MONTH THAT WAS
Friends
Come August, every year, this nation of 1200 million, are looking forward for the 15th of the Month. Especially this year, 2011, this 15th falls on a Monday and surely there will be many planning a long week end. From 12th evening to the 15th evening, its 3 full days of weekend for those working for ESSO group of companies and organisation. For those, who are little confused about this ESSO, besides being an American Oil Company, it is also an acronym for Every Saturday Sunday Off. Thus, there will be thousands of families planning or have already planned to travel out of their routine place of residence. These families would be depriving their school going children to participate in the Independence Day Celebration in their respective schools, since this was the day 64 years ago, our colonial masters, the British, left the Indian shores for good, leaving us to fend for ourselves.
Of course for those who witnessed the historic moment of our tricolour going up on the ramparts of Red Fort it could have been a joy unbound and surely some would have wept. Every Independent Day celebration bring back the memories of the struggle that our elders and forefathers have undergone to achieve this ‘Freedom at Midnight’. Those 347 million Indians who had the singular joy of being free form the colonial yoke of hundreds of years, which began rather innocuously in 1600, in the form of East India Company in the then Calcutta, a trading out-post of England, how are they looking back over the shoulder, the labyrinth that their Mother India has travelled? We need to take stock of the ups and downs that our country has experienced in its experiment of redistributing exercise of our 12 five yearly developmental plans. However, in the meanwhile, we at Issues & Concerns have the honour of wishing all Indians SWATANTR DIWAS KI SHUBH KAAMNAAYE and great year ahead.
There is this English quotation which says “If you are not part of the solution, then you are the problem”. We at I & C have this funny feeling that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is losing grip on himself. Or else how would he ever make this statement to those small select group of five editors, which exposed his ignorance of past precedents and even court rulings! Dr Singh had reportedly stated “It had never been in the past that the CAG has held a press conference or decided to comment on the policy issue. It should limit its role as defined in the constitution”. Reacting to this a journalist wrote from New Delhi “In questioning the propriety and legality of the Comptroller and Auditor General holding a news conference on its 2G scam report, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ignored not only past precedents but also a court ruling upholding the CAG’s right to do so". Journalist was quoting the 2005 Madras High Court ruling where it upheld the right of CAG to brief the media, on the contents of the report submitted to the legislature. This misplaced rebuke of CAG by Dr Singh has unwittingly exposed the unwillingness of the government to seriously tackle the issue of corruption within the corridors of power in New Delhi. It is another matter that he was not ready to take responsibility for all the wrong doing by his ministers, by saying that the decisions that the government took were taken under uncertain conditions and media is only helping to create an atmosphere of cynicism by accusation of corruption which will be counter productive for investment climate. It was a lack luster performance from the Prime Minister that did not win him any new friends nor it influenced anybody.
The judgement on the Neeraj Grower murder case has left many gasping. Stabbed to death and then body chopped to pieces and then disposed off. But court decided it is not murder, only a culpable homicide not amounting to murder. So one gets 10 years imprisonment and the other 3 years for destroying evidence. Chopping the dead body after killing is not murder of most heinous kind! A news paper simply stated “A butcher is not a murderer’. Amanath Grower, the father of Neeraj has reportedly stated “I have lost faith in judiciary. It is very disappointing decision.” You call killing was in a fit of rage, but what about going to the mall to buy a chopper and hack the body into pieces in cold blood! Some thing is seriously wrong. Here the victim, a man, comes to the flat of one of the accused, a lady, and then another man comes into the flat. Both the lady and the new man finish the first man. They plan to dispose the body by cutting it into pieces. The court decides that the lady has only destroyed the evidence, despite the fact that she was an active participant in both killing and disposing the body. Naturally, the other accused, the man, who got 10 years imprisonment is upset and is baying for the blood of his girl friend who got away and is free bird now. The moral of the story is, don’t become partner in any wrong doing, the other person will invariably put you in trouble to save his or her skin. It should surprise nobody that Emile Jerome, the partner of Maria Susairaj in killing Neeraj Grower, shall one day comeback to his former girl friend to settle the issue once and for all. All in all it was a complete miscarriage of justice for the present.
Issue involving Kim Davy, a Danish national, who had escaped from India and presently in Copenhagen is another poor reflection of the way our law enforcing authorities and intelligence agencies are functioning.
It was in Dec. 1995, that Purulia Arms Drop case came to light, when an aircraft without clearance from the Indian authorities entered the Indian airspace and dropped arms consisting of AK 47 rifles, anti tank grenades, rocket launchers and huge quantity of ammunition, some 2500 rounds. And escaped to re-enter again after several days, only to be mistakenly landed in Mumbai’s Sahara International Airport, due to some mistaken order of the Air Traffic Controller. All crews were arrested but Kim Davy managed to give a slip and escaped to Nepal and remained fugitive from the Indian laws, just like Ottavio Quattrochi hoodwinked successive Indian government ‘efforts’, after escaping from the country.
While those arrested were released prior to 2004 due to political intervention of Russia and UK. Kim Davy, assumed to be the king pin, was followed up to get the extradition order from the Danish government. Despite order to expedite, due to court intervention, extradition of Kim Davy was stopped by the Danish High Court, on grounds of poor human rights records and poor condition of Indian jails. In the meanwhile, Kim Davy has accused the Indian intelligence agencies of being fully in the know of the arms drop, ostensibly meant to create law and order problem in West Bengal, a communist ruled state, by the government of PV Narasimha Rao in New Delhi, a charge CBI has denied. Until the last word is said on the matter, it is mysteriously murky.
The high profile sexual assault case involving former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss Kahn is increasingly becoming clear that, it may be closed after all. In the backdrop of the extremely quick action of ejecting Kahn, by the New York police from the Paris bound aircraft, this likely closure of the case is becoming very embarrassing for the police there. The police is really feeling the wretchedness at the ‘pulling a fast one’ by the Guinean house-keeper of the hotel, which led to the quick fix arrest of powerful IMF Chief, who is probably the President of France in waiting. It could turn out to be an extremely avoidable gaffe for the New York police. He is freed from detention and his bail and bond of US $ 6 million are being returned. Reportedly charges against Kahn is being dropped and eventual dismissal 'a certainty'.
