O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Relief for NRIs
Remittances can be constructively used
The Finance Ministry has taken quite some time to clarify that money sent home by non-resident Indians (NRIs) will not be subjected to 12.36 per cent service tax, though reports in this regard have been circulating for the past several weeks. The chief ministers of Punjab and Kerala, which are among the states with a large diaspora population, had written to the Prime Minister to demand the withdrawal of the unreasonably high service tax on NRI remittances.

Will history repeat itself?
Pak executive vs judiciary: A new phase
The executive in Pakistan is about to arm itself with a new law to protect the President, the Prime Minister and other top functionaries of the government from contempt of court proceedings. The National Assembly adopted the Contempt of Court Bill-2012 on Tuesday for the purpose after a brief debate. The Bill is bound to be passed by the Senate (Upper House), too, without any difficulty because the ruling PPP has a comfortable majority there.

‘Doomsday’ averted
Cooperation saves Internet users
What was predicted to be an Internet doomsday virus was contained and the cyber world was saved the pain of a potential to black out lakhs of computers worldwide. The fact that ‘doomsday’ did not come was because of unprecedented cooperation between the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, its other law-enforcement agencies and private Internet service providers worldwide. As a result, there was a minimal exposure of computers and no significant outages linked to the virus were reported when the FBI shut down infected computers on Monday.

• Thought for the Day

ARTICLE

Corruption in military
The malady requires an effective remedy
by Lt-Gen Harwant Singh (retd)
A TV channel recently showed a sting operation in which a junior commissioned officer is caught on camera handling wads of currency notes allegedly obtained from prospective candidates for various jobs in the military with a colonel-rank officer operating in the background. A maj-general is caught red-handed taking money from a contractor. These two are the more recent incidents of corruption in the Army. One is from down South, near Pune (National Defence Academy), and the other from up North in J and K. Earlier we had the case of Sukna land scam in the East where a few Lt-Generals were involved and were duly court-martialled. The DG, Supply Corps, a Lt-General rank officer, is court-martialled on charges of corruption.

MIDDLE

Mesmerised by Mehdi Hasan
by Mukul Bansal
Ab ke hum bichde to shayad kabhi kwabon mein milein,/ Jis tarah sookhe huye phool kitabon mein milein.”  (If we part this time, we may come across each other in dreams like dried-up flower petals falling out of books.) Some of the best and oft-quoted ghazals that Mehdi Hasan sang were written by the late Ahmad Faraz, which amounted to two geniuses coming together in their own fields. In this, the two formidable talents conquered the subcontinent with their unique jugalbandis.

THE TRIBUNE INTERVIEW

‘Without power, I can’t develop my state’
— Vijay Bahuguna, Uttarakhand Chief Minister
Ever since Vijay Bahuguna was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand this March after the Congress party hobbled to a wafer-thin majority in the recent Assembly elections, he has found managing the state an uphill task. By winning the Sitarganj by-election by a huge margin to enter the state assembly he has crossed one of the big hurdles.  While campaigning was in full swing he spoke to Editor-in-Chief Raj Chengappa and Special Correspondent SMA Kazmi at length about his plans for the state and then when the results were out gave his reaction to his victory in the by-poll. Excerpts:

EDITORIALS

Relief for NRIs
Remittances can be constructively used

The Finance Ministry has taken quite some time to clarify that money sent home by non-resident Indians (NRIs) will not be subjected to 12.36 per cent service tax, though reports in this regard have been circulating for the past several weeks. The chief ministers of Punjab and Kerala, which are among the states with a large diaspora population, had written to the Prime Minister to demand the withdrawal of the unreasonably high service tax on NRI remittances. It was a short-sighted move — like the retroactive tax on corporate deals — and would have encouraged foreign money transfers through illegal routes like “hawala”.

