The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Bhopal case retrial
Onus on CBI to convince apex court

Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling allowing the CBI’s curative petition to review its 14-year-old decision, in which it diluted the charges against seven accused in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy case, is welcome. Even though the apex court will take the final call about the retrial of the accused only after hearing the parties concerned, the ruling by a three-judge Bench consisting of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice Altams Kabir and Justice R.V. Raveendran is bound to give relief to all those who believe that the 1996 ruling by a Bench presided over by Justice A.M. Ahmadi was a miscarriage of justice. In its curative petition, the CBI argued that the September 13, 1996 apex court ruling — dropping charges against the accused under Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years — suffered from “errors apparent on the face of the record”.

The 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy is one of the world’s worst industrial disasters. Naturally, when the 1996 Bench had reduced the charges from culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 Part II IPC) to causing death by negligence (Section 304A IPC) on the seven accused, including industrialist Keshub Mahindra, there was public outcry. Worse, when the trial court had let off on bail all the accused with a sentence of two years under Section 304A in June this year, it shook the nation’s conscience. The Centre took note of the public sentiment and promptly constituted a Group of Ministers which, in turn, asked the CBI to file a curative petition seeking enhanced punishment for the accused.

The Supreme Court may have reopened the case, but it will order the retrial of the accused only if the CBI convinces it of the same. The accused could also seek dismissal of the curative petition on the ground that they cannot be forced to face retrial for no fault of theirs. The CBI would also need to explain to the apex court why it remained quiet for 14 years and why it filed a curative petition only after the trial court judgment on June 7, 2010.

Party knows best
MPs feel their lips are sealed

Parliament is one place where a people’s representative can raise his voice freely, right? Wrong. MPs in general are not quite so free to express their minds, according to a survey based on interviews with 100 serving and former MPs. It is the party which decides what they should say. And if an MP’s view is different from that of the party, he is made to keep his lips pursed. That is a serious matter indeed, considering that democracy is all about freedom of expression. Toeing the party line has been the undoing of the Indian Parliament many a time, most noticeably during the Emergency, and this trend must be reversed in the larger interest of the country. Ironically, MPs also feel that even when their viewpoint is in consonance with that of their parties, only a chosen few are allowed to participate in a debate.

The study titled “Democratic Quotient of the Indian Parliament”, which analysed MPs’ views on the basis of the toolkit developed by the International Parliamentary Union, makes two other significant points. One, it highlights the frustration of most of the MPs that it is not the quality of work that gets them elected. As many as 66 per cent felt that caste and religion tags impacted voters’ minds. It is an unfortunate fact of life that the Indian society is badly fragmented and even national parties choose their candidates on the basis of their caste and religion.

Two, it is becoming increasingly difficult for persons of average means to win an election. That is why the 15th Lok Sabha is the House of “crorepatis”, with full 58 per cent MPs having declared assets of over Rs 1 crore each. That puts a question mark on the representative character of Parliament. Can such people really safeguard the interests of the have-nots? These are vital questions which must be answered with sincerity if the Indian system of governance is to have vibrancy and vitality.

Thought for the Day

If the policy isn’t hurting, it isn’t working. — John Major

ARTICLE

India’s neighbourhood policies
The gap between promise and performance
by G. Parthasarathy

AS Ambassador to Myanmar, I had proposed in 1994 that, as Myanmar was interested in letting us develop the hydroelectric potential of the Chindwin river for the supply of between 1000 and 1500 MW of electricity to India, we should seek early implementation of this project, located close to Myanmar’s borders with Manipur. After some hesitation by the Ministry of Power, which claimed that there was surplus power in our Northeast, successive Prime Ministers supported early implementation of this project. The Myanmar government was advised about our intention to go ahead with its implementation.

Sixteen years later, we have not even finalised a detailed project report. There are now indications that in recent days China may have well tried to derail this project — a situation we could have avoided if we had acted more expeditiously. Delays in being unable to determine how we would transfer gas from an offshore field in Myanmar, in which both GAIL and ONGC had an equity stake, resulted in Rangoon deciding to supply gas to China.

