Round The States

New Delhi, 17 March 2011

Jat Stir For Quota

TRAINS HIT, PRICES MOUNT

By Insaf

Like the proverbial bad penny the crisis over Jats demanding 27 per cent reservation in Central jobs under the OBC quota is back with a bang. Whereby in several parts of North India they have disrupted movement of nearly 700 trains. In UP alone, over 60 trains have not only been cancelled but for the first time in several decades, the State’s flagship Lucknow Mail was hit on Tuesday last. In Moradabad Division there have been a shocking 325 cancellations and 197 diversions of trains. Complicating matters further, the BSP’s supremo Mayawati has extended her Party’s support for the Jat demands. For the Dalit czarina it serves two purposes: One, it helps counter Rashtriya Lok Dal Chief Ajit Singh’s grip over the Jat voters. Two, it simultaneously creates problems for the Congress.  Recall, the Gandhi scion Rahul much-reported visit to express solidarity with farmers agitating in Aligarh over land acquisitions for the Yamuna Expressway. This is Mayawati’s tit for tat answer!

Compounding the situation, goods’ trains too have been badly hit. Leading to further escalation of food prices as also shortage of coal supply to power stations all over the country. In fact, Haryana’s Bawala power plant in Hissar is facing an acute problem as all the three available rail routes which connect are hit by the agitation. This is not all. The Jats have launched similar protest in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir. It remains to be seen whether the reservation tornado will engulf the entire country in its fold once again. Meanwhile, the Central Government has finally woken up to the problem and has begun negotiations with the Jat leaders to find a via media to end the logjam.

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Of State Polls & Family

Come State Assembly elections a cursory a look at the candidates in the fray serves as a barometer of Party favorites. Typically in the Congress scheme of things the family comes first. In Assam of the 22 new faces in the poll fray, one is the son of former Assam Chief Minister, Hitishwar Saikia and another, the daughter of ex-Union Minister Santosh Mohan Deb, five are wives of deceased leaders and ministers. Four others are progenies of former MLAs, another, a daughter-in-law of a former Speaker, and the list goes on. In West Bengal, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son is to make his debut. In Tamil Nadu Union Home Minister Chidambaram’s son is set to make his maiden entry. In Kerala, however, Union Civil Aviation Minister Vylar Ravi has dropped plans to field his daughter after criticism from party cadres. Will pressure work elsewhere?

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Army re-enters Nagaland

Nearly 14 years after the Centre brokered a ceasefire with two factions of Nagaland’s rebels, the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN), the Army and Assam Rifles are all set to launch a fresh counter-insurgency operation in two districts of eastern Arunachal Pradesh following the killing of over 30 people. Seized of the matter, the Centre’s Cabinet Committee on Security decided to intervene and clear the two districts of armed militants from both rival factions. Accordingly, the police personnel deployed in the districts have been increased from the present 100. This development has also raised basic questions about the Centre's kid glove handling of the entire Naga question, often turning a blind eye to many transgressions including large-scale extortions by the NSCN’s factions. Add to this the Centre’s apathy and deliberate neglect has now resulted in the situation going out of control in Arunachal. All fingers are crossed both in the State and at the Centre that the two sides bury the hatchet.

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Kerala’s terror-politics cocktail

Kerala is fast emerging as a favourite destination for subversive activities. According to the Intelligence Bureau the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) had not only re-grouped in the State but is also piggy-backing on the strong roots it has there. The terror headache zones are Binanipuram, Malapuram and Kozhikode. These areas serve as primary hubs for SIMI along-with other terror groups like the Islamic Sevak Sangh, which have by now set up over 100 modules in these areas. In fact, SIMI has started a women’s wing in Kozhikode. Worse, the Malabar Coast and its connection to the international waters has ensured that the terrorists manage to push in their arms and ammunition with much ease. Also, troublesome is that SIMI does not operate under its banner but uses several front organisations to carry out its task. This is not all. The Pakistan’s ISI is busy funding these fronts to gain a foothold in South India. With the Assembly elections round the corner, the SIMI and its front and charity organizations are bound to get hyper active. Time to nix the deadly terror-politics cocktail.

