P A G E
Monday, February 15, 1999
today's calendar
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E D I T O R I A L P A G E |
Monday, February 15, 1999 |
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spotlight today's calendar |
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The
great escape
PRESIDENT’S
RULE |
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Tilting
law to help
A
Korean kaleidoscope
Colour
of money
Pardon
for political prisoners |
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The great escape PRESIDENT Bill Clinton has earned his anticipated acquittal, but as his Republican opponents have warned, “not approval”. And he publicly acknowledged this when he apologised once again to the American people and urged them to forgive and forget. It was a mighty climbdown for a man who in the initial months of the scandal went about as though he did not have a care in the world. It was not the threat of loss of office that had forced him to bend, but the trauma of the public debating a set of his silly sex acts of the adolescent variety. It was the humiliation of the world getting to know in salacious detail what he did in what he assumed to be air-tight privacy. And suddenly his life began to crazily spin around the eminently forgettable aberration. Funnily, all those involved in the year-long melodrama, presented to the whole world thanks to satellite channels, knew they were heading for a deadend. But they marched on as though propelled by primal political passion and the inexorable momentum of the morality play that it soon turned into. Prosecutor Kenneth Starr wanted nothing less than impeachment and so be it, chorussed the Republicans. Anything to bring down the President by a notch or two in popularity charts. And it is the public opinion that virtually nailed them to their cross. Had the case been compressed into a few weeks, maybe President Clinton would have lost the battle to retain his very high rating. But one year is a long time to retain audience attention, particularly when there was change only in the venue of the weary soap opera and not in the script or the cast. Any drama or film director would have told the Republicans that this was a lethal combination and would backfire. It was the stubborn public
opinion which castigated the President for both the acts
and attempts to lie his way out, which clearly expressed
itself that stripping him of his office was excessively
harsh. But the Constitution has no other provision than
impeachment for a presidential misdemeanour. With the
voters solidly behind him, his Democratic Senators had no
choice but to remain in a tight knot, lest they lose
popular sympathy. The same factor induced a handful of
Republicans to cross over and deny their party floor
managers the satisfaction of rigging up a simple
majority. The final voting figures are a disaster for the
opposition party and it should reflect in the elections
less than two years away. The booming economy too helped
as also the genuine feeling that under President Clinton,
the USA is consolidating its leadership position. Unlike
in Britain where even minor sexual misconduct leads to an
instant ejection from office, in the USA such deeds evoke
hardly a yawn. Morality and politics do not go hand in
hand, and it is an ironic thought that the man who could
benefit from this changed popular perception is denied a
chance to indulge in what comes compulsively to him.
President Clinton has to walk the fire test to establish
the validity of the rule, that is why. |
Drug abuse in India THE latest report on the problem of
drug abuse in South Asia released by the United Nations
Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) once again highlights the
shortcomings in the strategies for fighting the menace.
Although about 350 NGOs funded by the Government are
engaged in the task of reducing the scale of drug abuse
in India the figures on addiction present a disturbing
picture. According to the report there were about 2.5
million drug addicts in the country at the end of 1996-97
but only three lakh had registered for treatment at the
de-addiction centres run by the NGOs. The Government
itself must take the blame for the unhappy situation. It
is clear from the UNDCP report that most of the NGOs are
not doing enough to justify official funding. If the
Government is serious about combating drug abuse on a war
footing, it should introduce the principle of
performance-based funding. Afterall it is the
tax-payers’ money which is given to the NGOs for
fighting a war which they are evidently not fighting. The
only silver lining — if it can be called that —
is that the problem of drug abuse is more acute among
men. According to the report over 90 per cent women in
India are non-drug users. However, the NGOs cannot take
any credit for the low incidence of drug abuse among
women. Indian women still, by and large, believe in the
old fashioned family values and are less exposed to the
corrupting influence of an open society. The 10 per cent
women who are hooked to drugs belong to what is called
the MTV generation. It is only a matter of time before
the satellite television and direct-to-home telecasts
would invade the privacy of most Indian homes and make
impressionable young girls join the ever increasing line
of male drug addicts. The problem calls for a long term
strategy if India is to be spared the agony which most
developed societies are experiencing. In India the North
East States present a more grim picture in relation to
other regions. One reason for the increase in the
incidence of drug addiction is that from being a conduit
country of the Golden Triangle India has become a major
user of substances on the banned list of the UNDCP.
