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Monitoring 2G probe
Enough is enough! |
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Rejuvenating agriculture
India, China must build mutual trust
The noting on the files
Human smuggling
Migration
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Monitoring 2G probe
THE Supreme Court’s decision to personally monitor investigation into the 2G spectrum scam, with the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reporting directly to it on this matter, puts a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of the apex court bench comprising Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly. While this fits in well with the pro-active approach of the court in recent months as borne out by the observations made by the bench in this case, somewhere along the line there is a nagging suspicion that it reflects lack of trust in the monitoring of investigations by a government-appointed monitor. The circumstances were truly extraordinary with the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) having been kept off monitoring both because he is under a cloud for having been chargesheeted in a palmolein import case and also because he was the Telecom Secretary at the Centre at a time when the contours of the 2G scam were in the making. The government, on its part, had already indicated that it was not opposed to a court-monitored investigation. Significantly, the court has directed the CBI to base its investigations on the earlier report of the CVC and keeping in mind the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG), “which had prima facie found that ineligible entities were granted licences.” It is indeed noteworthy that the court directed the CBI and the ED to carry out investigations without being influenced by any individual or agency. That the declared emphasis of the investigation will be to determine the loss of money to the public exchequer is as it should be. Another important aspect of Thursday’s order of the Supreme Court is the direction to the CBI to investigate the grant of spectrum licences from 2001. This puts the erstwhile NDA government under as much of a scrutiny as the UPA with A. Raja as Telecom Minister. Instead of leaving this widening of the scope of the investigation to the government, the apex court has done well to unambiguously lay it down. It is to be hoped that with the Supreme Court keen on getting to the root of this matter expeditiously, the case would be fast tracked and the guilty would be brought to book without regard to their status and influence.
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Enough is enough!
Chandigarh, often referred to by the clichéd expression “City Beautiful”, has been facing one of its most serious challenges in recent years — that of real estate predators supported by the governments of Punjab and Haryana, both of which otherwise stake a claim to this city as their respective capital, threatening to change the city’s skyline and adversely affect the Sukhna wildlife sanctuary and the ecologically fragile Shivalik foothills. In the bordering Kansal village (Punjab), the Tatas are awaiting a final clearance to construct 19 residential towers of between 12 and 35 storeys with 102 MLAs and MPs as their premier and politically convenient clients. Then again, at a distance of barely 300 metres from the regulator end of the lake and well within the Sukhna catchment area in Saketri village (Haryana), three well-known realtors have between them purchased over 200 acres of prime land on which they intend to develop a mix of multi-storeyed apartments and independent houses. Ever since Chandigarh became a Union Territory in 1966, there has been a consistent erosion of the Punjab New Capital Periphery Control Act of 1952 which was originally applicable to a 16-km radius. The Act was vigorously enforced by the Punjab government until 1966 following which the enforcer itself rolled into motion the first violation by permitting the construction of farmhouses and poultry sheds. Then followed the creation of the Zirakpur Nagar Panchayat, Panchkula and Mohali even as Chandigarh expanded from 25 to 63 sectors. The radius of open land is now shrunk to a meager 3 km, which is in danger of altogether disappearing if real estate developers have their way. This would be the proverbial last nail in the coffin for a city already in danger of urban decay with its ever-increasing population, slums, traffic congestion, an over- stretched infrastructure, pollution and housing problems. The UT Administration must take a stand and seek the intervention of the Centre, including that of the Union Ministry of Environment, which must never permit these constructions. It is to be hoped that the UT’s Home and Finance Secretaries, who belong to the Haryana and Punjab cadres, respectively, would not allow parochial interests to subsume Chandigarh’s long-term interests. Unfortunately, successive Advisers, who are otherwise from the UT cadre, seek postings to Chandigarh either because they have been superseded or to await a plum posting in Delhi, while the interest of the Administrator, a political appointee, fluctuates between being over-involved and indifferent. Perhaps the solution lies in Le Corbusier’s advice: “The seed of Chandigarh is well sown. It is for the citizens to see that the tree flourishes”.
