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‘‘Live And Let Live...’’

Supreme Court refuses to stay a court ruling that the barbaric ritual of animal sacrifice has nothing to do with religious freedom 3

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

INDERJIT BADHWAR

LIVE AND LET LIVE UDGES must often have to rush in where angels have feared to tread. Especially in dealing with matters of immense social, religious, ethnic, cultural sensitivity. When legislators and administrators, fearing a popular backlash, a violent repercussion or a political recoil back off from making tough decisions or enacting laws that will be politically unpopular, the courts have the obligation to step in to advance society’s movement towards achieving goals which the march of civilization has come to accept as self-evident, universal truths—kindness, fair play, equal rights, the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

These ethical compulsions, our cultural evolution as a species—propelled by religious and spiritual doctrines, revelations, philosophical treatises, reasoned discourse, the voices of peripatetic preachers—mark what is often referred to as the Ascent of Man. It is an obstacle course in which the impediments —religious sanction, superstition, bigotry, racial rage, violent conquest—are removed, sometimes by the terrible weapons of war, sometimes by non-violent, passive resistance, preachers, movements, the ballot, legislation, the courts. And we move on.

Last fortnight, India took a great step in moving on when Justices Rajiv Sharma and Sureshwar Thakur gaveled a new prohibition: The high court banned the sacrifice of animals in temples, saying they “cannot be permitted to be killed in a barbaric manner to appease Gods.”

The judges decreed: “No person throughout the state shall sacrifice any animal in any place of public religious worship, including all land and buildings near such places of religious worship which are ordinarily connected to religious purposes.”

This massive judicial blow to openly sanctioned and wantonly celebrated spectacles of public cruelty deserves far more than the casual mention it has so far

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received in the press. The decision—although specifically addressing spectacular public slaughter ceremonies and ritual killings during Hindu religious ceremonies in Himachal Pradesh—is actually a clarion call to the rest of India, where thousands and thousands of animals are subjected to brutish torture, cutting across religions and beliefs.

What is truly courageous and luminous about this nearly 200-page judgment is its unflinching upholding of human and humane values above every counter-argument based on freedom of religion and worship, the right to eat meat, religious personal laws, ritualistic non-vegetarianism, ancient traditions, scriptural edicts, verses from religious texts and international cases. With the wisdom of A Daniel Come to Judgment, the judges take the arguments of their detractors head-on with scholarly research matching argument for argument, separating fact from fiction, myth and superstition from reality and common sense, and argue their case for moral core values that are essential spiritual beacons to guide a nation and a people into the radiance of knowledge.

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eaders of this column would do well to read this judgment (High Court of Himachal Pradesh, CWP No. 9257 of 2011 along with CWP No.4499/2012 and CWP No.5076/2012) in full, not only because of the light it sheds on religion and religious practices, but also because it is a transformative experience. I will quote from it at length.

For starters, the petitioners (People for Animals, led by rights activist Sonali Purewal) relied heavily on the rarely invoked Fundamental Duties of the Constitution – Article 51-A (h) — exhorting citizens of India to “develop the scientific temper, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform,” against Article 25 — the Right to Freedom of Religion and the “right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion.”

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

But does this “freedom” grant anyone, no matter what his religion, the right to practice licentious, profligate public cruelty? Do animals enjoy human rights? Maybe not in the technical sense of fundamental rights as enshrined in the constitution.

But the constitution is a creature of the highest political, ethical and moral values which our founding fathers thought fit to enshrine in the guiding document for the Indian Republic. This ethical value system was articulated by none other than Mahatma Gandhi, who said: “The moral progress and strength of a nation can be judged by the care and compassion it shows towards its animals.”

The petitioners rubbished the wishy-washy stand of the state that animal sacrifice has been a continuous practice since time immemorial and is a deeprooted cultural trait. There is no justification for its continuation, they said, “because it contravenes the very spirit of the constitution of India and the basic principles of a progressive and civilized society. The issue of vegetarians and non-vegetarians is irrelevant

to the present context. The petitioner is not opposed to non-vegetarianism and meat-eating, but the ethos behind sacrificing animals before a deity is embedded in superstition and contravenes the constitutional spirit of a scientific temper.”

They added: “The rituals attached to animal sacrifice reflect only cruelty, superstition, fear and barbarism and have nothing to do with either religion or culture. Practices like Sati, female feticide, child marriage, untouchability, etc., were continuing since generations and were deeply ingrained in the social milieu, but have been almost eradicated with the education and reformation movements as well as judicial intervention.”

Referring to an affidavit filed by an eyewitness, Bhajanand Sharma, the court observed that the ritual is a “cruel and barbaric practice and is far from the spirit of worship and reverence as the deponent has seen many a time goats, sheep and rams suffering in agony and crying out in pain during the performance of a sacrifice. The animals are sacrificed in the pres-

Getty Images

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ence of other animals. It fills them with fear and dread and becomes a very depressing and painful sight to watch. Many villagers of the area avoid going to the temple premises. At such times, it is full of blood and corpses of sacrificed animals that becomes a very pathetic sight to encounter.”

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ther eyewitness descriptions from the case file: “Lying around in pain and suffering after receiving blows on their necks which usually does not kill them in first go. Sometimes, the animal tries to escape in a fatally wounded condition, which is very painful. Goats, sheep and rams are held by four people and then the head is attempted to be cut off by one other person, which is not always successful in the first attempt as there is no check on the sharpness of the weapon/equipment being used for the sacrifice, which may be blunt. At times, inexperienced people try and participate in the ritual killing and it is abominable to see that sometimes it may take up to 15 blows to kill the sacrificial animal that keeps struggling in a brutally injured and bleeding condition.”

There was repeated testimony that animals are beaten up mercilessly and dragged up to mountain slopes to meet their death. The scenic beauty of the religious places is not maintained. According to the witnesses, it takes 25 minutes to kill a buffalo bull. At times, the buffalo runs amuck to save itself. The animals are mercilessly beaten up and chilies are thrown into their eyes.

The court noted the “insensitivity” of the state’s authorities to petitioners’ repeated requests to prevent animal sacrifice under Section 28 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960. It noted that “the larger beneficiaries of which are priests and the Mandir Committee, animal breeders and designated butchers.”

Nand Lal, a former practitioner of animal sacrifice, said in an affidavit that the sacrifice practiced is so horrific and cruel that most of the people do not even dare to watch, what to speak of accepting the flesh of the sacrificed animal as prasad. The court noted that “the rope is fastened behind the legs of the goat or sheep as well as to its horns, after which the animal’s body is cruelly stretched way beyond its normal limit and is tied up both at the front as well as at the back.

After a person gives blows with a weapon to the animal, (Nand Lal) was horrified to say that many times, because of an inexperienced person giving the blow or because of the bluntness of the weapon, it takes as many as 15-20 blows to kill the sheep or goats in which the animal cries away in pain and the whole

The court order “ACCORDINGLY, we allow the writ petition CWP No. 5076/2012 and issue the following mandatory directions, prohibiting/banning animal/bird sacrifice in the temples and public places as under: “No person throughout the State of Himachal Pradesh shall sacrifice any animal or bird in any place of religious worship, adoration or precincts or any congregation or procession connected with religious worship, on any public street, way or place, whether a thoroughfare or not, to which the public are granted access to or over which they have a right to pass; No person shall officiate or offer to officiate at, or perform or offer to perform, or serve, assist or participate, or offer to serve, assist, or participate, in any sacrifice in any place of public religious worship or adoration or its precincts or in any congregation or procession, including all lands, buildings near such places which are ordinarily used for the purposes connected with religious or adoration, or in any congregation or procession connected with any religious worship in a public street...

“No person shall knowingly allow any sacrifice to be performed at any place which is situated within any place of public religious worship, or adoration, or is in his possession or under his control; The State Government is directed to publish and circulate pamphlets henceforth to create awareness among the people, to exhibit boards, placards in and around places of worship banning the sacrifice of animals and birds.

“The State Government is further directed to give due publicity about the prohibition and sacrifice in media, both audio and visual, electronic and in all the newspapers; and all the duty holders in the State of Himachal Pradesh are directed to punctually and faithfully comply with the judgment.

“It is made clear that the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of all the Districts shall personally be responsible to prevent, prohibit animal/bird sacrifices throughout the State of Himachal Pradesh.

Live and let live.”

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The creation and the created

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N the case of AS Narayana Deekshitulu vs. State of AP and others, reported in (1996) 9 SCC 548, the judges held that the only integral or essential part of the religion is (constitutionally) protected.

Non-integral or non-essential part of religion, being secular in character, can be regulated by legislation. The essential or integral part of religion to be ascertained from the doctrine of that religion itself according to its tenets, historical background and change in evolved process.

While performance of religious service is an integral part of religion, priest or archaka performing such service is not so.

The judges have further held that religion is not merely an opinion, doctrine or belief. It has outward expression in acts as well. It is not every aspect of religion that has been safeguarded by Articles 25 and 26, nor has the constitution provided that every religious activity cannot be interfered with.

Every religion must believe in a conscience and ethical and moral precepts.

“From that perspective, this Court is concerned with the concept of Hindu religion and dharma... Very often, one can discern and sense political and economic motives for maintaining status quo in relation to religious forms masquerading as religious faith and rituals bereft of substantial religious experience. As such, philosophers do not regard this as religion at all. They do not hesitate to say that this is politics or economics masquerading as religion. A very careful distinction, therefore, is required to be drawn between real and unreal religion at any stage in the development and preservation of religion as protected by the constitution. Within religion, there is an interpretation of reality and unreality, which is a completely different experience. It is the process in which the ideal is made rule. Thus, perfection of religious experience can take place only when free autonomy is afforded to an individual and worship of the infinite is made simpler, direct communion, the cornerstone of human system. Religion is personal to the individual. Greater the

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law bringing an individual closer to this freedom, the higher is its laudable and idealistic purpose. Therefore, in order that religion becomes mature internally with the human personality it is essential that mature self must be combined with conscious knowledge. Religious symbols can be contra-distinguished from the scientific symbols and both are as old as man himself. Through scientific symbols there can be repetition of dogmatism and conviction of ignorance.

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t thus follows that to one who is devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, the observance of rituals is of no use since the observance of rituals and the devotion of knowledge cannot co-exist. There is considerable incompatibility between knowledge and rituals inasmuch as their natures are entirely antithetical. It is only he who regards himself as the agent of action that can perform the rituals; but the nature of knowledge is altogether different and it dispels all such ideas. All the wrong ideas beginning with the identification of Self with the physical body etc., are eradicated by knowledge, while they are reinforced by action. Ignorance of Atman is at the root of action, but the knowledge of Atman destroys both. How is it possible for one to perform the prescribed rituals while engaged in the pursuit of knowledge inasmuch as they are incompatible! It is as much impossible as the co-existence of light and darkness. One cannot keep one’s

eyes open and closed at the same time. It is equally impossible to combine knowledge and rituals. Can one who is looking westward look eastward?

“Religion, therefore, be construed in the context of Articles 25 and 26 in its strict and etymological sense. Every religion must believe in a conscience and ethical and moral precepts…. There is nothing which a man can do, whether in the way of wearing clothes or food or drink, which is not considered a religious activity. Every mundane or human activity was not intended to be protected by the constitution under the guise of religion.

The approach to construe the protection of religion or matters of religion or religious practices guaranteed by Articles 25 and 26 must be viewed with pragmatism since by the very nature of things, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to define the expression religion of matters or religion or religious belief or practice. The religious freedom guaranteed by Articles 25 and 26, therefore, is intended to be a guide to a community-life and ordain every religion to act according to its cultural and social demands to establish an egalitarian social order. Articles 25 and 26, therefore, strike a balance between the rigidity of right to religious belief and faith and their intrinsic restrictions in matters of religion, religious beliefs and religious practices and guaranteed freedom of conscience to commune with his Cosmos, Creator and realize his spiritual self.”

premises is covered with blood. Many times, the person sacrificing the animal also drinks the blood, which is a horrific sight and sends shivers down one’s spine about the kind of barbarism that is being practiced under the garb of religion. Animal sacrifice is not a form of worship but is in essence, a social evil that is based on superstition and violence against the helpless that goes against the spirit of Hinduism which preaches the spirit of Ahimsa”.

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he Himachal court opined that Articles 25 and 26 of the constitution of India protect religious beliefs, opinions and practices but not superstitions. “A religion has to be seen as a whole and thereafter, it can be seen whether a particular practice is core/central to the religion. It can be a hybrid also.

In the instant case, offerings in the temples can be made by offering flowers, fruits, coconut, etc. According to us, there are compelling reasons and grounds to prohibit this practice. A democratic polity is required to be preferred to a system in which each one’s conscience is a law unto itself. The State has also the obligation under constitutional mandate to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens and animals.