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Bangalore Traffic Goes Hi-tech

In India’s IT Capital, Bangalore is fast becoming the envy of other cities in traffic management. Whereby the Traffic Management Centre (TMC), the technology nerve centre of Bangalore traffic police, remotely monitors nearly 120 cameras put up at different junctions. In case of a violation at a signal, policemen zoom on the vehicle, capture images of its number plate and slap a fine on its owner. The record stored in the police’s central database enables the violator to check his offence on the traffic website and pay the fine at a citizen service centre, online or at a designated police station. More. Policemen equipped with BlackBerry phones and blue-tooth printers linked to a central base use it to key-in a car’s number and record the offence through the phone, checking for earlier violations. Violators can pay a fine on the spot or later while the policeman can print a receipt and hand it over immediately. A lesson for other States to use new technology in traffic control!

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Bihar Babudom Declares Assets

In a scam-scarred country, three cheers to Bihar for its initiative against corruption. Whereby, it became the first State to make public details of the assets of nearly 80,000 Government officials on the State Government’s website and for all to see. Not only babus belonging to the IAS, IPS, IFS but also the State Administration. For the black sheep bureaucrats who have yet to comply, the Administration has warned that their salaries would be withheld. The move is being seen as a step towards ending corruption as promised by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Recall, the CM and his Cabinet colleagues had posted their assets on the website as early as December last. Clearly, Bihar seems to be going a long way to bell the corruption cat! ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Political Diary

New Delhi, 19 March 2011

Wiki Leaks Storms UPA

MONEY HAI TOH POWER HAI!

By Poonam I Kaushish

“Which MP does not have money? All those who have enjoyed power since 1952 are now realizing after so many years that politics in our country is riddled with corruption. I know the people who have made money …..Today they are giving us sermons. I know the persons who take donations from our areas, “Paisa boriyon main ata hai, gathriyon main nahin.”

Iconic words spoken by JMM MP Suraj Mandal during the Lok Sabha debate on the hawala case in February 1996 that rocked the Congress Narasimha Rao Government. Not one MP present protested.

Sadly, 15 years down the line nothing has changed. In fact the under-belly of power politics has become more shameless, rotten, ugly and raw. Down to the gutter level. The Wiki leaks expose has once again underscored the revolting truth of the cash- for-vote scam during the high voltage Vote of Confidence in the Lok Sabha on 22 July 2008. Victory at any cost no matter what it takes.

On 17 July 2008 in a cable to the State Department U.S. Charge d'Affaires Steven White wrote about a visit the Embassy's Political Counselor paid to Satish Sharma, “a close associate of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and very close family friend of Sonia. Sharma's political aide Nachiketa Kapur showed the Embassy employee two chests containing cash and said that around Rs 50-60 crore was lying around the house for use as pay-offs.

“He mentioned that Ajit Singh's RLD had been paid Rupees 10 crore for each of their four MPs to support the Government….money was not an issue at all, but the crucial thing was to ensure that those who took the money would vote for the Government.”

Further, “Sharma mentioned that he was also exploring the possibility of trying to get former PM Vajpayee's son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya to speak to BJP MPs to try to divide the ranks….Another Congress insider told PolCouns that Minister of Commerce Kamal Nath is also helping to spread largesse. Succinctly, the Congress Government paid money to MPs to get votes with the full knowledge of US embassy.

Predictably, all hell broke lose in Parliament last week. Allegations and counter-allegations were the order of the day. While the BJP-led Opposition demanded PM Manmohan Singh’s head. The Congress led by Leader of the House and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee retaliated. Said he, “What happened in the 14th Lok Sabha cannot be decided in the 15th Lok Sabha. The Government of the day is accountable to the 15th Lok Sabha and not to the 14th Lok Sabha.”

