Events & Issues

New Delhi, 21 March 2011

Japan’s N Catastrophe

OPT FOR CHEAP SOLAR ENERGY

By Col. (Dr.) P. K. Vasudeva (Retd)

Earthquake, tsunami, and now a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power station in Japan are the world’s worst catastrophe since World War II. Japan is not only fighting to contain the nuclear disaster in 25 years after Ukraine’s Chernobyl in 1986, but worse, the crisis is deepening, with radiation emissions rising to dangerous levels.

Importantly, Japan's experience holds lessons for India vis-à-vis the safety of nuclear power plants and our preparedness to deal with accidents. Warns the former Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) Chief A Gopalakrishnan, “Nuclear safety in India is compromised. There have been near misses at Narora and the Kaiga dome which collapsed. Luckily they didn't result in a catastrophic incident.”

What worries him are New Delhi’s plans to buy 21 nuclear power reactors which Indian engineers will take time to grasp, leading to a dangerous situation in case of an accident. Shockingly, reactors like France’s European Pressurised Reactors (EPR) comprise unproven technologies. Also negotiations with foreign firms are secret whereby we might end up paying over Rs 20 crore per megawatt.

Laments Gopalakrishnan, “Why not 700 MW power? We can get uranium from abroad. The Government is hell bent on buying French technology because the Prime Minister has given his word to French President Sarkozy."

The Government is pushing ahead with its ambitious nuclear energy plan disregarding the larger safety issues at stake.

India has three reactors, Kalpakkam, Tarapur and Kakrapar, near the seaside which is advantageous as the nuclear plants require large amounts of water for cooling. True, UP’s Narora and Kakrapar reactor-sat have withstood earthquakes in the past. Kalpakkam was unaffected by the 2004 tsunami. But that does not mean there will not be any future risk. The controversy over locating a reactor in Maharashtra’s Jaitapur is continuing as the technology to be used there is untested world-wide.

Also, out of 20 nuclear plants only two use boiling water reactors akin to the Fukushima plant. Seismic activity too is much lower than in Japan. But we need to be prepared for the unexpected. So far India’s nuclear safety record is good and the latest technologies are more efficient and safe. Already a safety review is being carried out.  

True nuclear plants may be eco-friendly but as Japan’s nuclear disaster shows it poses serious dangers thanks to the radio-active waste they produce with catastrophic consequences in the event of a massive safety failure. While hazards posed by nuclear energy’s waste products are similar in some respects to those posed by other toxic industrial processes, radio-active spills have the potential to poison the landscape for centuries. The radiation can be tolerated in very small doses but over long periods it leads to deformities and cancer in several generations, as seen in the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Undoubtedly, the best and safest way to generate electricity is to consider renewable energy like wind and solar which are cheaper than nuclear power and serious accidents are avoided. According to a new study, solar energy is now the better buy. The costs for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have fallen steadily while construction costs for new nuclear power plants have been rising over the past decade. Thus makes electricity generated from new solar installations cheaper than electricity from nuclear power plants.

In fact, electricity generated from solar PV is now being sold by commercial developers to utility companies at 14 paisa or less per kilowatt-hour (kWh), while nuclear plants in the planning stages will be capable of offering electricity cheaper than 14-to-18 paisa per kWh, according to a US Duke University report.

In July 2009, India unveiled a $19 billion plan, to produce 20 GW of solar power by 2020. Under the plan, solar-powered equipment and applications would be mandatory in all Government buildings including hospitals and hotels. Towards that end the Union Government finalised a draft for the National Solar Mission. This aims to make India a global leader in solar energy and envisages an installed solar generation capacity of 20,000 MW by 2020, 1,00,000 MW by 2030 and 2,00,000 MW by 2050.

The total cost for the 30-year period would total of Rs. 85,000 to Rs. 105,000 crore. The requirement during the current Five Year Plan is estimated to be Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 crore. This will rise to Rs. 12,000 - Rs. 15,000 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan. Its implementation will be in three phases.

The first phase of solar deployment (2009-2012) will aim to achieve rapid scaling-up to drive down costs. It will spur domestic manufacturing through the consolidation and expansion of on-going projects for urban, rural and off-grid applications. The target is 100 MW installed capacity here.

The Mission will encourage the use of solar applications to meet daytime peak power requirements which is met through diesel generation. The expansion of solar lighting systems through market initiatives including micro- financing, in the rural and urban sectors, is expected to provide access to lighting for three million households by 2012.

In this phase, the Mission will make it mandatory for all functional buildings such as hospitals, hotels, guest-houses and nursing homes to install solar water heaters. Residential complexes with a minimum plot area of 500 sq m would also be included.