Due to several contradictory statements of the house-keeper, the prosecution is coming to terms with the possibility of the defence argument that it was not an assault but a consensual act. “Don’t worry this guy has lot of money. I know what I am doing” was the disclosed phone conversation this Guinean had with a friend in her Fulani dialect, which clearly disclosed her intent of making money out of the rich man by falsely implicating Kahn, who is contesting the forthcoming presidential election in France. The question was, did somebody pull a fast one on Dominique Strauss Kahn to stop him in the track to seek the Elysee Palace!
Ram Gopal Verma is a Hindi film maker. Media informs that he is after publicity, therefore walks into controversy with full knowledge. There is the case involving T.V. executive Neeraj Grover and his killers Emile Jeraome and Maria Susairaj. He wants to make a film on the love-triangle rather than the miscarriage of justice informs print media, and wants to cast this Maria. Among the whole lot of people who got angry with the sensation monger were Shyam Benegal and rightly, even Grover’s parents. Benegal is on record having stated “I don’t like that because I think that the whole thing is terrible. That if anybody can stoop so low simply because you want to cash in on it because of the sensation value of it”. What can we call this, the irresponsible insensitive chicanery!
The undergarment of the Congress is clearly, showing, when it comes to including PM under Lokpal ambit. Their double speak was recently exposed by Prakash Karat of CPI (M) who reminded Pranab Mukherjee, one of the interlocutor from the government side in the Lokpal Bill Panel. In 2001, when NDA was in power, a parliamentary panel headed by Pranab Mukherjee had recommended the bringing of Prime Minister under Lokpal purview. Like most political parties, even Congress too suffers from selective amnesia of convenient politics. Here it is pertinent note that more than 96% Mumbaikars have voted in favour having Prime Minister and Judges under the ambit of Lokpal Bill, according to the referendum conducted between June 26 and July 1 by the India Against Corruption, Mumbai. Thus, the case for PM and Judges inclusion under the ombudsman is overwhelming, whether the UPA likes it or not.
So Chandrapathi, the battling heroine who single handedly took on the Khap Panchayat, despite government’s ineptitude, has won a pyrrhic victory after all. In an unprecedented judgement Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Haryana government to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh each, that is Rs 6 lakh to Chandrapathi, the mother of the youth who was killed on the diktat of the Khap Panchayat for marrying a girl belonging to the same gothra, for failing to provide security to the couple despite court order. This is the woman who got five relatives of the girl, death sentence for killing both boy and the girl. However High Court had later commuted the session court sentences to life imprisonment. It is pyrrhic because how can one value a young human life, who was killed in cold blood, for Rs. 3 lakhs. But victory is certainly sweet, and therefore two cheers to Chandrapathi.
The news that National Commission for women, was recently denied permission to hold hearing in the state capital Lucknow is a poor reflection on the state of affairs in U.P. With all the hype, being the first Dalit woman Chief Minister, Mayawathi, has failed to protect both women and Dalit women at that, is a sad development. She came to power on the plank of eradication of lawlessness due to Yadavs’ strong arm socio/political behaviour, but unfortunately has failed to change the situation. There is a general feeling of let down, by Mayawathi and her administration across U.P. There have been series of attack on Dalit women and teenage girls, which police not only failed to stop but also they could not catch the culprits. Thus the feeling of hurt and disappointment is writ large all over the Dalit population. Only saving grace is, ever since Mayawathi has won, the humiliation that these Dalits have been suffering under all previous regimes have come down drastically. They can walk with head held high. But that may not be enough in the long run. The ground reality of making material difference has to happen, for Mayawathi to survive in the election that is due in one year’s time. Hope Mayawathi realises the pitfalls, before it is too late.
When it comes to government action on scam tainted people, its always ‘too little too late’. Whether it is CWG Scam, 2G Spectrum Scam or Black Money laundering, I-T default case of scamster Hassan Ali, the story is always same. On 30th June 2011, Enforcement Directorate reportedly issued a show cause notice for attachment of properties valued at Rs: 50 crores. The print media informs that, the notice include the attachment of property owned by Hassan Ali’s associate Tapuria at Prithviraj Rd. in Delhi. Reportedly this property belonging to Tapuria has been sold, and hence cannot be attached. Shouldn’t we laugh at the finance ministry for making a joke of Enforcement Directorate? The claim of I.T dues of 1,00,000 crores from Hassan Ali was years old, and it took 2 to 3 years even to issue a show cause notice for attachment of property! Surely these high flying, international operators who live mostly by illegal activities are too smart enough not to leave things for authorities, who are eternally in slow motion, to mop only the left overs.
Then the ED notice to show cause, to attach properties, will anyway take its own course of time, to bear fruit if any, since all these possible orders can always be challenged for its own due process. Thus, to recover the estimated due of over 100,000 crores of rupees (it was provided in the budget 2009/10 as Rs: 100,000/- crores due but not recovered) it is beyond any reasonable comprehension to speculate the time needed and whether at all the authorities shall ever recover such a huge due! Besides, what happens to the source of the fund or the income on which this tax is due?! Oh poor Mother India, how long you will continued to be bled!!!
Mamata Banerjee is slowly but surely emerging as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. She has already signed an Autonomous Area agreement with Gorkhaland agitators. The central government played a well wisher with P.Chidambaran participating in the signing ceremony and Rs: 600 crores grant for the hill region development. There was also this news of Ms. Banerjee visiting Lalgarh, the hotbed of Reds. As a paper comments, she has rightly set an example for the Chief Ministers of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, by making overtures to Maoists. She has not only promised jobs, health centres, drinking water, up-gradation of schools and colleges in the troubled areas, but by personally making it to their living room, she is hoping to have a break through in the moribund Maoists heartland. Hope she achieves what others have only made noises.