Two, the Wiki leaks report is not admissible in a court of law. Three, the communication between the US embassy and its Government enjoys diplomatic immunity and it is not possible for the Government to either confirm it or deny it.” Following suit both Satish Sharma and Kapur too washed their hands by stating they did not know any US diplomat.

True, Mukherjee is correct that diplomatic immunity might be available to US diplomats but the same cannot be claimed for bribery committed by Indians. Also, the issue is not about accountability of the then Government to the present Lok Sabha but about the fact that the offence was committed outside the House.

More shocking was our ‘honest’ Prime Minister ‘corrupt’ defence. Whereby he resorted to the age-old argument tom-tommed by our decrepit netagan --- the people's court theory ---- to defend his Government against the bribery charge. Said he, “It is unfortunate that the Opposition continues to raise old charges that have been debated, discussed and rejected by the people of India in the 2009 polls.”

Raising a moot point: Can an electoral victory discount a criminal offence? If that be the case then it will be a boon for criminals entering politics. Think. Messers Lalu Prasad, Jayalalithaa, Shibu Soren, Madhu Koda, Raja et al have invariably invoked their political strength to undermine serious charges of legal transgressions. Singh is no different.

All conveniently forgetting that an electoral victory does not erase a legal wrong. Bribery is a very serious charge. By that token Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has bettered his electoral performance in every election since 2002. Does it condone that over 2000 people died in the 2002 communal riots?

Further, the other point Singh made was that he did not authorise anyone to buy votes, and that he was not aware of it. Parroting his earlier defence themes, “I did not know about the annulled Isro-Devas deal, the Adarsh scam, 2G-spectrum scam was due to pressures of coalition politics, CVC Thomas was an error of judgment and ask my then Minister of State in the PMO, Prithviraj Chavan (Maharashtra Chief Minister).

What does it mean? Are we to believe that those who committed it did so without Singh’s knowledge or permission? Presuming this is correct, is it a mitigating circumstance in judging the state of our political morality? Does this mean that such things can happen under his nose without his knowledge?  And that when they come to his notice, one just shrugs it off as a part of the normal processes of democracy that one has to understand.

The tragedy of it all is that it is water off our rhino-skinned leaders. From coalition dharma to bribery dharma, today all is fair game. Arguably, is the over-flowing corruption kund worth survival in office under such conditions? Needless to say, the Prime Minister has much to answer for.

Worse, even as the Government brazens it out, the Wiki leaks debate has thrown up no new ideas for dealing with the cancerous malaise, which is tearing the moral fibre of this country asunder and eating into the vitals of the nation. Whereby, going to jail is fast becoming a badge of honour! And a ghotala of few thousand crores is not worthy of feeding the chara of morality.

What is extremely disquieting is that Ministers accused of swindling crores of public money are all living in great comfort and merrily enjoying their high positions. Effectively exposing the fact that the crusade against corruption has shamefully failed in India. Think. We Indians pay over Rs 25,068 crores a year for ‘services rendered’ to our powers-that-be, according to the Transparency International’s Indian Corruption Study.

Arguably, what is the future of society in such conditions? More frustration, chaos, unrest and even bloodshed. It needs to be remembered that corruption in the national polity can only survive by paying a very heavy price of increasing mayhem and violence in society. Even as our polity continues to merrily wallow in corrupt self deception without a thought to the future and the inevitable damage to the larger national cause.

Indeed, if the Government is seized of the urgency to purge the malaise in our body politic, this is the most propitious time to introduce probity. Time to recall Prof. Galbraith words: “There is nothing wrong with Indian laws, nothing wrong with its (socialist) economy, or with its political and judicial institutions. What ails India is its moral poverty”.

