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Slower, uneven growth
No cheers for them |
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New Germany evolving
The lonely lawyer and trial by fire
Are women voters significant?
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Slower, uneven growth The Chief Minister has announced pre-poll sops outside the budget. By doing so he has undermined the dignity of the Vidhan Sabha. So has the Speaker by the wholesale suspension of opposition MLAs. Again, there may be no debate on the budget. Because of frequent populist measures, the state has ceased to be revenue surplus. There is a sharp rise in the state debt, which has doubled to Rs 81,806 crore during Hooda’s five years in power. The debt-to-GSDP ratio has also gone up even though it is still within the limits prescribed by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. Haryana has a lot going in its favour. That is largely because of its proximity to Delhi. Its per capita income is among the highest in the country. But income disparities are glaring. Two areas need special attention. First, the fruits of growth must be spread evenly across the state. Unrest among the agriculture-dependent Jats is a reflection of the lopsided growth. Reservations in jobs and admissions may not help them much. Secondly, the government must plug revenue leakages. This can be done partly by going in for land and power sector audits by the CAG and selling its stakes in loss-making PSUs. During its five years the Hooda government has focused on education, real estate and sports but ignored agriculture, PSU and power
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No cheers for them In a country where the average age of drinking has fallen perceptibly over the last decade, there is an urgent need to curtail alcohol consumption as well as restrict its accessibility. Ironically, state excise policies aim to collect more revenue and inadvertently promote the habit. Health campaigns focus more on discouraging smoking than liquor consumption. Needless to say, smoking kills, but liquor health hazards too are very many. According to a Lancet study, alcohol raises the risk for as many as 60 different diseases. The fact that several anti-alcohol campaigns are spearheaded by women proves that alcohol abuse can make an entire family suffer. It's nobody’s case that liquor vends should be done away with. But 62.5 million people of India who drink alcohol need to be dissuaded and constantly reminded of the inherent dangers of alcohol consumption that can become as addictive as any other intoxicant. While devising deterrent policies, the government can't let alcohol off its list. The movement against alcoholism can’t just be the responsibility of individuals and society alone. The government has to take the lead even if it stands to gain financially by allowing more liquor to be sold and more vends to come up. |
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The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.
—Sydney J. Harris |
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Remand to police custody WE venture to draw the attention of the authorities to the injudiciousness of allowing lengthy remands to police custody of fifteen days at a stretch in the case of political suspects without allowing the latter any opportunity to see their friends or even their legal advisers. We make no imputation or insinuation against the police, but in view of the acuteness of the situation we beg of the authorities and of the District Magistrate to see that everything done in connection with political offences is above board and not liable to be misinterpreted. We are informed that the young men recently arrested at Lahore on suspicion of being implicated in political offences have been denied all opportunity to see friends or relatives. While we are as anxious as the authorities in the detection of political crime, we are afraid that this shutting up of the accused persons altogether for a long spell of fifteen days without any access of outside air is liable to be misconstrued. In some cases the relatives of the accused persons are said to have not been allowed even to supply them food. We have every confidence in the fairness of the District Magistrate and we hope he will make it a point to see that the process of law is not abused. A Munificent Gift For Girls's School HER Highness the Begum of Bhopal has given fresh proofs of her faith in female education. Her Highness has paid to the British Treasury a munificent sum of four lakhs of rupees with which to form an endowment fund for the encouragement of female education in Bhopal. From the interest of the fund no less than three schools are to be maintained, viz., the Sultania Girls’ School, the Victoria Girls’ School and the Kanya Pathasala. The administration of the funds has been entrusted to a board consisting of the Agent to the Governor General, Central India, the Political Agent, Bhopal, and the Ruler of Bhopal. |
New Germany evolving Germany is undergoing an exciting phase of regeneration, if not renaissance, as it finally moves out of the shadows of the last World War. It has decided, as if by an unspoken consensus, that as the most powerful and prosperous nation of West Europe, it s time to stand up and be counted. Nobody denies the horrors of German actions in World War II, but the nation's past and its self-flagellation built up an industry encouraged by Britain and, up to an extent, France to keep post-war Germany down in order to wear the mantle of political leaders in the western world. And while advancing on the industrial and technological fronts, German leaders wore the sackcloth and ashes in atonement of their past. Two events, among a host of circumstances, have helped to move Germany away from its long phase of self-abnegation. The American spying extravaganza, revealed by the American contractor Edward Snowden, including Chancellor Angela Merkel's personal mobile phone, has hit the German psyche hard because of national sensitivities dating to Hitler's censorship regime and East Germany's elaborate secret snooping of citizens. Ms Merkel did not beat about the bush in expressing her great displeasure. Nor was she amused by the senior US official Victoria Nuland rubbishing the European Union's role in Ukraine, as her spokesman made it known. Second, Germany's leaders have been airing the view, in particular President Joachim Gauck who visited India recently, that their country cannot afford to sit on the sidelines on major events, given its economic and military power. The