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Rejuvenating agriculture
THE
working group on agriculture headed by Haryana Chief Minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda has made two major recommendations — loans at
4 per cent interest rate and MSPs 50 per cent higher than the actual
cost of cultivation — which look fine on paper but their
implementation is difficult. It is mostly big farmers who take away whatever benefits are given on the pretext of helping the poor farmers. While large farmers have access to bank credit, it is the small and marginal peasants who are exploited by unscrupulous private moneylenders. Cheap loans meant for small farmers may actually be grabbed by large farmers who already corner maximum state subsidies. So powerful are moneylenders in Punjab that they have not allowed the FCI to make direct payments to paddy growers. It is true the present system of determining the minimum support price of farm produce is faulty and the working group has rightly asked the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices that fixes the MSPs to base its recommendations on the actual costs incurred by farmers. In suggesting a 50 per cent profit margin for farmers on their produce the Hooda group has merely supported the idea proposed by the National Commission on Farmers headed by M.S. Swaminathan. It has not been implemented as it would either substantially raise the cost of cereals for the common man or escalate the government’s food subsidy bill to unmanageable levels. The proposed law on national food security is already set to make heavy demands on the exchequer. The major irritants that hold back Indian agriculture are low productivity, an absence of quality seeds, small land-holdings, poor irrigation facilities and lack of guidance from agricultural universities and state agriculture departments. As water resources are getting depleted and the possible impact of climate change on agriculture is being realised, the Centre and states will have to make coordinated efforts to protect and nurture agriculture. The working group report can be a good guide — to start with. |
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I don't hire people who have to be told to be nice. I hire nice people. — Leona Helmsly
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India, China must build mutual trust
India and China, the two giants of Asia, are among the oldest and living civilisations of the world. Being neighbours, they had established trade and cultural relations since time immemorial. Indian as well as Chinese historical records reveal that India-China interaction was a two-way traffic, and the two elements of this exchange were material and spiritual or cultural linkages. As stated by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, “friendship between our two countries has a time-honoured history.” Great Chinese historian Si Maqian records in his masterpiece, “Records of a Historian” that when he was in Bactria (around 123 BC), he came to know from the local merchants that they were procuring Chinese products such as Sichuan silk and bamboo walking sticks from Indian markets, thus establishing the fact that India and China were already having trade relations in the second century BC. Later Ban Gu, another Chinese historian, wrote about the state of affairs in Jibin (Kashmir) state of India and about its products like pearls, corals, lapis lazuli, etc. His book mentions about the sea route connecting southern India and China. It was perhaps the spiritual linkage that transformed the relationship between the two countries completely and took it to a new high. The earliest wave of scholar-monks going from India to China perhaps started with Kashyapa Matanga and Dharamraksha reaching Luoyang in the first century AD, and continued till the end of the third century. A monastery called White Horse Monastery was built to accommodate them in Luoyang. In May 2010 during her visit to China, President Pratibha Patil inaugurated a Buddhist complex built with an Indian investment of $4 million next to this monastery. The second wave of such visitors was between the 4th and 5th centuries, and the third between the 6th and 7th centuries. Of all the Indian scholar-monks in China, Kumarajiva undoubtedly was the brightest of all, who, apart from being reduced as a war booty for his brilliance and impeccable memory by the Chinese, was also accorded the highest honour of Rajyaguru by Emperor Yao Xing of the later Qin dynasty. Between the 2nd and 13th centuries some 6000-7000 fascicles of the sutras were disseminated to China and translated into Chinese; Kumarajiva alone translated 74 scriptures in 384 fascicles. On the other hand, Faxian, Xuanzang and Yijing shine bright among the Chinese cultural ambassadors to India. Faxian was the first Chinese to travel to India in search of Buddhist sutras according to the records. His monumental work, “Accounts of a Buddhist Country”, narrates his experiences in India. Xuanzang and Yijing had certain advantages over Faxian, as both were patronised by Tang Emperor Taizong and Empress Wu Zetian respectively. Xuanzang and Yijing both studied at Nalanda and became proficient in Sanskrit. It is indeed heartening that the university where Chinese monks once studied is being rebuilt jointly by India, China, Japan and Singapore, and will offer courses in Buddhist studies besides other disciplines. Owing to the material and spiritual linkages, India and China benefited immensely in the field of literature as also science and technology. Indian stories, fables, art, drama and medicine reached China. During the Tang dynasty, Chinese literary forms like Chuanqiwen and Bianwen were greatly influenced by the Indian literary style manifested in Panchtantra and Jataka stories. The cultural ambassadors enhanced and strengthened mutual understanding, which acted as a catalyst in the modern history of India and China for rendering mutual support and sympathy by the Indians and Chinese during their national liberation struggles. From Yuan and Ming dynasties onward until India