IPS resigned to robe uniform again?

I.P.S. OFFICER TO ROBE UNIFORM AFTER QUITTING?

The bureaucratic circle in the Bihar Government is facing a peculiar type of administrative procedural wrangle and web. Gupteshwar Pandey, an IPS of 1987 batch Bihar cadre officer took voluntary retirement (VR) on the eve of last Parliamentary election in the hope of getting ticket of a National Party. His VR application was processed and accepted after completing all necessary formalities well before beginning of the last parliamentary elections which took place in May 2009. In fact the notification to this effect was also issued after President of India’s approval as required under Article 311 of Indian Constitution. Pandey was ducked by the party and he could not get the ticket.

                 Now after a gap of nearly 6 months, Mr Pandey has filed a petition before the government praying therein to allow his VR application to be withdrawn. Pandey has reported to have quoted ‘personal reasons’ for this prayer. In other words he has requested the government to re-instate him to the post he resigned. This is a peculiar situation and perhaps the first of this kind. The state government has never faced such a typical constitutional and legal issue.

                  Leaving aside the political nature of this issue, this matter has raised some vital legal and constitutional issues which needed to be settled before taking any final decision.

1)     Article 311 and 312 of Indian Constitution are relevant with respect to government servant including All India Services to which Mr Pandey belonged. The former Article suggests that a government servant cannot be removed except in the manner and procedure laid down under the law enacted and rules framed.   But this Article is silent as to what will happen if the officer has resigned voluntarily and subsequently seeks his re-instatement after the acceptance of his VR application.

2)     Article 312 provides for creation of All India Service and under this Article, the IAS, IPS and host of All India Services have been created and rules framed to regulate them.

3)     In order to regulate, control and provide professionalism to these services, several Rules have been framed in this connection. The All India Services (conduct) Rules 1968 and The All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1969 are of special relevance in this case.

PROVISIONS WHICH GOES AGAINST THIS RE-INSTATEMENT- Rule 5 of The All India Services (conduct) Rules, 1968 says that no member of the Service shall be a member of, or be otherwise associated with, any political party or any organization which takes part in politics, nor shall he take part in, or subscribe in aid of, or assist in any other manner, any political movement or political subscribing in aid of or assisting in any other manner, activity.

               The Sub Rule-2 further clarifies that It shall be the duty of every member of the Service to endeavour to prevent any member of his family from taking part in or any movement of, activity which is, or  tends directly or indirectly to be subversive of the Government as by law established, and where a member of the Service is unable to prevent member of his family from taking part in or subscribing in aid of, or assisting in any other manner, any such movement of activity, he shall make a report to that effect to the Government.

In the case of Mr Pandey, his political affiliation has been established as he wanted to fight election on the ticket of a National Political Party (needless to mention name of party). Thus his partisan approach, which is the essence of this service, has been tattered and on principle he can never be supposed to act in a non discriminatory manner or impartial way.

                  To check such practises and tendencies and also prevent politicisation of bureaucracy, the State government had issued a circular bearing no-5/m/5048/85 pers-10578 on dated 28 August 1985 stating therein that if any government servant resigns for fighting election and subsequently files petition seeking withdrawal of resignation, such applications should be out-rightly rejected. This circular further instructs that if any government servant fights or participates in elections without tendering resignation; his or her services should be terminated. Message is clear; the government employees must remain non-political. But in this case, Pandey’s intensions have been more than clear therefore legally speaking his application ought to be rejected.

OPTIONS BEFORE THE GOVERNMENT- If the government decides to allow Pandey to withdraw his resignation and pave way for his re-inclusion into the service, it has to withdraw this circular first and then issue a fresh instruction as required under article 309 and 162 of Indian Constitution. It has to recommend to the MHA also because Pandey happened to be a member of All India Service and President of India is the appointing authority under Article 312 of the Constitution. Ministry of Personnel, Public grievance and Pension will have to either repeal All India Services (conduct) Rules, 1968 and All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969 or amend them accordingly because the provisions under these Rules are against such re-instatement in letter and spirit. Moreover, the aforesaid Articles would have also to be put to review.

If Pandey is re-instated into the service, it will have a far reaching ramification in the administrative and bureaucratic history of this country, because it will unleash a trend in which more and more government servants would flex their muscles in the political fields and will seek re-instatement after losing the battle. Now everyone here is sitting fingers crossed waiting for the government to take a final decision in this regard.        

       

Nepal's cabinet meet at highest altitude

SAVE IT TO BE SAVED

                    Government of Nepal today held a meeting of its cabinet at an altitude of 5,250 meters on a place called Kalapathar, i.e. black rock in order to draw global attention of world community on the gravity of climatic change. Similar cabinet meeting was held by Maldivian Government in the month of October, 2009, when the entire cabinet of Mohammad Nasheed held meeting under the ocean. It was first such attempt and exercise to draw international attention.

                  Madhav Kumar Nepal, the PM of Nepal, the Himalayan tiny nascent democracy, along with all the 21 members of his cabinet assembled at Kalapathar, a flat area at 5250 meters altitude next to Mt Everest, and signed a document aimed at drawing global attention on climate change just a couple of days ahead of Copenhagen Summit . All the ministers were equipped with necessary things like thick jackets, wind proof gears and woolen hats. They were first taken to Lukla, a place some 2800 meters above the sea level to acclimatize them to higher altitude by helicopter.

            Many people called it as a gimmick and wastage of public money. The ongoing media hype owing to ensuing Copenhagen summit has come as business opportunity for many and arranging such trips by private agencies are being seen as a publicity stunts and nothing more than that.  Nonetheless, the media hype and environmentalists repeated warnings on climate change and global warming have helped awareness towards climate change permeate into the minds and heats of common people also, who hitherto were least informed and less concerned about all such problems.    

          

State Ganga river basin authority in Bihar; a welcome move

SAVE THE FAITH AND RIVER AS WELL

On lines of Union government’s National Ganga river basin authority GRBA), the State government of Bihar has also decided to set up a State Ganga River Basin Authority (SGRBA) to control water pollution, waste management and discharge of sewerage into this holy River. Decision to this effect has been taken in cabinet and notification is likely to be issued in a day or two.

