January 2015
www.jobsalerts.in
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
CBIs credibility
impugned
he discharge by a Mumbai special court of
Bharatiya Janata Party president and former
Gujarat Minister Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case is a boost for
the BJP and a setback to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which seems unable to live down its reputation as an agency that is ever eager to please its
political bosses. With the judge of the Special CBI
Court, M.B. Gosavi, ruling that there was substance in
the defence argument that the case was foisted on Mr.
Shah for political reasons, the CBI will have a tough
time recovering its credibility as the countrys premier
criminal investigation agency. That the judge decided
to discharge Mr. Shah from the case, and saw no need
for him to go on trial, says a lot about the nature of the
evidence put together by the CBI. Not only was the
agencys mode of investigation faulted, but political
motives were attributed to its actions. However, if the
CBI framed Mr. Shah in the case for political reasons to
please the previous Congress-led government at the
Centre, then could it have made out a weak case
against Mr. Shah to please the present BJP-led government? After all, Mr. Shah is seen as the second most
powerful person in the country, and as a close friend of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This indeed is the
question raised by Rubabuddin Sheikh, brother of Sohrabuddin. Given the track record of the CBI in recent
times, this is not a question to be dismissed casually. If
political pressures did indeed force the CBI to frame
Mr. Shah, then, quite plausibly, similar pressures could
now have been at work to facilitate his discharge in the
case.
The observations of Mr. Gosavi further underscore
the importance of freeing the CBI from the influence of
those in power. Although the CBI Director now enjoys
a fixed tenure, and the appointment is on the basis of
the recommendations of a high-level committee, the
investigating agency is still subject to the pulls and
pressures of the government at the Centre. At the end
of a civil rights movement against corruption in high
places, the Lokpal Act, 2013 was introduced with provisions to insulate the CBI from political interference.
But in high-profile, politically sensitive cases such as
the one involving Mr. Shah, the investigation can still
be tailored to suit the requirements of the rich and the
powerful if the higher courts do not take to strict and
constant monitoring. Sohrabuddins relatives have decided to appeal against Mr. Shahs discharge, and some
of the evidence will again come under scrutiny. At this
stage, if anything at all is certain, it is that the CBIs
handling of this case against Mr. Shah does not inspire
confidence in the public mind.
A turning point?
The statistics are mind-boggling. In 2013,
according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal
(SATP), jihadi terrorism worldwide resulted
in the killing of 18,000 people. Of these, 80 per
cent were Muslims with Pakistan figuring
among the five worst-affected countries; the
others being Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Since 9/11, nearly 60,000 terrorists, civilians and security force personnel have been
killed in Pakistan. The Pakistan Taliban and
al-Qaeda have killed 15,000 security personnel nearly as many have died in wars against
India. These figures show that the enterprise
of bleeding India through a thousand cuts is
working in the reverse. Pakistani apologists
say their country is the biggest victim of terrorism without conceding that it is hara-kiri.
The Peshawar incident has reportedly united the political opposition and government
and one hopes that the India-centric military
which is substantially Islamised and radicalised, will now be willing to mainstream its
misguided Muslim brothers. After Peshawar,
Reconfiguring Pakistan
In the New Year, all Pakistanis must assemble at the equivalent of the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore to pledge to eliminate
dahshatgardi (terrorism). This upheaval,
which is of Pakistans own making, has to be
tackled on the political, military, economic
and ideological planks. In this, the Army, the
government, the political opposition and civil
CARTOONSCAPE
Departing with
a mixed legacy
he timing of Mahendra Singh Dhonis retirement from Test cricket is consistent with his
earlier choices as a cricketer and a team leader. Despite his cult following and camerafriendly smile, Dhoni was always a private sort of person who kept major decisions under wraps until the
last minute. In the event, the fact that he chose to call it
a day in Tests when everybody is asking why rather
than why not, is not at all surprising. But he might have
better served the cause of Indian cricket had he completed the series the fourth Test against Australia
begins on January 6 in Sydney before handing over
the reins to Virat Kohli. Perhaps he wanted to leave
quietly, without fanfare. Through much of Indias successful run, whether in Tests or limited overs cricket,
the man who emerged from Indian crickets backwaters in Jharkhand has had no qualms about letting
others take centre stage. This was never more obvious
than when he allowed Sachin Tendulkar to hog the
limelight after winning the World Cup at home in 2011.
Dhoni, for the most part, has preferred to remain in the
background. This is in stark contrast to his style of play
on the field something that is at once flamboyant and
awe-inspiring when he is at his best. Some of the big
shots with which he brings the spectators to their feet
including his patented helicopter shot are more
readily associated with an extroverted personality.
For all his success in the longer form of the game,
especially at home, Dhonis image was overwhelmingly
shaped through his exploits in limited overs cricket.
Yet, his 90 Tests, 4,876 runs, 256 catches and 38 stumpings prove that he could shine in the longer version too.
His 224 against Australia at Chennai in 2013 altered
the series. Earlier this year, when the rest of the batting, barring Murali Vijay, struggled in England, Dhoni
scored 349 runs with four 50s. The numbers state that
he was Indias most successful captain, but that record
of 27 wins and 18 losses from 60 Tests hides a disturbing statistic his men lost 15 away games, most of
them in the last three years. His failure to rouse an
outfit suffering the pangs of transition, his refusal to
speak when the squad he led in the Indian Premier
League, Chennai Super Kings, was mired in controversy, or even his questionable sense of humour as
evident in him talking about Virat Kohli stabbing Shikhar Dhawan are all blips that are part of a complicated personality. India will miss him in Tests, but
thankfully he is still available in an arena in which he
excels the pulse-pounding abridged contest under
lights. His ultimate test will come in a few weeks time
when India begins its defence of the World Cup in
challenging conditions.
CM
YK
No evidence
Appeal by historians
This refers to the report, Dont
distort the past: historians
(Dec.31). I request the members of
the Indian History Congress to read
a good translation of the Sushruta
Samhita (6th Century BCE) and
chapter 16 on Rhinoplasty
practised in ancient India. This is
just a sample. There are several
other surgeries described in this
monumental work. The history of
India and scientific methods
practised are just not what the
Anglo-Saxon world prescribed to
this country. Let us not make
sweeping observations condemning
our own past out of ignorance.
S. Balachandran,
Chennai
Dhonis decision
Mahendra Singh Dhonis sudden
decision to retire from Test cricket
has been received with mixed
responses by fans and experts alike
(Dec.31). It was the contention of
the experts that Dhoni stopped
adding value to the Test team in the
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Hasty changes
in land law
hen a law is enacted after considerable
debate and consultation, it will be wise to
study the experience of its implementation for some time before it is amended,
in order to address perceived difficulties. Any such
amendment within the first year of its entry into force,
especially one pushed through as an ordinance, will be
inevitably perceived as hasty, even if on the positive
side it is meant to eliminate delays in land acquisition.
In this backdrop, the Right to Fair Compensation and
Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014, is bound
to face criticism that the changes constitute a significant dilution of a progressive law. The Congress and
the Left parties are likely to oppose the changes when
the law comes to Parliament in the form of a bill to
replace the ordinance. In substance, the ordinance
makes a significant change by omitting in respect of a
wide range of projects the requirements of a social
impact assessment study, the informed consent of a
large section of the families affected by the acquisition
of land. These projects include those that are vital to
national security and defence, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and housing for the poor, besides
industrial corridors and infrastructure and social infrastructure projects. The vital element of making acquisition a consultative and participative process may
thus be subject to bureaucratic discretion.
The principle of eminent domain, which justifies
the compulsory acquisition of land by the state for a
public purpose, normally ought to be accompanied by a
duty to give fair compensation. However, the colonial
Land Acquisition Act of 1894 had in effect reduced
compensation to a mere token in relation to the market
value, and for decades it was used to deprive many,
mostly farmers, of their land for a pittance. Last years
law radically altered this relationship between citizen
and state and created a fair compensation right, as well
as a new structure for rehabilitation and resettlement.
It also cast a duty on the government to create specified
amenities in every resettlement area. Thankfully, the
ordinance does not dilute these provisions, but additionally extends them to a list of Acts that were previously exempted. However, this is not its own
contribution, as the original Act itself said such a provision shall be enacted within a year. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has projected the amendments as those
that strengthen protection for the affected families and
also removes difficulties in implementation. Perhaps
the regimes intentions could have been better understood had the changes been introduced as a bill in
Parliament and referred to a committee for appraisal.
children as suicide bombers. For Pakistans released, while the LeT operations chief, Zaki
purposes, none of them should have been Ur Rahman Lakhvi, has been nearly released
counted as the good Taliban as they were.
twice.
With their access to trained jihadis in FedReign of terror
erally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),
The next distinction that should never Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir, Azhar,
have been made is with the Punjabi Taliban. Saeed and Ishaq will be much more difficult
The groups in Punjab like the JeM, the Lash- to control. And the stand-off with them is
kar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the Sipah-e-Sahaba, and going to be even more bloody than the Lal
the LeT now control vast parts of Pakistans Masjid operation was. It is inevitable because
most powerful province, with compounds it is evident that the Punjabi Taliban is deepacross acres, congregations in the lakhs, and ly linked to every major terror attack in Pathousands of young recruits at their semi- kistan, including the brutal killings of Shias,
naries. Despite all the outrage expressed by Ahmadis and Christians. No one typifies this
India over 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, link more than the case of Dr. Usman, the
the hijacking of an Indian flight (IC-814) and first man Mr. Sharif ordered to be hanged
Parliament attack mastermind Masood Az- after lifting the moratorium on executions in
har, Pakistan still sees these men as allies and December. Usman, or Mohammad Aqeel,
is quite comfortable in letting their groups was trained in the Armys medical corps,
run riot in Punjab. But they have missed two from where he was recruited by the LeJ.
important outcomes: first, whether it is Ma- Along with TTP leaders and other Taliban
CARTOONSCAPE
CM
YK
Uncertain outcome
in Greece
reek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who
recently lost his gamble of holding an early
presidential vote in order to shore up the
terms of a fresh economic package from the
European Union, forced a snap general election within
two years of coming to power. The January 25 poll has
brought centre-stage the main opposition party, the
radical left-wing Syriza that takes an anti-austerity
stance. Equally, the uncertainty over the Greek election outcome brought into sharp focus the capacity of
European Union leaders to influence national governments to implement unpopular economic reforms. The
developments in December, involving three rounds of
voting by the Greek Parliament which eventually failed
to elect a President, are reminiscent of the high political drama of 2011. On that occasion, George Papandreou had announced that the issue of approval of the
Eurozone debt deal for Greece would be decided in a
popular referendum, sending shock waves across European capitals and causing a splutter in the financial
markets. Amid the groundswell of public anger against
crippling cuts in government spending and reductions
in wages and pensions, a plebiscite would have potentially risked a Greek exit from the Eurozone.
Syrizas support has seen a steady surge over the past
decade, culminating in its emergence as the second
largest party in the outgoing Parliament. Under the
charismatic leadership of Alexis Tsipras, it won the
May 2014 European Parliament elections handsomely,
relegating the countrys ruling New Democracy to the
second position. Since then, Syriza has led in the opinion polls. The party rapidly rose to prominence since
the debt crisis in Greece unravelled, by portraying the
terms of the bailout with European and international
institutions as a harsh and arbitrary imposition. In
more recent months, it has spoken of softening the
terms of the bailout and of having the countrys debt
written off by half. Syrizas sharp rhetoric in recent
weeks seems to have been muted, perhaps from a
recognition of Athenss European obligations under
the existing arrangements. The party may or may not
capture power in the elections. But even if it comes
anywhere close, it can be expected to exert considerable influence on the manner Athens negotiates with
Brussels the terms of its economic reforms. Syrizas
performance would also be watched closely in countries where the appeal of anti-austerity, and even antiEU parties, has been on the rise and where elections are
due this year. Gradually, a scenario may be evolving
where domestic forces exert greater influence on the
trajectories of European integration. This may lay bare
the limits of the post-War vision in a globalised world.
CBIs credibility
and it calls for stern action against journalists and their media outlets.
Santhosh Mathew,
all those involved in filing the case.
M. Somasekhar Prasad,
Puducherry
Badvel, Andhra Pradesh
Sale of acid
B.G. Verghese
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Birth of a new
institution
n line with the Government of Indias approach
of less government and a move away from centralised planning, the NITI Aayog with a new
structure and focus on policy will replace the
64-year old Planning Commission that was seen as a
vestige of the socialist era. The new body, conceived
more in the nature of a think-tank that will provide
strategic and technical advice, will be helmed by the
Prime Minister with a Governing Council of Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors, similar to the National Development Council that set the objectives for the Planning
Commission. The NITI Aayog seeks substitute centralised planning with a bottom-up approach where
the body will support formulation of plans at the village
level and aggregate them at higher levels of government.
In short, the new body is envisaged to follow the norm
of cooperative federalism, giving room to States to tailor
schemes to suit their unique needs rather than be dictated to by the Centre. This is meant to be a recognition
of the countrys diversity. The needs of a State such as
Kerala with its highly developed social indicators may
not be the same as that of, say, Jharkhand, which scores
relatively low on this count. If indeed the body does
function as has been envisaged now and the jury will
be out on that States will, for the first time, have a say
in setting their own development priorities.
One significant change of note is that one of the
functions of the body will be to address the needs of
national security in economic strategy. Nowhere is this
more relevant than in the area of energy security where
India, unlike China, has failed to evolve a coherent
policy over the years. Similarly, networking with other
national and international think-tanks and with experts and practitioners, as has been envisaged, will add
heft to the advice that the NITI Aayog will provide. To
deflect criticism that this will be a free-market institution that ignores the deprived, the government has
taken care to make the point that the body will pay
special attention to the sections of society that may not
benefit enough from economic progress. How this operates in practice will bear close watching. Interestingly,
though it will not be formulating Central plans any
more, the NITI Aayog will be vested with the responsibility of monitoring and evaluating the implementation
of programmes. Thus, while the advisory and monitoring functions of the erstwhile Planning Commission
have been retained in the new body, the executive
function of framing Plans and allocating funds for Planassisted schemes has been taken away. But who will
now be responsible for the critical function of allocating
Plan funds? Hopefully, there will be greater clarity on
this aspect in the days ahead.
Views on Modi
With this formidable reputation it is no
wonder that the questions asked of him at the
Express Adda, transcribed and posted on
the web on December 22, 2014, were so tame.
While most of what he said has been said
before and has become part of our commonsense, one statement, which has several parts,
was new and calls for our critical engagement.
It concerns his view on the current Prime
Minister. I quote: One of the things that Mr.
Modi did do is to give people a sense of faith
that things can happen. It may not have been
exactly the things that I would have liked but I
think this is an achievement. This wouldnt
make my differences with Mr. Modi on issues
like secularism go away but, on the other
hand, if we dont recognize it, were missing
out on something very important. The paper
headlined the above statement. They too
thought it was the key statement of the Adda.
There was no mention of the controversies,
on Ghar Vapsi that have drawn headlines
over the last few weeks, or of the ordinance on
land acquisition and its implications for
tribal communities, or on communal violence
as an electoral strategy such as in Trilokpuri,
or on declaring December 25 as Good Gov-
Which people?
There are five parts to the statement that
need our attention. The first is to give people
a sense of faith that things can happen. The
second is not exactly the things that I would
have liked The third is but I think it is an
achievement. The fourth is wont make my
differences with Mr. Modi go away, and the
fifth is if we dont recognize it were missing
out on something very important. Each of the
five parts of his statement calls for a public
discussion. Let us discuss them in sequence.
What was Prof. Sen referring to when he
said to give people a sense of faith that things
CARTOONSCAPE
A step in the
right direction
et another bold initiative was taken on the last
day of 2014 when the Union government made
public the draft National Health Policy 2015.
The policy is a first step in achieving universal
health coverage by advocating health as a fundamental
right, whose denial will be justiciable. While it makes
a strong case for moving towards universal access to
affordable health-care services, there are innumerable
challenges to be overcome before the objectives become
a reality. The current government spending on health
care is a dismal 1.04 per cent of gross domestic product
(GDP), one of the lowest in the world; this translates to
Rs.957 per capita in absolute terms. The draft policy has
addressed this critical issue by championing an increase
in government spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP
(Rs.3,800 per capita) in the next five years. But even this
increase in allocation falls short of the requirement to
set right the dysfunctional health-care services in the
country. Citing the health-care systems low absorption
capacity and inefficient utilisation of funding as an alibi
for not raising the spending to 3 per cent of GDP is
nothing but a specious argument. Insufficient funding
over the years combined with other faulty practices
have led to a dysfunctional health-care system in the
country. Undivided focus is an imperative to strengthen
all the elements of health-care delivery. The failure of
the public health-care system to provide affordable
services has been the main reason that has led to increased out-of-pocket expenditure on health care. As a
result, nearly 63 million people are driven into poverty
every year. The Ebola crisis in Liberia, Guinea and
Sierra Leone, which underlined the repercussions of a
weak public health-care system, should serve as a grim
reminder of this.
The national programmes provide universal coverage
only with respect to certain interventions such as maternal ailments, that account for less than 10 per cent of
all mortalities. Over 75 per cent of the communicable
diseases are outside their purview and only a limited
number of non-communicable diseases are covered. It
is, therefore, crucial for the Union government to undertake proactive measures to upgrade the health-care
services of poorly performing States such as Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh. As it stands, health will be recognised as
a fundamental right through a National Health Rights
Act only when three or more States request it. Since
health is a State subject, adoption by the respective
States will be voluntary. Though a different approach
has been taken to improve adoption and implementation by States, the very objective of universal health
coverage that hinges on portability will be defeated in
the absence of uniform adoption across India.
CM
YK
Critiquing PK
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
A case to share
more information
he dramatic photograph of a shing boat
ablaze on water and the assertions by the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) that it was an
explosives-laden vessel from Pakistan that
blew itself up on being intercepted, has provided some
comfort that a force guarding the countrys coastline
was able to avert a 26/11-type horror on New Years-eve
with a timely chase across the Arabian Sea. Defence
Minister Manohar Parrikar has commended the Coast
Guard for a job well done. Pakistan has denied the boat
had anything to do with it. Particularly as vital questions
of foreign relations are involved, the MoD would do well
to shed more light on what happened off the Gujarat
coast that night. So far, the version provided has left
several questions unanswered. Given the Coast Guards
suspicion that this was a boat carrying terrorists from
Karachi, why was the Navy not involved in the incident,
at least in a supporting role? If there were intercepts of
communication between the boat and handlers in Pakistan, surely the Coast Guard needed to mobilise more
help. It should have at least called out more of its own
vessels. The blaze is said to have started when the crew
went below deck and set the boat on re after the Coast
Guard caught up with it. There was also an explosion,
according to a statement put out by the MoD. An expert
examination of the photograph provided would conrm
whether there was a blast. A statement that the fourmember crew aroused suspicion because they were not
dressed like shermen is also worrying, indicating as it
does the Coast Guards belief that clothes are a good
indication of a persons occupation and intentions.
On top of it all is the opaqueness on locations, 365 km
west-southwest off Porbandar providing only a general
direction and an assurance that it was within the Coast
Guards 200 nautical mile jurisdiction. A full-edged
investigation into the incident would not be out of place.
With India-Pakistan relations not yet out of the shadow
of the 26/11 attack, an allegation that a boat loaded with
explosives that set off from near Karachi tried to get
close to the Indian coast is a serious matter. Those who
make the allegation must be able to provide better
grounds for their suspicion than the single input that a
boat was set to make an illicit transaction. After all,
smugglers abound in those waters. In the last six years,
New Delhi has built up much international support in
the diplomatic battle against India-directed terrorism
emanating from Pakistan. A wrong call can erode that
support, just as the right one can strengthen its hands.
This is why it is very important to provide adequate
information to support the account of the incident.
Arbitrary use
of power
he Union government recently blocked 32
websites, including globally popular ones such
as Vimeo, GitHub, Dailymotion and
archive.org that support data-archiving, video-sharing and software development, evoking serious
questions and criticism. The action was sought to be
justied on the grounds that these websites were being
used for Jihadi Propaganda by Anti-National
groups encouraging Indian youth to join organisations
such as Islamic State (IS). Such a justication may in
principle seem reasonable, yet it does not instil condence in citizens given the weak track record of Internet regulation and a decient legal framework
coupled with the arbitrary use of state power. Following
the arrest of Bengaluru-based Mehdi Biswas, suspected
of operating a pro-IS Twitter account, the government
officially banned IS in India only last month. A 2012
United Nations report titled The Use of the Internet
for Terrorist Purposes, warns of terror groups using
the Internet for their propaganda. For instance, alQaeda uses the Internet to announce its latest attacks
and strategic alliances, promote its interests and so on.
Robert Hannigan, from the Government Communications Headquarters in the U.K., spoke in an interview
about how IS uses popular hashtags to boost its viewership, sending thousands of tweets a day without triggering spam controls. Undoubtedly, terrorists use
technology with some level of sophistication.
The scepticism is with regard to implementation
rather than the principle behind the action. First, the
government invoked Section 69A of the Information
Technology Act, 2000 and relevant Blocking Rules
were framed under it to take down the sites. These
provisions, the constitutionality of which is under challenge in the Supreme Court, are riddled with vagueness
and are open to arbitrary use. Second, reasonable restriction on free speech under Article 19(2) of the Constitution is to be interpreted to include only cases where
there is a direct relation between the offending speech
and public disorder or national security. But in blocking
URLs, the government speaks of not just content that
poses a direct threat to public order and security, but
also the spread of propaganda which is a perilously
vague term with the potential to impinge on fundamental rights. Third, blocking websites is rarely an
effective method to curb terror activities. Competent
users can circumvent with ease such restrictions
through Proxies and Virtual Private Networks. Instead
of blocking websites outright, a more coordinated public-private dialogue should be the way ahead. Giving
national security precedence over all else, including
fundamental rights, is an often-exploited narrative that
needs to be closely scrutinised, without reducing this
scrutiny to a with us-or-against us logic.
CM
YK
the leader it is looking for. In playing statesman, he has skilfully discarded his older self,
his noisier incarnations. He has not abandoned them but outsourced them to Mohan
Bhagwat, Amit Shah and to the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad. He can keep eyes on them.
CARTOONSCAPE
A need to demystify
One also realises that grandeur is the perfect moment for sanitisation. Mr. Modi is
cleaned of his past. In fact his past is now
enacted by characters around him. Let us be
clear; even if Mr. Modi wishes to do something and the wish list is genuine, he is hampered by two sets of forces. First, his past is
alive in the present in the shape of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya
Janata Party. They would like to leave their
own stamp on history. Second, governance
involves more than one mans leadership. A
cleanliness drive itself is mere whitewash
when it comes to reforming governance.
We have a crowned king and have decided
that the king can do no wrong. In many ways,
he is the new Sardar who has already been
granted his place in history; unlike the old
Sardar, he will need no compensatory statue.
He represents the new idea of agency in Indian history as India exorcised itself of its current past. The media, as high hybrids of
change, have performed the ritual role brilliantly. Mr. Modi is the new immaculate
conception.
To reduce this celebration of Mr. Modi to
corporate heights or media manipulation
will not do. The media is only playing its
current fantasies and anxieties and brewing a
feasible story. One needs a critique of a different kind and ethnography of everyday
governance to demystify Mr. Modi. In fact
this critique will constitute the major act of
dissent in the coming year. Without it, India
is well on its way to becoming a new fantasy
of power with no sense of limits. Celebrating
the man of the year promises to be the beginning of a coming tragedy. A touch of criticism
can make the future more hopeful.
(Shiv Visvanathan is a professor at Jindal
School of Government and Public Policy.)
Indian dream and the media is merely spelling out the dreams performance, not as his
achievement in policies but as rhetorical acts
of the imagined that he seems so desperate
for. Mr. Modi is the man of the year because
every man as Mr. Modi is man of the year.
