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Speed-breakers come up
Naming 2G prosecutor
A high-stakes battle |
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The Fukushima effect
Mothers are special
State funding of elections is a long standing reform. It has often been debated but successive governments have not pursued it to its logical conclusion. Even if it is implemented, the question remains: Will it help check the role of money power in elections?
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Speed-breakers come up
THE slowdown in India’s industrial growth is a cause for concern. The official data released on Monday showed just 3.6 per cent industrial growth in February, which is a shade lower than January’s 3.9 per cent. The blow to business confidence is accompanied by the IMF’s downward revision of India’s GDP growth rate to 8.2 per cent for the current fiscal and warning that the economy could heat up. An economy heats up when production fails to keep pace with demand. High demand drives up prices, which has political implications. This puts pressure on the RBI to suppress demand by squeezing money supply and raising interest rates. The RBI’s quarterly review of the monetary policy next month may, therefore, see a further tightening of liquidity in the system. A strong factor influencing growth is the monsoon. If it is normal, agricultural growth would pick up and food prices cool. Lately, encouraging agriculture data has been coming up because of the base effect. A major worry for India and others is oil. Public unrest in the Middle East has spiked global oil prices. The Centre’s finances have taken a hit. Despite petrol decontrol, its prices have not been allowed to go up due to the ongoing state elections. Post-elections, oil prices may move up, pushing up inflation. The gloom is deepening but the IMF is not worried. It is undaunted by the prospect of oil above $120 a barrel. Its optimism stays intact in spite of the turmoil in the Middle East, the ailing financial sector of Europe and a high debt load of the US. “There is no major downside risk at this point”, says IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard. “Commodity prices have increased more than expected… (but) we don’t think that this time these increases will derail the recovery”. India’s growth is largely driven by domestic demand, which is petering off. Unless a Middle East flare-up sets oil on fire, India’s above 8 per cent growth prospect would continue to pull foreign investment.
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Naming 2G prosecutor THE Supreme Court naming Mr U.U. Lalit as the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) for the 2G Spectrum scam trial, exercising its extraordinary powers to override the Centre’s objections, has kicked off a major controversy. By doing so, it has unnecessarily invited the criticism of having committed judicial overreach. Nobody is questioning the Supreme Court’s extraordinary powers. Article 142 of the Constitution, for instance, allows it to exercise such powers for delivering “substantive justice”. However, this provision is rarely resorted to. Moreover, has the court followed the due process of law while appointing Mr Lalit? During the hearings on April 5, the government had submitted that Mr Lalit did not qualify to be the SPP because he did not have the requisite seven years’ experience of working in the government. This rule is explicitly mentioned in Section 46 (2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. Of course, one does not doubt the Supreme Court’s good intentions. Its primary objective of naming Mr Lalit as the SPP (interestingly Mr K.K. Venugopal, Senior Counsel, had proposed his name at the instance of the court) is to ensure that the 2G trial does not falter like earlier cases where government law officers were special public prosecutors. The government, in principle, wants its own public prosecutors or law officers to take care of controversial cases such as Bofors to deflect the political fallout. The court had once observed that it would not allow the 2G Spectrum case to go the way of the hawala scandal of the 1990s. As the judges had left it to the Centre to handle it through its law officers, nothing came out of the hawala case. Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati did express the Centre’s reservations over Mr Lalit’s choice on the ground that it was the government’s “prerogative” to choose its SPP. However, Additional Solicitor-General Indira Jaising said that it was not necessary to consider the scope of Section 46 (2) “at this stage”. While the judiciary’s latest action may be sound and even justified by the court “in public interest”, it has the potential of disturbing the delicate constitutional balance and violating the doctrine of separation of powers. For the smooth functioning of the Constitution, all the three organs — the legislature, the executive and the judiciary — ought to function within their respective limits. No organ should try to encroach upon each other’s domain.