The need of the hour demands drastic surgery, slaughter of the gangrenous corruption limbs. Manmohan Sigh should remember that not only are the people watching, they are also thirsting for values. The writing is on the wall. This raj nautanki of money hai toh power hai has to end. Or will India rue a la Shahrukh Khan: Abhi toh khel baakee hai dost! ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The World

New Delhi, 8 March 2011

India-ASEAN Future

CRUCIAL FOR ASIA GROWTH

By Monish Tourangbam

Research Scholar, School of International Studies (JNU)

India-ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) relations are a reflection of the complementariness of interests between the two entities. As India chooses to embark on a benign projection of its rising power, it has become imperative to chart a foreign policy commensurate with its ambitions in Asia and the world.

For India’s power to be accepted in the Asian Continent, it needs to look beyond its immediate neighbours in the sub-Continent, and diversify and cement its relations mainly with the South-East Asian nations, the very essence of its Look East Policy and its continuing effort to sustain and improve ties with a regional body like ASEAN.

As India’s External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said during his inaugural address at the recent India-ASEAN Delhi Dialogue III, “It has been a gratifying engagement for us, an engagement which has drawn strength from India’s rapidly developing bilateral ties with individual ASEAN countries, and from our millennia-old bonds with the countries and civilizations of the region.”

Reflecting on the kind of role that India sees for itself and the extension of its own democratic nature to its regional calculations, India’s National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon remarked at the Dialogue III, “'From the Indian point of view it (the new Asian security order) should be open, it should be flexible and it should be inclusive. This is essential for the order to work.”

India’s strengthening relations with the individual countries of the ASEAN and the regional body at large is mutually reinforcing. The foreign policy vision of a rising India should reflect an enlargement of vision and a continuous effort towards cultivation of resources to increase its zone of influence, albeit in a more diplomatic and friendly manner without evoking sentiments that could brand India as a meddling power.

Undoubtedly, this is basically where India could chart out a more benign space for itself in the South-East Asian region despite the overwhelming presence of the Chinese power. As Krishna said, “We feel that the principles of State sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of others must be the bedrock of our cooperative endeavours.”

India’s strategic and diplomatic maneouvers in South-East Asia are signs of its intent to play a more substantial role in Asia. This ambition is a result of New Delhi’s rise as one of the major players in the world and a healthy competitor to rising China. Since the liberalization of the Indian economy and the proposition of India’s ‘Look East Policy’ in the early 90s, policy-makers in New Delhi have increasingly tried to tighten and expand relations with the South-East Asian countries.

India-ASEAN relations have gradually evolved and matured over the years, corresponding with the changed nature of international politics in the post Cold-War era along-with New Delhi’s deliberate attention towards the East and South-East Asian countries. Over the years, India’s relations with the ASEAN have reached a full dialogue partnership from a sectoral one.

Moreover, regular India-ASEAN summits since 2002 have substantially added to the seriousness of the ties and provided a platform for regular, sustained negotiations and deliberations. The trajectory of the relationship has been essentially encouraging with relations having diversified, covering political and security dimensions. India has been an active participant of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and many other efforts towards regional integration.

The multitude of regional organization that have been on the advent since the end of the Cold War are symptomatic of the inter-connectedness of economies and other forms of interest among different countries, specifically within the same geographical region. The complex inter-dependence among many countries is the nature of international politics in the 21^st century and it is very normal that countries within the same region and also beyond would build bridges and try to amplify the convergences among them.

 In an era when shocks in a country can have viral-like repercussions in many others around the world, countries need to come together more than ever before, looking for uncharted territories and moving beyond the conventional zone of interest. New Delhi’s continuing success with the ASEAN countries is germane to both to the growth and sustenance of India as a major economy in the world and also salient from the view of keeping alive some healthy competition in the Asia given the fact that China is being projected as the next great power in the international system.

As such, India and its relations with the ASEAN countries have a major role in shaping the future of Asia, and by repercussions the future of international politics. During the Delhi Dialogue III, Menon also reflected on the success of India-ASEAN cooperation in tackling piracy in the Malacca Straits and called for replicating the cooperation model for promoting the new security architecture too for the region. He also emphasized that Asia, as the fastest developing region had to deal with security issues and it had “the most to lose from instability and insecurity in the international system.”

