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Election watch
Victory for Vodafone
SP sheds old image |
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Close look at assembly polls
Nothing succeeds like Di
Indian Science Congress disappoints
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Election watch
IN a democracy, people are said to get the government they deserve and there is indeed no office that is more important than that of the citizen, who requires credible information to make an informed choice while electing people’s representatives. Thanks to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the National Election Watch (NEW), both citizens’ initiatives, people are receiving more information than ever before about candidates in the fray. Their studies this year have revealed, for example, that in the five poll-bound states, as many as one-third of the ministers seeking re-election have criminal charges against them; that predictably enough, the Punjab Cabinet ministers are the most prosperous with 83 per cent of the ministers being crorepatis, the corresponding figure for Uttar Pradesh being only 37 per cent and in the small state of Manipur, where women traditionally enjoy a dominant role in society, surprisingly barely 5 per cent of the candidates are women. One of the trends, which have emerged from the studies so far, indicates the growing financial clout of the political class. Judging by the income tax returns filed by candidates themselves, it would seem that the average valuation of assets owned by MLAs in Punjab, for example, has grown by Rs 6 crore between the Assembly elections in 2007 and 2012. But while it may be possible to generalise and say that increasingly, only the wealthy and the well-heeled are able to find space in politics, it may be a mistake to link the candidates’ growing wealth to either corruption or criminality. It is entirely possible, for example, that candidates are volunteering much more information than they did earlier. It is also possible that the value of their assets appreciated because of inheritance, speculation or simply by rates determined by the market. While politics, no doubt, is becoming more lucrative, elected representatives seem to be getting less accountable. Further reforms might require them to make disclosures annually. It may also help if the state funds them to recruit researchers in the constituencies to collect and analyse information on various schemes. The Election Commission may also be empowered to constitute a body of ombudsmen in each constituency to record and report on the activities of the elected representatives. Information must lead to the desired electoral reforms.
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Victory for Vodafone THE Supreme Court’s Vodafone judgement could not have come at a more inappropriate time for the UPA government which is desperately trying to save every rupee to meet its financial commitments and control fiscal deficit. Five years ago British telecom firm Vodafone entered India by buying Hutch’s stake to set up a joint venture called Vodafone-Essar. The cross-border deal led the Indian tax authorities to ask Vodafone to withhold the tax on capital gains amounting to Rs 11,000 crore accruing to Hutchison. Vodafone challenged the tax notice in the Bombay High Court, which on September 9, 2010, upheld the claim of the tax department. The issue was: Is the transfer of shares between two firms or their subsidiaries taking place in a foreign country concerning assets and business interests located in India liable to capital gains tax? The Bombay High Court ruled that since the assets derived their value from economic activity in India, these should be taxable here. However, the Supreme Court has said that the existing income-tax laws do not extend to an agreement between two foreign firms, even though the underlying assets are located in India. The apex court also recognised the Mauritius route which foreign firms investing in India often take to avoid tax. Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia stressed the need for “a strong governance infrastructure” and “certainty” in the tax laws to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). The implications of the Supreme Court verdict are immense. A large number of merger and acquisition deals – AT&T’s sale of stake in Idea Cellular, SAB-Miller and Shantha Biotacl among them — stand to benefit. According to media reports, some 300 such cases are pending in courts. This means a massive loss of revenue for a cash-strapped government. The Direct Taxes Code (DTC) has a provision for levying capital gains tax on overseas transactions if the 50 per cent of the assets involved are in India. But the DTC may be implemented only in 2013. Media reports suggest the government may not wait that long and may include this DTC provision in the coming Union Budget itself.
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SP sheds old image
THE Samajwadi Party (SP) of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, seen as the leading contender for power in UP, is no longer against promoting the use of computers and the English language. Its election manifesto promises a laptop for every class 12 student and an electronic tablet to each of those in class X in government schools to help them improve their career prospects. The party admits that the knowledge of English is a must for one’s career growth as it is the language of science of technology and international communication. The realisation has dawned on the SP that computer use on a large-scale will not reduce the availability of jobs in the state. Rather it may lead to the creation of more employment opportunities. The knowledge of computer handling makes it easier to get a job in both the public and private sectors. The efforts to acquire a new and forward-looking image by the SP have the hallmark of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son, Mr Akhilesh Yadav, who had been abroad for some time for his studies. Interestingly, the senior Yadav was seated on the dais along with the younger Yadav when the party manifesto for the coming assembly polls was released in Licknow on Friday. This provides proof that the SP supremo has ultimately given up his outmoded ideas in accordance with the changing aspirations of the people today. This is a major transformation in the thinking of the SP leadership when one compares the party’s manifesto of 2009 issued on the occasion of parliamentary elections. UP has a significant percentage of young voters, who had no interest in the old policies of the SP which were not in sync with the reality today. They needed to be wooed by the party to ensure that the SP got enough seats to form its government in Lucknow in March. It has announced a number of sops for Muslims also to ensure that the party gets the maximum support from the minority community. The Muslims are in a position to tilt the balance in at least 130 assembly constituencies in UP.