Style dominates content and in fact style in
its density is presented as the equivalent of
content. This is no one-act play but it is an
India that has projected its epic self on the
global stage. Our elite realises that the old
catechism of Non-alignment and third
world-ism is the voice of the weak. What one
is looking for is a new machismo. Not the
brutal bully boy machismo of the streets but
a muscular disciplined machismo which
speaks a managerial, ethnocratic and nationalist idiom which both small town aspirant
and diaspora understand. The diaspora is a
major part of India and the global age and
represents the Indian success story abroad.
It is easier to be patriotic in New Jersey and
New York as the Indian ag utters proudly
and makes them feel glad to be Indians in
America. The Madison Square Garden meeting was a performance and fulls the diasporic need of the American senators paying
court to their leader.
As one studies the photo of Mr. Modi, one
realises that his icon ideal and image are a
collective fantasy of India as a decisive, modern crowd, and respected nation. Mr. Modi is
the mirror in which the middle class, tired of
the Congresss indifference, salutes itself. India feels global and contemporary as Mr. Modi jokes with Mr. Obama or shows Mr. Xi
Jinping around.
Border shelling
The unprovoked killing of Indian
civilians and jawans by Pakistani
troops along the International
border and the incident of the Coast
Guard foiling what appears to be
another 26/11 type of attack, shows
the increasing tendency of Pakistan
to test Indias patience (Woman
killed in shelling, Jan.4). The
recent Peshawar tragedy and the indepth analysis (After Peshawar,
Pakistans litmus test, Jan.1, and
Taking on good, bad, all Talibans,
Jan.2, both on the Editorial page)
should serve as a lesson to
Pakistans civilian government and
its Army to eliminate hard-core
militants and their adverse
activities in the country rather than
considering India as an archenemy.
Gregory Fernandes,
Mumbai
Knowledge traditions
In his aggressive but poorly
researched article, Neglect of
knowledge traditions (Open Page,
Jan.4), Michel Danino attacks the
historiography of the authors of the
Indian History Congress resolution
and accuses them of suppressing
the genuine achievements of Indian
science. It is surprising that a
scholar who presumes to berate an
entire congress, attended by more
than 2,000 Indian historians, is so
little aware of the writings of some
of the more eminent members of
that body. To take only one
example, the rst three volumes of
Professor Irfan Habibs A Peoples
Science as priority
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
erased charges being levelled by
other political parties that the BJP
is paying more attention to religion
and spirituality than to science
(PM feels humbled by scientists
work, Jan.4). It is true that science
and religion are the twin pillars of a
healthy society. It is reminiscent of
what President S. Radhakrishnan
said of both science and religion.
Science without religion is blind;
religion without science is lame.
Meenakshi Pattabiraman,
Madurai
Ushering in reforms
The fall in Indias economic growth
to less than 5 per cent has created
the need for a second batch of
economic reforms (Sunday Anchor
page, Jan.4). While the previous set
of reforms led to fruitful outcomes,
the downside has been growing
inequality between the poor and the
rich. In such a situation, the present
reforms should be directed towards
achieving inclusive growth and
sustainable development. Given the
weak macroeconomic factors in the
global economy today, the proposed
batch of reforms should be directed
towards
raising
domestic
investment, both public and
private, instead of focussing on
foreign investment. These should
be accompanied by administrative
reforms that eliminate corruption
and the development of crony
capitalism. The mandate India has
given the BJP also includes the right
to carry out bold reforms, but in a
democratic way. Ushering in
reforms through the ordinance
route is unacceptable as the
interests of the larger population
must be kept in mind.
Balaji Akiri,
Hyderabad
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Mythology
and science
he 102nd Indian Science Congress being held
in Mumbai will be remembered for a very
long time to come, but for all the wrong reasons. For the first time, the science congress
had a session on Ancient Sciences through Sanskrit.
If the Indian Science Congress had long lost its eminence as a forum where results of serious science being
done in the country are presented and discussed in
most sessions, the inclusion of Ancient Sciences
through Sanskrit has only lowered its standing further.
Even as a public session, there is no real reason whatsoever for it to have been included in the proceedings. At
best, a session could have been devoted to the history of
Indian science which has real and substantial achievements to celebrate, with serious scholars working on
the subject presenting papers. With Prime Minister
Narendra Modi setting the tone for this antiquity frenzy with his implausible claims that cosmetic surgery
was practised thousands of years ago and in-vitro fertilisation-like procedure was resorted to long back, and
different political leaders following it up with several
other incredulous claims well before the start of the
national event, the reason for the inclusion of the
session becomes supremely clear. Instead of fostering
scientific temper, the congress has provided a forum to
seed the minds of young people with pseudoscience.
Some of the papers presented were about Indians
knowledge of making aeroplanes that could undertake interplanetary travel, between 7000 and 6000 BC,
and radars that worked on the principle of detecting
energy given out by animate and inanimate objects and
finding out if a body was dead or alive.
Science is grounded on the principle of reproducibility of results. The claims of advanced science and technology in the ancient world are based on some
references in ancient scripts that may be wholly imaginary. Flying, for instance, has caught humankinds
imagination across cultures right from ancient times.
Such references should be taken for the myths they are,
not as scientific facts. Scientists have been able to
create animal chimeras that have cells/organs of different species, much as what Greek mythology describes.
Should the Greeks then be taken as pioneers in the
science of chimera production? Thanks to our understanding of genetics and the ability to fertilise eggs
outside the body, producing designer babies is no longer in the realm of science fiction. Should the creators of
the science fiction then be credited with devising the
procedures? Compare this with how Sir Arthur C. Clarke documented his idea of communications satellites
in a concept paper published in 1945. Dozens of geosynchronous satellites launched each year do precisely
what Sir Arthur had visualised there.
A question of recourse
Under Section 17(b), a liable operator can
recover compensation from suppliers of nuclear material in the event of a nuclear accident if the damage is caused by the provision
of substandard services or patent or latent
defects in equipment or material. This is contrary to the practice of recourse in international civil nuclear liability conventions,
which channel liability exclusively to the operator. Specifically, it contradicts Article 10
of the Annex to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage
(CSC), an international treaty which India
has signed.
That Section 17(b) is contrary to the global
norm is undeniable. However when the global norm itself is inequitable, there are justifiable reasons to depart from it. The inclusion
of Section 17(b) recognises historical incidents such as the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984
for which defective parts were partly responsible. The paltry compensation paid to the
victims was facilitated by gaps in legislation
and an extraordinarily recalcitrant state machinery. This is not a peculiarly Indian phenomenon accidents such as Three Mile
valid reservation under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, thereby excluding its application. Second, Article XV of the
CSC implies that the rights and obligations of
States under general rules of public international law are exempt from the application of
the CSC. One such principle of international
law is the polluter pays principle applicable both to the state and private entities. The
principle comes into operation via the mechanism through which compensation can be
recovered from a polluting entity for the environmental harm it causes. Exercising either of these options will allow India to
retain Section 17(b) without violating the international treaty regime.
However in pursuing the safety of supply,
Section 17(b) goes too far in keeping liability
CARTOONSCAPE
Moderation
warranted
he recent narrow defeat of a resolution in the
United Nations Security Council on Palestinian statehood should be read in the context
of resistance from the United States and Israel to the territorys bid for UN membership. In 2012,
Washington and Tel Aviv opposed a landmark UN
General Assembly vote by 138 countries to upgrade
Palestines status from Observer to Non-Member Observer State in the world body. Introduced by Jordan,
the resolution last week called for the withdrawal of
Israeli forces from the West Bank by 2017 and the
creation of a capital in East Jerusalem territories
captured by Israel besides Gaza Strip in the so-called
Six-Day War in 1967. Against the backdrop of the failure of peace talks, the Palestinian Authority (PA) under
President Mahmoud Abbas has pinned its hopes for
any meaningful progress on taking recourse to international legal instruments. Accordingly, Mr. Abbas
has moved swiftly to accede to the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) once the UNSC
resolution was defeated in December. Earlier in the
month, Palestine was invited as an observer at the
annual meeting of states that have joined the ICC.
The Palestinians expect the step would eventually
lead to the trial of certain Israeli leaders for war crimes
in The Hague court. But a determination has yet to be
made on whether its jurisdiction would commence
from 2012, when the status of Palestine was revised at
the UN, or after its accession to the Rome treaty is
completed. It is also uncertain whether the nature of
the violence during the conflict would qualify for prosecution by the ICC. What is clear, however, is that the
activities of both the PA and the Islamic militant group
Hamas would also come under scrutiny should the
court deem it fit to investigate Israel. But paradoxically,
the U.S. and Israel continue to regard any attempt by
the PA to gain international recognition as confrontational, insisting that direct negotiations are the only
possible avenue to find a lasting solution. Both have
threatened retaliation in the form of severe economic
sanctions against Palestine and travel restrictions on
their leaders. Such a stance is unhelpful considering
the PA is the main moderate voice wedded to a twostate solution, unlike Hamas that refuses to recognise
the state of Israel. But international opinion in support
of Palestinian self-determination is growing, as is evident from the overwhelming backing accorded to the
European Parliament resolution. The Palestinian bid
to join the ICC is expected to strengthen Israels hardliners in the elections in March. The larger interests
of peace in the Middle East warrant moderation.
CM
YK
Of scientific 'feats'
Tall claims on scientific feats in
ancient India are made whenever
the BJP takes charge (Science
Congress lauds feats of ancient
India, Jan.5). It must be
remembered that every civilisation
eral liability cap of Rs.1,500 crore. If all suppliers have to be insured up to this value,
insurance costs will be unnecessarily pyramided. To address this, countries with a history of nuclear power have in place
mechanisms to provide for insurance coverage through international insurance pools
where insurers, operators and states share
the risks of an accident, providing access to a
wide pool of compensation. There are about
26 such pools in existence, which also provide reinsurance to each other. Insurance
pools typically require members to be signatories to an international convention (such
as CSC), and to allow reasonable inspections
of their nuclear installations.
While provisions for the creation of a domestic insurance pool for operators exist in
Sections 7 and 8 of the Act and Rule 3, they
need to be made explicit and amended to
include suppliers in order to prevent the pyramiding of insurance premiums. This is particularly relevant to Indias domestic nuclear
suppliers who would otherwise need to individually take out coverage, which would be
prohibitively expensive. In order to access
international reinsurance pools, the Central
government could utilise the provisions in
Section 43 and 44 of the CLND Act (Power to
Call for Information from Operators) to establish a satisfactory inspections regime.
Democratic literacy
It is strange that the Rajasthan
government has passed an
ordinance requiring a pass in Class
8 and Class 10 as eligibility criteria
(Lexicon of democratic literacy,
Jan.5). To think that basic
education will facilitate better
governance in panchayati raj is
both naive and illogical as most
problems here are about the plight
of people and the need for steps to
ameliorate the lot of the
marginalised sections.
One must also contrast this with
the educational qualifications of
some of our Union Ministers. In
their case, it would appear that a
formal education is perceived to be
entirely superfluous. If the
objective is to promote equality of
access to grassroots institutions,
then the need for revoking the
retrograde order cannot be
overemphasised.
P.K. Varadarajan,
Chennai
Snake conservation
I was appalled to read the report,
Getting wrapped by anaconda to
help conserve big snakes (some
editions, Jan.3), which was more
an attempt to give space to a
reckless adventurist who is passing
off a publicity stunt as an effort to
save the millions of acres of
Amazonian rainforest and to
protect the anaconda. This is
nothing but a commercially
motivated stunt by a TV channel
which also spells publicity to Mr.
Rosolie. The scientific and
naturalist community is right in
criticising such a thoughtless act,
which only imperils the welfare
and the life of the wild anaconda, a
species that the conservationist
and writer claims to be protecting.
It is good that India has strict
wildlife protection laws which do
not permit the carrying out of such
stunts on Indian wildlife, or else we
would have had such saviours
descending in the hordes to save
our pythons and elephants. The
report only shows why the media
must be careful about highlighting
such unethical practices which will
only help mislead readers.
Sarath Champati,
Bengaluru
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
The accidental
Chief Minister
itan Ram Manjhi became the Chief Minister of
Bihar in unusual circumstances. As he himself
never tires of saying, he owed his position not to
the support of his followers but to the backing
of his leader, his predecessor and Janata Dal (United)
leader Nitish Kumar. A member of the backward Dalit
community of Mahadalit, Mr. Manjhi is now busy building his political constituency, even if it be at the expense
of Mr. Kumars own vote base. The Bihar Chief Minister
won new followers in his community with his assertive
speeches, even if, in the process, he lost some of the
goodwill of his leader. From the very outset he seemed
to know what he did not want to be: a political tool in the
hands of Mr. Kumar, who stepped down as Chief Minister only to lessen the degree of criticism of his political
decisions that led to the drubbing that the JD (U)
received in the Lok Sabha election. With his latest
statement, during an interview to The Hindu, that a
Mahadalit should be the Chief Minister of Bihar after
the Assembly election later this year, Mr. Manjhi not
only succeeded in irritating Mr. Kumar further but also
ensured that Mr. Kumar could remove him as Chief
Minister only at great political cost. In October last
year, Mr. Manjhi had stated that he did not become the
Chief Minister on his own but was made the Chief
Minister, and that Dalits would be able to choose their
own leader if they had greater political awareness.
If Mr. Kumar thought that in Mr. Manjhi he would
have a loyalist who would keep the Chief Ministers
chair warm for him till the Assembly election, he was
clearly mistaken. Even when he stepped down as Chief
Minister, the JD (U) had indicated that Mr. Kumar
would indeed lead the party in the next Assembly election. The Manjhi government was meant to be nothing
more than a stopgap arrangement. But the Mahadalit
leader, who began his political career with the Congress
and switched his allegiance to the Rashtriya Janata Dal
during the period that party was in power, seems everready to outmanoeuvre his own party leadership. While
he does not have much to show in terms of governance
during his seven months in power, Mr. Manjhi demonstrated political tact and cunning in carving out an
independent political space in the caste-dominated politics of Bihar. The JD (U) is now in the process of
merging with the Samajwadi Party, the RJD, the Janata
Dal (Secular) and others in a coming together of the
Janata Parivar, and there is no guarantee that Mr.
Kumar will be the automatic choice as Chief Minister if
the combination comes to power. But whatever the
changes in the political equations, Mr. Manjhi will be a
factor in everyones political calculations. And that is no
small achievement for this accidental Chief Minister.
CARTOONSCAPE
Unending
confrontation
n ill wind is blowing through Bangladesh once
again. A year after the controversial election
that returned the Awami League and Sheikh
Hasina to office for a second term, the political turmoil and uncertainty refuse to go away. While
the Opposition still refuses to accept the results of an
election that it boycotted, the government has certainly not helped matters. When Opposition leader Khaleda Zia announced a rally to observe the first
anniversary of the election on January 5 as Death of
Democracy Day, the Sheikh Hasina government,
which was planning a Victory Day of Democracy
responded by disallowing the protest and locking up
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader in her office.
Clashes between activists of the ruling party and the
BNP have claimed four lives. The government has now
threatened to slap a murder case on Ms. Zia, which
could lead to her arrest. She, meanwhile, has called for
an indefinite and nationwide blockade. The BNP
wants fresh elections to be held under a non-partisan
caretaker government, while the Awami League insists
it will continue in office for its entire term that is to end
in 2019. There seems to be no meeting ground between
the two parties, unable as they are to turn the page on
their history of confrontational and violent politics.
At the heart of the confrontation between the two
parties are of course the unsettled questions from Bangladeshs violent birth in 1971, including the question of
who was on which side in the movement for liberation
from Pakistan. Settling those questions was never going to be easy. But the ham-fisted manner in which the
Awami League has gone about the task from its first
term in office in 2008, setting up war tribunals that
have dispensed speedy verdicts including the death
sentence to several in the senior leadership of the
Jamaat-e-Islami and life terms to others including
BNP leaders, has proved particularly divisive. Despite
the nation-halting hartals and protests, Bangladeshs
economy turned in a surprisingly good performance.
The countrys GDP growth was estimated at 6.1 per
cent for the fiscal year ending with June 2014, half a
percentage point higher than what the Asian Development Bank had projected. For 2015, the projection is
higher at 6.4 per cent, on the hope that private sector
investment will also pick up given some political stability. Perhaps Bangladesh might have done better and set
an example for the entire region but for the unending
political conflict. For India, which has seen ties improving with Bangladesh under the Sheikh Hasina government, the challenge is to ensure that the instability
in Dhaka does not spill over to its territory and pose
security problems on its eastern borders.
CM
YK
Price factor
What, aside from partisan politics, could go
wrong? There are many things, but I will
mention just three. First, the assumption that
everyone responds to price is incorrect in
India. There are priceless pieces of land that
no amount of money can buy. The Niyamgiri
hill region in Odisha where the Vedanta
mining project ran aground is an example.
Without referenda it may be very difficult to
identify priceless land; which means that
deadly face-offs over acquisition will continue to flare up. Second, the social impact assessment was meant primarily to take stock
of the non-land-owning project-affected population. Compensating non-owners is a vital
and non-negotiable element of LARR. How
that will be achieved without the social impact assessments remains unclear.
Third and most important: the price of peri-urban land has reached such levels in the
most dynamic urban regions of the country,
that just doubling it (even without the added
transaction and opportunity costs) may make
many public projects unaffordable and private projects uncompetitive (especially in a
globalised economy). The blunt instrument
of acquisition is already inappropriate in
many such settings; using LARR, even after
the ordinance, it may be impossible. New,
creative methods that make stakeholders out
of landholders must be devised, perhaps by
following the better outcomes of some of the
experiments being attempted in some States.
Is this ordinance a better way than LARR?
Yes. Is there a better way than this? Very
much so, and it is based on finding State-level
solutions rather than these top-down, onesize-fits-all strategies devised by the Centre.
And above all, as a friend says, what we need
are good intentions combined with clear
analysis and hard, detailed work. Unfortunately, all these are in short supply.
(Sanjoy Chakravorty is the author of The
Price of Land: Acquisition, Conflict,
Consequence.)
Inevitability of Modi
The article by Shiv Visvanathan,
The inevitability of Narendra
Modi (Jan.5), reflects the concerns
of many of us. Jawaharlal Nehru
and Patel were genuine democrats
and statesmen. In spite of his efforts
to emulate Nehru, Mr. Modis new
mask cannot hide his past. His
silence on the acts of the right wing
exposes his hidden agenda. As far as
governance is concerned, the
massive publicity indicates an
attempt to hide a perceptible lack of
achievements worth talking about.
The demystification of Mr. Modi
should happen through genuine,
fearless criticism and through
public discourses and one hopes
that the Opposition soon recovers
its voice to be able to emerge soon
and deflate Mr. Modis artificially
built image. All this must happen
soon.
S. Ramamurthy,
Chennai
also
those
who
constitute
contributors. That this section
strives to give voice to various
readers is true as The Hindu has
allotted a reasonable amount of
space for letters in comparison to
other dailies. But considering the
continually increasing readership, I
feel that the time has come to offer
some more space for readers
letters. There must also be some
mechanism to assess the impact of
readers opinions on public
governance,
social
changes,
corruption and the criminalisation
of politics.
P.R.V. Raja,
Pandalam, Kerala
Operation Smile
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Spectrum auction
realities
he fine print of the spectrum auction coming
up in February, shows that little has been
learnt from experience with similar auctions
in the past. The 3G auction held in 2010, for
example, fetched a windfall for the government but
dealt a blow to the telecom industry from which it has
yet to fully recover. On that occasion, a limited quantity
of spectrum put on auction, a high upset price and keen
competition among bidders combined to push up the
value beyond levels that made business sense for the
telecom companies, that had no choice but to participate. The consequences of that frenzied round of bidding
are still being felt in the form of large loan dues of banks
that funded the bidding, frayed balance sheets of telecom operators and poor services for consumers as
operators cut down investment on network expansion.
The story for the upcoming round is the same as the
government attempts to exploit scarcity value to maximise its own revenues. Not only is the price set for the
three bands 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz
considerably higher than what was recommended by
the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) but
the quantum of spectrum on offer is also limited, especially in the crucial 900 MHz band.
At least three operators Vodafone, Idea and Bharti
Airtel will be bidding to stay in business as their
licences in some circles expire this year. Their desperation is bound to push up the bidding price, especially if
others such as Uninor and Reliance Jio step into the
fray. The government has also offered just one slot of 5
MHz in the 2,100 MHz band which is critical for 3G
operations and has said that it will release a further 15
MHz later. The strategy is obviously to capitalise on the
scarcity value now. While optimising revenues for a
public asset such as spectrum is not wrong, the attempt
here seems to be to maximise them which can come
only at the cost of the industry and consumers, as
experience shows. There is time still to change things
as the Cabinet will be meeting soon to clear the pricing
of the 2,100 MHz band. The government should strive
to put on auction the entire 20 MHz that it has in the
2,100 MHz band and also fix the upset price at realistic
levels. Quite apart from this, serious thought should be
given also to the TRAI recommendation to reduce the
licence fee from 8 per cent of adjusted gross revenues
to 6 per cent as the present fee was set before the
auctions era. The governments keenness to maximise
revenues and to prevent windfall gains to telecom operators is understandable, but it should be balanced
with the interests of the long-term development of the
industry and of the consumers.
society.
The HRD Ministers conclave with the
vice-chancellors of the Central Universities
in September suggested fundamental changes in the running of these universities. Since
the Central Universities are some of the premier universities in the country, what they do
becomes the model for other universities.
Therefore, it is important to know whether
what was discussed would help resolve the
problems of these universities. The same
vice-chancellors who created the problems
described earlier are now heading the committees working on the proposed changes.
Apparently, a council of the vice-chancellors of the Central Universities, with the Minister of HRD heading it, has been proposed. In
addition, all the Central Universities are to be
brought under a common Act, there is to be a
The claim that India has arrived on the world stage rings
hollow without an independent technology base.
decisions are not made on time.
All this is symptomatic of a lack of a vision
of higher education in the entire system
from the Ministry to the UGC to the institutions of higher learning. The Ministry and the
UGC expect their diktat to run, little realising
that their demands from these institutions
may not suit all. One size fits all and standardisation to achieve standards is anathema to higher education. Such prescriptions
damage the better institutions as has been the
case with the introduction of the mechanical
Academic Performance Indicator (API)based recruitment and promotions. Rather
than ensuring quality, this move has led to the
emergence of poor quality journals, conferences and so on and the promotion of mediocrity. It is undermining the autonomy of
academics which is crucial in fostering accountability to the long-term interest of
Key problems
The key problems confronting higher education in India are quality, equity, access and
financing. In the last 10 years, there has been
a massive ad hoc expansion of Central Universities, IITs and Indian Institutes of Management resulting in a shortage of faculty by
40 to 50 per cent. Established older institutions are doing a bit better but not much since
about 33 per cent of the positions at Delhi
CARTOONSCAPE
Watershed in
judicial history
he Supreme Court of India and the High
Courts, described as the most powerful judiciary in the world, are witnessing dramatic
changes in their institutional structure.
Pending notification, the legislature has passed the
Constitution (121st Amendment) Bill, 2014 and The
National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill,
2014 to regulate the procedure for recommending the
appointment and transfer of the Chief Justices and
Judges of these higher courts, marking a watershed in
judicial history. The new law provides for the setting up
of the National Judicial Appointments Commission
(NJAC), a six-member panel headed by the Chief Justice of India, and includes two senior-most Supreme
Court judges, the Union Minister of Law and Justice
and two eminent persons nominated by a committee
comprising the Prime Minister, the CJI and the Leader
of the Opposition. Although controversial, this represents a much-needed reform of the older collegium
system. That system was a judge-devised practice of
appointments that evolved out of the three-judges
cases (1982, 1993 and 1998) wherein the Chief Justice
along with a panel of senior-most judges would make a
binding recommendation to the President on the appointees. This model was a reaction to blatant favouritism by the executive that marked appointments until
the Supreme Court decided to change the procedure.
