EDITORIAL
Dea friends
We are into the last month of the financial year 2010/11. Its time to look at the two budgets presented by the Mamata Didi, the Railway Minister and Pranab Da, the Finance Minister. So, its all Bengali affairs when it comes to budget 2010/11. Wish the hopes raised therein are translated into pragmatic promises.
Month began with the VOX-POPULI gaining upper hand in Egypt. When Tunisian strong man Zine el Abidine Ben Ali fled the country and left Tunis to its agitating masses, there was a palpable ripple all over the Arab world. Right enough, the uprising, taking que from Tunisia, across Egypt, both at Alexandria and Cairo forced the hands of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak who had ruled the Arab nation for over 30 years. He tried all his tricks to stay in power, even jettisoning the heir apparent, his son, in the process. Eventually, the inevitable caught up with him. Yes if people come to-gether, eddies of a street corner protest can become a tidal wave of a Tsunami. And of course, he fled unceremoniously. So, it was the 2nd victim in as many months. Two cheers to people power. Hope and wish, the army which took over the reins of power reportedly for the next 6 months to conduct an election to the national governing council, does its job in handing over the power of running the affairs of the country to its elected representatives.
The news about tagging of Indian students in the U.S. is a shameful episode, for both countries. Whatever justification the U.S. authorities gave, it clearly smacked of racial profile. While the authorities may be justifying this tracking device to not to let this ‘illegal’ immigrants from being outside the monitoring arena, they clearly violated the human rights of these students. Of course while it is true that somebody in Hyderabad made some fast money at the cost of gullible students, it could be that, as alleged, that students were aware of the Tri-Valley University being a fake one. This California based ‘sham’ university, knowing the demand by Indian students, must have had some tie-up with some immigration agent in Hyderabad-India, with a common objective of ‘duping’ these students to make some good money. This operation was similar to the recruiting agents operating in India, sending labourers and artisans on non-employment visit visas known as free visas, where all parties know that, there is no el-dorado waiting for the traveler. He lost his money and both the agent in India and sponsor in the country of immigration enriched themselves. But at least the victim is aware of the possible pitfalls in such an arrangement. The assumption here also is that students were aware of such a possibility and they were only exploiting a situation, and if all goes well they can find their el-dorado, on the sly, away from the prying eye of the authorities. As the luck would have it, it misfired, and were caught in the radioed anklets. Of course, it was in bad taste. But didn’t the students ask for it! For Indian government to complain, it is case of bad house keeping. They should have immediately arrested the Indian agent, and asked the Indian Embassy in the U.S. to get all students deported and recover the cost from the Hyderabad agent.
Recently Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha was in the news for all wrong reasons. He was allegedly involved in Benami loans of over Rs. 50 crores, from Amanath Co-op. Bank of Bangalore. He was chairman of the bank, and used his position to give loans which have become bad debts. According to report Karnataka Government has filed a criminal case against him to initiate action to recover the bad loan amounts. He is a Chartered Accountant, and had misused professional skill to his advantage. However law appears to be catching up with him. However his exhortation, the other day at Bangalore, to his community members to set up quality educational institutions, made lot of sense. He was presiding over an awareness programme on “Rights and opportunities for minority educational institutions in Karnataka” organised by the National Minority Commission. His observation that U.P., Bihar, West Bengal and Assam had large concentration of minorities, but only 5% among them were educated, made immense sense. It is indeed very true, if the community used all the resources at its command with right people to head institutions of social change, the community can have quantum leap into development mode. May be it lacks imaginative, committed and honest leaders. Look at Rehman Khan only, he is educated and intelligent, but looked after only his interest, and this bad bank loan, now lecturing to the community. People like him should take the lead to take the community ahead both educationally and economically. But if his own hands are unclean, how can he give an honest leadership. The community must ponder. It is eminently possible for the community to do better in all respects in India with the help of honest and committed leadership.
The call to punish erring doctors to curb female foeticide, in the financial capital of India, Mumbai, in a workshop at Tata Institute of Social Science, didn’t come a day too early. In India, especially among a section of Hindus, have this unfortunate obsession of wanting to have male child. The two days workshop was held last month on “Female Foeticide: rights of the girl child, problems and solution” to mark the “National Girl Child Week”. However, it took on those unprincipled greedy medical practitioners who would, despite the law against it, declare to would-be parents through sex determination test, the sex of the unborn child and help these unscrupulous parents to undergo abortion in case of foetus being that of girl child. While ignorant semiliterate parents require advice and guidance from medical practitioners against this cruel practice, what is worrying is the increasing number of educated, well heeled middle and upper middle class, going for abortion in case of girl child, and the complicity of medical practitioners. If any prima facie case is established both should be jailed without bail until the case is decided. Only then these greedy doctors can be reined in.
Media privy Indians have learnt about the death of Yashwant Sonawane, Nashik’s collector, who was burnt to death, reportedly by oil adulteration mafia. What most Indians did not know was that there was another dimension to the story. The whole of media was agog with the story of ‘whistle blower’ being killed in cold blood by the usual bad boys of underworld. Naturally lot of sympathy came the family way of Sonawane. But lately, it is leant, all is not as straight as it was made out to be. Kingpin, the main accused, Popat Shinde, recently died of burn injuries, which he sustained during the burning of Sonawane. It transpires that Sonawane while burning, hugged the main accused, then transferred the burning oil in his body on to the accused, causing the accused also to suffer 3rd degree burns. While Sonawane died at the site of the incident, the accused Popat Shinde couldn’t be saved despite all local medical attention. There is a story making the rounds in Nashik that Sonawane, the D.C. himself was partner in the loot. Its only because, Popat Shinde, couldn’t meet the demands of Sonawane, he along with his accomplices killed him, informs the story. If the reported allegation is true, that is indeed another of our socio-political development, where educated and highly qualified babus join hands with anti-social elements to further their greed for unaccounted money. Bottom-line is, education empowers, but it also enables us to be corrupt and more corrupt.
