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Timely Warning

Drug Patents

The Electorate Must Take Heed of It

Gas Price hike

India, US on collision course www.aseema.net.in

Vol. 15 Issue 08 Pages 52 MARCH 2014 Phaalguna (Vijaya) PRICE ` 25

IN THIS ISSUE

History Haunts Congress

Dikshit cornered Corruption charge against the three-time CM

It happened thirty years ago: Operation Blue Star which was aimed at flushing out the militants from the Golden Temple. But its echo is yet to subside.

Perils of a Third Front

12 President’s Timely Warning

Srinivasan at BCCI

The Electorate Must Take Note of It

Post-Election Government

Too many formidable problems in store

Telangana State at last! Pall of Gloom over Seemandhra Now, the New Power Centre of Cricket 10

Drug Patents India, US on collision course

21 24

IN THIS ISSUE

Transcending Boundaries Volume: 15 Issue: 08 March 2014 Phaalguna (Vijaya)

Published & Printed by NARAYAN SEVIRE for and on behalf of the owners JNANA BHARATHI PRAKASHANA, Mangalore. aseemamagazine@gmail.com / 0824-2497091

Catholic Church rattled UN report condemns clerics’ child abuse

Gas Price hike Tension in the Air; big guns in the dock World Commemorates Vivekananda’s

150h birth anniversary Adoption of child

Personal, religious considerations no bar

A Please-all Budget But Will It Stimulate Growth?

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‘Operation Blue Star’ & the UK connection

History Haunts Congress • Raju Shanbhag

t has been thirty years since the raid on the Golden Temple in 1984, code named Operation Blue Star, was launched by the Indian Government. Now there is news that the British government headed by Mrs. Margaret Thatcher had provided military guidance to the Indian Government about the raids. Not only did the British Government know about the raid, but it also gave some strategic tips which, according to the government, had “a limited impact.” Following the revelation, Sikh groups in India have demanded an apology from the UK and demanded that the Indian Government declassify all the documents related to this alleged conspiracy between the governments of the two countries. Operation Blue Star was conducted on June 3–8, 1984. It was ordered by the then Prime Minister Indira Gan-

It happened thirty years ago: Operation Blue Star which was aimed at flushing out the militants from the Golden Temple. But its echo is yet to subside. Now a report from the UK says that the Indian Government had sought British advice on the operation and this has angered the Sikh community. The British “assistance” was strictly advisory; no British military equipment was used or supplied. And yet there lingers an uneasy feeling about the whole affair and the general opinion seems to be that Britain should not have come in the picture at all.

dhi. The operation was conducted to flush out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the leader of the Sikh dissidents, and his armed followers from the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, Punjab. It had two components: Operation Metal, confined to the Harmandir Sahib complex, and Operation Shop, which raided the Punjabi countryside to capture any suspects. Following this, Operation Woodrose was launched to thoroughly scan the Punjab countryside. It was carried out by the Indian Army with tanks, artillery, helicopters and armoured vehicles. Although the Indian army and the government were successful in their mission to weed out the militants from the Golden Temple, Operation Blue Star caused a wave of repercussions that are still felt in the country. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguard. There was a backlash against the Sikhs from some members of the ruling Congress Party.

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But why did Britain get involved in this? Well, the UK government had been advising the Indian Government on issues including militancy. There had been previous UK military contacts in 1982 with the Indian CounterTerrorism Unit (the “Special Group”). But it was well before the situation at Sri Harmandir Sahib became critical, and involved different personnel. The documents suggest this was in response to an urgent request from the Indian Intelligence Co-ordinator for expert military advice on Indian contingency plans for potential action against those occupying the temple complex. The recommendation and decision to agree to this request were based on advice from the British High Commission that it would be good for the bilateral relationship, whereas a refusal would not be understood by the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs Gandhi. There is no evidence in the files, or from discussion with officials involved at the time, that other forms of assistance for the operation –for example, equipment or tactical intelligence – were provided for the Indian operation. There does appear to have been some internal UK military consideration, immediately after the UK military adviser’s visit to India, of whether to offer training for the potential operation, if requested by the Indian authorities, and if agreed by UK Ministers. But there is no evidence that any Indian request was made, or that ministerial permission was ever sought. According to reports, the British Government suggested that this type of operation should only be put into effect as a last resort. Beyond this, it made no comment on the timing of any potential future operation. The advice given to the Indian authorities

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The UK Connection I

t seems UK is constantly being pulled into the chain of events of the 1984 raids, with or without its consent. Apart from its alleged involvement in this whole affair, in 2013, the country also witnessed an attack on Lt Gen Kuldeep Singh Brar, who led the Indian Army’s assault in 1984 on the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Lt Gen Brar was in London on a holiday with his wife Meena, a visit the couple regularly made. There have been many attempts on his life since 1984 and several extremist Sikh websites had him listed as their number one target. The jury at Southwark Crown Court were told by Lt Gen Brar: “(Operation Blue Star) wasn’t carried out against the Sikh community but against the militants who had been carrying out a lot of killings.” His attackers - Mandeep Singh Sandhu, 34, Birmingham, and Dilbag Singh, 36 - from London were just children when Operation Blue Star took place. Two members of Dilbag Singh’s family had been missing since 1984 -- his father and brother, who were in the temple complex at the time of the Indian Army’s operation.

identified sufficient number of helicopters and the capability to deploy troops by helicopter, as critical requirements for this approach. The UK advice also focused on command and control arrangements, and night-time co-ordination of paramilitary with Indian Special Group forces. The overall tone, but not detail, of this report was reflected in the formal FCO report back to the Prime Minister’s office. Recent Indian media reports suggest the operational plan developed by the Indian interlocutors of the UK military adviser was called “Sundown”, and focused on detaining Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale occupying Sri Harmandir Sahib. There is no mention of “Operation Sundown” in UK files. According to UK military staff, there were significant differences between the actual June operation, and the advice from the UK military officer

in February. In particular, the element of surprise was not at the heart of the operation, the reports claim. Irrespective of the intention of the then UK Government, the Sikh community has reacted with anger and a sense of betrayal. The head of the Sikh Council in the UK, Gurmel Singh, said he was “shocked and disappointed” at reports that the government of Margaret Thatcher may have been involved. Labour MP Tom Watson, whose West Bromwich constituency has many Sikhs, has demanded that the Foreign Office release further papers about any British role. The UK Government should immediately release the documents relating to this whole chain of events. That will also help the Sikh community to uncover some hidden truths about that tragic event.

Will a Third Front be a solution to the country’s economic and political woes? The answer is clearly ‘No’ because each party in the proposed Third Front has its own narrow, regional agenda and each of them owes its existence to its populist policies. Unless they adopt a national perspective, a Third Front, if at all it forms a government, would be a national disaster and will plunge the country into economic and political chaos.

Perils of a Third Front

Problems will only get aggravated

• Narayan Ammachchi

“Third Front” is like a seasonal flower that grows only during the election season. When the election comes closer, the flower blooms but withers away once it is over. In early 2009, about nine regional political outfits cobbled together a coalition and even staged an election rally in Tumkur, a city near Bangalore. But a week later, they disappeared. In this election year, the Third Front has once again come into life. This time, it is made of 11 disparate political groups holding 17% of parliamentary seats. The Third Front has a history of failure. Its founders are well aware that they cannot form a government without support from either BJP or Congress. Yet they promise the voters moon. They also know that their political agenda feeds on a range of regional issues and they cannot run a

government that can bring justice for the whole nation. Worse still, the Third Front is a symbol of instability, it never completed full five year term every time it formed the government in Delhi. They launched the government in chaos and ended in chaos.

The Third Front formed the government twice –– once led by Deve Gowda and then by I K Gujral – with the support of Congress, the party they had fought against in the election. The Congress toppled the Deve Gowda government, complaining that the intelligence agency was spy-

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ing on its president Seetaram Kesari. Gujrat’s government lasted barely a few months, but it had already caused enough damage: the economy collapsed, stock market crashed and investors fled. Those trying to form the Third Front were with either the Congress or the BJP and their ideology never differed from the major political parties. Moreover, as their political agenda feeds on a range of regional issues, they cannot run a government that has to care for the interests of the whole nation. The 11 regional parties that formed an electoral alliance this month hold 92 seats and claim to be offering an alternative to Congress and the BJP. They include the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The Trinamul Congress cannot be a part of the coalition as long as there are left parties, its main rivals in West Bengal. Similarly, Lalu Yadav cannot join hands with it because there is Nitish Kumar’s JDU, which snatched power from Lalu in Bihar. And Mayavati cannot shake hands with the Third Front as it has its rival Samajavadi Party. Therefore, Mamata Banerjee has now formed a new coalition and called it the Federal Front, which is made up of Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and a handful of smaller groupings.

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Neither Nitish, nor Deve Gowda, nor SP, nor the Left is answering questions over who will become the prime minister if they are elected to power. That’s of course a difficult question to the Federal Front as well. Here, everybody is a leader in his/her own right and each of them aspires to become the prime minister. The biggest flaw with the Third Front is that it has too many bosses and none of them has control over his tongue whatsoever. As they comment and tease their allies, the coalition weakens and falls apart like a sand castle. On February 13, a pre-poll survey by Times Now and C-Voter predicted that regional parties could secure as many as 215 seats in the 545-member Parliament, with the BJP under prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi emerging as the largest party with 202. In an interview given to Bloomberg, Birla Group’s executive chairman Jayaraman said that a Third Front government at this juncture would be a disaster. “Most members of this so-called Third Front government are parties that believe in populist measures, and most of them are against economic liberalisation,” he said. The Samajwadi and AIADMK have pursued populist policies such as loan waivers and doling out free laptops. International ratings agency Standard and Poor’s warned in November that the rating may be cut to junk status unless the election leads to a government capable of reviving

growth. If the ratings are cut, that may make borrowing still costlier for Indians and plunge the rupee to further lows. So what worries analysts now is that regional parties that make up the Third Front lack a national perspective and have no economic agenda to speak of.

Srinivasan at BCCI

Now, the New Power Centre of Cricket

he anti-corruption cell of the International Cricket Council (ICC) may have initiated an investigation against him; his son-in-law might have been trapped in neck-deep trouble regarding his role in match fixing scandal. But make no mistake, N. Srinivasan still calls the shots in the cricketing world. Case or no case, it seems that Srinivasan seems all set to rule BCCI, and thereby the world cricket, for at least some more time. Cricket has long ceased to be a gentleman’s game. It’s now a sport being played for money, big money. In a world where money making twenty-20’s are more eagerly marketed and promoted by cricket bodies, Srinivasan’s rise as the most powerful man in world cricket has been meteoric. Srinivasan is the son of T. S. Narayanaswami, co-founder of India

N Srinivasan, who was in the glare of publicity recently regarding his alleged role in match fixing scandal, is again in the news -- this time as the head of BCCI. Now he will be the man who will steer the IPL and his word will be the law. He has been able to convince ICC about a new plan that would improve the financial conditions of all the member nations through lucrative deals. This has received solid support from Cricket Australia (CA) Chairman Wally Edwards and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief Giles Clarke.

