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Chavan shown the door
Hasten police reforms
Injustice in Iraq |
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Neo-protectionism in West
Avoidable bores!
Defections: Need to revisit the Act
Law shouldn’t stifle legislators’ right of dissent
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Chavan shown the door TRUE to expectations, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has lost his job hours after US President Obama left the country after a three-day visit and on the eve of the opening of the winter session of Parliament at which fireworks over his role in the Adarsh housing scam were expected. In all fairness to the UPA government, his ouster before the arrival of President Obama in Mumbai would have been ill-advised in view of the security imperatives and the need to streamline arrangements for the dignitary’s visit. That Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not even wait for a formal report from Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A.K. Antony who had been assigned to inquire into his prima facie culpability is perhaps an indication that Chavan was on slippery ground. That another controversial Congress functionary, Suresh Kalmadi, has been packed off as secretary of its parliamentary party hours before the Parliament session began, ostensibly because of the massive corruption in the management of the Commonwealth Games of which he was organizing committee chairman, is indicative of the keenness of the Congress to wipe off the taint of corruption that haunts the party today in the wake of the two scams. Ashok Chavan was clearly in a soup right since the media expose on how apartments in the upscale Colaba area of South Mumbai which were meant for families of Kargil martyrs were cornered by politicians, bureaucrats and senior armed forces personnel at a price which was a fraction of their market value. That Chavan, three of whose close relatives got apartments in the 31-storeyed building, played a key role in the clearances as the then Revenue Minister told its own tale. While the removal of Chavan and Suresh Kalmadi from their respective posts will assuage public sentiment to some extent, it would be keenly watched whether any punitive legal action would be taken against both these VIPs and against the others involved in the two scams. That Defence Minister Antony has already announced a CBI probe into the involvement of senior defence personnel in the Adarsh housing scam is indeed heartening. It is now vital that all inquiries into the scam be completed expeditiously and due responsibility fixed without fear or favour.
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Hasten police reforms THE Supreme Court’s summons to the Chief Secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal to appear before it on December 6 for their non-compliance of its directives on police reforms is heartening. A Bench consisting of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice Aftab Alam and Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan has also asked all other state governments to depute their law officers to the court to explain the slow pace of reforms in their respective states. The summons to four Chief Secretaries is significant because the Justice K.T. Thomas Committee, appointed by the apex court, had taken these states as a “test case” to monitor the implementation of the court’s slew of directives issued on September 22, 2006. Clearly, the Bench is disturbed over the state governments’ reluctance to hasten police reforms. It has asked the Chief Secretaries to show cause why its order of ensuring a two-year tenure for the Directors-General of Police (DGPs) has not yet been implemented. One reason why the states are resistant to police reforms is that the Chief Ministers don’t want to lose their hold over the police. This largely explains why they are opposed to a fixed tenure to the DGPs. Transfer is a tool in the Chief Ministers’ hands to browbeat upright and inflexible DGPs. While most of them are ready to kowtow to the wishes of the political masters, some refuse to budge and face the brunt of transfer. Unfortunately, most states have not adopted the Supreme Court’s prescribed criteria with regard to the selection and removal of the DGPs. Surely, the police administration in the states will improve greatly if the state governments implement the apex court’s orders. But given the Chief Ministers’ resistance to reform, this seems a tall order. Surprisingly, most states have not implemented even other directives like setting up the State Security Commission, the Police Establishment Board and the Police Complaints Authority. Nor has law and order been separated from investigation. These directives, if implemented, would have insulated the police machinery from political and other extraneous influences, improved the policemen’s career prospects through timely promotions, empowered people to file complaints against erring cops and thus made them accountable to the people for their omission and commission. The apex court would do well to continue its pressure on the states to implement its directives.