German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has been broadcasting this message loud and clear, supported by the bulk of the political class. In other words, there is a growing feeling among the elite and the general public that their country can no longer adopt a posture of minimalism in using its military in pursuit of common objectives. President Barrack Obama and Chancellor Merkel are not the best of friends, but relations between the two countries go beyond their lack of personal chemistry. It is a process of Germany coming of age in a world in which it is the most consequential of West European countries, its leaders and people having come to the conclusion that every country has a black phase in its history and there must come a point when successive generations refuse to suffer because of what preceding generations had done. Indeed, Germany is unique in willingly hosting an elaborate reminder of its dark past in the heart of its capital Berlin. What then are the consequences of this evolving new German policy? For one thing, Berlin will be more outspoken, if not assertive, in speaking its mind on international affairs of the day. One instance of this was the mingling of the previous foreign minister among the protesters against President Viktor Yanuykovic on Ukraine's central square, wrong-headed as it might have been. Besides, Berlin will be more forthcoming in committing its troops to joint foreign interventions. The future will also re-jig relations between among the major European powers and between them and the United States. Indeed, it was interesting that President Obama was hosting France's President Francois Hollande on a state visit, the first such honour for France since 1996, to signify a temporary meeting of minds in the assertive policy of military interventions in Africa and in taking a hard line on holding Iran to a strict regime in its nuclear policy. But France and Germany as the two consequential continental powers must come together in swinging major decisions their way. It is no secret that Germany's evolution has forced Paris to adjust its previous policy of taking the political lead for Europe. Understandably, President Obama's so-called pivot to Asia is not popular with Europeans although apart from paying belated attention to the Asian region, Secretary of State John Kerry has been spending much of his time and energies in the Middle East. And it remains to be seen how the ambitious free trade agreement between the two sides of the Atlantic will shape up. European and American economies are, in any event, greatly intertwined. Diminished as its role and abilities in the world are, the United States remains the most powerful nation. Having involved itself in two unpopular wars, Americans' appetite for military interventions in the Middle East is limited, as exemplified by President Obama's reluctance to initiate military strikes on Syria, despite provocations. In fact, Washington has had to reconfigure its relations in the region, with Saudi Arabia among other Gulf monarchies less than happy over its coyness in employing force as also over its overtures to Iran on its nuclear programme. Germany sees itself as something of a privileged interlocutor with Russia, given its history and location. For instance, Berlin has not followed the new Western trend orchestrated by Washington on demonising President Vladimir Putin's role and policies and is seeking to begin a reasoned conversation with Moscow on Ukriane, given Russia's historical closeness to its former region and the great landmass it occupies in proximity. Ms Merkel herself, raised in the old East Germany, is familiar with Russian language and idioms. In a sense, Berlin is serving notice that it is not merely a great economic power house but is shedding its inhibitions of a past employed by its partners to stymie its world role. That by itself presages a new set of power equations in Europe and the world. Washington's celebration of its new amity with France after traditional prickliness of relationship is not enough. Rather, the US needs to repair its relations with Germany to take account of a new outgoing Berlin willing to speak its mind and act according to its national interests without apology. |
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The lonely lawyer and trial by fire No matter how jolly and gregarious lawyers are, or appear to be, theirs is a lonely profession. But how lonely does it get? Sitting quietly in the fourth or fifth row, waiting for your case to be called. And watching a steady stream of your learned brothers walk in, bow, make their submissions, hear the judge pronounce the order, bow again, and leave. You keep sitting, clutching your brief, hoping that the judge will pass a favourable order when your case is called, and your client will send the balance fee, part of which will pay the monthly bills or school fee of your child or the instalment of your car. When the case is finally called, it is late in the afternoon. The long period of wait has made you forget the most important point in your client's favour. You get tongue-tied, the case is dismissed. You forlornly leave the court, feeling wretched. It may be some days before your next client will show up, until then you will have to find some other means to meet your urgent expenses. Such is the fate of most new entrants to the legal profession. All law students leave the law school well-equipped to take on the world, battle injustices, fight for the common man, uphold people's rights and serve the cause of justice. But they have to make their way through a professional minefield. A few lucky ones have rich dads, and get established quickly, using parental connections. Some smart young lawyers are destined to do well anyway. They are intelligent, possess the ability to argue well in English and make a good impression on the Bench. Such lawyers also rise rapidly. Then there are the clever ones, who may not have been on the top of the class but possess street-smartness. They know how to attract clients with glib talk, how to prepare cases by seeking out knowledgeable lawyers who know the subject well. And there are lawyers who are politically well connected and exploit their contacts well; they too make an early mark. The lonely lawyer, who waits throughout the day for his solitary case to be taken up, waits patiently for a break. He watches the well-healed, the smart, the clever and the well-connected lawyers, observes their manner, hears their arguments, and the observations from the Bench. Seeing their upward march, his loneliness only gets worse. But things have to get worse before they get better, and better they do. The lonely lawyer has been through the trial by fire in the crucible of character formation. The well-connected lawyers were denied this learning experience. Lawyers who struggle hard to overcome odds are not swayed by extraneous considerations. Slowly but surely they march up the ladder of success. It doesn't matter if success is late to arrive. The lonely lawyer has not ridden someone's piggyback. His success is his own - he derives great personal satisfaction from this. And in the eyes of the man on the street, he is seen as the real defender of citizens' rights. But despair not the lonely lawyer, there are angels hovering around in the judicial firmament, waiting to swoop down to pick you up from the Bar and place you on the Bench. Should this not happen, carry on in the noble profession with dignity. The angel will reward you in some other way. |