“The stand of the State Government in the reply is that this practice is prevalent from time immemorial and the people have a deep-rooted faith and belief in animal sacrifice. The Court has directed the State Government to propose a regulation to arrest this evil.

The State Government instead of filing an affidavit giving therein measures required to curb this practice has chosen to file the reply (citing the Vedas, and Upanishadas and Puranas)… Society has advanced.

We are in a modern era. The rituals, which may be prevalent in the early period of civilization have lost their relevance and the old rituals are required to be substituted by new rituals which are based on reasoning and scientific temper. Superstitions have no faith in the modern era of reasoning.

“These practices have outlived and have no place in the 21st century. The animal sacrifice of any species, may be a goat or sheep or a buffalo, cannot be, in our considered view, treated as integral/central theme and essential part of religion. It may be religion’s practice but definitely not an essential and integral part of religion. Hindu Religion, in no manner, would be affected if the animal sacrifice is taken out from it.

“We have to progress... The essentials of any religion are eternal. The non-essentials are relevant for some time. The animal/bird sacrifice cannot be treated as eternal. We should experience religion. We have to stand up against the social evils, with which the

Animal bill of rights The United Kingdom Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) has expanded five freedoms for animals as under: Freedom from hunger and thirst—by ready access to fresh water and a diet designed to maintain full health and vigour.

Freedom from discomfort—by the provision of an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.

Freedom from pain, injury or disease—by prevention or through rapid diagnosis and treatment.

Freedom to express normal behaviour—by the provision of sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.

Freedom from fear and distress—by the assurance of conditions that avoid mental suffering.

society at times is beset with. Social reforms are required to be made... The new Mantra is salvation of the people, by the people. Hindus have to fulfill the Vedantic ideas but by substituting old rituals by new rituals based on reasoning.

“The animals have basic rights and we have to recognize and protect them. The animals and birds breathe like us. They are also a creation of God. They have also a right to live in harmony with human beings and nature. No deity and Devta would ever ask for the blood.

“All Devtas and deities are kind-hearted and bless the humanity to prosper and live in harmony with each other. The practice of animal/bird sacrifice is abhorrent and dastardly. The welfare of animals and birds is a part of moral development of humanity.

Animals/birds also require suitable environment, diet and protection from pain, sufferings, injury and disease. It is man’s special responsibility towards the animals and birds being fellow creatures. We must respect the animals. They should be protected from the danger of unnecessary stress and strains.”

editor@indialegalonline.com INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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OCTOBER 31, 2014

VOLUME. VII

ISSUE. 28

Editor-in-Chief Inderjit Badhwar Managing Editor Ramesh Menon Deputy Managing Editor Shobha John Senior Editor Vishwas Kumar Contributing Editor Girish Nikam Associate Editor Meha Mathur Deputy Editor Prabir Biswas Assistant Editor Somi Das Art Director Anthony Lawrence Senior Visualizer Amitava Sen Graphic Designer Lalit Khitoliya Photographer Anil Shakya News Coordinator/Photo Researcher Kh Manglembi Devi Production Pawan Kumar Verma Circulation RP Singh Chauhan

EDIT

Live and let live

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A landmark judgment putting a stop to animal sacrifice in the name of religion delves deep into faith and rituals and questions the basis of brutality against all living beings. INDERJIT BADHWAR commends the brave judicial stand

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October 31, 2014

LEAD

Chidambarams face CBI heat Former Home and Finance Minister Chidambaram is under the investigative agency’s scanner for his role in the 2G scam, as his wife faces a probe for her role in the Saradha scandal. VISHWAS KUMAR reports FOCUS

Three decades of agonizing wait

20 24

Justice eludes victims of the 1984 gas leak from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal 30 years on. SHASHIKUMAR VELATH and NIKHIL EAPEN write how the corporate, in connivance with the Indian government, has dodged accountability.

HUMAN INTEREST

A sniff of trouble Children are increasingly getting hooked to cheap and available intoxicants.

SHADAB AHMAD MOIZEE finds out the reasons behind the habit

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NATIONAL SECURITY

Insight into ISI psyche

38

A 2008 paper written by the new ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar reveals how paranoid the Pakistan establishment is about growing proximity between India and the US. VISHWAS KUMAR analyzes this document in the light of Modi’s US visit and the current tension along the J&K border DIPLOMACY

Manhattan mania

GLOBAL TRENDS

An anathema called IS

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British Muslims say NO to the hate propaganda of Islamic State and other radical groups and want the UK government to fight the extremists.

SAJEDA MOMIN says this is a far cry from their opposition to the war on Iraq in 2003

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Why Kerala basks in hartal culture.................42 Need for ethical hackers to ensure IT security ....................46

The suffering of immigrant labor.............67 Indian contingent’s performance in the Asian Games................70 TRENDS

At crossroads

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An ode to Shakespeare in the backdrop of Kashmir trouble............78

What are the career options available to legal graduates? JUI MUKHERJEE talks to some of them to learn about the path they have charted for themselves

ANITA KATYAL assesses whether the US visit of Modi achieved concrete results

Wooing the eastern powers

Boat clinics in Assam reach out to far-flung areas...............36

How oil companies rig wages .........…........64

BIKRAM VOHRA describes why Narendra Modi was lapped up by the NRIs and PIOs in the US, and why a similar visit to the Middle East would not be hyped up by the media

Was the mission accomplished?

ALSO

56 REGULARS

In attempting to improve relations with China and Japan, Modi will have to do the fine balancing act of not annoying either of the two. An analysis by COL R HARIHARAN

Letters…............................................................................................10 Ringside ..........................… ..............................................................12 Quote-Unquote ...............… ..............................................................14 Supreme Court..................................................................................16 Courts................................................................................................18 Briefs .................................................................................................77 Is That Legal?....................................................................................80 Wordly-wise .......................................................................................81 People ...............................................................................................82

Cover Design: ANTHONY LAWRENCE Photograph of animal sacrifice: GETTY IMAGES

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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LETTERS Distorting facts The story, Leave Cupid Alone (October 15, 2014 issue) made interesting reading. The BJP’s bluff was called in the assembly by-elections in Uttar Pradesh as far as propagating love jehad is concerned. It was a futile attempt to communalize polity in India. Has the Modi team run out of ideas?

Yes, there could be stray instances of Muslims wooing Hindu women, marrying them and later forcing them to convert. But these are only abberations in a general climate of peace and amity.

Gyaneshwar Dayal, Lucknow

Quintessentially legal

Refer to the book review Harvesting Hatred.

Looking at the political situation in Maharashtra today, I am reminded of the immense contribution of Bal Thackeray in stitching a deal with the BJP and making Shiv Sena-BJP a potent force in the state.

Now that they have split, and with the BJP going into the state elections with all guns blazing, the Sena’s future looks bleak.

Rajesh Kumar, Ghaziabad

A good attempt

Learn from Scotland

Indian Super League is a good concept to improve football standards in India (It’s Kick-off Time, October 15, 2014).

Unlike cricket, there is no football culture in India. Only West Bengal, Goa, Punjab, and northeastern states are besotted with the game.

The youth needs to be drawn into playing football and taking it up as a career option. It has taken years for cricket to blossom into a sport, with the promise of money, fame and adulation.

As a football fan, I look forward to the tournament.

Sudeep Dey, Mumbai

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www.twitter.com/indialegalmag

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October 31, 2014

Feeling the vacuum

I am happy to see that India Legal is picking up steam as a legal magazine.

There is a lot of legal material in the magazine now. I enjoyed reading the October 15 issue. The subjects covered were broad, whether it is the Smriti Irani issue, the apex court guidelines on police killings, DNA profiling or stem cell therapy. Keep up the good work.

Arun Swarup, Delhi

I am glad that Scotland chose to stay with England (Scotched!, October 15, 2014). If the results would have been the other way round, the ramifications could have been far-reaching on world politics. Pakistan would have raked up the issue to seek referendum on Kashmir. Scotland has shown the world that separation is not the answer to identity issues.

Partha Dey, Kolkata

Errata On the cover page and the story Leave Cupid Alone (October 15, 2014 issue), the pictures of Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah were credited to Reuters, whereas the pictures belong to Getty Images. The error is regretted.

—Editor

Please email your letters to: editor@indialegalonline.com Or write to us at: India Legal, ENC Network, A-9, Sector 68, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Noida (UP) - 201309

Aruna

VERDICT Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph. — Haile Selassie

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October 31, 2014

QUOTE-UNQUOTE

“I am happy England gave us the game of cricket, which they can’t play very well, and the English language, which I can’t speak very well.”

“He (Narendra Modi) answers questions brilliantly and is very focused on improving India.

So, we are thrilled to be working with him."

— Kapil Dev, former Indian cricket captain, upon being honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the House of Lords.

The Indian Express

“Manufacturing has to become the next big wave for us. This ‘Make in India’ campaign is a clarion call that will galvanize India’s economy to reach greater heights.”

—Industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, where the campaign was launched.

—Narendra Modi to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria

—Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, on the Congress’ need to redefine its stand on secularism.

Daily Bhaskar

— Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Modi’s foreign policy. India Today.in

“I've left my one-year-old son at home to compete here and it took just one minute for the judges to spoil everything for me.”

— Boxer Sarita Devi, on the alleged unfair decision of the judges in the semi-final Asian Games match. Mint

October 31, 2014

“Indian Muslims will live for India. They will die for India.

They will not want anything bad for India.”

“We do not speak against Muslim fundamentalism as strongly as we should. We have to attack Hindu and Muslim fundamentalism in the same manner.”

"When the Prime Minister was enjoying a swing with the Chinese President, thousands of their soldiers were occupying our land in Ladakh.”

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—Indira Nooyi, Pepsico India, CEO. The Times of India

“Muslim boys good in studies are sent to public schools by their parents. But those who are weak, get admitted in madrasas.”

—BJP MP Swami Sakshi Maharaj.

Mail Today

SUPREME COURT

A rap on UGC’s knuckles

Illustrations: Aruna

Strictures on publicity he Supreme Court’s intention to curb rampant advertising in the media by the government for political mileage at the cost of public money might take concrete shape soon. A committee set up by the apex court for guidelines on the issue submitted its report recently.

The committee has suggested that such publicity material should not have names and pictures of political parties and people holding posts in them. It has also pointed out that only names and photographs of the president, prime minister, governor and chief ministers should be allowed.

The Election Commission’s contention that strict regulations must be clamped on these advertisements six months before elections has received vociferous support from the panel, which has called for arming the poll body with enough powers for implementing the guidelines.

The panel feels that in case of birth and death anniversaries of public figures, there should be a single advertisement from the information and broadcasting ministry. It has advocated for a budgetary allocation from all ministries and PSUs for advertisements, and stressed that the likely expenditure must be vetted by the CAG.

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s it possible to fairly judge the level of infrastructure and teaching faculty of a deemed university, merely based on photographs and video footage, and doing away with physical verification altogether? The University Grants Commission (UGC) believes it can.

However, it was pulled up by the Supreme Court for adopting such a sham procedure to seal the fate of as many as 41 institutions and derecognize them.

The center had already received a report from the UGC panel in this regard.

While junking the report, a two-judge bench ordered UGC to conduct a fresh inspection of these universities within 12 weeks, make the universities aware of their deficiencies, if any, give them considerable time to address the pitfalls, and then submit the final report to the center and the court. It decided to take up the matter again on January 8, 2015.

The bench also demanded an explanation from the UGC as to why physical inspection was bypassed when there was an explicit mandatory rule for doing so in UGC Regulations 2010. It observed that things must have changed a lot after the UGC physically crosschecked the facilities in these universities, way back in November 2009.

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Memon to get another hearing

Questioning procedures t seems this was an opportunity that the Supreme Court was waiting for.

Criticized for lack of transparency in its collegium system, it was now the apex court’s turn to get back at the center on the issue of appointing central vigilance commissioners (CVCs).

A three-judge bench asked the center why it was adopting opaque procedures to appoint a CVC through an “in-house” panel, thereby leaving immense scope for nepotism at the cost of talented people. It pointed out that if transparency was an issue for all institutions and systems, why didn’t the same principle apply to the center. Was it not time that the government cleaned its own Augean Stables?

The court was hearing a PIL that had raised doubts on the entire selection process followed by the government.

The center, while assuring the court that

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he Yakub Abdul Razak Memon case will now be reviewed in an open court by the apex court. Memon was sentenced to death for his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, in which 257 people were killed. The court, while hearing a plea from Memon, stayed his execution, thereby “extending” its June 2, 2014, order. The three-judge bench also asked the Maharashtra government to respond to his request.

A constitution bench of the Supreme Court had recently ruled that those sentenced to death could seek a review of the order from a three-judge bench in an open court, where they would be heard for 30 minutes. Memon is the third death-row convict to get a reprieve from the apex court after Surinder Koli, accused in the Nithari case and Sonu Sardar, a convict from Chhattisgarh.

