|
|
A Tribune Special
Indus waters: Co-basin states must respond to initiatives |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Power of democracy
Profile On Record
|
A Tribune Special
Secrecy that benefits non-representative forms of government is ill-considered in the age of participatory democracy where voter-taxpayer citizens are the source of the sovereign authority of the state. Unlike Kautilya’s people who were subjects of a monarch, Indian citizens have the fundamental right to be informed about all decisions taken in their name. This principle is reflected in Parliament’s intent of exempting Cabinet papers from disclosure only until deliberations are not completed. Today, under the RTI Act, all Cabinet decisions must be made public along with reasons and the materials that formed their basis, after the matter is complete or over. Nevertheless, the government has admitted in Parliament that it is again looking to tighten this exemption and make it harder to get other information as well to enable the “smooth functioning of the government”. The sugarcoated reply of the Minister for Personnel alludes to the possibility of holding stakeholder consultations before dismembering the Act. The government has tried this before but was stymied by public objections. Nonetheless, the juggernaut political establishment is not to be easily turned from its purpose of holding as much information to itself as it can. Outside of the tidbits released to the media, little information about Cabinet deliberations is let out and that too after a battle. Absurdly, even the very rules prescribing the procedure for Cabinet meetings are being deemed confidential and denied to the public. This matter is lying for determination before the Central Information Commission. We, the people of India, do not have the right to know, automatically, what topics are discussed by the very ministers who represent our interests in weekly Cabinet meetings. Access to their papers, post-deliberation — guaranteed in the RTI Act — remains a far cry. This Kautilyan state of affairs persists despite sage advice tendered by the Cabinet Secretary to all ministries during the initial days of UPA-II. It was made mandatory for all Cabinet proposals to show how information tools will be used for “ensuring transparency and accountability as well as reporting in the public domain”. Let alone monitor adherence to these guidelines, the Cabinet Secretariat has done little to practice within its domain what it preached. The only exception to this continuing regime of secrecy is the publication of the Government’s Transaction of Business Rules — albeit five decades late. What purpose would be achieved by further restricting access to Cabinet information, we do not know. Did RTI ever reveal sensitive Cabinet information to the detriment of the security of the state, the babus will not tell. Public statements from on high evidence the fact that obfuscation rather than candour is the preferred tactic to keep citizens hanging while the government goes about dismantling this most valued of laws bit by bit. In June last year, the government made the President of India tell Parliament that the RTI Act would be amended to strengthen disclosure of information in non-strategic areas. A public data policy was to be developed so that all this information would come easily into the public domain. Yet, when quizzed at the civil society consultation held in March this year, senior representatives of the Department of Personnel and Training had to admit that they had not even begun their homework to deliver on this promise. Why would they, when there are strong moves afoot to reveal as little as possible? Few people outside of the government know of the existence of a virtual body that exercises enormous influence on decision-making processes in the government at the Central and state level. Next only to the Cabinet in the hierarchy of decision-making, the Committee of Secretaries is perhaps the most inaccessible of entities to ordinary people. There is doubt whether it is even a juridical entity because no law, rule or regulation is available in the public domain that tells us anything about this body. Like the subatomic particle tachyon which is detectable only in motion but has no rest mass, this committee is known only through its decisions if and when placed in the public domain. Yet, all Cabinet notes must pass through this filter before reaching the Ministers. All agenda matters sent to their meetings by various Ministries are classified secret. Their meetings are not advertised nor are their minutes available to the taxpayer citizen who foots the bill for their salaries, the vehicles that ferry them to the meetings and the stationary and refreshments they use while doing their work. Is this indicative of the government’s “trust deficit” in its own paymasters? In India, no legislation or order compels the government to consult with the people before drafting laws they are required to obey. Barring a few spectacular examples of public consultation like that initiated by the Union Ministry of Finance on the Draft Direct Tax Code Bill, all lawmaking exercises take place within the Ministries in great secrecy. When a department thinks it has drawn up a draft law fit for the mandatory consultation with other ministries, it is circulated as a