Cements. Being born in a rich and powerful family, he always enjoyed positions of power in his father’s company. He was introduced to cricket administration by former BCCI president A. C. Muthiah. He was the Secretary of the BCCI before becoming the current President, taking over the reins from Shashank Manohar, in 2011. His company, India Cements, owns Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise team Chennai Super Kings and he is the president of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. Srinivasan is also President of the Tamil Nadu Golf Federation and the All India Chess Federation. His rise in world cricket has been riddled with controversies. Until September 2008, BCCI regulation, Clause 6.2.4, stated that “no administrator of BCCI could have had, directly or indirectly, any com-

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mercial interest in the matches or events conducted by the cricket board”. Later, after the start of IPL in 2008, the clause was amended to give unfavourable benefit to BCCI members in such a way that they can own stakes in the IPL franchise. Srinivasan later went on to become the owner of Chennai Super Kings. The case against Srinivasan on the grounds of conflict of interest is still pending in the Supreme Court. In 2013, under the massive Indian Premier League spot fixing controversy, Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested by the Mumbai Police, charged with involvement in heavy betting and trading inside information to bookies. Srinivasan resigned after intense media pressure. On October 8, 2013, the Supreme Court allowed Srinivasan to take charge as BCCI President. On February 10, 2014, a report submitted by the retired High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal-led committee, indicted Meiyappan for illegal betting and passing on sensitive information to bookies during IPL 2013. The 170-page report also stated that India

Cements was liable for Meiyappan’s actions and that the Chennai Super Kings franchise was in violation of the franchise agreement, which may result in the termination of the Indian Premier League franchise. But in spite of all the allegations and media glare, Srinivasan has made it big in the cricketing world. Recently, he was able to convince ICC about a new plan which, he said, “would improve the financial conditions of all the member nations through lucrative deals.” He got solid support from Cricket Australia (CA) Chairman Wally Edwards and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief Giles Clarke. So, according to this new restructuring plan, Srinivasan will be the new president of ICC from July 2014. This new structure also gives more powers to BCCI in matters related to world cricket. This is only natural, as BCCI contributes more than 80% of the revenue to ICC. Srinivasan will now become the ICC chairman for the next two years and the reformed structure now officially makes him the most powerful man in world cricket. As BCCI president, Srinivasan was

always supported by the world’s richest and most influential cricket body. Now, the changes in the ICC will make India even more powerful financially and within the world organization. It also means that he will have the last word on most matters, home and away. Srinivasan as the ICC chairman, with Edwards and Clarke by his side as heads of the newly-formed Executive Committee and Finance and Commercial Affairs (F&CA) Committee respectively, can now dictate terms in all ICC events. With the Future Tours Programme (FTP) becoming a bilateral affair from the next rights cycle, he as the BCCI chief, will also be in a position to have a say on broadcast deals for the bilateral assignments. Srinivasan’s plan for ICC mainly involves earning more money for every member team; it has nothing to do with improving the game or bringing about any radical changes in the way the game is played. One does not need to try too hard to understand which way the game is going.

How IPL Earns Money I

PL, Srinivasan’s brainchild, is the biggest money spinner in world cricket. Many players have openly stated that they had never seen the kind of money that is being offered to them in IPL. International schedules are modified at will to accommodate the IPL schedule. But how do franchises in IPL make money? Here are some ways: (1) The franchise sells the team to various companies for advertisements and promotion. All players do the ad for these com-

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(2) (3)

(4)

(5) (6) (7)

panies without taking any money. The money which is paid by companies for ad goes to the franchise. No player may ignore the direction of their franchise for advertisements and promotion. The players of all IPL teams are not allowed to do any ad or promotion without the permission of their franchise during the IPL matches. The franchise earns money from ticket sales at the stadium. The net profit is distributed among the franchises and the IPL. The franchises earn money from television rights of the IPL cricket match. Franchise of IPL team earns from the ad in stadium ground. Franchises sell their shares to some other investor in high value. The new investor becomes part of franchise and takes shares in the profit of the franchise.

It is now Sheila Dikshit’s turn to be in the dock. She has been blamed for importing thousands of electric bulbs for the Commonwealth Games at high prices while they were all available within the country. There seem to be other skeletons in the cupboard, which are coming out one after another. On a directive from the now-defunct Aam Aadmi government the Delhi police has filed an FIR and it is to been seen how Dikshit will face this challenge to her political career.

Dikshit cornered

Corruption charge against the three-time CM

• Gangadhar Sharma

ike Suresh Kalmadi, Sheila Dikshit, three-time Chief Minister of Delhi, is also in troubled waters. She has been accused of causing a loss of Rs.30 crore to the government by importing electric bulbs at exorbitant rates. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), who audited the accounts of the Delhi streetlight project, says the man who won the contract to supply the bulbs must have ‘made a killing’. There was no reason to import the bulbs in the first place, says the CAG. Interestingly, the CAG says, the wattage and lux level of the bulbs are akin to those used elsewhere in the coun-

try. More interestingly, the decision to import luminous bulbs came up for discussion suddenly, out of nowhere. And the government took the decision in no time. It all happened in 2010, when the government was preparing the city for the Commonwealth Games. Though the CAG smelt the scandal in its audit the following year, Dikshit did not bother to order an investigation. Nor did she issue a convincing reply to the allegation of corruption. But the Kejriwal government ordered an investigation just a few days before it collapsed. The investigating agency has filed an FIR, which clearly indicts Dikshit. Not only CAG, even the PM-ap-

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pointed Shunglu Committee had expressed concern at the personal interest Dikshit took in importing electric bulbs. VK Shunglu, a former CAG employee, writes in his report that “the whole method of awarding work to SpaceAge Switch Gear LTD smelt criminal conspiracy.” Little is known about the SpaceAge Switch Gear, which was in fact disqualified from supplying anything to the government. It later imported thousands of bulbs from Dubai paying thousands of rupees per piece. In her reply, Dikshit said that various government agencies – like the Public Works Department (PWD), the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Municipal Corporation (MCD) – were involved in the streetlights and streetscaping projects in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games. And she went on saying all decisions related to the infrastructure development were taken by the Cabinet. But CAG said the account books relating to the Commonwealth Games were confusing and it was hard to figure out who is responsible for which crime. CAG could not trace the original documents for nearly 30 percent of the account books it audited. Dikshit can now feel relieved, because the Aam Aadmi Party government collapsed before it could pass the Jan Lokpal Bill. Had it been enforced, Dikshit would have already been behind bars. She is facing several corruption charges. In its report for 2011-2012, CAG has laid blame at her doorsteps for the Rs.645-crore loss suffered by the government agencies such as the Delhi Power Company. The electricity distributor is gasping for breath, with its finance in the doldrums.

Chain of Allegations Dikshit was also accused of funding political advertisements with the money released to her government for carrying out developmental programmes such as Rajiv Ratan Awas Yojana. Delhi Lokayukta dropped this

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investigation halfway through without giving any genuine reason. It was alleged that Dikshit spent more than three crore rupees on political advertisements. Another allegation she is facing is about the number of flats her government built for the urban poor. The Lokayukta said figures mentioned in the government documents do not match with the actual number of flats constructed. She shocked the world when she said ‘It’s okay” in a speech to pay tributes to the girl who died in Singapore hospital week after she was gangraped in Delhi. On November 2009, Dikshit came under criticism for granting parole

to Manu Sharma, accused of murdering Jessica Lal. Media reported that he has been visiting night clubs in Delhi while on parole. Dikshit defended her decision to sign the parole papers, declaring nothing “illegal or unlawful” was done in extending the benefit to the prisoner. The Delhi High Court said that she had given preferential treatment to Sharma in granting parole while neglecting such pleas by the “poor” people languishing in jail for years. Asked about the high court’s criticism of the decision, Dikshit justified her position, saying “whatever files I receive, they come through proper channels.”

President’s Timely Warning The Electorate Must Take Note of It

Those who seek the trust of voters must promise only what is possible. Government is not a charity shop. Populist anarchy cannot be a substitute for governance. False promises lead to disillusionment, which gives birth to rage, and that rage has one legitimate target: those in power”. These words of President Pranab Mukherjee addressed to the nation on the Republic Day have struck a chord with the people of the country, for never before has a President spoken on behalf of the Aam Aadmi this way. It has come from the bottom of his heart because of the disturbing trend of aberrations in our democratic system and all-pervasive corruption.

• Dr. A Surya Prakash

he President’s speech on occasions like the Independence Day and the Republic Day is seen by people as something of a ritual that

the Rashtrapati performs year after year. This is so because what dominates these speeches is dull, uninspiring prose packed with officialese and platitudes. Far from connecting with the people, these speeches only

end up emphasising the disconnect between the Head of State who lives in his grand palace which majestically overlooks the Rajpath, and the Aam Aadmi (the common man). But, President Pranab Mukherjee’s

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address to the nation this Republic Day was distinct. It had the stamp of a person who has rich political and administrative experience, is deeply worried about India’s welfare and democratic well-being and has no qualms about calling a spade a spade. More importantly, it was strongly rooted in the country’s contemporary social, political and economic reality, was non-partisan and contained a very strong message for the country’s electors who have to make an all important decision in May, 2014. As stated earlier, every one of Mr.Mukherjee’s predecessors has delivered these customary speeches that are religiously broadcast by All India Radio and Doordarshan, but few, if any, have ever had the courage to speak on behalf of the people and to honestly reflect the mood of the nation, even if it means hurting the incumbent government or the coalition of parties that are currently in power. The Rashtrapati showed that he had his finger on the pulse of the people and was aware of the growing sense of hopelessness among the citizenry when he said, “We do feel angry and rightly so, when we see our democratic institutions being weakened by complacency and incompetence. If we hear sometimes an anthem of

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despair from the street, it is because the people feel that a sacred trust is being violated.” He then turned to the one big issue troubling all Indians – corruption – and spoke on behalf of every citizen when he said, “If Indians are enraged, it is because they are witnessing corruption and waste of national resources. If governments do not remove these flaws, voters will remove governments.” That the President had chosen to speak his mind became obvious when he talked of the dangerous rise in hypocrisy in public life. Obviously referring to the reckless promises that politicians make in order to garner votes and the terrible implications

that these promised freebies have on the economy and the finances of governments, he said that elections do not give any person “the licence to flirt with illusions”. ‘‘Those who seek the trust of voters must promise only what is possible. Government is not a charity shop. Populist anarchy cannot be a substitute for governance. False promises lead to disillusionment, which gives birth to rage, and that rage has one legitimate target: those in power.’’ The President has warned that this rage will abate only when governments deliver and that those in office must eliminate the trust deficit between them and the people. They

must also understand that every election comes with a warning sign: “Perform or Perish”. . Never before has a President cautioned politicians about the consequences of public rage as he has done in his recent address. Though many feel that his reference to “populist anarchy” is particularly directed

at the Aam Aadmi Party, it would be unfair to think that the President operates on such a small canvass. Obviously, the President is troubled by the tactics of the Delhi Chief Minister, who prefers street agitations to a decent day’s work at the Secretariat. But there are many other politicians who have infringed age-old rules of governance in this country. One has to only look at the reckless populism of the Manmohan Singh Government at the Centre or the Akhilesh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh or the Siddara-

maiah Government in Karnataka to realise that the AAP is only the new kid on the block. There are older, much seasoned players who have taken to this dangerous path to garner votes and brought about terrible economic consequences for the nation. Further, never before has a President displayed such bluntness in analysing a contemporary political situation in the country. Mr.Mukherjee, it would appear, has done this because of several reasons. First, he is deeply disturbed by the sloth, inefficiency and corruption that is now all-pervasive and is now clearly eating into the vitals of the country’s democratic system; Second, unlike many of his predecessors who read out speeches drafted or approved by the government of the day, the President has chosen to speak on behalf of the people, rather than on behalf of “his” government; Third, going by the overall tone and content of the speech, it is obvious that the President is troubled by the prospects of yet another fractious mandate and its implications for the nation and for the survival of the democratic system itself. Therefore, he has chosen the right occasion, just three months prior to the Lok Sabha poll, to warn all citizens of the consequences of a fractured mandate and appealed to them to vote for stability.