In the second phase, to be implemented between 2012- 2017, the Mission will focus on commercial deployment of solar thermal power plants. This will involve storage options, promotion of solar lighting and heating systems. To be without subsidies it would include micro-financing options.

Finally, the 2017-2020 target is to achieve tariff parity with conventional grid power and an installed capacity of 20 gig watts (GW) by 2020. The installation of one million rooftop systems with an average capacity of 3 kilowatts (kW) by the same year is also envisaged. The proposed strategy should help achieve significant reduction in the cost of solar power and create a robust infrastructure for it.

True, these are lofty aspirations, considering that India’s current grid-connected solar capacity is no more than 15 megawatts. According to the Director at the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi, “the targets look challenging but we can go beyond that.” The Government should therefore make all efforts for the generation of renewable energy, especially solar and wind energy, and shun nuclear power for the safety of mankind and the country. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Political Diary

New Delhi, 26 March 2011

Den of Corruption

MPLADS OPEN LICENCE TO LOOT

By Poonam I Kaushish

Chor-Chor Mausere Bhai. This maxim held sway as the curtain rang down on the shortest ever month-long Budget session of Parliament totalling 23 sittings of both Houses on Friday last. Whereby, our jan sevaks collectively agreed to a massive increase in the MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). Notwithstanding, the din and fury of allegations and counter allegations over the CVC controversy to the Wiki leaks exposure on the cash-for-votes scam. Underscoring as never before that when gold speaks all tongues are silent!

The break-neck speed with which Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced a Rs 2,370-crore bonanza for MPs by raising allocations under MPLADS from Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore, even as he expressed concern over sky-rocketing prices and inflation was simply breathtaking. On the facetious plea that as MLAs’ are getting Rs 2 crore it is only fair to strike a balance by raising the fund available to MPs’. Who cares that it’s the aam aadmi’s hard earned money down the political drain.

True, no one begrudges more funds to our Right Honourables to help develop their constituencies better. The Supreme Court too upheld the Constitutional validity of MPLADS in May 2010.  But the moot point is:  Has the scheme lived up to the expectations? Or has it turned into another ‘cash cow’ for our leaders?

Sadly, experience over the last 18 years since MPLADS was launched in 1993 highlights that the scheme has created more controversies and yielded little results. The sting operation in 2006 whereby seven MPs were caught seeking bribes for doling out contracts under the MPLADS and various Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) reports have pointed out that funds meant for public good are siphoned off to greedy private   pockets.

Most scandalously, two reports by the CAG in 1998 and 2001, have strongly criticised the waste and the serious irregularities in the implementation of the scheme. It found that in many States, funds were either misused, lapsed, fictitious or the unspent money wasn’t returned. Astonishingly projects not sanctioned by MPs were also executed.

Not only that. The CAG found that the District Collectors not only reported inflated expenditure figures to the Ministry but also failed to obtain utilisation certificates in respect of 11,915 works constituting 70 per cent of the works completed. And yet, the Ministry continued to release funds without any correlation to their end use. Naturally, in a country which breathes bribes wherein no work is done without palms being greased and ‘cuts’ paid what else can one expect.

In a sample audit of 106 constituencies, it was found that of a total expenditure of Rs 265 crores reported by the collectors, Rs 82 crores (31 per cent) was not incurred at all. So deep is the malaise that India’s dalit messiah Mayawati brazenly directed her MPs in 2003 to part with a part of the “commissions” they made from their MPLADS for Party coffers. She said, “Arre bhai sub miljul kar khao”.  Adding, that even the most honest MP makes Rs 5 lakh annually by sitting at home. 

Remember, Trinamool’s  singer-turned-novice MP Kabir Suman who in a tell-all in 2009 revealed, “Local leaders who already control Rs 400 crore of the panchayat samiti and zilla parishad monies, want the funds and won’t let me spend Rs 1 crore of the Rs 2 crore I receive annually on installing 44 deep tube-wells in my constituency.”

Think. An MP in connivance with the DM ensures a cut out of every scheme recommended by inflating the cost and taking kickbacks from the contractors. The babu is happy and he makes the MP happier. A smart duo nets up to a maximum of Rs one crore of Rs 2 crore and an honest duo a minimum of Rs 50 lakhs. Asserted one, it is a "kind of financial rehabilitation package for the political cadre." For their “protection”, or for other “services”. Demonstrating the urgent need to scrap the MPLADS.