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Are women voters significant? In the last 50 years more women registered to vote than men and voted actively. Researchers found that female voter turnouts not only increased, it increased faster. This improvement took place across states, including the backward states. Male voter turnouts have remained almost stagnant over the years which translate into increasing number of female voters with greater awareness of their participatory role in democracy. For this year’s general elections estimates of the number of women voters vary between 300 million and 350 million. These numbers could mean the difference between winning and losing. Perhaps, it is the numbers that make politicians scurrying to announce more measures for their empowerment. The complex processes that shape voting behaviour in India are based more on caste and class rather than gender. To understand why people vote the way they do, especially women, is not simple to fathom in the largest democracy where political leaders deliver speeches laced with an overdose of machismo. Tables cited below explain the nature of electoral participation of Indian women(general elections) during the last two decades. The analysis conducted by National Election Studies (NES) has advanced three observations regarding the nature of women’s vote. The first one is about a participatory upsurge among women along with other marginalised groups in the 1990s. The second observation shows a definite gender advantage to the Congress among women voters over the years. The third observation emerged on the basis of 2004 election data about the nature of women’s vote and their politics. It points to a possibility that gender as an explanatory factor to understand the nature of women’s vote cannot be seen in isolation. The analysis suggests that at times caste and class and other social variants may override gender in deciding the way women vote.
Women voters over the years The table reflects gender-wise patterns of the Congress vote and the consistent advantage that the party enjoys among the women voters. Along with the Congress the Left parties also have been consistently enjoying an advantage among the women voters. But, during all the elections held in the last two decades the Left vote came only from a few states, the advantage was not at the national level. A consistent disadvantage for the BJP among the women voters is the second important issue that comes across this data. Does that mean more women prefer voting for Congress? The party’s advantage among women reached a high point in 1999 when the gender gap in favour of the party was at 4 percentage points. Since then the gap seems to be bridging. It is not that women support policies of this particular party more than men, nor can we say that Congress gets support from the less politised citizens that women are considered to be.
State- wise gender advantage On a timeline the state-wise patterns of gender advantage to Congress fracture the macro level trends of consistent support to Congress among women. Comparing the five general elections since 1996, the Congress advantage shows uneven patterns across states and even within a state. Only two states — Maharashtra and Karnataka have consistently supported the Congress, but even in these states the support declined in 2009. In all other major states gender gap in favour of the Congress varies considerably over the years. In Andhra Pradesh and Assam it has gained women’s support in the recent elections, whereas women’s vote has declined in states like Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. In Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and West Bengal the Congress has not been able to enjoy a consistent support among the women voters all these years. The macro level gender advantage to the Congress at the all India level seems to weaken at the regional level. In 2009, the Congress party faced gender disadvantage in as many as six major states, but it failed to have any bearing on the electoral results of these states. In Haryana, for example, the party did very well in spite of loss of women support by 7 percentage points since the elections in 2004.
Disadvantage The statistics for the BJP vote further complicates the gender situation in terms of women’s vote. The party seems to have suffered a consistent gender disadvantage among women voters over a period of time. Even the state-wise patterns of support for the BJP clearly bring out this trend. The BJP lags behind by the same margin of two percent that is the lead among women voters for the Congress. Both statistically and substantially more number of men prefer BJP over the Congress. While Congress preference among women voters seems to be more of a combination of various regional political factors, the data here depicts arrival of gender at certain levels. In spite of the regional dynamics of political process and in spite of existence of complex social identities that overlap with gendered identities of women, women do contribute to shaping of their distinct voting preferences. This seems to defy the notion that women would vote as men would want them to.
Last two Lok Sabha elections This analysis reflects that Women do not essentially rally behind women leaders. Women’s votes get subsumed under the regional political dynamics rather than shaping independently on gender lines. At least three major states in the country where women led the political affairs — Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu — the leadership did not initiate the ‘women’s empowerment’ discourse.
Under-represented
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