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Rathore in jail, at last!
Indo-Pak trust deficit |
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Stealing credit
Caste in Census-2011?
Some consolation
Clean up the IAS
How useful is genetic engineering
Hyderabad Diary
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Rathore in jail, at last!
The
dismissal of Haryana’s tainted former DGP S.P.S. Rathore’s appeal against his conviction in the Ruchika molestation case and acceptance of the CBI’s plea for enhancing his sentence from six months to one-and-a-half years by a sessions court on Tuesday is a boost for the rule of law. More important, it sets right the miscarriage of justice in the December ruling. Here was a senior IPS officer who misused his high position to molest young Ruchika and torment her family which evidently might have contributed to her commiting suicide. Such was his clout that even the FIR in the case was filed nine years after the incident and Rathore himself was charge-sheeted after a decade. Rathore unleashed a reign of terror on witnesses and circumvented the law to escape from his crime. After 19 years of agonising wait for justice, the December ruling shook the nation. Following an outcry against the grave injustice, Ruchika’s parents, friends and media launched a relentless campaign against the mockery of justice. Meanwhile, Rathore has been stripped of his medals. The Centre is now considering freezing his monthly pension of Rs 30,000. He has now been charged with abetment of Ruchika’s suicide. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has also decided to frame guidelines to check increasing cases of child molestation. All this points to the need to punish those like Rathore appropriately and swiftly. Only that can act as a deterrent against misuse of their position. As Rathore’s is a test case to restore the people’s confidence in the system, there is an imperative need for putting cases involving bigwigs on the fast track and enacting tighter laws to check molestation. Unfortunately, the Centre’s Draft Bill does not inspire much confidence. According to the Bill, while the maximum sentence for eve-teasing under Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (insulting the modesty of a woman) is sought to be enhanced from one year to seven years, the corresponding punishment for molestation under Section 354 of IPC (outraging the modesty of a woman) remains two years. This needs to be enhanced suitably in the backdrop of the Ruchika molestation case.
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Indo-Pak trust deficit
Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh has rightly said that good relations with Pakistan will help India “realise its full development potential”. India has to find a way to get rid of the Pakistan problem so that it can concentrate fully on playing its larger role in the region and on the world stage. Dr Manmohan Singh provided proof of his earnestness when he met Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani recently at Thimpu, Bhutan, and agreed to resume dialogue with Islamabad at the political level with a view to reducing the trust deficit, which was preventing the two countries from moving forward on the road to peace. The trust deficit was caused by the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist killings and Pakistan’s resistance in punishing those responsible for the ghastly incident. Now it is Pakistan’s turn to prove its sincerity by speeding up the process of bringing the 26/11 guilty to book. Unfortunately, Pakistan has failed to honour the pledge it has made many times in the past about ensuring that any territory under its control will not be allowed to be used for acts of terror against India. Gen Pervez Musharraf as President said something and did something else on the front of fighting terrorism. Now it is the turn of Mr Gilani to prove true to his words. He must destroy the infrastructure of the India-centric terrorist outfits based in Pakistan, including their training camps, so that these elements are never able to harm the cause of peace as they did on 26/11. Terrorism and talks cannot go together. The resumption of the India-Pakistan dialogue process can go a long way in strengthening the democratic forces in Pakistan. Islamabad will also be in a better position to fight terrorist elements, as it has been arguing, if there is lessening of tension between India and Pakistan. An atmosphere of trust and amity in the subcontinent may ultimately boost economic growth on both sides of the Indo-Pak divide. This, however, demands a change in the mindset of those controlling the levers of power in Pakistan and abandonment of the policy of using terrorism for achieving geopolitical objectives.
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Stealing credit
Punjab
politicians are prone to taking credit for projects executed by others. Whether it is the highways built by the Centre or power projects undertaken by private companies, ruling Akali and BJP leaders come out with large advertisements in newspapers flaunting their achievements. The same is true of airports and flights. It is well known that airports are built by the Airports Authority of India either on its own or in partnership with private companies. A state government has no role other than acquiring and handing over land for the construction or expansion of an airport to the AAI. Various airline companies decide on flights considering the availability of passengers and cargo. Yet Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal likes to think that it is he who is getting the airports ready or pressing on airlines to start flights. The way Akali-BJP and Congress leaders put up a show when a Delhi-Ludhiana flight was started on May 13 was regrettable, to say the least. If they seek credit for new flights or airports, they should also take the blame for the dismal plight of Amritsar and Mohali airports. It is not enough to tag “international” with the name of an airport and hope it will become world class. Amritsar airport is an apology for an airport. Work on Mohali airport is going on so slow that it will be quite a surprise if it meets the official deadline of 2013. Recession has sapped the enthusiasm initially seen in the launch of flights and announcements of new airports. Losses have drilled some sense into the airlines that had bled themselves white by indiscriminately placing orders for new aircraft and starting global and domestic flights. Having burnt their fingers, they think twice before starting a new journey. They are in a highly competitive, capital-intensive business. They cannot squander resources as politicians do.