Bribery and bungling apart, MPLADS has allowed legislators to become part of the executive. According to Chairman of the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution Justice Venkatachaliah, the “scheme is inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution and is against the basic tenet of democracy as it subverts the principle of separation of powers.

“To involve individual MPs to exercise any discretionary power which is within the realm of the Union Executive, in spending about Rs 800 crore annually bypassing the Union Ministry and State Government or to ask individual MPs to do something without the consent of the other MPs when all of whom can function collectively only after due deliberation, appears to be wholly outside the Constitution. There is no account, no accountability and no Parliamentary audit,” he adds for good measure.

Equally damning is that it negates our federal structure. As the NCRWC asserts there can be no place for a scheme that is inconsistent with the spirit of federalism and which “treads into the areas of local Government institutions.” According to former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, MPLADS militates against the very process of decentralisation. “It is devised to sabotage the emergence of panchayats, which were autonomous of the weight-throwing MPs and MLAs".

In the present system, MPs decide how to spend the money and funds are disbursed through the district administration. Local bodies are neither consulted nor involved in the details of execution despite Articles 243G and 243W entrusting local bodies with the powers to prepare and implement plans for economic development and social justice. Questionably, should MP’s be administering funds and determining their specific resource allocation? Doesn’t it compromise the oversight function that legislators ought to play? Who should the voter hold accountable?

Think. Astoundingly, according to the 2001 audit report over Rs 1,800 crore was “lying idle at that time and the interest earned on that amount was Rs 107 crore, whereas the Central Government was paying an interest of about Rs 200 crore on the borrowed funds”!  Clearly the unutilized amount must have increased manifold in the last 10 years given that till date the Central Government has sanctioned a staggering Rs.14,070.52 crore cumulatively since the MPLADS inception --- a sum that's higher than the annual Union elementary education budget!

Also startling though the Planning Commission had put its foot down to releasing funds for MPLADS in view of a resource crunch, the Parliamentary Committee on MPLADS asked it to explore possibilities of pruning outlays of some big schemes and instead give more funds for the scheme.

What next? Forget the increase, it is high time to have a serious rethink on continuing the scandalous MPLADS. Which has made being an MP the most lucrative and paying proposition. A Lok Sabha MP is elected for a five-year term and a Rajya Sabha for six years. At Rs5 crore a year, a Lok Sabha MP has Rs 25 crore at his disposal and his counterpart in the Rajya Sabha Rs 30 crore. In our increasingly power hai to money hai culture, this money is icing on their MP cake. Time to apply brakes to the licence to loot and scoot.---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Open Forum

New Delhi, 9 March 2011    

Sealing Our Fate

SUPREME COURT & RULE OF LAW

By Ashok Kapur, IAS (retd.)

It has been hailed as a landmark judgment delivered by the Supreme Court. M.C. Mehta vs. the Union of India (2006). The Supreme Court has directed therein the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to seal all the properties that have been constructed illegally (in Delhi). The case arose out of a PIL filed by Mehta, a lawyer alleging that there was widespread abuse of local bye-laws relating to planned urban development. And that the Government was standing mute.

The Court has directed the MCD to report to it directly on the action taken to seal such properties, pending demolition. The Court has set up a ‘Monitoring Committee’ to oversee the working of the MCD on this issue. The Committee comprises a former civil servant, a former official of the Election Commission and a retired General of the Army. However, the Parliament, in its wisdom, has conferred by law the power to seal unauthorized construction only on officials of MCD.

The Court has further extended the power to seal to cover not only unauthorized construction but also “misuse” of residential premises for commercial purposes. And a commercial purpose has been defined generally as large-scale trade in goods and services for profit. Secondly, and which has serious implications for the rule of law, if a citizen’s Fundamental Rights were to be violated either by the MCD or by the Monitoring Committee, he can only approach the Supreme Court . This order is not a part of the judgment but a subsequent clarification.

It must be said at the outset and with respect that at a time when other institutions of the State are crumbling, the Supreme Court continues to stand tall, save a few aberrations. It is indeed the last best hope of the common citizen being buffeted from all sides. The Court continues since inception as the zealous sentinel guarding the citizen’s rights against any encroachment either by the executive or the legislature. It is a role eloquently outlined by Justice Kania, the first Chief Justice of independent India.

In the wake of the judgment, several important issues arise that may, ironically enough, impact the rule of law. Some aspects of the judgment raise Constitutional issues that need to be addressed. First and foremost, the Court by its direction to all affected citizens to approach it directly has, in effect, suspended the operation of Article 226 of the Constitution which guarantees the right to all citizens to move the High Court in cases of violation of their Fundamental Rights.  It is a settled law as laid down by the Supreme Court itself that the right to move the appropriate court is itself a Fundamental Right.

