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Murder and acquittal
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Modi on the mat
The corroded frame
Call the BJP’s bluff
Fauji golf
Defence budget
Tough times for Pak gun runners
Japanese give it back to PM
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Murder and acquittal
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case is shifted out of a state in rare cases, only when there is very little chance of justice being meted out to the accused in that particular state. That this was done in the case of the murder of H. S. Sabharwal, the Ujjain Professor who was done to death in his college in August, 2006, itself is a sad commentary on the functioning of the BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh. But even a Nagpur court has now acquitted the six students owing allegiance to the ABVP accused of killing him, citing lack of evidence.
That leads one to the unfortunate apprehension that the ends of justice just cannot be met if a state government has decided to side with the suspects. Pliable prosecution can then make the case so weak that it would not hold in any court, be it within the state or outside it. Now that the prosecution has “miserably failed” to prove the case, even a higher court may be hamstrung by a deliberately weak prosecution. Professor Sabharwal, head of the political science department of Madhav College, Ujjain, had died after fracas in the college over student union elections when he was allegedly beaten up by the ABVP activists. His only fault was that he had cancelled elections to the students’ council on account of some irregularities. He paid with his life for the ugly politicisation of educational institutions which is the order of the day all over the country. Political parties have vitiated the atmosphere of colleges and universities for their narrow gains. What has happened in the Sabharwal case is not much different from the Best Bakery case in Gujarat where too justice was derailed by a partisan state government. The country should seriously mull over the issue of this fascist tendency. Ways must be found to ensure that nobody can escape the hands of law, howsoever well-connected he may be. |
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Modi on the mat Monday’s uproar in the Gujarat Assembly over the hooch tragedy in Ahmedabad underlines the members’ concern over the government’s failure to tackle the menace. Surprisingly, though 140 people have lost their lives so far, the highest in the state’s history, Chief Minister Narendra Modi has decided to keep mum on the issue until the inquiry commission submits its report on November 30.
His silence is a tacit admission of his failure to check the sale of illicit liquor. The situation is grave with hundreds still fighting for life in various hospitals. The root cause of the tragedy is the close nexus between the hooch mafia, the politicians and the police. As hooch kingpins, brokers and other bootleggers enjoy the political patronage of the government and the BJP leaders, the police and other officials look the other way. The arrest of some bootleggers and suspension of police officials does not inspire much confidence. Nor does the appointment of an inquiry commission headed by a former high court judge. This is just the government’s attempt to buy time. In 1960, when Gujarat became a state, prohibition was introduced in homage to Mahatma Gandhi. However, as successive governments failed to enforce it strictly, adulterated liquor became a thriving business in the state. On their part, the hooch manufacturers regularly grease the palms of the politicians and babus of the excise, prohibition and police departments. Over the years, while illegal liquor dens have proliferated in the state, the poor have been falling victim to the deadly brew because of official apathy. The Forensic Science Laboratory report reveals that the country-made liquor, consumed by many in Ahmedabad, had a large dose of methyl alcohol — four times the permissible dose — making it lethal. While a strong political will is needed to tackle the menace, whoever is involved in it must be exposed and punished in accordance with the law. |
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The corroded frame Officers belonging to the All India Services like the IAS and the IPS have always been powerful, privileged and pampered. But increasingly many among them seem to be becoming a law unto themselves. What is even more disturbing is that reports of officers grabbing prime land, getting arrested while accepting bribes or defying rules while withdrawing public money have ceased to shock the common man, who is resigned to their inevitability. There has indeed been an alarming increase in the number of officers found misusing their authority and allowing greed to dictate their action. While the decline of the All India Services has been a matter of concern for some time, recent reports have once again drawn attention to the urgency of making the officers more accountable. A seemingly helpless Additional Director General of Police is reported to have informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that 42 IAS officers and 10 IPS officers have been refusing to submit details of their property. An IAS officer was arrested in Himachal Pradesh last week while accepting a bribe. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pulled up the Director General of Police in Jharkhand for withdrawing a whopping Rs. 6 crore on a single day from the ‘secret fund’ without following financial rules. It is a paradox that some of the best and the brightest of the land, carefully chosen to serve the nation, should end up as virtual parasites. It is time the black sheep in the elite services are dealt with severely.