To avoid charges of favouritism, the collegiums relied
on seniority, which only encouraged more mediocrity.
Although such an inter-institutional model has the
potential to enhance merit and diversity in the judiciary, it is the fine print of law that raises questions.
With three of the six members being judges, a decision
of the Commission can be vetoed by any two members.
The judicial members of the NJAC lack the preponderance in voice necessary to maintain independence. The
fear is that the NJAC may encourage High Court judges
to give pro-government rulings with the object of gaining eventual promotion to the Supreme Court. This
problem was dealt with by the Venkatachaliah Committee, endorsed by the Vajpayee government, which
suggested a panel of three judges, the Union Minister
and only one eminent person, thus reducing the scope
for executive interference. Having a relook at this report might have been of value. But the BJP has ignored
it and instead demanded more say in the NJAC; the
Opposition did not seem to have any complaints about
the procedure either. With several influential lawyers
criticising the law for being a political assault on judicial independence, the constitutionality of the law is
about to be challenged in court. Whether this would
eventually lead to a conflict between the two wings of
the government, is something to be seen.
CM
YK
There
appears
to
be
a
disproportionate reaction to the
discussions on Indian mythology. I
wish to point out that mythology is
itself science.
Carl Jung, a student of Sigmund
Freud regarded as one of the
greatest men of the last
millennium in the scientific
exploration of the brain and in
turn, the mind has proved the
eternal presence of types including
the visionary one in the human
consciousness.
Mythological
themes, characters and situations
signify
all
the
possible
combinations and patterns of
human actions in the present and
also in the future. The past, the
present and the future can be
perceived in the patterns of
archetypes as seen in Greek,
Roman, Indian, Scandinavian
(Norse) and Chinese mythologies.
Mythology often unravels the
mystery of the human mind to
The claims of advanced science and some extent.
technology in the ancient world are
M. Vathapureeswaran
Erode
based on references in ancient
scripts (Editorial, Jan.6). In his
The Discovery of India, Jawaharlal Belief is a different thing and it
Nehru had said: If people believed cannot be tested by modern
in factual contents of these stories, science. Our mythology cannot be
the whole thing was absurd and described by science, which has its
ridiculous. But as soon as one own limitations. Even before
ceased believing in them, they modern science evolved, ancient
appeared in a new light, a new Indians
constructed
huge
beauty, a wonderful flowering of a structural marvels such as the Big
richly endowed imagination, full of Temple in Thanjavur. There are
human lessons. So, let us leave our many such outstanding examples.
wonderful mythologies as they are We invented the concept of zero,
and enjoy their beauty.
and mythology abounds in various
K.V. Ravindran, interesting discoveries such as the
Payyanur, Kerala pushpaka vimana. Ayurveda has
bound and not do away with them
for any kind of project.
Acquiring agricultural land has a
larger social dimension too as it
affects the food security of the
country. One must also consider
that there are many obstacles to
farming in India. Even at four
times the market rate, the cost of
land acquisition hardly exceeds 20
per cent of the capital expenditure
for many projects. Attempts are
being made to excessively highlight
the compensation part in order to
divert attention from larger issues.
The government could have done
well to understand that it can take
the SIA out of the Act but not out of
peoples minds. It can show up
again in different forms of
agitation which was what led to
LARR 2013 in the first place.
R. Sudhakar,
Bengaluru
GM crops
This refers to the report, Bt cotton
not to blame for farm distress:
scientists (Jan.6). India has
already
allowed
genetic
manipulation
technology
to
produce certain crops including
cotton. However, there has been a
hue and cry in India against its
expansion to other crops such as
rice and eggplant and in open field
trials. The real agenda of those who
advocate Genetically Modified
crops has been exposed by F.
William Engdahl in his book, Seeds
of Destruction: The Hidden
Agenda of Genetic Manipulation.
This skilfully researched book has
focussed on how a small sociopolitical American elite seeks to
establish control over the very
basis of human survival: the
provision of our daily bread;
Control the food and you control
the people. Even the Make in
India campaign bats for GM crops.
Allowing the patenting of life forms
in the hands of a select few is asking
for trouble.
Sudheer Kumar Kattamuri,
Guntur
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
10
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Philosophical investigations
I
Ananya Vajpeyi
The attack on
Charlie Hebdo
he horrific terrorist attack in Paris at the office
of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo is a
direct assault on the freedom of speech,
thought and expression, the fundamentals on
which all open, democratic societies are built. Ten staff
members at the satirical weekly, including four of its top
cartoonists, were gunned down by masked men who
entered the building and targeted the editorial meeting
in what seemed to be a well-planned and professional
operation. They left shouting Allahu-Akbar, killing two
policemen on the street outside before driving off in a
getaway car. Since 2006, when it first published the
Danish cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, Charlie Hebdo
had been under threat of violent attacks by Islamist
groups. Refusing to be intimidated, the publication continued to caricature Islam even after a firebombing in
November 2011, just as it also relentlessly lampooned
Christianity and Judaism its Christmas week cover
caricaturing the birth of Jesus was designed to provoke
and cause offence. Self-censorship in order not to hurt
religious sensibilities is now the norm in most parts of
the world, so too in India, where media and expressions
of popular culture including cinema, art and writing
have to walk the tightrope daily in deference to what
Salman Rushdie in an interview to this newspaper described as the non-existent right to not be offended:
the fracas caused by Hindutva groups against the film
PK is the most recent example of this. In truly democratic societies, this should not be the case, and that is what
Charlie Hebdo believed and practised. Irrespective of
what anyone thinks of its editorial policy, all who believe
in freedom of expression and the democratic way of life
must express solidarity with the magazine, and condemn this unspeakable act of violence against them.
Attacking democratic freedoms is part of a larger
agenda. Whether it is al-Qaeda, IS or any other group,
extremist ideology thrives best in a polarised society. If
the sizeable numbers of people adhering to the Muslim
faith have been able to resist Islamism, it is because
French republicanism has been able to surmount even
the most divisive controversies, such as the ban on
wearing the hijab and niqab in public and the Islamophobic discourse by the French right-wing parties
that surrounded it. While the inevitable security measures will have to be taken, it would be most unfortunate
if the attack on Charlie Hebdo were to give rise to a
backlash against French Muslims. That would result in
precisely what Islamist groups want an alienated
Muslim population that would become a recruiting
ground for their violent cause. Maintaining freedoms
and equality before the law in the face of a severe
challenge to security is the most difficult test for any
democratic polity and society.
On Indic antiquity
At a time when we are continually subjected to unsubstantiated claims about how
our ancestors made scientific discoveries and
technological advances thousands of years
before any other culture, it seems much more
valuable to learn about the principal problems that thinkers in our part of the world
were actually reflecting upon with great intensity, intelligence and sophistication in Indic antiquity. Self and Other, doubt and
decision, action and inaction, birth and
death, war and peace, bondage and freedom
these were matters of philosophical scrutiny over millennia, spread out over multiple
schools of thought, and locked in long-run-
CARTOONSCAPE
Unnatural death,
unnatural probe
he belated decision of the Delhi Police to treat
the death of Sunanda Pushkar in January
2014 as a case of murder may have ended the
year-long uncertainty about the fate of a
meandering probe that has been bogged down in forensic and medical investigations, but it also raises troubling questions about the functioning of the force.
Whatever the initial circumstantial clues that made
suicide a more probable cause of death, there was little
justification for the police to delay the registration of a
first information report until a year after she was found
dead in a hotel suite. And even that has been done more
than three months after a medical report categorically
said Ms. Pushkars death was unnatural and due to
poisoning. The latest report of December 29, 2014,
largely reiterated the finding. While the circumstances
signs emerged that not everything was all right between Ms. Pushkar and her husband Shashi Tharoor
when she had a spat on Twitter with a foreign journalist
just a day before her death did indicate that she may
have been under great psychological stress, there appeared to be some reluctance on the part of the police
to address suspicions of foul play. There were suggestions that she may have died of a drug overdose, and
adding to the theory was evidence found on the crime
scene. Two used strips of a drug meant to treat panic
and anxiety disorders, were found, but it was neither
prescribed for Ms. Pushkar nor was it consumed, as the
viscera analysis showed. It would not have been difficult to trace their origin by using the batch number or
ascertain if it was prescribed for her and by whom.
The theory that she suffered from Lupus has been
proved wrong by the final report that states categorically that Ms. Pushkar was a normal, healthy woman
with no ailments. It is to be hoped that the police will
probe the evidence that seemed to bolster the suicide
theory, besides getting to know the exact nature of the
poison involved, through overseas experts. The formation of a special team to carry forward the probe from
now on is a positive sign, but the lapse of nearly a year
bodes ill for the prospects of gathering credible and
relevant evidence to unearth the whole truth. The
investigation has undoubtedly been tardy, hesitant and
overcautious: a clear sign that it has been weighed
down by the stature of Mr. Tharoor. Some caution is
justified when political personages are involved to
avoid the impression of favouritism or vindictive targeting, but it should not be at the cost of a free and
impartial investigation. Sensitivity towards the privacy
of individuals involved cannot detract from the quest
for the truth.
CM
YK
Shootings in Paris
A low profile
On higher education
At a time when rhetoric rules the
roost, there is no room for an
Auction realities
The recent statements by the
government on the need for
transparency in decision-making,
enabling a friendly business
environment including necessary
infrastructure and on the need for
maximum governance would be just
rhetoric if the present spectrum
auction is carried out in the way it is
intended (Editorial, Jan.8). While
generating revenue is not bad, the
telecom industry must also not be
burdened unnecessarily as it will
eventually be passed on to
customers either by compromising
services or charging more.
Sharath Gowda P.,
Ramanagaram, Karnataka
The government of the day always
appears to be in a quandary while
auctioning public resources coal,
spectrum and so on. The high price
factor appears to be done keeping in
mind reactions from the CAG and
the media. The bottom line in all this
is that much is generated by public
reaction. A high price will get the
media saying that it will make an
expansion of business difficult. A
low price will trigger accusations of
aiding crony capitalism.
Sameep Kumar,
Patiala
ND-ND
10
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Democracy wins
in Sri Lanka
hen Mahinda Rajapaksa called a fresh
presidential election two years ahead of
the scheduled January 2016 end to his
second term in office, he did so because he
was confident of being voted back for another six years.
There was no real challenger on the horizon at that time,
and Mr. Rajapaksa, who had made the 2009 military
victory over the LTTE the main theme of his government, believed that Sinhalese voters would once again
repose their faith in him. Indeed, so entrenched had he
become that few imagined he would lose, and that too to
a relative unknown like Maithripala Sirisena, who was
the Health Minister in the Rajapaksa Cabinet. Mr. Sirisenas sudden emergence as a candidate of an opposition alliance took Mr. Rajapaksa by surprise. He had
been unable to see, surrounded as he was by a cabal, that
his one-family authoritarian rule had angered senior
members of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and taken the
shine off his image among the majority Sinhalese as the
President who ended a 30-year war. The Tamil voters in
the North and East, alienated as they were by the Rajapaksa governments abject failure to face up to the challenges of post-war ethnic reconciliation, were always
going to vote against him. The foot-dragging on investigations into alleged war crimes, the militarisation
of the Tamil-dominated North, the hardships that this
posed for the people, and the huge political failure on
devolution of powers all ensured that the Tamil vote
would go against him. Another significant minority, the
Muslims, also shifted their allegiance away from Mr.
Rajapaksa as a thuggish group of Sinhalese hardliners,
the Bodu Bala Sena, went on the rampage against the
community every now and then, with no apparent attempt by the government to crack down on communal
violence even after a bout of deadly rioting in 2013. The
departure of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress from the
ruling coalition to the Sirisena camp just days ahead of
the election, was the final blow against the Rajapaksa
regime.
Mr. Sirisena rode to victory on an out-and-out antiRajapaksa vote that rendered irrelevant his own perceived handicaps: the absence of personal charisma; a
late start; doubts about whether a candidate of a diverse
opposition group could provide a stable leadership; and
the lack of resources in comparison to what the incumbent had at his disposal. He had to his advantage a
rural base in the north-central districts of Sri Lanka, and
aside from the backing of a ginger group of the ruling
SLFP that defected along with him, the backing of the
main opposition United National Party, and the Jathika
Hela Urumaya, a party of Buddhist monks. With this he
managed to poll nearly half of all Sinhalese votes cast,
sweeping up in addition the Tamil and Muslim votes to
win 51.28 per cent of the vote share compared to his
opponents 47.58. The outcome is an unequivocal victory for democracy and a lesson to the whole region in
peaceful regime change.
The new President of Sri Lanka has his work cut out.
To begin with, the focus is bound to be on Mr. Sirisenas
campaign promise to abolish the powerful Executive
Presidency, which will require a constitutional amendment supported by two-thirds of Parliament, a difficult
proposition. One option before him is to dissolve Parliament and call a fresh election a year ahead of schedule.
The coalition itself is made up of disparate and mutually
antagonistic parties that must learn to work together.
UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe has already been
named the new Prime Minister. Former President
Chandrika Kumaratunga, who, after retiring from politics in 2005 re-emerged on the scene to mentor the
SLFP defectors, may well emerge as a third power centre. Quickly, Mr. Sirisena will need to repair the mucheroded confidence in Sri Lanka as a country that respects the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and
media freedom. Most importantly, the new dispensation
must waste no time in addressing the Tamil demand for
a just peace, because on this hinges the future of the
country itself. With his vast powers, Mr. Sirisena can
immediately redress some long-standing demands including returning to Tamils the land owned by them that
the Army took over in the 1990s and has stubbornly
refused to vacate. Devolution of powers to the Northern
Province should also be high on his list of priorities, and
if a new Constitution is being planned with a Westminster-style government, just power-sharing with the
Tamil minority should find a place. The new dispensation will also need to move speedily on addressing alleged war crimes, starting with ascertaining how many
Tamil civilians actually died in the last phases of the war.
But Tamil stridency on these demands will hinder rather than help matters. As the main and most credible
political representative of the Tamils, the Tamil National Alliance must play a responsible role.
Tamil Nadus political parties must desist from fanning any extremist demands, for which there is no place
on either side of the Palk Strait. For New Delhi, the
change in Sri Lanka presents the opportunity to build a
bilateral relationship that is based on mutual trust and
honesty rather than on mutual suspicion. In recent
months, the growing military relationship between Colombo and Beijing was one of the big concerns in New
Delhi. As a sovereign country, Sri Lanka must be free to
choose its friends and allies. But the least New Delhi can
expect is that its defence concerns will not be compromised by a friendly neighbour. Indias relations with Sri
Lanka are civilisational, not contractual, and despite all
the ups and downs, the ties between the people of both
countries, based on culture, religion and trade, have
continued to flourish. Both countries have a common
strategic interest in a peaceful Indian Ocean. It is from
this large base that both must now work to strengthen
mutually beneficial ties.
CM
YK
ther than among the diehard supporters of the outgoing Sri Lankan
President, Mahinda Rajapaksa,
there was no doubt about the victory of Maithripala Sirisena, the common Opposition candidate in the countrys
Presidential election held on January 8. Yet,
what surprised Mr. Rajapaksas supporters
and opponents alike was his decision to concede defeat and leave the official residence
early morning of the day after, hours before
even a third of the official election results
were out. A peaceful transfer of power without post-election violence, after a relatively
peaceful election campaign, is testimony to
the resilience of Sri Lankas democracy after
three decades of civil war and half-a-decade
of semi-authoritarianism.
Revival of democracy
Based on political calculations as well as
astrological advice, Mr. Rajapaksa called for
fresh presidential elections in November
2014, two years before the constitutionally
scheduled time. He sought an unprecedented
third term, a facility he created for himself by
altering Sri Lankas Constitution. A third
term would have secured the continuity of his
familys grip over the Sri Lankan state, backed
by an alliance with political loyalists and the
new business class which he and his family
had created. However, many observers
feared, and not without good reason, that a
third term for Mr. Rajapaksa would have
robbed Sri Lankas democracy of whatever
little vigour was left in it. Further closure of
the democratic space through populist authoritarianism would have enabled him to
further consolidate his model of a developmentalist-national security state. The democratic will of the Sri Lankan voters has now
stalled those possibilities.
How will Mr. Sirisena, the new President,
fulfil his electoral promises?
The main idea that animated the Sri Lankan voter has been his promise of regime
change for good governance. It is amazing
that a concept which is a part of the neoliberal political discourse has been appropriated in the vernacular, democratic political
imagination for the revival of democratic politics. Mr. Sirisenas election campaign
stressed democratic and corruption-free gov-
CARTOONSCAPE
Terror in France
Terrorism has become more
sophisticated in the 21st century
(Editorial, and Two Paris gunmen
still on the run, Jan.9), perhaps on
account of better organisational
capabilities, the use of social media
for communication, the consequent
spread of ideology and recruitment,
military-style training, and linkages
with organised crime across
national boundaries. It is in this
context that the importance of
global
cooperation
against
terrorism as articulated in the G-20
talks comes in.
Ratan Betegowda,
Bengaluru
What happened in France is tragic,
but it is evident that people
everywhere
are
increasingly
becoming hypersensitive. Perhaps
leaving people to follow/practise
their respective religions in
whatever form they want as long as
they do not encroach on the others
beliefs and practices is fine. The
On philosophy
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Waiting for
government
fter a bitter campaign and a hotly contested
election, political parties in Jammu and
Kashmir could not possibly have come to a
quick agreement on power-sharing and government-formation. With the post-poll negotiations
complicated further by the nature of the verdict
different communities in different regions voted differently Governors Rule was perhaps inevitable in
the short term. Clearly, there was a polarisation along
religious lines with the Peoples Democratic Party winning most of its seats in the Valley, and the Bharatiya
Janata Party failing to get a single seat outside of the
Jammu region. Ladakh, incidentally, favoured the Congress. As the single largest party with 28 seats in the
87-member Assembly, the PDP took the lead in the
negotiations to form a government. But contrary to
what PDP leaders would have the people of J&K believe, the sticking points in their negotiations with the
BJP are not Article 370 or the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act. Assurances on such serious issues cannot
possibly be obtained or given by political parties as part
of bargaining for power. What is at stake for the PDP is
the chief ministership for the entire six-year term. For
the BJP, similarly, getting a shot at the chief ministership, even if only for half a term, is extremely important as a step forward in its expansion plans in J&K.
The offer of support from National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah only
made matters worse for the PDP. Although the BJP is
its ideological opposite, the PDP would have preferred
a power-sharing agreement with the saffron party than
with its main rival in Kashmir, the NC. With the opening up of the possibility of support from the NC and the
Congress, the PDP now will have more trouble explaining to its support base any tie-up with the BJP. For the
PDP, sharing power with the NC would also have meant
conceding some of the ground it had wrested from that
party in the last few years. The PDP can hope to expand
only at the expense of the NC, and too close an identification with the NC could harm the PDPs long-term
prospects in the Valley. Forming a government under
these circumstances is certainly difficult, but J&K
surely deserves an elected government after the people
turned out to vote in large numbers. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi spoke with justifiable pride about the
peaceful election and the high voting percentage, but
the democratic process would not be complete until
J&K gets an elected government committed to its
growth and development. All parties might need to
rethink their negotiation strategy. What is required of
them is the scaling down of personal ambitions, and a
readiness to be more accommodative to political rivals.
Hussains journey
The executions of five more men have been
scheduled for January 14, at Karachi Central
Jail. All have been convicted of sectarian murders. There was also to have been a sixth,
Shafqat Hussain, until, under immense public
pressure, the government stayed his execution earlier this week. Hussain has been on
death row since he was convicted, a decade
ago, a few months before turning 14, of killing
a seven-year-old boy.
Hussains journey mirrors the path hundreds of thousands of rural poor in South Asia
take to its energetic, growing cities in search
of work. He grew up in Neelam valley in Pakistan-controlled-Kashmir. Hussain dropped
out of school after his father, a farmer, had a
stroke and was unable to work. His beautiful
mountain valley had no work to offer. In early
2004, when he was 13 years old, he left his
village with a friend and made the long journey across multiple cultures, weather systems, and 1,300 miles to the megacity of
Karachi.
Photographs are a luxury for the South
Asian poor. The sole picture of Hussain is a
portion torn out of a group photograph taken
before he moved to Karachi: a wiry boy in a
white shirt and a thick black mop of hair. His
long, oval face is tense; his green eyes stare
self-consciously into the camera.
Karachi is a centrifugal construction site of
a city. Hussain found work as a watchman for
a half-built apartment complex in the North
Nazimabad area. He kept an eye on the building materials and slept at the construction site
at night. After the apartment block was complete, Hanif Memon, a cloth merchant, and his
family were among the first tenants to move
in. Memons wife would often leave her chil-
CARTOONSCAPE
No room
for choice
ollowing massive protests over the death of 13
women who underwent the sterilisation procedure of tubectomy in Bilaspur district of
Chhattisgarh last November, the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare has written to all States
reminding them that every person should be counselled about the different family planning options available. The letter completely contradicts the Union
governments intent of achieving population stabilisation almost exclusively through sterilisation. In a
letter sent in October 2014 to 11 high-focus States, the
Ministry had noted that the 2020 family planning goals
had underlined the importance of sterilisation surgeries in these States. Even the recently released draft
National Health Policy 2015 highlights the challenge
of population stabilisation in six of the 11 States. In
order to achieve the annual targets, the government
recently increased the compensation given to women/
men, motivators (Accredited Social Health Activists)
and doctors. If the revised incentive given to motivators is Rs.200 for tubectomy and Rs.300 for vasectomy,
the amount is as high as Rs.1,000 for a permanent
limiting method (tubectomy or vasectomy) in the case
of couples after up to two children. The higher incentive earmarked for permanent limiting methods is
another reason why more women will now end up on
the operating table. The government recently added a
new component post-partum sterilisation done soon
after or within seven days of delivery. This approach
works to the governments advantage as more women
are opting for institutional delivery to avail of the cash
incentive earmarked for it.
Given the governments primary focus on permanent and irreversible family planning options, the
question of counselling women on the different options and giving them full freedom to choose the best
one, will at best remain on paper, and not in practice.
Sterilisation is the most prevalent form of contraception in the country, constituting nearly 75 per cent of
the total cases. The proportion of tubectomies to total
sterilisations has been around 95 per cent since 2005;
nearly 4.5 million tubectomies have been performed
each year since 2000. With a high number of tubectomies conducted every year and in a camp-based approach, tubectomy-related deaths as a result of poor
quality of care will be inevitable even when they are
done in health-care facilities. Unfortunately, the campbased approach is set to continue. The pressure to meet
targets, the incentives given to motivators and doctors
and the permanent nature of sterilisation would mean
that the question of counselling men and women of the
different options may remain on paper.
CM
YK
Terror in Paris
to torture, he said.
On August 8, 2004, an anti-terror court in
Karachi sentenced Hussain to death.
Promoting science
As feared by all right-thinking,
rational Indians, the project of
turning mythology and past
imagination into science has begun
in earnest a project led by the
Sangh and supported by the
government in power. But I can
also see a welcome development of
countering this madness (Sunday
Anchor page, Jan.11) as many
people and the media have started
speaking
up
against
the
motivations and implications of
this project. Beyond this, my faith
and hope lie in the ordinary Indian
citizen exercising his/her common
sense. After all, would you want
your child to grow up believing
aeroplanes can be flown with cow
power? Would you want your child
to live in a spurious world of
credulity or the real and rational
world of opportunity and progress?