There was this report in a Mumabi daily “Sub-Judice applies to Media, not to Chidu”, informs that, Home Minister P.Chidambaram finds nothing wrong in defending appointment of P.J.Thomas, as the CVC but wants the Supreme Court to pull up the media and the political parties for discussing a matter that is “Sub-Judice”. The problem with Mr P. Chidambaram is, he is suffering from intellectual arrogance. He is highly educated with ‘Tambram’ intellect and an Yale qualified advocate to boot. Besides, probably he is the only person, who has handled all high profile ministries, like Commerce, Finance and now Home. He is articulate and efficient, with no-babu ever trying to upstage him. However, he has certainly stepped on to the Achilles’ foot of many opposition party members because of his “I know better” attitude. He must control this tendency, if and when he is called upon to be the Prime Minister, as a section of the media had speculated.
Black money generation and flight of funds have always been a bane of India’s development plans. And successive governments have consistently failed by its inconsistent policies to stop this illicit funds flow and to get repatriated the fund already in tax havens. It has always been a weak kneed approach. If the long innings of Congress party did mostly mouthing inanities of pursuing the black money abroad, the governments of other parties, whether the Janata experiment, the Janata Dal government, the BJP dominated NDA were only dishing out half baked measures to control the unaccounted funds flight besides trying to save their governments. In the process they failed in both. Neither they could save their government nor they could do anything effective to control this menace, except making noises while being in the opposition. Of course in recent times the incumbent UPA is doing some half measures. The global financial firm Citi has just said “India Needs to do more on Black Money”. While agreeing that since sometimes now, Indian govt. has become proactive ‘more needs to be done to address the annual loss of funds overseas via illicit flows. Curbing tax evasion and effort to bring back illicit flows overseas would positively impact both the public finances as well as the Balance of Payment-via the remittance route’ the Citi said in its report. According to this study India loses funds at the rate of US $ 18 billion every year, that is over Rs. 80,000 crores. That is indeed very staggering. Can we imagine the expenditure of such money over a 10 year period on the infrastructure of the country?
Suddenly skeletons started falling at regular intervals off the judiciary’s cupboards all over India. If former CJI Justice Balakrishnan is in the eye of the storm, with Raja episode and disproportionate assets case of his relatives, comes the news of relative of PK Kunhali Kutty (PKK), a former Kerala Minister claiming “Judges bailed out PKK in the infamous Ice Cream Parlour sex scandal”. He alleged two former judges Narayan Kurup and K. Thankappan as ‘instrumental in making the case favourable for ex-minister”. According to him, Justice Kurup was paid through the former Additional Director General of Prosecution K C Peter, and Justice Thankappan was influenced by Additional Advocate General for PKK. The case of 1990’s where an Ice Cream Parlour was used as a sex joint by PKK and others, was closed in 2006, in favour of PKK. It is indeed very sad that judges are being looked at with discomfort and suspicion if not with disrespect and disdain.
Arrest of former Telecom Minister A Raja, has certainly sent shock waves across the DMK spectrum as one of the most dramatic events of the recent times. It gave rise to flurry of questions. 2G Spectrum was a case of 3 years ago. At that time itself, there was an ongoing talk of having lost 60,000 crores. Left parties were making pointed references to this loss even then. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was playing it down even then. Unfortunately even now, but for the CAG report, the apex court intervention, media and the public outcry coupled with opposition pressure, he probably, thinks Raja shouldn’t have been axed and that there isn’t much loss or wrong. But the arrest did bring some sense to the treasury benches, who were crying hoarse over the JPC demand. The arrest did open Pandora’s Box, with incredibly wide networked participation of multiple players, hitherto unknown with remote possibility of involvement. Hope the ongoing investigations are finally catching up with players who thought were beyond the reach of the law.
Have you ever heard of schools asking for character certificate of parents for the purpose of the admission of their wards! This is exactly what happened in Maneckji Cooper School in up-market Juhu area in Mumbai. Although the school version was not available, it was ostensibly to avoid children from parents-means father-who could be having criminal cases or records against them. While the school may have its own logic, it is patently a wrong move. Cutting across the socio-political divide, including educationists and education deptt. decried the action of the school as illegal and totally unconstitutional. Besides, any tagging of the child to the background of the parent, if criminal, can leave deep fissures in the psyche of the child and can cause irrepairable depression in the child. The action of the education inspector of the area in asking it to stop the practice forthwith, is in fitness of things.
Despite being 63 years, as a free democratic country, India still suffers from feudal mind sets in its educational institutions. Institute of Management Studies, a private institute affiliated to the U.P. Technical University had allegedly tonsured the head of their 30 students, who allegedly paid their fees late. Students were reportedly Dalits and social Welfare Deptt. of the state was paying the fees of these B-Tech students and was delayed. Since they had to sit for the 7th semester examination, they were given the admit card for the examination, only after their heads were shaven off, despite paying their fees along with the delay fine of Rs: 1500/- per student. They suffered in silence, since they had to appear for the exam, and complained to the police only recently. Reportedly a case has been registered against the director Pramal Chakravarthy & 4 others. How can we call ourselves civilised when weak and vulnerable are victimised and humiliated in public?
