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Paralysing Parliament
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Contraception issue
The mandate in Bihar
My best friend’s wedding
Notwithstanding the various reform proposals by expert committees, a lot needs to be done to rejuvenate the urban local bodies. Mayors need to play a predominant role in city administration for achieving the objectives of self-governance and local empowerment.
Streamlining the functioning of corporations
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Paralysing Parliament
The
UPA Government and the Opposition have shown an appalling lack of concern for Parliament and parliamentary democracy. The winter session of Parliament will go down in history for not transacting any business till date. There is continued impasse over the Opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe on three major scams — the 2G spectrum allocation, the Commonwealth Games and the Adarsh Housing Society. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee held two all-party meetings but in vain. On Friday, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar called up senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj. Mr Advani reportedly told Ms Kumar that it was the government’s responsibility to break the logjam. There has to be give and take between the ruling coalition and the Opposition and neither can evade responsibility for the non-functioning of Parliament. In terms of their structure and composition, there is no major difference between the JPC and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Set up in 1920 even before the Indian Constitution came into being, the PAC has 22 members selected on the basis of proportionate representation of political parties. The JPC, however, is a broader group with representation of all parties and it sets its own terms of reference. It is perhaps for this reason that the Opposition is keen on having a JPC. But then, both the PAC and the JPC can summon ministers and officers and call for documents. If this is the factual position, why is the UPA government reluctant to heed the Opposition demand even after the Prime Minister has reassured the nation that all those found guilty in the scams will be brought to book? Is it because of its apparent fear that more skeletons will tumble out of its cupboard if the JPC examines all the three scams? True, probing three scams would be a humongous task for a JPC. But there is need for a common meeting ground so that Parliament can resume its work immediately. The government has ruled out sine die adjournment of Parliament but it must hammer out a solution for which the Opposition should also extend its helping hand. It takes two to tango. Parliament should be allowed to function even beyond December 13 to complete its scheduled business. Indeed, MPs should even forego their weekly and Christmas holidays to compensate the loss due to disruptions.
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NRIs can vote
More
than 11 million NRIs living in various countries worldwide will be able to vote in the future elections in their homeland, with the Centre finally issuing a notification in this regard. This fulfils their long-standing demand and, hopefully, they will now be able to make a more positive contribution to their country of origin. An ever-increasing number of Indians have been migrating to other countries for employment, education, research and investment. Wherever they are, their heart beats for India and they take a keen interest in the political and other developments back home. So far, this interest was only academic, considering that their voting right was taken away if they stayed out of the country for more than six months. But now, those who have not acquired the citizenship of any other country will be eligible to register their names in the electoral rolls in the places of their origin as mentioned in their passports. They will thus be able to cast a ballot even if they remained away from the place of residence in India for more than six months. However, to exercise the franchise, they will have to be present in the constituency on the polling day. This will not only obviate the need to making voting arrangements for them abroad, but will also ensure that only those who are seriously interested in participating in the democratic process will be able to do so. The Election Commission is likely to finalise the rules and regulations prescribing modalities for the entry of names of NRIs in electoral rolls. Needless to say that not only should the rules be user-friendly, the officials concerned should also be sensitised that the NRIs should not be put to any undue harassment. Many of them have complained in the past that for form’s sake, India always beckons them, but in reality, they are made to feel unwelcome. Ideally, officials should be nice to everybody. But they should at least be on good behaviour with NRIs who have become India’s brand ambassadors abroad.
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Contraception issue
Some
will see it as a chink opening in an impregnable door, while others will maintain that nothing has changed, but one thing is certain, the debate about the use of contraceptives by followers of the Catholic Church has come to the fore, again. Hitherto, the position of the Church has been intractable, more so since Pope Paul VI released the 1968 encyclical “Humanae Vitae”, denouncing birth control, a position reflected in Pope Benedict’s comments a year ago that the use of condoms was exacerbating the HIV problem rather than helping in fighting the disease. Ever since the publication of excerpts of an interview of the Pope in “Light of the World,” a new book on him, much has been read about his latest observation, saying that prostitutes could use condoms to keep themselves from spreading the Aids virus. There is debate about what exactly the Pope said, some translation issues, and so on, but the Vatican has not denied the Pope’s comments. It would, however, be too much to read a major shift in position of the Church. The Church, like any other religion, would remain committed to the moral position that condemns sex out of wedlock. Even within marriage, the Catholic Church opposes all artificial contraception, and there have been voices, however ineffectual, that have asked for change. The Pope’s comments have opened the door for debate, something that is bound to be cheered by local church officials, especially in Africa, who have been exposed to the horrific ravages of AIDS and have been advocating a degree of flexibility on the issue by the Vatican. By no means official policy, the Pope’s comments have, however, shown a realistic touch. It is surely balm to those who face the terrible affliction of being HIV positive.