and China launched their freedom struggles, the cross-cultural currents between them virtually went unnoticed. The interactions were interrupted by the drastic domestic changes and, more importantly, by the gradual eastward expansion of Western colonialism. The anti-imperialist efflorescence of the Indian and Chinese peoples manifested in a major way as a challenge to the colonial order for the first time during the First War of Indian Independence (1857-59) in India and the Taiping Uprising (1850-1864) in China, as for the first time the Indian soldiers stationed in China fought shoulder-to-shoulder against the imperialists and the Qing government. It was due to the synergy between the cultures and the plight of India and China that the nationalists and revolutionaries of the two countries developed deep mutual contacts and friendship amidst their anti-imperialist struggles. Indian nationalists such as Surendramohan Bose, Rash Behari Bose, M.N. Roy, Barkatullah and Lala Lajpat Rai had forged very close bonds with the Chinese nationalists such as Sun Yat-Sen and Zhang Taiyan, and had their active support whether in Japan or China. In China, the activities were mostly carried out by the members of the Ghadr Party. Much of the activities centered around Hankou, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Their post-Siam-Burma Plan activities find a link with the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC). The Ghadar support to the Chinese nationalist government and in turn enlisting the latter’s support were the direct outcome of the formation of the First United Front in China between the KMT and the CPC. During the War of Resistance and World War II, so long as China suffered at the hands of the Japanese, the reverberations were felt in India too. India dispatched a medical mission to China in 1938 to help them in their War of Resistance. Dr. Kotnis, one of the doctors of this mission, died in China while serving the wounded soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and other Chinese people. Nehru made the bonds of friendship even stronger when he visited China in 1939. President Chiang Kai-Shek visited India in 1940 specially to break the deadlock between the British and the Congress, and met Mahatma Gandhi. The colonial period was the period when both the peoples of India and China rendered support and sympathy to each other in their common struggle. It was Nehru’s vision that in future India and China would necessarily come closer to each other for the vast and tremendous potential of economic cooperation in a New World Order. Politically also, it was believed the two would unite against any outside aggression and play an important role in world affairs. India was the first country in the non-communist block to recognise China and establish diplomatic relations. It is unfortunate that both India and China did not handle their relations well during the 1950s and for many years later on due to various misconceptions and misunderstandings. However, it has been a different story for a few years when economic and trade relations have not been allowed to get affected by the border disputes. The need of the hour is to build mutual trust, resurrect our centuries’ old sentiments with a new zeal, exploit our potential and usher in a new era of economic cooperation and friendly
relations.
The writer is Associate Professor, Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, JNU, New Delhi.
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The noting on the files
I acquired experience enough of the noting made by officials on the files secured by red tapes, having worked in government undertakings for long. Officials wrote notings in their own hallmark styles after applying their minds ensuring that they are covered in case their decision/sanction is questioned at later dates. Some noting appeared literary, others strictly punctuated, and some were confused and meaningless statements and even amusing, besides being authoritative. Many notings were laden with Latin phrases like inter alia, modus operandi, modus vivendi, mutatis mutandis and so on. Dictionaries were insufficient to provide exact meaning of these phrases, causing further confusion. The etymology of a word used by me in a note absurdly caused delay to clear a proposal. It was regarding hiring a godown at Pahar Ganj of Delhi, for stocking the polyester products. With all the ingenuity at my command, I prepared the note, mentioning the location of the godown, Chuna Mandi. The first two superiors, the marketing and technical directors, okayed the note. However, the third in the line of authority, the finance director, happened to apply his mind and notified something along these lines; “the location of the godown, Chuna Mandi, implies that there may be lot of Chuna flying around. It needs to be ascertained if there is any adverse chemical reaction between Chuna (CaCo3) and polyester”. That file note initiated a flurry of actions at my end to prepare a secured response. To narrate briefly; Pollution Control Board reported there was hardly any Chuna (whitewash material) particles in the air at the proposed site and Chuna does not react with polyester. The city official in the know narrated that Chuna Mandi was a business hub for construction materials during development of Luyten’s Delhi. The present Chuna Mandi is lined up with hotels and chemical shops. The gathered findings found favour with all in the line-up and sanction was conveyed to me to ‘hire the godown immediately to avoid any further logistical losses for sales’. Unfortunately, the owner of the godown did not wait that long and he rented out the premises to some other unsuspecting company. Needless to say that the blame was squarely mine. The amusing part is that the superior who earlier raised the concern for granting the sanction was a native of nearby areas of Chuna Mandi in old Delhi. I suspected that he might have been allergic to Chuna or to say in a lighter vein, ‘‘Kisi Ne Oosko Chuna Zaroor Lagaya Hoga’ — he being a financial