That the President is distressed by the prospect of political instability is obvious when he says the coming election is a momentous one. It is not just another year and another election. He says “2014 is a precipice moment in our history. We must re-discover that sense of national purpose and patriotism, which lifts the nation above and across the abyss”. He has also spoken about the urgent need to provide jobs and opportunities for the youth. But says a fractured government which is hostage to whimsical opportunists will be an “unhappy eventuality”. He warns that in 2014, such an eventuality could be “catastrophic”. Therefore, he tells every voter: Don’t let India down. By saying all this, the Rashtrapati has echoed the concerns of 1.3 billion citizens, and shown that he is in touch with the Aam Aadmi and that he will speak his mind on behalf of the Aam Aadmi, irrespective of what it does to a few individuals holding public offices. He has sound advice for the electorate as well. He says, democracy is like the physician who heals himself. It has the “marvelous ability to self-correct” and therefore, 2014 “must become a year of healing after the fractured and contentious politics of the last few years”. One only hopes the electorate will value the sage counsel of Mr.Mukherjee next May and give India “mukti” from the unstable and corrupt politics of the last decade (Dr. Surya Prakash is Distinguished Fellow, VIF)

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Tr a n s c e n d i n g B o u n d a r i e s

Now that the general election is not far behind, the political parties are bound to make all sorts of promises to the electorate, most of which they will not be able to deliver and even if they do, it will at the cost of the exchequer. This will only further erode our economic base, says the author. He lists the various challenges the new government will have to face in the energy sector, irrigation and infrastructure and makes a strong case for a strong, corruption-free government.

Post-Election Government Too many formidable problems in store • Dr M N Buch

owards the end of May 2014, India will have a new government and a new Prime Minister. In his speech on the eve of the Republic Day 2014, the President made three significant remarks which every Indian must bear in mind. He warned against what he referred to as “populist anarchy”. He also said that a political party and a government must promise only that which it can deliver. The President’s third comment was that the people of India should vote sensibly so that the new government is stable and can take those decisions which lead the country on the path of development. I consider Shri Pranab Mukherjee’s advice to the nation to be of essence because today we are witnessing a disastrous competitive populism in which every party is vying with the other to make announcements which,

if actually implemented, would pauperise the whole country, make us bankrupt and thus make the government totally incapable of providing even the minimum services to the people. Almost as a continuation of immediate expediency and irresponsible populism is the plethora of promises made by the political parties to the electorate, raising expectations and, on failure to deliver, wondering why the people are annoyed. Such wild promises actually retard all progress because they create a conflict between that which is possible and the impossible which has been promised, prevent the drawing up of a rational schedule of priorities, making it impossible to take policy decisions and, because of clash of interests, result in spasmodic, knee-jerk implementation and, in the ultimate analysis, a paralysis of government. As a corollary to this is the fact that the uncertainty of the situation pre-

vents a coalescence of parties, a fractured mandate and the emergence of small interest groups which work against the national interest. This has been the situation in India ever since P V Narasimha Rao lost the election and we entered an era of unstable coalitions where immediate local interests completely overwhelmed the national interest. That is why the President’s speech on the eve of the Republic Day was a clarion call to the nation to return to reason and eschew divisive politics.

Problem of fragmented verdict The new government will face formidable problems when it comes to power. Will the mandate be clear or will it be so fragmented that there will be difficulty in forming a government which can work? This issue is extremely important, because a frac-

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tured verdict forces the President into a corner where he has to appoint a Prime Minister and ask him to form a government. Whom should the President invite when there is no clear majority? My personal view is that we need some amendments to our Constitution to deal with a contingency which has now become almost a norm in India. One amendment would be that in such a case the President should summon the House, lay down the parameters and then ask the assembled members who should be invited to form the government. The assembled members should be deprived of all means of external communication, should be held incommunicado and not allowed to meet any outsider. The members should remain so locked up till they arrive

the budget is defeated, then the previous year’s budget should be deemed to be the current year’s budget so that government does not come to a halt. This would ensure that there is an adequate vote on account to permit government to function normally, though no new schemes or initiatives could be launched. The two-year moratorium on a vote of no-confidence is suggested so that the government has at least this period to stabilize itself and win the continuous confidence of the House. If, thereafter, a government does not stabilize, then the government in a state must be conducted for the balance of the fiveyear period, which is the full life span of the House, through President’s rule. At the Centre, there can be no President’s rule; government for the

at a consensus on who should be appointed Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would then be a consensus candidate. A few more amendments are also needed. A motion of no-confidence should not be allowed to be moved for the first two years of the five-year term of the legislature. An official bill, if defeated in Parliament, should not be deemed to be a vote of no-confidence during this two-year period. If

balance period should be through a caretaker government, but which is empowered to take all the decisions which a fully elected government is competent to take. This will deter frequent elections, make it possible to hold elections simultaneously for Parliament and state legislatures and, perhaps, force the parties to become more responsible and thus obviate both the President’s rule and a prolonged caretaker government.

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Focus on secondary sector From the time when the Narasimha Rao Government started dismantling excessive control of the state over the economy, India had a welcome surge of growth and development. Normally growth is judged by the rate of GDP growth and this was reasonably healthy for several years. In fact, after China we had the highest rate of growth globally and this gave us and the world a false feeling of India at last breaking through the barriers which inhibited growth. What we failed to appreciate was that our growth was very heavily based on the strength of the tertiary sector, which itself is tied to the global demand for such services. Information technology-based growth is what we promoted, but there was no simultaneous increase in the size, efficiency and the productivity of the secondary sector. By contrast, China vigorously pursued the secondary sector route to development and in the process built up a huge manufacturing sector which has flooded the world with goods and heavily tilted the balance of trade in China’s favour. Because goods become obsolete very quickly China has also invested adequately in research, development and innovation. Therefore, the new government will have the challenge of how to build the secondary sector in India so that manufacturing becomes the main employer and thus encourages skill development. It is the secondary sector which provides the maximum employment in long term. Sixty per cent of the land area of India is arable compared with only 10% of China. Our inflation is not so much manufactured commodity driven as it is agriculture produce driven. The Green Revolution proved that we can produce enough to feed our people. But we have never leveraged the enormous potential of agriculture and horticulture to give us production levels which will give adequate food stuff at lower prices, while at the same time become the raw material for agro industries which add value,

gainfully absorb the surpluses, pass money back to the producer through bulk purchase and value addition, provide employment in agriculture, transportation, agro industry and an enormous service sector which through banking, technology and machinery inputs, extension services, gives knowledge of scientific agriculture and financial support which would bring exponential increase in productivity, while creating vast number of jobs in the secondary and tertiary sector which supports agriculture. How to achieve the goal of using agriculture to bring prosperity to India, especially rural India, will be the real challenge which the new government will have to face. In the process the government will have to take a good, objective look at populist schemes, including subsidies, employment programs which do not create permanent assets and gimmickry which is aimed at vote bank politics rather than the need to bring prosperity to the rural people.

Social sector needs rejuvenation The social sector is a curious and paradoxical one. How can one build a good institute of technology, science education and research, information technology or business management on a foundation of schools which impart no education whatsoever? How can we build an all-India institute of medical sciences or a super specialty hospital whose foundations and whose feeders are the extremely miserable primary health centres? The energy sector, irrigation and construction of infrastructure of roads, railway lines, airports etc., the building of adequate civic infrastructure including water supply, drainage and sewerage present major challenges, but in order to achieve success there one needs good government. Good government means laws, rules and regulations which have as their objective the service and welfare of citizens. This is as true of regulatory legislation as it is of develop-

ment legislation. Good government means decisiveness in decision making, a strong will to ensure efficient administration which delivers good government and a system whereby decision making and implementation are so open that citizen participation becomes easy. Law and order, the protection of human rights, greater productivity, more gainful jobs and equity in distribution are all a part of governance and efficiency in these sectors is essential for good government.

Corruption has become a major issue in India and the Aam Aadmi Party has come out in favour of a strong measure of probity and simplicity in public life. People in Delhi have responded favourably to the possibility of the new party tackling corruption and bringing governance to the door step of citizens so that they can get their just dues. Unfortunately, this party is not facing up to the other

challenges posed in this paper, partly because it did not anticipate that it would come to power and partly because it is still in an anti-establishment agitation mould. Politics, unfortunately, has fragmented society on lines of religion, caste, class, region, language, ethnic groups and even sub groups. The use of caste or religion to appeal to voters to vote en masse for a particular party, the arousing of base religious or similar passions, the violence thus instigated are all aspects of communalism. We shall then have to carry the definition of communalism beyond Hindu vs Muslim and view all divisive politics as communal and fissiparous. The present danger to secularism cannot be faced unless we accept this much wider definition of communalism and then gird up to control it. Why not make 2014 the year in which India really faced up to the menace of all communalism and then moved towards a truly secular republic? For the elections of 2014 what one wants to know from all political parties is how they will go about the business of governance, keeping the above challenges in mind. I, for one, am sick of political rhetoric. Can we, for a change, get politicians talk rationally and with horse sense and tell us how they will tackle the questions of government in such a way that the Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advice becomes the keystone of our future politics? (Dr Buch is Dean, Centre for Governance and Political Studies, VIF)

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The Congress was sure of losing all the seats in Telangana had it failed to have the bifurcation bill passed. The advent of the new state divides the large state of Andhra Pradesh into mini- strongholds of different political factions, leaving little or no room for the national political parties to face the election alone.

Telangana State at last!

Pall of Gloom over Seemandhra

â&#x20AC;˘ Shankar Jayasimha

he creation of Telangana has left several heavyweights struggling to protect their political career in Andhra Pradesh. Kiran Kumar Reddy has quit the Congress and resigned as the chief minister and some others also have resigned from the Congress Party altogether. Parliament has just passed the state bifurcation bill aimed at carving out Telangana, which will become the 29th state of the Indian Republic. Seemandhra politicians did all they could to stall the bill but to no avail. On Thursday, February 13, the Lok Sabha witnessed unprecedented unruly scenes such as an MP from Seemandhra using pepper spray in the hallowed chamber of Parliament. It is alleged that one of them even wielded a knife! Little did they know that the Congress Party had a larger stake riding on the plan to give statehood to Telangana. With the Lok Sabha elections looming, the Congress was desperate to regain its popularity corroded by the YSR Congress. It pushed the bifurcation bill through Parliament in a hurry, because failing to give statehood to Telangana was not an option for the national political party threatened by Jagan Reddy. Jagan has launched his own political outfit to cash in on the popularity of his late father YSR Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash

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five years ago. The promise to provide statehood helped the Congress win 29 parliamentary seats in the last general election. Yet, the then the local Congress leaders did not think that Hyderabad, the capital city where every politician owns real estate, too would go to Telangana. They sensed the effect of new state only when the Union Cabinet disclosed the legislative pro-

posal it was tabling before Parliament in November last year. Soon they instigated people to rise against the plan to split the state. Frankly speaking, those who oppose the creation of Telangana have no genuine reason to make their point. While the local Congress leaders are worried about safeguarding their wealth and political career, the partyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s central leaders were busy devising plans to protect the party in Andhra Pradesh. The Congress was sure of losing all the seats in Telangana had it failed to have the bifurcation bill passed. The advent of the new state divides the large state of Andhra Pradesh into mini- strongholds of different political factions, leaving little or no room for the national political parties to face the election alone. When the bill was tabled in Parliament, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu pleaded with Narendra Modi to make sure that the legislative proposal was defeated. But the BJP stuck to its

Demanding equal rights, they ‘killed’ themselves P

erched on the Deccan Plateau, Telangana is the largest of the three regions of Andhra Pradesh, covering 41.47% of the large state. Including Hyderabad, it will account for nearly half the population of Andhra and 76 percent of the state’s revenue. The city of Hyderabad alone accounts for 50 percent of the state’s revenue. Hyderabad will soon be declared a Union territory, which is the most worrying factor for most of the politicians in today’s Andhra Pradesh. There are allegations that all these years, funds allocated to Telangana were never spent. Worse still, a large majority of government officials working in Hyderabad are from the Seemandhra region. Now they all may have to shift to Vishakhapatnam, which will be the capital city of Seemandhra. Reports say as many as 300 people killed themselves (16 by selfimmolation) demanding more political control for the locals in Telangana. Given the Telangana Martyr Families’ Forum directory, there have been 904 suicides in Andhra Pradesh from November 2009 to February 2013.