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Injustice in Iraq
THE death sentence handed out by an Iraqi court to the country’s former Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz last week came at a time when Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s fate was hanging in the balance. Maliki’s party could win only 89 seats in the recently held parliamentary elections. There was little chance of the incumbent Prime Minister succeeding in retaining power. He needed the support of at least 163 lawmakers in the 325-member Iraqi Parliament to be elected the leader of the House. But soon after the court verdict to hang Tariq Aziz to death was pronounced came the announcement by powerful Shia religious leader Moqtada Al-Sadr that he had managed the support of 43 members for Maliki. The two-party Kurdish Alliance came forward with its 43 seats to join hands with Maliki and his camp followers. When the support for him swelled to 175 members, the Iraqiya formation of former Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, too, agreed to a power-sharing formula for its political survival. Viewed against this backdrop, the harshest punishment given to the ailing former senior-most minister in Saddam Hussein’s government can easily be described as a “political judgement”, as Aziz has stated. There is another reason why he had to be given this kind of treatment, though he had already been in jail since the fall of the Saddam regime after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Iraqi government needed to divert the world’s attention after the horrifying disclosures by WikiLeaks, exposing the misdeeds of the present Iraqi government as also of the US. Nothing can, however, hide political and other kinds of persecutions going on in Iraq. Aziz has to meet the fate of Saddam Hussein for his role in the persecution of the Shiite Dawa Party’s members. Victimisation of people on various pretexts was, no doubt, common during Saddam’s rule. But it was a dictatorial regime, and all decisions were virtually taken by Saddam. The US should prevail upon the Iraqi government to save Aziz from the gallows. After all, the chaotic situation that prevails in Iraq today is because the US acted, in defiance of world opinion, to punish the then Iraqi regime for possessing nuclear weapons, which could not be found later on.
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Knowledge and timber shouldn’t be much used until they are seasoned. — American proverb
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Neo-protectionism in West THREE years have passed since the global financial crisis hit the world, but the US, from where the crisis started, has not recovered fully. The US is facing problems of slow growth, low inflation and 9.5 per cent unemployment. Its economic woes are leading to the unpopularity of President Barack Obama, who was elected with great fanfare in 2008. He promised to bring back jobs but has not been able to do so, and people are still waiting for a robust economic revival. To counter the recessionary tendencies, the US government went in for easy monetary policy involving a low interest rate regime; it also came up with its $ 1.7 trillion rescue package aimed at reviving demand. It has recently announced a policy called quantitative easing that involves the government buying $600 billion worth of Treasury Bonds by the middle of next year and thereby infusing $75 billion per month in the international financial system. Such an increase in dollars in the world will lead to the emerging market countries’ (India, Brazil, China) currency values going up in terms of the dollar as short-term investible funds from the US will head for buoyant markets. Already China and India are facing hardening of the yuan and the rupee against the dollar. China has refused to revalue the yuan because it would hurt its exports. India’s exports will be affected if the rupee continues to rise against the dollar. India’s export competitiveness may also be affected due to inflation as all product prices will go up sooner or later owing to higher input costs. To fight inflationary pressure, the RBI has for the sixth time raised the repo and reverse repo rates. This rise in repo and reverse repo rates by another 0.25 per cent ( to 6.25 per cent and 5.25 per cent respectively) will mean higher interest rates and will attract more foreign institutional investment (FII) funds, leading to too much liquidity in the system that would stoke inflation. Yet India is slated to grow faster than the countries of the European Union like Spain, Ireland and Greece - the entire EU is slated to grow at 2.3 per cent. There is likely to be slow GDP growth in these countries and a rise in unemployment. The bailout package that the EU announced with the IMF aid $1 trillion may be enough to tide over the budgetary woes of countries like Greece temporarily, but unless the GDP grows faster, there will more job losses. Their demand for exports from India may be affected if the EU’s growth remains sluggish. Basically productivity has to go up in these countries of which there are few signs. India has recovered from the financial crisis at a faster speed because Indian banks did not have significant amounts of “toxic assets” in their portfolios. The financial crisis manifested itself in India through a fall in exports, especially from the medium and small-scale sectors and loss of employment in export-intensive industries like diamond cutting, garments, handicrafts and leather goods. Within a year, due to the three fiscal packages of the government, there has been a revival in domestic demand, an increase in investment in infrastructure and a rise in GDP growth from 6 to 8 per cent. Industrial growth also fell as a result of the global crisis in 2008-09, but since 