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A Tribune Special
Fight against corruption: the role of ombudsman |
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Naxalites get killed, Naxalism lives on Profile
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Fight against corruption: the role of ombudsman The Karnataka government has finally given the power to the Lokayakta to take suo motu cognizance of allegations of corruption against any official up to the rank of the Chief Secretary, but the Chief Minister, ministers and MLAs have been kept beyond the purview of the institution. Justice N. Santosh Hegde (retd.), Lokayukta of Karnataka, put the state BJP government in the dock by resigning from his post, blaming it of “indifferent attitude” on corruption. However, the top leadership of the BJP was quick to discern the growing tide of public opinion against the state government, and L. K. Advani stepped in to control the damage and successfully persuaded him to withdraw the resignation. The state government has conceded his one demand and class I and senior officials have been brought within the ambit of the Lokayukta’s jurisdiction. However, the rationale behind leaving the elected representatives out of bounds is not understandable. The fight against corruption will be meaningless if no effort is made to extirpate political corruption, which is the fountainhead of all maladies. However, Hegde’s resignation, which was subsequently withdrawn, has brought the issue of corruption, particularly illegal mining in Karnataka, to the centre-stage. Surprisingly, the Congress party, which made the Lokayukta’s resignation a big issue to nail the state government, is against giving “too much power to one person”. Though Hegde has withdrawn his resignation, he categorically told DDNews that he did not have confidence that he would get cooperation from the state government in his fight against corruption. The office of the ombudsman must be bequeathed adequate power if it is to be a watchdog against corruption. Unfortunately, neither the Union government nor any state government is willing to strengthen the institution. In 2004, Dr Manmohan Singh had boldly declared his intention to set up the office of the Lokpal and had even said that even the Prime Minister would come under his purview. It is reliably learnt that the Prime Minster had even asked a former Chief Justice of India to stay back in Delhi for the new assignment, but his allies like Lalu Prasad and Sharad Pawar vetoed the proposal. One positive outcome of the unsavoury episode of Hedge’s resignation is that the Union government is mulling over bringing Central legislation to effect sweeping changes in the ambit and functions of the ombudsman’s office besides vesting it with constitutional status and making it a multi-member body like the Election Commission with more powers. It is necessary to make the office of Lokayukta uniform across the country. It is proposed to be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or a high court chief justice and consist of the state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator. They will be appointed by a collegium of the chief minister, the leader of the Opposition in the state legislative assembly and the Chief Justice of the high court of the respective state. Central legislation is essential to make the institution permanent, not contingent on the mercy of the state government. So far, 17 states have set up the institution, but there are pronounced differences in their respective pieces of legislation with regard to their powers, functions and jurisdiction. While some states have not appointed Lokayuktas, in others the holder of this post is more or less toothless. In some states, the Lokayuktas complain of inadequate staff and poor infrastructure while in others the requests for the sanction of prosecution or recommendation are gathering dust in the cupboards of the state governments. The office of ambudsman was introduced on the recommendation of the First Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) headed by Morarji Desai. Acting on the recommendations, the Centre tabled a Bill in Parliament in 1968 providing for such an institution. However, the Bill lapsed following the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. Since then, the legislation for the Lokpal at the Centre has been tabled at least eight times, the last being in 2001, but every time it lapsed with the dissolution of the House. The Second ARC, headed by M. Veerappa Moily, recommended giving the Lokayukta more powers to investigate corruption. However, in 2008, Parliament diluted the Prevention of Corruption Act through an amendment which virtually nullified the powers of the prosecuting agencies, including the Lokayukta. The question is how to combat and contain corruption. The government has made discriminatory provisions under which senior officers are protected and only petty officials are subjected to investigation and prosecution. It is precisely against this that Justice Hegde fulminated who could not investigate allegations against officers in class I rank and above. If a class II officer is guilty how can he be exculpated on promotion into class I? At the Centre also, the government protects the officers in the rank of joint secretary and above for whom sanction is required from the appointing authority to prosecute them. It was done through single directive, which was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Vineet Narayan case. The Supreme Court has held that corruption is like cancer which malignises the polity and spreads like a fire in jungle. Corruption in public life, as the apex court observed, is a gross violation of human rights. It is anti-people, anti-development and anti-national. The office of ombudsman must be strengthened to fight the canker of corruption. After all, the ombudsman is subject to the jurisdiction of the court. So, powers needed for the effective functioning of the office must be vested in it.
