January 1, 2013 Now, the tragedy of the common species NEHA SINHANOT ‘RARE ENOUGH’:With their low economic values in the illicit trade, common species are not getting the protection of enforcement.—PHOTO: K. ANANTHAN Last month, a video set in Nagaland went viral. It traced villagers in Nagaland fastening nets on the banks of a reservoir. Trapped in them were small, indignant, shrieking birds; falcons that had flown in from Siberia. Amur falcons, insectivorous birds of prey, stop at Nagaland’s Doyang reservoir each year on their way from Siberia to southern Africa. They spend a few days in Nagaland to fatten up for their transoceanic journey to Africa. This year, an estimated one lakh Amur Falcons were trapped and killed by villagers for the commercial meat trade. Both the trade and the appetite for the Amur falcon seem to be growing: while some birds were transported in trucks for sale in places far from the trapping spot, others were discarded, simply because too many had been caught. Year after year, India speaks out at international fora about its culture of tolerance, particularly at meetings for wild species conservation. Being a diplomatic norm, platitudes of this sort are not surprising. There is merit too, in this argument: the same philosophies have led India to saying a blanket no to hunting of animals on the mainland, as per law. The country has also said no to policies of “sustainable wild animal use,” which other countries with meat eating histories have adopted: with quotas on hunting, or (theoretically) controlled bushmeat/wildmeat consumption. But there is reason to believe that we are ignoring a burning problem in our midst — the widespread hunting and trapping, especially of species that do not figure on the mainstream protection radar. Our policymakers are uncomfortably close to believing that the land of “tolerance,” does not in fact hunt its animals. Indiscriminate The word hunting evokes several connotations. The activity of stalking an intended victim, the wait for the prey, and the allure of the strength of the hunterpredator have held central, forceful value in many civilisations. The Mughal emperors hunted to showcase their pomp and their strength, and the British hunted man-eating tigers, or problem animals, in India and other countries to exercise a tightly orchestrated symbol of control and power. As an independent nation with a gleaming set of environmental laws, we have declared these symbols as an anachronism. It is argued that trapping is different from hunting. Trapping animals in nets and snares suggests a certain opportunism, and with unerring certainty, a ‘bycatch’ (a term used most regularly for fishing) of non-target species. Depending on the way you look at it, trapping with the intention to eat whatever gets caught is a source of bushmeat; trapping with the intention of poaching a target species invariably leads to the ensnaring of non-target species: like deer being caught in snares meant for tigers. We have had a corporeal, intense focus on the poaching of charismatic species (the tiger, leopard, lion, snow leopard, elephant) which are trapped for a lucrative and wellfunded poaching trade. What we seem to have lost, both as spectators as well as enforcement direction, is a focus on common or widespread species which are being trapped and killed all over India, and indiscriminately. In 2010, the Munia, a small colourful melodious finch, was found to be sold for as little as Rs.150 for 100 birds by investigators from poaching watchdog TRAFFIC India. That is a value of less than Rs.2 for each bird — one that is endemic to India, threatened, and found in increasingly fragmented landscapes. Nesting in bushes and shrub, the Munia, much like the House Sparrow, is losing habitat all over the country, which is it’s only natural range. The fact that it is sold for nearly nothing, and perceived as “common,” demonstrates the ease with which it is caught. Similar investigations reveal that it is birds that don’t have to be displayed that are increasingly being found in the meat trade. These are birds that are concealed, kept in half-dead conditions, and then sold for a pittance: reducing the risk of detection. This also means that a boggling number of small birds are in this meat trade — victims of trapping, trapping of any and every species that gets caught. Up to 450 species are in this illegal trade, with birds being the single genus most widely traded illegally among all the hunted species. The Francolin, wading birds, Pintail, Shoveler and Sandpiper are other birds, still plentiful, which disappear in this way. Peaks in winter The trade peaks in winter, where meat-eating is at a premium. This coincides with the migratory season, and as in the case of the Amur Falcon, has meant a calibrated, site-specific effort to kill. In the late 1960s, Garrett Hardin, an ecologist, coined the term, “the tragedy of the commons.” He was referring to how people, users of resources, tend to overuse and exploit “commons”: like meadows, even if they knew that doing so would deplete the resource for all its users. The term has been used most often in contemporary times to refer to the overexploitation, intense and continuous, of the sea and marine resources. I would go a step further in saying that what is happening to our birds, and the killing of these birds, is the tragedy of the common species . Few species are common any more, but it does follow nearly often that the common species gets disregarded, overlooked or otherwise not valued as exciting, simply because there are so many individuals of that species. The anthropogenic allee affect is a theory that suggests that with human-induced rarity of a resource (like poaching or trapping), human attempts to extract that resource (i.e. more trapping) increase even as resource availability goes down. This explains why items that are so rare are always higher priced, corresponding to their high demand. It further explains why the increased price (the belief in desire stemming from rarity) causes even more exploitative measures towards extraction of the commodity. This has been the sad course of human desire — resources like gold, illegal wildlife contraband — like ivory, to pink diamonds, to unblemished natural pearls, are all down to a few sources, deemed even more precious due to their uncommonness . The tragedy of the common species is that these species, with low economic values in their illicit trade, are escaping the radar of enforcement. Conversely, they are escaping the radar of enforcement as the anthropogenic allee affect has not set in so far, and subsequently these species are not considered rare enough to bother worrying about. Common species do not stay common forever. Such is the case of the house sparrow and the Gyps vulture, both of which are vanishing all over their range in India, and the now extinct Passenger pigeon, once crowding skies in the United States. This year, one lakh less Amur Falcons will reach their destination in southern Africa. At this point, we don’t have to start debating hierarchies of protection afresh. Instead, we must act on keeping the common, common. (Neha Sinha is with the Bombay Natural History Society. The views expressed are personal. Email:
[email protected] )January 1, 2013 Moving forward to go back CHINMAYA R. GHAREKHAN Persistent efforts by multiple western players finally paid off. The Taliban and the Kabul government met officially in Chantilly, a suburb of Paris, on December 20 and 21 under the aegis of a French think tank called the Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique. The Taliban was represented by senior leaders Shahabuddin Dilawar, former Taliban ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Naeem Wardak — both based in Doha. The government side was represented by the Higher Peace Council chairman Salahuddin Rabbani. Also participating were Yunus Qanuni, the ideologue of the opposition National Coalition of Afghanistan led by Abdulla Abdulla, Ahmad Zia Massoud, brother of the legendary Tajik commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, as well as representatives of the hardline Hizb-ul-Islam of Gulbuddin Hikmatyar. In all, there were about 20 delegates participating in the talks. For an understanding It is noteworthy that the Kabul delegation included a sprinkling of non-Pashtun tribes — Massoud, a Tajik, Mohaqqeq, a Hazara leader, and Faizullah Zaki, an Uzbek. Mr. Massoud said there was a new generation which did not believe in war and sought an understanding with the Taliban. The Taliban, for its part, clarified in no uncertain terms that no negotiations with anyone were involved and that the Taliban “wants the world community to listen to our goals;” in other words, the Taliban approached the Paris talks as a platform to air its ideology and demands. A few weeks prior to the Chantilly meeting, Kabul had disclosed a ‘Peace Process Roadmap’ consisting of five steps, which sought to outline a vision in which, by 2015, the Taliban, the Hizb-eIslami and other armed groups will have given up armed opposition. There is reason to believe that this ‘roadmap 2015’ is a joint AfghanPakistan draft, prepared in close consultation with the United States. The ‘roadmap’ assumes that all the armed insurgencies will have transformed themselves into political groups and will actively participate in the political and constitutional process, including national elections. The first step focuses on securing Pakistan’s collaboration which would include Pakistan releasing specific Taliban detainees. Pakistan has already repatriated several mid-level Taliban prisoners and might release Mullah Baradar. The second step envisages direct talks with the Taliban, which Pakistan should facilitate, in Saudi Arabia in the first half of 2013. Step three calls for ceasefire and transformation of the Taliban into a political party. The final steps include securing peaceful end to the conflict during the first half of 2014 and moves to sustain the long-term stability of Afghanistan and the region. Lip service is paid in the ‘roadmap’ to the principles of respect for the Afghan constitution and renunciation of ties with al-Qaeda. A concession This was the first time senior Taliban representatives sat down with the government and other opposition groups. This, in a way, amounts to a concession by the Taliban which had, thus far, refused to talk to the Kabul government which it did not regard as legitimate. There was no joint statement after the Chantilly meeting. In the words of the sponsoring think tank, the objective was to encourage the Afghans to “project themselves towards the horizon of 2020. the importance of the talks having taken place should not be minimised. national interest.” Nonetheless.” the Taliban declared. The Taliban issued a statement after the talks in which it rejected the present constitution on the ground that it was made “under the shadows of B52 bombers of the invaders.” “We need a constitution based on the holy Islam.’ does it . past achievements and social justice. How much should be read into the fact that the Taliban talked of ‘holy Islam’ and not ‘based on sharia’? It also referred to ‘social justice. As for Hamid Karzai. did Kabul feel that the meeting was more meaningful for the Taliban than for the government? It is obvious that this flurry of activity has only one. perfectly understandable objective from the American and the West’s perspective: to provide a respectable screen behind which to implement the withdrawal from Afghanistan.suggest an implied pledge to go slow on women’s issues? Turkmenistan offered to host a follow-up meeting to Chantilly but Kabul refused. he too would wish to leave behind some legacy whereby there will be at least an agreement on paper which. hopefully. will avoid the . country’s descent into chaos which many analysts anticipate post-2014. Significant The announcement of the Paris talks signifies several things. Firstly, it means that the U.S. and NATO have given up, once and for all, the objective of defeating the Taliban. Secondly, there is more than a tacit admission that the Afghan National Security Force will be incapable of ensuring security in the country post2014,considering that only one out of 23 Afghan brigades is considered capable of operating on its own. The ‘green on blue’ attacks have also played their part in this. Thirdly, it proves that the British are still far ahead of the Americans in understanding the region. The U.K. called for coopting the Taliban in the government years before even Mr. Karzai did, as the only way out for the country. Fourthly, and importantly, it must be borne in mind that the West, especially the Americans, never had any problem with the Taliban. It was the treatment of women that made the then U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright antiTaliban. The forceful action after 9/11 was aimed at al-Qaeda, not the Taliban. Had the Taliban agreed to cut ties with al-Qaeda then, it would still be ruling in Kabul. The West by and large would have nothing to worry as and when, not if, the Taliban obtains a share in the government. The roadmap explicitly states that the Taliban will be included not only in the state power structure but will also be given non-elective positions at different levels. This is a clear reference to governorships in provinces such as Paktia, Paktita and Khost. India should watch these developments most warily. There is no reason for us to rejoice at the possibility of the Taliban becoming a part of the government. We did support the reconciliation process some time ago, but it was probably more theoretical at that time when the three ‘red lines’ were still in place, namely, respecting the constitution, renunciation of violence and severing ties with alQaeda. These red lines have since been given up and are now projected as objectives to be considered at the end of the process rather than as preconditions for talks. It is one thing to support the efforts to achieve stability in Afghanistan and another to welcome an arrangement which will guarantee the Taliban a share in power with all the negative consequences that might follow for us. Pakistan, the winner Pakistan has emerged the clear winner. We should have no illusion. Mr. Karzai has decided to throw in his lot with Pakistan, his ‘brother’. Pakistan, for all its protestations of not wanting the Taliban returning to power in Kabul, has been given the pride of place in Mr. Karzai’s roadmap which confers key role on Islamabad in the whole process. Pakistan has succeeded in convincing its western interlocutors that there is a paradigm shift in the political mindset in the country. Once the Taliban manages to get a share of power in Kabul, it will eventually endeavour to grab total power. Since it will remain the most cohesive force, ideologically, politically and militarily, it would be imprudent to exclude this possibility. In other words, the Taliban might well achieve around a conference table what it failed to achieve in the battlefield.January 1, 2013 Ring out the rhetoric, ring in results Electricity Bill Payment - Pay Electricity Bills Easily Online Avoid Long Queues. Sign Up Now! Myuniverse.co.in/Electricity_Bills RENANA JHABVALA BETWA SHARMA DARK SPACES:Many women have had to leave education and jobs because of the harassment they face in buses or on roads. This is especially true of poor or middle class families where girls are emerging from their homes or traditional occupations. —PHOTO: AFP Less than two weeks after the brutal gang rape of the 23-yearold student on a Delhi bus, the issue of women’s safety has been overshadowed by other incendiary fallouts and squabbles over the protests, which were carried out by thousands demanding justice for the victim. In the year ahead, it is imperative not to lose sight of the overarching challenge of protecting Indian women against the rising tide of dangers. Devising and enforcing an agenda for women’s safety is a daunting task , but the call for “we want justice,” which rang out over India Gate, needs a clear agenda and practical action. Women today are entering public spaces in large numbers. Every family, however poor, attempts to send its girls to schools. Girls today aspire to a better and higher education and indeed outnumber and outperform boys in colleges and universities. For a young woman, of every class, marriage and children and the kitchen are no longer her only aspiration, but many dream of a job, a career and a place in society outside the home. Unlike earlier generations, young women today are no longer cowed down by society and are not afraid to speak their minds. Nor do they meekly accept that they are inferior to men and must bear whatever punishment is imposed on them in public or at home. ‘Accepted’ culture However, Delhi has always had a culture of various forms of violence against women in public places. It is “accepted” that a group of men may pass a lewd comment against a woman in public, or that they may “brush up” against her in a bus. For young men, harassing women is a right of passage, and is covered up in the mild word “teasing.” It is not uncommon for this form of open harassment to lead to actual molestation and even rape. Every girl and woman living in Delhi can testify to cases of sexual harassment in public space, while the capital also has the highest number of reported rapes in the country and a dismal conviction rate. The attitude of the general public in Delhi supports this anti-woman culture. Women today often fight back, but are rarely supported by others, even in crowded places. Every incident, whether in a bus or the metro or on the road, has some men muttering “look at the way she is dressed” or “you should be silent, these things happen” or “she invited it,” or “girls should remain at home, why is she out on the streets?” These kinds of comments are echoed by public personalities where only “dented and painted” women protest! If women are to continue on this path towards becoming useful and equal members of society, it is imperative that their safety in public places be guaranteed. We have seen many women who have had to withdraw from schools or jobs because of the harassment they face in buses or on roads. This is especially true of poor or middle class families where the first generation of girls are emerging from their homes or traditional occupations. Creating a safer environment for women is not only the responsibility of the police or the government, it is a matter for us all. Changing the Delhi culture is a long process that needs concerted effort over months, years and decades. The police and courts need to be active allies in this. The steps needed First, it is necessary for women to speak up. Silence encourages the perpetrators, and ensures that they behave worse next time. Second, men must support women when they speak up. They must make the perpetrator feel ashamed and apologetic. Third, the police must play an active role. Sexual harassment is not “teasing,” it is a crime, and the perpetrators cannot be treated with a smirk and that “boys will be boys.” Finally, when such crimes reach the courts, it is necessary for the courts to also treat them seriously. Many judges view molestation and rape cases as the woman’s fault and treat her like the criminal, rather than the victim, often using words in their judgments which betray their biases. At the same time these cases are allowed by a court to drag on for years, so that the victim never gets justice, but continues to be harassed by the criminal who is out on bail. Delhi had 635 reported rape cases in 2012 with only one conviction. It had 193 cases of “eve teasing” reported with zero convictions. The goal should be results over rhetoric. To begin with, certain public areas in Delhi should be identified to execute a targeted response. Some public spaces where harassment occurs are buses and bus stops, metros, spaces outside schools and colleges and market areas. It is important to protect women and change the culture in these areas. The Delhi Metro has had a remarkable record in making it safe for women, but conditions are deteriorating in Metros and much more needs to be done. The protection of women needs a programme that involves increased patrolling, increasing lighting of dark areas, introducing CCTV cameras and GPS in buses and trains. Additionally, there should be police booths in areas where there are schools and colleges for an immediate response to women-safety related complaints; and a helpline for women with a set response time to be accessed via phone, emails and texts with photo/s of the offenders sent by mobile phone. Perhaps most effective would be immediate punishment or fines on the spot as is done in traffic-related offences. Posters, hoardings, announcements and advertisements make an important difference in people’s consciousness. Posters inside metros and buses can encourage men to behave properly and respect women — an image with a big cross for a man staring or groping a woman. A sustained advertisement campaign must follow. Besides public service messages and private companies featuring women’s products should focus on messages encouraging women to speak up. Using information However, most important is the need for citizen patrolling and citizen-police cooperation. Parents of school and college girls are often willing to work with police to protect their children. They need to be tapped in large numbers. Women’s organisations, and non-governmental organisations (NGO) working with women and girls are able to mobilise and provide information to the police on areas where women face harassment. These NGOs need to be drawn into partnership with the police and government efforts. Changing the culture of a city is hard work, but it needs to be done. Otherwise, women will continue to face the continuum of sexual harassment from lewd remarks to brutal rape. Decades of efforts to empower women will fail as fear forces them out of public spaces. (Renana Jhabvala is the national coordinator of SEWA and president of SEWA Bharat, and Betwa Sharma is a Delhi-based journalist focusing on human rights.) S. but also a matter for us.—PHOTOS: K. KUMAR . changing the capit January 2. With women entering public spaces in greater numbers.Creating a safer environment for women is not only the responsibility of the police or the government. BHAGYA PRAKASH. 2013 The charm and disgrace of IndiaPakistan cricket BISHAN SINGH BEDI USING SPORTS:Cricket will suffer for as long as the game is dependent on political clearances.S. The reason. Goodwill tour Pardon me for recalling here a very personal experience of the most horrendous kind — way back . if I may add. that is what raises the excitement quotient of IndiaPakistan cricket. is pretty simple — there are no political overtones to the Ashes whereas an India-Pakistan series is seldom without a political “ tarkaa .” Perhaps. we could have never used this headline for an Ashes series.For starters. under the leadership of late Morarji Desai. when the government of India.in 1978. it was earnestly a goodwill tour on which Indian cricketers were expected to do what politicians would not dream of doing – create goodwill that is. it was us cricketers he chose to send to Pakistan on a goodwill tour. . from Northants. Yes. both outstanding professionals. initially I was very excited too because it was a dream to play against my good old colleagues Mushtaq Mohammad and Sarfraz Nawaz. decided to mend/renew relations. I must confess. Such were the vagaries of our highly protected social interactions. and the man would not be inside at all. He was exceptionally popular in Pakistan. He would often have the privilege of two adjacent suites. Majid Khan. all accomplished professionals and happily dominating the county scene then. We thought we had the added advantage of having the Maharaja of Baroda as our manager.There were others too from the county fold. namely Asif Iqbal. Imran Khan and Zaheer Abbas. with “DND (Do Not Disturb”) signs outside both. . if I may say so.We had never experienced anything like that on tours elsewhere. And on the cricket field we were destined to be even more disillusioned. There is no doubt that we were up against a better and more determined home team. What took us by a much greater surprise was extreme hostility from the public and the media — and the umpires. . There were social “do’s” just about every evening. but did we ever see a charming feminine face? Our lads quickly became disillusioned with their macho images. Lest I sound like a bad loser. . it was not supposed to. who were all peaking gloriously against a listless Indian unit. we bowled below par collectively. well. If the overall cricket environment did not suit us or our frame of mind. let me assure all and sundry that we were comprehensively beaten by a much superior team. Not for a moment would I like to take away the brilliance of Zaheer Abbas. Javed Miandad and Imran Khan. Much was expected from the spin quartet but sadly. But I do remember after the Sahiwal fiasco. Meeting General Zia . telling the Manager that he should invite Morarji bhai to lead the Indian squad in Pakistan.I reckon we might have taken our PM Morarji Desai’s dictum of “goodwill” a shade too seriously. It was well nigh impossible to keep politics away from our cricket conversations and much to our chagrin. We had never experienced such all round scorn on a cricket tour before. Pakistanis looked down upon us with utter disdain. I was sitting in the press box when I got a call to see Gen. He was as grim a dictator as they come. He hugged me warmly and then remarked. I met Gen..My personal plus was getting to know Gen Zia-ul-Haq from close quarters.” To which my response was fairly spontaneous — “Gen. He had piled himself on the Indian government in the name of cricket diplomacy. “Bedi Sahib. you must grey when you grow old unless . Zia many years later in Jaipur. but I was able to strike a humane understanding with him with sheer humour. you have greyed so much. Zia in his crowded security cordon. you happen to be the President of India. That to my mind is the biggest drawback cricket must suffer now and for as long as the game is dependent on political clearances. There is no such constraint in an England-Australia cricket contest. both in India and in Pakistan. my vote to the Ashes for being a far superior sporting encounter. Hence. al’s entrenched culture of violence is necessary and possible .” I’ve seen quite a few IndiaPakistan series subsequently. but I can’t think of one which did not have the blessings of the political bosses. urgent electoral reforms NAVIN CHAWLA When the Election Commission of India turned 60 on January 25. in its diamond jubilee year. 2013 Needed. The Hindu opened its lead editorial of January 29 with the words. “After overseeing 15 General Elections to the Lok Sabha. the ECI.January 2. but over . 2010. The successes have not been consistent or uniform. can with justifiable pride claim to have nursed and strengthened the electoral processes of a nascent democracy. It is however important to remember that this globally admired institution was built brick by brick from the days of Sukumar Sen.” Largest management exercise As the Chief Election Commissioner of India. I had the satisfaction of stewarding the general election of 2009. who faced . with integrity and transparency on display in each of the country’s 543 parliamentary constituencies.the last six decades the ECI managed to make the world’s largest democratic processes freeer and fairer. arguably the largest management exercise in the world. innumerable odds when he conducted India’s first general election in 1951-52. Over the years the Commission kept pace with changing needs. In 1988 Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s government amended the Constitution to reduce the voting age from 21 to 18. electronic voting machines made a quiet trial entry in the by-election to the Parur Assembly constituency of Kerala. when literacy was a dismal 16 per cent and where an enormous structure had to be created in even then. Later. In 1982. aspirations and technology. thereby enfranchising a whole new generation of voters. the world’s largest democracy. they . were tried in a few States until 2004. the reforms and good practices that developed over the years can at best be briefly recounted. followed in 2009 by a comprehensive photo electoral roll. For paucity of space. These included the creation of a fully computerised database of electors. election cards reached 514 million voters in time for the general election and deduplication technologies helped further eliminate bogus and duplicate entries.S. when Chief Election Commissioner T. A Booth Level . Krishnamurthy took the plunge and conducted the entire general election using almost a million machines. Officer was created to become the custodian of the electoral roll at each polling station. leading to constant door-to-door verification of electors. General and Expenditure Observers were supplemented by micro-observers to keep the poll day processes transparent.” first tried on any scale in the Uttar Pradesh election of 2007. Myriad forms of voter assistance were built in on and prior to the election day. were identified and enabled to vote. Video cameras began to record the polling and counting procedures. accident or design did not turn up to vote. The Commission developed a system of online communication . Through the strategy of “vulnerability mapping. localities that for reasons of deliberate exclusion. Above all. the Supreme Court of India has stood like a rock behind the Commission. In the recent Himachal Pradesh election. there was real-time monitoring of polling at all 7. the Model Code of Conduct.(COMET) that made it possible to monitor every polling booth on the day of election. a vital instrument of the Election Commission of India’s impartiality. ensuring . designed to neutralise the ‘lal batti’ culture and level the playing field between candidates of the ruling party and those in opposition.553 booths using GPS and a web-enabled facility through the Google search engine. earned even the grudging respect of political players in the fray! Throughout these years of innovation and development. On the flip side. is deeply worrying. however. The Hindu editorial also pointed out the challenges of criminalisation of politics and the misuse of money power. Instances of politicians paying for news coverage and bribing voters were widespread in the 20092010 elections”.it a clear field once elections are announced and until they cease. which is taking more and more outrageous forms. “The dominant role of money in elections. . This respect and support have earned the admiration of many polities in our neighbourhood and beyond. The response over two decades has been tepid. are part of the reforms package that successive Election Commissions have addressed to successive governments.I do agree that these are major problems which have already assumed such proportions that I fear that the electoral process in the future may well stand compromised at the altar of ‘winnability. to dangerously fill the vacuum that stands created. The subject of criminality in politics as well as the dangers of huge overspending. but .’ The process is also reflective of a growing disconnect between the governed and several of those who are elected by means of financial clout and covert muscle power. Let me take electoral finance first. Although statutory limits were increased in 2011 to broadly Rs. the candidates and parties use stealth to their advantage. 40 lakhs for a parliamentary seat and Rs. but in spite of such a large machinery. Clearly. The ECI does its best by posting as many as 2000 senior officers as observers during a parliamentary election. raising the monetary ceiling from time to time will not be the answer. while doing away with the ceiling altogether will lead to the creation .now there are glimmers of hope that change may come. 16 lakhs for an assembly election. levels of actual spending exceed these limits. 268 crores! As early as 1972. the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Amendments to Election Laws suggested that the state assume the burden of legitimate election expenses of candidates and political parties.of oligarchies with little trace of true representation. in the recent elections in Himachal Pradesh. 394 crores! In the recent Gujarat election. the Tarkunde Committee echoed the need for some electoral expenses . among whom the richest declared assets of a whopping Rs. the declared income of the 10 richest candidates is cumulatively over Rs. In 1978. the 20 richest candidates all won. According to one estimate. The Dinesh Goswami Committee (1990) suggested state funding in kind.being taken up by the government. itself an item on the National Common Minimum Programme of the UPA. The Law Commission Report of 1999 pointed to partial state funding. the President in his address to the Joint Session of Parliament announced the new government’s intent for state funding. on the proposal of funding not in cash but in terms of facilities. However. the majority view was . In 2004. when the ECI convened an all-party meeting in February 2006 to discuss the Centre’s proposal on state funding and invited the six recognised national and 44 recognised State-level political parties. which the ECI can administer on the basis of an agreed formula. it would necessitate the strong will of the national parties to deliberate different models where state funding can be supplemented by proportional air time in the electronic media. but if the 2006 dialogue was anything to go by.that this would only add to the advantages of bigger parties. It is true that in many well set democracies the proportion of state funding has been increasing vis-à-vis private financing. The ECI must also be empowered to de-register non-serious political parties and the Representation of People Act 1950 amended to . parliamentary committees hold that such a provision is liable to misuse by parties in power seeking vendetta. However.more harshly punish electoral violations. They suggest special courts and speedy trials instead. Dealing with criminalisation As regards dealing with those with criminal antecedents. Yet . the ECI has time and again written to the Government of India of the day to debar through legislation those against whom charges stand framed for heinous offences. but these recommendations have not yet been translated into action. I draw hope from the speeches at the ECI Diamond . did the mass movement of the freedom struggle need those with criminal antecedents to provide it momentum or to drive it when obstacles arose? However. Of course this also reflects the widening gap between the leadership of a party from those it seeks to represent. also has the effect of increasingly alienating large sections of people from the political and ruling class itself.many discerning parliamentarians privately accept that the “winnability” factor that induces a party to offer tickets to those against whom criminal cases are pending (albeit in appeal). To illustrate my point. (Navin Chawla was Chief Election Commissioner from April 2009 to July 2010) . too. Sonia Gandhi. that the present Law Minister will take forward the pending draft legislation on this subject which would be a vital step towards strengthening our democratic structure. I remain hopeful.Jubilee Celebration on January 25. 2010 where both the Chairperson of the UPA. Sushma Swaraj. took a public position against this growing unhealthy trend. and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. When a political party puts up candidates with criminal charges. and cannot tolerate shortterm costs. KAMAL NARANG . 2013 SEWA model shows cash transfers work GUY STANDING EMPTY BAG:The poor live on the edge. —PHOTOS: AP. While they struggle. it results in the alienation of large sections of people from the political class and politics itself January 2. the legitimacy of the cash transfer policy will be eroded. They can be both. the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is putting at risk the great idea of cash transfers by designing them primarily as substitutions for subsidised consumer goods. the Public Distribution System (PDS) is in a mess. both at the outset and in the longer-term. not the main one. That may be a laudable longer-term aim.While meaning well. . But strategically. must be a secondary gain. The reduction of cheating. cash transfers must boost economic growth and be a progressive measure to reduce income inequality and poverty. repeatedly mentioned by government spokesmen. It is all very well for planners to say this will be sorted out eventually. While they struggle. as with the ill-advised Kotkasim model. many people will become worse off in the first few months.If. the legitimacy of the cash transfer policy will be eroded. While the price of kerosene will be raised. the intention is simply to substitute cash payments for a subsidy. Pilot scheme . The poor live on the edge. teething problems with the banks or with the cash flow will mean they will not obtain the cash repayment to compensate. and cannot tolerate short-term costs. planners could now implement a substitution scheme in those villages that would be welcomed. . As people have learned to adapt. But these have taken place in an atmosphere of net gain for the recipients. As a result. would improve welfare and save government money. support has grown not only for the idea of cash transfers but for substitution for rationed items.This is why SEWA and Unicef have been implementing a cash transfer pilot scheme in which the cash provided has been a small top-up to existing subsidies. There have been teething problems associated with opening bank accounts and with learning how to use the cash. As a result. nobody in the villages is worse off than before. The biggest risk is that so many people will lose in the set-up period that the idea of cash . but it must be a medium-term objective. not a short-term one that jeopardises the longer-term. once the scheme has been legitimised. Cutting budget deficits is necessary.The biggest mistake the government is making in rolling out the Kotkasim model is trying to save money in the short-term rather than treating the rollout of cash transfers as a measure with upfront net spending that will reduce public spending in subsequent years. it will not cut anybody’s living standards. which is sensible in that it will give an unconditional cash transfer to vulnerable people excluded by the cap placed on Below Poverty Line cards. This should not happen in the Anashree scheme in Delhi. But the broader scheme in those 51 districts will suffer from targeting failures and a premature substitution procedure. Although it will be limited because of its targeting. An example .transfers will be delegitimised before it has a chance to become appreciated as liberating and welfare-improving. Suppose one were to provide everybody with Rs. At the end of the first year. again leaving nobody worse off.Let me give an example to illustrate the fiscal point. This would give people time to deal with the practicalities. the fiscal saving would be well above . while nobody would actually lose in the short-term.200 per month on top of the value of the PDS and other subsidies. with the proviso that within three months of starting to receive that cash they had to receive it in a bank account or obtain the Aadhaar. the cash transfer amount could be increased to. In that second year.300 while some subsidy worth Rs.100 were removed. say. Rs. the Rs.350. and the Deputy Chair of the Planning Commission has said that only 16 per cent of spending on subsidised item reaches the poor. So any removal of a subsidy would save the government much more than the value of it to the consumer. The Ministry of Finance has told us that.100 because we know the cost of transferring Rs. since it would leave scope for increasing .100 to any recipient is actually about Rs. This way of substituting cash for subsidies would be strategically wise and redistributive. And it must always be remembered that a government can afford short-term costs that low-income citizens cannot tolerate without acute discomfort. This leads back to the most important point of all. while being fiscally sustainable.the value of transfers to lowincome groups while saving money fiscally. Cash transfers must be understood primarily as a way of reducing inequality and poverty. This is why we should all plead with the politicians to go against their nature and depoliticise the . After all. since the saving on any reduction of a subsidy could be shared between the government coffers and the citizen recipient. both the citizen recipient and the government would gain revenue. Other considerations must be secondary to that objective. transformation of social policy as much as they can. Well. He is working with SEWA and Unicef on a set of pilot cash transfer schemes. and copresident of Basic Income Earth Network. (Guy Standing is Professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies. we should try. The views expressed are not necessarily those of SEWA. so that beneficiaries got used to the new system .) Payments were initially made as top-ups to subsidies and not as a substitute. University of London. The picture is of Court No. 2013 its teething Let’s make judges selection more transparent MARKANDEY KATJU A BEAUTIFUL BUILDING IS NOT EVERYTHING:The present system of selection is secretive and subjective. Oneof the Madras High Court.without suffering problems January 3.— PHOTO: V. GANESAN The decisions of the Supreme Court in the two judges cases in 1993 and 1998 have been criticised because they have not only practically amended the . there were about 23 or 24 vacancies. I would. The sanctioned strength of High Court Judges here was then 49 (60 today). but also because the working of the collegium system has often been found defective. At the time. like to describe my preferred method of recommending names for appointment.Constitution (which could only have been done by Parliament) by inventing a collegium system unknown to the Constitution. therefore. I came to Chennai as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court in November 2004. which meant that about half the posts in the High Court were lying vacant. . and thereafter a judge there. This was the method I adopted: . I was determined to recommend good names for appointment as High Court Judges and not bow to pressure. a High Court is not really about a beautiful building or beautiful lawns but the judges who man it. So.I was a total stranger to Tamil Nadu as I had come from Uttar Pradesh. I had been a lawyer in the Allahabad High Court. Every institution is really about the personnel manning it. They should be first class people in conduct and in legal knowledge. along with my two senior most colleagues. I received those lists. to give me a list of lawyers of the High Court whom they thought deserved to be appointed as High Court judges.I requested a dozen sitting judges of the High Court. and. Thus I got about 17 or 18 lists. I also consulted some respected retired judges. found certain names . I also requested four or five very senior and respected lawyers of the Madras High Court to give their lists. in order of seniority. Enquiries were made even about those names. It was these names which were recommended for appointment. We also considered some names which were not very common.to be common in many lists. Justice Lahoti. I told him that I had insisted that I would only recommend the names of persons who had a great reputation and good practice. I then went to Delhi and met the then Hon’ble Chief Justice of India. were non-controversial and not too close to any political party . and informed him about the methodology I had adopted. This exercise went on for two to three months and ultimately there was consensus. Mr. (otherwise such persons would not be neutral and impartial). thereafter. I also referred to what was said by a Lord Chancellor of England (who had then the authority to recommend names for appointment of British High Court judges) that the person whom he would recommend must be a gentleman.) . he is bound to know some law. and it would do no harm if he knew a little law! (The second part of this sentence should not be taken literally because it is certain that a person to be appointed as a judge must know some law! What I meant was that if a person has put in 20 years as a lawyer. is that he should be of high character. More important. .I told Mr. Hence it was up to the Supreme Court Collegium to approve or disapprove the names. I had no personal interest in any such person. respected retired judges and very senior respected lawyers of the High Court. Since none of the persons I had recommended was either known to me (except for their performances in cases they argued before me) or belong to my caste or community. Justice Lahoti that the methodology that I had adopted was a result of a consensus after wide consultation with about 20 persons including sitting judges. . a record for that High Court.In any case. it would not. in any way. As a result of that. I told him. Ignoring pressure I must add that certain important people did try to influence me in this connection. and 17 judges were appointed to the Madras High Court in December 2005. bother me if any name was rejected because I had no personal interest. almost all my recommendations were accepted. come what may. but I paid no heed to them as I was determined to do my duty to the Madras High Court. former judges. In my opinion. the Judges Cases should not be understood to mean that only the five senior most judges of the Supreme Court (three senior most for the High Courts) should be consulted for appointment as Supreme Court and High Court Judges. There should be very wide consultation with at least 15 to 20 people who are highly reputed as judges. based on the decisions of the Supreme Court in the Judges Case. The present system. is defective as there is a lot of subjectivity. senior . the methodology which was adopted by me should also be adopted for making recommendations for appointment of judges in the Supreme Court as well as in all High Courts.In my opinion. the consensus which emerges should be recommended. Justice Ms Ruma Pal. where there should be transparency. This manner severely restricts the inputs which are required for making high quality recommendations. After this. said that deliberations of the collegium are “a complete mystery.” It should not be so in a democracy.lawyers. . The five senior most judges met in a highly secretive manner for deciding whom to recommend as a judge of the Supreme Court. former Judge of the Supreme Court. But I regret that I was never consulted by the Chief Justice. I was the sixth in seniority in the Supreme Court. recommend to the Chief Justice and to the Chief Justices of all High Courts. In my opinion. the decisions of the Supreme Court in the cases of 1993 and 1998 should be understood in their proper perspective. I. however unfounded. that they should follow the same method I adopted for appointment of judges in the Supreme Court and all High Courts.otherwise allegations are bound to arise. that improper recommendations have been made for extraneous considerations. therefore. and not limit the consultations to only Collegium members. and not in a narrow sense. . 2013 . rather than the closed-door deliberations of the collegium.) Wide consultation. a former Chief Justice of the Madras and Delhi High Courts. is what the Supreme Court and the High Courts need January 3. former Acting Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and former Judge of the Supreme Court of India. is currently Chairman of the Press Council of India.(Markandey Katju. a disease caused by a virus.Avoid Heart/Bypass Surgery.MadhavBaug. But AFP can also . www.org/EnrollNow N. Join 7 Days Heart Treatment Program.Polio free does not mean paralysis free Natural Heart Treatment . forms the cornerstone of polio surveillance. GOPAL RAJ Identifying children who suddenly display muscle weakness. often not moving one or more of their limbs as a result. Such children could have “acute flaccid paralysis” (AFP) that is symptomatic of polio. arise for other reasons. more . the country’s polio surveillance system has indicated a sharp increase during recent years in the number of non-polio AFP cases. They went up to over 12.000 non-polio AFP cases were identified in India during 2003. including infection by non-polio pathogens. Alarming data Data published by the World Health Organisation show that close to 8. However. No child in India has been diagnosed with polio for nearly two years now and all the indications are that the virus responsible for it is no longer circulating here.000 the following year. India’s polio surveillance shows that the country is polio-free. there were more than 60. Such cases must be identified so that appropriate immunisation measures can be undertaken. A good polio surveillance system ought to pick up all AFP cases among children so that they can be screened for poliovirus infection. On average.000 non-polio AFP cases. only about one child out of every 200 children carrying the poliovirus develops AFP. But it also indicates that the country now has the world’s highest rate of non-polio AFP cases. In 2011.than 26.000 by 2007.000 in 2005 and crossed 40. According . compared to a global rate that year of 5.06 per one lakh children below 15 years of age.000odd non-polio AFP cases identified in the country in 2012. the two States have far higher annualised non-polio AFP rates than other States — around 34 for Bihar and about 23 for Uttar . India’s annualised non-polio AFP rate for 2011 stood at 15. As a result. according to data from WHO’s National Polio Surveillance Project.to data published in WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Record . They accounted for about 61 per cent of the 53.48. Moreover. most of the country’s non-polio AFP cases occur in just two States — Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Pradesh. “The increased non-polio AFP rate is due to increased reporting of AFP cases due to deliberate efforts of the programme to increase the sensitivity of the surveillance system since 2004.” according to the WHO Country Office for India. resulting in even higher rates of reporting of AFP cases in those States. The rate for the country as a whole is slightly over 12. In 2004.. In a written response provided to this correspondent. the health body said these efforts were more intense and closely monitored in the traditionally polio-endemic states of Bihar and U.P. a number of steps were initiated to strengthen surveillance in order to accurately . and more training for health professionals on what constituted an AFP case. increasing the number of active surveillance visits. Rather. Those measures included expanding the definition of AFP. . increasing the number of AFP reporting sites. it was the direct result of surveillance activities for AFP cases being strengthened. it noted. Since then.and more rapidly detect all polio cases in the country. it said. the number of AFP cases that were reported and investigated continued to increase. This was not due to an increase in the incidence of a specific disease that might cause these symptoms. . Pakistan and Afghanistan too. Bells palsy. Data had shown that broadening the case definition led to the detection of some polio cases that would have otherwise been missed. in the remaining polioendemic countries of Nigeria. Other similar examples were diseases like meningo-encephalitis. Moreover. Although facial paralysis would not be part of a standard definition of AFP. the WHO Country Office noted. it was included in that definition for India. post-diphtheria polyneuritis and spinal muscular atrophy.The programme in India had taken a much broader interpretation of what would qualify as an AFP case than other countries have. a leading virologist who was with Christian Medical College. and is known for his work on polio eradication. Jacob John. sick children with suspected paralysis or possible neurological maladies were being identified and tested by the polio surveillance system. The high non-polio AFP rates in the country ought to be a “red flag”.efforts to strengthen polio surveillance were resulting in increased non-polio AFP cases being reported. remarked T. it added. However. the neurological disorders given by the WHO Country Office as examples of the . With heightened polio surveillance. he remarked. Vellore. or how many of them were seriously affected. said Dr.expanded definition of AFP were likely to account for only a small part of the increase in non-polio AFP cases being seen in India. the cases of children with non-polio AFP were not being monitored by either the polio eradication programme or the larger state health care system. No clear picture Unfortunately. the . John. the kind of diseases these children displayed. there was no clear picture of what was causing the AFP. he pointed out. A range of non-polio pathogens could produce AFP. As a result. With many such pathogens. However. Two teams of Indian scientists recently studied the sorts of enteroviruses found in children with non-polio AFP. others were capable of causing quite serious diseases. Enteroviruses are a diverse group. In a study published in 2009. disability and even death. Several non-polio enteroviruses have been associated with a range of acute and chronic human diseases. including polio-like paralysis. a team at the Sanjay Gandhi . The poliovirus is part of this group.paralysis they caused would often disappear in a short period of time. most of which replicate in the alimentary tract. Durga Rao of the Indian Institute of Science. Enteroviruses Both groups found that only about 30 per cent of the non-polio AFP cases were associated with enteroviruses. C. Bangalore.. Bihar and other northern States between 2004 and 2007.000 stool samples from children with AFP in U.Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow tested over 46. In the other study. Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh between 2007 and 2009.700 children with non-polio AFP in Kerala. and his colleagues looked for enteroviruses in stool samples collected from more than 2.P. These viruses could therefore only partially explain the . Delhi. Neetu Vashisht and Jacob Puliyel of the St. gave another perspective on the issue.P. became less efficacious in the face of gut infections and diarrhoea that were widely prevalent in those States. have received more doses of oral polio vaccine than elsewhere in the country. it was found.non-polio detected. In their paper. AFP cases being In a paper published early last year in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics . Stephens Hospital. Vashisht and Dr. Children in Bihar and U. and found that . The oral vaccine. Puliyel analysed the non-polio AFP rates across all States over 10 years up to 2010. Dr. had come down and. the number of doses of oral vaccine given to children in Bihar and U.P.” In 2012.the rate “increased in proportion to the number of polio vaccine doses received in each area.” said Dr. there was a decrease in the non-polio AFP cases in those States. . Puliyel in the paper. Vashisht and Dr. There was need for “a critical appraisal to find the factors contributing to the increase in non-polio AFP with increase in OPV *oral polio vaccine+ doses — perhaps looking at the influence of strain shifts of enteropathogens induced by the vaccine. Puliyel told this correspondent. for the first time. Dr. too. countered the WHO Country Office in its response. there were similar trends of reduced oral vaccine doses and rising AFP rates during 2007-2011.P.The non-polio AFP rate was not correlated with the number of oral vaccine doses that were administered. although the number of oral vaccine doses given in the country had shown a continuous decline since 2007. The largest number of oral vaccine doses given in India was in 2004. which had the lowest non-polio AFP rate in the last eight years. the non-polio AFP rate had increased during the same period. In Bihar and U. Moreover. “The ICMR *Indian Council of Medical Research+ is leading the investigations into non-polio . Nokia.causes of AFP. 2013 Taking the aggression out of masculinity Nokia Mobile Phones . Check New Products In Detail Now! www.Leader In Mobile Device Market. There is no room for complacency that India has eliminated this crippling disease as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have recorded a high iJanuary 3.” the WHO Country Office stated.Com SANJAY SRIVASTAVA CELEBRATING MANHOOD:Swami Vivekananda’s masculine photographic-pose is revealing of . that . openly propagate maleworship. SHIVAJI RAO. Rather. such as Karva Chauth (right). religious customs. ROHIT JAIN PARAS Sexual crimes derive from social attitudes and no serious effort at lessening their occurrence can ever depend upon cosmetic measures such as greater policing and calls for the death penalty.how Indian nationalism encouraged a deeply masculine notion of modernity. This is not to deny either the legitimacy of the anger over the terrible event that led to the recent rape and death of a young woman. or that the Indian justice system frequently subjects rape victims to as much trauma as the original act itself. —PHOTOS: R. Now. our understanding of the ways in which gender oppression unfolds will always be incomplete. men (and other genders) and unless we have a sense of how boys are socialised as men. While there have been good reasons why women’s studies departments and many non-governmental organisations have been resistant to including a focus on masculinity as a way of understanding gender. more than ever. we require an understanding of masculine cultures that is informed by feminist methods and perspectives. Gender is always a relationship between women. the time is ripe for a change in this attitude. .there is more urgent need than ever to think about the cultures of masculinity in India. That is to say. men learn to be men and this “learning” is expressed both in terms of social structures as well as in the ways in which men present themselves in everyday life.Socially produced Masculine cultures infuse all significant aspects of modern life and masculinity refers to the socially produced ways of being male. for example. the idea of “men’s work” and “women’s work” relates to social structure whereas the ways in which men speak. So. Linked to this is the idea that some ways of being a . behave. gesture. and interact with other men (as well as women) reflect the behavioural aspects of masculinity. the family. but also between men. masculinity is not just a relationship between men and women. . and these might include educational systems. These ideas about gender are produced at specific sites. customary laws and regulations. and. Some ways of being a man are considered more manly than others.man are better than others. the state and its mechanisms. but that certain aggressive models of masculinity become dominant. That is to say. Finally. religious norms and sanctions. in this context. it is important to remember that in all societies there exist multiple ways of being a man. the media. popular culture. films. The various discourses of “proper” masculine behaviour — in novels. for they point to their historical and social nature.The notions of “making” and “producing” are crucial to the study of masculine identities. It also suggests the possibility of foregrounding alternative models of masculinity. The very fact that masculinity must consistently be reinforced — “if you buy this motorcycle you’ll be a real man” — says something about the tenuous and fragile nature of gender identities. advertisements. Colonialism . for example — would be unnecessary if it was a naturally endowed characteristic. A great deal of neglect of masculinity as an object of study lies in the celebratory ways in which we have tended to understand Indian nationalism which — in its reactions to colonial rule — produced a deeply masculine culture of modernity. Colonialism did not. invent Indian . if colonists sought to justify colonial rule by suggesting that Indians were not “manly enough” for either self-rule or rational thinking. So. etc. intimacies. nationalists simply inverted argument through providing “evidence” of Indian masculinity as well as “reforming” a number of social institutions to more closely reflect European ideas about “proper” families. of course. The masculinity of spaces and institutions is one of these. and others (say. masculine bias proliferates itself in a number of areas that have immediate bearing on everyday life. but it did help to cement and highlight certain regressive tendencies within it. the street and Parliament) as public. the home) as private. become linked to ideas . Swami Vivekananda’s masculine photographic-pose was only one aspect of the cult of masculinity encouraged and tolerated by nationalism. It has become commonplace to understand certain spaces and institutions (say. in turn. The terms “public” and “private” have.masculinities. Beyond the historical context. about the “proper” realms for men and women. Women are tolerated in public spaces and within public institutions but are expected to behave “properly. It is not unusual. women’s primary identity continues to be defined through an implicit understanding that public institutions possess (and should possess) a masculine identity.” Otherwise they suffer ridicule and violence. how many children they have. The media quite often provides accounts of public women (say parliamentarians) through describing what they wear. Our legal institutions just as frequently bring to bear masculine bias when dealing with gender-sensitive issues. or. that while judges may express revulsion . therefore. they may also say something like “what was this young woman doing at an icecream parlour at that time of the night?” The idea that women frequently contribute to their own ill-treatment through behaving in an “inappropriate” manner is part of the set of masculine attitudes that characterise a great deal of thinking on gender. Many of us too frequently make the simplistic assumption that there is a direct connection between girls’ education and women’s empowerment. The truth of the . In schools Schools are another site where masculine cultures are both produced and refined.towards rape crimes. we need also to realise that formal education is an inadequate measure of women’s autonomy. schooling can reinforce dominant notions regarding “appropriate” male and female behaviour. We need to move away from masculine notions of the significance of educated women as good wives and mothers.matter is that girls’ education continues to seen through a masculinity lens: that educated girls will make better mothers. rather than that they might be able to exercise individual autonomy. The family and religious customs are two other extremely significant contexts for the making of masculine cultures. The Indian . If on the one hand. Our family lives contain elaborate formal and informal means of reinforcing and celebrating male privilege. It is this that lies at the heart of male violence towards women. .family has been a long-standing site for reinforcing the most pernicious aspects of masculinity. Indian “family values” are contexts of a great deal of jingoistic celebrations about what is special about Indian society. Sons are brought up to both perpetuate and condone gender hierarchies and are nurtured with a sense of entitlement. Such jingoism keeps us from turning a critical eye towards what is genuinely rotten within one of the most basic units of social life. it is just as important to ask why such a large number of women have taken to celebrating the KarvaChauth festival. But. It is important for women and men to protest against the crime of rape.) . and. (Sanjay Srivastava is professor of Sociology and co-editor. Contributions to Indian Sociology . why there has been no significant public examination of such rituals of male-worship. Institute of Economic Growth.It keeps us from critically examining the masculine cultures that impact upon the relationship between genders. New Delhi. Nokia. religious . 2013 Taking the aggression out of masculinity Nokia Mobile Phones .Com SANJAY SRIVASTAVA CELEBRATING MANHOOD:Swami Vivekananda’s masculine photographic-pose is revealing of how Indian nationalism encouraged a deeply masculine notion of modernity.Leader In Mobile Device Market.The Indian family has been a longstanding site for reinforcing and perpetuating male privilege and entitlementncidence of a condition symptomatic of it January 3. Check New Products In Detail Now! www. SHIVAJI RAO. Rather. or that the Indian justice system frequently subjects rape victims to as much trauma as the original act itself. that there is more urgent need than ever to think about the cultures of masculinity in India. This is not to deny either the legitimacy of the anger over the terrible event that led to the recent rape and death of a young woman. While there . ROHIT JAIN PARAS Sexual crimes derive from social attitudes and no serious effort at lessening their occurrence can ever depend upon cosmetic measures such as greater policing and calls for the death penalty.customs. such as Karva Chauth (right). openly propagate maleworship. —PHOTOS: R. we require an understanding of masculine cultures that is informed by feminist methods and perspectives. more than ever.have been good reasons why women’s studies departments and many non-governmental organisations have been resistant to including a focus on masculinity as a way of understanding gender. Now. Socially produced . our understanding of the ways in which gender oppression unfolds will always be incomplete. Gender is always a relationship between women. the time is ripe for a change in this attitude. men (and other genders) and unless we have a sense of how boys are socialised as men. Linked to this is the idea that some ways of being a man are better than others. for example. That is to say.Masculine cultures infuse all significant aspects of modern life and masculinity refers to the socially produced ways of being male. gesture. and interact with other men (as well as women) reflect the behavioural aspects of masculinity. men learn to be men and this “learning” is expressed both in terms of social structures as well as in the ways in which men present themselves in everyday life. the idea of “men’s work” and “women’s work” relates to social structure whereas the ways in which men speak. behave. These ideas about gender are produced at specific sites. and these might . So. That is to say. Some ways of being a man are considered more manly than others. but that certain aggressive models of masculinity become dominant. the family. popular culture. The notions of “making” and “producing” are crucial to the . but also between men.include educational systems. the media. the state and its mechanisms. Finally. masculinity is not just a relationship between men and women. in this context. it is important to remember that in all societies there exist multiple ways of being a man. customary laws and regulations. religious norms and sanctions. and. for example — would be unnecessary if it was a naturally endowed characteristic.study of masculine identities. The very fact that masculinity must consistently be reinforced — “if you buy this motorcycle you’ll be a real man” — says something about the tenuous and fragile nature of gender identities. for they point to their historical and social nature. films. The various discourses of “proper” masculine behaviour — in novels. Colonialism A great deal of neglect of masculinity as an object of study . advertisements. It also suggests the possibility of foregrounding alternative models of masculinity. intimacies. So. Colonialism did not. but it did help to cement and highlight certain regressive tendencies within it. etc. invent Indian masculinities. . if colonists sought to justify colonial rule by suggesting that Indians were not “manly enough” for either self-rule or rational thinking. nationalists simply inverted argument through providing “evidence” of Indian masculinity as well as “reforming” a number of social institutions to more closely reflect European ideas about “proper” families.lies in the celebratory ways in which we have tended to understand Indian nationalism which — in its reactions to colonial rule — produced a deeply masculine culture of modernity. of course. Women are tolerated in public spaces and . the street and Parliament) as public. Beyond the historical context. the home) as private. The terms “public” and “private” have. and others (say. become linked to ideas about the “proper” realms for men and women. in turn.Swami Vivekananda’s masculine photographic-pose was only one aspect of the cult of masculinity encouraged and tolerated by nationalism. The masculinity of spaces and institutions is one of these. masculine bias proliferates itself in a number of areas that have immediate bearing on everyday life. It has become commonplace to understand certain spaces and institutions (say. The media quite often provides accounts of public women (say parliamentarians) through describing what they wear.within public institutions but are expected to behave “properly.” Otherwise they suffer ridicule and violence. or. how many children they have. that while judges may express revulsion towards rape crimes. they may also say something like “what was this young woman doing at an ice- . therefore. Our legal institutions just as frequently bring to bear masculine bias when dealing with gender-sensitive issues. women’s primary identity continues to be defined through an implicit understanding that public institutions possess (and should possess) a masculine identity. It is not unusual. Many of us too frequently make the simplistic assumption that there is a direct connection between girls’ education and women’s empowerment.cream parlour at that time of the night?” The idea that women frequently contribute to their own ill-treatment through behaving in an “inappropriate” manner is part of the set of masculine attitudes that characterise a great deal of thinking on gender. In schools Schools are another site where masculine cultures are both produced and refined. The truth of the matter is that girls’ education continues to seen through a masculinity lens: that educated . The family and religious customs are two other extremely significant contexts for the making of masculine cultures.girls will make better mothers. If on the one hand. . We need to move away from masculine notions of the significance of educated women as good wives and mothers. The Indian family has been a long-standing site for reinforcing the most pernicious aspects of masculinity. we need also to realise that formal education is an inadequate measure of women’s autonomy. rather than that they might be able to exercise individual autonomy. schooling can reinforce dominant notions regarding “appropriate” male and female behaviour. It is this that lies at the heart of male violence towards women.Our family lives contain elaborate formal and informal means of reinforcing and celebrating male privilege. It keeps us from critically examining the masculine cultures that impact upon the relationship . Indian “family values” are contexts of a great deal of jingoistic celebrations about what is special about Indian society. Sons are brought up to both perpetuate and condone gender hierarchies and are nurtured with a sense of entitlement. Such jingoism keeps us from turning a critical eye towards what is genuinely rotten within one of the most basic units of social life. it is just as important to ask why such a large number of women have taken to celebrating the KarvaChauth festival. 