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A short-sighted move Beacon of inequality |
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A season of wrongs
Fear of the obscure
Conflict in Syria & possibility of peace
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A short-sighted move The
UPA decision to grant the Jat community reservations in Central jobs and educational institutions sends the signal that if roads and rail tracks are blocked or other forms of extreme pressure is exerted close to elections, governments would give in. If the 8.25 crore members of the Jat community spread in nine states see it as a victory and think their economic condition would improve with this one decision, they are mistaken. Unless their children get good competitive schooling, they would not be able to reach the elite academic institutions to claim their share of reservations. This is equally true of other categories of poor people who lag behind because of poor health, lack of nutritious food and absence of quality education. Political parties exploit the angst of the deprived. Development, personal and national, takes years of hard labour. But people demand, and politicians offer, short-cuts to success. Irrational demands are met with illogical solutions. If one set of demands is accepted, another crops up since aspirations keep rising. Mayawati thinks reservations in jobs and admissions have not delivered. She wants out-of-turn caste-based promotions. To secure BSP support, the UPA was ready to concede even this demand. But a chaotic, non-functioning Parliament could not take up the amendment Bill. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has divided the Dalits to create a category of "Mahadalits" for political survival. But it is not always politically rewarding to appease one section at the cost of others. The quota for Jats comes at the expense of OBCs. The latter may be angry over the UPA decision to share their pie with the Jats. Imagine Bhupinder Singh Hooda's coming generations becoming eligible for reservations! Poverty has no caste. State help cannot be extended to the well-off, whatever their caste or class. Eyeing Sikh votes, Capt Amarinder Singh and Parkash Singh Badal have demanded reservations for Jat Sikhs even though Sikhism does not recognise the caste system. The BJP is having a rethink on the issue. It is considering denying the benefit to the third generation of the reservation beneficiaries.
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Beacon of inequality It
is not a case of some being "more equal than others". It is about some being simply superior and the rest inferior. At least that is what the red beacon, flashing or not, declares in your face. The Supreme Court by reminding the Centre of a list of dignitaries, notified in 2002 and 2005, who can have a beacon on their cars attempted to limit the number. The states were also required to come up with similar lists. The move has indeed resulted in a reduction of such beacons on the road in some states, Punjab and J&K included, but it has increased the per capita heartburn among the
babudom. That is bound to happen when you draw a cut-off line; those just below it feel the most aggrieved. As long as the red light serves the purpose of declaring high status, it will cause friction. When the government sought permission for 'constitutional authorities' to have these lights, it became clear that functional goals such as right of way in traffic were only incidental. If that were the case then the police, fire service, doctors and the like would have been accorded the facility (not luxury). In the present situation, two distinct purposes, 'status' and 'duty', have been confused. Of course, the only determinant should be the nature of duty. The government should revise the entire protocol, and evolve a new code for the use of beacons only by various emergency services, or even in specific short-term situations. The beacon is only symbolic of the VIP culture prevalent in Indian society. We often accuse the bureaucracy of having inherited it from the Raj. But perhaps the British themselves picked up a taste for 'status' from the feudal lords they supplanted. The gulf between the powerful and the powerless in the caste-driven status-conscious society has today been made deeper by the extreme economic disparities. The earlier the rulers see reason the better - before the ruled see red.