Keeping this fact in mind the organisation has prepared
what is called “The South Asia Drug Demand Reduction
Report”. The assumption is that it may be easier to
reduce the demand for banned drugs because their
circulation and distribution is controlled by
well-organised networks. The Union Minister of State for
Social Justice and Empowerment, Mrs Maneka Gandhi, while
releasing the report blamed the elite and the affluent
sections of society for the increase in the incidence of
drug abuse among the younger generation. She was only
revealing a known secret that cocaine was being openly
consumed in most party bashes in Delhi. The BMW case is
the most recent example of how bad parenting among the
rich can turn young men into potential criminals.
Unfortunately this section is beyond the reach of the
NGOs working in diverse fields. It is this section which
is responsible for giving India a bad Press |
PRESIDENT’S
RULE
IN BIHAR AT last President’s Rule has been declared in Bihar. The constitutional and political factors have helped the Vajpayee Government in making the President do what it failed to persuade him to do last time, when Mr K.R. Narayanan returned the advice tendered to him by the Council of Ministers for its reconsideration. Mr Pramod Mahajan, who announced the Presidential assent to the Proclamation, emphasised the point that the Government had sent back the old piece of advice to the President, along with a fresh report from the Governor, Mr S.S. Bhandari, and other materials concerning the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, in particular the two massacres of the dalits, one after another by the Ranvir Sena in Jehanabad. The significance of Mr Mahajan’s assertion is that, under the Constitution, the President’s right to return a piece of advice for reconsideration by the Council of Ministers is available to him only once; if the same piece of advice is tendered to him a second time, he has to sign on the dotted line. It will be recalled that, when the President returned to the Gujaral Cabinet its recommendation for declaration of President’s Rule in UP, the Government lumped it first because the President’s doubts about the Constitutional soundness of the recommendation were genuine, and secondly because the requisite support for the move in Parliament, especially in the Rajya Sabha, was doubtful. When the President returned the Vajpayee Government’s advice to him to declare President’s Rule in Bihar, the Constitutional points raised by Mr Narayanan were sound, especially his reported emphasis on the need to warn the State Government under Article 355 of the Constitution before taking the extreme step. The Government, according to Mr Mahajan, kept the advice on hold and did not allow it to die. When the first massacre of the dalits in Jehanabad occurred it sent a team of officials to study the situation in Bihar and the team did submit a report, in which it is believed to have suggested comprehensive measures to solve Bihar’s problems. These included implementation of land reforms. The second massacre in the same district horrified public opinion further in the country. The Government was on sounder wicket this time, but it needed not have worried about the President’s reaction, who is reportedly of the same view as the Government. The Rabri Devi Government has been dismissed but the Assembly kept in suspended animation because the Supreme Court had ruled in the Bommai case that this cannot be done until the Presidential proclamation has been confirmed by Parliament. Of this there are greater chances now in view of the fact that, after the second massacre, even the Congress (I), which had been supporting the Rabri government at the State level, declared that Mrs Rabri Devi had forfeited the right to rule the State. She has indicated that her government would move the Supreme Court against the Centre’s decision. As far as one can see she will have a tough time before the court. However, more relevant is the question whether President’s rule is the answer to Bihar’s problems. The rot in the state, in my view, is so deep that Central intervention for a few months or even a year or two will simply not do. The bureaucracy has been politicised. The rule of law simply does not exist. The landlords refuse to pay minimum wages to the landless labourers, whose numbers have been multiplying. Corruption is rampant. Nobody’s life and property is safe. Politically, Bihar has become a battleground for not only the casteist parties but also for the leftists, who are not only out to kill the landlords, but also each other because each leftist wing is trying to create political space for itself. The situation may have worsened during the rule of Laloo Yadav or his wife, but they cannot be held exclusively responsible for it. Since confirmation of the Presidential proclamation by Parliament appears likely, the first question the Vajpayee Government will need to decide is whether it is going to dissolve the State Assembly or to keep it under suspended animation. As far as the constitutional provision goes, it is laid down that a proclamation, unless revoked, shall cease to operate on the expiry of a period of six months from the date of the issue of the proclamation. However, it has been further provided that “if and so often as a resolution approving the continuation in force of such a proclamation is passed by both Houses of Parliament, the proclamation shall, unless revoked, continue in force for a further period of six months from the date on which under this clause it would otherwise have ceased to operate, but no such proclamation shall in any case remain in force for more than three years”. Thus if the Vajpayee Government is really serious about improving the law and order situation in Bihar, prolonged Central rule would be in order. But this assumes the longevity of the present Government at the Centre itself. Second, it would assume dealing with the bureaucracy with a heavy hand. But here the problem is that it is the bureaucracy itself that comes into prominence during Central rule. Without its