2013 . why there has been no significant public examination of such rituals of male-worship.between genders. New Delhi. (Sanjay Srivastava is professor of Sociology and co-editor. and. Institute of Economic Growth. Contributions to Indian Sociology .) The Indian family has been a longstanding site for reinforcing and perpetuating male privilege and entitlementJanuary 4. But. It is important for women and men to protest against the crime of rape. —PHOTO: AFP .‘India’s refugee policy is an example for the rest of the world to follow’ Greencard & New Immigrant Greencard insurance worldwide New Immigrants insurance renewable www.co m/ António Guterres—PHOTO: V. .V. KRISHNAN NOWHERE PEOPLE:A December 2012 picture of Rohingya refugees under the custody of Malaysian security officials on the Langkawi island after a 15-day boat journey.rocointernationalmedical. How does the UNHCR view the situation of refugees. spoke to Smriti Kak Ramachandran about India’s contribution to the protection of displaced people and the situation in Sri Lanka. stateless persons and the displaced in India? What are your expectations from the Government of India? India. is today an example of generosity in the way it has .António Guterres. asylumseekers. with its history. Excerpts. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). culture. who was in New Delhi recently for bilateral consultations. traditions. Myanmar and Afghanistan. India has been generous. . Afghans. We consider India a more reliable partner in the world to guarantee that people who need help will find a place. There are Tibetans. India has a generous approach in relationship to all people and proof of that is the granting of long-term visas and work permits to refugees.opened its borders to all people who have come looking for safety and sanctuary. and many people have been refused protection. And more importantly. Myanmarese in India and it has maintained an open-door policy for all. at a time when there are so many closed borders in the world. which are part of the bilateral consultations that take place every year. These were discussions. Salman Khurshid. including the Foreign Minister. but to also discuss . and the Foreign Secretary. For us.Can you tell us about the meeting that you had with government officials here and what was the outcome of those talks? We have had several meetings with top government officials. it is important to have India’s contribution in finding ways along with the international community to improve protection of people around the world. We also used the occasion to not only discuss global refugee problems. We need to look into what are the obstacles and how the governments of India and Sri Lanka. like the Syrian crisis or in countries that are closer to the Indian borders like Myanmar and Afghanistan.regional crises. The number of people going back to Sri Lanka has decreased substantially in the recent past. which are more relevant in today’s world. working together can improve conditions and create . At the same time we have discussed how *UNHCR+ can be more useful *to the Indian government+ in relation to the preparation or intensification of voluntary repatriation of refugees to their countries of origin. work. It has to do with the living conditions. . education. to create conditions for people to feel comfortable about considering the possibility of returning. health.opportunities for the voluntary repatriation of the people. these are all key questions that need to be addressed for the voluntary repatriation of the people. In your estimation. Voluntary is the keyword here. property and security. is the Government of Sri Lanka doing enough to help the displaced people? Are you satisfied with what it has done so far? More needs to be done by the governments of the country of origin. It is very important that the governments of the country of origin do everything possible to re-establish the confidence of people. And I hope it will be also possible in the near future to intensify the voluntary repatriation of the Tamils into Sri Lanka. We are already cooperating with India and ready to intensify our programme in order to offer our contribution to the successful operation of people going back to . The UNHCR has been running several welfare programmes to support the people who returned and the internally displaced people of Sri Lanka. It is important that the problems of citizenship are solved and the countries of the region follow the example of India that has opened its borders to the Rohingyas and granted them the .their homes whenever possible with safety and dignity. with the governments of Myanmar. Could you update us on the situation of the Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar and a sense of the talks that have taken place. and are likely to take place in the future. Bangladesh and India on the issue of the Rohingyas? It is a very serious question and it is very important that effective reconciliation between the communities is promoted inside Myanmar. And there is a meaningful number of .same status as it has to the other refugees. So. It is key to create conditions for effective reconciliation of different communities and to address the citizenship problems in order to ensure that everybody enjoys the basic rights that people are entitled to enjoy. we are working with the government of Thailand to support the potential return *and+ in the future of refugees from the South. and many refugees of different minorities who are considered to be part of the Myanmarese State will be able to repatriate in the future. The revolution in Myanmar has given us hope. There has been resettlement of Myanmarese in Thailand. Canada and the United States. we witness with satisfaction that the ceasefire agreements were made with the different rebel groups. we also hope the Rohingya problem that is of a different nature will also be faced positively by the Myanmarese authorities. we discussed the possibility of their future. In the case of Myanmar. But resettlement will never solve a refugee problem.Chin refugees. . Australia. It is essential that a political solution is found for their plight to end. A solution/strategy for the Afghan refugees agreed to between the three governments and the UNHRC was presented to the international community. The strategy is based on attracting reintegration in 48 areas . We hope now. there will be support from the same international community in order to make this strategy become a reality. Afghanistan and Iran. and was approved in Geneva recently.Afghan refugees continue to arrive in India and there has been largescale displacement of people. Can you give us an update on what the UNHCR is doing in Afghanistan. We have engaged actively with the governments of Pakistan. and as a government that has its own people and its own country to run. nobody can ask India to do more. 2013 . But it requires a lot of support in infrastructure and education.in Afghanistan that were found sufficiently conducive for the return of people. The Indian programme is the largest programme. What is important is that itsJanuary 4. Indian involvement is an important factor in trying to create conditions for the country *Afghanistan+ to have a sustainable development. health and conditions for sustaining livelihoods. India is already running the biggest cooperation programme in Afghanistan. are a step in the right direction. —PHOTO: PTI It’s close to 20 days after the brutal rape and assault of the . Subscribe! www.economistsubscriptions.12 Issues @ Rs 500 + Full access on iPhone. undermining the quality of our democratic institutions. iPad & Android. But the recent protests in Delhi.The rediscovery of protest The Economist Magazine . as seen here at Jantar Mantar.com VAISHNA ROY ANGRY INDIA:The absence of any real and active involvement of the masses has diluted public discourse over the years. Citizens in Mumbai. screaming silently. Chennai and Kolkata are still organising marches and sit-ins. If we had to pick the single most important achievement over the last two weeks. At the Kochi Muziris Biennale. some fasting.physiotherapy student in Delhi. Bangalore. artist P. The media continues to report the story extensively. and the public protests continue in the capital and elsewhere.S. some holding candlelight vigil. Hundreds of people are still gathered at Jantar Mantar. Jalaja has created a painting of a naked newborn girl with a scarred and mutilated body. some bearing placards. it would have to be the cementing of India’s . tentative new discovery of public protest. Gandhiji unleashed his brilliantly conceived concepts of Satyagraha . After all. The absence of any real and active involvement of the masses has significantly diluted public discourse over the years. the average Indian citizen has been famously recognised for his complete apathy. undermining the quality of our much-vaunted democratic institutions. non- . Over centuries. feted as extremely tolerant or slammed as shockingly indifferent. The evolution It’s not that we did not know about protest or don’t have a history of it. Probably for the first time. though. Over the years. which . rail rokos and bandhs — has been completely owned by the politicians. that could finally be changing. these ideas have been so thoroughly usurped and exploited by political parties that they have ceased to mean anything or move anybody. Protest as a tool — in the shape of dharnas . Indians across the board were mobilised into protest through a massive SMS and e-mail campaign and relentless media focus. It started roughly five years ago when Jessica Lal’s killer was acquitted by a trial court.cooperation and civil disobedience right here to great strategic success. Now. these episodes have possibly given us the most . except for Anna and that to only in Delhi. They have been spontaneous combustions into which students. There were no leaders. the country has rallied together again for the rape victim. homemakers. The next overwhelming mass protest came when Anna Hazare launched his anti-corruption campaign. What sets these protests apart is that none of them was initiated or controlled by political parties. writers and musicians have jumped in.finally led to the conviction of Manu Sharma. And now. In that sense. which saw unprecedented public support. office-goers. no politicians amassing the people. shouting slogans or telling them what to do. something seldom seen in the country’s public spaces.unfiltered sense of what the ordinary citizen is feeling — the anger. Reviled for its elitism. Middle-class participation The second aspect. widely commented upon during the Anna protests as well. is the participation of the urban middleclass. rigidly as they segregate the economically different. its disconnect from the grassroots and its insularity. frustration and outrage. water cannons and lathi charges. to join the fray and face tear-gas. the middle-class is finally being seen as willing to dirty its hands. The participation in these protests has cut across class barriers. . In the ongoing rape riots. muddled or selfserving. These comments are warranted but criticising the intellectual quality of the protest should not drown out the celebration of its birth. too. Of course. Of course. and the participation of the middle-class was variously described as selfrighteous. the people who marched with Anna were as complicit in bribe-giving and petty corruption as anyone else. It would be . the protesters today are making absurd demands to invoke the death penalty or eliminate due process.The Anna protests provoked cynical criticism. the public has been condemned for its unrealistic demands for vigilante justice. The sophistication in argument will come later. You could attribute Tahrir Square. as Indians get more confident in claiming ownership of decisionmaking. social media. the fact that they are must be seen for what it is — a baby step towards a healthier and far more participative democracy than we have had so far.unrealistic to expect the quality of reasoning or logic to be of a high order when the protests are so broad-based. Rather. or the blanket coverage by TV channels to giving Indians this voice. but that they are now demanding to be heard could possibly mark the biggest challenge to the well-entrenched notions of governance that the . therefore. We have strong oil. Now. This is the role of . ordinary citizens have decided to lobby loudly for reforms in areas such as policing or justice that affect them deeply. mining. one of the most insidious arguments that made the rounds was how the parliamentary form of government already represented the people well enough and that it was. Such pressure groups are recognised as playing a legitimate role in a parliamentary democracy. somehow illegitimate to take to the streets. telecom and other pressure groups that influence policymaking extensively. In short.ruling class has peddled so far. During the Anna movement. they are learning to assert themselves and it’s high time they did. the January 4.r@thehindu. 2013 The rediscovery of protest The Economist Magazine . Subscribe! www.civil society in a mature democracy — to put pressure on the government for positive action. vaishna.economistsubscriptions.12 Issues @ Rs 500 + Full access on iPhone.co.in example is followed by international community.com VAISHNA ROY ANGRY INDIA:The absence of any real and active involvement of the . iPad & Android. Citizens in . screaming silently. —PHOTO: PTI It’s close to 20 days after the brutal rape and assault of the physiotherapy student in Delhi. artist P. But the recent protests in Delhi. and the public protests continue in the capital and elsewhere. undermining the quality of our democratic institutions.masses has diluted public discourse over the years. At the Kochi Muziris Biennale. Hundreds of people are still gathered at Jantar Mantar. some holding candlelight vigil. Jalaja has created a painting of a naked newborn girl with a scarred and mutilated body. some bearing placards. some fasting. are a step in the right direction.S. as seen here at Jantar Mantar. Mumbai. Bangalore. Chennai and Kolkata are still organising marches and sit-ins. Over centuries. The absence of any real and active involvement of the masses has significantly diluted public discourse over the years. If we had to pick the single most important achievement over the last two weeks. feted as extremely tolerant or slammed as shockingly indifferent. The media continues to report the story extensively. it would have to be the cementing of India’s tentative new discovery of public protest. the average Indian citizen has been famously recognised for his complete apathy. undermining the quality of our . much-vaunted institutions. Gandhiji unleashed his brilliantly conceived concepts of Satyagraha . After all. these ideas have been so thoroughly usurped and exploited by political parties that they have ceased to mean anything or move anybody. though. The evolution democratic It’s not that we did not know about protest or don’t have a history of it. rail rokos and bandhs — has been completely owned by the . Over the years. noncooperation and civil disobedience right here to great strategic success. Protest as a tool — in the shape of dharnas . politicians. Indians across the board were mobilised into protest through a massive SMS and e-mail campaign and relentless media focus. which saw unprecedented public support. the country has rallied together again for the rape victim. And now. Now. that could finally be changing. Probably for the first time. which finally led to the conviction of Manu Sharma. It started roughly five years ago when Jessica Lal’s killer was acquitted by a trial court. What sets these protests apart is that none of them was initiated or controlled by political . The next overwhelming mass protest came when Anna Hazare launched his anti-corruption campaign. shouting slogans or telling them what to do. its . In that sense. frustration and outrage. these episodes have possibly given us the most unfiltered sense of what the ordinary citizen is feeling — the anger. widely commented upon during the Anna protests as well. writers and musicians have jumped in. office-goers. Reviled for its elitism. They have been spontaneous combustions into which students.parties. homemakers. There were no leaders. no politicians amassing the people. except for Anna and that to only in Delhi. Middle-class participation The second aspect. is the participation of the urban middleclass. In the ongoing rape riots. water cannons and lathi charges. The Anna protests provoked cynical criticism. muddled or selfserving. the middle-class is finally being seen as willing to dirty its hands. rigidly as they segregate the economically different. The participation in these protests has cut across class barriers. something seldom seen in the country’s public spaces. These comments are warranted . to join the fray and face tear-gas.disconnect from the grassroots and its insularity. the public has been condemned for its unrealistic demands for vigilante justice. and the participation of the middle-class was variously described as selfrighteous. too. Of course. as Indians get more confident in . Of course. the protesters today are making absurd demands to invoke the death penalty or eliminate due process. The sophistication in argument will come later. the people who marched with Anna were as complicit in bribe-giving and petty corruption as anyone else.but criticising the intellectual quality of the protest should not drown out the celebration of its birth. It would be unrealistic to expect the quality of reasoning or logic to be of a high order when the protests are so broad-based. the fact that they are must be seen for what it is — a baby step towards a healthier and far more participative democracy than we have had so far. Rather. somehow illegitimate to take to the streets.claiming ownership of decisionmaking. social media. therefore. You could attribute Tahrir Square. During the Anna movement. We have strong oil. telecom and other pressure . but that they are now demanding to be heard could possibly mark the biggest challenge to the well-entrenched notions of governance that the ruling class has peddled so far. or the blanket coverage by TV channels to giving Indians this voice. one of the most insidious arguments that made the rounds was how the parliamentary form of government already represented the people well enough and that it was. mining. co. Now. This is the role of civil society in a mature democracy — to put pressure on the government for positive action.groups that influence policymaking extensively. ordinary citizens have decided to lobby loudly for reforms in areas such as policing or justice that affect them deeply. Such pressure groups are recognised as playing a legitimate role in a parliamentary democracy. they are learning to assert themselves and it’s high time they did.in Indians are shrugging off their apathy and now demanding to be heard by their rulers . vaishna. In short.r@thehindu. The home-before-sunset wasn’t a rule as such but a ‘safety measure’ that was followed by most of my .Near Seaport-Airport Road & Lulu Mall! Starts From 17. My mother.January 4.com RAVINDER KAUR One of my distinct memories of growing up in Delhi involves the everyday spectre of a setting sun. Kochi . made me promise that I would always return home before dark. worried about my safety when I started at university in the early 1990s.NestInfratech. 2013 Conquering the fear of the setting sun Luxury Apartments.5 Lac. Enquire www. For most of the female residents of the city. an informal state of curfew was imposed daily after sunset on one half of the population. acquaintances and neighbours. It was. An elderly neighbour used to call it ‘Lakshman Rekha’ — the invisible boundary drawn by Rama’s brother Lakshman to protect Sita — which women must obey for their own safety. the dying glow in the sky marked the temporal limits before which to conclude their share of public activities. as if. The routine was so deeply ingrained that rushing home before dark seemed like a matter of commonsense.female friends. Curfew . It was neither questioned nor explained. The section of female population that is most dependent on public goods such as means of transport is also the more underprivileged and vulnerable one. it has disclosed not only the gendered but also the classed nature of denial of this right. These women can neither retreat into the increasingly privatised world of the mobile middle class — mobile in every sense of the word — nor can they ‘opt-out’ of public services whenever they choose to. At a . More importantly.The brutal gang rape and eventual murder of a young woman in Delhi two weeks ago have tragically fore-grounded this state of curfew and question of women’s full right to access public spaces. The curfew may or may not always result from imposition of patriarchal values. experience the lack of safe means of transport as suspension of their public movement after dark. it has become possible to imagine the irrelevance of moral codes of patriarchy. A large population of women who are outside the orbit of middle class affluence. but it surely emanates from the lack of women’s safe . especially in urban contexts.moment when public participation and prominence of women are growing in a range of fields. But what is central to this imagination is the access to mobility. including mobility in its most mundane form: physical mobility that allows one to travel from one place to another. far from being an elite preoccupation. the social media was astir with a cacophony of voices. gender and mobility in public spaces became apparent in the death of the unnamed young woman. Class. gender and mobility These connections between class. Thus.access to public goods such as buses and local trains. The expression of . Even as outrage and swift condemnation of this crime became widespread. the struggle for something as basic as having equal access to public spaces as men at all hours is an everyday struggle that women without resources feel more acutely than their privileged counterparts. ’ In some ways. The fact that most likely they did not have a choice did not even occur as a possibility. some commentators on various online discussions could not understand why the couple chose to take a bus home at that late hour.sympathy was mixed with questions as to why she was travelling late at night (even when escorted) while others flagged her ill-judgment at not having taken enough safety precautions in a city termed as the ‘rape capital. these voices were echoing the logic of the perpetrators — a woman who has transgressed her boundaries and risked venturing into a space that she is not supposed to be in is a fair game. Even while empathising with her. Probably the middle class readers . The well meaning observers instantly identified them as belonging to the middle class and underscored that this atrocity may “happen to any of us. the markers that helped associate the couple with ‘us’ or the privileged sections of middle class probably were. the upscale cinema complex they had . reporters and eventually protesters.of English language newspapers could not really imagine an evening out predicated on the logistics of unreliable means of public transport. The moment the news of the gang rape was broken in the media was also the moment of.’ among commentators. what we may call.” In the absence of details. ‘class confusion. one. two. the location of the bus stop in the heart of South Delhi from where they boarded the bus. . and three. Dalits and poor women. The everyday acts of consumption and pleasure-seeking in the city are what define this actual and aspirational class identity to some extent. The unnamed woman and her companion later turned out to belong to the aspiring section of society whose mobility depends on safe public services. The class confusion. did help turn personal empathy into public protests — the kind of public outpouring that remains missing in the rapes of tribals. however.visited. the very fact that the young couple had been on an ‘evening out’ seeking entertainment and pleasure. The gains of economic liberalisation can be witnessed in new consumption patterns as well as in concrete forms of massive infrastructure building in urban centres. Yet the dominant narrative is woven around the middle class which is said to be the prime motor of growth in a post-reform nation that increasingly sees itself as a global player. The city is lived and experienced very differently by men and women. The cityscape itself has altered with .The gang rape ultimately opened an almost alien world for the upwardly mobile middle class — a world where it is not possible to simply secede from public goods and services. the privileged and the unprivileged. The introduction of metro rail in Delhi has by no means diminished the status attached to the ownership of a private car. And all those who can afford tend to use private means of transport rather than public. the city itself has become more segregated than ever before. coffee shops — that primarily attract youth population. Even as the range and form of public spaces expand.new public spaces — shopping malls. Near-absence . Increasingly. the affluent either inhabit ‘privatised’ realms of new gated colonies or enclose existing residential localities with security and entry restrictions. multiplex cinemas. It is in this new classed realm of public/private discrepancies that we need to address the old questions of gendered ‘curfews’ and the safety of women. it is not female mobility which is under curfew as such. In reformed India. rather that of underprivileged women whose safe mobility remains at stake. Despite the initial middle class enthusiasm for the shiny metro. the primary users of public transport are largely those who lack resources to enter the private zones of mobility. The near absence of women in buses and metro becomes acutely visible at night time. The curfew — a voluntary imposition — comes into force in these public spaces where few remaining women . This ‘advice’ was most recently offered by a high ranking police officer who also suggested that women should not travel at night. and if they do. is also known for believing that women should . they arm themselves with chilli powder to combat potential criminals. The city turns into an alienating. intimidating place particularly for those outside the comfort zone of private mobility.passengers are either looked at with sympathy (encouraged to ‘hurry home’) or with intimidation. Sheila Dikshit. The Chief Minister of Delhi. Patriarchal values are reinforced by the state which often advises women to refrain from “risky behaviour” — of travelling after dark — for their own good. . This involves as much demanding adequate lights.not be so ‘adventurous’ so as to stay outside past midnight. the government perpetuates the idea that the ‘outside’ is not a legitimate space for women to occupy. The solution for women is obviously to not retreat but occupy the ‘outside’ if the fear of the setting sun is ever to be conquered. In short. And this also demands class solidarity from those women who have seceded into a privatised world of new India. security in public spaces as challenging patriarchal values. University of Copenhagen) The struggle for something as basic as equal access to public spaces as men at all hours is an everyday ordeal that women without resources feel more acutely January 5.byjusclasses.com PETER JONES . 2013 Non-state actors who bring nations closer Online IAS Preparation .(Ravinder Kaur is Director. Centre of Global South Asian Studies.Complete Material.250 Unit Tests 16 All India Tests with analysis www. “Track Two Diplomacy” is a term with which much mythology is associated.A controversy erupted recently over Track Two discussions regarding the Siachen issue. Track Two is neither a silver bullet nor is it a plot to . Some proponents believe that it can cut through the red tape of conventional diplomacy and resolve intractable problems. A mechanism In reality. Critics argue that it is both a useless waste of time and a sinister plot to induce guileless Indians to sell out national interests — often the critics make these contradictory arguments in the same breath. ” then unofficial diplomacy might be called “Track Two.undermine the state. if official diplomacy was “Track One. Diplomacy is reserved strictly for . a fundamental mistake was made by adding the word “diplomacy. It is not. who noted an increasing number of unofficial conflict-resolution dialogues taking place around the world. It is simply a mechanism to bring together people from different sides of a conflict to talk about issues and try to develop new ideas. He wanted to give them a name and noted that. The term “Track Two Diplomacy” was first coined by Joseph Montville in 1981.” It conveys the idea that this is somehow a diplomatic activity.” In my view. Track Two processes have been highly active. from the Oslo process in the Middle East. to the informal talks which helped break the impasse in Northern Ireland. What they are there to do is to try to work with people from the other side to develop new ideas and understandings around how a dispute may be settled.those who represent the state. A scan of the literature reveals a number of terms including: . with mixed results. People engaged in Track Two do not represent the state and should not try to. to the first contacts between the African National Congress and the former government of South Africa. “Controlled Communication. informal dialogues. tend to share characteristics which define Track Two in practice: • they emphasise small.” between people from the various sides of a conflict.” “Inter-active Problem Solving” and many others. and others. which the literature refers to as “Problem Solving Workshops. These concepts.” • though the dialogues are unofficial. Each has its subtle nuances.” “Circum-negotiation.” “Inter-active Conflict Resolution. which are often facilitated by an impartial “Third Party.” “Multi-track Diplomacy. it is generally expected that the participants will be able . the dialogues are conducted quietly and the “Chatham House Rule” is applied to create an atmosphere where “outside-the-box” thinking .to influence the development of thinking in their societies on the conflict. rather than “one-off” workshops. and • while not exactly secret. but rather are workshops where the participants step back from official positions to explore the underlying causes of the dispute in the hope of jointly developing alternative ideas. • the dialogues are not meant to debate the current positions of the sides. • the dialogues are ongoing processes. ” including a greater appreciation for the complexities. Amongst these are: • changed perceptions of the conflict and the “other. if successful. Such processes. • opening new channels for communication between adversaries who had few other means of communicating. domestic politics and red-lines of the other side. . can lead to a number of results.can flourish and participants are not afraid to propose and explore ideas that could not be entertained by an official process or one in which exchanges might be repeated in the press. A key to successful Track Two is that the participants be able transfer the ideas developed in such meetings into the official sphere. • the creation of communities of experts who have developed possible new approaches to the issue under discussion. and • the development of networks of influential people who work to change views in their countries. Officials are instinctively wary of ideas coming from outside the bureaucracy.• the identification and development of new options for future negotiation. sometimes with good reason (Track Two can . This is harder than it seems. The objective is to have people at the table who have credibility in the official world and are familiar with how things are done there.complicate the lives of officials). and sometimes because they fear the loss of control over an issue more than they are prepared to accept ideas that come from outside. Creating ‘ripe’ moments . Thus. but who have also the luxury of being able to think “outside the box” as they are no longer officials themselves. Track Two often enlists as participants people who have connections to the official world (often retired senior officials). such influential people have the credibility in official circles to gain the idea a hearing.When and if a Track Two process comes up with a new proposal or idea. . sometimes known as “ripe” moments. Track Two can work quietly to help create such “ripe” moments by demonstrating that new thinking is possible and developing cadres of credible people who advocate the consideration of new approaches. Ideas developed in Track Two often enjoy the most traction if they happen to come along at those rare moments when “the system” is looking for new approaches. But there is no guarantee of acceptance. however. More subtly. ” This dilemma holds that. First. This leads to the second problem. reliance on influential elites means that results can be more easily transferred to the official .But the reliance on such “influentials” carries with it potential problems. known in the Track Two world as the “Autonomy Dilemma. on the one hand. there are not many of them to go around and Track Two can be dominated by a small elite who are too similar in their thinking. Indeed. some proponents of Track Two argue that efforts should be made specifically to avoid overreliance on “the usual suspects” in order to create a platform where really independent thinking can take place. . gathering a really autonomous group which has few connections to government can lead to more independent thinking. On the other hand. but “outside the box” thinking may be in short supply. but the ability of such processes to transfer their results to the inner sanctum is limited because the participants are not known or trusted by officials.process (because the Track Two participants are trusted and have access). other than for practitioners of Track Two to be aware of it and constantly work to make sure that the discussions do not degenerate into an exchange of official positions. There is no easy answer to the problem posed by the Autonomy Dilemma. This sometimes leads to concerns that undue influence is being exerted. Track Two has been funded by major foundations and by some governments.Funding. a critical issue Another critical issue is funding. Traditionally. support for airfares and other meeting costs is required. such as the Scandinavians and the Americans. and on being scrupulously open and honest about who is funding the exercise. At the end of the day. It must be made clear to the funders by the Third Party that support will only be . the integrity of the Third Party depends on not accepting support if the funder demands conditions. Though the sums involved are small. ” The two are often used as synonyms for each other. Backchannel . The question of how close a Track Two should be to official diplomacy also causes confusion between genuine Track Two and so-called “Backchannel Diplomacy. but they are different. This is sometimes one of the most difficult things for critics of Track Two to grasp.accepted if the process will be organised in ways which meet with the approval of the regional participants. but the process cannot work any other way. and should be kept conceptually and practically separate. Third Parties who act as agents of others quickly gain a reputation for untrustworthiness and are unable to continue. Track Two. but conducted quietly and at arms’ length. is critical and leads to enormous confusion. but they are not there on behalf of their governments or with any instructions and should never act as though they are. Track Two projects are sometimes accused of being “secret negotiations. This difference. though subtle.diplomacy is essentially official talks between governments. features influential people. as noted.” All sorts of conspiracy theories can be hatched that a backchannel is . But the key is that those around the table are under instructions from their governments and are sent there by governments to discuss an issue. the confusion may be legitimate. (Peter Jones is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. who both studies and runs Track Two projects. but it may also be the product of some who want to deliberately obscure the line between Track Two and Backchannel in order to discredit new ideas with which they simply disagree.operating in which secret deals have been struck on sensitive issues.”) . To some extent. He is currently facilitating a South Asian Track Two process known as the “Ottawa Dialogue. 2013 From Oxford to Hyderabad GoIbibo™ Official Website . Code "FLT800".com/discount_code ABBAS ALI BAIG .Get Flat Rs 800 OFF on All Domestic flights.Track Two thinking encourages new and develops cadres of credible people who advocate new ideas for governments to consider January 5. Book Now! goibibo. —PHOTO: THE HINDU PHOTO ARCHIVES Abbas Ali Baig—PHOTO: K. a dignity. extolled and documented: everyone agrees that quite apart from mere statistics. and to Indian cricket itself a self-belief sorely lacking hitherto. . RAMESH BABU Tiger Pataudi’s exploits on the cricket field and his contribution to the game have been appropriately analysed. in the First Test between India and Australia at Bombay’s Brabourne Stadium on November 5. 1969.PRINCELY STYLE:Pataudi pulling Ashley Mallet for four during his innings of 95. he brought to the game a certain charm. decided to deprive him the benefit of one eye. felt that he may have been a trifle overgenerous in Tiger’s case and sensing that this could disrupt a level playing field. Tiger Pataudi was already a familiar name much before he set foot on the Parks. Tiger still excelled. proving to the world that any disability is only as daunting as we make it out to be. Anyway. in doing a review of his largesse to mankind. It would seem that God. back among mortals. We knew of his achievements at Winchester and the fact that he was already .Adding to his mystique was the unfortunate mishap that occurred in the infancy of his prime while he was mercilessly pulverizing opposing bowlers. Tiger’s bat straightened out magically and his eye and foot coordination was such that he was able to choose where to despatch the ball earlier than most batsmen. However. audacity not recommended his his an to . There was huge excitement and anticipation.enrolled by Sussex. At first sight in the nets his technique seemed a little unconventional as his bat started its descent from the gully position — surprising for a boy from an English public school where there is such great emphasis on technique. Another unusual facet of batting appeared to be inclination to loft the ball. we soon discovered that at the moment of contact. Then the unfortunate accident happened. As far as I can recall. he set about scoring piles of runs. For me. Tiger decided at the very last moment to get out of the team van and travel with our . Sure enough.young batsmen in England. We were returning to our hotel after a hard day’s play against Sussex at Hove. two of his memorable knocks were centuries at Lord’s. one against Sonny Ramadhin (much retired but turning out for an MCC side) and in the Varsity match later on. he went on to equal my record for highest number of runs scored in a season at the Parks and then proceeded to beat his father’s mark for runs obtained during an entire Oxford season. He did not appear in any great discomfort. There was a loud sound and when we rushed to the site. it turned out to be more serious than anybody had initially thought and a brilliant career was temporarily thwarted. his interest in studies was minimal which prompted one . It was only the next morning that he started to feel the hurt and the doctor pronounced that a glass splinter had got lodged in his eye and required to be surgically removed. rubbed his eyes a bit and proceeded back to the hotel.wicketkeeper. whose little car had a collision with an oncoming vehicle in a cut in the road. Robin Waters. Alas. we found Tiger lying on the ground by the car. At Oxford. W. you see. E. In . I am a Nawab.curious colleague to ask him what he would be doing post-Oxford. His reply was on expected lines: ‘I won’t have to be doing anything. At the end of his first season.’ and I think that for a major part of his life he actually believed this dictum: a Nawab should sit back and things would get done for him. He had this aura of aloofness about him which erroneously created the impression of haughtiness and arrogance. but was generally reserved except in the company of a chosen few. He would join us at the lovely Oxford pubs. Swanton asked the two of us to join his international team for a tour of the West Indies. This was the first time I got to see Tiger’s unbelievable athleticism as we both ran for our lives and barely escaped those nasty jaws. We barely managed to climb in (thanks to the practice at Oxford).Barbados. I felt my shoulder being tapped. we were put up in a rather luxurious house and on returning from a late party found to our horror the gates locked. I turned around to find Tiger doing the tag and was both surprised and delighted. I believe that was the beginning of . I was therefore taken aback once when in the middle of a dance with a very pretty girl. only to find two huge dogs blocking the path to our room. We also knew Tiger as essentially a man’s man not much given to socializing and partying. Tiger’s social transformation and since that day there was no looking back. gallant and a perfect gentleman where his lady friends were concerned. At the start. Both instances were seemingly preordained. The same thing happened when he became India’s captain a little later. he did not appear to be a thinking captain and was rather mechanical in his running of the game. Back at Oxford. He was always discreet. he was chosen captain. scoring over several senior players. but with experience he became one of India’s best captains and brought oodles of self-belief and pride in a team not lacking in ability but hugely in . had contrived to bring about this switch. a respected Board official. and Mr. a great buddy of Tiger’s. Imagine our utter surprise when one day in the 1965-66 season we found the captain of India sitting in a corner of the Hyderabad dressing room.confidence. Ghulam Ahmed. This was in our match against Andhra. The use of spin as a potent force was his legacy as he set about repairing several other shortcomings in the players’ psyche. Hyderabad was not strange to Tiger as two of his sisters lived there and he had . Surely he should have been playing for the Delhi team somewhere in north India? It soon came to light that our captain Jaisimha. members of the opposing team often joining in. and then proceed . ‘Kishen.many friends who were not necessarily cricket related.’ would produce out of thin air a harmonium set which Tiger would proceed to play reasonably skilfully while intermittently breaking into some strange versions of an Indian dance. On our long train journeys. travelling third class. He settled down immediately and gelled beautifully with the rest of the team. During home games. and in periodic recesses from the never-ending card sessions. his man-for-all-seasons. we would gather for a drink in our dressing room. Time would pass most congenially. the day’s game done. The team’s spirit was exemplified in the rather bizarre scenario when the captain of the country’s team was playing under someone else and then captaining the same individual a few days later in a . Far from being reserved. Tiger was an eager participant in all the jollity and would join in the ensuing discussions regarding the day’s play and tactics to be adopted for the following day. pranks were aplenty with Tiger the source of many of them (my neck ties would suddenly disappear just prior to an official function). Away from home. the bonhomie would be even more pronounced.in due course to Jaisimha’s house for some sumptuous south Indian cuisine. It was a happy team full of talented cricketers like Govindraj. Krishnamurthy.Test match. was found in the wee hours of the morning perched on a well-trimmed hedge outside our hotel reciting Churchill’s ‘We shall fight them on the beaches’ speech. Santosh Reddy. Tiger and myself. Mumtaz Hussain and seniors like Jaisimha. There was hardly any curfew and after a day’s play in Bangalore a venerable member of the team. Abid Ali. Habeeb Ahmed. Little wonder then that we did not win the Ranji trophy despite our playing capabilities! But if there were to be a trophy for the team which had maximum fun playing the . heartily cheered by Tiger and others. Jayantilal. Once we were back in Delhi after retirement. From time to time I would get a call seeking advice regarding a cricketing matter or help writing a speech. he would complain about difficulty in breathing and this indeed led him to hospital for his final journey. he was barely able to speak and looked confused and helpless.game both on and off the field. Tiger and I used to see a great deal of each other. doubtless knowing that . When I saw him in the ICU the day he died. we would have won it. Towards the end. During our courting days in Mumbai. these meetings became fewer though we knew that in a crisis we were only a phone call away. ’ . (Excerpt from Pataudi: Nawab of Cricket .) ‘The use of spin as a potent force was his legacy as he set about repairing several other shortcomings in the players’ psyche. Foreword by Sharmila Tagore. this battle was different and unwinnable.though he had fought and come out winner in many battles before. Edited by Suresh Menon. Published by HarperCollins India. bringing selfbelief and pride to a team that had plenty of ability but little confidence January 5.Tiger Pataudi.5 Lac. Starts @ Rs 17. Kalamassery.NestInfratech. was one of India’s best captains. Enquire www. Top Amenities. Kochi . we are not going to be shamed into keeping quiet and holding ourselves responsible for .com MONSOON BISSELL FOR CHANGE:‘As our tribute to you.Near CUSAT. 2013 To the woman warrior I did not know Luxury Apartments. who would have turned 72 today. You didn’t live but you have brought so many of us to life — apathetic bystanders of all kinds have begun to care and participate. I heard you never gave up.’ Students register their protest in Guntur.the violence we endure. I heard that your fight back caused them to get more violent and brutalise you further. Andhra Pradesh. Your presence in this world has changed all our lives . VIJAYA KUMAR I heard you fought to protect yourself. I heard you said you wanted to live. As I write this I clench my thighs together because the torture you were subjected to could have happened to any woman. I am so sorry that our worst fear became your reality. —PHOTO: T. At 23. Maybe you just wanted to live simply. laugh with your male friends. I want to honour you .forever. watch TV with your family. I am left with a sense of loss and pain that you were sacrificed at this altar so our complacent spirits could be resurrected. become a medical professional who served all people regardless of how they valued women. At 23. In my small way. Maybe you wanted to be remembered for what you did of your own free will rather than what was done to you. I am sure you had other dreams. wander with your girlfriends. you have come to symbolise our struggle — the collective and individual desperation we all feel. Yet. We cannot lose this momentum. Enough. have to embrace this message. and now we have found a collective energy. It kills a way of life. No more silence.by writing about breaking the silence. Indian women like you. Rape is death and let no one tell us differently. this chance at another life. You did not let them murder yours and all of us stood in solidarity with you. It often kills a spirit. You have given a voice to those of us who feel our . this commitment. Silence = Death. Some men have joined the chorus. Women all over this country have risen and shouted out. This slogan was used by holocaust victims. the gay community adopted it and now we. I must break my silence .screams like yours in that bus have never been heard. My horror As our tribute to you. We are the ones who have stayed in homes where we are beaten and raped by men who either gave birth to us or ones we married. We are the women who have been molested in front of a whole crowd and found not one who would bear witness. we are not going to be shamed into keeping quiet and holding ourselves responsible for the violence we endure. We are the ones whose teachers have taught us life lessons by betraying our trust. before I ask others to do the same. I was 15 years old and walking with two male friends in the lane behind my house when I was attacked by seven men. It was an act of aggression. you have given me the courage to bring this home and say it out loud here. Their words were mean. Other than with a trusted few I have spoken about it only once — at a gathering hundreds of miles from where it occurred. It was 9:30 at night and we wanted to take a break from studying for the board exams. It was not desire. I had a bounce in my step. After 25 years. their . I felt at home in my body. Maybe that is what evoked their rage. I threw back my head as I laughed. I wish your bus door had swung open too. Family’s support Your father may have been like mine. Mine too broke tradition . I was very lucky that their ring leader lost his balance as he rammed his bicycle into my abdomen for the second time.actions terrifying. The split second break in that menacing circle saved my life. I know you would have been saved from this savagery and you would have lived. It created an opening that let me flee. He sold his land in order to educate you in a culture that only approves of land being sold for a son’s future or a daughter’s dowry. He believed in your right to be equal. I am also well aware of my vulnerability — a vulnerability that . Sadly. Because of the men in my life who supported and celebrated me. We have all fought our internal battles and some brave ones have taken bolder steps. I am like hundreds of women who have endured this and far worse. They insisted I take this action so that I would not be afraid to walk the streets I grew up in. many do not. I did not walk away feeling less than. We never found them. However privileged and emancipated I may feel. He and my grandfather put me between them and took me out that very night looking for the perpetrators. I want every woman to live in the company of such men.by insisting I not stay silent and take back my power. We live out that vulnerability every day and are constantly told to protect ourselves — stay out of harm’s way. I see that logic when we are taught to avoid playing with fire. not the pinching on the bus or the groping at protest rallies.makes us different from men. None of it is acceptable — not the leering on the streets or the unsavoury office banter. . It always starts in a “small” way and only escalates when the perpetrator sees his actions endorsed or excused. How do we avoid sharing our world with men? How is it that they don’t get the message that their unwanted attention burns? Who is telling them that there are no excuses. stop believing in the right to live as we choose and stay locked up. .As a culture we are still preaching to our girls not to push the boundaries and protecting our boys when they overstep them — we give them a pass for making a pass. suppress our natural desires. Women like you are the change that Gandhiji spoke of and this fight for independence is causing men to find beastly forms of suppression. we will be safe. Imprisoning us isn’t the answer and is no longer possible. It creates a type of entitlement that is so deeply ingrained that what they cannot get they destroy. kill our individuality more. I am tired of hearing that if we as women circumscribe our lives further. May your passing bring with it a change that sweeps across this country and makes it a place where other women like you can ride buses and make it home alive. 2013 . Your power is far greater than what those men expected it to be. no more silence. January 7. developing a project called “Narrative Healing. (Monsoon Bissell is a life coach and freelance writer.”) You have given us the courage to say: Enough.The entire nation is mourning your loss — a woman we did not know. in/applications S. — PHOTO: E.ac.Where buying a motorcycle can spark a riot SRM University. about 300 of their houses were burnt down and .India No1 Admissions for 2013 SRM Engineering Download or Apply Online Now! www. Tamil Nadu. ANANDHI M.srmuniv. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN In the recent violence against the Dalits in Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu. VIJAYABASKAR CHANGING EQUATIONS:Dalit houses that were damaged at Naikkan Kottai in Dharmapuri. 11 districts in the State have witnessed similar destruction . a numerically strong intermediate caste. However.other properties destroyed by the Vanniars. In the last two decades. the large-scale and systematic destruction of Dalit properties was a result of the simmering discontent against the upward mobility of the Dalits. The growing intolerance of the intermediate castes towards this economic mobility of the Dalits is not confined to Dharmapuri district alone. The immediate cause for the rampage was a Vanniar woman’s marriage to a Dalit youth and the consequent suicide of the woman’s father. sections of whom have been economically stagnant. of Dalit property as part of caste violence. One is the declining of role of agriculture in rural Tamil Nadu and its impact on the social and economic relations within villages. Younger workforce Across Tamil Nadu. There are two aspects to this Dalit mobility and the resultant violence against them. The second is the specific ways in which the changing economic relations have been negotiated through altered caste and gender relations posing challenges to the intermediate caste’s pre-existing power. the role of agriculture in sustaining rural livelihoods has dramatically declined with non-farm . . A recent survey of rural households in four districts in the State done by the Institute of Development Alternatives. Chennai reveals that only 28 per cent of households rely on agriculture solely for their livelihood. ranging from construction work to a range of manufacturing sector jobs.employment increasingly playing a significant role. In the remainder. more than 72 lakh workers commuted from rural areas to work in non-agricultural sectors. In Tamil Nadu alone. at least one member of the household was engaged in nonagricultural employment. This resonates strongly with the observations made about the “commuting worker” in contemporary rural and urban landscapes. The spread of a range of manufacturing activity in small towns in Tamil Nadu and its diffusion into the nearby . Impact of manufacturing It is in this context that one needs to understand Dalit mobility in parts of Tamil Nadu. with its output increasingly coming from the rural areas even as urban manufacturing employment is becoming more informal. Studies indicate a growing ruralisation of the formal manufacturing sector in the last 15 years.This mobility is highly gendered with the age profile indicating the emergence of a young male workforce. This mobility has been accompanied by a new mobility of capital too. but also a strong reluctance . This mobility has also been backed by investments in education albeit of a limited kind. Fieldwork in villages adjoining and housing textile and clothing factories in the Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts. The move away from traditional agricultural work has undermined the control that the intermediate castes could wield on Dalit youth. and shoe factories in Vellore district reveal not only a striking shift from agricultural work among the Dalit youth.villages have spawned new ruralurban and rural-rural mobilities and a move into manufacturing and service sector jobs among Dalit youth. particularly in the northern and north-western districts. among them to take up agricultural work. The inability and reluctance of sections of intermediate castes to make a shift from agriculture . The mobility beyond the village has enabled Dalit youth to challenge their traditional caste obligations and the masculine powers of the dominant castes. the refusal of the younger generation of Dalits to labour in the lands of intermediate castes and to perform caste obligations such as funeral drumming — combined with relative improvements in their every day existence — have become the source of conflicts between the Dalits and the intermediate castes in the State. The refusal of Dalit women to perform menial duties for intermediate castes. their inability to force the castes below them to work on their farms and their lack of control over the mobility of Dalit youth have underwritten their caste anxieties. caste dominance is contingent upon the masculine power of men. their ability to control women in private and public spheres and also their ability to control the subordinate men of oppressed castes. With the challenge posed to their caste dominance. Masculine power Further. the intermediate castes find their masculinity in crisis since they are unable to .despite its non profitability due to strong social values attached to agriculture. ” The crisis of intermediate caste masculinity. motorbikes owned by the Dalits.exert power over the subaltern Dalit men and women. Otherwise. which is the result of the economic mobility of the Dalits. They also imagine an erosion of their masculine power in the private sphere with their claim that Dalit men lure away “their women. have been targeted by the intermediate castes who desire to imitate the erstwhile dominant castes in their starched . how can one explain the fact that invariably during the caste violence in recent times. is certainly at the core of these conflicts and the caste violence which targets Dalit properties. a symbol of masculine mobility. nus.edu . 2013 Why a national water framework law Women Leadership Program .) Refusal by Dalits to work as agricultural labour and to perform menial duties plus their relative economic improvement have made them the targets of caste violence January 7. 5 Days @NUS Business School. Apply! executive-education.white dhotis moving on Enfield motorbikes! (The writers are Associate and Assistant Professors at the Madras Institute of Development Studies.For Women Leaders in Asia. Chennai. So far as I know. more than 10 years ago. The aim of this article is to clarify the issues involved for the information of the general public.RAMASWAMY R. IYER The idea of a national water framework law mooted by the Central government has run into strong opposition from the Chief Ministers of several States.’ . I was the first person in this country to talk about a national law on water. for reasons which will become clear as this article proceeds. and the first to use the term ‘national water framework law. I am obliged to strike a personal note here. including a sub-group on a national water framework law with me as chairman and five other members. It is available on the website of the Planning Commission (http://planningcommission.pdf). Alagh Committee That draft was not adopted by the Ministry of Water Resources. but it did accept the idea . picked up . We produced a complete draft of the law that we were advocating. set up a number of working groups and sub-groups. as part of the preparations for the 12th Plan.gov.The idea made no headway at all until the Planning Commission.in /aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/w r/wg_wtr_frame. A national law on water is very necessary. That response is regrettable. Y. and set up a new committee to draft the law under the chairmanship of Dr. K. That committee has presumably not yet concluded its deliberations.the term ‘framework law’. and has drawn a negative response. Alagh. and it must be a framework law. Why is a national law on water necessary? There are several reasons. . but meanwhile the idea of a national water framework law appears to have been mentioned at a Conference of Water Resources Ministers as well as the recent NDC meeting. (d) the pollution of rivers and other water sources. (b) the general perception of an imminent water crisis.(1) Under the Indian Constitution water is primarily a State subject. and the dire and urgent need to conserve this scarce and precious resource. . (c) the severe and intractable inter-use and inter-State conflicts. but it is an increasingly important national concern in the context of: (a) the judicial recognition of the right to water as a part of the fundamental right to life. turning rivers into sewers or poison and contaminating aquifers. (f) the equity implications of the distribution. use and control of water.(e) the long-term environmental. ecological and social implications of projects to augment the availability of water for human use. regional. (g) the international dimensions of some of India’s rivers. It is clear that the above considerations cast several . and (h) the emerging concerns about the impact of climate change on water and the need for appropriate responses at local. and global levels. national. the need for an overarching national water law is self-evident. These can be quite divergent in their perceptions of and approaches to water. Given these and other concerns. Some divergences from State to State may be inevitable and acceptable. apart from those of the State governments. but extreme and fundamental divergences will create a very muddled situation. (2) Several States are enacting laws on water and related issues. (3) Different State governments tend to adopt different legal . A broad national consensus on certain basics seems very desirable.responsibilities on the Central government. positions on their rights over the waters of a river basin that straddles more than one State. a national law on water is even more necessary. (4) Water is one of the most basic requirements for life.. forests. biological diversity. . Such legal divergences tend to render the resolution of interState river-water conflicts extremely difficult. If national laws are considered necessary on subjects such as the environment. Water is as basic as (if not more basic than) those subjects. A national statement of the general legal position and principles that should govern such cases seems desirable. etc. wildlife. My purpose in adopting that term was precisely . although the form of a water law for India will clearly have to be guided by the nature of the Indian Constitution and the specific needs and circumstances of this country. The considerations behind those national codes or laws are relevant to India as well. the South African National Water Act of 1998) are widely regarded as very enlightened. the idea of a national water law is not something unusual or unprecedented.(5) Finally. Many countries in the world have national water laws or codes. Let us now consider the term ‘framework law’. and some of them (for instance. the States and the local governance institutions will exercise their respective legislative and/or executive (or devolved) powers. i.e.to avoid the danger of centralisation. the framework law was intended to be justiciable in the sense that the laws passed and . In introducing our sub-group’s draft we stated clearly that the proposed national water law was not intended to change the Centre-State relations in any way. but a framework law. However.. an overarching statement of general principles providing a framework within which the Centre. that what was proposed was not a Central water management law or a command-and-control law of the usual kind. the executive actions taken by the Central and State governments and the devolved functions exercised by PRIs would have to conform to the general principles and priorities laid down in the framework law (on the basis of a national consensus). We need not go into those modalities here. and that deviations can be challenged in a court of law. there are ways in which Parliament can enact it. The point will become clearer if we think of the proposed national water framework law as something like the Directive Principles of State Policy. If such a national law is considered desirable. . but different in the sense that it would be justiciable. The purpose was not to advertise that draft or to appeal to the government to adopt it — though we will of course be gratified if that happens — but to draw attention to the difference in approach between the sub-group and the Ministry.The reason for my mentioning our sub-group’s draft law must now be clear. whereas the prime concern of the Ministry was apparently to strengthen the hands of the Centre. Though both the subgroup and the Ministry want a national law on water. What the sub-group wanted was to bring about a national consensus on certain general principles relating to water. the purposes in view are different. That was presumably why it put aside our draft and set up a . A setback This also explains why the Centre was unable to persuade the State governments to accept the idea of a national water framework law. This must have set the alarm . In fact. what it has in mind is not really a framework law but a conventional operational one. The manner in which the Centre put forward that idea at the Water Resource Ministers’ Conference and the NDC must have given indications of the underlying desire to strengthen the hands of the Centre. though the Ministry uses the term ‘framework law’.Committee to prepare a new draft. bells ringing in the minds of the Chief Ministers. This is a setback to an important initiative. Even if the Alagh Committee comes up with a draft of a genuine framework law with no elements of centralisation. Their fears of centralisation need to be dispelled in a convincing . As a result. The purpose of this article is to commend for the government’s consideration an approach that would rescue the idea of a national water framework law from total rejection by the States. the very idea of a national water framework law has become suspect in their eyes. it will now be an uphill task to persuade the States to accept it. Water Resources. and what is put forward must be a real framework law .com/Buy1Get1Free ANITA JOSHUA . Iyer is a former Secretary.) The Union government should dispel the States’ fears of centralisation if it wants to rescue the idea from total rejection January 7. 2013 A new ‘saviour’ arrives in Pakistan Flight Tickets 1+1 Free . Government of India.manner.Book a Flight with MakeMyTrip and Get the next Ticket Absolutely Free Makemytrip. (Ramaswamy R. Dr.