2010 it has revived. Certain sectors like automobiles, consumer durables and capital goods have done well, and industrial growth revived in July 2010 to 16.3 per cent. Unfortunately, the sustainability of industrial growth is not certain as the impact of inflation is becoming more apparent. Another fallout of the crisis was the sudden withdrawal of a huge amount of FII funds from the Indian financial markets. The outflow of FIIs created a vacuum in the beginning of 2008 which was rectified by the RBI by its loose monetary policy through which it succeeded in injecting liquidity in the financial system. But inflation, which was negative in 2009, slowly picked up as a result. Food inflation, on the other hand, kept rising due to the monsoon deficit in 2009 and is still at 12.8 per cent. Hike in interest rates since March 2009 to control inflation and higher growth prospects by the RBI has attracted huge amounts of FII inflows, leading to a rise in the sensex to above 20,000. Apart from other factors, India is one of the most attractive destinations for parking short-term hedge funds. The uncertainty and volatility of short-term capital inflows into Indian markets remain a risk and worth worrying about. Important to India’s GDP growth is the services sector growth as it contributes 58 per cent to the GDP. In service exports, India remains vulnerable because of its dependence on Western markets. Outsourcing of services from the US is of great concern to the US administration and President Obama is bent on saving jobs. But unless the service sector remains vibrant in India, there may be problems in the future. With the hardening of the rupee, the competitiveness of this sector has also been affected. Despite the problems of the Western countries, India and China are still striding ahead and, according to both the IMF and the World Bank, the growth trajectory will remain high for both, with China probably achieving 10 per cent growth and India 8.5 per cent. The macro-economic indicators are showing positive signs in India except for the setback in industrial growth. Housing and real estate sector has stabilised and the RBI has raised the loan rates for housing. Inflation control is the main concern of the monetary policy now and if it is successful, India will manage to come out of the global crisis relatively unscathed, and there may be hopes for more inclusive growth. But Western countries’ protectionism is reappearing in the horizon and if it takes shape in covert or overt forms, there will be problems for countries like India. In shielding their currencies from market influences, many countries’ actions are reminiscent of protectionism in the pre-World War II days. India needs to rethink its strategy also about opening up FDI (retail and defence) and agriculture further to accommodate the demands of the EU and the US in which our own interests, specially those of the vulnerable sections like small and marginal farmers and small retail traders are involved. Agriculture is one area in which the US wants a level-playing field. As the world is recovering from the financial crisis, new rules are being set for the benefit of those who have not done well. India and China have to watch out against the neo-protectionist policies of the
West.
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Avoidable bores! IF you have an acquaintance who has recently built a house; or has married off a son or daughter; or has returned after a foreign trip; better avoid his company because he will bore you to death. “Look, I made all the rooms big and airy. 40 X 36. Roof at 16 feet. I can’t stand low ceiling. Sun has direct access to every corner in the room. Everything Vastu vetted. You will not see the shit-pot from your bed. And no stairs from over your head,” the house-maker will brag. If he reads some expression of disinterestedness in you, he will immediately accost you saying: “Come, have a look inside the bathroom. We selected the tiles’ colour from a range of nearly a thousand. Zara wo darjano shade cards dikhana ji,” he will call out for his wife. “Also show the kitchen to Bhai Sahab,” he will tell her. It will now be her turn to worsen your ordeal. “Modular is too costly. We made it similar but in just half the price. And have a look here,” She will make you crane your neck like a flamingo to go under the chimney: “All fumes and smoke sucked in it. And see the sink. It has two levels. You can dry your washed dishes and utensils here on the upper shelf. And this is the latest with an inbuilt draining that doesn’t require grouting with fibre pipes”. From balcony to backyard, from terrace to rooftop, from stairs to parapets, from railings to boundary walls, from washroom to poojaroom, from taps to curtain rods, from sanitary hardware to paints and their shades — oh my God, you are shaken out of your craving for a house of your own. Next type of persons to be on your ‘Avoid them’ list should be those who have married off their son or daughter. “All catering arrangements were from the top bracket available. Log ungliyan hi chate chale gaye. And decoration? It was superb. The florists had also done a wonderful job in turning the entire pandaal into a rose-garden. We had a unique theme to select for the tent. Six ministers, two High Court judges, local DC, SP. Who else would you want? Humne to ladke walon ko keh diya tha to be either on time or eat stale food. Ha ha ha!” The third category is of those who just returned from a foreign land. You will have details of the practices and norms followed ‘there’—and ‘they do this’ and ‘they do that’ sort. These people will behave as if they were born and brought up ‘there’. Even the slang and pronunciation would be different. More of ‘yups’ of affirmation and ‘khups’ of ‘thea’. ‘Nyo’ for negation, and ‘O-Boy’ for
exclamation!
