming executive powers. He can declare an emergency, extend the Constituent Assembly by an ordinance or hold new elections. The legal confusion is far from clear. Getting to or remaining in Singha Darbar on May 28 is vital in this power struggle. Unless the question of power sharing is settled first, an extension of the Constituent Assembly is no guarantee that the constitution will get written and the two armies will be integrated. How are the Maoists going to reconcile their twin demands of Nepal’s resignation and formation of a new government headed by Prachanda? The high-level political mechanism which is an assembly of senior leaders from the three main parties has been meeting to break the political deadlock for the last one year. It is now trying to put together a package deal which includes the formation of a consensus government, integration of Maoist combatants, Constitution drafting, disbanding YCL, Maoists returning seized properties and reaffirmation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement — all by May 24. Prime Minister Nepal, according to this arrangement, is to resign once the agreement is implemented. The sticking point will be over Prachanda’s acceptability as Prime Minister of a new national unity government, not through Parliament but by consensus. “I will be the next Prime Minister of Nepal”, Prachanda told his ecstatic supporters recently. If this works out, it will signal regime change by coercive street power rather than through Parliament, which is not a good augury for Nepal’s nascent
democracy.
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The last salute THE ideology of change is something I always believed in strongly. But this philosophy does not naturally translate into every change being for the better. Change for the sake of change is pointless, and change for the worse undesirable. The process of change must be directed towards betterment. While undergoing training in HIPA in 1974, I happened to visit Kaithu police station in Shimla. I noticed a mustard-coloured flag bearing the designation of “Chief Secretary” pinned on the notice board. It was an odd sight. On enquiry, the station in charge informed me that the flag was displayed to make the police force aware of the colour, dimensions and designation of the officer and to ensure saluting the Chief Secretary. In all likelihood, this tradition must not have been observed and hence the directions. Unfortunately, since the past few years the grace and respect within and between the various services has gone through a drastic transformation. The armed forces have almost derecognised the civil service officer’s flags. The police force also slowly dispensed with the protocol of saluting the civil service flags. Unofficially, the reciprocity of salutes between the armed forces and the police force had been done away with more than two decades ago. Apparently, as a police officer explained, this happened because the Army had stopped acknowledging their officers first, so they followed suit and refused to acknowledge the Army’s officers. I was bewildered. The exchange of salutes, I had so looked forward to, was now held back in this maze of egos. I could not fathom the resistance to this tradition. Years went by and finally the day I retired my car bearing my flag was dropping me to my residence situated in the Western Command Army area. As the car traversed the Western Command road, an Army Subedaar was passing by on foot. Suddenly, he accorded a full blooded salute (never happened before) to my vehicle. I am quite sure he might have mistaken me for a “VIP” because of the garlands dangling on the flag rod of the car. Overwhelmed, I reciprocated with equal enthusiasm, my heart filled with pride and joy. That was my only coveted salute, moments before I stepped out of my official vehicle for the last time. But the point I am trying to make is not about innocent aspirations and desires. The protocol of salutes among personnel was not meant to be a symbol of obeisance. It is a gesture of mutual respect and grace and an expression of an unwritten bond of kinship and cooperation between the three important functional arms of democracy: the civil services, the armed forces and the police force. How can there be a healthy relationship between these pivotal bodies if we cannot even manage to acknowledge one another? A breakdown of communication at this basic level is symptomatic of deeper, more damaging chasms. May be, the only salute of my career was the last salute to the end of an era where, though tenuous, an age-old tradition lent the connective tissue of courtesy between the keepers and protectors of
democracy.