— PHOTO: AFP The winter fog across Pakistan has brought in its wake a parallel haze in the nation’s perennially stormy political firmament with the arrival of another self-professed “saviour” from Canada — Tahir-ulQadri. Serenaded back into the country with an advertisement blitzkrieg that smacked of big bucks. Qadri has not stated his future course of action beyond creating a Tahrir Square-like situation. The December 2012 picture is of the leader at a public meeting in Lahore. Qadri sent Pakistan’s politics into a tailspin with a mammoth rally at Lahore’s Minare-Pakistan on December 23 where the “political-has-been” served an ultimatum that essentially said .OUT OF THE BLUE:Dr. “reform or perish. Qadri is a Barelvi religious scholar who took dual nationality of Canada about a decade ago and went “Westward” to “project the soft face of Islam” after dabbling in Pakistani politics.” Dr. gave the federal government all of three weeks to do his bidding or else reckon with a Long March of four million people onto Islamabad’s Constitution Avenue which would be “turned into a Tahrir Square. His demands include sweeping reforms covering electoral and a caretaker government of squeaky clean technocrats and patriots in consultation with “all stakeholders including the judiciary and the military.” And.” He also invoked Article 254 of the Constitution arguing . could be delayed. While the money spent on his rally and his waltzing in at this juncture — in the last three months of the current dispensation — had already got conspiracy theorists murmuring. due before mid-May.” “delaying elections” and “consulting the judiciary and military” on the contours of the . mention of a “government of technocrats. Riyasat Bachao (Save the State. Several red flags popped up almost simultaneously even before Dr. not politics”).that this was a constitutional provision under which elections. Qadri wrapped up his “ Nizam Badlo (Change the system”) rally where the slogan was “ Siyasat Nahin. the apprehensions of mischief afoot were inevitable. The “firstreforms-then-elections” slogan sounded very similar to Zia ulHaq’s “ Pehle ehtesaab.caretaker government set alarm bells peeling of the omnipresent and all-powerful establishment developing its periodic itch to undermine the democratic project. Given Pakistan’s history. then elections”) which allowed him to rule for the next decade. phir intikhab (First accountability. Memories of earlier attempts With parties like the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) — . ” Adding fuel to fire. Qadri and the MQM urged the Army to facilitate the “Long March” by not taking orders from the government if its help was sought to stop the multitudes from entering Islamabad. and then again the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) in 1990 to . Dr. the storm clouds were in particularly after the MQM decided to participate in the “Long March. Together. Qadri’s caravan.two major constituents of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led coalition — extending support to Dr. these statements brought back memories of earlier attempts to orchestrate a “political” alternative like the Pakistan National Alliance ahead of the 1977 elections to get rid of the PPP and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. ” rued Farahnaz Ispahani. former spokesperson for President Asif Ali Zardari and a politician who was stripped of her membership of Parliament for being a dual national.keep his daughter Benazir Bhutto from coming to power. “We are working towards the completion of the democratically elected term that would be the first in Pakistan’s history. “Pakistan’s history gives us reason to worry about the appearance of self-proclaimed saviours from out of the blue and the potential for them being stalking horses for the invisible forces. All challenges to democracy from outside Parliament reflect efforts by undemocratic forces to . Qadri insisted that he was not against democracy and all his demands were constitutional. “Why now.” is a common refrain particularly since its most bitter critics had reconciled to the PPP-led government — perpetually predicted to be on its last leg since the day it assumed office in 2008 — seeing its full term through. Pakistan is on the threshold of seeing its first democratic transition through an election under civilian rule in 65 years. Though Dr. What has unsettled many is the timing. After all.” she added. even lawyers critical of the PPP .reassert total power. articulating a commonly held view. find fault with his interpretation of the Constitution.” the main Opposition party. the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). At the risk of being taunted as being a “friendly opposition. this Parliament has expanded the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G. Similarly. As for electoral reforms. Ebrahim’s name was suggested by the Opposition. . the 20th Amendment to the Constitution details the modalities for appointing the interim/caretaker government after the incumbent dispensation steps down and there is no provision whatsoever for consulting the military or the judiciary in this process. On Imran Khan The Express Tribune. having first . in an editorial. Though it has been provoked into brinkmanship — as in the “Memogate” case — the PML(N) has evidently learnt its lesson well from the 1990s when the establishment used it to destabilise PPP-led governments and vice versa. One popular theory is that the military.has time and again refused to play ball in destabilising the democratic process. sought to explain the Qadri phenomenon thus: “His appearance was too sudden to be explained as a natural reaction to disappointment in democracy or the performance of the current government. nongovernmental organisation” with a huge network spread across Pakistan and 90 countries.given Imran Khan a nudge. nonsectarian. Qadri pulled a massive crowd at Lahore is no surprise since he presides over the Minhajul-Quran International (MQI) — a “non-political.” That Dr. . has now shifted its allegiance to Qadri since it realizes that the *cricketerturned-politician’s+ Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s electoral prospects have dimmed. He claims that the money for his rally also came from this international network and the MQI website is posting details of his campaign for changing the corrupt system of Pakistan. Neither has there been any visible indication of reviving his defunct political party. the Pakistani Awami Tehreek. there is a silver lining to the gathering storm clouds. Qadri has managed to create.Apart from feeding into the general disenchantment with the state of affairs in Pakistan — poor governance and corruption included — Dr. his reply has been that he would give up his Canadian nationality if he decides to contest. Qadri has not stated his future course of action beyond creating a Tahrir Squarelike situation. Apart from the MQM — . For all the confusion Dr. Asked how he proposed to contest elections as dual nationals are debarred from doing so. Tahir-ul-Qadri’s reappearance on the scene a few months elections are due has sudden political before set off .which has said it would continue to support the federal government — practically every political party. has come out in favour of timely elections and batted for democracy. reflecting its own stakes in the process as Pakistan’s political class closed ranks to weather the storm. big and small. Even the media — which has been critical of the government from day one and blames elected representatives for the downward slide — is speaking up for democracy. that T. Tuli. who was appointed as the head of Punjab .KotakSecurities.R. Sethi (centre).10 lakh to Associated Journals with no questions asked Bending rules:It was at the behest of P.C.com ERA SEZHIYAN How intervention by a Union Minister during the Emergency led a public sector bank to hand over Rs.Open a Demat. Savings & Trading All-in-1 Kotak Account.concerns that he is a stalking horse for anti-democratic forces January 8. Home Minister in Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet. Sign Up Now www. 2013 An overdraft for a ‘special case’ Online Demat Account . disbursed a large unsecured loan to the ailing media house.— Photo: PIB The Congress party admitted recently that it had extended an interest-free loan to an ailing Associated Journals Limited (AJL). Without going into the furore that surrounded the whole affair. Minister in the Indira Gandhi government.C. . Sethi.National Bank on the Prime Minister’s suggestion. it will be interesting to recall the story of an overdraft that a public sector bank had extended to the same company more than 36 years ago. P. In March 1976. during the darkest part of the 1975-77 period of the Emergency — a matter that later came under the adverse notice of the Shah Commission of Inquiry. 10 lakh. After a discussion with Tuli. Tuli. in his testimony . Later.15 lakh from the bank against a second mortgage of its ‘Herald House’ on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi.called T. Chairman and Managing Director of AJL. Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab National Bank (PNB). met Tuli and sought an immediate advance that would be repaid from a term loan of Rs. AJL requested the Parliament Street branch of PNB for a temporary overdraft of Rs. Colonel Bashir Hussain Zaidi.R. to his residence and asked him to help Associated Journals by advancing money to enable it to take delivery of imported machinery in Bombay. On March 20.8. PNB issued. Adalkha.000. a cheque for Rs. The Shah Commission (Chapter VII of Report 1) found that AJL did not have any account with PNB until the point it sought the overdraft. Tuli was to admit that he had given his verbal approval to L.before the Shah Commission. There was some correspondence between the PNB branch and AJL to ensure that the overdraft be . on March 22. AJL opened a current account in the bank and deposited Rs.70.10 lakh to enable AJL to take delivery of a consignment of machinery.30. Manager of the Parliament Street branch.D.1. The net overdraft amounted to Rs.000. A sum of Rs. AJL wrote to the bank saying it was not in a position to offer ‘Herald House’ as security and that it was arranging to repay the overdraft amount shortly. the position was that AJL had repaid only Rs.20. 1976. Tuli was asked whether the loan was granted at his insistence by the Parliament Street branch and contrary to the bank’s normal loan granting practices.secured.10 lakh was outstanding as principal and interest.000 towards interest. On April 21. . During his testimony before the Commission in November 1977. When the Shah Commission took up this transaction as a ‘special case’ in October 1977. ” Asked whether he acted thus because a Minister had advised him to do help the company. Asked why he did not look at the balance sheet of AJL. as he was duty-bound to do. he replied: “Yes. some consideration has got to be given… and that is why the whole thing was expedited.” He added: “Naturally. when a Minister says. sir. That is a big consideration for me. Tuli replied: “That was my omission.He replied that there was a ‘reason’ for doing so as the AJL was in urgent need of money and ultimately it was to get a term loan against mortgage of a building.” . it must have weighed a “little in his mind to deal with the case on a priority basis expeditiously. it was without security. he replied: “Of course.The Commission reminded Tuli of his written statement where he had stated that he had given verbal approval to the branch manager and that since National Herald. published by AJL.” When Tuli was reminded that it was without security. albeit on the understanding which did not materialise that the security will .” The Shah Commission concluded: “There can be no doubt that the decision to allow a temporary overdraft in this case without security. was connected with the Prime Minister. (i) AJL did not have an account with PNB till then. The fact that AJL had approached a bank with which it had no prior dealings. whereas it had accounts with Syndicate Bank.R. was solely that of Shri T.be provided soon thereafter.Tuli. was enough reason to suspect that . instead of one of its existing banks. United Commercial Bank and Vijaya Bank.” The Commission said the following circumstances should have put Tuli on his guard. Tuli should have. made confidential enquiries with other banks to ascertain the company’s creditworthiness. either on his own or through his officers. 6 lakh by the time PNB was approached. or its balance sheet. It had added up to over Rs. before approving the proposal. (iii) Tuli admitted he had not seen any evaluation report regarding AJL. or any statement of its assets and liabilities.everything was not right with the proposal. (ii) The machinery in question had arrived in Bombay towards the end of October 1975 and demurrage was mounting at the rate of Rs. This should have caused concern to Tuli as the demurrage had added to the cost of the equipment.000 a day. .4. According to the report.The Commission concluded: “In the present case. but solely because of the intervention of Minister Shri P. not only were the reserves and surpluses wiped off. no precautions which would be normal in advancing money on a clean overdraft account were taken. loan was advanced.41 lakh stood eroded. Sethi. 47 lakh. and the accumulated losses were over Rs. disregarding the canons which would ordinarily govern the . It stated that AJL had incurred losses of about Rs. but the paidup capital to the extent of Rs. however. 10 lakh a year in 1973-74 and 1974-75.C.The Commission got a report of the Central Intelligence Section of Credit Administration of PNB. advancing of such a loan.” Further.” There was another ‘case’ examined by the Shah Commission that revealed that Tuli’s appointment as Chairman and Managing Director of PNB came about at the insistence of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. PM’s recommendation Under the Rules of the Nationalised Banks (Management and Miscellaneous Provisions) Scheme. 1970. Tuli “has also misused his powers and abused his authority in so doing. the head of a nationalised bank should be appointed by the Union government after consulting the . As the Chairman of PNB was to retire on July 31. 1975. in the private sector. Subramaniam and Home Minister K. When the papers were sent to the Prime Minister as the third member of the appointments committee. Gupta. the recommendation of the Finance Minister was redrafted and Tuli became Chairman and Managing Director of PNB on August 1. This was approved by Finance Minister C.Reserve Bank of India. 1975. However.P. Deputy General Manager of PNB. . Brahmananda Reddy. the RBI recommended for that post O. she mentioned that Tuli’s name should also be considered for the post. Tuli was then Chairman of New Bank of India. Asked whether the Prime Minister had suggested that Tuli be appointed. Subramaniam replied: ‘Yes. He .P. Gupta was not appointed as recommended by the RBI. It is not known how Punjab National Bank eventually dealt with the unsecured overdraft given to Associated Journals. (Era Sezhiyan is an eminent writer and a former parliamentarian. he said he had not known Tuli earlier. Subramaniam why O.When the Shah Commission asked C. and that PNB was much bigger than New Bank of India.’ This was why Tuli went against all canons of banking to help Associated Journals. Just a day earlier. and Regained ’. chintansales. 2013 Burying democracy in human waste Waste Incinerators .) January 8. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam .compiled and edited ‘ Shah Commission Report: Lost. Deal in Waste Incrinerators.Prominent Manufacturer & Supplier.com/Call@+9178780 17629 PRABHA SRIDEVAN The Supreme Court had recently admonished a District Magistrate for filing a “wrong” affidavit stating that there was no manual scavenging in his district. but an imperfect one). And I thought of a documentary on manual scavenging that has haunted me ever since I saw it. It is really what is described as an “in your face” documentary.” She answers the questions about her experience in school (what I give below is not a verbatim reproduction of the script.” (A shy smile) . A scene is of a small girl in a blue frock.Ramesh had publicly apologised for the continuance of the practice of manual scavenging. “Did you like school?” “Yes. and with liquid eyes — what in Tamil we would call “ Neerottam . I went for some days. but in this day and age. It must have been a government school. Where else will a poor Bhangi’s child go? Article 17 of the Constitution states: “Untouchability is abolished.“What happened?” “I stopped.” If a government schoolteacher can ask a child to go to the back row .” This did not happen decades ago.” “Why?” “I used to sit in the front row. Then I stopped. So the teacher asked me to move to the last row. Then my classmates did not want me to sit next to them. Slowly those deep eyes. What does fraternity mean? Dr. we promised ourselves.because her classmates do not want any contact with her. well up with tears and she whispers: “I wanted to become a nurse or a teacher. fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation. while she looks back at us.” Fraternity. Ambedkar . The camera stays on her face. We are not done with that little girl yet. which have known a pain that no eight-yearold should. when was it abolished? Let us all feel on our skin the sandpaper-rub of exclusion. But we must overcome all these difficulties if we wish to become a nation in reality. For fraternity can be a fact only when there is a nation. they bring about separation in social life. It is the principle which gives unity and solidarity to social life.said. we have not . when the Constitution was in the making. They are anti-national also because they generate jealousy and antipathy between caste and caste. because. It is a difficult thing to achieve. Without fraternity. equality and liberty will be no deeper than coats of paint. in the first place. Castes are anti-national. that: “Fraternity means a sense of common brotherhood of all Indians — of Indians being one people.” The truth must be told. This interconnectedness is fraternity — the spirit that assures and affirms human dignity. There can be no dilution or compromise on this. in one lifetime. do it? This was a denial of fraternity. That is why it is . Why else did the teacher ask that child to sit away from her classmates? How do we apologise to her for the insult to her dignity. We. the units of humanity.overcome. It is not dependent on who the one is or who the other. and the destruction of her desire? How do we make amends? Can we. are interconnected and respect for each other is a sine qua non of all human interactions. a violation of the basic principle of democracy. the vandalism of her dreams. ” that kinship. there will always be groups whose dignity is not acknowledged resulting in a negation of fraternity.imperative that fraternity informs all State actions and all social transactions. talk to or listen to the other. Of the five senses. touch is the least understood. A bridge is built when you touch another in kinship in a way that it is not when you look at. It is because we have not understood the principle of . And “a continent of persons” within India has been denied that “touch. But it is the only sense that establishes fraternity that also establishes kinship. The dynamics between equality and fraternity work like this: in the absence of substantive equality. Even if the winds of change are blowing.” 2010 deadline That young girl of the broken dreams was born to parents who are manual scavengers. that there is no “they” and “us. for the condemned ones even . It is acknowledged in public meetings that manual scavenging is a human rights issue and not about sanitation. and the most marginalised of marginalised groups.” there is only “us. But it continues. We read in the newspapers that this practice would soon be banned and that we would become Nirmal Bharat. This is a group to which the right to fraternity is consistently and brazenly denied.fraternity. But manual scavengers continue their work. what would she say? “My father carries all your filth on his head?” She probably remains silent. one such final deadline was March 31. Deadlines have come and gone. anaesthetising themselves with drinks and drugs from these assaults on their dignity. There have been many deadlines for eradicating this practice. Their lives are a daily negation of the right to a life with dignity though they have court orders affirming that right. any of the yesterdays.yesterday is not soon enough. 2010. When a teacher asks a child — like the one whom we met earlier — what her father does for a living. If she . ” so “our” houses “within” will remain clean. digging in a pile of excreta. she is silent. So. her classmates would not see it just as another job.” She would be asked to sit away from the rest. it is a job that has to be done by the “other. who campaigns against manual scavenging. . an excruciatingly painful experience shared by Bezwada Wilson. ‘What do you know?’ I once heard at the National Judicial Academy. No.speaks those words. and “the other” after cleaning the house will go outside the margin and remain “unclean. He had seen some persons who were manual scavengers. we cannot do our job tomorrow.He asked. I cried to the water. I cried and I asked why?” . we are trying to retrieve it. “What are you doing?” “The pail has got buried in the filth. “I walked and walked for a long time out in the fields and I stood there and cried to the moon.” “So you will dig there with your hands?” “If we do not get it back. I cried to the wind. and we will not get paid. What do you know?” He said. Ram Krishna Balothia (1995 SCC (3) 221) rejected the attack on the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. S. saying that a special legislation to check and deter crimes against them committed by non-Scheduled Castes and non-Scheduled Tribes is necessary.” He said it in the context of torture.P. it is just the same in the context of this abomination.In his book “ The Strange Alchemy of Law and Life. The Supreme Court in State of M. “There are some things human beings cannot do to other human beings. ” Justice Albie Sachs of South Africa writes.3(1)(ii) of this Act says: . vs. in view of the continued violation of their rights. ..” is punishable. . acts with intent to cause injury.. But the work of manually lifting and the removal of human excreta is inextricably linked with caste and is another form of “dumping. or a Scheduled Tribe by dumping excreta ...000 people from . insult or annoyance to any member of a Scheduled Caste.“Whoever. ii. not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe — i.. “(A)n estimated 13...00. in his premises or neighbourhood. Wilson writes in his Foreword to Gita Ramaswamy’s book “ India Stinking …” (2005) that..” Mr.. ) . a former Judge of the Madras High Court. in community dry latrines managed by the municipality. in the public sector such as railways and by the army.” This is why the heart of a little girl who wanted to become a nurse was broken and she dropped out of school. is Chairperson. Intellectual Property Appellate Board. (Prabha Sridevan. There are some things one human being does not do to another human being.dalit communities continue to be employed as manual scavengers across the length and breadth of this country — in private homes. com/lenovo BOYD FULLER SHRIYA MOHAN Capturing hostages is believed to be the only way for Naxalites to get the government to lend them their ears. 1 year Loss & Damage Replacement. Core i5. So by agreeing to talk only when kidnapped. syberplace.Every day that the practice of manual scavenging continues is another day that negates the right to a life of dignity for those still forced to engage in this demeaning work January 8. 2d Delivery. Business Laptop .12x HDFC EMI. are we not . 2013 Learning to talk outside gunpoint 3rd gen. — photos: Akhilesh Kumar When Roger Fisher. “I’d much rather listen to them than fight. A lot of times. negotiation guru and former director of the Harvard Negotiation Project. he said. accompanied by an interlocutor. was once asked in an interview if he could really negotiate with a terrorist. (Right) Sukma Collector Alex Paul Menon. in May last year. following his release by the Maoists in the forests of Chintalnar in Chhattisgarh. they’ve got legitimate grievances packaged as extreme political positions.asking to be held at gunpoint? At left.” . Maoists during a training session in the Dantewada forest. promising to put in place Crisis Management Groups (CMG). Clearly. Capturing hostages is believed to be the only way for Maoists to get the government to lend them their ears. But as we embark on combating a new year of conflict. let us reflect for a bit. So by agreeing to talk . which are essentially teams to negotiate hostage situations in Left Wing Extremist (LWE) States. the government made an important move towards negotiations with the Maoists. the two high profile Maoist kidnaps of last year — Collector Alex Paul Menon at Chhattisgarh and the Italian tourists at Orissa — created much national distress.Near the end of 2012. was in designing a realistic agenda and an effective process for parties that lacked the willingness and .only when kidnapped. however. are we not asking to be held at gun point? Getting the parties to the table is not the main problem. Recall the Committee for Concerned Citizens (CCC) — a group of former bureaucrats. Where they failed. intellectuals and fellow citizens who convened the 1994 Andhra peace talks. however. journalists. The CCC had earned enormous legitimacy as a result of the records of the victims of violence they built over the course of five years and their careful taking-to-task of both sides in an impartial manner. the release of imprisoned Maoists or the return of tribal land being occupied by non-tribals. The first set of demands is limited in scope. However. the second set of demands involves the underlying needs and perceived injustices . relatively tangible. implement their So how can the CMG be made to develop that capacity? First. Such demands present tangible and immediate choices to the government for which it can balance costs and benefits.capacity to promises. the panel must be prepared for the two sets of issues that the Naxalites are known to raise. and easier to evaluate — for instance. larger in impact and potential cost and thus harder to weigh against the value of a particular life. Homing in on underlying needs Such skills should be taught based on principled negotiation techniques. To work through these requires formidable skill — which the CMGs can develop in Naxalite and government negotiators. This analysis is done through a carefully constructed process of sharing information and active listening that doesn’t . which start with a fundamental premise: never negotiate the demands. start with the needs and wants underlying them.that drive their movement. These are filled with historical baggage. to conflicting As the underlying needs are revealed. not demands. as the parties get close to an agreement. Furthermore. Being trained in communication and relationship-building techniques is essential for creating the necessary psychological safety at the table for frank and pathbreaking discussions. especially . the process needs to anticipate potential challenges to its implementation in order to avoid the failed promises of the past.come naturally parties. the parties learn to find creative solutions through an evaluated give-and-take based on needs. the hostage negotiators can work with their counterparts to develop a set of procedures for how they define an agenda. Finally. Physical safety is the second factor. carry . Naxalites have never been allowed to negotiate directly because of this dilemma. How to negotiate with a banned party without lifting the ban? Naxalite negotiator and trade union leader Dandapani Mohanty suggests that imprisoned Maoists be brought in under police custody to negotiate on behalf of the party rather than roping in members of civil society who are removed from the realities of the parties’ interests.given the harsh rhetoric in public spheres. with the “lowest” amounting to 1. And now that violence is at bay it is propagated as a counterinsurgency success that overrides any need for talks! If talks have to .out negotiations. and ensure that agreements are implemented. The government negotiators can be continuously training their counterparts through the examples that they set and building faith on both sides.365 recorded incidents. The government has repeatedly refused to talk to the Maoists “until the violence stops”. The Home Ministry recently declared that the year 2012 had seen the lowest number of incidents of violence involving Maoists under UPA rule. Sharma. Swami Agnivesh or Professor Haragopal. it is not possible with the well-meaning but fragmented mediation efforts of B.D. Captures unplanned “Do you know that all *episodes of capturing+ hostages are unplanned? The Italian tourists and the Collector just happened to be there when the Maoists were looking for a hostage to communicate their demands to the government. to demand talks that deal with more than just the release of hostages.happen. The year 2013 calls for another CCC.” smiles Mohanty. The question . this time with nationwide ambit. The setting up of CMGs is a big step forward. (Prof. Boyd Fuller teaches Negotiation at The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. creating platforms to address the root causes of the movement or only produce themselves at gunpoint. shades of Indonesia .is whether they will pave the way.) In order to be effective. 2013 In Myanmar’s transition. mechanisms for talks with Maoists must aim to address much more than the release of hostages January 9. Shriya Mohan is an independent journalist. National University of Singapore. unity and think themselves key to their country’s survival. discipline. are obsessed with law. Sign up now! google.Choose Gmail .com BALADAS GHOSHAL In step:The militaries of both nations are inheritors of the legacies of Japanese occupation. order.Free Email by Google Switch to Gmail.— Photo: AP How does one get a sense of the political developments or the road-map that the regime in Myanmar has laid out for the future? Is there a model that gives us a key to an understanding of the pathology of the regime in . acquired stakes in the country’s economy.Myanmar? Historical parallels can sometimes be misleading. gave high premium to intelligence agencies in maintaining regime survival. The militaries of both nations are inheritors of the legacies of Japanese occupation. both have inflated . And. unity and territorial integrity. and legitimised the political role of the armed forces through constitutional provisions. are obsessed with law. discipline. order. Both are multiethnic states are haunted by the twin spectres of racial tension and a separatist periphery. but the Burmese experience parallels that of Indonesia in a number of respects. debilitated their civil societies. The Indonesian armed forces.views of their importance to national survival. young and charismatic political leaders. “Unity in diversity” was a vision Indonesia and Burma shared in the immediate aftermath of colonial rule. nationalism flowered in Burma during World War II and Burma’s postindependence leadership had been closely associated with the anti-colonial Burma Independence Army (BIA) recruited and trained by the Japanese. when both Sukarno and Aung San. As in Indonesia. were . created in 1945 to support the revolutionary struggle. sought to bring heterogeneous peoples under a banner of national unity. recruited from amongst nationalist elements by the Japanese in 1943. the military had played a prominent part in the achievement of independence. As in Indonesia. Pembela Tanah Air (Defenders of the Fatherland. PETA). the Burmese army was initially composed of diverse . In both countries. having intervened decisively. In both Burma and Indonesia. the military played a major role in the revolutionary war. it also inherited a distrust of civilian politicians.recruited largely from the military force. the military consolidated its position by expanding into civilian administration and business and by establishing a militarydominated political party. With the outbreak of communal violence between Burmans and Karens. the Karen head of the army was removed. Indeed the suppression of ethnic minority revolts became the army’s principal task. During the British colonial period the Burmese army was recruited predominantly from among the ethnic minorities. . especially the Karen. Ne Win was given command. when Burmese nationalists joined the Japanese-trained BIA and initially fought alongside the Japanese. many of the ethnic minorities fought with the Allies.elements. and the multiethnic composition of the army gave way to Burman domination. During World War II. the armed forces were dominated by the majority Javanese.Similarly in Indonesia. but with common elements of ethnic fragmentation and class division. Elections were held again in 1960 but the political party which the military supported was defeated and two years later a military coup brought an end to parliamentary . inviting the armed forces to set up a caretaker government. Under somewhat different circumstances. Burma also went through a period of considerable turbulence following independence in 1948 and in 1958 Prime Minister Nu stepped down. as the country was divided along ethnic lines and rocked by civil war in the 1950s. Dual function In the 1950s. followed by Sukarno’s guided democracy and eventually a military-supported regime of General Suharto. After the overthrow of Sukarno this idea was formally embodied in the .democracy and reinstated army commander General Ne Win as head of government. Colonel Nasution had put forward the idea of a ‘Middle Way’ for the armed forces. Indonesia also experienced a period of parliamentary democracy. Indonesian army chief-of-staff. which combined their conventional role in the defence of the country with participation in government. giving legitimacy to the soldiers’ heft in parliament and government. in the ‘New Order’ regime of President Suharto. In 2008 Myanmar’s benighted people were forced to endorse a dual function constitution in a referendum. ABRI (Indonesian Armed forces) was formally represented at all levels of government. in Burma it was the Union Solidarity and Development Association set up by the military in 1993. . later transformed into Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) when it contested the election in 2010. If the Golkar party was the civilian face of military rule in Suharto's Indonesia.principle of dwifungsi (dual function). in Burma the take-over was simultaneous. which to a large extent were of ethnic Indian and Chinese origin. Almost all private property was confiscated and handed over to a number of military-run state corporations. The old mercantile elite. . Prior to the 1962 coup. But thereafter. and so did many of Burma’s intellectuals. Burma had had one of the highest living standards in Southeast Asia.But there are differences too. and a fairly well-educated population. the military became the only elite with very little formal education. Unlike in Indonesia where the military got involved in businesses as they consolidated their political control in course of time. left the country. the pathology. Despite these minor differences. isolated itself. therefore.Another important difference between the Burmese military and the militaries of Indonesia is that whereas the latter wanted to integrate their country’s economy with the outside world and took the help of technocrats and the international economic institution to do this. Indonesia’s newspapers had more room than the Burmese press. the former was deeply suspicious of the outside world and. the ideological outlook and the experiences of the two countries are so similar that Myanmar is likely to follow the same trajectory in its movement towards democracy — . Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. 2013 . JNU.a guided political system with a certain role for the armed forces till the economy grows to accommodate both the security and economic interests of the armed forces through an expanded defence budget.) The two countries have evolved in strikingly similar ways January 9. and Professor and Chair. (Baladas Ghoshal is a Distinguished Fellow. Southeast Asian Studies. and creates a middle class demanding greater transparency and accountability from the government. forced to attend to domestic duties.com JAYAN JOSE THOMAS Missing women:A staggeringly large number of women. Enquire www.— Photos: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury & Akhilesh Kumar Women in India face enormous challenges for their participation in the economy — in a way that mirrors the many injustices they .5 Lac. Kochi .A woman-shaped gap in the Indian workforce Luxury Apartments. find themselves marginalised in the Indian economy.Near Seaport-Airport Road & Lulu Mall! Starts From 17.NestInfratech. Among Indian States. By way of comparison. a region also known for its harsh treatment of women. In 2008. The labour force includes not only the employed but also unemployed persons who are . The labour participation rate of women — that is. the labour participation rate in India was only 33 per cent for females as compared to 81 per cent for males. the number of women in the labour force as a proportion of the total female population — provides an indicator of some of these challenges. it was 68 per cent.suffer in the society at large. the female labour participation rate is one of the lowest in Delhi. as described in the official statistics. in 2009-10. National Sample Survey reports tell us that.000 and 4 per 1.actively seeking jobs.000 respectively. In India. 347 were attending to domestic duties.000 females (all ages) in India’s rural areas. Compare this to the number of rural and urban men who were attending to domestic duties: only 5 per 1. Why is India’s female labour participation rate so low? Part of . In the case of urban females. ‘attending to domestic duties’ in their own households. out of every 1. substantial numbers of women who are not counted in the labour force are. this number was even bigger: 465 per 1000. the answer lies in the methods employed to measure women’s work. A woman’s work in her own household is not counted as an economic activity. As is well known. This is unlike the case of services by a paid domestic help. society undervalues these immense contributions . and a range of other activities that are crucial for the upkeep of the family. which is considered an economic activity and is counted in the national income. cooking. caring for the young and old. However. and does not get reported in the national income statistics. women’s domestic duties include childbirth. In rural areas. women’s participation in agricultural activities as self-employed workers is to supplement the falling incomes of their families during times of agrarian distress. women periodically enter and exit from agricultural work. to some extent. During this five-year period. official statistics reproduces the prejudices in the society. This is what seemed to have happened in India between 19992000 and 2004-05. the growth of agricultural incomes in the country was stagnant.made by women. Quite often. And. yet the number of self-employed female workers engaged in agriculture and related activities increased by . Thus. between 2004-05 and 2009-10. it appears that in India.17 million. possibly indicating ‘distress employment’. female employment in agriculture was not driven by any real . the number of self-employed female workers engaged in agriculture and related activities decreased by 19 million in India. during the 2000s. This decline in employment could be attributed to a modest revival in the growth of agricultural incomes and to the positive impact on rural employment and wages created by the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). On the other hand. social factors play a significant role in reducing women’s labour participation. but was part of a lastditch effort to escape impoverishment. Urban. educated women — the section of the female society that is. it is notable that labour participation is particularly low in India among urban. Husbands and in-laws often discourage women from working. Educated Women In India. in many parts of the country. . in fact. restrictions are imposed even on their movements outside the household.opportunities for income generation. while. In this context. compared to just 31 per cent among rural females with primary or middle school education. . But then female-male wage disparities exist in Japan and South Korea as well. the proportion of those attending to domestic duties (and therefore out of the labour force) was 57 per cent among urban females with graduate degrees or higher. In 2009-10.less likely to be constrained by social factors. but female labour participation has been high in these countries. What are the reasons for such a massive withdrawal of educated women from the work force? Lower wages than men could be one reason. vulnerable sectors. linked to a specific feature of India’s economic transition.7 million of the 9. This is the relatively small contribution made by the manufacturing sector to India’s GDP (gross domestic product) and employment.It appears that the factor that pushes female labour participation in India to particularly low depths is the sheer absence of suitable employment opportunities.7 million new manufacturing . Within Indian manufacturing. in turn. women’s employment is increasingly in the low-paid. The slow generation of employment is. women accounted for 3. Between 19992000 and 2004-05. A large proportion of these women were employed in the exportoriented sectors such as garmentmaking. the major source of employment for women has been in the services . However. During the post-1990 years.jobs created in the country. 3. and more than 80 per cent of those who lost their jobs were women. by 2009-10. Between 2004-05 and 2009-10. India’s manufacturing sector was suffering from a variety of problems.7 million manufacturing jobs were lost in the country. including power shortage and a slowdown in export demand from western countries. The issue of the missing women in . At the same time. only 20 per cent of the new jobs created in financing. and 10 per cent of the new jobs generated in computer and related activities during the second half of the 2000s. mainly in low-paid services such as domestic help. Sen argues that this issue points to the severe disadvantages faced by the female child in India. females accounted for only a small share of the relatively high quality jobs generated in India in recent years: for instance. Amartya Sen has written about the ‘missing women’ in India. real estate and business services during the 2000s. highlighting the low female-male ratio in the country’s population.sector. the total number of women attending to domestic duties in India was 216 million. . That is. which was larger than the entire population of Brazil. In 2009-10.India’s population has a parallel in the problem relating to the missing women in India’s workforce. the large-scale withdrawal of women from the labour force involves enormous wastage of talent and causes a huge opportunity cost to the nation. women with graduate degrees or higher numbered 12. which was more than twice the population of Singapore. Of these. Clearly.7 million. the staggering numbers of women who have withdrawn from the labour force and attend to domestic duties. Equally importantly. (Jayan Jose Thomas teaches Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.) A mix of social constraints and dearth of employment . there will also be more hands and brains to take the Indian economy forward. As more women join the workforce. the voices against gender-based inequalities will grow louder.Creating more jobs and ensuring better working conditions for women will encourage greater female participation in the economy. by the people. leading to a huge opportunity cost to the nation January 9. In India.opportunities has kept women out of the labour market. as the largest democracy in the . for the people.” embodies the spirit of democracy and the need for elected leaders who are accountable to voters for the decisions they take. 2013 Leadership that suffers a legitimacy deficit Flight Tickets 1+1 Free .com/Buy1Get1Free VINOD BHANU “Of the people.Book a Flight with MakeMyTrip and Get the next Ticket Absolutely Free Makemytrip. This represents both a threat to democracy and calls into question the legitimacy of their position. and three Chief Ministers are unelected leaders from the second chambers. Nitish Kumar (Bihar) and Prithviraj Chavan (Maharashtra). The other three CMs.). and Jammu & Kashmir. it’s ironic that the Prime Minister. Manmohan Singh (Dr. where the second chambers exist. Only six States have the bicameral legislatures: Uttar Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh. are from their second chamber (Legislative Councils). three Chief Ministers (CMs).world. Karnataka. Among these States. Singh is a Member of the Rajya Sabha). Dr. Maharashtra. Bihar. are from the .P. Akhilesh Yadav (U. pensions and facilities as the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs). interestingly. Constitutionally inferior One wonders why. It has never been able to capture the attention of the public as an indispensable body or establish itself as a house of elders with social and political wisdom. all the Members of Legislative Council (MLCs) enjoy almost the same privileges. except in the case of Prithviraj Chavan.Legislative Assemblies and directly elected by the people. The second chamber in all these States is known for its almost redundant status and abject performance. the two . However. perks. P. a follower of the great socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan. contested the Assembly and the Lok Sabha (Lower House) elections.“popular” CMs. In March 2012. though groomed into politics through a . Akhilesh Yadav and Nitish Kumar. However. Assembly elections illustrated the rise of Akhilesh Yadav as a popular leader. Nitish Kumar. highlighting a lack of democratic sensibility. he chose to be a member of the legislative council during his current chief ministership for two tenures. The story of Yadav. to the “paradox of Nitish’s identity” in politics. the U. preferred to have the membership in the Legislative Council. Throughout his political career. he has unmistakably become a young political leader worth watching. The answer is that it involves less democracy: the democratic deficit between the people and their . and its institutions and practices? The pertinent question that arises is why a chief minister or prime minister cannot be from the second chamber.dynasty politics. The question is why do young leaders have such a noncommittal attitude towards democracy. this populist leader avoided facing a direct election to the Assembly which would have given him democratic credibility. personifies the rise of virtually all young leaders in recent Indian political history. However. There are high political disagreements about the establishment or abolition or reestablishment of the legislative councils in the States. Moreover. In Tamil Nadu.representatives is too vast with serious issues of accountability. M. Karunanidhi wanted to revive the Legislative Council in the State. In Tamil Nadu. A. And it undermines the democratic integrity of the political apparatus. the former CM. . the position of the second chambers in the States is constitutionally inferior unlike the second chamber of Parliament in some respects.P. abolished in 1986 by the then CM. the Legislative Council was restored in 2007 by the Congress government.T. 1996 and 2010 failed. Two more States. The current CM. But all his attempts. in 1989. have also asked for establishing . N. the council was abolished by the then CM. Rama Rao of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Jayalalithaa. has taken a vehement stand against its revival.M. Punjab and Assam. The TDP has opposed the re-establishment of the Council and categorically stated that it would abolish it again if it returns to power. In Andhra Pradesh.G. Ramachandran of the AIADMK government. who found the council redundant and caused a massive drain to the State exchequer. In 1985. there was a large body of opinion against a second chamber in the federal parliament and the provinces. Laski’s opinion that “no safeguard necessary to the units of a federation requires the protective armor of a second . Jayaprakash Narayan was against second chambers. Although the general consensus was in favour of a single House in the States.the legislative council. pointing out Prof. the Constitution-makers had to make a compromise in favour of the provision for a second chamber in the States. For and against In the Constituent Assembly. and the request is pending before Parliament for its approval. In contrast to the above view.” The system of indirect election is pernicious. that the “need for second chamber has been felt practically all over the world wherever there are federations of any importance. . though less assertively.” yet he did not attempt to justify the existence of the second chamber on any of the commonly accepted federal grounds — such as giving equal representation to the federal states.chamber. It is also important to note that the amendment to the Representation of the People Act. N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar argued. and no second chamber has so far satisfactorily discharged the function of revising chamber. 1951 which deleted the requirement of being domicile in the State concerned for getting elected to the Council of States is clearly violating the principles of federalism. Ambedkar made amendments that drastically curtailed the powers of the second chamber in the States. since 1722. but he opined that this could be a trial or experiment in the States. With the support of prominent members in the Constituent Assembly. In the U.K. Ambedkar was not supportive of the whole concept of bicameralism. In the United Kingdom. most prime ministers had . been members of the House of Commons. successfully stood in a by-election and became a member of the House of Commons. though there are rare exceptions. government are members of the Commons. most senior members of the U. The House of Lords.K. all prime ministers have been from the Commons except once in 1963. he renounced his Lordship. who was Lord by hereditary peerage. In the Queen’s Speech 2012. Since 1902. has been heavily in the news of last year. which is a live paradox of British democracy. Soon after becoming Prime Minister. Furthermore. That year. . became the Prime Minister. Sir Alec Douglas-Home. being elected instead of nominated. and with no realistic chance of the . 2012. Prime Minister David Cameron renegaded on his earlier position and withdrew his support. has pledged to reform the House of Lords. The proposed reforms included a fundamental change to the composition of the House of Lords with most members. However. On August 6. the size or the number of Lords would be significantly cut down from about 830 to 450 (the House of Lords is the largest second chamber in the world). approximately 80 per cent of them. sensing the possible rebellion of Conservative MPs.K. Moreover.the current coalition government in the U. This would have been a historically revolutionary change. announced the decision to drop the House of Lords Reform legislation for the time being.” Further. That is democracy — and it is what people rightly expect from their politics in the 21st Century. Nick Clegg.reforms getting through the House of Commons. he added: “An unelected House of Lords flies in the face of democratic principles and public opinion. and it makes a mockery of our claim to be the mother of all democracies. the Deputy Prime Minister. While announcing it he said: “I support an elected House of Lords because I believe that those who make the laws of the land should be elected by those who have to obey the laws of the land.” . New Delhi. both Nitish Kumar and Akhilesh Yadav conspicuously failed to bring democratic legitimacy to their position. Singh’s case is the nearest analogy.From a vantage point of democracy. Dr.) When even popular netas like Akhilesh Yadav and Nitish Kumar . The views expressed are personal. Centre for Legislative Research and Advocacy. (Vinod Bhanu is Executive Director. lacking a chance for a democratic recourse. as they are not directly elected by the people. Odisha waits to receive coupons . but are not a magic bullet’ Pension Plans .Policybazaar. remain unelected they undermine the democratic integrity of the political system January 10.com SANDEEP JOSHI A tribal woman in Rayagada.000 only& Get 63 Lacs Compare All Plans with SBI Life SBIPension.choose to legislators. 2013 ‘Cash transfers can help make India less unequal.Invest 50. directly to the bank or post office accounts of beneficiaries. fertilizer and kerosene at a later stage. many schemes that are not directly cash transfer schemes also work mainly .to purchase subsidised rice from a fair price shop. —PHOTO: AP Amartya Sen —PHOTO: M. Will the scheme work? Cash transfer can be a good way of helping the poor in many circumstances. There are also talks of direct transfer of subsidies for food. Indeed. pensions. etc. VEDHAN The Union Government has launched the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) programme to give benefits like scholarships. NREGA wages. It cannot be sensible to be generically against cash transfer schemes. Cash is easy to handle and can be. such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme. in many cases.through cash transfer. easily monitored. the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) programme is a particular scheme of cash transfer. which certainly has helped the poor through creating jobs and generating cash income for a great many poor people in rural India. in a country with a lot of poverty and a commitment to use public money to make the very poor a bit less poor. and we have to ask what it may be displacing and whether the losers will not be plunged into more . However. If. it is instead of subsidised food. and also. but also how much. . and for whom. There is also another issue — that of the distributional effects of different kinds of benefits within the family. instead of what. There is a good deal of empirical evidence to suggest that direct access to food tends to favour children rather than only the adults. for example. we have to make sure that the people who depend on cheaper food will have enough cash to buy the unsubsidised food. working against biased social priorities. common in the subcontinent. It is not the modality of cash transfer that is the only issue. favouring adults over children. and also girls rather than only the boys.poverty. and is given “instead of” food subsidies. even if it is made sure that cash transfers will work in a way that meets these difficulties. If the cash transfer is not additional to food subsidies. it would be important to make sure that the money given would be used for nutritional purposes and. Further. especially if there is a time lag in opening an account in a bank. there may still be a serious problem of transition. or in a post .and boys over girls. that it would be divided within the family in a way that addresses the manifest problems of undernourishment and deprivation of young girls. equally importantly. which is a long-standing problem in Indian society. the poor who fail to open an account adequately fast. All this is in addition to the long-run problems of the modality of cash transfer.office. The transition problem need not be impossible to handle. to receive the cash transferred. for one reason or another. If. the subsidised food disappears. as . meanwhile. bearing in mind that many of the poorer Indians lead a life of hand-to-mouth existence. including distributional issues. but attention will have to be paid to that. will lose doubly through not having the cash yet. and through the fact that others will have the cash to buy food which would keep the food prices high. and any delay in the period of transition may plunge some people into extreme hardship. The Government’s decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail is being hotly debated in the country. While the Congress favours it saying it would give a much-needed boost to the economy and help farmers. What precautions does the government . but it is not a magic bullet.well as the adequacy of the amounts of cash transferred. and its pros and cons have to be assessed and scrutinised with an open mind. Cash transfer can be a very useful system to supplement other ways of making India a less unequal society. the BJP and its allies are against it saying it would badly hurt small retailers and farmers. It is not a question of having some abstract principle of “no FDI” — nor one of “any FDI of any kind.need to take while allowing FDI in multi-brand retail? The first thing to note is that FDI is neither an evil in itself nor a boon in every form. The case for it depends on its actual impact. It is not like . So the issue absolutely is not one of having a generic attitude of being against FDI or being in favour of FDI. and that in turn will depend on the choice of field. and how it would influence the priorities of economic policies in India. anywhere.” irrespective of the impact of any particular FDI on the lives of the people involved. the amount of money that might come this way. ” I can see many areas in which FDI has done good work — and can do more — and other areas in which its effect may be far from beneficial. As far as multi-brand retail is concerned. it . I would expect. This change would certainly help marketing many types of products and would tend to be favoured by. or against. it is a difficult field. and it is a pity that the broader issue of the attitude to FDI has taken the particular form of asking whether one is in favour of. farmers and others seeking a large retail outlet. Walmart and other large foreign retail firms becoming a dominant part of the Indian retail distribution.favouring “motherhood” or opposing “Satanism. On the other hand. That is not an easy issue to resolve.is very likely that many smaller outlets. When there are both arguments that are “pro” and some that are “con” about a particular policy change. but I do have a firm . a good policymaker has to take into account both kinds of effects and evaluate whether the overall impact benefits or harms the Indian people. like local grocer shops will be hit adversely by the large competition from organised — and sometimes predatory — retail giants. but of course all planning and all policymaking involve such evaluation. I don’t have a strong view in favour of some fixed conclusion on this particular subject. A really serious scrutiny is needed rather than just saying “I am in favour of FDI in retail distribution” or “I am against it.” Recent months have seen widespread anti-corruption demonstrations. That is a very positive achievement. How should corruption be tackled? It is wonderful that people are taking the issue of corruption seriously. The fact that people have been coming out in the streets protesting and recognising . The issue cannot be resolved by taking a generally “pro” or “anti” attitude about FDI in general.conviction that the subject demands public reasoning and critical scrutiny. Corruption need not be an inescapable part of Indian life. street protest is one thing. then that certainly calls for protest and exposure of the crooks. If you have to give money in order to get something to which you are really entitled.this to be a problem is very important because along with that can come a better understanding of how bad things are in India. However. and we should not accept it on some fatalistic ground that this is the way things are in our country. and street justice is quite another. not for any kind of quiet acceptance. and out of that can come the search for a better identification of how corruption can be stopped or checked. The punitive system has . first. There couldn’t be someone who is above the law. It is a question of how the anticorruption measures can be integrated into the democratic legal structure of India. above the courts — someone whom even the Indian Supreme Court cannot touch. There is also a need for making the practical morality of day-to-day work more responsive to the ethical demands of social living — there is no reason why corruption should . The remedy of corruption must involve.to work through our judicial system. making the institutions and decisional practices such that they do not encourage — or tolerate — corruption.
[email protected] . and there is much greater opportunity to make use of Indian democratic means.generate less stigma and less public shame in India than in other countries where such behaviour is far less common. including the “Right to Information” to bring about the kind of change that would be effective (rather than only satisfy the desire “to punish the guilty”).co. There is a very strong case for paying much more attention to the possibilities of institutional change and also to steps towards attitudinal reorientation. sandeep. We need more than just a system of punishment. Informational availability is very important to fight corruption. Keystoneenergytools.com SUDHA MAHALINGAM With the Aadhaar-based direct cash transfer scheme facing so many glitches in implementation. 2013 A sop that does not help Keystone Energy Tools Manufactures Drill Pipe Elevators Same Day Quotes. Expedited Shipping www. any hopes that the country’s energy sector can soon dismount .‘We should not accept corruption on some fatalistic ground that this is the way things are in our country.’ January 10. when the government dismantled the costplus administered pricing mechanism in the petroleum sector and linked petroleum product prices to import parity.the subsidy tiger it has been riding so dangerously have receded into the background. petroleum subsidies too began with good intentions but soon spun out of control. In 2002. the next logical step would have been to extend it to leaky petroleum subsidies in order to limit them only to those who need and deserve to be subsidised. it chose to subsidise through the . ‘Lifeline energy’ Like all subsidies. Had the Aadhaar scheme worked satisfactorily. at the behest of the government. The subsidy was extended to every domestic LPG connection.budget. In an unforeseen development. failed to make the crucial distinction between those households that could pay the economic cost of cooking fuels and those that couldn’t. So far so good. deregulation of petroleum . The rationale was that these constituted ‘lifeline’ energy which had to be supplied to all households irrespective of their ability to pay for it. the oil marketing companies. But then. Kerosene subsidy was extended to every ration card holder whether BPL or not. two products — kerosene and LPG. which accounts for almost 90 per cent of product cost. this has resulted in perverse outcomes not envisaged . Consequently. Apart from spiralling budgetary subsidies. product prices had to be revised frequently to keep up with rising crude prices. From around $23. prices went up to more than $115 in 2012. That encouraged rapid increases in LPG penetration to households as well as subsidised kerosene allocations through ration cards.65 for a barrel of Indian basket crude in March 2002. both LPG and kerosene were insulated from such price increases to a very large extent.product prices in India coincided with a steady and steep increase in the global price of crude. However. drivers and a host of other blue-collar workers who live in our cities and towns have access to LPG connections. all one has to do is to just ask around to find out how many domestic maids. helpers. cleaners. basically because they cannot produce an identity proof or give residence proof without which their neighbourhood gas agency would not even countenance their application. So. Most of them don’t. While LPG penetration on the records of oil marketing companies soared.when these subsidies were first introduced. they . Many are itinerant workers and even those that are not rarely have a lease document for their rented homes. And they pay at least five times the price of a subsidised LPG cylinder. who are often culpable by default. worse. those who don’t need the subsidy — basically. the middle class — often have more than a single LPG connection. . Some of the supplies accessed by the illegal neighbourhood gas shop may come from these middle class households with more than one connection. not get it. Not only does this class.end up procuring 5 kilo empty cylinders from the market which they fill illegally (and dangerously) every few days from their friendly gas shop in the same neighbourhood. which most needs the subsidised cooking fuel. Enterprising private car-owners illegally convert their car engines to run on subsidised LPG meant for cooking. it is supplied to commercial eateries and.Diversion of cooking gas Most households can get by with a single LPG cylinder a month and they do not draw their second subsidised entitlement of LPG. enabling the gas agency to divert it to whomsoever it chooses. More often than not. for a premium. at times. The oil marketing companies came up with Auto LPG cylinders to be sold at commercial rates. but it has been a cat and mouse game . even established hotels which are supposed to get the bigger 19 kg cylinder at commercial prices. They constitute a valuable vote-bank. The ensuing rents have created a chain of beneficiaries all of whom have a stake in keeping LPG prices subsidised. Only now oil marketing companies are waking up to the bane of multiple LPG connections in urban households which they are trying to weed out. The attempts to limit the number of subsidised LPG cylinders have witnessed some policy flip-flops. Even though currently piped gas is . piped gas is not.between the OMCs and the flourishing illegal LPG market. While LPG is subsidised. Yet another perverse outcome of LPG subsidisation is the crowding out of piped gas in cities. shrewd consumers foresee a steep increase in piped cooking gas prices. cannot be diverted to other consumers and is safer than LPG in cylinders. especially after the collapse of domestic gas production from KG basin. Yet piped gas is a far superior option compared to LPG. Eventually. piped gas prices will also go up as more and more city gas companies are sourcing LNG (liquefied natural gas) from international markets. It is uninterrupted. CNG prices in Delhi have more than doubled in the last three years. Shrewd households used to subsidised cooking fuels are actually refusing piped gas connections.cheaper than even subsidised LPG. Many a city gas distribution company has complained about . But only a part of it reaches the intended beneficiaries. Kerosene subsidy has also produced equally perverse outcomes. pushing the former into diesel tanks of cars. Kerosene mixed with diesel defies easy detection. reducing their efficiency. It is estimated that half of all subsidised kerosene goes to adulterate diesel in cars and trucks. the price differential between subsidised kerosene and diesel is indeed very significant. Unsurprisingly. lorries and trucks.lackadaisical response to their efforts to expand pipeline connections. At Rs. 27 a litre. Unlike LPG diversion . ration outlets report full drawal of subsidised kerosene quota. Even though diesel prices were linked to import parity prices from 2002 onwards. The most egregious perverse outcome of the government’s misguided subsidy regime. they were not revised in tandem with global crude prices . kerosene diversion is controlled by mafia-like operations often with local political patronage. Corruption at all levels has ensured that chemical markers that would distinguish subsidised kerosene from the rest used in other industries get neutralised within a few weeks of their introduction. pertains to diesel which is not even a cooking fuel.which takes place at the level of the dealers and gas agencies. however. even by-polls. Diesel cars . thanks to the invisible hand of government restraining the oil marketing companies. as a result of which the gap between domestic market price of diesel and its import parity price begins to widen. Diesel is used in irrigation pumpsets used by agriculture and in public transportation. can make the government jittery about raising diesel prices. giving rise to an implicit subsidy borne primarily by the oil marketing companies. especially trucks and the railways. Frequent elections to State Assemblies.except in the initial two years. Cashing in on this unexpected windfall. one study found that 40 per cent of the diesel used in the country is by diesel cars. car manufacturers have been flooding the Indian market with diesel-fuelled cars. Cheap diesel. endangering the environment as well as human lives. primarily meant for freight. a more economical way to transport goods. Initially these addressed the urban taxicab segments but. even luxury brands have come up with diesel-fuelled models to entice the fuel-price sensitive consumers. not to speak of the quantum . has also led to indiscriminate increase in truck-borne traffic as opposed to rail-borne freight. Indian highways are perpetually clogged with truck traffic. gradually. In fact. up from 35. the automobile manufacturers skim a substantial chunk of the subsidy by pricing diesel cars considerably higher than their petrol counterparts.19 in FY 2002. In fact.7 per cent in FY 2011. That apart.jumps in diesel consumption in recent years. 60 per cent of the diesel consumed in the country is accounted for by the transportation sector. Diesel car output growth has outpaced growth of petrol-driven private cars so much so that the diesel automobile lobby is threatening to become a forceful voice in ensuring that diesel remains a subsidised fuel. The vehicle owner pays an upfront . The share of diesel in the petroleum fuel basket rose to 43. premium which unduly enriches the automobile manufacturer. If the government is serious about fuel subsidies reaching only the intended beneficiaries. kerosene and diesel have resulted in perverse outcomes not envisaged when they were introduced January 10. a very perverse outcome indeed. it must act fast to curb these unintended and perverse outcomes. Subsidies on cooking gas. (The writer is an independent energy analyst and a former petroleum regulator). 2013 He gave us back our dignity . Claim your Free Reading from this accurate & talented Astrologer now AboutAstro.com/horoscope PREMA NANDAKUMAR SOURCE OF INSPIRATION:Swami Vivekananda faced innumerable difficulties and disappointments in moves towards women’s empowerment and caste equality. But right now. Does one write deliberately as a woman or man when taking up pen and paper? I do not know. The Indian woman who has held up the torch of cultured living for millennia . I am writing as an Indian woman.Horoscope for all 2013 . but he won in the end. it might do more harm than good to the position of women in India. They have both infused in me the needed strength to face life despite scores of disappointments. 2013). if used unthinkingly as Sanjay Srivastava has done ( The Hindu . as though telling me: are you a weakling? You are as strong as this . incredible feats of physical and mental endurance and abiding compassion. Op-Ed. Two portraits have been constant companions in my longish life as a housewife and writer. rider on the lion. I know that the pen is a sacred object. “Taking the aggression out of masculinity.through self-sacrifice. One is the figure of Bharat Mata.” January 3. frustrations and tragedies. land. Is she not the child of Mother Earth? The other portrait has been that of Swami Vivekananda.” It is a message for men and women of India. our strength of purpose and reminded us again that no woman is a zero. Inspired . Never give up! I learnt the connection between nature and the Indian woman when I read Sita say in Kavisamrat Viswanatha Satyanarayana’s Sri Ramayana Kalpavrikshamu that she has no fear of rivers and forests. Yes. our education. with the caption: “Strength is life: weakness is death. indeed it was Swami Vivekananda who gave us back our dignity as women. endowed with hurrying streams and gleaming orchards. Certainly. took part in the Gandhian movement in vast numbers and became equal partners in work everywhere. glorious page for Indian women.by him. Hence. the editor of the page . They educated themselves. I began reading the article. they preferred not to jettison the received tradition that had helped them all along not go down under during the dark centuries in the past. a host of social reformers all over India opened a new. when I opened the Op-Ed page of The Hindu on January 3 and saw the familiar portrait of Swami Vivekananda and the photograph of young ladies full of the joy of life performing a ritual. Interestingly enough. I realised how childish an academician can be. and how cobwebbed his mind is when studying the history of the Indian society. the author makes the pompous (almost laughable) statement: “Swami Vivekananda’s masculine photographic-pose was only one aspect of the cult of masculinity encouraged and tolerated by nationalism.had succeeded in drawing the immediate attention of readers.” What the picture represents Actually Prof Srivastava can sit down with a whole portfolio of all the available photographs of the . After I began reading it. After a good bit of verbiage trying to sound knighterrantish by repeating the word masculine. The one used for the article has eyes gazing with compassion at the sorrows inflicted upon Indian women. . He was able to teach even the westerners to look upon women as mothers. He will not find even one which will fit in with his boorish description. He had travelled all over India as a parivrajaka and endured untold hardships and realised that two things in Indian society needed immediate rectification: the condition of women and the condition of Dalits.Swami and peruse each one of them. Towards achieving women’s empowerment and caste equality he faced innumerable difficulties and disappointments but he won in the end. and a determination to help them overcome it. Lila. So shall we bring to the need of India great fearless women — women worthy to continue the traditions of Sanghamittra. women were not playthings for men. and Mira Bai — women fit to be mothers of heroes.” Not ‘male-worship’ . not an accumulation of words. “… a development of faculty. Ahalya Bai. because they are pure and selfless. or as a training of individuals to will rightly and efficiently.According to him. according to him. and women’s problems could be solved by true education. which was. strong with the strength that comes of touching the feet of God. As for Prof. It was Swami Vivekananda who brought to India committed women like Sister Nivedita and Sister Christine whose work for women’s education was truly monumental. Not only has the Indian woman received education but she also knows what is good for her. Srivastava’s characterisation of Karva-Chauth as male-worship. one of the works . in inherited culture. removing fear and ignorance which had imprisoned them till then.Such inspiration flowing from him through the nationalist movement laid the red carpet welcome to women to join the Gandhian movement. does he not know that when Sister Subbulakshmi Ammal founded the Sarada Home (Widow’s Home) in 1912 at Madras. herself a child widow. yoga. Is tying a rakhi to a brother to be considered as male-worship? . studies and rituals. Celebrations of joy and the reaffirmation of holy ties is not male-worship. Sister Subbulakshmi wanted the inmates to empower themselves with education and self-discipline to face life which was very harsh to the widow of those days. In the same way. she found that Savitri empowered herself before facing Yama by a tri-rattra vrata which was a discipline of meditation. Such attempts to degrade beautiful traditions is a perversion of the mind.she made her inmates study was the story of Savitri and Satyavan in the Mahabharata? It was because. Claim your Free Reading from this accurate & talented Astrologer now AboutAstro. who sport many wives. They are a dime a dozen today. he can have his choice from the various glossy advertisements for men’s vests and motorcycles. If he wants portraits on the same subject. 