Bangladesh is a fledgling democracy and yet there are things we in India can learn. There was this report of a 14 year old girl whipped to death because of a fatwa. Courts in Bangladesh, a Muslim majority country, ordered suo moto an investigation by the government to explain “how the state failed to protect the girl”, and to report back to court in 15 days. In fact it was the huge public outcry that prompted the court to act. Here it needs to be noted that in Bangladesh, despite being Muslim majority country, ‘Fatwas’ are banned; and it is illegal. Court has even asked the police to take action against those who ordered lashing. Coming from a Muslim country it is indeed refreshing, and has lessons for a secular country like India.
Cogentrix, later Nagarjuna Power and now the Udupi Power Corporation Ltd. (UPCL), have again comeback to haunt people of Udupi district in the coastal Karnataka. Cogentrix tried hard to establish itself, it gave up, tired of opposition by the locals, Nagarjuna who took over from Cogentrix, stayed put, despite opposition, but with the help of government and divided loyalty of people of the area, Nagarjuna persisted. And the power generation started with the new UPCL. The most important objection was the disposal of Fly Ash since the power generation was coal based. Even at that time there was no known technology available to dispose this fly ash. All talk about bricks and other building materials remained only on the planning board verbose. People were comprehensively cheated, that Fly Ash would be taken care of. And the photograph published in the print media, said it all. All school children were walking past the Fly Ash pond wearing masks. It’s a daily suffering. A resident reportedly told a paper “Let them bomb us, that way we will die immediately than suffering daily”. Report informs, people are suffering from breathing troubles, and vegetations have been badly affected. This was a project, not conducive to coastal Karnataka then, and has proved it is becoming bad. It is not even an year since production has started and problems are already on the rise.
Despite hue and cry of opposition parties, media and general public, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, have been mouthing inanities about the details of account holders in tax havens. Now comes details of at least some of them with their illicit wealth stashed in the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein, made public by a national news weekly. Liechtenstein is a principality bordering Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and reportedly has some 14 other banks which also may be having a/cs of illicit flight of money. Report informs of about Rs. 52 crores in 12 a/cs, mainly of Gandhis, Dhupelias and Mehtas. Leelavathi Hospital trust in Mumbai was in media glare for siphoning off money by some Mehta’s, who are trustees. So, where there is will there is a way. For far too long Pranab Mukherjee has been hoodwinking Indian public, and his boss the PM just went along his colleague. What makes them keep quiet, appears to be a loaded question. Yet, the other day, while addressing the annual conference of Chief Secretaries of state he is reported to have stated “corruption dents India’s image, hampers good governance and needs to be tackled ‘boldly and quickly’”. Somehow this ‘boldly and quickly’ does not seem to fit into PM’s lexicon.
So, will the Islamic Bank come into India after all? At least that is what Kerala High Court appears to have cleared. The proposal of Al Barakh Company and Kerala State Industrial Development Corp (KSIDC) to have a non-banking financial company with Rs. 1000 crores as authorised capital, shall certainly have far-reaching socio-political spin offs. The proposal was challenged originally, and now the court has cleared it. It only appears that those who opposed have not presented the case well. The reason that United Kingdom is having such banks is no explanation, why India too can have it. India is not United Kingdom, where rule of law is better applied, besides it is surely going to vitiate the financial sector which is currently without any religious dimension. Hope Reserve Bank of India applies itself fully to the multiple dimension of the issue of Islamic Banking, while considering its clearance.
Justice Somasekhara report on Church attacks in Karnataka got, as expected, mired in avoidable controversy. Its interim report, according to media did try to put the blame squarely on the state administration and police and media reported about the happiness of the concerned section. But the final report, allegedly has been favourable to the state and the administration was left scot free. Truth, must be somewhere between these two variances. The report needs to be dispassionately analysed without any political influences. All of us are humans, and therefore do have human frailties, which many time have a free run, based on bias. Surely, all those who are guilty have to be made accountable. Is there a larger malaise in our socio-political structure which needs to be addressed? It is a question that demands dispassionate answer.
Hands of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is getting fuller by day, mostly of his own making or that of his colleagues, since buck stops at his desk. He has a very unenviable situation. The latest to hit the headline is the speculated loss of Rs. 200,000 crores from the deal involving ISRO and the Deptt of Space. Modus operandi have been the similar to Spectrum 2G allocation without inviting bids and without following departmental checks and controls. Just like minister Raja thought he is the real Raja, people at the helm at ISRO and Deptt of Space acted without reference to their vertical hierarchy. All these meant financial interest of the country was thrown to the wind. Again it was the constitutional watchdog CAG, who hit the bulls eye, and suddenly all antennas were alert. PMO goes into huddle. As usual PMO sang the same tune “no revenue loss”, but in flat 10 days after hectic deliberation, the deal between Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO and Devas Multimedia, the beneficiaries, was declared null and void. For good measure Union Law Minister goes to town and declares ‘even if Devas go to court, they are not likely to succeed’. Hope country shall enrich itself with the huge revenue potential in the years ahead. Yes, CAG needs to be complimented for asserting their existence so loudly and clearly. But the question is how such things are allowed to happen? Just like Raja was sent to prison, so should be the officials of deptt of space who were responsible for this diabolic act. Only then these educated, intellectual crooks would think over and over again before embarking on such loot of public resources for private gain.
So, after all the hassles and breast beating, the headline on 23rd was “Manmohan announces JPC on 2G scam”. Despite being fully convinced about the need for JPC with vociferous demand by the entire opposition, for the Prime Minister to be so stubborn with his colleague Pranab Mukherjee adding to the impasse, was a stuff of 'politics of absurdity'. The entire winter session was allegedly wiped out because of a completely avoidable obduracy. And then again, there was no need for Dr Manmohan Singh, an alumni of famed London School of Economics to be as graceless as to recount the so-called, disruption and waste of time before grudgingly agreeing to set-up the Joint Parliamentary Committee. It is always baffling why is Dr Singh not developing workable working relationship with the opposition members of parliament. After all there is no limit to be a better human being, especially when Dr Singh is least interested in personal aggrandisement!