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In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers. — Neville Chamberlain
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The mandate in Bihar Nitish Kumar’s metamorphosis from being a camp follower of Lalu Yadav to virtually becoming Bihar’s man of destiny is a remarkable phenomenon. Few could have predicted such a future for him when he parted company with Chief Minister Lalu Yadav in 1994 and joined the short-lived Samata Party with the maverick George Fernandes, known for switching his allegiance overnight in 1979 from the Morarji Desai government to the camp of his opponents. Notwithstanding Nitish Kumar’s claims to be a Lohiaite and an admirer of Jayaprakash Narayan, it was inevitable for him as an opponent of the Congress to drift from being a minister in V.P.Singh’s Janata Dal government to be a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s BJP government. During the entire period, he showed no signs of becoming the star that he is today. Even his brief tenure as Chief Minister in Bihar in 2000 was in keeping with his image at the time of being dependent on the BJP for political survival. The first major change — and the harbinger of the present one — took place in the two assembly elections of 2005 when the seats of his party, the Janata Dal (United), rose from 21 in 2000 to 55 in February, 2005, and then to 88 in October of the same year. It is noteworthy that the JD (U)’s rise coincided with the decline of its ally, the BJP. The latter’s seats fell from 67 in 2000 to 37 in February, 2005, and although it rose to 55 in October of that year, it was still behind the JD (U)’s 88. It is in this period when the JD (U) ran ahead of the BJP that Nitish Kumar could be said to have come into his own for the first time in his career. The reason why the BJP fell behind is evidently its demoralisation in the aftermath of its defeat in the 2004 parliamentary polls. But it is noteworthy that the shadow over the BJP did not harm the JD (U) although it was - and still is - a part of the NDA. Evidently, Nitish Kumar had been able to escape the BJP’s communal tinge and establish his own secular credentials. Why this happened is a mystery because in 2005 he was yet to demonstrate either his determination to maintain communal harmony or to undertake his hallmark developmental works of a later period. However, the BJP’s loss of nerve and Lalu Yadav’s defeat had left the field open for Nitish Kumar to make his presence felt. It is Bihar’s good fortune that he used the absence of a formidable ally and a formidable opponent to rediscover his secular roots. The effect was visible in the 2009 parliamentary polls when the JD (U) again outran the BJP by winning 20 seats against the latter’s 12 and increase its vote share from 20.4 per cent in 2005 to 24 in 2009. The BJP’s percentage, on the other hand, dropped from 15.6 in 2005 to 13.9 in 2009. There is little doubt that once his position became stable with the RJD’s vote share falling from 23.4 in 2005 to 19.3 in 2009, Nitish Kumar turned secular with a vengeance. The most dramatic example of the assertion of his new-found devotion to this creed was the angry response to the display of a poster showing him holding hands with Narendra Modi during a BJP conclave in Patna. As a measure of his annoyance, not only did he boycott a dinner hosted by the BJP, but also insisted that neither Modi nor Varun Gandhi should campaign for the ruling alliance. It is difficult to think of any other instance where a partner has been treated so shabbily by its senior. That the BJP quietly swallowed the insult confirmed its continuing weakness in the state. Considering that Modi is its poster boy and is occasionally projected as a prime ministerial candidate, the BJP’s meek acceptance of Nitish Kumar’s abrasive behaviour shows that the party remains unsure of its future in Indian politics. As a result, it is willing to hold on to its position in a ruling combination at all costs. If Bihar is fortunate in having Nitish Kumar at the helm, he is lucky in having such a servile ally as the BJP, for it enables him to play his cards exactly the way he wants to. His anti-Modi “theatrics”, as Lalu Yadav called it, was intended to break the RJD’s much vaunted MY (Muslim-Yadav) vote bank, which Lalu Yadav thought gave him a near-permanent hold on power. Nitish Kumar realised, however, that development alone would not enable him to cross the electoral Rubicon. He would need to add a sizable section of the minorities to his carefully assembled vote bank comprising the EBCs (extreme backward castes), the so-called Mahadalits and the upper castes. Interestingly, to get the votes of the latter, Nitish Kumar knew that he would have to depend on the BJP. Moreover, he correctly presumed that it would play its allotted role in this respect no matter how badly he treated the party. The stitching up of the EBCs, comprising 32 per cent of the population, a section of the Muslims (15 per cent), the Mahadalits (7 per cent) and the upper castes (15 per cent) was a surefire arithmetic trick. It left out only the OBCs (25 per cent) though not the Kurmis among them since they represent Nitish Kumar’s own caste. But it isn’t this politics of aggregation, which used to be Lalu Yadav’s forte, which