While we may be able to tide over such developments in Myanmar, there now appear to be distinct possibilities that because of lack of attention, inertia and procrastination, we could well lose a historic opportunity to put our relations with Bangladesh on a sound footing. Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League swept to a decisive electoral victory in December 2008, winning 230 seats and securing a two-thirds parliamentary majority. Showing immense courage, Sheikh Hasina has declared Bangladesh a secular republic. She has overseen the signature of agreements with India on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, the transfer of sentenced persons, and combating terrorism. Anti-Indian Islamists from groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Harkat-ul-Jihad Al-Islami, apart from separatists like the ULFA’s Arabinda Rajkhowa and the NDFB’s Ranjan Daimari have been quietly put behind bars, though for understandable reasons. Bangladesh avoids publicising its actions. Pressures in Bangladesh have forced top ULFA leaders to flee to safe havens along the Myanmar-China border.

The visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Delhi earlier this year produced a broad road-map for future cooperation. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee visited Dhaka on August 7 and inked an agreement for extending a soft loan of $ 1 billion for 14 projects in Bangladesh. He proclaimed: “I am sure this credit line will be a stepping stone for a shared destiny and will transform our bilateral relationship.” The line of credit will finance projects ranging from railway lines and equipment to the dredging of rivers and the supply of buses. India has also agreed to supply 250 MW of electricity from its grid to Bangladesh. Our image and credibility will be seriously compromised if the promised electricity is not made available expeditiously.

Bangladesh has agreed to the transit of Indian goods across its territory to our Northeast for the Palatona power project. But, given the opposition to such transit within Bangladesh, India should fulfil its commitment of improving the road network from within Bangladesh to Tripura before it is accused of damaging Bangladesh roads for the transit of its goods. Moreover, the Indian bureaucracy has little enthusiasm for upgrading and modernising border crossing points in remote areas. This needs to be addressed. Politically, the agreement for India to construct a bridge across the Feni river to facilitate trade would dilute Begum Khaleda Zia’s anti-Indian rhetoric, as it would facilitate border trade through her constituency. After agreeing to a long-pending request from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh for according transit rights for Chittagong and Mongia ports, India has to fulfil its commitment expeditiously.

India has shown an overly protectionist attitude in its approach to SAARC neighbours like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka by placing key items of interest to these countries in a “negative list”, denying them duty-free access. This is short-sighted, given that we have a trade surplus approaching $3 billion with Bangladesh. It would be statesmanlike if India moves to expeditiously end the restrictions on the import of around 61 items of specific interest to Bangladesh. It is ridiculous to pretend that we are a rising economic power if we behave like an economic pygmy with smaller neighbours. There would be an immense political benefit if our Commerce Ministry acted to end these restrictions before the end of this year.

Sheikh Hasina is facing domestic criticism spearheaded by the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami for allegedly having sold out to India. She will have to show that relations with India are producing tangible and visible benefits for Bangladesh and that long-pending differences are being resolved. Under the 1974 Indira-Mujib agreement, India is required to hand over around 111 enclaves to Bangladesh and in return it will get 51 enclaves from Dhaka. It took us 18 years to lease a small corridor of land near Tin Bigha to Bangladesh, which we were required to do under the 1974 agreement. Barely 6.5 kilometres out of the 4096-km land border remains undemarcated. Measures need to be agreed upon so that the border is expeditiously demarcated.

The “Tin Bigha Corridor’ gave access in perpetuity to the Dahagram-Angarpota enclave and it was agreed during Sheikh Hasina’s visit that while Bangladesh would provide electrification to the affected population, India would build a flyover for unfettered Indian use while Bangladesh would use the ground under the flyover for its nationals. India should fulfil this commitment given by its Prime Minister immediately, given the sensitivity of this issue, which is seen as a litmus test of Indian seriousness and sincerity.

There are two factors which seriously undermine our ability to maintain a sustained effort in our relations with otherwise friendly neighbours like Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The first is the excessive importance and attention given to Pakistan which, as other neighbours believe, is at their expense. Surely, the time has come to realise, as Indira Gandhi realistically did, that relations with Pakistan are not going to materially change in a hurry and that on issues like trade and economic cooperation, we should stop giving the impression that we are yearning to get trade and economic concessions from our western neighbour.