Though the NRIs in general have an image of being affluent, there are many low-paid workers in Gulf and Western countries who struggle for survival in days of recession and layoffs, and manage to send home small amounts to help their families and relatives. There is no logic in taxing remittances even from the better-off NRIs as India badly needs dollar inflows to counter outflows, spurred by the uncertainty in Europe and the US. On the one hand, the government has taken steps to attract foreign capital to fund infrastructure projects, beef up its foreign exchange reserves and check the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar, on the other it has introduced taxes to discourage funds coming from overseas Indians and foreign investors.

India has a large population of NRIs and many are keen to return home or contribute their bit to nation-building. However, they are put off by official insensitivity, red tape and corruption. While some invest in real estate and stock markets, most use their hard-earned money to buy big cars or build large houses for their relatives. Still others keep their dollars in safe bank deposits since domestic interest rates (9 per cent or so) are higher than those in developed countries (1-2 per cent). Non-residents’ external rupee accounts have become very popular, thanks partly to the rupee depreciation. NRI money can be channelled into more constructive areas provided the Centre and states work to create an investor-friendly climate in the country.

Will history repeat itself?
Pak executive vs judiciary: A new phase

The executive in Pakistan is about to arm itself with a new law to protect the President, the Prime Minister and other top functionaries of the government from contempt of court proceedings. The National Assembly adopted the Contempt of Court Bill-2012 on Tuesday for the purpose after a brief debate. The Bill is bound to be passed by the Senate (Upper House), too, without any difficulty because the ruling PPP has a comfortable majority there. Interestingly, the law also has arrangements to launch disciplinary proceedings against any member of the judiciary refusing to cooperate with the government.

Thus, the Pakistan government has readied itself to face the Supreme Court today when the new Prime Minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, is supposed to present before it a report on his compliance of the apex court directive to approach the Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Zardari. Raja Ashraf has already made it clear that his stand is no different from that of his predecessor, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani —- that the President of Pakistan cannot be hauled up in a court of law because of the immunity provided by the country’s constitution. Now Raja Ashraf may have no fear of being disqualified if he dares to defy the apex court’s order. His defiance would not be considered contempt of court once the new law is enacted.

However, it will be interesting to watch how the Supreme Court plays its card. The newly constituted bench of the court, hearing the case relating to the annulled National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) of the Pervez Musharraf regime under which the graft cases against Zardari are sought to be reopened, is headed by a judge close to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. The Pakistan Chief Justice is bent on punishing Zardari because the latter had dared to prevent the reinstatement of Justice Chaudhry after General Musharraf’s rule came to an end. Pakistan experienced almost a similar battle between the executive and the judiciary during the prime ministership of Nawaz Sharif in 1997. His attempt to enact a law to settle scores with then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah ended in a fiasco with the apex court scrapping the Bill concerned passed by Pakistan’s parliament. Will history repeat itself?

‘Doomsday’ averted
Cooperation saves Internet users

What was predicted to be an Internet doomsday virus was contained and the cyber world was saved the pain of a potential to black out lakhs of computers worldwide. The fact that ‘doomsday’ did not come was because of unprecedented cooperation between the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, its other law-enforcement agencies and private Internet service providers worldwide. As a result, there was a minimal exposure of computers and no significant outages linked to the virus were reported when the FBI shut down infected computers on Monday.

A computer programme called DNS Changer was used by Estonian cyber criminals to lure in unsuspecting computer users. Using this Domain Name System (DNS) settings programme, the criminals infected computers and thus changed the way in which people using them went to popular Internet websites. A DNS computer converts domain names like tribuneindia.com into numerical addresses that computers use to communicate with each other. A user thus types in a name, and the DNS server gives its numerical address to the computer, which uses it to go to the correct website.

When the FBI busted the ring last year, they decided to leave many DNS computers intact so as to prevent widespread disruption in people’s access to the Internet. Slowly they weaned off the infected computers till only three lakhs were left, and then shut down the system. In the meantime, Internet service providers worldwide worked with the law-enforcement agencies to fix the problem. India, together with the US, Italy, Germany and Britain, was among the nations that had a large number of infected computers, and, as such, the problem could have very much hit home. The DNS Changer attack has shown how the world is increasingly well connected, and that this can be used for both distributing computer viruses and other malware as well as combating cyber criminals and thwarting their plans.