Jairam Ramesh, the thinking minister of UPA has taken his ministry very seriously. He has already taken the government head-on, on the issue of Land Acquisition Bill. As his style, he has already announced that, he will put on website the proposed bill for public debate shortly, for feedbacks. Land acquisition has, in recent days, become a politically charged issue. Its an issue which needs to be sensibly handled for the compensation involved and the dependency factor on the land by the land owner users. Of course the recommendations by NAC led by Congress President has not found approval by the government. If the government is proposing 160% of market rate, NAC is proposing 600%. Surely it has got to be somewhere in the middle, for the economics and sustenance factors. One of the sensitive factor that Jairam is focusing, is on the livelihood dependences on the land being acquired. Surely his attitude will serve him well. Two cheers to Jairam Ramesh.
We have been reading in the press, since some time now, that U.S forces may be leaving Afghanistan after all, since the annihilation of terrorist fugitive Osama Bin Laden. But how will things shape in Afghanistan and its border with Pakistan is a question that has no ready made answer, with extremely disturbing possibilities. Only the other day President Hamid Karzai’s half brother was killed and so was Afghan Governor attacked enroute to the funeral of Ahmed Karzai. And now comes the news of Kandahar mayor being killed, so, if law abiding average Afghan is worried, it is only but natural. With a section of Taliban being shown as good & possible partner with the administration, once U.S quits, the scene is quite murky, as the latest headline “Taliban kills 19 in Afghanistan” indicates. The news from Washington is, that U.S is bent upon destroying Al Qaeda completely from its roots itself, so that it simply cannot resurrect. Of course, one can never annihilate a movement, one can only weaken it so that its power to strike at will is destroyed. Of course, Al Qaeda is certainly a deadly group, although it was the United States which played mid-wife to it decades ago, in an attempt to get-even with the then USSR. But then Al Qaeda grew as a Frankenstein’s monster to devour its creator. In an evolving world, nothing is permanent. It is not the U.S of the yore, USSR went burst, surely, so would the Al Qaeda. Hope U.S succeeds in its design to show Al Qaeda its place.
Money is honey, my little Sunny, rich man’s joke is always funny. Pawar and power, attract each other. We all know money is power. Look at that fugitive criminal Dawood Ibrahim, he has his money empire, and hence call shots, both in Pakistan and India, and Mr Pawar , the Union Agriculture Minister, is his friend Mr Sharad Pawar, the former Chief Minister, also known as Maratha strong man, and the Nationalistic Congress Party’s President, is a very powerful man and wants to have his foothold everywhere. There was this sms doing its round “Breaking News! Sharad Pawar has started learning Malayalam and is planning to contest the elections for the trustee of Shree Padmanabha Temple in Kerala”. Humour apart, this only goes to show even average thinking Indian realises, how this politician who has declared hardly any property worth the name, in his election declaration, always wants to be in the limelight. How his tentacles has spread, is clearly evident in the press report on his families involvement even in the murky iron are scandal of Karnataka. When Justice Santhosh Hegde, the Karnataka Lokayukta had resigned around a year ago, causa proxima was the disappearance of millions of tons of iron ore at the Belekeri port near Karwar in the Coastal Karnataka. The latest news is that one M/s Metachem Mfg. Pvt. Ltd., where Sharad Pawar and his family members, Ajit Pawar and his brother Jayant Pawar are directors, are involved in the disappearance of this iron ore. But somehow, due to some unknown reasons no action has been taken against either the officials of this company or against any directors of the company. To make a joke of the whole case, it is reported that, only the watchman Shivaprakash has been arrested on behalf of Metachem. This is the justice of the powerful.
And comes the shocker “Maharashtra sold”. Ashish Khetan writes how Maharashtrian politicians have plundered away prime land all across the state. Among the plunderers are Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and her husband are prime beneficiaries. So you know, how Sharad is really Pawarful, and there appears to be no government which can take him on.
The formation of Special Investigation Team by the Supreme Court on the Black Money, did not come a day too early. The central government which has been dilly dallying for fat too long with all kinds of excuses was finally publically rapped on its knuckles by the apex court. Print media barb "Dysfunctional government losing to judiciary" said it all. UPA II was really asking for it, due to its absolute lack of seriousness in handling of the black money issue. It is becoming increasingly clear that everywhere it had somebody to save and hence dragged its feet. The issue of black money had been a single most ticklish issue for successive governments to act decisively. Tired by the vacillating tactics of the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the obvious inaction of his boss the Prime Minister, Supreme Court felt naturally constrained to act. Hope like 2G Scam, the black money too will see the light of the day in India.
The doping fiasco which shook the athletic world in India and has been variously labeled was also called a ‘National Shame’. While it is true that drug should not play its role in the performance on track or field, the way these athletes were publicly castigated by all and sundry is rather bad for the athletics of this country. As such, there are not many in the 1200 million opting for athletics for want of facilities and government support for it. It is nobody’s case that nutritional support which these athletes take, either on their own or supplied by the authorities through the coaches may after all have some performance improving substances. This is so, for all those who take additional vitamins and food supplements. Everybody wants to do better in whatever they are doing or pursuing. It is very normal and they will take all help from all sources which will take them to where they want to go. Therefore instead of blaming the athletes or their coach, we must find out why Indian sports scene is so dismal. Nobody, even the present minister do not seem to think that there is something wrong with our policies of supporting sports in general and athletics in particular. Why year after year, a nation of 1200 million people fare very poorly in international events. Even impoverished Ethiopia does better than us. So instead of searching for who is wrong we must find out what is wrong. Only then probably the authorities will know the true problems and the extent of these problems. Proper provision of infrastructure and financial provision for athlete’s dietary intake should be seriously looked at, to provide a congenial atmosphere for young athletes to bloom.