This Authority would be headed by the Chief Minister himself and ministers and secretaries of Urban Development, Housing, Water Resources, Public health and engineering, forest and environment and finance would be the ex officio members of this authority.  Executive committee of this body would be headed by the chief secretary. The Managing Directors (MDs) of the state pollution control board and urban infrastructure development authority and Patna water board will be the special invitee members in this authority.

The civil society has welcomed this decision but has sounded some apprehensions also. The people of the state has reminded the government about the utter failure of Bihar State Water and Sewerage (BISWAS) board in which millions of rupees had been wasted and the scheme was left in lurch. The Supreme Court had also monitored this ambitious scheme which was under taken under Ganga Action Plan and was aimed at cleaning Ganga River and preventing it from being further polluted. Large numbers of sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) and electric crematoriums were constructed but within few years, most of them rendered useless due to one reason or the other. The government vows to bring these constructions to use again by repairing or replacing them altogether. If this effort is successful, it would be a great service to Holy River Ganga which is getting polluted day by day and now at many places it has gone beyond repair.             

RTI Rules amended in Bihar

Ignoring the repeated appeals by civil society and right to information activists, the State government amended some provisions of the Bihar Right to Information Rule, 2006 framed by the state government under section 28 of RTI Act. Notification to this effect has been issued a couple of days ago amending rule – 5 schedule- I of the Rule. The amendment has made the application under RTI Act, 2005 costlier, because now the applicants will have to pay Rs/- 10 for each of the application and only one information would be made available in the one application.

Previously the information seekers could seek more than one information in one application for which he had to pay only rupees 10. Now after this amendment, the Public Information Officer would have the discretion to treat contents of the application as more than one information and consequently the applicants would be asked to pay extra money for that.

The provision related to supply of information free of cost to the applicants living below poverty line (BPL) has also been amended and according to new arrangement such applicants cannot be supplied more than 10 pages of information free of cost.  The PIOs as well as SIC have been complaining to the government that the applications under RTI have been draining huge resources both in terms of money and manpower, therefore they argued that such amendments be brought in. The RTI activists on the other hand dubbed this change as anti-people. They argue that now on wards obtaining information from government would become more difficult and costly.

 

First anniversary of 26/11

First anniversary of Mumbai attacks

Today is 26/11 i.e. first anniversary of the infamous Mumbai attacks. The families of 163 people who reportedly lost their lives in this dastardly act of terrorism sponsored by Pakistan, the epicenter of International terrorism, are still fighting to recover from the trauma. The brave city has limped back to normalcy very soon and life resumed but the scares are conspicuous on the faces of Mumbaites   and walls of streets in Mumbai. The slain heroes like Unnikrishan, Karkare, Salasker, Apte etc remind us how unsafe our country is becoming. The families of many of them are still fighting to get the reward as promised both by the civil society and government. Stories of many unsung heroes are coming to fore thanks to TV and Print media.

               The political and police establishments claim to have made improvements in all related spheres and fields. Force 1 and all terrain vehicles have been inducted into the Mumbai Police force. Coastal policing has begun. Intelligence networks have been strengthened and intelligence sharing has been made more effective and fruitful.

                       In this backdrop also, every Indian is again asking that whether Mumbai or India as a whole has become safer? Are we better prepared to take on terrorists? Have the loopholes plugged?

                     The New York Times has published a report on the eve of this anniversary, apprehending therein some more similar attacks on Indian soil. The News Paper has deplored the Indian attitude towards terrorism. Lamenting on the Mumbai attacks aftermath, the report says that most of the politicians and police officials who were out after unprecedented public outrage have either been promoted or have been reinstated to their original positions.

                    After 9/11, The USA established a bipartisan commission to look into the attacks, the report of which was made public and become the bestseller in America, but what happened to the reports of the body which was constituted to look into the Mumbai tragedy is known to a very few in this country. We are still to create a homeland security department like institution. The NIA which was created by a Parliamentary legislation is still in infancy and lacks secretarial and logistic infrastructure.

         One year has passed and we have just been able to file charge-sheet against Amir Ajmal Kasab and others. The perpetrators of attacks on our Parliament are still to be hanged. Such apathies and lackadaisical approach towards terrorism have cost us so dearly that we cannot afford this attitude any longer. Our image of soft state must be shed and we must stand erect and tall to ensure that no one dares to raise eyes and brows on us. The standoff with Pakistan can not be made to spill over in the name of inadvertent nuclear war. India is passing through a period of unprecedented security threat situation. The dragon and Moon together have started nefarious game afresh against us. Without adopting an indolent attitude, India must show that it cares and can fight back.                   

India Road Congress in Patna; Changing face of Bihar

HOPE FOR REPAIR

At the invitation of the Government of Bihar, the 70^th Annual Session of the Indian Road Congress (IRC) is being held in Patna at the historical Gandhi Maidan during 14^th to 17^th November, 2009. This Session of Indian Road Congress is being held in Bihar after a gap of 17. Prior to this, Bihar had the glory of holding three such sessions, which had been held respectively in January 1961, December 1981 and Nov-December 1992.

         Formally inaugurating the session of the Congress, CM Nitish Kumar requested the delegates and other attending engineers, experts and architects to design roads which may be suitable to rural areas in terms of cost efficiency. He also urged the engineers to develop design and suggest measures to repair the Mahatma Gandhi Setu which is in shambles. This is the only road bridge which connects north Bihar to the rest of the state including Patna. This longest man made bridge had been inaugurated in May 1982 which cost 65 crores only. The 5.575 Kilometer long bridge has now developed several cracks leading to serious structural problems. The engineers in the state government have been desperately trying to repair it for several years but in vain. They do not simply have the expertise and technical know how to deal such huge technical problems.

         Expressing his helplessness, the chief minister said that in spite of his best efforts in terms of man and money, he has not been so far able to repair this bridge up to what he called his own satisfaction. He therefore requested the eminent scientists and engineers who have assembled here to participate in this congress to suggest methods and measures to rectify the problems.

