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India on hold
Drunk on lucre |
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Crimes of passion
Erosion of autonomy
The hawker & the Chaudhary
‘Progress now, environment later’ won’t do
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India on hold
Dr
Manmohan Singh has emphasised the need for a political consensus on reforms. "Reforms", he says, "don't happen just because there is a professional consensus. They happen when the political leadership of the time decides to back these initiatives". Finance Minister P. Chidambaram too had earlier felt the need for "political space" to implement the reforms. If the economy has faltered and growth has plunged in the past two years despite a team of competent economists being at the helm, political opposition to reforms is partly to blame. The UPA itself is divided on what needs to be done. Its concerns for electoral politics prevail over measures needed to put the economy back on track. During much of the UPA's second term, there was a policy paralysis. Things started moving when Chidambaram took charge a year ago. The Prime Minister talked of "unleashing animal spirits" in the economy. Though foreign investors' fears about sudden tax changes were allayed, high inflation did not let the RBI bring down interest rates. As the US economic recovery picked up momentum, the Federal Reserve talked of withdrawing the stimulus, which drove foreign capital from the emerging markets back to the US. As a result, the rupee and other currencies depreciated. The trend has not reversed despite some RBI and government initiatives. When things go wrong, politicians normally should think of the larger national interest and sink their differences to work out an economic rescue plan. Instead, they play the blame game, stall Parliament, delay crucial legislation and reforms like the goods and services tax (GST). The Congress and the BJP have almost similar economic policies. Yet petty politics divides them even as the growth rate plunges, jobs shrink and the plight of the poor worsens. The Amartya Sen-Jagdish Bhagwati debate has thrown up a wider consensus among experts: focus first on growth, then on distribution. This means cut down food and fuel subsidies, and other freebies, bring down interest rates, clear projects, lift the ban on mining and settle land disputes. Will the mainstream political class rise to the occasion?
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Drunk on lucre
The
Punjab and Haryana High Court has told the two states not to renew licences for liquor shops along highways. The order comes after both states have steadfastly resisted shutting down these shops despite repeated advice to the effect from the National Safety Council and the Union Ministry of Surface Transport. The effect of drink on driving is well understood as well as documented. Why then, one wonders, would the two states allow as many as 185 liquor shops in just the 293-km stretch between Panipat and Jalandhar? One of their arguments has been that if these shops are not allowed bootleggers would step in. Would a highway traveller in any manner know where to contact a bootlegger? The ridiculousness of the response shows there is more to the states' stand. Whatever it be, safety is definitely not it. The larger question is why should an NGO be required to bring in a petition on a public cause as obvious as this? Is it not the governments' - both state and Central - responsibility to ensure public safety. On its part, the Union ministry and the National Highway Authority of India have passed the buck to states as liquor trade is under states' jurisdiction. They fail to recognise that there are other laws regarding direct access to highways and environment, some of which may be explored to address the issue. States have formed road safety councils too, but these have only given lip service. Carrying out campaigns against drunken driving is not consistent with permitting hoardings luring drivers to drink every few kilometres. The fact is liquor is a major source of revenue for states, which are hard pressed for cash. However, what is even more pertinent is that the trade - which involves huge illicit profits, and therefore requires huge influence - is controlled largely by politicians or people who can buy political influence. When such are the stakes, there can be little hope for the poor highway traveller. As of today, there is no specific Central rule that can stop the sale of liquor on highways, which in itself seems queer. That could be a starting point.
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Crimes of passion
A
spurned lover and a hapless, harassed girl - stalked, molested, raped, distorted with acid or killed! These stories usually come from small towns of Haryana, Bihar, UP and Rajasthan, where repeatedly, a woman is failed by all parameters of modernity. New laws are framed, gender sensitising drills are enforced, public protests are intensified, yet more of the same is repeated with greater frequency. It so happens that with 100-channel TV exposure and latest gizmos in hand, men still like to remote control women by keeping them in the deep freezer of the medieval past. In the upwardly mobile India, howsoever intelligent, successful and powerful a woman may be, the right to choose, to say 'no' still seems to remain vested with men alone. A woman who dares to reject a man's advances is still punished under a brutal, medieval justice system, implemented with the aid of twentyfirst century weapons. But, when the same happens in one of the prestigious educational institutions in the capital of the country, it defies all logic. Education is supposed to hone the faculty of rationale. So, when a young undergraduate came to the class with a knife, an axe, a country-made pistol and a bottle of poison and tried to kill, only unsuccessfully, a classmate, who might not have been responding to his advances, then killed himself by consuming poison, it left many unanswered questions. A hard-to-swallow fact that the untamed power of passion is failed by quality education, as also the fetters of patriarchy that refuse to unshackle the mind, even in an intellectually stimulating environment. What is it about 'manhood' that turns so self-destructive by a simple 'no' of a woman, even in a modern campus? The university claims to have a counselling facility in place and a very active gender sensitisation committee. Why did the young woman not approach it? It also raises many questions about the security arrangements on the campus. It's time for all to introspect. Why are women still treated as objects? Why is it that men think it their right to destroy a woman for simply having a mind of her own?
