The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Bright achievers
Results showcase small town successes

The names Prudhvi Tej Immadi, Shubham Mehta and Sumegha Garg have suddenly become familiar, as these youngsters have achieved instant fame after achieving top positions in the IIT-JEE results. They are all hard working and focused, as one has to be to achieve a rank in these tough entrance examinations, but they also have another thing in common — they belong to small towns.

Indeed, it is said that success has many fathers. There are many tuition institutions that claim these toppers as their own. Affirmative action programmes too have reason to be happy about the success of their students who belong to poor families. In fact, there has been a significant rise in the number of SC, ST and OBC candidates who have scored well enough to make it to the open category list. Celebrating the success of those who faced tremendous odds, should, however, not eclipse the achievement of those who were better off materially and lived in bigger cities. In the final analysis, it is evident that these achievers had the drive, born out of the will of bettering their lot, of going the extra mile and having the readiness to sacrifice immediate gratification for future gains that contributed immensely to their success at what is arguably the toughest entrance examination in the country.

Naturally, those who score high in this examination are the best and the brightest. It is a sign of the times that some of them are already looking at this as a stepping stone towards a career in the civil services. It is unfortunate that students with a future in engineering want to shift to civil administration. We must ask ourselves why professionals aspire to become civil servants, even as we celebrate the success of these world-class minds with a very bright future. The nation will, no doubt, be richer by utilising their talent effectively.

Missing daughters
When education leads to new killing ways

The data published online by the Lancet titled ‘Trends in Selective Abortions of Girls in India from 1980 to 2010’, which claims 4.5 million girls have gone missing in the last decade, rings the bells of another social evil — dowry, which has received social acceptance by a class that could have made the difference. Two decades back, young, educated women opposed the system of dowry. Women who refused to marry dowry seekers became role models. Before one realised, activism paved the way for social acceptance of the practice. New norms were forged. No one made any bones about lavish weddings where huge amount of money was spent and a tacit silence prevailed over matters of dowry. Now, everyone knows it is given and taken. We are living in the times of capitalism, which carries its own compulsions; material possessions define a person — not the manner in which they are procured.

One fears the same fate may befall the girls waiting to be born in this country. The debate has already lost its edge since the census data of 2011 has shown improvement in the situation, which has been questioned by eminent demographers like Ashish Bose on these very pages. Killing of female foetus has a direct co- relation with capitalism and its ever-growing demarcations on what is profitable and what is not, or, the perception of it. Since education and progressive laws ( against dowry and selective abortions) have failed to deliver what was expected of them — to empower women by restoring their dignity, only a strict implementation of these laws may salvage the fate of yet to be born girls. Because, as the report suggests, the more educated and moneyed the women are, the better equipped they are to kill their own daughters.

Implementers of these laws, unfortunately, are tied in the iron meshing of the same feudal mindset. In a study funded by UNFPA ( United Nations Population Fund), it was found that a worker of Asha NGO who is supposed to report on pre-natal test, herself likes to make use of the technology. She too is cut out of the same social fabric, where a woman is given acceptance to the elite mothers’ club only when she begets a son.

Thought for the Day

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. — James Dent

ARTICLE

Need for Chief of Defence Staff
It is unavoidable under the circumstances
by P.R. Chari

There is timelessness about administrative reforms in India, which transcends the familiar cliché that all bureaucracies are conservative, but defence bureaucracies are the most conservative and resistant to change. India’s defence decision-making apparatus was inherited from the British. But they established several commissions of inquiry after World War II to review and reform their defence establishment. By tradition the recommendations made by Royal Inquiry Commissions are generally accepted and implemented. Not so in India, where the reports of Administrative Reforms Commissions, Commissions of Inquiry, Task Forces, Groups of Ministers and so on are treated as suggestions for the government’s consideration. Their reports are straightaway sent for comments to the very authorities that are to be reformed.