Thought for the Day

Big results require big ambitions. — Hiraclitus

ARTICLE

Corruption in military
The malady requires an effective remedy
by Lt-Gen Harwant Singh (retd)

A TV channel recently showed a sting operation in which a junior commissioned officer is caught on camera handling wads of currency notes allegedly obtained from prospective candidates for various jobs in the military with a colonel-rank officer operating in the background. A maj-general is caught red-handed taking money from a contractor. These two are the more recent incidents of corruption in the Army. One is from down South, near Pune (National Defence Academy), and the other from up North in J and K. Earlier we had the case of Sukna land scam in the East where a few Lt-Generals were involved and were duly court-martialled. The DG, Supply Corps, a Lt-General rank officer, is court-martialled on charges of corruption.

A few from very high echelons of the Army are involved in the Adarsh housing society scam. The Supreme Commander of the armed forces, forsaking the very propriety of the act, reportedly made a desperate attempt to grab the military’s land in Pune. A more recent development is that of the nudging by the Supreme Court to hold court-martial of a number of officers involved in fake encounters at Pathribal in J and K, though the military should have done so on its own. Colonel Purohit is alleged to have been associated with a terrorist group. If all this is not enough, a second incidence of gross indiscipline in a unit at Nyoma in Ladakh leads one to infer that it is not only probity and integrity that are under assault but discipline also is on the wane. Corruption, malfeasance, fake encounters, ill-discipline, etc, from one end of the country to the other and right across the rank structure, give the impression that all is not well with our military.

During the last few decades the composition of manpower intake, both of officer class and the rank and file, has undergone a sea change. The military is simply not able to get suitable material, not only in the officer cadre, but in recruitment of soldiers too. With the opening of the economy and expansion in civil services, a number of lucrative options are on offer for the youth. Those likely to join the military as soldiers find the state and central police forces as a better option. Faced with these constraints, has the military lowered its intake standards?

In the early 1980s, army headquarters ordered a study to review the system of recruitment and selection for entry into the officer cadre. I headed the committee constituted to examine and review the officer selection system. Though the selection process had stood the test of time, military career as such had become least attractive and, as a result of that, a fewer number of suitable candidates had been opting to join the officer cadre. Consequent to this development, there was discernible tinkering with the selection process. Since then there has possibly been further lowering of intake standards!

The officer selection process is based on a triad system of evaluation. In this system three different techniques are applied over a period of four to five days to assess a candidate’s ability. When these three techniques are applied correctly, they are expected to produce the same result, thus reinforcing the selection process three times over.  It also eliminates the possibility of fudging the result by an operator of any of the three techniques without being found out. When applied correctly, it is the most comprehensive and authentic selection process devised so far anywhere, in any army. Of late, the DRDO has managed to bring in some changes in the selection process, perhaps for the worse. During the eighties the DRDO, working on the recruitment intake standards, had projected that weight carrying capacity had no bearing on the height of a person and other physical attributes and, as such, the requirement of a minimum height for recruitment be done away with. One was constrained to observe that the Army wanted to recruit soldiers and not coolies.

It may be argued that the military is a mere reflection of society — where corruption is rampant, right across the national spectrum, and is accepted and even respected. When cheating and lack of discipline are all-pervasive, the military could not remain unaffected. After all, the Army draws its manpower from the same stock. Even so in this climate of loot and plunder, malfeasance and state of lawlessness, the military has strived hard to maintain its core value system by creating a sort of rampart of “do’s and don’ts” to isolate it from outside influence.

Of late, this rampart has been under attack, both from outside and within and breaches have appeared, but the military has made brave attempts at repairing this wall of core values.  Cases of corruption, misconduct, false encounters and cheating have often manifested from within, cutting right across the rank structure. But the military has been quick to deal firmly with all such aberrations.  Though a more recent development, venality threatens to engulf the very top echelons of the Army.