There were these tweets poking pun at Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabhi Azad for his alleged remark on same sex relation, especially among men. One said “Someone who has both Gulam and Azad in his name should not be complaining about people who swing both ways”. It is true we are living in an evolving society, old order changing to yield place to the new. If Oscar Wilde was jailed during his life time for being gay in 19th century England, in 21st century that country has undergone a sea change. Thus whether we like it or not homosexuality has come to stay. On the face of it, while this gay relationship is not normal it may be difficult not to agree with the Health Minister, who called this aberration a ‘desease’, despite the hullabaloo his off-hand remark raised.
The Supreme Court, as was expected, came down heavily on the Union Government and Government of Chhattisgarh for creating, supporting and funding of Special Police Officers (SPO) like Salwa Judum and Koya Commandos. These SPOs created as a possible bulwark against the naxal menace has been a law unto itself, creating mayhem all over. This instead of improving the situation vis-Ã -vis naxalism, only worsened. Hence the court directive to stop this practice of arming tribals by the Chhattisgarh government and supported by the centre, by terming the whole deployment of this vigilante group as unconstitutional is the natural corollary under the circumstances of gross human rights violations by this SPOs.
For DMK, it was 2nd wicket down. 2G Scam has taken its second victim. Both Raja, the first victim and Maran, the 2nd victim, are from the southern political force of DMK and for similar wrong doings-enriching self at the cost of nation. After the debacle at the assembly election, this ignominy could have been more painful, especially for Muthuvel Karunanidhi, whose daughter Kanimozhi is in jail without bail. Reverse of fortune, just about everything going bad, especially towards evening of the patriarch’s fading life, could be devastating.
Yes the salaries and perks have been increased only a while ago, so you can’t ask for raise again. So you ask for raise in the milk supply of other milking cow! Effective April 2011 onwards, MPLAD fund was more than doubled from Rs 2 crores to Rs 5 crores. The budget allocation from Rs: 1580 crores was increased as actual allocation to Rs. 3950 crores, an increase of Rs: 2370 was cleared by the Union cabinet, ostensibly as a sequel to the demand made by MPs to increase the allocation. Having seen and heard stories of all kinds, how much of this Rs: 3950 crores would translate itself as productive, is a moot point, but there shall be no doubt about the withdrawal and ‘utilisation’ of the entire amount. Thus at least there will be one item of planned outlay which will be fully expended, both visible and invisible. Thanks largely to the “committed” citizens that our Members of Parliament are!!?
So, its witch hunt time for the Congress. The estranged Congress man , Jagmohan Reddy, the son of Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, is in for dangerous days ahead, courtesy the petition by a Congressman P.Shankar Rao. The petition sought inquiry into the ‘ill gotten’ wealth of Jagan Reddy. Court acted fast to get the central agency CBI to look into these charges of amassing huge wealth and money laundering, and to report back in 2 weeks. Surely there will be skeletons from the cupboard of Jagan Reddy, the ambitious son of late Y S R Reddy, the strong man of Andhra politics, since it is an open secret that father Reddy was a bit of bull-dozer in promoting his political and financial interest. But it is the normal thing for Congress to do, if you don’t fall in line, we will make everything to make you fall.
Coming to Maharashtra politics it is as murky as it possibly can get. With all the problems in Karnataka, it can pride itself of having an effective Lokpal, which the premier State of Maharashtra neither has it or the will to have it. Every politician has his own strength which he does not want to dilute. Whether it is Pawar clan, Chavan clan or Thackaray clan, all are powerful by their own right. They all have created their own brand of dynasty and family estate at the cost of Marathi Manoos. Now Narayan Rane an Ex – Shiv Saink is trying to create his own pressure group. An effective Lokpal can go a long way in controlling, land scams, La Adarsh, La Hiranandani powai, Lavasa and many others. The news that Sharad Pawar was disqualified from contesting the Mumbai Cricket Association was greeted in cricket circles in Mumbai, but he supported another politician Vilasrao Deshmukh who won against Vengsarkar who is a professional cricketer. Here again Karnataka is better than Maharashtra. KCA is having Anil Kumble as president and Javagal Srinath as Secretary which is certainly a model as compared to any state, both are dedicated cricketers. It is indeed sad that Vengsarkar, a well known cricketer could not muster enough support in Mumbai cricket scene, and Mumbai is the Indian Mecca of Cricket. Like Pawar, Deshmukh too is involved in scams of different kind. He is deeply involved in Adarsh Scam.. Reportedly he had cleared Adarsh file having marked ‘tatkaal’ for land clearance. Like Yediyurappa, he too has a ‘trust’ for land grab and donations, and has cleared many slum clearance and rehabilitation projects, without the process of tender. Aren’t we all naked in the bathroom and we are pointing at the other! like the proverbial buffalo in the back making fun of the buffalo in the front “Tumhari gaand dhik rahee hai”. This is Yeh Mera India.
With the Union government getting the Lokpal Bill draft cleared by the cabinet for presentation in the Monsoon session of Parliament, one chapter has closed. A bill has after all been presented. It is another matter that a section of the media called it Jokpal.
A glaring inadequacy in the bill is the constitution of panel to select Lokpal. It is likely to have 9 members, of which 5 will be official nominees and 4 from judiciary. So it is the government which will call the shot. Hazare Panel wanted even opposition leader in Parliament to be its member, with no majority of official nominees. Thus the very basis is wrong. How the UPA will push it through has to be seen. There are many other divergent proposals which could have been incorporated as alternative, at least for the purpose of debate. But in their wisdom, the official nominees with the help of Kapil Sibal’s bull-dozing tactics, decided to ignore the Hazare panel, even to the extent of lampooning them. However the threat of ‘fast’ by Anna Hazare could have been delayed, and instead an all India awareness campaign should have been launched, only thereafter, ‘fast’ should have been the last resort. Hope by 16th Aug 2011, Anna camp shall take its call on an alternative plan for it to make it stronger.
The blast on 13/7 at 3 places in Mumbai has prompted us to think why there is so much violence in society. Is it inherent in the present day society all over the world? We tried to articulate a vision of non-violent society. How difficult it is? The Focus has attempted to see it thru. Hope readers will find it interesting. Do revert with your inputs. Rest are as usual.
