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Sycophancy in Congress
Managing perishables |
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Unsafe roads
Internal security challenges
Generally speaking
Merits and demerits of ‘outsider’ CJs Corrections and clarifications
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Sycophancy in Congress
THE decision of the Congress units in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to leave it to party President Sonia Gandhi to nominate their office-bearers, including state chiefs, shows that the grand old party of the country continues to suffer from the ailments it was found to be afflicted with when she took up the reins of party administration 11 years ago. Sadly, it even today remains dependent on the Nehru-Gandhi family for its survival both at the state and national levels. The party has not been able to get rid of the culture of sycophancy it has been known for. Otherwise there is no reason why a state unit has to lean on its top leader for getting its office-bearers. The Congress can never hope to have inner-party democracy if it functions in this manner. The Congress delegates in Haryana and Himachal found the easy way out to pass unanimous resolutions asking Mrs Gandhi to nominate their state unit chief and other office-bearers. Clearly, the idea is to please Number One Janpath so that the interests of the state-level leaders well-entrenched today are not threatened. It is not their problem if the party gets a bad name in the process. The way leaders in the three states concerned have been competing with each other to express their loyalty to Mrs Gandhi shows that they are the least bothered about anything other than their servility to the Nehru-Gandhi family. If Mrs Sonia Gandhi wants to ensure that the party remains in the pink of health and does not suffer erosion in its following, she should ask the state units to elect their office-bearers through a democratic process instead of asking her to impose her wish on them. Imposition of leaders from Delhi can harm the party’s interests in the long run. Such a practice will ultimately weaken the party from within. Congressmen and women should prove that they are loyal to the party and not to any individual, whosoever he or she may be. They should be committed to protecting the ideals associated with the party and nothing else. The Congress party’s credibility has suffered considerably from the culture of sycophancy, and it is time they mended their ways.
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Managing perishables
India is the world’s largest producer of fruits and vegetables after China. It accounts for 16 per cent of the world’s vegetable production and 10 per cent of the fruit production. Yet their share in the global food trade is less than 2 per cent. The exporters of fruits and vegetables have heavy odds stacked against them. First, these are perishable goods and must reach the consumer before the rot sets in. To ensure the timely delivery of perishables the requisite infrastructure is lacking. There are not enough cold storages, particularly near airports and ports. Transportation is expensive and not without delays, given the traffic bottlenecks. In the face of such constraints the withdrawal of the Amritsar-London-Toronto flight by Air India is bound to cause consternation among exporters. Poor road and air connectivity is one of the key factors responsible for the slow growth of exports of perishables like flowers, fruits and vegetables from India. Taking these to Delhi will add to the exporters’ cost. There are other hurdles like inadequate storage, poor supply chain, logistics and processing facilities. While in the developed world 60 to 80 per cent of the produce is processed, in India processing is as low as 6 per cent. As a result, the post-harvest losses are huge. According to official figures, 72 per cent of the fruits and vegetables go waste. Though the foodgrain wastage has attracted the attention of the Supreme Court that has forced the government to undertake some corrective action, the neglect of fruits and vegetables has by and large remained unnoticed. The massive post-harvest losses raise the cost of production for the grower and the retail price for the consumer. Orchards are raised mostly in areas where irrigation is uncertain. Productivity is also low. Some of these issues have been addressed in the “Vision 2015 Strategy and Action Plan” the government adopted in 2005. However, since the results have not been satisfactory, more needs to be done. |
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Unsafe roads
Every day, nearly 300 people die on Indian roads because of accidents, and more than 5,000 people are seriously injured. The Global Status Report on Road Safety, published by the World Health Organisation, has highlighted the rising number of road traffic fatalities in the nation, which, last year, had the dubious distinction of reporting the highest number of deaths in road accidents worldwide, over a lakh and a quarter every year. In a country where there is a vehicular crash every three minutes and a death every six minutes, any effort to focus attention on road safety is welcome. Thus, the Punjab government’s move to make speed governors mandatory in all buses and goods carriers plying in the state is to be welcomed. Speeding is a leading cause of road accidents, and, as is now widely acknowledged, running vehicles at moderate pace not only saves lives, it also saves petroleum and is thus