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transparent and fair procedures were being followed at the shortlisting stage, stated that the CVC will only be selected after the court took a final decision on the matter.

The court fixed the next hearing for October 14, and said that if it found the shortlisting process wanting, it would scrap the entire list.

Jaya verdict, a cue from apex court THE Supreme Court’s strong stand against corruption became a reference point for the Karnataka High Court while rejecting the bail and quashing-of-sentence plea of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case.

The bench drew inspiration from recent apex court verdicts wherein it had observed that corruption was a violation of human rights and adversely impacted the health of the polity and thwarted national progress.

The bench also took into account the Supreme Court’s viewpoint that a person once held corrupt by a lower court, is liable to be labeled so by the higher judiciary when it hears an appeal against the judgment.

Divorced for denying sex COUPLES normally part ways on grounds like cruelty, dowry harassment, mental incompatibility, inability to have kids, etc, but now, denying sex for a considerable period of time after marriage could also become the basis for divorce.

While taking up a case in which a man wanted divorce because his wife was not interested in having sex ever since their marriage in 2005, a two-judge bench of the apex court observed that denial of sexual intercourse by any partner without a valid reason is nothing but “mental cruelty”. The bench upheld the Madras High Court verdict, in the same case, which ruled that the couple be granted divorce.

The high court had rejected the wife’s contention that she denied him sex as he wanted children after two years, saying there were many ways to avoid pregnancy. The wife had then appealed to the Supreme Court.

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

17

COURTS

Ignoring ill husband cause for divorce ot looking after one’s husband when he is ill could be a valid ground for seeking divorce. The Bombay High Court has ruled in favor of a husband who is seeking divorce on the grounds that his wife failed to take care of him when he had chickenpox.

N

The wife insisted on staying separately while her husband was recovering from the disease. A bench of Justices Abhay Oka and AS Chandurkar ruled that the agony of the suffering husband cannot be ignored and upheld the divorce sought by him.

“Criminalize marital rape” Fast-track cells for tainted lawmakers he law ministry is preparing a blue-print to revamp the criminal justice system with special emphasis on quick disposal of criminal cases against MPs and MLAs. One of the main proposals will be the formation of a special cell in each of the 24 high courts to deal with criminal cases against lawmakers. A missive on this issue will soon be sent to chief ministers and chief justices of each state. Under the new guidelines, district judges may be vested with powers to arrest accused politicians in case they are found to be influencing the investigation or take action against the superintendent of police for failing to complete the probe within three months of the FIR being filed.

T

n additional sessions court judge in Delhi has made scathing comments against the lack of laws to deal with marital rape while hearing the bail plea of a man accused of forcing his wife into unnatural sex.

Dismissing the husband’s bail plea, the court observed that keeping marital sexual violence within the domain of domestic violence laws and keeping it out of the purview of rape laws reeks of “double standards and hypocrisy in law”. The court criticized the lopsided argument that the non-recognition of marital rape in India is “set upon the bedrock of equality”. The court said that the failure to recognize sexual violence within marriage as rape is the root cause of subjugation of women and it’s high time that the issue is addressed.

A

Illustrations: Amitava Sen

1,000 obsolete laws to be discarded

T

he coming Winter Session of parliament will see the repealing of 287 outdated laws. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the government would introduce a bill in this regard. He has already sought urgent feedback from various departments concerned under whose jurisdictions these laws continue to exist. In addition, the government is looking at repealing Appropriation Acts.

18

October 31, 2014

Every parliament passes around 12 appropriation laws each year to be used whenever the government decides to withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund of India. After the withdrawal, that particular appropriation law is rendered obsolete. Their annulments would lead to the removal of 700 such acts from statute books, taking the total count of discarded laws to around 1,000.

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LEAD/ chidambarams

Double this power couple’s name has cropped up in two major scams. the fall-out could be serious

By Vishwas Kumar

Anil Shakya

20

October 31, 2014

Trouble F

ORTUNES often change when regimes change. This holds true for former finance minister P Chidambaram and his wife, Nalini Chidambaram, both highly successful lawyers, who are under the CBI’s scanner for their alleged roles in two separate multi-crore scams.

While Chidambaram’s links with brothers Dayanidhi and Kalanithi Maran, both accused in the Aircel-Maxis deal, are under the scanner, in the case of Nalini, it is her association with Sudipta Sen, prime accused in the Saradha chit fund scam, that is the focus.

VESTED INTERESTS? It is no coincidence that though these allegations against the couple came to light in the last two years of UPA-II’s regime, the CBI kept dragging its feet over them. But with a change in government, it has started a preliminary investigation into these matters.

In 2012, the CBI hinted at Chidambaram’s role when it was probing the 2G scam and ferreting out information on the Maran brothers and their Aircel-Maxis deal.

This controversial deal took place when Dayanidhi and Chidambaram headed the telecom and finance ministries, respectively, during UPA-I’s tenure between 2005-2006.

According to the CBI chargesheet, Dayanidhi misused his authority as telecom minister—from May 26, 2004, to May 13, 2007—to force businessman C Sivasankaran to sell off his telecom company, Aircel, to T Ananda Krishnan, a Malaysia-based business tycoon. Krishnan was a close business partner and family friend of the Marans.

Soon after the deal, Krishnan’s companies invested around `600 crore in Marans’ companies. The CBI alleged it was a “bribe

The then Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, who headed FIPB, cleared the `3,500-crore, Aircel-Maxis deal. But he had the power to clear deals only up to `600 crore. amount” for the Aircel-Maxis deal.

The CBI also chargesheeted Dayanidhi’s brother, Kalanithi, along with Krishnan, Malaysian national Augustus Ralph Marshall and four firms. These firms were Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd, Maxis Communication Berhad, South Asia Entertainment Holding Ltd and Astro All Asia Network PLC in the AircelMaxis case. The case has now gone for trial in the 2G Special Court of OP Saini.

IN THE DOCK (Facing page) Former FM Chidambaram and his wife, Nalini, will need to explain charges against them (Below) Dayanidhi Maran misused his authority as telecom minister and was reportedly helped by Chidambaram

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

21

LEAD/ chidambarams

Since the Aircel-Maxis deal involved selling off stakes to foreign companies, it required the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). This board was headed by finance minister Chidambaram, who cleared the deal.

DOUBTFUL CREDENTIALS The CBI also chargesheeted Dayanidhi’s brother, Kalanithi Maran, in the Aircel-Maxis deal

LIMITED MANDATE The CBI recently informed the 2G court that the FIPB’s approval was a “mistake”, and was investigating “why Chidambaram had cleared the nearly `3,500 crore deal in 2006 when he was competent to give approval for deals only up to `600 crore.”

CBI prosecutor KK Goel recently told Judge Saini: “Your (judge) query was on FIPB approval. We are showing documents which show the power of the then finance minister. Power was vested in the then finance minister to give FIPB approval of up to `600 crore.

“For investment of over `600 crore, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is the competent authority to give approval. This is under investigation and we have not concluded the probe on this aspect

yet.” Incidentally, the CCEA, then, was headed by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

Chidambaram, however, denied allegations made by the CBI. Meanwhile, the then Janata Party chief, Subramanian Swamy (now a BJP member), wrote a letter to CBI director AP Singh on April 20, 2012, requesting that the role of Chidambaram and his son, Karti P Chidambaram, in the Aircel-Maxis case be probed.

He hinted at a “quid pro quo” between both parties. The letter urged Singh to look into details of money flow in various companies.

These were the questions he had raised: * Have you noticed the irregularities and huge money trail during the period from 2005 in certain companies like Ausbridge Holdings and Investments Private Ltd. and AF Mentor Consulting Private Ltd., where Karti P Chidambaram has majority shares? * Have you noticed Ausbridge Holdings and Investments Pvt Ltd., in turn, has majority shares in Kaiser Surya Samudra Resorts Private Ltd and Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Ltd. and there have been huge money flows and purchase of properties by these companies? * Have you noticed that during the AircelMaxis deal period, Karti P Chidambaramcontrolled Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Ltd had several money transactions with Aircel Televentures Ltd.controlled by C Sivasankaran?

SHADY LINKS Coming to Nalini Chidambaram, the CBI questioned her for several hours on September 22 for her links with Saradha CMD Sudipta Sen. She was questioned about her alleged role in a television channel deal between him and journalist Manoranjana Sinh, estranged wife of Congress leader Matang Singh. Manoranjana and Nalini are close friends.

Nalini’s role first come to light after Sen’s explosive letter to CBI director AP Singh, where he divulged the names of his scam beneficiaries, and it was leaked to the media.

The letter dated April 2013, alleged that two people had damaged him hugely. He mentioned Manoranjana Sinh and Matang Sinh. He alleged: “Mrs Manoranjana Sinh

22

October 31, 2014

“Mrs Manoranjana Sinh…took me to Chennai to the chamber of Mrs Nalini Chidambaram… where she requested me to help her (Manoranjana) set up a channel in Guwahati and support her by extending `42 crore to her company.”

Sudipta Sen, Saradha CMD

contacted us for selling her Positive Groups and took me to Chennai to the chamber of Mrs Nalini Chidambaram as her advocate.

Madam Chidambaram requested me to help her (Manoranjana) set up a channel in Guwahati and support her by extending `42 crore to her company.

“Madam Chidambaram herself prepared the agreement, wherein she is the sole arbitrator if at all any dispute arises…. She fixed her consultancy and during a period of oneand-a-half years, more than `1 (one) crore has been given to her.”

Sen further alleged that whenever she visited Calcutta with Manoranjana Sinh, her airfare and hotel bills at the Taj were paid by him. Manoranjana Sinh, he said, assured him that Nalini was the wife of P Chidambaram, the then home minister.

“Without assessing my financial strength, she (Nalini) has also pressurized me for supporting her (Manoranjana) by investing `42 crore. So far, I remember that I have already paid `25 crore to Mrs Manoranjana Sinh in the name of GNN India Pvt Ltd and NK Gupta, her father, who is also whole-time director of GNN India Pvt Ltd. “For her travelling purposes and hotel accommodation in various places in India, not less than `3 crore have been spent,” he further alleged.

However, Nalini in a statement to the media said: “The CBI did not question me.

CBI officers wanted to know whether Ms Manoranjana Sinh had consulted me professionally. I told them yes, I was consulted.”

It waits to be seen how things will unfold for this power couple now. IL

DUBIOUS DUO (From left) Manoranjana Sinh, who has been named as one of the beneficiaries by Sudipta Sen

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

23

FOCUS/ bhopal gas leak case

Still living the death yes, 30 years on, that’s what the world’s worst industrial disaster has become for its tragic victims. does the new government have the stomach to carry on this fight?

By Shashikumar Velath and Nikhil Eapen

F

OR 30 years, a US corporation has been dodging its responsibility and accountability to the people of India. Dow Chemicals, one of the biggest chemical corporations in the world, is liable for one of the most devastating industrial disasters in history.

This year will mark the 30th anniversary of this chilling incident—when methyl isocynate (MIC) fumes from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) swept through densely populated slums in Bhopal, killing close to 10,000 people in the first three days. Over the next 25 years, the accident was responsible for the deaths of close to 15,000 people.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY The Bhopal gas disaster and the experiences of survivors have raised fundamental ques-

24

October 31, 2014

tions about corporate and government responsibility for industrial accidents that devastate the lives of people and the environments they inhabit.

On August 4, 2014, the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) of Bhopal issued the third criminal summons to the US-based Dow, which took over Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in 2001, to explain the failure of its whollyowned subsidiary Union Carbide Company (UCC) before the court and account for the criminal charges against it. The company has been called to appear on November 12, 2014.

The summons claim that as a 100 percent owner, Dow has a responsibility to ensure that UCC faces these charges.

Despite its dominant position over UCC, Dow failed to ensure that it appears before the criminal court to face charges or to address pending liabilities connected to Bhopal. No state officials have been held

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, company officials from UCC and UCIL downplayed the toxic nature of MIC, assuring reporters that the gas leak was only an irritant.

UNENDING WAIT Women survivors of the gas leak demand justice for their sufferings; (facing page) the iconic photograph of a child who died in the tragedy,

by Pablo Bartholomew INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

25

FOCUS/ bhopal gas leak case

MONUMENT TO FOLLY Containers in the Union Carbide plant, from which the gas leaked

accountable for their own failures related to the gas leak or site contamination. But ever since Dow Chemicals bought UCC, its stand has remained firm—I did not own UCC at the time, and therefore, I will not bear any responsibility for those affected by it.

However, Dow’s claim that it did not own UCC in 1984 is not relevant because when it bought UCC, it integrated and consolidated its corporate identity, assets and liabilities.

Meanwhile, UCC is, and was in 2001 (when the merger took place), a proclaimed absconder, ie, a company that did not pay damages proportionate to the harm caused by the gas leak, and a company that divested its interests in India without fulfilling its responsibility to make the Bhopal plant safe.