‘State bans use of Endosulfan’ was a very welcome news coming from Bangalore. For years to-gether, parts of Kerala and now that part of Karnataka bordering Kerala, have suffered immensely by the use of this dangerous insecticide, aerially sprayed mainly on cashew plantation. Kerala banned this harmful substance in Oct. 2006, after a very protracted protest by rights groups and farmers. This particular chemical is known to be causing serious health problems. Birth deformities, physical deformities in growing children and mental retardation are the known afflictions of this chemical, besides other forms of skin and other ailments. People in Northern Kerala, and now in parts of Dakshina Kannada district of coastal Karnataka have greatly suffered by this spraying by Karnataka Cashew Development Board. This ban has come after a long struggle by the people of the area, since the endosulfan lobby, like all private vested interest groups, used their financial muscle to keep at bay such decisions. Karnataka government needs to be complimented for this decision, although at national level there are people’s representatives like Union Agri Minister Sharad Pawar, who only represents his family interest, are the spokespersons for the Endosulfan lobby.
The happy ending of Orissa kidnapping saga involving Maoists is a good development vis-à-vis state administration. Involvement of mutually acceptable interlocutors and people like Swami Agnivesh must be resorted to more often to build bridges with the Maoists. With collectors like Vineet Krishna, committed to the development of underdeveloped areas within his jurisdiction, the message, that, it pays to join hands from both side of the divide, shall surely go. All concerned individuals and officials should work towards a situation of no-violence and development at all cost, to bring Maoists to the main stream. Surely, even Maoists are slowly realising that you cannot fight the state for too long, but by kidnapping and then releasing they are probably only creating a space to communicate with the state. However this practice of kidnapping is certainly condemnable. And opportunity must be exploited by both sides, for the overall well being, not just of some, at the cost of others.
Godhra train fire-case is back in the news again. Of the 94 accused 63 were acquitted with only 31being convicted. Probably it was the most dastardly cold blooded murder of a group of people - 59 to be precise-in free India’s checkered history. Of course what followed was far more horrendous with over 1000 deaths. Surely law should take its course, the guilty has to be punished with exemplary punishment, so that such diabolic act is not repeated. Yes, the court accepted the prosecutions “pre-planned conspiracy" theory. If it is indeed true, then the punishment should be in proportion to the wickedness. What if it was not pre-planned, even spontaneous, because some of the Kaarsevaks picked up some idiotic quarrel with a tea vendor in the Godhra station? Can the spontaneous act by anybody to bake alive 59 living human beings by burning with all escape routs closed from outside, be justified? It was an unprecedented carnage, by any spontaneity standard. While it may be difficult for us to truly come to some kind of judgement, the question may still persist what is justice under the circumstances of the case.
Tunisian after effects are being left across the length and breadth of Arab world. If Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak was the 2nd casualty of the uprising, Libyan strongman is fighting for survival. Yes, all despots are on notice. Anarchy is prevailing all over Libya, with Bengazi being the heart of the uprising. Reportedly over 250 have died in Bengazi alone, with Gaddafi’s men brutally trying to crush the uprising. Of all the countries where people revolted against the ruler, only Libya was the bloodiest. In his broadcast to the nation earlier in the month he had said that “this country and everything therein belonged to Libyan people”. But obviously what he didn’t say was “you all can have everything in Libya but at my terms. Me and my family shall rule and subject to that all is yours”. That is not acceptable to a good number of Libyan and it is becoming increasingly clear that the protesters are becoming stronger. A self styled spokesman of Bengazi Libyans Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, has even refused to accept the reported arming proposal of U.S., saying “we want to win it ourselves without any external help” Al Humdulilla. Hope it does happen.
So. ‘Kasab is to be hanged till death’, so said the Bombay High Court confirming the trial court verdict. The unprecedented terror attack of 26/11/2008 in Mumbai, with the blessing of a section of Pak authorities left some 170 dead and 240 injured. The dead included people of other nationalities as well who were travellers. There was a global condemnation of the terrorist attack. In fact some responses within India and from some foreign capitals were, that India should hit back at Pakistan. It is difficult to visualise what could have been the scenario if an attack had to take place. After all Kasab is only an actor in the larger game plan. That he has to die for what he has committed is a process of law in a democratic country. But will his death change things on the ground, except assuage some feeling of betrayal? When will Pakistan and these operators in its soil realise the futility of the barbarity they inflict on India?
There was a small report in the print media sometime ago about the Andhra Pradesh governor Narasimhan, while in Delhi, called on 10 Janpath to meet the Congress President. There have been justification galore for his visit. But prima facie, it was patently wrong for a constitutional head of a state, in federal structure, to call on a party president. It only confirms the widely held belief that, since Congress President is the defacto boss of the present dispensation at the centre, and not the Prime Minister. A recent cartoon in The Hindu, where governor Bhardwaj in Bangalore sanctioning prosecution of Chief Minister Yediyurappa and the pallu of Congress President’s sari tightening round the neck of the CM, makes the point succinctly.
The continuous and intermittent violence prone disruption in Pakistan has prompted thinkers from both Pakistan and other western countries to air their views openly. And in India, corruptions in public life, of humongous proportion, has stirred a debate about political alternatives. We have taken up both under Focus. Hope readers would find it interesting. Do revert with your thoughts. Rest of issues are as usual.