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There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse ... it is often a comfort to shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place. — Washington Erving
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Caste in Census-2011?
The
country is in a vortex of challenges, counter-challenges and suspicious suggestions even among good friends on the desirability or otherwise of inclusion of caste in Census-2011. A calmer discussion may clear a number of cobwebs. It is common knowledge that the caste system has been existing in our country for centuries. It is unnecessary to dilate upon the origin of caste; whether or not the freezing of the guild system helped, encouraged no doubt by Brahamanical scriptural history and the lack of an industrial revolution (because of the British occupation of India), caste got frozen in the time-frame of middle ages. The Constitution recognised the evil of caste and provided for affirmative action with a view to ultimately eliminating it from our social structure, but unfortunately it remains even stronger — affirmative action has only created a creamy layer sub-class and the benefits are still being denied to the vast submerged poor in the backward classes and the poor in all the castes. The proponents of caste census offer a strange reason that without knowing the actual numbers adequate affirmative action cannot be taken by the states. This argument assumes as if there is no reliable estimate of OBC/SC/ST population. The fact is that the NSSO, 61st round, of 2004 tells us that the OBCs constitute 41 per cent of the total population of India; the OBC percentage in some religious communities is — Hindus 42.8 per cent, Muslims 39.2 per cent. More important, by virtue of Article 340 of the Constitution, Parliament passed the National Commission for Backward Classes Act 1993 constituting the National Commission for Backward Classes for the identification of the backward classes and making special provision relating to such groups. An application for the inclusion of backward classes in the list maintained by the Central government can be made to the commission and its advice is ordinarily binding on the government. States also have their Backward Commission with similar power. Thus, a permanent list for the country showing the number of backward classes is continuously being updated and would be readily available. Surely that record is more authentic than the unsatisfactory one prepared hurriedly and without any parameters during the census, which even proponents of caste census concede. Also, let us clear one cobweb that even if it is found in the census that the Backward Classes (B.C.) are 60-70 per cent of the total population of the country, it can make no difference to the strategy of affirmative action like reservations which are in operation at present. The reason is that the Supreme Court has mandated a maximum of 50 per cent reservation in jobs, education, etc, (23 per cent of these are for the SCs/STs) — and that leaves 27 per cent, which are already being given to the Backward Classes. So, the argument of the exact number of people belonging to various castes like the Vashistas, Yadavs, Kurmis and Kapurs will serve no purpose except to create an artificial bond of kinship and unnecessary antagonism to the other castes. The argument that if sex and religion census has not led to friction why would caste census do? A simple answer is that sex and religion are measures of identity and are not divisive in themselves. No doubt, vested interests create religious divides, but that does not justify equating caste on the same plane. Can we in the name of caste treat Yadav landowners or ministers in the same way as a Yadav labourer or a Yadav car driver. Similarly, it would be ridiculous to treat at par a Brahmin priest, a Brahmin Civil Servant and a Brahmin cook, or a Kapoor businessman and a Kapur peon. Do we want to go back to feudal classification and encourage raw casteism? Let me immediately make a caveat — that the policy of affirmative action for the Backward Classes (excluding, of course, the creamy layer) has my full acceptance. However, I am troubled at making caste the central point of all public policies, because this will damage the real fight in society between the haves and the havenots, the rich and the poor, irrespective of their religion and caste identities. In fact, those progressives who talk so fervently of classless society must remember that originally caste and class were synonymous in India. But now because of industrialisation and the emergence of the working class as a significant factor class loyalty is becoming more dominant as against caste