UNETHICAL DOW In 2008, the Ministry of Law of India clarified that “if there was any liability for Bhopal, it would have to be borne by Dow”, and this was “irrespective of the manner in which UCC has merged or had been acquired by Dow Chemicals.”

26

October 31, 2014

But Dow has been able to effectively sidestep its responsibilities.

When the CJM of Bhopal issued the first summons in 2005, the legal counsel for Dow’s subsidiary in India was able to sway the court to grant a stay order that lasted close to eight years before it was removed on the grounds that Dow and UCC were separate legal entities. Ironically, while Dow was able to sway the court on the one hand, on the other, it directed court action against numerous survivors and activists.

Dow Chemicals International Private Limited (DCIPL)—Dow’s India office—has recently applied for leave to sue numerous Bhopal survivors and activists for `25 million with respect to an April 2013 protest. Since 2001, it has brought four legal actions against them, seeking restraining orders that prohibit them from protesting within 100-200 meters of the company premises.

Dow has also tried to interfere with the judicial process to avoid being involved in court proceedings. In a 2005 communication, revealed an RTI request, Dow lobbied the

Indian government to “implement a consistent, government-wide position that does not promote continued government of India litigation efforts against non-Indian companies over the Bhopal tragedy”. Consequently, the haunting legacy of Bhopal has been the failure of a company, as also the failures of the Indian government and the judicial machinery, to grant justice.

STANDARDS FOR REMEDY Principally, a victim’s access to remedy and justice are firmly founded in the Indian constitution and in international human rights law (see box International provisions).

While UN rules are more formally established for countries, there is significant international consensus that companies must also respect all human rights. The UN special representative of the secretary-general on business and human rights further emphasized the importance of both states and companies acting in a manner that is supportive of judicial integrity and independence, and of courts being able to act independently of any political or economic pressures.

Indian courts have, on occasion, held companies to account for harm to health and environment. Courts have ordered polluting businesses to pay exemplary fines to serve as a deterrent to other enterprises. In 1987, in the MC Mehta v Union of India case involving the leak of oleum gas from a chemical plant, the Supreme Court held: “…[any] enterprise which is engaged in a hazardous or inherently dangerous industry which poses a potential threat to the health and safety of persons working in the factory and residing in the surrounding areas, owes an absolute and nonderogable duty to the community to ensure that no harm results to anyone on account of [its activities].”

International provisions The UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides for general rights of individuals for an effective remedy. Article 2(3) states that each state party to the present covenant has to: Ensure

that any person whose rights or freedoms are violated shall have an effective remedy, notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity

judicial, administrative or legislative authorities, or by any other competent authority provided for by the legal system of the state, and to develop the possibilities of judicial remedy

Ensure

Ensure that the competent authorities shall enforce such remedies when granted

that any person claiming such a remedy shall have his right thereto determined by competent

WHEN TIME FROZE A statue epitomizing the grief of Bhopal gas victims

INDIA’S FAILURE In 1968, UCIL, a company majority-owned by the US-based UCC, built a plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh (MP), to manufacture pesticides such as Sevin, using poisonous MIC and other chemicals. UCC had 50.9 percent stake and the Indian government controlled 22 percent. The rest was owned by thousands of Indian investors.

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

27

FOCUS/ bhopal gas leak case

POWER WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY (Below) Industrialist Keshub Mahindra, who was chairman of UCIL; (facing page) Warren Anderson, chairman of UCC at the time of the tragedy

The central and state government were aware that the Bhopal plant involved hazardous substances and processes. There is also undeniable evidence that UCC was able to influence administrators to violate industrial and environmental laws and standards during its operations in India. Under India’s Industrial Development and Regulation Act, 1951, the production of pesticides was reserved for small Indian companies, a provision that UCC was able to get a waiver for. In 1975, when MP ordered the relocation of the UCIL plant, the order was reportedly opposed by Union Carbide and a section of the state administration. Later that year, UCIL obtained permission from India’s central government to produce and store MIC in the area.

Ever since Dow Chemicals bought UCC, its stand has remained firm—I did not own UCC at the time, and I will not bear any responsibility for those affected by it.

28

October 31, 2014

The flouting of laws is evident from this 1985 excerpt from a report of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. It said: “The Sevin unit could process MIC to the order of three to four tonnes per day. The inventory of MIC in the storage tank was of the order of 90 tonnes, equivalent to nearly 30 days production… It was entirely unnecessary to provide facilities for storage of such large amounts of MIC in tanks. The quantities stored were quite disproportionate to the capacity of further conversion of MIC downstream unit. This permitted the MIC to be stored for months together without appreciation of potential hazards.”

Ironically, UCIL did not meet internal company standards that it had set up for itself in countries such as the US. In May 1982, when an operational safety survey of the Bhopal plant was carried out by a team of UCC technicians from the US, numerous lapses in safety regulations were found.

Others too raised concerns about the safety of the plant. Despite these warnings, a series of cost-cutting measures was implemented at

the plant from the beginning of 1983 and in the months leading to the disaster.

During the factory design stage, UCIL had preferred to store MIC in small individual containers for reasons of both economy and safety. However, UCC disagreed, and bulk storage tanks for MIC were installed at the Bhopal plant, similar to those at the UCC plant in West Virginia, US. The crucial difference was that the West Virginia plant worked round the clock, processing large quantities of MIC for production of pesticides or for sale as a chemical. In Bhopal, the processing capacity was so low that it resulted in large quantities of MIC being stored for weeks. UCC also failed to set up any comprehensive emergency plan or system in Bhopal to warn local communities about leaks, even though it had such a plan in place in the US. HELLISH NIGHT On the night of December 2, 1984, silently and insidiously, MIC fumes from a leaking tank at UCIL swept through the densely populated slums that surrounded the plant.

Hundreds died in their sleep, and many more

as they ran choking from their meager homes.

Survivors said it felt like breathing fumes when chilies are burnt. People began coughing violently, and some vomited. The next morning, bodies were littered on the streets of Bhopal. By the time the sun set there on December 3, graves were fast filling and funeral pyres were burning bright.

The Illustrated Weekly of India said: “Each symptom was dealt with separately, eye-drops for the eyes, antibiotics to prevent infections, antacids for the stomach. There was no attempt to purge the blood of the toxin, which continued to ravage the organism from within.” Till date, more than a lakh people continue to suffer from health problems. Efforts to provide rehabilitation have fallen far short of what is needed.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, company officials from UCC and UCIL downplayed the toxic nature of MIC, assuring reporters that the gas leak was only an irritant and not fatal. Yet, UCC’s internal company documents mention the extremely toxic, volatile and reactive nature of MIC. Less than 24 hours after the gas leak, state authorities launched criminal proceedings.

Nine individuals and three corporations were accused of several criminal offences under the IPC, including “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”. The individuals accused included: Warren Anderson, a US national and chairman of UCC since 1982; Keshub Mahindra, an Indian national and chairman of UCIL; and VP Gokhale, an Indian national and managing director of UCIL. The corporations accused were UCC, UCIL and UCE. Anderson, Mahindra and Gokhale were arrested four days after the gas leak on December 7, 1984, but Anderson was released on bail the same day, following intervention by the US embassy in India, and left the country two days later.

In November 1988, the CJM issued a warrant for the arrest of Anderson. However, negotiations between the government of India and the companies resulted in an outof-court settlement. In February 1989, the Supreme Court (SC) ratified it. Even the extradition of Anderson was delayed and it was not until 2003 that India formally

Blighted lives “… All of a sudden my husband started coughing and in the meantime, he heard screams coming from outside. As soon as he opened the door, all we could see was smoke entering our house. Then, everyone in my family started coughing and my kids started complaining of their eyes burning. Then we heard someone saying that we should all run because some gas pipe has exploded in the Union Carbide factory. We all started running and eventually, I got separated from my family. I just remember not being able to locate my family and after that, I lost consciousness.”

—P Puna Bhai, a survivor who lived across the Bhopal factory when the accident happened “The gas ruined our lives so badly that neither my husband or I could do any work….My first son developed TB at the age of 8 or 10, and the first daughter he had was born with a disability….The people who struggle are mainly the poor and women.”

—H Hazra Bee, a survivor “In the court, we were treated with no respect. Judges, officers and others treated us badly, even dacoits are treated with more respect in courts than us gas victims.”

— Hameeda Bi, a survivor

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

29

FOCUS/ bhopal gas leak case

A CELLULOID SOLUTION The Yes Men Fix The World was a biting satire on Dow’s stand in the Bhopal gas tragedy

asked the US to extradite him. The US rejected this request in June 2004. According to news reports, on July 31, 2009, the CJM reissued an arrest warrant for Anderson and ordered India to press on with extradition. In August 2009, the CBI said that the matter was with the Ministry of External Affairs.

TRANSFER OF SHARES In February 1994, the SC allowed the sale of shares held by UCC in UCIL. Advocates working on behalf of survivors filed applications to halt the transfer, but these were adjourned on five occasions. By the time the applications were heard, on October 20, 1994, the shares had already been sold. This transfer would later give grounds for UCC’s legal counsel to argue that Indian courts had no jurisdiction over UCC because the compa-

UCIL did not meet safety standards that it had set up for itself in countries such as the US. A series of cost-cutting measures was implemented at the plant.

30

October 31, 2014

ny had disposed off all its interests in India. On September 13, 1996, the SC downgraded the charges from “culpable homicide (not amounting to murder)” to “causing death by negligence” (the charges on the foreign accused remained unchanged).

Twenty-six years after the Bhopal disaster, the CJM finally convicted UCIL and seven accused individuals for causing death by negligence under Section 304A of the IPC. UCIL was ordered to pay a fine of `5,00,000, while all the individuals were sentenced to a maximum prison sentence of two years and a fine of around `1,00,000. This light punishment sparked outrage in India and elsewhere.

In August 2010, the CBI filed a curative petition (criminal) seeking to recall the SC’s 1996 order downgrading the charges. On May 11, 2011, the SC dismissed the petition, saying the CBI approached the court after a long period of 14 years and that there were not sufficient grounds to recall their 1996 order.

Bhopal is a human rights’ travesty today.

The tragedy led to some positive legal reforms, though the Bhopal victims have been unable to benefit from them, as many are still waiting for adequate compensation. Efforts by survivors’ organizations to see justice done and gain adequate redress have so far been unsuccessful.

For the new Indian government, taking effective steps to hold Dow accountable is a momentous opportunity to restore faith among the people of India. Tending to the wounds of Bhopal would mean sending a clear message to the world that in India, industry and business are stable because they respect international standards and guidelines for environment, transparency and human rights. IL

Shashikumar Velath is deputy CEO, Amnesty International India, while Nikhil Eapen is a researcher there

EVERY FORTNIGHT VIEWS ON NEWS WILL BRING YOU TELL-ALL NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINION FROM THE SHARPEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND MOST INCISIVE MINDS IN THE NATION Views On News (VON) is India’s premier fortnightly magazine that covers the wide spectrum of modern communication loosely known as “the media�. Its racy, news and analysis oriented story-telling encompasses current global and Indian developments, trends, future projections encompassing policy and business drifts, the latest from inside the print and electronic newsrooms, the exciting developments in ever-expanding digital space, trending matters in the social media, advertising, entertainment and books.

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FOCUS/ bhopal gas tragedy / experience

L

OOK, how decrepit I look.

Look at my son Shoab. He is mentally deranged, a veritable skeleton with swollen veins on his legs looking like curled snakes desperately clinging to two dried-up logs. Doctors have diagnosed this disease, but I don’t remember the name. Both of us are the only surviving members in the family and are maimed forever.

I couldn’t educate my son and he has become wayward. Last week, I had to cough up `5,000 as bribe to drunken policemen, who barged into my home in the dead of night with my son. They said he was a criminal. How would I know?

My sickness barely permits me to go to my college, where I am a clerk. I am bed-ridden most of the time. My chronic breathing problem aggravates so often that it is safe to be at home. At least half-a-dozen times every year, when breathing becomes acutely difficult, I

happiness lasted barely three years into my marriage. I was a 23-year-old happy-golucky graduate in Kanpur when my parents married me off in 1979 to Ashraf Mohammad Khan alias Ashraf Lala, a fitter in the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. For a young girl, who had never worn a burqa, my in-laws’ conservatism came as a shock. Although they were largely hostile to me, my husband was caring. That was a great solace to me. Soon, we had two children—Arshad and Shoab.

Those were happy days.

My husband, who was a union leader in the Union Carbide factory, would often tell me about the lethal gases his factory produced. I had not imagined that within five years of marriage, these gases would kill my husband and elder son.

In 1981, three years before the gas disaster, Ashraf was working in the factory when a valve malfunctioned and he was splashed with liquid phosgene. He was dead within 72

“I am living on this is the story of SAJIDA BANO, a 58-year-old Bhopal gas victim. she lost her elder son to the leak and has suffered physically as well as financially. she recounts the horror of that night to Rakesh Dixit have to be admitted to gas relief hospitals.