is responsible for Nitish Kumar’s success. What has propelled him forward is his ability to learn the right lessons from his predecessor’s mistakes. The mistakes were, of course, palpable to every visitor to the state. The condition of its roads and other infrastructure and the endless kidnappings and killings were a stark reminder of the absence of governance. Lalu Yadav’s belief in an absentee administration was based on the theory that those belonging to the backward castes would like to remain backward, as they had been for generations, since it had become their distinctive badge of identity. Roads, schools, health centres, piped water were for the forwards. Not only did the backwards have no time for them, but any emphasis on setting these up would detract from the traditional lifestyle of the OBCs - something which Lalu Yadav liked to demonstrate by posing in his vest with cows and buffalos. An illiterate peasant getting his water from a well in sylvan surroundings is the picture of Bihar which he wanted to sustain. The reasoning was not unlike what former West Bengal Finance Minister Ashok Mitra once said, “I am a communist, not a gentleman”. To him, the good manners of a gentleman were to be shunned because of their bourgeois association. Nitish Kumar realised, however, that self-esteem alone — which Lalu Yadav undoubtedly inculcated among the OBCs, who no longer had to stand in the presence of the upper castes — was not enough. Man does not live by pride in his birth alone, he also needs food and employment. And the only way Bihar could provide these essentials to its citizens was by becoming a destination for investment. Hence, the emphasis on roads, the basic facility without which no progress is possible, and the restoration of law and order, for roads cannot be built if engineers and contractors are abducted. The resultant decriminalisation of politics is perhaps his best achievement, for he is probably the first Chief Minister to have broken the pernicious politician-criminal link. Prima facie, his solutions are simple. Build roads and jail the crooks. No wonder, the voters showered their blessings on
him.
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My best friend’s wedding At the age of 29 when nobody talks to me about anything except marriage — a quivering thought — I always avoid chatting and emotional blackmailing becomes the order of the day. Finally, I was forced to think about the wedlock which can make a tiger heart sweat out of nervousness. After losing the count of marriages attended by me, one thing remained common. No matter how lavishly you spend and how fine the arrangements are, a few comments never change. Arrangements are good but the food, aah I wish they had spent little more on quality. Have you seen the bride, her pointed nose, what have they seen in her? The one I suggested was better any day. What are the arrangements like? Oh, don’t tell me you have not booked a hotel for us and so on. And then comes the thankless task of gift distribution. Who gets what? Whosoever said that you cannot make everybody happy must not have attended an Indian wedding, else the phrase would have been ‘you cannot make anybody happy at the time of distribution of gifts’. While my mind was brimming with all these weird thoughts, Deepak and Sheetal’s wedding offered an opportunity to take a break. The most talked about wedding in the group threw an opportunity to visit Sangla valley in tribal Kinnaur district. The wedding was solemnised at Baghi. What a couple and what a venue — not a hall or a house but a sprawling hockey ground — this is all we remember as booze overpowered the spirits. But what awaited us was more astonishing. It was late night when we reached Sangla, to be precise Chansu, Negi’s village. We parked the vehicles at a ground from where we walked to the groom’s home in the dark and before we could figure out how to proceed, the entire area suddenly lit up with “mashaals”, a spectacle we will never forget. Men carrying “mashaals”, standing at every five steps on either side of the narrow road snaking through the valley greeted us and the bride dressed in Dohru and traditional ornaments was the first to step in, followed by the baraat while last but not the least was the groom wearing Shuba, sutan and Kinnauri cap and holding a sword, symbolising that he was not only protecting the bride but also the baraat. With Buddhist lamas praying on the rooftop, the customary musicians of Kinnaur-Bhagantre playing the music and women from all the 1100-odd households and dressed almost alike in traditional costumes, played the host. Ever since I have known Negi, he was a proud alcoholic but today I realise that the deadly combination of Nati and liquor was not a custom and an integral part of rich tribal culture. Separate arrangements for food were made for vegetarians and non-vegetarians and women were served in the kitchen itself. Every person was a part of the ceremonies and status consciousness was erased by customs and traditions. Senior officers, including IAS officers, shunned all inhibitions, danced freely and enjoyed the drinks. The marriage awestruck me and thought came to mind: If this is real marriage, I will not be averse to marrying a tribal girls more than once. But Kinnaur was known for polyandry and not
polygamy.
