Political Diary

New Delhi, 26 December 2009

Andhra Turbulence

IT’S ALL HOT & SLEAZY, HONEY

By Poonam I Kaushish

Sting. The deadly highball which has been intoxicating the public. A potent cocktail of sex and power which has all the ingredients of sexy, salacious sleaze, honey. A blow by blow account of what intoxicates s our Adams and Eves and rouses them to greater heights of ecstasy and glory in the political Garden of Eden!

Welcome to a spanking new Kamasutra set in ‘turbulent’ Andhra.  Delicious indiscretions of a honey trap gone sour, laid bare by ABN Andhra Jyothi TV channel on Friday last. Of 86-year old Governor ND Tiwari caught purportedly with his pyjamas  down --- literally and three naked women ---- one at his legs and the others on his upper torso. A nok-jhok which could make a rose blush!

According to Uttarakhand woman Radhika she sent the women on Tiwari’s request as he had promised her a mining licence and the girls jobs but took sexual favours instead. When he did not uphold his promise, Radhika leaked the video clips.  As the gossip got more raucous all indiscretions were discussed threadbare, including lawyer Rohit Shekhar paternity suit in Delhi’s High Court claiming that he was born out of Tiwari’s alleged relationship and his mother Ujwala Sharma. It didn’t matter that the Court rejected the petition as it was time-barred.

Predictably, all hell broke loose, like it always does. The Raj Bhavan got a High court order restraining the channel from airing the footage. True to form, it also termed the clipping as a 'tissue of lies'. When the Opposition and women groups demanded his removal for shaming the high Constitutional office and the Centre sought a detailed report from the State Government, Tiwari ‘ejected prematurely’ citing health reasons. All heaved sigh of relief.

True to form, politicians of all hues, are coming forward with long sermons on morals. The initial shivers of joy are beginning to give way to concern. Our politicians certainly do not want that exposure. It could hurt too much. Politicisation of crime one can handle. But exposures of ‘pegs and legs’ would leave them nowhere.

The scandal has once again raised the pertinent question: Is the private life of publicmen a concern of the public? Opinions differ. Many claim that we must traditionally continue to be an open society. Consequently, the question of privacy has never risen. That is also why India’s Constitution does not have any provision for privacy, unlike in several European countries.

However, today the ball game is different, calling for new rules and a new outlook. Not a few strongly feel that the private life of a public person necessarily needs transparency. They stand for the strong Gandhian view that a public man has no private parts to shield. That would be a reflection on his character, integrity and values. The Mahatma was clear that a man’s public life could never be clean if his private life was not. The two were indivisible.

Private behaviour does influence public life. That is the thumb rule enforced the world over. After all politicians, bureaucrat and defence personnel who weave our national fabric together are expected to be a notch higher than ordinary mortals. The reason why they are looked upto and respected. Persons who will not easily succumb to human weakness and foibles. Caught they come crashing down. Remember, Clinton who barely escaped impeachment for converting the Presidential Oval office into the oral (sex) office, thanks to Monica Lewinsky. In Britain, skeletons keep tumbling out of ministerial closets to be given the ‘gay’ boot.

Most Congressmen however disagree and argue: “Gandhian values were given a quiet burial even before India won its freedom. We may still ritually pay lip service to him, but we have bastardized his values. How can you talk morals in the land of Khajurao? Sex is a part of our traditional heritage and we shall guard it with all the vigour at our command.” Not a few therefore, prefer to follow Nehru who believed that leaders were entitled to some space and relaxation. He often quoted Kemal Ataturk, who modernized Turkey, in support. Wine, women and song were the Ataturk’s staple diet after dusk. However, this never came in the way of his great work and achievements.

Some of our leaders have even raised an old demand for a law on privacy. In fact, they have started pushing the idea privately. Worried as they are abut Tiwari’s  sexcapade. As also the Kerala High Court’s decision to take cognizance of a former Minister’s involvement in an ice-cream parlor sex scandal, as this could happen to them also. Recall, the delicious indiscretions of a honey gone sour in Ahemadabad when two Punjab Ministers and a Delhi MLA sought to brew a heady cocktail of business and pleasure. They settled for three utterly butterly melt-in-the mouth cheeses. All enjoyed merrily. Or the poetic justice meted out by a UP Minister to his Madhumita.

Arguably, what’s the big deal? Indian politicians romp in the hay is a story as old as the birds and the bees. Given our liberal temperament and all-pervasive forgiving nature, let us not treat it as a case of the grapes having gone sour. The moot point: Can our Constitutional authorities and law makers become law breakers? And will we allow our law enforcers to break the law themselves --- and with impunity? Can we then expect fair justice? Who will judge and who will be judged?