We are into the last month of the financial year 2010/11. Its time to look at the two budgets presented by the Mamata Didi, the Railway Minister and Pranab Da, the Finance Minister. So, its all Bengali affairs when it comes to budget 2010/11. Wish the hopes raised therein are translated into pragmatic promises.
Month began with the VOX-POPULI gaining upper hand in Egypt. When Tunisian strong man Zine el Abidine Ben Ali fled the country and left Tunis to its agitating masses, there was a palpable ripple all over the Arab world. Right enough, the uprising, taking que from Tunisia, across Egypt, both at Alexandria and Cairo forced the hands of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak who had ruled the Arab nation for over 30 years. He tried all his tricks to stay in power, even jettisoning the heir apparent, his son, in the process. Eventually, the inevitable caught up with him. Yes if people come to-gether, eddies of a street corner protest can become a tidal wave of a Tsunami. And of course, he fled unceremoniously. So, it was the 2nd victim in as many months. Two cheers to people power. Hope and wish, the army which took over the reins of power reportedly for the next 6 months to conduct an election to the national governing council, does its job in handing over the power of running the affairs of the country to its elected representatives.
The news about tagging of Indian students in the U.S. is a shameful episode, for both countries. Whatever justification the U.S. authorities gave, it clearly smacked of racial profile. While the authorities may be justifying this tracking device to not to let this ‘illegal’ immigrants from being outside the monitoring arena, they clearly violated the human rights of these students. Of course while it is true that somebody in Hyderabad made some fast money at the cost of gullible students, it could be that, as alleged, that students were aware of the Tri-Valley University being a fake one. This California based ‘sham’ university, knowing the demand by Indian students, must have had some tie-up with some immigration agent in Hyderabad-India, with a common objective of ‘duping’ these students to make some good money. This operation was similar to the recruiting agents operating in India, sending labourers and artisans on non-employment visit visas known as free visas, where all parties know that, there is no el-dorado waiting for the traveler. He lost his money and both the agent in India and sponsor in the country of immigration enriched themselves. But at least the victim is aware of the possible pitfalls in such an arrangement. The assumption here also is that students were aware of such a possibility and they were only exploiting a situation, and if all goes well they can find their el-dorado, on the sly, away from the prying eye of the authorities. As the luck would have it, it misfired, and were caught in the radioed anklets. Of course, it was in bad taste. But didn’t the students ask for it! For Indian government to complain, it is case of bad house keeping. They should have immediately arrested the Indian agent, and asked the Indian Embassy in the U.S. to get all students deported and recover the cost from the Hyderabad agent.
Recently Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha was in the news for all wrong reasons. He was allegedly involved in Benami loans of over Rs. 50 crores, from Amanath Co-op. Bank of Bangalore. He was chairman of the bank, and used his position to give loans which have become bad debts. According to report Karnataka Government has filed a criminal case against him to initiate action to recover the bad loan amounts. He is a Chartered Accountant, and had misused professional skill to his advantage. However law appears to be catching up with him. However his exhortation, the other day at Bangalore, to his community members to set up quality educational institutions, made lot of sense. He was presiding over an awareness programme on “Rights and opportunities for minority educational institutions in Karnataka” organised by the National Minority Commission. His observation that U.P., Bihar, West Bengal and Assam had large concentration of minorities, but only 5% among them were educated, made immense sense. It is indeed very true, if the community used all the resources at its command with right people to head institutions of social change, the community can have quantum leap into development mode. May be it lacks imaginative, committed and honest leaders. Look at Rehman Khan only, he is educated and intelligent, but looked after only his interest, and this bad bank loan, now lecturing to the community. People like him should take the lead to take the community ahead both educationally and economically. But if his own hands are unclean, how can he give an honest leadership. The community must ponder. It is eminently possible for the community to do better in all respects in India with the help of honest and committed leadership.
The call to punish erring doctors to curb female foeticide, in the financial capital of India, Mumbai, in a workshop at Tata Institute of Social Science, didn’t come a day too early. In India, especially among a section of Hindus, have this unfortunate obsession of wanting to have male child. The two days workshop was held last month on “Female Foeticide: rights of the girl child, problems and solution” to mark the “National Girl Child Week”. However, it took on those unprincipled greedy medical practitioners who would, despite the law against it, declare to would-be parents through sex determination test, the sex of the unborn child and help these unscrupulous parents to undergo abortion in case of foetus being that of girl child. While ignorant semiliterate parents require advice and guidance from medical practitioners against this cruel practice, what is worrying is the increasing number of educated, well heeled middle and upper middle class, going for abortion in case of girl child, and the complicity of medical practitioners. If any prima facie case is established both should be jailed without bail until the case is decided. Only then these greedy doctors can be reined in.
Media privy Indians have learnt about the death of Yashwant Sonawane, Nashik’s collector, who was burnt to death, reportedly by oil adulteration mafia. What most Indians did not know was that there was another dimension to the story. The whole of media was agog with the story of ‘whistle blower’ being killed in cold blood by the usual bad boys of underworld. Naturally lot of sympathy came the family way of Sonawane. But lately, it is leant, all is not as straight as it was made out to be. Kingpin, the main accused, Popat Shinde, recently died of burn injuries, which he sustained during the burning of Sonawane. It transpires that Sonawane while burning, hugged the main accused, then transferred the burning oil in his body on to the accused, causing the accused also to suffer 3rd degree burns. While Sonawane died at the site of the incident, the accused Popat Shinde couldn’t be saved despite all local medical attention. There is a story making the rounds in Nashik that Sonawane, the D.C. himself was partner in the loot. Its only because, Popat Shinde, couldn’t meet the demands of Sonawane, he along with his accomplices killed him, informs the story. If the reported allegation is true, that is indeed another of our socio-political development, where educated and highly qualified babus join hands with anti-social elements to further their greed for unaccounted money. Bottom-line is, education empowers, but it also enables us to be corrupt and more corrupt.