 The shifting nature of power is something constant in international politics, and the 21^st century is being already labelled an Asian century, in which the two rising giants, India and China will definitely play a big role. As the saying goes: With great powers, comes great responsibilities, India is at a great juncture in its history, travelling an upward journey to major power status.

According to sources, India and ASEAN are expected to widen their trade engagement by signing a free trade agreement (FTA) next year that will cover services and investment. “Next year, we will celebrate our 20th anniversary and it would be a commemorative summit...let's hope that at the summit, we will be able to deliver a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) (between India and ASEAN), because so far it is only in goods,” ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said.

Recall, India and ASEAN had implemented Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in goods in January last year and are engaged in intense negotiations to expand this pact to include services and investments. According to sources, India and the ASEAN are committed to achieving a trade target of $70 billion by 2012, up 40 per cent from $50 billion in 2010

As India deepens its ties and employs pragmatic diplomacy to increase its influence in South-East Asia, the repercussions in India-China relations are inevitable. China considers itself the unchallenged “dragon” of the Asian Continent; hence the Indian “elephant” strides would be unsettling. But if Indian foreign policies manage to ruffle feathers and unsettle the Chinese strategic community, then India must have been doing something right.

Clearly, Indian policy-makers should create such a scenario where India’s arrival as a major power in the international system should not be seen as a liability but as an asset by the ASEAN countries. In recognizing India’s stature in regional Asian and international politics, these countries should see a reflection of their rising opportunities for their own countries in an inclusive, healthy and peaceful Asian order. To make them realize their own success in the success of India would indeed be the litmus test for present and future Indian policy-makers. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Political Diary

New Delhi, 12 March 2011

The Question Hour

PARLIAMENT’S ZEROSUM GAME

By Poonam I Kaushish

“Parliamentary tradition is almost dead and its sanctity destroyed….The Question Hour is almost dead.” No guesses, words uttered by an angry Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar over the frequent disruptions in the House Thursday last. Welcome to the kathor saachai of our jan sevaks who have defiled India’s sanctum sanctorum to zero. Where nothing is sacred. What’s new?

Day in and day out, year in and year out the story is the same. Speaker after Speaker has rued and then admonished our MPs but is like water off a duck’s back. Whereby, in their “collective wisdom” all spew sheer contempt for Parliament. One can accept temporary exercise of lung power; even ignore dharnas, walk-outs and boycotts as part of an MP’s stock in trade. But what is unforgivable is the sacrilege of the sacred 60-minute Question Hour.

Most scandalously, in the ongoing Budget session, of the 12 hours slated for Question Hour, nearly 8 have been lost due in tamasha leading to adjournments. This time of the total 320 questions listed to be answered orally, only 40 have been answered in the Lok Sabha and 36 in Rajya Sabha. Most unforgivable was that MPs in both Houses were absent after given notices for the questions. Leading to the respective Houses being adjourned.

All conveniently forgetting that this crucial hour is the hyphen which links Government to Parliament. It provides for daily and continuing accountability of Government to Parliament. Whereby, the Government is, as it were, put on its trial through its Ministers who are forced to answer questions.

Any MP in both Houses can put a question to the Prime Ministers or any other Minister and demand an honest answer. It is thus the most powerful weapon available to the Opposition to keep the Government on a tight leash. It is based on the fundamental rights of information enshrined in the Constitution --- via question. Mercifully, the rules of the House ensure that the Government does not avoid questions and conveniently escape.

Perhaps, this Hour more than any other time serves as a barometer of governmental efficiency and performance at the macro level, and a Minister’s effectiveness at the micro level on a daily basis. Wherein, he is required to answer queries relating to his Ministry’s acts of omission and commission. In this milieu, the competence and mettle of a Minister is tested. 