Pepper sprayer quits politics M

inutes after the lower House passed the bifurcation bill, senior congress leader Lagadapati Rajagopal resigned from politics. He was ousted from the party the week before for spraying pepper on his parliamentary colleagues. “I’m hurt as Telugu-speaking people are divided now. It is a sad day. I have lost interest in politics,” he told media persons in front of Parliament. Its 53-year-old MP from Vijayawada is one the richest MPs from Andhra Pradesh. His wealth exceeds Rs.299 crore, according to his own assets and liability report submitted to the Election Commission. His opponents have often said that he is worried about his real estate assets in Hyderabad.

stand of supporting the creation of a new state. For the BJP, alliance with Naidu’s TDP is vital in putting Narendra Modi onto the prime minister’s chair. An angry Naidu may now go with the Third Front, choosing to play a spoilsport rather than a gentleman’s game. Some analysts say Naidu will strike an alliance with the BJP, because he is aware of Modi’s growing popularity in Andhra’s hinterland. More than Modi, Naidu needs to align himself with a national party to deal with the growing threat of Jagan Reddy’s YSR Congress.

The clear winner is the Congress, which might gobble all the 17 seats up for grab in Telangana. But it will face fierce battle in Seemandhra, where five political outfits need to fight over what is left of a divided state. Kiran Reddy, who quit the Congress, is talking of floating his own political outfit, taking with him all his former cabinet colleagues. That means, the Congress may have to face a lone battle in Seemandhra. It knows well that what it loses in Seemandhra can be made up in Telangana. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has said the government may announce a special financial package for Seemandhra, which is set to lose Hyderabad, the city that is the main source of revenue for the government. The Telangana party’s Chandrasekhara Rao is the happiest man today, because time has come for him to make the most of the political capital he made from the protest over the statehood.

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Drug Patents India, US on collision course India and the US, the two great democracies, are sparring over issues that are apparently innocuous, but in the long run they might cause serious problems if not resolved amicably. No sooner has the dust raised by the Khobragade episode settled down than the US has stated that it would announce a trade enforcement action in retaliation for perceived intellectual property rights abuses by the Indian drug companies. It seems Uncle Sam is peeved by the rapid strides being made by the Indian pharma industry, which is posing a threat to the big drug companies in the US. â&#x20AC;˘ Raju Shanbhag

he bilateral relations between India and US reached a new low, when the Indian diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, was arrested and strip-searched by US officials. The Indian government retaliated with an uncharacteristic grit and took many actions against US diplomats in India that were seen as an act of revenge. But it seems the United States is in no hurry to straighten the wrinkles in its relations with India. In fact, it recently announced that it would announce a trade enforcement action linked to India. According to media reports, the US government has come under growing pressure to react to perceived intellectual property rights abuses by the Indian drug companies. These companies are not held in good light by the policymakers in the US. In fact, India is on the US governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Priority Watch List for countries whose practices on protecting

intellectual property should be monitored closely. The US Chamber of Commerce has insisted that the US government pile up pressure on India over intellectual property rights, a move that could help prevent Indian companies from producing cheap generic versions of medicines still under patent protection. It seems the United States is coming at India with all guns firing. The US International Trade Commission recently held a meeting to look into Indian trade and investment practices. In a submission to the USTR, the Chamber of Commerce asked that India be classified as a Priority Foreign Country, a tag given to the worst of-

fenders when it comes to protecting intellectual property and one that could trigger trade sanctions. Other trade groups, including those representing the pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries, echoed the call for a tougher stance on India. Incidentally, many see this as an effort by the US to gain a bigger share in the evolving Indian pharma market. US drug companies have a huge market in India and the competition from local drug companies, who manufacture cheaper alternatives using local components, is tough. In fact, the big brother is trying to dictate terms in every field. The two countries are also sparring over everything from export of shrimps that pit the fishermen of Kerala versus those of Louisiana, to the import of steel pipes. While organisations such as Doctors Without Borders have supported India in its effort to produce cheap medicines for the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poor with modest improvements in IPR, the profit mongering drug companies in

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the US aren’t happy. They also seem to be threatened by the rapid strides made by India’s generic drug industry, which they feel, threatens Western advances. As a result, the US government, pressured by the lobbying tactics of giant drug companies, has taken many actions against the Indian drug companies operating in the US. Recently, Washington has cracked down on India-based pharma majors such as Ranbaxy for sloppy production procedures, among other things. Generic drugs produced in India pose a threat to the US drug makers. These drugs are the cheaper alternatives to costlier medicines and will help the poor to have access to quality health care. The Indian government has always been in favour of generic drugs that are accessible to all rather than leaving them at the mercy of few big pharma companies. Recently, Swiss drug maker Roche was asked by the Indian government to give up its patent on breast-cancer drug Herceptin. In March 2012, the government issued its first “compulsory licence” for a kidneycancer drug made by Bayer AG. A compulsory licence allows firms to make generic copies of drugs supposedly still protected by patents in exchange for a licensing fee set by the government. Later that year, the government revoked Pfizer’s patent on Sutent, which treats gastrointestinal tumors and advanced kidney cancer. In early 2013, the Supreme Court denied patent protection for Glivec, which is used to treat leukemia. The Supreme Court stated that the delivery format did not constitute a legitimate innovation. Protected by multiple US patents, Gleevec costs more than Rs. 46,50,000 a year in India. While Novartis charges about Rs.19,22,000 a year, the generic version legalised by India’s highest court costs around Rs.1,30,200, which is a more reasonable amount for a country where the annual capital income is about Rs. 86,800. To date, India has issued compulsory licences or revoked patents for eight advanced pharmaceuticals. India produces almost 40% of generic

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The Solar Power Row A

merica’s grouse against flourishing Indian economy is not restricted to just the pharma field. Recently, America threatened that it would take India to the World Trade Organization to gain a bigger foothold for US manufacturers in its fast-growing solar products market, adding another irritant to an already strained relationship. US Trade Representative Michael Forman said making Indian solar developers use locally made equipment discriminated against US producers and could hinder the spread of solar power. It is the second time in a year that Washington has sought a consultation at the WTO - the first stage in a dispute process that can lead to sanctions - over India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. In its defense, India has asked Washington to justify its own incentives offered to US companies that use local labour and products in renewable energy and water projects. India has argued its solar policies are legal under the WTO government procurement rules that permit countries to exempt projects from non-discrimination obligations. There are 14 past or current World Trade Organisation cases between India and the United States, whose bilateral trade in goods measured $63.7 billion last year, not including the latest case.

drugs and over-the-counter products. It is the biggest foreign supplier of medicine to the US, and is a critical producer of affordable medicine for the world. India’s generic industry, however, has cut into the profits for Pfizer and other US drug companies. What the US is conveniently overlooking is the fact that every country has the right to take steps to increase access to medicines and implement a patent system in line with its public health needs. Competition among generic drug manufacturers in India has also effectively brought down the price of medicines for HIV, tuberculosis and cancer by more than 90%. Affordable Indian generics have saved not just millions of dollars, but millions of lives over the past decade with organizations like Doctors without Borders buying 80% of its medi-

cines and expanding treatment to different parts of the world. Of course, the drug companies that manufacture numerous drugs should profit from their innovations. Otherwise, there will not be any innovation left in the field of medicine. But the profit should not take precedence over saving lives in an underdeveloped country. The Indian government is not stealing these patents. The generic drug maker will still have to pay a licence fee to the original drug maker. The fact that companies like Roche and Bayer AG are still operating in India despite these alleged patent violations shows that they are still making profits. And with that, they will also be contributing to saving valuable lives, which is why drugs are invented in the first place.

Hacking Hinduism Like Butter With a Knife

Anything goes when it comes to defaming Hinduism. And when a voice of dissent is raised, the so-called intellectuals and scholars are there to cry foul! The book by Wendy Doniger on Hinduism has gross misrepresentations and is aimed at creating communal discord in the country, and yet some of our scholars say that the withdrawal of her book is suppression of freedom of speech. They forget the fact that freedom has its limitations and, if not exercised with restraint, it will cause serious harm to society as well as to the body politic.

• Raju Shanbhag

endy Doniger, whose book, ‘The Hindus: An Alternative History,’ published by Penguin India, has been withdrawn by the publishers voluntarily. Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, a Delhibased group took the publisher, Penguin India, to court. Penguin was quick to see its mistake and has agreed to withdraw the book from market in the course of next six months. Additional district judge Balwant Rai Bansal was hearing the civil suit filed in 2011 by Dinanath Batra, convener of Shiksha Bachao Andolan, through his counsel Monika Arora. Along with him, there were five other petitioners, including ex-IFS officer O P Gupta, and Sharvan Kumar, president, Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission. According to Mr. Batra, “there are gross misrepresentations and printing mistakes in the book — the most offensive of which is to erase Kashmir from the Indian territory even between 600 and 1600 CE, long before even the existence of Pakistan. In spite of the factual misrepresentations and the voluntary withdrawal of the book by the publisher, the so-called intellectuals in the country have again kicked up a storm over “suppression of freedom of expression”. Historian Ramachandra Guha called the decision “deeply disappointing” on Twitter. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh called Shiksha Bachao Andolan “some Talibantype outfit” that is “distorting and destroying our liberal traditions.” Academic Jyotirmaya Sharma, who has published two books with Penguin, and journalist and author Siddharth Varadrajan said they are outraged at the leading publishing house capitulating before a fringe outfit called Shiksha

Bachao Andolan. But all those who sided with Wendy Doniger gleefully overlook the fact that the complaint was not against Wendy Doniger’s freedom of speech; but it was against factual errors and misrepresentations. And yes, whether they agree or not, even Hindus have the right to defend their religion against misrepresentations. The false claims in the book start from the cover page itself. To start with, the book falsely claims that the image on the jacket of the book was from a temple in Puri in Odisha. Making false claims to sell a book, that too on the cover of the book, is an unethical practice. It’s also ironical that although Wendy Doniger is busy decrying her victimhood in India, back home, she has donated money to a group in which important leaders were members of the racist organization Ku Klux Klan. An online search also shows that she figures in a discussion thread on “stormfront”, a website run by neo-Nazis, and one member suggests using her works to belittle Indians. Besides, the now-defunct Microsoft Encarta pulled her article on Hinduism after investigating complaints that the article had a racist tone.