There was this report in a Mumabi daily “Sub-Judice applies to Media, not to Chidu”, informs that, Home Minister P.Chidambaram finds nothing wrong in defending appointment of P.J.Thomas, as the CVC but wants the Supreme Court to pull up the media and the political parties for discussing a matter that is “Sub-Judice”. The problem with Mr P. Chidambaram is, he is suffering from intellectual arrogance. He is highly educated with ‘Tambram’ intellect and an Yale qualified advocate to boot. Besides, probably he is the only person, who has handled all high profile ministries, like Commerce, Finance and now Home. He is articulate and efficient, with no-babu ever trying to upstage him. However, he has certainly stepped on to the Achilles’ foot of many opposition party members because of his “I know better” attitude. He must control this tendency, if and when he is called upon to be the Prime Minister, as a section of the media had speculated.
Black money generation and flight of funds have always been a bane of India’s development plans. And successive governments have consistently failed by its inconsistent policies to stop this illicit funds flow and to get repatriated the fund already in tax havens. It has always been a weak kneed approach. If the long innings of Congress party did mostly mouthing inanities of pursuing the black money abroad, the governments of other parties, whether the Janata experiment, the Janata Dal government, the BJP dominated NDA were only dishing out half baked measures to control the unaccounted funds flight besides trying to save their governments. In the process they failed in both. Neither they could save their government nor they could do anything effective to control this menace, except making noises while being in the opposition. Of course in recent times the incumbent UPA is doing some half measures. The global financial firm Citi has just said “India Needs to do more on Black Money”. While agreeing that since sometimes now, Indian govt. has become proactive ‘more needs to be done to address the annual loss of funds overseas via illicit flows. Curbing tax evasion and effort to bring back illicit flows overseas would positively impact both the public finances as well as the Balance of Payment-via the remittance route’ the Citi said in its report. According to this study India loses funds at the rate of US $ 18 billion every year, that is over Rs. 80,000 crores. That is indeed very staggering. Can we imagine the expenditure of such money over a 10 year period on the infrastructure of the country?
Suddenly skeletons started falling at regular intervals off the judiciary’s cupboards all over India. If former CJI Justice Balakrishnan is in the eye of the storm, with Raja episode and disproportionate assets case of his relatives, comes the news of relative of PK Kunhali Kutty (PKK), a former Kerala Minister claiming “Judges bailed out PKK in the infamous Ice Cream Parlour sex scandal”. He alleged two former judges Narayan Kurup and K. Thankappan as ‘instrumental in making the case favourable for ex-minister”. According to him, Justice Kurup was paid through the former Additional Director General of Prosecution K C Peter, and Justice Thankappan was influenced by Additional Advocate General for PKK. The case of 1990’s where an Ice Cream Parlour was used as a sex joint by PKK and others, was closed in 2006, in favour of PKK. It is indeed very sad that judges are being looked at with discomfort and suspicion if not with disrespect and disdain.
Arrest of former Telecom Minister A Raja, has certainly sent shock waves across the DMK spectrum as one of the most dramatic events of the recent times. It gave rise to flurry of questions. 2G Spectrum was a case of 3 years ago. At that time itself, there was an ongoing talk of having lost 60,000 crores. Left parties were making pointed references to this loss even then. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was playing it down even then. Unfortunately even now, but for the CAG report, the apex court intervention, media and the public outcry coupled with opposition pressure, he probably, thinks Raja shouldn’t have been axed and that there isn’t much loss or wrong. But the arrest did bring some sense to the treasury benches, who were crying hoarse over the JPC demand. The arrest did open Pandora’s Box, with incredibly wide networked participation of multiple players, hitherto unknown with remote possibility of involvement. Hope the ongoing investigations are finally catching up with players who thought were beyond the reach of the law.
Have you ever heard of schools asking for character certificate of parents for the purpose of the admission of their wards! This is exactly what happened in Maneckji Cooper School in up-market Juhu area in Mumbai. Although the school version was not available, it was ostensibly to avoid children from parents-means father-who could be having criminal cases or records against them. While the school may have its own logic, it is patently a wrong move. Cutting across the socio-political divide, including educationists and education deptt. decried the action of the school as illegal and totally unconstitutional. Besides, any tagging of the child to the background of the parent, if criminal, can leave deep fissures in the psyche of the child and can cause irrepairable depression in the child. The action of the education inspector of the area in asking it to stop the practice forthwith, is in fitness of things.
Despite being 63 years, as a free democratic country, India still suffers from feudal mind sets in its educational institutions. Institute of Management Studies, a private institute affiliated to the U.P. Technical University had allegedly tonsured the head of their 30 students, who allegedly paid their fees late. Students were reportedly Dalits and social Welfare Deptt. of the state was paying the fees of these B-Tech students and was delayed. Since they had to sit for the 7th semester examination, they were given the admit card for the examination, only after their heads were shaven off, despite paying their fees along with the delay fine of Rs: 1500/- per student. They suffered in silence, since they had to appear for the exam, and complained to the police only recently. Reportedly a case has been registered against the director Pramal Chakravarthy & 4 others. How can we call ourselves civilised when weak and vulnerable are victimised and humiliated in public?