Doctors say my damaged lungs are beyond repair. I am living on borrowed time.

Life is miserable and the future, bleak. Shoab is 33 and of marriageable age, but no offer has come for him. One offer came, but with a condition: transfer your home to your son’s name. How can I do that? What is the guarantee that his future wife will not grab the house and chase me away?

Remembering the past saddens me, as my

32

October 31, 2014

hours. The Union Carbide management concealed his postmortem report. My in-laws proved unwitting co-conspirators with the management. They would not let me come near my ailing husband’s bed in the hospital.

However, I was paid `50,000 compensation.

Soon after the death, my in-laws deserted me. I was devastated. Succor came from SH Khan, a co-worker of my husband. I subsisted with my two children, aged 18 months and seven months, by doing tuition and sewing.

Those were difficult days, but life somehow moved on. Little did I know that more misery was in store for us, three years ahead.

O

n December 2, 1984, I boarded the Gorakhpur-Bombay train with my children from Kanpur, where my parents lived. Ironically, I had delayed the journey due to the advice of my Hindu neighbours to start off on an auspicious day. When the train approached Bhopal station at 1.30

pm, a ghostly silence pervaded the place. At the platform, I saw coolies running around desperately, fear writ large on their faces.

Suddenly, we started coughing and choking as some pungent gas assailed our nostrils.

Not realizing what had happened, I dragged my sons to the waiting room. The scene there was chaotic and dreadful. It was like jahannam (hell). Women were wailing over dead bodies and I heard somebody shrieking that poisonous gas had leaked from the Union Carbide factory. Everybody was coughing violently, their eyes bloodshot with irritation and tears. Arshad and Shoab collapsed on the ground, coughing and vomiting.

Confused and terrified, I ran to Khan’s place. Mercifully, they had not fled. When Khan asked about the children, I told them that they were in the waiting room. Khan despaired, saying I had left them to die. I panicked and ran back to the station. The road was littered with the dead—humans as

borrowed time” well as cattle. When I reached the waiting room, I found Arshad, my four-and-a-halfyear-old son, dead. Shoab had survived, I was told, because he had soiled his pants and, as a result, the gas he had inhaled had passed off. That was not the end of my miseries. The ordeal had only begun.

W

ith my three-year-old ailing son in my lap, I had nowhere to go. My in-laws had already disowned me.

The disaster made them even more cruel. My husband’s elder brother got himself photographed with Shoab, posing as his father, to claim the `10,000 ex-gratia offered by the state government. Somehow, I learnt about it and reclaimed the compensation. Khan once again stood by me.

With his help, I managed to get accommodation in a hostel, where I lived for 10 years. In 1987, I got a job in a woman polytechnic college on compassionate grounds.

My economic condition has improved, but my health continues to deteriorate.

After a while, I moved into a rented house in a predominantly Muslim locality in the walled city. All attempts to get my ailing son educated, failed. I tried to find solace in the fact that thousands of women were suffering the same trauma as me.

Compensation arrived almost a decade after the disaster, when we were given a flat amount of `35,000 each. But medicines consumed the bulk of that money.

Thanks to proactive help from bhai (Abdul Jabbar, the convener of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangthan), I have managed to get periodic treatments in hospitals. Otherwise, I would have died long ago like lakhs of other gas victims.

The compensation of `8 lakh I got in lieu of my elder son’s death helped me build this small house. Let us see, how long I manage to live in it. IL

A HELL ON EARTH Sajida Bano lost her husband and elder son to the gas leak and now has chronic breathing problems

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

33

HUMAN INTEREST/ drug abuse

A SNIFF OF

TROUBLE

Anil Shakya

a recent study has shockingly found that 34 percent of children use cheap inhalants to get a high. little do they know the perils of such behavior

By Shadab Ahmad Moizee 34

October 31, 2014

R

AJAN (name changed) has bloodshot eyes. Still in his adolescence, Rajan craves for whitener or correction fluid. He has no errors to conceal except a habit he wishes nobody knows about. Rajan sniffs whitener fluid and says it helps him get rid of examination pressure in school. Somehow, he manages to get `30 and buys the whitener. He drops some of it on a piece of cloth and sniffs it so strongly that it knocks him down. This high is his life.

Rajan is among a growing number of children who use cheap and easily available intoxicants. A study conducted by National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights reveals that 34.7 percent of children have used inhalants, be they whiteners, diluters, glue, petrol, nail polish or nail polish remover. Acrid diluter, for example, not only wipes out mistakes on paper, but weakens the memory of those inhaling it.

TRIPURA LEADS The survey was conducted all over India among nearly 4,000 children in 135 sites across 27 states and two union territories. It found that Tripura had the highest proportion of inhalant users—a worrisome 68.3 percent.

Many of these children have started early.

Take Rajan. He started sniffing whitener and diluter at 13. He says: “My father was a rich businessman and used to drink alcohol. I also wanted to be rich like him so I started drinking alcohol. Since it was expensive and I had a hard time purchasing beer from a liquor shop, one of my friends told me about diluter and whitener.

It was cheap and easily available at stationary shops near my house.” Before he knew it, he was hooked.

Sanjay Gupta, executive director of Chetna, an NGO working for the empowerment of street and working children, says: “While the government has rules and a policy for the sale of liquor and tobacco products, it has none for substances like whiteners. One can buy these from any stationary or general store.” Often, it is peer influence that encourages school children to use inhalants. “But in the case of under-

privileged children, scrap dealers provide them cheap inhalants, forcing them into the habit.

Chetna did a survey in Delhi and found that the sale of whitener there was up to `67 lakh a day,” says Gupta.

Stationary shop owners admit that sales of whiteners have indeed gone up. Madan, a shopkeeper in Malviya Nagar, says that sales had never peaked like they have in recent days.

Now, many school children, including girls from good families, are using whiteners on a daily basis. “Let’s for a moment assume that they are using it to erase errors. But on a daily basis? Something is definitely wrong,” he emphasizes.

REHABILITATE THEM Shaiju Varghese, a program coordinator with Childline India Foundation, an NGO that operates a helpline called Childline, says drug abuse among children is rising day-by-day and there is no proper rehabilitation of them.

Dr K Zaman, consultant psychiatrist at Delhi-based Alshifa Hospital, says that most children use intoxicants due to anti-social tendencies, peer pressure or family fights. Cheap intoxicants, he says, are a tool to escape reality.

They provide temporary comfort, but can cause serious illnesses, such as heart disease and liver failure. He further adds: “It’s like a trend among school children and adolescents. Parents need to be watchful. If they smell chemical odors in their children’s breath or clothes or see stains on their faces and hands, they must question them. After using drugs, a child becomes irritable, lethargic, inattentive and a loner who needs to be coaxed to talk.

Counseling and meditation can help, but it’s important to keep the child away from intoxicants and wrongdoers.”

But on asking children why they used whiteners on such a scale, the answer this reporter got was far from the truth. “Masterji kaam hi aisa dete hain ki galti ho jati hai, isliye whitener se hum wo galti thik kar lete hain (Teachers give us such work that we end up making mistakes. We correct these by using a whitener).”

It’s obvious they need urgent guidance. IL

A survey among nearly 4,000 children across in 135 cities, 27 states and two union territories found that 34.7 percent of children used various types of inhalants.

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

35

SPOTLIHT/ boat clinics /assam

A rowing success some 4.5 lakh impoverished people in the state are reaping the benefits of the compulsory rural stint for doctors

By Rashme Sehgal

A

rural posting is often shunned by India’s six lakh doctors. But Assam has decreed that MBBS doctors need to put in one year of rural service before they can apply for an MD degree. The official order has come as a godsend to rural communities there, ravaged by disease and hunger. And two young doctors in Assam have shown how their posting has energized these communities and improved their health.

Dr Bhumidhar Barman and Dr Nabakanta Das work with impoverished farming communities living in islands off the Brahmaputra, the world’s second largest river stretching from China to Bangladesh. During the mon-

36

October 31, 2014

soon season, the river, along with its tributaries, becomes so swollen that entire villages are known to have been washed away in a day.

ON THE MOVE In order to help those marooned in these islands, the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES) has helped set up 15 boat clinics, operating in 13 districts. These carry teams of doctors, pharmacists, lab technicians and auxiliary nurses, along with vaccines and medicines to the island villages.

Both Barman and Das have, over the last six months, ridden over these turbulent waters daily in their attempt to alleviate the suffering of people. India Legal recently joined the team to gauge the selfless work done by them.

“The first time I had to travel on one of these boat clinics, I was very uncomfortable. I could have never imagined a doctor’s job meant going by boat to treat patients living far away. Travelling to all these distant, inaccessible villages is an arduous task,” Barman told this correspondent.

One morning, the boat clinic travelled from Mukulmura Ghat, 60 kilometers from

Guwahati, to Balachar village in a remote island, 50 kilometers downstream. The village is mainly inhabited by an illiterate farming community, which grows rice and jute. Girls continue to be married off by the age of 13-14 and are plagued by malnutrition and anaemia.

Fever and skin infections are the other common health problems.

Reaching this remote village was an adventure in itself. After a boat ride of 90 minutes, the clinic personnel walked in the hot sun through jute fields to reach a rivulet. Then, in a wobbly, leaky boat, they disembarked at Balachar. Another long walk led the team to the village center, where they set up a makeshift clinic under the shade of two towering jamuna trees. And, then, began the actual job of healing the sick.

EFFECTIVE TREATMENT There was already a serpentine queue of 200 people waiting patiently for the clinic to begin.

Women in assorted cotton saris, most haggard, waited with a motley group of bedraggled children. As an auxiliary nurse and a medic immunized the younger children, the doctors checked the adults.

“We deal with 180 to 250 patients every day, providing them with drugs for basic ailments. We also have a simple kit to test HIV, plasmodium falciparum (for malaria), blood groups, urine and hemoglobin levels,” informed Barman.

Begum Tahira, a mother of five, is delighted to see the doctor. “I have been suffering from an eye ailment for the last eight days. My husband works as a daily wager and recently got a job in distant Dibrugarh,” she said.

Most of the patients clamored for “liquid” medicines rather than capsules. The reason is that the village quacks had been giving them syrups in colored bottles and they believe that medicines come out of these bottles.

The doctors battle against all odds. Besides the difficulty of reaching remote locations, they also have to ensure that the vaccines are kept at the right temperature, given that there is no electricity in these villages. They have managed to recently solve this problem at Balachar by installing a refrigerator run on solar power.

Their work has paid off. The boat clinics

To help the marooned in the islands off the Brahmaputra, the Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research has helped set up 15 boat clinics operating in 13 districts. have already reached out to 4.5 lakh people, said Parvez Ahmed, head of C-NES in Nalbari district under which Balachar falls. Some 98 percent of children between 0-5 years in Nalbari have been immunized. The district with a population of eight lakh also has a high birth rate of 1,200 live births every year.

However, Assam has among the highest maternal mortality figures, with 480 deaths per 1,00,000 live births. One of the main reasons is that around three million people live in socially and geographically isolated villages along the Brahmaputra.

As for Barman and Das, working with these farming communities has been a transforming experience. “For one, we have understood how a small intervention like ours can make a difference of life and death in these village communities,” said Das. It is time for the return journey to Mukulmura Ghat. Another adventure awaited us. This time, weeds got caught in the propeller, bringing the boat to a halt twice.

Removing them was simple.

Nonetheless, there was a sigh of relief when everyone finally disembarked. IL

COMMUNITY SERVICE (Facing page) A boat clinic on its way to one of the islands off the Brahmaputra (Above) Boat clinics have brought succor to rural communities in Assam hit by disease and hunger

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

37

NATIONAL SECURITY/ indo-us-pak ties

THE

SPYMASTER as a new isi chief takes in over in pakistan, a 2008 paper written by him tells us that india’s growing ties with the united states has deepened insecurity in his country

By Vishwas Kumar

P

RIME Minister Narendra Modi’s highly publicized US visit must have unnerved the Pakistan military establishment, especially since it led to a joint agreement with US President Barack Obama on terrorism.

Both the leaders committed “themselves to joint and concerted efforts to disrupt all financial and tactical support to Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Haqqani network and the D-company”.

This would have had a disquieting effect on the ISI (Inter Service Intelligence), which has, supposedly, been nurturing and financing these organizations to fight proxy wars with India and Afghanistan. But with a new ISI chief, Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, at the helm now, how will matters play out between India and Pakistan?

Akhtar, a professional soldier, has been credited with leading the battle against terrorists on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He is known as a no-nonsense, hard taskmaster, who has cracked down on criminal and terror networks in Karachi.

