Creation of a poor-friendly legal system a must

Scarcity is the villain; it causes tension and unrest

by R. C. Sharma

The Pokhran-II explosions on May 11 and 13 proved India’s nuclear might. The ‘Buddha’s smile’ was celebrated by scientists by popping a champagne bottle. The air was full of talk about pride, patriotism and sacrifice. In Delhi, truck-loads of ruling party workers and others rushed to the Prime Minister’s house to congratulate him. Strangely, almost on the same day the Capital was scorching due to an unprecedented heat wave, the temperature soaring to a record high. Like in all previous summers the city’s electricity and water systems failed.

A large segment of the population had to spend hours, and in some cases, days without either electricity or water in the sweltering heat. The bomb euphoria turned sour, soon enough. The general refrain was : "What a shame. The government cannot provide the basic requirements of water and electricity to its citizens even after 50 years of Independence and that, too, in the Capital!" "What use is the bomb?" The topic of discussion changed to scarcity, shortages, theft of electricity and corruption.

The mounting anger against the civic authorities erupted into violence in a few places and several helpless employees of the Vidyut Board were gheraoed, some roughed up. Social scientists will agree that amongst the many reasons which cause social tension and unrest in a society, ‘scarcity’ is the most prominent, universally. The term ‘scarcity’ includes hunger, shortages of basic human necessities and the impediments in achieving these.

The factors causing scarcity are, of course, many and include unemployment and under-employment, income disparity, corruption, reservations, the feudal character of our country’s agricultural sector, urbanisation, lack of civic discipline and several other irritants. To start with, these irritants and inconveniences to the citizen cause anger and frustration, which if not alleviated will ultimately burst out in unrest, disturbances and violence. Ethnic strife, communal clashes and caste wars are themselves the result of deep-rooted malaise, which have long been ignored.

Unfortunately, social tension, when it is still in the form of annoyance and frustration, is not taken notice of seriously by the administration or those who matter till it erupts as a major problem, which may sometimes be difficult to control. Newspapers bring out isolated stories on certain sensational topics like starvation deaths, extreme cases of income disparity, exploitation of child labour, bride burning, prostitution, etc. However, these stories apart from providing macabre reading material, generally do not stir the government into action. Recently, we read that more than 20 peasants committed suicide in the northern districts of Karnataka over the last few months.

There were a few more such cases reported from other parts of the country; this heavy loss of life appeared to be due to crop failure and mounting debts to the money lender. Though these reports raise serious doubts about the state of our rural economy, it is doubtful whether the government has taken any concrete action in the matter so far. When the unrest and mounting social tension erupt into violence primarily as a law and order problem, no thought or efforts are made to find out the genesis of the problem with a view to removing it once for all. It is high time we as a nation realise that the latent unrest, anger and frustration of our people are signs of the malaise of the times. The anger is mounting on each new issue and it is bound to manifest itself by erupting into full scale violence in the not-too-distant future.

The warning signals should be taken seriously as and when they are manifested.

The grim picture of the country’s internal security is not hidden from anyone. Only a few days ago, the Home Secretary to the Government of India apprised the House Panel of the Home Ministry about the seriousness of the situation. It was reported that unrest plagues 210 out of a total of 535 districts in the country. Major areas are affected by insurgency, ethnic strife, extremist activities, caste and communal clashes and other crisis. The law and order situation in Nagaland and Tripura is a matter of deep concern. There is ethnic violence in Manipur. Uttar Pradesh is affected by communal violence. Bihar is characterised by increasing growth of crime committed by organised groups including the senas. Andhra Pradesh is rocked by agrarian violence, and Tamil Nadu is witnessing unprecedented growth of communal fundamentalism.

One of the important requirements of social safety net which is relevant to India’s farm sector is land distribution and land reforms. When we attained Independence, a very small percentage, about 4 per cent, of the total population owned nearly 40 per cent of the total caultivable land! The prevalent zamindari system where the landlord grabbed a major portion of the produce from the tenants, was a relic of feudalism brought in by the British who had assigned collection of land revenue to the zamindar. It was not really a part of our country’s earlier traditions. After Independence, one of the first decisions taken by the founding fathers of the country was to abolish the hated zamindari system lock stock and barrel. It was, in fact, the first major government order on land reforms. Fifty years after Independence there still remain lakhs of tenants and landless agricultural wage earners.