loyalty. In some sectors like dockworkers, railway employees, steelworkers, coal and oil workers, should they not be classified as a working class, or must they be continued to be classified in the feudal phraseology of the castes and sub-castes? If we do that, would it not be a sure way of strangling the strength and unity of the working class — indeed, the capitalists would be very happy to have trade unions based on the caste composition rather than class? Dr Lohia had caustically remarked; “The system of castes is a terrifying force of stability and against change, a force that stabilises all current meanness, dishonour and lie — and that the resurrection of the real India lies in the revolt against caste.” For Dr Lohia “It is meaningless to talk of equality while maintaining separate castes. Castes have to be abolished, “even their nomenclatures should go.” That religious identity is not as strong as caste was foreseen by Dr Lohia, who said: “British rule in India had made use of the element of caste in the same manner that it made use of the element of religion. The revolt against caste is the resurrection of India and only then will India be truly and fully alive.” A patriot and a progressive would look askance at the growth of parties of regional castes, even when they purport to mask themselves by putting on a radical garb. Their capacity to disintegrate should not be overlooked. They disintegrate the people. They disintegrate the mind. I feel that as we have more authentic information from the NSS Survey and the Backward Commission, why muddle it with caste census which, it is admitted by all, may suffer from lack of preparatory material and absence of proper
verification? And also when this estimate would not be relied upon by government for affirmative
policies. The writer is retired Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi
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Some consolation On the evening of May 16, the BBC World News report was totally disheartening. The lady in her husky voice said, “'The volcano is alive again. The ash is up. ... Today, even Gatwic and Heathrow have been closed.” The words had come like a bombshell. The cloud had put a threatening cloud on our holiday. And in the morning, a friend's call to say that “Two flights from New Delhi to London have been cancelled” had only added to the worry. Despite all that at 14.15 hrs, the Jet Airways flight had taken off. We were on our way to London. The plane looked new. Very neat and clean. The air had an aroma of freshness. The cold towel was cooling. The flight was full. But not packed with Indians. It was nice to see the stiff-necked British prefer an Indian airline to their own British Airways. In fact, the lady next to me was forthright in her appreciation. She seemed to admire the native's saree and the service with equal aplomb. It felt good that ultimately even India was beginning to make an impact. After more than eight hours, which seemed to have passed rather fast, the plane made a silken smooth landing. With no ash cloud in sight. In fact, sun was shining bright. Actually, all the way. Probably, this is God's way of giving the English a chance to claim that the sun never sets on the British empire. Not surprisingly, the German response has always been that "Even God does not trust the English in the dark." Soon, we were at the immigration. Long queue. But totally orderly. No noise. And the officer was courteous and kind. Went through all procedures in a meticulous manner. Checked finger prints. Had a good look at my wife's face and photo. And then, he told her, “Madam! You have not aged a day during the decade that has passed after you got the passport. Thank you! Have a good holiday.” He was certainly quick and courteous. Just outside was the queue for cabs. Nobody tried to move out of turn. Finally, the cab driver put all my bags in place. And then, he quietly added: "May I congratulate you for making London your permanent home?" The point was not lost. On the way, it was a good road. No bumps. No speed breakers. No honking. No one jumped the light. Everyone followed the rules of the road. Despite the fact that there was no policeman in sight. And the trees wore a fresh green look. Not destroyed by dust. There were green parks, but no plastic bags or garbage. The vehicles were not emitting smoke. Could not spot any slums. Everything seemed so different from Delhi. Finally, we reached the hotel. My watch showed 0.30. Everyone must be asleep back home. But in London, the sun was still shining. The hotel clock seemed stuck at 20.00. And then I realised, the British are four and a half hours behind us. I told myself, “At least somewhere.” That was some
consolation.