The tragedy of the time is that it is not an issue of Tiwari or XYZ ministers. What is frightening is that it has encompassed all levels of governance --- bureaucrats, policemen and judiciary. Remember the infamous KPS Gill case where the Director General of Punjab Police barely escaped jail for ‘patting’ a senior woman IAS office’s posterior. The ‘pat’ cost him Rs. One lakh fine by the Court.

Who can deny that the political casting couch is worse or better (depending on how one looks at it) than Bollywood’s casting couch. Every party believes in share and share alike. All enjoy their ‘Common Wealth’ and national heritage. Individually or collectively. Such is the state of affairs that political residences are the subject of juicy, salacious gossip!  Remember Kashmir’s political sexual escapades in 2006. Of ‘madam Sabina’ forcing 43 girls into prostitution, a la Vladimir’s Lolita. A peek-a-boo nazariya of the real sex dastaan – of top Congress, NC and PDP netas caught in the act. So sensational were the disclosures that it sent our polity scurrying for cover.

What to speak of 2005’s spicy stories dripping sex to the panting-all, asking for more! Of a former Chief Minister indulging in utterly butterly melt-in-your mouth indiscretions, four MPs enjoying their ‘pegs and legs’ and three Union Cabinet Ministers relishing their latest “hot night” dish. Add to this an officer’s complaint to her boss about an allegedly ‘un’fair pass made by a senior Cabinet Minister. Leaving many at the top ‘red’ in the face.

Haven’t we all enjoyed the ‘defence-less’ Tehelka, judicial Vrindavan, political Jalgaon and Alwar video-tapes, deliciously educating about affairs of the heart? Who doesn’t remember the “hot tandoori night,” which spotlighted for the first time the antics of our lower polity via Naina Sahni and Sushil Sharma?

Today our rulers take it as their birthright to free-load and indulge. Their birthright to garb. They are the Carpetbaggers. The ‘have-not’s who bend the laws to quench their thirst with liquid green. Satiate their appetite with freely plucked flowers. Wash it down with intoxicating power to the sound of music. Once a delicious rendezvous is over, they will ply whatever you want. Lay down any law, bend and rule, change any order, transfer any person and fudge figures. All for a song and a little more.

Importantly, India today is at the moral crossroads. Gandhi’s charkha has come a full circle. Khadi was once symbolic of a true patriot and sacrifice in the struggle for freedom. Today it largely camouflages unabashed opportunism and criminals. Tragically, we are now in an era where our powers-that-be are pulverizing society. It is high time to cry a halt to increasing degradation and start afresh our own experiments with truth. Our leaders must stop using ‘pegs and legs’ to fight their political battles. Or else be prepared to face public sting. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Sunday Reading

New Delhi, 21 November 2009

Hi-Tech Advances

KNOWLEDGE IS MONEY

By Dharmendra Nath (Retd. IAS)

Till yesterday knowledge was power, today it is solid money. A look at the Forbes list of billionaires, whether of Asia or the world -   be it Azim Premji or Bill Gates - shows that we have nearly arrived in the age where knowledge is big capital. Maharajas, money magnates, even petrodollars have taken a beating. Thanks to it, J K Rowling (of Harry Potter fame) is a billion dollar writer. Earnings are no longer physical-asset intensive.

Time was when capital was the most important and scarcest factor of production. It commanded the highest price and dictated the terms. Today it has been displaced by know-how and technology. Ever more efficient and user-friendly technologies are replacing outdated ones and making vast fortunes with first-to-be-there advantage. How promptly Windows Vista has been replaced by Windows 7 within a matter of months. That partly smacks of a trick but, nonetheless, we lesser mortals have to accept it. Let us recall how our computer tapes, floppies, CDs and even pen drives were and are being replaced over the years. Every step of the way has involved massive creation and transfers of wealth.

Peter Drucker popularized the term knowledge worker in the fifties. But it is coming into its own now. The money which knowledge commands is mind boggling. It is paid for as R and D and technical fees, shares and salaries etc. The property about whose safety we are increasingly worried is not physical property but intellectual property. We are in a knowledge race.

In the context of the knowledge worker there is little scope for exploitation of labour. The boot is rather on the other leg. The worry is excessive attrition and how to retain a worthwhile work force. Besides knowledge is an appreciating asset. It grows.                

Gone are the days when employees could be taken for granted. There is a shortage of skilled workers and they are poached upon. You employ intelligence agencies to keep track and take timely corrective steps at your end. Otherwise you lose your precious employees.