A policy of “benign neglect” on economic issues and realistic and low-key political and diplomatic engagement is the only realistic way to deal with Pakistan. Secondly, there is need for a dedicated inter-disciplinary team at the Secretary level to seek imaginative ways for a forward-looking engagement with other neighbours. This team’s primary role can be to anticipate problems, assess opportunities and see that promises made by us are implemented, with the National Security Adviser and the Prime Minister constantly overseeing its work.

MIDDLE

Odds and ends
by Uttam Sengupta

It is not every day that you see a young man with no arms giving an award to another young man with no legs.

Yet, both of them were there in the photograph. Binod bending down with the certificate pinned on his shoulder with the side of his chin. And Sidikullah, who has lost the use of both his lower limbs, extending his arm to receive it.

One day in August every year, an unusual foundation honours such brave youngsters. Binod has not allowed the loss of his arms to come in the way of his sporting spirit. He is an ace swimmer and a footballer who dreams of playing in the big league.

Sidikullah cannot afford a rickshaw-ride to his school, which is 5 km from home. But he has not allowed his handicap to come in the way. The class XI student puts in a super-human effort every day to crawl to his school and back.

It is a tribute to the human spirit. The foundation identifies such cases , verifies them, sends representatives to check claims before inviting them to a glittering ceremony, where their stories are presented and they are put on the stage as role models, an inspiration to others.

Yours truly looked forward to this special day every year. For three hours and more, I and my wife would cry and smile at the same time, often giving standing ovations , along with the entire audience of some two thousand people, to the unusual men and women. Those three hours cleansed our soul and restored our faith in humanity, gave us the courage to take the day-to-day meanness in our stride.

This year we had to be content with looking at the photograph. But despite the distance, our eyes welled up with tears. Sidikullah’s story, said the newspaper report, moved a couple into promising the gift of a ‘rickshaw’, hopefully a mechanised one, to enable him to attend school.

Life does play tricks while dealing cards to people. Safi Alam Sheikh, a class XI student, lost his father even before he was born. The poor man was murdered. The widow, Safi’s mother, became mentally ill. And as if that was not enough, Safi himself was struck by polio and lost the use of one of his lower limbs. The only child is his own guardian. But he has not allowed the odds to cripple him. Safi, does odd jobs for a living and doubles up as a cook for one of the midday meal projects and , of course, attends his classes.

A few such people every year get lucky and are noticed. Many more obviously fight their own battles far away from the footlights. If only each of them can be lent a shoulder to lean on, how much better would this world be.

OPED - Urban Affairs

HOW TO CLEAN UP THE MESS IN CITIES
While launching the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the Prime Minister declared that it would be a city-based programme and that cities would move to the centre of the stage and take charge of their destiny. However, four years down the line, it is business as usual and the lustre of the much-acclaimed Mission has dimmed
K.C. Sivaramakrishnan

Infrastructure provision, location of economic activities, growth, spatial expansion and further demand on infrastructure are all parts of a growth cycle. Tribune photo: Mukesh Aggarwal

IN seminars and discussions, this writer has heard the remark that planning and projects are in inverse ratio. When there is no money, people start making plans but when money comes they plunge into projects and planning is forgotten. In a way this is what is happening with regard to the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Never before in India’s urban history has such a large programme of investment been undertaken covering 65 megacities, state capitals and other towns. In addition, the IDSMT (Integrated Development of Small and Medium Size Towns) launched during the Ninth Five Year Plan period refuses to die and has been rechristened as urban IDSSMT covering about 700 towns.

With a total bill exceeding Rs 100,000 core, half of it coming as a largesse from the Centre, the funds are adrenaline to consultants and contractors. Water supply, sewerage, sanitation and solid waste management are the staple items. Every one loves flyovers and there is ample provision for that. Genuflecting to the government’s declared policy of inclusive growth and Basic Services for the Urban Poor, comprising mainly the construction of dwelling units as well as upgradation of slums is a major component of the programme.

Several of the JNNURM cities are in tier II. For Chandigarh’s three projects in water supply, sanitation as well as 42,000 dwelling units for the poor, Rs 760 crore have been provided. Faridabad is getting Rs 770 crore for similar schemes. Dehradun’s allocation is about Rs 300 crore. Bhopal’s share is Rs 1400 crore including areas affected by the gas tragedy. Lucknow and Kanpur have an allocation of Rs 2,200 crore. This order of investment for a city’s infrastructure has not been seen before.