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A gigantic task
No
government can hope to administer the present and plan for the future without a periodic headcount of how many people are in the country, how young or old, what they do and where they live. India’s census of population and housing is the largest single administrative exercise in the world which can be accomplished only with the total support and cooperation of the people. The vast army of devoted, loyal and hard-working enumerators, supervisors, charge officers and district census officers, who are paid but a small token honorarium to cover their out-of-pocket expenses, bear the brunt of the entire exercise. The state governments and union territory administrations also fully cooperate in ensuring the successful conduct of the census. Following Independence, the census of India is conducted under the proviso of The Census Act of 1948 and is a Central subject. The 2011 census will be the 15th in uninterrupted series of census-taking beginning 1872. The decennial census is conducted in two phases. During the first phase house-numbering and house-listing is done to plan for the second phase — the actual population count. The first phase is not undertaken synchronously in all states and union territories but is spread over a period of six months. Almost the entire country is divided into minute revenue areas, each with its well-defined boundaries. The enumerator is required to paint and number all census houses on his beat and make a notional map of his area. Every landmark, natural feature, configuration and census house is marked down. He is also required to fill the “Houselisting and Housing Census Schedule” which in addition to collecting details of the houses and households, works as a frame for the second phase. Each enumerator is generally required to cover around 100-125 census houses during the first phase. The gigantic task relating to the first phase of the 2011 Census of India, started on April 1, by filling the Houselisting and Housing Census Schedule for the President of India. The second phase involves the actual population count which generally starts on February 10 and ends on February 28. Till 1991, the reference date was the sunrise of 1st March but in 2001 it was changed to 00.00 hours of 1st March. The area one enumerator covers is called “enumeration block” which generally has between 500 and 750 people. As the name indicates the first phase involves the housing census and covers only those people who live in census houses. A significant number of people, who are houseless and live in open places such as pavements, under bridges and railway platforms without shelter, are thus not covered during the first phase as these people do not live in a census house. This houseless population is enumerated from 28th February to 1st of March. Since the enumerator visits and enumerates people in his block on different dates between the 10th and 28th February, it is possible that some deaths and births might have taken place after the enumeration of the household and 28th February. The enumerator is required to update the records of enumeration as on 00.00 hours of 1st March. For this purpose, the enumerator is required to make a revisional round of his block between 1st and 5th March and update the filled-in schedules by deleting the details of those who died and adding the particulars of those who were born. After the population count is over, all are curious to know the population count obtained. To make available the population as on 1st March at the earliest possible date, a well-knit procedure is followed by the Census Commission of India. Each enumerator is required to prepare a summary of his block by aggregating the population of all the households he covered and pass on along with the records generated during enumeration to his superior, who generally supervises the work of five enumerators. The figures at the state level are compiled independently in the offices of the State Director of Census Operations and the Census Commissioner of India in Delhi and matched. Any discrepancies are resolved. Needless to say that the office of the Census Commissioner of India and the Census Directorates in each state and union territory administration work round the clock till the results are finalised. The provisional total figures thus arrived at for India are first released by the Census Commissioner of India in Delhi, giving the population of India and each state and union territory. This is followed by the Directors of Census Operations’ release of the provisional totals for his state, districts, and sub-districts. The release of the population figure gathered by an army of 2.5 million enumerators and supervisors from around six lakh villages and more than 5,000 towns, along with compilations of the population total down to the sub-district level is a herculean task. No other country in the world makes available the population figures anywhere near as fast. This is only because of efficient planning by the Census Commission of India. Hats off to the commendable and meticulous methodology devised by the Indian Census System.