Issue of liability
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Striking truths in
the coal sector
he government may have won the first round
in its tussle with employees of public sector
monolith Coal India, but stiffer challenges lie
ahead as it attempts to reform an industry
that is critical to the countrys growth. Last week, Coal
India employee unions called off on the second day
what was to have been a five-day strike. This was after
the government managed to convince them that there
were no plans to denationalise Coal India, and set up a
high-level committee to study the contentious provisions of the ordinance to auction coal blocks that was
issued late last month. The unions were also exercised
about the disinvestment plans of the government. In
the event, assurances from the government that workers interests would be protected and that disinvestment did not mean privatisation of Coal India were
enough to prematurely end what would have turned
out to be a debilitating blow for the economy. Coal
stocks, never healthy in power stations across India,
dipped to critically low levels within two days of the
strike. Ironically enough, the key lesson to be drawn
from the strike is exactly what the employees unions
were protesting against broad-basing the industry by
opening it up to private commercial mining. It is unhealthy for a critical infrastructure industry to be the
sole preserve of a single, monolithic enterprise.
Statistics prove the point. Coal output in the country
has grown at an average of 6 per cent over the last five
years even as power generation capacity three-fifths
of which is coal-based has raced ahead at a much
faster pace. Coal India has failed to meet its targets for
each of the last six years, with the result that India is
now the third largest coal importer in the world despite
boasting of the fourth largest reserves. Last fiscal the
country spent around $17 billion of precious foreign
exchange to import 168 million tonnes of coal to cover
up for Coal Indias inability to meet demand. Mercifully, coal prices have been on the downswing in recent
times, helping importers. However, imports are projected to rise to as much as 240 million tonnes in
2015-16. This is where private investment in commercial mining comes in as the latter can add to incremental output and reduce imports. Coal Indias unions
need to be reassured by the government that there is
space for both Coal India and the private sector as
GDP grows and along with it, power demand. If anything, the terms of work and wages will only improve
with the entry of the private sector; telecom and banks
are good examples of this. The government needs to
take Coal Indias unions into confidence about its plans
as the company is crucial to meeting the Prime Ministers target of round-the-clock power for all by 2022.
ndias general election is the largest exercise of its kind in the democratic
world. Since it fell on me to oversee
four out of five phases of the election in
2009, it was also viewed by the country as
being my responsibility. This task included
every aspect of its planning, including visits
to the naxal-affected States in the run-up to
the election. With 716 million voters, almost
8,35,000 polling stations and several million
officials in service, there was no dearth of
problems, all of which had either to have
been anticipated or attended to in the shortest period. Time was short. In this case, there
were barely 76 days from the announcement
of polls to the date of counting of votes.
I do not intend to go into the reasons that
have caused the growth of armed insurgency,
a protracted war of sorts, that has been waged
against the state since the 1960s. Its history is
complex and arguments, for and against, continue to be made. Underlying the Maoist philosophy has been its opposition to the very
concept of the democratic state. The Maoist
view (and which still remains) was that it was
a peoples war against an unjust government.
Hence, conducting elections was to be opposed by all means available, and which justified the use of extreme violence. Towards
this end, anyone who opposed its call for a
boycott was a potential target, and which
included political parties and candidates,
election staff and ordinary voters. My task
was to ensure that the election would be
conducted on schedule but by avoiding the
risk of loss of life or limb using all means
available.
CARTOONSCAPE
Policy distorts
gender equity
he Supreme Court recently refused to hear a
petition challenging the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2014
on procedural grounds, sending it back to the
High Court. The controversial ordinance introduces a
set of educational qualifications of secondary education in order to be able to contest panchayat elections.
For the post of sarpanch, Class VIII is the minimum
qualification, while posts in the zilla parishad require a
Class X pass. The petition is currently being heard by
the Rajasthan High Court. The ordinance was challenged by several non-governmental organisations and
political parties including the Congress. The BJP,
which had inexplicably taken the ordinance route in
the State, welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court
and hailed it as a victory of truth. The rationale of the
law is to encourage education and literacy. The problem is not with the ends, but with the means. Although
the ordinance may be constitutionally valid as the facts
are analogous to the reasoning of the Supreme Court in
Javed (2003), it is at the level of policy that the law is
weak. In Javed, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a provision that stipulated that no person
who has more than two children could be elected as the
sarpanch or panch of a panchayat. A similar reasoning
may be applied in the case of this ordinance as well. The
Javed judgment was criticised for its reasoning as also
its consequences, such as instances where men gave
their daughters up for adoption to be able to contest
elections. Ironically, it is not difficult for those who are
influential to obtain false Class X certificates either.
In India, the right to vote is only a statutory right, but
the act of voting is a constitutionally protected freedom of expression under Article 19, as a fundamental
right (PUCL, 2013). The freedom to vote is inseparable
from the freedom to contest in elections, and hence a
policy of encouraging education cannot arguably prevail over fundamental rights. The law is a major setback
to the constitutional mandate of ensuring gender
equality in panchayati governance where the Rajasthan government has provided for 50 per cent reservation for women. In rural areas, the literacy rate of
women is only 45.8 per cent in tribal areas it is 25.22
per cent as opposed to the corresponding male literacy rate of 76.16 per cent. The law therefore excludes the
majority of potential women contestants. The educational qualification norms, on top of the existing massive inequality in literacy rates, will reduce womens
participation in politics. Lastly, several grassroots activists argue that panchayat governance requires ethical values and an understanding of local issues gained
from experience, more than Class X certificates.
CM
YK
Growing threat
Inspite of the many obstacles, including 17
deaths from Maoist attacks in two States,
elections were held on time. There was 55 per
cent polling in the first phase and 65 per cent
in the second. This was quite a good turnout
considering the circumstances, and the press
commented on the triumph of ballot over
bullet. Yet, there were violent incidents and
loss of life. These continued immediately after the election process was over, when on
May 21, 16 police personnel including five
policewomen were gunned down in Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra.
In 2006, the Prime Minister described the
naxal threat as the greatest internal security
problem that India faced. Between 2006 and
2010, there were an estimated 9,000 incidents in Maoist-dominated States; in the
election year of 2009, when there was also an
Assembly election in Jharkhand, there were
as many as 1,100 incidents.
This internal conflict has deeply affected
Indias governance, security, economy and
rule of law. In February 2009, the government initiated an Integrated Action Plan.
This involves broad and more coordinated
operations alongside grass-root economic
development projects. However, our track
record in understanding this very complex
problem has been spasmodic at best. A much
more comprehensive, holistic and sustained
policy involving across-the-board views particularly within the severely affected States,
is long overdue. From the singular point of
the conduct of future elections, our reputation as a successful democratic beacon will
henceforth depend on the ability of the government to find solutions to this growing
problem within our polity.
(Navin B. Chawla, Chief Election
Commissioner of India from April 16, 2009 to
July 29, 2010, conducted the countrys
general election to the 15th Lok Sabha.)
Kongus chronicler
The conduct of societies and
communities is shaped by social
norms that evolve over time (In
defence of the chronicler of Kongu,
Jan.12). What is repugnant today
might have been acceptable earlier
to some sections of society. There is
no need to be ashamed or
indignantly
righteous
merely
because a writer spoke about the
existence of certain practices which
appear obnoxious when judged by
modern standards of morality. Even
the so-called enlightened West
patronised socially undesirable
institutions such as slavery as late
as the 19th century. Can anybody
pretend that slavery did not exist?
When a writer holds a mirror up to
unpleasant facts, like desperate
Baseless assertions
Michel Daninos article, Neglect of
knowledge traditions (Jan.4), has
blamed Indian historians for
neglecting the traditional scientific
knowledge of India. Since his own
work on ancient India, especially its
achievements in science and
technology, is of an elementary
level and lacks scientific rigour, he
could have benefited from the
works of several scholars who have
written on the subject. But he has
preferred to remain totally ignorant
of the historiography of ancient
Indian science.
His ignorance shows in his
preposterous and unsupported
assertion that I have not read the
work of Aryabhata and that all my
statements about him are factually
wrong. Also, Mr. Danino is
completely oblivious of the fact that
my Ancient India is only a brief
survey of major developments in
ancient India and presents a
synthesis of the available historical
knowledge; it is not intended to be a
detailed history of ancient Indian
science. Incidentally, since the
terminus ad quem of the period
covered in the book is the Sixth
Century CE, his insistence that
later
Indian
mathematicians
(Brahmagupta, Bhaskar, Mahavira,
etc.) should have found a place in it
makes clear his ignorance of their
chronology.
D.N. Jha,
Former Professor & Chair,
Department of History,
Delhi University
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Another election
in Delhi
lot has changed in Delhi in the last one year.
Between the last election in December 2013
and the next in February 2015, Delhi would
have seen the ups and downs of both the
Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party. After
the hung Assembly of 2013, when the AAP made a
brilliant debut and formed a government with the support of the Congress, Delhi voted overwhelmingly for
the BJP in the Lok Sabha election in 2014. Now, however, the contest seems more even in the Assembly election, called after no party was able or willing to form a
government. What was without doubt a vote for the
BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi last year in the Lok Sabha election is unlikely to be
repeated this year in the Assembly election, when the
issues and the candidates are very different. AAP firebrand Arvind Kejriwal is not taking on Narendra Modi,
but just another BJP leader. Unlike in a Lok Sabha
election, when the AAP could not have expected to be
accepted as a serious contender, in the Assembly polls
the fast-growing party is attracting more volunteers
and resources. Mr. Kejriwal and his advisers, who
messed up their chance in government by first pursuing unsustainable populist measures and then opting
out of governance, seem to have learnt from their
mistakes. After raising doubts in the public mind over
their ability to govern, AAP leaders now appear keen to
demonstrate that they are more than a bunch of anarchist protesters and that they intend to back systemic
changes and push for Delhis development in a practical manner. In 2013 they rode on the promise they held;
in 2014 they paid for failing to deliver; and this year
they have more of a programme to offer.
As for the BJP, whether in Maharashtra, Haryana or
Jharkhand, it has been unable to rise to the levels of its
Lok Sabha success in Assembly elections. Mr. Modi
seems to find it harder to win individual States for his
party than he did to win the Lok Sabha election. Of
course, some of the difficulties have been on account of
the BJPs own chosen strategy of ditching alliancepartners in the search for absolute glory. In Delhi, a
traditional stronghold, no ally could have added greatly
to its vote share, and the party is preparing for a
straight contest with the AAP. In 2013 the BJP had to
fight the Congress and the AAP almost with equal
vehemence; now, however, the Congress, no longer in
power at the Centre or in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, is seen as a lesser threat. The AAP, with a
more sober style that is very different from the idealistic foray of 2013 and the overambitious leap of 2014,
is seeking to close the gap with the BJP. In any case, this
election is likely to be more decisive than 2013.
The intellectual can hurt with his words. The soldier can
hurt with his weapons. We live in the world where the former
is acceptable, even encouraged. The latter is not.
sensitivity or over-sensitivity. But we can
measure the outcome of the actions of the
killers. We can therefore easily condemn violence. That it caused hurt, rage, humiliation,
enough for some people to grab guns, is a
non-measurable assumption, a belief. Belief
is a joke for the rational atheist.
The intellectual can hurt with his/her
words. The soldier can hurt with his/her
weapons. We live in the world where the
former is acceptable, even encouraged. The
latter is not. It is a neo-Brahminism that the
global village has adopted. Those who think
and speak are superior to those who beat and
kill, even if the wounds created by wordmissiles can be deeper, last longer and fester
forever. Gandhi, the non-violent sage, is thus
pitted against Godse, the violent brute. I, the
intellectual, have the right to provoke; but
enemies of civic discourse, who resort to violence. They are not as bad as the Charlie
killers, but seem to be on the same path.
CARTOONSCAPE
Silencing a
sensitive writer
oted Tamil novelist Perumal Murugans
Facebook page went blank on Tuesday in a
virtual closure of his identity as a writer, in a
shocking illustration of the growing intolerance of fringe groups constricting public discourse. It is
ironic that the author was made to virtually recant to
buy peace after the recent controversy over his novel
Madhorubhagan, first published in December 2010,
purportedly offended the sensibilities of some dominant sections of society in the western Kongu belt of
Tamil Nadu. This, ironically at a time when many parts
of the world are uniting in solidarity to uphold freedom
of expression in the wake of the terror attack on the
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. At a peace
committee meeting in the Namakkal Collectorate on
Monday, pro-Hindu caste outfits whose protests took
the form of burning copies of the book and organising a
hartal in Tiruchengode town, reportedly consented to
call off their protests after the author agreed to issue
an unconditional apology, delete controversial portions in the book, withdraw unsold copies from the
market and not to write on controversial subjects hurting sentiments of the people. This pact, at the intervention of the local administration, is
notwithstanding the fact that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata
Party had distanced themselves from the protests, saying they were localised popular stirs.
Set in the backdrop of a pre-Independence era belief
system involving consensual sex ritually associated
with the annual car festival of the Sri Arthanareeshwarar Temple in Tiruchengode, Perumal Murugans
fifth novel is by most accounts in Tamil literary circles
a very sensitive and poignant portrait of the dilemmas of a poor childless couple. (Lord Siva in the Arthanareeshwarar form is in Hindu mythology and
traditional philosophical understanding a reassuring
symbol of the unity of purush, or self, and prakriti, or
nature.) The Penguin-published English version, One
Part Woman, is about how far would you go to conceive a child? Politics may have no patience for such
conflicting values, but in Indian intellectual traditions
from ancient times, the spirit of orthodoxy and heterodoxy have coexisted. Sectarian disputes are nothing
new, while writers being able to reflect on socio-economic-cultural issues in the light of received knowledge is the key to an open society. The rights under the
Constitution are designed to protect the freedom of
expression of writers like Perumal Murugan who may
seek to question uncomfortable truths from the past. It
is a pity that a range of forces conspired to silence him.
CM
YK
Satirical truth
A rejoinder
EDITORIAL
10
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Voting from
abroad
he Union government has agreed, in letter
and spirit, to implement the Supreme Court
direction and the Election Commissions recommendation to allow Non-Resident Indians
to vote from overseas through postal ballots. Given the
large NRI community dispersed globally, this move will
undoubtedly have an impact on the countrys electoral
politics in significant ways. Parliament passed the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act in 2010 to
introduce Section 20A that enables a person who is a
citizen of India, and is away from her ordinary residence in India for employment, education or other
reasons, to be eligible to be registered as a voter in the
constituency mentioned in her Indian passport: before
that amendment, only ordinary residents could cast
their vote. Although the 2010 amendment intended to
include NRI participation in national politics, Section
20A had required NRIs to be physically present in their
respective constituencies at the time of elections. Making it impractical for voters, this requirement defeated
the intention of the legislature. A petition was filed in
the Supreme Court praying that Section 20A of the Act
be read down so as to allow NRIs to vote from abroad
without having to be present in India. The petition
argued that the provision was in violation of Article 14
of the Constitution to the extent that it impliedly treated persons on a different footing based on economic
classifications. The Supreme Court and the government
agreed with this contention without hesitation.
The traditional argument against such external voting has been that only citizens who are present in the
territory and affected by the consequences of their vote
should be entitled to vote. As per this argument, since
NRIs lacked sound knowledge about domestic conditions, they would be irresponsible in their electoral
choices. But this argument is fast being disproved by
empirical evidence. With the rapid increase in crossborder migrations, the concept of nationhood and political membership is increasingly being decoupled from
territorial locations. Indias move towards enabling voting from overseas is an instance of a larger global trend
towards increased citizen participation. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an inter-governmental organisation, lists
different voting methods that can be employed, such as
personal voting, where voters can cast their vote at
diplomatic missions abroad; postal ballot method,
where votes are sent by regular post; proxy vote and
electronic voting. From amongst these alternatives,
the government has decided to employ the postal ballot
route that the electoral system already uses for absentee-voters on official duty.
his article will not go into the question of the propriety of the ordinance route to legislation in this
case, but will try to present a broadbrush picture of what the ordinance does to
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation
and Resettlement Act 2013, hereafter LARR
Act 2013.
The general industry view, accepted by the
present government, is that the LARR Act
2013 was a radical and draconian law which
will bring industrial development to a halt.
That view led to the conclusion that the Act
needed to be urgently amended drastically. It
is therefore necessary to take a brief look at
the history of the Act.
give it to industry.
Should the process of diversion of land
from agricultural use to industrial use be in
fact easy? Should there not be some salutary
difficulty here? First, there is the question of
food security. The transfer of land from agriculture to other use cannot and should not be
prevented, but some consideration of what
the unregulated transfer of land away from
agriculture implies for the food security of
the country seems necessary. LARR 2013
ruled out the acquisition of multi-cropped
agricultural land. That provision has been
criticised, but it showed a certain concern
that was legitimate. That concern has dis-
the 2013 Act without a review. Apart from the appeared in the present ordinance.
merits of the ordinance, this is an authorA second justification for a degree of diffiitarian,
partisan
and
undemocratic culty in land acquisition is the protection of
procedure.
the interests of the landowner. No doubt the
ordinance retains the generous compensaLosing a way of life
tion provisions of the 2013 Act, but is it solely
It has been argued that development nec- a question of money? The acquisition of land
essarily entails the transfer of land from agri- means not merely loss of land and homeculture to industry, but this is something that stead, but also loss of livelihoods, loss of a
happens over a period of time. It does not community and cultural continuities, loss of
follow that this must be actively facilitated, a way of life. This is bound to be a traumatic
supported and actually brought about by the experience. The Social Impact Assessment
state using its sovereign powers. It is curious (SIA) provisions of the 2013 Act would have
that those who argue for reducing the role of brought to notice the wider social and culturthe state and deregulating industry want al implications of the acquisition of land, but
the state to take land away from farmers and that Act itself had exempted irrigation pro-
CARTOONSCAPE
Expansion
and crisis
o see Lithuanias euro adoption this month as
an entry into a losers club is to miss the
geopolitical picture wherein several of the exWarsaw Pact states have staked their future
on forging a European identity to the consternation
of Russia. The admission of Vilnius into the single
currency bloc represents a landmark of sorts. The move
completes the accession of the three Baltic constituents
of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR) Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to the three
main western institutions. These are the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union
(EU) and now the eurozone. The European ambitions of
another erstwhile Soviet state, Ukraine, as demonstrated by its Parliaments vote in December to join NATO,
underpins in no small measure the ongoing separatist
conflict in Kiev. Slovenia and Slovakia are the only other
former Eastern bloc regions that have similarly acceded
to all the three institutions. Against this backdrop, the
flow of western investment, greater export potential
and low borrowing cost resulting from integration into
the eurozone would seem far more attractive to the
Lithuanian population of a few million.
The country has long felt the lock-in effects of a fixed
exchange rate as the litas, the national currency until
2014, was pegged to the euro some years ago. Lithuanias entry was not without its share of controversy
when some legislators expressed scepticism about the
countrys preparedness to sacrifice the flexibility of a
national currency. But the continuing crisis in the eurozone would have deterred Vilnius. With the exception
of the United Kingdom and Denmark, accession to the
EU implies a commitment to eventual adoption of the
common currency by member-states once they have
complied with the economic convergence criteria. Lithuania has so far been the lone euro aspirant whose 2006
bid was put on hold as Vilnius narrowly overshot the
inflation limit for eligibility. But the expanded euro area
comprising 19 countries is not expected to witness further enlargement in the foreseeable future. Except Romania, which has set itself a 2019 target, none of the
other states has even given itself a euro-entry deadline.
Realising the eurozone targets on fiscal deficits has been
among the more ticklish issues within the bloc, with
major economies and the architects of the rules themselves found to be in violation. Greater macroeconomic
policy coherence is an admirable objective and an imperative for countries that use a common currency. But
such an ideal must be balanced with political pragmatism as long as national capitals remain in charge of
policy-formulation. That is the lesson from the euros
15-year history so far.
CM
YK
Giving up writing
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
10
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
RBIs surprise
rate cut
he ability to surprise the markets is an important trait of central banking and Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan displayed that when he cut interest rates by 0.25
percentage points early on Thursday. Given the favourable economic data releases of the last one week on
inflation and industrial output, a rate cut was expected,
if at all, in the next bimonthly monetary policy of the
RBI scheduled for February 3, but Dr. Rajan chose to act
ahead of that. In a way, the Governor was only keeping a
promise he had made at the time of the last policy
announcement in December, that monetary policy
stance could change outside of the policy review cycle if
circumstances justified the same. The rate cut, given its
quantum, may be largely symbolic and not lead to a
significant drop in borrowing costs for individuals and
companies, but it signals an important shift in the monetary policy position of the central bank. The signal is
clear: the easing cycle has begun and more, deeper cuts
are likely if inflation and the Centres fiscal deficit remain under control in the near future. Little wonder
then that the stock market reacted with such exuberance to the first rate cut in 20 months and also the
maiden one of Dr. Rajans tenure the benchmark S&P
BSE Sensex shot up by 729 points or 2.66 per cent as
hopes soared of a revival in investment and
consumption.
Having delivered on a long-standing demand of India
Inc, the Governor has now shifted the onus on to the
Centre to ensure that the rate easing cycle is sustained.
He left little doubt in anybodys mind, clearly pointing
out that further easing is contingent on the continuation
of the disinflationary process in the economy. Also critical will be the success of the government in meeting its
stiff fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent this fiscal. In
addition, Dr. Rajan has also pointed, correctly, to the
need for continuing efforts to overcome supply constraints and ensure availability of inputs such as power,
land, minerals and infrastructure. With tax revenues
growing at well below the expected rate, the telecom
spectrum auction coming up in February and the disinvestment programmes in public sector companies assume crucial importance. The Budget for 2015-16, which
will be presented in February, is also important as it will
reveal the fiscal consolidation plans of the government.
As for corporate India, the rate cut may appear small and
might not translate into significantly cheaper funds as
yet. But it should be taken for what it is: a cue that the
central bank is now comfortable with the macro economic indicators and has started the rate easing process.
It is now up to the corporate sector to get back to the
drawing board and start investing afresh.
An unreasonable silence
In the face of this violence, the State apparatus and political parties stood in unreasonable silence. Rather than protecting the
rights of the writer, Perumal Murugan, the
district administration organised a peace
meeting with the caste and religious outfits,
extracting from him an unconditional apology, deletion of portions in the book, withdrawal of unsold copies and a promise not to
write on controversial subjects hurting sentiments of people.
Forcing a writer to recant his words, making him apologise for his imaginary feat, and
extracting from him his dignity as a writer, is
an act of tyranny and unacceptable violence.
It is precisely this violence that was wrought
on Perumal Murugan.
A society that allows for its storytellers to
be supervised and silenced is a society that is
CARTOONSCAPE
The year
of Paris
s the world heads towards a new climate treaty
by the end of the year, with Lima providing a
bare-bones launching pad, many of the issues
that have dogged negotiations will reach a
flashpoint. Countries need to do more as was evident
during the UN climate talks but there is not much ambition reflected either in terms of finance or technology
transfer. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has reached
just over $10 billion, far short of what developing countries need to carry out urgent actions. The Synthesis
Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) has clearly laid a strong scientific basis,
and adaptation alone will not save the earth from warming to levels which will have irreversible effects. The way
the developed world is positioning itself, it is doubtful
whether the issue of its historical responsibility will be
the mainstay of the new treaty, post 2020. India maintains that developed countries have to pay for their
pollution, and technology transfer cannot be entangled
in intellectual property rights. Funding for mitigation
and adaptation in the developing world becomes crucial
but the principle of common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR) has taken a hard hit in recent times.
Countries like the United Kingdom have already ruled
out a separate allocation of funds in addition to development aid for climate actions.
The developed world contends that emerging economies like China and India cannot be treated on a par with
other developing nations and that they have an equal
responsibility to curb emissions. The polluter pays principle is already wilting under pressure from the first
world, and will be tested as erstwhile polluters develop
cleaner technology and pass it on to their poorer cousins.