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The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose. — Heda Bejar
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Close look at assembly polls OF the five election-bound states — Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur — UP occupies the pride of place because the outcome there may have its impact on politics at the national level. It may provide an insight into what may happen when parliamentary polls will be held in 2014. After all, this state alone sends 80 MPs to Parliament. Being the most populous state of the country, it will have polling in seven phases whereas in the other four states it will be a single-phase affair. The party in power, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), won a comfortable majority in the 403-member UP Assembly in 2007 when it formed its government. The BSP was able to defeat the incumbent Samajwadi Party (SP) of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav on the plank of restoration of law and order. It was widely known that the party cadres of the SP were unruly, and people were getting extensively alienated. The BSP supremo, Ms Mayawati, realised that the emphasis on the SP’s negative role alone was not enough. Equally, she realised that the support of Dalits, OBCs and sections of Muslims to her party was not enough for her party to romp home with a comfortable majority. She, therefore, hit upon the idea of “Sarvajan” support, particularly the upper castes headed by Brahmins. They were successfully wooed with the help of her deputy, Mr Satish Mishra. Mr Mishra was also Ms Mayawati’s lawyer in many of her cases pertaining to property and income tax disputes. He worked hard for ascertaining support from Brahmins and other forward castes. However, the anti-incumbency factor has set in fairly strongly in UP. The numerous statues of Ms Mayawati, her mentor Kanshi Ram and the party’s election symbol, the elephant, erected in many parks and at public places throughout the state, reminded people as evidence of her lavishness and self-adoration at the cost of public money. It is ironic that the very same statues have been ordered to be covered by the Election Commission on the ground that they deprive the other contesting parties of a level-playing field. The opposition parties, particularly the SP, the Congress and the BJP, are targeting the BSP on these issues relentlessly. The 206 seats which the BSP got in 2007 will, most probably, remain a distant and unattainable target. The SP is hoping to replace the BSP and capture power. Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son, Mr Akhilesh Yadav, who has been designated as the leader of the SP in the state, has been actively carrying out an aggressive electioneering throughout the state. The SP has the advantage of a fairly large percentage of Muslim voters in its favour. It is possible that at the end of the day, the SP will have a larger number of seats than the BSP. However, the SP is unlikely to reach the magic figure to form its government on its own. The Congress election campaign has been vigorous in the state with Mr Rahul Gandhi being on the forefront. He has been stressing the non-performance of the governments headed by both the SP and the BSP, which, one after the other, have been ruling the state for a long time. The Congress position has improved considerably after it worked out an electoral deal with Mr Ajit Singh’s RLD. However, the electoral understanding between the two parties is more important for the parliamentary elections due in 2014. In the Assembly elections it remains to be seen whether both the Congress and the RLD are able to get the sufficient number of seats to meet the shortage of seats the SP may face in its efforts to reach the magic figure of 50 per cent of the House’s strength to capture power. The BJP is having problems of its own, particularly after the controversy with the induction of former minister B.S. Kushwaha, expelled from the BSP. The BJP may register a marginal increase in the seats it secured in 2007. In any case, the picture in UP remains unclear, with no party or no combination of parties being assured of forming the next government in March. The adjacent state of Uttarakhand seems to be having the anti-incumbency factor working against the BJP. The erstwhile Chief Minister has been at the centre of a controversy over the award of power projects in the state. Nevertheless, it is likely that the BJP may come back to power in Uttarakhand since the position of the opposition parties is not strong there. In Punjab, the Akali Dal-BJP government headed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal is reeling under accusations of corruption and irregularities. The indications are that the Congress party will be able to capture a majority of the seats and form its government. In Goa and Manipur, the results may not change the situation as it exists at present. For all practical purposes, especially from the point of view of the parliamentary elections in 2014, only the poll results in UP and to some extent in Punjab will be relevant. West Bengal had its elections in 2011, and out of 294 seats, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) won 184 seats while the Congress, its alliance partner, got 42. The attitude of the TMC, which formed its government in West Bengal after displacing the CPM, which had been in power continuously for nearly four decades, may be far more relevant in the formation of the next government at the Centre after the 2014 elections. Ms Mamata Bannerji of the TMC has been an extremely difficult alliance partner. She has no qualms about openly declaring that she is prepared to part ways with the Congress party. She would not mind even a mid-term poll before 2014 since her calculation is that she may be able to improve her party’s present position — the number of seats the TMC has in
Parliament. The writer is a former Governor of UP and West Bengal.