willing cooperation and help, the situation can worsen rather than improve. My own fear is that, though a case exists for pretty tough and thoughtful measures to make Bihar function as a democracy as envisaged under the Constitution, the weak Vajpayee Government may end up making a political point but nothing else. In the event of the dissolution of the Assembly and fresh elections, much will depend on how Mr Laloo Yadav’s party and other parties fare. What if Mr Laloo Yadav bounds back with renewed vigour? And what is going to happen to Vananchal state which the Vajpayee Government has promised? With the dismissal of the Rabri Government political tempo is bound to increase. The BJP’s strength lies mainly in Chhotanagpur, and the legislators there, irrespective of parties, are bound to mount pressure for the creation of the new State. Legislators in Central and North Bihar, irrespective of the parties, are bound to resist the creation of Vananchal state equally strongly. The Central Government is
in for a very difficult time in Bihar |
Emerging strains in balance of
payments INDIA’S trade deficit rose sharply to over $ 7 billion in the first nine months (April-December) of 1998-99 and will hit a record $ 10-12 billion at the end of the year, raising anew concerns about the balance of payments management in the new fiscal year and beyond. Exports have been on downtrend for three years, and growth has remained negative in 1998-99, and even if there is some recovery in the last quarter (January-March), the trade deficit (including imports on government account) would be unsustainable at around $ 20 billion. Given the decline in the net external inflows, both official and private, in the current year, partly due to economic sanctions, there would have to be a substantial draw-down from the reserves, which have remained so far comfortable at $ 27 billion. Despite larger outgoes with higher imports and some FII disinvestments, the reserves have held steady, thanks to the Resurgent India Bonds for NRIs yielding over $ four billion. The current account deficit in 1998-99 would have risen to a disturbing 2.5 to 3 per cent of the GDP from 1.7 per cent the previous year, and this would be a signal of emerging strain in the balance of payments. Export growth lost its momentum in 1996-97, when it was down to 5.3 per cent from an average of 18-19 per cent in the previous three years, and deteriorated to a mere 1.5 per cent in 1997-98. In April-December, 1998, exports declined by 2.88 per cent while imports in this period had risen by over 7 per cent. Notwithstanding some policy liberalisation and refinement, exports have, by and large, remained a neglected sector in recent years with the result that the outlook has been considerably worsened by the later developments such as the hefty Asian devaluation in the wake of the financial crisis and a slowdown in the world economy and global trade. India’s investment regime has been less than export-friendly, and incentives have been confined mainly to the traditional better-performing sectors where international competitiveness has not been edged out. Our efforts at diversification of products and markets have not been effective nor have our trade liberalisation policies been adequately focused on building export capabilities. The industrial slowdown also partly explains the dismal export record. In contrast, China has stood up to the Asian crisis without devaluing its currency, broadly maintaining its level of exports in 1998, and produced a trade surplus of over $ 43 billion. There is a determination in China to improve the trade turnover in 1999 and utilise overseas investment to boost exports further. Rather than overcome infrastructure bottlenecks and motivate exporters, the rhetoric here is to find fault with trade partners and attribute failures to the external environment and the global trade system. Managing the balance of payments goes beyond achieving a balancing of exports and imports in such a way that the trade deficit remains at a level which can be covered to a great extent by net invisible receipts. India had an external debt of about $ 95 billion in March, 1998, and the servicing schedule works out to $ 8 to 9 billion for a few years to come. It has, therefore, become inevitable that India continues to look for external assistance, bilateral and multilateral, of an order that would at least balance debt servicing liabilities. It is, therefore, to be welcomed that the US Administration is likely to lift its sanctions against India in respect of loans from international financial institutions like the World Bank shortly, following the latest round of talks between External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott in New Delhi. The US action, with which other major creditor countries like Japan and Germany concurred, as a protest against India’s nuclear tests, had effectively blocked the flow of new loans, bilateral and multilateral except “humanitarian” assistance in 1998-99. That these sanctions have hurt India is no longer denied by the Vajpayee government, which pretended that these would have no impact on the economy. India missed new loan commitments of $ 6 to 7 billion which would have been made last June, had the India Development Forum meeting chaired by the World Bank taken place. Depending on the US decision, the bank may fix a date for the Forum to meet, in the light of its own assessment of the forthcoming Union Budget and the growth prospects for the economy in the medium-term. More than official loans,
India looks to non-debt creating flows like foreign
direct investment, and the Vajpayee government, giving up
its “Swadeshi” overtones, seems willing to go
the farthest in attracting foreign investments though
mainly for infrastructure building purposes. But it has
also become aware that denouncing globalisation and
welcoming foreign direct investment do not go together
nor that unchecked fiscal deficit and an indifference to
other macro factors like output and export growth would
make for a climate conducive to investments from abroad.