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A high-stakes battle
A
no-holds-barred battle gets underway in Tamil Nadu on April 13 with both the Dravidian parties — the ruling DMK and the formidable challenger AIADMK — playing for high stakes. Rarely has there been an electoral battle in which the antipathy between the leaders of the two principal contending parties been so strong as it is in Tamil Nadu this time. That the 87-year-old DMK chieftain M. Karunanidhi has chosen to fight this election under his own leadership rather than handing over the baton to his son M.K. Stalin is an index not only of the extraordinary stakes as of his fear that his anointed heir may not be able to meet the challenge from AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa in the face of dissidence from within his party. After the last elections in 2006, the DMK had rebuffed its ally the Congress’ suggestions to be part of the ruling dispensation. This time around, however, he has publicly stated that he is not averse to a coalition if the situation so demands. Since the DMK is contesting only 119 seats in an Assembly of 234, leaving other seats to its allies, it is inconceivable that it can romp home on its own. Likewise, the AIADMK is contesting 160 seats and is unlikely to make it to the magic figure without the help of its allies. Coalition politics in the state, therefore, seems round the corner. It would indeed be keenly watched how big an issue corruption would be in this election with the DMK’s image dented by its involvement in the 2G scam and the Congress too tarred by the same brush. Jayalalithaa has been crying herself hoarse but the average voter may not give her high marks on integrity considering that she too was confronted by allegations of corruption when she was at the helm prior to 2006. The sharp increase in prices of essentials will predictably put the DMK in the dock. A keen contest is well and truly on the cards.
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I believe that the true road to preeminent success in any line is to make yourself master of that line. — Andrew Carnegie
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The Fukushima effect THE nuclear disaster in Fukushima has wonderfully focused the minds of India’s contending pro-and-anti-nuclear energy lobbies. No quarter is either being asked or given. The pro-nuclear energy aficionados of the International Atomic Energy Commission are on the defensive. But, the anti-nuclear energy jholawalas are having a field day, describing the horrors of the unfolding tragedy in northwest Japan in full detail. Radiation clouds have reached the west coast of the United States. Plutonium has leached into the soil. Radioactive wastes are being discharged into the ocean around the Fukushima reactors. And so on. The three serious nuclear reactor accidents that have occurred in the past — Chernobyl (1986) in the former Soviet Union, Three-Mile Island (1997) in the United States, and now Fukushima —have been recalled to highlight the risks inherent in exploiting nuclear energy. On the other hand, the supporters of nuclear energy have redoubled their efforts to claim that nuclear power is the answer to India’s burgeoning energy security needs. They emphasise that nuclear energy is clean — no particulate matter issues or green-house gas emissions to exacerbate global warming and climate change. Besides, the initial costs of establishing nuclear power reactors may be high as compared to thermal power stations, but their running costs are negligibly low. Therefore, overall cost economics favour nuclear power. Two questions arise now. First, are nuclear reactors exceptions to Murphy’s Law? The law postulates that if anything can go wrong in any human activity, it will go wrong over time. Thus, it can be argued that Fukushima was bound to happen. But it can also be felicitously argued that Fukushima and the earlier Chernobyl (1986) and Three-Mile Island nuclear disasters were aberrant events. Therefore it is illogical to suggest that they will repeat themselves. These accidents revealed that cooling systems failed to function, and there were defects in basic reactor design, which have been or can be rectified in nuclear reactors worldwide. The Fukushima accident occurred, very unfortunately, due to a powerful earthquake occurring in conjunction with tsunami. What is the statistical probability of this combination