economical. The WHO maintains that over 90 per cent of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low-income and middle-income countries, which have only 48 per cent of the world’s registered vehicles. Almost half of fatalities are vulnerable road users — pedestrians, cyclists, riders of motorised two-wheelers and their passengers. Controlling speed will significantly reduce road traffic injuries among these people. While speed governors will help, effort also needs to be made to address other causes of accidents. Unlicensed drivers, and those with licences who don’t know how to drive are a menace on a par with those who get behind the wheel while intoxicated. Many do not follow traffic laws, often because there is no one to enforce them. The traffic police should post adequate number of personnel, while various local bodies should make the effort to mark speed limits and provide other traffic signs in a proper and effective manner. The drivers should be considerate towards their own safety and that of others who share the road with them. Unsafe driving can maim people and even take their lives. Safety saves, while the cost of negligence is too high. |
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The finest plans are always ruined by the littleness of those who ought to carry them out, for the Emperors can actually do nothing. — Bertolt Brecht
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Internal security challenges
India’s internal security has become a major area of concern. Maoists’ activities have increased substantially. According to Home Minister P. Chidambaram, 223 districts across 20 states (out of a total of 636 districts in 28 states and seven Union Territories) are thus affected. A situation of “consistent violence” exists in about 400 police station areas of 90 districts in 13 states. The Maoists have threatened that they would “expand their activities to wider areas, mobilise wider masses, gather new momentum and get new dynamism” in the wake of multi-state counter-insurgency operations launched against them. In recent months, no week has passed without an armed encounter or a casualty. In 2009, there were 998 fatalities, 312 of them police personnel. The fatalities this year have already crossed 885, which include over 200 policemen. The number of policemen who have laid down their lives is very large when compared to the success achieved in such encounters. In J & K, militant activities have been curtailed substantially although jihadi terrorists’ attempts to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir continue. More worrisome, however, is the public order, which has become extremely fragile on account of upsurge in street protests, stone pelting by mobs and casualties due to firing by security forces. According to available statistics, while terrorist attacks have been on the wane, 68 civilians have died in security forces’ action till date this year as compared to 11 in the whole of 2009. At a time when the policemen in Kashmir are dealing with violent mobs on a regular basis and facing criticism over the large number of civilian deaths, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has acknowledged that “policing” in the country has become increasingly complex. While addressing a conference of senior police officers on August 26, he said, “Social tensions, religious disputes, economic disparities and regional, linguistic and ethnic differences have long been major challenges to effective ‘policing’ in India. But, of late, the growing presence of non-state actors, fundamentalist groups and Left-wing extremists has further complicated matters. The growing interlinking of the destabilising and criminal forces across states and across our borders call for far greater vigilance and coordination between the security agencies than ever before.” The spectrum of law and order situations that police personnel face today has increased in quantity, intensity and complexity. Several organisational and systemic measures have been taken to revamp India’s internal security architecture in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. These include transparent police recruitment, a crime and criminal tracking network, community policing, a national database grid, establishment of NSG hubs in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai and a unified national counter-terrorism centre. A scheme of Rs 4185 crore is being implemented for the modernisation of Central police forces and their capabilities. Large Central police organisations of over six lakh personnel having 354 battalions (of which 220 battalions are meant for border guarding duties) have been set up, and some more are in the offing. In that, the burden of electioneering duties and dealing with low and high-intensity internal security situations (from street protests and anti-terrorist actions in J&K to Maoist insurgencies) is mostly shouldered by the state armed police, the Central Reserve Police Force and other such forces. It is apparent that in their rapid expansion in recent years, adequate attention has not been paid to various aspects of human resource development, thus forgetting the famous statement that “the man behind the gun is always more important than the gun”. It is common to see the Central police forces quite literally being flown from one operational situation to another. While switching roles and missions, they do not undergo any orientation and induction training and are placed under the command of the officers whom