— IPA |
Colour
of money FROM AESOP’s Fables (Aesop was a slave, 6th century BC) comes a story of a miser who to make sure of his property, sold all that he had and converted it into a big lump of gold, which he concealed in a hole in the ground. He continuously went to visit the spot to make sure that his horde was there. This aroused the curiosity of one of his workers. When his master’s back was turned he went to the spot suspecting that there was a treasure and stole the gold to enrich himself. When the miser returned and discovered the hole empty, he wept, tore his hair and ran about in frenzy. When his neighbour saw him in this grief and learnt the cause of it, he said: “Fret thyself no longer, but take a stone and put it in the same place and think that it is your lump of gold. As you never meant to use it, the stone will do you as much good as the gold. The worth of money is not in its possession but in its use”. A Chinese fable tells a story of a man who loved money better than life. In ancient times, there was an old wood-cutter who went to the mountain almost everyday to cut wood. This old man was a miser who hoarded his silver and changed it into gold and concealed it somewhere. One day, a tiger sprang at him and although he ran as fast as he could, he could not escape. The tiger carried him holding him in its mouth. The wood-cutter’s son saw his father’s predicament and ran to save him if he could. He carried a long knife and he could run faster than the tiger as the animal had to carry a human body in its mouth. The son overtook the tiger. The father was not much hurt for the tiger held him by his clothes. When the father saw his son about to stab the tiger he shouted: “ Do not spoil the tiger’s skin! If you can kill him without cutting holes on his body, we can get many pieces of silver for it. Kill him but do not cut his body”. While the son was listening to the father’s instructions the tiger suddenly darted off into the deep jungles carrying the old man where his son could not reach him. The father was soon killed and consumed. I myself had a miserly neighbour in Kerala where I was born and brought up, who used to count the coconuts on the coconut tree everyday just to ensure that they are intact and not stolen. One day a heavy coconut fell on his head and he died. His son was an equal miser but he was a professor in the local college. He had only one coat which he used to wear everyday. The students got bored of the coat and they wanted a change. So, one day, during recess when the coat was suspended on the chair, the students made some holes with a blade in such a way that it could not be repaired. The teacher had to get another coat stitched and the students clapped at the new acquisition. Years later, one of the students after completing his education had migrated to one of the Gulf countries. During one of his vacations he brought two beautiful coats and many other gifts for his teacher and said: “Sir, I was the head of the mischievous gang who tore your coat craving for a replacement. I am sorry for the puerile act. Kindly accept these not as compensation but as a price of my sorrow”. The teacher said: “I
don’t need these now, because I am retired, but I
shall keep them as mementoes just to recognise that you
had a human heart even when the animal emotion had taken
over temporarily. I wish you great prosperity and wealth
and a noble mind to keep them in circulation!”. |
Tilting law to help the accused
ONE of the most transparently motivated attempts in judicial history to help the accused in a criminal case has come to nought, at least for the nonce. Two of the three Special Judges at Chennai trying Ms Jayalalitha for corruption have contemptuously brushed aside the Centre’s February 5 notification divesting them of their jurisdiction. A startlingly audacious action has met with an awesomely befitting reaction. The notification is not even worth the paper on which it is printed, ruled Special Judge-II Mr V. Radhakrishnan. Issued in haste, it was contrary to law, ultra vireos and non est and the court was entitled to ignore it and proceed further with the trial of the case. His colleague, Special Judge-I Mr S. Sambandham was more circumspect in his choice of language but no less cogent. The notification issued by the Government of India, he said, inter alia, touching the heart of the problem, is not valid in law for the government has no power to transfer pending cases from one court to another. Only the High Court can do so under Section 407 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which deals with transfer of cases and appeals. Whenever it appears to the High Court (reads Section 407) that a fair and impartial enquiry or trial cannot be had in any subordinate criminal court, or that some unusually difficult question of law is likely to arise, or that it will tend to the general convenience of the parties or witnesses, or that it is otherwise expedient for the ends of justice, the High Court may transfer any case or appeal from one subordinate criminal court to another of equal