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Pak crisis averted |
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Gujarat Lokayukta
Not a mere jailbreak
Depressing message from UP
Myth shattered!
Questions over resistance to Aadhaar
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Pak crisis averted
The
Pakistan Supreme Court made Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appear before it on Thursday in person to explain why he should not be charged with contempt of court for his failure to implement its earlier order to open corruption cases against President Asif Zardari. The court had issued a directive to the government to write to the Swiss authorities to launch legal proceedings against him involving his secret bank accounts in Switzerland. Mr Gilani is the second head of government after the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to have presented himself before the apex court. But this seems to have softened the court’s approach. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, who represented Mr Gilani, is of the view that the Prime Minister has not committed any contempt of court as President Zardari enjoys complete immunity under the 18th Amendment of the Pakistani constitution so far as criminal cases are concerned. Any criminal case against Mr Zardari can be opened only when he ceases to be the President, as Mr Ahsan argued. The court, however, did not give Mr Ahsan a month’s time sought by him to file his client’s reply, and adjourned the hearing of the case to February 1. But Mr Gilani has been exempted from appearing in person again. This shows that something has happened behind the scene and the standoff between the judiciary and the government is about to end. By obeying the court order to present himself before the court, Mr Gilani has tried to convey the impression that he respects the law of the land. The outcome of Thursday’s court proceedings and the passing of the pro-democracy resolution by Pakistan’s National Assembly, reposing faith in the elected government, appear to have strengthened the PPP-led ministry’s position. Mr Zardari and Mr Gilani remain unscathed at this stage at least. Perhaps, the judiciary as well as the army in Pakistan have come to realise that upsetting the applecart of the elected government when Pakistan today is faced with many serious problems, including those relating to its security and economy, may send a wrong message to the public. Creating a condition for the resignation of the President and the Prime Minister may make them martyrs. They can exploit this situation whenever elections are held. The judiciary under Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will never allow them to have this advantage.
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Gujarat Lokayukta
The
Gujarat High Court’s majority verdict upholding the appointment of the Lokayukta by the Governor is evidently a major setback for those who had batted for ‘federal’ principles while opposing the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill in Parliament. It is in the fitness of things, therefore, that the verdict has been challenged by the Gujarat Government in the Supreme Court, which, hopefully, will settle the question of ‘federalism’ once and for all. The unusually sharp indictment of the Chief Minister would also have embarrassed both Mr Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Rarely, if ever, has an elected Chief Minister been indicted in such strong language. While dismissing the state government’s petition against the appointment of retired Justice R.A. Mehta as Lokayukta, the Gujarat Chief Justice observed that the “pranks” of the CM had led to a ‘Constitutional, mini-crisis’. The CM’s action in ‘stonewalling’ the appointment, an act described as ‘spiteful and challenging’, indicated ‘a false sense of invincibility’, he noted. The CJ went on to observe that the CM’s ‘questionable conduct’ was ‘depraved and truculent’. The Gujarat Lokayukta Act, 1986, lays down that the Governor would appoint the Lokayukta after consultations with the Chief Justice of the High Court and the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. The name of retired Justice Mehta, who, ironically, is said to be close to anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, was suggested by the Chief Justice himself. The state government’s grouse is that it was not consulted while the Governor, it has been suggested, was forced to act after repeated reminders from her elicited no response from the state government. Significantly, the post in Gujarat has been vacant for eight years, leaving Mr Modi and the BJP with little or no excuse for delaying it further. The BJP will now find it even more difficult to explain its contradictory stand on the Lokpal at the Centre and the Lokayuktas in the states. While it opposes any role for the Central Government in the appointment of the Lokpal, in Gujarat it is insisting, equally fiercely, that no appointment should be made without consulting the state government and without its approval. What is sauce for the goose is clearly not sauce for the gander.