Come August, every year, this nation of 1200 million, are looking forward for the 15th of the Month. Especially this year, 2011, this 15th falls on a Monday and surely there will be many planning a long week end. From 12th evening to the 15th evening, its 3 full days of weekend for those working for ESSO group of companies and organisation. For those, who are little confused about this ESSO, besides being an American Oil Company, it is also an acronym for Every Saturday Sunday Off. Thus, there will be thousands of families planning or have already planned to travel out of their routine place of residence. These families would be depriving their school going children to participate in the Independence Day Celebration in their respective schools, since this was the day 64 years ago, our colonial masters, the British, left the Indian shores for good, leaving us to fend for ourselves.
Of course for those who witnessed the historic moment of our tricolour going up on the ramparts of Red Fort it could have been a joy unbound and surely some would have wept. Every Independent Day celebration bring back the memories of the struggle that our elders and forefathers have undergone to achieve this ‘Freedom at Midnight’. Those 347 million Indians who had the singular joy of being free form the colonial yoke of hundreds of years, which began rather innocuously in 1600, in the form of East India Company in the then Calcutta, a trading out-post of England, how are they looking back over the shoulder, the labyrinth that their Mother India has travelled? We need to take stock of the ups and downs that our country has experienced in its experiment of redistributing exercise of our 12 five yearly developmental plans. However, in the meanwhile, we at Issues & Concerns have the honour of wishing all Indians SWATANTR DIWAS KI SHUBH KAAMNAAYE and great year ahead.
There is this English quotation which says “If you are not part of the solution, then you are the problem”. We at I & C have this funny feeling that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is losing grip on himself. Or else how would he ever make this statement to those small select group of five editors, which exposed his ignorance of past precedents and even court rulings! Dr Singh had reportedly stated “It had never been in the past that the CAG has held a press conference or decided to comment on the policy issue. It should limit its role as defined in the constitution”. Reacting to this a journalist wrote from New Delhi “In questioning the propriety and legality of the Comptroller and Auditor General holding a news conference on its 2G scam report, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ignored not only past precedents but also a court ruling upholding the CAG’s right to do so". Journalist was quoting the 2005 Madras High Court ruling where it upheld the right of CAG to brief the media, on the contents of the report submitted to the legislature. This misplaced rebuke of CAG by Dr Singh has unwittingly exposed the unwillingness of the government to seriously tackle the issue of corruption within the corridors of power in New Delhi. It is another matter that he was not ready to take responsibility for all the wrong doing by his ministers, by saying that the decisions that the government took were taken under uncertain conditions and media is only helping to create an atmosphere of cynicism by accusation of corruption which will be counter productive for investment climate. It was a lack luster performance from the Prime Minister that did not win him any new friends nor it influenced anybody.
The judgement on the Neeraj Grower murder case has left many gasping. Stabbed to death and then body chopped to pieces and then disposed off. But court decided it is not murder, only a culpable homicide not amounting to murder. So one gets 10 years imprisonment and the other 3 years for destroying evidence. Chopping the dead body after killing is not murder of most heinous kind! A news paper simply stated “A butcher is not a murderer’. Amanath Grower, the father of Neeraj has reportedly stated “I have lost faith in judiciary. It is very disappointing decision.” You call killing was in a fit of rage, but what about going to the mall to buy a chopper and hack the body into pieces in cold blood! Some thing is seriously wrong. Here the victim, a man, comes to the flat of one of the accused, a lady, and then another man comes into the flat. Both the lady and the new man finish the first man. They plan to dispose the body by cutting it into pieces. The court decides that the lady has only destroyed the evidence, despite the fact that she was an active participant in both killing and disposing the body. Naturally, the other accused, the man, who got 10 years imprisonment is upset and is baying for the blood of his girl friend who got away and is free bird now. The moral of the story is, don’t become partner in any wrong doing, the other person will invariably put you in trouble to save his or her skin. It should surprise nobody that Emile Jerome, the partner of Maria Susairaj in killing Neeraj Grower, shall one day comeback to his former girl friend to settle the issue once and for all. All in all it was a complete miscarriage of justice for the present.
Issue involving Kim Davy, a Danish national, who had escaped from India and presently in Copenhagen is another poor reflection of the way our law enforcing authorities and intelligence agencies are functioning.
It was in Dec. 1995, that Purulia Arms Drop case came to light, when an aircraft without clearance from the Indian authorities entered the Indian airspace and dropped arms consisting of AK 47 rifles, anti tank grenades, rocket launchers and huge quantity of ammunition, some 2500 rounds. And escaped to re-enter again after several days, only to be mistakenly landed in Mumbai’s Sahara International Airport, due to some mistaken order of the Air Traffic Controller. All crews were arrested but Kim Davy managed to give a slip and escaped to Nepal and remained fugitive from the Indian laws, just like Ottavio Quattrochi hoodwinked successive Indian government ‘efforts’, after escaping from the country.
While those arrested were released prior to 2004 due to political intervention of Russia and UK. Kim Davy, assumed to be the king pin, was followed up to get the extradition order from the Danish government. Despite order to expedite, due to court intervention, extradition of Kim Davy was stopped by the Danish High Court, on grounds of poor human rights records and poor condition of Indian jails. In the meanwhile, Kim Davy has accused the Indian intelligence agencies of being fully in the know of the arms drop, ostensibly meant to create law and order problem in West Bengal, a communist ruled state, by the government of PV Narasimha Rao in New Delhi, a charge CBI has denied. Until the last word is said on the matter, it is mysteriously murky.
The high profile sexual assault case involving former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss Kahn is increasingly becoming clear that, it may be closed after all. In the backdrop of the extremely quick action of ejecting Kahn, by the New York police from the Paris bound aircraft, this likely closure of the case is becoming very embarrassing for the police there. The police is really feeling the wretchedness at the ‘pulling a fast one’ by the Guinean house-keeper of the hotel, which led to the quick fix arrest of powerful IMF Chief, who is probably the President of France in waiting. It could turn out to be an extremely avoidable gaffe for the New York police. He is freed from detention and his bail and bond of US $ 6 million are being returned. Reportedly charges against Kahn is being dropped and eventual dismissal 'a certainty'.