At the state level, compliance with the 74th Constitutional Amendment by assigning to the municipalities and corporations the various functions listed in the 12th Schedule and establishment of District Planning and Metropolitan Planning committees are important stipulations. There are specific requirements on earmarking of funds and serviced land for the urban poor.

There is nothing startlingly new or unique in the Agenda. It is essentially wisdom received from the past. Yet, the hope was that when sanction and release of funds is made contingent on compliance to the reforms agenda, things would happen. The Prime Minister declared while launching the Mission four years ago that it would be a city-based programme; that cities would move to the centre of the stage and take charge of their destiny. Four years down the line, the lustre of this shining declaration has dimmed. Except in some cases, business has continued as usual with parastatal organisations, accountable neither to the city nor to the citizens but only to themselves and their political masters, have continued to hold sway.

Let us look at what is happening in our neighbourhood. In Faridabad, the Corporation is the principal implementing body with the NBCC as its main contractors. In Bhopal, the corporation is in a similar position. In Chandigarh, after the formation of the Municipal Corporation, the responsibility for handling the JNNURM schemes is theirs, but not in neighbouring Mohali or Panchkula. In Lucknow and Kanpur, the UP Jal Nigam and the respective development authorities handle most of the work. So it is in Dehradun.

This division of responsibilities, rather the diminution of the municipal domain, is sought to be justified on the ground that corporations and the municipalities do not have the capacity to prepare or execute projects. Should capacity follow empowerment or should it precede?

Unfortunately, though the 73rd and the 74th Constitutional Amendments carry the simple prescription that these rural and urban local bodies should be institutions of self-government, adherence to this provision has been downplayed and distorted. At the same time, elections have been held as a mandatory requirement. The large number of the municipal corporators and panchayat members signify the arithmetical success of decentralisation but little beyond. The absence of functional and fiscal domain encourages these elected representatives to exercise power without responsibility.

The reluctance to levy house tax in Chandigarh is an obvious example. Given Chandigarh’s high per capita income and good level of services what is the justification for limiting property tax only to commercial and industrial premises but not residences? Are the citizens of other places like Mumbai, Bangalore or Hyderabad or even Delhi for that matter who do pay house taxes, children of a lesser god?

Punjab and Haryana found it was very convenient to abolish somebody else’s tax when they exempted residences from taxation a few years ago. So did Rajasthan and Haryana. In one of the few instances of firmness, the Union Ministry of Urban Development kept harping on property tax management as an important reform of the JNNURM agenda. All these states are now in the process of getting back to a house tax regime.

There is another dimension to what is happening in the tier two cities. Infrastructure provision, location of economic activities, growth, spatial expansion and further demand on infrastructure are all parts of a growth cycle. Faridabad as a complex stretches beyond its boundaries. Dehradun’s economy and employment is not confined to the Corporation boundaries but stretches towards Vikasnagar in the West and the airport to the East.

It was clearly foreseen that Mohali and Panchkula would be extensions and within a few years a larger urban complex would emerge. The Chandigarh Interstate Metropolitan Region was identified in 1998 itself, covering 2500 sq km and envisaging a staged development.

However, the process of taking a metropolitan view is still fraught with needless delays and disputes. Water supply is an important illustration and transport is another. When Chandigarh asked the RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Services) for a mass transit proposal, the project did suggest linking Mohali and Panchkula. Leaving technology choice aside even a simple common agreement to permit buses of the three jurisdictions to move about the metro area could not be reached until recently.

Today Chandigarh is not a babu’s domain. It has its range of institutions of regional and national importance. So do Mohali and Panchkula. All the three vie with each other in setting up industrial and trading centres. This is as it should be but without an agreed plan. In its absence, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), the Greater Mohali Development Authority and the Chandigarh Administration will all become public works empires pursuing their respective fiefdoms. Can the nation and the region afford this?

Jawaharlal Nehru had said let Chandigarh be “a new town symbolic of the freedom of India, unfettered by traditions of the past and expression of the nation’s faith in the future”. Can this vision be redeemed? Among others, the Administrator of Chandigarh who is also the Governor of Punjab is one of the persons with whom the answer may lie.