In 1990, she wrote, “The authors of the Rig Veda, the invading Indo-Aryans, highly valued their freedom and abhorred any constraint.” She now denies the Aryan invasion in her more recent publications. Wendy also does not provide proper citations about her views on the Aryan invasion theory. She cites some person named Martin West without mentioning the contribution of Hindus active on the internet in demolishing the theory. Before dishing out advice on free speech to Indians, Wendy Doniger would do well to check the status in her own country. American universities, particularly the humanities departments, have a very poor record when it comes to protecting free-speech rights and opposing racism. Not long ago, former Commerce Minister Dr. Subramanian Swamy was prevented from offering his course at Harvard University after Diana Eck, a White professor, organized a campaign to oust him in response to an article Dr. Swamy wrote in an Indian newspaper articulating his views on fighting terrorism and removing friction between Hindus and Muslims. She organized no effort that kept Irish poet Tom Paulin out of Harvard University when he was invited

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Penguin’s P complete statement

enguin Books India believes, and has always believed, in every individual’s right to freedom of thought and expression, a right explicitly codified in the Indian Constitution. This commitment informs Penguin’s approach to publishing in every territory of the world, and we have never been shy about testing that commitment in court when appropriate. At the same time, a publishing company has the same obligation as any other organization to respect the laws of the land in which it operates, however intolerant and restrictive those laws may be. We also have a moral responsibility to protect our employees against threats and harassment where we can. The settlement reached this week brings to a close a four year legal process in which Penguin has defended the publication of the Indian edition of “The Hindus” by Wendy Doniger. We have published, in succession, hardcover, paperback and e-book editions of the title. International editions of the book remain available physically and digitally to Indian readers who still wish to purchase it. We stand by our original decision to publish “The Hindus”, just as we stand by the decision to publish other books that we know may cause offence to some segments of our readership. We believe, however, that the Indian Penal Code, and in particular Section 295A of that code, will make it increasingly difficult for any Indian publisher to uphold international standards of free expression without deliberately placing itself outside the law. This is, we believe, an issue of great significance not just for the protection of creative freedoms in India but also for the defence of fundamental human rights.

to the university after articulating much stronger statements such as calling for the genocide of Jews. Wendy even claims that some Hindus would want to get Christians and Muslims out of India based on the argument that the Vedic people originated in India. Again, she does not care to tell from where she got her ‘facts.’ Clearly, this is her opinion disguised as a fact and in a communally sensitive country, dishing out such opinions without proper citations is not only unethical, but also plain illegal. The likes of Siddharth Varadrajan and Ramachandra Guha, championing Wendy’s cause have also overlooked the fact that she has this tendency to present her imaginary fictions as facts and even assigning dates to them! Consider the following sentences from her book, “When Jesus appeared to him in a vision that night, Thomas said,

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‘Whithersoever thou wilt, our Lord, send me; only to India I will not go.’ Jesus nevertheless eventually indentured him, for twenty pieces of silver, to an Indian merchant, who took him to work in the palace of the ruler of Gandhara, sometime between 19 and 45 CE.” Notice how Wendy presents a cooked up encounter between Thomas and Jesus as a fact and

even assigns a date to this alleged encounter! One would think that such a childish piece of writing would not invite any serious consideration from any sensible person. But the ‘scholars’ in India are up in arms against what they call violation of freedom of speech. They are supporting a book that should not have been published at all.

Catholic Church rattled UN report condemns clericsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; child abuse

tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a report that is bound to shake the roots of Christianity. The United Nations committee that investigated the allegations of child sex abuse by the clergies and holy men associated with the Vatican has released its report; and to say that the report is not exactly complimentary will be a huge understatement. If one looks at the history of the Vatican, practising celibacy hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been an easy task for the Vatican priests. In an environment that strictly forbids any interaction with the opposite sex, many priests reportedly resort to heinous crimes like child sex abuse. All over the world, Christian churches and their followers have come out with stories that have accused the members of the church of sexual abuses on unsuspecting children.

Catholic priests are forbidden to marry; they must practise celibacy. But in practice, this injunction has been overturned by reports of child abuse by some of the priests, which have come to the notice of the United Nations. The Vatican has been evasive on this issue; it has not taken any drastic step to stop this practice. The result is that child abuse still continues unnoticed and unreported in most cases. In its report, the UN panel has condemned the church policies which tacitly allowed the clergymen to indulge in sexual abuse of children and called for immediate dismissal of all those who had committed or were suspected of the crime. The report is so scathing that it almost calls the

Vatican a rogue state and calls to mend its ways. And there is a reason why the UN panel has talked so strongly about the attitude of the Vatican about this whole matter. Throughout its long and prosperous history, the Vatican has been accused of siding with sin-

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ful clergymen when it came to child sex abuse. There were reports of matters being swept under the carpet and the Vatican and its powerful allies bullying the hapless victims into unwanted compromises. For centuries, it seemed to an outside observer that the Vatican was perhaps more interested in safeguarding its religious empire than helping the victims of sexual abuse. So if the Vatican is not interested in taking action against pedophiles lurking within its ranks, why is the United Nations keeping quiet? That’s mainly because the Vatican is a selfgoverned state and is not answerable to the United Nations. The politics of Vatican City takes place in an absolute elective monarchy, in which the head of the Roman Catholic Church

takes power. The Pope exercises principal legislative, executive and judicial power over the State of Vatican City (an entity distinct from the Holy See), which is a rare case of a nonhereditary monarchy. Vatican City is currently the only widely recognised independent state that has not become a member of the United Nations. The Holy See, which

is distinct from the Vatican City State, has permanent observer status with all the rights of a full member except for a vote in the UN General Assembly. But this religious autocracy granted to the Vatican has led to many crimes, and their ultimate suppression by the Church when the perpetrators of these crimes are some of their own. In fact, far from being a transparent, holy place, Vatican seemed to have transformed itself into a mysterious abode with hidden secrets and baffling practices. In 2012, the Italian media broke a story where a mole who allegedly worked in the Vatican for than 20 years revealed some startling practices inside the Vatican. The whistle-blower said the Vatican is a place where “you can commit murder and then disappear into the void” – a

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Unsuspecting Children Fall Easy Prey R

oman Catholics are taught from early childhood to respect priests and to believe in what the priests tell them about God and religion. Paedophile priests can easily abuse this position. For example, Alexander Bede Walsh was convicted of serious sex assaults against boys. One child abuse victim said Walsh gave him alcohol, told him that drinking it would get him to heaven; another believed abuse was the hand of god touching him. Another, a teenager at the time, claims abuse by Walsh drove him to attempt suicide. Walsh, who was convicted in 2004 over computer indecency, was allowed to work at Roman Catholic premises within yards of a playgroup. This is far less

reference to a murky scandal in the Swiss Guard in 1998, when a young soldier shot dead the corps’ commander and wife before apparently committing suicide. The mother of Cedric Tornay, 23, the alleged assassin, has never accepted that her son would have committed suicide and has called on Pope Benedict XVI, 84, to reopen the case, amid speculation that the real killer of the three may never have been caught. Apart from the above mentioned crimes, child abuse cases have dealt a bloody blow to Vatican’s image over the last few decades. These cases involve a series of allegations, investigations, trials and convictions of

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serious than the abuse allegations above, but it happened in 2009 and 2010 despite promises from the church that they would mend their ways. Walsh has been sentenced to 22 years in prison. He and others took advantage of the orphans. One man demanded compensation. Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, of South Africa, describes paedophilia as “illness, not a criminal condition” and claims the abusers should be treated rather than punished. The cardinal says doctors should examine the child abusers. Treatment as well as punishment is common in liberal countries for illnesses that lead to crime.

child sexual abuse crimes committed by the Catholic priests, nuns and members of the Roman Catholic order against children as young as three years old with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14. These cases have resulted in criminal prosecutions of the abusers and civil law suits against the church’s dioceses and parishes. Many of the cases span several decades and are brought forward years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who did not report sex abuse allegations to the legal authorities. It has been shown that they deliber-

ately moved sexually abusive priests to other parishes where the abuse sometimes continued. This has led to a number of fraud cases where the Church has been accused of misleading victims by deliberately relocating priests accused of abuse instead of removing them from their positions The UN report says the Vatican “has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and to protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by the perpetrators with impunity.” In recent years, the Vatican seems to have woken up about the crimes committed against the children and the damage these cases are causing to its image all over the world. In recent years, three popes have forcefully condemned the clerical abuse of children. John Paul II denounced it as “appalling sin” and outright “crime.” Benedict XVI promised to rid the church of such “filth.” And Francis has ordered the Vatican prosecutors and bishops to “act decisively” to make sure that minors are protected and abusers are held to account. The Church’s moral witness as well as its credibility is riding on this, he warned.

It is a showdown which will be keenly watched by every one -- the gas price controversy that the now-defunct Kejriwal government has raked up. Kejriwal has charged Oil Minister Veerappa Moily, former Oil Minister Murli Deora and former director-general hydrocarbons V K Sibal with collusion with Reliance Industries Ltd boss Mukesh Ambani to double the gas price to benefit RIL. He has stated that if the gas price hike is allowed, it would make transport, domestic gas prices and power tariff higher. The impact of the hike would be a minimum of Rs 54,500 crore every year, he has said.

Gas Price hike Tension in the Air; big guns in the dock

s this a populist agenda? An audacious game plan to win more votes in the coming general election? Or is it the last resort of an honest politician to weed out corruption that is deep rooted in the political veins of our country? The debate is on, as the now defunct Kejriwal government famously directed its anti-corruption branch to file an FIR against Oil Minister Veerappa Moily, former Oil Minister Murli Deora, Reliance Industries Ltd boss Mukesh Ambani and former director-general hydrocarbons V K Sibal under the Prevention of Corruption Act for hatching a “conspiracy” to double gas prices in order to benefit, in the main, RIL. The subsequent political developments in the capital and Arvind Kejriwal’s political hara-kiri might have taken the sheen out of the anticorruption charges levelled by the Kejriwal government. But the issue of corruption in the fuel domain is still a highly relevant one. According to Kejriwal, gas prices would be doubled from April 1 due to the alleged “active collusion” between RIL and some Central min-

isters. In case this price hike is allowed, it would have a cascading effect on transport, domestic gas and electricity prices, thus affecting the common man. The impact of the hike would cost the country a minimum of Rs 54,500 crore every year. Also, according to Kejriwal, the Central government had allowed RIL to make a future windfall profit of Rs 1.2 lakh crore by gold-plating its project. To Kejriwal’s credit, he has raised some disturbing questions. To start with, the decision to hike the gas price from the existing $4.2 (Rs 262.25) per

mmbtu (one million British thermal unit) to $8.4 (Rs 524.20) per mmbtu will make gas prices in India among the highest in the world. Also, there have been no attempts to decide the cost of production independently and accurately. The government is hell bent on fixing the gas price in dollars when the entire domestic production is consumed internally. The fluctuation in dollar rate will only lead to a further increase in gas prices. AAP has charged the UPA Government with collusion with RIL. In its statement, it alleges that the Centre

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How Gas Prices Are Fixed? T

took no action against RIL for its deliberate drop in production and ignored the CAG report and the then solicitor general’s opinion (in May 2012) and, on the contrary, accepted RIL’s demand for doubling the gas price from April 1 this year. The AAP government said that even if the Centre’s argument that new prices would bring in more investment in exploration is accepted, there is no justification for raising the prices from existing fields. “The Central government (particularly the Petroleum Ministry) has connived with RIL to help it make windfall profit at the cost of the common man,” it said. Kejriwal claimed that the cost of production of gas is less than $2.34 per mmbtu. “The fact that RIL had signed long-term agreements with NTPC and RNRL for supplying gas at that rate for 17 years would shows it was making profits at that price. RIL’s partner NIKO has a 25-year contract with the Bangladesh government to supply gas at the rate of $ 2.34/mmbtu,” he said. But Kejriwal’s reference to Bangladesh, where the gas is sold at half the price compared to India, has some problems. The price in Bangladesh is in million cubic feet. Under the Indian system of measuring gas volumes by mmbtu, the price works out at $2.04 and $0.8 per cubic metre. Block 9 is an on-land field that was given to

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Niko years ago without bidding. Onland fields require less time and investment to explore and develop than deepwater blocks such as KG-D6, off the Andhra coast. Experts also claim that Bangladesh’s state-run explorers have lost the financial capacity to invest, explore or expand due to years of suboptimal pricing. Many of the major international investors have exited from Bangladesh in recent years. One such company was Tullow, which recently sold out 30% in the very Block 9 to Kris Energy of Singapore. On October 1 last year, Australia’s Santos shut off permanently the only offshore field in Bangladesh due to “uncommercial” level of production, indicating a link between price and viability. Bangladesh’s last round of offerings in April 2013 too did not go down well. This has forced the government to suspend bidding of deepwater blocks and move to sweeten the terms for shallow and on-land blocks. As a last-ditch measure the government recently raised prices by 18%, with annual 2% increase in indigenous gas price. No doubt, Kejriwal’s audacious attempt has its own pitfalls. But it has also thrown up some valid questions about the way gas prices are governed in our country. High level corruption and an adamant government that is unwilling to approach the

here are multiple pricing mechanisms in India for natural gas. This can be divided into two categories, namely, APM Gas (Administered Pricing Mechanism) and Non-APM Gas. There is differential pricing for different sectors. Subsidised sectors such as power and fertilizer get relatively less prices than other sectors. Also, region specific pricing exists with NorthEastern states getting gas at relatively lower prices than the other parts of the country. Before 1987, gas prices were fixed by the ONGC and Oil India Ltd. But from January-end 1987 the government began regulating the prices on a cost-plus basis. The last revision under this so-called administered price mechanism was effective July 2005. When the government began bidding out oil and gas blocks under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP), it opted for market determined rates for gas. In 2006 the first controversy began when Reliance Industries invited bids from users and arrived at a price of $4.32 per million metric British thermal units. The matter was referred to an empowered group of ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee, which agreed on a price of $4.20 a unit after suggesting a few changes to RIL’s formula, including elements to do away with volatility.

problem from another angle are the major culprits in this issue. At least Kejriwal has raked up an important issue, however impudent it may seem.