Bangladesh is a fledgling democracy and yet there are things we in India can learn. There was this report of a 14 year old girl whipped to death because of a fatwa. Courts in Bangladesh, a Muslim majority country, ordered suo moto an investigation by the government to explain “how the state failed to protect the girl”, and to report back to court in 15 days. In fact it was the huge public outcry that prompted the court to act. Here it needs to be noted that in Bangladesh, despite being Muslim majority country, ‘Fatwas’ are banned; and it is illegal. Court has even asked the police to take action against those who ordered lashing. Coming from a Muslim country it is indeed refreshing, and has lessons for a secular country like India.
Cogentrix, later Nagarjuna Power and now the Udupi Power Corporation Ltd. (UPCL), have again comeback to haunt people of Udupi district in the coastal Karnataka. Cogentrix tried hard to establish itself, it gave up, tired of opposition by the locals, Nagarjuna who took over from Cogentrix, stayed put, despite opposition, but with the help of government and divided loyalty of people of the area, Nagarjuna persisted. And the power generation started with the new UPCL. The most important objection was the disposal of Fly Ash since the power generation was coal based. Even at that time there was no known technology available to dispose this fly ash. All talk about bricks and other building materials remained only on the planning board verbose. People were comprehensively cheated, that Fly Ash would be taken care of. And the photograph published in the print media, said it all. All school children were walking past the Fly Ash pond wearing masks. It’s a daily suffering. A resident reportedly told a paper “Let them bomb us, that way we will die immediately than suffering daily”. Report informs, people are suffering from breathing troubles, and vegetations have been badly affected. This was a project, not conducive to coastal Karnataka then, and has proved it is becoming bad. It is not even an year since production has started and problems are already on the rise.
Despite hue and cry of opposition parties, media and general public, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, have been mouthing inanities about the details of account holders in tax havens. Now comes details of at least some of them with their illicit wealth stashed in the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein, made public by a national news weekly. Liechtenstein is a principality bordering Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and reportedly has some 14 other banks which also may be having a/cs of illicit flight of money. Report informs of about Rs. 52 crores in 12 a/cs, mainly of Gandhis, Dhupelias and Mehtas. Leelavathi Hospital trust in Mumbai was in media glare for siphoning off money by some Mehta’s, who are trustees. So, where there is will there is a way. For far too long Pranab Mukherjee has been hoodwinking Indian public, and his boss the PM just went along his colleague. What makes them keep quiet, appears to be a loaded question. Yet, the other day, while addressing the annual conference of Chief Secretaries of state he is reported to have stated “corruption dents India’s image, hampers good governance and needs to be tackled ‘boldly and quickly’”. Somehow this ‘boldly and quickly’ does not seem to fit into PM’s lexicon.
So, will the Islamic Bank come into India after all? At least that is what Kerala High Court appears to have cleared. The proposal of Al Barakh Company and Kerala State Industrial Development Corp (KSIDC) to have a non-banking financial company with Rs. 1000 crores as authorised capital, shall certainly have far-reaching socio-political spin offs. The proposal was challenged originally, and now the court has cleared it. It only appears that those who opposed have not presented the case well. The reason that United Kingdom is having such banks is no explanation, why India too can have it. India is not United Kingdom, where rule of law is better applied, besides it is surely going to vitiate the financial sector which is currently without any religious dimension. Hope Reserve Bank of India applies itself fully to the multiple dimension of the issue of Islamic Banking, while considering its clearance.
Justice Somasekhara report on Church attacks in Karnataka got, as expected, mired in avoidable controversy. Its interim report, according to media did try to put the blame squarely on the state administration and police and media reported about the happiness of the concerned section. But the final report, allegedly has been favourable to the state and the administration was left scot free. Truth, must be somewhere between these two variances. The report needs to be dispassionately analysed without any political influences. All of us are humans, and therefore do have human frailties, which many time have a free run, based on bias. Surely, all those who are guilty have to be made accountable. Is there a larger malaise in our socio-political structure which needs to be addressed? It is a question that demands dispassionate answer.
Hands of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is getting fuller by day, mostly of his own making or that of his colleagues, since buck stops at his desk. He has a very unenviable situation. The latest to hit the headline is the speculated loss of Rs. 200,000 crores from the deal involving ISRO and the Deptt of Space. Modus operandi have been the similar to Spectrum 2G allocation without inviting bids and without following departmental checks and controls. Just like minister Raja thought he is the real Raja, people at the helm at ISRO and Deptt of Space acted without reference to their vertical hierarchy. All these meant financial interest of the country was thrown to the wind. Again it was the constitutional watchdog CAG, who hit the bulls eye, and suddenly all antennas were alert. PMO goes into huddle. As usual PMO sang the same tune “no revenue loss”, but in flat 10 days after hectic deliberation, the deal between Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO and Devas Multimedia, the beneficiaries, was declared null and void. For good measure Union Law Minister goes to town and declares ‘even if Devas go to court, they are not likely to succeed’. Hope country shall enrich itself with the huge revenue potential in the years ahead. Yes, CAG needs to be complimented for asserting their existence so loudly and clearly. But the question is how such things are allowed to happen? Just like Raja was sent to prison, so should be the officials of deptt of space who were responsible for this diabolic act. Only then these educated, intellectual crooks would think over and over again before embarking on such loot of public resources for private gain.
So, after all the hassles and breast beating, the headline on 23rd was “Manmohan announces JPC on 2G scam”. Despite being fully convinced about the need for JPC with vociferous demand by the entire opposition, for the Prime Minister to be so stubborn with his colleague Pranab Mukherjee adding to the impasse, was a stuff of 'politics of absurdity'. The entire winter session was allegedly wiped out because of a completely avoidable obduracy. And then again, there was no need for Dr Manmohan Singh, an alumni of famed London School of Economics to be as graceless as to recount the so-called, disruption and waste of time before grudgingly agreeing to set-up the Joint Parliamentary Committee. It is always baffling why is Dr Singh not developing workable working relationship with the opposition members of parliament. After all there is no limit to be a better human being, especially when Dr Singh is least interested in personal aggrandisement!