they do not know. Till date, we have not heard of any police doctrine (or standard operating procedures) which would organise, equip and prepare them for their different roles and missions. For example, the Army doctrine on providing assistance to the civilian authorities for the maintenance of law and order lays down clearly that troops must work on the well-established principles of “good faith”, “use of minimum force” and “prior warning to the people” when compelled to take action. However disciplined and dedicated a police team may be, it cannot be expected to give its best if it is shifted so frequently from electioneering duties to maintaining law and order in J&K and handling counter-insurgency situations in the Maoist-affected areas without adequate induction briefing, training and orientation. Also, when working on different doctrinal missions, these forces have to be organised and equipped with appropriate weapons, including those of the non-lethal variety, to avoid civilian casualties due to panic or premature firing. Yet another problem in law and order and insurgency situations being faced currently is due to policemen and Army personnel wearing similar combat uniforms and badges of rank and being clubbed as “security forces”. This has neutralised the impact of “appropriate and graduated response” in law and order situations as most people cannot differentiate between the police forces and the Army. While synergy is desirable, the Army must be used and be seen to be used as the “instrument of last resort” while dealing with such situations. Strangely, it was not any professional but the Prime Minister who pointed out that “We cannot have an approach of one size fits all. For instance, I understand that instead of a single standard sequence for the use of force, other countries have put in place procedures that vary according to the specific needs in different situations.” The Prime Minister also lamented that most states were yet to adopt the template for a transparent and objective recruitment process circulated by the Home Ministry. Here, I may add that the states have also failed to implement the Supreme Court directives on essential police reforms such as the selection of the DGP from a panel, fixation of tenures and the establishment of an institutionalised system to make police transfers and postings immune from day-to-day political interference. In conclusion, it must be stated that making police forces more efficient and effective is only a part of the holistic measures required to deal with insurgencies, large-scale street protests and other internal security problems. The states and the Centre need to provide dedicated and effective governance through good administration, a prompt and fair judiciary and a law and order machinery that inspires public confidence.
The writer is a former Chief of Army Staff.
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Generally speaking
Taking my bath I am informed that a ‘Gernal Saab’ has come to meet me. “Who,” I shout from the shower. “He says he is a gernal,” the domestic help announces. “What the bloody hell,” I start murmuring. Such a high rank and he can’t even inform me on the mobile. Simply walks in. Without even realising I have to rush to office within minutes. Retired fellas! I stagger to the dressing room and slip into what is wearable for the office. Shouting for the footwear, I climb down the stairs to make an ‘unwelcome General’ appreciate my disgust. Slouched in the black sofa, he wishes me a ‘Good Morning’. He can very well read my not so charitable expression for he has seen life. “I am in a great trouble and you need to help me out, being a good neighbour. Look, I cannot rush to the police posts,” he continues. “I lost my identity card. I have searched everywhere. Even wife’s help did not help,” he concludes. I have a flashback, when I see the General visiting posts, being presented with guards-of-honour-flags, stars and medallions. I can see officers and men, looking up to him. His identity of being a soldier appears sharper to me. I gather myself to face him with a smile now. “Is that all, sir!” I ask him, being a little mellowed. I experience sobering of my enraged sensibilities. Immediately, I send for the officer-incharge in the police post closeby, who promptly arrives. I tell the officer that General Sahib wants a loss report recorded and a copy of it. The officer prepares to leave when I call him again to tell him: “The copy of the report has to be delivered at his residence. And in 15 minutes!” “Ho jayega huzoor”, he assures me and marches out. The General is neither amazed nor amused, for he knows the triviality of the issue. I give him a full smile. He returns it with a big ‘Thank you,’ and seeks leave of me. I follow him up to his car, open the car door and wait till he is comfortably seated. I feel he is a General once again. His private car moves. The General looks at me with his astute face and looks, that he donned all those years, when he himself wore the uniform. I keep standing at the iron-gate of my house, behind which stays a man of equally ‘ironic’ elements. My footwear is brought to me. I wear the shoes and psychologically feel that somehow they are too big for me. And that I need to size up with them. Then only shall I deserve them, not as an officer of a force, but as a humble servant of the people-always ready and willing to offer his services. All this happened only a day after Independence Day. Needless to say, I must learn to behave. Thank you,
General!