or superior jurisdiction. Whether the Central or the state government, the executive nowhere figures in the scheme of Section 407. The power of transfer is a judicial power, as indeed it ought to be. Especially in criminal cases where the government is a party to the dispute, the prosecutor itself. Regardless of everything else, therefore, the February 5 notification constitutes an unabashed usurpation of judicial power. At least in those cases out of the total of 46 initiated against Ms Jayalalitha wherein the trial has already started. In as many as 19 of them, we are told, the charges have been framed. Whether or not the notification amounts to contempt of court, as Judge Radhakrishnan warned last week, in all the 46 cases — in some of which even the investigation has yet to be completed — it hovers precariously on the verge of contempt in the 19 where the trial is under way. And if not contempt in the strict technical sense of the term, a sense that Judges must guard against extending despite all provocation, it is definitely a gross impropriety. The legislature’s power to change the law pending appeal from a judicial decision, so as to displace the legal basis of the verdict, is a power too well settled to admit of any doubt. The executive power of the State being co-extensive, under the Constitution, with its legislative power, this can well be accomplished by promulgating an Ordinance as well. The Centre’s February 5 notification is no Ordinance, however, nor does it purport to effect any change in the law governing the investigation or trial of Ms Jayalalitha’s cases or the appointment of Special Judges. It is simply a notification issued under Section 3(1) read with Section 4(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, intended to supersede a prior notification by the Tamil Nadu government under Section 3(1) appointing three Special Judges. Twenty one months after they were appointed on April 30, 1977, and three months after the appointment was upheld by the Madras High Court on November 3 last year. The PCA, surprisingly, does not envisage such a clash between the Central and state governments and contains no indication as to how it is to be resolved. But another important law, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act of 1987, does. Like Section 3 of the PCA, Section 9 of the TADA also provides for constitution of special courts, called Designated Courts, by the Central or state governments. Where, says Section 9(2), both the Central and state governments happen to issue notifications setting up Designated Courts “for the same area or areas, or for the same case or class or group of cases”, the Designated Court set up by the Centre shall have jurisdiction and try the cases instead of the Designated Court set up by the state. Regardless of whether the Central notification is issued “before or after the issue” of the state notification. In case it is issued after the latter, all cases pending before any Designated Court set up by the state “shall stand transferred” to the Designated Court appointed by the Centre. And where, adds Clause (3) of Section 9, placing the matter beyond all doubt, any question arises as to the jurisdiction of any Designated Court, it shall be referred to the Central government “whose decision thereon shall be final”. The absence of such a provision in the PCA, ruled Judge Sambandham in Chennai, displaying judicial insight of a high order, argues itself against the validity of the Centre’s February 5 notification. More on special courts and
Ms Jayalalitha next week. |
A Korean kaleidoscope
IT SEEMS the perfect getaway-from-realities season is here. And not without reason too. The Koreans, led by Prime Minister Kim Jong-Pil, are here with a kaleidoscope of sorts. Along with participating in the India Engineering Fair they are putting up 11 different events, highlighting those highs in their cultural and industrial range — traditional music and dance, films, contemporary art, cuisine, flower art forms and the peaks on the fashion scene. In fact, one part of Delhi — the Pragati Maidan — seems almost monopolised by the Koreans and so it wasn’t really surprising to see that the majority of shoppers at the Central Cottage Industries last Thursday afternoon were indeed the Koreans. Till date of all these aforesaid Korean events I have just witnessed, their contemporary art exhibition opened at the National Gallery of Modern Art. As scheduled it was inaugurated on February 11 afternoon by the Korean Prime Minister. HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi could not preside over this inaugural function. Illness is said to have kept him away. Or it could be that he was too engrossed in finalising the speech draft that he is all set to deliver at the annual general body meeting of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (Shimla) here in New Delhi on February 20. And though there is much opposition on this move for if HRD minister does deliver the opening address then it will be a break from tradition, whereby the chairman of the IIAS