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The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said. — Peter Drucker
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THE Hon. Mr. Abbott has elicited in formation of considerable interest about the appointments made to the post of Deputy Superintendents of Police in the major provinces. The statement is rather cumbrous and is inconveniently large for reproduction in the columns of newspapers. But the facts contained therein are important and moral consideration. The first thing that arrests attention is the varying ratio in the several provinces of Anglo-Indian Deputy Superintendents to the total number of appointments. Thus, the sanctioned ratio of the Anglo-Indian Deputy Superintendents is 1 to 10 in Madras, 1 to 3.5 in Bombay, 1 to 9 in Bengal, 1 to 10 in U.P., 1 to 4.33 in Punjab, 1 to 2.79 in Burma, 1 to 5 in Behar, 1 to 3.6 in C.P., and 1 to 11 in Assam. Whether the high proportion of the Anglo-Indian element in Bombay, Punjab, Burma, Behar and Central Provinces has been based on the communal strength of the Anglo-Indian population or on other administrative requirements should be ascertained from Government. The Delhi Expenditure THE following Press Communique has been issued on the new capital of Delhi: There has been much comment in the press on the statement of the Under Secretary of State reported by Reuter on the 24th February that the estimated cost of the Government buildings at Delhi amounted to £2,800,000. Doubts have been expressed as to the extent of the operations which would fall within this description and it has been pointed out that the statement is inconsistent with the declaration recently made in the Imperial Legislative Council by Sir Robert Carlyle that the Government of India were not yet in a position to give any information as to the probable cost of constructing the new capital….
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A season of wrongs The
rot has gone deeper. The passage of the Telangana Bill amidst the most painful and shameful scenes will long remain an infamous chapter in India's proud parliamentary history. Pepper spray was used, microphones were broken and brandished, the television coverage was blacked out (whether by a "technical" or "tactical" glitch), the presiding officers were barracked and all but assaulted, the Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha was manhandled, the Prime Minister was not allowed to speak, papers were snatched and torn, the well of both Houses was occupied by screaming disrupters holding aloft placards, a Cabinet minister opposed his own government, it was Congress versus Congress. A debate was foiled, a division was refused in view of total disorder. Hooliganism prevailed. A dreadful precedent has been set. The financial package for Seemandhra has evoked outrage in Bihar and elsewhere where similar pleas for financial preferment have been unavailing. The pepper spray hero, having shut down the Lok Sabha and then blandly "apologised", was unbelievably invited by a TV channel to air his views in a panel discussion. Infamy was thus rewarded by free publicity. The "honourable member" who wrestled with the Rajya Sabha SG, offered some kind of apology and was instantly forgiven. Everything goes. Emboldened by the ruckus, a J&K MLA beat up a marshal while being led out of the House for misconduct. In the UP Assembly, two RLD legislators took off their kurtas to display their unlovely torsos, to the encouragement of a senior legislator. These same "honourable" mobsters will no doubt cheerfully collect their daily allowance! The Parliamentary Research Service has this to say: The extended winter session of Parliament had 12 sittings. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha lost 79 and 73 per cent of the scheduled time to disruptions. Both Houses together were productive for only 24 per cent of the total time. Question Hour functioned for 11 per cent of its scheduled time in the Lok Sabha, with only eight out of the 220 listed starred questions answered. No questions were orally answered at all in the Rajya Sabha. Commutation of death sentence In a parallel drama, the Supreme Court's commutation of the death sentence imposed on three leading Rajiv Gandhi killers to life imprisonment on account of "inordinate delay" in disposing of their mercy petitions was pounced upon by Jayalalithaa, the Tamil Nadu CM, to order their release within three days if the Centre did not do so. Though she claimed inherent legal powers to do, despite the Central advice to the contrary, she was essentially seeking to fan ugly Tamil chauvinism for electoral gain with this vulgar display of one-upmanship before her rivals got into the act. The Supreme Court has stayed her order. The court's initial ruling has been welcomed by many as the delay routinely experienced in the disposal of mercy petitions, a very difficult moral decision, is inexcusable. The answer is to ordain that a mercy petition not decided within, say, two months, will entail execution within a week of that deadline. As long as the death penalty remains on the statute book, it cannot be awarded and then trashed by deliberate delays that have politicised criminal acts. In the instant case, terrorism has been condoned even if the convicts have served 20 years in prison. However, the kith and kin of 17 other innocent victims of Rajiv's assassination are asking why they have been denied justice. The execution of Afzal Guru is being questioned anew in Kashmir and Pakistan as