 Some may contend that the level of corruption in the military is not even a minuscule of what prevails in the government machinery and civil society, and, therefore, there is no need to worry about it. Military service is quite apart from all other callings and it demands the highest standards in probity, integrity and personal conduct from its officers. Any shortfall in these will render the force ineffective, and national security will stand imperilled.

Even with the lowering of intake standards, the Army continues to remain short of over 12000 officers, thus reinforcing the fact that over time military career has been turned into the least attractive option. The officer cadre has seen an influx of not so suitable leadership material and, as such, the profile of the officer cadre has been undergoing a change for the worse. Though the military does strive to develop leadership skills in its young officers and instil in them an appropriate value system, in many cases it does not succeed.

However, individual aspirations, careerism, personal gain and dilution of leadership traits do sometimes get the better of some individuals, but where failings in character qualities surface, or discipline is lacking, action to correct the fault-lines is both stern and swift. It is essential to detect fault-lines in character at early stages of an officer’s career and apply correctives, which could even be weeding out.   

The senior leadership in the military no more insists on setting good and enviable standards of conduct for juniors to follow. A few, at the very top, have faltered and fallen prey to greed.  As the higher rank officers climbed into what is called “five star culture”, quite distinct from what fits in the military’s way of life, lower down the ladder some junior rank officers slid down to levels unacceptable for the officer class.

Finally, the officer cadre is the very soul of an army and mainspring of the whole mechanism. Any fall in its standards will surely lead to failures during a war.

MIDDLE

Mesmerised by Mehdi Hasan
by Mukul Bansal

Ab ke hum bichde to shayad kabhi kwabon mein milein,/ Jis tarah sookhe huye phool kitabon mein milein.”  (If we part this time, we may come across each other in dreams like dried-up flower petals falling out of books.) Some of the best and oft-quoted ghazals that Mehdi Hasan sang were written by the late Ahmad Faraz, which amounted to two geniuses coming together in their own fields. In this, the two formidable talents conquered the subcontinent with their unique jugalbandis.

Ghazal and ghazal gayaki lovers identified Hasan and Faraz so inseparably together, especially after Hasan’s rendition of Faraz’s “Ranjish hi sahi dil hi dukhane ke liye aa, aa phir se mujhe chhod ke jaane ke liye aa”   (Come, O’ my beloved, even out of estrangement or to give pain to me, come if only to leave me again.) took the world of ghazals by storm. I was witness to this at a mushaira in Ambala in 1982, when Faraz took the stage to recite his poetry and began with “Ranjish hi sahi…” The audience shouted with one voice, “Tarannum se, tarunnam se” (Sing it! Sing it!). Faraz’s witty reply to the audience was, “Wo kaam maine Mehdi Hasan ke liye chhod diya hai” (I’ve entrusted that task to Mehdi Hasan).

In another unforgettable instance, mesmerised by Hasan’s rendition of “Gulon mein rang bhare baade naubahar chale, chale bhi aao ke gulshan ka karobar chale” (My beloved, if you decide to come, the fragrant spring air will start wafting. Come so that fragrant gardens can blossom), Faiz Ahmad Faiz, who wrote this ghazal, got up, raised both his hands and said, “Aaj se ye ghazal Mehdi Hasan ki hui.” (From today, this ghazal belongs to Mehdi Hasan).

Hasan personified the shared past of the soul of the subcontinent. He is known to have said while he was in India on one of his tours that the Indians had an equal right to his ghazals like the people of Pakistan.

When I was in school in the late 1970s, I would often wake up early in the morning to the strains of “Subhe Ghazal” programme broadcast by Pakistan Radio. The programme would relay Urdu ghazals written by great names and sung by equally great musical souls. Seeing my absorbing interest in the programme, my father straightaway introduced me to Hasan’s jadui gayaki. One of Hasan’s earliest maqbool ghazals in the subcontinent was Mir Taqi Mir’s “Dekh to dil ke jaan se uthta hai, ye dhuan sa kahan se uthta hai” (See from wherefore these fumes of ruin arise. Do they arise from the heart or from life itself?)