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Clean up the IAS
The
appointment of a panel under Mr P.C. Hota, the UPSC Chairman, to suggest ways and means for fast-track action against corrupt or deviant civil servants is a welcome step. However, for the retired first-generation bureaucrats like me of the post-Independence era, it is quite disturbing that the service that we had joined with so much pride has lost its sheen so fast. The first whispers about corrupt IAS officers concerned the IAS officers who had been promoted from the state civil services. The ICS never had a promotion quota unlike the IAS. The meritorious among the state services were promoted to specific posts and many did well. The promotion quota initially was only 25 per cent and only a few of them were corrupt. The quota was later raised to 33 per cent. The over-all ethos of the IAS remained unaffected till about the seventies. The ICS was designed to rule India. It was in the fifties that Phillip Woodruff’s book about the ICS was published under the title “Men Who Ruled India”. It was natural that the emoluments and perks of civil servants who were to rule were such that they could enjoy a life like that of the best citizens in India. The founding fathers of our Constitution, while retaining the all-India services, decided to mark them as somewhat inferior to the ICS by reducing their pay and perks in comparison with the ICS. The IAS was designed to serve a democratically elected executive but the positions of collectors/deputy commissioners and the colonial administrative super structure were not disturbed. They were the first citizens of the district in every sense. The ICS till World War II did not encounter inflation and as such they could look forward to living well and retiring on a decent pension with well-settled children and a house of their own on a par with the well-off citizens. The first blow that struck at the IAS complacence was the runaway rise in prices all round due to a reckless printing of currency notes in the name of welfare, development and industrialisation in the public sector. The inflation reduced the pay package of the civil servants to an extent where during the seventies even IAS joint secretaries had problems in making both ends meet as at that level no dearness allowance was admissible. This was an era where many well-intentioned civil servants started making compromises. We had inherited colonial financial controls over expenditure and income. The elaborate treasury and financial rules were sacrosanct to an extent that in cases of financial irregularity, all officers down the line were subjected to a surcharge on their salaries to make good the loss suffered by the government. The community development and welfare programmes brought in social objectives legitimising expenditure even when it was known to be a total waste in certain areas. The public sector was not required to be accountable for the money spent and the return on investment was not enforced as an important criteria. The public sector provided an easy route of patronage for top officials and politicians. The permit-licence powers in the name of fostering indigenous industry provided a handy tool for the corrupt. How many of even the best of the officials could resist temptation under such circumstances? Dr Manmohan Singh, an academician ex-bureaucrat, has done a lot during the last six years to remedy the situation. The permit-licence raj is now only on the fringes and merit and integrity in the services is increasingly finding recognition. Transparency in government work has been sought to be fostered all over. However, due to the constitutional constraints a lot more was needed to be done for the civil services in the states. It has become a fact of life all over that there are retired civil servants not far off from one’s locality, if not in one’s neighbourhood, who have done well for themselves and they even flaunt their ill-gotten wealth, taunting their colleagues who stuck to the straight path. A regulation has to be promulgated by which a high-powered tribunal could be authorised to inquire in a summary manner into the sources of such ill- gotten wealth. Such a tribunal could be empowered to confiscate such assets that are found to be beyond the known sources of income of the civil servant concerned. The appeal against the order of the tribunal should lie only to the Supreme Court. The proposed law should provide for a reward to the informers as is provided for informers of gold smugglers and others. The need for fast-track procedures has arisen because of a lag in our system of governmental audit. The reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General come up for scrutiny and action years after the event. The accounting system in areas of economic development, welfare programmes and other projects with heavy financial outlays must be a concurrent audit enabling the government to hold the incumbent official concerned accountable while he is still in position. The example of the Company Law Board can be cited in this regard. The government should ensure that post-retirement civil servants can look forward to a respectable position in society commensurate with the official positions held by them while in service. They require to be guided to plan for it on joining a particular service as for example is the rule providing compulsory deduction of the provident fund. They could be guided to invest in real estate or blue chip stock market shares to protect them against risks of price rise. The proposed panel and the government should not confine themselves merely to the symptoms of what ails the civil services if the exercise has to become worthwhile. The writer is a former Election Commissioner of India and
former Chief Secretary of Punjab
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How useful is genetic engineering In