2013 We must be more open in evaluating our heritage Horoscope for all 2013 .com/horoscope SANJAY SRIVASTAVA . January 11.If Professor Srivastava wants examples of macho icons. let him seek them in the likes of Dasaratha. He ought to know that serious sociological research is not achieved by mudslinging. ” January 3. “Taking the aggression out of masculinity. Rather. though the majority of respondents have taken that to be its focus. The article was only tangentially about Swami Vivekananda. 2013). I have been subjected to a great deal of personalised comments for an article I wrote in this newspaper (Op-Ed. Over the past week or so. It is just as important to hold fast to values of social justice and independent and civil debate.It is proper that The Hindu publishes different shades of opinion. The significant thing for me is not the nature of the attacks on my scholarship or motivations. it concerns the question: why is it that we are willing to . ” January 10. 2013). “He gave us back our dignity. to use Prema Nandakumar’s terminology in her article in The Hindu (Op-Ed. those currently protesting against the impact of masculine cultures upon women. However. activists. indeed. So. let me begin by saying that the opinions I expressed are not idiosyncratic and individual ones but are based upon what I have learnt from a large number of scholars. there is a considerable . journalists and. but not others? Indian culture is not fragile There are no simple answers to this.countenance minute examination of the life and beliefs of public figures such as Gandhiji and Nehru. And further.number of “childish” and “boorish” people — such as myself — who believe that Indian culture is no fragile object that will self-destruct at the slightest hint of critical examination. Second. There would. has been the beauty of a complex culture such as ours. be no questioning of attitudes of earlier generations by the current ones and certainly very little . then. That. that there is no one version of Indian culture that we should take as representative of what constitutes Indian-ness. my article was written in the spirit that no social creativity is possible if we continue to cherish ‘our’ culture simply because it is our culture. historically. Motherhood should. However. Nandakumar — that women should be “pure and selfless” ever get applied in the same way to men? Sadly. of course.questioning prejudices. rather than an example of the high status enjoyed by women in Indian society. Nandakumar implies that ideal Indian womanhood lies in the person of the mother. does the idea — quoted approvingly by Dr. Put another way. be respected. I would like to suggest that the elevation of motherhood to the status of an ideal is part of the problem we need to address. our crime statistics are full of women . of gendered Dr. Dr. brothers are very keen to overlook “the reaffirmation of holy ties” (as she puts it). Nandakumar is entitled to her opinion about what constitutes “serious sociological research.” I can only say that while this may be an undeniable aspect for many women. I certainly do not believe that I was indulging in “mudslinging” though.who have suffered the wrath of family and community justice for being “impure.” .” Regarding rituals — such as Raksha-bandhan and Karva-chauth — that she characterises as “celebrations of joy. a good number also come to the sad realisation that when it comes to providing a share of family property. of course. and. It was a plea My article was not — I must emphasise — about Swami Vivekananda. The voices of many protesting young women — can they all be as “childish” as Dr. I wonder if Swami Vivekananda would have . the norms of the past are not always a good guide for this task. Rather. it was a plea to be more open in evaluating Indian heritage.However. any serious appraisal of social and cultural norms must consist of thinking about what is appropriate for the problems of the present. Nandakumar says of me? — seem to suggest as much. In any case. Nandakumar means in stating that I try to sound “Knighterrantish by repeating the word masculine” (Knight-errants are not the kinds of figures I would wish to emulate!).preferred to be considered an infallible godlike figure rather than a complex human being with multiple dimensions. . I certainly hope that others — both women and men — who share my “cobwebbed” perspectives will also make public their own opinions and attitudes. will be an important way of ensuring that a life extinguished through an act of indescribable violence has not gone to waste. while I do not quite understand what Dr. That. Is that not a lesson Swami Vivekananda might himself have imparted? Finally. I believe. 4K p. . and self-hate at its own impotence. Buy Now PolicyMagic.co.” says Strang. watching his victim’s eyes.January 11. “That was what she reminded me of.in PRAVEEN SWAMI “I remember seeing a documentary about some animal being eaten from behind while its face seemed to register disbelief. the rapist at the centre of Irvine Welsh’s supremely disturbing Marabou Stork Nightmares .Invest Rs 4.m. fear. 2013 The rapist in the mirror LlC Jeevan Anand Plan .” recalls Roy Strang. of one of his victims. in LlC Jeevan Anand Plan Get Good Return. Yet. to start looking at the rapist in the mirror. predictably. Last month’s gang rape in New Delhi has focussed nationwide attention on the epidemic proportions of sexual violence against women in India.” “dead. there have been only the awkward beginnings of a discussion on the problem itself — men. Long overdue debates on criminal justice and gender have begun — along.“frozen. with bizarre calls for schoolgirls’ bodies to be concealed under overcoats and curfews. It is time. .” through the mirror he forced her to hold up to her face as he raped her. though. Rituals of masculinity To anyone familiar with young men in India’s cities and towns. in the United States. 53. For many youth worldwide. 55 per cent are below the age of 30. violence against women — a spectrum that runs from gang rape to domestic violence and street sexual harassment — is part of the system of masculinitymaking rituals. drinking and brawling. 58 per cent of men arrested for rape in India in 2010 were aged 18-30.92 per cent of men held that year for molestation or sexual harassment were also from the same age group. . Strang’s world is far from alien. along with sport. This is not to suggest that a dysfunctional masculinity is the root of rape. not who they are. is something rapists do. strange behaviour “always has a context. though. Yet. few human behaviours have a single cause. we know that this cohort of young men have made homes and streets the site of a pervasive gender terrorism. as Welsh noted. and may never be.” Five such contexts suggest themselves as possible . Rape. from the testimonies of women. Precisely why particular individuals find pleasure in inflicting violence on women is a question everyone from evolutionary biologists to cultural theorists have weighed in on. there is no consensus. Yet. find themselves fighting for space in an economy that . able to lead an adult life characterised by agency and individual choice. The consequence is a deep rage that manifests itself in nihilist behaviours.keys to the production of India’s urban-male dysfunction. its agency as workers was not. worked on the land or were artisans. prospectless men. produced a mass of young. these contexts ensure young men are rarely fully weaned. The young. Though this generation’s position in the economy may have been inequitable. Together. many first-generation migrants to cities. firstly. The parents of these children. though. India’s transforming urban economy has. now target élites. we must look at culture. Increasingly. movie theatre prices exclude large parts of the youth population. Frequently coddled in son-worshipping parents.offers mainly casual work. Even the pressures on middleclass and lower middle-class men are enormous. young men are only rarely able to realise the investment and hopes vested in them. For a second context to hyperviolent masculinity. cities have no recreational spaces for young men. There is . This casualisation has come about even as hard-pressed parents are spending ever more on education. Films. long one of the few cultural activities that a workingclass audience could participate in. this social crisis has been linked to sexual violence. a number of young men. are being brought up by no-parent families — families that fathers have abandoned or are largely absent from. Elsewhere in the world. too. In its place. found most had deprived childhoods marked by “physical and emotional abuse. music and sport. particularly in new urban slums.diminishing access to theatre. Thirdly. and where mothers work long hours. the street becomes the stage for acting out adulthood. art. in a 2010 study of child rapists.” . South African researcher Amelia Kleijn. as well as neglect. through substance abuse and violence. have access to a sexual culture which allows them sexual freedoms or choices.Fourth. the sexually independent woman is thus enemy to be annihilated. Few men. the rape-valorising rap star Honey Singh voices his yearning to kick a woman after raping her. there is a crisis of sexuality. In his hit song C**t. working class or rich. Strang sees on the streets a wash of “blonde and auburn wigs. Similarly. but never hope to participate in. lipstick smeared on . The crisis is exacerbated by the fact that sections of urban élites participate in a sexual culture which is relatively liberal — a culture that young men can watch on television and in public spaces. For some. to drive out the bhoot of ego from her head. are giving new lethality to gender inequity.” Commodities Young men of all classes. Particular stresses linked to the reordering of India’s social fabric. though. finally. he argued. In a 2008 paper. Economic policies. Jon Wolseth showed how neoliberalism created the conditions for a murderous surge of youth gang violence in the Honduras during the 1980s.those deadly pincer-like insect jaws. None of these five contexts is new. had . see women as status-enhancing commodities — emulating the long-standing gender privileges tradition has vested in élite men. not just impoverished the poor. women’s bodies appear to have become the principal terrain on which male rage is venting itself. it was 38. diminished public spaces and closed the door to political participation. Elsewhere in Latin America.937 men between 18 and 30 were arrested for murder.961. according to the National Crime Records Bureau. In India. scholars have observed much the same. In 2011. Twenty years earlier. It isn’t that young Indian men are inherently violent than they were in the past. they also tore apart community networks. In 1991. 29. . Evangelical Christianity and the assault riflearmed gang emerged as mode of liberation. Molestation and sexual harassment arrests from this cohort have also almost doubled. in 2011. that the large-scale disempowerment of urban men is .528 in 2011. rape. obviously. the figure was 72. rather. The point here is. the cause of sexual violence: women aren’t responding to their disenfranchisement by attacking men. to 32. and do. Lacking agency isn’t. 16. from 23.075 in 1992.602 men of this age group were arrested for rioting. trends the other way.270. though. men with power can.581 in 2011. the first year for which data is available. Sexual violence data.867. 8.864 18-30 men were arrested for rape in 1991. Illusion of empowerment For many men. Marxist scholar Antonio Gramsci noted that Fascism arose in a society “where mothers educate their infant children by hitting them on the head with clogs.” How men behave — on the streets with women. points to a wider malaise. then. fixing feelings of rage and impotence. violence against women works much as drugs do for addicts: it offers at least the illusion of empowerment where none exists. In our society.lending intensity to a pre-existing culture of sexual violence. violence is not an . with other men. in turn. with animals — is taught. This. For the overwhelming majority of Indian children.477 children to learn of their experience of abuse. It is a staggering fact: half of all Indians have encountered abuse before they became adults. the education in violence begins in the family. it is the tie that binds us.245 children who did not go to school located home as a source . The survey found 59 per cent of the 2.aberration. over half of them boys. the Ministry of Women and Child Development surveyed 12.99 per cent of children. reported suffering physical violence. In 2007. again a majority boys. One in 12 children. reported suffering sexual violence. 68. at work. Maulana Azad Medical College researcher Deepti Pagare discovered.163 school children surveyed said they received beatings along with classes in maths. interestingly. More than 65 per cent of the 3. In each of these categories.7 per . that 76. were significantly less cruel than teachers.of violence. In institutions like orphanages. Employers of child labourers. 58.7 per cent of working children said they experienced beatings at home. the survey recorded levels of violence very similar to homes. science and languages. or both. during a survey of boys at New Delhi’s Child Observation Home. boys were overrepresented. Elsewhere in the world. Look through Delhi’s crime statistics. won’t cut it: respect for women can emerge only from a culture that genuinely values rights for all.cent reported physical abuse. Moral sermons. and you will find not one father prosecuted for everyday crimes against his son. though. Half of them actually bore clinical evidence of violence — the perpetrators. India needs a masculinity that does not involve violence. figures like these would almost certainly have provoked a national scandal — followed by demands of criminal prosecutions. . their own fathers. in more than half of all cases. though. If we are to combat sexual violence in our cities. 2013 Towards a progressive interpretation of Islam Flight Tickets 1+1 Free . it is time to begin discussing the dysfunctions of young urban men January 11. FAIZUR RAHMAN .Book a Flight with MakeMyTrip and Get the next Ticket Absolutely Free Makemytrip.com/Buy1Get1Free A. marriage is the bonding of two minds which cannot be achieved simultaneously with more than one woman. —PHOTO: A. Nadeem Khan case) Delhi’s Additional Sessions Judge Dr.M. priests and maulvis “to ensure that the religious texts are progressively interpreted and to confirm that it is only those beneficial practices which are in the best interest of all sections of humanity which are encouraged and observed.” She was dismissing the anticipatory bail application of a Maulvi accused of forcibly . FARUQUI In a significant judgment pronounced last month (in State vs. Kamini Lau called upon religious heads.IN COMPANIONSHIP:In the Koranic conception. Lau’s order lies in her scholarly refutation of the medieval belief that polygyny enjoys blanket sanction in Islam. The judge’s remarks.marrying a young Muslim girl to an already married man who raped her soon after the Nikah. The Koran’s conditional endorsement of polygamy stresses that self- . Citing Muslim scriptures the judge avers that “polygamy is neither mandatory nor encouraged but merely permitted. were in response to the maulvi’s defence that there was nothing illegal about his performing the Nikah because the Shariah permitted a Muslim man to have four wives at a time. The importance of Dr. which form part of her eloquent 14-page order. except conditional polygyny.” Historical context Dr. Yet Muslim men have abused it over centuries without appreciating the spirit . polygyny itself finds mention just once (4:3) in the entire Koran. the Koran frowns upon all types of nonmonogamous relationships within in and outside marriage.interest or sexual desire should not be the reason for entering into a polygamous marriage” because the original purpose of allowing this practice was “to protect the social and financial standing of the widows and orphans in their community. Indeed. Significantly. Lau is absolutely right in her analysis. or substituting their “worthless properties for the good .behind its exceptional sanction. Even a simple reading of verses 4: 2. which is clearly contextualised in the historical conditions of the time when a large number of women were widowed and children orphaned as Muslims suffered heavy casualties in defending the nascent Islamic community in Medina. 3 and 127 will show that it was under such circumstances that the Koran allowed conditional polygyny to protect orphans and their mothers from an exploitative society. Verse 4:2 warns caretakers against devouring the assets of orphans either by merging them with their own. ones” of the orphans.” The sanctity of taking care of widows and their children is further emphasised in 4:127: “And remember what has been rehearsed unto you in the Book *in 4:2 and 3+ concerning the orphans of women to whom you give not what is prescribed. the instruction of the Koran was: “Then *marry+ only one.. For those who are not up to it.” This proves . the next verse allows them to marry their widowed mothers — on the condition that the new family would be dealt justly on a par with the existing one. and yet whom you desire to marry. if the caretakers “fear that they may not be able to do justice” to the interests of the orphans in isolation.. And. in the Koranic conception. thereby emphasising monogamy. Thus.that verse 4:3 is not a hedonistic license to marry several women. which traces the origin of man to a single cell ( nafsan waahida ). Restricted in many countries . In fact. the Koran idyllically describes the marital couple as “spousal mates” created to find “quiet of mind” (7:189) and “to dwell in tranquillity” (30:21) in the companionship of each other. Furthermore. refers to the wife in the singular as zaujaha . marriage is the emotional bonding of two minds which cannot be achieved simultaneously with more than one woman. verse 7:189. can contract another marriage without the permission in writing of the Arbitration Council — a body consisting of representatives of each of the parties to a matter dealt with under the Ordinance — which would grant the sanction applied for after satisfying itself that the proposed marriage is necessary and just. Lau in support of her judgment. 6 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance. In Pakistan for instance. Sec. 1961 states that no man. . during the subsistence of an existing marriage. a fact pointed out by Dr.For this reason polygyny is severely restricted in many Muslim countries and totally banned in Tunisia and Turkey. ” Once again she has hit the nail on the head. Merely because the Muhammadan Personnel Law does not stand codified. “… in democratic India.The Indian Muslim community is perhaps the only Islamic society in the world where utter confusion prevails insofar as the proper definition of Shariah is concerned. One fails to understand why the Muslim clerics have always sought to straitjacket the time-transcending polysemic phraseology of the Koran and restrict its meaning to outdated . it is time to clear certain misconceptions and misgivings regarding Islam. Judge Lau brings this up saying. it does not in any manner entitle a violator/ accused to get away with an interpretation which suits his convenience. It is no wonder that a verse in the Koran (25:30) visualises Prophet Muhammad as complaining to God on the Day of Judgment that after his demise his followers had circumscribed the comprehensive message of the Koran. one is reminded of the valiant attempt made by the great 14th century jurist Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi of Muslim Spain who in his celebrated legal treatise alMuwafaqaat fi usool al-Shariah developed the concept of Maslaha (public good) as an essential element of his doctrine Maqaasid al-Shariah (Goals of the Shariah) which he formulated to make Islamic law adaptable to social change. Shatibi argued that an .medieval hermeneutics. In this context. Hence. Therefore. even a staunch traditionalist like Ibn al-Qayyim agreed with Shatibi. In his I’laam al-muwaqqi’in he wrote: “The Shariah is all justice. any law that does not have Maslaha as its basis cannot be attributed to the Lawgiver.inductive analysis of the injunctions of the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet would reveal that Maslaha is the universal principle that permeates Islam because. good) of the people. any rule that departs from justice to injustice…from Maslaha . Surprisingly. the divine intent behind societal sharaa’i (laws) is the masaalih (benefits. kindness. both immediate and future. masaalih and hikma *wisdom+. It is time Muslim theologians realised that any interpretation of Islam that is amoral.to Mafsada Shariah…” is not part of It can. cannot claim to represent the Divine Will. and therefore. (A. unfair and inconsistent with principles of natural justice and social ethics. does not deserve to be epitomised as the Shariah . be stated with a fair amount of certainty that the stagnation of Islamic law in India is a result of ignoring the relevance of public interest in lawmaking. Faizur Rahman is secretary general of the Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate . therefore. 2013 From ‘incredible India’ to ‘area of darkness’ Free Classifieds in India Everything you want. everything you need: Try OLX Free Classifieds! www.com ) E-mail: The Delhi court judge who rejected bail to a maulvi in a forcible marriage case was right in saying that there is no blanket sanction for polygamy in the Koran January 12.Thought.olx.in HASAN SUROOR . faizz@rocketmail. Not this year. and the “warmth” of its people. — PHOTO: REUTERS It is the time of the year when British holidaymakers return from India after their Christmas break singing praises of its extraordinary “natural” beauty.VOICES:A protest outside the Indian High Commission in London. The Delhi gang rape case has dealt a blow to the romanticised picture-perfect image of a country — at once exotic and modern — and turned . though. Almost apologetic references to its “massive” poverty are sought to be cushioned with breathless admiration for the “gritty courage” of its poor in the face of so much adversity. she said. she loved. Rosie Millard said: “To the casual visitor. “Indian women need a cultural earthquake”) and British correspondents’ reports from Delhi.the spotlight on its cultural “fault lines. the unfolding of this scandal in one of the world’s great . In newspaper headlines (“A society in crisis”.” No more the new India A woman journalist. wrote of her disillusionment with a country that.” especially the “misogyny” of its men. Writing more in anguish than anger. there’s a whiff of Naipaul’s infamous description of India as “an area of darkness. just back from a vacation in India. “The agony of India’s daughters”. only to find it covers a charnel house. with a great train system to boot? It seemed so on previous visits. but forward-looking. loving to all things.civilisations — one held up as a modern economic wonder as well as a historic and cultural one — is rather like picking up a beautiful bejewelled quilt.” The truth is that the hype over the “new” post-liberalisation India that had become the stuff of celebratory cover stories and Sunday supplements fizzled out long ago amid concerns over “stalled economic reforms” and corruption highlighted by the Anna Hazare campaign. cultured and above all. The Delhi outrage has fed into that — the . Isn’t India meant to be a muddle. ” A letter to The Times “There’s something uncomfortably neocolonial about the way the Delhi gang-rape and . and assert western “cultural superiority. A common theme of the commentary here on the rape case has been that India needs a radical cultural makeover for it to be taken seriously as a truly modern 21st century nation — a narrative that some believe seeks to portray violence against women as a particular problem of “uncivilized” nations.perception that the more India changes the more it remains the same. pulled back by outdated instincts. in The Guardian . While India’s civil and political spheres are alight with protest and demands for changes to the country’s culture of sexual violence. lionise our own.S. and U. commentators here are using the event to simultaneously demonise Indian society. and minimise the enormity of western rape culture. media.” wrote Emer O’Toole of Royal Holloway College.K. America and a host of other countries wrote a joint letter to The Times objecting to the comments of its columnist Libby . More than 100 international academics from India. University of London. Britain.subsequent death of the woman now known as Damini is being handled in the U. ” In particular. diverse country” and was “unhelpful to what should be a global discussion about patriarchy. hyena-like male contempt” for women. they took exception to her remark that Indian men have “murderous. in fact. To use such terms. the academics argued. was to “vilify half the population of a vast. misogyny and sexual violence.Purves that India needed a “cultural earthquake” in order for it to “be allowed to hold its head up in the civilised world. it is widespread. Linking rape to a mythical past implies an equally .” “Such comments imply there is no sexual violence in the present-day West when. University of Oxford. Prerona Prasad. University of Cambridge. Beckett. Sirma Bilge. and evokes long-standing racist tropes of ‘western’ progress versus ‘eastern’ traditionalism. Signatories included Dr. Shamira A. . Professor Prasanta Chakravarty and Professor Brinda Bose. Meghani. BRAC University. American University in Cairo. Dr.mythical Western present in which rape has been overcome. Priyamvada Gopal. Université de Montreal. University of Leeds. and Jason A. Dr. Dr. Dina Siddiqi. among others. Delhi University.” they said. Dr. Department of Sociology. Dhaka. Huma Dar. University of California-Berkeley. she acknowledged that “murderous. this is what she wrote: “Britain. despite brave voices from within the country.Framing the debate However.” To put it in perspective. to ignore the ugly fault line in the world’s biggest democracy. tends to sentimentality about India and it has been easy. .” Her article echoed the view of a number of Indian commentators on social networking sites and in print that India has a “woman problem. in particular. a rather blunt old-fashioned feminist. For murderous. to be fair to Ms Purves. hyena-like male contempt is a norm here too. hyena-like male contempt is a norm here too. Despite its modernisations, the country has taken little care to promote serious cultural change where women are concerned.” But it is true that some commentators have tended to frame the debate in terms of “modern” versus “traditional societies” ignoring the scale of sexual violence in the developed world. As The Guardian writer Libby Brooks pointed out, “cultural superiority is not within the purview of countries with a rape conviction rate like Britain’s.” “The acceptance that sexual violence is a global challenge is not to deny that it may have a local or national character demanding tailored solutions. Understanding rape as a universal also means understanding that rape culture comprises not only unambiguous misogyny of the kind laid bare in India,” she wrote. Official figures, out last week, revealed how poor Britain’s own record is — on tackling sexual violence with hundreds of convicted sex offenders, including rapists, getting away simply with warnings or community sentences. Campaigners described such sentences as an “insult” to the victims. “These figures are horrendous and we are disturbed that cases get to court and receive such a low sentence… it trivialises the victim’s experience and the impact the assault has had on them. To endure a rape trial is a further violation of your dignity, and for your rapist to be found guilty and then simply given a community sentence is the final slap in the face,” said Jo Wood of the campaign group Rape Crisis. Poor though Britain’s record on punishing sex offenders may be, the fact remains that the streets of major British cities are much safer for women than Indian metros. What happened in Delhi on the night of December 16 will not happen in London. And that’s a big deal. Ask any woman. Some British media coverage of the Delhi outrage tended towards notions of western cultural superiority, enough to provoke a group of academics to make a strong protest January 12, 2013 Judiciary’s assault on democracy Online IAS Preparation - Complete Material,250 Unit Tests 16 All India Tests with analysis www.byjusclasses.com A.G. NOORANI The judgment delivered on September 13, 2012 by Justice Swatanter Kumar, on behalf of himself and Justice A.K. Patnaik, belongs to an impressive lineage of Supreme Court rulings which create havoc and confusion in institutions — and even in the conduct of examinations — of which its judges were blissfully unaware. That this one called for a complete overhaul of the system of the Central Information Commission (CIC) and the many States’ Information Commissions is the least of its blemishes. What is of graver import and long-term consequence is that it is a wanton and reckless assault on parliamentary democracy. Intemperate comments Proceedings for its review had to be halted because its author Justice Swatanter Kumar retired last month and was immediately appointed Chairman of the National Green Tribunal; but not before delivering intemperate comments during the review proceedings. Like almost all Supreme Court judgments, this one is rich in florid prose, disdainful of brevity and is animated by a desire to legislate. A good copy editor would have reduced its 107 pages to onethird. The issue before the court was simple. Section 12 (5) and (6) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 prescribe, respectively, qualifications and disqualifications of the CIC and Information Commissioners. S. 15 (5) and (6) replicate them for their counterparts in the States. Briefly, the petition contended that the criteria for eligibility did not specify the qualifications or consultation with the judiciary. They perform judicial or quasijudicial functions and should, therefore, have judicial experience. The Act must also prescribe a mechanism for consultation with the judiciary for such appointments. S. 12 (6) of the Act which states the disqualifications is simplicity itself. “The Chief Information Commissioner or an Information Commissioner shall not be a Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislature of any State or Union Territory, as the case may be, or hold any other office of profit or connected with any political party or carrying on any business or pursuing any profession.” How anyone can possibly object to these bars passes comprehension. Judge Swatanter Kumar’s objection takes one’s breath away as does his “reading down” of its terms. He holds it to have “an element of uncertainty” and indefiniteness. “It is difficult to say what the person eligible under the provision should be doing and for what period. The section does not specify any such period. Normally, the persons would fall under one or the other unacceptable categories. To put it differently, by necessary implication, it excludes practically all classes while not specifying as to which class of persons is eligible to be appointed to that post. The exclusion is too vague, while inclusion is uncertain.” One would have thought that the exclusion of legislators, holders of office of profit, politicians, businessmen and professionals leaves open an entire range of persons to select from. The statute book abounds with bars such as these. The judge says that it debars “all persons” and asks “if anyone, who is an elected representative, in government service, or one who is holding an office of profit, carrying on any business or profession, is ineligible in terms of Section 12 (6), then the question arises as to what class of persons would be eligible. The Section is silent on that behalf.” But the criteria for eligibility is set out in S. 12 (5) and disqualification is S. 12 (6). The judge finds a way out to save S. 12 (6) from being struck down as bad in law — by wrecking it. “We would prefer to interpret the provisions of Section 12 (6) as applicable post-appointment rather than pre-appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners. In other words, these disqualifications will only come into play once a person is appointed as Chief Information Commissioner/Information Commissioner at any level and he will cease to hold any office or profit or carry any business or pursue any profession that he did prior to such appointment.” This perverse misreading of the provision subverts the entire scheme of the Act and flouts the will of Parliament so clearly expressed. By Judge Swatanter Kumar’s logic, it would be open to the government of the day to pack the Information Commissions, Central and State, with legislators from the ruling party, party officials, civil servants and others, provided only that they resigned from their jobs to fill these plum postings. Such people do not turn Becketts. The object clearly was to exclude this category, not include it after its purification by resignation. The statute book abounds with such sensible bars. Parliament was justified in laying them down. Judges Kumar and Patnaik subvert its will and do so by a reasoning which is shockingly absurd. The strictures by Lord Chancellor Simonds on a similar excess by Lord Demmings are apt — “a naked usurpation of the legislative function under the disguise of interpretation.” The ruling is no better on the provision for eligibility. S. 12 (5) says: “The Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners shall be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance.” ‘Uncertain tenor’ The Bench holds, however, that “the terminology used by the legislature, such as ‘mass-media’ or ‘administration and governance,’ are terms of uncertain tenor and amplitude. It is somewhat difficult to state with exactitude as to what class of persons would be eligible under these categories. The legislature in its wisdom has chosen not to provide any specific qualification, but has primarily prescribed ‘wide knowledge and experience’ in the cited subjects as the criteria for selection.” Indeed it holds that the qualifications prescribed *S. 12 (5)+ conflict with the disqualifications in sub-section (6). To sustain their constitutionality, the bar is thus judicially modified to apply after appointment, and the qualifications themselves are modified — to plant judges on the Commissions. The right to do so is boldly stated: “The Courts can also bridge the gaps that have been left by the legislature inadvertently”. Gaps are detected where none exist and are filled in by an improper exercise of judicial power, in breach of the fundamentals of parliamentary democracy. Piling error upon error, the judges themselves venture to lay down qualifications — “a basic degree in the respective field” practice in law for 20 years and a procedure for consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justices of the High Courts. Twelve directions are given. The Almighty was content with 10. Parliament could have laid down that the CIC and the ICs be presided over by judges. It chose consciously and wisely not to do so. What have the judges to show for themselves as they ran Commissions of Inquiry and the Press Council? The Kudal Commission on the Gandhi Peace Foundation, the Thakkar Commission on Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the J.S. Verma and the M.C. Jain Commissions on different aspects of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, the Ranganath Misra Commission on the Delhi rots, the Wadhwa Commission on the Staines murders and the Lieberhan Commission on the demolition of the Babri Masjid? Consultation with the CJI is no safeguard. Justice R.S. Pathak, CJI, was consulted on the appointment of judges to the Fairfax Commission. He opted for Judges M.P. Thakkar and S. Natarajan, a safe pair of hands. How have successive judges of the Supreme Court conducted themselves on the Press Council of India? At least six CJIs left office in the last quarter century under a cloud. On November 22, hearing the petition for review, “the bench” — as correspondents timidly reported, probably for Justice Kumar — said that the CIC and ICs “are persons who have been in the government’s good books”. However, on September 19, a day after the Centre moved to appoint Judge Swatanter Kumar as head of the National Green Tribunal, another Bench comprising Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhyay remarked that appointments to tribunals, including the NGT, had “raised serious issues relating to integrity of judges” and that “there is a competition among the judges to get those appointments.” This is one aspect of the unfortunate ruling; another is its obstruction of the democratic process. The crux of the matter is that Parliament is entitled to lay down the criteria and the government, accountable to it, is entitled to choose persons who meet the criteria. The courts have no business to impose their views. Classic warning Justice Frankfurter’s judgment in Minersville School District v. Gobitis (310 U.S. 586, 1940) is a classic warning; “Judicial review, itself a limitation on popular government.” That spirit is undermined by judicial excesses. is a fundamental part of our constitutional scheme. To fight out the wise use of legislative authority in the forum of public opinion and before legislative assemblies rather than to transfer such a contest to the judicial arena. education in the abandonment of foolish legislation is itself a training in liberty. . But to the legislature no less than to the courts is committed the guardianship of deeply cherished liberties … Where all the effective means of inducing political changes are left free from interference. serves to vindicate the selfconfidence of a free people. was published by Oxford University Press in 2011 ) The Supreme Court ruling on the eligibility criteria for Information Commissioners is based on absurd reasoning and subverts the will of Parliament January 12. and a leading constitutional expert.G. 2013 Why the middle class is revolting Flight Tickets 1+1 Free . Noorani is an advocate.com/Buy1Get1Free .(A. Supreme Court of India. His latest book.Book a Flight with MakeMyTrip and Get the next Ticket Absolutely Free Makemytrip. Article 370: A Constitutional History of Jammu and Kashmir . cities and financialisation. She was in Mumbai recently to inaugurate a workshop on Subaltern Urbanism. hosted by Columbia University’s Mumbai Global Centre.— PHOTO: AP Saskia Sassen—PHOTO: PAUL NORONHA Saskia Sassen speaks with a formidable energy as she takes her audience through the “architecture” of globalisation. with support from the Women Creating Change Project.THE VANGUARD:A 2012 picture of a demonstration against austerity measures in Madrid. the Global Street. . Spain. You may not make all the right connections at once but you are riveted. Excerpts. How do you view the recent massive protests in New Delhi? What is your view of this vis-à-vis the Global Street? How would you interpret this? . Sassen spoke to Meena Menon about what she calls the “grand larceny” of the global corporate system through its access to state resources and people’s taxes in the form of bailouts. Prof. Lynd professor of Sociology at Columbia University. and co-chair of the Committee on Global Thought. and how this has led to a rupture between the state and the people across the globe.She is the Robert S. If . around specific issues in each country. The people might be living in the same houses. but inside the houses there is growing poverty and impoverishment. The second point to make here is that there is a lot of suffering and impoverishment and degradation of conditions of life today that is invisible.000 people set up tents in central areas to protest. a country.In reality. these kinds of protests are happening all over the world. For instance in Tel Aviv. the starting point was the high prices of apartments. It becomes the occasion for actually enacting a much larger project than is indicated by whatever issue is the immediately visible complaint in a city. About 1. the first time this happened in Israel.00. How has it got to this behind the facades of middle class neighbourhoods? In my new book. I have a fantastic little table that shows the incredibly sharp growth since the 1980s in the deficit of the governments in rich countries. we have had professors and housewives — imagine. But inside there might be a crisis developing. They went to get food. I am looking at so-called rich governments in rich countries.you are on the outside. That is pretty basic. two very respectable sections of society — do food riots. They don’t have the money to develop some of the basic infrastructure. . literally. you don’t know what’s happening inside. We now know in Latin America. The middle classes. modest enterprises. corporate profits have risen sharply over the same period. the global corporate sector has committed a form of grand larceny. where you go with a truck.Greece and Spain are simply the vanguard. you don’t just steal a few things but you steal the whole house. and the state are growing their debts and the corporate sector. So my extreme way of putting it — this is grand larceny. In its relationship to citizens. At the same time. and to the state. Do you think a new world order is in the making? How does the . including finance. is growing its wealth. modest enterprises (including small farmers). They are also largely a consuming class. I like to ask: who knows how to make in this world. They are the ones losing the most. or North and South.concept of Global Street link with the new changes? I don’t know if a new world order is in the making but there is a new geography of privilege and disempowerment that cuts across the old divide of rich and poor countries. And the ones that are emerging as the contesting actors are young men and women of the middle classes. their citizenship. make an . make the social. Their parents and they themselves have largely consumed their democracy. who feel the social contract with the state is broken. and we paid for it through our taxes. make the civic? Mostly it is elites and the very poor. It is one of the places to meet. become witnesses to historical processes. But too much of our taxes now goes to bail out banks and luxury projects. because they have had to.. and that is why the social contract between the liberal state and the middle classes is broken. recognise each other.economy.. All of this is also part of my notion of the Global Street. strategise. from schools and hospitals to roads and electricity. . But we the middle classes were converted into consumers and the main beneficiaries of much of the resources of the state. You are a key figure in a long and distinguished tradition of urban sociology. Can you say why the city is a key space of research for you? In many ways I am not an urbanist. It might or not. I am not making the argument that this is a historic vanguard. specific initiatives of powerful actors that can have negative effects on some social sectors. So the city is an extraordinary window into all kinds of missions and never more . I am interested in studying complex but open conditions or systems. And there are few conditions that are as complex and as open and mutating as a city.including small. because today. . one of the interesting developments is that many non urban processes and actors now have also an urban moment in their trajectories. Think about it. The city has outlived empires. corporations and financial firms. Why? Because cities are complex but incomplete. being alert to its complexity and its incompleteness is a way of understanding more than the urban. A financial firm might be complex but it’s closed and therein lies its capacity to go down. So being in a city. republics.than today. Also interesting is the city’s incompleteness — it gives it a capacity to mutate. the Arab Spring. and others made history even if they did not become empowered. a history. You spoke of the rise of the middle class and the disconnect with the liberal state. a politics. or whatever. . a difference — can get to make.What about your study on the Global Street and the link between power and the powerless. I think the Occupy Movements. It can be an empty parking place. The Global Street does not have to be a street. The Global Street in my work is such a space where those without access to the formal instruments for making — a building. Can you elaborate. And the social contract of the liberal state is with the middle class. One way of putting it is that the deal between the middle class and the liberal state has broken down. Reduction of social benefits of all sorts is another. which. of course can also be a military state such as Egypt insofar as it has .The liberal state is in deep decay. It is happening everywhere where you have this kind of state. Today we see a first generation in the middle classes since World War II which is poorer and more hopeless than their parents and grandparents. much more so than the very poor and the very rich. Privatisation of everything is one manifestation. public schools.developed a range of state supports for a vast share of the population. The point that I am trying to make is that there might be far more radical change than is evident. etc. the elites might have known about the complaints of the masses but felt that nothing serious was going to happen even though their world was falling apart. public hospitals.co. it was not just the storming of the Bastille. The French revolution took 10 years.in . retirement benefits. housing. the most visible moment of a long process. Before that visible moment. meena.menon@thehindu. Aslam Ansari.‘I don’t know if a new world order is in the making but there is a new geography of privilege and disempowerment that cuts across the old divide of rich and poor countries …’ January 14.ac.in/applications YOGENDER DUTT In the context of the cruel thrashing and consequent death of a small boy. 2013 In corporal punishment we are all complicit SRM University.Download or Apply Online Now! www.India No1 Admissions for 2013 SRM Engineering . in a .srmuniv. ” December 18. of the unsettled social location and poor hierarchical status of primary school teachers. 2012). I fail to understand the precise and immediate link between the merciless beating and consequent death of the hapless boy on the one hand and the poor training and salaries of the teachers who allegedly killed him on the other. Prof.Betul school in Madhya Pradesh at the hands of his teachers. is impeccable and succinct. . “The death of a small boy. editorial page. Krishna Kumar’s analysis ( The Hindu . The kind of cause-and-effect relationship that he has tried to establish in this incident certainly does not exist. But. there has been an almost knee-jerk sentimental reaction from various quarters suggesting that primary school teachers . If we still persist with such an argument.It is unequivocally clear to every citizen of the country that under the legal framework in place. often of a very serious nature. whenever such an incident has happened in our schools and then the resultant outcry. In recent years. no individual can cause bodily harm to any other individual. we run the risk of shifting the culpability of the individuals involved in the crimes. off their heads simply because the accused are primary school teachers who have not been given proper training and are ill-paid. let’s go back to a very pertinent question that Prof.alone should not be blamed as they have also been wronged by the system. and rightly so. But the diagnosis should not and does not end here. commentators have often. This argument in the favour of the displacement of anger often serves to brush aside the complex processes at work in the schools of a stratified society like ours. Krishna Kumar has asked: Who has given teachers unhindered . In search of a source of the teachers’ anger. To pursue the diagnosis of the problem further. found the larger system or the state as the main or equally serious culprit. One wonders whether the parents of prospective students would be interested in knowing and ensuring whether the school concerned has the right policies . Parental indifference The admission process for the new academic session in various schools is about to begin.and complete access to the children’s mind and body in a school setting? He suggests that this authority over children’s lives vested in the teachers has been delegated to them by the state. it can be argued that the state is not the only entity that has delegated this authority to the teachers. We need to look for the other source of this authority too. However. ” I doubt if popular perceptions about childhood in many societies have changed in any significant way. children were considered as infirms requiring “greater discipline and stricter principles. tells us that a couple of centuries ago. The belief that strict discipline has beneficial effects for growing children seems to rest on a . the better it is for the future of the child. In fact. the concern for the safety of their wards has a flip side to it — the stricter the school. Philippe Ariès in his wonderfully researched book The Centuries of Childhood . for the majority of parents.and practices in place to tackle the problem of corporal punishment. This distrust results in the breakdown of communication between the child and parents. We don’t need to go far in search of evidence of this lack of communication between them. when faced with difficult situations in school. don’t share their agony with their parents.seriously faulty assumption. It suggests that many parents themselves don’t have faith in the essential goodness of their children. unless such disciplining is exercised. The assumption is that children are by nature problematic and therefore need strict disciplining. It has been documented repeatedly that children. the child is sure to be spoiled. Most parents come to know of the actual magnitude of . in loco parentis . Hence. this breakdown of communication between the parents and their children also contributes to the sustenance of absolute control of teachers over the mind and body of the children they are teaching. In our country. They become. alongside the state.the problem only when something unexpected has happened to their child. Another important source of teachers’ uncontested authority over the affairs of the school and the lives of the children has to be found in larger debates about the state of education. there is a profoundly influential social and . This discussion is decisively shaped by a number of surveybased studies such as the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). However if we try to look for a more sincere and realistic presence of children’s voices in the discussions on education and the general state of schools. There is no dearth of ceremonial holding of events such as children’s parliament. Programme for International . or children’s summits and so on. selfindulgently claiming to represent children’s voices. in most cases we are sure to draw a blank.policy discourse which has conveniently chosen to either ignore or make children’s voices invisible from the public domain. Unfortunately. on the issue of corporal punishment in particular and children’s physical and emotional well-being in schools in general. District Information System for Education (DISE). Most of these national survey studies are held every year. children’s voices and well-being are not important enough concerns for the analysts . Apparently. Their most prominent claim is that they are tracking the health of education in the country.Student Assessment (PISA). often running into several hundred pages. etc. none of the above and many other such surveys don’t have even one indicator or even a word in their reports. it is not difficult to imagine the mental agony that the surveyors going into the schools must be going through on a daily basis.” In such a situation. According to the study titled “Child Abuse in India-2007” commissioned by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.and the surveyors who design and implement these surveys. Government of India. she must be engaged in an intense personal . When an investigator armed with socially sensitive and cutting edge survey tools goes in a school and tries to take stock of the growth in the reading and arithmetic abilities of children. “every two out of three school children reported facing corporal punishment. her survey design deliberately mutes children’s day-to-day experiences of authority in the school. No statistics are available to prove that the situation has improved or has worsened. Socio-cultural dimensions Since we don’t have a comprehensive assessment of the . In the din of achievement assessments. The result being we don’t have enough number of credible studies about the changes that might have come in the children’s perception and experiences of authority in schools since the 2007 report.battle to keep her eyes shut to the grim and widespread reality of corporal punishment. For the moment. we also don’t have a clear idea of the socio-economic and cultural dimensions of it either. minorities and women’s experiences — but this question requires a much more detailed treatment.problem. . tribals. it is enough to flag it to suggest that the diagnosis of the problem of corporal punishment in the schools and the quest for the sources of teachers’ authority must also proceed in this direction. who are the children who face such cruel treatment the most? Hazarding a guess is not difficult — there is documented evidence of it in the form of Dalits. Socially and economically. On the basis of such training they can be expected to transform into agents of change and stop being stooges of a system based on sheer inequality and violence that has served them no good either. Their training and preparation should have the components of respect for the rights and the individuality of a child. a respectable salary with safety of tenure. .In conclusion. there is no denying the fact that for a proper discharge of duties entrusted to the teachers. good training of sufficient duration and intensity is a nonnegotiable must. and above all. Such training can inculcate in them a critical outlook towards the social sanctions that have made the ill-treatment of children possible. we must not forget that alongside the state.antitope. January 14. the academia and the civil society — through their selective phases of silence. if such a package is not offered to them they have no valid reason to turn their anger and frustration towards children. JACOB JOHN . the parents.co.uk T. 2013 Two years without polio Immunogenicity Testing Episcreen T cell assay technology for biologics www.But . through acts of externalising one’s guilt and by not being alert and/or interested parties — are also complicit in their crimes to a significant degree. And whenever they do. 200.000 children. were afflicted with polio paralysis annually in India. Global movement In 1988.In the 1980s. only three decades ago. eight among 1.000 children already had polio paralysis. In . In other words. That was a daily average of 500 to 1000 cases. two would have died. By the age of six. India joined the global movement for polio eradication — at a time when we had not even succeeded in bringing polio under control. all under 5 years. Control status required at least 95 per cent reduction. one per cent of infants born were destined to develop polio.000 to 400. Vaccine viruses are ‘attenuated’ from wild viruses — which means they have lost most of their ‘virulence.1978.’ the ability to cause paralysis and the ability to spread fast among children. The oral polio vaccine (OPV) was introduced the next year. By 1988. India launched the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) with BCG and DPT vaccines. But polio did . These two are the dreaded qualities of wild polioviruses. Natural polioviruses are called ‘wild’ to distinguish them from vaccine polioviruses that constitute OPV. diphtheria. whooping cough and neonatal tetanus had declined to control levels as a result of EPI’s efforts. From 1994. The type 2 component of OPV was not only more effective against that type. There. India began nationwide OPV campaigns (called pulse immunisation) — two per year — to give additional doses to all under-five children irrespective of the number of doses already given. In India. That resulted in effectively controlling polio by 2000. .not come under control — showing that OPV was not as effective in India as in the West or in China. we had to give many more doses for equal effect. One of the three types of polioviruses. wild type 2. just three or four doses protected all children. was even eradicated by October 1999 when the average number of OPV doses had reached six per child. We then developed OPV containing just type 1 to make the tool sharper against the type 1 wild virus. Remember. which is necessary to attack all three viruses simultaneously. That is called ‘monovalent OPV’ (mOPV-1). the trivalent OPV (tOPV). Eventually. 9-10 pulse immunisation campaigns were conducted annually from 2004 to 2010. 2 and 3. containing types 1.but it also inhibited the effect of types 1 and 3. we did not have wild type 2 virus since . That left India with the struggle to eradicate wild types 1 and 3 using a blunt weapon. particularly Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In the Gangetic plain States. India made ‘bivalent OPV’ (bOPV) with types 1 and 3. 2011. West Bengal.1999. with the onset of paralysis on January 13. How sure are we that wild polioviruses have been totally .P. and Bihar. only bOPV has been used for immunisation campaigns in U. wild polioviruses had no place to hide. while tOPV is used in routine EPI and national pulse immunisation campaigns twice each year. Since then. while travelling. We succeeded in stopping the transmission of type 3 in 2010 and type 1 in 2011. The last child with wild virus polio was detected in Howrah. With new tools and covering almost100 per cent children in their homes. in brick-kiln and sugarcane fields where temporary migrant labour set up homes. Stool samples from every child with AFP are collected and tested for the presence of polioviruses. That is to be expected. many with AFP would have vaccine polioviruses. Delhi. When a lot of OPV is given to children. Such illness is called ‘acute flaccid paralysis’ (AFP). All hospitals and clinics that attend to sick children have been networked to report any illness that even remotely resembles polio. During 2011 and 2012.banished? There is a solid body of evidence to show this. Every poliovirus so detected is further tested to distinguish wild poliovirus from vaccine poliovirus. all sewage samples . Kolkata and Patna. Sewage samples are collected every week from several wards of Mumbai. silencing the many prophets of failure. Highly contagious Wild polioviruses are highly contagious — illustrated by some 50 episodes of international importations to countries that had once eliminated them using OPV. We had exported wild viruses to Nepal and Bangladesh in our . India has truly succeeded. We passed two ‘high seasons’ in 2011 and 2012 without a single case. the last footholds of wild polioviruses. In northern India. the second half of each year was the season of high wild virus transmission.were consistently negative for wild polioviruses (but with plenty of vaccine viruses). Now India is polio-free and vulnerable to importation from Pakistan. We cannot lower our guard and must continue pulse immunisations as though importation is imminent. to name some distant ones. and to Bulgaria. At every point. China and Tajikistan. Afghanistan and Nigeria — the three countries that have not yet eliminated wild polioviruses. Angola. two in Punjab. What was very remarkable was that India’s money went into the lion’s share of expenditure for .neighbourhood. India has five points of bordercrossing with Pakistan: two in Jammu-Kashmir. and one in Rajasthan. individuals are given one dose of tOPV when they enter India. many children . Once affected with polio. The rationale Many have questioned the wisdom of spending such large amounts on one childhood disease.polio eradication in the country. We know the struggle we had to go through merely to keep polio under control. Was polio worth eradicating? From a humanitarian viewpoint as well as human rights angle no child deserved to be paralysed by a preventable disease. Eradication is the best form of control. India spent about Rs 1000 crore every year since 2000. thus easing up global funds for use in other countries that needed them more than we do. Eradicating polio is an investment. 15 lakhs per person — for a staggering Rs 45. That amounts to approximately Rs 50.are neglected.000 per year.000 crore per annum loss to the domestic economy from just one disease. that affected 300. Controlling diseases that affect productivity is indeed a development activity.000 children each year. The disability-determined productivity loss may be taken as about half of the gross domestic product per capita. India was losing Rs. The absence of polio is both a . take up simple jobs like bicycle repair. etc. polio. do not complete high school. cumulated over 30 years of productive life. managing telephone booths. The National Polio Eradication Certification Committee will confirm eradication of wild viruses and review the secure containment of laboratory storage of wild poliovirus strains or specimens likely to contain them before certifying India free of wild viruses. globally. India will use only bOPV. and a means to.measure of. synchronously. These rules of polio eradication ‘end game’ have been drawn up by the World Health Organisation and were . The Committee will wait for three years from the last virus detection before certification procedures. expected after January 2014. Thereafter. later that will also be withdrawn. development. ’ January 14. In order not to create any polio immunity vacuum. 2013 Oscar nomination. wild or vaccine.S.Cashless Claim Approval In 4 Hours. the inactivated poliovirus vaccine will be introduced and sustained for at least five years. Buy Now TataAIGMediPrime. Polio eradication will then mean ‘no infection with any poliovirus. Tax Saving u/s 80D.com Bombay KUMAR Jayashri—PHOTO: S. a high note for Carnatic music Tata AIG™ MediPrime .endorsed by the World Health Assembly in 2012. . Excerpts. Tanay is an artiste himself.T. Since Mychael Danna and Ang Lee had worked closely with .Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri who has been nominated for an Oscar along with Mychael Danna in the Original Song” category for “Pi’s Lullaby” — in the film “Life of Pi” — tells K. Jagannathan that she hopes this will make more people listen to Carnatic music. A lot of the mixing was done in Los Angeles. Describe the journey leading up to the Oscar nomination. The song was recorded in December 2011. the revered sound expert in AVA-Studio. Who were those involved in it? We recorded the song in Bombay with Tanay Gajjar. they wanted to do it in December (in 2010).45 in the morning till very late in the night. the recording happened between December 4 and December 10. and we worked like a family. It was a lot of hard work. A lot of discussion had gone into each and every word and syllable of the song. .Tanay in earlier projects. We exchanged constantly with them in New York. And. 2010. Luckily. I was praying that it wouldn’t clash with my December season concerts in Chennai. We worked from 9. they wanted to record the whole thing in his studio in Mumbai. We all stayed close to his studio for the whole week. Tanay’s studio was our home for the week. What does this Oscar nomination mean to you? Where do you takeoff from here? It means so much to me. That’s all I can think of at the moment. I really don’t know where I go from here.” What do you say? The words and expressions in “Pi’s Lullaby” are that of love and . Indian music and musicians. The descendants of the Malayalam poet Irayimman Thampi have alleged that you have lifted the lines from his lullaby “Omanathinkal Kidavo…. But I am just grateful for the moment. I feel I have been chosen to represent them all. . Sooraj . Chanda . kanmaniye and the like are the universal ways a mother would call her child. as a mother would sing for a child.We are influenced by the things we are called and referred to by our parents in our childhood. Azhwar pasurams . Kanne . especially Periazhwar’s. Mayile . Mayil . etc... such as Kuil .affection expressed commonly by a mother to a child. we would refer to our kids as Kanne . Some of these find expressions in Sangam Tamil literature.The directors of the film wanted a song as I would sing for my own little one. Andal pasurams . Mayile . And if they call us Kanne . I feel it is the duty of every artiste to increase the visibility of Carnatic music. it adds responsibility.How could the Oscar nomination impact the Carnatic musician in you? The Oscar nomination reaffirms my belief in the immense power and the reach of our music. What kind of responsibility does this cast on you? Definitely. What fallout will your nomination have on Carnatic music? I hope it means more people will listen to this beautiful music. It will make me to continue to keep working hard. We . in . They even want me to recommend what they should listen to in YouTube. jagannathan.have to do it — draw the audience closer to us — without diluting the format. I have been getting a lot of mails from university students from Beijing who have listened to this song.co. They are keen to know about my work.kt@thehindu. In fact. Can this bring about a change in the audience profile to your concerts? May be it could result in a change. and about Carnatic music. ‘soft’ Hollande shifts image Sunglasses @ Rs. without diluting the format.‘I feel it is the duty of every artiste to increase the visibility of Carnatic music.Make a smart statement w/t stylish sunglasses @ just Rs 399.lenskart. Shop Now www.399 .com/sunglasses STEVEN ERLANGER ONTO THE FRONT LINE:Throughout his career in the .’ January 15.. We have to do it . 2013 With Mali.. even complacent. The sudden French military intervention in Mali. Hollande has moved swiftly to use the French military in Mali and Somalia after pulling off an important compromise with domestic unions over job creation. Here the President is delivering the New Year speech atthe Elysee Palace in Paris.Socialist Party. but he has always said that his critics underestimate him. But the events of the last few days will go some way toward changing his image. Hollande has been criticised and even ridiculed for being compromising. which took . as Mr.Mr. —PHOTO: AFP President François Hollande of France has regularly been criticised as indecisive. with French forces hitting two columns of Islamist rebels with jet fighters and attack helicopters and appearing to halt a rebel march south toward the .only half a day to set in motion. have displayed Mr. The French. decisive light that could represent a turning point for his presidency. together with a bold. if failed. Widespread support While the future of the Mali intervention is unclear. like the Americans. hostage rescue mission in Somalia. and there are few tougher ones than to send young soldiers into battle. Hollande in a more sombre. judge presidents on their ability to make tough decisions. it has begun well. Hollande’s actions have garnered widespread political support in France and abroad. all of which have promised to move more quickly to help Mali recover a vast piece of land lost months ago to the rebels. Mr. Bamako. Even the failure of the raid in Somalia. Many of his countrymen do not expect warfare to be risk-free. does not seem to have hurt Mr.capital. in which two French commandos died and the hostage is believed to have been killed by his captors. from African countries. the United States and Britain. and France is seized by both worries about the rise of radical Islam and the plight of several French hostages in North Africa believed to be held . Hollande. “This is the first occasion Hollande had or seized upon to act decisively. and his victory last May over the . a defence expert at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. “So in that sense. without the sort of waffling that had appeared to be his trademark.” Throughout his career in the Socialist Party.” said François Heisbourg. Hollande has been criticised and even ridiculed for being soft and compromising. likened in the early days to a wobbly custard dessert called “Flanby. Mr.” But he has always said that his critics underestimate him.by religious extremists. it changes his image instantaneously. you haven’t proved much..” Mr. which in the French system. comparing the impact of Mr. A cartoon on Saturday in the centrist newspaper Le Parisien showed Mr. Hollande has “demonstrated that he can decide on matters of war and peace. is very important.S. Obama-like moment “Until you prove that. Hollande as . as in the U.” he said. Heisbourg said. Nicolas Now Mr.energetic incumbent. Hollande’s actions with that of President Obama’s decision to approve the raid on Osama bin Laden. Sarkozy. surprised many. Dominique de Villepin.” Like many.commander in chief. “Must admit that sometimes he surprises. a former Foreign Minister. warned that the operation in Mali was likely to fail because it had too many ambitious goals. Jeudy noted that once begun. wrote: “Finally President! Finished. the operation in Mali — to help dismantle a safe haven for radicals linked to terrorist groups — will be long and difficult. Bruno Jeudy. an editor at the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche .) .” On Sunday. Mr. with a bystander saying. (In the same newspaper. the hesitant and nonchalant François Hollande of the first months of his mandate. ” Mr. “But by putting on the uniform of a war leader. Agreement with unions Mr. Jeudy said. he rose to the rank of his predecessors. has vowed to push through the bill. But he has refused to allow some of his own legislators to attach a . saying that policy will not be made in the streets.” He also lowered the domestic pressure on him to back off his proposal to legalise same-sex marriage. turning the national conversation more toward foreign policy.