of natural disasters occurring in future? Negligibly small? This underlines not only the obvious need to address the deficiencies revealed, but also to think asymmetrically about the weaknesses that still remain unrecognised. For instance, all nuclear reactors have automatic shutdown systems that take control when seismic activity crosses a defined threshold. This was proceeding in Fukushima when it was struck by the tsunami, which highlights the need to strengthen water-retention containers for the reactor and having multiple redundancy electrical supply systems. Protection from tsunamis must also be ensured by constructing breakwaters to deflect or mitigate their wave effects. But weak spots remain. Reactor wastes for example, are highly radioactive and are stored in concrete canisters or sealed drums. This was devised as a temporary arrangement, but no permanent solution has yet emerged, and the temporary arrangement has become a permanent solution. Greater thought is necessary to resolve this nuclear safety issue. Second, is nuclear energy the silver bullet to resolve India’s energy security problems? No. For one, official projections of future nuclear energy production are quite fanciful. A target of 10,000 MWs was set by the Sarabhai Profile (1970) for achievement by 1980. To date, actual generation is under 4000 MWs. This has not deterred the official optimists from predicting that India will reach a target of 60000 MWs by 2032 (Meera Shankar, present Indian Ambassador to Washington). Her predecessor, Ronen Sen, predicted a target 260,000 MWs by 2050. Anil Kakodkar, former head of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), has forecast 455,000 MWs being achieved by 2050. It is clear that a Barmecide’s feast is in progress. For another, the usual methodology pursued by the nuclear energy lobby is to demolish the case for all other energy sources before promoting their own case. Thus, fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas — are stigmatised as causing atmospheric pollution, global warming and climate change, whereas nuclear energy is environmentally clean. Solar energy is dismissed because solar cells are expensive and solar arrays require large surface areas, whereas nuclear energy is cheap And so on. Naturally, the problems with nuclear energy like local resistance to reactors being situated in their neighborhood, difficulties in securing capital, problems of waste disposal and so on are slurred over. Besides, India’s nuclear energy program is premised on its fast breeder program, but this technology has been abandoned. Only Russia and India are pursuing fast breeders, whereas the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan have given them up. Incidentally, India’s FBR program is centered on its small operational 15 MW Experimental Fast Breeder Reactor (EFBR). A 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) remains under
construction. Little is known about the performance of the EFBR in the public domain. An urgent peer group review is therefore required to examine India’s reliance on fast breeder technology, especially after the Indo-US nuclear deal ensures India’s access to uranium fuel, which was its major vulnerability earlier. The lessons from the foregoing are obvious. Nuclear technology is not foolproof. The safety and security issues involved in reactor operation must be constantly reviewed by an independent authority. Greater transparency here would enhance public confidence in the Atomic Energy Commission, which is currently facing an agitation against the sitting of its nuclear reactor complex in Jaitapur. The Fukushima disaster has definitely redoubled public fears regarding nuclear energy. Proceeding further, India cannot place its entire faith in nuclear energy to meet its future energy security requirements, but must exploit all available sources of energy i.e. coal, oil and natural gas; hydroelectricity; biomass; and non-conventional sources like solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, and so on. Adequate attention must also be paid to conserving energy by proceeding vigorously against the appreciable theft of electricity. The pricing mechanism also requires urgent attention. Clearly free or subsidized electricity to favored sections of the population is economically inefficient and financially disastrous. Ensuring energy security, therefore, is as much about governance as
technology.