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Not a mere jailbreak
Eight
hardcore criminals have escaped from Sonepat District Jail. This is not a mere jailbreak. Given the background of the ruthless men, and the fact they were under trial, gives reason to fear that they would eliminate witnesses in their cases at the first opportunity. In fact, this has been the bane of Haryana — a state much troubled by extortionists and armed robbers — that a professional criminal even when arrested rarely gets convicted, as no witness dares come forward. Besides the untold crimes the escapees may yet commit, there is also the tremendous loss in terms of hard labour on the part of the police that goes into nabbing such wily crooks. What has happened is an incident concerning one prison. But what it reflects is a much wider breakdown in the administration of law and order. That the Department of Prisons in most states is rotten is common knowledge, yet it remains one of the most neglected in terms of administration and supervision. An inspection of the Sonepat jail in 2007 had found five convicts out on an unauthorised fun trip. In 2008, two mobile jammers there were found non-functional. Some inmates had phones. None of this was possible without the connivance of the jail staff, yet things were obviously not shaken hard enough — and hence the latest jailbreak. Thus, it is not what transpired in the immediate case that someone has to be held responsible for, but also those who failed to check the conditions that encourage such collusion between prisoners and jailors. The first step to correction, of course, is the admission that something is wrong. Governments often go into denial of any failing on their part. The Haryana Department of Prisons needs to relook at everything from recruitment and training to motivation of its staff, whose work profile makes them very vulnerable to turning deviant themselves. The posts of IG and DG, Prisons, also need to be infused with a greater sense of dignity and prestige, as thus far incumbents have often felt “sidelined”.
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We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joys in the world. — Helen Keller
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Depressing message from UP
With
the elections in Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa coming soon after the farcical debate on corruption in the context of Parliament's fiasco on the Lokpal Bill, some people expected greater pressure on political parties to avoid selecting candidates against whom there was a suspicion of having a criminal background and lack of integrity and honesty in public life. But, alas, this consideration is totally absent. On the contrary, the justification for selecting tainted candidates is being emphasised by the parties concerned. While the BJP, not being in a position to defend the induction of Mr Kushwaha, a former BSP minister of UP, against whom charges of corruption were levelled, sought to justify its action by saying that he was from a very backward caste, without realising that this was no defence. Rather it was an abuse which suggested that criminality was the usual trait of this caste. Cynically, a similar explanation was given by Mr Mohan Singh, a former spokesperson of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav's party, for having sponsored the case of Mr D.P. Yadav, known for his criminal background. He sought to justify the SP's decision by saying that his being a history-sheeter has added to his capacity to get votes, and that though such leaders get caught, their communities rally behind them more strongly. It is unfortunate that these small caste leaders, instead of using caste as a tool for social change in a radical manner to undo the injustice done to them, (as advocated strongly by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, the late socialist leader), are using it perversely for their own small selfish gains, unmindful of the damage they are doing to the revolutionary fight for the eradication of this evil of casteism. No, I am not against the affirmative action for giving their dues to the Dalits and the other deprived castes; rather I am more for it because one has to atone for the injustices done in the past. As Dr Lohia explained, "Nepotism, jobbery, opportunism, flattery, non-adherence to truth and a tendency to twist doctrines to suit particular motives are some of the traits of Dvija leadership. "These traits will remain with the Dvijas unless they make a conscious effort to bridge the gulf between themselves and the Dalits. The Dalit, too, has his shortcomings. He has an even narrower sectarian outlook. Once in office, the Dalit tries to perpetuate himself by having recourse to dirty sectarian methods." How prophetically this description applies to Ms Mayawati's method of building her own statues and getting herself on her birthday weighed in lakhs of currency notes, more in the image of a small chieftain during the British Raj. Why does it not occur to her that her dismissal of about a dozen ministers charged with corruption and incompetence inevitably reflects on her leadership? It also reflects her collusion in all these deals. Would people be wrong to say that either she is so incompetent that she did not know of their corruption, or that she was a party to all these dealings and is now trying to keep a distance as an election strategy? It is true that we in India are too liberal in finding excuses for the misdeeds of respective caste leaders. We need to break this iron ring of caste. In this context, all political parties need to do self-introspection and heed the warning given by Dr Ambedkar thus, "The second thing we must do is to observe the caution which John Stuart Mill has given to all who are interested in the maintenance of democracy, namely, not 'to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions'. There is nothing wrong in being grateful to great men who have rendered lifelong services to the country. But there are limits to gratefulness. "As has been well said by the Irish patriot, Daniel O' Connell, no man can be grateful at the cost of his honour, no woman can be grateful at the cost of her chastity and no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty. This caution is far more necessary in the case of India than in the case of any other country. For, in India, Bhakti, or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unlike any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But, in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship." Parties still continue to ignore the warning regarding criminal elements in our legislatures given by the Vice-President of India at an all-India whips conference, "Exactly 23 per cent of MPs elected in 2004 had criminal cases registered against them — over half of these cases could lead to the imprisonment for five years or more. The situation is worse in the case of MLAs." Notwithstanding this, the lists announced by various parties show an agreement among them that the criminal background of a candidate is considered a plus point. Irrespective of the results of the UP elections, one may regretfully accept that the population of the state is going to remain a victim of the evil of criminalisation and a corruption-ridden government. This is a sad situation for Indian democracy, but without public outrage, things will not improve in the near future. Lest the bureaucracy draws smug satisfaction from the dirty face of the political class, it may be well advised to critically self-examine the reported reality that the higher bureaucracy in the Finance Ministry is so concerned with the plight of the poor that it has sacrificed its week-end to study this problem at a five-star resort, equipped with facilities of massaging, etc. If true (I have not seen any contradiction) I can only cry out in pain for my country with the Shakespearean refrain in Hamlet's words, "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark (substitute India).n
The writer is a former Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi.