Due to several contradictory statements of the house-keeper, the prosecution is coming to terms with the possibility of the defence argument that it was not an assault but a consensual act. “Don’t worry this guy has lot of money. I know what I am doing” was the disclosed phone conversation this Guinean had with a friend in her Fulani dialect, which clearly disclosed her intent of making money out of the rich man by falsely implicating Kahn, who is contesting the forthcoming presidential election in France. The question was, did somebody pull a fast one on Dominique Strauss Kahn to stop him in the track to seek the Elysee Palace!
Ram Gopal Verma is a Hindi film maker. Media informs that he is after publicity, therefore walks into controversy with full knowledge. There is the case involving T.V. executive Neeraj Grover and his killers Emile Jeraome and Maria Susairaj. He wants to make a film on the love-triangle rather than the miscarriage of justice informs print media, and wants to cast this Maria. Among the whole lot of people who got angry with the sensation monger were Shyam Benegal and rightly, even Grover’s parents. Benegal is on record having stated “I don’t like that because I think that the whole thing is terrible. That if anybody can stoop so low simply because you want to cash in on it because of the sensation value of it”. What can we call this, the irresponsible insensitive chicanery!
The undergarment of the Congress is clearly, showing, when it comes to including PM under Lokpal ambit. Their double speak was recently exposed by Prakash Karat of CPI (M) who reminded Pranab Mukherjee, one of the interlocutor from the government side in the Lokpal Bill Panel. In 2001, when NDA was in power, a parliamentary panel headed by Pranab Mukherjee had recommended the bringing of Prime Minister under Lokpal purview. Like most political parties, even Congress too suffers from selective amnesia of convenient politics. Here it is pertinent note that more than 96% Mumbaikars have voted in favour having Prime Minister and Judges under the ambit of Lokpal Bill, according to the referendum conducted between June 26 and July 1 by the India Against Corruption, Mumbai. Thus, the case for PM and Judges inclusion under the ombudsman is overwhelming, whether the UPA likes it or not.
So Chandrapathi, the battling heroine who single handedly took on the Khap Panchayat, despite government’s ineptitude, has won a pyrrhic victory after all. In an unprecedented judgement Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Haryana government to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh each, that is Rs 6 lakh to Chandrapathi, the mother of the youth who was killed on the diktat of the Khap Panchayat for marrying a girl belonging to the same gothra, for failing to provide security to the couple despite court order. This is the woman who got five relatives of the girl, death sentence for killing both boy and the girl. However High Court had later commuted the session court sentences to life imprisonment. It is pyrrhic because how can one value a young human life, who was killed in cold blood, for Rs. 3 lakhs. But victory is certainly sweet, and therefore two cheers to Chandrapathi.
The news that National Commission for women, was recently denied permission to hold hearing in the state capital Lucknow is a poor reflection on the state of affairs in U.P. With all the hype, being the first Dalit woman Chief Minister, Mayawathi, has failed to protect both women and Dalit women at that, is a sad development. She came to power on the plank of eradication of lawlessness due to Yadavs’ strong arm socio/political behaviour, but unfortunately has failed to change the situation. There is a general feeling of let down, by Mayawathi and her administration across U.P. There have been series of attack on Dalit women and teenage girls, which police not only failed to stop but also they could not catch the culprits. Thus the feeling of hurt and disappointment is writ large all over the Dalit population. Only saving grace is, ever since Mayawathi has won, the humiliation that these Dalits have been suffering under all previous regimes have come down drastically. They can walk with head held high. But that may not be enough in the long run. The ground reality of making material difference has to happen, for Mayawathi to survive in the election that is due in one year’s time. Hope Mayawathi realises the pitfalls, before it is too late.
When it comes to government action on scam tainted people, its always ‘too little too late’. Whether it is CWG Scam, 2G Spectrum Scam or Black Money laundering, I-T default case of scamster Hassan Ali, the story is always same. On 30th June 2011, Enforcement Directorate reportedly issued a show cause notice for attachment of properties valued at Rs: 50 crores. The print media informs that, the notice include the attachment of property owned by Hassan Ali’s associate Tapuria at Prithviraj Rd. in Delhi. Reportedly this property belonging to Tapuria has been sold, and hence cannot be attached. Shouldn’t we laugh at the finance ministry for making a joke of Enforcement Directorate? The claim of I.T dues of 1,00,000 crores from Hassan Ali was years old, and it took 2 to 3 years even to issue a show cause notice for attachment of property! Surely these high flying, international operators who live mostly by illegal activities are too smart enough not to leave things for authorities, who are eternally in slow motion, to mop only the left overs.
Then the ED notice to show cause, to attach properties, will anyway take its own course of time, to bear fruit if any, since all these possible orders can always be challenged for its own due process. Thus, to recover the estimated due of over 100,000 crores of rupees (it was provided in the budget 2009/10 as Rs: 100,000/- crores due but not recovered) it is beyond any reasonable comprehension to speculate the time needed and whether at all the authorities shall ever recover such a huge due! Besides, what happens to the source of the fund or the income on which this tax is due?! Oh poor Mother India, how long you will continued to be bled!!!
Mamata Banerjee is slowly but surely emerging as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. She has already signed an Autonomous Area agreement with Gorkhaland agitators. The central government played a well wisher with P.Chidambaran participating in the signing ceremony and Rs: 600 crores grant for the hill region development. There was also this news of Ms. Banerjee visiting Lalgarh, the hotbed of Reds. As a paper comments, she has rightly set an example for the Chief Ministers of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, by making overtures to Maoists. She has not only promised jobs, health centres, drinking water, up-gradation of schools and colleges in the troubled areas, but by personally making it to their living room, she is hoping to have a break through in the moribund Maoists heartland. Hope she achieves what others have only made noises.