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Mothers are special I
am ex-Army, hence comfortable with death with all its subtle and not-so-subtle nuances. This time, however, death beaconed differently — my wife and I were irrevocably hurtling towards it. Returning late from Shoghi, a sleepy, laid back hamlet outside Shimla, I was driven by an irrational hit-the plains-before-dark adrenalin rush. A micro-second before I crashed into the newly installed, valley side steel anti-crash barrier above Timber Trail, I saw the sugar-ball prasad packets on the Ikon’s dashboard from mother’s last rites and remembered her. The sickening crunch of steel didn’t pan out spectacularly with car, occupants and stone detritus plunging down 1500 feet, had the car hit the adjacent low stone wall which the steel barriers are replacing. Instead, we were shaken, with nary a scratch; marvelling at the composure with which we transited from certain death to chatting animatedly, minutes later, with little Krish, our grandson, who had insistently been calling his Spiderman Dadu up on cell. I am no para-psychologist but I am certain Mother was there when I needed her. There aren’t too many people around who don’t remember God and Mother when in need. I’m no different, but let me explain. Last July, mother passed away at Jabalpur, 57 years after she became a widow at age 33 there. It was in December 1953 when mom and her six siblings (ages 3 to 11) woke up to an insistent midnight knock. With father, a senior Defence Accounts Service officer on tour in Bihar, mom would snuggle us into the drawing room at night for community sleeping. Considered a “man” in her maternal family because she was so brave, she ordered the servant to load father’s shotgun. The uniformed, respectful Army officer, who stood in pelting rain, gently informed her that father had died of a stroke at Katihar railway station. To everyone, mother is pretty and my mother was no exception. Educated, comely, with lustrous black hair, she was full of cheer and love. Her sudden transition post-fathers cremation shocked us. Her world destroyed, she returned with streaks of white hair and an ineffable sadness that never ever left her. She was our only hope as we struggled through life; on the strength of her extraordinary willpower and mental resolve to subsume herself for the sake of her five sons and a daughter. We were unaware, when growing up, of what travails she must have undergone as she struggled to give direction to her life through her children. It must have taken enormous courage for her elder, married brother, to give her shelter but he selflessly did. We shifted to Lucknow to begin life afresh. Determined to give us the best education, she ensured that; placing everything else on hold. Not too many mothers choose to send four sons into the Army. She did. One son entered corporate life and her daughter became a doctor. Mother and God the world over are interchangeable names. We certainly subscribe to this belief. The sugar-ball prasad packets were from Hardwar, where I had immersed her ashes, and were meant for distribution to my siblings. Facing death, I called out to her and she responded — or so I feel. Mother was always special in real life but I feel, from somewhere up there, she still
cares.
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State funding of elections is a long standing reform. It has often been debated but successive governments have not pursued it to its logical conclusion. Even if it is implemented, the question remains: Will it help check the role of money power in elections?
State funding: An overdue reform THE issue of state funding of elections has once again come to the fore. The opinion is sharply divided in the country for and against state aid. Interestingly, Chief Election Commissioner Dr S.Y. Quraishi is himself opposed to it. He has spoken against it at various fora, including the regional consultations on electoral reforms which were jointly sponsored by the Union Law Ministry and the Election Commission of India. Undoubtedly, the election expenditure of individual candidates in all the elections — Parliament, state legislatures or even the zilla panchayats and city corporations — has increased by leaps and bounds. Though elections are expected to be a level-playing field for all candidates, the rich and the poor, it is always the affluent sections which have an edge in the elections. Reasons for continued unequal elections are not far to seek. Contesting an election calls for a lot of money, activists and resources. Apart from arranging funds for organising party meetings and rallies, one has to spend money on pamphlets, cut-outs, bills, posters, public address systems, decoration of rostrums, tents, shamianas, vehicles and so on. More important, the candidates will have to take care of the party cadre in arranging them food, cold drinks, etc. Obviously, a poor candidate with no funds and meager resources cannot hope to meet all these requirements and win at the hustings. The demand for state funding of elections is not new. Over the years, several committees have gone into the question whether at least a part of the candidates' election expenses should be met by the state. The Jagannadha Rao Committee (1971), the Dinesh Goswami Report (1990), the Inter-Parliamentary Council Resolution (1994), the Inderjit Gupta Committee Report (1998), the Law Commission of India Report (1999), the Second Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Dr M. Veerappa Moily (2008) have all examined the issue comprehensively and inferred that state aid should be given to the candidates. But then, one cannot overlook the flip side of the reform. Though state aid may bridge the dichotomy between the rich and poor contestants in the elections, the demerits of the proposal seem to overweigh its merits. There are genuine apprehensions that if state aid is given to the