It is also reflective of whether various Ministers are in command of their respective departments, competent, agile and receptive to what it takes to leave their mark on governance. The reason why the Question Hour is by and large not suspended unlike any another business, except adjournment or no-confidence motions which supercedes all business.

Alas, over the years with political compulsions dominating political discourse, Ministers have been gripped by the chalta hai attitude. Bringing things to such a pass that times out of number, Ministers come without doing homework, to be reprimanded, at times, by the Presiding officers. Invariably their stock in trade reply is: Information is being collected”. Worse, they show their ignorance by giving a wrong reply to a wrong question. The less said about their goof-ups over the supplementaries the better.

So what if the Ministry works hard for over three weeks to prepare replies to the oral and written questions. What use are the days spent over preparing a list of 20 to 50 probable supplementaries a Ministry may be asked, if the person who has to answer doesn’t even bother to read through the prepared answers. Never mind the entire effort that goes into it. It is another matter that it is a more “lucrative” to pose a question than get a reply to it. Predictably, the unsatisfactory and incomplete reply leads to compulsive criticism, side-comments, loss of temper and trading of charges.

Think. Each question hour cost Rs.14 lakh to the Government and with about 20 questions being listed each day during Parliament Question Hour and about 10-12 of them being taken up for answering, each question costs the exchequer about Rs.70,000 to Rs.1 Lakh

The less said the better of the cash-for-question scam uncovered in 2005 whereby 11 Right Honourables were caught with their hands in the till and expelled. Asserted a senior Minister, “Right through the '80s, it was known that petro-chemical and pharma companies were using MPs to raise questions in the House. There were big corporate lobbies at work and they continue till today.  The amount for a question ranges from a measly Rs 15,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

Adding insult to injury, with many industrialists becoming Rajya Sabha MPs, questions have become the via media to nix rivals and get to know the Government’s mind on various policies on the anvil. Resulting in crony capitalism. Thus making mockery of established conventions and procedures.

In fact, not many are aware of the genesis of the Question Hour, which came into insistence in British Parliament’s Indian Council Act of 1892, which allowed a member to elicit information by asking questions in the Legislative Council. This was refined in 1919 by the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms, wherein for the first time the first hour of every morning was earmarked for questions only.

Indeed, Parliament has changed greatly since the Nehru era. The first Prime Minister’s respect for parliamentary institutions was as deep-rooted as his faith in the democratic process. Parliament symbolized for him the power of the people and he was always zealous in guarding its dignity. Unlike many among the powers-that-be today, as well as during the past four decades.

Indeed, if this is the state of India’s high temple of democracy, things are worse in the State Assemblies. Forget lung power, abuses, walking into the well of the Houses, today its’ all about fist-cuffs, muscle-power, throwing paper-weights, tables, uprooting Speaker’s mike et al. Be it Orrisa, Bihar, Maharashtra or Madhya Pradesh etc.

Most scandalously, the UP State Assembly secretariat recently was busy literally grappling to find an answer to this question: How to run the question hour. Reason: The MLAs’ had not asked enough questions. As the Secretariat had received only three starred questions! The next day saw only five questions. Thus, to tide over the crisis and save face, officials sent all five questions under “short notice” to the State Government to furnish their replies

The tragedy of it all is that Parliament has been devalued and dragged through the mud. Whereby, no matter how much we tom-tom our successful democratic Parliamentary model, it could be rotten from within.

Undoubtedly, the time has come to think very seriously about Parliament’s functioning. Specially its content, quality and above all commitment of our jan sevaks for upholding the tenets of Parliamentary democracy. They are elected to do a job: legislate, hold the Executive accountable and above all serve the aam aadmi who reposed faith in them.

True, there is no easy answer for the continuing deterioration of Parliament, but the current turmoil in Indian Parliamentary democracy has to be ended. Else future generations will not forgive us. Time to remember what Lord Denning said, “The House of Commons starts its proceedings with a prayer. The chaplain looks at the assembled members with their varied intelligence and then prays for the country”! ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)