The land owners have conveniently divided their holdings amongst members of their families and in some cases benami holdings in the name of servants and khidmatgars so as to ensure that the large holdings remain under their control. In many states there have been no serious attempts even to implement the land reform Acts.

The legitimate and rightful aspirations of the people towards their basic needs were largely ignored and at best treated as defiance. Some one rightly said, the peasant’s scream for justice was smothered with lathies.

The results are apparent to every one. The Naxalities in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar have taken over where the politicians and administrators failed. Though much valuable time has been lost and positions have hardended on both sides there is a need to create an overall social and legal environment which is poor-friendly and does not discriminate against the economically down-trodden. Appropriate land reform statutes and regulations are not to be merely introduced, they have to be strictly implemented as well.

Land reforms must form an integral part of strategy for poverty eradication, removal of income disparity and agricultural development. The ruling politicians will have to adopt a genuine pro-reform attitude and support the peasants’ expectations. Duplicity and empty slogans will not help. Implementation of land reforms including re-distribution of surplus land amongst the poor, requires a commitment from all political parties irrespective of their ideological differences. There has to be a national consensus.

Official statistics show that the poverty ratio has declined from 55 per cent to 36 over the last two decades. However, due to rapid increase in the country’s population, the number of poor and economically destitute remains more so or less the same. Today, there are 35 crore poor persons in the country. The number of urban poor have, in fact, increased from six crore to eight crore in the last 25 years. There are no credible statistics on income disparity but the spectacle of the difference between the rich and the poor is getting more vivid. It has aptly been said "there cannot be rich without the poor." If a few persons are to grow rich, a large number of others have to stay poor.

The pressure on rural land is driving herds of poverty stricken men and women to the nearest town which has caused massive problems of their own. Of the country’s total population of 100 crore, 26 per cent are living in cities and townships; 50 years earlier this percentage was less than 15. The big cities are bursting at the seams. Bombay has more than 1.20 crore people and Delhi has grown to 90 lakh. There is a mad rush to find a foothold in the cities, which reflect a mirage of employment, income and entertainment. The starving millions have realised that even if one cannot get regular employment in the city at least two meals a day are assured.

Rapid and unplanned urbanisation is causing its own problems. Urbanisation in our country has gone berserk. The irrational land use has abnormally accelerated the process of haphazard town growth, resulting in mushrooming of unauthorised structures, colonies and jhuggis. The growth of basic amenities has not kept pace with the unprecedented expansion of the towns. In Bombay nearly 20 lakh people are living in jhuggis. The state of health of our cities can be gauged from the population of beggars.

There are about 20,000 beggars in Bombay alone. They can be seen swarming roads, bus stops, railway stations, religious and tourist places — almost everywhere.

The TV and the media blitz which are within easy reach of the poor in the cities have added a dangerous dimension to the problem. The deprived and have-nots are fully aware of the tantalising income disparities. The stark reality of the glamorous lifestyle of the ‘Bold and Beautiful’ compared to their own measly and miserable existence is staring at their faces everyday from the TV screen. They are not willing to wait and bridge the gap between poverty and richness through genuine hard work. Every one is on a ‘get-rich-quick’ trip.

Today’s God is money, and it is the most cruel God that man has ever worshipped. The poor youth wants to grab whatever he can lay his hands on through means foul and fair. At times the means adopted to acquire money and prosperity are violent and cruel.

The country’s public institutions have not been able to absorb the rapid changes which economic development has brought about. These institutions were, in fact, not even geared to absorb the sudden flush. The problem has become acute after the dramatic evolutionary changes as a result of liberalisation started in 1991. Most of the governmental institutions which were founded originally to cater to the requirements of a feudal society are not in tune with the modern democratic reality.

Our courts, which are one of the most respected institutions are an apt example. No one has yet forgotten the banking scam of 1992 and the legendary Harshad Mehta.

For months together the newspapers were screaming details of the criminal cases made out against him. More than three dozen cases were entrusted for trial to an exclusive court presided over by a High Court Judge. In the last five years, Harshad Mehta has not been convicted in a single case so far.

It has to be clearly understood that behind the growth of social violence and direct action, the spectre of corruption is likely to play an important role in near future. It will not be much use to dwell on the subject of the cancerous growth of corruption during the last few decades. All this is well known to everybody.

The numerous investigating agencies probing cases of corruption against public servants and the few public interest litigations against the politicians have not made any appreciable dent or helping in stemming the rot. The cases take too long to investigate and the trials are painfully slow.

The writer is a former Director of the CBI.