These days able-minded workers are harder to come by than able-bodied ones. This being so, the quality of education and skill-development assumes a key importance. To meet the demands of the knowledge age, we need an education that is creative, not just mechanical. To use Alvin Toffler’s language, we need ‘third wave’ education which comes not by learning by rote but by fostering creativity and capability for self-growth. At its core is the development of mental power.

Such education requires patience and a supportive environment. It develops cognitive faculties of the mind and the capacity to brainstorm or to withhold judgment as necessary. It needs to be conducted in a multicultural or even international context so that it is prejudice-free and inculcates right outlook and correct perspective.

The uneven and even unacceptable quality of a lot of our early education and the wasted years which it implies constitute one of the worst drains on our limited resources. There is need to get over that fast if we would not like to be left behind.

We should seek to justify financial support for this inevitably costly education in terms of economic return on intelligence rather than merely as an item of expenditure on a social service. That will put things in a better perspective. That input-output ratio will beat that of most other investments. 

Just think how the world began to take notice of us? It was our performance as knowledge workers, our nuclear tests and our IT competence. But there is a long way to go yet and we have to multiply the number of worthwhile knowledge workers many times. Our eleventh Plan envisages setting up of seven IIMs, eight IITs and 30 Central Universities. The target for IITs has perhaps subsequently been revised to 20. That is a step in the right direction and so is the target of gross enrolment of 15 per cent of class twelve-pass outs into higher education (up from 10 per cent). We will have to go a long way in that direction and raise it to 50 per cent or more, as it is elsewhere in the progressive world.

Besides, institutions like All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) Medical Council of India (MCI) and National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) will have to be tolerated with much more teeth than today, if we mean serious business. So far they have played a very docile role – amply commented upon by our courts – toeing the government line rather than guiding it. The regulator should have the strength and should be in a position to assert itself against unfair pressures. Otherwise, we will have as much of a surfeit of politically powered institutes of higher learning – some of it already in evidence - as we have of them at the school education level already. Turning out unemployable knowledge workers would be a tragedy.

As pointed out above, our school education deserves a lot more attention. Looking to the size of our economy much more needs to be done in the less glamorous but altogether more crucial field of school education. That is the intervening make-or-break stage. We must particularly investigate educational practices which work well with underprivileged children. Commenting on the U S educational scene in 2007 Baumol and others say ‘Our educational practices are much like health care was before the 19^th century when doctors proceeded without evidence and resorted to little more than bloodletting and cupping as the universal remedies for most illnesses’. How true that sounds for us too!

Knowledge happily is a highly competitive and also a democratic commodity. Despite intellectual property rights, which assure a minimal return to the originator it does not allow for extended monopoly nor for excessive concentration in a few hands. New ideas and new concepts replace old ones and they can spring up anywhere. Knowledge is not heritable either. In fact, today it is at the fingertips of anyone with an access to Google. It is all lying out there.

Knowledge capitalism of the sort that is coming into evidence is capable of solving the riddle of capital-labour dichotomy too. It can usher in an era of social harmony which has only been dreamt of till now. That conflict belongs to the industrial society. It need not be there in the information society.

Today’s capitalists are yesterday’s knowledge workers. Having made money, they employ others in a widening circle of prosperity and in the end many of them even bequeath large portions of their massive wealth to charities for general welfare thus giving it back to the society. Is knowledge then our threshold to a new Atlantis?---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Economic Highlights

New Delhi, 21 December 2009

Prices, Poverty & Growth

STOP JUGGLERY OF FIGURES

By Shivaji Sarkar

Reality and projections are foxing the nation. Almost 20 per cent price rise and the growing numbers of the poor are the reality. But when it comes to growth projections nobody is sure whether there is reality in these or these are mere officialese. One can only hope it is not the latter.  

The October figures lead to a claim of 10.3 per cent surge in the industrial production and GDP growth at 7.9 per cent. Basic projections on the low growth parameters of October 2008 -- 4.3 per cent and a comparison with that of October 2009 and the claims of high growth possibilities certainly do not project the actual facts.

Else, the Government would not have grappled with the poverty figures. Growth in this country is not linked to betterment of living conditions of the people at large. Instead, it has been observed that social and financial discrimination increases. Despite the supposed fast-paced pre-2008 growth at around 7 to 8 per cent, it is surprising that the number of poor have not come down. Of course there are different figures by different committees and departments.