                    This congress, among other things, is scheduled to discuss among other things, to promote and encourage the science and practice of building and maintenance of roads, provide channel for expression of collective opinions with regard to road construction, evolve ways and promote use of standard specifications and latest structural designs, to suggest and share experiences and achievements regarding education, experiment and research in field of construction and maintenance of roads, to hold meetings and seminars at regular intervals to deliberate upon technical questions, to suggest to the government laws related to development, improvement and protection of roads and to suggest improved methods of administration, planning design, construction, operation, use and maintenance of roads.

The IRC is also expected to discuss to establish, furnish and maintain libraries and museums for enriching the science of road construction and publish proceedings, journals, periodicals and other literature to promote Society in helping keep the roads in good condition.

         Nitish Kumar has been desperately trying to improve the road conditions in the state which is considered to be one of the major banes to development. He also enhanced the plan allocation for roads from Rs 1,899 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 2,565 crore which is 16% of the total plan outlay. The holding of this IRC is being projected as a major initiative by the state government to remove the stereotype image of Bihar in areas of infrastructure especially roads. 

Hamid Karzai elected President; No runoff

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan has been declared elected in the presidential election, which was held on 20^th August, this year. The Independent Election Commission’s Chairman Azizullah Ludin declared Karzai elected without going for the run off election, which was scheduled on 7^th November. The election held on 20^th August, was marred by large scale rigging and bungling in which involvement of UN officials was also established, making it dismal. Hamid Karzai even then could not achieve 50 percent of the votes as required under Constitution of Afghanistan to be declared elected.

This situation necessitated runoff election between Hamid Karzai and Dr Abdullah Abdullah. Dr Abdullah had been leveling serious charges of fraud and rigging in election by Hamid Karzai and his supporters. He also demanded dismissal of Chief of Independent Election Commission, because he alleged that he has been working in connivance with Hamid Karzai to confer undue favour on him. Dr Abdullah had given some suggestions to the President and UN with regard to conduction of a peaceful and fair runoff election and if these suggestions are not incorporated there is no point in participating him in the runoff fray, he added. As the dead line set by Abdullah expired, he decided to refrain and withdraw from the runoff election.

Now Independent Election Commission was left with two options. It may have gone for run off election even when there is no second candidate in the fray, because Article 61 of Constitution of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan provides for runoff in case none of the candidates secure 50% of votes casted. Now this was a peculiar situation under which none of the candidates could secure 50% of votes but only one candidate was left in the fray. The Commission had been deliberating upon to conduct runoff but the USA and many European Nato countries and off course, the UN itself was not in favour of going for runoff as it could have risked lives of personnel. There was another risk of exposing country for fresh spell of attacks, which is already war ravaged. There was a serious apprehension of violence because Taliban has given call for boycott of the election.

It was under this situation and under tremendous pressure of  international community, the IEC decided to declare Hamid Karzai elected for the presidential election without a runoff.

Now there is no doubt that Karzai is going for the second tenure but his moral authority is at stake. He could not secure 50% of votes in the elections which itself has lost its credibility in the eyes of both international community and Afghani people. The USA on the other hand is desperately trying to win over Dr Abdullah to join the government under Karzai. It is noteworthy that Dr Abdullah has already served under Karzai as Foreign Minister.

Obama is facing tough time in Afghanistan. He is yet to decide on the issue of sending more 40,000 US troops to Afghanistan as demanded by Mc Crystal. The security situation in this country is fast deteriorating and writs of Afghan government do not run in majority of the provinces. The top Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders including Osama and Mullah Md Omar are still on the run. Pakistan is also under siege; its war against TTP is not yielding desired results. Hide and Seek game between Pakistan army and TTP is on. News of NUKE technology leak by Dr Abdul Quadir Khan has increased apprehensions of possible slip of N-tech to terrorists.

Under the prevailing situation, the South Asian region may witness some more troublesome years. It remains to be seen that whether grotesque legacy of Bush in the region could be shed or carried forward by Barrack Obama and Hamid Karzai. But one thing can be said for sure, that election in Afghanistan became a missed opportunity.                                           

RIC meeting in Bangalore; hope for future

Bangalore hosted trilateral meeting of RIC (Russia, India, and China) foreign ministers on Tuesday, the 27^th November. This is the first important meeting of international importance after SAARC, which was held in 1986, some 23 years ago. S.M.Krishna, Yang Jeichi and Sergei Lavrov, foreign ministers of India, China and Russia respectively, held discussions on wide ranging issues including international terrorism, climate change, international financial order, Afghanistan, trade and commerce and IMF and World Bank etc.

          This meeting had assumed immense significance in view of recent standoff between India and China on Arunachal Pradesh.  PM Dr. Man Mohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh was opposed by China. Dr Singh met Wen Jiabao, premier of China in Thailand and tried to diffuse the tension. It has been conveyed to the Chinese that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and Chinese stand on this issue is not acceptable to it. On Dalai Lama Indian premiere has categorically stated that he is an honored guest of India.      

The declaration singed after this meeting, demanded among other things, reforms in IMF and World Bank. The three leaders said that India, China and Russia are major players in world economy and therefore should be given at least 5% voting rights in these international financial institutions. Commending the role of international community in fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, the leaders expressed hope that the effort would continue till the normalcy is restored.

Decision was also taken that next meeting of RIC would be held in China. On issues like climatic change, they resolved to take concerted effort and stand on Copenhagen. It is worth mentioning that India and China have signed a bilateral agreement on climate change and have resolved to work together in the field of climate change. These three nations put together constitute 20 % land mass and 39 % world population, and in this backdrop this meeting and decisions taken therein assume great significance.  

They also discussed issues related to trade and commerce and reiterated that more steps would be taken to ensure that trade volume between these countries increases.

If RIC work together in international forums like G-20, WTO and SCO etc can yield very good results. Although issues of Arunachal and Dalai Lama were also raised by Chinese counterpart, but SM Krishna downplayed it intelligently and this meeting remained confined to cooperation rather than confrontation.                     