They have subverted the system and slowed down the government’s ability to deliver but successive governments have been far too lenient, reinstating most of them after a period of suspension. Service conditions need to be changed, if necessary, and rules made more stringent so that public money can be recovered and officers compulsorily retired or dismissed from service. |
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The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within. — Mahatma Gandhi |
Call the BJP’s bluff
So mercifully at last after 17 years (probably a record) Justice M.S. Liberhan has given his report after a gruelling and according to him non-co-operative attitude of officials and stay orders by courts. The validity of this explanation will naturally have to be tested after the report is officially released.
However, so far as its relevance for some inside information as to the origin, execution of this vile venture by the BJP, the VHP and their unholy nexus is concerned, it is unlikely that any new information would be disclosed. We had been seeing the ugly face of communal demon of these groups right from the start of Rath Yatra by Mr L.K. Advani to the near mad frenzy encouraged by the BJP leaders when their goons were engaged in the despicable task of demolishing the mosque.
The specious excuse exercise now being put forward by the BJP leadership that though it made all preparations for a massive Rath Yatra with lakhs of sewaks and provocative speeches at the spot by Mr Advani and more direct appeal to the mob to demolish the mosque, it was only an oral exercise and was not meant to demolish it as humbug. It is like pointing a double-barelled gun at an individual asking him to get aside otherwise it will shoot — a person might have been able to save himself, but the mosque could not because it could not move itself — all actions pointed out a single-point plan of demolition squad.
Ms Uma Bharti, one of the top leaders of the Sangh at time openly and proudly owns it up. Mr Advani, Dr Murlimohan Joshi and other leaders have been charge-sheeted, of course, after a number of years for their prima facie guilty intention. All this material has been in the public domain for years. So Justice Liberhan is not going to add anything on this account. But till it is released, the BJP will profane its innocence by taking cover under the pretext of non-publication of the report. To prevent the BJP from indulging in accusations, it will be in the fitness of things if the Government of India immediately tabled the report in Parliament (it should not wait for the Union Budget to be passed as that will take weeks and add to further cloud the matter). Let the people read the report and take action accordingly.
The BJP has already been told by the electorate where its communal poison can lead to its almost certain road of extinction in the country’s future politics. No, this writer is not expecting the Liberhan Report to disclose any earth-shaking information — the only point is that without publishing it the BJP is being provided a cover for self-defence by taking the plea that unless the report is made public there is no point in discussing the most horrible and shameful event of free India.
This writer had at that time proposed that the Government of India should announce observance of December 6 as National Repentance Day every year so that people will fast and pray for unity and welfare of all the communities. However, it seems politics is a different cup of tea and the communal poison continued to grow. The damage it has done to the psyche of Muslims is immeasurable and will always remain a permanent scar on our secular republic. May be the BJP’s rout in the current general elections will serve as a balm, but the scar remains. But then, nations have to move forward. Unfortunately, the continuance of legal case in courts for over a decade is only keeping the fire alive and a matter of embarrassment. Frankly, any objective student of law will know that the litigation at the Allahabad High Court is a wasteful exercise; it is only delaying the BJP’s hollow claim from being exposed. It is impossible to prove after 5000 years whether Lord Ram was actually born under the broad area covered by the mosque. Then it is said that it can be proved that the temple existed where the mosque stood. So the mantra of the Babri mosque being Lord Rama’s birth is an impossibility built up only by the frenzy demonic wails inflaming communal passion. Though the masjid may only be a furlong from the claim of Lord Rama’s birthplace, and even assuming that improbability of proof, it will not advance the claim to the ownership of the masjid land.
Muslims may or may not wish to use the space if there was a mandir at the masjid spot, but this does not mean that the masjid will then automatically go to the BJP. It will still retain as the property of the Masjid Board.