unwarranted and biased. Tarun Tejpal case And finally, is it not time for Tarun Tejpal to be granted bail after over 85 days in judicial custody with felons in Goa. The extraordinary interest taken in this matter by Chief Minister Parrikar, while being totally unmindful of a series of other rape cases in his state before and after the Tehelka episode, is striking. The BJP has its knife into Tejpal and the party has done its best to destroy him for Tehelka's brilliant exposures of its skeletons in the cupboard. There is no question that Tejpal must face due process and condign punishment if found guilty. He was initially detained to facilitate investigation, which he was accused of circumventing through evasion and "intimidation". All air and sea ports and land border posts were alerted to prevent his exiting the country, without any basis for this extraordinary action. His detention was demanded so that investigations and framing of a charge sheet were not impeded or manipulated as a result of his reach and influence. The charge sheet indicts him under the sweeping new rape law, and associated crimes under the IPC, on the basis of CCTV footage in the Goa hotel lift. The incidents, as graphically recounted by the woman reporter, took place on two consecutive evenings over a span of 130 and 45 seconds respectively. The lurid description of that footage, widely broadcast, constitutes the essence of the charge but was only given to Tejpal and his counsel by the court on their insistence that hearsay does not constitute evidence. Having seen the footage thereafter, Tejpal trashed the charge sheet as spurious and politically motivated as the alleged scenes described do not figure in it. If true, as Tejpal's counsel aver, then the charge rests on fabricated material that the Goa Police will be called upon to explain when the hearings commence. The other part of the charge rests on Tejpal's written "confession" about misreading the situation and apologising for his misconduct. But this is what was sought by the lady in question in her complaint to Shoma Chaudhury, the then Managing Editor, in order to seek closure by means of an internal settlement rather than through a trial court. Indeed, some language was crafted by her in terms that she considered satisfactory. Unfortunately, that letter of apology, written on her terms and duly delivered to her, did not bring closure. Instead, it was followed by instant disclosure by persons unknown, leading to the publicity, outrage and (political) vendetta that followed. Tejpal now deserves to be released on bail. It is for the courts to pronounce on the merits on the basis of a fair and open trial. Meanwhile, the media should not sensationalise allegations as "facts" nor allow itself to be cowed down by brute political pressure. www.bgverghese.com
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Fear of the obscure The fox was summoned to attendance in the wee hours of the morning and the lion said, "I fear loss of kingdom to those reproducing rapidly." "Name those who multiply fast", roared the lion. The fox pondered for a while and replied timidly, "The bunnies and rats". "The bunnies and rats?" exclaimed the king. "But don't worry, they are too obscure to be a threat to you" assured the fox. "I can't take them lightly. We have to obstruct their designs or we'll be outnumbered and loose the forest", replied the king. "I think the paranoia is unwarranted. Bunnies live in burrows and rats in rat holes. They can never match your power and prowess. None crosses the other's path, and in any case the underlying peace mantra is co-existence and pluralism, which the forest has always exemplified", said the fox. "No! No! You do not understand, as they multiply, they eat into the forest resources, leaving nothing to others. Tell me a way out", said the lion. "Frankly, I do not share your phobia, but one way could be to beat them at their own game as suggested by the wise human but king, has it ever occurred to you that there may be severe problems in this regard?" "Like what?" countered the lion "Like, biological and environmental; I mean there are natural constraints if you have too many lions, they would require as much food", reasoned the fox. "We lions know how to hunt" came the curt response. "Yes, of course, but you need animals to prey upon, and this would mean more antelopes, bisons, goats, zebras who would have to go in for orgies to reproduce enough to meet your food requirements," the fox said. "So let them" responded the lion. "This would mean a drain on all material resources of the forest as prospective preys would need food themselves before they become your food", said the fox. "I do not care, I cannot lose my kingdom to the bunnies and rats", the lion asserted. "And the lioness, is she game with your plans of rapid reproduction. I mean the females have a say you know, you cannot reproduce without their consent!" the fox tried her last gamble to shake the king out of his stubbornness. "Ahem! Ahem! Well! Hum! Hum!" And then with resigned grunts, he kept quiet. The fox seized the moment and said, "It does not behove a king to display such paranoia and a parochial mindset. Take all sections along. Pluralism is the way to flourish. Thought as the one propagated by a human which you seek to emulate would lead to self-destruction, besides reducing you to an embarrassing spectacle of one scared of obscure creatures. So go on, rule and govern without fear" the fox concluded, while the lion nodded and looked admiringly at his sagacious adviser.