“Wars are rarely popular. whose Socialist Party and its allies control the legislature. Hollande. who are facing unemployment levels nearing 25 per cent. While the details are vague. In both instances. after months of negotiations. Similarly. Hollande and his government were able to announce late on Friday an agreement between entrepreneurs and trade unions over how to liberalise the labour market. to make it easier to hire young people.provision to allow state financing for procreation assistance to same-sex women couples. and the impact on unemployment may . Mr. as well as working to manage his own party. Hollande has again shown his ability to make a decision and keep it. Mr. Hollande. Hollande has managed to get some concessions from France’s famously strong unions without a strike. Failure would have been seen as disastrous for his ability to carry the country.not be big. Hollande to have succeeded with the unions and corporate leaders was vital. toward improved competitiveness and lower budget deficits. . For Mr. That was especially important for Mr. Mr. given the ridicule produced by the actor Gérard Depardieu’s feud with the government over high taxes favoured by the Socialists and a ruling that a 75 per cent tax rate on the rich was unconstitutional. however incrementally. ” he said. but for now. “This marks the advent of a culture of compromise after decades of a philosophy of social antagonism.There was even praise from a sharp critic. The French “don’t know yet if he’s really competent.” she said.” a play on the President’s name. The deal “will change life for businesses in France. joked Mr. the defence expert. Heisbourg. it seems like “springtime in Holland. “But he shows little sign of stress or unease. the business leader Laurence Parisot.” she said. The complications of war are many. and he certainly looks . lenskart.) — New York Times News Service A demonstration that he can decide on matters of war and peace.” (Arthur Touchot contributed reporting.399 . Shop Now www. is very important January 15. 2013 Overcome by a sense of betrayal Sunglasses @ Rs. as in the U.. which in the French system.S.relaxed.com/sunglasses PREM SHANKAR JHA .Make a smart statement w/t stylish sunglasses @ just Rs 399. The police also showed uncharacteristic restraint an in . Barring a few lapses. But most of the anger of the public has been directed at the government. and with commendable efficiency. The Delhi police captured the alleged rapists within hours and the government spared no expense in its attempt to save her life. the Central and State governments acted promptly.The torrent of anger that erupted all over the country after the 23year-old physiotherapy student in Delhi — whom the media named ‘Nirbhaya’ — was raped and thrown out of a moving bus has obscured a profoundly disturbing anomaly: the rape was a criminal act committed by individuals. laid down his life doing his duty. The Lt. The Delhi High Court and the State government took the pent up grievances of women’s associations and other human rights groups to heart and acted speedily to meet their demands.C. policemen put themselves repeatedly in harm’s way. P.dealing with the protesters. Tomar. A constable. To control the crowds with a minimum of violence. Many others were injured. So why did the media and the public spare no effort to shift as much of . The former set up five special courts to hear the backlog of rape cases. Governor made it mandatory for police stations to register all complaints of rape and other crimes against women. the blame as possible on to the shoulders of the state? Smouldering anger The answer is that the rape acted as the trigger for an older. and deeper. first and . Democracy was meant to empower them. People feel empowered only when they know that they have rights. it has done the exact opposite. anger in people — one that has been smouldering for years in their hearts. in a way that few of them understand even today. Instead. This stems from a profound sense of betrayal. and that the institutions of government exist. Empowerment requires the rule of law. It has achieved this unique feat by making both its elected legislators and its bureaucracy. to enforce them. immune to accountability. not to mention its lower judiciary. however.foremost. The rule of law is. It has therefore become a predatory state that the people have learned to fear. In spite of being a democracy for 65 years. . the Indian state has not been able to create something that people value even more than material benefits: a just society. Empowerment therefore requires justice. only another name for justice. The bedrock from which the anger that erupted on December 17 sprang is the denial of justice. we regularly lump extortion together with bribery under the generic title of corruption. . The bribe giver chooses to give money or favours to influence a choice. Bribery and extortion are. Bribery is voluntary. In India. even the most ardent of reformers inadvertently conspire with the predators to hide the true. or hasten (sometimes delay) a decision. in fact. and have markedly different effects upon the relationship of state with society. steal a march over rivals. face of our democracy. two entirely different forms of predatory behaviour. ugly.The hallmark of the predatory state is the universality of extortion. In doing so. Bribery harms the economy and society cumulatively over a period of time by preventing optimal choice. But it has limited political impact because it is a voluntary transaction between consenting adults and the injustice it does is confined to a small circle of rivals. and therefore no element of consent. It requires no contract. Its commonest form is to deny the citizen the services to which he is entitled until he . increasing cost and lowering the quality of the product or the service rendered. It is a simple exercise of brute power by an employee or representative of the state over the citizen. Extortion is an entirely different form of predation. no negotiation. ” It makes it clear that this injunction applies to not . In India this has been all-butdenied not simply by law but by the Constitution itself. Every act of extortion is a fresh reminder to the citizen of his or her impotence.agrees to make a ‘private’ payment to the functionary in whom the power of the state is vested. Article 311 of the Constitution reads: “No person who is a member of a civil service of the Union or an all India service or a civil service of a State or holds a civil post under the Union or a State shall be dismissed or removed by an authority subordinate to that by which he was appointed. This becomes complete if he or she is denied redress for the abuse of power. For the Central services. in civil cases this permission is rarely given. for the State civil services. the empowered Authority is the President of India. This has meant that no prosecution can by initiated without the permission of the Central or State government. it is the Governor. According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s annual report Crime in India 2007 . As the dismal experience of the Central Vigilance Commission has shown.only civil but criminal cases as well. Complaints against police One set of figures illustrates the impunity with which civil servants can break the law. between 2003 and . It is therefore a safe bet that the actual number of such abuses is at least 10 times the number reported. It helps to explain why a girl who filed a complaint of rape with the police in Lucknow about two months ago was raped by the Station House Officer. but could not muster the courage to get the . All but a handful stayed on at their posts. free to wreak vengeance on those who had dared to complain against them.000 were investigated. 384 complaints of human rights abuses against the police. then repeatedly by the investigating officer. Of these only 79. only 1.2007 citizens filed 282.070 policemen were brought to trial and only 264 — less than one in a thousand — were convicted. notably the police. This was because he could be held accountable. and criminalisation. In independent India.latter caught. The Constituent Assembly lifted Article 311 almost verbatim from a clause in the Government of India Act 1935 whose purpose was to protect British civil servants. But the 1935 Act did not put the civil servant above the law. however. this restraint was destroyed by the progressive corruption. of the political class that it now serves. as Edmund Burke had shown. and report the former till she felt empowered by the protests in Delhi. from incessant harassment by sharp-witted Congress lawyers. . by the British Parliament. The root cause of both is the lack of any provision in the Constitution for the financing of elections. In the 1950s. the need for funds was met to a large extent by the rising industrial class and by the Princes.000 voters this is a nuisance. In Britain where the average constituency covers 380 square kilometres and has around 60.3 million voters it has proved a catastrophe.000 sq km and holds 1. In India where the parliamentary constituency covers 6. But when these two began to desert the Congress in favour of the Swatantra Party and the Jana Sangh in the 1960s. Indira Gandhi banned company donations to political parties and . two sets of predatory networks have developed to finance. elections. As these have become more entrenched. The first is of criminals who provide the muscle to intimidate voters. or otherwise influence. Over the ensuing decades. the second is of local money-bags and power-brokers who rally support for candidates belonging to one or the other party in exchange for favours when it comes to power. they have virtually eliminated intra-party democracy at the grass roots and .abolished the privy purses. After that the only way in which political parties could stay in the game was to break the law. In the current Parliament. The proportion of ‘pocket boroughs’ is also higher in the States than at the Centre. Another 156 are second generation ‘princelings’ whose parents established the clientelist networks that now serve them. 35 per cent in West Bengal and 30 per cent in Gujarat face criminal charges.progressively reduced the number of constituencies in which State and Central party leaders can bring in fresh candidates chosen on the basis of merit. for instance. at the last count 159 MPs had criminal charges pending against them. The State Assemblies are even more closed to new aspirants: 44 per cent of the MLAs in Bihar. Predatory state . The perennial need for money lies at the roots of the predatory state that India has become. In earlier decades. They therefore gave vent to their demand for accountability in the state by turning out to vote in ever larger numbers and regularly overthrowing incumbent governments. Only in recent years has it begun to dawn on them that democracy has become a part of . Today. its ruling class consists of corrupt politicians who are served by an extortionate bureaucracy and police that are shielded from public wrath by nothing less than the Constitution of India. people’s anger was held in check by their faith in the democratic system. and has driven the state out of large parts of 83 districts in the country. December’s mass protests in Delhi were the second time. it would not lead to the emergence of a more just and accountable Indian state but to its disintegration. Were this to happen in India. This has been apparent in the Maoist uprising that began in 2005. The Anna movement last year was another turning point because it was the first time that the urban middle class took to the streets. History teaches us that this is the point at which the state usually begins to crumble. .the problem and cannot therefore be part of the solution. The protest is therefore moving closer to the borders of revolt. and. in which they had faith all these years. 2013 Aid to developing countries can work . But they are beginning to run out of it. cannot be part of the solution January 15. therefore. its moral legitimacy. is part of the problem and. therefore.There is still time for our Central and State leaders to remember that no society that has lost its sense of justice. has survived for long. (The writer is a senior journalist) People are beginning to believe that democracy. Book a Flight with MakeMyTrip and Get the next Ticket Absolutely Free Makemytrip.com/Buy1Get1Free LARRY ELLIOTT BROUGHT TO THE TABLE:Both sides of the aid debate would agree on the need to tackle waste and corruption. —PHOTOS: AP. AFP A lot of water has passed under the bridge since Britain hosted the G8 summit at Gleneagles in Scotland in July 2005. (Left to right) The first working session of the G8 Summit at Camp David in 2012 and a food relief programme in Africa.Flight Tickets 1+1 Free . Life was sweet when the leaders of the . The talk will be of fiscal cliffs. asset prices were rising. once again. the Euro’s struggle for survival. Money is tight. Growth was strong. and the financial crisis was two years away. One thing is certain: there will be no repeat of the commitment to double aid within five years. be Britain’s turn to chair the G8. In 2013 it will. but the mood will be quite different when leaders meet at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland this summer.world’s most powerful western economies pledged themselves to debt relief and aid to help poor countries. high energy prices and the struggle to ensure financial solvency. . Anti-aid lobby The thrust of the argument from the anti-aid lobby is as follows: aid does not work because it traps countries in a culture of . the pressure on Tony Blair came from only one source: the Make Poverty History (MPH) coalition that saw Gleneagles as an opportunity to cajole the G8 into making binding pledges on development. David Cameron has a more difficult task this year — for in addition to the lobbying by MPH2.Back in 2005. he is coming under fire from aid sceptics who challenge the logic of a government that is cutting public spending at home and massively increasing public spending abroad. . Much of it is either wasted or siphoned off by corrupt regimes.dependency. Aid has become a gigantic racket and should be pared back to genuine humanitarian relief. In Britain. so the taxes of poor people in rich countries ends up bankrolling the lavish lifestyles of rich people in poor countries. lobbying by powerful and arrogant charities has led to an increase in the aid budget so big that the Department for International Development (DfID) does not know what to do with its embarrassment of riches. the only sure way for countries to escape poverty. That will leave space for the private sector to power development. are making good on the promise made by the last Labour government to raise the aid budget to 0. the assumption was that the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues would eventually renege on the pledge. They deserve credit for not doing so. Nobody at DfID. the Finance Minister.7 per cent of national income in 2013. Firstly. the anti-aid brigade mounts what is largely a straw man argument. Oxfam. the World Bank or any other body involved in . and the Development Minister. Here’s why. Given the precarious state of the United Kingdom’s public finances.The anti-aid lobby is livid that Cameron. George Osborne. Justine Greening. Andrew Mitchell. Conservative ministers here have been acutely aware of the need to maintain public support for a rising aid budget during a period of austerity.development would ever say that aid alone is the answer to tackling poverty. private sector investment. in Africa. encouraging regional integration. . boosting trade and. Secondly. both sides of the aid debate would agree on the need to tackle waste and corruption. along with the right macroeconomic policies. undertook reviews of bilateral and multilateral spending and insisted on better value for money. which was why Greening’s predecessor. It has always been seen as part of the solution. and has suspended all direct aid to Uganda after reports of misuse. This would appear to be the zerotolerance approach the aid .Whereas Labour favoured general budget support for poor countries — giving governments more control over their own spending — the coalition has preferred to finance specific projects. aid to India.K. stopped money for Rwanda amid evidence that it has been used to finance rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Greening has insisted that a minister must sign off spending on any development project costing more than £5m rather than the previous limit of £40m. She has announced the end of U. there is plenty of evidence to show aid is working.sceptics are urging. However. against the arms trade and against multinational companies guilty of bribery. It will also require action against tax havens. The charity . it is hardly consistent with the lurid stories of DfID sitting idly by while taxpayers’ money is being siphoned off into numerous Swiss bank accounts. Certainly. corruption is not going to be tackled simply by turning off the flow of official western assistance. The aid sceptics tend to be far less vociferous about these issues. Examples of success Thirdly. but there was no sign that official assistance crowded out private investment. in these countries aid flows increased threefold between 2000 and 2010. they were not embroiled in civil conflict. they weren’t dependent on extractive industries. Growth averaged 5. an impressive . Tanzania.5 per cent between 2000 and 2011. On average. Malawi and Senegal — that shared characteristics in the period after 2000: they qualified for debt relief. foreign direct investment increased fourfold over the same period. Far from it.One has compiled a list of 14 African countries — including Ethiopia. performance given the meltdown in the global economy that followed the financial crisis of 2007. In 2002. the number of Africans with access to a bed net has increased from three per cent to 50 per cent in a decade. there were 300. bed nets and nutrition has meant child mortality in sub-Saharan countries has dropped by 41 per cent. Education is seen — rightly — as the key to competing in the global economy. and over the past decade 51 million more children are in primary school because of . today the number exceeds eight million.000 people receiving HIV/Aids medicine. Spending on vaccines. As a result of international aid efforts. nurses and midwives in an attempt to reduce high levels of infant and child mortality. Far from creating a dependency culture. government initiatives to sponsor technology transfer and to boost private sector investment in infrastructure. . where skilled health workers from Britain share their expertise with doctors.the resources provided by debt relief and aid. this is an example of “smart aid”: the provision of know-how and best practice that will help Sierra Leone help itself.K. There are similar U. DfID funds a scheme in Sierra Leone called Making it Happen. The disparity between welfare policy at home and welfare policy abroad has certainly made the attacks of the anti-aid lobby more politically potent. It is certainly strange that the government is making life more difficult for poor people in the U. at the same time it is trying to improve the lot of even poorer people in the rest of the world. co-founder of One.All these seem worthy uses for the 70p in every £100 of national income the government allocates to help countries far less fortunate than our own.K. calls the three extremes — . But it is not coalition policy towards countries facing what Jamie Drummond. 2013 Green Books. 5000+ Practice Question. The picture is of commanders of the Indian and Pakistani Armies at a . Join Now ! Shiksha. extreme climate change and extremist ideology — that is incomprehensible. It is the rest of it.Online Test Series For GRE Exam. red herring and the LoC war Free GRE Practice Test .extreme poverty.com/GRE-Practice-Test PRAVEEN SWAMI FOCUS:India must become aware that a more muscular response to Pakistani aggression on the LoC will come with a price that probably isn’t worth paying. January 16. four improvised 107millimetre rockets arced over the Pul Kanjari border outpost in Punjab. and exploded in the fields outside the village of Attari. The rocket attacks. For the first time since the war of 1971. it is more important than ever to understand the significance of those events. as Indian and Pakistani troops trade fire along the Line of Control (LoC). —PHOTO: PTI Late one night in the summer of 2009. believed to have .flag meeting in Poonch recently. then. Now. In September that year. four more rockets were fired. there was an attack across the India-Pakistan border. there was a third assault. in January 2010. 60 in 2011. and 117 last year. represented a glimpse into a grim future that India’s policy of strategic restraint has been designed to avert — a war of attrition waged by jihadists that would turn India’s western frontiers into a kind of nuclearfuelled Lebanon. clashes along the LoC have escalated. India reported 28 ceasefire violations in 2009. The traditional explanation — that these clashes are linked to terrorist infiltration across the LoC — borne out by the data: during . 44 in 2010.been carried out by the Tehreeke-Taliban Pakistan. Ever since January 2008. two months after General Pervez Ashfaq Kayani took over as chief of the Pakistan Army. it shows. . hope heightened tensions with India will help rebuild their legitimacy. extricate themselves from a domestic insurgency they are losing.this period. The country’s generals. and push jihadist groups now ranged against the Pakistani state to turn their energies eastwards. driven by a barrage of illconceived war polemic. is pushing itself into this trap. not more. India. Jammu and Kashmir has become significantly less violent. New doctrine Pakistan’s military literature provides some insight into what is going on. Earlier this month. has quoted as much as a single line from the Green Book in question — one of several reasons to suspect it might just be a red herring. called the Green Book . on that date. . Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. called on the armed forces to “redesign and redefine our military doctrine” to fight terrorism. though. to include a chapter identifying internal insurgent forces as the country’s principal national security threat. in a January 4 address at the National Defence University. It seems reasonable to infer that. he at least was unaware of a new doctrine. reports emerged that Pakistan had amended its doctrinal manual. No one. ” says Dr. “I think a lot of people who really ought know better have let themselves be talked into buying snake-oil.” The Green Book isn’t. Fair. a doctrinal testament — or even. Christine Fair. the Pakistan Army’s general headquarters has published collections of essays by senior officers. as first reported in The Hindu in 2011.C. For the last two decades. a Georgetown University scholar who is the preeminent authority on the Pakistan Army’s internal doctrinal literature — and the first to bring the Green Book series to light — is in little doubt that is the case. one book. The 2010 . with the name assigned to the series. in fact. in fact. “This talk of a new doctrine is rubbish. only became available last year. which is considered to be its media headquarters to wage .Green Book . such as Zee Television.” asserts that the Research and Analysis Wing “funds many Indian newspapers and even television channels. Suspicions of India From the very first essay in the current Green Book . it becomes clear the Pakistani officer corps’ maniacal suspiciousness of India hasn’t stilled. the next in the biennial series only became available in 2011. Brigadier Umar Farooq Durrani’s “Treatise on Indian-backed Psychological Warfare Against Pakistan. on information warfare. ” Even the eminent scholar Ayesha Siddiqa’s work. Indian soaps and movies are readily welcomed in most households in Pakistan. he insists. “is found in movies where Muslim and Hindu friendship is screened within * sic. + the backdrop of melodrama.psychological war. is “a classical example of psychological war against Pakistan. The effects desired to be achieved through this is to undermine the Two National Theory *as+ being a person .” “The most subtle form” of this psychological war. the Brigadier states.” Brigadier Farooq claims.” The “creation of *the+ South Asian Free Media Association a few years back. “was a step in the same direction. we know ideas like those of Brigadier Durrani are considered worthy of serious consideration. none of this ought to have been a cause of worry. after all. There is.” Had the Green Books not been official publications. in and outside the armed forces. From the Pakistan Army chief himself. In his foreword to the 2010 edition. General Kayani asserts that the essays provide “an effective forum for the leadership to reflect on. no shortage of delusional paranoiacs on the eastern side of the IndiaPakistan border either. though.obsession of *Muhammad Ali+ Jinnah. identity and define the challenges faced by the . as Pakistan faced up to the looming war between its armed forces and their one-time jihadist allies. and share possible ways of overcoming them. argued that the “threat of low-intensity conflicts should be considered as the most serious matter at *the+ national level.” The eastern enemy Language of the kind that runs through the 2010 Green Book pervades earlier editions too.Pakistan army. he went on. typically. Brigadier Shahid Hashmat. In 2002.” Thus. the Green Book focussed on low-intensity warfare. “all national agencies and resources must be directed concurrently for launching an . is firmly placed on India.” The blame for the crisis imposed on Pakistan by religious sectarian groups and jihadists. LieutenantColonel Inayatullah Nadeem Butt.effective and robust response against this threat. asserted that “India has been aggressively involved in subverting the minds of youth through planned propaganda and luring them towards subversive activities.” Even as they considered how to fight religious sectarian groups and revolutionary jihadists. though. the officers who contributed to the 2002 Green Book thus focussed on . using ideas near-identical to those in the current Green Book . Major Ijaz Ahmad advocated “that *the+ InterServices Intelligence should launch low profile operations in Indianheld Kashmir and should not allow the freedom movement to die down.” Put another way. noted that “India is highly volatile on its internal front due to numerous vulnerabilities which.” In similar vein.imposing punitive costs on India. religious and communal diversities in India. for example. accordingly could yield results out of proportion to the efforts put in. social. “should be exploited carefully and imaginatively. Brigadier Muhammad Zia. if agitated. even as they considered tactics to defeat .” the officer continued.” “Linguistic. as a “valuable document for posterity”. it is surprisingly little remarked upon.insurgents in Pakistan. Less than a week after the attack. almost did pay off for Pakistan’s Army. Tough challenge Like all forms of madness. the officer corps also discussed sponsoring insurgencies in India. a precondition for ensuring the Pakistan Army’s preeminent position in the country’s power structure. the texts in the Green Book aren’t without method: crisis with India is. a senior Army . he was right. after all. General Pervez Musharraf described the 2002 Green Book . to tie down their arch-adversary. 26/11. ” its deputy chief Maulana Wali-urRahman said in a recentlyreleased video.commander was reported as calling the jihadist chief Baitullah Mehsud a “patriot. and the . “The practical struggle for a shari’a system that we are carrying out in Pakistan.” The officer said the army’s war with the Taliban leaders like Mehsud was merely the result of minor “misunderstandings.” There is plenty of evidence that jihadists in Pakistan are growing more powerful — and that organisations like the Tehreek-eTaliban are seriously considering expanding their operations eastwards. “the same way we will continue it in Kashmir. same way we will implement the shari’a system in India. India has. Indians must become aware. that a more muscular response to Pakistani aggression on the LoC. punished Pakistani aggression with a variety of means. so far. That the will to continue doing so is fraying in the build-up to the General Election is evident.” It is self-evident that preventing a rapprochement between jihadists and the generals is in India’s best interest — one reason why Prime Ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh proved willing to pay the political price for a policy of strategic restraint. conventional and covert — but the seduction of grandiose gestures is growing. though. . 2013 The Congress kumbh mela congress organisation Competente and free of charge MICE service . .flf-meetings. as the world watched in fascination a backward country’s revolutionary flirtation with universal adult franchise.all from one source www. January 16.like all instant gratification.ch/MICEservice HARISH KHARE Jawaharlal Nehru took over as Congress president a few months before the first General Elections and led the Grand Old Party to a comprehensive victory. will come with a price that probably isn’t worth paying. Nehru’s promise that he would clean up the organisation after the elections. rather presciently.” The unstated lament was that Jawaharlal Nehru had hoodwinked the electorate into voting for the Congress. Jayaprakash Narayan noted rather bitterly that “the Congress successes in certain States are mainly due to Mr. “that neither Mr.” The Congressman-turned-socialist . Nehru’s to fulfil this promise. And. The time has come for Mr.Soon after the votes got counted. I know from personal experience that a large number of people in the country were carried away by that promise. JP noted. Nehru nor anyone else can clean up this organisation. for good measure. Arguably he just did not have the requisite ruthlessness to purge the party of its impurities.leader’s prognosis was to prove right. Nehru did precious little to set the Congress house in order. the operative principle became that Nehru’s own . He was too much of a liberal and too much of a gentleman to undertake the necessarily unpleasant task of cleansing a so settled an organisation as the Congress. Nehru’s benevolent presence Apart from periodically lamenting unhealthy tendencies in the party over which he presided. often admonishing fellowCongressmen for bad behaviour. and. Instead. but it was obvious the party of the freedom movement had acquired an .” the party in fact settled itself down to consolidating its political domination.overwhelmingly benevolent presence and wholesome leadership were more than enough to provide the corrective to whatever “badness” the party could cook up. Nehru was comfortable with this proposition and others were conceitedly comfortable in making Nehru feel comfortable in this self-delusion. Contrary to JP’s 1953 prophesy that “the disintegration of the Congress will become an accomplished fact in the next few years. It was better than anyone else in political power games. Soon New Delhi-based envoys were mentioning the party’s “corruption” and inefficiency in their dispatches back home.organisational personality that not only was decidedly at odds with Nehru’s own ethical standards but also prevented it from becoming a decisive transformative instrumentality of the Indian state. And. The only contribution the Congress could make was to deepen the Indian state’s representative legitimacy. . though Nehru could and did manufacture coherent national objectives and goals. Nehru’s “socialist” agenda was filibustered. the bureaucracy and the public sector — and. not the Congress party — became the preferred instruments of transformation. Sooner or later. rather dramatically in 1969. backward looking people in the Congress who were preventing the fulfilment of the nation’s historic role. once it became clear that Indira Gandhi . However. things had to come to a head — and. The Congress got split right down the middle. did. People voted decisively for Indira Gandhi’s Congress because it was marketed as a new. That split was premised on the understanding that there were too many reactionary.Once Nehru left the scene and the Indian state began its long muddle through a Hindu rate of growth. sharper instrument of transformation. the Congress’s sterile stability increasingly proved a positive distraction. the same less than attractive crowd of Congressmen moved over to her side. Instead.was batting on a winning wicket. the party became “a dung-heap of defectors. Like her father. The promise of purge never materialised. there is only so much a prime minister can pile on her/his plate. She was too distracted with the absorbing and exacting affairs of state. Soon after the 1971 massive mandate.” The inevitable . Indira Gandhi too could not undertake any comprehensive house-cleaning. everyone bought into a working proposition that Indira Gandhi’s very presence and leadership would neutralise the baddies. To her credit. discipline and destiny in the organisation. he symbolised change. Then in 1998 the baton eventually passed on to Sonia Gandhi. he too failed to make any headway in instilling any sense of direction. symbol of change When the baton got passed to Rajiv Gandhi. He himself brilliantly dissected the ills of his own party at its 1985 centenary session. she never promised to clean up the party.denouement was the rise of Sanjay Gandhi and the Emergency. All she promised was she would try to keep the warring Congressmen from getting at each other’s throat . Rajiv. Only those in power can make authoritative public choices. as it turned out. But the quest for electoral majority is not to be sniggered at easily. we are supposed to be on the cusp of a new politics. there is only one yardstick for a party’s success — winning elections. and. Unfortunately. So much so. . that success. she shepherded the party to a decade of uninterrupted rule at the Centre.and to maintain some unity of purpose. in turn. has produced its own consequences. Thanks to the UPA policies and practices — and absurdities — the polity has witnessed the rise of new forces. And. full of passions and provocations. however. This history puts the Congressmen under a new obligation. . one school of thought has always held that the Congress is the problem. But neither has the Congress disappeared nor have the nonCongress political forces and formations managed to keep it out for long from positions of power and authority. It would. be instructive for the Congressmen to keep in mind that since JP’s days. The Jaipur Kumbh Mela will be useful only if the Congressmen understand that they have the primary responsibility to respond to the new political economy of upmarket assertiveness and downmarket deprivations.And that is the context of the Jaipur congregation. becomes adding value to that technical mandate by its competence.This cannot be an easy undertaking in this age of coalitions and fractured polity. for that matter. will confront a conundrum: how to convert a technical mandate into an enlightened democratic authority? The task of the leadership. The Congress and. the Congressmen could get down to . capacity and communications so as to secure the citizens’ joyful consent to its policies and politics. It is possible that at Jaipur. any other party or a combination of parties that may come to have the opportunity in the near future to govern from New Delhi. then. . more decent. It is also possible that the younger lot among the Congressmen will decide to familiarise themselves with new tools of new technology that are being used to create confusion. Trapped as the party is in the Rahul Gandhi leadership syndrome. more open political process. in other words. it still needs to craft a new profile for itself around the limits of his political persona.discussing the nature and reason for new restlessness among important sections of society. That may not be enough. it has to undertake to try to answer the all too obvious craving among vast sections of our society for a cleaner. controversy and crises. Restore respectability At stake is not just the future of the Congress or the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. it is nonetheless imperative that the Congress learns new songs. As the oldest political formation in the country. While a semblance of order and control is the prerequisite for any civilised. it is for the Congress to restore our constitutional order’s moral respectability. lyrics and music so as to communicate that the only rationale for . The very usefulness of democratic politics has come into disrepute. democratic state order. Citizens need to see demonstratively for themselves that public choices are made for the larger good. The Congressmen are good at tactical cleverness. not against them.democratic polity to exist is to make the citizens feel and believe that politics is for them. It remains to be seen whether at Jaipur they will be able or be allowed to discover the path of wisdom. they will do well to remember their historic responsibility to adapt to changing aspirations . (Harish Khare is a veteran commentator and political analyst. He was the Prime Minister’s media adviser from June 2009 to January 2012) When the Grand Old Party’s leaders congregate at Jaipur. 2013 The cleric and the cricketer Flight Tickets 1+1 Free . and supporters of Tahir-ul-Qadri at a meeting in Lahore.January 16. north Pakistan.Book a Flight with MakeMyTrip and Get the next Ticket Absolutely Free Makemytrip. —PHOTOS: AFP Whether or not the neatly bearded cleric commanding the . (Left to right) Imran Khan at a rally in Mianwali.com/Buy1Get1Free RAFIA ZAKARIA APPEARANCES:Tahir-ul-Qadri seems to have evaded all the usual categories that have exhausted and enraged Pakistanis. another bomb blew up a seminary killing another 20. in the shadow of a 2012 that saw over 2. two bomb blasts ripped through the embattled city of Quetta killing over a hundred of the city’s beleaguered Shia Hazara minority. In the south in Karachi. but he has undoubtedly been blessed by the benevolence of good timing. in the town of Swabi. 2013. North of Islamabad. On January 10. The week before Allama Tahir-ul-Qadri began to gather his supporters for the march on Islamabad was bloody even by Pakistan’s recent death smeared standards. the Wednesday before the march.crowds in Islamabad will succeed in toppling the flailing Zardari government may not be known.000 killed in targeted attacks of . the leader of a group . the measles epidemic sucking life out of hundreds of children in Sindh and scores of health workers felled by the Taliban.varied origin. the ravages that came atop the fuel strikes in Karachi that routinely paralyse millions of commuters. arrived an Allama from Canada. Two days in Pakistan and over 200 killed. a single hour of the same day saw 11 shot dead outside a homeopathic hospital. Scepticism to blame Against this grim backdrop of failure. the natural gas shortages in Punjab that prevent hordes from cooking their evening meals. And those were the extraordinary troubles. by some ebullient estimates. even hundreds of thousands to his ranks. headscarved and not. fervent Pakistani youth. Most would remember the rousing rallies in which Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaaf leader cricketer Imran Khan drew thousands and.” It is not that Pakistan has not ridden the heady waves of fiery reformers before. rich and not so rich all united under the umbrella of change. bearded and clean shaven. His too was a promising cross-sectional mix. a new figure willing to take on the feudals who have clutched . known not for its politics but long advocated “moral and spiritual reform. The dimensions for the cricketer of yore were similar to the cleric of now.named Minhaj ul Quran. able to whet with sportycharm the nationalist passions of a politician wary Pakistani public. as the months to the promised elections of 2013 crept by ever so slowly.onto power for too long. and the space between the engagement and the wedding proved too long. timing may not have been. Imran Khan spoke of accountability and avarice and grabbing the collars of all the fattened bureaucrats and lethargic leaders. the men who didn’t pay taxes and turned their backs on the poor and cared little for the tears of the unconnected and the ordinary. But if the ache for change was on the side of the charismatic cricketer. the slow poison of scepticism began to settle into the cracks in the promised upheaval and wedge . Allama Tahir-ul-Qadri then could well be called Imran Khan with better timing. Like the protesters in other parts of the Muslim world. Tahir-ul-Qadri’s supporters seem to have no decided agenda. asking . wasn’t his house just as big as those of other leaders.themselves into crevices. and wasn’t his ex-wife British? None of it was damning. a harbinger of change at a time when any change at all seems better than the crushing punishing status quo. To the Pakistani public. but together it dampened the flames of a firedriven machinery just enough. all of it makes him absolutely irresistible. Was he accepting too many feudals into his ranks. a beard and a more religiously appealing resume. He is neither the violent Islamist nor the fattened feudal. The microphones at the Qadri march blared at one moment thumping patriotic music and at another the calls to prayer. Tahir-ul-Qadri seems to have evaded all the usual categories that have exhausted and enraged Pakistanis. The mix would be confusing if it wasn’t so particularly Pakistani — with his amalgamation of faith and moderation. he seems to have come . not the ethnic commander nor the tattling technocrat and in being nothing.at once for the dismissal of a duly elected government and a return to constitutionalism and the rule of law. his repeated avowal of spiritual and moral reform and his insistence on peaceful protest. never attempting to create a political party but harnessing the reformist power of a faith-based reform movement to gather thousands in the streets.dangerously close to becoming the something many Pakistanis would like to follow. The danger of course lies in the very ambiguity Allama Tahir-ulQadri has been able to harness. To the most pessimistic. who speaks of constitutionalism but not of contesting democratic elections. watching a bearded man. of getting rid of a government . he has decided to operate outside the party system. Most troubling among these is the fact that unlike Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf. a new front for a military always waiting in the shadows. who gives few details of what would happen after the corrupt and inept leaders of now are finally dragged out of office. the Pakistani public’s decades long move away from feudal and technocrat dominated politics and decrepit institutions to the faithbased reform movements that have no faith in the party system. always impatient with political . If they are correct. the appearance of Allama Tahir-ul-Qadri may seem the first visible symptom of a long secret ailment ravaging Pakistan.without enumerating the basis of selection of the next. Or it could be the usual Pakistani disease. seems a dangerous mix away from Pakistan’s always delicate democracy. in any form and at any cost and under the leadership of any man.in/northeast JYOTI PUNWANI . To the supporters of Tahir-ul-Qadri huddled in borrowed blankets and threadbare sweaters. January 17.Get the best holiday package to northeast. in the settling fog of a cold Islamabad night. the details of such dynamics may not matter at all. Hurry book today! www. 2013 He died a broken man TUI Honeymoon Package .transitions and able perhaps to create just the right man to fit just the morose mood.tui. their chilled and weary focus remaining instead simply on change. most of them Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) followers. “His mind could never free itself of the stain on his reputation. leading to the gruesome death of 59 passengers. the media kept asking: how did the ‘mastermind’ go free?” Few outside Godhra knew of Maulana Umarji till Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express was burnt there on February 27. As his son Saeed said.Maulana Hussain Umarji—PHOTO: PTI Maulana Hussain Umarji died of brain haemorrhage on Sunday night. 2002. The subsequent violence against Muslims in . Even after he was acquitted. a free man but a tarnished one. raped. Maulana Umarji. “If this is the reward you get for doing social work. necessitating the setting up of relief camps for them.Gujarat saw thousands of injured. As Saeed Umarji said. the head of the town’s Ghanchi community. a year after the incident. and thereby entered the limelight. orphaned and widowed Muslims pour into Godhra from neighbouring villages.” Acquittals It wasn’t just social work that Saeed’s father did in those violent . finally leading to his arrest as the mastermind of the train burning. ran the three camps. God save this country. punished for something with which they had had no connection. Maulana Umarji did what no one else could. Notorious for their impulsive violent reactions to any slight to their faith (it was outside their settlement near Godhra station that the Sabarmati coach was set on fire). Narendra Modi is a Ghanchi. Running the camps without much help was difficult enough. But that could have been done by others equally efficiently.months of 2002. night curfew was on. in those days. (Incidentally.) Additionally. and the police . Godhra’s Ghanchi Muslims couldn’t contain themselves as they heard tales of atrocities from the villagers who poured into their relief camps. He kept his flock in check. The Maulana was the first to apologise on behalf of his community for the burning of the Sabarmati coach.were conducting nightly raids on Ghanchi localities. Maulana Umarji succeeded in preventing a major flare-up between the police and his flock. hunting for those who burnt the train. picking up anyone they could. He apologised too in front of then Prime Minister . He did this at the first peace meeting called by Godhra’s Collector. But that was not his only achievement.) In this explosive atmosphere. (As many as 63 of the 94 accused were acquitted. and then at subsequent meetings. These apologies went unreported. the media went berserk with lurid tales of contacts with Pakistan and . as did his condemnation of the incident and his appeal for peace sent to newspapers. Everyone in Polan Bazar. Godhra’s main Muslim area. saw the police take away their 63-year-old spiritual leader just before dawn from his house. hobbling without spectacles or walking stick. The next day.Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi. on the basis of a statement made by a criminal in custody who retracted it the moment he was produced before a magistrate. when they came to see the burnt coach. This was the man arrested as the “mastermind” of the train burning. As he told this reporter in April 2002. there couldn’t have been a worse charge. But what makes me angry is when . fiery sermons. “Muslims have been taught to be patient. we shall suffer it. so all this (violence) we are facing today. Hindus across Gujarat cursed the police and the judge for letting the “mastermind” off.Afghanistan’s Mullah Umar. hidden wealth … all these accompanied by close-ups of the Maulana’s face contorted in anger. No support For the Maulana. fitting exactly the stereotype of the “jehadi antinational Mullah.” Such was the impact of this coverage that when he was acquitted eight years later. not even the Congress for whom he had campaigned in the December 2002 Assembly elections. spoke up in his defence. This campaign was one of the reasons for his arrest. The other was that with his outspoken denunciation of the treatment of Muslims to the Prime Minister. It will be ruined.” The tragedy was that when he was arrested by the BJP government. He refused. The British promised him freedom if he only gave up Gandhiji.000 ulema had been hung from the trees of Delhi for fighting for freedom? My own guru was in jail in Malta for six years. Don’t they know that 14. I fear the country is not safe in their hands. .they question our patriotism. In February 2011. as his community thronged his house after he finally came home having been acquitted. . his first question to this reporter was to inquire about her health. Maulana Umarji never got bail.and his open help to the families of those arrested from Godhra. he had become the defiant face of Gujarat’s Muslims at a time when the entire community was cowed down. six of his children were married off. While he languished in jail. even after the charges of terrorism were removed in 2009. and narrate how jail had actually done him good thanks to Ramdev’s yoga classes there. Pay Electricity Bills Easily Online Avoid Long Queues. not enough good to counter the stigma Modi’s government and the media had put him through.) January 17. 2013 Beware the dogs of war Electricity Bill Payment . he lasted barely two years after his release. Sign Up Now! Myuniverse. Even though a fiercely protective son prevented him from donning his community’s leadership again.Apparently.in/Electricity_Bills NIRUPAMA SUBRAMANIAN . (Jyoti Punwani is a Mumbai-based journalist and writer.co. But in all that has been said by political leaders and by the men in uniform. and whose best interests both nations claim to represent — and what a crucial anchor it has been for peace efforts in the region over the last decade and therefore how important it is to secure it.The killing of two soldiers on the Line of Control. how vital the ceasefire has been to changing lives on the ground for people living on both sides of the LoC — the Kashmiris that both India and Pakistan claim to speak for. . and the gruesome manner in which Lance Naik Hemraj met his end. have shocked and anguished all Indians. Not one of them has yet thought it important to stress that despite the violations. there is a strange omission. ‘10 for one’ Instead. .” about India having “other options. and once spoke about “breakfast in Lahore and lunch in Kabul” has now started competing with BJP leader Sushma Swaraj in playing to the gallery. But what is truly sad is that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.” about how the Indian Army will not remain “passive” to provocations. His statement that it “cannot be business as usual with Pakistan” is — word for word — a throwback to the Mumbai attack. who has been a determined votary of better ties with Pakistan. there has been talk about the need to get “10 heads for one. on the Indian side. the two countries came back to the table as realisation dawned on India that talks it had to be. the politicians and the military have been too preoccupied with the bombings in Quetta. Karachi and Swabi. both sides set up a framework with much difficulty. and even managed some forward movement. protests and Tahir-ul Qadri. It seems no lessons have been learnt from that experience. on the Indian side. Back at the table. . sporting contacts. Reminiscent of the Mumbai aftermath. and the visa-on-arrival-scheme have been the immediate casualties. On the Pakistani side.But it is also useful to recall that after those famous last words in 2008. security forces also suspected that the village.But they threw the U. card at India and also suspended two main confidence building measures on the ceasefire — the cross-LoC bus service and crossLoC trade. Ask the people of Kirini. It was only two years ago that the Indian Army tentatively allowed residents of this village to return to homes and lands they were forced to leave eight years earlier. a village on the LoC in Poonch. . directly hurting the Kashmiris.N. divided in 1947. They were not just in the cross-fire. was being used as a haven by infiltrators from across the border. what they make of this sudden downturn in their fortunes. people had to wind . by which time. which came up on the LoC in 2004-05 further divided the village.‘Cluster colony’ of villagers When a group from Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation. Villagers were let in through a gate in the fence that opened once at 9 am and. leaving most of the houses and the land ahead of the fencing. The barbed wire fence. Kirni villagers told them that they trekked everyday to their village to work on their lands. visited them in 2007 at the ‘cluster colony’ to which they had been relocated. It took them about one-and-a-half to two hours. a think-tank that works on IndiaPakistan issues. again at 4 pm. the Indian Army allowed Kirni’s residents to return to their village. to their oneroom tenement in the cluster colony. The women would cook in their homes at Kirni during the day. Kirni was the pilot of a model rehabilitation plan. If India and Pakistan do not stop the tough talk and the shelling.000 people of other villages along the LoC would be rehabilitated too. in view of the ceasefire holding well. over slippery pathways. 20. most of them were. it’s . Everyone had to be back in the colony before dark. and carry the night meal back. In April-May 2011. If it went well. and there were no incidents.up their day’s chores and leave. from .back to the future for these people. a website with an exhaustive list of security-related incidents in the sub-continent. In Uri sector in Baramulla. and by extension for everyone else in J&K. people in villages close to the LoC are demanding that the government either construct bunkers for them or give them money to do it themselves. here is a snapshot of what it could look like if bunkers really became urgent and necessary: in two months. no one gave thought to reconstruct them. From South Asia Terrorism Portal. but as the ceasefire was going well. The bunkers that the villages used to have apparently collapsed during the 2005 earthquake. Of these. As many as 136 military personnel were injured. 119 were of military personnel. and 151 were civilians. This was just from localised hostilities at the LoC. Defence Ministry A. among civilians.K. Antony told the Lok Sabha that 110 incidents had taken place along the ceasefire since it came into being in 2003. India counted 611 killed on the LoC. the number of injured was higher — 153. The website classifies the remaining dead as “terrorists”. not an all out war. 2000. in July 2009. Compare this with post-ceasefire casualties: no incidents until 2006. four soldiers and two civilians had been killed. on the Indian side. .September 26 to November 27. not in a metaphorical sense. If the ceasefire. the biggest achievement of the IndiaPakistan dialogue of the last 15 years. was the icing on the cake. is something that our politicians cannot summon up the . through travel and trade.Semblance of normality The CDR group that visited the LoC in 2007 heard in village after village that people were finally sleeping well. but quite literally. That the ceasefire also helped Kashmiris on either side connect after more than five decades of Partition. All this gave Kashmiris a semblance of normality after more than five decades of living in a war zone. backbone to defend. Last year. and there have been arguably bigger incidents. both sides have violated the ceasefire on plenty of occasions. it seems as if this time. that the ceasefire at the LoC was under strain. Shiv Shankar Menon. told journalists right after meeting his Pakistani counterpart. In July 2008. As the numbers show. there were 77 violations. That year. who was then the Foreign Secretary. there was a deliberate absence of will to use this . they might as well stop talking about Kashmir. there were 117. Despite a solid system to ensure that such violations are resolved immediately. for a candid exchange on India-Pakistan issues — some Indian participants warned that if there was to be another terrorist attack on Indian soil with a Pakistani fingerprint. some of them former government officials.mechanism to its entire capacity. The meeting between the field commanders did not last even 15 minutes.” and it was therefore in Pakistan’s interests to dismantle the terror infrastructure for the talks to go ahead — who could have seen a month ago that . Track Two dialogue At a recent edition of the Chaophraya Track Two dialogue — it brings together specialists from various fields. “all bets would be off. or else there was no point in expending resources to make some progress. Indians and Pakistanis. were emphatic that the two countries must insulate the gains of the dialogue process — such as trade and visas — from such incidents. What happens there. 2014 is not just the year of the next general election in India. only to be dragged down.the danger would come from a ceasefire violation on the LoC. But most participants. It is also the year by the end of which the United States would have withdrawn most of its troops from Afghanistan. Securing the ceasefire and the rest of the peace process is more important than at any other time. . and then have to start all over again. Instead. we are back to staring down each other. this would have been a good time for a frank discussion between the two countries on Afghanistan. there . how it sees its own role in bringing regional stability. Pakistan has its eyes fixed on the Afghan ball. Despite its internal troubles.and the rest of the region after that will depend much on India and Pakistan. For the next government in New Delhi. and is already involved in efforts for a political deal with the Taliban. and for New Delhi to highlight its own concerns. which can only bring more bad tidings in a post2014 situation. and the state of their bilateral relations. Given the stability in IndiaPakistan relations over the last year or so. until last week. nirupama. the biggest gain of the India-Pakistan dialogue.s@thehindu. and it can only get worse from here.co. 2013 . in which there is a possibility of setting things right for the victim. we are in the middle of what doctors call the Golden Hour. they should stop claiming they represent Kashmir’s best interests January 17.in If our politicians cannot defend the ceasefire. the first hour after a road accident. To borrow a term from the medical profession. Get it wrong now.can be far more pleasant ways to begin an innings. Insert Your Birthdate & Get Answers about Past-Present and Future.com MADHU PURNIMA KISHWAR DIVERSE BELIEFS:Devotees cannot be ordered around by those who only have contempt for them or be bullied into surrendering their unique Being. Free AboutAstro. SUBRAHMANYAM Do we want to create a world in which everyone thinks alike? A world in which there is no space for divergence of views or foolish . —PHOTO: C.V.Don’t like this temple? Choose another Your Zodiac Horoscope . people? I write this after witnessing poor Rahul Easwar. The media’s job is first and foremost to inform and not browbeat people to “reform. being flagellated on television for the nth time on January 7. 2013.” TV news programmes in particular have come to resemble inquisitions or kangaroo courts with anchors and their handpicked panellists flagellating those with politically incorrect views. for allowing the presiding deity of his temple to shun the company of female devotees. one of the young hereditary priests of Sabarimala. issuing diktats on everything from political views to religious . They have no problem in accepting that women are barred inside friaries meant to house Catholic priests who have taken a vow of celibacy. They take it .practices and rituals. our modern day missionaries can’t stand the temperamental nuances of our diverse deities. But they can’t stomach the idea of a male deity who has likewise vowed eternal celibacy avoiding the company of women. despised Hindu religious practices. and even the conduct of gods and goddesses. Intolerant Just as our colonial rulers with their faith in the superiority of their monotheistic faith. with their millions of gods and goddesses. this amounts to misogyny and gender discrimination! Rahul Easwar has asked each television anchor who has grilled him over the years how would they deal with all those temples which only allow female devotees. Would they likewise force “women only” temples to open their doors to men? Not one has ever condescended to answer this simple question. . where the presiding goddess forbids men’s entry. nor did any of the anchors tone down their aggression or hostility towards Rahul’s intelligent defence of his faith and his Ishta dev .upon themselves to cure this kink because in their moral universe with its borrowed vocabulary. But their disdain for those who treat them as objects of worship remains as ferocious as that of our colonial rulers. so also our westernised elites have taken to displaying paintings. Respect for differences .Following in the footsteps of our British rulers. who despite their disdain for our gods and goddesses. bronze and stone carved idols of diverse gods and goddesses as decoration pieces in their homes as proof of their aesthetic lifestyle. took away shiploads of priceless ancient idols to display as art objects in their museums and living rooms. each sect decide for itself how to define their relationship to their chosen deity. likes. dislikes. character traits. distant entities. each deity has his or her preferences. puja ritual. you are free not to worship them and choose the devata or devi that suits your taste. They have distinct personalities. they would have no difficulty in appreciating that Hindu divinities are not unknowable. They let each faith group. Even in matters of food. floral offerings. If you don’t respect their unique temperaments. .If that were not the case. what foods to offer her. Even the most illiberal among Indians do not insist on uniformity of rituals or modes of worship. is what enabled the rich diversity of India to survive through millennia. Madhubani and Worli paintings. Ikat. ways of worship.what modes of worship they think appropriate to express their devotion and how they interpret her likes or dislikes. mutual respect for differences in ways of being. . For example. Chanderi or Patola saris. wood carvings from Kashmir. singing. cooking and so on. possessing a collection of Kanjeevaram. They can only relish in museumised versions such as folk dances on Republic Day or as consumer goods. But our self-proclaimed modern liberals can’t deal with these lived forms of diversity. clothing. Moradabad brassware. This spontaneous. dancing. they should be banned in favour of sugar-free diet chocolates! . for example. For engagement I won’t be surprised if tomorrow someone decided to reform the food habits of our gods and goddesses saying. But the moral universe of those who create these diverse art objects is unacceptable. that modak and laddoo are both high cholesterol.Tanjore paintings. Rajasthani miniatures. high calorie food items. etc. They encourage devotees to have pot bellies. is a fashion statement. It is assumed that they all need a dose of reform to cleanse them of antiquated beliefs and values. Therefore. just avoid going to that temple. If you don’t like the values of that sect. Most of our traditional temples are run by specific sects for the devotees of that particular deity. There are lakhs of others to choose from.It is time the imperious missionaries of “liberalism” understand that our temples are not meant to be tourist centres — where entry must be free for all. If I walked into the homes of our self-appointed reformers and insisted that they change their lifestyles and food habits. I’d be shown the door and asked to mind my own business. What gives these non-believers the right . if the preferences of that particular deity are offensive to you. But they can’t be ordered around by those who only have contempt for them. They cannot be bullied into surrendering their unique . In the Hindu faiths. Devotees have the right to dictate their deities to change with changing times.to dictate to Lord Sabarimala how he should live and act in his own abode or dictate terms to harmless little sects among Hindus who prefer to indulge in the whims and wishes of their chosen deities? Young Rahul Easwar has been pleading for respectful engagement with faith leaders in order to bring about changes in allegedly outmoded customary practices and cultural values. nothing is written in stone. Being and become colourless and soulless robotic creatures that yield to every new wave of political fashion we import from our intellectual mentors in distant lands.) The imperious missionaries of liberalism have no respect for the diversity of India’s belief systems and have taken it upon themselves to reform everything they perceive as outdated and incorrect . Manushi. and professor. (Madhu Purnima Kishwar is founder. Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. the intervention is likely to exacerbate regional conflict and strengthen the hand of extremists. —PHOTOS: AP French jets are zipping past northern Mali. bombing the region and with it. 5 Days @NUS Business School. 2013 Pushing Africa aside in Mali Women Leadership Program . Apply! executive-education.January 18.edu ARUN MOHAN SUKUMAR DIRECT COMBAT:If anything.nus.For Women Leaders in Asia. The pictures are of a scene outside Bamako after the arrival of French troops and (right) a mission briefing. a participatory . West and . France’s aerial assault and imminent deployment of ground troops is a volte face from its original plan to offer “logistical aid” to African peacekeepers in Mali. his government’s military intervention in the Sahel is proof that Françafrique is alive and well. For all of French President François Hollande’s promises to treat Africa as a partner and friend. Its monopoly over the rapid deployment of military force allows France to sustain a relationship of dependency with the continent.framework that had thus far allowed African states to troubleshoot what is first and foremost a regional political crisis. at a time when governments in North. while co-opting the concerns and counsel of West African states along the way. while acknowledging the sovereign authority of Mali’s interim government. were aimed at bringing African stakeholders on board.’s efforts.N. Security Council had placed Mali at the centre of its agenda. In the last few months. The U. The Economic .Central Africa are struggling to control armed rebels.N. In July 2012. 2071 and 2085 — each facilitating progressively tough measures — to tackle this conflict. the U. the council adopted Resolutions 2056. which France has now upended. the UNSC emphasised dialogue between various stakeholders in Mali. Last year. often interacting with fringe elements such as Ansar Dine. Where was France’s enthusiasm then to train or provide non-lethal support to this force? No one is suggesting African forces can . The Ecowas and the African Union (AU) had therefore requested the Security Council’s blessings for an African-led stabilisation force in Mali. For a regional-led force Negotiating and sustaining an agreement is feasible only if there is a mechanism to enforce its terms.Community of West African States (Ecowas) mediated this dialogue. the Islamist group that has now coalesced with other Tuareg outfits in northern Mali. overrun the Tuareg militia — after all. and even issues of internal displacement and humanitarian aid. In late 2012. the AU and Ecowas made repeated appeals to the council to help deploy the Africanled International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA). African states drew up a Strategic Concept for the Resolution of the Crises in Mali as well a Concept of Operations that dealt with logistics. some in the latter’s ranks were trained by American troops — but France could have facilitated the adoption of preventive measures early on in the crisis’s timeline. The Security Council . intelligence gathering. No such support was forthcoming. In pursuit of their endeavour. 