There is in law a formidable uncrossable hurdle in the way of the BJP and its cohorts. It cannot be denied that the mosque existed for over 400 years and it was in the Muslims’ possession. Any claim by the BJP on whatsoever ground, either as Lord Ram’s birthplace or a mandir having been destroyed before the mosque was built is a non-starter because of the bar of limitation to pursue this suit. This writer says this in view of the precedence of the case of Masjid Shahid Ganj situated in Lahore (Pakistan) versus the SGPC decided by the Privy Council in 1940. Muslims failed to win back the masjid built in 1200 and converted into a gurdwara in 1760 as the 12-year period for filing a suit provided under limitation had expired. Whatever the nature of the title of the site under the Babri masjid, the very fact that it had existed for over 400 years before the suit was filed would automatically non-suit the VHP allies. The same bar of law of limitation will apply and the suit filed is, therefore, not maintainable and the RSS and its cohorts can never claim any little to the mosque site.
Let the BJP, if it is seriously wanting to do some internal cleaning, refrain from wrong deductions from the past history and culture to spread communal fires. A correct and impartial reading of history will show that the people who can look forward than backward can easily live with each other harmoniously. Surely we owe it to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi and Maulana Azad to restrain ourselves well in time.
The legal position is clear. It is only the weak political will that is responsible for the Ayodhya imbroglio to continue as one of the most festering sores within the country. By keeping the Ayodhya issue alive, the country has been kept from addressing its most urgent task — how to meet the challenge of the growing pauperisation of the masses. And that includes both Hindus and Muslims, Christians and other
minorities. The writer is a former Chief Justice
of the Delhi High Court |
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Fauji golf
The burra
Sahib had just teed off
from the enchanting meadows of the fauji golf club nestling in the foothills. The sun was shining at the lush fairways that unfold as God’s own playground; birds were chirping on the lofty silver oaks and all was well in heaven.
Then suddenly dark clouds gathered — and before one knew there was a deafening ‘boom,’ clap of the thunder and lightning; and the gods seemed angry! A hasty retreat from the daunting frontiers of the ‘environment and training park’ i.e. golf course was made in the ‘electric multiutility vehicle’ with the caddies following in a TARV (track alignment and
reconnaissance vehicle). Safely ensconced in the club house, overlooking the panoramic park, the combatants settled down for a tot of garam chai. And there were the killjoy, morning newspapers screaming about some nosey audit report making a big bogie out of a little toy i.e. golf cart. “Koi hai,” hollered the angry sahib and ordered a stiff double of a spirited health drink instead of the tepid tea. The zing had gone out
of ‘tea-time’ and it was time to get into the war room to
strategise, getting out of the nasty bunker, that the joyous morning game had landed into.
After all what’s a golf set—but in a sense, sporting combat equipment; with the ‘driver’ as the Brahmastra or a rocket launcher, the fairway woods as the artillery, the irons as the armoured
carriers and the wedges as the foot soldiers for close encounters. If only the crusty, old
bookkeeping accountants had some sporting blood! The recent hullabaloo over the purchase of a few golf carts reminds me of the usual cover-up of small indulgences with imaginative euphemisms in the civilian world also. At most farewell parties to the ‘worthy’ senior officers, the host department bills the liquor served as some mystic ‘special beverages’. Airconditioners for officers, not entitled for the facility, were generally purchased with the justification of keeping the photocopiers cool! Once a scruffy audit officer objected to a small payment made to a snake-charmer during the monsoons, to hunt down a menacing snake that had got inside the office premises, writing in a note that no quotations had been called! Stung by such hidden fangs I was left full of venom. But a seasoned old babu asked me to relax and leave the matter to him. Next day when the ‘paragon of procedures’ stepped into his room, a big scream was heard! It was reported that the serpent had reared his head again; and this time coiled on the worthies’ own chair! We had won the snakes and ladders game.