draft Cabinet note. That labeling keeps the entire legislative proposal out of bounds for citizens even under the RTI Act because it attracts the exemption granted for Cabinet papers. This secretive draft becomes public only when it is placed on the website of Parliament. The bureaucracy believes that people must voice their comments on any Bill through Parliament because that is the place for public debate. What public debate can take place if something as significant as the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 is passed within an hour of introduction in the Lok Sabha with less than 10 per cent MPs present and voting at 10 p.m.? We need more spaces to influence law making and policy framing than the bureaucracy is willing to open up for us. RTI is not merely about opening up government files to satisfy the hunger of the middle class for more and more information as a senior politician of the ruling coalition put it a few years ago. It is a means for creating a knowledgeable citizenry that is equipped to participate in the making of decisions that affect them. So when the second highest decision-making body in the country gets into a knot over how strong or weak the proposed legislation to protect whistleblowers should be, it advisable to open it up for public discussion. Instead discussions are happening at ministerial levels with utmost secrecy while their colleagues get busy crafting proposals to amend the RTI Act for making Cabinet papers more and more inaccessible. With a host of negative emasculating amendments on the anvil, a powerful political establishment, annoyed at the people’s temerity in asking for it to be accountable, is determined to make this revolutionary legislation pay for its amazing successes. We, the people, must resist the darkening of portals that are not adequately illuminated yet. Maja Daruwala is Director and Venkatesh Nayak is Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative, New Delhi |
|
Indus waters: Co-basin states must respond to initiatives
Sharing the waters of the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej rivers is often discussed in different fora and perceptions mostly expressed in state-specific context to address current concerns. There is a need to take a holistic view of water sharing. These rivers are part of a large Indus basin which extends over 11,65,000 sq km in Tibet (China), India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Drainage area within India is 3,21,289 sq km. Besides these three, other major rivers of the basin are the Indus itself and the Jhelum; both flowing through Jammu and Kashmir and also the Chenab having catchments in Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir. The basin covers the entire Jammu and Kashmir state, Himachal Pradesh (except small area draining into the Yamuna), Punjab, small parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh. Development of the river water resource in the basin is governed by the Indus Water Treaty, 1960 with Pakistan hitherto diligently followed by India and still has enough potential to create more storage in different sub-basins for full use of latter’s share. Utilisable water resource of the basin as a whole is otherwise well developed with above 80 per cent of it harnessed for consumptive and non-consumptive uses albeit part of the former regenerates downstream and the latter returns to the river system. A major part of it still flows to Pakistan; there is no basis for our neighbour to blame India for shortage of water. Focusing on issues within India, the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 regulates the supply of water and hydropower in the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi sub-basins to neighbouring states. There are other inter-state agreements signed from time to time by party states for specific purposes. These are mostly lopsided ignoring the genuine interest of upper riparian states. This needs rectification to uphold the principle of equitable sharing of water for social justice. Some of the lower riparian states are overdrawing water and mismanaging their share of canal supplies by excess irrigation thereby damaging the fertile land with salinity leading to low crop yield. The main rivers of the basin have their origin in snow clad mountains of Jammu and Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh and a couple of them in Tibet (China) flowing through deep gorges. But these hilly states of India face acute drinking water scarcity and shortage of irrigation, although major reservoirs are located in their river valleys. During summer months, a drought-like situation occurs almost every year and supply of water by tankers has become a common feature which certainly cannot go on for ever. The National Water Policy lays the first charge on drinking water followed by irrigation from any available source in the vicinity and these states are entitled to get legitimate share of water in each sub-basin. If they have surplus out of fairly appropriated share, the same can be traded with water deficit states in the larger national interest and the hill states can thus augment their limited financial resources. The water availability in the basin may not be the real problem at present, but inequity and inefficient management without looking at state-specific priorities and