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Myth shattered!
My father often talked about the phenomenal success of a film of his times. The title of the film was “Achhut Kanya”. It was perhaps the first movie of legendary actor Ashok Kumar with actress Devika Rani in the lead. Once a song of this film, “Main ban ki chidiya banke ban ban bolun re” was being telecast. I had stopped by the TV to watch it. The set-up, the song and the acting looked so funny to me. Above all, the heroine, Devika Rani, looked so rustic, pastoral and illiterate to me that I broke into a laugh. What in the movie had impressed people to make it succeed like success, I wondered. In the day, I had a discussion with a colleague. “Girls from good families didn’t join the film industry those days”, he said. “Film makers had to fetch them from the lower class or brothels. Your guess about the heroine of this film is not wrong”, he further said. I brushed my thoughts aside. Why do we unnecessarily think about someone not of interest and of such old times? One day I was flicking through the paper when a news item caught my attention. I had almost left it unread after reading Devika Rani’s name in it when certain words like paintings, German painter, etc, caught my eye. The report had it that Devika Rani had a 450-acre estate in Bangalore. It looked obvious as actors always made lots of money. The news further revealed that Devika Rani had a German husband, who was a wonderful painter. This raised my curiosity. How could a good painter marry an illiterate actress like Devika Rani? Then I started searching about her on the internet. What I discovered was a revelation. Devika Rani had gone to London to study architecture, my favourite subject. There she was asked by an Indian movie maker to design a set for him. The film maker, Himanshu Rai, got attracted towards her and married her. All this was indeed astounding. I searched more. Devika Rani was from Rabindra Nath Tagore’s family, I found. She was the grand-daughter of Tagore’s sister. This bit of news stunned me. Bombay Talkies were founded by her. She was an actor of high calibre and refused to act in sensual movies. The German painter was her second husband as Hiamnshu Rai saw an untimely end. Devika Rani won the Dada Saheb Phalke Award also. As I discovered more and more about Devika Rani, the myth that I had grown about her in my mind stood completely shattered. She was much ahead of her times! As respect for Devika Rani rose in me, I decided not to make an opinion about a person without knowing him or her fully
well.
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Questions over resistance to Aadhaar Based
on a unique number connected with three types of biometric data (IRIS scan, finger prints of all the ten fingers and a picture of the face), the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's dream project of issuing unique identity (UID) to every Indian seems to have become a victim of politics on the one hand and inter-ministerial & inter-institutional rivalries on the other. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by former Union Finance Minister and BJP leader, Yashwant Sinha, has submitted an adverse report suggesting that the Government should revise the UID Bill and introduce a modified draft. The Committee seems to have completely ignored the fact that the UIDAI enrollment procedure was initiated after it was unanimously recommended by the Inter-Ministerial and Stakeholders Committee headed by N.Vittal, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) after proper scrutiny and careful deliberations. This Committee also included representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is now objecting to it on the ground that it would compromise the security of India as the UID is not only issuing the UID numbers to citizens of India but also to illegal migrants from Bangladesh and other countries.