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Conflict in Syria & possibility of peace
The
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) achieved the almost impossible recently by adopting a unanimous resolution on providing access to humanitarian aid to Syria, breaking a deadlock that pitted Russia and China against the Western powers. Syria has been devastated by civil war, in which upwards of 140,000 people have been killed, 6.8 million displaced and 9.5 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
The UNSC displayed such unanimity last when it voted to rid Syria of its chemical weapons capability. Russia and China have vetoed three UNSC resolutions proposed by Western powers to pressurise the Syrian government of President Bashar Al-Assad since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011. In January, the world's peacemakers met in the Swiss city of Montreux, dubbed as Geneva-2, as a follow up to the earlier Geneva talks. Iran's exclusion from the talks and the pictures leaked by a Syrian government defector showing people being tortured and killed had cast a shadow over the talks. First invited to join by the UN Secretary-General, the invitation to Iran was abruptly withdrawn after objections by Western powers, particularly the USA. The talks ended inconclusively after 10 days and no one knows if the talks will be reconvened. There was not much optimism for peace to break out and not much hope was pinned on the talks. The deep divide and bitterness generated by the horrific brutality committed by both sides, but mostly by the Syrian opposition fighters are factors contributing to the general and pervasive pessimism dogging the situation in Syria. The Internet is full of posts by the opposition Jihadists, showing grisly public beheadings of Syrian soldiers, pro-government militia members and civilians. Increasing violence The Syrian tragedy has unfolded with increasing violence over the last two years and 11 months, ever since the rebellion started in March 2011. The violence shows no sign of abating. The Syrian opposition is backed by the Western powers, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, while President Bashar Assad's government has received the backing of Russia, China, Iran and Iraq. The Syrian civil war has degenerated into a proxy war between these two sides. The Syrian opposition, led by the Syrian National Coalition has demanded a transitional government and that President Assad should step aside. The latter has not accepted this demand and has even indicated that he may run for President again. The Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Moallem, leading the government delegation to the Montreux or Geneva-2 talks, stated upon arrival at Montreux that the issue of President Assad and the regime were red lines for the Syrian government and the Syrian people and cannot be under discussion.