candidates, everyone would be tempted to enter the fray for whatever worth it is which, in its turn, may hinder the process of polarisation of political parties and the subsequent emergence of a strong opposition party. Also, state aid may turn out to be a source of money-making to some with reckless optimism. Consequently, it may become legalised corruption at the instance of the state. The provision as such raises too many questions. Should all candidates be given or deserve state aid? If the provision aims at treating all the candidates, irrespective of their party affiliations, on an even keel, its aim and purpose would be lost for the simple reason that both the rich and poor candidates would be treated equally. Moreover, if the poor contestant is able to raise public funds through other sources (in addition to the money that he receives from the state), the state aid would be redundant and may even be a bonus to him if he succeeds. If the state aid does not help him with certain other sources, the poor candidate, having failed to cope with his endeavour, gets defeated in the election, he would prove that the utility of state aid was practically of little use to him. In which case, state aid would be a sheer waste of scarce public funds. Some more questions arise on this reform, however genuine and pragmatic the intentions of the protagonists are. If only the candidates belonging to the political parties are eligible to get state aid, what about the Independents? Moreover, if the amount of state aid is small, it won't help the candidate much in the furtherance of his electoral prospects. And if the amount is to be of any significance, it will turn out to be a very heavy burden on the exchequer. The issue in question is if the amount of state aid is 20 per cent (or one-fifth) of the amount now fixed as the ceiling for election expenses (state aid of Rs 8 lakh over the ceiling of Rs 40 lakh for a Lok Sabha seat or an aid of Rs 3.20 lakh over the ceiling of Rs 16 lakh for an Assembly seat), and assuming that at least ten candidates would be contesting for each of the total seats, the cost to the exchequer would be mind-boggling for the Lok Sabha elections alone, not to speak of the elections to the State Assemblies and local bodies. And the total figure would go up substantially if the amount to each candidate is revised upwards following the hike in the ceiling for election expenditure from time to time. If state aid is to be given by way of reimbursement after the elections are over, no one would like it to be given to all candidates including those who lost their deposits. And, if a criterion is laid down that only those who retained their deposits would be given aid by way of reimbursement, it may be unfair. For, sudden and unexpected developments may adversely affect the candidate's chances of even retaining his deposit. Consequently, instead of serving the intended purpose, the provision of state aid may create a dangerous precedent for legalised corruption. There is also the danger of a chain effect of the proposal for state aid. Followed by organised demands for increasing the quantum of state aid, it may also spread to the lower level of representative bodies like the municipalities, corporations and Panchayati Raj bodies. Given the complex nature of the proposal and the whopping sums involved in its implementation, the government — at the Centre and in the states — ought to provide state aid to candidates in kind and not in cash. This could be in various forms like free utilisation of public places and buildings for purposes of holding election meetings; free supply of limited quantity of stationery; free delivery of canvassing letters and pamphlets through the postal services of the state; supply of limited quantity of petrol and diesel to the vehicles used by the candidates; and provision for payment to newspaper advertisements carrying the appeals issued to the voters. Expenditure towards these services could be met either from the Election Fund or a separate fund duly budgeted by Parliament. In the UK, postal communication is accessible free of charge to the candidates. Council halls are made available for holding the meetings. The cost of printing and compiling of the registers are all paid by the state. In France, the state is more generous in this respect. Money is not given there directly by the state but pamphlets, leaflets, posters, handbills and other publicity material including election manifestoes and statements are printed by the state machinery at the candidates' request. Candidates also get help to organise meetings. To prevent a large number of independent candidates from seeking state aid, it would be worthwhile if India emulated the French system of seeking guarantee from the recipients. Every beneficiary there shall execute a bond and also furnish a bank guarantee for the financial support extended to him/her so that in case he got less than 8 per cent of the total votes polled, he would forfeit his bond and money would be recovered from the guarantor. The Law Commission is of the view that only partial state funding could be contemplated more as a first step towards total state funding. It says that before the idea of state funding (partial or total) is resorted, the provisions suggested in its report relating to political parties (including the provisions ensuring internal democracy, internal structures) and maintenance of accounts, their auditing and submission to the Election Commission are implemented. The idea of state funding is not only to eliminate the influence of money power but also end corporate funding, black money support and raising funds in the name of elections by the parties and their leaders. State funding, without the aforesaid pre-conditions, would merely become another source of funds for the political parties and candidates at the cost of the exchequer.
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