Little wonder that they have a loathing to change and find reforms to be anathema. Procrastination, therefore, is their first line of defence, followed by objections, preferably one at a time, to delay implementation. It is not surprising, since the bureaucracy is programmed to find a problem for every solution. The political leadership lacks commitment and is happy to let the difficult issues that underlie reforms to linger without decision. Therefore, these destitute reports languish until the efflux of time consigns them to gather dust in capacious cupboards.

These sad realities of the reform process in the sphere of defence were aired once again in a conference held recently in New Delhi. The occasion was the passage of a decade since the Group of Ministers (GoM) submitted their report to the Union Cabinet in 2001. The GoM was established by the Union Cabinet on the receipt of the Kargil Review Committee (KRC) Report in August 1999. It would be recollected that the KRC was constituted immediately after the Kargil conflict ended to deflect national criticism that India’s armed forces were caught by surprise by the Pakistani intruders; only the valour and self-sacrifice of their younger officers had countered this failure of intelligence. Following the receipt of the KRC Report four GoMs were set up to study and make appropriate recommendations on intelligence, border management, internal security and defence.

Mercifully, no recommendations emerged from this conference to embarrass those who shall be arranging the next conference. Blame attribution too — civilians on the military, military on the civilians, and both civilians and the military on the political leadership — was kept to the bare minimum. A conscious effort was made to concentrate on the glass half-full rather than draw attention to the half-empty glass. This helped in reaching the unexceptional conclusion that much had been done, but much also remained to be done.

The centre-piece of the GoM Report on Defence, chaired by Mr Arun Singh, was its recommendation that a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) should be appointed to represent the collective views of the three Services, and provide single-point advice to the political leadership. He would also seek closer integration between the Ministry of Defence and Services Headquarters, while simultaneously promoting “jointness” within the armed forces. Additionally, the CDS, assisted by a Vice-CDS, would directly administer the joint commands for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and nuclear forces, coordinate planning activities and so on. Something has, without doubt, been done in all these directions, but these efforts remain half-hearted and sub-optimal. For instance, an Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) organisation has been set up within the Ministry of Defence, but its linkages with the ministry and Services Headquarters remain tenuous. The belief is rife that a posting in the IDS is only a stop-gap appointment before a more worthwhile posting becomes available. Similarly, “jointness” was designed to ensure effective combined arms operations. Little has been done, however, towards developing a joint operational doctrine, training and planning programmes, or even the culture to permit all this to happen.

Incidentally, the CDS was recommended by the GoM to replace the current Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), who is the senior-most among the Chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. This position rotates between the three Service Chiefs in terms of their seniority; in consequence, the Chairman, COSC, has no fixed tenure. In the matter of functioning, the Chairman, COSC, is only the first among equals, and is less than effective in dealing with the political leadership. Dark suspicions are voiced in the Services that the civilian bureaucracy has perpetuated this situation to keep the Services divided and unable to jointly represent the armed forces.

But this is an exaggeration, which became abundantly clear in the conference with the Indian Air Force strenuously voicing its objections to the CDS system. Their objections have a long history and have been traced back to the doubts expressed by Air Chief Marshal P.C. Lal in the early seventies. These objections derive from a long-standing angst in the Air Force and the Navy that a CDS from the Army would be insensitive to their interests since they are much smaller Services. On the other hand, the Army believes that a CDS from either the Navy or the Air Force would hardly carry any conviction since the strength of the India Army is roughly four times that of the other two Services combined. The great wonder is that this debate has continued for nearly four decades without reaching any conclusion.

It is rumoured that a second Group of Ministers may soon be discussing these issues. This is a welcome move. No reform process can succeed unless it is periodically reviewed to take stock of what has been accomplished and why what remains unaddressed has not been done. Hopefully, this GoM will address the paradox that only military or ‘hard’ security issues were considered by the first GoM, whereas non-military and human security issues have gained ascendancy over the last decade. Instrumentalities are important for security exercises to reach fruition; hence, the imperative need for a Chief of Defence Staff to advise on and implement national security decisions. Without a CDS India would be hoping to stage Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.