World Commemorates Vivekanandaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

150h birth anniversary

The 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was celebrated all over the world, especially in India. A review of the year-long celebrations and recording its impact on the next generation is a worthwhile exercise. Here is a special report on the official efforts by the Centre of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.

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• M. K. Sridharan

wami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations throughout the world were unprecedented in recent history. Various organizations were in the forefront independently heralding a series of programmes for the masses. The official celebrations, led by Ramakrishna Mutt, could reach an estimated 50 lakh people in India alone with a whopping budget of Rs.100 crore.

Relevance of Vivekananda’s teachings Swami Vivekananda held education as the basis of human development and evolution. Education, according to him, is a means to material prosperity, the basis to cultural preservation and spiritual evolution. Education should make a person morally and culturally sensitive and aware of the cultural unity underlying the diversity in India and the rich legacy that she bears for the world. Thus, Swami Vivekananda is relevant today and the population needs to be aware of Vivekananda and the ideas he propounded. This is the rationale for the various projects and programmes that the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission introduced during the four year-long celebration of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary between 2010 and 2014.

1. Vivekananda as an Icon for the Youth 2. Vivekananda & National consciousness 3. Vivekananda’s relevance in the 21st century; 4. His service to the poor and service to mankind 5. Highlight his contribution to gender issues 6. Vivekananda’s interest in science A National Implementation Com-

India sought to renew interest, particularly among the youth, in values, thoughts and ideals of Swami Vivekananda to whom education was the primary means of rebuilding the Nation.

Preparations by the Ramakrishna Mutt The Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Belur, had conceived a proposal for the celebration

Estimated Cost of Activities Publications in Print Media

Rs 6.00 crore

Publication in Electronic Media

Rs 9.80 crore

Youth Programmes

Rs 28.50 crore

Cultural Programmes

Rs 5.07 crore

Special Service Activities

Rs 48.63 crore

Central office/ contingencies

Rs 2.00 crore

Preparations by Government of India A National Committee by the Government of India, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, signaled the Government’s decision to commemorate Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary. The meeting convened on May 20, 2010 in New Delhi focused on six areas.

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mittee was constituted under the Chairmanship of the then Finance Minister, Sri Pranab Mukherjee, to implement the decisions of the National Committee by chalking out programmes and activities for commemorating Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary. Specifically, the Government of

of 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. This proposal was endorsed by the National committee and was accepted by the National Implementation Committee. It had an estimated outlay of Rs.100 crore for the following activities to be undertaken over a period of four years between 2010-2014.

Operational structure In order to implement plans to commemorate the 150th Birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the Headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission constituted two Central Executive Committees—A and B. The General Secretary of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission was the Chairman of both. Both the Committees included monks of the Ramakrishna Order and also several distinguished citizens and are directed by a Coordinator. Under each Central Committee there were five Sub-committees. Each Sub-committee has a Convenor to organize its activities. Central Executive Committee ‘A’ deals with Central Governmentfunded projects. It has five subcommittees which cover: i) Print Media, ii) Electronic Media, iii) Youth Programmes iv) Cultural Activities and, v) Service Activities. Central Committee ‘B’, deals with projects undertaken independently by Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission without Government funding. It has five sub-committees which cover: i) Celebrations, ii) Publication and Publicity, iii) Seminars and Conferences, iv) Youth Service Activities and, v) Bhav Prachar. A Year long Celebrations (20132014) to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda included various welfare projects benefitting Chidren, Women and the poor. Apart from major long-term welfare projects, several other cultural and spiritual programs were organized as part of the 150th Celebrations such as National Youth Conventions, Seminars on social and spiritual themes, Inter-religious conferences, Exhibitions and Video shows on the life of Swami Vivekananda.

Activities Conducted through Central Executive Committee (A) Service Activities Among the components of the Central Executive Committee A, four important long term service projects were taken up. Gadadhar Abhuyudaya Prakalpa (GAP), an integrated children welfare project was implemented in 23 states. While about 150 GAP units were planned, about 174 GAP units were operational at the end of the project. Each GAP unit included 100 children aged between 5 and 12 years old. The number of beneficiaries is 17,994 including 1085 non-school going children. Vivekananda Swasthya Parisheva Prakalpa (VSPP) focusing on both children and mother’s health aiming at remedying child malnutrition was implemented in 126 selected areas across 22 states. Each VSPP unit had 100 pre-natal women, postnatal women and children aged between 0-12 years. Total number of beneficiaries is 13, 629. Sarada Palli Vikas Prakalpa (SPVP) aimed at the welfare and empowerment of Women was helpful to 1619 women through a total of 10 units working in eight states. Swami Akhandananda Seva Prakalpa (SASP) serving marginalized people has reached to 1135 beneficiaries in a total of 10 units functioning in 6 states.

Cultural Activities Culture is the life blood of any nation. It is a broad and composite term in which religion is an important ingredient. But there are misconceptions about religion and to educate people to develop a harmonious approach towards religion, seminars, intra-faith and inter faith dialogue were organized by the Ramakrishna Mission. State level seminars on “Religious Har-

mony” were conducted in eight states viz Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Odisha, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Gujarat with 835, 775, 525, 750, 500, 150, 925, and 350 people participating respectively. In 9 states (Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odhisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andamaan), interfaith dialogue were organized. More than 7000 people participated in the interfaith dialogues. In five states (Uttara Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand), conferences on “Unity in Diversity” were held. More than 11000 people participated in the conferences. More than 80 speakers spoke in these conferences. Regional level conferences on Tribal and Folk culture were organized in Chaatisghar, Meghalaya and Kerala. In Chattishgarh regional conference, 2500 participants including 949 delegates from tribal & folk communities represented5 states viz. Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh & Jharkhand. In Meghalaya regional conference, 1862 delegates of 50 types of tribes represented 7 sisters States viz., Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura. In the Kerala regional conference, 877 delegates of 23 types of tribes and cults represented Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Youth Programmes There was a special focus on the youth in the year long celebrations as the future of a nation depends on the dreams and aspirations of its youth. About 10 Youth Counselling Cells were set up in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Meghalaya, Odhisha, Uttara Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra. These counselling cells

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are called the Swami Vivekananda Counselling & Positive Thinking Centres for the youth in Colleges and Universities. A series of youth camps and youth conventions were organized throughout the country to expose the younger generations to the message of Swami Vivekananda. A National Youth Convention was organized by the Narainpur Center in Chhattisgarh from 13th to 15th June 2013. There were 4600 participants including 25 speakers and 400 observers. Regional level youth conventions were organized at:(i) Jamshedpur with 2,850 delegates from Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattishgarh & West Bengal; (ii) Rajkot with 2831 delegates etc. from Rajasthan, Maharastra, Andhra

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Pradesh & Chattishgarh (iii) Coimbatore with 1500 delegates in the 1st phase from Tail Nadu. The total number of participants comes to 7181 State-level youth conventions or camps were conducted by the centres of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission at Pune (Participants-1500 students), Coimbatore [Mission] (1147 students), Trivandrum (about 500 students), Cherrapunjee (3864 students from 133 institutions), Vadodara (1,900 students from 50 institutions), Kalady (1200 students), Puri Mission(1000 selected out of 13,500 students from districts), Vivekananda University (3600 delegates from Bengal in 1st phase), Indore (5100 delegates from dis-

trict level & state level), Mangalore with 1800 delegates selected from 13250 district level camps), Khetriwith 6500 youth delegates in district level camps), Ranchi Morabadi: 2263 (District level camps contd.) Several competitions were organized for the youth along with conventions. Regional level youth competitions were held in New Delhi (Participants2, 697 from Delhi, Hariyana, Dehradun, U.P.), Lucknow (Participants 2,376 from U.P., Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand), Ranchi (Participants-235 from Jharkhand, Bihar &Chattishgarh). Total Participants: 5308. State Level competitions were held at Vijayawada (Participants36,251), Pune (Participants-205),

Trivandrum (Participants-220), Cherrapunjee (Participants-3,864), Chennai Math (Participants1,40,000), Bhuvaneshwar (Participants-14,972), Vadodara (Participants 1,412 College Students & 54,840 School Students), Kalady (Participants-470), Puri Mission (Total Participants in two times -4112). Jharkhand (4000 students) Total Participants: 1,60,346.

lady and Cherrapunjee.

Print and Electronic media

Value Education Efforts were made to provide value education to the masses, especially among students. A Sustained Graded Value Education Programmes (SGVEP) was initiated which included Type – A programme conducted in class rooms and Type – B programme in the Non-formal format. Class room based value education was implemented in 769 schools belonging to 16 states. Totally 1,20,888 students were provide value education through 2693 units Non-formal value education was taken up in 239 institutions across 14 states and about 18000 students were benefitted through 395 centers. A total of 2023 teachers have been trained till now to conduct the Value Education Classes. Reading material supporting the value education was provided by printing textbooks for graded value education from class five to nine. A total of 2, 59, 639 textbooks were printed in ten major Indian languages in different printing centers. For non-formal education, a total of 15,90,972 books have been printed with 183 different titles in five languages under the Non-formal Value Education Programmes. Value Education for Professionals was organized by Lucknow, Sargachi, Ponnempet, Vivekananda University, and Mangalore. Value Education for Parents are organized in Contai, Baranagar Mission, Puri Mission, Madurai, Salem, Bhubaneswar, Thrissur, Ka-

Life and Teachings of Swami Vivekananda was printed in over 20 languages (viz. English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Odia, Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Mythli, Kokborak, Adi, Nepali, Sanskrit, Manipuri, Santhali, Urdu, Assamese, Punjabi). About 13,25,500 copies of 17 titles on Swami Vivekananda were printed in 10 languages (viz. English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Odia and Kannada). Similarly, about 57000 copies of Pictorial Stories of Swami Vivekananda were made available in English, Kannada, Bengali, Telugu languages. 1,200 sets of The Cultural Heritage of India (Leather bound) in 8 volumes, Great Leaders of India 5 Titles in English & Telugu Languages, Life & Teachings of Swami Vivekananda in two foreign languages in Germany & Jhulo (South Africa) were also printed.

Other activities

Electronic and print media are important means through which values are imparted to different sections of society. Audio DVDs on ‘Personality Development’ (Part-1) and ‘Education as Viewed by Swami Vivekananda’ in English, Hindi & Bengali were completed. About 11,97,500 copies of the

In a number of states in India, Swami Vivekananda Ratha Yatra was conducted. In some states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu this Ratha Yatra was conducted in all the districts of the states. Ratha Yatra has had the effect of mobilizing a great ground swell of support. The inaugural function of the Swamiji’s 150th birth anniversary celebration was organized by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, on 12 January 2013. Sri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, and many other dignitaries attended the function and addressed the gathering. Commemorative coins of Rs. 5 and Rs. 150 denominations and four postage stamps (one of Rs. 20 and three of Rs. 5 denominations) were released on the occasion.