Jairam Ramesh, the thinking minister of UPA has taken his ministry very seriously. He has already taken the government head-on, on the issue of Land Acquisition Bill. As his style, he has already announced that, he will put on website the proposed bill for public debate shortly, for feedbacks. Land acquisition has, in recent days, become a politically charged issue. Its an issue which needs to be sensibly handled for the compensation involved and the dependency factor on the land by the land owner users. Of course the recommendations by NAC led by Congress President has not found approval by the government. If the government is proposing 160% of market rate, NAC is proposing 600%. Surely it has got to be somewhere in the middle, for the economics and sustenance factors. One of the sensitive factor that Jairam is focusing, is on the livelihood dependences on the land being acquired. Surely his attitude will serve him well. Two cheers to Jairam Ramesh.
We have been reading in the press, since some time now, that U.S forces may be leaving Afghanistan after all, since the annihilation of terrorist fugitive Osama Bin Laden. But how will things shape in Afghanistan and its border with Pakistan is a question that has no ready made answer, with extremely disturbing possibilities. Only the other day President Hamid Karzai’s half brother was killed and so was Afghan Governor attacked enroute to the funeral of Ahmed Karzai. And now comes the news of Kandahar mayor being killed, so, if law abiding average Afghan is worried, it is only but natural. With a section of Taliban being shown as good & possible partner with the administration, once U.S quits, the scene is quite murky, as the latest headline “Taliban kills 19 in Afghanistan” indicates. The news from Washington is, that U.S is bent upon destroying Al Qaeda completely from its roots itself, so that it simply cannot resurrect. Of course, one can never annihilate a movement, one can only weaken it so that its power to strike at will is destroyed. Of course, Al Qaeda is certainly a deadly group, although it was the United States which played mid-wife to it decades ago, in an attempt to get-even with the then USSR. But then Al Qaeda grew as a Frankenstein’s monster to devour its creator. In an evolving world, nothing is permanent. It is not the U.S of the yore, USSR went burst, surely, so would the Al Qaeda. Hope U.S succeeds in its design to show Al Qaeda its place.
Money is honey, my little Sunny, rich man’s joke is always funny. Pawar and power, attract each other. We all know money is power. Look at that fugitive criminal Dawood Ibrahim, he has his money empire, and hence call shots, both in Pakistan and India, and Mr Pawar , the Union Agriculture Minister, is his friend Mr Sharad Pawar, the former Chief Minister, also known as Maratha strong man, and the Nationalistic Congress Party’s President, is a very powerful man and wants to have his foothold everywhere. There was this sms doing its round “Breaking News! Sharad Pawar has started learning Malayalam and is planning to contest the elections for the trustee of Shree Padmanabha Temple in Kerala”. Humour apart, this only goes to show even average thinking Indian realises, how this politician who has declared hardly any property worth the name, in his election declaration, always wants to be in the limelight. How his tentacles has spread, is clearly evident in the press report on his families involvement even in the murky iron are scandal of Karnataka. When Justice Santhosh Hegde, the Karnataka Lokayukta had resigned around a year ago, causa proxima was the disappearance of millions of tons of iron ore at the Belekeri port near Karwar in the Coastal Karnataka. The latest news is that one M/s Metachem Mfg. Pvt. Ltd., where Sharad Pawar and his family members, Ajit Pawar and his brother Jayant Pawar are directors, are involved in the disappearance of this iron ore. But somehow, due to some unknown reasons no action has been taken against either the officials of this company or against any directors of the company. To make a joke of the whole case, it is reported that, only the watchman Shivaprakash has been arrested on behalf of Metachem. This is the justice of the powerful.
And comes the shocker “Maharashtra sold”. Ashish Khetan writes how Maharashtrian politicians have plundered away prime land all across the state. Among the plunderers are Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and her husband are prime beneficiaries. So you know, how Sharad is really Pawarful, and there appears to be no government which can take him on.
The formation of Special Investigation Team by the Supreme Court on the Black Money, did not come a day too early. The central government which has been dilly dallying for fat too long with all kinds of excuses was finally publically rapped on its knuckles by the apex court. Print media barb "Dysfunctional government losing to judiciary" said it all. UPA II was really asking for it, due to its absolute lack of seriousness in handling of the black money issue. It is becoming increasingly clear that everywhere it had somebody to save and hence dragged its feet. The issue of black money had been a single most ticklish issue for successive governments to act decisively. Tired by the vacillating tactics of the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the obvious inaction of his boss the Prime Minister, Supreme Court felt naturally constrained to act. Hope like 2G Scam, the black money too will see the light of the day in India.
The doping fiasco which shook the athletic world in India and has been variously labeled was also called a ‘National Shame’. While it is true that drug should not play its role in the performance on track or field, the way these athletes were publicly castigated by all and sundry is rather bad for the athletics of this country. As such, there are not many in the 1200 million opting for athletics for want of facilities and government support for it. It is nobody’s case that nutritional support which these athletes take, either on their own or supplied by the authorities through the coaches may after all have some performance improving substances. This is so, for all those who take additional vitamins and food supplements. Everybody wants to do better in whatever they are doing or pursuing. It is very normal and they will take all help from all sources which will take them to where they want to go. Therefore instead of blaming the athletes or their coach, we must find out why Indian sports scene is so dismal. Nobody, even the present minister do not seem to think that there is something wrong with our policies of supporting sports in general and athletics in particular. Why year after year, a nation of 1200 million people fare very poorly in international events. Even impoverished Ethiopia does better than us. So instead of searching for who is wrong we must find out what is wrong. Only then probably the authorities will know the true problems and the extent of these problems. Proper provision of infrastructure and financial provision for athlete’s dietary intake should be seriously looked at, to provide a congenial atmosphere for young athletes to bloom.