has been given this right. Then last week also saw the launch of Chopard designer watches and jewellery range. That evening the Intercontinental’s crystal ballroom couldn’t have been more stuffed with the city’s who’s who. Sitting in rapt attention as models in Herve Leger attire walked down the ramp, with a conspicuous looking watch on the wrist and even more striking jewellery over the prominently exposed cleavage. Definitely a spectacular range, what with black and pink diamonds sparkling from even a great distance but as a guest quipped “I really don’t know how many Indians would be able to wear all this ... forget about the money, I mean the Chopard wearers’ arms and neck could be chopped by our desi thieves and thugs...” Moving on, a crazy sort of surprise awaits as New Delhi Municipal Corporation has all intentions of beginning their classical music concerts on Valentine’s Day morn itself. If the NDMC has its way (I write so purposely, for as of now a citizens groups is strongly opposing NDMC’s grand proposal of holding classical festivals in the midst of Lodhi Gardens and that too between two heritage structures — Sheesh Gumbad and Bara Gumbad) and holds this concert of morning ragas by Rajan and Sajan Misra then it might kick up another storm. Are public gardens or the outskirts of heritage structures going to be used for musical programmes? Isn’t the government or one of its agencies setting a wrong trend by holding this programme. Afterall, today it is the classical but tomorrow it could be a ramp event? In fact three years back on exactly the same locale prominent fashion designer Ritu Beri was all set to hold a fashion show but at the last minute a watchdog group had it cancelled, pointing out that heritage places are not to be trampled upon. And as some critics rightly put up this query — isn’t it the job of a municipal corporation to give us cleaner environs to breathe/live in and not distract citizens’ attention from it’s half done cleaning ventures? And on this Valentine’s Day like from the past few years, hotels and clubs stand lined up with those said to be exclusive dinner and dance invitations. There are a few exceptions, alright. On February 14 one of the luxury hotels is also holding a reception in honour of the well known educationist Shyama Chona, for the Padma Shri conferred on her. Yes, Chona deserves it for (besides other reasons) not only looking after her spastic daughter Tamnna but setting up a full fledged institute for the mentally disadvantaged child. Focus on Ghalib Whilst I write this column my eyes are on the clock for I am getting late for the inaugural function of the international symposium on Mirza Ghalib at Vigyan Bhavan. The only aspect that is making me think twice in starting off for the inaugural function is the very invite — till date I haven’t seen more typographical errors (or are they in actuality spelling mistakes) on any invite. This when this symposium is said to be the joint venture of the JNU, AMU, Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia. Continuing writing this column, after having attended the symposium opening for an hour. Vice-President Krishna Kant’s inaugural address was excellent but as he stressed Ghalib’s concern for the country, the people and the common cultural heritage thoughts automatically focused on the times we are living in. Surely the vice-president of the country could try and curb some of the dividing forces erupting all over. The other highlight of this inauguration was to be the release of the Urdu translation of career diplomat Pavan K. Varma’s biography of Ghalib. The Man, The Times (Penguin). Varma candidly spoke of the misfortune of our generation for we have been deprived of learning the two great languages — Sanskrit and Urdu. He said he took on the task of writing this biography against all odds, which included no knowledge of Urdu and apprehension on the part of his publishers whether there would be enough readers of Ghalib “yet today the book is running into its 8 or 9 edition!” Why can’t
Ghalib’s popularity be cashed on and his cries for
the country and our common cultural patterns be embedded
in young minds. |
Pardon for political prisoners IN the Bihar and Orissa Legislative Council today, a resolution was introduced recommending general pardon of political prisoners so as to render them eligible for election to the new Council. The Hon’ble Mr Mcpherson, on behalf of the Government, opposed the resolution. He maintained it would be absurd for the government to recommend to the Viceroy to grant pardon to unrepentant convicts’ so that they might wreck the reforms. Pardon could only be granted by the Viceroy, and in favour of individuals and not masses. If any deserving case came to the notice of the government, proper recommendation would be made to the Viceroy. The resolution, however, was passed without division. The debate on the
resolution that whipping should be abolished as
punishment in jail had not concluded when the Council
adjourned for the day. |
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