A case in point is the investment Europe has made in
solar energy with feed-in tariffs which has brought down
the costs of photovoltaics. Renewable energy becomes
the focus in countries like India and China, which has
already reached a bilateral agreement with the U.S. on
climate. During President Obamas visit to India, India
and the U.S. are expected to firm up agreements on
renewable energy and new technologies. India has volunteered to reduce the energy intensity of its GDP by
20-25 per cent by 2020 as compared to the base year of
2005. The government has tightened norms for the cement industry and will introduce new norms for fuel
emissions but its National Action Plan on Climate
Change lacks a unified approach. The world will know by
November if the aggregate national contributions are
adequate to keep global average warming less than 2C
above pre-industrial levels. Alternatives to an unsustainable path are in plenty; only the commitment needs to be
scaled up, and thats why the year to Paris will be
decisive.
CM
YK
Quitting writing
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Crisis among
the censors
he resignation of Leela Samson as the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), and of several other members of
the body, is a pointer to a deeper malaise in
the institution. Ms. Samson has spoken of corruption,
and interference by the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting in the Boards functioning. Her stand has
the endorsement of many other members, who have
also resigned, while Ministers have refuted the charge.
Whatever the truth behind the resignations, the outgoing CBFC chairperson and members, while being on
the right side of the debate on the functional autonomy
issue, are clearly on the wrong side of the issue so far as
the certification of one film is concerned. Their decision to deny a certificate to Messenger of God, featuring Dera Sacha Sauda sect leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim
Singh, has been overturned by the Film Certification
Appellate Tribunal with some riders. Apart from claiming that Messenger of God promotes blind faith and
encourages superstition, the CBFC had advanced no
substantive argument on why it should not be exhibited. Ram Rahim Singh is a controversial figure and
faces some charges, but merely because his film makes
claims about his godly stature and miracle-making
abilities, can it be denied a certificate? Many films are
the products of creative imagination, and more absurd
and obscurantist films have been allowed in the past. As
a quasi-judicial body, the CBFC cannot really be aggrieved by the appellate forums verdict. Ms. Samsons
appeal to colleagues to quit en masse, saying they had
been made a mockery of by the powers of the Ministry
of I&B over the film, is not an appropriate reaction.
Perhaps it is the culmination of a series of unpalatable incidents, but if film certification in the country is
indeed subject to interference, coercion and corruption, she and the other members ought to have raised
the matter earlier and not in the context of their decision on one particular film being reversed. The government has contended that corruption, if any, must be a
legacy of the earlier regime, and has asked for proof of
interference in the Boards functioning. However, it
has been remiss in not reconstituting the Board even
after the tenure of its members had ended. Fast-tracking an appeal, as in the case of Messenger of God, is a
good thing in normal circumstances, but it has also to
be seen in the context of the ruling partys closeness to
the Ram Rahim sect whose support it secured in the
recent Haryana Assembly election. The situation presents an opportunity to reform the CBFCs functioning, liberalise its approach and end the perception that
it is packed with regime favourites who may not necessarily be best suited to evaluate the content of films.
CARTOONSCAPE
School system
fails students
onsidering Nobel laureate Amartya Sens
caution regarding the insecurity that people
face over a lifetime due to the deprivation of
basic education, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2014 calls for a hard look at the
situation. Its findings amount to a distressing catalogue
of the failures inherent in the pedagogic methods of
instruction in vogue. The foremost among them is the
overemphasis on a curriculum that is geared to outcomes in the form of examination results, at the expense of a process of learning that is oriented to a
mastery of concepts. These shortcomings underlie the
original assumption that students of a particular grade
would not measure up to commensurate standards;
and that any such evaluation would hence be an exercise in futility. That is the apparent rationale behind
the ASER assessment of actual student performance
based on a lower set of metrics. The report points out
that just a small proportion of third-graders are able to
read even a text from a lower grade, let alone their own.
Any improvement in later years is at best marginal,
says the report. The fact is that reading skills are not
imparted as part of classroom activity.
ASER also shows that pupils from the higher classes
are unable to perform even simple tasks of division or
subtraction. This may have to do with the inadequate
reinforcement of concepts over the years owing to the
structure of the syllabus. For instance, the use of logarithms that were once taught from Class 9 has been
dropped from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum. Students are hence denied the
opportunity to learn complex mathematical computations. Besides, the mathematics knowledge that people
need in daily life is mostly arithmetic-based. Yet, the
latter has been omitted from the Class 9 and 10 syllabus. Time was when students could opt between a basic
and advanced level of math from Class 8 or 9 under
some State boards. The current CBSE paper, tailored to
the requirement of engineering aspirants, may be imposing an undue burden on students inclined to pursue
different academic streams. A healthy pupil-teacher
ratio could also help overcome many of these shortcomings. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act stipulates a 30:1 ratio. ASER notes
that the country has come consistently close to universal enrolment in the 6-14 age group for six consecutive years. That may have afforded some consolation
in an age where the prevailing wisdom held that poor
families are disinclined to send children to school. In
todays competitive environment, the ability of students to read, write, count and measure is a bare minimum. The country cannot continue to fail its children.
CM
YK
institutions, rather than on expenditure programmes and projects. By its bold move to
abolish the Yojana Aayog and set up Niti
Aayog, the new government has set the stage
for a wholesale transformation in this direction. Given the absence of any formal social
benefit-cost analysis of programmes and projects and the limited capacity for an appraisal
of outcomes, one had also suggested to the
Deputy Chairman a decade ago that the Planning Commission develop a database of best
practices to guide future decisions. It is
hoped that a full-fledged division will be set
Government and governance have to be provides a sound basis for closing the tech- up in Niti Aayog to translate this into reality,
conducted in an environment of total trans- nology gap between India and the advanced with all such information digitally accessible
parency using technology to reduce opac- countries, that is correlated with the large to experts and policymakers.
ity and thereby, the potential for income gap between us. The reference to the
misadventures in governing (paragraph 6g). role of urbanisation (paragraph 6g) as an aid Emphasis on lessons learnt
Some of the specific objectives of Niti
to a technological catching up, suggests an
Poverty elimination
understanding of the links between technol- Aayog are at the level of generality of the
A paper in the Economic and Political ogy gaps and per capita income gaps. This Cabinet note, not significantly different from
Weekly in 2002 had raised the issue of cor- further links to welfare gaps through the those of the Planning Commission or other
ruption and governance and to bring policy- statement Equality of opportunity goes organs of government. However, the followinstitutional reform into the development hand-in-hand with an inclusiveness agenda ing objectives suggest a greater priority and
debate, but to no avail. A debate on poverty (paragraph 8c). The open discussion of the emphasis on the issues mentioned in them:
elimination, as against alleviation, was global environment and its two-way interac- To design strategic and long-term policy and
sought to be initiated in 2005-06 through a tion with India also displays a degree of self- programme frameworks and initiatives, and
Planning Commission paper, but was sty- confidence vis--vis foreign countries (para- monitor their progress and their efficacy.
mied. It is therefore very encouraging that graph 6c) that bodes well for building a The lessons learnt through monitoring and
feedback will be used for making innovative
improvements, including necessary midcourse corrections; to provide advice and enThe emphasis on interaction with international think tanks
courage
partnerships
between
key
and Indian educational and policy research institutions would be
stakeholders and national and international
a departure for the Indian bureaucracy.
like-minded think tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions; to
create a knowledge, innovation and entrethis is an important part of the mandate of competitive, fast-growing economy.
preneurial support system through a collabNiti Aayog.
orative community of national and
The third is the recognition of a changed Nitis role
international experts, practitioners and othreality of economy, society and government
So, what is the specific role of Niti Aayog in er partners; to maintain a state-of-the-art
functioning and its implications: India this changed environment? Its primary/cen- resource centre, be a repository of research
needs an administration paradigm in which tral role is to Serve as a Think Tank for the on good governance and best practices in
the government is an enabler rather than a Government to give strategic and tech- sustainable and equitable development as
provider of first and last resort. The role of nical advice across the spectrum of key ele- well as help in their dissemination to stakethe government as a player in the industrial ments of policy. This includes matters of holders, and to focus on technology upgradaand service sectors has to be reduced. In- national and international import on the ec- tion
and
capacity-building
for
stead, the government has to focus on en- onomic front, dissemination of best practices implementation of programmes and
abling legislation, policy-making and from within the country as well as from other initiatives
regulation (paragraph 6a). Many old-style nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and
In the first of these, the emphasis on lesdevelopment planners refused to accept specific issue-based support. (paragraph 11). sons learnt is very important. Experience
these changes (even if they paid lip service to Several of us have argued for a long time, confirms a great reluctance to modify or reit), though this issue was raised first in the without much success, that the old Planning ject programmes when they dont work. In
1990s and subsequently in the 2000s. A rec- Commission should evolve into a think the second, the emphasis on interaction with
ognition of this reality by the Union cabinet tank with a primary emphasis on policy and international think tanks and Indian educational and policy research institutions,
though expected from a think tank for the
government, would be a departure for the
Indian bureaucracy. In the third, the emphasis on support systems rather than funds/
subsidies is an important departure. The
fourth reinforces what was said earlier about
good governance and best practices and suggests that improvement in governance will
be seriously pursued to improve the delivery
of government social and welfare programmes. In the fifth, the recognition of
weak capacity and need for capacity building for implementation is critical to the success of all new initiatives and many old ones.
The abolition of the Yojana Aayog and its
replacement by Niti Aayog by the new government is a bold and long overdue initiative.
It will help change the emphasis from projects and programmes to policy and institutions, from expenditure inputs to real
outcomes through better governance and
from political disputation over incremental
allocations to new challenges and opportunities in a global environment. The discussion
of India in a global context also reminds one
of Gandhijis sayings: Let the windows of my
mind be open to winds from across the world,
but let me not be blown away by them. Like
all new institutions, it will be a challenging
job for Niti Aayog to fulfil its high objectives.
(Arvind Virmani is a former Chief
Economic Advisor, Finance Ministry and
Principal Advisor, Planning Commission
who participated in most of the policy
reforms of the 1990s and 2000s.)
Patented medicine
CBFC blues
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Ceding ground
to the Army
arlier this month, Pakistans elected representatives voted to cut the ground from under
their own feet. Despite the misgivings that
some political parties and several individual
legislators had, the National Assembly and the Senate
ushered in the 21st Amendment to the Constitution
under which military courts are to be set up for a period
of two years to adjudicate on terrorism-related cases.
The political establishment seemed to have fallen in
line with the observation of the Army chief, General
Raheel Sharif, that military courts had become the need
of the extraordinary times, a reference to the horrendous attack on a school by Taliban militants in which
more than a hundred children were killed. The last time
Pakistan had military courts was during the martial law
regime of General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s. The next
military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, did not
promulgate martial law; there were no military courts
during his nine-year regime. That Parliament sanctioned the assumption of judicial powers by the Pakistan Army during the time of an elected government led
by Nawaz Sharif, who knows only too well the perils of
military rule, is a further irony. The move has undermined the hard-fought 2007 struggle of the judiciary for
the separation of powers, and is a blow to the countrys
fragile democratic structure. There was immense public pressure on the government to do something to
contain terrorism after the Peshawar attack. Instead of
using the opportunity to strengthen investigations into
terrorism offences, and put in place mechanisms to
protect witnesses and judges from intimidation by terrorist groups, the government grasped all too easily the
hand offered by the military, an admission of civilian
helplessness.
The courts are to begin trying cases soon. In the eyes
of the public, the Army is bound to be seen as being
more efficient than the elected government military
trials do end quickly and military-appointed judges may
be more daring than those in Pakistans civilian antiterrorist courts. But speed does not always serve the
interests of justice, and opens up the danger of misuse
of the process against innocent civilians, including
those involved in legitimate political activity. Years of
patronage by the security establishment of terrorist
groups have radicalised all sections of society. Pakistan
can tackle this malaise only by strengthening its democratic institutions. For New Delhi, the military courts
present an interesting albeit double-edged opportunity.
India could now possibly make the demand that the
cases against the accused in the Mumbai attack should
now be shifted to a military court. But while this may
speed up the case, there is no guarantee that the
chances of conviction would improve.
Economic transition
In contrast, U.S. expenditure on rebuilding
Afghanistan stands at $104 billion, slightly
more than what the U.S. spent on the Marshall Plan (adjusted for inflation) for rebuild-
CARTOONSCAPE
Loosening a
stranglehold
he war against tobacco has gained further vigour and momentum with the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare recently placing in
the public domain a draft Bill that seeks to
amend the provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and
Distribution) Act, 2003. Among the changes proposed,
the one that will have an immediate and lasting impact
on reducing tobacco consumption is the prohibition on
using a name or brand of tobacco products for marketing, promoting or advertising other goods, services and
events. Falling within the ambit of indirect advertising,
the use of a brand name of a tobacco product to market
and advertise a non-tobacco product is a clear case of
brand-sharing, which the WHO Framework Convention
on Tobacco Control (FCTC) prohibits. Using the brand
name of a tobacco product to market a non-tobacco
product is a ploy that is routinely resorted to by companies to get round the ban on tobacco product advertising, which has been singularly responsible for the
dramatic reduction in tobacco consumption in India and
across the world. It is one of the changes that the government can easily implement and effectively enforce.
The draft Bill removes the ambiguity around point-ofsale display by banning the showcasing of tobacco products at the entrance to or inside a shop; it is in line with
the FCTC recommendation to keep these products out
of public view. Displaying tobacco products prominently inside a shop is a key means to promote them.
Besides effectively bypassing the ban on tobacco product advertising, it fuels impulse buying. While the prohibition can further reduce tobacco consumption,
putting it into effect will be a major problem as tobacco
products are sold predominantly at small shops. For the
same reason, banning the sale of these products to anyone under the age of 21 can hardly be enforced. The very
fact that 15- to 24-year-olds account for over 27 per cent
of tobacco consumption in India clearly indicates that
sale to those below 18 years, which is currently not
allowed, is a reality. The outcome will be no different in
the case of a ban on the sale of cigarettes or bidis in the
loose. Since ensuring that users are forced to notice the
pictorial warning and message on the packets is one of
the main reasons for banning the sale of tobacco products except as a whole packet, the amendment, on paper,
will have a significant impact, particularly on bidi-smokers. Bidis constitute nearly 85 per cent of all tobacco
smoked in India, involving mainly those in the lower
economic stratum, on whom pictorial warnings could be
expected to have the maximum impact.
CM
YK
Discussing ordinances
An ordinance represents a
legislative power exercised to deal
with emergency situations and
which necessitates the enactment
of a law when Parliament is not in
session (Jan.19). Excessive use of
the ordinance route defeats the
purpose for which it is provided in
the Constitution. The way it is being
employed now shows that it is being
used as an undesirable method to
get around the failure to build
consensus in Parliament.
The NDA government needs to
understand that reforms that it
wants to usher in can see the light of
the day only through the normal
legislative route. Resorting to the
ordinance route may fetch it
populist applause for a short while,
but will cause it misery in the long
run. It must learn to brave the odds
and emerge as a champion of
democracy.
Shivendra Bisht,
Lucknow
Pakistans role
Pakistan was uncomfortable with Indias
role in Afghanistan which had remained restricted to the economic sphere. Certain sections of the Pakistani establishment,
particularly the Army and the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), were nostalgic about the
Taliban period when Afghanistans isolation
had made it dependent on Pakistan. General
Musharrafs paranoia about the activities of
twenty Indian consulates in Afghanistan
(there are four) only soured his relations
with Mr. Karzai. The Indian Embassy and
other cooperation projects became targets of
murderous attacks by the Lashkar-e-Taiba
(LeT) and Haqqani group, with the support
of the S Wing of the ISI. Clearly, Pakistan
had a different vision for Afghanistan.
Mr. Karzai had seen the writing on the wall
before the Germans and the British started
promoting the idea of reconciliation with the
Taliban. He reached out to some of them on
the ethnic Pashtun network but failed to
make headway because he was unable to
wrest them away from the ISI stranglehold.
The Germans and the Americans learnt the
same lesson with the Doha office initiative.
Clearly, Pakistan was back in the Afghan end
game. President Ashraf Ghanis early visits to
China, Saudi Arabia and Islamabad show that
he understands Pakistans abilities to exploit
the fragile transition and the U.S. is unlikely
to provide much comfort. The key is whether
the Afghan forces can last out the 2015 fighting season because in 2016, the U.S. will be
caught up in its election year fever.
The India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement (2011) positioned India for a
security role post-2014, but U.S. reluctance
to annoy Pakistan and Indian reticence prevented any significant development. Today,
the situation is different and Mr. Ghani is
unlikely to be as forthcoming as Mr. Karzai.
However, it is just a question of time before
the contradictions of Pakistans efforts to
bring back the Taliban unfold. The Taliban is
no longer the simple monolithic group under
a single leader, subject to the ISIs control. In
fact, there are rumours that Mullah Omar
may be dead; Taliban has many clones and
offshoots with differing loyalties and some
are hostile to the Pakistani establishment. A
decade of democracy has opened up Afghan
society and Indias cooperation programmes
have helped develop sustainable linkages
cutting across ethnic lines around the shared
vision. Dialogues with Afghanistans neighbours will become important as these countries start feeling nervous about the return of
instability. To manage its exit and keep the
transitions on track for 2015 implies that U.S.
dependence on Pakistan will only rise in the
near term. Normally, this would cast a shadow on India-U.S. ties but given its temporary
character, the Indian leadership should work
to insulate the wider relationship by keeping
the focus on broader counter-terrorism
cooperation and deepening the many other
aspects of the bilateral relationship. At times
like these, patience is a strategic asset, better
used to consolidate strengths. For now, the
wheel turns, and will turn again.
(Rakesh Sood is a former diplomat who has
served as Ambassador to Afghanistan.
E-mail: rakeshsood2001@yahoo.com)
Delhi elections
The induction of Kiran Bedi as the
BJPs mascot is proof that
political parties need leaders who
represent the face of evolving
politics. Like her fellow-politician
and now rival Arvind Kejriwal, Ms.
Bedi did not enter politics through
the traditional party route, but on
the basis of her credentials as a
professional and a civil activist.
Both have caught the public fancy
because they offer a new kind of
leadership. One only hopes that
voters in Delhi will choose leaders
who promise change.
C. Koshy John,
Pune
An opportunist to the core! It is no
surprise that Ms. Bedi has joined
EDITORIAL
10
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Short of
stalwarts
prize catch or a liability, a master stroke or a
mistake? In projecting new entrant Kiran Bedi as its chief ministerial candidate in the
Delhi Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata
Party must have entertained visions of beating the principal rival Aam Aadmi Party at its own game. Ms. Bedi,
whose post-retirement political activism was centred
on Anna Hazares anti-corruption movement, was seen
as the ideal counter to Arvind Kejriwal, who too was a
prominent member of Team Anna before forming the
AAP. The saffron partys strategy was to cut into the
freshly built vote bank of the AAP: the aspiring middle
class that had tired of the political class, perceived as
corrupt and inefficient. But in leaning too heavily on a
newcomer to lead the campaign, the BJP showed itself
up as a party that was short of stalwarts in Delhi. After
Harsh Vardhan, who was propped up as the clean,
incorruptible face of the party in Delhi in the last
election, moved to the Lok Sabha and then the Union
Cabinet, the BJP was left without a widely acceptable
leader. Whether Ms. Bedi can unite the warring factions
of the BJP, or whether she would end up adding one
more faction to the mix, is the big question. What is
certain is that Ms. Bedis entry will not be smooth; she
was earlier a strident critic of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Already there are murmurs of protest at the manner in which she was made the chief
ministerial candidate without broad consultations
within the party.
Like Mr. Kejriwal before her, Ms. Bedi failed to win
the support of Mr. Hazare for her political ambitions.
Mr. Hazare has stayed away from all political parties,
but for a brief spike in interest in the Trinamool Congress. Although she was a prominent face in Team Anna,
Ms. Bedi is unlikely to win the backing of all those who
had joined the anti-corruption crusade behind the
Gandhian at Delhis Jantar Mantar in 2011. She might
match Mr. Kejriwals crusading spirit, but whether she
will be able to capture the popular imagination remains
to be seen. At one level, her entry just days before the
election comes across as politically opportunist. For
the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah team, Delhi is of a different order from the Assembly polls held after the Lok
Sabha election. Here the BJP has no ally to shed, and
there can be no excuse for falling short of an absolute
majority. Anything short of a majority will likely be seen
as a failure, and not as the success of a bold experiment
of going it alone. In that sense, Delhi will be a greater
test than Maharashtra or Haryana or Jharkhand. How
far Ms. Bedi, who is expected to turn the campaign into
a direct contest between her and Mr. Kejriwal, will help
the BJP in this endeavour, remains to be seen.
ban. Raised by the Central Intelligence Agen- western intervention in West Asia and graducy (CIA) to fight the Soviet invasion in ally broadened its scope to Syria during the
Afghanistan in 1979, the Taliban went on to protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
capture power in Afghanistan after its westBoko Haram (western education is forbidern handlers left and the Cold War ended. den) arose in Nigeria in the mid-1990s as a
What followed in Afghanistan was brutal moderate Islamic group in the aftermath of
fighting between several Taliban leaders; the Biafran War, which left two million peosome of whom under Mullah Omar were able ple dead between 1967-1970 following the
to consolidate a new Afghan state. Common brutal suppression of the people of Biafra by
Afghans suffered during this period of civil the Nigerian government, supported by
war and deal brokering. Osama bin Laden, prominent western countries and oil compainitially a Taliban recruit, floated al-Qaeda, nies. Boko Haram started as a movement that
which, after 9/11, was forced into a partner- criticised the corrupt, oil-wealthy governship with the Taliban in a resistance against ment of Nigeria and became a provider for the
Insurgents as global terrorists
the American invasion of Afghanistan. The poor undertaking state-like welfare functions
People that believe such things seem to war with the U.S. destroyed whatever state in northeast Nigeria. As Boko Haram receded
have missed some key pieces of information
pertaining to the rise of some of these movements. In this piece, I will attempt to historWith the left discredited in societies with strong ethnic and
icise the rise of some militant Islamic
religious sentiments, the fallback ideology of rebellion is mostly
movements so that in our public debate we
may have balance and some context. This is
religion-based.
important because the rationalisations that
are coming our way use Islam as the driving
force behind all recent acts of terror. I believe
that we need to shift this debate onto more the Taliban had created and fragmented both into the jungles of northeast Nigeria, succeslogical terrain, i.e., we need to understand the organisations the Taliban and al-Qaeda sive governments repeatedly ignored the
conditions which beget certain types of in- leading to different splinters of the same growing radical and militant nature of the
surgent and terrorist organisations. I assert groups in West Asia and South Asia, each group.
here that Islamic ideology alone is not the practising deadlier violence to distinguish itThe place of Islam
driving force behind these organisations. Is- self from its competitors.