The writers work for the Population Reference Bureau, Washington-DC
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Lessons from fires in cities On
the morning of April 11 people in the densely populated colonies of Outer West Delhi woke up to severe bouts of coughing and a smoke-filled skyline. The reason they soon learnt was a massive fire in the plastic scrap market of Mundka, which engulfed nearly 1 km area. Over 30 fire engines battled for over 15 hours to extinguish the fire. Water did not reach the inner layer of PVC material fast enough, resulting in smoulding for a long time. The impact of health hazards can persist for a long time as a lot of electronic waste was also burnt in this fire. Earlier, a terrible fire in the massive oil storage near Jaipur had caused even heavier damage. Such massive fires at storage sites of inflammable materials can cause unacceptably high damage, including the loss of lives. It is time to think in terms of placing strict limits on single-point storages of inflammable and explosive materials. It is important to keep in mind the worst-possible scenario and how the scale of any possible accident can be contained within acceptable limits. The terrible consequences of the Jaipur tragedy were there for everyone to see — the enormous harm to human and animal life, the destructive impact on health and environment, not to mention the massive damage to property and industrial activity. Apart from what was visible, long-term adverse consequences on health and environment have to be monitored carefully. We need to distinguish between essential and non-essential hazardous or inflammable products. While the need to store huge quantities of non-essential inflammable and explosive materials (like the explosives needed in the production of firecrackers) can be drastically reduced over the years with a judicious mix of public education and safety rules, this cannot be done in the case of essential inflammable materials like oil and gas. While the long-term goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions are compatible with a lower use of oil and gas, the increase in the population of cities as well as the percentage of people using oil and gas are likely to ensure that huge storages are needed, even though these may be a reduction in the per-capita use of fossil fuels. So while the quest for renewable energy resources is most welcome, in the near future we can’t do away with the storage of huge quantities of oil and gas. Keeping in view all these considerations, what are our options? Clearly the safety measures have to increase, safety budgets should all increase, but as the possibility of accident still remains in the case of storage of inflammable products, we have to keep in mind that the accident doesn’t go beyond acceptable/tolerable limits particularly in terms of loss of life, and threats to health and environment. The obvious option should be to spread the essential supplies of oil and gas over a number of smaller storages located at considerable distance from each other and preferably in different directions of the city. For example, if a storage of one crore litres of oil is needed near a city this can be spread over four or five sites. The maximum permissible limit will have to be decided by keeping in view worst possible scenario and the limits of damage that can be accepted. Once these limits of storage have been decided, then, these will have to be implemented strictly. A few days after the Jaipur fire when unexpected heavy smog conditions appeared in Delhi, there were some reports that the fire and smoke in Jaipur could have contributed partly to this. This adds to the concern about how unacceptably high the damage from accidents in very big storages of inflammable materials can get, as the pollution caused by such accidents can be dispersed over a long distance. This further strengthens the case for scaling down the storages of inflammable, explosive and hazardous materials much below what is permissible and common at present. As in the case of oil and gas, in the case of all other inflammable materials (like the PVC material and electronic waste stored at Mundka) there should be strict limits on single-point storage to keep any possibility of accident within manageable limits.
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Chennai Diary When the scribes tried to corner him with repeated questions on the issue, he said: “I have taken part in voting during the cut motion. I am not ignoring my responsibilities”. He denied that there was any summons from Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar asking him to appear before her on May 1 to explain his frequent and prolonged
absence.
Even while reporters were asking him if he would soon tender his resignation as a Union minister, he quickly moved away from the reporters and got into his car. The fact that Alagiri did not assert that he would continue in the Union minister’s post indicates what is going on in his mind, a senior reporter commented. He does not feel at home in New Delhi and wants to return to his native turf in Madurai. Comrade pats Obama
A CPI comrade praising the leader of the “imperialist US government” is a rare occasion. A state leader of the proletariat movement, applauding the capitalist country, that too at a public platform, is not witnessed often. Tamil Nadu CPI Secretary D. Pandian hailed US President Barack Obama as a “leader with consciousness”. The US administration recently demanded a probe into the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan military during its offensive against the Tigers last year, the comrade said and openly appreciated the US government for its “humane approach”. Not stopping with showering accolades on the leader of the “anti-democratic bourgeoisie dictatorship”, the Communist leader also compared the approach of the Indian and US governments on the Sri Lankan issue and said: “Those in power in New Delhi have no consciousness”. While flaying the Indian government for supporting the military offensive of the Lankan government, Pandian was silent on the role played by the Chinese government in the island conflict.
For prisoners in Tamil Nadu Sunday is otherwise called a “chicken day”. The government provides the prisoners chicken gravy with afternoon meals every Sunday. Although, the price of chicken is rising everyday, each prisoner is given 135 grams of chicken on that day. An official at the Puzhal prison, the biggest in the state, said 250 to 300 kilograms of chicken is bought every Sunday. More than buying and cooking chicken, the distribution of chicken is difficult. Meticulous planning and execution is necessary with the co-operation of the convict wardens and other officials to ensure that each prisoner gets about 135 grams. For prisoners who do not like non-vegetarian food, bananas are provided on that day. Some of the prisoners who were released this week lauded the prison officials for implementing the “Sunday chicken scheme” in a planned manner.
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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. Raj
Chengappa
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