MIDDLE

About a faded passion
by B.K. Karkra

I do not recall having seen a movie in a theatre since 1977 and so far as multiplexes are concerned, I do not even have any idea what they look like from inside. Of course, this was not the case with me in my childhood. I was then a different being.

Even before entering my teens I had got obsessed with films. In the late forties of the last century, actress Suraiya had emerged as the most sensational heroine of the silver screen. What added to her appeal was her prodigious singing talent — she was, for a while, rated ahead of Lata. I, however, found actress Nargis in a more perfect classical mould and got attracted to her.

By the age of 11, I had already acquired the capacity to write readable English. One can easily understand my euphoria when my letter to Nargis was thus able to elicit a reply from her under her own signatures.

She had, of course, written that she was happy to note that I wanted to become a film actor. She was, however, quick to add that it was, by no means, an easy life. I shot back in my next letter that I was determined to come good in this line however hard the life might be. This letter and a few more that followed from me got no reply. Her only letter that I received had to be kept hidden from my father. It is doubtful if he knew much about Nargis, but putting two and two together he would have come to know what I was up to. So the highly classified document remained secretly tucked in the sleeve of my ‘pyjama’ for many months, till it got dropped somewhere to my great dismay.

In the meantime, I got two of my friends interested in going to Bombay for a career in films. They were elder to me by good many years, yet I was their undisputed ring-leader. All three of us made to Mumbai, but only I could manage to meet Nargis. Not to speak of Sanjay who was yet to be born, even Sunil Dutt was not in the reckoning then.

Nargis lived in a ground floor apartment on the Marine Drive in a bungalow by the name of ‘Chateau Marine’. I went to her place and was fascinated to see a nameplate on her door — Miss Fatima Rashid Nargis. Next, I used the abundant histrionic talents of a child when her servant tried to remove me from the place. So he had to take me inside. Once in, a kindly young girl (I was to see her later on the screen as Zubaida) led me by the hand straight to the bedroom of Nargis. We were, of course, asked post haste to wait in the drawing-room. Nargis appeared there after a few minutes. She looked much prettier than her image on the screen. She was able to talk me out of my obsession with the film career in minutes and send me back to pursue my course to the armed forces where I really belonged.

OPED — GOVERNANCE

Jan Lokpal: Changing the power structure
The Lokpal Bill is a small step in the shift of a bit of power from the political class, supported by bureaucracy and business, in favour of the people. Such shifts are necessary from time to time in a dynamic society to correct imbalances that creep in over time
Jagdeep S. Chhokar

The last time a corruption tsunami hit the country, it ended up with two significant changes. The time was the late 1980s, the trigger was Bofors. The changes were a move towards a federal polity from the unitary one prevalent since Independence, and the start of a change in the overall power structure in society, with the subaltern classes realising the strength of their numbers.

While the current “Bofors” are the Commonwealth Games, 2-G, mining, and the like, what changes will this current tsunami bring forth is not clear. Not being blessed with clairvoyance, one can only look at the game as it is being played and try to look for straws in the wind.

While the real changes will take time manifesting themselves, the current visible face of the saagar-manthan appears to be the Lokpal Bill. It is of course not clear whether, finally, the jinx of 42 years will be broken and there will be a Lokpal, and in what form, but the societal dynamics of power are fascinating.

Continuing the practice started with the fourth Lok Sabha in 1969 and another six attempts, the government innocently prepared yet another draft of the Lokpal Bill in October 2010. This is what seems to have now acquired a life of its own, inviting sobriquets such as “monster”, “Leviathan”, “beacon of hope”. Why is it causing such extreme reactions?

Assume that a potentially effective Lokpal Bill gets passed and is also implemented in the right spirit, who will get affected, and how? Those who benefit from corruption are likely to face a cut to their monetary inflows, and those who have to pay to get their legitimate dues are likely to gain. Admittedly, this is a simplistic formulation but will do, given the space constraints.