The writer, a former Secretary to the Government of India,Urban Development, is currently Chairman, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi

Master plans imperative
Sukhbir Singh Sandhu

WITH rapid urbanisation, the situation is becoming critical. Our Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), responsible for providing civic amenities, are plagued with many inherent problems. Due to high salary bills, unionism and poor work culture, these neither have funds nor efficient human resources for infrastructure development and maintenance services. Age-old manual systems are not able to handle the increasing workload and are also susceptible to manipulations.

Embezzlements and revenue leakages are very common, resulting in increasing litigation and huge loss to the ULBs. Mushrooming unauthorised colonies, with the connivance of officials and some politicians, also lead to more pressure on the ULBs for providing basic amenities. As a result, the ULBs are allowed to do only day-to-day fire fighting with no futuristic planning. The people are dissatisfied and don’t want to pay taxes to the ULBs. This vicious cycle leads to collapsing of the ULBs’ delivery system.

Not having Master Plan is a major reason for haphazard growth of cities in Punjab. Recently, the Punjab government has taken the pragmatic step of preparation of Master Plans for all the cities.

The ULBs’ ills are curable through innovative delivery models including Public Private Partnership (PPP) and active community participation. During this writer’s three-year tenure (1998-2001) as Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, many solution-driven approaches were successfully developed to invigorate the Municipal Corporation’s functioning.

We involved many senior and retired citizens, who wanted to contribute for the improvement of their neighbourhood. As the corporation did not have sufficient number of committed and effective staff, we channelised the energy and motivation of senior citizens and got dedicated ‘managers without salary’. Through community participation, we could solve the problems of park management by setting up ‘Parks Management Committees’, and cleanliness through ‘Neighbourhood Sanitation Committees’. All these efforts fructified in saving 85 per cent of expenditure, reduced workload, beautiful parks, no absenteeism, much better sanitation and no unionism.

We also introduced many innovative yet simple practices i.e. night sweeping in congested areas, night transportation of garbage, more tricycles in place of wheel barrows, etc. Advertisement hoardings were allowed to put up on BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) basis to conceal the garbage containers led to cleanliness and more income.

Unlocking the value of land was the other major breakthrough as we were able to unearth 820 hidden properties worth Rs 190 crore by reconciling 50-year-old revenue records and computerisation of land inventory. The setting up of efficient Management Information System through computerisation of most functions of the corporation further led to discovery of arrears of crores of rupees, saving of substantial manpower cost, making manipulations and interference impossible, less revenue leakage, proper backup of records and quick delivery system. Financial tools such as ‘Zero Base Budgeting’ were introduced to avoid inflated estimates and cut wasteful expenditure. Special emphasis was given to detect underassessment of taxes in the property tax.

With the help of all these measures, the total and capital budget of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation increased by 221 per cent and 744 per cent respectively in three years. The corporation built three flyovers and an elevated road (the country’s longest at that time) with its own funds. It funded the 2001 National Games in Ludhiana. These initiatives won the citizens’ confidence and enhanced the corporation’s credibility. People started paying taxes willingly.

Since any upward tariff revision punishes the honest taxpayer, before introducing such tariff revision, we need to plug the physical and financial leakages and widen the tax base. Most politicians oppose tariff hike. Though the upward revision should be the last resort, experience shows that people are ready to pay, provided efficient and credible services are provided.

The PPP is well tested in Punjab for development of physical and social infrastructure. A special drive is required to accelerate various PPP models in providing the basic civic amenities. Sometimes, positive judicial activism also helps in taking some tough decisions which are good for the city.

Political interference and favouritism is prevalent in the ULBs’ functioning. Many politicians, by taking advantage of our weak systems, go out of the way to appease voters by preventing proper law enforcement. These wrong practices discourage our enforcement staff leading to further mess in the city management.

Surat became India’s cleanest city only after the plague. Are we not capable of taking right decisions without a crisis even after 63 years of Independence? A paradigm shift in approach is required between officials, politicians and citizens. Instead of fighting with and blaming each other, we should join hands and fight the weaknesses in the system to have a better quality of life in our cities.

The writer, a senior IAS officer, is Managing Director, Punjab Infrastructure Development Board and Additional Principal Secretary to the Punjab Chief Minister