Golf is a gentlemen’s game. Let’s not grudge our valiant soldiers their little amusements. It’s because of them that we sleep
well. |
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Defence budget
The Finance Minister, while presenting the budget on July 6, was ingenious enough to allude to being sensitive to the requirements of almost all important sectors, including defence. That’s why people were not able to react immediately either in favour or against the budget put up by the astute minister. But the reality will dawn only when the process of implementation begins soon. The FM’s clever statement in regard to one rank, one pension (OROP) for ex-servicemen also had this clan go into a tizzy only to realise later that it was nothing more than a mere sop and nowhere near what is commonly understood as OR,OP. Besides, it did not include the officer cadre.
The Finance Minister enhanced the budgetary allocation for defence by Rs,36,103 crore from last year’s allocation of Rs, 1,05,600 crore to Rs 1, 41,703 crore this year. This works out to a big hike of 34 percent over the previous fiscal. Since the past allocations, after neutralising prevalent inflation, have been just about enough to sustain the armed forces at their current levels without reckonable modernisation, the 34 percent hike when compared to previous years, particularly last year’s hike of mere 10 percent, seemed a big jump. This coupled with an increase of Rs 13,279 crore in revenue and Rs 13,824 crore in capital expenditure resulted in a certain amount of euphoria. The Finance Minister was constrained to hike the budget substantially for reasons not necessarily confined to modernisation. Out of this total allocation, substantial chunks of Rs 833 crore and Rs 4,458 crore will go for ordanance factories and research and development respectively, leaving the balance about 95 percent or so for not only the army, the navy and the air force but also for the coast guard, which has its own wish list of fast patrol craft and helicopters for the surveillance of India’s long coast line. How much will be needed for the newly created coastal command responsible for maritime security under the navy is not hard to contemplate. The outstanding demands of the armed forces in regard to their long-term re-equipment plans, modernisation of obsolescent weapon systems, maintenance spares and a vast variety of weapons like bombs, rockets, ammo and missiles have to be catered for.
In fact, the armed forces have been waiting for decades for their long-projected weapon systems like guns, armoured vehicles, fighter aircraft, helicopters, radars, missiles and submarines. The government should now get on the task of speeding up the acquisition process so that the services get the equipment without the ministry surrendering the funds as hitherto.
Normally, by the time, the services begin to receive these weapon systems after protracted negotiations that run into years, they begin to become obsolescent. The British Hawks are one such example. The MOD has been surrendering vast amounts out of the capital outlays almost every year. Last year the MOD surrendered over Rs 7,007 crore. It surrendered almost similar amounts in the preceding two years also. And this is when the armed forces have been crying for help all through.
The unspent money, which has become a regular feature with the MOD, could perhaps be carried forward to the next year since the arms deals certainly cannot be concluded within the same financial year. With this in mind the NDA government had at one time created a fund to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore or so which was unfortunately undone by the next government later. Besides, large-scale corruption arising out of political parties’ penchant for a share in defence deals in addition to others’ share in the cake only adds to the delays, besides being a blot on the Indian democracy. Every arms deal is dogged by allegations of kickback. The delay thus caused affects the armed forces’ potential adversely and also often leads to surrendering the funds.
A major chunk of the budget hike will also be absorbed by the commitments made by the government in the 6th Central Pay Commission. As it is, more than 60 percent of the revenue expenditure goes towards the salaries of personnel. Viewed against the long outstanding wish list of the three services and the enhanced salaries consequent to the 6th CPC award and the fact that this so-called big increase is only around 2 percent of our national GDP, there is still sufficient scope for further enhancement, particularly in the light of today’s security environment.
Starving the forces of funds year after year, for whatever reason, has only led to the list of weapons required becoming longer and longer. As against this, both China and Pakistan, arming themselves to the teeth, spend 7 and 5 percent respectively of their GDPs every year on their armed forces. Besides, both countries are known to hide their defence spending by allocating funds under different heads and ministries.
Despite under reporting, China’s officially declared defence budget for the year 2009 stands at $70 bn as against India’s mere $27 billion.