The Taliban, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and IS
lamic ideology is merely the fabric in which
Similarly, IS was once known as Al-Qaeda
an articulation of inequality, marginalisation, in Iraq (AQI) led by the Jordanian terrorist Al are organisations born out of particular conand alienation is embedded or stitched. Is- Zarqawi, who was killed in 2006 in a targeted figurations of geopolitics and superpower inlamic ideology is deployed to get new recruits attack by the U.S. Air Force. In 2003, AQI terventions and invasions. They started as
to particular terrorist groups. Think of such began fighting the American occupation of resistance movements that were aimed at
ideology as an advertising strategy or a mar- Iraq. Later it merged with other small resist- creating more ideal states and opposed forketing campaign to get people to adhere to the ance groups and turned into the Mujahideen eign invasions, bad governance and despotic
political causes being championed by these Shura Council, before emerging as the ISIS regimes. These groups are trying to create
groups at the barrel of a gun.
under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Bagh- new states. This is why their strategies have
Lets start with the usual suspect, the Tali- dadi. Again, IS also emerged as a reaction to been ideological and extremely violent with
CARTOONSCAPE
Focus on public
investment
he idea that the government should lead investment revival by spending from its purse
seems to be gaining ground quickly. The
thought was first expressed by Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian a month ago while releasing the governments mid-year review of the
economy. Mr. Subramanian was of the opinion that
public investment may have to play a greater role to
complement and crowd-in private investment. Of
course, this had to be done within the constraints of the
fiscal situation. In an interaction with industrialists in
Chennai on Monday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
endorsed this view, saying that the government would
take some special steps to increase public investment
while pointing out that it would be a challenge to do so
within the constraint of the fiscal deficit. Mr. Jaitley
expressed the governments predicament well. It is a
fact that private investment in infrastructure is in a
comatose state thanks to over-leveraged balance sheets
and excess capacities that may take a long time to be
absorbed. The banking system is groaning under the
collective weight of the overdues of private borrowers,
and banks are clearly unwilling to lend for new projects.
Of course, some companies have already started to
repair their balance sheets by shedding assets through
mergers and acquisitions and using the proceeds to
settle their dues with banks. Clearly, though the deleveraging process has begun, it will be a while before
the private sector cleans up its act and goes for fresh
investment. The onus to stimulate a revival is, therefore, clearly on the government now. The Centre has
been appropriating a part of the bounty from falling
global oil prices in the form of higher excise duties, and
the Finance Minister is on record as saying that this
money will go directly towards building new roads and
highways and not into the Consolidated Fund of India.
This will give an impetus to the highways expansion
programme that has been struggling for want of adequate interest from private developers. But then, the
scale and quantum of public investment required is
much bigger, and this is where the government will run
into the fiscal wall. With 99 per cent of the projected
deficit for this year already accounted for in the first
eight months, headroom for additional spending is nonexistent this fiscal, even if one were to account for
bountiful proceeds from the spectrum auction that is
due next month. The focus is therefore on the coming
fiscal, and the Budget will provide an insight into the
governments plans on this front. Clearly, some tightrope walking will be required as the Centre seeks to
increase spending on infrastructure projects to compensate for private investment.
CM
YK
scant regard for human rights; for state formation is a messy, bloody affair. Just think of
Europe between 900 and 1900 AD.
So what about Islam? I suggest here that
Islam is the only commonly known ideology
and script in these regions in which an articulation of resistance can be embedded, which
common folk can understand, practise and
stand by. Islam gives these movements legitimacy. It gives them a discourse and it attracts
money. It is their USP. The movements are
not initially motivated by Islam but by bad
and corrupt governments, unequal power relations between countries, invasions by foreign powers and global income inequalities
made persistent by the current global economic regime where the metaphorical one
per cent has captured half of the worlds
wealth. Let us not for one moment forget that
most Muslims live in democratic countries
like India, Malaysia and Indonesia and practise their religions peacefully and within the
bounds of law. Let us also not forget that
there are strong overlaps between Muslim
countries with terrorist groups aspiring to
statehood and where there has been a prolonged war with at least one great power.
Similarly, the Algerians who killed 12 people
in France last week lived on the margins of
French society and were immigrants from a
country which had been virtually socially, economically and politically destroyed by
France, which many historians agree was always the worst country to get colonised by.
One million Algerians died to overthrow
French colonialism. This was followed by a
postcolonial regime (the FLN state) that willingly killed over 1,00,000 of its own people in
order to safeguard its oil interests backed by
western powers.
War on tobacco
The war on tobacco has to be won at
any price (Editorial, Jan.20) as it
eats into the vitals of our youth
and our nations human capital. In
this, the Act is the first right step
towards winning the war. In this
tussle between tobacco companies
(which
have
assured
and
guaranteed markets for their
products) and the government
(which tries to contain/eliminate
the
tobacco
menace
while
attempting to stand up to the
powerful tobacco lobby), the
winner should be the government. I
would suggest an online strategy
involving
counselling
and
EDITORIAL
10
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
The Presidents
counsel
resident Pranab Mukherjees pointed reminder to the government on the constitutional
restrictions on the resort to the ordinance
route will, it is hoped, temper the present
regimes proclivity to push through legislation by invoking the extraordinary power repeatedly. Having
signed a series of ordinances in recent weeks on the
governments advice, once or twice reportedly after
seeking a clarication on the nature of the urgency that
necessitated them, President Mukherjee has the moral
and constitutional authority to drive home the message
to the government that it ought to be mindful of the
limitations of the ordinance route. He has underscored
that ordinances can be promulgated only to meet
certain exigencies and under compelling circumstances, setting out the legal context in which the power
may be invoked. And by concurrently speaking out
against the tendency to use disruption as a means of
parliamentary intervention, Mr. Mukherjee has subtly
questioned the traditional wisdom of opposition parties that extracting an assurance or concession across
the oor by wilfully obstructing proceedings is part of a
legitimate exercise of parliamentary duties. In practice, both issues are intricately interlinked. It is often
the combination of obstinacy on the part of the Treasury Benches and the Oppositions obstructionist tactics that lead to legislative impasse and, further, to the
promulgation of ordinances. Governments are increasingly eager to avoid constructive engagement with the
opposition because the option of legislating through
the use of presidential power is available to them.
Adding impetus to this tendency is the even more
complacent belief that a lack of majority in the Upper
House can be compensated for by convening a joint
session of both Houses under certain circumstances. In
a Westminster-model parliamentary democracy, Presidents may choose silent acquiescence with Cabinet
decisions and avoid questioning the rationale behind
executive advice. However, sometimes they are justied in speaking their mind and voicing their concerns
on broad constitutional issues. What ought normally to
occasion such concerns is any hint of impropriety, the
cavalier resort to ordinances being one example. The
disruption of Parliament to the point of making it
dysfunctional is another example. The occasional piece
of advice from a President may be easily dismissed by
some as the feeble articulation of outdated principles
incompatible with what is needed to survive the unsavoury contestation that electoral politics brings with
it. However, it behoves a responsive government and a
responsible opposition to avoid breaching the limits of
constitutional propriety in their actions.
laws pertaining to family matters differ radically from western family law systems. Sharia law pertaining to marriage, divorce and
inheritance confers greater rights on males
whereas in the secularised western family
law system, differential rights have more or
less been eliminated. Demands for application of Sharia law to personal matters have
been raised in other countries as well.
A Pakistani journalist, Kalim Siddiqui,
greatly emboldened by the Iranian revolution, oated the notion of a Muslim parliament of Great Britain. In 1990, a Muslim
Mnifesto: a Strategy For Survival, was
launched by Siddiqui. It advocated practically the establishment of an alternative legal
system. The Muslim parliament never took
off as a representative body of British Muslims, as very few Muslims evinced interest in
Personal law and justice systems
it. However, such developments were indicaThe activities and demands of some indi- tive of cultural tensions and serious disagreeviduals and organisations among Muslims ment on values that were coming to the
inadvertently conrmed that a grand Trojan surface. In the background of the Arab-Is63), Enoch Powell delivered in Birmingham
on April 20, 1968, the infamous Rivers of
Blood speech against immigration. In it he
warned that the British people were worried
about being swamped by non-whites who
would multiply by leaps and bounds and become a source of disturbance and instability.
Such developments would culminate in rivers of blood as a result of race wars. The
British National Front, the French National
Front, and the German Neo-Nazis were the
earliest parties that took a stand against nonwhite immigrants. Holland, Belgium, Germany and Scandinavian groups too began to air
similar views. Over time, the emphasis
changed from racial terminology to explicitly
religious jargon about the Islamic threat to
Europe.
CARTOONSCAPE
Reasserting
a friendship
he visit by Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera to New Delhi, days after the
new government in Colombo was sworn in,
sends the clear message of an enduring friendship between the two countries. As with all such friendships, there have been phases of turbulence, but the
impression that ties had hit rock bottom under the
previous government in Sri Lanka is not correct. New
Delhi remained deeply engaged with the Rajapaksa government until the end. There were difficulties for sure,
and these have not disappeared. Sri Lankas list of complaints against India is probably long, and these would
include baiting by extremist Tamil groups in Tamil Nadu and trespassing by Indian shermen into its waters.
Differences over the former Presidents reluctance to
address post-war political and human rights issues relating to the Tamil minority led to India voting against
Sri Lanka twice at the UN Human Rights Council and
abstaining once. There was also concern when a Chinese
submarine docked in Colombo twice in a span of two
months last year. Statements by Mr. Samaraweera that
his government would correct the pro-China tilt in
foreign policy have gladdened India. At the same time,
any suggestion of a pro-India tilt by the new government is likely to make it unpopular at home, and will be
in neither sides interests in the long term. What the two
countries can do is to maximise the advantages of their
geographic proximity and age-old bonds to further common economic and strategic interests.
Indias foremost expectation from the new government would be an early settlement of the Tamil question. The top priority that President Maithripala
Sirisena has committed to give to the abolition of the
executive presidency should ideally go hand in hand
with plans to address the political aspirations of the
Tamil minority, even as it comes up with a plan to
address allegations of war crimes, disappearances and
other violations of rights of Tamil civilians. This is likely
to come up when the Sri Lankan President visits India
next month. Secondly, New Delhi is hopeful that Colombo would upgrade the existing Free Trade Agreement
with a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, for which a draft was nalised in 2008. Sri Lanka
is reluctant to sign off on it, fearing India would swamp
its economy. Given that Sri Lankan businesses only
recently began to accept that the FTA has beneted
them, a turnaround will come on CEPA too if India is
not seen as exerting pressure. Third, the two sides nalised a draft defence cooperation pact in 2003. Domestic
political compulsions in India ensured it did not progress. It could be revisited given the potential for maritime security cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.
CM
YK
ised, Christian society, where freedom of expression and opinion was rmly entrenched,
drew attention not only of the authorities
who were keen to maintain law and order but
also the general public. The public debate
polarised around those on the left who
thought Rushdie had played into the hands of
the West by writing a book scurrilous of the
Prophet of Islam while mainstream politicians and media denounced the fatwa and the
death sentence as being illegitimate.
New Editor
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
The science of
saving tigers
ndia is unique in having a significant number of
tigers in the wild, in spite of growing population
and resource extraction pressures on their habitat. The latest estimate of tigers in various landscapes published by the Ministry of Environment and
Forests claims an appreciable rise in numbers of the big
cat. That there could be as many as 2,226 tigers in the
country up from 1,706 four years ago in nature
reserves ranging from the hills in the Northeast to central Indian forests and the Western Ghats, besides the
mangrove-rich Sundarbans delta, gives India a special
place on the global conservation map. Clearly, some
States deserve credit for strengthening the protection of
wild tigers since the notorious wipeout in Sariska a
decade ago. Such conservation measures, notably the
extension of protected area boundaries, must continue.
Yet, as credentialed scientists are pointing out, the numbers available from the latest count may merely indicate
the presence of tigers in a given area, rather than serve as
the conclusions of a definitive census. What they highlight is the need to improve those aspects of the ecology
that lead to a rise in numbers voluntary relocation of
forest-dwellers from core forests, a severe crackdown on
the hunting of prey animals, improved patrols against
poaching, safeguards against harmful land-use changes
and constant monitoring using scientific methods.
The science of conserving tigers, arguably the most
charismatic animals on the planet, is increasingly focussed on saving source populations of the cat. These
are defined in the literature as sites where more than 25
breeding females can be hosted, in turn embedded in a
larger landscape that can potentially have more than 50
female tigers and which enjoy protection. By some accounts, 70 per cent of the worlds tigers are to be found
in such sites; in India, 90 per cent of the population is
part of 30 or 40 major source populations. As the Wildlife Conservation Society has pointed out, conservation
of this stock holds the key to achieving a significant rise
in their numbers in the coming years potentially,
India could have several thousand more if it provides
them the requisite space and the connected landscapes
that facilitate dispersal. In the current counting exercise, the Centre has done well to include non-governmental experts and rely on improved methods such as
camera trapping, although it is yet to move to continuous monitoring and annual assessments. The government must be open to the idea of more intensive
research within forests to protect the tiger and other
endangered species, and adopt a liberal approach to
permit bona fide independent scientists to work in protected areas. The encouraging status report on tigers
awaits refinement and confirmation in March.
The coming two years are critical if India and the U.S. are to
achieve the full potential in terms of their relationship.
the dismantling of the nuclear apartheid regime occurred during this visit.
Likewise, the visit of President Bush to
India in 2006 hardly compares with the kind
of adulation showered on his successor, but it
produced a critical breakthrough relating to
the Separation Plan (viz., separation of Indias strategic military weapons programme
from its civilian nuclear programme), an essential component for finalisation of the India-U.S. nuclear deal. The personal
involvement of the U.S. President and the
Indian Prime Minister was crucial for this, as
at one stage negotiations had virtually
Visits and the results
collapsed.
There are certain inherent risks connected
Dr. Singhs visit to the U.S. in 2009
with high profile visits and summit diploma- another low key visit led to taking the final
cy. Seldom do they lead to anticipated re- step, thus paving the way for India to trade in
CARTOONSCAPE
CM
YK
Tiger triumph
Rather than creating hype over the
achievement of reversing a
dramatic fall in the wild tiger
population (Giant leap for big
cat,Jan.21), the issue calls for a
prudent and sensible approach.
One should bear in mind the fact
that numbers can be deceptive,
especially when it comes to wild
animal populations. The story of
the passenger pigeon that once
darkened the skies in their millions
Chinas assertiveness
At another level, the world has to take note
of Chinas increasing assertiveness not only in dealing with issues directly affecting its
territorial claims but going well beyond the
Nine-dash-lines that it had historically
limited itself to. There are again signs of a
growing rapprochement between Russia and
China, with oil diplomacy paving the way
for reinforcement of military ties. The intention is possibly to counter the U.S. pivot
towards Asia, but the Russia-China axis will
have an impact elsewhere as well, including
in West Asia, of eroding the influence of
countries like the U.S. and India. Internal
developments in China, even as President Xi
Jinping seeks to emerge as Chinas most
powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping, also
merit careful assessment.
A summit of this nature thus provides an
opportunity for an all-encompassing look at
geopolitics and geoeconomics across the region and beyond. This option should not be
foreclosed by concentrating on the smaller
items. A comprehensive discussion of this
nature would be a significant outcome worthy of a summit of this nature. The Prime
Ministers statement that India and the U.S.
are natural global partners would then ring
true.
Possibly what is most important for the
two leaders is to establish an exceptional
level of trust, and reinforce their personal
chemistry going beyond mere bonhomie.
This is vital if they are to cut through bureaucratic tangles at critical junctures. The IndiaU.S. nuclear deal is a prime example of what
can be achieved when two leaders have full
trust in each other, for it was this level of
trust that led to the resolution of extremely
difficult issues when the respective bureaucracies appeared adamant in holding fast to
their viewpoints.
Mr. Obama has two more years in office,
while Mr. Modi will have more years thereafter. The coming two years are critical if India
and the U.S. are to achieve the full potential
in terms of their relationship. It is, hence,
important that the leaders are not deflected
from the key task of strengthening their personal bonds for this could well be the most
valuable asset in their armoury to sort out
not only mutual problems, but also a range of
global issues.
(M.K. Narayanan is a former National
Security Adviser and former Governor of
West Bengal.)
establish
corridors
between There must now be a tiger security
different reserves.
force to deal with tiger poaching.
M. Vishal Rao,
Surbhi Jalan,
Hyderabad
New Delhi
The assessment of the status of the
tiger in 2014 has come up with a
median estimate of 2,226,
compared with 1,706 in 2010, and a
rise spanning all but five of Indias
18 tiger-range States. The census,
seeking to estimate tigers in Indias
47 reserve areas and adjacent
forests, has suggested that their
population
has
increased
especially in Bihar, Karnataka and
Uttarakhand. In effect, teams have
relied
on
9,735
cameras
strategically positioned across a
land area of 3,78,000 sq.km in 18
States. It is also known that
cameras have recorded 1,540
individual tigers and that wildlife
scientists used mathematical
models to compute the minimum
number of tigers in those areas at
1,945, assigned a maximum figure
of 2,491 and calculated the median
estimate at 2,226. Of course this is
a tiny figure when one recalls that
India had an estimated 50,000
tigers some two centuries ago.
F.A. Sulthanbi,
Madurai
There should be urgent steps
initiated now to ensure a safe and
comfortable habitat for this
growing
population.
With
inadequate space in forests, there
are chances of tigers encroaching
into settlements, leading to mananimal conflict. Also, the biggest
threat to tigers comes from
growing encroachment into ecosensitive and protected areas. A
visit to most of our famous
sanctuaries will show that lodges
and resorts have proliferated
around their periphery at an
alarming pace. Tiger shows
inside reserves where meal baits
are used to attract tigers in front of
tourists must also be monitored.
On learners
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Restoring
crickets purity
or far too long, an impression had gained
ground that the Indian cricket board is but the
fiefdom of a few individuals. The Indian Premier League case in the Supreme Court garnered attention among the public mainly in the light of
the possible consequences it could have for its president-in-exile and International Cricket Council chairman, N. Srinivasan. The Court has now dealt with his
conflict of interest issue firmly, barring him and others
with an interest in IPL teams from contesting elections
in the Board of Control for Cricket in India. However, it
has declined to hold him guilty of the charge of wrongdoing and rejected the charge that he tried to cover up
the betting charges against his son-in-law and Chennai
Super Kings team official Gurunath Meiyappan. It rejects the position of the BCCI that there is nothing
wrong in allowing its office-bearers to have a commercial interest in events such as the IPL that are organised
for commercial purposes, unlike representative cricket.
By striking down the amendment that enabled such
conflicts of interest, and mandating an independent
committee to streamline the Boards functioning, the
Court has done the groundwork for removing some of
the malaises afflicting sports administration in India. It
marks the beginning of what ought to be a long process
of cleaning up a game that has an enormous following in
the country, but is also struggling to preserve its purity
in an era of unbridled commercialism. It is also an
affirmation of the Mukul Mudgal committees findings.
The most welcome feature is that the verdict addresses the BCCIs credibility deficit in more ways than one.
First, it bars an office-bearer from holding a commercial
interest in events organised by it; or, conversely, it bars
those with such an interest from contesting for elective
office. Second, it places the interests of the game, especially its reputation among its fans and its institutional
integrity, at the heart of cricket administration, which
will now be treated as a public function, even though the
BCCI is a private body. And thirdly, it has taken the
disciplinary jurisdiction regarding individuals and
teams found guilty of wrongdoing in the betting scandal
of the IPLs 2013 edition out of the BCCIs hands and
vested it in a committee of three eminent former judges.
Finally, the same committee, comprising a former Chief
Justice of India and two others formerly with the Supreme Court, will suggest reforms and changes in the
rules and regulations. In essence, the Court has sought
to emancipate cricket administration from the whims of
individuals and impose much-needed restraints on
overweening ambition, non-transparent practices, and
the cover-up of unsavoury developments.
n two days, U.S. President Barack Obama will grace Indias Republic Day celebrations with his presence. Prime
Minister Narendra Modis invitation to
him to do so was not impulsive, though it took
Mr. Obama by surprise. It is an affirmation of
Indias willingness to invest in its relationship with the United States, and signals Indias belief that the two countries are good for
each other. During his visit to Washington
last September, Mr. Modi got a sense of the
perception of India held by the U.S. leadership its administration, business, and
Congress. Finding positive resonance, he decided to request a return visit from Mr. Obama, who accepted the invitation upon
realising its significance.
It is in its intangibles that this visit will be
evaluated, not just on the balance sheet of
deliverables. The Obama visit served its
main purpose simply when announced,
quipped Ambassador K.S. Bajpai. It signalled
that India can again be taken seriously, and
that America is in the forefront of doing so.
Much of what will happen next will depend on
Indias economic trajectory and the diligent
management of relations by the leadership of
the two countries.
A two-way street
Indias invitation to the U.S. President
came at a time when both the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
predicted that India is on its way to overtake
Chinas growth. Indeed, the economic outlook has turned optimistic on both sides, a
contrast to 2008-2009, when growth subsided and bilateral relations became ambivalent.
With cheaper energy and recovery of manufacturing, U.S. industrial employment has increased. Mr. Modis meetings in New York
and Washington convinced American businesses about a potential exponential spurt in
India-U.S. commercial exchanges and investments.
U.S. mandarins and think tank experts remain somewhat sceptical, however. They insist that any relationship is a two-way
street, and that a pronounced pro-American
affirmation was missing in Mr. Modis discourse. During his interaction with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Ken
Juster reflected these concerns when he
asked Mr. Modi about Indias vision for a
strategic partnership with the U.S., and the
potential for collaboration between them to
work on regional and global issues. Mr. Modis answer got lost in translation. Meanwhile, sections of the Washington lite are
trying to muddy the optics of Mr. Obamas
visit by making fun of his lame duck tour to
watch a parade, allegedly neglecting his domestic agenda.
from a technology denial regime, bringing the marine passed last autumn. Following a joint
two closer than ever.
U.S.-Singapore exercise last October, the U.S.
Chief of Naval Operations confirmed U.S.-led
Bilateral drivers of the relationship underwater surveillance cooperation with
When they meet, the core challenge of the Australia, Japan, Korea and Singapore. Can
two leaders will be how best to harness their the U.S. help India develop and build underpersonal and national goodwill towards each sea and high-altitude drones, or help us lease
other for positive outcomes that relate to the a nuclear submarine? That could capture the
concerns of the common people.
imagination of Indians.
India and the U.S. need each other because
The U.S. government appears anxious
better ties will help create more jobs, growth about Indias regulatory environment, inteland development. Within the wide spectrum lectual property rights (IPR) protection stanof the India-U.S. engagement, the areas of dards, local content provisions, and the
defence, energy, and technology hold the absence of a bilateral investment treaty.
greatest promise. The employment-generat- There is an exaggerated fear of compulsory
ing Make in India effort, focussed on power, licensing for pharmaceuticals. Indias exclucommunications, electronics, and high-tech- sion from the Trans-Pacific Partnership nenology engineering, is not for providing shod- gotiations is held as an example of India being
dy goods for the home market but to make a trade outlier.
India globally competitive. With the worlds
The U.S. helped resolve Indias concerns
best technology, the U.S. will be Indias pre- about agricultural subsidy, thereby paving
ferred partner in this endeavour.
the way for the World Trade Organizations
On defence cooperation, the challenge is to agreement on trade facilitation. India has inutilise the Defence Framework Agreement troduced market reforms in its own interest.
and the Defence Trade and Technology Ini- Its recovery is being propelled by improved
CARTOONSCAPE
Another Ebola
battle won
n January 18, the World Health Organization
and the Malian government declared Mali
free of the Ebola virus disease. Mali is the
third country after Nigeria and Senegal to
become free of the deadly disease. A country should
have had no new cases of Ebola for a continuous period
of 42 days, which is a cycle of two incubation periods of
21 days, for it to be declared free of the virus. This is a
particularly remarkable achievement for Mali, given
the fact that it shares a porous, 800-km-long border
with Guinea. After all, on December 26, 2013, the first
case of Ebola virus that led to the unprecedented crisis
in West Africa was found in a remote village in Guinea.
Also, Mali became the sixth West African country to
record a case of Ebola when a two-year-old girl with
symptoms arrived from Guinea in October last year.
Even in this moment of victory, Mali has to remember
that it has now only won a battle. As long as the war
against Ebola remains unfinished in West Africa as a
whole, Mali must not lower its guard as new cases can
always come up. After all, the country once experienced
a similar situation in November 2014 when it came so
close to being declared free of the Ebola virus, before a
second wave of infections delayed such a declaration.