needs certainly is. Still, to clear the doubt often raised, an objective assessment of available water in different rivers can be made with reasonable accuracy using long-term data series to reaffirm the hydrologic status on account of changes in hydromet parameters over the years. To make it transparent, a mechanism for joint observation of flow at dam sites and storage of data can also be evolved for resolution of the contentious issues instead of persistent claims, apprehensions on data reliability and consequent nagging for more water by such states as are actually benefited the most. The basin states in the region should have easy access to such data. With the passing of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 relating to the Ravi-Beas waters, the state has made its intentions clear by dissociating from historical agreements. Himachal Pradesh does not figure anywhere in the allocation of Ravi-Beas waters though its large area is a part of these river systems contributing the major portion of the flow. In a way, this new Act augurs well for upper riparian states to claim their share as rightfully deserved and use or trade it in proportion to their drainage area and water yield. Ironically, the lower riparian states contributing only monsoon flow through seasonal streams and flashy torrents are more insistent on their self-assumed sole rights and claims than the mother states which perennially feed the rivers from snow melt. To rationally share and distribute the river waters on accepted riparian principle and constitutional provision vis-à-vis national water policy, it is time to review the hydrology of each sub-basin. Based on the latest review, the share of each basin state within Indian Union may be determined in proportion to drainage area and water yield of respective territory. For equitable distribution, release of water from jointly assessed annual storage in the reservoirs after accounting for inflow, outflow and related losses should be controlled by the state in whose territory the reservoir is located. The emphasis on changes in water sector governance, organisational reforms, preparation of master plan for each sub-basin, regulatory measures for efficient use of allocated share encompassing quantity as well as quality, integrated management information system is critical for sustained socio-economic development of the region. The co-basin states must respond to these strategic initiatives overcoming all other constraints for gearing up to meet new challenges. In decadal perspective, India may also have to explore the possibility of linking the Chandra river with the Beas, the Chenab with the Ravi and the Sutlej with the Yamuna as futuristic options for transferring shared water to ameliorate the growing scarcity condition. At prevailing growth rate, the capita water availability in this region of the Indus basin is expected to drop down to less than 1000 cubic meter by
2025. The writer is a former Chief Engineer, Central Water Commission and Chairman, Brahmaputra Board |
Power of democracy
The impact of both China’s and India’s rise has been transformative, to say the least. And yet, what China can do, India can’t as a democracy. China and India are not in the same league. China is seen as a strong state but it can’t handle peaceful protests by a small group of Tibetans, Uighurs and students except by rolling out tanks on the street. India deals with ethnic and sub-national violence by a combination of force and democratic dialogue. China can deploy force but can’t have the democratic dialogue. Like a Chinese vase, the state is strong but brittle. India sees democracy as a daily plebiscite. Demand for more power, more autonomy represents a daily interrogation of that existence. Democracy goes through frequent negotiations, compromises, failure of talks and accords. It is through constant churning that democracy matures. Handling billion-plus citizens with a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-lingual mix remains the core competence of India. The power of democracy has unleashed forces which have created newer and diverse stakeholders and claimants to the national cake. It is thanks to this power of democracy that the sleeping Indian elephant is trying to catch up with the flying Chinese dragon. Of course, China’s economic advance need not be belittled. China has emerged as a great power which is, in many ways, more important in the global pecking order than Europe and Japan. Hardly any global decision can be taken or a consensus built on any issue without China’s cooperation. These include BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China), developing five nations (BASIC + Mexico), G8+5 and G20. If we look at the world economies of the last eight years, the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries have contributed about half of the global growth. However, India has used its weight and clout to stall the entry of China into IBSA. The IBSA-Local Governance Forum provides a global platform for practitioners of local governance, civil society organisations as also academics to share their best practices. It is also meant as a vehicle for south-south cooperation as it seeks to promote democratic decentralisation, transparency of elections and streamlining service delivery. Such is the new global architecture of power