   

JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS; SILENT DISEASE, KILLING PEOPLE IN BIHAR

SILENT KILLER; CAUSING EXODUS IN BIHAR

Following more than two dozen deaths in Gaya district of the state of Bihar in a couple of weeks, the government has given a wake up call to the health officials in the state headquarters and asked them to launch a special anti-encephalitis vaccination drive on 12^th the November 2009 in affected areas in Gaya district.

In a couple of weeks, more than 100 patients have reached to Anugraha Naryan Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH) Gaya who showed signs of Japanese encephalitis. Although government denies, many NGOs working in the areas say that more than 25 patients mostly children of poor family have lost their lives due this silent killer disease.

Japanese encephalitis has been taking heavy tolls in some areas in Bihar and Eastern UP. According to BBC, from 1974 to 2005 about 8000 people including many children have died due to this disease. Gazipur, Kusinagar,  Mirzapur, Gorakhpur in UP are badly affected by this disease and hundreds of people, mostly children die due to this it.

In Vashali and Muzaffarpur districts in Bihar, 39 people died in the month of August- September, 2009 itself which caused much furore in the government circle, but after some time again everything went as usual.

Similarly in Kharagpur sub-division of Munger district, more than 100 tribal died due this encephalitis and Union government had to send a medical team in the affected area to collect blood sample for making laboratory test in Delhi. What happened thereafter, hardly known to the people suffering from this epidemic.  

Japanese encephalitis is caused because Culex tritaeniorhynchus, mosquito carries Japanese encephalitis virus into human being from wild pigs and birds. These mosquitoes grow in dark and damp places especially near hilly and plateau areas therefore most of the victims are tribal or poor people who live in dark and damp conditions.

Unfortunately, since the victims are mostly neglected and marginalized sections of society, media also pay little or no attention on it. Death of one patient due to H1N1 caused hue and cry across the nation with electronic channels giving running commentary on it, death of thousands of poor people went almost unnoticed and unlamented in the country. This paradox has to come to an end.

  Hopefully the vaccination drive would help mitigate the woes of the suffering people and would give some respite to the people living  in the affected areas.     

NREGA GETS e-Shakti

NREGA; THE CHANGING LIFE OF POOR

Nitish Kumar, the CM of Bihar today started an e-shakti scheme in NREGS for all the districts of Bihar. It is a unique scheme in which the eligible job seekers ( registered labors having job cards) who have already been supplied with job cards under National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes can ask for job under the scheme on telephone. Toll free Numbers are being installed in the headquarters for this scheme.

The CM was very critical of the department of rural development because the overall performance of the NREGS is not satisfactory and the state could come only on the second last ladder of the performance on national basis.

The poor administrative infrastructure, ill trained personnel, rampant corruption at panchayat level and apathy amongst the departmental officials are the root causes of dismal performance of this flagship scheme, which had been started by the UPA government with much fanfare.  In order to improve upon this scheme  both in terms of financial and physical target achievement, the government took a decision only a couple of days ago that NREGS would be implemented though departments other than the rural development also. Departments like Water Resources, Welfare, Road construction, Building construction, REO and Minor Irrigation etc have also been asked to prepare plan to provided jobs to he labors registered under NREGS.

The rules with respect to the NREGA is such that any state which fails to utilize allocated funds under this scheme would get the next year’s allocation reduced by that proportion. Thus every year Bihar gets lesser amount in this flagship programme which is the most ambitious rural employment programme.

The e-shakti scheme is yet to start at full pace as in the inaugural event itself phone lines did not work properly and the questions asked on the phone could not be responded properly by the concerned authority. The CM has reprimanded the officials and asked them to complete the target before this fiscal and set the house in order. It is noteworthy that he has transferred as many as 32 Deputy Development Commissioners (DDC) out of 37 total districts. This huge transfer is being seen in this backdrop also. Comparatively young officers have been posted so that performance is enhanced because the government is left with less than a year only for the completion of its term.     

CHHAT FESTIVAL GETS GLOBAL

WORSHIPING SETTING SUN ALSO

Chhath festival, a festival to worship God Sun has been globalised now. Initially, this festival was parochial and localized and it was celebrated in eastern parts of India especially in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh only, but thanks to media, especially electronic media, this festival got wide coverage and now has transformed into an all India affair. News of the celebration of Chhath also comes from abroad like UK and USA and host of African, South Asian and European countries.

As far as story of its origin is concerned, according to Hindu Mythology, this festival was started during Mahabharata by Draupadi, the wife of Pandavas during the period in exile.  It is said that when Kauravas hatched conspiracy to kill Pandavas in the house of lac, Pandavas somehow survived. They had to escape into jungles to save their lives. They had to undergo unprecedented hardships in jungles. During the period, Arjun, the great archer, won Draupadi in a swayamvar. Draupadi wanted to mitigate woes of her family therefore she performed worship to god sun. it is said that this is how this festival marked the beginning.   

There is another popular belief that Chhath worship was started by the great warrior Karna, the son of Lord Surya, the sun and Kunti.

                   Initially this festival was localized and in anthropological terms it is known as parochial form or PAROCHIALIZATION. Gradually especially with the advent of private electronic news channels, this festival proliferated horizontally across the country. Now metro cities like Mumbai and Delhi also celebrate this festival with unprecedented fervors and gaiety. The occasion is also marked by political blending also and political persons and parties organize and provide facilities in order to attract people in their political fold.  The reports coming out in the press suggest that now this festival is being celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the country baring some exceptions. In anthropology, this expansion is called UNIVERSALIZATION.  Some people celebrate this festival in England and in other parts of Europe also. In south Asian and south-eastern countries, the celebration of this festival is very common.    

Chhath literally means 6(six). It is perhaps therefore it is celebrated six days after the Diwali, the festival of lights. Some people related to religious denominations say that this is the only festival in India in which setting sun is worshiped. Cleanliness is very important in this festival and in fact the whole city witness unfrequented cleanliness drive organized by community. The environment gets surcharged with religious fervor in such a way that even police admits that crime graph during chhath festival goes surprisingly down.  The devotees who are generally female, observe fasting of 36 hours and during this period she along with other members of families perform ARYA, offering, to GOD SUN both when it is rising and setting. Milk, water of holy river Ganges and fruits etc are offered during the rituals.