500 in number. As an important and responsible supraregional actor. . Defence Minister JeanYves Le Drian advertised a handsoff approach. along with the U. Secretary General’s ground report which highlighted the importance of a political settlement in Mali. Then. as the UNSC urged members to do. Now. France could have helped bridge differences among Ecowas members and provide financial assistance as well as training to AFISMA at this stage.N.considered this blueprint. he is contemplating a troop deployment that could reach 2. specifically suggesting France would not be directly involved in the intervention. need to support the intervention or struggle to . an area that Paris considers to be within its “sphere of influence. Security Council.N. but also promote African-led conflict resolution. African states.The result The military intervention in Mali is France’s desperate attempt to rejuvenate its waning clout in the Sahel. playing catch-up. Hollande could have harvested the many chances that came his way to not only engage this crisis. France now bombs Mali knowing that its actions will be met with no resistance — and maybe even support — among other permanent members of the U.” Mr. N. U.stay relevant in this conflict. If anything. peacekeepers continue to play second fiddle as they are delegated to clean up the trail of destruction left in the wake of this assault. As in the past. the cure to Africa’s ungovernable malaises will come from foreign shores. The collateral damage from all this remains the same: local or regional armed forces stay illequipped to tackle such crises without training or financial support. French intervention in Mali is likely to exacerbate regional conflict and strengthen . Which is another way of saying that there will actually be no cure. militarised alliances like NATO strengthen their grip as the world’s policemen. If NATO’s Libyan intervention spawned armed militants who have now joined their kinsmen in northern Mali. A vicious cycle has been set in motion. without which many states are . It is no revelation that political violence in Africa comes at the cost of institution-building. this assault too will have a ripple effect.the hands of extremists in the Maghreb. only to be cultivated by separatist elements in the northern provinces and extremists elsewhere. The Tuareg rebels have shown little inclination to surrender. With an increase in civilian casualties. public sentiment towards the already fragile Malian government could turn hostile. PGPIT offers 5. U. the ensuing political instability. and the adoption of open door policies in commodity-driven economies.forced to rely on resource rents. SETHI . vive la Françafrique! (Arun Mohan Sukumar is at The Fletcher School.5 Month IT Training with Job Exposure & Paid Internship niitpgpit.) January 18. Vive la France.S. Tufts University. Connect the dots between intervention in a conflict.com SURYA P. and it is clear who profits most from Africa’s wars. 2013 Making a mockery of domestic gas pricing Jobs in IT . I fail to understand why he lends his enormous reputation to reports on the energy sector that are far removed from his area of experience and expertise. especially when the Committee he recently chaired did not have a single member with any notable knowledge or understanding of the complex global gas markets. Rangarajan was my professor and I worship him as an economist and academician. However.Dr. A one-hour consultation with an independent industry expert would have informed the Committee that its recommended methodology has no relevance to “determining the basis or formula for the price of domestically produced gas” in India — a task it . like most government documents.set out to deliver under its terms of reference.25/MMBTU. it does not clarify if this is the price for dry or wet gas thereby forgetting the economic value of natural gas liquids extracted by producers before selling the dry gas as feed stock .2 to $5. yet. it presents indefensible demand and supply numbers completely independent of gas prices. The report confirms that most Indian natural gas producers are currently guaranteed a well head price of at least $4. Price sensitivity The report recognises the price sensitivity of gas demand in India. However. the . overlooking the objections that the then Cabinet Secretary and I had raised against the proposed formula. the report suggests that the above price is not sufficiently remunerative to encourage domestic natural gas production but fails to provide any evidence to support such a conclusion.and/or an energy source. Here too. More importantly. Can the Committee identify any significant independent conventional gas field in the world that receives or has received this high a well head price for dry natural gas year after year on an arms-length basis? The Committee justifies the formula approved for pricing natural gas from KG Basin’s D-6 field. In the then relevant range of crude prices between .50/MMBTU but it rises exponentially to $3. the floor price of KG Basin gas determined at a crude price of $25/barrel is $2. The rest of the world follows formulae by which such linkage is a linear function. Under the approved formula.50/MMBTU at a crude price of $26/barrel yielding a 40 per cent increase in the price of gas for a 4 per cent increase in the price of crude.Committee fails to point out that India is the only country in the world that adopted a formula by which the gas price rises exponentially with the price of crude between its floor price and its cap. with a more gradual slope between the floor price of gas and its cap. the KG Basin gas receives a price that was well beyond the price at which the same gas was bid out under an international tender or its cost of service. the full extent of the KG Basin scam is far from being completely exposed. the price of gas varies very narrowly between $4. nevertheless.2 per MMBTU. In essence. The Rangarajan Committee. Suffice it to say that despite the CAG’s report. under prevailing market conditions. finds the KG Basin . Fortunately.1 and $4. KG basin produces dry gas thereby negating any additional bonanza from natural gas liquids. the approved formula violated international practice to ensure that.$50/barrel and the cap determined at $60/barrel. gas price. The recommended formula estimates the price by averaging some numbers derived from foreign gas markets even though those numbers neither represent well head price of conventional natural gas anywhere in the world nor reflect the cost of service for producing conventional natural gas in India. that also triggered an increase in the gas prices approved for ONGC. The above shortfalls. not sufficiently remunerative. are minor oversights when compared to the indefensible formula recommended for determining the well head price of conventional natural gas produced in India. I dare say. . the Committee recommends estimating. As a first step. what it calls the “Average Producer Net Back for Indian Imports” for the trailing 12 months by deducting $3 to $4 from the prices paid by India for import of LNG from different sources over the same period. the suggested formula establishes the fair price of carrots based on some imputed prices of bananas.In layman terms. including spot purchases and term contracts. Let me explain this in more detail. The $3-$4 number representing current cost estimates of liquefaction. transportation and . It is recommended that all LNG imports. be included. on a monthly basis. apples and oranges. such an exercise would yield a number. it is not the average well head price of conventional natural gas in the countries exporting LNG to India. the NBP spot . gas sales. something that it calls the “Weighted Average Price to Producers in the Global Markets” during the trailing 12 months. Certainly. Next. To calculate this number it uses the Henry Hub spot index as the price for all U.sweetening natural gas would be updated regularly. though.S. is anybody’s guess. the Committee recommends that we estimate. Surely. What this number represents. nor is it relevant to determining fair well head prices for Indian producers of conventional natural gas. on a monthly basis. This exercise too will yield a number but what it represents or its relevance to Indian gas producers is beyond comprehension. Finally. for all gas sales in every country comprising Europe and the Former Soviet Union and the “Average Producer Net Back” for all Japanese LNG imports (computed on the same basis as recommended above for India). over the same period. based on hitherto .index of U. it is recommended that total volume of all gas contracts in the respective jurisdictions be included irrespective of their differences. Again. the Committee recommends that the average of the two numbers calculated above.K. The structure of the . be used to compensate producers of conventional natural gas in India. The ownership structures in the industry make it difficult to fathom at what point in the value chain is the profit being booked and how much.unknown concepts in the global gas markets. I cannot lay bare all the complexities of the regionally fragmented global gas markets here but let me simply state that natural gas varies widely in its characteristics across different sources and the three regions covered have distinctly different pricing mechanisms for gas. Gas contracts vary from spot purchases to long term with widely varying basis for pricing. The Henry Hub benchmark index is available for next day delivery and up to 108 months in the future. the physical trade occurring at the typically quoted Henry Hub or NBP price is minuscule compared to the global trade in gas. nonprice elements that are not transparent.regional gas market and the related gas infrastructure in the relevant jurisdiction impact gas prices significantly. geo political considerations and security of supply concerns play an important role in the pricing of gas. Finally. Similarly. However. the more recent NBP benchmark index permits trading of gas as a commodity on spot and longer term basis. . importantly. natural gas does not have a fungible global market thereby exacerbating the above complexity. .Disequilibrium Unlike oil. IEA projects that such disequilibrium will continue at least for the coming 10-15 years.73 cif — which.01 while at NBP it was $9.03 and the Japanese LNG imports averaged $14. based on the Rangarajan Committee’s definition.50/ MMBTU for Japanese imports. The resulting disequilibrium is illustrated by the fact that in 2011 the reported average dry gas price per MMBTU at Henry Hub was $4. would yield an “Average Producer Net Back” of $10.50 – 11. Both these approaches have been successfully implemented in markets at a stage of development similar to India. if done properly. And as the original proponent of price discovery through limited sectoral competition.Given above market realities and the current state of the gas industry in India. a well regulated cost of service would be the preferred option for determining the well head price of Indian gas. let me reiterate that. The diffidence of the Committee in recommending these two approaches perhaps reflects its lack of confidence in India’s governance and regulatory . it too deserves a far more serious consideration than that given by the Rangarajan Committee. clearly undesirable. This ruling clique’s inability to deal with well informed and well intentioned professionals who raise fundamental questions is evident . however. As long as the PMO keeps appointing “acceptable” babus and academics to such important committees and specialised positions of governance and regulation. it will be the blind leading the blind and we will stumble from one blunder to another under historical myths that pervade India’s energy and other key sectors.capacity/capability. Recommending a Mickey Mouse formulation as a substitute to improving such governance and regulatory capacity/capability is. National University of Singapore) The Rangarajan Committee formula is based on numbers from foreign markets even though these do not reflect the supply. Power & Energy. The forbidden citadel must open its gates to such professionals if India is to move forward.in more arenas than just energy. Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. (The writer. formerly Principal Adviser. 2013 India must get in on the ground floor . is Adjunct Professor. Government of India. demand or cost of production in India January 18. . India was actively involved in debates over crises in North Africa and the Middle East. Life Cover@just रु 24/day.com SHAILEY HINGORANI AND At the end of 2012. however. No Medicals upto 75L Cover* Buy Now www. system. On the more mundane but no less fundamental issue of international development.buyhdfcslonline. paying insufficient attention to opportunities for addressing domestic priorities and enhancing India’s standing in international affairs. India completed its seventh two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.N. In a period that proved unexpectedly challenging for the principal organ of the U. New Delhi has sat largely on the sidelines.1 Cr.HDFC Life Term Insurance . Too often we are content to act the part of a powerful and technologically sophisticated nation without actually pursuing a foreign policy that might serve our basic developmental goals. Nowhere are such failures more evident than on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). there is a fundamental disjuncture between India’s overwhelming domestic imperatives of equitable growth on the one hand and the nation’s external policies on the other.Disconnect Indeed. education and the environment for all signatories to achieve by 2015. Powered in part by the MDGs. 600 million people have been lifted . they represent a historic global framework and universal goals (with specific targets and indicators) in the areas of poverty. Signed into existence in 2000 by 190 countries. health. gender. N. The panel and consultations will feed into intergovernmental negotiations preceding the adoption of a new framework in September 2013. the international community is now starting to develop a framework for the next generation of development goals. Simultaneously. Secretary-General has appointed a 26 member high-level panel to advice on the new framework. 56 million more children go to school and 14. .000 children escape death each day. The U. the U. is facilitating national consultations in 100 countries (including India) to make the process as participatory as possible. Work on next goals With the 2015 deadline approaching.N.out of poverty. N. It is easy to dismiss a largely U. the MDGs represent an unprecedented international consensus on priorities and targets for . What MDGs stand for These critiques notwithstanding.-driven negotiation that could set arguably unrealistic targets for all countries to meet. a fixed set of overarching goals may constitute an unwise approach to development policy in general. and will be variably relevant to India. India is a sovereign nation that need not take direction from any constellation of international actors.This process is clearly important for both poor and rich countries. yet most members of India’s foreign policy establishment and the informed public remain oblivious to its significance. The goals themselves are not immune to internal inconsistencies and contradictions. Moreover. India can and should play a key role. the government can do more with less by influencing global post-2015 debates to reflect Indian concerns and priorities. Two principal opportunities beckon India. This may be all the more readily achieved because India is . Developing the next set of MDGs affords the international community an opportunity not only to take stock of achievements since the turn of the millennium but also to establish norms and principles that will define and influence the next stage of global development. Rather than having parallel bureaucracies for the implementation of two different development agendas. First. only some of which overlap with the MDGs. significant efficiency gains would derive from aligning the next generation of global development goals with India’s goals. in the domestic realm.equitable growth. particularly India. The second major opportunity lies in the international realm.” then we must also actively participate in the post2015 process. financial inclusion. information and communications technologies — can no longer be effectively addressed within nationally circumscribed approaches. many developmental challenges — for example. an opening to shape the rules of the game at a critical juncture of global institutional development. The post-2015 effort offers emerging powers. Moreover. As a rising power desirous of . which can be significantly influenced by a positive Indian vision for national and global economic and social progress. sustainability. If we can establish our own international aid agency and trumpet the merits of Indian “soft power.widely seen as the ultimate laboratory for development. Second.N. There are at least three ways in which the present level of involvement could be improved. India can accumulate influence through constructive leadership in international institutions. the Ministry of External Affairs — the government’s first point of contact with the U.a seat at the global high table. — should urgently consult the relevant line ministries and State governments and commission a white paper on its own recommendations that can then be deliberated in the public sphere. to be genuinely inclusive. the Indian government could do more to engage with the post2015 process. which often requires creating original solutions and forging consensus around them. First. the government should go beyond . Three ways for India As things stand. trade unions and people’s movements in any discussion on development frameworks. India should work towards building collaborations with other similarly placed countries in the international negotiations. . In the final analysis. we risk missing a vital opportunity to address key domestic challenges and to shape global norms in ways that protect our interests while projecting leadership in international affairs. the global post-2015 MDG process has institutional momentum and will result in an outcome relevant to India. Whether India takes note or not. Third.traditional civil society to engage faithbased groups. Indian diplomacy needs to think more seriously and creatively about India’s development. By not actively participating in its formative stages. the country sits up with concern.S. Sign up now! google. Email: January 18.(Shailey Hingorani is Advocacy Coordinator at Save the Children. In Punjab though. who ordered the attack on the Golden Temple. Vaidya — he was the Indian Army chief in 1984 and .Free Email by Google Switch to Gmail. the death anniversaries of the assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.com CHANDER SUTA DOGRA The damaged Akal Takht ata museum inside the temple complex in Amritsar. 2013 The still warm embers of Operation Blue Star Choose Gmail .— PHOTO: PRABHJOT SINGH GILL Every year when it happens. or those of General A. This. A similar ceremony was held at Agwan. both were hanged in 1989. or scarves. the two Delhi Police sepoys who shot Mrs Gandhi in 1984. there still exists a sharp difference between how the Sikh community and the rest of the country view these men. . It was their 24th death anniversary. the village of Satwant Singh in Gurdaspur district. because nearly three decades after the operation to flush terrorists out of the holiest of Sikh shrines.executed Operation Blue Star — are routinely observed at the temple. This January 6 too. The Jathedar of Akal Takht was there at both places. to the relatives of Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh. the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) held a quiet early morning prayer ceremony and offered siropas . the death anniversary of Beant Singh. the third assassin of Mrs Gandhi who was shot dead soon after she was killed. No action Honoured as quami shaheed or martyrs of the community. who was the SGPC secretary for . “Just like the government honours its police and army officers and hands them bravery awards. who were sentenced and hanged for assassinating Gen. the SGPC held a bhog and paid tributes to Harjinder Singh and Sukhdev Singh.Three months ago. we do it for our heroes. adorn the Sikh museum in the Golden Temple complex. And each year on October 31. on October 9. the portraits of the men. along with that of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.” says Manjit Singh Calcutta. is observed in a similar manner. Vaidya. The fear of a violent backlash holds the government back from any move against this. the Indian state is both unable and unwilling to respond to the public honour that the leaders of the Sikh community bestow on these men. The unwritten policy is to ignore things and hope that with the passage of time. Discomfiting as it must be. The security establishment knows well that these men have gone down in the annals of Sikh history as heroes — who laid down their lives for the faith. which is why no government has taken the risk of putting an end to these annual rituals in the Temple. the community’s angst will wane.more than a decade. But most in the Sikh community have a sneaking admiration for them. Though there are few takers for Khalistan . after Operation Blue Star. like this year. and some sloganeering too did take place. “Till the mid-1990s.” recalls Calcutta. they were muted. or stop key people from entering the Golden Temple complex. it was very difficult to hold these ceremonies because the government was opposed and used to either put us in jail a few days before it. At other times. the crowds were more. Some years later. and the SAD dominated SGPC sent a junior functionary to mark its attendance. hurried ceremonies. The Akalis discreetly . Reaching out No leader of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) attended the two ceremonies honouring the assassins held in the last three months.in Punjab today. the anger over the attack on the Golden Temple is another thing. that resulted after it gave its approval to the construction of a memorial dedicated to those who died defending the Golden Temple complex. it is coming up in the shape of an innocuous gurudwara . which no one can object to. even in Punjab. only because of the furore. Instead of a conventional monument.dissociated itself from the bhog ceremonies of the assassins this time. Its alliance with . observed as Ghallughara divas (Sikh holocaust day) last year. The SAD has traditionally drawn strength from its Sikh religious moorings but of late has tried to adopt a more inclusive image. reaching out to the Hindus and other communities in Punjab. amid widespread consternation that it would give a fillip to the extremist fringe that had been pressing for its construction since many years. The foundation stone of the memorial was laid on June 6. held a prayer service for Dilawar Singh. which has been spearheading the memorial project. the Dal Khalsa a militant outfit from 1982 to 1994.the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a tightrope walk that compels it to cave into hardliners within the Sikh constituency. It is no secret that the SAD relied on the radical organisations for support during the SGPC elections in 2010. who authored the SGPC white paper on Operation Blue Star. Last August. the human bomb who killed Punjab Chief . the Akalis are playing with fire. Radical organisations are playing on the still strong passions over Operation Blue Star to promote the larger agenda for a separate Sikh nation of Khalistan. “By appeasing the hardliners for political gains.” says Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon. These may be straws in the wind. The directory carries a message from Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Stickers and posters of them can be seen on cars. Ominously. warned that intelligence from the “highest quarters” indicated that there was a strong move to destabilise the State. in which he has written that Sikhs and Kashmiris have been brought together because of their “suffering at the hands of a common oppressor. The Dal Khalsa also released a directory of 220 “martyrs” killed by the Army during Operation Blue Star. there is a growing cult around the militants Bhindranwale and Rajoana who are emerging as religious icons for sections of the youth. Sumedh Singh Saini. T-shirts and at village corners. .Minister Beant Singh in 1995.” Two weeks ago the State’s Director General of Police. Visa.Course. Shiksha. . then dream the Nobel Study in Germany .Find Top Colleges in Germany. chander. 2013 First set up the
[email protected]/Study+in+Germany SRIRAM BALASUBRAMANIAN At the 100th annual session of the Indian Science Congress held in Kolkata earlier this month.co.but there is no telling where they will settle. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged scientists to give top priority to research that would address pressing problems in the country.Fees. Get Info on Admission.in January 19. such as energy security. He asked scientists across disciplines to collaborate with one another. agricultural productivity. Last in retaining talent But if that is to happen. Switzerland has the highest rate of immigrant . and with private research labs to foster innovation that would improve living conditions in India. A recent survey by the National Bureau of Economic Research in the United States (http://spectrum.org/atwork/tech-careers/the-globalbrain-trade) contains some revealing numbers. the country would first need an environment for research. safe drinking water and sanitation.ieee. unsurprisingly. the aspiring economic powerhouse is at the bottom of the list for retaining research talent. is the most popular academic destination around the world. So why does a country with a trillion dollar economy not attract its own researchers? A peek into the state of research in India can give some answers. of the 14.000 people who graduated from the colleges in India. But shockingly for India.617.scientists and the United States. The low interest in . 12 per cent pursued post graduate degrees and an abysmal one per cent pursued research in the country. In 2011. 40 per cent of its researchers are emigrating to pursue their research abroad. There were a total of 36. the number of students from India pursuing higher education (masters and PhD) in the U.895 and they formed 14 per cent of the higher education population in the U. The scarcity in research was vindicated by the number of patents filed in 2010.000 population compared to 180.8 scientists per 1.044 were .812 patents filed in India.research is due to sub standard facilities. alone. was 103.15 in the U.13 in Korea and 21.66 in Canada. 53. India has 7. which in turn is due to a lack of funding in most research institutes.S.S. of which only 7.S. In terms of research productivity. Indians are willing to pursue research but not in India. In 2011. 044 applications. leave alone research. foreign patent applications. The investment in higher education as . only 1.725 applications were granted patents. it does provide a perspective on emphasis on research in the system. the educational expenditure is not anywhere near the proposed target of six per cent of GDP. Even in the 12th Five Year Plan proposed by the Planning Commission. While quantity is not necessarily a prescriptive of the quality. One of the pillars of higher educational institutes.domestic applications and the remaining. is the amount of capital that is invested in educational activities. Of these 7. of 2009-10 according to a recent report released by the University Grants Commission (“Higher Education at a glance”) was a paltry 1. The policy document released at the Science Congress in the first .1 per cent (2007) of its almost $15 trillion GDP.25 per cent of GDP. there should be an increase in spending in higher education research to at least two per cent of the GDP in order to try infusing capital into academic research. on the other hand has a public expenditure at 3. The U.12 billion! As a first step up. Harvard University’s endowment stands at $32 billion whereas the total extramural grants provided to Indian universities put together is about Rs.S. the Indian equivalent of the Bayh-Dohle Act. but there is also a lack of clarity in matters such as Intellectual Property regulations that could help researchers earn greater revenues.week of January was titled “Science. (PUPFIP). and was more aspirational than visionary. The Protection and Utilisation of Public Funded Intellectual Property Bill. Besides everything else. India does not enable scientists and corporates to make more revenues from their intellectual property rights. Not only does India suffer from the lack of a culture of research or shortage of funds. no road map for research. . Technology and Innovation.” It contained no details. 11. Only 13 per cent of it goes into partnerships with universities. Alumni involvement The top 19 out of the 20 universities in the U.has been pending in Parliament since 2008. News . Intellectual property regulation and awareness could assist in increasing this share of spending by corporates in building university research centres.S. If passed. it could help to leverage the best out of the intellectual properties of patents.500 crore. A recent report from the Indian School Business (“India R&D 2011 — Industry & Academia Linkages”) estimates that the total R&D spending of the top 100 companies is Rs. Alumni involvement ensures that the universities’ interest is the most supreme (especially in an era where education is non profit) and everything else becomes secondary. Even in public universities such as Purdue. As such. In India. there is a significant alumni involvement in the boards. this is an idea nonexistent in government institutes and very rare in private institutes.rankings have a common dominating denominator. This would democratise the . All of them are run predominately by alumni of the institutions. it would be an interesting idea for the state to impose a minimum 50 per cent involvement of the alumni in the functioning of university boards. Sign Up Now! Myuniverse. and help to nurture talented alumni who could contribute back to the universities.Pay Electricity Bills Easily Online Avoid Long Queues. January 19. President Pranab Mukherjee observed at the Science Congress that a Nobel Prize in Indian science was “long overdue.in/Electricity_Bills RAHUL PANDITA .process more.” as if every country has a predetermined right to be given the Nobel.co. 2013 When the water in the spring turned black Electricity Bill Payment . Let’s get the research going first. next ration we will buy in Islamabad!’ It was around this time that bus conductors in Lal Chowk could be . one house they say smouldered for six weeks. He had gone to the ration shop to get sugar when he overheard a man exclaiming — ‘Inshallah.PERMANENCE OF LOSS:In Barbarshah in old Srinagar. 1989-90 It was from a neighbour that we heard the first rumours.— PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY Kashmir Valley.—PHOTO: VIJAY KOUL ANGER AND HOPE:Kashmiri Pandits protest in Delhi in 2006. heard shouting — Sopore. to launch a jihad against India. At school we heard the word ‘mujahid’ for the first time. Hand’wor. It stood for Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. Across the Line of Control. One could see it from a distance. Sopore and Handwara were border towns while Upore means across. On a hill in the Badami Bagh cantonment. someone had painted ‘JKLF’. It was rumoured to be an organization of young men who had crossed over the border to receive arms training. We . It was meant as an enticement for the youth to cross over the border for arms training. Upore . to comply with ‘Islamic’ standards within two days or face ‘action’. What were mujahids to do in Kashmir? On June 23. it seemed out of place. 1989. It was an ultimatum to Muslim women. accompanied by images of men in Afghanistan firing rockets from their shoulders. the 300-year-old Baba Reshi shrine was gutted in a fire under mysterious . by an organization that called itself Hazb-i-Islami. On September 2. pamphlets were distributed in Srinagar.knew this word. We had heard it on TV. But in the context of Kashmir. Pandit women were asked to put a tilak on their foreheads for identification. we have to go home. was shot in our neighbourhood. ‘Go and get your bag.’ he said. what happened?’ I asked. I turned back and saw Father standing there. a wireless operator of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). and I was about to treat myself to an orange lolly with my pocket money when I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder. On the same morning. I was playing cricket in the school grounds. ‘Why. On the afternoon of September 14. He smiled. I thought something terrible had happened at home. My side won the match.circumstances. . The situation will turn worse. Father did not let me go to school.‘Someone has been shot in Habba Kadal. the Pandit teacher got an opportunity to discuss the killing with us. when the Muslim boys would be away for Urdu class. I went back to school two days later. We were told that Taploo’s funeral procession was pelted with stones. Some armed men had entered the house of the political activist Tika Lal Taploo and shot him dead.’ That was when the first Pandit fell to bullets. During the Hindi class. But barring that. . So we need to head home. nothing more untoward happened immediately after his death. The next day. A few days later. the then chief minister. a massive crowd . the state police believed that Taploo’s killing did not fit the pattern emerging from the activities of Kashmiri militants. ‘That is why it is important for all of you to study with renewed vigour.’ she said.’ In its preliminary investigation. he assured people that militancy would end soon. on October 14. performed a small piece of classical dance along with dancer Yamini Krishnamurthy during a cultural function at the Martand temple. Twelve days after Taploo’s death.‘Times are beginning to get tough. Farooq Abdullah. On Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi. Nizam-e- La sharqiya la garbiya.gathered near the Budshah chowk in the heart of Srinagar. The crowd was shouting slogans that had shocked them. Islamia Islamia . That evening. father returned home with a neighbour and they told us they had witnessed the procession. it marched towards Eidgah to the graveyard that had been renamed the ‘martyr’s graveyard’. and from there. Yahan kya Mustafa chalega. The onlookers cheered and showered shireen on the marchers as if to welcome a marriage procession. The mujahids have come out to fight It was indeed an earthquake. only Islamic Zalzala aaya hai kufr ke maidaan mein. There was another series of bomb . no western. Lo mujahid aa gaye maidaan mein An earthquake has occurred in the realm of the infidels. It toppled everything in Kashmir in the next few weeks. only Islamic.What will work here? The rule of Mustafa No eastern. Within a few days the whole scenario changed. A revolution was surging across Eastern Europe.blasts outside other symbols of ‘Indianness’ — India Coffee House. In Iran. In Israel. Punjab National Bank. It was only much later that we were able to connect this turmoil to world events occurring around the same time. Ayatollah Khomeini had urged Muslims to kill the author of The Satanic Verses . killing sixteen civilians. and a bloodied frenzy was about to be unleashed . a Palestinian bomber struck in a bus for the first time. Then the tide turned against wine shops and cinema halls. The Russians had withdrawn from Afghanistan nine years after they swept into the country. the Press Trust of India. early 90s Some of our erstwhile neighbours had realized that we were in an . post-exile. That it was indeed a catastrophe became clear on the night of January 19. Legend had it that whenever any catastrophe befell our community. Jammu. 1990. my eldest uncle came from my father’s village to visit us. the spring waters turned black. In the midst of this chaos. This was considered to be ominous.against the Armenian Christian community in Azerbaijan.’ he whispered. ‘The water in the spring at the goddess’s sanctum has turned black. to better houses.’ he would greet you while removing his shoes at your doorstep. ‘Asalam Walekum. or a carton of apples. Once inside. who stayed in villages or congested parts of the city. to better lives.acute financial crisis and that this was the right time to buy our properties at a fraction of what they were really worth. he would embrace you tightly. or a packet of . You would be sitting in your home when a man would suddenly arrive at your doorstep. The houses of Pandits who had lived in posh colonies were much in demand. Many in Kashmir wanted to shift their relatives. He would not come empty-handed. He always carried symbols of our past lives with him — a bunch of lotus stems. accepting a cup of kahwa. ‘You live in such poor conditions.’ he would say. but at least you can breathe freely. sweating profusely in one corner and studying from a Resnick and Halliday’s physics textbook. and begin his litany of woes. We cannot . ‘You people are lucky. We have been destroyed by this Azadi brigade. by these imbeciles who Pakistan — may it burn in the worst fires of hell! — gave guns to. over your clothes hanging from a peg on the wall. He sat cross-legged beside you. He would nod sympathetically. running his eyes over the room — over the kitchen created by making a boundary of bricks and empty canisters. and over to your son. over the calendar depicting your saints.saffron. ‘Accha. we will be shot outside our homes. ‘Pandit ji. broken only by his slurps. tell me. Allah bless him!’ He would patiently finish his kahwa while you sat wondering what had brought him to your doorstep. I remember the good old .’ He would then sigh and a silence would descend upon the room. It was then that he came to the point. ‘You must be wondering why I am here. how is Janki Nath? What is his son doing? Engineering! Oh.’ he would begin.even say anything against them there. Or somebody will throw a hand grenade at us. because if we do. . what is your son doing? Oh. Tell me.’ . like Janki Nath’s son? I can see that you don’t have it. . Whatever education we have. do you have enough money to send him to study engineering. it is thanks to the scholarship of your community.’ He would pause again. But right now. it’s his most crucial board exam this year! Pandit ji. I may see you back in Srinagar. it is so difficult. Anyway . This is why I am here. Tuhund’ie paezaar mal chhu — it is nothing but the dirt of your slippers.days when we lived together. ‘I pray to Allah that before I close my eyes. And then he would ask the crucial question: Tohi’e ma chhu kharchawun ? Do you wish to spend? This was a well-thought-of euphemism he had invented to relieve you of the feeling of parting with your home. ‘Do you wish to spend?’ meant ‘Do you want to sell your home?’ ‘You have had no source of income for months now. but these are difficult times even for us. he would pull out a wad of cash.’ If you relented. I know it is worth much more.’ he would continue. ‘This is all I can offer you for your house. . the locks of most Pandit . Jan Mohammed was here as well?’ ‘His son has become the divisional commander of Hizbul Mujahideen. I will come later to get the papers signed. By 1992. A few days later. No receipt is required. take this advance. Oh no.‘Here. Most of us did not have a choice. a neighbour would come around and ask ‘Oh.’ the neighbour would inform you.’ He would also forcibly leave a hundred-rupee note in your son’s hands and leave. what are you saying? Receipt? You should have hit me with your shoe instead. Nand Lal’s house smouldered for six weeks. Many houses were burnt down. a novel method was employed to damage the house. they say. A few men would slip into a Pandit house and cut down the wooden beam supporting the tin roof. it would cave in during the next snowfall. In Barbarshah in old Srinagar. At places where Pandit houses could not be burnt down due to their proximity to Muslim houses. Kashmir’s first. Then the . The owner of Dr. It was made entirely of deodar wood. As a result. was told his house in Nawab Bazaar took fifteen days to burn down completely. Shivji’s X-ray clinic.houses had been broken. my uncle came to our room.’ Uncle said.’ ‘I know. Within a few months. ‘This is ridiculously low. the house would be destroyed.’ Father said. After you left.’ the man said. ‘This is much less than what I have spent on it in the last few years alone. A few weeks after my parents’ trip to Ludhiana. He put a number in front of us. ‘But you have no idea what has become of your house.tin sheets would be sold and so would the costly wood. miscreants ransacked it . ‘He is offering to buy our house. accompanied by a middleman. Ma finally spoke. . A few walls have already collapsed.’ Nobody said a word. From her bed.’ And so. They are touching your first-floor balcony now. home is lost to us permanently. It is in a very poor state now.completely. They took away even your sanitary fittings and water ran through your house for months. but your evergreens are growing well. ‘How does it look from outside?’ ‘The plaster has broken off completely. the locks of most Pandit houses had been broken. Open magazine. His book Our Moon Has Blood Clots is published by V intage. Many houses were burnt down.’ The exodus of Pandits from the Valley is an aspect of the Kashmir conflict that has received scant attention. In a book just released. struggle and survival of the community . Random House India. gives a searing account of the displacement.) ‘By 1992. who was 14 at the time he and his family left their home in Srinagar forever.(Rahul Pandita is Associate Editor. Rahul Pandita . Inside Syria.The Russians are fleeing Syria. four million . “Syria is undoubtedly the most complex and dangerous” of all conflicts for 2013.publici. 2013 Bleeding from a triple haemorrhage The Russians are fleeing . Ertharin Cousins (World Food Program) and Anthony Lake (UNICEF) noted. a western attack is imminent www.com VIJAY PRASHAD Three heads of the United Nations humanitarian agencies wrote a cri de coeur for Syria on January 11.N.January 19. Antonio Guterres (U. High Commissioner for Refugees). education. too many have seen family and friends die. produced three Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plans in 2012. The U. clean water. two million Syrians have fled the country for Lebanon and Jordan. and four . “Too many have been injured or killed. Additionally. whose well-being is compromised. health care and security are no longer available to them.people are in grave danger — shelter. their homes and schools reduced to rubble.” Rapid deterioration The situation continues to deteriorate precipitously.N. food. half of the displaced and refugees. The most serious danger is posed to children. N. “It is highly unusual for such plans to be revised so often.” The major snow and rain storms that swept the Levant in early January devastated the fragile U.Syria Regional Response Plans. Syria) and Ar Raqqa (Syria). the regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria. The magnitude of the humanitarian crisis is indisputable. and leaving children to struggle with jaundice and the cold near the Turkish border in Bab alSalameh (Syria). flooding al-Za’atri (Jordan).” says Radhouane Nouicer. “It is indicative of the rapid developments on the ground. causing fires in Atmeh (Idlib. Misery is the mood of the Syrians as they enter another winter with no provisions . camps. but not without cause.” say the three U.” Who would define those who have not betrayed Syria and could therefore be legitimate partners in the discussion? At the same time.and no hope. but also agrees that political dialogue is the only way forward. Assad’s own proposal deliberately excluded those who “have betrayed Syria. There has been no movement to . The Syrian Opposition rejected the offer. Bashar al-Assad offered talks to bring the political crisis to a close. chiefs. “A bitter winter is the new enemy.N. Mr. the Opposition rejects any dialogue that includes Mr. Assad. On January 6. there have been several failed attempts at a political dialogue. Mr. who brokered the successful end to the Lebanese Civil War in 1989. Former U. Brahimi.the middle. Assad meanwhile shuns those whom he calls terrorists. Since the uprising began in March 2011. Assad to leave. The Opposition’s minimum demand is for Mr. Mr.N.N. . envoy Lakhdar Brahimi’s mission might fail for the same reason. Paralysis continues in the name of dialogue. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s peace agenda of the summer of 2012 fell on its knees because of this standoff. Neither side in an incredibly polarised situation is willing to come to the table without preconditions. U. What you need is reaching out and recognising that there is a very serious problem between Syrians. hastened to ban the radical Islamist al-Nusra front. and that Syrians have got to talk to one another to solve it. Assad’s January 6 speech.S.” Syria’s Opposition is in disarray. This is the main reason why the U. “What has been said this time is not really different and it is perhaps even more sectarian. to show that it can shape .lost his equilibrium. more one-sided. telling the BBC of Mr. the West fears a loss of control over the Opposition. Given its experience in Libya. Its new incarnation (November 2012) was shaped with help from the West and the Gulf Arabs. Syria’s leadership. the former imam of Damascus’ Umayyad Mosque. The banning of al-Nusra does not mean that the West is allergic to Islamism. he said gloomily in mid-December. Mr. al-Khatib criticised the banning of al-Nusra because he knows that it plays a significant role on the ground. But the paymasters wanted to have their way. but they have gone along with the West for now. dividing the Opposition between the more united front led by Mr. The Gulf Arabs are not averse to the more radical Islamists. After all. All groups that call for the “fall of the regime” need to work together. the head of the new Opposition group is Moaz alKhatib. al-Khatib and the Salafis of the Syrian Islamic Front (formed . The rump secular and democratic Arab nationalists in the National Democratic Rally are now a pale shadow of what they were in their heyday of the 1980s.on December 21 without alNusra). Fahmi Yousef. the regime enabled the Islamists and liberals to take up positions of authority in the new Opposition. Having removed the secular dissidents from the fray in 2011. and Tuhama Mahmoud Ma’rouf. Omar Kashash. When the secular dissidents emerged from their cells. the regime arrested the leaders of the Rally’s constituents. they had little choice but to join up with the . In the early days of the 2011 rebellion. people such as Ghias Youn Soud. on the latter’s terms. is now a Vice President of al-Khatib’s group. they seek to consolidate their gains after losing . Divided world A cold war has erupted around Syria. With different motivations.Opposition. Syria’s political factions remain deadlocked. Assad’s clever manipulation of its constituents (such as the Kurdish groups). One of their own. Unity eludes the opposition — some of this is a consequence of Mr. but most is thanks to the West’s interventions. George Sabra. On the one side is the West with its Gulf Arab partners and Turkey. as long as their ideological fellows in the Muslim Brothers and the Salafis come out on top — formations that the Iranians and the Iraqis do not like on confessional and political grounds. Second there are Iran and Iraq.their pillars of stability in Tunisia and Egypt. Assad’s regime with weaponry and with diplomatic cover (although the Putin government has cooled off on this lately). The Russians have provided Mr. both of whose governments are wary of the growth of Gulf Arab power. The Gulf Arabs are fully behind the oppositional strands. On the other side are two different blocs. where they have a warm water port. First there are the Russians who have an old relationship with Syria. . Turkey took an advanced position for the removal of Mr. With Egypt’s Morsi distracted by his domestic problems. This is why Israel does not favour the removal of Mr. Assad has been a reliable factor of stability for Israel. The West is wrapped up in a contradiction. but when he set in motion his Kurdish strategy the Turks had to take cover behind Nato’s Patriot wall. Assad. Mr. something a radical Islamist government would not be. Saudi Arabia and Iran unsettled by the geopolitical complexities. but it has stayed its hand for a full-fledged . the Syria Contact Group that they had comprised is silent. and with Turkey. The West cannot mute its rhetoric. Assad. The geopolitical standoff has not drawn down the maximum positions of all sides. Russian intransigence has been a gift to Washington.intervention.N. Assad’s departure. Such cynicism bleeds Syria. report from .N. the Russians and Iranians support his role in any future political arrangement. Assad’s legions. A U. Security Council veto while it continues to offer its stale rhetoric of regime change. What weaponry the West and the Gulf Arabs provide the oppositional fighters is nothing more than what allows them to maintain their standoff against Mr. with the latter taking cover behind the U. The West and the Gulf Arabs call for Mr. Syrian nationalism was . the fruit of geopolitical cynicism. ethnic and religious minority groups have increasingly aligned themselves with parties to the conflict. deepening sectarian divides.late December points out that the long “conflict has become overtly sectarian in nature. something that neither the regime nor the Opposition will countenance. now allows the West to feverishly contemplate the break-up of Syria.” Sectarianism. A fragile hope rests on the revitalisation of Arab nationalism as a cord that binds the people across the widening sectarian divides.” “Feeling threatened and under attack. But in the dungeons of the Ba’ath. the Nagaland Legislative Assembly has called for unification of all Naga inhabited areas under one administrative unit. —PHOTO: PTI . It is too much to hope for its revival in the midst of this tortured struggle.000 only& Get 63 Lacs Compare All Plans with SBI Life SBIPension.asphyxiated. 2013 Without integration. no lasting settlement Pension Plans .Policybazaar.Invest 50.com TAPAN KUMAR BOSE NO DIVERSION:In several resolutions. the human suffering intolerable. The politics is bewildering. January 22. This round was triggered by the accusation that Colonel Livingston of the NSCN (IM) had molested Meitei actor Ms Momoko on December 18. Two Naga men were killed in Kongkan village. .Last month. Protests turned violent when the State government claimed he was beyond their reach. Manipur was on fire once again. inside a “peace camp” protected by the Indo-Naga ceasefire agreement with the NSCN I-M (National Socialist Council of Nagaland IsakMuivah) group. 2012.” Nagas in Imphal and those travelling back to their villages in the hills for Christmas were attacked by Manipuri insurgent groups. NSCN justified the incident — Momoko had “abused the Nagas. Compounding the problem. Ukhrul district. The Nagas declared a 72-hour “bandh” in the hills. It is an old demand and figures in the succession of peace agreements to resolve the Naga conflict — the Akbar Hydari Agreement 1947. It showed that all it required was a spark to ignite the tinderbox of Manipur where the dominant Meteis and minority “southern” Naga coexist in uneasy tension. . At the core The issue of integration of Naga inhabited areas lies at the core of the ongoing negotiations. A peace agreement that leaves out justice for the Nagas outside Nagaland is destined to join the dust heap of faltering peace accords. In their assessment. Subsequently. Apparently. Political and partisan reasons dictated by the compulsions of coalition politics constrain the government. They see Naga society as still divided on . the Nagaland Legislative Assembly in several resolutions called for unification of all Naga inhabited areas under one administrative unit. New Delhi rejects the demand. some negotiators believe the NSCM (IM) can be persuaded to abandon integration. only the Manipuri Nagas are pushing for integration.the Sixteen Point Agreement 1960 establishing Nagaland state and the Shillong Accord 1975 which precipitated the emergence of the NSCN. in 2008 paved the way for bringing together panoply .tribal and communal lines and the anti-Tangkul agitation of 2008 as evidence of a persisting divide. Sema. The Naga Peace Convention. intelligence agencies argue that apart from historic tribal hostility. the Angami. Ao and Jakasang Nagas who dominate Nagaland State fear they would lose jobs to Tangkul (Manipur) Nagas in an integrated Nagalim. especially the Forum for Naga Reconciliation formed at the height of the antiTangkul agitation for communal amity. In particular. To bank on this old divide ignores new parallel ongoing processes of reconciliation initiated by Naga civil society bodies. The NSCN (I-M) is aware that it cannot afford to make a compromise on the demand for .of Naga traditional and social organisations and engaged the underground groups in a series of dialogues for reconciliation towards building a common front. student. the southern Nagas initiated a tripartite dialogue with the State and Central governments on an interim “Alternative Arrangement” for a state within a state. Similarly. environmental and gender rights groupings. The inspiration and organisational zeal for such initiatives come from a proximate group of middle class educated professionals active in human rights. in Manipur. But the newspaper corroborated the story as based on the “status report” . the compromise on offer is a “supra state body. the government was willing to create an overarching body to oversee the cultural. It was vehemently opposed by the political parties and sections of the people of Assam.” According to the Guwahati-based The Seven Sisters Post. New Delhi is also aware of this position. so did the NSCN (I-M). Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.integration. Instead of an “integration” of all Naga inhabited areas. The Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister denied it. traditional and other aspects of Naga life inside Manipur. in November 2011. to the Prime Minister.S. R. the joint statement spoke of an “honourable solution” based on recognition of “contemporary realities and a future vision consistent with the imperatives of the 21st century. Mr.submitted by the government’s interlocutor.” Evidently. At the last round of talks in November 2012. Pandey. Such confusing reports have fuelled fears that the NSCN (I-M) has surrendered several key demands of the Nagas including that of integration. “contemporary realities” refers to the violence that broke out in Manipur in opposition to the extension of the ceasefire to its hill districts and Imphal’s . The Nagas see this as an attempt to pressure the NSCN (I-M) to acquiesce to a halfway house. It has expanded the base of Naga middle classes who are breaking out of traditional social and cultural . the contours of which are yet to be clarified.continuing rejection of integration. Where the dialogue is going Analysts argue that the relative peace and prosperity created by the prolonged ceasefire has brought the Nagas closer to the mainstream of Indian society. The burgeoning migration of Naga youth to Indian cities for higher education and employment has deepened social interaction and economic relations. Naga civil society.” . It is important to recognise that the focus on the demand for integration marks a vital shift from the earlier position of “no compromise on independence.mores. has joined hands and formed civic bodies that cut across tribal. This has provided a forum to the various underground groups to work together for an “honourable” solution. which was as divided as the underground groups. community and denominational divides. In a significant development. The time has come for reassessment of the negotiation process. One cannot emphasise more the need for a larger political vision. New Delhi is engaged in counterinsurgency operations against underground Meitei groups waging an armed struggle for independence.Already. It reflected willingness to seek an “honourable solution that recognised the uniqueness of Naga history” within the larger Indian polity. While the Meitei groups are . In Manipur. A division of the former “Manipur Raj” is anathema for Meitei armed groups and a section of Meitei elite. the NSCN (I-M) had agreed to keep the issues of Nagas in Myanmar and right to self determination “outside” the ambit of the discussions. at the outset. still locked in hostile competition for supremacy. it will be a lost opportunity. If the government of India fails to reach a settlement. If the NSCN (I-M) fails to deliver. New Delhi needs to take note of Nagaland’s Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio’s warning — “We are hoping that good sense will prevail and lead to early settlement. Integration is high on the agenda.” . The internal process of reconciliation initiated by Naga civil society indicates a general acceptance of the terms on which the NSCN (I-M) is negotiating with New Delhi. a return to the dangerous days cannot be ruled out. Naga armed groups are talking to each other. 2013 Rahul.(Tapan Kumar Bose is associated with the South Asia Forum for Human Rights) January 22.000 only& Get 63 Lacs Compare All Plans with SBI Life SBIPension.Invest 50. your time begins now Pension Plans . many would want to know whether the move will be a game changer for 2014. —PHOTO: PTI The celebrations on the streets of Jaipur — and outside 10 Janpath in Delhi — on January 19 by .com SMITA GUPTA POWER AND HOPE:After the celebrations.Policybazaar. it was perhaps his first act of leadership. In his eight-year-long political career. when he moved the 1. as he connected with a party whose members had been increasingly expressing their doubts about his capacity to . Gandhi received the next day.600-odd members of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) gathered at Jaipur’s Birla Auditorium to tears — and laughter — with his personalised exposition of the nature of power and hope. But there was nothing planned in the standing ovation Mr.Congress workers minutes after Rahul Gandhi was named vice president of the party may be dismissed as the usual orchestrated display of adulation. Impact of speech In revealing chilling details of a childhood. On January 20. as he identified himself with their dreams and aspirations. For the intensely private Mr.reverse the Congress’s failing fortunes. Gandhi. he laid himself bare. punctuated by tragedy. too. who also struggled to their feet to cheer — and embrace — him. his mother’s fears for him and her warning that power is a poisoned chalice unless it is used to empower the powerless. he clearly surprised his hard-bitten seniors. he didn’t just touch a chord in the young and restless. a man who party colleagues say lacks the warmth and personal touch that . was taken in conjunction with sister Priyanka Gandhi.father Rajiv Gandhi had. Gandhi be a game changer for the Congress in the general election of 2014? . But after the charred debris of the crackers that were burst in celebration is swept away. Congress sources say. the question that begs to be addressed is: can the tajposhi. bewildered by a wave of social unrest. it must have been a difficult decision to get personal. and demoralised by electoral failures. coronation of Mr. one. But the impact of the revelations demonstrated that it was an inspired decision. His speech certainly pumped new energy into a party battered by charges of corruption. as his track record in the last three years has been dismal? Two. Rise and fall in U. Mr. Gandhi’s first five years in active politics after he was elected as a Member of Parliament in 2004 were relatively smooth: the spotlight was on mother Sonia .Especially. but his son’s address to the AICC made clear that nothing had changed in 27 years.P. can he change the system he criticised for being unresponsive to the aspirations of the people. and a Congress that privileges outsiders over party workers? His father Rajiv Gandhi made his electrifying “power brokers” speech at the Congress’s centenary session in Mumbai way back in 1985. and campaigning for fellow Congress candidates in Uttar Pradesh.P. when the Congress won just 22 Assembly seats in U. The first shock came in 2007. Gandhi began his political forays.. three less . A young good-looking Gandhi again symbolised hope. contesting his first election from Amethi. and the promise of the return of a family that had served the people well. When Mr.Gandhi who had led the party to victory after eight years in the political wilderness. those who filled village roads and balconies of mofussil towns didn’t want to know what he stood for.P. and then gained sainthood by refusing the prime ministership. or whether he had a vision for U. than the 25 it got in 2002. But just two years later in 2009, it scooped up 22 Parliament seats in U.P., shocking its competitors. Mr. Gandhi was credited at the time for galvanising the youth vote, perfectly complementing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s image as the man who had steered India through a global economic downturn. It was the perfect launch pad for the young leader to build on the U.P. electorate’s verdict. But three years later, in the run-up to the U.P. Assembly elections, even though he was placed at the centre of the party’s campaign, the Congress won just 28 seats. Criticism Ever since then, Mr. Gandhi became the butt of criticism — even though privately articulated — within the Congress. Party men mocked his efforts to democratise the youth wings of the party, criticised the fact that very few could get past a tight circle of advisers, and debunked his “scientific” method of choosing potential youth leaders through examinations. Unlike his mother, he does not understand Indian politics: that was the verdict of many party men, who pointed out how he often fell prey to advice from those who had a way with words rather than an understanding of politics. The contacts Rahul made with “real people” were carefully choreographed by his minders for maximum impact, making it almost impossible for him to get any unfiltered feedback. Last year, in the midst of the U.P. elections, he revealed during an off-the-record conversation with a group of journalists that his desire to change things, to take decisions, was severely circumscribed by senior party leaders. Now, he can no longer duck behind that excuse. As party vice president, he will have a much larger role in decisionmaking, with the general secretaries now likely to report to him. As head of the five-man Election Coordination Committee which will oversee all party activities related to the next elections, his time begins now. Using his new powers, can he sustain the uplifting mood he created in Jaipur, and create a winning strategy for 2014? He has won his first battle by rewinning the confidence of his party: he now has to win the trust of the nation. January 22, 2013 Going from Zero FIRs to e-FIRs Online Complaint Forum. - File Your Complaint Here. Immediate Strong Action on Company. Consumer-ComplaintForum.akosha.com APARNA VISWANATHAN On January 18, 2013, Delhi police chief Neeraj Kumar announced that Zero First Information Reports (FIRs) may be registered on the basis of a woman’s statement at any police station irrespective of jurisdiction. This means women can file an FIR at any police station and the complaint is required to be registered on the basis of the woman’s complaint verbatim. Mr. Kumar stated: “The woman’s statement has to be taken as gospel truth and a probe needs to be initiated on its basis.” Important step forward At the same time, the Delhi police chief announced a series of other measures such as the recruitment of 418 women sub-inspectors and 2,088 women constables, deployment of PCR vans outside women’s colleges, the provision that women can call 100 to seek assistance to be dropped home at night by a PCR van, and 24-hour police cover for areas around entertainment hubs with heightened security between 8 pm and 1 am. While the foregoing measures must certainly be welcomed as an important step forward towards making the criminal justice system functional, it is surprising that e-governance has not been utilised by the Delhi police as an important solution in a country which is considered the world’s leading provider of IT enabled solutions. E-governance is the application of information and communication technology to delivering government services, exchange of information and integration of various stand-alone systems and services between the government and citizens as well as back-office processes within the government. Through e-governance, government services can be provided to citizens in an efficient and transparent manner, which is of desperate need in India. As shown by the introduction of the Zero FIR, the starting point towards improving criminal justice is the filing of the criminal complaint itself. It is well known that the filing of FIRs, particularly for cognisable offenses, is an extremely difficult exercise — more so for a rape victim who has to ceaselessly recount the horrific event. Police stations often refuse to register FIRs for cognisable complaints, and innumerable rapes around the country go unreported. The victims then are forced to file a private complaint in court under Section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) seeking an order directing the police to register an FIR. The police chief’s announcement that the woman’s statement will be taken as the “gospel truth” is an important first step that will hopefully enable rape victims to register an FIR. The police have often taken the view that, under Section 154 of the CrPC, complaints need to be investigated before the FIR is registered because the complaint could be a disguised civil or commercial dispute or a way of settling personal enmity. Complaints of criminal cheating and fraud are sometimes filed as a way of pressuring business associates to settle financial disputes or for personal grudges. However, this is highly unlikely to occur in the case of rape. In fact, there is no reason why all complaints for at least cognisable offences should not be registered as FIRs and then investigated. While the Supreme Court has, in various judgments, taken contradictory views on the issue of whether the police are required to investigate a complaint before registering an FIR under Section 154 of the CrPC, it has repeatedly expressed its deep anguish over the failure of police to register FIRs, particularly in rape cases. Hopefully, the police will now register an FIR based on the woman’s statement as per the recently announced measures. However, the mandatory and automatic registration of FIRs can be ensured only through egovernance, that is, by providing for online registration of FIRs by citizens. Tracking network The online registration of FIRs was supposed to be implemented by 2013. On March 21, 2012, the then Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, stated in the Rajya Sabha that online registration of FIRs would be possible once the server and network connectivity was established by the end of 2012 or early 2013. However, the online filing of FIRs will be made possible only upon the implementation of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), an ambitious Rs. 2,000 crore project of the Home Ministry, aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing through e-governance by creating a state-of-the-art ITenabled crime tracking system for investigation of crime and detection of criminals. Under CCTNS, 14,000 police stations will be automated as well as 6,000 offices of higher police officials. The CCTNS is a platform for sharing real time information by law-enforcement agencies, which will improve identification of criminals and crime investigation. Funds in the amount of Rs. 418 crore have reportedly been released to the States/Union Territories and Rs. 4.54 lakh people have been trained. The CCTNS project was supposed to be completed in March 31, 2012. However, in June 2012, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) extended the deadline to March 2015. In November 2012, the Home Ministry began monitoring the status of the CCTNS project on a weekly basis and appointed 20 Joint Secretaries to monitor the progress of the project and ensure completion by March 2015. The delay in project implementation was reportedly due to the nonavailability of common application software (CAS) and infrastructure problems. Since law and order is a State issue, issues of coordination between the States also contributed to the delay. However, it is unclear why the Indian government needs to implement a Rs.2,000 crore project before enabling online filing of FIRs. In view of the great national imperative in creating deterrence against rape, websites and e-filing mechanisms should be immediately created to permit efiling of FIRs at least in rape cases. The online filing of annual accounts and other documents was successfully implemented several years ago by the Ministry of Company Affairs. Various State governments have also provided for online filing of police complaints and online payment of traffic challans. The Himachal Pradesh Police have introduced an interactive portal called “Kanoon Vyavastha,” the first of its kind in the country, by which a police complaint can be filed online or by SMS. As per a report in the Financial Express , of 1,821 SMSs received, 22 FIRs were registered without the complainant having to visit the police station. Of these 22 FIRs, reportedly only one was related to a rape case. After the launch of SMS service in May 2010, 4,392 SMSs were received, of which 82 FIRs were registered. The complainant can check the status of the FIR online and post comments. The web portal is used for daily crime reporting, providing details of missing persons and vehicles and road accidents. Jalandhar reportedly has an online crime tip page where people can anonymously inform the police of a crime that has been committed. Similarly, Maharashtra has an e-complaint system for reporting minor crimes, that is, non-cognisable offences. Simultaneously, with the introduction of Zero FIRs, online filing of FIRs at least in rape cases should immediately be implemented irrespective of the status of the CCTNS project. The introduction of e-FIRs will be an important signal to all criminals that rape will not go unpunished. January 23, 2013 United against the terrorist threat Practice Test For MAT - Free Online Mock MAT Test Papers. Get Instant Results, Start Now! HTCampus.com/Online-MockMAT-Test OUSMANE TANDIA FRANÇOIS RICHIER Since January 11, the French and Malian armed forces have been engaged together in a military operation to halt armed terrorist groups. They were threatening the whole of Mali. France and Mali shared the conviction that this was a matter of utmost emergency. As terrorism is a global threat, and India also a victim of terrorism, we wish to explain to our Indian friends the urgent challenges at stake in Mali and the international legal and political framework of this military operation. Necessity to act The situation in Mali was increasingly dangerous. Terrorist groups setting up in northern Mali have been destabilising the country, brutalising and killing civilians and destroying invaluable cultural heritage. Mali’s integrity was at stake. The stability of the entire Sahelian region and beyond was threatened. The security of Europe as well. The terrorist groups have launched a southward attack early January, involving hundreds of armed militants. They had realised that time was running out for them. Last December, the adoption of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2085, with the help of our Indian partner, authorised an African-led International Support Mission to Mali, or Afisma. Terrorists tried to take advantage of the delay before its full deployment. Their objective was to seize new strategic positions by force and trigger the collapse of the whole country to establish a stronghold. By getting closer to including the political and developmental dimensions. they were planning to make it almost impossible to roll them back. This first action was a precondition for