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No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. —Eleanor Roosevelt
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Erosion of autonomy THE Congress has set a bad precedent. The party has combined two positions: one is that of party official spokesman and the other that of Minister for Information and Broadcasting. Both have different roles. The official spokesman defends the stand the party takes, right or wrong. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting is India's spokesman, not that of one party. The first is nominated while the other is elected by the people. To mix the two is unfair to the occupant, who happens to be Manish Tiwari at present. He has been doing fairly a good job as the spokesman. Given a chance, he would have probably done even better. Broadcasting in India has not been able to shatter the fetters of officialdom for decades. Still worse is the telephone calls by a minister or a senior bureaucrat for changes in news bulletins even at the In the sixties, several activists agitated for autonomy of the official media. Subsequently, the government relented and brought the Prasar Bharti Bill. It was diluted from the beginning. But when implemented, the Prasar Bharti became another department of the Broadcasting Ministry. Once I asked one Information and Broadcasting Minister why the Prasar Bharti was not on the pattern of the BBC, the original idea, to eschew subjectivity or slant, the minister was frank enough to say that the government had to have its own set-up to disseminate its viewpoint when newspapers and television channels were privately owned. He did admit the criterion should be objectivity, not where it comes from. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha channels, although run with public funds, appear to have less of government propaganda. Yet both of them have no news bulletins and avoid such topic as may embarrass the government. The channels also see to it that as far as possible they do not have critics in the news and views programmes. The two channels do not spoil the mould which they have developed, not too critical and not too distant from the government's point of view. In a democratic polity, perception is most important for credibility. The impression is that the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha channels do not go beyond the red line drawn for their guidance. It is no use if the rulers claim that the government media is autonomous when they themselves do not allow it to be so. Two recent examples show how the ministry was out of depth. The death of 23 school children in Bihar following the mid-day meals was a tragedy which the private channels reported from every possible angle. In comparison, Akashvani and Doordarshan registered the event only. The official media was handicapped because Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may become the Congress ally in the 2014 elections. Take another example. The Central Bureau of Investigation has exonerated Pawan Kumar Bansal, former Railway Minister. Some new incriminating information has come out since. Yet, Manish Tiwari says on behalf of the Congress that the court is open to those who level charges. Both Akashwani and Doordarshan do not say anything about the new charges which people want to know. If the Prasar Bharti had even a bit of autonomy, it would have done a better job. The government media tells only the Congress side and puts cold water on every other version. This was the reason why the activists started an agitation to purvey correct information in the country. Both the government controlled-radio and television reach far more people than all the other private channels put together. In the recent past, corruption has penetrated the government media as well. Just as the privately owned media has "paid news," both Akashvani and Doordarshan too carry motivated stories affecting its credibility. Yet it is beginning to be preferred by many because views and news are so mixed that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. In-depth reporting is very limited in the government media because even if a news editor feels like probing further, the fear of going wrong from the official point of view deters him from doing so. Somehow, those who occupy high positions in the government labour under the belief that they-and they alone-know what the nation should be told and when. And they get annoyed if any news which they do not like appears in print. Their first attempt is to contradict it and dub it mischievous. Later, when it is realised that a mere denial will not convince even the most gullible, a lame explanation is offered that things have not been put "in proper perspective". Probably, at that time, the government gets away with its version of the story. But what is not realised is that such methods only decrease the credibility of official assertions. Even honest claims of the government begin to be questioned. In a democracy, where faith stirs the people's response, the government cannot afford to have even an iota of doubt raised about what it says or does. Somehow New Delhi is not conscious of this fact. In a free society, the Press has a duty to inform the public without fear or favour. At times it is an unpleasant job, but it has to be performed because a free society is founded on free information. If the Press were to publish only government handouts or official statements, there would be nothing to pin-point lapses, deficiencies or mistakes. In fact, the truth is that the Press is already too niminy-piminy, too nice, altogether too refined and too ready to leave out. The government should not ask for more. The combination of being the party's spokesman and the Minister of Information and Broadcasting is beyond me. Government may believe that it has got away with it because the act is many weeks old. The government does not realise that it credibility has come down several pegs than before. I really feel sorry for poor Manish
Tiwari.