PREOCCUPIED WITH INDIA However, it is his views on Pakistan’s relationship with the US and India that need careful under-

38

October 31, 2014

standing. This can be gleaned from a 2008 paper Akhtar wrote when he was a brigadier attending a one-year course at the US Army War College. The 6,313-word paper, titled “US-Pakistan trust deficit and the war on terror”, says that the growing US ties with India are the main cause of increasing trust deficit between Pakistan and the US. “A key factor in the current and future US-Pakistan relations is US interactions with India and how they are couched within regional and Indian-Pakistani contexts,” he wrote.

In the context of the Indo-US nuclear deal, which was signed in 2008-09, he wrote: “Pakistan, however, is concerned about the recent US-Indian nuclear agreement, and also aspires for one itself, and is willing to accept all the associated safeguards and inspections that follow. How this will play out within the region and between the two nuclear-armed antagonists is still uncertain.

What is certain is that US-Indian activity has a profound effect on the Pakistani populace and Pakistan’s perceived security, which can disrupt or derail an otherwise positive US-Pakistani relationship.”

It is a common knowledge that Pakistan stoutly opposed the deal and later, demanded that it too should get one like it. The US government, however, rejected this and pointed out that India had an excellent track-record when it came to nuclear safety standards and proliferation, whereas Pakistan’s chief atomic head, Abdul Qadeer Khan, had already confessed to selling nuclear secrets to several countries and even to terror organizations like the LeT. Akhtar further advocated that US policy “towards Pakistan has to be integrated with broader regional policies, as the relationship between regional actors and the global role of South Asia undergoes rapid changes.” He feels the US is obliged to take care of Pakistan’s interests because it has been an old ally and several of the challenges like “radicalization” and “terrorism” faced by it are due to this tie-up.

He wrote that Pakistan-US ties were shaped during three distinct phases, starting with the Cold War era of the 1950s and

UNI

1960s, the Afghan jehad (in the 1980s) and the war on terrorism (post-2001).

KASHMIR CONUNDRUM And like all Pakistani leaders, Kashmir is a major preoccupation with Akhtar. He echoed Pakistan military’s rhetoric by stating that the armed forces were unable to fully commit to counter-terrorism activities due to the pre-occupation with India over the “disputed” Kashmir issue. He further said that if the US was to “intervene” in the bilateral dispute to resolve the Kashmir issue, the Pakistan army could start a full-fledged war on “home-grown” terror groups, which now not only attack India and Afghanistan, but also the US and Western nations.”

“The resolution of the Kashmir issue and securing a lasting peace with India is vital to the stability of Pakistan and the region. This could free up significant Pakistani military forces for potential employment in other troubled areas for operations against the

LIFE ON THE EDGE (Facing page) India will have to closely monitor ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar’s moves, given his radical views on Pakistan’s relationships with India and the US (Above) Pakistan’s recent shelling has not even spared civilians in the Jammu sector. Kashmir, as expected, is a major preoccupation with Akhtar

“The resolution of the Kashmir issue…is vital to the stability of Pakistan and the region.

This could free up significant Pakistani military forces for…operations against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.”

—Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, the new ISI chief INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

39

NATIONAL SECURITY/ indo-us-pak ties

UNI

CHALLENGE AT HAND It remains to be seen how Akhtar deals with issues on the Afghan-Pak border

Taliban and Al-Qaeda,” he wrote. Akhtar also said that a stable and secure Pakistan was more likely to focus on its economic wellbeing and eventually, serve as an example of a successful and democratic Islamic country.

Akhtar also advocated peace during the Kargil conflict. “The on-going dispute between India and Pakistan has continued to be a source of both regional instability and international concern. On a positive note, the US strongly encourages an ongoing PakistanIndia peace initiative. Additionally, several recent confidence-building measures have eased tensions to a level that makes another war unlikely. The US’s proactive mediation has helped diffuse the Kargil incident.”

ACCUSATIONS GALORE Akhtar was also critical of the Afghan government and NATO allies of the US, who accused the Pakistan army of allegedly helping terrorist groups in the Afghan-Pakistan border. This is significant, as he will now be dealing with such issues and the new Afghan government there. According to him, such an accusation is not healthy for US-Pakistan ties and causes trust deficit. “The constant barrage of accusations hurled against Pakistan by mainly Afghan leaders and certain coalition force participants that criticize Pakistani efforts to eliminate militant safe-havens and

40

October 31, 2014

cross-border operations do little to improve relationships….Both the US and Pakistan need to better communicate and coordinate their respective strategies and avoid passing judgment on the efficacy of each. There also needs to be an increased recognition (and assigned culpability) for the many external influences undermining Pakistan operations within the Waziristan Agency, including those emanating from Afghanistan,” he opined. “From the Pakistani perspective, building credibility and legitimacy within the closed and insulated tribal regions requires patience and time.”

Incidentally, Akhtar belongs to the Frontier Force Regiment and was commissioned in September 1982. He was general officer commanding in South Waziristan from 2010 to 2012. His postings in Karachi and South Waziristan provide him a good background in counter-terrorism. Therefore, his differences with the US on conducting operations against terror groups among fiercely-independent tribal populations are significant. He says the US believes in “quick solutions” to the problem, while the Pakistan military thinks in terms of long-term strategy without disturbing the local social fabric.

“The Pakistani government understands the importance of building close ties with tribal chiefs for the long-term strategic success against the Al-Qaeda and Taliban radicals. Conversely, US interests focus more on short-term kinetic operations against the immediate threat….While some of these operations achieve immediate successes, they often times alienate the tribals and result in increased tribal support for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda,” he claimed, without explaining in the first place why these terror organizations were provided shelter.

He further said that US’s attempt to achieve a quick victory and withdraw remains a contentious issue that can disrupt long-term US-Pakistan relationship. With Indo-US ties growing, Akhtar faces difficult challenges, even as US-Pakistan ties slip further. And with increasing border skirmishes with India, it is a moot question whether Pakistan is acting out on the insecurities voiced by the current ISI chief. IL

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STATES/ kerala / strike culture

Loving a A good hartal the state’s industrial backwardness has a lot to do with the endless strikes that have paralyzed it. but the people there are ok with it

By TK Devasia 42

October 31, 2014

NGEL SHAJI, a Class II student in Palakkad, checks the newspaper every day before he goes to school. He wants to know if there is a hartal (strike) that day. He need not try too hard; most Kerala dailies carry hartal calls prominently on their front pages. His father, Shaji George, a lawyer, says Angel is happy when there is a hartal as authorities then, declare a holiday for all educational institutions.

With Kerala witnessing at least 100 hartals at the state, district and local levels annually (5-10 are at the state level), it is a merry time for students.

Interestingly, so attuned have students become to hartals that some like Angel have developed an aversion to going to school. Once, Angel even proposed to his father that he transfer him to a school in Alappuzha. Being part of the backwaters, this area often gets flooded, leading to additional holidays. Unfortunately, this has led to a steady fall in working days in educational institutions. Though the minimum number of instructional days

prescribed under the Kerala Education Rules is 220, the current average at the primary level is 196 and at the upper primary, 194.

MERRY TIME But what is surprising is that these hartals are liked even by the general population. People stay at home and celebrate by eating, drinking and watching television, as channels beam special programmes during hartals. Salaried people are especially happy if the hartal falls before or after a weekend. Even businesses aren’t complaining, as liquor shops, fish and poultry outlets do brisk business a day before the hartal. Outlets of Kerala State Beverages Corporation see an increase in sales between `3 crore to `5 crore. Nothing seems better than drinking in the salubrious environs of God’s Own Country.

Incidentally, calls for hartal come from political parties, trade unions, religious and social organizations, student bodies and even farmers’ organizations. Earlier, while hartals were called mostly over issues concerning the people, nowadays, they are over events which the state has no control over. For example, Kerala observed a hartal when former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was executed. The state also remained shut when George Bush visited India as US president.

The joy with which hartals are received makes the task easy for those who call it. An anti-hartal activist in Kochi says that all it takes to bring a state with a population of 3.1 crore to a standstill is a press statement and a few musclemen. Though government offices and commercial establishments like banks and industrial units remain open, they don’t mind if employees skip work. And many of them do, citing absence of public transport.

With so much support from people, it’s not surprising that court orders have had little effect on the outfits calling for the strike. It was way back in 1997 that the Kerala High Court (HC) acted against forced bandhs (total shutdown). The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court (SC) in 1998. When hartals started replacing bandhs, the HC stuck again in 2000 and banned them too. In 2002, the SC went a step further and declared all forced hartals illegal. Further, in 2006, the Kerala HC asked the Election Commission to deregister

According to CII, hartals have led to a loss of `900 crore a day, resulting in industrial backwardness, mounting unemployment and high migration. political parties calling for forced hartals and made those damaging property pay for it. In July this year, the HC mooted legislation for constituting an authority to assess compensation and recover it.

NO STOPPING THEM Judicial intervention was supplemented by sustained campaigns by half-a-dozen outfits, including the “Anti-Hartal Front”, “The Proper Channel” and “Say No To Hartal”. But this has neither discouraged hartals, nor encouraged victims to rise against it.

Ironically, those who are fighting against hartals have themselves resorted to strikes to negotiate their demands. The Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi, on whose petition the HC banned forced hartals in 2000, has called more than a dozen strikes, the last being on August 20 to protest alleged harassment of shopkeepers by commercial tax officials.

Raju P Nair, who heads the “Say No to Hartal” campaign, says political parties and other outfits were enforcing hartals in violation of INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

43

STATES/ kerala / strike culture

HARASSED AND HAPPY Stranded passengers, deserted roads, men in khaki and vehicles parked idly—these are a common sight in Kerala, thanks to its hartal culture

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court orders because law enforcement agencies were lax. After all, the political parties which call hartals are their masters.

Worse, the attitude of ordinary people to hartals has been apathetic. NGOs who have been trying to build resistance against hartals for the last two decades are often disgusted with the lukewarm response they have got.

K Chandrababu, general secretary of the Kannur-based “Anti-Hartal Front”, says that while people who suffered financial losses due to hartals were cooperating out of fear, common people who were indirectly hit were not an organized lot. Attempts to bring them on a common platform have not been successful.

The “Say No To Hartal” forum tried to create a fleet of vehicles to provide transport to stranded people on hartal days, but out of 170 vehicle owners who registered over the last four years, only 30 have actually worked out, says Raju. “There were days when people reacted against injustice. But today’s Malayalee reacts only when something happens to him,” rues Raju.

FORGET COMPENSATION Also, this laid-back attitude has made people averse to taking risks. Even though the HC has provided for compensation to those who suffer losses due to hartals, very few have come forward to claim it, says Raju. This is what happened on September 2, when a hartal organized by the BJP to protest the murder of one of its leaders in Kannur led to widespread destruction of property. “We had announced a four-member committee of lawyers to provide legal help to those affected. But we got only three inquiries and none of them was willing to pursue the matter. They said they were not interested,” Raju says.

One of the reasons for this disinterest is that people do not want to fight cases against political outfits due to fear of a backlash. Curiously, even government bodies are reluctant to move against political parties. The Kerala Metro Rail Corporation did not seek compensation for the `1 crore it suffered during a recent hartal called by the CPM. Though Raju’s forum moved the HC with a PIL, a bench refused to entertain the petition, saying it had already passed orders in this regard and that it was up to the executive to ensure the compensation. Raju is now planning to file a contempt-of-court petition against the government for not following the HC order. He believes that outfits calling for hartals will be careful not to cause damage to the public and private property if they are made to pay for it.

The loss to Kerala’s economy when a hartal is 100 percent successful, is `900 crore a day, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). CII’s estimate does not cover the agricultural sector, which includes sizeable amount of exports. The net result of the state being in a state of perpetual agitation is indus-

trial backwardness, mounting unemployment and high migration. Investors have been driven away to neighboring states and Gulf countries, while the state government’s attempt to regain industrial robustness by making effective use of tourism and sunrise sectors like information technology too have been marred by hartals.

POINTLESS EXERCISE The strange thing is that a majority of the hartals do not achieve what the organizers set out to. The maximum number was over hikes in prices of commodities, especially fuel.

Chandrababu says that no government has ever rolled back a hike due to a hartal. They only serve the cause of the hartal callers and dissuade people from productive work.

He said an alternative form of protest is possible. The “Anti-Hartal Front” demonstrated a model hartal in Kannur recently without affecting life, where people protested by carrying black flags and sending mass petitions to authorities.

While most political parties say this nonviolent form of agitation was also used by Mahatma Gandhi, it is usually violence or the fear of it that ensures its success. KE Mammen, a noted Gandhian, says that hartals are nothing but a misuse of power by politicians, who are used to a life of luxury. It can be

prevented only if people come out and vote political parties out of power.

Though many political leaders say that hartals have lost their relevance, they are not ready to come out against it. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor terms it immoral, while the state’s home minister Ramesh Chennithala has termed it an archaic form of agitation.