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Defections: Need to revisit the Act THE Karnataka High Court, by upholding the constitutional validity of the Speaker’s power of disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs, has demolished some myths about the anti-defection law under the Third Schedule of the Constitution. It rejected the rebel legislators’ contention that disqualification can only be on two grounds — if the MLAs resign from the party voluntarily; and if a legislator votes against the party whip. The High Court will adjudicate the question of disqualification of five Independents separately. The High Court, by a majority of 2:1, was primarily guided by the Supreme Court judgment in Ravi Naik vs. Union of India. In this order, the court has observed that the words “voluntarily gives up his membership” are not synonymous with ‘resignation’ and have a wider connotation. A person may voluntarily give up his party membership even though he has not resigned from it. The apex court said, “even in the absence of a formal resignation from membership, an inference can be drawn from the conduct of a member that he has voluntarily given up his membership of the political party to which he belongs”. Though the rebel legislators have decided to go to the Supreme Court, one doubts whether they would get any relief. If the apex court ruling in the Ravi Naik case is the thumb rule, how would one view the rebels handing over a letter to Governor H.R. Bharadwaj expressing their lack of confidence on the leadership of the B.S. Yeddyurappa government, ferrying from one five-star resort to the other by chartered planes from Bangalore to Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai and Goa and issuing statements against the party leadership? Was it not a clear case of defection attracting disqualification? The High Court has rejected their contention that they had not indulged in any anti-party activity but were only disillusioned with the government. The Karnataka episode once again exposes the ugly menace of defections and the failure of the anti-defection law to check it. When the late Rajiv Gandhi government had enacted the Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act, 1985, it was felt that it would prevent horse trading, provide political stability to the government by preventing shifts of party allegiance and ensure that candidates elected with party support and on the basis of party manifestoes would remain loyal to the party policies which, in turn, would promote party discipline. Unfortunately, subsequent developments have belied people’s expectations though it is an important piece of legislation with tremendous scope for political and electoral reform. Politicians, because of their irresistible temptation for loaves and fishes of office, have not only compromised their professional integrity but also violated the letter and spirit of the legislation. The bane of the Indian polity is that every legislator wants to become a minister either at the Centre or in the states. Service to the nation has long ceased to be the politicians’ credo. Clearly, the increasing money power in elections has vitiated the political system so much that it has defeated the noble purpose of successive legislations. In Karnataka, the proxy war for control has on one side the powerful Bellary brothers considered the moneybags of the BJP government in the state. On the other side are Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy and Mr H.D. Revanna, sons of the Janata Dal (Secular) boss and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. Indeed, Mr Deve Gowda, by holding meetings in Bangalore and New Delhi, had desperately tried to enlist the Congress high command’s support to his sons’ movement to topple the Yeddyurappa government. Undoubtedly, both sides are resourceful and have been trying to poach legislators from each other’s camp. Caught in the middle of the battle is Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. Indeed, he is a great survivor and even if the High Court quashes the disqualification of the five Independents, his government would still scrape through. Desperate to save his government, Mr Yeddyurappa has been relying on the monetary clout of the Reddy brothers to bail him out through Operation Lotus. The Operation Lotus is a process by which MLAs are lured towards the BJP. See the manner in which the law is being circumvented. Though the legislation bans individual defections, nothing prevents legislators from resigning their seats and returning to the Assembly through by-elections on the BJP ticket. In the interregnum, the resignations do help the BJP government to reduce the Assembly strength and continue in office. The resignation of three legislators from the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress and the disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs have brought down the effective strength of the House from 224 to 208. The NDA government had amended the law in 2003 but it didn’t help matters. It decreed that two-thirds of legislators had to agree before a merger with another party was valid. In Haryana, the fate of five defector Haryana Janhit Congress MLAs, who have joined the ruling Congress, continues to hang in balance. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Assembly Speaker and the five MLAs to file reply to a petition seeking their disqualification. As defections are a threat to democracy and stability of popularly elected governments, the Union Cabinet and Parliament would do well to deliberate on the matter and consider various suggestions on how to check the menace. The recommendations of various committees (see box) should be examined and implemented to prevent defections and subversion of democracy. A major grievance against the anti-defection law is that it curbs the legislators’ freedom of expression and right of dissent. Veteran parliamentarians Minoo Masani and Madhu Limaye had strongly opposed fetters on MPs. Congress MP Manish Tewari had moved a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament in February this year to protect this right and facilitate healthy and informed debate in Parliament. The amendment seeks to free legislators from the fear of disqualification for toeing a line independent of their respective party positions in all instances other than no-confidence motions and money
bills.