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The hawker & the Chaudhary This happened in 1959 when I was an undergraduate student at S.D. College, Ambala Cantt. By that time the railway overbridge had not been built on the Saharanpur-Ambala Cantt and Kurukshetra-Ambala Cantt railway lines on the National Highway No 1 from Delhi to Amritsar which was at that time popularly known as the G.T. Road. The buses from Karnal to Ambala Cantt were forced to stop for more than 30 minutes at the railway crossing, popularly known as the double phatak because the trains from Kurukshetra to Ambala Cantt and Saharanpur to Ambala Cantt and vice-versa had to pass from there. The hawkers would often get into buses for selling their wares. Once, one of them was selling a book containing information on the Hindu Succession Act pertaining to the share of daughters in ancestral property and the Hindu Marriage Act, which provided them the right to seek divorce. He was repeatedly shouting: Bharat sarkar key kanoon ki kitab ek rupey main lein (Get this book on the laws of the Government of India in one rupee). Ladkiyon ka jaidad main hissa ho gaya (the daughters now have a share in ancestral property). Talak ka kanoon pass ho gaya (The law for divorce has been enacted). An old man sitting on the rear seat, who had pearl-white mustaches, asked the hawker Teri kitab mein koi esa bhi kanoon sai, jistay mera byah ho ja (Does your book contain any law which could ensure my marriage?). The hawker protested against the remark and retorted: Chaudhary Sahab kitab kharidani ho to kharido, varna bakwas mat karo (Chaudhary Sahib, if you wish to purchase the book, do so. Otherwise, do not talk nonsense). The Chaudhary replied: Main tanay ghar basan ka kanoon puchhon hun, tu saray ghar ujadan ke kanoon batave (I am asking you about the law that can help in building a home, you are telling me only about those which destroy it). All the passengers had a hearty laugh. The poor hawker walked out of the bus in a huff while using choicest abuses for the old man. At that time, I was not mature enough to understand the feudal mindset of the land-owning castes of Haryana behind the humorous observations of the Chaudhary. But now at the age of 73 and after having taught Political Science at Kurukshetra University for about four decades, I have been able to find the answer for the female feticide and frequent rapes in rural Haryana in this episode. One of the main reasons for female feticide is the apprehension that daughters would claim their share in landholdings, which are already fragmenting. Female feticide has resulted in the creation of a large cadre of unmarried and unemployed young men in Haryana. Some of the criminal-minded among them resort to the rape of soft targets to overcome their crisis of masculinity caused by their unmarried status and for restoring their low self-esteem resulting from
unemployment.
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‘Progress now, environment later’ won’t do Today's
environment-development debate is cast in inappropriate terms of just two choices. This is a false contradiction; the real issue is not whether India can afford the so-called luxury of worrying about environment, but whether it can afford to slide into a lawless, tyrannical society that abuses the liberating spirit of science. Economics, properly interpreted, tells us that any country should aim at ensuring a harmonious development of the sum total of a nation's capital stocks of natural, man-made, human and social capitals. This calls for focusing on creating a law-abiding, genuinely democratic society that imbibes the scientific spirit. A well-informed citizenry able to exercise its democratic rights will automatically ensure that environment is cared for, as has happened in the highly industrialised Germany and Scandinavian countries. What we must do is concentrate on implementing what by all rights should be implemented: the many well-designed provisions of various Acts and schemes for protecting the environment, and for devolution of democratic powers, provisions that are being systematically sabotaged. False gods We live in a world in flux, a world that has been changing rapidly. Prior to the industrial revolution, the Indian society had possibly developed a relatively prosperous agrarian civilisation with extensive handicraft-based industrial production and a rather stable social regime, albeit grounded in a highly inequitable caste society. But with the emergence of modern science and science-based technologies, Europeans came to dominate the world. The British systematically dismantled traditional Indian systems of resource management and destroyed the handicraft-based industrial production, draining away India's resources and impoverishing it. Naturally Indians came to regard assimilation of European science and technology as critical to India's progress. Mahatma Gandhi disagreed and advocated rejection of European science and technology, and revival of fully self-sufficient Indian villages as the basis of progress. While he successfully led the struggle for Independence, his many actions, such as his support of the Tatas in the context of peasant agitation against unjust takeover of their lands for setting up a hydel project, were quite inconsistent with this philosophy. So after Independence, his model was set aside, and India launched itself on a pursuit of industrialisation on the western model. Meanwhile, the Marxist philosophy had emerged as a significant rival to the capitalist model. India adopted a curious mixture of the two, accepting Soviet 'statism' without the accompanying pursuit of economic equality through measures like land reform.