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Nothing succeeds like Di Nothing
succeeds like success, as they say. You never know what you can become. Nobody has been able to understand the success mantra, and why many fail despite putting in similar efforts — one attributes it to destiny or chance. My friends Sachin (Tendulkar) and (Virender) Sehwag are big successes despite diverse approaches and opposite mindsets. And I am not. My father had told me that Raj Kapoor and his films were a household name in Russia and people used to dance to the tunes of Hindi songs from his movies in downtown Moscow, though they didn’t understand a bit of the language. I think if love is blind, the ear for music must be deaf. This thought was revisited when my best friend, philosopher and guide suggested that I should watch the video and listen to the recent Tamil hit song making waves, “Why this Kolaveri Di?” Fastidious that I have been all my life, I first went to Oxford (dictionary) looking for ‘Kolaveri”, but that didn’t help me at all. I had to switch it on — the song — again. It is about time we rechristened at least some of the idioms — “Well begun is half-done” for sure — because the opening few seconds of the song didn’t offer much promise. (This was akin to my story of a back-bencher in school). And then the song takes off, really (as I have now in Lasers). No wonder, Dhanush, the man behind the funny lyrics of Kolaveri is flabbergasted by the unprecedented success of his song as is everyone else, including yours truly. Come to think of it, who has the time nowadays to research what the song actually means? Every Tom, Dick and Harry is swaying with it (and it has become my ring tone too). Also, who wants to understand its meaning. One wonders whether completely understanding Munni, Sheila or Jalebi Bai is better or wildly guessing Kolaveri Di. In the South, people went ga-ga over the song and have just discovered Kolaveri Di while here in the North, all of us have known “Di” in a different and negative context all these years. And with Chetan Bhagat’s routine imbroglio with producers/directors over using his work and ideas into their films, and fearing a stand-off, I am ready to strike a deal with the promoters of this song. Why? Well, they seem to have been inspired to name this song after eye-drops we eye surgeons commonly use such as Mosi D, Ketsol D and Ciplox D. Kolaveri Di is the biggest Indian viral fever that has hit this season, and the doctor in me is certainly expecting a decent bounty as
well.
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Indian Science Congress disappoints A similar sense of cautious optimism was palpable at the 99th Indian Science Congress, the annual jamboree of scientists, held at Bhubaneswar earlier this month. As India stands within sniffing distance of a significant milestone, several questions cross one's mind on the status and achievements of Indian Science and its place in the global order. Unfortunately, the answers for many of them continue to be disquieting. If one expected the Science Congress to serve as a platform for serious and focused deliberations to identify the systemic flaws and focus on course corrections, it came as a disappointment. To begin with, several big names skipped the five-day event, seen by many as an annual ritual devoid of any meaningful debate. A majority of the 20 odd Nobel Laureates listed for delivering public lectures also did not show up. The Union Ministers Kapil Sibal, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashwani Kumar skipped their scheduled participation at the Children's Science Congress, running parallel to the Science Congress. The
bigwigs of Indian science including the Chief of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) VK Saraswat were conspicuous by their absence. The ISRO Chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan's public lecture was among the
last-minute cancellations. The Mexican physiologist and neurobiologist Dr Rene Raul Drucker could not make it to the city to receive the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for Popularisation of Science, 2011. The award was to be given to him on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the prize, organised to coincide with the Science Congress. Interestingly, the full-page advertisements in the national and vernacular newspapers on the inaugural day of the Science Congress did not have a single photograph of any scientist. The pictures of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, two Union Ministers and Governor and Chief Minister of Odisha were prominently displayed in the ads.