It is a community festival and therefore many other people unknown and unconnected to family are also allowed to participate and offer to the sun god in this ritual.

With passage of time, the festival has also got blended with market forces. The readymade items for this festival are flooded in the market and huge hoardings and other advertisement materials are conspicuously displayed. The country made earthen hearth and pots, hand made SUPS, a bamboo made flattened item used for keeping fruits etc during offering to the sun etc have been replaced by factory made items. But even then, what is not replaced is the zeal and religious fervor in this festival.        

NOBEL TO OBAMA; FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE OR FOR WHAT HE IS TO DO

ACHIEVING EVERYTHING TOO EARLY

 The conferment of Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 on Barack    Hussein Obama, the US President has triggered a debate across the world that whether it is a premature decision or it is a wrong decision altogether. Many news channels and newspapers have started online voting on this issue. Prior to Obama, three US Presidents, one after retirement and two in the office have also been awarded this prestigious and perhaps the most coveted and recognised award, they are Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and  Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Jimmy Carter in 2002. But in none of the case did controversy and public interests arise to such a magnitude.

The decision was so unexpected and surprising that even Obama himself, who was in sound asleep in White House was made to awake to break this news on him, was astonished on the decision.  Although diplomatically, he reciprocated with words like ‘Humbled and Honoured’, it was not easily palatable to him also; it was like a pleasant dream for him.

The decision of Norwegian Nobel Committee, which was established in 1901 by Alfred Nobel, the ‘Inventor of Dynamite’, the explosive, presently comprising of five eminent people from Europe and headed by Thorbjorn Jagland, the former PM of Norway, to award Obama was not an easy task because a all time record 205 nominations were on the board, including persons like Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and Chinese dissident Hu Jia, Martti Ahtisaari etc.

WHAT OBAMA HAS SO FAR DONE FOR PEACE- Many people including some think tanks and world leaders are asking that what Obama has so far accomplished? Walesa, the former President of Poland and himself Nobel Peace Prize winner also openly criticized this decision by saying that Obama has so far accomplished nothing. 

 People say that Obama has opened many fronts in international diplomacy of course, but results or logical conclusions of these ‘back or front door diplomacies’ have not yet come. He has been desperately trying to solve vexed and seemingly unending ‘West Asia problem’ and has appointed ‘George Mitchell’ as special envoy to initiate dialogue with warring factions including Hamas on the one hand and Israeli government on the other. The victory of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel has made Obama’s task only difficult as former has openly but diplomatically not accepted Obama’s ‘two Nation and Stop Settlement theory’. The famous ‘Cairo Speech’ of Obama which stirred hornest nest in the Muslim world and was termed as Obama’s bold and farsighted effort to avert the imminent ‘Clash of Civilisations’ as propounded by Samuel Huntington. Obama wanted to end or at least mitigate this hatred in the Muslim world for Americans in particular and European in general, a grotesque legacy which both senior and junior George Bush had left for him. Although, a lot more is required to be done both by the international community and Obama in this regard, a humble beginning was definitely made by Obama, for which he rightly deserves appreciation. At least, he could muster courage and showed political sagacity and diplomatic audacity to accept that America has done some wrongs, for which time has arrived to mend ways and rectify and nullify the wrongs done.

On Afghanistan, Obama’s policy is yet to take definite shape and yield results. By appointing Richard Holbrook as special envoy for Afghanistan, he sent signal to the world community, especially the Muslim world, that he is all set to change the old stereotypes and colonial mindset towards South-Asia. Although by the time Obama could arrive at White House, huge collateral damage had been done both in terms of man and money. Many American politicians and many security experts also including Stanley A. McChrystal, the chief of NATO forces in Afghanistan say openly now that America and West is fighting a lost war in Afghanistan. McChrystal in a 66 pages report has demanded 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan; otherwise, he said, US will lose the war. This report has shaken confidence security and defence establishments including Pentagon. Joe Biden in not in favour of sending more troops and Obama is not yet made up his mind, which way he will go. It is not possible for him either to eschew or to end the war abruptly and abjure attacks on Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The USA is to decide and choose between devil and the deep sea. Eight precious years and loss of billions of dollars has brought for America only causalities, defame and injuries. Obama has to overcome from this; a huge and stupendous task of finding an amicable but lasting solutions. The hope generated during Afghanistan election also is going to be a fiasco. But so far Obama has been able to play very cautiously and intelligently and he requires consistency as well as continuity in this regard and this award is definitely a prize and a go ahead signal for him.

As far as Nuclear disarmament and arms race are concerned, Obama has taken bold and decisive steps. Although, it is premature to give him a certificate of victory or accomplishment, a beginning is made, the process has been incited, which had been in hibernation for a long time. The controversial ‘Europe Missile Defence plan’ has been abandoned by Obama, a decision which was very difficult to take under the prevailing politico-strategic global environment. By doing so, Obama has tried to lessen the tension with Russia, the arch rival even after losing its superpower status.

Even during Georgian crisis, which led to establishment of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent nations, Obama maintained ‘outstanding restraint’, a posture which was unheard of during recent times by White House.

In UN General Assembly session, Obama’s initiative brought CTBT and NPT again on international agenda. In recent times, both these treaties had been put into ‘mode of pause’. The Nobel Committee must have taken into consideration these aspects also before taking a final decision on this issue. The US’ posture of ‘ready to take on those who dare to challenge’ has been bid good-bye by Obama. He repeatedly utters ‘conciliation and not confrontation’ and advocates for ‘peaceful co-existence’ rather than dominance. These are some of the steps taken by Obama, which has definitely ushered in a new era of difference, for which Obama must be encouraged.