that India and China and, for that matter, India and the US, have to simultaneously act as competitors and partners. India is moving into Africa and Latin America because China has moved in a big way. This is where India’s greater engagement with Brazil makes a lot of sense. Both the countries now have military attaches in their respective embassies. The two sides are jointly developing high technology military aircraft. Embraer, one of the largest aircraft manufacturers is already supplying aircraft being used by the VVIPs in India. India has also sold Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters to Ecuador. Some other countries in the region are considering defence collaboration with India. The ONGC/OIL have struck big deals in Latin America. China has moved in a big way in India’s immediate neighbourhood. It is working on grandiose trade routes connecting India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal. It is also building a rail link with Myanmar and Bangladesh. The Tibet rail network is also likely to be extended to Nepal. The less said about China’s overbearing presence in Pakistan, the better. India need not be rattled by China’s overshadowing presence in its neighbourhood but it needs to work out its own strategy to cultivate friends. India also needs to maintain its independence vis-à-vis the US. India’s refusal to toe Washington’s line on Iran is a step in the right direction. India has also done well not to take up the democracy promotion agenda despite the constant prodding from America. The international community has huge stakes in China’s and India’s rise. Reaching the Millennium Development Goals depends greatly on the success of these two Asian giants. India has made major advances in poverty reduction, expansion of education and health facilities, children’s health, sanitation and promotion of gender equality. China has done even better. But are these efforts enough? India seems to be slipping on many of the goals. What is indeed disheartening is that the global economic crisis, climate change and rising food prices will make the task even more difficult. There is need to go beyond human development index. Development should be seen as an expansion of human capabilities and freedoms. In measuring development, we need to factor in political freedoms, participation, empowerment and inclusion. As Amartya Sen has famously said, a democratic society, where people are free to make choices, is better equipped to tackle poverty. Many in India would prefer to be mildly poor but free than be confined to a gilded cage. Such is the power of
democracy. The writer is Associate Director, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi |
|
Profile
My story and philosophy can be said in three words — women, work and peace”, observed social activist Ela Bhatt after receiving Japan’s prestigious Niwano Peace Prize for 2010 which includes a medal and prize money worth $215,390. Tokyo-based Niwano Peace Foundation has been awarding the prize every year since 1983. Her selfless service was recognised in India and abroad and she was decorated with many awards. She says that a large section of women has been marginalised because they are Dalits, minorities, poor or illiterate. They want voice and visibility. They want to move from the margin to the mainstream.This prompted her to form the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). Ela ben, as she is popularly known, focused on the unorganised, peripheral and marginal workers in her home state, Gujarat, particularly Ahmedabad, rather than formulating a general workers’ union. Her whole concentration was on self-employed, among whom she saw totally different work culture. “Historically, culturally and traditionally—the way of earning ones livelihood in our country has been through self-employment. The employer-employee relationship came into picture later”, she says. Elaben, therefore, set about forming a union of unorganised workers and concentrated on self-employed women workers. The first struggle of SEWA members was launched in typical Gandhian way. In 1973, a woman who carried cloth on her head between Ahmedabad’s wholesale market and retail markets complained to the union that in the heat of May, she had to run back and forth between the wholesaler and the retailer with the head load. She was sent twice by the wholesaler to different retailers and both refused to accept the material. These women were also made to clean the vessels and fetch water for the traders without any payment. All the union members got agitated over this incident. Leading the agitation, Ela ben opened a manhole and put the cloth into it. People gathered and traffic was blocked. Merchants were forced to make a written agreement that if such incidents occur the workers would be paid twice. In yet another incident, Ela ben herself was assaulted. As far back as 1976, the Gujarat government announced minimum wages for the agricultural workers and she along with a senior union member visited a village to ensure that employers pay minimum wages in front of the Inspector. Holding out the threat to sack the workers, employers took back the extra amount from the workers and even used goons to assault them. Even Ela was not spared and beaten up. She organised agricultural workers and small farmers and got them their dues. A spectacular