The highest court has also settled the law that the right to move either the Supreme Court or the High Court is a concurrent Fundamental Right. This Right cannot be abrogated or curtailed even by the Parliament by law. It can only be done through a Constitutional amendment. The Supreme Court by its aforesaid ruling in the Mehta case has, in effect, abrogated the Writ jurisdiction of the High Court. On the other hand, the highest court has been consistently discouraging citizens to approach it directly, by-passing the High Court.

The Supreme Court is now virtually monitoring the performance of a local body – MCD -- in implementation of a Municipal law whereby powers have been granted by the Parliament exclusively to the permanent executive to seal private property, essentially a coercive power. The officials of the local body in the enforcement of the Municipal bye-laws are accountable both to the controlling Ministry - Urban Development - as well as the duly elected local Assembly.

The Monitoring Committee comprises retired members of the executive who supervise the functioning of the MCD in the implementation of a law. It would be relevant to recall in context that the Supreme Court has itself laid down way back in 1973 in the celebrated Keshvananda Bharati case the ‘basic structure’ doctrine which now underpins the Constitution. In terms of the same, even the Parliament is barred to enact a law which would be violative of the doctrine.

One of the tenets of the doctrine is the separation of powers among the three coordinate wings of the State. The legislature legislates, the executive implements the laws and the judiciary interprets in case of dispute. The Mehta case judgment is all about implementation of a municipal law overseen by an ad hoc committee that has, in  effect, ousted the supervisory role of both the constituted department headed by an  elected Minister (accountable to the Parliament) and the elected local Assembly.

The judgment needs to be evaluated in the context of the ‘basic structure ‘doctrine, now the immutable law of the land. Admittedly, the Court does sometimes intervene in a case if there is exceptional laxity by a public authority and the supervisory ministries are complacent. This does not appear to be the case here. In fact, the supervisory ministry itself had issued strict instructions prior to the PIL to all the local authorities to draw up plans to take corrective action on a time bound basis, to check illegal construction.  The Court has reproduced these comprehensive instructions verbatim in its said judgment.

The power to seal a citizen’s residence is a coercive power granted by the Parliament to executive authorities which function in a regimen of accountability to the elected bodies, and are answerable to the courts of law. They operate under checks and balances, a basic postulate of democratic governance. The ad hoc Monitoring Committee is under no such restraint or check. Although the judgment is not quite explicit about the exact role of the Committee, the nomenclature itself indicates its role.

There are instances where individual members of the Committee have entered private residential premises without a warrant from a magistrate or even a show cause notice and sealed the premises alleging “misuse”. No evidence of the alleged misuse is made available. Under the Municipal Act, Parliament has restricted sealing power only in cases of unauthorized construction which is a tangible fact and can be measured. The Court has expanded the scope to cover “misuse” also, which cannot be defined precisely. Anything so ordained has a potential for misuse by the executive.

The composition of the Committee leaves much to be desired. Only the civil servant member is a trained and experienced magistrate in rules of procedure and natural justice. . Of the other two, the former public servant has never worked as a magistrate - totally unfamiliar with laws and their implementation. The inclusion of the third member, a former General of the Army is against all norms of democratic jurisprudence. The Constitution does not envisage any role for the armed forces in day-to-day governance.

The Supreme Court in an act of judicial statesmanship by a landmark judgment recently has evolved the concept of curative petition in certain cases, to review its own rulings. The Mehta judgment would be a fit case for a curative petition and immediate dissolution of the Committee, to avoid hardship to ordinary citizens who may somehow get trapped in the system imposed, without an effective and affordable remedy. The judgment was delivered by a bench headed by Justice Y K Sabharwal, former Chief Justice of India.---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Economic Highlights

New Delhi, 12 March 2011

Budget Ignores Women

FUDGED GDP GROWTH FIGURES?

By Shivaji Sarkar

If half of the population – the women – are ignored, can the nation progress? The Union Budget seemingly believes this and has ignored the interests of women. Despite a compounded over 15 per cent inflation during the last two years, allocations for women as a proportion of the total budget outlay has registered only a marginal increase from last year’s 6.1 to 6.2 per cent this year.

It has only one new scheme, a corpus of Rs 500 crore for women self-help groups. Doubling the honorarium of anganwadi workers to Rs 3000 and assistants to Rs 1500 is being projected as an enormous largesse. As the Government shies of calling it wages lest it is sued under the Minimum Wages Act. Notwithstanding, these low-paid workers are making significant contributions but are expected to work on below subsistence wages.