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Merits and demerits of ‘outsider’ CJs CJ is the very soul of the High Court
THE practice of having Chief Justices from outside is having a negative effect. The Chief Justice is not a computer; he is the very soul of the High Court. A Chief Justice from outside is not even familiar with the names of the advocates practising in the High Court he has been transferred to. How does he function? A local Judge has his own advantages. He knows the Bar. And if there are misunderstandings with some of the members, he is in a position to informally sort them out in the larger interest. RAJINDAR SACHAR, Former Chief Justice,Delhi High Court The system has failed
to select the best
THE entire transfer policy which originally had a purpose of having one-third judges from some other high courts has totally collapsed and the policy itself has come to an end. The appointment of Chief Justices was part of the transfer policy. The transfer of a CJ from one state to another for a very short period of time is often engineered to bring certain people to the Supreme Court. This is not a correct approach. Puisne Judges should be elevated in their own courts as also to the Supreme Court. There may be puisne judges who are of distinction who may often be overlooked and will not get a chance based on both seniority and merit. Transferred CJs are often unfamiliar with the state and sometimes lose interest, waiting to be transferred to the Supreme Court. Therefore, in qualitative terms, the best Judge familiar with the state is not appointed as CJ of that state. The appointment of CJs has become a merry-go-round which is entirely whimsical and often punitive. This is unacceptable whatever is the laudable purpose of the policy. The present system has neither elevated the best judges to be in command nor produced the best catchment for selection to the Supreme Court. The best method is to equalise the retirement age of High Court and Supreme Court Judges so that all this manipulation and mad rush come to an end. Rajeev
Dhavan, CJ from outside has
no enemies
THE transfer policy has both merits and demerits. The person appointed to the post of Chief Justice of a High Court, who is an outsider, does not have friends or enemies, nor does he have any pre-conceived notion. He would not have any senior or a junior with whom he has worked. He does not have relatives nor does he know the relatives of other judges. While these are the merits, there are demerits too. For instance, the CJ does not have personal experience of the members of the Bar practising in the HC which is a handicap for recommending names for appointment as Judges. He doest not know the district court judges — how good or bad they are. The present system is not bad. The problem is one of working the system and everything depends upon the people who are manning the system. In fact, many times members of the Bar are very happy with the fact that the CJ is from outside. He does not have any prejudices or pre-conceived notions about the fellow colleagues, about members of the Bar and about the subordinate judiciary. There are many outside CJs who have come very popular at the new place. Similarly, there are many CJs who have become unpopular. On the whole, this system should be continued subject to improving upon the functioning of the CJs at the new place. P.H.
PARIKH, Judicial Commission,
the only panacea
THE issue is complex. Outside CJs are not the most desirable thing. But in the present situation, it is the least of the evils. If we do away with it, we have a larger evil. The six Judges have a point that it is affecting the working in some ways. As against this, having CJs from the same courts would lead to odd situations and this has been experienced in the past. My personal view is that the present system of appointments and transfers may have shortcomings, but it is necessary until we have a proper judicial commission which will deal with appointments, elevations to the post of CJs and transfers and disciplinary action. We need that. Until we get a constitutional body, this ad hoc arrangement will have to continue. HARISH SALVE, Change the system of appointments
I agree with the views of the former Judges that there is no need for appointing CJs only from other High Courts. CJs from outside don't know anybody in the court they are appointed and as such they cannot really control the courts. They have to depend on the views of the fellow Judges and it takes time for them to become familiar with the state of affairs.The whole system of appointment of Judges and CJs must be changed. There must be a Judicial Appointments Commission which must be independent of both the judiciary and the government. The Commission should appoint these people, not the Collegium of senior Judges as at present. The entire system must be rationalised with proper criteria laid down allowing total transparency. PRASHANT
BHUSHAN, The system has merits
and demerits
THEappointment of outside CJs in the High Courts has certain advantages and disadvantages too. An outsider will be above local politics, more objective, will inspire more credibility and command greater credibility.But then, he will not have the first-hand knowledge about the suitability of lawyers to be considered for elevation to the Bench. He will not be familiar with the local language and the practices and rules of the new High Court. Unless he is assured of a reasonably long tenure, he cannot make an effective contribution by providing necessary leadership on the administrative side or on the judicial side. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure a minimum tenure of about three years as CJ in the new High Court.To enable the CJ acquaint himself with the new High Court, he should first be posted as a puisne Judge at least for one year. Transferring of CJs of doubtful integrity from one High Court to another High Court should be stopped. Transfers may not help improve the level of honesty. There should be a provision in the Constitution for not allowing a Judge or a CJ against whom there are complaints which are under investigation to function as a Judge. Such judges should be allowed to remain at home for the period during which the investigation/inquiry goes on without any loss of emoluments. The judiciary today suffers from an erosion of credibility. Every step necessary to restore credibility should be taken. P.P.