The good news is that there has been a turning point
in the Ebola crisis with the number of new cases reported in the three worst-affected countries Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea falling in recent weeks.
According to the WHO, as on January 21, 2015 all of
8,683 people have died of Ebola, and the number of
cases so far is more than 21,759.
In all, if only eight cases and six deaths occurred in
Mali, which are fewer than Nigeria with 20 cases and
eight deaths, the reason for that is the unprecedented
efforts to contain the disease from the very beginning.
Starting with tracing every person who had come in
contact with the sick girl on her journey from Guinea
and, at one point, placing nearly 600 people under daily
observation, the government, health workers and citizens acted aggressively to stamp out the disease before
it turned into a crisis situation. The massive public
awareness campaign, monitoring along the border, a
fully geared public health system and precautions taken
by people on their own helped Mali to stamp out the
virus. Of course, the sombre awareness of the crisis
playing out in the three worst-affected countries had a
major role to play in this process. India has a lesson to
learn from the way Nigeria and Mali have handled the
Ebola outbreaks. Though some vital precautionary
steps were taken, the small number of centres that are
capable of testing for the virus and the lack of quarantine facilities at major airports indicate a low level of
preparedness to counter the virus.
decision-making, targeted deregulation, increased infrastructure investment, and greater business confidence. India remains
committed to an open, rule-based international trading regime. To expect it to accept a
higher standard on IPR protection, above and
beyond Indias existing multilateral commitments, will be unrealistic.
India has counter-concerns about protectionism and the new U.S. immigration law
and has mildly protested in WTO discussions
against the U.S. Buy America legal provisions. The U.S. refusal to negotiate a Totalization Agreement with India really rankles,
when countries like Finland and Sweden have
concluded such an agreement with India. Indian H-1B workers contribute, by way of involuntary deductions, an estimated $3
billion annually to the U.S. Social Security
Trust Fund towards pensions they will never
receive because their stay in the U.S. will not
be long enough.
On climate change, the Sino-U.S. agreement is being held out as an example for India
to emulate. Chinas current emissions are
four times larger than Indias and over twice
that of the U.S. Given the wide gap between
the emissions of India and China, as also the
different levels of economic development, the
question of India capping its emissions is
premature. Indias focus instead will be on
practical cooperative measures on energy efficiency and non-conventional sources of energy, again a key area of India-U.S.
partnership.
The bilateral agenda is full and there are
clear issues on the table from both sides.
While officials have been labouring belowthe-radar to untangle some of these, the directions from the leadership will provide
breakthroughs over time, as India-U.S. exchanges have demonstrated, most notably on
the civil nuclear agreement.
CM
YK
Beyond bonhomie
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Critical transition
in Saudi Arabia
he death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, at
the age of 90, beckoned a cautiously orchestrated transition of power to his successor
Salman in the Al Saud dynasty that holds power in the nation. King Salman has pledged that the
succession would be managed smoothly, with continuity in policies and stability in internal as well as foreign
relations. Given the rising violence and political instability in the region, and the glut in oil supply and
consequent fall in prices, this transition of power is a
critical moment. Salman, who has been crown prince
since 2012, is now 79 years old and not in the best of
health. Clearing any sort of uncertainty, Prince Muqrin,
followed by Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, have been
declared the crown princes to succeed King Salman.
Although the monarchic succession plan seems to be
clearly mapped out, the House of Saud is said to be riven
by factions and internal feuds. Whether order will prevail within the royal family is hard to speculate, given
the secretive nature of its internal affairs.
The transition of power is happening at a time when
politics in the region is beset with uncertainty. Sunnidominated Saudi Arabia and Shia-dominated Iran, with
their decades of rivalry, are closely following the turmoil in Yemen since the resignation of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. The Shiite rebel group Houthi,
suspected to have affiliations with Iran, has often accused Saudi Arabia of meddling in the countrys internal affairs. Riyadh has been praised for its effective
counter-terrorism activities, especially with the Islamic
State-dominated Iraq on its northern borders. Saudi
Arabia continues to have favourable strategic partnerships with the United States, the United Kingdom and
Europe. Even with the global glut in supply, King Salman is likely to continue pumping crude, keeping prices
low, with no apparent intention to alter policies anytime soon. India maintains signicant economic ties
with Saudi Arabia, which is its biggest supplier of oil,
accounting for 20.18 per cent of the imports in 2013-14.
India accounts for 11 per cent of Saudi Arabias exports
and 7.2 per cent of its imports. Remittances from Indians in Saudi Arabia amount to a substantial sum. From a
socio-economic perspective, India has a lot at stake in
the stability of the country. Given the centrality of Saudi
Arabia to western economic interests, the West has
often treated the country as an exception when it comes
to human rights issues. The fact is that Saudi Arabia has
an incredibly poor record in the matter of ensuring civil
and political rights. Public ogging, beheading, and a
general climate of intolerance are hallmarks of its criminal justice system. Women still do not have even the
fundamental rights of speech, movement and assembly.
nedy was found more understanding. Curiously, he accepted that America was wrong to
expect a gracious nation: India was simply
too self aware as a new born democracy to
cede any space even if only by way of
rhetoric that risked jeopardising the freedom it fought so hard to win. Whether it is
Kennedy, his successor Lyndon Johnson, or
Richard Nixon after, American leaders well
understood that India could not be pushed
around.
The change
This was a period of learning. Indians were
no longer funny in the sense Eisenhower
once quipped. The paradoxes slowly came to
be accepted as fact: India would be moved by
her own interests. Of the 12 U.S. Presidents
The close relations between India and the U.S. are the
outcome of almost decades of crises, understanding and
dialogue.
CARTOONSCAPE
Yet another QE
programme
ven as the global economy grapples with the
after-effects of the U.S. Federal Reserves
quantitative easing (QE) programme and its
withdrawal, QE is back with a bang again, this
time from Europe. Though it was expected, the scale of
the European Central Banks (ECB) bond-buying programme, declared last week, stunned markets, economists and central banks across the world. As per the
terms of the programme, beginning March the ECB will
buy as much as 1.1 trillion euros worth of bonds from
eurozone governments over 18 months. The programme will last till September 2016 or until there is a
sustained adjustment in the path of ination. The
planned infusion of cash into the eurozone is double the
size of what the markets expected, and the ECB has said
it would continue to buy government debt until ination rose to a targeted level of near 2 per cent. It is
not surprising, then, that bond prices rallied and the
euro fell by 2 per cent versus the dollar to the weakest
level seen in over 11 years. ECB president Mario Draghi
has pointed to the deationary trends in the eurozone
exacerbated by falling oil prices as justication for the
QE programme, which is bound to raise the hackles of
central banks in emerging economies that were impacted by the U.S. stimulus and its withdrawal.
The ECB now joins the Fed, the Bank of England and
the Bank of Japan in the list of central banks of developed economies that resorted to unconventional monetary policies to ward off recession and deation. While
such policies may or may not work for them, they
certainly are a cause for serious problems for emerging
economies such as India. The effect of the withdrawal of
the U.S. stimulus programme on Indias markets, currency and the economy is well-documented. The ination in stock prices driven by generous capital ows
and the subsequent problems when the bubble was
pricked are too well known for elaboration. And that is
precisely why Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan questioned the extended application of
unconventional monetary policies; in a public speech
last year, he decried the competitive monetary easing
by developed economies without regard to how it affects other countries. Already, Switzerland and Denmark have felt the impact of the ECB stimulus; the
Swiss National Bank was forced to delink the franc from
the euro last week leading to a massive jump in its value
overnight, while Denmark had to cut rates to maintain
its currencys peg with the euro. The EU is Indias
largest trading partner and any depreciation of the euro
will affect exporters even as there is the likelihood of
strong capital ows into the Indian markets, driving up
asset prices. It is time to brace for volatility, once again.
CM
YK
rigidities. Whether it was her or Rajiv Gandhi, the relationship was found changing well
before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The
end of the Cold War merely provided the
space for something structural to allow a
period of engagement to what was already
acceptable to Indian leaders and populations
alike. Such change was premised on an understanding that the dancing stars of democracy that survived the Cold War left nothing
to chance. Unlike the U.Ss relationship with
France or Britain, there was a rough edge to
an advance with India where disagreement
and come-back incrementally invested in
strategic resilience. Such resilience is what
has allowed Mr. Modi to envisage a future
with America, despite disagreements over a
whole range of issues whether at the World
Trade Organization or to do with insurance
liabilities.
Saffronising censors
Circular on festival
A circular issued by the School
Board of the Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation asking its schools to
organise Saraswati Puja to mark
Vasant Panchami has stirred up a
hornets nest. The circular also
covers Urdu schools, most of whose
students are from a minority
community.
The circular says the festival is an
occasion to remember the deity of
knowledge. The AMC School Board
runs about 450 primary schools in
the city, including 64 Urdu-medium
schools, mostly located in Muslimmajority areas such as Shahpur,
Jamalpur, Gomtipur and Kalupur
Juhapura. Around 16,000 Muslim
students study in these schools. This
circular is a clear violation of Article
25 of the Constitution. Why should
we incorporate religious practice in
education? Considering these facts,
the circular is a direct attack on the
freedom of religion.
Zuber Gopalani,
Vadodara
On wildlife
National Highway 209 has become a
death trap for wildlife that inhabits
the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve,
the newly formed tiger reserve in
Medical care
The article, Humane, effective
medical care beyond intensive care
(Open Page, Jan. 25) was very
relevant. One hopes and wishes that
the article will henceforth make all
doctors follow the I See You
mantra towards their patients
instead of sending them to an ICU
straightaway where a doctors work
is taken over by frightening
diagnostic machines.
K. Pradeep,
Chennai
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Momentous
vote in Greece
he momentous victory of the radical left-wing
Syriza party in Greece is certain to send shock
waves through Brussels, already trying to
contend with the rising popularity of forces
lined up against the European Union. The impact will
be felt most notably in Spain and Britain, where elections are due in weeks. But the outcome of Sundays
poll would have surprised few in Greece, whose macroeconomic indicators must cause near-disbelief considering that the country is clubbed with the states of the
developed world. Nearly a third of the population is
below the poverty line and about a quarter of the
workforce is jobless. The hundreds of health clinics,
social kitchens, education centres and legal aid hubs
that sprang up in recent months testify to the collapse
of Greeces welfare state under the weight of half a
decade of austerity. It is this Solidarity for All movement that constitutes the backbone of Syrizas political
programme that swung its fortunes: from being the
principal Opposition in the outgoing government it has
become the largest party in the new Parliament.
The coalition government of Prime Minister Alexis
Tsiprass Syriza and the right-wing Independent
Greeks party has a common objective: of giving citizens
a swift respite from the painful austerity of the recent
past. To what extent the left extreme factions within
Syriza would countenance this pragmatic arrangement
remains to be seen. Equally crucial will be the ability of
the ruling combine to rise above the ideological divide.
The new coalitions first and arguably the biggest
challenge in office will be to renegotiate the terms of
the international bailout that is to run out at the end of
February, and to secure a write-down of Greek debt by
half, as it had promised. That will also be the moment to
watch for the EUs broader response to the threat from
protesting parties in different countries of the 28member bloc. The Finnish Prime Ministers recent
conciliatory tone at Davos on renegotiating the Greek
debt burden is significant considering Helsinkis previous unwillingness to relax the terms. As the largest
creditor-nation, the domestic fallout in Germany to the
EUs economic rescue programmes has been enormous. Berlin will look to such accommodation from
fellow eurozone members. Syrizas triumph must also
renew hope within the European Left that has largely
remained politically divided and electorally decimated
since the end of the Cold War. Its critical role in forging
strategic alliances with the political centre to counter
the forces of the far-right could not be overstated. Mr.
Tsipras himself attributed the rise of the extreme right
as a reaction to the failure of austerity. The Greeks have
voted for change; their hopes should not be belied.
Developing a partnership
Mr. Obama had visited India early in his
tenure and was upbeat when he talked about
India and the U.S. developing a defining
partnership for the 21st century but there
has been little to show for it since. The ambiguities of Indias Nuclear Liability Act, the
Defence Minister of the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA), A.K. Antonys ability to
stonewall proposals for closer ties, the retroactive tax policy announcements and the economic slowdown in India, coupled with Mr.
Obamas other growing preoccupations, both
domestic and foreign, meant that the partnership was languishing. Looking around for
legacy issues in the foreign policy area, Mr.
Obama knew that India enjoyed the advantage of bipartisan support in Washington
which was not the case with Cuba and Iran.
Mr. Modi had understood this and rightly
concluded that for India-U.S. ties, Mr. Obamas lame-duck standing of being in his last
stretch in the White House was inconsequential. The show at the Madison Square
Garden in New York had shown the Amer-
CARTOONSCAPE
The deadlock
in Nepal
he political turmoil in Nepal continues as the
prospects of reaching a consensus over a new
draft Constitution still appears bleak. The
Constituent Assembly was expected to promulgate a new Constitution on January 22, but the political parties were unable to resolve their differences in
order to complete the task. The intense optimism that
accompanied the nations transition from being a monarchy to a republic about a decade ago has turned into
dismay with the political parties repeatedly failing to
deliver on their promises. Nepal witnessed a transition
in 1990 from authoritarian monarchic rule to a constitutional monarchy, followed by a decade-long Maoist
insurgency that ended in 2006 with a peace agreement
and the overthrow of the monarchy in 2008. The Interim Constitution of 2007 created a 601-member Constituent Assembly that also doubled as Parliament until a
new Constitution was enacted. The Maoists emerged as
the majority party in the April 2008 elections, but the
Constituent Assembly failed to meet its 2012 deadline
and so the Assembly stood dissolved and fresh elections
were called. The second Constituent Assembly that was
convened in January 2014 also failed to draft a Constitution. Rivalry and squabbles amongst parties are the
main reasons for the state of political dysfunction. In
the majority is a coalition of the Nepali Congress and
the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party that has a
two-thirds majority in the Assembly. The Maoist party,
which performed dismally in the second round of elections, has partnered with the Madheshi Morcha, a coalition of regional parties from the southern plains.
Federalism has become one of the most contentious
issues to be resolved by the Assembly. This debate is
closely tied to issues of identity and equality in a diverse
nation with hundreds of communities, dialects and cultures. The ethnic and regional parties demand a federal
structure that recognises and grants political autonomy
to their groups, while its opponents warn that such
sectarian politics threaten the countrys unified national identity by fuelling ethnic conflicts among groups.
This genuinely significant problem of creating and redefining the essence and identity of a new constitutional democracy is, however, being jeopardised by
power struggles among political parties that are exploiting and polarising the diversity of the regions for their
own personal gains. On Sunday, Constituent Assembly
Chairman Subash Nembang announced the formation
of a proposal committee to prepare a questionnaire on
the disputed issues of the new Constitution, which will
then be voted upon by the Assembly. But with an Opposition that is vehemently opposed to the move, there is
little room for optimism on this count at this point.
CM
YK
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
A new chapter
of openness
s he listed the reasons why he believes the
India-U.S. relationship is the dening partnership of this century, Barack Obama dwelt
in his farewell speech on all the similarities
between the two nations: as diverse, multi-religious,
tolerant democracies that respect human rights. Over
the last three days, he made a much more vivid enunciation of where the future of India-U.S. ties lies as well.
From the joint statement, to a declaration of friendship, to a strategic vision for the Asia-Pacic region,
rarely has the state-of-play between New Delhi and
Washington been so clearly mapped out during any
Indo-U.S. summit. In inviting President Obama at
short notice, having him officiate over the Republic
Day parade and make a series of public appearances
together, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone
where his predecessors have often shied away from
in seeking to take bilateral ties with America to a new
level. The strategic defence framework, say officials,
will see their militaries move to a new level of closeness, for example. Whether it is about defence exchanges, joint production of the four projects outlined,
or the MoU between national defence universities, it is
clear that the interaction planned between the Indian
and U.S. armed forces will be unprecedented.
The openness in ties was clear in other spheres of the
relationship: from the frank discourse over economic
issues, to the obvious agreement on countering climate
change, to the details of the Obama-Modi personal
chemistry that they referred to with ease. Mr. Modi
went so far as to say that India and the U.S. had
beneted from the bonhomie he shared with Mr. Obama. However, while the exuberance and optimism in
the relationship is a positive and welcome development, especially as it comes after a period of intense
negativity, it should not come at the cost of other
relationships. President Obamas criticism of Russia
while in India, calling it a bully, was hardly something
that Prime Minister Modi could have anticipated, yet it
may make a dent in relations with Russia. The vision
statement on the Asia-Pacic and Indian Ocean region
is likely to have a more lasting impact on relations with
China, as it seeks to portray an India-U.S. front against
diplomatic, economic and security challenges in the
region. It will be External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swarajs task, as she heads to Beijing shortly, to assuage
any fears that the pact is directed in that direction.
Meanwhile, as the euphoria from the successes of the
visit subsides, Mr. Modi will need to explain domestically just how he was able to achieve the visits biggest
breakthrough: on nuclear issues. For the past six
years, India and the U.S. have been unable to conclude
the administrative arrangements that would enable
commercial cooperation between Indian and American companies under the civil nuclear deal. While
diplomats are to be congratulated on having cleared
this hurdle, the Indian public must be informed about
exactly what assurances have been given to U.S. officials in return for their acceptance of the Indian liability law, and what the added costs would be. The UPA
government came in for much criticism from the thenin-Opposition BJP and paid a heavy price for its lack of
openness and clarity on liability issues. Mr. Modi and
his government need to be more forthcoming about the
details of the agreement. Since the Indian taxpayer will
be the consumer, the underwriter and the potential
victim of any untoward nuclear accident, the subject of
liability in the nuclear deal is of utmost importance.
The coming out of the India-U.S. relationship is indeed a welcome new chapter in relations, but it cannot be written fully without complete openness on the
nuclear deal as well, which has been described as the
centrepiece of India-U.S. understanding.
On the business side, there were no signicant outcomes to talk about except for the resolve to expand
trade ties and a $4-billion commitment from the U.S. in
investment and loans. To put this in perspective, Mr.
Modi returned with a $35-billion investment commitment from Japan when he visited Tokyo last year.
Ironically, half of the investment committed by Mr.
Obama will go into the renewable energy sector where
the U.S. and India are locked in a trade dispute at the
WTO. The dispute is over Indias imposition of local
content requirements on solar cells and modules as
part of the projects awarded under the Jawaharlal
Nehru National Solar Mission. The U.S. is also unhappy
with the Make in India policy, especially in the renewable energy sector where it sees great prospects for its
own companies. It remains to be seen how much of the
investment committed by Mr. Obama actually happens, given that it is linked to Indian companies sourcing technology and products from the U.S. If the Indian
IT sector was hoping for an agreement on the issue of
H1B visas, then it must be disappointed for Mr. Obama
did not go beyond giving an assurance that the U.S.
would look into all aspects as part of overall immigration reform. Given that both the Senate and the House
of Representatives are under the control of Republicans, it would be rather difficult for the President to
push through deep immigration reform; he can accomplish only as much as is possible through executive
action. Mr. Obama also had India on the back foot on
the subject of Intellectual Property protection, pointing out that U.S. companies were hampered by the lack
of adequate protection in India. Mr. Modi also found
himself defending the Make in India initiative even
while promising that adversarial taxation policies
would be phased out. Evidently, there are issues where
the two countries have a lot of work to do to align their
respective positions; but that may just have got easier
now after Mr. Obamas high-on-optics visit and the
understanding struck between him and Mr. Modi.
CM
YK
The weakening of Dr. Singhs prime minisna Advani, when he was Leader of the
tership also coincided with domestic distracOpposition.
Ironically, it is Sushma Swaraj who, in tions for the U.S. President. The post-2008
2010, reportedly picked up the phone and economic crisis not only forced Mr. Obama to
called the CPI(M)s Sitaram Yechury, strik- cosy up to China, but his Afghanistan strateing an alliance with the Left to demand gy took him closer to Pakistan. India felt
changes to the original nuclear liability law, abandoned. It took the decisive victory of Mr.
who has had to now help nd a way out of the Modi, in May 2014, and a new reassessment
impasse she helped create.
of a post-Modi India by Mr. Obama, for the
But then, the Advani BJPs objection to the deal to be back on track.
nuclear deal was not based on genuine conMr. Modi has understood the strategic sigcerns about strategic autonomy and the fu- nicance of the nuclear deal; that it was not
ture of the nuclear programme. When Dr. just about building nuclear power plants but,
Singh managed to win over Mr. Vajpayees as he put it so eloquently on Saturday, the
National Security Advisor, the late Brajesh centrepiece of a strategic partnership. The
Political doublespeak
Mishra, and the leadership of the Depart- wayward course of the nuclear deal only unTo return the relationship to where it was ment of Atomic Energy, the Advani BJPs derscores the importance of strong domestic
in 2008, when the U.S. secured the approval
of the Nuclear Suppliers Group for Indias
nuclear programme, it was necessary to clear
The real outcome of the Obama visit is captured in the
the air on the liability law. In short, the nustatements
on the India-U.S. bilateral Strategic Vision and the
clear stuff that hogged the headlines all
Declaration
of Friendship.
through the weekend was just the ribbon that
had to be cut for Mr. Obama and Mr. Modi to
then move on. Move on they did. The real
outcome of the visit is captured in the state- game became clear. It was in fact seeking to political leadership for success on the exments on their bilateral Strategic Vision and oust the Manmohan Singh government, not ternal front. A strong Dr. Singh clinched the
the Declaration of Friendship.
really block the nuclear deal.
deal in 2008, a weakened one failed to deliver
What the entire nuclear deal episode capon it. A strong successor has now completed
tures, however, is the price we pay for our Back on track
the project.
Given that the BJP in office today is not the
political doublespeak. As Prime Minister, Dr.
Manmohan Singh would often say that a po- Advani BJP, but the Narendra Modi BJP and The new mantle
The new mantle is now dened by the
litical partys view on policy should not be given that Mr. Modi was never an enthusijudged by what it says when in Opposition, astic supporter of the Advani groups ambi- joint statement issued by Mr. Obama and Mr.
but by what it does when in government. So, tion to seize power, he would have had no Modi, which has to be read within the wider
even though it was the Bharatiya Janata Par- problem endorsing the deal that Dr. Singh framework of bilateral relations dened by
ty (BJP), under the leadership of Prime Min- struck and getting on with business. That is the Declaration of Friendship and the Joint
ister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, that took the rst precisely what he has done. In six quick Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacic and Indisteps and the next steps towards a strate- months he has cleared the cobwebs and re- an Ocean Region. While the media, quite ungic partnership with the U.S., the same BJP vived what seemed to have become a mori- derstandably, remained focussed on the
opposed the India-U.S. civil nuclear energy bund relationship during Dr. Singhs second centrepiece, a new mantle has now been
agreement under the leadership of Lal Krish- term.
put in place dened by these Vision and
CARTOONSCAPE
Legendary Laxman
Even in school, I evinced special
interest in the cartoons of the
legendary R.K. Laxman that were
published in Blitz, the Illustrated
Weekly of India and The Times of
India (He said it with wit and
irony, Jan.27). They were the
reections
of
the
nations
conscience-keeper,
generally
critical of the policies of the
government against the interests of
the common man. It is remarkable
that the cartoons silently exposed
the follies of Ministers and
politicians.
D. Sethuraman,
Chennai
An oak has fallen. R.K. Laxman was
undoubtedly Indias David Low. I
still remember the day, on August
11, 1978, in Madras, when in 10
seconds each he drew the
Friendship statements.
The vision dening the new partnership
captures the geopolitical view that the key to
Indias rise as a global player is inclusive
economic development at home. It is also in
Indias interest, as well as that of the U.S., to
establish a rules-based system of global economic governance and a rules-based security
architecture.
Critics of the U.S.-India partnership, and
there would be many in both countries, tend
to assess the new understanding within the
paradigm of outdated Cold War thinking. India-baiters in the U.S. would chastise Mr.