Again, who benefits from corruption the most? The proverbial common citizens who pay bribes benefit by getting their job done, but the one who gets the bribe to do the job benefits more. Who are these beneficiaries?

The nexus of the political class, bureaucracy and business is too well known to need explanation. Liberalisation has not broken this nexus but has only changed some of the dramatis personae. The avalanche of opposition to the Jan Lokpal Bill leaves no room for doubt that the opposition is intense and organised. All forms of the traditional saam, daam, dand, bhed are being used to discredit the whole attempt and the very idea that any one other than these three sectors of society can even think of having a say in the law-making process.

The politicians, being the kingpin of this nexus, possibly have the most to lose. Actually all the Jan Lokpal movement has done so far is to create a mere whiff in the minds of politicians that it just might be possible for someone to challenge their completely unfettered hegemony over matters of the state for the period between two elections. This mere whiff seems to have unsettled the political class so much that all manner of stratagems are being used to nip this audacity of common folk in the bud.

And what of these common folk? Their tragedy is that they need someone to “represent” them, as 1.2 billion people seemingly cannot express themselves except through their representatives. The actual representativeness of the elected representative is in some doubt despite the euphoria at the outcome of the recent state assembly elections. The other claimant to representing the common folk is what used to be called the “civil society”, which now, in some people’s lexicon, has become a bad word.

Who, or what, is this “civil society”? Without going into an academic discourse, these are supposed to be people who do things for general, public good without the expectation of a tangible payoff, in contrast to those who get some return from doing public good, such as salary for bureaucrats, exercise of state power for politicians. It is a large, diverse, and complex mass of people, usually self-proclaimed do-gooders.

While doing selfless service, they are not free from usual human weaknesses, and therefore amenable to manipulation by those who have high stakes. How, and by what means is manipulation done depends on who is to be manipulated. In true Chanakyasque style, our politicians have mastered this art. Two well known techniques being “divide and rule”, and a law often attributed to Parkinson, “Delay is the deadliest form of denial.”

The political class seems to have succeeded in convincing some significant parts of civil society that the Lokpal Bill being an extremely important piece of legislation, needs to be discussed in every district, taluka, block headquarters before it can be considered seriously, the real agenda of course being to delay the process so that the commitments made to get the Jantar Mantar fast broken can be progressively diluted ad infinitum.

What needs to be remembered is that this bill is a small step in the shift of a bit of power from the political class supported by the bureaucracy and the business, in favour of the people. Such shifts are necessary from time to time in a dynamic society to correct imbalances that creep in over time. The side that stands to lose even a bit of its power is bound to resist. It is for the countervailing forces to keep themselves together if any shift, however small, is to take place.

The game is on, let’s keep watching.

The writer is a former professor, Dean, and Director In-charge of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Don’t make Lokpal a super cop
Kamaljit Singh Garewal

The United Nations Convention Against Corruption [2004] promotes and strengthens measures to effectively combat corruption. It supports international co-operation and technical assistance to fight corruption and helps in asset recovery. The convention also promotes integrity, accountability and proper management of public affairs and public property.

Money from corruption finances organised crime, international terrorism and drug trafficking. Corruption money is first laundered, then moved across international borders with ease to tax havens where it is difficult to reach. While in the country of its origin it is concealed income on which no tax is paid. It soon returns to the country to fuel the economy, leading to more corruption. It is an ever ending spiral.

Very few public men have been tried for possessing disproportionate assets. We have been obsessed with bribery corruption which is very local in nature. Only recently have we been taking an interest in investigating real high-end corruption of the CWG and 2G variety which has a global dimension. The previous brush with this kind of global corruption – the Bofors case – did not even go to trial because the investigation was scuttled.