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Human smuggling THE Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act, 2010, is awaiting the President of India’s assent. It is an important piece of legislation as it seeks to regulate the profession of travel agents to check their illegal and fraudulent activities and malpractices of those involved in the organised human smuggling in Punjab. The key focus of the legislation is on human smuggling as opposed to human trafficking. The distinction is crucial. Human smuggling facilitates illegal entry of people from one country to another. It has a cross border element of voluntary cooperation without any coercion or undue influence. In contrast to human trafficking, there are no victims in human smuggling. Human trafficking entails slavery and possibly has no international element. It provides for a much-needed licensing regime for agents and requires compulsory bank guarantees. Clearly, this will nail down middlemen of all sorts and fly-by-night street operators. The legislation is not without teeth because it gives the power of search, seizure and arrest. Under the existing Central legislation, travel agents can be booked under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, in terms of which it is very difficult to prove the offence of cheating as most transactions take place in cash. But the Punjab legislation gives more powers to the police in terms of offences being cognisable and non-bailable. A separate mechanism has been carved out as the legislation seeks to create specially designated courts for trials under the new Act. It identifies defined variable punishments for offences. There is a provision for filing complaints by aggrieved persons to judicial magistrates for trial before the special courts. The special court is authorised to decide whether any illegally acquired property is liable to be confiscated. Dishonest misrepresentation to have wrongful gain for inducing, deception, cheating or allurement for the activities carried out by the travel agents are punishable. There is also a caveat for legitimate business promotion. If any travel agent wants to advertise or hold seminars, he must notify the competent authority with details of advertisement of such seminars. As the rules so framed by the Punjab government after the Presidential assent should be comprehensive and free from ambiguity, the authorities concerned would do well to consider the following issues. The locus standi of aggrieved persons should be given a broad sweep without hinging on technicalities. Quite often, the victims of human smuggling are stranded en route in hostile conditions in foreign countries. Their next of kin in such a situation should be empowered to file criminal complaints or claims for compensation against erring parties. Foreign missions in the consular district of New Delhi should also be brought within the ambit of aggrieved persons so that they can lodge criminal complaints against habitual offenders who deal in bulk fraudulent applications. In a world without borders, the 2010 Act like the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, should also have extra-territorial application. It is common knowledge that cross border cartels operate from different jurisdictions right from the sending country to the receiving country. No complaint should fail on the ground that monetary consideration was paid outside India and that part of the cause of action took outside the territories of India. There is need for a strict code for advertising by travel agents and immigration consultancies. There should be an express prohibition on all immigration-related advertisements in the media — print and electronic — for not advertising or canvassing the number of visas allegedly procured by their consultancies. Quite often, such figures of successful applicants are exaggerated and inflated and there is no way by innocent and gullible members of the public to check such projected figures. As for offences, the rules should be applicable to any immigration consultancy, agent, franchisee operating even outside Punjab, if the principal office of the branch of such a concern is situated within Punjab. There should be a clear embargo on canvassing projected time schedules for permanent residency/ settlement in any foreign country. The provision for a bank guarantee to be furnished by all such licensed immigration operators and travel agencies should be on ad valorem basis and the amount of the bank guarantee should be directly proportional to the number of applications handled by any such consultancy or agency. In terms of compliance requirements, the rules under the said legislation should provide that any licensed immigration consultancy/ travel agency or operator, should file a mandatory quarterly return on the number of applications handled by any such agency or operator with the steering committee constituted under the rules or with the Deputy Commissioner of the respective district, which shall be a pre-condition for the renewal of the annual licence. To protect students, the rules should prohibit payment of the handsome commission paid to the local agents and franchisees in India by low level foreign universities from the tuition fees paid by the students in India. Over the years, this has promoted a different type of an industry giving fillip to lot of illegal activities on the side to exploit the student avenue. Mass awareness is important. The rules should direct Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) in Punjab to adequately publicise this beneficial piece of legislation, in their respective offices. For the convenience of the public, especially rural youth hailing from the far flung areas of Punjab who are victims of cheating by unscrupulous agents and dubious touts, copies of the legislation translated in Punjabi should be made available at the said RPOs. One needs to look at the entire gamut of human smuggling. The NRI marriages in Punjab are a very serious problem, especially in terms of abandoned brides. Marriage is also used as a very convenient camouflage for human smuggling. Marriage palace operators