This apart, the Government is also unsure whether the growing food prices are adding to the numbers or not? In November alone inflation jumped three-fold from 1.34 per cent in October to 4.78 per cent as WPI. Shockingly, food prices have risen to nearly 7 per cent – from 13.68 per cent on October 31 to 19.95 per cent on December 5. Logically it would marginalize many more and push them below the poverty line. This is what four different figures for poverty estimation seem to suggest. \

Higher poverty ratio has its effect on the Government’s kitty as well. It may swell expenditure on poverty alleviation and subsidy-related issues by over Rs 15,000 crore. The Planning Commission in 2004-05 estimated that 28.3 per cent of the population was below the poverty line. The Government still projects this as the figure of poor persons. There is a dichotomy. It does not take into account the rise in population. The figures have to vary accordingly.

Importantly, three official committees have rejected these figures. The SD Tendulkar committee set up by the Planning Commission has stated that even in 2004-05 there were 41.8 per cent people below the poverty line. Officially there were 38 per cent poor in 1990. The NC Saxena committee set up the Ministry of Rural Development estimated, on the same parameters of per capita calorie intake of the Planning Commission that a poor person requires at least Rs 700 a month to survive.

The committee estimates 50 per cent of the people are below the poverty line. It has also taken into account low-weight children and anaemic women into account for the purpose of its calculation. This means almost 55 crore persons are living in absolute poverty. The Economic Survey of 2008-09 puts the figure at 60.5 per cent on the basis of subsisting on a wage below Rs 20 a day as per National Statistical Organisation Survey. The average works out to Rs 600 a month.

It is important to note that the Budget process has started and is to be presented almost two months later. The Government has to accept one or the other figure for deciding allocations. The closest to the present Government estimates are the Tendulkar committee figures. But these are also 13 per cent higher than the accepted official figures.

Clearly, the figures would be definitely more if the high food prices are taken into account. Incomes have not increased. There were more people who had been out of jobs and even those who are in corporate jobs have seen erosion in wages as most of them have been denied a raise since about two years.

According to the Tendulkar committee, there would be 30 per cent more poor in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, MP and even West Bengal. This means that on PDS alone the Government would have to spend Rs 10,000 to 12,000 crore. Expenditure would also increase on schemes such as NREGS, Indira Awas Yojana, Swarna Jayanti Employment Scheme and similar other schemes.

If the rising prices are taken into account, it would further swell the Government expenditure, which it is trying to do with larger borrowings. Presently almost 7 per cent is the estimated fiscal deficit. It is likely to swell further. This has a cascading effect on expenses as also on actual growth prospects. Is the country getting into a vortex?

Regrettably, the Government has not been able to contain the prices. The Union Agriculture and Commerce Ministers, Sharad Pawar and Kamal Nath respectively, are giving statements that are only fuelling up food grain and sugar prices. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also warned of further rise in prices. The only dissenting voice is that of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who says he is concerned about this and is taking requisite steps. His concern appears genuine. But, he has to show results in the Budget and this seems difficult.

If the number of poor and price rise, the Government may do projections but it would be away from reality. It also raises the question about the intention of bringing down the prices. So far, nobody has yet explained why butter has become scarce in the market. The only answer has come from the multi-national retailer Walmart, which admitted hoarding butter stocks after acquiring it from Anand in Gujarat. One needs to look at the meeting of Walmart Chairman S Walton with Manmohan Singh on November 4.  

This above is a grim signal and points to the linkages of price rise and entry of the MNCs and big corporate in the retail market. Somehow nobody raids their warehouses, whereas godowns of the small wholesalers have been searched under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act.

Indeed, the nation and its parliamentarians need to speak against the entry of big business into the retail commodity and vegetable markets. There is no scrutiny of the officials and others promoting entry of this sector. They lure the Government with artificial growth projections. The Government instead has to look at actual growth of the people. The US and the West are suffering the ills of monopolization of transnational retailers. There is time to secure India from their ill effects.

The Opposition and the Government need to sit together to study the menace. Finances benefit only a few but growth requires a vision and not statistical jugglery. The West and now even Dubai is suffering from financial projections, created in the books. India has survived some of the recent financial crisis but if the present trend continues it may not be able to do so for long.  ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Sunday Reading

New Delhi, 9 November 2009

Rising Divorce Cases

EROSION OF INDIAN FAMILY

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

It is a well-known fact that over the years the concept of the family has changed. Nowadays, the husband, wife and children constitute the family, which was not the case two decades back. Worse, even this family has become unsustainable and reports of marital discord have increased over the years. The underlying forces of change have been giving a new meaning to the causes of disharmony.