In fact, China’s defence spending has been growing by double digit for the last 20 years or so which has enabled the PLA to modernise its army, navy and air force significantly. China’s white paper on defence for the year 2009 leaves no doubt as regards its intent or the mounting military capabilities. Why are we unduly conscious of others’ sensibilities and keep our armed forces perpetually starved of funds? Our military potential has been progressively going down and at a time when there is a compulsion to combat the deteriorating internal and external security environment.
Beijing’s continued ingress in India’s neighbourhood, particularly its unceasing collaboration with Pakistan, is a cause of serious concern. Piecemeal reactive measures, as are now being taken in the eastern sector, do not reflect any vision or long-term defence policy. Unlike China that comes out with a White Paper on National Defence every alternate year, the Indian government has scrupulously avoided any such exercise. Our security depends upon the extent of clamour for the arousal of the politico-bureaucratic combine by the armed forces. We are too lackadaisical about matters of security. Are we too dependent on the valour of our young officers and the rural soldiers who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the national cause? Human resources, however, can never replace the hardware. We sent our soldiers to fight the Chinese in the high Himalayas in canvas shoes and without adequate clothing. We did exactly that again 37 years later in
Kargil. Our security continues to remain in dire straits. The continued paucity of funds only makes the weapons list longer, requiring more and more funds. The 34 percent hike may seem huge when compared to the past, but it stands fully committed against the equally huge list of pending jobs with the
government. The writer is a former Director General, Defence Planning Staff |
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Tough times for Pak gun runners
Not that they really have the right to complain, but these are also dire economic times for smugglers and gun runners.
Show up any afternoon at the Sitara Market on the western outskirts of the violent city of Peshawar and you can ask them yourself. This is a rogue’s bazaar, within 35 miles of the Afghanistan border. The locals call it the “American market,” and for good reason: A baffling array of battlefield detritus, from U.S. military camouflage kneepads to night-vision goggles, Oakley sunglasses to Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate muffin cake, can be procured here for a bargain price.
On this day, the first thing made clear is that it’s not advisable to actually be an American at the American market. “Do not say you are from the U.S.A.,” is the kind advice offered by Baz Mohammed, a vendor with nearly a decade of experience hawking smuggled goods to anyone willing to pay. Taliban fighters sometimes peruse these stalls. “We are scared of them. They tell us, `Don’t sell American things. They are our enemy.’ That’s why we can’t write on our shop, `U.S.A. goods.’ They come at any time and check what we’re doing.” Mohammed, an Afridi tribesman from the Khyber district along the border, sits on a crumpled American flag cushioning his dusty swivel chair, behind a cracked-glass case from which he removes a U.S. Army Velcro name tag — of some poor “Davis” — and a large “Made in the U.S.A.” socket wrench that he claims is from a Black Hawk helicopter tool kit. He also sells gun holsters, gas masks, Sound Guard two-color disposable foam earplugs, Black & Decker power drills, extension cords, bolt cutters, welding glasses, corkscrews and a stand-up telescope. He does not feel like showing off the American firearms, but he insists they are not far away.
“Business is zero these days,” he said, sipping green tea out of a porcelain dish. Earlier in the war, he could make more than $1,200 a day. Now he is happy with $60. “It’s now much more difficult to bring something in the old illegal ways.” The vendors at Sitara Market do not like to spell out in detail their illegal ways, or explain how they acquire their loot. Some goods, they say, trickle over the border from what Taliban fighters scavenge off the battlefield, or from theft along the military supply route through the Khyber Pass. There are black-market deals in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and donations flipped for profit. Business has fallen off for many reasons, the vendors say, from the devaluation of the rupee to stricter border security making shipment more difficult. Bombs frequently explode along their routes. Rising violence in Peshawar and other parts of northwestern Pakistan have frightened away customers.