Dragon vs elephant The oft-repeated theme of "India versus China" dominated the concerns of the gathering. The tone for this introspection was set by the Prime Minister who made a candid admission that China had overtaken India in Science and Technology and public investments in Research and Development. "Over the past few decades, India's relative position in the world of science had been declining and we have been overtaken by countries like China. We need to do much more to change the face of Indian science," Singh had said. What should be done to catch up with China? To this question, the Prime Minister echoed the sentiments of the scientific community which has been asking for significant increase in the R&D spending. He made a strong pitch for increasing the R&D spending to at least two per cent of the GDP from the current level of less than one percent. The expansion of basic science infrastructure, encouraging greater research collaboration among universities and national laboratories and enlarging the reach of international collaboration were among the other suggestions made by the Prime Minister. "An occasion like the present one should be used to revisit a fundamental question: what is the role of science in a country like India? There is no simple answer. But for a country grappling with the challenges of poverty and development, the over-riding objective of a comprehensive and well-considered policy for science, technology and innovation should be to support the national objective of faster, sustainable and inclusive development," the Prime Minister said. The old timers, however, point out that the science meet has become a prisoner of clichés with the dignitaries churning out the same speeches year after year. The calls for higher spending on R&D, taking the fruits of research to the doorsteps of common man and formulating an inclusive science policy have become boringly familiar and predictable. Though the event is meant to project the best achievements in Indian science and an occasion for the government of the day to unveil big-ticket policy initiatives related to science, nothing of that sort has ever happened in the recent times. "Our S&T establishment continues to be divorced from the real and most pressing challenges in our national development. Its concerns, priorities and deliverables are still, by and large, seen in terms of buildings built and renovated, papers published and presented, seminars organised and attended," says Sudheendra Kulkarni, a key aide of former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee. According to Elsevier, one the biggest publishers of scientific research in the world, India published 233,027 scientific papers in 2010 compared to 969,315 research articles by China. India had 159 areas of competencies in different scientific fields while China had 885 such areas. China investing about 2.5 percent of its GDP last year in S&T works out to 174 billion USD compared to India's 0.9 percent which works out to 16.5 billion USD. India's public investment in R&D has, in comparison, declined over the years and has been unable to attract partnerships with the private sector. In the latest QS World University Ranking, not even a single Indian University finds a place among the top 100 global Universities while Japan has 6 and China 5. This was highlighted in a report by the 32-member scientific advisory council headed by renowned scientist CNR Rao. Taking a closer look at the country's scientific landscape, the panel concluded that situation was "somewhat discouraging" and called for steps in a "warlike fashion" to make India a science leader at least by 2030. The Asian countries like South Korea and China have out-classed our performance in terms of the number of PhDs and scientific research papers. "The problems are not related to funding alone but the overall environment for innovation and creative work," the panel said. The overhaul of science education and research system, elimination of bureaucracy, structural changes for etter administration and creating a large number of centres of excellence around outstanding individuals were among its recommendations.
Unfair deal For the first time in its 99 year history, the Indian Science organized an exclusive women's congress focused on the theme "Science and Technology for Inclusive Innovation - Role of Women". In a symbolic gesture, the Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka State Women's University Prof Geetha Bali was made the eneral President of the Science Congress. Special sessions were held where women achievers in science and technology areas shared their experiences in excelling in what is largely seen as a male-dominated filed. The gathering had to confront certain disturbing questions on why women have failed to make it to the top in the hierarchy of scientific institutions. Despite the significant increase in the number of women opting for science as a career, there are very few women in leadership positions in scientific institutions in the country. This fact was highlighted by the Indian Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao who was a key speaker at the Congress. According to a recent study, only 60 percent of nearly 2000 Indian women Ph.Ds in science, who were surveyed, were unemployed. The main reason cited was lack of job opportunities. Only a very small number cited family reasons. This underlines the need for transparency in selection procedures at institutions and also the great importance of gender audits. "We have to encourage participation and retention of women scientists in Science and Technology which is very important for national development and the success of other programmes," Nirupama Rao said. In 1975, there were only 600 women engineers. But, currently this number has gone up substantially. In 1950, only 50 women had obtained PhD degrees. Now, the number has crossed 6000. However, women do ot occupy key positions in the research institutions. None of the CSIR laboratories has a woman director. A senior official of the Department of Science and Technology Vanita Sharma called for mandatory internal gender audits in all scientific organizations. "This will help us find out how many women are being recruited and promoted, cases of sexual harassment at workplace, how many are opting out and why, what their requirements are and if they need to be better trained through capability building programmes," she said. "Science is becoming more competitive by the day and the biggest problem is that women are not coming forward to help other women in this field. There is a lack of cooperation and mentoring. Keeping this in mind, I would make certain recommendations that can be implemented in the research and development institutes, universities and at the national level as a scheme or policy," Geetha Bali said. There were some among the delegates who detested the idea of having a separate Women's Congress. "Instead of having a separate congress for women scientists, let us have at least two women speakers for very session from the next Science Congress. Science has no gender or religion," Vanita Sharma says.
Wings to fly? The former President APJ Abdul Kalam was the star attraction at the Children's Science Congress organised on the sidelines of the main event. A large number of students enthusiastically cheered Kalam who, in his imitable style, asked them to dream big and strive for excellence to become unique citizens. The former President regaled the young audience by asking "Do you want to fly?" and got a loud "yes" in reply from thousands of participants. He made the students repeat his poem with him: "I am born with potential…I am not meant for crawling; because I have wings, I will fly." As the scientific community looks forward to the centenary Science Congress, to be held in Kolkata next year, there is a growing consensus among the scientists on the need to de-bureaucratise the sector and make structural changes to realise the goals set out by the Prime Minister in his inaugural address.
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Hosted by Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), the Science Congress saw several technical sessions being cancelled at the last minute. Among them was a key session on "Task Force Recommendations". That the event lacked seriousness was evident from the frenetic plans of several delegates to visit the nearby pilgrim centers like Puri and Konark rather than attending the proceedings. It was more of a family outing for some of the delegates, who were more visible outdoors, shooting photographs.