achievement of SEWA was having its own bank — SEWA Bank. At Ela’s initiative, SEWA set up its own back, collecting money through share capital and then approached the proper authority for registration. SEWA Bank was set up in 1974, given recognition and now has a working capital of over Rs 12 crore with a record payment rate of 96 per cent. The bank is fully self-reliant. Born in a privileged Brahmin family, Ela chartered an unusual path for a woman of her time. She earned a law degree and chose the man she would marry. She began her career as a lawyer for the city’s main union for textile workers, the vast majority of them men, and broke away in 1981 to create a new kind of union for women. She currently lives in Ahmedabad with her family, which includes her son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons. Her daughter is settled in US with husband, son and
daughter. |
|
On Record
The creation of a synthetic cell in a laboratory by American researchers has set off a wave of excitement among scientific community across the world. After 15 years of research, J. Craig Venter Institute has developed the first living cell to be controlled entirely by synthetic DNA. The construction of a bacterium’s “genetic software” and its transplantation into a host cell has thrown up many exciting possibilities. In an interview to The Tribune in Hyderabad, Dr Ch Mohan Rao, Director of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), India’s premier molecular research institute, spoke about the implications of the project and the ethical questions that it raises. Excerpts: Q: What does this development mean to biological research? A: It is a significant technological achievement. We have been replacing a small part of genome of variety of organisms but it is for the first time that the entire genome has been synthesised by chemical means which eventually took over the living process of the cell and become the sole genetic material of the cell. We can now design novel life forms and bring them to real life. India’s Haragobind Khurana was the first to synthesise a gene. What the US team has now done is that they have created a larger genetic sequence. This allowed the Man-made genome to control the life processes of the bacteria. Q: Will this pave the way for creation of “designer life forms”? A: Yes. The “designer life forms” are, however, going to be simple ones like bacteria or viruses. We have yet to understand lot of complex biology of higher organisms before taking up a complete artificial life form of complex multi cellular organisms. However, this technology is a double-edged weapon which can cut both ways. You can make cells that have great medical applications and you can also create toxins and biological weapons. The nations have to frame guidelines for proper use of such technologies in future. Some regulation is required. Q: What are its implications for India? A: A number of laboratories in India are working towards building minimal genome. The CCMB has proposed a project to make cell membranes and enzymes and application of artificial genome for producing therapeutically important molecules. A major benefit of this kind of work is that one can design bacteria for specific purposes and use them at industrial scale. For example, we can imagine making drugs, vaccines or even biological fuels using this approach. This technology can accelerate “synthetic biology” where entire pathways from any organism can be suitably modified, chemically synthesised and introduced in bacterial cell to produce desiredproduct. Q: In this case, the bacterial genome was created in the lab. Can one replicate a similar one in higher forms of species? A: Higher life forms have more complex and bigger genomes. The task of making such a large genome in test tube and putting back in cell to
express it is much more difficult. New technologies to handle large genomes for such purposes need to be invented. Q: In which areas can this technology (a fusion of biology and IT research) be applied? Reports say, designer algae and bacteria can have vast applications in vaccine and drug research and environmental management. A: This research has brought us closer to designer living forms that can function as per our specific need. It will take time for governments to make guidelines and society to accept such novel methods of making products of regular use. Q: There are fears that it can lead to bio-weapons and disastrous consequences of the Man trying to play God. A: It is too early to talk about which way the research will lead. Since there is a possibility of using the technology for designing biological weapons, there must be an agency to grant approvals. Q: Should India encourage research on synthetic cells? What is the best way to use such research and technologies for public good? A: The new research opens up new avenue for understanding how life processes work. This can be used for societal benefit. Several laboratories in India are already capable of carrying out this kind of research at present. We do not have to create “artificial life” but now that the methodology is known, we could make useful designs and alter large portions of genome of a bacteria to answer specific question related to basic biology or yield a desired
product. |
||
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
T
I