provide complete packages to facilitate such commercial marriages. The rules under the legislation in question should bring within its ambit abettors and perpetrators of such sham marriages, or victims of marriages of convenience. As part of corporate social responsibility obligations, business houses in Punjab should be motivated to take suitable initiatives to publicise the evil effects of human trafficking and the dangers involved in patronising fly-by-night travel agents. The Chief Secretary of Punjab, after constituting a Core Steering and Monitoring Committee, should regularly review the enforcement of the legislation and maintain comprehensive data of complaints and convictions under the said legislation. The Chief Secretary can include in the committee people from different walks of life. This could as well give an opportunity to review the working of the legislation. The core panel could have a dedicated website and email address to create direct access from the public for their viewpoints. The rules could well stipulate that the Punjab government in close cooperation with the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs should also interact with all the Embassies and Foreign Missions in the consular district of New Delhi to share their international data of habitual immigration offenders, networks and cartels engaged in the business of human trafficking and human smuggling with the MEA and the MOIA so that they can further share and transmit the available data with the Punjab government. This will prevent illegal migration and ensure greater cross-border cooperation with all member states. The rules could provide for an Immigration Ombudsman at the regional and district level. This soft option could be organised by complainants who do not have the resources to invoke the due process of law. A savings clause regarding the consumer courts’ jurisdiction for deficiency in service and for refund/ compensation should also be there explicitly in the rules so that the offenders cannot possibly attempt to take refuge of the technicalities of law. We have to wait and see which way the pendulum swings down the road. Hopefully, the letter and spirit of the rules will be at par with the Punjab government’s laudable effort in framing the 2010 legislation. The writer, a Felix Scholar and associated with Wilton Park, a UK-based think-tank, specialises in areas of immigration and private international law in Chandigarh
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Migration
n
Over the years, Wilton Park, a leading UK-based think-tank for discussion of key international policy changes, has been debating key issues relating to migration policies, themes, perceptions, perspectives, trends and its future policy options. According to its 2007 report, legal migration is the most sensitive subject for discussion, particularly in terms of the public debate over numbers. n
The Interpol estimates that India contributes to the largest illegal population in Europe, and an estimated two million Indians cross international borders illegally every year. n
Human trafficking has now become a larger ‘industry’ worldwide than drug trafficking. In India alone, it is a multi-million dollar business. n
Globally, remittances are estimated to be equivalent to three times development aid. n
Members of the European Union already co-operate on shared mechanisms within borders such as Eurodac, a European Union-wide electronic system for the identification of asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants. n
FrontEx is an independent European agency funded by the EU and individual member states. With headquarters in Warsaw, it aims to coordinate the operational co-operation of their external borders.
Patterns of immigration
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According to Wilton Park’s 2008 findings, patterns of immigration and emigration are generally shaped by the long-term economic performance of a country. n
There is likely to be increased competition amongst the more developed countries for highly skilled migrants. On current demographic projections, China, for example, may change from being a source to a destination country. n
Political, religious and ethnic persecution are the key drivers of forced migration, but new displacement scenarios are evolving, including environmental degradation, declining resource, population growth and climate change. n
Factors vary regionally. In South Asia, migration is a well-established livelihood option. In the European Union, migration has been facilitated by the right to free movement of
labour. n
Governments will continue to control illegal migration to facilitate the migration flows which they do want. n
Public attitudes to migration are frequently negative. n
Policy responses from South Asian countries have been ad hoc; it is one of the few areas where no regional process is in place for strategic management of migration. n
There are no real indications of the emergence of a leading international migration agency. The International Organisation for Migration could be a candidate.
Areas of concern & reform
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Need to enact a Central legislation to check illegal trafficking, human smuggling and thriving unethical immigration businesses. n
Imperative need for a consolidated work permit visa regime in India for inward foreign migration especially for highly skilled foreign workers which could also be a good source of revenue. n
Spreading of awareness and education of the pitfalls of illegal immigration. n
Need to establish managed migration channels.
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It has several noteworthy features. ‘Human smuggling’ and ‘travel agent’ are well defined. Travel agent is defined as a person in a profession that involves arranging, managing or conducting affairs related to sending people abroad. It includes consultancy for permanent emigration, obtaining education, work, travel for tourism, cultural entertainment or musical shows, medical treatment, spreading or preaching religion and so on.