allowing the second step. The final aim is to restore Mali’s territorial integrity. The terrorists had to be stopped without delay. i. Bamako.e. The French deployment is not a substitute to the African force.the Malian capital city. and address the situation within a comprehensive framework. the swift deployment of the Afisma. France’s intervention falls strictly within international law: it responded to a formal request by . Meeting in New York on January 14. Mali and . all the members of the Security Council expressed their support to this intervention. It is being conducted in accordance with the U. The U.N. Rooted in international strategy Our joint action has received strong international political backing. warmly and sincerely thanked the French people for their timely support on behalf of the Malian people.the Malian President. Ban Kimoon. Malian President Dioncounda Traoré. In a letter sent to French President François Hollande. Charter and the resolutions of the Security Council. confirmed the United Nations’ full support.N. Secretary General. Benin. the United States. Senegal . Liberia. to follow. notably from the African Union and the Ecowas. which is the West African subregional organisation. with others. such as Russia. Several countries have committed military support. Denmark. Burkina Faso. Niger. Canada. Belgium. Germany. Ghana. Nigeria and Togo have prepositioned their contingents for urgent deployment. Côte d’Ivoire. such as the United Kingdom.France have already been able to count on many international partners’ support. Resolve to fight terrorism Preparations are being stepped up for the deployment of a West African force. and Sierra Leone will also contribute to the deployment of Afisma. Non-Ecowas African countries will also participate, such as Chad, who has pledged to deploy troops in support of the Afisma operations. The objective is to deploy Afisma as soon as possible. The military command is already being deployed to Bamako and troop deployment has started, with Benin, Nigerian and Togolese contingents. The Ecowas summit just held in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) has reiterated the African resolve to act and called for more support. A donors’ conference will take place in Addis Ababa at the end of January on the occasion of the African Union summit. The European Union (EU) has decided last Thursday to establish a training mission in Mali (EUTM Mali) that will help the Malian Armed Forces to improve their military capacity. The EU is also providing significant financial support: it has allocated over €660 million to the Sahel region and, in the framework of the Strategy for Development and Security in the Sahel adopted in 2011, the EU has further mobilised additional financial resources for projects worth €167 million. The operation is under way and is going on satisfactorily — 2,900 French troops are already engaged alongside of the Malian Army. It will last as long as necessary. Terrorist groups can be sure of our resolve: air strikes are conducted by French Rafale and Mirage aircrafts every day, with Malian as well as French troops fighting on the ground. Several cities have already been liberated. This joint operation highlights the trust and friendship between Mali and France and our common dedication to fighting terrorism. Algerian incident Terrorism is one of the most serious threats to international security. We know what sort of barbaric acts the terrorist groups in Mali are committing. We know what their objectives are. We will not let them achieve them. We are grateful for the overwhelming international support we are receiving since the beginning of our operation. It shows that the international community is united in fighting a threat which is characterised by global links and interaction between individuals and groups, wherever they are. The brutal large-scale terrorist attack in the south of Algeria which has just taken place proves it once again. A large number of foreign nationals working on the site have been murdered. Confronted with what can only be described as an act of war, the Algerian authorities had no other choice but to act swiftly. There should be no respite in our fight against terrorism. By combating alongside the Malian armed forces, and in the framework of international law, France is shouldering her international responsibilities and fulfilling her international obligations. India, by voting in favour of Resolutions 2056, 2071 and 2085 in the U.N. Security Council, has showed her deep sense of international responsibility. In the ongoing fight against terrorism in Mali, France and Mali know that they can rely on the full understanding and solidarity of Indians, who have already borne the brunt of heinous terrorist acts. January 23, 2013 Making laws work for rape victims Online IAS Preparation - Complete Material,250 Unit Tests 16 All India Tests with analysis www.byjusclasses.com JONATHAN DERBY LOOKING FORWARD:Long-term strategies should focus on changing the culture of the criminal justice system so that it is victim friendly and implements the law. The picture is of a candlelight vigil in Delhi that was stopped by the police. —PHOTO: AP Today, the Justice Verma Committee is scheduled to release recommendations on ways to strengthen government’s response to crimes of aggravated sexual assault. There has been a lot of noise in the media calling for harsher punishment for rapists. The demands have only grown louder as details from the barbaric events of the December 16 gang rape and murder in Delhi come to light. While cries for chemical castration and even death for rapists stem from the brutality of the crime, they do not address the root problem: the criminal justice system does not function the way it is meant to function. In fact, the public’s frustration points to a decay of trust in the government’s ability to deliver justice and protect its people. There have also been quieter, more reasonable voices in the media calling for a stronger, more sensitive, criminal justice system: one that delivers justice swiftly, gives rightful convictions and treats victims with dignity and compassion. While the substantive and procedural rape law is far from perfect, society’s frustration is not based on the inadequacy of the law, but on effective implementation of the law. The law and reality In fact, statutory law and Supreme Court and High Court judgments have established a solid legal framework that protects rape victims and requires government authorities to follow victimfriendly procedures. Protections under this legal framework include requiring lawyers and social workers for victims at the police station and for police to take statements in a setting that makes the victim comfortable. At government hospitals, there should be special rooms to examine rape victims, equipped with medical kits that doctors should use to examine the victim and collect crucial evidence. When the victim testifies at trial — vital evidence needed for getting a conviction — it should take place in the judge’s chambers rather than in open court, and whenever possible, before a woman judge. For children, there are even greater protections and accommodations, many of which have been codified in the recently enacted Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Unfortunately, there is a gap between this legal framework and practice on the ground. Collaboration works Of course, the success of any system comes down to the people who work within the system. The great majority of publicity about people who work within the criminal justice system, especially law enforcement officials, has been negative. Maybe the negative publicity is justified and brings needed attention to problems. But constant antagonism is counterproductive; it drowns out the good work countless police officials do every day. Good people dedicated to public service who work long hours for low pay without adequate training and resources. Yes, there are government officials — police officials, medical practitioners, public prosecutors and judges — who must change their attitudes and do their jobs better. At the same time, it is only human nature that if someone consistently hears negative criticism, they tend to become discouraged and desensitised to the feedback. Either they will sink to the level people expect of them or they will stubbornly refuse to raise their professional standards. There is a better approach that builds positive energy: civil society collaborating with government to strengthen the criminal justice system. Long-term strategies should focus on changing the culture of the criminal justice system so that it is victim friendly and implements the law. But improving performance immediately merely requires government authorities to follow the law already in place. A mechanism needs to hold government authorities accountable when they do not implement the law, regardless of the reason: whether because they are uninformed, do not have a clear understanding of the law, or it is inconvenient to follow. An effective way to hold government authorities accountable is to have a team comprising a lawyer and social worker, trained to handle cases of sexual violence, advocate for the victim’s interests at the police station till judgment. The team would work on the ground, advising on the law, supporting the victim and monitoring progress of cases. At first they will likely need to confront officials when the law is not implemented. But their broader approach would be one of a spirit of collaboration and cooperation. In Delhi In Delhi, the Rape Crisis Cell under the Delhi Commission for Women partners with non-governmental organisations to provide legal and social support to rape victims. The Delhi Commission for Women’s lawyers start providing oversight only at the trial stage. Still, the National Crime Records Bureau reports that in 2011, Delhi NCT had a 41.5 per cent conviction rate in rape cases compared to the 26.4 per cent national conviction rate. In both examples, conviction rates are higher This programme is a good model that provides advocates who represent the victim’s interests, while collaborating with government authorities to strengthen the criminal justice system. When government authorities collaborate with civil society groups, the criminal justice system functions more effectively: government authorities are more likely to follow victim-friendly procedures, investigations and trials will move more swiftly and conviction rates will rise. When this happens, potential perpetrators will think twice before they aggressively harass women. Women and their families will have greater confidence to report sexual abuse; and society’s faith will steadily grow in the system meant to provide security and protect them. (Jonathan Derby is a U.S. licensed attorney who has extensiv January 23, 2013 Decoding Manmohan Singh’s red lines Online IAS Preparation - Complete Material,250 Unit Tests 16 All India Tests with analysis www.byjusclasses.com SANJAYA BARU Many eyebrows were raised in Delhi and around the world when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted that “it cannot be business as usual” with Pakistan after the recent incident on the Line of Control (LoC). Merely because these remarks came after the National Security Adviser briefed Opposition leaders about the government’s approach to the issue, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha took credit for the Prime Minister’s tough stance, while welcoming it. That Dr. Singh adopted a more nuanced approach and not the sledge-hammer response that the Bharatiya Janata Party and hotheads in the media had sought has since become clear. ‘Uncharacteristic’ toughness The many expressions of surprise, accompanied by gratuitous remarks about Dr. Singh’s ‘uncharacteristic’ toughness, ignore the fact that on vital national security and foreign policy issues, the Prime Minister has always drawn red lines and stuck to them. These red lines have been drawn both with respect to political parties and ministerial colleagues at home and foreign governments. When it comes to foreign policy, Dr. Singh has jealously guarded Prime Ministerial turf and defended the national interest. In India’s federal, parliamentary, cabinet form and now coalitional government system, foreign policy remains, as it always has been, the prerogative of the Prime Minister alone. Fully appreciative of the limits within which a Prime Minister could function in the kind of set-up that he had inherited, Dr. Singh was quick to draw red lines at home, as his first Foreign Minister, Natwar Singh, discovered early during his term in office. On occasions when Dr. Singh has had to yield space to his critics, both within and outside the government, he has either stooped to conquer or stepped back to once again sally forth. And, when he has been unable to achieve his objective with either strategy, Dr. Singh has imposed a The most dramatic event occurred when the Left Front government informed the Centre that it would not be able to ensure law and order at the Kalaikunda air force base where a group of CPI(M) protesters had planned to gather to disrupt joint air exercises between the Indian Air Force and the United States Air Force. Reminding Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya that no State government can prevent the Centre from conducting defence and foreign policy. Singh threatened to impose President’s . One can give several examples in support of this assertion. Dr. rarely given up pursuing a stated objective. however.cost on his critics and adversaries. He has. the CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat called on Dr. especially near a defence installation. there was a comment that the same Dr. Singh failed to impose similar discipline on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee when she blocked a bilateral agreement between India and Bangladesh on Teesta river water sharing. Singh and gave his personal assurance that there would be no disruption of the exercises.rule in West Bengal if the State government failed to discharge its constitutional responsibility of maintaining law and order. Not only did Mr. More recently. Bhattacharya fall in line. Here too the fact remains that . even from his own party. One can give several other examples where Dr. Faced with criticism at home. much like the Left Front. Singh also ensured. but Dr.eventually the government of India was able to implement a large part of the understanding with Bangladesh. for the famous India-Pakistan joint statement at . In both cases. that the Trinamool Congress had to pay a price and was ejected from the United Progressive Alliance. the message was that State governments cannot cross certain red lines on matters of national security and foreign policy. over time. Singh may have initially stepped back in the face of opposition at home but eventually walked the talk. The message once again was that on matters of . Dr. Dr. in July 2009. Singh did not mind his reply being released to the media. Singh chose to stand his ground. even when UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote an ill-advised letter to Dr. When her letter was leaked to the media by a party functionary. The last word Indeed. Singh not only defended his initiative twice in a month in Parliament but also continued his dialogue with his Pakistani counterpart. Singh expressing concern about the India-Asean free trade agreement. Dr.Sharm-el-Shaikh. When President Barack Obama sought to send Richard Holbrooke to India as a special envoy to discuss Kashmir. Singh has not shied away from drawing red lines. the U. was told in no uncertain terms that Mr. Dr. the Prime Minister would have the last word.national security and foreign policy. Holbrooke would not be welcome.S. Singh made bold to let China know that it cannot dictate which part of India the Dalai Lama can or cannot travel . when the Chinese government publicly warned India against permitting the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. Dr. Externally also. On another occasion. Singh has jealously guarded prime ministerial turf and the national interest in the conduct of foreign and defence policy. where Dr. Any analyst of foreign affairs can list several such examples. successive Indian Prime . A similar red line was drawn on the issue of the attendance of the Indian ambassador at the ceremony where a Chinese dissident was to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize and on China stamping its version of India’s map on Indian passports. based on media reports. It is understandable that this toughness is not always evident in the handling of domestic political issues. over the past two decades. But then.to. S. an important reason. was his resolve not to allow domestic politics to limit prime ministerial prerogative in the conduct of foreign policy and national security. had discovered the limits to their political power at home given the nature of coalition politics. including Atal Bihari Vajpayee. in the face of Left Front opposition because he was being adamant. or “soft” on the U.Ministers. While many of Dr. and so on. .S. apart from his conviction about the merits of the agreement itself. Singh’s critics imagine that he pursued the civil nuclear energy agreement with the U. which head of government would take the Indian Prime Minister’s word seriously in any international negotiation if he cannot stick to that word. If the Pervez MusharrafManmohan Singh dialogue reached a dead end it was not for want of resolve on Dr. Singh has shown consistency and . it was because of the turn that the domestic situation in Pakistan had taken in 2007. With Pakistan. Dr. Rather. Singh has adequately demonstrated his ability to overcome domestic opposition to his peace initiatives. Dr.As he then famously asked his own party’s leaders. Singh’s part. Despite the November 2008 attack in Mumbai. in/applications PUSHKAR .ac. the But. just as President Obama and President Hu Jintao were required to.Download or Apply Online Now! www.India No1 Admissions for 2013 SRM Engineering . Singh’s red lines.srmuniv.determination in taking dialogue process forward. January 24. even Pakistan has to respect Dr. That thinking appears to have triggered the ‘no business as usual’ remark and it has had the intended impact. 2013 ‘Wealth does not lead to worldclass institutions’ SRM University. They mention “intangible features” such as . an overwhelming majority of top200 universities are in rich countries and that the solution does not lie in emulating Western models. December 27.There is little to disagree with many of the observations made by Ajay Gudavarthy and Nissim Mannathukkaren in their article “Comparing Harvard apples with JNU oranges” ( The Hindu . They are right in asserting that there are different ways to evaluate higher education institutions. 2012) that: world rankings of universities do not give us an accurate picture of higher education in India and elsewhere. Op-Ed. Let me begin with their complaints about the problems and unfairness of the U.S. Second. it is not our problem. They lament the commercialisation of education and growing student indebtedness in the U. they concede that representation has come about at the cost of quality. At the same time.S.access to education and give the example of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as an institution which has served this cause for students from backward regions. they evade or downplay several troubling issues and take up somewhat frivolous ones. Caste-based reservations in our institutions have served a similar purpose. First. India . However. higher education system. has done very well in commercialising higher education without emulating the U. They claim that American students are not trained to become “critical thinkers” but “foot soldiers of the establishment.” Agreed. Now how about asking this: what are we training our students to become? Issue of context Their biggest omission is context. It is certainly true that 21st century India is still a poor country whether we use the “Third World” . model.S. They mention “different material realities” and “different starting points” of different countries but do not consider the same for India. technology or other means — over the past two-three decades. travel. India. is not just another poor country. It is certainly not Somalia (not my example) even though in parts of the country. The country and its peoples have also become more connected to the outside world — whether through trade. like China. people live in worse than Somalia-like conditions. The country has witnessed high rates of economic growth for over three decades so that it now counts among the largest economies in the world. At the same time.label or some other. At least some of that growth has occurred due to the country’s ability to tap into the global knowledge economy. India has the world’s largest pool of college-age young . It makes little sense to discuss higher education in India within the old frameworks of “rich. They are rich and poor. developed and underdeveloped. and more women are taking to higher education. They .women and men. modern and traditional and everything else in between in different ways. The country loses immense amounts of foreign exchange as thousands of affluent and meritorious students head abroad each year and far too few of the meritorious ones return. China and India belong to a different category of nations not just because they are growing economies but because they are large and populous.” “poor” or “Third World” countries. It is only with a solid base of higher education that India will be able to design and develop more of its .” Further. substantial improvements in the quality of higher education are necessary for India’s economic growth and further development in ways that are both interdependent and less dependent on rich countries. Given this context. they are quite different from other lowand middle-income countries. the higher education sector has immense relevance and issues of quality and comparison of India’s institutions with those in rich countries is more than a matter of “time pass.are countries that have arrived as global players or will do so in the coming future. Clearly. Then and now India’s higher education needs to aim much higher than a typical poor country.own technologies and prioritise invention and innovation to move forward. how about comparing them with what they were like two or three decades ago? Have the same universities become better over time? . If global comparisons are not fair. If it is not fair to compare India’s universities with those in rich countries. other measures of quality — independent of governmentcreated evaluation bodies or the print media — need to be devised. why not rank them in comparison to our own leading institutions. whether JNU or others? If one takes their reasoning — that vast disparities in wealth between the West and the rest explains why third-rate institutions are found in poor countries — to its logical conclusion. have there been improvements in their quality? If the majority of engineering colleges or management schools are as bad as employers say they are. This reasoning flies against the commonsense view that a larger . India must wait to get rich before dreaming to build world-ranked institutions.Other than providing access to higher education. with or without the help of NYU or American University. Arguably.number of world-class institutions. Instead. reach the . it is unlikely that their universities will ever. Wealth has not brought democracy or world-class universities to oil-rich Middle Eastern countries. can contribute enormously to India’s economic growth and dynamism in the coming decades. Gudavarthy and Mannathukkaren apply a version of the age-old modernisation theory — which posited a positive link between wealth and democracy — to higher education: that wealth leads to the creation of world-ranked institutions. whether ranked globally or not. precisely because these countries are not democratic. (Left) A 1936 picture of Benito Mussolini during the 2.698th anniversary of the birth of Rome.35Cr guaranteed in return. 2013 A hidden property empire grown with Mussolini’s millions Investment Plans .January 24. —PHOTOS: REUTERS.heights of western universities. AP .com/PureInvestment DAVID LEIGH JEAN FRANCOIS TANDA NO COMMENT:The surprising aspect for some will be the lengths to which the Vatican (right) has gone to preserve secrecy about the money.Compare quotes PolicyBazaar.Invest Rs 8300 pm and get Rs 1. on the corner of St James’s Square and Pall Mall. using cash originally handed over by . the church’s international portfolio has been built up over the years. Behind a disguised offshore company structure. But these office blocks in one of London’s most expensive districts are part of a surprising secret commercial property empire owned by the Vatican. the upmarket jewellers in New Bond Street.Few passing London tourists would ever guess that the premises of Bulgari. had anything to do with the pope. Nor the nearby headquarters of the wealthy investment bank Altium Capital. Letters. at the height of the recent property bubble. files. the Vatican spent £15m of those funds to buy 30 St. Other U. It also owns blocks of flats in Paris and Switzerland. properties are at 168 New Bond Street and in the city of Coventry.Mussolini in return for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929. James’s Square. archives The surprising aspect for some will be the lengths to which the Vatican has gone to preserve .K. Since then the international value of Mussolini’s nest egg has mounted until it now exceeds £500m. In 2006. secrecy about the Mussolini millions. and Robin Herbert. The St. both prominent Catholic bankers: John Varley. James’s Square office block was bought by a company called British Grolux Investments Ltd. Published registers at Companies House do not disclose the company’s true ownership. nor make any mention of the Vatican. Letters were sent from The Guardian to each of them asking whom they act for. they list two nominee shareholders. recently chief executive of Barclays Bank. formerly of the Leopold Joseph merchant bank. which also holds the other U. properties.K. They went unanswered. British company law allows the true . Instead. was equally uninformative. reveals more of the truth. a Reading accountant. The company secretary. John Jenkins. however. He told us the firm was owned by a trust but refused to identify it on grounds of confidentiality.beneficial ownership of companies to be concealed behind nominees in this way.” Research in old archives. Companies House files disclose that British Grolux Investments inherited its entire property portfolio after a reorganisation in 1999 from two predecessor companies called British Grolux Ltd and . He told us after taking instructions: “I confirm that I am not authorised by my client to provide any information. British wartime records from the National Archives in Kew complete the picture. accused at the time of “engaging in activities contrary to Allied interests. They confirm Profima SA as the Vatican’s own holding company. The shares of those firms were in turn held by a company based at the address of the JP Morgan bank in New York. who controlled the investment of more than £50m cash from the Mussolini windfall. Ultimate control is recorded as being exercised by a Swiss company. Bernardino Nogara.Cheylesmore Estates. Profima SA.” Files from officials at Britain’s Ministry of Economic Warfare at the end of the war criticised the pope’s financier. . the British accused Nogara of similar “dirty work. according to the British.” They believed Nogara was trying to transfer shares of two Vatican-owned French property firms to the Swiss company. in 1943. to prevent the French government blacklisting them as enemy assets. who discussed whether to blacklist Profima as a result. Earlier in the war. is the Vatican financial agent and Profima SA in Lausanne is the Swiss holding company for certain Vatican interests.Nogara’s “shady activities” were detailed in intercepted 1945 cable traffic from the Vatican to a contact in Geneva. a Roman lawyer. “Nogara.” by shifting Italian . bank shares into Profima’s hands in order to “whitewash” them and present the bank as being controlled by Swiss neutrals. In 1931. Nogara was innovative in investing the cash.” From the outset. It would never be poor again.” Where it is controlled The Mussolini money was dramatically important to the Vatican’s finances. a Cambridge historian. says in Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy : “The papacy was now financially secure. records show he founded an offshore company in Luxembourg . John Pollard. This was described as “manipulation” of Vatican finances to serve “extraneous political ends. Luxembourg was one of the first countries to set up tax-haven company structures in 1929.K. It was called Groupement Financier Luxembourgeois. was incorporated the following year. and to neutral Switzerland. hence Grolux. along with its other European holdings and a currency trading arm. end. When war broke out. The Mussolini investments in Britain are currently controlled. by a papal official in Rome.to hold the continental European property assets he was buying. called British Grolux. with the prospect of a German invasion. . the Luxembourg operation and ostensible control of the British Grolux operation were moved to the U.S. The U. the assets of Mennini’s special unit now exceed €680m (£570m). what is less clear is why the Vatican continued to . who is in effect the pope’s merchant banker. While secrecy about the Fascist origins of the papacy’s wealth might have been understandable in wartime. which surveyed the Vatican’s financial controls.Paolo Mennini.” According to a report last year from the Council of Europe. Mennini heads a special unit inside the Vatican called the extraordinary division of APSA — Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica — which handles the so-called “patrimony of the Holy See. We also asked what the pope spent the income on. archbishop Antonio Mennini.maintain secrecy about its holdings in Britain. True to its tradition of silence on the subject. even after its financial structure was reorganised in 1999. — © Guardian NJanuary 24. why the papacy continued with such secrecy over the identity of its property investments in London.Get 5 Lac Health Cover For Family with . 2013 Manmohan Singh’s abject surrender Best Health Insuranc Plan . The Guardian asked the Vatican’s representative in London. the Roman Catholic church’s spokesman said that the nuncio had no comment. the papal nuncio. But this time it has exacted a toll of consequence. a Pakistani soldier was killed and another critically injured. On January 6. the .” Macaulay’s words aptly describe the fits of chauvinism that seize Indians.co. two Indian soldiers were killed across the LoC.Tax Benefits & Cashless Claims Mediclaimindia. the result of a pathetic surrender by a man of vision. NOORANI “We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.G. across the Line of Control in Kashmir. Two days later. one was beheaded.in A. It should have been settled at the level of brigadiers. followed by disclosures of beheadings by Indian troops in the past. As Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said on January 16: “It’s something that is within the domain of the armed forces of both sides … If it is contained at .other’s body was mutilated. The 12 days By its very nature. “a senior intelligence official” told DNA . that crime is a product of local rage. “we believe that this was a local action purely in retaliation of (sic) what the raid out troops carried out in the Uri Sector. On January 9.” The next day came Praveen Swami’s revealing exposé in this paper. On January 18. Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar made a fair proposal. Both countries should investigate the incidents and assist each other. This implied parity in sin and . Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.” Whatever happened during those 12 days to prompt this astounding assertion by a level-headed PM? On January 9.” The DirectorsGeneral of Military Operations were not asked to contain the crisis when they met on January 9. then it doesn’t create a larger political issue at the higher level. “We want *a+ good relationship with Pakistan but not at the cost of our national honour and our national interest. Each said his piece.their own level. if necessary. Such threats are .K. Salman Khurshid told The Hindu “We think this will pass. But unilateral probes by each side. Army Chief General Bikram Singh declared that India “reserves the right to retaliate at the time and place of its choice” and “I expect all my commanders to be aggressive and offensive to any situation” — bad advice in a tense situation. The IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal N. would have eased the tension. followed by a joint discussion. observers was a non-starter. In Paris.N. as late as January 12.” Two days later. Browne said the same day “we may have to look at some other options for compliance.A.” But New Delhi had other ideas.parity is anathema to us. Her suggestion of a probe by U. The BJP made the most of it.proper only if the killing was deliberate and was ordered at a governmental level. there cannot be business as usual *with Pakistan+.” The same day. Yashwant Sinha said “you cannot have peace with Pakistan. This was the gloss India chose to put on a local incident to which both sides surely contributed. “After this barbaric act.” The Prime Minister fell in line on January 15. the visa-on-arrival facility was . Sushma Swaraj asked for 10 heads against one. The decision to up the ante was taken on January 14 at a hurriedly called meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. From 2004. Advani kept attacking Dr. the BJP will move for the final kill of the peace process. I hope this marks the burial of the Sharm-el-Shaikh line” — that the peace process should not be held hostage to the issue of terrorism. Having drawn blood. The BJP was not appeased. Singh for every .K. To Ms Swaraj. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L. the PM’s remarks were an “echo of the tough measures we have demanded.” Arun Jaitley said on January 15: “The fact that it has taken so long for the PM to react makes me wonder if today’s reaction is out of conviction or out of compulsion.put on hold and Pakistan’s hockey stars were sent home. raise the dialogue to the political level in view of the impasse in the DGMO talks — “discuss all concerns related to LoC with a view to reinforcing respect for the ceasefire. would. though its signs have appeared. . on January 16.” This renders retreat very difficult.conciliatory move while asking Pakistan privately not to settle with the UPA.” The offer was not accepted. Khurshid had envisaged. Ms Khar’s offer of talks. as Mr. The BJP will surely call it a surrender. The BJP had better offers. India now offered surrender terms: end the “brazen denial” and “bring the perpetrators to book. It is sad that the Prime Minister should have allowed himself to be blown off course in these last few months. He abandoned a course that might have brought peace to this sub-continent by a settlement of Kashmir. caused wantonly by self-inflicted wounds that this . All this has been foiled. Now it is a tragic legacy of failure. The four-point formula on Kashmir he had crafted with Pervez Musharraf satisfied the interests of all sides — no secession. not least by his own hesitations and failure to talk to the people and explain his vision. He had a noble vision. no permanence to the LoC and selfrule to Kashmiris without any violation of territorial integrity. At 2.man of vision will bequeath in 2014. No leader should permit incidents to deflect him from his course. it was not to the BJP that the Prime Minister . “Today we were unlucky. a bomb went off which wrecked most of Brighton’s Grand Hotel where Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was staying for the Conservative Party Conference. including a Minister. were injured. The IRA warned her. However.45 a. but remember we only have to be lucky once.m.” She did not stop the MI5 from continuing the talks with the IRA. Dozens. 1984. on October 12. An MP and four others were killed. a thoughtful commentator. A former British Foreign Secretary.surrendered. Douglas Hurd. This raises in an acute form the issue of media influence on diplomacy. television images are what force foreign policymakers to give one of the current 25 crises in the world greater priority. The resume of events from January 6 to 18 should be read in the light of the venom poured by television news anchors night after night.” William Pfaff. He did so to the clamour whipped up by the electronic media. agrees: “Foreign policy now is made chiefly in terms of its reception by television and the press. The BJP wrode piggy-back on that clamour. noted: “Like it or not.” But “the only useful debates are those that . ridicule those with whom they disagree. “behind me lies the McMahon Line.” Another goes to the university in Srinagar and polls students on camera. and treat Pakistanis with scant courtesy. They themselves are none too competent. When almost . An anchor of a leading channel said in Ladakh. show deference to retirees from the IB.start out with a clear agreement on what the argument is about” — the precise issues — “and in which the opponent’s arguments and persons are paid respect. RAW and the army. Ignorant anchors The anchors themselves enter the fray.” This is altogether absent in “the debates” on our channels. fanned by TV it can ruin it. he replied: “That is a subjective view”. Public opinion can veto policy.all said they were for azadi . Eric Louw remarks in his book The Media and Political Press that “most journalists are ill-equipped to read foreign contexts and so can be easily led by both overseas spin-doctors and domestic foreign policy bureaucrats and experts” — and TRPs. mass opinion “has shown itself to be a dangerous master of decisions when the stakes are life and death. Lippmann remarked.” He lamented that “the work of reporters has become . His ignorance of the feelings there exposed. The task of the leader is to educate people about the facts of political life. “It is unrealistic to expect political leaders to ignore public opinion.confused with the work of preachers. revivalists. He cannot shirk his duty. Abba Eban struck a fair balance.” .” He touched the core of the problem when he wrote “in an exact sense the present crisis of western democracy is a crisis of journalism”. But a statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of moment. prophets and agitators … jingoism became a criterion for *the+ presentation of news. Article 370: A Constitutional History of Jammu and Kashmir . .G. was published by Oxford University Press in 2011.srmuniv. 2013 Blow the whistle and face the music SRM University. His latest book.ac.) January 25. author and commentator. Noorani is a lawyer.(A.India No1 Admissions for 2013 SRM Engineering Download or Apply Online Now! www.in/applications ANJALI MODY STRIKING BACK:The levels of repression are higher and the forms they take are harsher where the challenge posed is greater. S.. These arrests are just one example of the state’s casual use of fabricated FIRs and chargesheets as tools to harass. was dumping mud into a river in an alleged violation of coastal regulation norms. etc.The picture is of journalist Naveen Soorinje in a jail ward in a Mangalore hospital. assault. stopped the Deputy Commissioner as he walked to his car. rioting. to ask why he had not inspected a site where the Mangalore SEZ Ltd. etc. They were arrested and jailed. The charges against them: unlawful assembly. wrongful restraint. MANJUNATH In May 2012 three women in Mangalore. .. —PHOTO: H. But. As the Mangalore case shows. by treating these every day examples of the state’s exercise of impunity as insignificant we ignore systemic subversion and the normalisation of illegality as legality. Such cases seem slight.intimidate or silence those who work to hold it to account. . the state does not need the excuse of an armed insurgency or the threat of terrorism to curtail constitutional freedoms or undermine democratic accountability. when compared with fabricated cases of terror or sedition that are (apart from extra-judicial killing) the most extreme form that state impunity takes. almost unworthy of comment. she has spent the best part of four years. She also played an important part in the campaign to halt land acquisition for the Mangalore SEZ expansion. is a civic rights activist who campaigned against unregulated development in Mangalore city and violations of the coastal regulation zone (CRZ). and scarce resources. stemming from fabricated complaints by government officials and the SEZ .Halting SEZ expansion One of the three women arrested in Mangalore. which ended successfully last year. fighting myriad court cases. Like others from the anti-SEZ campaign. Vidya Dinker. government officials lied under oath to try and make their cases stick. the law must take its course and courts deliver even-handed justice. Wilfully lying under oath is perjury. We are told that once a case is admitted in court. Several old cases have concluded.developers. it seems not when the state is the accuser. with acquittals for all those charged. . Now she and her fellow campaigners have one more. In each instance. However. In some cases. But. the prosecution’s case has fallen apart in court as the fiction it was based on unravelled. then what is delivered cannot amount to justice. is par for the course. when nothing approximating these charges has occurred. except those who advocate democratic accountability. It . a misdemeanour also punishable with a jail sentence. etc. which is the intention of this process. attempt to murder. It suits everyone. we stay silent. political and environmental activists and trade unionists being charged with rioting. Social. So.when courts repeatedly admit cases based on false premises.. As cases process at a glacial pace through the layers of the judiciary we dare not say so. for we may be held in contempt of court. Soorinje’s report. has been in jail in Mangalore. since November 7. made the filing of charges possible. denied bail. Instead of enlisting him as a witness. Soorinje as one . Naveen Soorinje. the police named Mr. and was broadcast nationally.is not so common for journalists to be targeted in this manner. The incontrovertible visual evidence that supported Mr. a reporter with the Kasthuri Channel. led to arrests and charges being filed. Vigilante-attacks in Mangalore Yet. His eyewitness report in July last year of a brutal vigilante attack on a group of young people at a private birthday celebration. Vigilante-attacks. the police. legitimised the vigilante attacks. usually by Sangh Parivar organisations. but of the narrow sectarian social code the . along with the attackers. no one had ever been charged.of the accused. Until the July 2012 attack. According to a recent People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) report on communal policing in Dakshina Kannada there have been 140-recorded instances of such attacks in the district since 2007. on mixed groups of young people and couples are common in Dakshina Kannada. In several earlier instances. becoming enforcers not of the law. vigilantes’ espoused. the harassment of resisters. on TV. where the police “warned” them not to socialise across religious lines and made them sign an undertaking to that effect. and many other things that shone a light on the nexus of the powerful in Dakshin Kannada. the arbitrary powers of the religious Mutts in the district. He also reported on the campaign to stop the expansion of the SEZ. the illegal land grab from the poorest by the SEZ developer. After the attacks the victims were taken to police stations. . first for a local newspaper and more recently. Naveen Soorinje reported these cases. with wider impact. very many of us — on the acceptability. economic and social arrangements. concerned about violations of government norms. big business and. The levels of . It supports the use of coercive police powers — legal or illegal — to silence any dissent that challenges existing political. even necessity. of employing repression as a means of maintaining the current balance of power.Why then is Naveen Soorinje in jail? Why are good citizens. This consensus legitimises police impunity. the bureaucracy. importantly. marking time in police stations and courts? Quite simply it is because of the unstated consensus — between the political class. and hence part of the consensus that supports this system. 2013 A moment of triumph for women Rs1603Guest House Gurgaon Ph:09210333268.repression are higher and the forms they take are harsher where the challenge posed is greater. From Mangalore to Manipur. the state will respond not with reason. The longer this goes on. from Kundakulam to Kashmir. but with repression.January 25. The longer we remain silent. the less we will be able to claim we live in a true democracy. the more we are implicated in these acts of impunity and the subversion of everything this country claims to stand for. it’s the same story: if one questions its purpose. Cyber City 4 . women’s movements in India have been marked by persistent and protracted struggles. A transformation .in/Guest-HouseGurgaon KALPANA KANNABIRAN Starting with Tarabai Shinde’s spirited defence of the honour of her sister countrywomen in 1882. we have in recent weeks found ourselves shocked at the decimation of decades of struggle.Sohna Guest Houses DLF 1 2 3 Udyog Vihar lotuspark. But despite this rich and varied history.co. at a time when we wonder if all that intellectual and political work of crafting frameworks to understand women’s subjugation and loss of liberty through sexual terrorism has remained imprisoned within the covers of books in “women’s studies” libraries. at a time like this. what does it mean to suddenly find that all is not lost and to discover on a winter afternoon that our words .At a time when despair and anger at the futility of hundreds of thousands of women’s lifetimes spent in imagining a world that is safe drive us yet again to the streets. at a time when our daughters get assaulted in the most brutal ways and our sons learn that unimaginable brutality is the only way of becoming men. S. Verma is our moment of triumph — the triumph of women’s movements in this country. the committee has comprehensively set out the constitutional framework within which sexual assault must be . As with all triumphs.and work have cascaded out of our small radical spaces and transformed constitutional common sense? The Report of the Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law headed by Justice J. there are always some unrealised possibilities. but these do not detract from the fact of the victory. Rather than confining itself to criminal law relating to rape and sexual assault. Performance audits of all institutions of governance and law .located. it also draws out the political framework within which non-discrimination based on sex must be based and focuses on due diligence by the state in order to achieve this as part of its constitutional obligation. with the Preamble interpreted as inherently speaking to justice for women in every clause. Perhaps more importantly. If capabilities are crucial in order that people realise their full potential. this will be an unattainable goal for women till such time as the state is held accountable for demonstrating a commitment to this goal. 1958. criminal laws and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. brings sexual orientation firmly within the meaning of “sex” in Article 15. and the provision of safe spaces for women and children. . Arguing that “cultural prejudices must yield to constitutional principles of equality. autonomy and freedom of victims of sexual assault and rape — with comprehensive reforms suggested in electoral laws. the committee. policing. empathy and respect” (p. The focus of the entire exercise is on protecting the right to dignity.55). in a reiteration of the Naaz Foundation judgment.and order are seen as an urgent need in this direction. against sexual assault.and underscores the right to liberty. dignity and fundamental rights of all persons irrespective of sex or sexual orientation — and the right of all persons. Reviewing leading cases and echoing the critique of Indian women’s groups and feminist legal scholars — whether in the case of Mathura or even the use of the shame-honour paradigm that has trapped victim-survivors in rape trials and in khap panchayats . not just women. the committee observes: “…women have been looped into a vicious cycle of shame and honour as a consequence of which they have been attended with an inherent . Tracing the history of the marital rape exception in the common law of coverture in England and Wales in the 1700s.disability to report crimes of sexual offences against them. nonpenetrative touching of sexual nature. Rape is redefined as including all forms of nonconsensual penetration of sexual nature (p. the committee recommends retaining a redefined offence of “rape” within a larger section on “sexual assault” in order to retain the focus on women’s right to integrity. The offence of sexual assault would include all forms of non-consensual. the committee unequivocally . agency and bodily integrity.” In terms of the definition of rape.111). cannot be a valid defence. . the States of the North-East. and other legislation be suitably amended in this regard. Voices from conflict zones Rights advocates in Kashmir. by this argument.recommends the removal of the marital rape exception as vital to the recognition of women’s right to autonomy and physical integrity irrespective of marriage or other intimate relationship. the committee recommended that the age of consent in consensual sex be kept at 16. Marriage. On the other hand. it is not relevant to the matter of consent and it cannot be a mitigating factor in sentencing in cases of rape. removing the requirement of prior sanction where the person has been accused of sexual assault. 1958. Gujarat and other areas that have witnessed protracted conflict and communal violence have for decades been demanding that sexual violence by the armed forces. police and paramilitary as well as by collective assault by private actors be brought within the meaning of aggravated sexual assault. 220). . the committee recommends an amendment in Section 6 of the AFSPA.Chhattisgarh. Specifically. This has been taken on board with the committee recommending that such forms of sexual assault deserve to be treated as aggravated sexual assault in law (p. but impunity reigns supreme. leave alone acted on? The Delhi case The recent gang rape and death of a young student in Delhi has raised the discussion on the question of sentencing and .Clearly a sensitive and committed police force is indispensable to the interests of justice. If all the other recommendations of the Committee are carried through. will the government give even a nominal commitment that the chapter on police reforms will be read. cases that have been fought and won. But how should this come about? There have been commissions that have recommended reforms. The second question had to do with the reduction of age in respect of juveniles. women’s groups and child rights groups were united in their view that the age must not be lowered. and rejected castration as an option.punishment yet again. the committee has adopted the abolitionist position. Treading this issue with care. On the death penalty. that the solution did not lie in . The first set of questions had to do with the nature and quantum of punishment. the committee enhances the minimum sentence from seven years to 10 years. Despite the involvement of a juvenile in this incident. with imprisonment for life as the maximum. in keeping with international standards of human rights. the committee does not recommend the lowering of the age. recommending instead. comprehensive institutional reform in children’s institutions. The significance of the report lies. not so much in its immediate translation into law or its transformation of governance (although these are the most desirable and urgent). Given the low rates of recidivism. The report contains comprehensive recommendations on amendments in existing criminal law.locking them up young. but in its pedagogic potential — as providing a new basis for the teaching and learning of the . which cannot be detailed here except in spirit. in/applications ARVIND NARRAIN ushering in change:The Verma Committee has performed a fine balancing act of being sensitive to opinion without allowing mere public sentiment to emerge as the arbiter of policy and law.— PHOTO: RAJEEV BHATT .srmuniv.Constitution and criminal law and the centrality of gender to legal pedagogy.Download or Apply Online Now! www.ac. 2013 Alchemizing anger to hope SRM University.India No1 Admissions for 2013 SRM Engineering . January 25. The Verma Committee report most fundamentally alters the . we finally have a document authored by a committee set up by the state which honours the victim.The aftermath of the brutal rape of the 23-year-old medical student in Delhi has witnessed a persistent degrading of the public discourse. right from belittling a serious movement for equality as led by ‘painted and dented ladies’ to ostensibly sympathetic responses which belittle women who have suffered a serious violation of their bodily integrity by describing them as nothing more than ‘ zinda laash ’ (living corpses). Having been subjected to crudely offensive remarks by members of the political establishment. What is particularly moving and inspiring about the report is that it does so by placing the autonomy and indeed the sexual autonomy of women at the very centre of its discourse.public discourse on crimes against women by placing these crimes within the framework of the Indian Constitution and treating these offences as nothing less than an egregious violation of the right to live with dignity of all women. In the Committee’s thinking it is very important for Indian society and the state to move away from thinking of rape as a crime against honour and instead look at it as a serious violation of . It also offers us a rethinking of what is meant by the offence of rape. bodily integrity. In language that is seen perhaps for the first time in an official report. But it is not horrible for all the reasons that have been drilled into the heads of Indian women………I reject the notion that my virtue is located in my vagina. ‘Rape is horrible. It is in this context that the Committee .’ The discussion on rape is located in an understanding of women as full and equal citizens and it is intrinsic to the argument of the report that it is only by guaranteeing women full and equal rights that sexual violence can even be tackled. just as I reject the notion that men’s brains are in their genitals. the Committee quotes a rape survivor. For far too long. it is also equally successful in breaching the public patriarchy of the state.discusses the phenomenon of honour killing and concludes that it is the responsibility of the state to ensure that ‘choices made by men and women in respect of marriage’ will not be interfered with by institutions such as khap panchayats . Breaching public patriarchy While the Committee breaches the inner wall of patriarchy. especially by bringing marital rape within the ambit of rape. the security forces in India have enjoyed complete impunity for crimes of sexual violence committed against women in situations of armed . conflict. Here again the Committee breaches the code of impunity of the Indian state for sexual offences committed by its personnel. The Committee also introduces the notion of ‘command responsibility’ whereby a public servant in command. For the first time in history. the Committee has recognised that sexual violence against women committed by members of the armed forces must come within the purview of ordinary criminal law. . control or supervision of the armed forces or police would be held responsible for failure to exercise control over the actions of his subordinates resulting in rape or sexual assault. Circle of empathy The jet of anger which emerged through the brutal rape in Delhi last month has through the work of the Committee been transmuted into an ever widening .It has shown a sense of occasion by recognising that a historic moment such as this must be transformative for all. As such. It thus recommends that the law expressly protect all persons from rape and sexual assault. it expressly suggests that the definition of those who could be affected by sexual assault should include both men as well as homosexual and transgender persons. The Committee through making recommendations for all these vulnerable groups has seized the moment and underlined the patriarchal ills of the Indian state and society.circle of empathy which includes children in juvenile facilities. The fact that the report is based upon a historic articulation of hurt and harm suffered by Indian women emerges most poignantly through the articulation of the offence of rape which results in a persistent vegetative state for . women in situations of armed conflict as well as women in violent marital relationships. Gay. domestic workers. trafficked women and children. Lesbian. Bisexual and Transgender persons. In doing so. The Committee has performed a fine balancing act of being sensitive to public opinion without allowing mere public sentiment to emerge as the arbiter of policy and law. it resists the tendency of basing its recommendations on shifting notions of right and wrong and instead derives its . who was brutally raped and choked with a dog chain and is living in a persistent vegetative state for the past 36 years. This recognition of an aggravated form of sexual assault is a tribute to Aruna Shanbaug.which the punishment is rigorous imprisonment of a minimum of 20 years going up to life. January 26. It is now up to civil society to ensure that the radical recommendations of the Committee are converted into reality. a It has done an incredible job of transmuting pain and anger into an inspirational road map for the future.Complete Material.com SHIVPRASAD SWAMINATHAN .250 Unit Tests 16 All India Tests with analysis www.recommendations from constitutional morality. 2013 India’s benign constitutional revolution Online IAS Preparation .byjusclasses. To be sure. The deliberate procedural error consisted in a deviation from the Constitution making procedure prescribed by the Indian Independence Act.This is the story of how and why the framers of the Constitution of India deliberately designed a procedural error in the adoption of the new Constitution with a view to severing the seamless transition of legal authority from the British Crown-in-Parliament to the new Republic of India. 1947 — the law enacted by the British Parliament granting India independence and formally authorising the Constituent Assembly to draft a Constitution for the newly liberated state. the framers of the Constitution of India were not the . and indeed they were not the last to deliberately incorporate such procedural errors in the process of Constitution making.first. The founders of the Constitutions of several other states including Ireland. took such a step. Sri Lanka and Ghana.’ Constitutional autochthony The etymological roots of ‘autochthony.’ which is not to be confused with ‘autonomy. Pakistan. which were being liberated from the British Empire.’ are to be found in the Greek autos (self) and chthon (earth). they were all motivated by the same goal: that of ensuring constitutional ‘autochthony. In doing so. The goal of . The dominant academic view in the middle of the 20th Century was that autochthony could not be achieved simply by drafting an original Constitution or verbally invoking We the People as the source of its authority. Hans Kelsen. for autochthony does not so much concern the content of the Constitution as its pedigree : the chain of legal validity authorising it. This proposition found doctrinal support in the influential theory propounded by the legal philosopher. the source of whose ‘authority’ can be located in the new state’s own soil. which .constitutional autochthony is to deliver an indigenous Constitution. had it that it was inconceivable for a legal system to split into two independent legal systems through a purely legal process. On Kelsen’s account. One of the implications of Kelsen’s theory was that the basic norm ( grundnorm ) of the imperial predecessor’s Constitution would continue to be at the helm of the legal system of the newly liberated former colony despite the legal transfer of power. precisely because the transfer of power was recognised as ‘legal’ by the Constitution of the imperial predecessor. only an ‘unlawful’ or ‘revolutionary’ act could ensure an autochthonous Constitution by rending asunder . The situation is very different where independence of a former colony is not brought about by armed revolution. This was the case with India.all continuity with the imperial predecessor. Such break in legal continuity is automatically achieved where a former colony’s independence is won as the result of an armed revolution. Sri Lanka and Ghana . Independence in such instances is not granted ‘legally’ by the Crownin-Parliament and the Constitution of the newly liberated former colony is in no way authorised by the imperial predecessor. but is ‘legally’ granted by the imperial predecessor. as was the case with the United States of America. Pakistan. Ireland. whose independence was the result of the British Crown-inParliament’s enactment of separate statutes of independence (Independence Act) for each of them. Following the constitutionmaking procedure stipulated in the statute of independence would have meant that the validity of the new Constitution could ultimately be traced to an imperial grant. The mere verbal invocation of We the People as the ‘source’ of authority in such cases would have rung hollow. The statutes of independence also set up Constituent Assemblies authorising them to draft new Constitutions for each of these States. apart from being jurisprudentially implausible since the source of . Accordingly. Ireland was granted independence . In such cases.authority of the new Constitution would continue to be the imperial predecessor’s Constitution.” Irish influence The Irish were the pioneers in conceiving the idea of a benign legal revolution geared towards constitutional autochthony. however contrived. as John Finnis argues.’ one had to be deliberately made up in order to secure an autochthonous Constitution. the framers of new Commonwealth Constitutions took great care to do something illegal “so as to make up a revolution. it was thought that since there was no ‘revolution. its chain of legal validity could be traced to an imperial statutory grant. the Irish Constitution of 1922 was not autochthonous. 1922 enacted by the British Crown-in-Parliament which also authorised the Irish Constituent Assembly to draft a Constitution for the newly liberated state. With a view to changing this state of affairs.under the Irish Free State Constitution Act. Though it was drafted by an indigenous Constituent Assembly. Thus. in 1937 the Irish Parliament amended the Constitution by deliberately violating the procedure for amendment stipulated in the 1922 Constitution and put the amended Constitution for acceptance in a . referendum. Independence was formally granted to India by the Crown-inParliament’s enactment of the Indian Independence Act. the Irish Parliament also repealed the Irish Free State Constitution Act. 1947 though the executive decision to . Going one step further. The framers of the Indian Constitution appear to have rehearsed the Irish route to autochthony to the extent possible in Indian conditions. though it was not empowered to do so. It is widely accepted that this successfully severed the chain of validity with the Crown-inParliament and ensured a truly autochthonous Constitution. 1922 enacted by the British Parliament. it did specify that the new Constitution drafted by the Constituent Assembly would have to receive the assent of the Governor General of India. Though the Indian Independence Act did not reiterate this requirement. This was legally recognised in Section 8 of the Independence Act. It was under the Cabinet Mission Plan that the Constituent Assembly was envisaged and charged with the mandate of drafting the new Constitution for India.grant India independence was arrived at earlier in the Cabinet Mission Plan (1946). who . The Cabinet Mission Plan had envisaged that the new Constitution would be put to the Crown-in-Parliament for approval. would assent to such law in the name of the British Crown. b) Following the Irish precedent. the framers not only repudiated . Article 395 of the Constitution of India repealed the Indian Independence Act — something the Constituent Assembly did not have the authorisation to do. The framers introduced two deliberate procedural errors in the enactment of the Constitution of India in violation of the Independence Act: a) They did not put the Constitution to the approval of the either the British Parliament as envisaged by the Cabinet Mission Plan or the Governor-General as envisaged in the Indian Independence Act 1947. In doing so. rather than the authority being traceable to the Indian Independence Act enacted by the British Crown-inParliament. Why did it matter? . thus delivering a completely autochthonous Constitution. of Indian independence being a grant of the imperial Crown-inParliament. We the People . through the members of the Constituent Assembly. came to be the ‘source’ of authority of the Constitution. This ensured that the chain of constitutional validity did not extend all the way to the Crown-in-Parliament. albeit symbolic. In this fashion.the source which authorised them to enact the Constitution but it was also a denial. the framers of new Commonwealth . however improbably. Firstly. two reasons why the framers of new Commonwealth Constitutions felt constrained to pay such close attention to it. of course.This quest for autochthony is likely to come across to some as an abstruse quibble that shouldn’t concern anyone other than the most pedantic legal theorists. All the same. it was feared that the British Crown-inParliament could. reassert its authority over the newly liberated state by repealing the statute of independence and abrogating the new Constitution. no immediate apprehension of the British taking such a step. There were. however. There was. 2013 A manifesto for change . albeit symbolically. be insulated from a troubled imperial past. stemming from the authority of We the People so that an independent future could. merely prudential reassurances to be precarious pegs to hang their nation’s independence on. They would have wanted the new Constitution to be truly autochthonous. Secondly. as Geoffrey Marshall notes.Constitutions would have found. January 26. for sentimental considerations. the framers would have been loath to let the new Constitution be grounded in an imperial grant or be assented to by the British Crown. Class 1 to Class 12 . Puzzle www.” before going on to lament “societal permissiveness on the carnal front. Verma. the Supreme Court of India described an act of rape as a “randy molestation.S.com In 1979. Test Papers. Lessons. helped blow away the toxic shadow that words like these cast over debates on sexual violence in .MeritNation.Free NCERT Solutions. Animations.” Former Chief Justice of India J. and eminent lawyer Gopal Subramaniam have.” evinced in its view by “libidinous brahmacharis” and “lascivious dating and mating by unwed students. former Supreme Court judge Leila Seth. this week. Videos. their committee has produced a text that will long be invoked in debates over criminal justice in India. bringing the rights of women to the centrestage of our national project.India. the committee’s proposal to disqualify politicians facing certain kinds of criminal . the report founds itself on the Constitution’s promise of equality and justice for all. For example. Few of their 22 recommendations — on everything from the promulgation of long-pending criminal law amendments to police reform and even street lighting — are in themselves new. Formed in the wake of the gang rape of a Delhi woman last year. Not all will back each of the committee’s proposals. However. Like all manifestos for change. Even as we celebrate this progress. the foundations have been laid for a forward-looking debate — and meaningful action. The idea has been resisted by all major parties since 1998. the report paints in broad strokes — strokes that will need careful filling-in to become a blueprint for real change. Yet. for example. is key to its thrust.cases from standing for election even prior to conviction is controversial. it is also important to cast an eye on how much work remains ahead. therefore. Police reform. the report does not tell us precisely what kinds of laws are needed to bring about autonomous — and perhaps even . Yet. is we have a society without a responsible idea of . though. It would indeed be a step forward. if all marriages were to be “registered in the presence of a magistrate.” The real problem. It is also true that our society needs children to be “informed and equipped with the knowledge and skills to make responsible decisions about sexuality. it is hard to see how a “magistrate will ensure that the marriage has been solemnised without any demand for dowry.” Perhaps most challenging will be giving teeth to recommendations that involve profound social change. Elsewhere. competent — policing.more important. for example. its recommendations can be accused of a degree of naiveté.” Yet. It will take sustained citizen mobilisation to ensure the committee’s work amounts to more than words on paper. sadly. MORE IN: OPINION | Today's Paper January 26.Compare Quotes PolicyBazaar.either sexuality or equality. 2013 The great number fetish Investment Plans .com/PureInvestment SANKARAN KRISHNA .Invest 8300 pm and get Rs 1.35Cr in return guaranteed. littered with exhortations for change which went nowhere. India’s recent history is. (per capita $) O ne of the most prominent features of India’s middle-class-driven public culture has been an obsession about our GDP growth rate. and everyday conversations. and a facile equation of that number with a sense of national achievement or impending arrival into affluence. In media headlines. political speeches. the GDP growth rate number — whether it is five per cent or eight per cent or whatever — has become a staple of our evaluations of the state of national well-being and future trajectory. Ever since Goldman Sachs (an investment banking firm headquartered in New York city) released a report in 2003 . Since then. our standing relative to China. I find that Indians know our growth numbers backward and forward. and there . her attractiveness as an investment site. we Indians have been afflicted by an optimism disease with little empirical traction. As the former CEO of Infosys and leading public intellectual Nandan Nilekani notes in his book Imagining India . the GDP number’s implications for India’s development. “Wherever I go. and our competitiveness in the games nations play have become an inescapable part of our social lives. India and China (BRIC) as the harbingers of a new wave of global accumulation.