Hasan so adroitly and soulfully captured the image of the word ‘dhuan’ in his gayaki that the sur actually quivered in the air like rising smoke. Along with Hasan, two other names, both women, that were there on the firmament of ghazal singing on Pakistan Radio those days were those of Farida Khanum and Iqbal Bano, legends in their lifetime.

About 10 years ago, I felt like playing Hasan’s “Shola tha jal bujhaa hoon, hawayein mujhe na do, mein kab ka ja chuka hoon, sazayein mujhe na do” (I flame I was, I burnt bright and turned to ashes; I am gone, do not pine for me.) This ghazal, too, has been penned by Faraz. The moment Hasan opened the alap , there was a lump in my throat. As Hasan caressed each powerful emotion in the ghazal with awesome sensitivity and a masterly control over sur, adding the soulfulness of music to the poet’s pain to embellish it with his musical tribute, I found tears filling my eyes and I bowed to the genius of these “Khuda ke khaas waqton mein banaye huye log” (People God had found time to create them specially to send them to this earth) as the late famous music director, Naushad, told an audience in Mumbai while introducing the inimitable Hasan!

THE TRIBUNE INTERVIEW

‘Without power, I can’t develop my state’
— Vijay Bahuguna, Uttarakhand Chief Minister

Tribune Photo: Vinod Pundir

Ever since Vijay Bahuguna was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand this March after the Congress party hobbled to a wafer-thin majority in the recent Assembly elections, he has found managing the state an uphill task. By winning the Sitarganj by-election by a huge margin to enter the state assembly he has crossed one of the big hurdles.  While campaigning was in full swing he spoke to Editor-in-Chief Raj Chengappa and Special Correspondent SMA Kazmi at length about his plans for the state and then when the results were out gave his reaction to his victory in the by-poll. Excerpts:

I humbly accept this win but it is a challenge for me and my government. This is a verdict by the people for the development of the state. It is a win for the hopes and aspirations of the people who voted for the Congress which stands for the overall development of the state. I would try to fulfil the confidence that the people of Sitarganj have reposed in me. It is the beginning of our endeavour to take Uttarakhand on the path of development which was stalled during the past five years of BJP rule.

As I said, during the last five years there was the BJP's non-functional government in the state which did no development and so that was voted out of power. As there has been no development, there is large-scale migration. And drinking water is also one of the major causes for the migration. To fetch drinking water from the rivers to the hill areas, we need power and funds which we do not have. The Central Government is funding us in the ratio of 60:40 which is inadequate. We have approached the Planning Commission for giving us funds in the ratio of 90:10 being a special status state like the north-eastern states.

There are problems of drinking water and unemployment that have forced large-scale migration. I am trying to arrest and minimise them. For employment I am focussing on horticulture and tourism. There are many off-route shrines in the state apart from the main shrines of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamnotri. We are planning to develop these tourist places as well so that tourists are attracted there.

I have also created a separate fund in the state's budget this year for the development of the backward areas of the state. This amount is in addition to the budget meant for the district-wise development. I have also announced a special allowance for those employees who are willing to work in the border areas of the state; in the normal course, no employee is ready to work in the border areas because of the rough terrain.

We have decided to give unemployment allowance to those students who have passed intermediate, are not employed anywhere and are not pursuing their studies and their family annual income is below Rs.1.50 lakh a year. They will be provided Rs.750 to Rs.1,000 per month as unemployment allowance for a period of two years. During this period job opportunities will be created so that they are adjusted; there will be no fees for appearing in examinations for government service. I have exempted them all from this.

I was the Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission of the state here for five years when Mr N. D. Tiwari was the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. During that five-year period I learnt a lot by working under Tiwariji. He had a deep understanding and knowledge of Uttarakhand's economy and other important issues of the state as he was the Chief Minister of the largest state of Uttar Pradesh. With a five-year stint in the Planning Commission I have now a good understanding of peoples' problem here. I was first elected to the Lok Sabha from an economically and socially backward area of the state. So, I have knowledge of grassroots-level problems.