It is not that conflict, for example, due to incompatible personalities did not exist earlier. But the fact is that it has become more vibrant and open. Factors such as incompatibility of personalities have existed in the past but what is new is that the tolerance threshold has become fragile. Moreover, tension coupled with egos of individuals has accentuated the personality clash, sometimes resulting in serious discords. The clash of personalities has resulted in families breaking up and couples going in for divorce or mutual separation. 

The self dependence of women and their awareness about rights have given rise to a new situation. Those who are employed or are financially dependent find it difficult to tolerate the traditional dominance of the male member and are in a position to take care of themselves without having to fall back on their parents, as in the past.  All these factors have led to an increase in the divorce rate or separation primarily in the cities and urban centres.  

According to a study by a Mumbai-based legal activist, the family courts witnessed 2055 couples filing for divorce in 1995 in the city with the number going up to 3400 in 2004. Presently the number may be not less than 5000. Similarly, in the sight of the matrimonial district courts of Delhi, an average of 25 divorce petitions were filed every day in 2004. In Kolkata, the number has gone up from 1633 in 1966 to around 2400 in 2003 and may well be over 4000 presently. It would be pertinent here to mention that because of the increasing number of young couples resorting to divorce, six more family courts have come up in Delhi since the late 90s to deal with a whopping 9000 cases of matrimonial disputes.   

Analyzing the various causes of such disputes, it is generally believed that the three most important factors are: personality related behaviours/tendencies, including deficiencies – sexual or otherwise; unfulfilled material/monetary gains from, incompatibility, and lastly a superiority complex. Cases of separate living or divorce are more pronounced where the female member is assertive and employed.

There have been reports of the husband suspecting his wife for alleged close or even sexual relations with a colleague. While in some cases the allegations are true, there are many instances where the allegations are baseless. Similarly, a working wife would not tolerate her husband returning late at night and having any sort of intimacy with any of his colleague. The clash of personalities in such types of cases is very frequent and normally friends or relatives mediate to settle the problems, keeping in view the future of children that the couple may be having.

Husbands normally want to dominate their wives and would not tolerate their having intimacy with any male friend. While these problems are more pronounced in the metros and amongst the upper middle class or the upper echelons of society, the nature of the crisis differs among the lower middle class and the economically weaker sections, where alcoholism and gambling is a major factor.

In cases, the couple is issueless, the end result is divorce. A woman cannot be divorced because she is infertile, as per law, as there are alternative methods of procreation as well as adoption available to the couple. However, in Muslim Personal Law, a wife’s barrenness is a major ground for divorce if a husband wishes it to be so. Similarly, Islam also allows a woman to divorce her husband if male infertility can be proven.

Reports of female private tutors having sexual relations with the student’s father are well known. On the other hand, women or girls, who manage the family as both the husband and wife are employed, have been reported to have consensual sex with the male member. Many families do not like to keep young girls because the wife suspects the loose character of her husband.  

With modernization of society, it is quite apparent that tolerance and acceptability in the human individual would gradually decrease. Moreover, attraction towards worldly objects would create greater problems in man-woman relationship. With more and more women getting employed – whether in corporate houses or in the unorganized sector – they would tend to become more assertive in the family, more so if their income is on the same levels as that of her husband. This would create more tension and eventually lead to marital discord and may end up in divorce or separation.

One has to accept the fact that just because two individuals have married, their thinking, mindsets and behavioural patterns cannot be expected to be similar, more so if they are educated. It naturally takes time to know and understand each other. The understanding, which will eventually result in compatibility can develop only gradually and thus, both have to accommodate the viewpoint and thinking of the other partner till then.

The essence of marriage is the ‘understanding’ of each other’s compulsions, which if lacking between couples, could spell trouble in form of increase in family disputes and eventually lead to divorce. In the coming year, there is a growing fear that the institution of the marriage may, end up in ‘live-together’ relationships, where separation would become much easier and not entail any legal hiccups. There was a time when sex and procreation was the sole aim of marriage, but now this is possible even without formal tie-ups.     

Though counseling centres have mushroomed around cities in particular and psychologists have been making efforts to bring about rapprochement, the results are not very satisfactory. Arrogance and lack of understanding are obviously the prime reasons. However, women’s organizations say that more understanding has to be shown by the male member and his (as also his family’s) domination in all matters has to end as with changing times assertion of rights of the opposite sex is quite natural.             
Indeed, it is difficult to project the future existence of the nuclear family, but the sociological problems need to be thoroughly examined. If in a family, the tradition of love and affection yields to arrogance, suspicion and jealousy, it would have adverse affect in the child’s growth and thinking process. Worse, it would jeopardize social values and relationships.--INFA    

           (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)