There were these tweets poking pun at Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabhi Azad for his alleged remark on same sex relation, especially among men. One said “Someone who has both Gulam and Azad in his name should not be complaining about people who swing both ways”. It is true we are living in an evolving society, old order changing to yield place to the new. If Oscar Wilde was jailed during his life time for being gay in 19th century England, in 21st century that country has undergone a sea change. Thus whether we like it or not homosexuality has come to stay. On the face of it, while this gay relationship is not normal it may be difficult not to agree with the Health Minister, who called this aberration a ‘desease’, despite the hullabaloo his off-hand remark raised.
The Supreme Court, as was expected, came down heavily on the Union Government and Government of Chhattisgarh for creating, supporting and funding of Special Police Officers (SPO) like Salwa Judum and Koya Commandos. These SPOs created as a possible bulwark against the naxal menace has been a law unto itself, creating mayhem all over. This instead of improving the situation vis-Ã -vis naxalism, only worsened. Hence the court directive to stop this practice of arming tribals by the Chhattisgarh government and supported by the centre, by terming the whole deployment of this vigilante group as unconstitutional is the natural corollary under the circumstances of gross human rights violations by this SPOs.
For DMK, it was 2nd wicket down. 2G Scam has taken its second victim. Both Raja, the first victim and Maran, the 2nd victim, are from the southern political force of DMK and for similar wrong doings-enriching self at the cost of nation. After the debacle at the assembly election, this ignominy could have been more painful, especially for Muthuvel Karunanidhi, whose daughter Kanimozhi is in jail without bail. Reverse of fortune, just about everything going bad, especially towards evening of the patriarch’s fading life, could be devastating.
Yes the salaries and perks have been increased only a while ago, so you can’t ask for raise again. So you ask for raise in the milk supply of other milking cow! Effective April 2011 onwards, MPLAD fund was more than doubled from Rs 2 crores to Rs 5 crores. The budget allocation from Rs: 1580 crores was increased as actual allocation to Rs. 3950 crores, an increase of Rs: 2370 was cleared by the Union cabinet, ostensibly as a sequel to the demand made by MPs to increase the allocation. Having seen and heard stories of all kinds, how much of this Rs: 3950 crores would translate itself as productive, is a moot point, but there shall be no doubt about the withdrawal and ‘utilisation’ of the entire amount. Thus at least there will be one item of planned outlay which will be fully expended, both visible and invisible. Thanks largely to the “committed” citizens that our Members of Parliament are!!?
So, its witch hunt time for the Congress. The estranged Congress man , Jagmohan Reddy, the son of Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, is in for dangerous days ahead, courtesy the petition by a Congressman P.Shankar Rao. The petition sought inquiry into the ‘ill gotten’ wealth of Jagan Reddy. Court acted fast to get the central agency CBI to look into these charges of amassing huge wealth and money laundering, and to report back in 2 weeks. Surely there will be skeletons from the cupboard of Jagan Reddy, the ambitious son of late Y S R Reddy, the strong man of Andhra politics, since it is an open secret that father Reddy was a bit of bull-dozer in promoting his political and financial interest. But it is the normal thing for Congress to do, if you don’t fall in line, we will make everything to make you fall.
Coming to Maharashtra politics it is as murky as it possibly can get. With all the problems in Karnataka, it can pride itself of having an effective Lokpal, which the premier State of Maharashtra neither has it or the will to have it. Every politician has his own strength which he does not want to dilute. Whether it is Pawar clan, Chavan clan or Thackaray clan, all are powerful by their own right. They all have created their own brand of dynasty and family estate at the cost of Marathi Manoos. Now Narayan Rane an Ex – Shiv Saink is trying to create his own pressure group. An effective Lokpal can go a long way in controlling, land scams, La Adarsh, La Hiranandani powai, Lavasa and many others. The news that Sharad Pawar was disqualified from contesting the Mumbai Cricket Association was greeted in cricket circles in Mumbai, but he supported another politician Vilasrao Deshmukh who won against Vengsarkar who is a professional cricketer. Here again Karnataka is better than Maharashtra. KCA is having Anil Kumble as president and Javagal Srinath as Secretary which is certainly a model as compared to any state, both are dedicated cricketers. It is indeed sad that Vengsarkar, a well known cricketer could not muster enough support in Mumbai cricket scene, and Mumbai is the Indian Mecca of Cricket. Like Pawar, Deshmukh too is involved in scams of different kind. He is deeply involved in Adarsh Scam.. Reportedly he had cleared Adarsh file having marked ‘tatkaal’ for land clearance. Like Yediyurappa, he too has a ‘trust’ for land grab and donations, and has cleared many slum clearance and rehabilitation projects, without the process of tender. Aren’t we all naked in the bathroom and we are pointing at the other! like the proverbial buffalo in the back making fun of the buffalo in the front “Tumhari gaand dhik rahee hai”. This is Yeh Mera India.
With the Union government getting the Lokpal Bill draft cleared by the cabinet for presentation in the Monsoon session of Parliament, one chapter has closed. A bill has after all been presented. It is another matter that a section of the media called it Jokpal.
A glaring inadequacy in the bill is the constitution of panel to select Lokpal. It is likely to have 9 members, of which 5 will be official nominees and 4 from judiciary. So it is the government which will call the shot. Hazare Panel wanted even opposition leader in Parliament to be its member, with no majority of official nominees. Thus the very basis is wrong. How the UPA will push it through has to be seen. There are many other divergent proposals which could have been incorporated as alternative, at least for the purpose of debate. But in their wisdom, the official nominees with the help of Kapil Sibal’s bull-dozing tactics, decided to ignore the Hazare panel, even to the extent of lampooning them. However the threat of ‘fast’ by Anna Hazare could have been delayed, and instead an all India awareness campaign should have been launched, only thereafter, ‘fast’ should have been the last resort. Hope by 16th Aug 2011, Anna camp shall take its call on an alternative plan for it to make it stronger.
The blast on 13/7 at 3 places in Mumbai has prompted us to think why there is so much violence in society. Is it inherent in the present day society all over the world? We tried to articulate a vision of non-violent society. How difficult it is? The Focus has attempted to see it thru. Hope readers will find it interesting. Do revert with your inputs. Rest are as usual.
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