Obama for giving India too much strategic
space with no assurance of any alliance being
offered in exchange. Critics of the U.S. in
India will charge Mr. Modi with bartering
away Indias strategic autonomy and its independent foreign policy.
Both would be wrong. The reality is that
both Mr. Obama and Mr. Modi have come to
terms with the reality of the new world order,
in which they see their partnership as strengthening a global economic and security architecture that would benet both. In that
sense, the three documents issued by the two
leaders in New Delhi offer a realistic assessment of the existing power equation between
the two interlocutors, on the one hand, and
between them and other major powers, like
Russia and China, on the other.
On maladministration
Until the intervention of the
Supreme Court, the BCCIwas a law
unto itself and a private body that
remained unaccountable to any
regulatory
body
(BCCImonopolyand
judicial
review, Jan.27). It was also beyond
the purview of the RTI Act, which
enabled its functionaries to do as
they
pleased
with
cricket
administration in the hands of wellheeled
industrialists
and
politicians. It was no doubt a cosy
club. It is this freedom that was
tarnishing of the game of cricket.
Thecash cow has now turned out to
be a can of worms with the owners
of franchises accused of being
involved in illegal betting and xing.
The BCCI needs urgent cleansing.
C.V. Aravind,
Bengaluru
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Going beyond
symbolism
n its 66th Republic Day, during a mighty
parade in the national capital, India showcased woman power with all-women contingents of the three Services for the first
time. A day earlier, Wing Commander Pooja Thakur
became the first woman to lead a ceremonial tri-service
guard of honour, which the visiting U.S. President inspected. But when it comes to the overall status of
women in the Indian armed forces, especially in the
Army, all this represents a travesty of gender justice.
Since being inducted into the Army in 1992 under the
Women Special Entry Scheme (they were in even earlier in the Military Nursing Service from 1927 and in the
Medical Officers Cadre from 1943), women Army officers are still denied permanent commission on a par
with men: they have to be content with the short
service commission. On a batch of petitions filed in
2003 by women officers demanding an end to the
discriminatory practice, the Delhi High Court in March
2010 granted their just and fair claim for permanent
commission with the singeing words that it was not
some charity being sought but enforcement of their
constitutional rights. While this prompted the Air
Force and the Navy to grant women officers permanent
commission, the Army took a different stand, arguing,
among other things, that the bulk of the armys Junior
Commissioned Officers and other ranks hail from rural
India, who are not yet ready to accept a woman as their
leader in combat situations. In an affidavit filed before
the Supreme Court in 2012 while appealing against the
High Court order, the Army added: In theory women
in the army may sound good but in practical terms the
arrangement has not worked well in the Indian Army
and as a concept also our society is not prepared to
accept women in combat role.
As the issue remains in the Supreme Court for more
than four years now, the Army needs to get real, and
persuade itself to go beyond symbolic and cosmetic
steps. It needs to recognise womens capabilities as
many advanced armed forces across the world have
done, even committing them to combat roles and
their right to a full-fledged career in the force, on a par
with men. During the 14-year short service commission
tenure they now enjoy, women officers in various corps
are assigned duties similar to those of men officers
without distinction, to all possible field units with men
officers. If it is the Armys claim that beyond that point
in permanent commission tenure women could be exposed to hostile environments it has cited the
unique nature of responsibility and organisational requirement that the Army Act necessitates that
truly smacks of gender discrimination. The time has
come for the Army to end this iniquitous situation.
obert Blackwill, former Ambassador of the United States and Harvard academic, used to often
recount at his dinner roundtables
in New Delhis Roosevelt House an intriguing
story about how he was persuaded to take up
the job. In 2001, President George W. Bush
called him to his ranch in Texas and said:
Bob, imagine: India, a billion people, a democracy, 150 million Muslims and no Al Qaeda. Wow! More than a decade after
President Bushs first exclamation, IndiaU.S. relations have truly reached their wow
moment.
President Barack Obamas visit is so obvious a watershed in Indias foreign policy, and
so overwhelming a development, that voices
of dissent are mute or feeble. Not since India
signed the treaty of peace, friendship and
cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1971
has New Delhi aligned itself so closely with a
great power. More important, outside the
Left, both within India and in the U.S. the
consensus across the mainstream of political
opinion favours stronger relations between
the two countries. Anti-Americanism, once
the conventional wisdom of the Indian elite,
seems almost antediluvian today.
CARTOONSCAPE
The dynamics
of inequality
ccupational and geographic mobility across
the region are bridging income and consumption-related disparities, says the World
Bank report, Addressing Inequality in South
Asia. The findings accordingly underscore the role of
urbanisation and private sector participation as being
critical to mitigating socio-economic disadvantages.
Inequality should be understood in terms of monetary
and non-monetary dimensions of well-being, contends
the report. The share of the poorest 40 per cent of
households in total consumption shows that inequality
in South Asia is moderate by international standards.
The comparison is valid even though estimates elsewhere are based on income per capita. Significantly,
but not surprisingly, economic mobility of the recent
decades has proved beneficial to the population at
large, cutting across traditional divides and challenging
stereotypes. This finding, if anything, underscores the
positive effects of legal safeguards for the protection of
minorities. Indeed, monetary inequality of enormous
significance is manifested in Indias highly disproportionate billionaire wealth, amounting to 12 per cent of
gross domestic product in 2012. The ratio is considerably large even compared with other countries at a
similar level of economic development, says the report.
Conversely, non-monetary indices of well-being pertain to opportunities available to people in the early
years, outcomes during adulthood and support systems
through the life-cycle. Thus, although it is not the
poorest region, South Asia accounts for some of the
worst human development outcomes in basic education and health care. Besides the highest rates of infant
and child mortality that prevail in many parts of the
region, more than 50 per cent of poor children below
five years of age in Bangladesh and Nepal are stunted;
the proportion for India is over 60 per cent. Pervasive
tax avoidance and regressive fuel and electricity subsidies are primarily responsible for the inadequate provisioning of public services. Of no insignificant value is
the non-dogmatic stance the report adopts on a fundamental moral question such as inequality. Drawing
upon influential academic debates in economics and
philosophy, the study argues that the rewards linked to
hard work and entrepreneurship serve as incentives to
give ones best and enhance overall well-being. It would
be fair to infer that non-monetary inequalities are
arbitrary and potentially more detrimental to economic growth over the long term. To bring such ideas into
the public and political mainstream would enhance the
quality of the debate, and further consolidate contemporary competitive electoral democracies.
CM
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China factor
While India has traditionally favoured a
policy of deep engagement with all major
powers, the special relationship with the U.S.
today, especially the vision statement, is
rooted in great apprehensions in New Delhi
about Chinas aggressive peripheral diplomacy, particularly after the intrusions in
Chumar during President Xi Jinpings visit to
India last year. That the new Chinese leadership had abandoned Deng Xiaopings 24
Character Strategy of biding time, hiding its
capacities and not attracting attention has
been clear for some time now, but what is
intriguing is that Beijing has managed to
alienate nearly all its neighbours, except
North Korea and Pakistan, by its malevolence. Not surprisingly, a rising China is a
cause of trepidation in most capitals of the
world today. Will Beijing now introspect and
recalibrate? For it must realise that New Delhis closeness to Washington is also a function of its strategic distance from Beijing.
In late 2005, amidst the negotiations over
the civil nuclear agreement with the U.S., Dr.
Singh, appointed a task force on global strategic developments headed by the doyen of
Indias strategic thinking, K. Subrahmanyam. As a member of the task force, I remember the meetings essentially became a series
of inspiring lectures by Mr. Subrahmanyam
on geopolitics. Mr. Subrahmanyam was an
architect of many of Indias key strategic
decisions, including the policy that led to the
creation of Bangladesh, the Indo-Soviet treaty, as well as the nuclear tests of 1998. But
throughout the meetings, Mr. Subrahmanyam, with a mind as agile as that of a restless
teenage prodigy, would emphasise the importance of arriving at a modus vivendi with
the U.S., the overriding importance of the
nuclear deal, how it was in Washingtons own
interest to support a rising India and how
New Delhi should grab that opportunity. As
the United States and India finally recognise each other and promise to realise each
others potential, the new entente between
the two countries is a fitting tribute to the
legacy of Indias modern-day Chanakya, just
days after his 86th birthday.
(Amitabh Mattoo is Professor of
Disarmament and Diplomacy, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi.)
Issues in focus
The focus of most media articles
during and following the Obama
visit appear to be heavily nuclear
deal-centric and on defence deals
and trade. Unfortunately, there
does not seem to have been any
discussion on renewable energy and
climate change which are far more
important than these issues. Does
India want just financial help on
the issue of climate change? It must
be noted that the White House has
released a 10-point statement on
climate change and clean energy
resulting from the discussions and
which include these points: the
phasing out of hydroflurocarbons; a
$125-million agreement on clean
energy research; enhanced clean
energy research and trade; climate
resilience tools; promotion of
super-efficient off-grid appliances,
and a concluded agreement on a
five-year MoU on Energy Security,
Clean Energy, and Climate Change
which is to be signed soon. This is by
far the most important issue for
future generations of Indians.
Clarence Maloney,
Kodaikanal
R.K. Laxman
I had an occasion to meet R.K.
Laxman some years ago when the
public sector organisation I was
working in had invited him to meet
its staff. I was to take him around
the huge manufacturing complex
and the township that housed our
This is no toilet
The Supreme Court has brought out
the realities of toilets in
government schools in Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana (Toilet in
structure not a toilet in reality: SC,
Jan.28). How can the authorities
just spend some money in
constructing the structure without
going into its actual functioning? It
clearly seems to be a case of
collusion between the contractors
and the officials concerned. It is
common to find rest rooms often
being used as garbage receptacles.
People also do not know how to
keep a toilet clean after use. School
heads in the region have often said
that there is apathy towards the
condition of rest rooms and that
things can be turned around if every
student contributes Rs.10 a month
towards upkeep.
J.P. Reddy,
Nalgonda
ND-ND
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Lisa Curtis
Obama and
religious freedom
he first public reactions to U.S. President Barack Obamas soul-stirring Address to the
People of India at the Siri Fort Auditorium in
New Delhi before winding up his three-day
historic trip to the country on January 27 have, rather
predictably, displayed a binary logic. A good section
instantly saw in Mr. Obamas candid views on dealing
with diversity of beliefs and of faiths and the need to
uphold the constitutionally guaranteed Right to Freedom of Religion without fear of persecution or discrimination, a well-meant yet stinging reminder to the
Narendra Modi-led BJP Government to rein in its
religious fundamentalist elements. But an equally vocal section seemed to resent his homily to a nation
whose Sanatana Dharma has been extremely tolerant
of all religions. However, holistically there is more
substance to Mr. Obamas 34-minute speech, set in the
context of two emerging scenarios. First, the possibility
that America can be Indias best partner in a whole
range of activities including the next wave of economic growth, and second, at a more personal level how
India for Mr. Obama represents an intersection of two
men who have always inspired me Martin Luther
King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi in striving for equity
and peace in a non-violent way.
It is from this perceptual bedrock that the American
President has sought to re-engage India on a much
wider socio-political canvas of cultural pluralism and
religious diversity under an overarching universal humanism. Mr. Obamas admission that in our lives,
Michelle and I have been strengthened by our Christian faith, may at best elevate traditional religious
notions like God and all of humanity being Gods
children, to a secular plane in a complex, interdependent world in guarding against sectarian divisions and
dark violence which threaten to rapidly undermine
foundational human values. This universalism for Mr.
Obama, looking beyond any difference in religion or
tribe and rejoice in the beauty of every soul, seem to be
first premises for articulating a new global ethic of
peace and harmony. The entry point may be Hinduism,
Christianity, Islam or any other faith, but the goal is
enabling compassion and empathy in human affairs.
This is a utopian task, but this is what world leaders
like India and the U.S. should be doing, he hinted. The
late Philosopher-President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,
in his work, The Spirit of Religion said: The world has
got together as a body; it is groping for its soul If we
can have a United Nations Organization, cannot we
have a United Religions Organization? Mr. Obamas
plea for religious freedom aims to give that vision a
chance under very different circumstances.
he rain during the Republic Day parade apart, United States President
Barack Obamas visit to India was a
near-perfect one. Indeed, his sojourn is likely to be viewed as one of the most
important and defining moments in the history of India-U.S. relations.
The pomp and symbolism of Mr. Obama
being the first U.S. President to attend the
parade was expected. But the substance of the
visit, particularly its focus on defence and
Incidentally, the Washington-based Heristrategic cooperation, confirms that both Mr. the previous government headed by Dr. ManObama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi mohan Singh. The time and the attention the tage Foundation will join the Delhi-based ViIndian side has devoted in trying to resolve vekananda International Foundation, the
are serious about bolstering ties.
differences over the nuclear liability issue Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the ToProgress on strategic agenda
shows that the Modi government is taking kyo Foundation, and the Jakarta-based HabiThe most significant achievement was the ownership of the deal.
bie Center in Bali, Indonesia, next week for a
progress made in military and defence coopTrack II Quad-Plus dialogue to discuss ways
eration. The renewal of the 10-year frame- China factor
to enhance cooperation in defence, regional
Forming the backdrop of progress on In- security and counterterrorism.
work for the U.S.-India Defence Relationship;
the announcement of joint projects, includ- dia-U.S. defence and strategic ties is undoubtChina has reacted warily to Mr. Obamas
ing the co-production of unmanned aerial edly the military and economic rise of China. visit to India. In a commentary that ran in a
vehicles (UAVs) and specialised equipment The Joint Statements call for freedom of state-owned Chinese newspaper, its author
for military transport aircraft; the establish- navigation and overflight, especially in the cautioned India not to fall into Americas
ment of contact groups to explore co-devel- South China Sea, should be viewed as a veiled trap of trying to counter China.
opment of jet engine technology and aircraft reference to Chinese assertiveness in the
Counterterrorism cooperation
carrier systems, and the decision to upgrade region.
By demonstrating that China is very much
The two sides advanced their counterterbilateral, annual naval exercises represent
substantive steps that will deepen the de- on his mind, Mr. Modi has reportedly raised rorism dialogue and recommitted to cooperfence partnership.
The establishment of a hotline between the
two leaders and their national security adU.S. companies are apparently still studying the Indian
visers are also an indicator of the two counproposal
for a nuclear insurance pool to mitigate investment
tries taking ties to a deeper, strategic level.
The forward movement on civil nuclear
risks, so it may be too early to claim victory on the civil
issues was a surprise, given the antagonistic
nuclear front.
position of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
towards the civil nuclear deal when it was in
the Opposition. But details on the breakthrough understanding are sparse. And Mr. the idea of reviving the Quad (security collab- ating against Pakistan-based groups such as
Obama has himself acknowledged that U.S. oration between Australia, India, Japan and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). There is confucompanies will have the final say on whether the U.S.). Shinzo Abe, during his previous sion about whether Pakistan is cracking down
Indias proposal for an insurance pool will be stint as Prime Minister of Japan, proposed on the LeT front organisation, Jamaat-udsufficient to mitigate investment risks in light the idea of the Quad almost nine years ago. Dawa (JuD), led by the LeT founder, Hafiz
of Indian legislation that holds suppliers lia- The four countries backed away from the Mohammad Saeed.
ble for damages in the event of a nuclear proposal when China raised strong objecThe Pakistani media reported last week
accident. The companies are apparently still tions. Mr. Modis mention of the Quad may that Islamabad had frozen JuD assets and
studying the proposal, so it may be too early have been aimed at convincing China to back banned its leaders from international travel.
to claim victory on the civil nuclear front.
down from its assertive position with regard But Hafiz Saeeds recent announcement of
Nonetheless, U.S. officials seem to appre- to their border disputes. Chinese President Xi the JuD launching a new ambulance service
ciate the effort Indias negotiators are making Jinpings visit to India in September 2014 was in Karachi, shows that the organisation is not
in trying to resolve the civil nuclear deadlock. overshadowed by border tensions provoked feeling much heat from the governments
Many were sceptical that Mr. Modi would by unusual movements of Chinese soldiers purported actions.
invest much political capital in trying to move along the disputed frontier in northern
Washington should push Pakistan to try in
the deal forward since it was initiated under Kashmir.
the newly established military courts, the
CARTOONSCAPE
Sending the
right signal
he governments decision not to appeal
against the adverse verdict of the Bombay
High Court in its Rs.3,200-crore tax case
against Vodafone is the first concrete demonstration of its resolve to do away with what Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley termed adversarial taxation policies of the
erstwhile UPA government. Though the BJP had during its election campaign, referred to tax terrorism in
its election campaign there was little that happened in
the first eight months of the new government to show
that such policies would be reversed. The latest Cabinet decision sends out a strong signal to foreign investors that this government will be fair in its tax
policies and avoid needless litigation. The decision not
to appeal has implications for other such similar cases
involving multinationals and is, in that sense, a significant one. It is also an acknowledgment that the Income Tax Departments assessment of the case was
erroneous. The Vodafone case was about wrong classification of a capital receipt as taxable income at the
hands of the company. Applying transfer-pricing guidelines, the I.T. Department held that Vodafone had
underpriced its shares issued to the parent. So it revalued the shares and deemed the difference to be a loan
given to the parent. This was clearly high-handed and a
wrong application of transfer-pricing regulations.
The governments decision to accept the High Court
verdict is also a signal to assessing officers that they
should refrain from making unreasonable tax demands, relying on aggressive and faulty interpretations
of rules and sections. Yet, it is also true that the government turns the heat on these officers when it decides
that tax collections need to be augmented. If the tax
official is confused he cannot be blamed. What is needed is a stable policy that sends out the signal to both
assessing officers and taxpayers that the government
will crack down on evasion but within the framework of
the law; there will be no extraordinary interpretations
of rules and sections even in times of revenue distress.
The focus will now shift to whether the government
moves to neutralise the mischief caused by the retrospective tax amendment; this is a major demand of
foreign investors who were disappointed that it was not
addressed in the first budget of this government in July
last year. The General Anti Avoidance Rules, or GAAR,
are a cause for worry for taxpayers and foreign investors as they confer wide discretionary powers on the
I.T. Department. It will be interesting to see if Mr.
Jaitley makes a Budget announcement to postpone its
implementation once again as per the recommendations of the Parthasarathi Shome Committee.
CM
YK
EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
Interference sans
responsibility
ayanthi Natarajans explosive letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, with its stunning
revelations about Rahul Gandhis interference
in the functioning of the Union Environment
Ministry when she headed it, only underscores what
was long known in party circles. As heir apparent, Mr.
Gandhi would sporadically interfere in policy decisions
depending on his particular pet belief at a particular
point in time. Worse, the positions he took were often
inconsistent. As Ms. Natarajan points out in her letter,
Mr. Gandhis espousal of the interests of tribals and
fisherfolk was soon superseded by his advocacy of industry: at a FICCI meeting, shortly after she was sacked
as Minister, he complained about delays in environmental clearances (something Ms. Natarajan implies
happened because of his interference), and promised
there would be no further bottlenecks. If, from time to
time, there were whispers in the party about similar
interventions by Mr. Gandhi, the one that played out in
front of television cameras was in September 2013,
when he tore up a controversial ordinance on convicted
lawmakers, as well as the Representation of the People
(Amendment) Bill that sought to replace it. Five days
later, the Union Cabinet withdrew the ordinance, but
not before it had deeply embarrassed the then Prime
Minister, Manmohan Singh.
Differences on policy issues exist in all political parties and governments: the proper way is to settle these
issues through internal debate, a practice the Congress
abandoned long ago. In UPA-I, in Sonia Gandhis National Advisory Council the Congress created an institution through which the social welfare dimension
could be introduced into governance: Dr. Singh did not
always agree with the NACs formulations, but through
a process of discussion, a via media would be found as
in the Food Security Act. But in the case of Mr. Gandhi,
there was always great anxiety amongst his minders to
ensure that he got the credit for any governmental or
party success, sometimes with comic effect. Towards
the end of UPA-I, after the government had already
decided to expand the coverage of the MGNREGS to
the entire country, Mr. Gandhi took a delegation to the
Prime Minister to press him to do it! The key problem
for the Congress has been that while Mr. Gandhi was
repeatedly entreated to join the government in a Ministry of his choice, he stayed away, saying he preferred
to build the party. The uncharitable view in the party
was that ministerial responsibility would have brought
in its wake accountability, anathema to the heir apparent. Today, Mr. Gandhis spin doctors may question
Ms. Natarajans timing, but if he does not draw the
right lessons from her dramatic exit from the Congress,
there could be more departures.
No understanding
Our terrorists and our security discourses
seek only dominance and control, not understanding. The discourse that Mr. Obama
spouts shows little understanding of the evils
enacted by the U.S. Narendra Modi shows
little sense of the suffering of the North East.
In fact the term North East is itself a violence
to the diversity of communities in the area.
The women of Manipur are asking for the gift
CARTOONSCAPE
Climate change
deniers
he passage of the Keystone XL pipeline bill,
the first priority of the new U.S. Senate controlled by Republicans, hit a roadblock on
January 27 when the Senate managed to muster just 53 votes in its favour, seven shy of the 60-vote
threshold to limit debate. The nearly 1,900-km-long
proposed pipeline, which will transport 830,000 barrels
of oil a day from Albertas (Canada) vast oil sands to
Nebraska, is a highly controversial project. Unlike conventional crude, mining and turning tar sands into oil is
highly carbon-intensive and hence has far worse consequences for global warming. It is for this reason that
President Barack Obama had threatened to veto the bill.
But the bill produced some interesting results before it
reached the stage when the Senate voted on it. For the
first time, the Republicans slowly but surely shifting
position on climate change became evident. When the
first measure climate change is real and not a hoax
offered as an amendment to the legislation that will
pave the way for the Keystone XL pipeline project was
put to vote on January 21, except for one Republican the
entire Senate agreed that climate change is for real.
Interestingly, Republican Jim Inhofe, the veteran climate change denier in the Senate, was one of those who
voted for the amendment. For him, the hoax was that
some people think they can change climate.
Though a majority of the Senators also agreed that
humans are singularly responsible for climate change,
two crucial amendments that pointed a finger at humans failed to cross the 60-vote threshold. While an
amendment affirming that humans contributed to climate change was just one short of 60, the third amendment, that human activity significantly contributes to
climate change, got only 50 votes; just five Republicans
voted for it. Apparently, the emphasis on human contribution turned out to be the sticking point. The Senate
has till date refused to widely agree that man-made
climate change is real. Despite a body of evidence unequivocally proving that human activity has been the
causal factor for climate change, the deniers are in no
mood to change their stand. So long as policymakers fail
to acknowledge the havoc created by human activity,
there is little possibility that anything substantial will
be done to address it. The consequences will be terrible
and irreversible if ideology continues to stand up to
science. With reckless emission of greenhouse gases
continuing, the Earth is already on track to warm by
3.6 Celsius, as the International Energy Agency estimated last year. This is way beyond the goal of limiting
the increase in global average surface temperature to
2C above the pre-industrial level.
CM
YK
A loyalists anguish
Preamble debate
No toilet
The Supreme Courts observation,
in a written order (Toilet in
structure not a toilet in reality: SC,
Jan.28), is another example of how
high-decibel but laudable projects
that are trumpeted by governments
of the day are only paid lip service
later and go to seed. If the treesapling planting ceremonies that
are often overseen by VIPs and
celebrities had borne fruit, India
would have been a dense forest by
now. Pay and use toilets are fairly
well-maintained in India. In
comparison, free toilets are in a
shambles. This goes to prove that
the average Indian behaves and
conducts himself well when
supervised and monitored. While
the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is
noble in its objectives, the
enforcing agencies should not leave
it high and dry.
Sivamani Vasudevan,
Chennai
ND-ND