RAO, A whiff of fresh air in High Courts
THE infusion of outside judges has brought about a whiff of freshness to the various high courts. No hard and fast rule can be prescribed whether the Chief Justice must be from the same High Court or from outside. But one thing is apparent that it doesn’t take an outside Judge too long to make himself familiar with the local conditions prevailing in the High Court he has been transferred to. It is for this reason that the practice currently being followed is of bringing prospective Chief Justices to the High Courts where they are likely to be elevated in the near future. The transfer of Acting Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court Justice Ranjan Gogoi to the Punjab and Haryana High Court is an example. R.S.
CHEEMA, The issue deserves
a close look
IT was in the eighties that I first discussed the issue of having local Chief Justices. Two senior-most Judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had just returned to the city after stints as Chief Justices; and I happened to ask them their opinion on elevating local judges, instead of importing them from the High Courts of other states. Nearly three decades have lapsed since then, but the response is still fresh in my memory. “It doesn’t help” was the answer. For the first time, a retired Supreme Court Judge and five Chief Justices of High Courts have raised the issue at a public platform; and it should be looked into. We have a huge pool of information available from retired judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices of the High Courts. Without much ado, an exercise should be launched to seek their opinion. And if they too are not in favour of having Chief Justices from outside, we should revert to the old order of elevating local judges. M.L.
SARIN, The question of commitment
Besides what is written in the article, “Remedy worse than the malady”, the commitment a Judge would have for his court would be missing when he is shifted to another court. Further, the local Judges have much better understanding of how best to achieve an efficient justice delivery system for their state. R.K.
CHHIBBAR, As told to
R. Sedhuraman and Saurabh Malik
The articles (Sept 9 and
13) are
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Corrections and clarifications l
The headline in The Tribune (Page 1, September 11), “Wannabe doctors, try IITs,”is inappropriate as is “to dole out MBBS degrees.” Both do not reflect the seriousness of the issue. l In the break quote with the report, “How important is internal assessment,” (Chandigarh Tribune, page 2, September 13), in the sentence “scores are tempered with” should have been “scores are tampered with.” l The headline, “Recent checking has been done in haste,” (Chandigarh Tribune, page 2, September 11) is not apt for the raids on eating outlets. l “Water-level rises in Sutlej”, (Page 3, September 10, The Tribune) does not require a hyphen. l “Students protest against canteen food quality,” (Chandigarh Tribune, page 2, September 10) should have been “quality of canteen food.” l “Ohio’s outsourcing ban leaves IT giants queasy,”(The Tribune, page 1,September 9) is incorrect. Queasy means to feel sick or nauseous, “uneasy” would have been apt. Despite our earnest endeavour to keep The Tribune error-free, some errors do creep in at times. We are always eager to correct them. This column appears twice a week — every Tuesday and Friday. We request our readers to write or e-mail to us whenever they find any error. Readers in such cases can write to Mr Kamlendra Kanwar, Senior Associate Editor, The Tribune, Chandigarh, with the word “Corrections” on the envelope. His e-mail ID is kanwar@tribunemail.com. Raj Chengappa,
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