The experience of ‘policy of economic and military sanction’ has been proved disastrous and has done more harm than good. This perhaps due to this mindset, Obama did not act the manner his predecessors would have acted with North Korea and Iran on their defiance of international opinion by test firing N-Missiles etc. He is trying to end economic sanctions of Myanmar also, but not unilaterally but by taking into confidence Suu Kyi also.

Last but definitely not the least is the decision of release of hundreds of detainees in Guantanamo bay. Though it was criticised by many including his compatriots, Obama did not hesitate and took a historic decision to show that he really cares for all what he says. The results in terms of prevail of good will in the Muslim world is still a distant dream, but Obama has tried to undo many wrongs which has been done by his predecessors including George Bush, the junior.

Thus there is no denying the fact that Obama’s actions have yet to be translated into achievements, his efforts are inculcated with sincerity and honesty for which he must be praised and suitably rewarded. And Nobel Prize for peace was definitely the best available option for the Nobel Committee.

However this award will ever be remembered for making a departure in the sense that all previous Nobel Prizes had been conferred for ‘What has been done’ but this year’s award perhaps for the first time has been given for ‘What is to be done’. Perhaps due to this departure, even chairman of the committee Thorbjorn Jagland also said ‘If you look at the history of the Peace Prize, we have on many occasions given it to try to enhance what many personalities were trying to do’ he added ‘It was because we would like to support he is trying to achieve’. The message clear; Obama has been awarded for what he is to do and not what he has done.                                                

  

Vulgar salaries; Innovation versus Regulation

TO WHAT EXTENT WILL YOU GET FATTER?


The fattening and getting monster in size the salaries of hundreds of CEOs across India has invited both national an international media attention. The growing number of persons in the list annually published by Forbes Magazine has also invited attention of both common man and politicians in this country. The statement of  Salman Khurshid, the minister for corporate affairs has ignited the debate across the nation as to whether there should be any regulation vis-à-vis vulgar salaries of CEOs in India or not. Only few moths back, Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh had also advised corporate world to rethink over ever increasing salaries and perks of the CEOs which, he lamented, widens the gulf between rich and poor and haves and have nots. PM was also disapproving the vulgar and gargantuan salaries in social and ethical perspective and said that this heightens the social tensions in the society because when people see this huge gap and wants to imitate the ostentatious life styles of ‘rich and famous’ over TV screens often get frustrated and tend to resort to violent and unlawful means.


HUGE GAP- the list appearing in public domain through media regarding top 10 highest paid salaries CEOs, suggests that the number has increased both in size and numbers. Persons like Mukesh Ambani who tops the list gets more than 44 crore( 440 million) as annual salary, whereas as Pawan Kant Munjal of hero Honda gets more than Rs/-150 million per annum. The list is being added by new debuts every year meaning thereby that more and more people of fat and vulgar salaries are being born in India. Many people may argue that what is wrong in it? Apparently nothing unethical and lamentable appears in this new corporate culture. China, the third largest and fasted growing economy in the globe which has celebrated its 60^th anniversary of its birth of communism with huge pomp and prowess, has also witnessed incredible increase in numbers of HNIs and the number of millionaires  here has gone up to unbelievable  8, 25,000. The Chinese economy grew by 67 times since 1979, the year when Deng Xiaoping took over the rein of this Asian dragon. But this does not justify situation in our countries which is far from satisfaction. Our economy has also grown over a decade or so but at the same time and we too have occasions to celebrate, but we have created more deserts than oasis. More than 80% Indians do not spend even Rs/- 20 on them. Our country has still the stigma of having largest number of under nourished and mal nourished children. The health indicators and socio-economic indicators do not speak eulogy for us. The Human Development Index (HDI) launched by UNDP in 1990 has published its 2009 reports in which India slipped at 134^th position.  According to World Health Organization, about 49% of the World’s under weight children and 34% of the World’s stunted children and 46% of World’s wasted children live in India. On contrary to this, about 83, 000 Indians have liquid assets more than 1 Million dollars. There are millions of people who own more than 5 palatial buildings whereas there are hundreds of thousands of people who sleep under sky.
We have still hundreds of villages and towns which are not electrified and connected with good roads. We use mineral waters in cities whereas; people in many rural areas do not have access to safe drinking water. There are millions of homeless people and Indira Awas Yojna, a flagship scheme for providing homes to BPL families is still to provide even the minimum space required homes to all eligible BPL families. On the other hand there are people who spend 700 crore on one building to live in. what a dichotomy and contrast indeed! Under this backdrop how can India afford such vulgar salaries to some of the CEOs?  


INNOVATION versus REGULATION- Minister’s public utterance against the vulgar salaries of CEO’s has triggered a public debate and the society is vertically divided on this issue.   The people having views of no regulation on the salaries of CEOs suggests that any regulation from outside may be from government, would jeopardize the process of innovation in India. There shall be a brain drain if the salaries are put under a fixed ceiling, they warn. Some of the High Net worth Individuals (HNI) passes sarcastic remarks and say ‘you can keep monkey by paying grams’. But experiences in the past reveal another story. In India for example, all innovations and inventions have come from government aided or owned laboratories or from public sectors. Privates sectors do not simply bother to invest in Research and Development (R&D). The inspiration of opening of economy and pursuing policies of Liberalization, privatization and globalization came from government side. The stimulus of innovations has been coming from regulations and not from de-regulation. In fact the de-regulation and excessive leverage in the financial system has given us worst ever global financial crisis and it is the regulation which is providing stimulus to turn it round. Even in USA, ‘efficient market hypothesis’ of Eugene Fama which later became of less regulation in the financial market of the world did not belong to any commercial or investment bank, rather Fama belonged to academia. Therefore the logic of this kind is rubbish and need not deserve hearing. 
The government must come up with a comprehensive legislation with respect to providing a ceiling on the ever growing size of salaries of the CEOs otherwise it will further the dissent in our society and widen the gap between rich and poor. No society and economy can thrive and grow under such dichotomy and contradictions.  Amartya Sen has rightly said that growth without democratic distribution brings no prosperity in the country.                        