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Notwithstanding the various reform proposals by expert committees, a lot needs to be done to rejuvenate the urban local bodies. Mayors need to play a predominant role in city administration for achieving the objectives of self-governance and local empowerment.
Among
the innumerable criticisms levelled against Mr Suresh Kalmadi, one is that during one of the ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games, he could not remember the name of Delhi's Mayor (Mr Prithvi Raj Sawhney). At least on this count, Mr Kalmadi is not alone. In Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, the tenure is two-and-a-half years. In Hyderabad, the formal tenure is five years but by an arrangement between the Indian National Congress and the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen parties, the present lady Mayor belonging to the Congress will quit half way yielding place to someone from the Majlis. Notwithstanding the elaborate prescriptions of the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, the tenure and responsibilities of the Mayor or the Municipal Chairperson are left to the decided by the state governments. As a result, the variations are many. In 2009, the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan changed the law to provide for directly elected Mayors and Chairpersons. The first phase of elections were held in November 2009 and the second in August 2010. Fortunately, the State Election Commission of Rajasthan maintains a website where the outcome of these elections have been presented in as much detail as possible. An analysis of the figures in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Kota elections provide some interesting conclusions. While Jaipur has a total of 77 wards, Jodhpur, Kota and Udaipur have 65, 60 and 55 wards respectively. The total electorate varies from 17.65 lakh in Jaipur to about 6 lakh in Jodhpur and Kota and 2.7 lakh in Udaipur. The average ward sizes are broadly similar. The number of candidates who contested for the position of ward councillors was not very high. Udaipur and Kota had a turnout of 61 per cent and Jodhpur 59 per cent. In Jaipur, it was rather low at 52 per cent. The case for decentralisation is based on the theory that local issues generate more local interest and therefore local elections should witness a higher turnout than the state or Parliament elections. This has to be frequently verified. The elections for the Kolkata Corporation in 2005 and 2010 saw a turnout of 62 per cent and 63 per cent respectively. While Mamata Bannerji's declaration that the Kolkata elections were a prelude to capturing Writer's Building may partly explain the outcome of the elections, the overall turnout remained the same. In the Hyderabad Corporation elections of 2009 also the turnout did not exceed 52 per cent. So, in comparison, Rajasthan has not done too badly. However, the outcome of the Rajasthan elections in regard to votes and seats is interesting. The general experience in the country has been that the majority of winners in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections secure only a minority of votes. Of the total votes polled, the winner receives much less than half the number. In the four cities of Rajasthan considered here out of a total of 275 seats, the winners in as many as 85 got less than 40 per cent of the votes polled while 75 got 40 to 50 per cent. The BJP got the majority of seats in Jaipur and Udaipur while the Congress got the majority in Kota and Jodhpur. This does not affect the Chairperson seats because that is filled by direct elections. Jaipur, Jodhpur and Kota Chairperson seats went to the Congress whereas in Udaipur the BJP candidate won. It is interesting to note that in Jaipur the Congress candidate got 47.32 per cent of the votes polled whereas the BJP candidate got 45.84. In Jodhpur, the Congress share was 49 per cent compared to the BJP's share of 39 per cent. In Kota, the difference was even more significant with the Congress claiming 53 per cent of the votes against the BJP's 39 per cent. In Udaipur, it was 45 per cent and 51 per cent respectively. What happens if the majority of the ward councillors belong to one party and the directly elected Mayor or Chairperson to another? Whatever the general apprehension about such a situation, if the question is pressed many political leaders admit that it is easier to get on with members known to be in the opposition rather than members within one's own party. Anyone is not convinced about this may contact the besieged Chief Minister of Karnataka for confirmation. Interestingly, even within the vote share of a political party, the directly elected chairperson obtains a higher proportion than ward councillors. For instance, the Congress party councillors in Jaipur got about 36 per cent of the vote share whereas the Chairperson got 47 per cent. Similarly, in the case of Udaipur, the vote share of BJP councillors was 47 per cent compared to about 51 per cent for the Chairperson. This is partly explained by the fact that the number of Independents who contested for Chairperson positions were very few as compared to ward councillor positions. This brings us the main point. Is a directly elected Mayor or a Chairperson more representative of the electorate in a city? If so, can that person be made more accountable? Will this accountability be enhanced by the fact that having come to power by direct election, his position is secure for the five-year duration? The Rajasthan government has recently decided to devolve some functions to panchayat raj bodies such as education, health, etc. It is to be hoped that the process will continue in regard to municipal bodies as well. If so, a directly elected Mayor or a Chairperson will have to function in an executive capacity rather than fulfilling a ceremonial role. There can be no accountability without authority. None of our cities can afford to have a ceremonial head. Let us hope that the Rajasthan experience will show the way. The writer is Chairman, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi
w
Today, the Mayors/ Chairpersons have only a peripheral role in urban governance. It is the Corporation Commissioner who always calls the shots. This is violative of the spirit of self-governance and local empowerment. wThe mode of Mayor's election varies from state to state. Mayors are indirectly elected in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Chandigarh UT. w
Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and UP boast of direct election. Mayors enjoy a five-year tenure only in seven states — Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, UP and West Bengal. w
In six states, Mayors have one-year tenure — Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa. Ditoo Chandigarh Mayor. In Gujarat and Maharashtra, Mayors have a tenure for two-and-a-half years. w
The Second Administrative Reforms Commission has dealt with concerns over abuse of authority by Mayors with a fixed tenure. It suggests two mechanisms to check this. First, the Council will approve the Budget, frame regulations and major policies and exercise oversight. Secondly, in a city govt., institutional checks, strong public opinion and free press are the best guarantors of fairness and efficacy. w
In India, several national leaders in the freedom struggle rose to prominence through local govt. leadership. Direct election of Mayors is an important source of recruitment of talent into public life and leadership development. w
The Mayors of New York and London are popularly elected by direct vote every four years. The Toronto Mayor is elected by direct popular vote once in three years. In Paris, the Mayor is chosen by proportional representation.
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Streamlining the functioning of corporations According to a study by New Delhi’s National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, the finances of municipal bodies are in a mess; a majority of them are unable to raise adequate resources to meet increasing expenditure on services. Though urban centres contribute nearly 60 per cent of the country's GDP, the municipal bodies have not benefited from activities within their jurisdictions. The Constitution (74th Amendment) Act has introduced fundamental changes in local governance. It provides for effective distribution of the net proceeds of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees, levied by the state, between the state and the municipalities. A framework is also provided for assigning appropriate civic functions to urban local bodies through the Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution. To streamline the corporations' working, it has provided for ward committees to ensure peoples' participation in civic affairs at the grassroots level. Unfortunately, these committees have no teeth. They can function well only if they are given financial and executive powers. Unfortunately, many municipal corporations are facing problems because of the turf war between the Mayors and Municipal Commissioners. Though their functions are clearly demarcated, the latter often tend to boss over the former. This is hampering work and the people are bound to suffer. The Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh (MCC) was set up in 1996 on the premise that elected representatives — and not bureaucrats — will run the city’s affairs. It has 36 elected members, nine nominated and the Lok Sabha MP (ex-officio). The nominated members' strength does not reflect the true political character. They are also not responsible to the people. As they are a burden on the exchequer, the statute should be amended for scrapping nominated members. Instead, we could have one or two advisers to impart advice to the MCC. Though the MCC has a five-year term, its Mayor is elected by councillors once a year. This makes a mockery of the exalted institution of Mayor. One year is too short for one to do something substantial for the people. The government would do well to explore the possibility of giving a five-year tenure to the Mayor. Of course, there is the larger question of whether the Mayor should be elected directly or indirectly. A Mayor elected indirectly continues in office so long as he enjoys the support of the majority in the council. Thus, he/she is prone to horse-trading. This, in turn, undermines his authority and weakens the quality of administration. In contrast, a directly elected Mayor with a five-year tenure is ideal. According to the Second Administrative Reforms Commission Report (2007), this will help achieve long-term vision, stability of leadership and good governance. The MCC should deploy funds on productive works. According to information obtained by this writer under the Right to Information Act, the MCC spent Rs 30,000 on refreshments alone for a one-day monthly meeting. The Mayor and councillors should also avoid foreign jaunts. There is a need to strengthen the establishment by recruiting regular staff and filling vacancies. Some municipal corporations have started e-tender. This is welcome because this will ensure transparency, accountability and good governance through independent and competent assurance in the management of public money. The writer, a Chandigarh-based social activist, writes on urban governance reforms |
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Most people in most of the Indian cities do not know who their Mayor is. There are at least a hundred of them in the country besides a few thousand municipal chairmen. Part of the problem is several of them are "one-year wonders" as in the case of Bangalore or Delhi.