The critical factor is that the Women and Child Developmen (WCD) Ministry is saddled with Rs 3000 crore additional expenditure to pay the hiked honorarium without a budgetary provision. Worse, the health worker has been ignored and is expected to continue with virtually on no honorarium! Her functioning as community health activist includes counselling women and children, arrange an escort and accompany them to primary health centres and develop a comprehensive village health plan for the gram panchayat.

She is also expected to act as a “depot” for providing some basic drugs and formulations like oral rehydration therapy, other basic medicines and condoms. Shockingly, function on no compensation for travel expenses and a measly DA. What an inexpensive way to improve the health status of villagers! Or is it officially sanctioned exploitation?

The Centre for Budget and Governance Allocation’s Executive Director Subrata Das says that of the 60 women specific schemes only 11 have been given Rs 100 crore. The rest of the 49 schemes have been given less than Rs 100 crore. In many cases, the allocations are a mere token. Only rural family welfare and Indira Awas have been allocated Rs 1000 crore.  Several other schemes have seen reduction or marginal increases that inflation would neutralise.

Further, implementation of major schemes has suffered because of under-utilization of funds. These include the Swayamsiddha to empower women; Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, a programme that provides funding for women self-help groups, and a scheme to provide relief to and rehabilitation of rape victims.

The National Advisory Council (NAC) Member A K Shiv Kumar while slamming the Budget at a UN-sponsored discussion said that the Prime Minister’s Nutrition Council had recommended to the WCD Ministry to formulate an ambitious blueprint for special focus on nutrition in 200 high burden areas. But there was no indication in the Budget about where the funds would come from. Adding, “Budgets are not supposed to be sensational. This one is not. But they can be visionary and inspirational. This one is not”.

The rural water supply scheme that is important for a better health status has got funds of Rs 8415 crore against Rs 8100 crore last year. Similarly sanitation has got only Rs 1485 crore against Rs 1422 crore last year. Women’s groups consider this as compromising with the physical security of women apart from the increased health risks.

Also, of late, there is a propaganda on gender budgeting. But a scrutiny shows it stagnating since 2007. The Budget is not being formulated with the women in focus. The gender budgeting statement is developed as a post-Budgetary exercise just to fulfil an official requirement. The critical sectors like drinking water, sanitation, urban development, labour and employment, law and justice, road transport and highways and industrial policy and promotion do not have any intervention to mark any uplift for women and children.

Reduction in food subsidy to Rs 60573 crore from Rs 60600 crore signifies a process of denying benefits to women. Such cuts affect women more. Though the Government has not given any subsidy on petroleum, even in its token allocation it has reduced that. There is ominous silence on petroleum taxes.

The Government has got windfall tax gains from global crude price increases. The net revenue increase is Rs 100,000 crore as petroleum contributes one-third of the projected gain. Not only does it spurt prices but also affects woman the most. The higher the commodity prices, less is the consumption by women. They even compromise on their food intake.

Undoubtedly, women suffer more as agriculture continues to be in crisis. The Government’s assessment of higher production is possibly away from reality. The statistical jugglery is possible as the previous year’s base was low. Farming is also becoming less remunerative. Suicide by farmers is continuing and now even reports are coming from better off States like Gujarat and West Bengal. Even celebrated Kalavati’s son-in-law has committed suicide in Maharashtra, a month before the presentation of the Budget.

The numbers are stark. According to The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data 2009, more than 216,000 farmers have killed themselves since 1997. Add the figures for 1995, 1996 and 2010 and the total crosses 250,000. That is, two farmers a day for the past 15 years.

Sadly, women are in a worse situation as they are not even recognised as farmers. Think. The Budget ignored the plight of farmers and their families. Despite the fact that agriculture is in deep crisis, the allocation for the sector has come down.

Another critical aspect, health, has again been sorely neglected. Budgetary provisions continue to hover at one per cent of the GDP rather than the projected 3 per cent. The only silver lining is the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), which has helped women significantly. It has been given Rs 26,000 crore.

However, health services, even those provided to RSBY beneficiaries, have been made expensive by the levying of service tax on all hospitals and diagnostic services. The RSBY insurers have noted that RSBY benefits the women most thus an increase in the service tax would ultimately cause reduction in the benefits. Worse, women and children are also affected as taxes on pencils and stationeries have been increased. It would cut into home budgets of school-going children’s families.

All in all, most of these provisions would impact the growth process. Consequently the job scenario, which had marginally improved, is likely to turn critical. The GDP growth figures are suspect and possibly manufactured to present a politically “correct” scenario as five States are in election mode. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)