       

GANGA DOLPHIN DECLARED NATIONAL AQUATIC ANIMAL

SAVE ME I WILL HELP SAVE YOU
Ganga Dolphin, locally known as ‘Sauns’ has been declared as ‘National Aquatic Animal’. Decision to this effect has been taken by Forest and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on the eve of maiden meeting of Ganga River Basin Authority (GRBA) chaired by PM in New Delhi yesterday on the suggestion of Nitish Kumar, CM of Bihar.

Ganga Dolphin an endemic and endangered species are found in the holy river Ganga mostly between Patna to Bhagalpur. Environmentalists have been agitating for long time to protect this aquatic animal, the number of which is said to be around 2000 only in the world. About 2 to 2.5 meter long saus, the dolphin came into prominence in 1991 when the state government declared it ‘endangered species’ and declared  60 kilometre Ganga strip near Bhagalpur as ‘Ganges dolphin sanctuary’. This is the single zone in which about 160-200 Ganga dolphins have been counted. The fishing of this endangered species has been banned years ago but still then fisher men do not hesitate killing this animal largely due to ignorance. The feature of this endemic animal is such that it looks like ferocious one but on the contrary these saus are very harmless and human friendly. Surprisingly no such attention has so far been given internationally to this animal. Environmentalists are particularly very excited and happy on this decision and say that this declaration would now help in big way to protect and preserve this species.    

  

Naxalites kill 16 in Bihar

GUNS ROARED AGAIN IN BIHAR AFTER A LONG TIME

Left ultras have killed 16 People in Khagaria district of Bihar on 2^nd October night. The scheduled castes supported by naxalites  attacked people who were asleep in the village Ichwara in Khagaria district, some 200 Kilometers away from state capital Patna. The suspected maoists who were said to be 20 in numbers segregated the old and young and tied their hands and legs and then fired on them with firearms killing 16 of them on the spot. One man who saved his life by pretending to be dead narrated the whole  gruesome story to the police. The dead bodies were lying for autopsy to be done and the situation on the spot is pathetic. The helpless women and children are weeping bitterly making the environment very emotional. Among the dead bodies, there are some 10-12 years children also. Nobody understands why did they kill these children?  

The villagers were so angry that they did not allow deputy chief minister shushil modi to stay and talk to the villagers. He was hackled and forced to leave the village instantly. The chief minister Nitish kumar has announced ex-gratia payment of  one lakh and fifty thousand rupess to the next of the kin killed in this dastardly act of mayhem. The police says that land dispute is the reason for this attack. The 200-300 bighas of gairmazarua, the government land is said to be under the possession of the people belonging to keori and kurmi caste. The Mushars, a scheduled caste who are called mahadalits now wanted to take possession of these lands, they said that these lands belonged to their ancestors and farmers have fraudulently and forcefully grabbed this when they were innocent and helpless. There were some scuffles also few months back which was reported to the police, but they alleged that police in connivance of these farmers did not take any action. Therefore the Mushars decided to kill them in order to teach them a lesson, some people say on condition of anonymity.  They contacted the left ultras, the police says, and with the help of them, they perpetrated this violence.

Bihar had been not witnessing such type of massacres for quite some time and people were taking sigh of relief that perhaps the massacres are the incidents of past. But this incident has again exposed that smoulder of hatred and violence still exist in the society. In recent years, Nitish Kumar had earned reputation of being a good administrator who has set the house in order. Media houses has been flooded with reports of improvement in law and order situation. This incident has again raised eyebrows of doubts and the government witll have to leave no stone unturned to improve the state police machinery and deal with therse elements with iron hands.

Land reforms has taken back seat over a decade or more. No political party, for risk of loosing vote banks dare to touch this contentious issue on one pretext or the other. Nitish Kumar, just after coming to power some three and half years ago, set up one ‘Land Reform Commission’ under a retired IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, D. Bandhopadhyay, who had earned reputation in West Bengal for implementing some excellent measures in that state. This Commission has submited its recommendations also some six months ago. The report has been made public also. But due to setbacks received by NDA( alliance of JD(U) and BJP) in the recently concluded bye elections, Nitish Kumar is not daring to implement the recommendations. The political observers say that recommendations like giving statutory rights to the share-croppers, which government said would be implemented very soon has infuriated the farmers, mostly upper and other backward castes. These groups opposed this move and voted against the NDA, the alliacnce of which Nitish Kumar is the chief minister.   Thus this opportunity of implementation of land reforms has also been lost. It is being said that now onwards no political party will even like these issues to be raised and discussed on public forums.

Markel to be chancellor for second term

IRON LADY; FIRST AFTER MARGRET THATCHER


Angela Markel is all set to become the Chancellor of Germany for the second term as election held on Sunday gave her fractured mandate to rule the nation for second time in row. Markel’s party Christian Democrats (CDU) and ruling coalition partner Social Democrats (SPD) fought election on separate manifesto but SPD performed badly and won only 23%of the votes. On the other hand, a pro-business party Free Democrats (FDP) secured 14% of the votes. The Markel’s CDU/CSU won 33%. Markel is not set to end the grand coalition with Social Democrats and forge alliance with FDP.

Markel, who become first woman Chancellor of Germany in 2005, by overshadowing the towering personality like Helmut Kohl, has proved herself by spectacular performance in so many difficult times for Germany. Silencing the critics who call Markel as unimpressive and under-performer leader, she sometimes outsmarted leaders like Gordon Brown and Obama also on a number of occasions at international platforms.

TOUGH JOBS AHEAD- Speculation was rife in international media ever since recession took second toll in Japan after USA when 55 years of rule of LDP and 8 years of rule of Republicans came to an end after elections which were held after recession has begun in Japan and USA respectively, that Markel would not be able to hold the key. Nevertheless, the jobs ahead her are not easy. The largest economy of Europe and biggest partner in EU, Germany too is facing rough times due to recession. The unemployment is all time high and economic recovery is sluggish. Although, Germany is not as shopaholic as many other European countries, the recession has taken heavy too here also. The export is low and deficit is high. The public debt is also not very comfortable. In this situation, the task is tough and mandate is thin. The performance of Free Democrats (FDP) has aroused expectations of the business community all time high. She had to fine tune her economic and financial policies so that the workers and owners both are satisfied. The vote percentage of left parties has registered a growth of 3.2% and they have secured 11.9%, therefore the job of Markel vis-a-vis reforms and austerity would not be so easy.