As a separate state of Uttarakhand, we are prospering. When Uttarakhand was part of Uttar Pradesh, there was a budget of only Rs.600 crore for the Uttarakhand region. Today we have a budget of Rs.8,000 crore. With a separate state, we are prospering and fast developing and we have our own identity.

However, there are some problems which need to be addressed on a priority basis. The main problem is that of hydro-energy. Although we can generate 27,000 to 30,000 MW of hydro-energy we are able to tap only 3,400 MW power because clearances and approvals for power projects come from the Central Government and experts in the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. So if there is enough power, huge investment from the public sector and private investors may come to the state. Without power I cannot develop my state. With power there can be industrial investment of over Rs.30,000 crore in the state.

In fact, sadhus and seers were under the pressure of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the RSS. They also used the Ganga issue in the Lok Sabha elections of 2009. But it did not cut any ice. Now they are under constant pressure that there should be no hydro-projects on the Ganga and other rivers. I respect their sentiments but at the same time they should respect and understand the genuine problems of the government and the people of the state. We assure them that there is no hindrance in the flow of the river which will need to be worked out by environmentalists and experts.

No, I cannot do now because there is a Ganga Basin Authority headed by the Prime Minister. He has constituted a sub-committee to go into it and we are waiting for its decision. In case they decide to stop power generation, then they should compensate the state. Otherwise, we would be in a mess. If we are not allowed to touch forests and water also, then how will we manage our economy and development? In that case, the Central Government should compensate us with a package of about Rs.20,000 crore. The sadhus, saints and the Central Government should understand our problems and compulsions.

The previous government had passed a new transfer policy to ensure that government employees serve in difficult terrains for several years but apparently you are not keen on pushing it through?

The transfer policy was framed in haste just before the elections. Any populist measure cannot stand the test of practicability. Under the transfer policy, if an employee is posted in a remote area, he will have to be posted in the plain area or at a convenient place. Now a remote area in the hill state of Uttarakhand has not been identified properly. Also under the transfer policy employees with 40 per cent disability and employees with specific diseases like heart problems, etc, will not be posted in tough terrains and remote areas. What are the other diseases and the degree of their seriousness? If we enact a law, it becomes statutory and employees may go to the court and half of my bureaucracy will remain busy defending the transfers of employees to a particular place in court. So, I have called a meeting of all associations of employees and we will come out with some practical solutions. I am asking individual departments to frame their own policies.

Although the former Chief Minister of the state, Mr BC Khanduri, enacted a Lokayukta Act, it was against the spirit of the Constitution. No new legislation should transgress the Indian Constitution. And the Lokayukta Act enacted by the previous BJP government has put the lower judiciary under the Lokayukta, which is illegal because the judiciary is independent. For all superintendence over the subordinate judiciary, the High Court and the Supreme Court are there. There cannot be two authorities-the High Court and the Lokayukta-over the subordinate judiciary. They enacted this Lokayukta Act on the prompting and recommendations of the Anna Hazare team without realising its complications. It was a political stunt by the BJP government to get cheap popularity. Even the BJP-ruled states of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka have rejected their Lokayuktas and in Gujarat, you know, there has been no Lokayukta for the past many years.

We cannot call them dissident groups. Actually, they may be called pressure groups; and in every political party and even in clubs like Rotary Club, Lions Club, there are pressure groups who apply pressure to fulfil their ambitions. In the Congress party too, there are leaders who have ambitions and who applied pressure tactics to fulfil their ambitions. But it is the Central leadership in the Congress that takes right and wise decisions. My relations with Harish Rawat are good, we were together in politics. I am sure he has deep commitment for the Congress party and he is not going to do anything which hurts the Congress party and its ethics.

It has helped me take decisions quickly. I have 22 departments and I have been taking decisions with speed in each of them. As a lawyer one can keep on arguing. Being a former judge I take prompt decisions and take only a few seconds to dispose of a case; so those who are confident will take a prompt decision, and those who are not, will delay a decision. I take swift decisions and no file is pending in my office.