But these are empty words. What the state needs is action to back it. IL INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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TECH/ cyber security / ethical hackers

License to invade

malicious hackers break into IT systems and get access to critical data. but with ethical hackers’ intervention, these become impregnable

By Deepa Gupta

E

VEN as technology has spiraled, it has come with many security hazards. So, while most of us are constantly connected via emails, chats, apps and social networking sites, little do we realize that the prying eyes of unknown predators are constantly on us, trying to peek into our world. And this hacking, be it for pleasure, harassment or illegal gains, has dangerous connotations for everyone.

In fact, the incidence of cyber crimes has gone up tremendously. According to National Crime Records Bureau data, it reported a jump of 122.5 percent from 2012 to 2013 and cost the government a whopping `24,630 crore in 2013 alone.

With such crimes emerging as a risk to national security, it is time to gird up this sector.

DEARTH OF PROFESSIONALS But for that, one needs security professionals and ethical hackers, of which there is a dearth in the country. Due to this, proper assistance is not rendered to the police when it needs to crack down on cyber criminals. To combat the problem, a

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consortium of information security professionals was created about a year back with the support of the government. Called Indian Infosec Consortium (IIC), a non-profit organization, it has experts who protect cyber space from potential hackers. Only those with precise technical know-how and a thorough knowledge of the legal aspects are taken on board.

Rohit Srivastava, director, IIC, says: “Tremendous internet penetration, social media awareness and various types of cyber harassment, be it sexual or derogatory posts,

have greatly increased such crimes in India.

And these perpetrators think they can get away with them due to the anonymous nature of the internet.”

And this is where the ethical hacker steps in. Aided by the police, he tracks down cyber criminals. Tarun Wig, information security consultant of Delhi-based Innefu Labs, says: “Law enforcement agencies usually seek our help in cases involving identity theft or corporate fraud. We have to identify a suspect online, track his locations, identify his mode of communication, find out how the hack-

HIGHLY PROMISING Today, ethical hacking is a lucrative profession if one is working with corporates

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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TECH/ cyber security / ethical hackers

Pavan Duggal Legal Advisor, IIC

Rahul Sasi Security researcher from Bangalore

Tamaghna Basu Kolkata-based security researcher

“The law does not recognize the concept of ethical hacking, but acknowledges ethical hackers as intermediaries. Ethical hackers accessing a client’s computer system with his knowledge do not violate law.”

“What is needed is practical, hands-on-experience. Only if you know how to build a door, will you know how to break it. Only those with strong programming and engineering skills are experts. India has few qualified people in this area.”

“Security has many sub-domains and there are specialized professionals in each of them. But often, the police gets hold of the most popular person to help them without knowing if he will be able to crack the case effectively.”

ing took place and determine future methods to block such attacks.”

RIGHT MAN, RIGHT JOB It is also important to ensure that the right professional is available to the right people at the right time, says Tamaghna Basu, a Kolkata-based security researcher. “Security has many sub-domains and there are specialized professionals in each of them. But many a time, the police gets hold of the most popular person to help them without knowing for sure if he will be able to crack the case effectively,” says Basu.

It takes a painstakingly long time to crack a case. But as professionals are poorly paid or not paid at all by the police, they do not waste much time and energy in solving a case, says Srivastava. “The last case where I helped the police was in 2006,” he reveals.

Rahul Sasi, a security researcher from Bangalore, who helped the government track down hackers that had plundered data from various departments last year, agrees that there is a paucity of security professionals.

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Worse, there is no certificate course to learning ethical hacking, he says. “What is needed is practical, hands-on-experience. Only if you know how to build a door, will you know how to break it. Only those with strong programming and engineering skills can be experts in this field. No wonder, the country has only a handful of qualified people in this regard.”

Also, there is a thin line dividing ethical hackers and unethical ones. The former can switch to the role of the latter in no time and for no reason. And that makes it even more difficult to secure the system. IIC membership, therefore, is based on reference. “When you refer people, your own name is at stake.

And the peer pressure keeps things on track,” says Srivastava.

NEW POLICY Meanwhile, recently at the International Hacker’s Conference in New Delhi, Dr Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi, joint secretary, Police II and chief information security officer at the home ministry, spoke about the National Information Security Policy which he had

Rohit Srivastava Director, Indian Infosec Consortium

“Internet penetration, social media awareness and various types of cyber harassment have greatly increased cyber crimes in India. And the perpetrators think they can get away with them due to the anonymous nature of the internet.” drafted. It was given to IIC for review and got a feedback of 300-plus points, after which, the policy was given final shape.

Today, ethical hacking is a top-paying job if one is working with corporates. “We recently investigated a case of corporate fraud where the mail ID of the accountant of that company had been compromised.

Invoices with fraudulent bank accounts in China were sent to customers of the organization, and they ended up depositing the money in these accounts. Monetary loss and loss of reputation were considerable. We were able to identify IP addresses used to carry out the attack and the methodology and also recommended measures to stop further attacks,” explains Wig. Law enforcement agencies too are waking up to the need for cyber security and training their personnel. They are now able to handle petty cases involving fake passwords, fake profiles and photo morphing on social networking sites, source code theft, intellectual property theft, etc. Srivastava has been assisting military outfits, law

enforcement personnel, media agencies and corporates. He has also helped police departments in Mauritius and Malaysia.

NO VIOLATION But ethical hackers need legal protection.

Pavan Duggal, legal advisor, IIC, says: “The law does not recognize the concept of ethical hacking, but acknowledges ethical hackers as intermediaries. Under law, they can exercise due diligence while discharging their obligations. Ethical hackers who access a client’s computer system with his knowledge do not violate law.” But if they commit unauthorized activities that diminish the value of electronic information of the company, they could face three years imprisonment and `3 lakh-`5 lakh fine. They may also have to pay compensation up to `5 crore for contravention.

The Indian Information Technology Act, 2000, deals with data and information in the electronic form, and defines the offence of hacking under Section 66. Hacking, at that time, was a non-bailable offence, punishable with three years imprisonment and `2 lakh fine, says Duggal. But the Act was amended to become Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, and Section 66 underwent an overhaul. From being a provision that only dealt with hacking, it now looks into other computer-related offences too.

After all no one wants to get caught in a web. IL

THE RIGHT MAN There is a thin line dividing ethical hackers and unethical ones. That is one of the major challenges for securing systems

What is ethical hacking?

It refers to the phenomenon of accessing a computer resource or a communication device of a third party with their permission. The purpose is to identify security weaknesses and loopholes in the system so that these can be addressed.

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

49

DIPLOMACY/ nris & modi

FINDING NAMO while indian-born americans and tv anchors were full of adulation during the pm’s recent visit, this is unlikely to happen in the gulf, which is mentally equated with labor and blue collar masses

By Bikram Vohra

I

remember the good old days in Ahmedabad when I was editor of The Indian Express and Narendra Modi was a fledgling politician and we were old buddies and we would meet and chew the fat and eat dhoklas and bhajiyas and go to the club to play tennis and all that.

Not that any of this is true except the first line and I wish I had met him because I would then take full advantage of our former relationship and ensure that my clods of deep and abiding advice get to him. Think of it. One dhokla away from getting a hearing by jumping the queue and not being one of several strangers petitioning him and getting nowhere in a hurry. Imagine a Page 3 do and you say, just met Namo and he was saying to me…kill a party with that line.

TEDIOUS ANCHORS Like with Gulliver, I have followed his travels with great attention. The other day, Prime Minister Modi came to the US. He saw, was seen and most of us have concurred that it was a jolly good show, a sort of political cirque du

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soleil with all the glamour. A tidy little mix of ex-native guilt and chauvinism brought out a huge crowd of Americans of Indian origin prancing about the place with ill-concealed glee. It made for great TV viewing despite the squad of tedious Indian anchors who did everything possible to mess things up and should have been given classes in pronunciation before being ferried to the US. Then, unexpectedly, Modi donned a red coat with white piping and dished out gifts of great largesse. He could have stopped at giving all Americans visas on arrival or, at least, placed a caveat of sorts seeking reciprocal courtesies in some measure. He did not and that should get him some stick, but, in all fairness, it was an exercise shamelessly aimed at giving some hi-octane boosts to the sagging tourism industry (rape de la rape) and also the “make in India” initiative that makes for lousy grammar, but might spark some flow of currency into Indian corporate adventurism.

And as he spoke, the nation marveled, largely because after Nehru, Krishna Menon and Piloo Mody, the political eloquence of Indians has been a bit drippy and fractured.

Manmohan Singh’s 10 years of speechlessness made Modi sound like Mark Anthony at Caesar’s funeral. Rajiv Gandhi did a cameo in his first round, but it petered out (we don’t lean left or right, we stand up straight), while his mother’s lucidity was filtered through strident intimidation.

Consequently, the tea-boy-to-top-gun romanticism prevailed and it was friends, Americans and anyone else who cares to listen.

DREARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY The UN General Assembly is one of the worst places to give a speech. The atmosphere is dull and dreary, the podium is small and apologetic, there is scarcely anyone in the vast cavern and no one is really listening. You ignite little passion and are often one of a line of speakers on the schedule. Ergo, you are not likely to set the Hudson on fire. The desultory attitude was best reflected in the monotonous introduction of the Indian prime minister. It is done with more passion at a primary school debate.

It was a typical UN speech, short on rhetoric, long on intent and did make one point; it

Photos: UNI

put the UN on guard that if India did not get on to the Security Council, do not expect New Delhi to be an enthusiastic supporter of every UN initiative.

Indian analysts are so imbued by the IndoPakistan equation, they see nothing beyond that horizon. Frankly, it was a damp squib and did nothing to soften the impasse of six decades either from the Nawaz Sharif waffle or the easygoing, scarcely intimidating, response from Modi.

I have very little idea why everyone was going so out of whack about Modi’s US trip, like okay nothing is going to happen, shibboleths and soda water, but the awe and reverence on the TV news channels would make you think it was a kind of second coming. The shrill, breathless anchors even spoke in whispers or screaming excitement when they referred to him. Here we go, into reckless adulation again. One guy anchor said: America is waiting with baited breath. Where, in Montana or Dayton, Ohio or Hicksville? Why can’t we keep it in perspective? But TV is now the bridge of perceptions for 1.2 billion people and

in India, dangerously inept.

Then again, why not get excited? After all, 40,000 people wanted to enter Madison Square Garden where you can get in 18,000 for a prize fight. Modi beats Madonna. Mayhem at Madison. All good, except for the mildly disquieting impression that everyone was behaving like a poor relative invited to a rich man’s wedding, you are a better man than I, Gunga Din...or is it Barack Obama?

HAND IT TO HIM Modi being greeted by the Indian community on his arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington

CLASSIER ACT And I finally watched Kaun Banega Crorepati and I have come to the conclusion after profound consideration that Amitabh Bachchan and Narendra Modi speak with the same cadence and inflection. Suspect the Ambassador of Gujarat is teaching the PM the intricacies of delivery. Modi is getting to be a classier verbal act. He has mastered the art of the loping rhetoric and the sudden stoppage for effect.

But did he come home empty-handed?

NRIs, as opposed to those who watched the tricolour come down, shed a tear (hopefully) INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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DIPLOMACY/ nris & modi

Amitabh Bachchan and Narendra Modi speak with the same cadence and inflection.

Is the brand ambassador of Gujarat teaching the PM the intricacies of delivery?

MANHATTAN MANIA Modi addressing the Global Citizen Festival at Central Park in New York

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and pledged allegiance to the Star Spangled banner, would be quite teed off that they still have to do the 21-day boot camp to get a visa.

US embassies have snaking lines of “hopefuls” wanting to go to Disneyland, their papers clutched in sweaty little palms, prepared to go through a series of indignities and sit in dank, dreary rooms, reduced to a number waiting to be called. Is that a balanced relationship? Don’t think so. Even if you fudge the scales. Are people a little confused by the equation between PIOs, Indian-born Americans and NRIs? You bet they are. So was Mr Modi. He called Americans “desh vasiyon”, which they are not.

So NRIs per se, and especially the enclave in the Middle East and the GCC, can’t be expected to do the tango and find grand discoveries in

the five-day saga. They are not on the schedule and that irks. You cannot keep getting enthused by the Vyalavar Ravis.

Should Modi now visit these enclaves thick with Indians who still have Indian passports and pay taxes and have PAN cards and Aadhar cards and are accountable to the system?

Recognize their worth and channel their talent and signpost the way home for these 10 million high net worth Indians (Gulfees remit $30 billion plus annually) living in the mother country’s vicinity?

NEW EL DORADO Seems like our Marco Polo premier should have these destinations on his itinerary.

Contrary to media perception, the richest Indians globally reside in the Gulf (the top 50 wealthiest Indians are worth $40 billion).