the context of agriculture and animal husbandry, genetic engineering has far-reaching implications as it allows the introduction into plants and animals of entirely new characteristics, including genes originally found in unrelated plants, animals or micro-organisms. This is very different from traditional breeding practices, and we need time to consider all its possible impacts. However, technology is spreading so fast that very adverse consequences can result even before we have the time to understand the implications. At a very early stage of its development this technology has got heavily concentrated in the hands of a few giant corporations which are interested in its quick commercial exploitation recover their investments and reap profits. In the process, critics fear, very serious and irreversible damage can be caused to our environment, to our food system and to the health of millions of people. Several scientists involved in studying the implications and impacts of genetic engineering got together at the International Conference on “Redefining of Life Sciences” organised at Penang, Malaysia, by the Third World Network. They issued a statement (the Penang Statement, or PS) which questioned the scientific basis of genetic engineering. This statement said: “The new biotechnology based upon genetic engineering makes the assumption that each specific feature of an organism is encoded in one or a few specific, stable genes, so that the transfer of these genes results in the transfer of a discrete feature. This extreme form of genetic reductionism has already been rejected by the majority of biologists and many other members of the intellectual community because it fails to take into account the complex interactions between genes and their cellular, extracellular and external environments that are involved in the development of all traits. “It has thus been impossible to predict the consequences of transferring a gene from one type of organism to another in a significant number of cases. The limited ability to transfer identifiable molecular characteristics between organisms through genetic engineering does not constitute the demonstration of any comprehensive or reliable system for predicting all the significant effects of transposing genes.” In a widely quoted paper titled “The Biotechnology Bubble” Dr Mae-Wan Ho (who heads Bio-Electrodynamics lab of the Open University in the UK), Joe Cummins (Professor Emeritus of Genetics in Canada) and Hartmut Meyer have summarised the results of several experiments, trials and commercial releases of GMOs. They write : “There are many signs of the problems caused in genetic engineering organisms. For every product that reaches the market, there are perhaps 20 or more that fail. It is particularly disastrous for animal welfare. lThe “superpig” engineered with a human growth hormone gene turned out arthritic, ulcerous, blind and impotent. lThe “supersalmon” engineered, again, to grow as fast as possible, with genes belonging to other fish, ended up with big monstrous heads and died from not being able to see, breathe or feed properly. lThe latest clones of the transgenic sheep Dolly are abnormal and eight times as likely to die at birth compared with
ordinary lambs. lEven products that reach the market are failing, including crops that have been widely planted. Recently 17 distinguished scientists from Europe, the USA, Canada and New Zealand wrote to the Prime Minister of India warning against “the unique risks (of GM crops) to food security, farming systems and bio-safety impacts which are ultimately irreversible.” This letter adds, “The GM transformation process is highly mutagenic leading to disruptions to host plant genetic structure and function, which in turn leads to disturbances in the biochemistry of the plant. This can lead to novel toxin and allergen production as well as reduced/ altered nutrition quality.”
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Hyderabad Diary A
bitter star war has broken out in the Telugu film industry, the second largest in the country after Bollywood. Caught in a deep crisis in the wake of skyrocketing production costs and a string of flops, the producers want the artistes to slash their remuneration. However, the actors are not willing to take a cut. The producers argue that since more than 60 per cent of a film’s production cost is spent on fees, the actors should take pay cuts to save the crisis-ridden industry. The Telugu Film Producers Council (TFPC) held an emergency meeting recently and issued an ultimatum to the artistes, asking them to reduce their remuneration or face a shutdown of the industry. Reigning stars of Telugu cinema, including Venkatesh, Nagarjuna, Pawan Kalyan, Balakrishna and Junior NTR, are said to command a price ranging between Rs 3 crore and Rs 7 crore per film. Naidu faces coup
Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, who runs the party with an iron grip, is facing a challenge to his leadership from within the family. His brother-in-law N Balakrishna, a popular actor and son of Telugu matinee idol and former Chief Minister late N T Rama Rao, has thrown his hat in the ring. The actor’s statement that he was ready to take up the mantle of the party has triggered a succession drama in the first family of TDP founded by NTR 28 years ago. Ironically, Naidu had led a revolt against his father-in-law and dethroned him in a midnight political coup in August 1995. It seems the nemesis is catching up with him. Balakrishna, a mass hero in the mould of his illustrious father, is seen by many in the party as the only hope to revive the party’s fortunes. Apparently emboldened by the box-office success of his recent action thriller “Simha” (Lion), the actor has been making public statements about his political future. Chiranjeevi warms up to Congress
After a flop show in the electoral politics, the actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi appears to be cosying up to the ruling Congress. The Telugu superstar’s announcement that his Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) will contest the coming Rajya Sabha elections has triggered speculation about a possible alliance with the ruling party. The move has created ripples in political circles as the PRP does not have the required numbers in the Assembly to send its nominee to the Rajya Sabha. The PRP has 17 MLAs in the 294-member Assembly. The party needs the support of at least 42 MLAs to get its candidate elected to the Rajya
Sabha.
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It was April 1955 when we landed as IAS probationers in Patna. The ICS stalwarts were the ones who put us on our paces. Neither the people, nor the politicians nor the service colleagues even hinted about any of the services being corrupt. No doubt, there was petty corruption at the lower levels of the administration. 
Star war in Telugu film industry