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SERVICE PROJECTS TAKEN UP DURING 150TH YEAR GADADHAR ABHYUDAYA PRAKALPA (GAP)

SARADA PALLI VIKAS PRAKALPA

This is an integrated children’s welfare project which aims at the physical, mental and intellectual development of children. It selects children under the poverty line in both urban and rural areas and: i) serves them with nutritious food, ii) monitors their health and fitness through health checkups, iii) provides basic training in health and hygiene, iv) supplies basic necessities like stationaries and toiletries. Mental and intellectual development is also fostered through drama, music, chanting, painting, lives of great men and women, coaching etc.

This project aims at the welfare, education and empowerment of women. It focuses on providing self-development opportunities to women disregarded, neglected and tormented by society and family. It includes motivating and goal orientating women, providing non formal education, creating awareness about healthy habits, food and drinking water and trying to increase their disposable incomes through individual and collective means.

VIVEKANANDA SWASTHYA PARISHEVA PRAKALPA (VSPP)

SWAMI AKHANDANANDA SEVA PRAKALPA

Thisis achildren’s and mother’s health project which aims at remedying child malnutrition. Children, prenatal and post natal mothers from underprivileged families in city slums and rural areas are provided preventive and curative medical care, and health and value education.

Sri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, also inaugurated the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission’s celebration of Swamiji’s 150th Birth Anniversary at Swamiji’s Ancestral House, Kolkata, on 18 January 2013. Sri M K Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal, among others attended the celebrations and addressed the gathering. As a sequel to the above function, a one-day programme, highlighting the “Relevance and Significance of the Life, Message and Work of Swami Vivekananda in the Present-day World” was held at Belur Math. Revered President Maharaj, Revered Swamis Smarananandaji and Prabhanandaji, VicePresidents, Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal, and the General Secretary spoke in the different sessions. Nearly 15,000 people, including monks, nuns, delegates and invitees, attended the programme. The University Grants Commis-

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This project serves marginalized people in10 pockets of poverty (5 in city slums and 5 in villages). Service takes the form of motivating and goal orienting the marginalized people by providing non-formal education, basic knowledge about health, hygiene, sanitation, basic health care services, organizing self-help groups, and financing start up initiatives.

sion (UGC) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi, also commemorated the Swamiji’s birth anniversary. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) awarded the Vivekananda School of Excellence Awards to 40 schools, including six of our schools affiliated to CBSE. Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC) launched two trams: (1) Vivek Tirtha, an exhibition tram displaying letters, pictures, speeches and biography of Swamiji, and, (2) Parivrajak a passenger tram decorated with the pictures and quotations of Swamiji. On the Gretz centre’s initiative, the UNESCO organized a special programme at its headquarters in Paris on October 7 jointly with the Embassy of India and the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO. The Director General of UNESCO, Indian Ambassador to France, and several other dignitaries gave speeches on the theme The Univer-

sal Message of Swami Vivekananda. Besides, a panel discussion was held in which distinguished people from different walks of life took part.

Celebrations by other organizations Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth centenary was celebrated by many other organizations inside and outside India. There were more than a dozen websites supporting these initiatives and many social website pages. Political parties, and social organizations carried the message of Vivekananda through their platforms in the celebration year. The extent of celebration in the society, sustained by people, was wide and deep. A systematic documentation of efforts from all quarters is the need of the hour.

Adoption of child

Personal, religious considerations no bar

s the country pushes for a Uniform Civil Code, the Supreme Court has delivered a landmark decision. It has ruled that personal or religious considerations cannot stop a Muslim individual from adopting a child. With this, many observers believe that India has moved one step closer to the much needed Uniform Civil Code. Islamic views on adoption are usually different from those in non-Muslim countries. Islam allows raising a child who is not one’s genetic child. It even encourages the adoption of orphans. But the child cannot become a true child of the “adoptive” parents. In Islam, an adopted child is named after the biological, not adoptive, father. The child is also a non-Ashram to members of the adoptive family. A Mahram is an unmarriageable kin. Thus many scholars consider it is forbidden by Islamic law to adopt a child. The adoptive child can become a Mahram to his adopted family if he or she is breast-fed by the adoptive mother before the age of two. There can also be confusion between a child that has been orphaned and one who has been abandoned but is presumed to have living parents. According to the Supreme Court, a Muslim will have to go through the secular Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act route to adopt a child. The court was giving a judgment on a PIL by Shabnam Hashmi nine years back. Hashmi had moved the apex court in 2005 after she was told that she only had guardianship rights over a one-year-old girl she had brought home from an adoption home. From now she can treat the girl, now 17 years old, like her own daughter. “A Muslim was always free to ex-

The Supreme Court judgment on adoption of child by a Muslim individual is significant as it will give momentum to the country’s move towards a Uniform Civil Code visualised in the Indian Constitution. Although it has been opposed by some Muslim religious bodies, the verdict is an important step that will encourage many people to adopt orphans who number over 12 million in India.

ercise his option either to adhere to the personal law prohibition against adoption or choose the JJ Act route to take a child into his/her family,” the bench said, adding, “To us, the Act is a small step in reaching the goal enshrined in Article 44 of the Constitution.” Article 44 says, “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India.” The bench said, “The vision contemplated in Article 44 of the Constitution, that is a Uniform Civil Code, is a goal yet to be fully reached.” But not everyone is happy with this ruling. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) had registered its protest against the PIL, terming it a covert attempt to slip in a uniform code by the backdoor which would infringe the Shariat law. The board took the religious route to argue its case and claimed that Islam

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did not recognize an adopted child to be treated on a par with a biological child. It tried to invoke the ‘Kafla’ system under Islam and argued that even the United Nation’s Convention of the Rights of Child recognized it as an alternative to child care contemplated under the JJ Act. The court underscored that the Act did not mandate any compulsion for adopting children and that “such a person is always free to adopt or choose not to do so and, instead, follow what he comprehends to be the dictates of the personal law applicable to him.” It, however, turned down the plea for declaring the right of a child to be adopted and the right of a parent to adopt a fundamental right under the Constitution saying that such order cannot be passed at this stage in view of conflicting practices and beliefs. It is heartening to see that the highest powers in India are looking to move towards applying the same law

How the law affects other religious communities T

he law will not only affect Muslims but also other communities like Parsis and Christians. In 1998, the Mumbai High Court had said that the Parsi community does not have the right to adopt children. Even though the previous adoption law did not include Christians, the deputy secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), Father Joseph Chinnayyan has stated to the media that the judgment won’t change much for Christians. He said Christianity permits adoption and they follow the law of the land. So, whichever countries Christians are in, they follow that country’s law on adoption.

Buffalo Politics in Uttar Pradesh P

olice in Uttar Pradesh have at last tracked down the stolen buffaloes of Minister Azam Khan. Hundreds of police officers, armed with sniffer dogs, were sent in search of seven buffaloes that went missing at the minister’s Rampur farmhouse. The story of the stolen buffaloes gives a peek into the way government is run the country’s most populous state. According to The Times of India, minutes after they learnt of the theft, a large battalion of police officers rushed to the village and none other than the district police chief, Sadhna Goswami, came forward to lead the investigation.

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Soon, they set up high-level search teams, arming each team with half a dozen sniffer dogs. Senior administration officials were also reportedly part of the teams. Three police officers, who never

to every citizen, irrespective of his/ her cast or creed. It also refused to consider the Kafla system of Islamic law under this case. It stated, “At the cost of repetition, we would like to say that an optional legislation that does not contain an unavoidable imperative cannot be stultified by principles of personal law which, however, would always continue to govern any person who chooses to so submit himself until such time that the vision of a Uniform Civil Code is achieved.” Earlier, only Hindus (and other breakaway religions like Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs) were allowed to properly adopt minors. Non-Hindus could only act as guardians or foster parents, both of which restrict the child’s right to inherit. However, the government had given non-Hindus full rights to adopt almost a decade ago. But many Muslim organizations felt that the Sharia law doesn’t recognize adoption and the issue remained shrouded in confusion. Experts hope that this ruling will bring about fresh hope for about 12 million orphans in the country. The adoption rate in India is abysmal with only about 4,000 children finding new families each year. There are over 12 million orphaned children in India.

thought buffaloes could be stolen, are today facing suspension for what the government says “dereliction of duty.” State tourism Minister Om Prakash Singh defended the suspension, saying that the government can decide whom to promote and whom to suspend. Khan, in the meanwhile, went abroad on a study trip. The government later disclosed that several ministers had gone overseas on study trips, and Khan was on his way to studying waste management. These incidents are just an example of abuse of power in Uttar Pradesh, where Samajawadi Party is in power.

A Please-all Budget

But Will It Stimulate Growth?

he Finance Minister has presented vote on account with sops that are aimed at garnering vote for the ruling party in the coming general elections, but this throws up an important issue: Will it contribute to economic growth? True, it is not a general budget, but still the way in which the finance minister has chosen to cut excise rates and offer other

The manufacturing sector has slowed down; interest rates are high and inflation, though a tad lower than expected, is bound to go north with the tapering of supplies, especially food items, with the onset of summer. There is no incentive for fresh investments and India Incâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s call for a rate cut has fallen on deaf ears. Under the circumstances, the state of the economy continues to be fragile, say the economists. concessions do not augur well for the economy. The growth projected at 5% of the GDP remains a distant dream; fiscal deficit is just about the projections in the last budget, but not up to the expectations He has announced a 10-point plan to make the budget palatable to all sections of society. Under this plan, the excise on small automobiles, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles have been reduced from 12% to 8%. Duties on refrigerators, air-conditioners, TV sets, vacuum cleaners, dish washers, washing machines and laptops have also been reduced. Duty on mobile phones has been reduced by 6%. The longstanding demand of the armed forces for â&#x20AC;&#x153;One-rank, one-pensionâ&#x20AC;? has at last got the government nod. This will benefit lakhs of army personnel. Users can expect a drop in computer prices with the cut in excise duties from 12% to 10%. The result would

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be a reduction of Rs.600 in the price of a PC costing Rs.30,000. Mr. Chidambaram announced three industrial corridors â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Chennai-Bangalore, Bangalore-Mumbai and Amritsar-Kolkata -- and also a Rs.200-crore venture capital fund for Dalit entrepreneurs. The 10% surcharge on the superrich will continue. The government will raise Rs.4.57 lakh crore from the open market. Nirbhaya Fund will receive additional Rs.1,000 crore. This will raise the total funds available for this scheme to Rs.2,000 crore. On the macro-economic front, there are some faint signals of revival. Wholesale price index (WPI) has come down, but industrial output has shrunk. The 8-month low of 5% in WPI in January was driven largely by cheaper vegetables. According to the latest data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, WPI stood at 5.05% in January against 6.16% in the previous month and 7.1% in the corresponding month of the previous year. Food inflation that stood at doubledigits slowed to 8.8% year-on-year. According to economists, the coming months are likely to witness a further easing of inflation due to larger supply of winter fruits and vegetables next month. But chances of a cut in interest rates despite the easing of inflation seem to be dim as the RBI would like to exercise extreme caution, lest a knee-jerk reaction should trigger inflation. India Inc, however, is insisting on cheaper loans to stimulate investment and economic growth. According to economist Rohini Malkani of Citigroup, bankers expect the rates to remain higher, given RBIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s anti-inflation bias. As for industrial output, the news is far from being cheerful. The output shrunk for the third month in a row in December, according to the latest data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The data showed that the industrial output fell by 1.6% in December, 2013, compared with a decline of 0.6% in the year earlier. The manufacturing sector accounts for over 75% of industrial production.