Population Register
The Home Ministry has also criticised the project because it is undertaking a similar exercise to prepare a National Population Register (NPR), which too is based on biometric data. The Registrar General of India and the Census Commissioner have expressed their resentment against this venture as they feel that enumeration was their job. Finally, the Ministry of Finance has criticised it on the ground that it involves very high cost. But, let us not forget the fact that the Prime Minister had handpicked the most appropriate person, Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, for implementing this Project called Aadhaar. Its chief aim is, as has been rightly put in the editorial "Redraft UID Bill" (The Tribune, December 10, 2011), to give every Indian a single card based on biometric data and to do away with multiple identity cards currently in use throughout the country. As a matter of fact, the project aims at revolutionising the delivery system in India. It seeks to root out corruption from the rural development programmes, to streamline Public Distribution System (PDS) and to strengthen the Public Health System (PHS). In the most ambitious programme of Ministry of Rural Development, Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, on which the Government of India spends a huge amount, it would certainly go a long way in eliminating ghost or fictitious beneficiaries who claim wages without doing any work. And, it could obviously prove helpful in ensuring that the funds are not misutilised or misappropriated by the unholy nexus of the development bureaucracy, Panchayati Raj technocracy, elected representatives of the Panchayati Raj institutions and the local politicians. It must be remembered that there are numerous complaints in this context from Uttar Pradesh and other states. Besides, the Aadhaar will be helpful in ensuring that the Right to Shelter or the Right to Housing is universalised in a judicious manner, and as promised by the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj by 2016, by checking that undeserving persons do not deprive the rural poor of their Right to Housing under the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and other rural housing schemes of the Government of India and the States by preventing bogus and duplicate claims. It would also be helpful in identifying the number of households that need to be provided with shelter. It could also help in better implementation of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), the revised name of Swarna Jayanti Gramin Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), which seeks to implement the Right to Work for rural poor and also aims at improving their quality of life by providing a mechanism that is able to check false claims and ensure proper utilisation of funds. But, far more important than these will be the role of Aadhaar in ensuring proper delivery of food grains and other essential commodities at the subsidised rates through PDS, which has become notorious for mal- practices of various kinds. It will help in eliminating the bogus ration cards issued to the non-existent and the dead, the duplicate cards of those who manage to get more than one ration card through unfair means and the miss-classified cards of the ineligible households and are able to manipulate them through dubious means. This has acquired added importance in view of the proposed Food Security Bill, which aims at covering as many as 70 per cent rural households and 50 per cent urban households and seeks to earmark an astronomical amount for this purpose and also plans to increase agricultural production to meet the enhanced requirement of food grains. Besides, the Aadhaar could go a long way in streamlining the PHS, which is in very poor health at present. This is evident from the fact that a study conducted by the Oxford University has found that more than 2 million people in India die due to inadequate health care and as many as 700 million rural people have no access to specialist care as specialists live in urban centres. The UID could certainly prove helpful in the identification of the number of such persons in rural areas and in making plans for meeting their health needs.
Baby & the bathwater
The politically motivated and inter-ministerial & inter institutional rivalry seems to be based on short sightedness. This criticism against Aadhaar also appears unfair as its officers, who have been selected from the All India Services and State Services after careful scrutiny, have not only worked very hard but have also taken all possible precautions to make the exercise safe and secure. They claim to have collected both demographic and biometric data through methods duly approved by the Demographic Standard and Verification Procedure Committee. Let us hope that the Cabinet Committee on UDI will be able to resolve the issue in its forthcoming meeting. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner need to be convinced that Aadhaar in no way prevents them from carrying out their own mandate. They should also be made to realise the need for role identification, role differentiation and functional specialisation. Let them also recognise that Aadhaar has a specific purpose. Its task is to create Unique Identities. But at the same time efforts should be made for ensuring synergy and convergence between the UIDAI, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Registrar General of India and the Census Commissioner. But the autonomy of the National Identification Authority should not be compromised while deciding the issue and it should be made a legal entity at the earliest. Due recognition must also be accorded to the excellent work that has been performed by it in a short span of 18 months. It has already issued 60 lakh UDI numbers and has done 18 crore enrollments. This is no small achievement. The Ministry of Finance must also take into account the above factors before objecting to its high cost. It should, however, ensure proper audit of the money given to the National Identification Authority for the proper utilisation of fund. It should create an elaborate mechanism for the same. There is no alternative to UID if we want to streamline our delivery system and work to ensure that the benefits reach the genuine beneficiaries. Otherwise, the Aam Aadmi (common man) in general and the poor in particular shall continue to suffer from denial and deprivation of the benefits of various social security and welfare schemes as well as rural development programmes. As the late Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi had aptly remarked that only 15 paise out of one rupee reach the real beneficiaries and the rest is siphoned off on the way. That state will continue unchanged unless the Aadhaar is allowed to perform its role without hindrance and with proper encouragement. Let all the Ministries and Institutions ensure it a helping hand instead of creating hurdles in its way. The writers are former chairman, Department of Political Science & Dean Social Sciences, Kurukshetra University and an Assistant Professor, Haryana Institute of Rural Development,
Nilokheri respectively
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