What must be done Not ideal India soon came under a very strong influence of the US, and began to dream the American Dream with a large number of influential middle class families having many of their members settled in that country, and others educated in American universities. This has had serious negative implications that are perhaps best illustrated by Larry Summers' notorious toxic memorandum. Summers is an influential economist, one-time Secretary for Treasury in the Clinton Administration and president of Harvard University. Perhaps ruminating on India's weak-kneed response to the Bhopal gas disaster, Summers, then Chief Economist at the World Bank, wrote in 1991 a memorandum stating: "The measurement of the costs of health impairing pollution depends on the foregone earnings from increased morbidity and mortality. A given amount of health impairing pollution should be done in the country with the lowest cost, which will be the country with the lowest wages. I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that." India was the foremost among the low-wage countries he had in mind, and today, India is a favoured destination of many of the world's worst polluting enterprises that are no longer allowed to function in their own country. By 1990, the Marxist models were losing their sheen. The prescription of social ownership of production has not proven to be successful; the resulting dictatorships have concentrated power in the hands of a few and abused it roundly. These abuses have not only included abuses of rights, but those of environment as well, as happened in East Germany. Indians have come to view the US as the only model, even after the current economic difficulties. However, what drives the US economy today is "rent seeking", such that economic gains of many agents are often excessive. Because of these disproportionately large economic gains, a small proportion of the US society has cornered the bulk of the wealth and political power. Its democracy has been perverted from a one person-one vote to a $1-one vote system, in which the powerful are engaged in distorting the economy to enhance unjustifiable gains. Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize winning economist who has pursued issues of inequality, says the resultant consequences include exhaustive use of natural resources, unacceptable pollution loads, failure to build human capital because of declining investments in education, science and technology, poor healthcare and high levels of unemployment, and erosion of social capital with increasing levels of social strife. Yet influential and learned Indians continue to argue that the US model should be our ideal, and we should ignore the endemic problems of social injustice, environmental degradation and large-scale corruption. The argument goes: The US once had high levels of pollution and got over those problems, what does it matter if we have high levels of pollution now? The wheels of history will turn, and we too will come to live in the paradise that the more fortunate US citizens inhabit today. There are several problems with this contention. We do not have the freedom and luxury of exploiting the resources of much of the rest of the world that the US has had for centuries and continues to enjoy today. Its bankers have robbed people in many ways and swallowed public funds to keep banks from sinking. A large proportion of US citizens are today wondering if they are indeed living in a paradise, and have been coming out on streets against the government of 1 per cent, by 1 per cent and for 1 per cent. Alternative models But there is another western model that accepts industrialisation and is far more democratically oriented and caring of environment than the US. Germany has a strong environmental movement, with the Green Party constituting a significant political force. It is a state with major commitments to environmental protection, and its entrepreneurs are notable for restrained behaviour and willingness to accept relatively low levels of returns, in stark contrast to the US bankers. Germany is also economically better than the US. Democracy, with all its shortcomings, is the best political system, as is capitalism the best economic system. But the market forces must be socially moderated to ensure environmental costs are borne by entrepreneurs, that common property is protected and concentration of wealth not allowed to pervert the democratic principle. This calls for citizen participation. Nurturing social capital Democratic values are at the heart of our Constitution, and we have progressively enacted a series of well-thought out laws for empowering people. We have also passed a series of well-thought out laws for protecting the environment. We have embraced the spirit of science, and continue to invest substantial resources in nurturing science and technology. The real issue is not inadequate laws, but deficit in governance. The laws protecting the environment are not implemented. The constitutional provisions for empowering the people are kept in suspension. Scientific activity that would contribute to protecting the environment and could engage the barefoot ecologists as partners in the scientific enterprise is discouraged, even suppressed. Since the political establishment and the bureaucracy malfunction, people see no recourse other than protests and court cases. This is an erosion of our social capital and goes against our social nature, for societies have evolved treasuring fair exchanges. Yet, we have done well to keep our democracy alive, and strengthen it through measures like the Right to Information Act. The currently prevalent rule has deteriorated into a government of contractors, by contractors and for contractors. We must focus on building our democracy bottom-up from the grass-roots level, an endeavour in tune with the spirit of the Constitution. Hence, the ongoing protests and court cases must be complemented by organising people down to the grass-roots level to exercise their democratic rights. This is the only way in which we can fashion a law-abiding, genuinely democratic society that imbibes the scientific spirit.
The writer is an eminent ecologist and Padma Bhushan awardee. Edited excerpts from “Science, Democracy and Ecology in India", a paper
presented at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, on July 17, 2013
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