(“Dreaming with BRICs: the path to 2050”) touting Brazil. Russia. is a strong. common feeling among us that our country has finally come of age. the eminent economists Amartya Sen and Jean Drèze pointed to an important problem with equating India’s economic performance with its GDP growth rate. in a recent essay.” Sen and Drèze were referring to the fact that for about 32 years now (since 1980). India has averaged annual GDP growth rates of .” Fast growth. They noted: “There is probably no other example in the history of world development of an economy growing so fast for so long with such limited results in terms of broad-based social progress. limited results Yet. illiterate and agrarian societies to middle class. literate.approximately six per cent — whereas. . Taiwan. They have gone from largely poor. and that percentage has declined by as little as five per cent since then. to mention the most prominent ones. Comparable growth rates sustained over similar lengths of time have utterly transformed societies in the 20th century: South Korea. the nation’s ranking in terms of the Human Development Index has remained unchanged over that period: we were ranked an abysmal 134 in 1980. we were ranked exactly that in 2011. Singapore. and large parts of China. In 1980. about 80 per cent of our population subsisted on less than two dollars a day. Not only have three decades of high GDP growth gone unaccompanied by a societal transformation. Whatever may be said about India. Nepal.urbanised and industrial societies with standards of living vastly superior to ours. Bangladesh. it is obvious that no structural transformation of our largely poverty-stricken economy has occurred and what is more. none seems very likely in the immediate future. Pakistan. we seem to have regressed on certain fronts. female literacy. and Bhutan) on most yardsticks such as life expectancy. . Sri Lanka. while India ranked either first or second in 1980 within South Asia (defined here as comprising India. For instance. whose annual GDP growth rate has averaged about half that of India’s over these years. the only indicator in which we have done well is in the rate of GDP growth per annum. That 30 years of more than twice the much-disparaged “Hindu” rate of growth has left us . and its females. Ironically. and mean years of schooling. improved sanitation. child immunisation.infant mortality. On most yardsticks that matter. its young. Bangladesh now outperforms India. A country like Bangladesh. today we are ranked either fifth or last among the South Asian nations on these same yardsticks. has done vastly better in terms of translating that growth to the quality of life for its poor. maternal mortality ratio. if Brazil.at the absolute rock-bottom of the world tables in terms of malnourished children (44 per cent at the last count — significantly more than that anchor of all things sorry and sad about this world. Indian and China grew at a certain rate per annum. Russia. sub-Saharan Africa whose percent of underweight children is 25 per cent) should tell us that there is something seriously amiss about looking at the annual growth rate of the GDP to measure the wellbeing of a society. they would be among the world’s six . On demographic dividend The Goldman Sachs report argued that by the year 2050. The report based its projections mainly on something called the “demographic dividend. The size of the workingage cohort is central to the overall attractiveness of an economy from the perspective of an investment bank like Goldman Sachs because it is likely to be in . “young” societies like India and China have a disproportionately large percentage of people in the workforce relative to those outside it.largest economies in terms of overall size. This does not tell us anything about either per capita incomes (in terms of which these countries would remain well behind the more affluent nations) or the quality of life of the majority of people therein.” In simple terms. can support a social security net for those who have retired and now have to subsist on pensions and savings. appliances. etc. In the euphoria over the BRIC report (it was the basis for the disastrous “India Shining” campaign of the Bharatiya Janata . India’s demographic profile was seen by the BRIC report as most favourable because this ratio of working to non-working populations would remain in favour of the former well into the 21st century in our case. electronics. automobiles. The working-age cohorts’ employment earnings. cosmetics. On a comparative yardstick.the market for all sorts of goods — homes. moreover. fast-food. When a . of economic activity in a society. and they were quoted ad nauseam in the mainstream media) certain basic facts were glossed over.Party. the same projections were echoed in speeches by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. the GDP is a statistic from within the field of National Accounts whose very definition indicates its limited ambit: it is the total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year. not the quality or content. In other words. it is a statistic that measures the quantity. Firstly. Deputy Chairman of the Central Planning Commission Montek Ahluwalia. Union Finance Minister Chidambaram. country liberalises — either domestically as India began to do in 1980 or across its international borders as we began after 1991 — the increased volume of production. To infer from the growth in GDP any consequences for societal welfare is not logical. Simon Kuznets and John Maynard . investment. trade and market exchanges will inevitably result in an increase in the GDP. The GDP’s precursor was devised during the Depression of the 1930s as western governments (in Britain and the United States most prominently) tried to get a handle on the basic statistics of the different sectors of their economies in order to plan state policies to get them out of recession and on to growth. Something like the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska will inevitably increase the GDP as the massive clean-up means billions of dollars will be spent. as damage to nature is rendered an externality.Keynes.S. On the other hand. both pioneers in its creation and measurement. whereas the environmental impact of that disaster did nothing to diminish the GDP of the U. warned against confusing GDP with anything other than a measure of the sum of economic activity of a society. the positive impact of people in a community bartering or exchanging services (“I’ll baby sit for you this week while you fix the . and especially against confounding it with societal welfare. The extrapolations into the future (projections were made as far as 2030 and even 2050) by a firm . the BRIC report emerged not from an academic body or a policy think-tank. Creating a buzz about these economies. It came from an investment bank that was interested in getting people to put their money into a newly created “Emerging Market” fund. The “demographic dividend” argument offered a perfect empirical “fact” of just this sort. and finding some hard nugget or fact that seemed to suggest their fortunes were on the rise.leak in my roof”) goes unregistered on the GDP metric. is an inevitable part of the marketing of such funds. Secondly. It was moreover a tautological argument in the sense that given the overall size of the BRIC economies it was inevitable that their GDPs would over time end up being among the largest in the world. which added to their profits as the firm made money off every transaction therein.that could not foresee (and was in fact a substantial culprit in) the financial crisis that engulfed the world economy barely four years later were essentially meaningless. the likelier the “success” of their Emerging Market funds in the short run. The greater the buzz Goldman Sachs could create about the BRIC economies. The Goldman Sachs report should have been assessed as advertising copy rather than as unbiased . and (c) jobs that pay a decent wage and enhance their intellectual and . Goldman Sachs had already lost interest in them and had started promoting MIST.) Thirdly. Indonesia. (b) good health. for India (or any society) to realise its demographic dividend. at least three factors are critical: its youth need (a) quality education. South Korea and Turkey.prognostication about the future of the world economy. as the BRIC economies with the exception of China failed to perform to expectations. another emerging market fund based on Mexico. (By the late 2000s. The analogy to advertising sloganeering rather than economic analysis should be obvious to anyone here. other skills. The story of India’s post-independence development has been one of failure across all three of these sectors. We have already seen that with the highest rate of malnourishment of children below the age of six in the entire world. and a public health infrastructure . In large part this is because since 1947 we have emphasised tertiary education for a narrow middle-class and elite. Recent studies have confirmed what every Indian already knows: the quality of public education at the primary and secondary levels has been abysmal. and underinvested in primary and secondary education for the masses. and the picture has not improved post the economic liberalisation initiated in 1991. especially outside the cities. large segments of our populace are not in good health.that exists more on paper than on the ground. typhoid. recent decades of high growth. have been accompanied by either stagnation or even decline in the absolute numbers of those employed in the organised sector of the economy. and decrepit or non-existent sewage systems. Unlike Korea or Taiwan or China (all three of whom also had a thoroughgoing land reform that eliminated landlordism and other feudal . and dysentery. The difficulty of getting clean water. especially since 2000. have also meant high incidence of preventable diseases like cholera. the unavailability of toilets. And when it comes to jobs. but not in terms of their ability to generate large numbers of jobs. .and education-intensive sectors like Information Technology. even with the most expansive definition of its ambit. ours has been skewed heavily towards skill. Twenty years after the onset of the phenomenal IT boom.holdovers) whose growth was concentrated initially in relatively labour-intensive sectors such as manufacturing. and business process outsourcing. The performance in these sectors has been stellar in terms of exports and their contribution to the GDP. this sector only employs about nine million Indians while India produces about 13 million new entrants into the job market every year . pharmaceuticals. There is nothing inherent in demographic patterns that guarantees economic success: whether a certain set of preconditions eventuates in socially widespread and meaningful growth depends. on efficient state and . on state policies that prioritise human capital (the health and education of its citizenry). as always.What all this adds up to is this: given its history of inadequate investment in human capital and the present patterns and trajectory of its economy India seems unlikely to reap the demographic dividend that other societies seem to have cashed in on. and the extent to which many of us have equated high growth rates of recent years as a sign of our emergence as a global power? One has to step outside the domain of the empirical and the economic.political party institutions to deliver these programmes to the people. Middle class focus How then can one explain the Indian middle class’ obsession with the GDP growth number. and into the social and the psychological to understand this obsession with a number. this . and on the ability to insulate these programmes from being hijacked by elites and middlemen. and a politics of moderation and civil society. The Indian middle class is not conventional in the sense of being sandwiched between rich. In that ideal type. There was a convergence between the material and ideological needs of this middle class that made it the champion of liberal democracy and market capitalism.fetish we have developed for the GDP. capitalist development. the middle class was the vanguard in the emergence and consolidation of liberal democracy. individual freedoms. put . Or as the comparative historian Barrington Moore Jr. conservative elites and the lowest third of a society that is poor and potentially revolutionary. and often even within it. the middle class is folded into the apex and is the dominant component of the top 20 per cent of society in terms of income and wealth. It is overwhelmingly upper caste and its substantive. This class’ self-image is that of a meritocratic group that has advanced through education. as distinct from rhetorical. no democracy. commitment to egalitarianism and democracy outside its own narrow ambit. castestatus and westernisation. However.it in a pithy formulation: “no bourgeois. both the colonial period and the decades . is shallow. discipline.” In India. and deferred enjoyment. as well as in terms of cultural and symbolic capital as reflected in its education. at least in the short-run. Even if its commitment to the idea of inclusive economic development that makes a significant impact on the daily lives of the vast majority of its fellow citizens was sincere. go against this middle class’ own .after independence show this “merit” to be based more on privileged and restricted access to western education and professions that emerged in the wake of modernisation rather than by rising to the top in a context marked by widespread equality of opportunity. we have neither the political institutions — state bureaucracy or party cadres — nor the political commitment to act in ways that will. The GDP growth rate number. seems to often overwhelm our ability to regard the economic and social reality that surrounds us with a clear eye. on the other. on the one hand. or a successful nation. and its neat extrapolation into the future by reports like the one by . makes the Indian middle class peculiarly susceptible to technocratic quick-fixes. This disjuncture between a set of ideological or rhetorical commitments to development. and. the absence of the institutional means to achieve them. as well as the fact that their very achievement might jeopardise our own status as an elite. Our desire to be seen by our peers in the rest of the world as an emerging economy.material interests. A fetish is an inanimate object imbued by humans with magical powers and believed to bring good luck or fortune.Goldman Sachs that seem to literally leapfrog over the difficult. We have fetishised the GDP number and read all our hopes and dreams into a statistic that was never designed to bear the weight it has come to carry. messy and forbidding social and political tasks that are the inevitable prerequisite of successful economic development. thus capture our imaginations in ways that are obsessive. The reverence and faith with which we have treated the GDP number says more about the social-psychology of our . the trigger being an extremist element’s comment. Shinde’s remarks. reactions have been equally over the top. —PHOTO: PTI On his prime-time show on Times Now. Arnab Goswami was in redhot rage: this time over Union . January 28. BJP members stage a protest at Jantar Mantar against Mr. 2013 Two-nation theory all over again VIDYA SUBRAHMANIAM TOO SKITTISH?While the Home Minister should have substantiated his accusations.middle class and our desire to be seen as a successful and emerging economy than it does about the actual state of life for the vast majority of our fellow Indians. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s statement that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ran terror camps. when passions desperately needed cooling. More recently Mr.” It has become a habit with Mr. Shinde made the astonishing claim that Prime Minister Manmohan . Shinde to shoot from the hip and then look bewildered at the commotion he has caused. Shinde : “… their training camps are promoting Hindu terrorism. To quote Mr. In the middle of the student exodus back to the north-east. he offered to run more trains to take the frightened crowds home rather than reasoning with them to stay back. Singh had been kept out of the loop on Ajmal Kasab’s secret execution. And even if he typically mixed up the two roles. And he most certainly should not have used “Hindu” in place of the ideological construct of Hindutva. And yet the reactions to the Home Minister’s gaffe have been equally over the top. Goswami leading the . He should have known that at party meets government takes a back seat to organisation. he should have substantiated his accusations and explained why he was indulging the BJP if it ran terror camps. with Mr. Mr. Shinde undoubtedly misspoke on “Hindu” terrorism and “Hindu” training camps at the Congress’s Jaipur conclave. pack of breast-beaters hyperventilating over “India playing into Pakistan’s hands.” The trigger was provided by Lashkar-eTaiba founder Hafiz Saeed who obviously saw it as a ‘gotcha!’ moment: “World should take notice and declare India a state that is supporting terror on its soil after its HM Shinde candidly confessed.” Pakistan’s statement Several questions arise: Is India going to get all defensive and skittish each time an extremist from across the border deliberately makes a provocative comment? Why do we need to respond to Hafiz Saeed when official Pakistan has reacted far . Khan avoided direct accusations even on the Samjhauta Express blasts where Indian investigators have moved from blaming Pakistan to Hindutva groups: “Pakistan has repeatedly said that we want a thorough investigation (into Samjhauta) and want the investigation to be shared with Pakistan.” Mr.” Can anyone quarrel with this perfectly reasonable response? More importantly. consider the full implications of pushing the .more responsibly? Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Moazzam Khan said: “We being a responsible country do not want to get into speculative mode. and whosoever are the perpetrators or culprits should be punished in accordance with the law. Should investigators on the trail of rightwing terror groups stop midcourse because the results might help Pakistan? Will Pakistan decide how we deal with our internal problems? If the answer is yes. then. India must resort to this dishonesty in order that we don’t find ourselves squirming under Pakistan’s accusing gaze. from Malegaon to Mecca Masjid to Samjhauta Express. henceforth India must decide that all terrorists must necessarily be Muslim even if the evidence throws up Hindutva connections as it has indeed done in a host of blast cases.line that admitting to Hindutva terror means scoring a self-goal vis-à-vis Pakistan. This is . absurd logic and leads to the alarming conclusion that Pakistan will not object if the Indian terrorists are Muslim. But obviously not when . Shinde’s statement thus: “It is a downright insult of India’s spiritual. cultural and civilisational heritage…” In other words. then the nation is insulted. if a Hindutva link is found to terror. And why so? Because Indian Muslims are Pakistani by belief and behaviour! Isn’t it a point to ponder that the “playing into Pak hands” objection is never raised when an Indian Muslim organisation is under the scanner for home-grown terror? What is this if not the two-nation theory all over again? The BJP said as much when it reacted to Mr. . The NIA charge sheets If Mr. 2012 — did not once use the word “Hindu. he could have stuck to the charge sheets filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).innocent Muslims are picked up. tortured and incarcerated — as they have been in all the cases mentioned.” But the ideological orientation of the accused was clear enough: Their collective motive was attributed to “Jihadi/terrorist attacks” on the temples of Akshardham (Gujarat). The NIA. 2011 and the second on August 9. which has so far filed two charge sheets in the Samjhauta Express case — one on June 20. Shinde felt the need to take on the Hindutva parivar. District Dewas. and argue that they could turn out to be fabrications. Madhya Pradesh.” The second charge sheet spoke of the accused getting “training in a jungle near Bagli. . as they have in some of the Jehadi cases. But at least the Minister would have been stating what is on record — both on the ideological direction of the accused and on the training camps. we can question the charge sheets.” As citizens. And they were charged with bearing “deep vengeance against not only the Jehadi terrorists but unfortunately against an entire minority community.Raghunath (Jammu) and Sankat Mochan (Varanasi). com/Join_US BRINDA KARAT .” Today the party’s hypocritical new line is that teJanuary 28. It said with relish that “all terrorists are Muslim. 2013 Insightful and path-breaking Change India's future .Share Projects or Ideas to bring a change. Win Lacs in Grants! www. But it had no business taking the moral high ground on terrorism. Shinde to provide evidence that the party ran training camps.sparktherise.Similarly the BJP should have forced Mr. The party never objected to Muslims being randomly picked up. S. with the marshalling of . in the wake of the public outrage following the horrific Delhi gang rape. Justice Leila Seth. The government had decided on only limited terms of reference for the committee (whose other members were an equally eminent former Supreme Court judge. Verma. Justice J. insightful report.The UPA government has perhaps got more than what it bargained for from the committee it set up. headed by the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. and former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam) but fortunately the members. in their words. interpreted it “expansively.” Through the over 600 pages of this path-breaking. In section after section.irrefutable evidence. earlier judgments and directions of the Supreme Court. stressing the importance of making dereliction of duty a . the committee quotes reports — from 1980 — of Law Commissions. and notifications and circulars of the Home Ministry. Critical of governments It blasts governments for the lack of accountability of public servants. what emerges is a strong indictment of the governments at the Centre and the States for their criminal callousness in ignoring the earlier recommendations of measures to prevent sexual violence against women. which were never implemented. the Parliamentary Select Committee headed by the present Union Law Minister set up several years ago to re-examine the flawed official bill against torture discussed this issue in detail and recommended the inclusion of .punishable offence. It also proposes to include the concept of command responsibility in the law. holding superior officers responsible for the acts of their juniors when the circumstances show that the crime could have been prevented had the superior acted. including the Police Commissioner. the committee’s proposal is particularly relevant. In fact. In the context of the Centre’s refusal to act against Delhi’s top police officials. But the committee’s recommendations have remained in cold storage. The Verma Committee takes this forward by recommending a concrete amendment to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act to prevent it from being used as a shield to protect criminals in uniform. but the aggressive opposition of Defence Service Chiefs was a convenient reason for not accepting it. Significantly. the Parliamentary Committee on Women’s Empowerment made a strong recommendation to bring the armed forces and the paramilitary forces under the purview of criminal law. Similarly. it suggests the appointment of Special .command responsibility. Commissioners in conflict zones to monitor women’s security. but because of the lack of political will. demolishing self-serving arguments that governments . caught between militants and the security forces. The report locates violence against women and children in a broader framework of violation of constitutional guarantees. in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere. become targets. The recommendations on the state’s culpability on a range of issues pinpointed in the report are most welcome but it is not because these recommendations were not made earlier that the situation is as it is. It is well known how women. the report reminds governments of their primary responsibility to ensure through preventive and deterrent measures a secure environment for its citizens. the “unleashing of animal spirits in the . The report says: “The failure of good governance is the obvious root cause for the current unsafe environment eroding the rule of law…” Indeed the direction of governance in the last decade or so has been dominated by a promotion of corporate led growth. At a time when market based ideologies so close to the hearts and minds of those in power promote the government’s retreat from its fundamental social responsibilities.cannot be held responsible for individual acts of violence. There were as many as 51.579 were registered in the 89 listed cities. In 2011 alone. Thus a majority of rape and sexual harassment victims are from the rural and mofussil areas. there were 24.206 registered cases of rape of which 2. The statistics of increasing violence against women tell their own story. 538 cases of sexual harassment of which around 25 per cent took place in cities.economy” with no concern for its impact on increasing social inequalities and subverting the constitutional and fundamental rights of people. of whom substantial numbers are poorer sections of women and children who live and work in insecure . makes women workers. from permanent workers to casual or contract daily workers. absence of public toilets. Vulnerable sections The changing nature of labour contracts. all of which are directly related to . occurred because there was no crèche or safe place where the working mother could leave the child. particularly migrant women. vulnerable to the exploitation of employers. landlords. The privatisation of essential services has resulted in a lack of accountability in public transport. for example. lack of electricity. All child rape cases in Haryana in the last few months. contractors and supervisors.environments. ” The report also mentions critical issues such as food security and malnutrition. therefore. It is. inexplicable that the committee’s .government policies creating insecurity for women. The report comments “We believe that fundamental rights must not be ignored by the state on a specious argument of paucity of resources when the rich continue to thrive and the wasteful expenditure of public monies is more then evident. worsening by the day. These are welcome as they do take into account the experience of millions of poor women across the country who face sexual harassment on a daily basis arising out of their economic conditions. For example. Further. is unaddressed. It is well documented how women face intense insecurity because of dominant caste hostility or communal violence. inviting enhanced punishment. the class and caste aspects of sexual violence.recommendations for amendments to the criminal laws omit crucial clauses concerning economically and socially exploited women — in other words. the long pending demand to consider sexual crimes on the basis of caste against Dalit and Adivasi women or against women on the basis of communal considerations as aggravated sexual assault. because of the increasing number of cases of rape by powerful and . women’s organisations had successfully ensured the inclusion of a clause in the official Bill of amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code introduced in Parliament that when rape is committed by a man “being in a position of economic.politically connected men. there is an important demand made by rape survivors from economically and socially exploited sections for a comprehensive rehabilitation package. But this does not find a place in the committee's recommendations. In fact. it is virtually impossible for a rape .” there should be enhanced punishment. social or political dominance. Some have mocked this as compensation for rape. In this context. incurring expenses and losing a day’s income are critical issues in the decision of whether or not to fight for justice. The victim might find that abhorrent . The question of loss of work. It is not enough for the state to provide a lawyer. The only mention is that the perpetrator should pay for the victim’s medical expenses. of sometimes having to shift residence.survivor who belongs to the working class or the rural poor to bear the expenses of the legal process. It is puzzling that the report does not mention a mandatory rehabilitation package or did not review the existing schemes of rehabilitation. of frequent consultations with lawyers and trips to the court. there is a legal provision for that and hefty fines can and should be imposed. The report recognises the large number of pending cases with courts and calls for an end to frequent .and demeaning and. including a child. what if the accused proves that he has no funds? If the court wishes to fine the accused. in any case. But it is the state which must take the responsibility for medical expenses and rehabilitation. may have to wait even 10 years or more for the judgment. Disappointing One of the most widely supported demands of the nationwide protests was time-bound procedure in cases of rape. a rape victim. Today. adjournments in rape cases. But disappointingly. The committee must be congratulated on its multidimensional report which constitutes a big step forward in the struggle for women’s rights. Its recommendations can be . The three months’ time frame suggested by a large number of organisations could have been accepted. It suggests as a way out recruitment of retired judges. there is no concrete recommendation regarding a time-bound procedure for cases of rape or the setting up of fast track courts. as lengthy judicial procedures lead to gross injustice for rape victims. extending the age of retirement of judges at the lower levels and so on. It cannot be allowed to meet the same fate as the 15year-old Women’s Reservation Bill which remains an ornament to be dusted and displayed before every election.com/Join_US . (Brinda Karat is a member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India – Marxist.sparktherise.Share Projects or Ideas to bring a change.converted into longstanding gains if the present struggles are linked to political interventions that force the government to act on them. Win Lacs in Grants! www. 2013 Insightful and path-breaking Change India's future .)rror has no religion. January 28. ” . in their words. Justice J. and former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam) but fortunately the members. in the wake of the public outrage following the horrific Delhi gang rape.S. Justice Leila Seth. The government had decided on only limited terms of reference for the committee (whose other members were an equally eminent former Supreme Court judge. interpreted it “expansively.BRINDA KARAT The UPA government has perhaps got more than what it bargained for from the committee it set up. Verma. headed by the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. and notifications and circulars of the Home Ministry. earlier judgments and directions of the Supreme Court. which were never implemented.Through the over 600 pages of this path-breaking. what emerges is a strong indictment of the governments at the Centre and the States for their criminal callousness in ignoring the earlier recommendations of measures to prevent sexual violence against women. insightful report. In section after section. the committee quotes reports — from 1980 — of Law Commissions. Critical of governments . with the marshalling of irrefutable evidence. It also proposes to include the concept of command responsibility in the law. the Parliamentary Select Committee headed by the present Union Law Minister set up several .It blasts governments for the lack of accountability of public servants. including the Police Commissioner. the committee’s proposal is particularly relevant. In fact. stressing the importance of making dereliction of duty a punishable offence. holding superior officers responsible for the acts of their juniors when the circumstances show that the crime could have been prevented had the superior acted. In the context of the Centre’s refusal to act against Delhi’s top police officials. years ago to re-examine the flawed official bill against torture discussed this issue in detail and recommended the inclusion of command responsibility. the Parliamentary Committee on Women’s Empowerment made a strong recommendation to bring the armed forces and the paramilitary forces under the purview of criminal law. but the aggressive opposition of Defence Service Chiefs was a convenient reason for not accepting it. But the committee’s recommendations have remained in cold storage. The Verma Committee takes this forward by recommending a concrete amendment to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act . Similarly. caught between militants and the security forces. It is well known how women. The recommendations on the state’s culpability on a range of issues pinpointed in the report are most welcome but it is not because these recommendations were not made earlier that the situation is as it is. The report locates violence against women and children in a . but because of the lack of political will. Significantly. it suggests the appointment of Special Commissioners in conflict zones to monitor women’s security.to prevent it from being used as a shield to protect criminals in uniform. in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere. become targets. demolishing self-serving arguments that governments cannot be held responsible for individual acts of violence. The report says: “The failure of good governance is the obvious root cause for the current unsafe environment eroding the rule of law…” Indeed the direction of governance in the . the report reminds governments of their primary responsibility to ensure through preventive and deterrent measures a secure environment for its citizens.broader framework of violation of constitutional guarantees. At a time when market based ideologies so close to the hearts and minds of those in power promote the government’s retreat from its fundamental social responsibilities. Thus a majority of rape and sexual harassment victims are from the rural and . There were as many as 51. In 2011 alone. there were 24.206 registered cases of rape of which 2. The statistics of increasing violence against women tell their own story. the “unleashing of animal spirits in the economy” with no concern for its impact on increasing social inequalities and subverting the constitutional and fundamental rights of people.579 were registered in the 89 listed cities.last decade or so has been dominated by a promotion of corporate led growth. 538 cases of sexual harassment of which around 25 per cent took place in cities. All child rape cases in Haryana in the last few months. of whom substantial numbers are poorer sections of women and children who live and work in insecure environments. for example. vulnerable to the exploitation of employers. occurred because there was no crèche or safe place where the working mother could leave the child. landlords. contractors and supervisors. from permanent workers to casual or contract daily workers. makes women workers. particularly migrant women.mofussil areas. Vulnerable sections The changing nature of labour contracts. The privatisation of essential services has resulted . absence of public toilets.” The report also mentions critical issues such as food security and malnutrition. all of which are directly related to government policies creating insecurity for women.in a lack of accountability in public transport. These are welcome as they do take into account the experience of millions of poor women across the country who face sexual harassment on a daily . lack of electricity. The report comments “We believe that fundamental rights must not be ignored by the state on a specious argument of paucity of resources when the rich continue to thrive and the wasteful expenditure of public monies is more then evident. inexplicable that the committee’s recommendations for amendments to the criminal laws omit crucial clauses concerning economically and socially exploited women — in other words. For example. is unaddressed. inviting enhanced punishment. It is. the class and caste aspects of sexual violence. worsening by the day. therefore. the long pending demand to consider sexual crimes on the basis of caste against Dalit and Adivasi women or against women on the basis of communal considerations as aggravated sexual assault.basis arising out of their economic conditions. It is well documented how women face intense insecurity because of . But this does not find a place in the committee's recommendations. women’s organisations had successfully ensured the inclusion of a clause in the official Bill of amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code introduced in Parliament that when rape is committed by a man “being in a position of economic. Further. because of the increasing number of cases of rape by powerful and politically connected men. social or political dominance.dominant caste hostility or communal violence.” there should be enhanced punishment. In this context. there is an important demand made by rape survivors from economically and socially exploited sections for a . The . In fact. It is puzzling that the report does not mention a mandatory rehabilitation package or did not review the existing schemes of rehabilitation. It is not enough for the state to provide a lawyer. The question of loss of work. of sometimes having to shift residence. Some have mocked this as compensation for rape. of frequent consultations with lawyers and trips to the court. incurring expenses and losing a day’s income are critical issues in the decision of whether or not to fight for justice.comprehensive rehabilitation package. it is virtually impossible for a rape survivor who belongs to the working class or the rural poor to bear the expenses of the legal process. Today. Disappointing One of the most widely supported demands of the nationwide protests was time-bound procedure in cases of rape. there is a legal provision for that and hefty fines can and should be imposed. in any case. The victim might find that abhorrent and demeaning and. what if the accused proves that he has no funds? If the court wishes to fine the accused. a rape victim.only mention is that the perpetrator should pay for the victim’s medical expenses. But it is the state which must take the responsibility for medical expenses and rehabilitation. including a child. may have to wait even 10 years or . more for the judgment. The committee congratulated must on be its . extending the age of retirement of judges at the lower levels and so on. The report recognises the large number of pending cases with courts and calls for an end to frequent adjournments in rape cases. there is no concrete recommendation regarding a time-bound procedure for cases of rape or the setting up of fast track courts. as lengthy judicial procedures lead to gross injustice for rape victims. It suggests as a way out recruitment of retired judges. The three months’ time frame suggested by a large number of organisations could have been accepted. But disappointingly. ) January 28. 2013 No room for nuance in this fragile republic . It cannot be allowed to meet the same fate as the 15year-old Women’s Reservation Bill which remains an ornament to be dusted and displayed before every election. (Brinda Karat is a member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India – Marxist. Its recommendations can be converted into longstanding gains if the present struggles are linked to political interventions that force the government to act on them.multidimensional report which constitutes a big step forward in the struggle for women’s rights. of the climate of political discourse that we have contributed to. we want instant retributory action without pausing to ascertain the facts.worldcompliance. if not comic. that even relatively innocuous statements .Anti Corruption Solutions .Detect Corruption & Bribery In Your Business Network Today www. are now over.— PHOTO: ROHIT JAIN PARAS It is symptomatic of the times we live in. Instead.com HARSH SETHI MISREADING THE CONVERSATION:The days when such an event would have been dismissed as irrelevant. philosopher Richard Sorabji. author and Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal. was suddenly rocked by angry protests based upon (and this must be stressed) a total misreading of remarks made by Ashis Nandy. which until the morning of Republic Day had managed to successfully steer clear of any controversy. The panel discussion on “The Republic of Ideas. historian Patrick French.” featuring IBN7 Managing Editor Ashutosh.can get so easily misrepresented and twisted to convey a meaning that is diametrically opposite to what was said and meant. and social psychologist Ashis Nandy. The Jaipur Literature Festival 2013. was moderated by the author and . our laws and rules. Tarun Tejpal argued that we need to understand the “corruption” of the poor and the marginalised as a necessary strategy to break through the stifling nature of our rules.publisher. Making a passionate plea to deconstruct the sociology of corruption. hierarchical and oppressive. the discussion turned to the theme of corruption and the significance of the anti-corruption protests led by Anna Hazare. regulations and laws. Following a fascinating exchange on the “promise” of the Indian Republic and Constitution. he claimed. are mostly designed to . Urvashi Butalia. Characterising Indian society as deeply stratified. in part because they do not have the necessary skills to successfully cover up their corruption. rarely results in prosecution. not only get caught. Agreeing with Tejpal. Grounded in earlier remarks Subsequent remarks made by Ashis Nandy need to be read and understood in the context of what Tarun Tejpal said speaking before Nandy did.” in contrast. but also generate outrage. The corruption of “people like us” — an elite which has both the resources and power to subvert the system — often goes unnoticed. . The misdemeanours of the “others.“keep out” the erstwhile excluded strata from having their say. and if discovered. Politicians or leaders of the oppressed strata. referring to both himself and Richard Sorabji. tribals. being new to the game and relatively untutored in the skills of manipulation. as if it is axiomatic that the fellowship was awarded on the basis of merit.Nandy went on to argue that such “corruption” of the excluded — the Dalits. none will comment about that. Other Backward Classes (OBC) and minorities — is inevitable if they are to break out from the bonds of an oppressive web of rules and regulations. are unlikely to seek academic fellowships as a form of . that if they “arranged” to get fellowships for their children at Harvard or Oxford. as part of a trade in mutual and selective favours. He went on to say. . and are more likely to covet and corner licences to operate petrol pumps. who are then condemned by the chattering classes in metropolitan cities. Furthermore. Their licensees are linked to their “corrupt” benefactors. So far so good. asserting that it is precisely this kind of “corruption” that has “saved” the Republic and democracy by enabling a degree of social and economic mobility and pluralising the composition of India’s elite. he argued. Nandy then went on to more provocatively stretch the argument. These pumps are publicly noticeable and can provoke outrage.graft. that it is most likely the list of “corrupt” could be inordinately dominated by Dalits. Some in the audience demanded that he should be charged under the Protection of Civil Rights Act for hurting the sentiments of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. calling upon him to withdraw his remarks and tender an apology. Competitive outrage follows .tribals. and that he nevertheless wished to stress the point about how we understand corruption. saying that what he was about to say may shock many people. Despite his prefacing his last remarks. many in the audience (and one on the panel) completely missed Nandy’s point. minorities and OBCs. and immediately accused him of casteist bias. evidently gives no quarter to nuanced arguments. Competitive outrage.Nandy’s protestations that what he said and meant was completely the opposite of what he was being charged with were not persuasive once the atmosphere was charged with heightened emotions. At best. or even black humour. he was hardly extolling the virtues of corruption or turning a blind eye to the “perfidies” of upper caste politicians. taking on the familiar form favoured by some overly strident and aggressive TV anchors. When Nandy characterised the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand. he was . in an underhand and sly way. any irony. as India’s first dollar billionaire. Madhu Koda (now in jail). the calls for registering a FIR against him. unfortunately. into a distant past. have been dismissed as an irrelevant. Accusations of Nandy of being anti-Dalit/tribal/minority groups. aside. in our better days. to ascertain the facts. if not comic.expressing admiration for the abilities of a tribal leader in matching up to what has hitherto been an exclusive preserve of India’s upper caste elite. So quick are we now to take offence and demand immediate retributory action against alleged offenders that we almost never take a moment to pause. understand what was said and . Such innocent days have faded. and demanding that he should be arrested would. even though none of them was present during the discussion. to arrest Ashis Nandy. by the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes P. illustrates the danger of a growing kind of prickliness and intolerance.L. such occasions are used by politicians to signal their commitment to their constituencies and shore up their images. and to what ends. Worse still. All we want is action. Punia. in what context. Mayawati.meant. and others. and now! Signals shrinking discourse Subsequent demands by the Bahujan Samaj Party leader. In the process we are left with a diminished public . ” advocate caution and temperance in the expression of reactions to intemperate allegations of the kind made against Nandy. One can also differ with his argument and analysis. and examples can be questioned. phrases. a compensatory guilt. an obverse privileging of the erstwhile dispossessed? Ashis Nandy’s choice of words. for instance. Even liberals.” whose subversion of . one wonders. marking what is politically correct. Is this stance.discourse. He is not an organised and scintillating public speaker. usually quick to defend “freedom of speech. his failure to distinguish between “corruption of the poor” and the “corruption of their leaders. Book a Flight with MakeMyTrip and Get . Clamping down on nuanced utterances and elliptical statements of the kind Nandy made will only make us a poorer democracy and Republic.rules often results in them robbing the very poor who are also their constituents. which remains a privileged lot. Nandy’s argument that the “rules of the game” have been set by an elite class to which he belongs. and therefore. certainly has merit. January 28. Nevertheless. that the deliberate subversion of those rules is an inevitable strategy for those striving for survival and upward mobility. 2013 Padma as patronage Flight Tickets 1+1 Free . .com/Buy1Get1Free Can it ever be the case that the Padma awards are announced and there are no accusations and controversy following them? Instituted in 1954 to acknowledge “distinguished and exceptional” individual achievements in various fields. the once prestigious awards have since come into so much bad odour thanks to lobbying and arbitrariness that today the Padma recognition has lost some of the lustre that accompanied it in the early years of the republic.the next Ticket Absolutely Free Makemytrip. Consequently. it has become something of a pattern for wellregarded individuals to decline the “highest civilian” commendation. The charge is by no means baseless. felt it beneath her dignity to accept a Padma Bhushan at age 74. 20 recipients from Delhi figured among the awards compared to 21 from all the four southern States put together. Ms Janaki’s anguish was all the more for South India not getting recognition commensurate with the region’s abundant talent.the latest to do so being accomplished playback singer S. This year. Janaki who. with four national awards behind her. Is it any wonder then that Padma awards have come to be viewed as payment for services rendered to the government than as an honour conferred for service to the nation? . leading to frustrations and charges of bias. .Indeed. which have honoured both dubious individuals and men otherwise distinguished but rewarded specifically for a favour done. The Padma Bhushan award for Chittaranjan Singh Ranawat came in the wake of his successful knee surgery on Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Manmohan Singh government awarded the Padma Bhushan to the controversial hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal on the specious plea that he had played a key role in facilitating the India-United States civil nuclear agreement. This arbitrariness has vested the Padma decision-making process with needless mystique. the awards have been used as patronage by successive governments. R. It is not that there are no selection guidelines. And yet the opaque selection process places them alongside those suspected to have won the awards by means more foul than fair. a high-level committee headed by K. and some of them do make it to the Padma awards. Narayanan. set stringent qualifications for the award. stressing the “exceptional” nature of the recipient’s service. The . Just how well the guidelines were observed can be seen from the fact that in 2004 President Abdul Kalam had to write to Mr.Admittedly there are men and women of great eminence who richly deserve to be honoured. Vajpayee advising caution in the selection of the awardees. who was Vice-President at the time. In 1996. January 29. unfortunately.Connecting & Sharing the World.two UPA governments have.Facebook. flouting the deadline for receiving recommendations and habitually overruling the Awards Committee.com/Myanmar NEHGINPAO KIPGEN END THE GUNFIRE:It is important to recognise that the current violence is a consequence of an unresolved historical problem. continued the tradition. (Top) A peace march in Yangon . Marke Your Free Profile Today! www. 2013 Myanmar’s Kachin problem needs political touch Facebook Myanmar . is the only major armed group still battling the Burmese army. AFP Almost all ethnic armed groups have successfully signed ceasefire agreements with the Burmese government. However. a year before the country’s independence from the British. The Kachin Independence Organisation. the Kachins signed the historic Panglong agreement to form the Union of Burma in 1947. the Kachins . with its armed wing. Along with the Chins. in postindependence Burma. —PHOTOS: AP. the Shans and the Burmans. the Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA).calling for a halt to the conflict and (above) rebels in Kachin province. felt betrayed and discriminated by the Burmese central government. Formed in 1961. The Kachins were denied autonomy that was agreed in principle during the Panglong conference. Moreover. The group first signed a ceasefire agreement with the State Law and Order . the KIO/KIA initially demanded independence from the Union of Burma but later opted for autonomy based on the Panglong agreement. the Kachins. who are mostly Christians. opposed the introduction of Buddhism as the state religion by the government of Prime Minister U Nu during the first parliamentary democracy. the Burmese military's interest to control lucrative hydropower projects and other natural resources in Kachin state led to the attack on KIA on June 9. Why the ceasefire ended The 17-year-old ceasefire ended in June 2011 primarily because of two important reasons. the KIO/KIA refused to accept the terms and conditions of transforming itself into Border Guard Force which would come under the direct command of the Burmese Army. Second.Restoration Council. First. in late April 2009. in 1994. . 2011. the thenmilitary government. It also demands that the government declare a nationwide cessation of hostilities toward minorities and hold a national conference that resembles the Panglong conference.The conflict has resulted in the loss of thousands of lives on both sides and the displacement of tens of thousands of Kachin civilians. The government’s position is that ceasefire should precede any political dialogue. Several rounds of meetings have been held without any concrete result. The KIA demands that cessation of armed conflict must lead to or guarantee political solution. The Burmese government wants to sign a ceasefire agreement at an . Subsequently on January 14. The government claimed that fighter jets and helicopters were used to clear KIA fighters who were attacking logistic units of the Burmese army. the Burmese government admitted the use of fighter jets and helicopters — it had initially denied this — to attack the KIA positions. The KIO/KIA said that the Burmese army was preparing to attack its headquarters in Laiza town.individual group level. On January 3. including a 15-year-old boy and a 76-year-old Christian . the KIA claimed that three Kachin civilians. contrary to the KIO/KIA’s demand for nationwide ceasefire. backed by the military. the Burmese government. Hours later.deacon. . were killed and four others wounded by the Burmese army’s artillery shells at the heart of Laiza town. On January 18. The government denied such shelling and suggested that it could have been caused by an explosion of ammunition stockpile. Parliament called for a cessation of hostilities. declared a unilateral ceasefire with effect from the next day on the eve of an international donors’ conference where President Thein Sein unveiled a timeline for reforms in the country's transition to a more democratic rule. It is important to recognise that the current violence is a consequence of an unresolved historical problem and cannot be seen as an isolated issue. The minorities have made a consistent demand. that is. It is a part and parcel of the larger minority problems in the country. The conflict also damages Burma's credibility as it happens when the international community has .But the fighting has continued and is an indication of increasing distrust and heightened tension between the Kachin and the Army. Armed conflict in Kachin state is a hindrance to Burma’s democratic transition. political autonomy. should not overshadow the urgent need for a solution to the Kachin problem. The aim. The democratic opposition led by the National League for Democracy must not remain silent on the issue even if both sides have committed human rights violations. As much as they have struggled .begun to show great interest in the country. Ethnic armed groups that have signed ceasefire agreements with the government should understand that genuine peace and national reconciliation cannot be achieved on an individual basis. to win majority of seats in the 2015 parliamentary elections. together for the past several decades for the restoration of democracy and for the establishment of a federal union. Leaving the Kachins on their own at this juncture of the political transition will only weaken the bond and friendship resulting from ethnic minorities’ common struggle for equality of rights and autonomy. especially the western nations . it is now equally important to show solidarity with the Kachins. The West must act The international community. Several collaborative efforts have helped highlight the centrality of minority issues in the decades-old Burma’s problems. S. government should reconsider its intention to invite the Burmese military to a U. Since the KIO/KIA does not demand secession or independence from the Union of Burma. If the conflict does not end.S. a negotiated political settlement is not an impossible task. should use their economic and political influence to end the crisis. The United Nations and Association of Southeast Asian Nations should put pressure on the Burmese government that continued violence in Kachin state is unacceptable. .that have lifted sanctions on Burma. and Thai-led multinational military exercise later this year. the U. 5 Month IT Training with Job Exposure & Paid Internship niitpgpit. participation and commitment from both the KIA and the Burmese military. A blame game between the two warring parties will not yield peace and stability. January 29. The ultimate objective should aim to bring a mutually initiated and accepted ceasefire agreement. and bring a permanent political solution to the lingering problem. provide assistance to the internally displaced persons.History has shown that minority problems in Burma cannot be addressed militarily.PGPIT offers 5.com . 2013 No sweetening this bitter pill Jobs in IT . It requires mutual trust. benefits. SUJATHA RAO The absence of a well thought out policy framework for strengthening the health system is the most important issue facing the health sector in India. there is no clarity on what the nation’s health system should be 10 years hence. delivery is private but the government sets the prices. Each option has its costs. or a regulated private-led like the U.K. or one where both sectors function but have only one payer as in the U.S. In the government.. Should it be a public sector dominated system like Brazil or China. tradeoffs and .? In Japan.K. systems to ensure control on costs and quality. not even as minimal as those laid down for opening a liquor shop. And so. throw infectious waste anywhere. one can set up a nursing home in a residential colony. Unregulated India is a unique laissez faire model with a private sector-led health system that is unregulated and has no rules of the game spelt out. The private sector is further incentivised by excise duty waivers. tax breaks and a liberalised health insurance . subsidised loans for establishing hospitals. charge any amount that the market allows and have no systems of oversight to assure quality. market with tax exemptions for the premium. mainly surgeries. Kalaignar. Arogyashri. Under this scheme. a new innovation has emerged known as government sponsored insurance schemes (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana. the providers charge on a DRG basis. While such schemes have widened access by making private sector facilities available. More recently. their impact on addressing the three .) under which governments buy the insurance on behalf of the people/target group for providing cashless services for inpatient care. etc. the insurance companies have assured incomes and the entire risk is borne by the government. In 2005. impoverishing millions in the process. with negligible impact on reducing catastrophic expenditures. the state bounced back with . Instead. accelerated in the 1990s with the further withdrawal of the state under the punishing conditionality of the IMF structural adjustment. pricing structures are distorted and new dimensions of fraudulent and corrupt practices have entered the health sector that continues to register inflation at 30 per cent. and efficiency — has not been addressed. Privatisation of the health sector started in late 1980s.critical issues of the health sector — equity. quality. and got further emboldened with the extensive incentives provided. The worn down public health infrastructure cannot be revitalised without changing the rules of the game. It is this duality and dysfunctional policymaking that is haemorrhaging the sector and requires to be stopped without delay. make it efficient and accountable and provide a level-playing field.a three-fold increase in the budget to revitalise the rural health delivery systems under the National Rural Health Mission. running as a parallel track to the private eco system. bringing in legal provisions to regulate further growth of the private sector. Bihar experiment . It is scary to think that a number of innocent people might have been given the wrong diagnosis and put on needless medication.It is time to recognise the market failures inherent to this sector and the role of the political economy that is sustaining it. but no action was taken due to political pressure. This is just a small example to illustrate the kind of mess we are in. making it increasingly impossible to regulate and establish institutional mechanisms with the requisite capabilities to effectively manage the mess. Bihar’s recent experiment of outsourcing diagnostics to the private sector is telling — unqualified persons were employed at some centres. . The policy of contracting out diagnostic services to private sector networks in 379 public facilities for 10 years. guaranteeing a minimum patient load and permitting paying patients in addition and prices pegged to those paid for under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS).The policy confusion is worsened by the push for greater decentralisation without ensuring the availability of capacities at those levels to manage such complex systems. monitored and managed by a third party. is fraught with adverse implications for the strengthening of the public sector and huge costs for the . It is against this scenario that Chhattisgarh’s recent policy initiative needs to be viewed. should it choose to pay for them. an area like Bastar. it is unclear how the private sector can be lured to set up. for instance. it . Absence of strategy It is not the outsourcing that is wrong. Likewise. If the government is unable to recruit staff to establish laboratories in. While the value addition is not clear. It is the absence of a strategy to draw on the strengths of the public and private sectors. a radiology unit. say.government. outsourcing is being attempted in areas that already have laboratory facilities. there unless huge amounts are paid to it to cover the sustainability risks involved. More worrying are the qualifying criteria that only large private sector networks like corporate hospitals can meet. There is no scientific basis for CGHS rate-fixing and such a system will only result in overpaying the private sector in Chhattisgarh where the prices of inputs vary from those in Mumbai or Delhi and between Raipur and Bastar.will undoubtedly result in the closure of the public sector services and also entail paying three times more to the private sector. Small but excellent not-for-profit hospitals like the Shahid hospital in Dalli Raja in Durg or the Jan . based on the average of prices quoted on a tender basis. And it will be three times as the CGHS prices that are being taken as a benchmark. Swasthya Sahayog at Giniari in Bilaspur will both be disqualified. The government needs to look at health system development and put in place requisite conditions. such as an institutional capacity to control provider behaviour through well laid down national protocols and standard operating procedures. It should explore cost-effective options such as the intensive use of technology that enables electronic transmission of samples for diagnosis at centralised . penalties and incentive structures. What needs to be done Knee-jerk solutions and unintelligent tinkering have had a disastrous effect on the health sector in India. Governments. the ward boy to the laboratory technician — public or private — accountable to outcomes and patients. pricing of services. put in place grievance redress systems. but sadly how to do it is not. develop IT systems to closely monitor not quantitative but qualitative outcomes as well. at the Centre and in the States. need to allow people with field experience and practical . tightening and insulating the enforcement systems at all levels from political pressures to make individuals from the ANM to the specialist. What needs to be done is known. before opening up partnerships with the private sector on such a large scale.laboratories. all have a different story to tell. 2013 Everything that spills from temples is not sacred Your Zodiac Horoscope . women in villages. the hapless doctor in the PHC.knowledge of the health system to contribute their expertise. We cannot afford any more blundering! January 29.com/horoscope PRACHEE SINHA I am writing this not in defence of “inquisitions or kangaroo courts” . Free AboutAstro.Insert Your Birthdate & Get Answers about Past-Present and Future. What is also needed today more than ever is the need to listen to the ground — as patients. front line workers. ” January 17. wronged “one of the young hereditary priests of Sabarimala.” but I too take a dim view of shouting matches on the television. Television news channels are not exactly covering .in which “anchors and their handpicked panellists” flagellate those with “politically incorrect views” (with reference to Madhu Purnima Kishwar’s article in The Hindu (Op-Ed. There is a great need to promote reasoned argument and a healthy respect for difference in our public culture. I did not watch the programme that. 2013). especially with the anchors themselves doing more than a fair share of the shouting. in Ms Kishwar’s opinion. “Don’t like this temple? Choose another. themselves with glory in that regard. it seems to me that Ms Kishwar too has fallen prey to the same temptation. One may not exactly shout in print. But. but it is equally disagreeable to make a caricature of one’s interlocutor in a debate and then beat that caricature with the logical stick. Appeals for respecting difference and for being tolerant towards diversity of faiths and benign religious practices are welcome. But are faiths and religious practices out of bounds for all reasoned debate? Must every belief that is sanctioned by a religion and held by a sect or by a multitude be considered indubitable and inviolably sacred . The interiors of a temple. If a deity is fond of modaks and laddoos and other high cholesterol.by everyone else too? Is it fair to denounce all questioning of ancient beliefs and practices as following in the footsteps of colonial rulers and as intolerance of the “imperious missionaries of liberalism”? Even more important is the attitude one should have towards the filth that may spill or secrete from the sacred. may be held by many as holy. high calorie diets. with all that goes on inside it. who can have an argument with him! But if the followers of that . but much of what flows out into the society from the temple’s drains may be quite toxic. There have been. It is more a matter of what his or her followers think of them and what kind of social relationships. far more pernicious fallouts than mere obesity. it may be necessary to investigate the correlation between the religious practice and its social fallout. it is not a matter of what the reigning deity of the temple thinks of Dalits and other outcastes. If Dalits and many others from the so-called lower castes have been prohibited from entering Hindu temples. . and still are.deity (or the members of the priestly class who get to eat most of the prasadam ) begin to die from cardiovascular ailments far more frequently than the statistical average. or they were merely spoiling for a fight. women and other outcastes to enter a temple where such people were not allowed. discrimination.behaviours and practices come out of that belief. exclusion and humiliation that a society practices in domains far beyond the precincts of a temple. It is not the case that these atheists suffered a sudden bout of belief. I have known activists who are confirmed atheists. Such practices sanction and symbolise the modes of oppression. These must be fought against and the underlying beliefs must be brought under rational as well as normative questioning. who have fought for the rights of Dalits. some of them even communists. Diversity is . generally a good thing and respect for difference a good value. that are oppressive. whether of ancient or contemporary origins. But not all agreements in the modern world about what are moral and civilized ways of living are to be undone because they smack of universality. inegalitarian and antihuman. Ideologies of universality and homogeneity may have originated often in the conceit and the megalomania of colonial and imperial modernity. . We have no reasons to celebrate a malignant diversity that may result from adding or tolerating beliefs and practices. But not everything can be justified and tolerated in the name of diversity. But no form of human life can refuse to listen to arguments of reason and ethics over which humanity . is immoral and must be resisted. social or civilizational — is eternal and unchanging.Cannot escape scrutiny The beliefs and practices of any community. or from the lure of gold held out by motivated interests. sect or nation cannot escape being scrutinised for what they do to their own members and what they do to others. Of course. No form of life — cultural. and none can seek from the diversity principle an absolute protection for all kinds of practices. any threat to a life form that comes simply from the might of a majority. or from the naked and irrational power of a system. has come to an agreement even if to a minimalist and contested degree and even if through a tortuous course of history. It is a matter that must be subjected to rational and normative-ethical scrutiny. Diversity of deities may be benign in itself. women or adherents of other religions or non-religious belief systems — in the name of religious beliefs and practices is not merely a matter of faith-based diversity. The injustice done to “Others” — whether Dalits. But too often it gives rise to malignant diversity in the social sphere. . Ms Kishwar seems to conflate the desires and dispositions of the deities with those of the devotees. Nor should I be held responsible for not soundproofing my bedroom. I should not be made to feel guilty that this is a thinking worthy of an imperious missionary of liberalism.When I feel that my rights are being violated by the loudspeakers of Azan or by the blaring out of bhajans and chants at 5 a.m.. .