The erstwhile partner Socialist Democrats’ leader Westerwelle has said that he would act as a vigilant but responsible opposition. Markel, sensing the mood of the people and vote percentage she got, has said that her job would be for ‘all Germans’. 

MARKEL; AN IRON LADY- Born in 1954, Markel’s rise in Germany’s politics is somewhat meteoric. She joined CDU in 1990, when the entire World, especially Europe was in turmoil. The collapse and dismemberment of the USSR and subsequent end of communist world put tremendous socio-economic stress on many European countries including Germany. The Unification of East and West Germany had stymied the economic progress of Germany for quite some time. It was a phase of transition when Markel joined the party.  Within four years of joining politics, she became environment minister and her interaction with political figures like Helmut Kohl made her political more mature and administratively more acumen. In 2000, she was elected leader of CDU and in the election held after in 2005 she was elected to lead this nation. She became the first Chancellor of Germany a country historically in turmoil for years. She embarked on the journey and led successfully her nation to the present situation where even USA and UK has to think twice before refusing Germany’s words on international politics. Germany’s ascendancy to this position could be made possible by many others including Markel. That is why she rightly deserves to be called as Iron Lady, but only after Margret Thatcher.                    

G-20 Summit at Pittsburgh, will it be second Bretton Wood?

ACCOMMODATE MORE OR QUIT THE PLACE 

The G-20 summit at Pittsburgh, once the epicentre of America’s heavy industries has aroused many hopes and placed the World at new horizons. The world leaders of both developing and developed countries met together to explore ways to tide over the ongoing recession and evolve system to protect world economy from similar global financial crisis in future. The World has changed ever since the Lehman brothers fell and failed; the too big to fail is now too big to survive, a conceptual change that has penetrated into the hearts, minds and system of the people in Europe and in USA as well. What a change indeed! The collapse of WTC on 9/11 changed the American psyche and so did the collapse of Wall Street on 9/15. Although many people, especially American, would not like this similarity to be drawn, the history once written cannot be rewritten.

The first Economic Crisis, the Great Depression in 1930s led to assemblage of world leaders at Bretton Wood in England in 1944 and this led to subsequent emergence of new world economic order, an order which till 9/15 remained unshakeable. Now the world is changed place to live and think. The G-20 summit at Pittsburgh where leaders of both developed and developing countries were rubbing shoulders in one conglomeration is testimony and witness to this change. The change has arrived, now it is up to the leaders of the developed nations to accept graciously or not, is to be seen.

AGENDA AND EXPECTATIONS FROM G-20- the G-20 is now gradually assuming the role of navigator of the ship of world economy. The association which was formed in 1999   to undo the after-effects of Asian crisis has now grown bigger and stronger. The official members of G-20 now are Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi-Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, UK and USA. Thus, gradually this organisation is grown both in size and strength and world is likely to take the rein of leadership from G-8 and hand it over to G-20. In fact this would be the biggest success of this organisation, a success for which probably founders had also not thought and longed for. 

Underpinning the significance of this Summit and understanding the indispensability of this group, the developed countries like USA and developed continent, the Western Europe have agreed to rub shoulders with the east and north. The north-south divide is being blurred; the abhorrence towards east by west is now bygone. Even Obama had to admit in UN general assembly that distinction of north and south no longer exits.  

The macro agenda of the summit was to strengthen, revamp, reorganise and reorient global financial architecture. The focus is to remove aberrations which have developed in the financial systems over decades since the Bretton- Wood. The aberrations are too obvious and conspicuous to be discussed. The voting right in IMF has to be rescheduled. China has a double the size of French economy, but even then France has more voting right than China. In fact, Europe as a whole has as big as 40% of voting rights in IMF even when it is only 25% of the world economy, whereas USA has only 17% voting rights with 25% share in world economy. Thus USA is also singing in chorus with Asian countries. In this summit the demand again was raised that Europe should give up at least 7-8% of its voting rights for countries like china and India, a demand Europe is unlikely to accept. Thus perhaps for the first time in the economic-political history in the modern times, USA is seen standing on the side of developing nations on such important international platform.  It was perhaps due to mounting pressure, the summit agreed to give 5% voting rights to countries like India and China.

MAJOR DECISIONS TAKEN- The decisions taken at Pittsburgh has been published in a book titled ‘G-20 leaders statement’ which entails 32 major points on which either consensus is arrived or decision is taken. Important among them are constitution of one Financial Stability Board (FSB) which would take care of the financial systems across the globe. India has also been made member to it which signifies the emerging importance India vis-a-vis fiscal and financial system. In fact, world community is very much impressed to learn how smartly Indian banking and other financial systems survived the shock. The statutory provisions with regard to keep minimum reserve to be kept by banks found place in the G-20 deliberations and the world leaders agreed that this model should be made applicable to all the banks across the world.   The FSB shall monitor and regulate whimsical and unfettered functioning of financial institutions which the most important factor was contributing to the GFC.  On the issue of revamping world financial institutions like IMF, the summit committed to reschedule the ‘Quota Formula’ of governance and give weightage to the emerging economies like Indian and China vis-a-vis their share in the world economy. They pledged that this review would be complete by 2011, which means that performance of the economies of these two ‘Asian Giants’ would remain under watch for a couple of years.

Apart from above decisions on economic fronts, the summit also took some very important and valuable decision in areas of climatic change, international terrorism, narco-drug smuggling, trade and commerce and stimulus packages etcetera.

To sum up the whole discussion one can have reservations to say that this Summit was a huge success, but there is no denying the fact that the G-20 has now occupied the driving seat and the engine of the world economic and financial vehicle can no longer be driven by the small group of nations comprised of USA, UK, Germany, France and Italy etc. G-20 has assumed the role of global leadership and would write the history of years to come, it is however premature to say that India has been given her due and desired share on the board.