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High interest rates, stubborn inflation and high input costs have been exerting tremendous pressure on the

industrial sector besides policy delays and tardy investments. But the silver lining is that retail inflation has slowed to a two-year low of 8.8% in January against 9.9% in December. Overall, the growth of the economy has shrunk to a decade low of 4.5% in 2012-13. It is estimated that in 201314 the growth will be 4.9% although the Finance Minister has set a slightly higher target of 5-5.5% in his previous budget speech. The farm sector is estimated to grow at 4.6% in 201314. This sector accounts for 14% of the GDP. This is a piece of cheerful news because the farm growth in the previous year was just 1.4%. Thus the rural economy will witness a boom and revival of demand. But the main worry of the government is the manufacturing sector which is expected to decline by 0.2% in the current fiscal against a 1.1% expansion in 2012-13. Economists attribute this to policy delays and slowdown in investments due to various factors.

Death of Female on Campus Spurs Debate in Saudi Arabia

In 2002, a fire broke out at a girl’s school in Mecca, killing 15 students. Rights groups reported that the religious police would not allow the girls to escape because they were not wearing headscarves or “abayas”, a traditional loose black cloak that covers the female body from the neck down.

RSS Says Aseemanand Interview is Fake

he death of an ailing woman student at a Saudi university has stirred up a controversy on social media after an ambulance was denied access under the conservative Muslim kingdom’s segregation laws. Amna Bawazeer, 24, died of a heart attack in the compound of the social sciences faculty of Riyadh’s King Saud University. Local media said medics in an ambulance were denied access because they were not accompanied by a “mahram”, a legal guardian or male member of her family. Angry female students have gone on Twitter to blame faculty officials for Bawazeer’s death. But the university’s administration hit back in a statement to stress that the student had suffered from a heart condition from the age of 4. She died of a heart attack, despite the best efforts of the faculty’s own infirmary to save her life. Her death sparked a debate on Twitter by Saudis who created a hashtag to talk about the incident. Many Saudi citizens said the kingdom’s strictly enforced rules governing the segregation of the sexes were to blame for the delay in helping Bawazeer. Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam. Sexes are segregated in schools and almost all Saudi universities. Women also have separate seating areas and often separate entrances in “family” sections of restaurants and cafes where single males are not allowed. The kingdom’s top cleric has warned against the mixing of the genders, saying it poses a threat to female chastity and society.

he Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has denied its involvement in any terror strike following allegations levelled against its chief Mohan Bhagwat by terror accused Swami Aseemanand. RSS has stated that this is a political conspiracy. Aseemanand has clarified he never said this. RSS said one had to consider the timing of the statement by Aseemanand. RSS said it condemns this attempt to bring back the false allegations. Such allegations were made earlier to defame the RSS leadership but they were proved wrong, RSS said.

Aseemanand, in the court and outside, denied making such statements. Questions arise on the authenticity of the interview. The timing of the interview points to a political conspiracy. Swami Aseemanand, accused in the blasts in the Samjhauta Express (February 2007), Hyderabad Mecca Masjid (May 2007) and Ajmer Dargah (October 2007), has claimed that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had “sanctioned” the attacks.

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A report in The Caravan magazine quoted Aseemanand as saying that Bhagwat, then RSS general secretary, told him that the blasts should not be linked to the Sangh.” Aseemanand told The Caravan that Bhagwat said of the violence, ‘It is very important that it be done. But you should not link it to the Sangh’,” said a press release issued by the magazine. RSS has even said that lawyers will be consulted for the legal action and it will be announced at an appropriate time. Caravan says its reporter interviewed 63-year-old Aseemanand in the Ambala Jail in Haryana four times over two years. Jail officials have launched an enquiry to determine how and why the reporter was given access to him. Aseemanand was arrested in 2010 for his alleged complicity in terror strikes between 2006 and 2008 that included the bombing of the Samjhauta Express in 2007. Nearly 70 people were killed on the train which was headed from Delhi to Lahore in Pakistan. The charges against him include murder and sedition.

Army Chief Cautions on Bangladeshi Infiltration

hile the Indian government still likes to claim that there hasn’t been large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh in recent years, army chief General Bikram Singh begs to differ. He recently called this a matter of “grave concern” and a threat to national security. According to him, the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh has led to demographic changes in the north-east. It has also created grave internal security challenges in Assam. He also said the forces had received a lot of help from the current political dispensation in Bangladesh but responsibility needed to be fixed on the issue of illegal migration. Singh also came down heavily on Pakistan for indulging in record ceasefire violations last year. According to him, the 2003 ceasefire was holding good, but last year has seen an increase in violations. It is being done with an agenda to hype terror in the Valley to maintain army presence. Singh warned that as long as the nexus between

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the state polity (in Pakistan) and terror outfits like LeT continued and it kept getting financial support in an institutional manner, the forces should be prepared for all eventualities. Singh also raised concern about former militants from Kashmir returning to the Valley through Nepal under the state’s rehabilitation policy. Use of the Nepal route by former Kashmiri militants to come back to the Valley is a cause for concern. Though it appears they have mellowed down, the fear is that they could form sleeper cells and carry out terror activities. He also lamented partial implementation of the recommendations of the group of ministers formed in the wake of the Kargil review committee report in 2000. The panel had suggested changes in the security apparatus, including synergy of stakeholders, dedicated resources for border management, enhancing of combat power of the forces, synergy of intelligence agencies and the mantra of “one border, one force” which asked for all active borders to be under the operational control of the army.

Egypt Accuses Islamist Group of Forming ‘Military Wing’

gypt has accused that the Muslim Brotherhood has created a military wing to attack security forces. According to Egypt, this is a move which has the potential to increase pressure on the group already facing a massive crackdown. Recently, the country’s Interior Ministry’s spokesman appeared on television and announced that the military unit had been discovered, and named

tion voices. The regime, led by army chief and likely presidential candidate Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has systematically jailed journalists and opposition leaders and attacked demonstrators.

Bangladesh Court Orders Compensation for Hindus

12 people who he said were members. He claimed the group had shot dead five policemen last month in the province of Beni Suef. Egyptian authorities have been acting tough on the Brotherhood since army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July last year. It has been branded a terrorist group, and security forces have killed about 1,000 of its members in the streets. The Muslim Brotherhood, which says it is opposed to violence, accuses Sisi of staging a coup and undermining democracy. State television aired what it said was a confession by one the military wingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members. He recalled meeting a man who he said had offered to teach him and others how to use weapons. Human rights groups accuse the army-backed government of widespread human rights abuses and stifling dissent. Groups supporting the deposed president Mohammad Morsi have taken up the responsibility for numerous attacks in Cairo. They have used Molotov cocktails and homemade grenades against police vehicles and troop barracks in the city. Very recently, major incidents have included a jihadist attack on an Egyptian military helicopter in Sinai. It has also included a fatal car bombing in Cairo. While a group supporting al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, new groups believed to be Muslim Brotherhood supporters have turned to violence as well. Both secular-minded groups and the Morsiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Muslim Brotherhood have come down heavily on the current military administration for intimidating opposi-

Bangladesh court has ordered the Bangladesh government to pay more than Taka 4.34 million as compensation to Hindu families who were attacked for an alleged blasphemous post on a popular social networking site. In November last year, some unidentified miscreants vandalised 29 houses, 10 shops and seven temples at Bonogram Bazar in Pabna district. This was perceived to be a revenge attack after allegations that a boy from the Hindu minority made a blasphemous post about Prophet Mohammed on a Face Book page. The government was asked by a High Court bench of Justices Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and A B M Altaf Hossain to pay compensation within three weeks. The bench further directed the police to arrest those responsible for the attacks. The government will have to pay Taka 4.34 million ($1 = Taka 78) as compensation as assessed by an investigation committee, Roy was quoted as saying by mass circulation The Daily Star newspaper. Following an earlier directive from the court in November, authorities formed a probe body to assess the damage caused by the attacks. The committee concluded that property worth Tk 4.34 million was damaged in the attacks, Roy said. After examining

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the report, the court passed the order, he said. Over the years, followers of the radical Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami have launched attacks in Hindudominated regions such as Pabna or Jagannathpur in the weeks leading up to the election because of the residents’ religion and because they almost all support the Awami League, the mainly secular party. In Natore a Hindu farmer was stabbed to death, his wife raped and the houses of his relatives were burnt. Bloggers who criticise the mixing of politics and religion in government were also made targets of attacks by radical Islamists.

Pakistan Awards Death Sentence for Blasphemy

court in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi has sentenced a 70-year-old British man to death after convicting him of blasphemy. Muhammad Asghar was arrested in 2010 after writing letters to various people claiming to be a prophet. His lawyers claimed leniency, stating he has a history of mental illness. This was rejected by a medical panel. Pakistan’s much debated blasphemy laws carry a potential death sentence for anyone deemed to have insulted Islam. Numerous recent cases have evoked international concern about the application of these laws. Asghar, who is from Edinburgh, Scotland, was accused of writing letters to police officers claiming to be a prophet. He is said to have lived in Pakistan for many years. His lawyer was forcibly removed from the case by the judge. The proceedings were carried out behind closed doors. His lawyer will launch an appeal against the verdict. Higher courts in Pakistan have been known to overturn blasphemy verdicts handed down in lower courts because of insufficient evidence. Asghar has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and had treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Edinburgh, but the court did not accept his medical reports from the UK. He has been in jail since his arrest in 2010 and his lawyer says he has also tried to take his own life in jail on one occasion. Correspondents say Asghar is unlikely to be execut-

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ed as Pakistan has had a de facto moratorium on the death penalty since 2008. He was also ordered to pay a substantial fine by the court. A Scottish government spokesman said they were “concerned” about the case. Senior UK Foreign Office Minister Baroness Warsi said British officials were providing consular support to Asghar. The legal charity Reprieve has urged the UK government to take immediate steps to protect Asghar, adding that he has a long and documented history of psychological ill-health and needs constant care.

15th Lok Sabha: the worst performer ever

he 15th Lok Sabha session has ended, but analysts say that its performance was the worst ever in the history of post-independent India. Over the past five years, all it could pass was 165 bills, including those related to statehood for Telangana and Lokpal, while 72 bills were pending before it at the time the session ended. Now all of them will go waste as the new members are elected in the upcoming general elections. One of the bills -- the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill -- remains stuck in the Upper House for the last 35 years. A bill regarding the land dispute with Bangladesh is also pending before the Rajya Sabha. According to PRS Legislative Research, 39 bills lapsed at the end of the 14th Lok Sabha, 43 after the 13th Lok Sabha and 20 at the end of the short-lived 12th Lok Sabha, while only seven each lapsed after the first and second Lok Sabha. The fifth Lok Sabha was the most enterprising as it passed 482 bills, while the 12th Lok Sabha passed only 56 bills. .The HR Ministry alone, according to The Times of

India, has 13 legislative proposals pending before Parliament. One of the bills was aimed at persuading universities to facilitate research in its premises. Also pending are he Judicial Appointments Commission Bill and the 120th Constitution Amendment Bill, which is designed to replace the collegium system of appointment of judges.

Bhagat Singh’s birthplace as heritage site

Bangay was also the native village of philanthropist Sir Ganga Ram, reports Hindustan Times. “Bangay is a typical central Punjab village, surrounded by wheat and sugarcane fields,” Waqar Gillani, staff reporter of The News International, wrote in an email to HT. The house where Bhagat Singh was born contains some of his family’s belongings, including his mother’s spinning wheel; a big copper paraat (kneading tray), two wooden trunks and a heavy closet of steel. The items occupy the two rooms of his now almost reconstructed house, which is currently owned by an advocate Muhammad Iqbal Virk.

akistan has unveiled plans to preserve the belongings of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and turn his birthplace in Faisalabad into a heritage site. Bhagat Singh’s house in Bangay village is one of the 45 historical buildings the district administration is planning to preserve, reports Pakistani paper ‘News International’. The news comes almost a year after Pakistan talked of naming a road junction in Lahore after Bhagat Singh, who was hanged to death by British officers in the nearby prison. Faisalabad’s district coordination officer (DCO) Noorul Amin Mengal, who visited Bhagat Singh’s house, has constituted the Lyallpur Heritage Foundation to research and preserve the site.

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