“People used to come from across the country to get the things that are made in America. People like American products,” Mohammed said. “No fakes. Good quality. Long-lasting. Doctors, fighters, engineers, they’d come here, and if they like it, they buy it. Everyone would
come.” — By arrangement with LA Times-Washington Post |
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Japanese give it back to PM
Residents of Tokyo famously live in the planet’s most seismically unpredictable capital, yet they could always boast that they enjoyed one of its most stable political systems – until now. Voters in the city’s municipal elections have just triggered the first rumblings of what could be a national political earthquake, by handing a historic drubbing to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP). The opposition Democrats ended 40 years of Liberal Democrat dominance in the metropolis, winning 16 more seats in local elections at the weekend. They also effectively torpedoed the career of the nation’s Prime Minister, Taro Aso, who is now, politically, a dead man walking. The defeat prompted Mr Aso to call a general election in August, which on current form will see his party lose its almost unbroken, half-century grip on power over the world’s second-largest economy. No one knows what impact that will have on Japan’s relations with the rest of the world, but the guessing has begun.
Mr Aso is the latest in a string of dud leaders to test the patience of Japan’s long-suffering voters. He has been in power just 10 months and is the fourth prime minister since 2005. Two of his predecessors, Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda, also quit amid controversy and dismal poll ratings. Mr Aso has distinguished himself only by making some of the worst foot-in-mouth gaffes in Japanese politics. In a country with the world’s highest percentage of pensioners, he frequently insulted the elderly, with predictable results on his popularity. Last year, he questioned the wisdom of stumping up for healthcare for senior citizens. “Why should I pay tax for people who just sit around and do nothing but eat and lounge about drinking,” he moaned. In truth, Mr Aso’s verbal carpet-bombs have left few untouched. The old, ethnic minorities, the overweight, the homeless, his political opponents and doctors have all been scorched beneath his undercarriage. His occasional attempts at a surgical strike, such as when he likened the Democrats to the Nazi Party last year, have invariably blown up in his face.
Mr Aso’s big mouth only partly explains his party’s fall from grace. Like his predecessors, he has been unable to tackle Japan’s daunting structural problems. The country is snared in its worst economic crisis since the Second World War. At the end of 2008, it suffered the biggest quarterly contraction in 35 years, shrinking twice as fast as the eurozone and more than three times as fast as the US. An ageing population and a mountain of public debt – equivalent to 180 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product – have added to what one commentator recently called “the stench of decay”. The LDP is powerless to stop this decline. Its factions are deeply split, and national policy under the party is a witches’ brew of competing interests that has left the country rudderless and drifting. Its addiction to spending on public works – 700 trillion yen (about Ł4.7trn) has been budgeted for roads and railways over the next 10 years – is widely viewed as catastrophically wasteful. Voters might have given Mr Aso the benefit of the doubt, had he demonstrated leadership and humility in the face of crisis, but he has shown neither. By turns petulant and defensive, he has been an inept communicator, luxuriating in a bon vivant lifestyle that mocked the growing hardship around him. As the recession began to bite early in his term of office, the press revealed that he spent almost every night of the working week at expensive hotels and restaurants. Official records published in one magazine showed he ran up a food and drink bill of well over Ł340,000 between 2005 and 2007, including Ł65,000 at his favourite bar.
Ironically, he was chosen from within the LDP last autumn because of his popularity with the electorate, and his impeccable political pedigree – he is the grandson of the post-war premier Shigero Yoshida and is related by marriage to the current Japanese Emperor, Akihito. What comes after Mr Aso is likely to be a great political drama. The Democrats have promised a war on wasteful bureaucracy and plan to redirect about 10 per cent of the national budget toward building what they call a social safety net, offering more help for the old, the poor and the childless, as well as a Ł155-a-month children’s allowance aimed at boosting the plummeting birthrate. Mr Aso has vowed to dissolve the lower house of parliament by 21 July and to bring his party back from the brink, but he may not even last until election day on 30 August. In addition to the growing movement against him within his own party, the opposition joined forces yesterday to table a no-confidence motion in his
leadership. — By arrangement with The Independent |
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