Syria facts Disinviting Iran Foreign Minister Muallem also criticised the move to disinvite Iran and called this action a “mistake”. Russia too has criticised the UN decision disinviting Iran and President Rowhani had hinted that Geneva-2 was doomed to failure because influential players have been excluded. Iran refused to back a communiqué emerging from an international meeting on Syria at Geneva in June 2012 which had called for a Syrian transitional government. The UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon withdrew the invitation after accusing the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif of going back on supporting a transitional government in Damascus. India's External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid attended these talks as India's representative. This was the first time that India was included in deliberations on Syria. India's position on Syria is unenviable. India has maintained friendly relations with all countries embroiled in the Syrian conflict and has deftly avoided taking sides. Last month at the Munich Security Conference on Global Power and Regional Stability, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon had warned against indirect unilateral military interventions like in Libya and Syria stressing the importance of multilateral consultations to manage conflicts and reduce regional tensions. India has also firmly opposed external military intervention with the objective of regime change and has consistently asserted the right of the Syrian people to decide their own destiny without external intervention and pressure. Islamic jihadists Meanwhile, the President Assad-led Syrian government has received a morale booster from military successes in recent months and has pointedly reminded the Western countries and others supporting the Syrian opposition, the growing role of Islamic militants, Al-Qaida elements and jihadists from many countries who have been sucked into this war. In addition to the Pakistan-based Taliban and sundry jihadists waging war against Afghanistan, home-grown Pakistani jihadists and terrorists and terrorists in southern Russia, the Syrian civil war has become the favourite hunting ground for jihadists from all over the world. There have been reports that jihadists from European countries, including some of Indian origin, have joined the war in Syria. Their motivation is jihad against the non-Sunni Muslims, giving the Syrian civil war a distinctly sectarian colour — Sunni jihadists against non-Sunni Muslims. The global islamist dimension and the sectarian nature of the conflict have dampened enthusiasm among Western powers for the Syrian opposition. Elusive reconciliation Reconciliation, justice and peace in Syria remain elusive and remote. The gulf between the two warring sides is so wide and the Syrian opposition so divided that a consistent position cannot be expected from the opposition. But for some arm-twisting by their Western backers, the fragmented opposition groups and their leaders would have boycotted the peace talks. The cache of 55,000 digital images smuggled out by a Syrian government defector, showing the torture and killings of more than 11,000 Syrians detained by the Syrian government, came at a bad time, vitiating the atmosphere for the talks. Typically, Western human rights groups seized upon this to lobby with their countries to bring more pressure on the Assad government and accused Russia and China of ignoring human rights abuses committed by the Syrian government. These same Western human rights groups tend to gloss over or downplay the rash of beheadings, mass killings of prisoners and floggings, unleashed by the opposition fighters, pandering thereby, to the geo-political positions of their respective countries on the Syrian civil war and the push towards change of regime. Transitional government While the Western powers, the UN and the Syrian opposition have coalesced around the issue of a transitional government in Damascus, as the first step to peace, the Syrian government has categorically rejected this proposition and wants to focus on the war against terrorism. With such diverging and intransigent posturing, it was not at all surprising that the peace conference at Montreux ended in failure. While the latest UNSC resolution provides a much-needed breakthrough for infusion of humanitarian aid into Syria, Western powers have criticised the lack of any sanctions in the resolution as rendering it toothless. The dropping of all references to sanctions, demanded by Russia and China, was the price paid for unanimity on the resolution. Misguided policy The worst is not yet over and there is disturbing chatter among the external backers of regime change that the next step should be targeted bombing of Syrian government assets and arming of moderate opposition rebel groups with sophisticated weaponry. This, they argue, would put additional pressure on the Bashar Al-Assad government and soften it up for future concessions. This would be a dangerous escalation and further underline the confused meddling by the coalition of Western powers and its Gulf allies in Syria that has so far been a failure. This will inevitably lead to more military escalation and further empowerment of extremist Salafist rebels who have a track record of seizing weapons from other moderate rebel groups. The end result of this misguided policy will leave Syria divided along sectarian lines with extreme Islamic rebel groups, allied with Al-Qaida elements, in control of chunks of Syrian territory, leaving Syria as another pre-Talibanised Afghanistan from where Islamist groups will inevitably turn on their Western and Gulf backers. The sense of déjà vu will then be complete. —
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The Telangana Bill was passed, with its constitutionality in question. A pyrrhic victory! Bitterness will not easily be erased. Jubilation in Telangana is matched by fears in Seemandhra despite economic sops and promise of a new capital. Meanwhile, Hyderabad will remain the twin capital for a decade, with special powers vested in the Governor, a muddled solution that spells unrest and bickering. Throughout the sordid drama the Congress allowed electoral calculations to trump principles, values and the national interest. Other parties too have played dirty, witness the disruptive role of Trinamool Congress by insisting on a division instead of a voice vote. The presiding officer rightly refused to buy more trouble and declared the Bill passed. Mamata Bannerjee, who has thrown due process to the winds in Bengal, has termed this act "worse than the Emergency"!
After