‘State bans use of Endosulfan’ was a very welcome news coming from Bangalore. For years to-gether, parts of Kerala and now that part of Karnataka bordering Kerala, have suffered immensely by the use of this dangerous insecticide, aerially sprayed mainly on cashew plantation. Kerala banned this harmful substance in Oct. 2006, after a very protracted protest by rights groups and farmers. This particular chemical is known to be causing serious health problems. Birth deformities, physical deformities in growing children and mental retardation are the known afflictions of this chemical, besides other forms of skin and other ailments. People in Northern Kerala, and now in parts of Dakshina Kannada district of coastal Karnataka have greatly suffered by this spraying by Karnataka Cashew Development Board. This ban has come after a long struggle by the people of the area, since the endosulfan lobby, like all private vested interest groups, used their financial muscle to keep at bay such decisions. Karnataka government needs to be complimented for this decision, although at national level there are people’s representatives like Union Agri Minister Sharad Pawar, who only represents his family interest, are the spokespersons for the Endosulfan lobby.
The happy ending of Orissa kidnapping saga involving Maoists is a good development vis-à-vis state administration. Involvement of mutually acceptable interlocutors and people like Swami Agnivesh must be resorted to more often to build bridges with the Maoists. With collectors like Vineet Krishna, committed to the development of underdeveloped areas within his jurisdiction, the message, that, it pays to join hands from both side of the divide, shall surely go. All concerned individuals and officials should work towards a situation of no-violence and development at all cost, to bring Maoists to the main stream. Surely, even Maoists are slowly realising that you cannot fight the state for too long, but by kidnapping and then releasing they are probably only creating a space to communicate with the state. However this practice of kidnapping is certainly condemnable. And opportunity must be exploited by both sides, for the overall well being, not just of some, at the cost of others.
Godhra train fire-case is back in the news again. Of the 94 accused 63 were acquitted with only 31being convicted. Probably it was the most dastardly cold blooded murder of a group of people - 59 to be precise-in free India’s checkered history. Of course what followed was far more horrendous with over 1000 deaths. Surely law should take its course, the guilty has to be punished with exemplary punishment, so that such diabolic act is not repeated. Yes, the court accepted the prosecutions “pre-planned conspiracy" theory. If it is indeed true, then the punishment should be in proportion to the wickedness. What if it was not pre-planned, even spontaneous, because some of the Kaarsevaks picked up some idiotic quarrel with a tea vendor in the Godhra station? Can the spontaneous act by anybody to bake alive 59 living human beings by burning with all escape routs closed from outside, be justified? It was an unprecedented carnage, by any spontaneity standard. While it may be difficult for us to truly come to some kind of judgement, the question may still persist what is justice under the circumstances of the case.
Tunisian after effects are being left across the length and breadth of Arab world. If Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak was the 2nd casualty of the uprising, Libyan strongman is fighting for survival. Yes, all despots are on notice. Anarchy is prevailing all over Libya, with Bengazi being the heart of the uprising. Reportedly over 250 have died in Bengazi alone, with Gaddafi’s men brutally trying to crush the uprising. Of all the countries where people revolted against the ruler, only Libya was the bloodiest. In his broadcast to the nation earlier in the month he had said that “this country and everything therein belonged to Libyan people”. But obviously what he didn’t say was “you all can have everything in Libya but at my terms. Me and my family shall rule and subject to that all is yours”. That is not acceptable to a good number of Libyan and it is becoming increasingly clear that the protesters are becoming stronger. A self styled spokesman of Bengazi Libyans Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, has even refused to accept the reported arming proposal of U.S., saying “we want to win it ourselves without any external help” Al Humdulilla. Hope it does happen.
So. ‘Kasab is to be hanged till death’, so said the Bombay High Court confirming the trial court verdict. The unprecedented terror attack of 26/11/2008 in Mumbai, with the blessing of a section of Pak authorities left some 170 dead and 240 injured. The dead included people of other nationalities as well who were travellers. There was a global condemnation of the terrorist attack. In fact some responses within India and from some foreign capitals were, that India should hit back at Pakistan. It is difficult to visualise what could have been the scenario if an attack had to take place. After all Kasab is only an actor in the larger game plan. That he has to die for what he has committed is a process of law in a democratic country. But will his death change things on the ground, except assuage some feeling of betrayal? When will Pakistan and these operators in its soil realise the futility of the barbarity they inflict on India?
There was a small report in the print media sometime ago about the Andhra Pradesh governor Narasimhan, while in Delhi, called on 10 Janpath to meet the Congress President. There have been justification galore for his visit. But prima facie, it was patently wrong for a constitutional head of a state, in federal structure, to call on a party president. It only confirms the widely held belief that, since Congress President is the defacto boss of the present dispensation at the centre, and not the Prime Minister. A recent cartoon in The Hindu, where governor Bhardwaj in Bangalore sanctioning prosecution of Chief Minister Yediyurappa and the pallu of Congress President’s sari tightening round the neck of the CM, makes the point succinctly.
The continuous and intermittent violence prone disruption in Pakistan has prompted thinkers from both Pakistan and other western countries to air their views openly. And in India, corruptions in public life, of humongous proportion, has stirred a debate about political alternatives. We have taken up both under Focus. Hope readers would find it interesting. Do revert with your thoughts. Rest of issues are as usual.
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