We must carefully think our way through the issues of corruption and the new Jan Lokpal Bill. We need an exacting, and a precise law with a fresh set of rules and standards to judge the behaviour of public men. We need quick investigation, trial and confiscation of property. The recovery of assets must be central to the new law. The recovery of stolen assets has been singled out as a fundamental principle of the UNCAC. The World Bank has found that corruption is the single greatest obstacle against economic and social development. The UNCAC is a document of unprecedented scope and application and we must draw heavily from it in drafting the Jan Lokpal Bill. India has ratified the UNCAC after a long unexplained delay of six years.

All misconduct by public men is not corruption but all corrupt actions have an element of misconduct. Unfortunately the system neither detects nor punishes deviant behaviour. Alarm bells should sound when deviation from well-defined and publicised ethical and moral standards occurs. All public servants are expected to know and observe a high level of integrity. However, when they deviate from these standards, they escape detection. And graduate to the next level of misconduct.

Typical misconduct by public servants can be categorised in three ways: Criminal misconduct or misconduct with criminal intent, administrative misconduct and administrative lapse. Each must have a different remedy but the public servant who misconducts himself, criminally or administratively in the discharge of his official duty, must never go unpunished. Therefore, the way forward is: Prosecute criminal misconduct, departmentally award major penalty for administrative misconduct and minor penalty for administrative lapse.

Some basic principles should be clearly understood before designing the legislation to deal with corruption. A Lokpal (akin to Ombudsman) is the recipient of complaints. His work must remain confidential, never open to public. Inquiries he conducts should be confidential, names of public officials complained against, witnesses and documents examined should not be put in public domain until the Lokpal has taken a final decision. The Lokpal may find the complained act to be short of a criminal offence because it lacks criminal intent but it may all the same be administrative misconduct or lapse.

Protection for whistleblowers is essential. It will encourage people to come forward and provide information about corruption. But occasionally a public official who himself is in the dock may masquerade as a whistleblower and get protected. Care should be taken to separate pseudo whistleblowers from the real ones

On receiving the complaint and after examining and verifying its contents, the Lok Pal will have to decide the course of action, whether or not to act on the complaint. If he decides to proceed, he may send the complaint for a detailed criminal investigation which may lead to prosecution. Or the complaint may be sent to the Head of Department for departmental proceedings against the public official. If the case relates to complicated financial matters then the complaint could be sent to the CAG to carry out a special audit for detecting irregularities. For minor complaints of administrative lapses a mechanism for examining the ethical angle of the administrative action should be in place through a scheme of Ethics Commissioners.

The Lokpal too must observe a code of conduct. There is a well-recognised international Code of Ethics for Ombudsmen. The Ombudsman shall be truthful and act with integrity, shall foster respect for all members of the organisation he or she serves, and shall promote procedural fairness in the content and administration of those organisations’ practices, processes, and policies. The Ombudsman is independent in structure, function and appearance to the highest degree possible within the organisation.

While selecting the Lokpal due regard should be given to geographical distribution, gender balance and a fair representation to OBCs, SCs and STs. Do not design the Lokpal as a super cop-cum-prosecutor, or a super judge. The various clauses of the draft Lokpal Bill, 2010, empowers the Lokpal to cancel licences and leases, blacklist contractors, pass interim orders staying the implementation of decisions, transfer public servants, recommend interim relief and declare vacant post occupied by the public servant. It will have to be seen whether such orders can be passed by the Lokpal without hearing the affected party and without a provision for appeals.

The Lokpal drafting panel must ensure that the constitutional provisions of Articles 14, 21, 311 are not violated. The doctrines of judicial review, separation of powers and basic structure are respected. To pass such orders without hearing the individuals concerned would be a great travesty of justice. If the Lokpal steps into the arena of investigation and prosecution, he would be doing something that due processes of law frown upon. There could well be a constitutional clash between the Lokpal’s brief to tackle corruption and the fundamental rights of citizens. Such a legal battle would defeat the very purpose of the new Act. We need the Lokpal who function as a true ombudsman — independent, neutral, impartial, fair, just and discreet – and not as a quixotic knight in shining armour.

The writer is a Judge of the United Nations Appeals Tribunal