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Naxalites get killed, Naxalism lives on
If action is intended by any force, there should be complete preparation, though basically Naxalism is not a law and order problem, but that of economic, socio-political injustices, exploitation and of neglect of the helpless. The loot and exploitation of these helpless people by itself amounts to financial terrorism against them and Naxalism is thus only a reaction that becomes a very strong ideology and philosophy for getting justice and bread to the exploited and the impoverished. But when the movement is hijacked by political interest groups and senseless indiscriminate violence follows, it transforms into a condemnable terrorist activity that has to be tackled as a law and order problem and the police becomes relevant, though as a last resort.
People may reconcile with poverty as their fate and continue to live with it peacefully as they did for generations in the past, but it is difficult to reconcile with the sense of exploitation and loot. The young have great revulsion to being exploited. The organised massive loot of the area is in the mining of various ores. Actually opulence that should come to the area with minerals has become their bane. As unskilled illiterate labourers they hardly get jobs and even if some lucky ones do get they are paid very little, whereas they lose their titles to the land. The state gets very little as royalty and as such cannot look after them for paucity of resources.
What should be done
At a meeting of the chief ministers of the Naxal-hit states chaired by the Prime Minister on July 14 it was decided to have unified Centre-state commands, set up 400 more police stations and arrange helicopters for back-up sup[port to police operations. In addition, the following steps may be taken:
Develop clusters (a) Acquire an area 3 km long and 3 km wide and enclose it with security walls (b) Provide tents or other accommodation and invite people in the Maoist-infested areas to come and live here. (c) Build primary/middle schools, hospitals and provide essential services d) Construct a township in about 2,250 acres, with housing in 600-1,200 acres for 50,000 to 1,00,000 people; institutional infrastructure in 250 acres and earmark 800-1,400 acres for industries. e) Once houses are ready, allot them to those living in tents. f) Simultaneously start work on one or two pilot industrial projects in either private or public sector followed by ancillary industries to provide employment. These will attract more settlers and wean more people from the fold of terrorists. 2. Farming:
Part of the population should take to farming near the township. Farmers should move to farms under police protection. This will be for a time until the bulk of the people abjure the path of violence 3. Dairy and poultry:
Dairy and poultry farming should be encouraged on the periphery of the township within the walls in a big way not only for their own consumption, but also as industry to generate employment. Marketing could be arranged by state agencies. Once these arrangements pick up, the recruiting ground for Maoists will dry up automatically. These clusters will attract more and more people to leave Maoists and adopt a settled life as no one longs to die if one can live honourably. Action against Maoists There should be clarity in the government. No force can fight the militants with an uncertain mandate. There should be a collection of authentic intelligence on a continuous basis by more than one agency and there should be arrangements for sharing and cross-checking information. An ideological onslaught has to be planned in advance. The strategy has to be updated as per the ground conditions. Train the forces in the use of weapons, field craft, tactics, collection of intelligence, conduct of negotiations etc. Train government officials deployed in the area in progressive agricultural and rural operations so that they can win the trust of the people. The offensive should be undertaken with full preparations. Before that only hold-up operations should continue.
The cost of mining, say iron ore, including the royalty and transport, is within Rs 500 at the most, whereas on reaching the factory the relevant international price has ranged from $60 (Rs 2,700) to $200(Rs 9,000) per tonne during the last few years. That generates a surplus of Rs 2,200 to Rs 8,500 per tonne on the 300 million tonnes of ore that is mined. That amounts to a surplus of Rs 66,000 crore at the minimum and Rs.2,55,000 crore at the highest price that the ore has commanded. On an average it works out to an annual surplus of Rs 1,60,500 crore that is pocketed by the miners. The moot point is whom does it belong to. It certainly does not belong to the miners. This surplus belongs either to the nation or the tribal people. They feel exploited and cheated. If only the rates of royalty were 90 per cent of the international price of the ore, a problem would not have arisen for the reason that first the state would have enough resources to look after them and develop the area, and secondly, genuine business people would have come mining and stayed like that instead of mafia taking over. It is correct that the terrorists cannot stand before the might of the state. In the process a few hundred or even a few thousand would be killed, others would be subdued and lie low, licking their wounds. The problem will appear to have been solved, but hunger, deprivation and the feeling of exploitation will compel new ones to rise again. A few years later there will be another buildup and fire will have to be doused again and again. It happened in Bengal in 1977 when Naxalites were supposed to have been eliminated, but in 30 years Naxalism is back with a vengeance. It appears the forces may kill Naxalites, but not Naxalism. At that time it was difficult to rebuild and stand again, but now with technological and infrastructural developments, it is easy to build up quickly and our neighbours are too eager to fuel the fires. In future a fresh buildup may not take even a decade. Will the nation ever remain embroiled in these exercises? In the seventies it was in 2 or 3 districts of West Bengal. In 1990 it was in 16 districts spread over four states. Now we face in over 200 districts spread over 16 states, a decade later it may be 400 districts or more (as one can see the next onslaught