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Law shouldn’t stifle legislators’ right of dissent EVEN after 15 years of its coming into force, the anti-defection law has failed to answer questions relating to morality and legitimacy. Instead, laws may institutionalise such immoral conduct and help widen the scope of such conduct just as those who operate it find ways to circumvent the provisions and yet remain on the side of the law. The anti-defection law blocks such liberty at the Centre and the states. It forces one to recall the debate in the House of Lords on India Independence Bill. Had there been such a law in Britain, Indian independence would have been delayed. It so happened that Churchill’s Conservative Party had lost in 1945 elections and Clement Attlee of the Labour Party became the Prime Minister. Churchill who was against Indian Independence challenged him to get the Bill passed in the House of Lords where the Conservatives had majority. However, a section of his party’s MPs were in favour of the Bill. An MP of his party went against Churchill’s fiat and gave an emotion-soaked speech. The speech was so powerful that Conservative MPs supported the Bill much against the wishes of the party leader and India won freedom. Had the anti-defection law been in force, the Bill would have fallen through. That was the power of free will in the legislature. Today there is no single major country in Europe which has such a stifling Act. In fact, no major democratic nation countenance such a draconian step on the stock argument that freedom of expression also means freedom to dissent and more so by the public representatives. The law is in force in countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal. There is no denying that the situation which resulted in bringing about such a draconian law was pathetic. It was in late 60s when suddenly the Congress monolith developed cracks and seven states had Samyukta Vidhayak Dal non-Congress coalition governments. There was one instance when for remaining in power an MLA changed three parties in 48 hours. Of the total 4,000 MLAs across the country, half had switched sides within two years and hundreds of them defected five times. The Aya Ram Gaya Ram culture was in full swing then. Even leaders like Charan Singh and Chandra Shekhar became Prime Ministers because of changing their political affiliation. In one case, an MP went against the party whip and gave a lame excuse saying that just when he was entering the doors of the House, his blood pressure shot up and he fainted and rushed to hospital. They tried every trick to circumvent the law. There is no single public representative in the country who has changed his party on the issue of principle. In developed democracies, such behaviour is never countenanced by the voters. But in India voters go by different considerations rather than the levels of such unethical behaviour. If one delves deep into it, one will find that the root cause behind such unethical practices is our faulty electoral system known as the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system in which a candidate wins if he/she gets just one vote more than all other candidates, no matter how many voters did not vote for him. If an MP wins by one vote and another by five lakh, both will have the same “one vote” on the floor of the House. In a highly fractured society, such a system leads to divisions. Leaders split society on emotive, parochial and such issues which have no direct bearing on the public well-being. That is why India today is faced with multiplicity of parties with narrow moorings. The coalition era is a product of our faulty FPTP system. A party with just five MPs can hold the entire government to ransom. Jayalalitha’s AIADMK caused the fall of the Vajpayee government not on any principled stand. The anti-defection law is abused by a group of legislators to blackmail stray legislators. Conversely, the leaders of main autocratic parties, mainly regional ones, have become dictators. However, till such time we change the FPTP system by other forms of election like the List system or a mix of the FPTP and List system (as suggested by several expert bodies), the Act which was amended in 2003 so as to derecognise split but retain the merger provision (albeit by two-thirds) needs to be thoroughly redrafted. The Supreme Court, the Law Commission and Presiding Officers’ Conference have opined that whip should be issued only in cases where the government’s survival is in question like the no-confidence motion, money bills or vote of thanks. On all other issues, the members should be allowed to vote according to their conscience. The writer is General Secretary, Broadcast Editors’ Association, New Delhi
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