coming on in Rajasthan). At that stage no forces would be able to contain if tens of crores of people will be prepared to die for roti, kapda aur makan. Perhaps these are the last and final warning signals that we cannot afford to ignore. There is another very serious aspect that was brought out the other day by the Home Minister of Maharashtra that Maoists collect Rs 2,400 crore annually from miners and other business/industrial groups as protection money. The DGP of Chhattisgarh had also estimated similar figures that came out of interrogation of those apprehended. The prospective base of recruitment has to be curtailed and for this youth of the area has to be weaned from the Maoist/Naxalite path and for this the basic causes will have to be addressed. This is a problem of non-governance, bad governance, bad administration and the resultant injustices that have been handed down in the administrative and economic fields in particular over the decades. In Mizo Hills the movement started in 1959 in the face of a severe famine with a simple demand for food that resulted in the formation of the Mizo Food Front. When this simple demand was not met and the alternative was starving to death, they converted the organisation to the Mizo National Front in October 1961 and declared rebellion. As against the Mizos who were neglected for food alone, people of areas like Dantewada are deprived of their land, jungles, home and hearth ostensibly for economic development of the nation. If it is for the national good and these resources will be put to higher economic uses and the industry is literally going to mine gold from here, why can`t they be compensated adequately and comprehensively? An all-out programme of development in the fields of education, economic activity, housing and industrialisation should be undertaken. Money is no problem as the government is already throwing hefty amounts in a variety of schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the National Rural Health Mission and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. With the recent revision in the rates of royalty Chhattisgarh may collect Rs 2,000 crore more this year. Additional resources can be raised up to Rs 20,000 crore if the royalty rates are suitably raised. Development and rehabilitation work need not wait for either the talks with the militants or the police action but should be undertaken immediately as in any case it is the duty of the government to make lives of the citizens economically viable, equip them with academic and other tools to stand on their own, to provide them safe and secure modern facilities and a congenial environment for
growth.
The writer is a former DGP, of Haryana
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Profile
The
Defence Institute of High Altitude Research was the brainchild of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was set up in 1962 at Leh at the height of 3,500m above the sea level. The institute through its pioneering research and development efforts over the years has brought about perceptible qualitative and quantitative changes in agriculture, animal husbandry and cold desert flora of Ladakh. It was, therefore, the proud moment for India when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh honoured Dr Shashi Bala Singh with the Scientist of the Year award. Shashi Bala is an eminent woman scientist and the Director of the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh. She has immensely contributed to the understanding of high-altitude physiology and pioneered the development of drugs that prevent dreadful diseases at such dizzy heights. High-altitude maladies include cognitive impairment. Having taken over as the Director in 2007, she has taken the institute to new heights by not only improving agro-animal research standards in the lab, but also augmenting “laboratory-to-field” research through training programmes for local farmers on the technologies developed. These efforts have led to a synergy and harmony between the troops stationed in the Ladakh sector and the local population, thus contributing to internal security of the region. Besides, she has pioneered research on non-conventional energy sources, permafrost-based germ plasma conservation, climate change mitigation and development of herbal interventions for improving performance at high altitudes. In recognition of these multi-dimensional research efforts that have shown the monotonous, white, uninhabitable and barren mountain terrains of Ladakh the colour of green and a light of hope, DIHAR, under the leadership of Shashi Bala, has received the Spin-off Award in 2008, the Titanium Trophy in 2009 and the Innovation of India Award, 2010. At present, Shashi Bala is the only woman Director heading a DRDO lab. She obtained her M.Sc and Ph.D in physiology from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 1980 and 1986, respectively. She joined DRDO at the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, Delhi, in 1990. She has right experience in the field of high-altitude human physiology. She took up the challenge to find out the solution of hypophagia at high altitudes and conducted human trials at altitudes above 3,500m to understand the neuron-physiological basis underlying the problem. She has also developed a method for ameliorating hypophagia by taking ginger-based appetisers before meals. Anyone visiting Ladakh for the first time can be left gasping for breath due to low oxygen levels at high altitudes of the region. But a successful plantation drive has brought about environmental changes — raising oxygen content by 50 per cent and, most unusually, making it rain. Ladakh, which used to depend on imported vegetables from Chandigarh, now produces 78 varieties of these and is about to meet 58 per cent of its vegetable needs. “We have now 78 varieties of vegetables being produced by the locals here. We have given various greenhouses to the Army and locals for horticulture. We have been able to produce 13 types of apple here with the collaboration of scientists and local farmers,” says Dr Shashi
Bala.
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The exploitation of the helpless by miners amounts to financial terrorism against them. Poverty is acceptable, but not the loot. The government strategy to counter Naxalism should be: Stick for the Maoists, carrot for the tribal people