Their gatherings would make 18,000 attendees look like a trickle. If he popped over to the Gulf, they would go Pompeii on him and “many a time and oft, stand there on the walls and battlements, their infants in their arms, to see

great Modi pass the streets from home.”(mildly paraphrased.)

But would the media set it to music? Unlikely. It is too close, too familiar, not exciting enough. Indian foreign policy has always been grossly shortsighted and the Gulf has mentally been equated with labor and blue collar masses seeking their Johnny Appleseed fortunes.

Then, you get the party poopers who want to hold the fluff in the navel to the light.

During the writing of this article, I read a piece by Mrinalini Wasti: “...Frankly, I think the adoration of Mr Modi by NRIs comes from the fact that he so perfectly mirrors their duplicity.

In public, he preaches accountability and inclusiveness, while privately condoning the re-writing of textbooks to reflect a Hindu hegemony on history. He champions social media as a sign of his own engagement, but is mysteriously silent on current instances of communal violence and the imprisonment of those who criticize him.

“He is, in short, so familiar to NRIs, who have thrived in America precisely because of equal rights and a certain blindness to ethnicity and religion... a situation which ironically gives them the right to practice an absentee fascism when it comes to their home country....”

My word, we are angry.

ABSENTEE FASCISM These are largely Americans, not NRIs. India is not their home country. Modi is not familiar to us. He is an enigma and we have not fathomed him yet, so don’t jump to conclusions. It is also threadbare an argument to spear NRIs with the guilt of departure. As for America, it would be naïve to assume there are no ethnic and religious divides. Finally, we do not practice absentee fascism, we just see the picture from a different angle, but it is the same picture.

Such lacerating criticism is heavy stuff for what was a nice little PR walk in the park. It was a “nice” week, not deserving of such wrath.

And I certainly do not understand the bit about imprisonment of those who attack him. Last heard, India was a democracy and free speech still had a talking part. I need to be educated on this aspect. Does anyone know anyone who has been locked up for tweaking the PM? Having placed that bit of rage on record, let’s move on. Modi did not come home empty-

One guy anchor said: America is waiting with baited breath. Where, in Montana or Dayton, Ohio or Hicksville? Why can’t we keep it in perspective? handed. Behind the garlands and the choreographed bonhomie (except for the incredible rudeness of his sidestepping the lineup of senators and Congressmen tamely placed on the stage at MSG), there was work being done.

He did manage to get more than a rhetorical agreement on sponsored terrorism and New Delhi and Washington could well have written a leading paragraph that history will recognize as the beginning of the end of a long reign of terror.

The one message that is clear is: We are coming for you.

In the coming weeks, Modi and Obama will strike at specific individual and collective targets and bend a few arms in the region to bring several of the “protected” species to book and if it is just that “positive” which emanates from the visit, so be it…much more effective than a hundred speeches and statements of intent. IL

BUSINESS BRINGS THEM TOGETHER Narendra Modi meets US Secretary of State John Kerry in the presence of US President Barack Obama in the White House

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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DIPLOMACY/ pm’s united states visit

Operation Modi Storm? it was a visit marked by showmanship and flair. but in concrete terms, what did modi’s visit achieve?

By Anita Katyal

W

HEN senior BJP leader LK Advani described Narendra Modi as an excellent event manager, he was not far off the mark. The prime minister lived up to his reputation as the ultimate showman on his first official visit to the US. He was feted and fawned upon by adoring Indian Americans who treated him like a rockstar, while the Obama administration rolled out the red carpet for a man they had once shunned.

The specifics of the relationship were addressed in a joint agreement, finalized after a lengthy one-to-one meeting between Obama and Modi. According to Milan Vaishnav, associate, South Asia Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the rhetoric and body language of both leaders suggested that they were able to set aside past differences.

Modi also connected with the business community to assure them that economic reforms in India were on track and that his government was eager to facilitate foreign investors to set up shop here.

CONCRETE GAINS? So far, so good. But what did the high-octane visit really achieve? Was it all hype or did it really pave the way for “a transformative relationship” between the world’s largest and oldest democracies? Vaishnav says that Modi came to America with three objectives: to rally the diaspora, to convince the US private sector that India was again “open for business” and to reset relations with the US government. “While Modi was largely successful in doing all three, gains will materialize in real terms only if he is

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able to fulfil his mandate at home to revive India’s sagging economy,” he underlined.

Vaishnav says both were keen to recommit to a reinvigorated relationship. “Yet, their job is only beginning; the true test is whether these two men will be able to whip their bureaucracies into living up to the lofty rhetoric of their joint statement.”

A former diplomat says: “It is wrong to judge a summit only in terms of tangibles,” he said. “A summit is meant to engage a person and establish rapport. On these two counts, the PM’s visit was a success.”

SCEPTICAL US MEDIA The American media, however, was not too hopeful about the meeting as it pertinently pointed that differences over taxation laws, India’s intellectual property, trade, investment policies and civilian nuclear energy are yet to be sorted out. The WTO stand-off figured in the discussions, as did India’s concern over easing access for its service sector professionals in the US market.

The landmark civil nuclear deal, which was sealed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is yet to be implemented, as US companies have serious reservations about India’s nuclear liability law which holds suppliers liable in case of accidents. This issue came up during the Obama-Modi meeting, but there were no solutions. The two sides merely decided to establish an inter-agency contact group to iron out all pending issues.

Similarly, Obama agreed that India meets Missile Technology Control Regime requirements and is ready for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Wassenaar Arrangement on arms trade treaty and the Australia Group. The US president reiterated his government’s support to India’s claim for a permanent seat on the Security Council. But on both counts, the agreement failed to spell out any time-frame, indicating that this show of support was just that: a mere show.

For a large part, the joint statement (JS)

U.S. Consulate General Mumbai

was nothing more than a promise by both countries to address pending issues. Former ambassador MK Bhadra Kumar, dismissed the document as worthless. “The Americans have not touched even with a barge pole Modi’s much-vaunted ‘Made in India global initiative’.

They simply ignored it in the JS,” he posted on his blog.

He asked, “If economic diplomacy is the driving force of Modi’s foreign policy, what has he got out of Obama? Peanuts. Some more ‘task forces’ or ‘working groups’ have been constituted in investment, infrastructure, intellectual property, higher education, ‘climate resilience’, nuclear power projects, Energy Smart Cities Partnership, Clean Energy Finance Forum and, of course, in defence trade and technology.”

HANDLING TERRORISM The joint statement, however, did score in addressing regional security issues and sending out messages to both Pakistan and China.

Expressing concern over the growing menace of terrorism, India and the US agreed to make “joint and concerted efforts” to dismantle safe havens of Pakistan-based terrorists groups and called upon Islamabad to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks to justice. The document listed Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-

e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, the D-Company and the Haqqani Network as the groups which had to be destroyed. This is the first time that the D-company has been included in the list of terror groups.

Modi and Obama also sent out a signal to China by expressing “concern about rising tensions over maritime territorial disputes” and “affirmed the importance of freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially in the South China Sea”. This is another first and comes in the backdrop of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to India, which was overshadowed by reports of repeated border incursions.

Looking to the future, Vaishnav mentions three possible bright spots: One, the decision by the two leaders to renew the US-India Defence Framework Agreement for another decade. Two, the two countries struck a number of deals in the energy sphere, including the US committing $1 billion toward climate resilience and an Energy Smart Cities Partnership. Three, the two sides opened the door to closer partnership on financial sector issues.

A beginning has been made by Modi and Obama to repair the tattered Indo-US relationship. But their rhetoric must be followed by concrete action. Only then, can both congratulate each other for a successful mission. IL

“The job of Obama and Modi is only beginning; the true test is whether these two men will be able to whip their bureaucracies into living up to the lofty rhetoric of their joint statement.”

—Milan Vaishnav, associate, South Asia Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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DIPLOMACY/ japan-india-china ties

WOOING THE EAST modi’s visit to japan, followed by the chinese president coming to india, has important strategic advantages

By Col R Hariharan 56

October 31, 2014

P

rime Minister Narendra Modi’s hectic travel schedule within the first four months in office would indicate that his foreign policy initiatives are much more than “mending fences” with India’s immediate neighbors. Recently, he neatly squared it up with this catch phrase “Look East, Link West (LELW).”

Following on that slogan, he started to boost ties with the East. His visit to Japan, weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Delhi, along with President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Vietnam and Modi’s maiden trip to the US, lays down the broad strategic contours of LELW. SUCCESSFUL VISIT Modi made a mark in Japan more strongly than any of his predecessors. It went well beyond the warm, personal equation he enjoys with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Modi put through a wellorchestrated program to appeal to all sections of Japanese society, indicating his

interest in building people-to-people equations as well. Though it fell short of Indian expectations, the visit was a success, as it paved the way for speeding up multi-faceted cooperation with Japan.

The visit also sent a strong message to China that India’s foreign policy revamp would be broad-based and national interest would be the top priority. Though the muchawaited India-Japan civilian nuclear deal did not come through, the two leaders agreeing to accelerate talks on a nuclear energy pact was probably germane to President Xi’s offer to India to collaborate in the nuclear energy sector as well.

Modi’s Japan visit was being closely followed by China, if we go by the outpouring of articles on it in the Chinese language media. It highlighted the strategic security aspects of the visit before President Xi visited India from September 17-19. Japan’s promised $34 billion investment in India over the next five years and likely sale of Japanese amphibious aircraft to India were widely reported in China.

The title of an editorial in the Global Times was “Modi-Abe intimacy brings

The Chinese draw comfort in the fact that China is a neighbor India can’t move away from, for all the intimacy between Tokyo and New Delhi.

BALANCING ACT (Facing page) Prime Minister Modi meets Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan during his visit to the Pacific nation; (Left) Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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DIPLOMACY/ japan-india-china ties

THE FAR-EASTERN REVIEW (Below) Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a gathering hosted by Prime Minister Abe of Japan in Tokyo; (Facing page) President Pranab Mukherjee watching a cultural performance in Ho Chi Minh City during his Vietnam visit in September

scant comfort” and sums up China’s discomfort with this visit. The op-ed piece in the Communist Party’s web magazine apparently tried to read between the lines with regard to Modi’s calling on both the countries to strengthen strategic cooperation to promote peace and prosperity in Asia and counter an expansionist mindset.

These were Modi’s remarks while addressing business leaders in Tokyo: “Everywhere around us, we see an 18th century expansionist mindset: encroaching on another country, intruding in others’ waters, invading other countries and capturing territory.” This could have triggered China’s irritation and the editorial added: “Japanese and western public opinion view his remarks as a clear reference to China, although he did not mention China by name.

This interpretation made some sense because Modi is more intimate to Tokyo emotionally. Therefore, it is perhaps a fact that he embraces some nationalist sentiments against China.”

The Global Times tried to show the advantage of having relations with China by saying: “The increasing intimacy between

Tokyo and New Delhi will bring, at the most, psychological comfort to the two countries.

What is involved in China-India relations denotes much more than the display of the blossoming personal friendship between Modi and Abe. After all, Japan is located far from India. Abe’s harangue on the IndoPacific concept makes Indians comfortable.”

It reminded the readers that it is South Asia “where New Delhi has to make its presence felt. However, China is a neighbor it can’t move away from. Sino-Indian ties can, in no way, be counterbalanced by the JapanIndia friendship…. Both as new emerging countries and members of BRICS, China and India have plenty of interests in common. Geopolitical competition is not the most important thing for the two countries, at least at present.”

GROWING DISCOMFORT Such comments show China’s difficulty in coming to terms with Modi’s readiness to improve relations with it to do business on the one hand, while showing equal keenness to improve strategic cooperation with Japan on the other. This is compounded by Modi

Photos: UNI

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October 31, 2014

inviting Japanese investments in infrastructure, particularly railways, and manufacturing industries, many of which would directly compete with China’s trade and investment interests in India. And Japan’s readiness to ease export restrictions to allow its defense firms to participate in India’s huge weapons market is an offer that China cannot match.

The irony of Modi’s trip to Japan was that it coincided with the 69th anniversary of Japanese surrender, celebrated with all pomp and show in China. Even as Modi was completing his five-day Japanese sojourn, Xi urged Japan “to admit and reflect on its history of militarist aggression”. He also sounded an ominous warning to Japan: “With the utmost resolution and effort, we will join with people all over the world to safeguard the victory in the Chinese Peoples’ War of Resistance against Japanese aggression and the world war against fascism.”

India knows its strategic relations with Japan will be conditioned by Japan’s umbilical relations with the US. In case of any India-China confrontation, this could act as rider on Japan’s support for India. This limits the scope for India-Japan strategic relations to flourish.

STRATEGIC OPTION Meanwhile, China has the strategic option to tweak the border issue with India at a time of its choosing. Its intrusions across the Line of Actual Control in Chumar and Demchok areas on the eve of Xi’s visit demonstrated it. India does have a similar advantage in tweaking the borders or in triggering the Tibetan issue. It suits both India and China to maintain the status quo.

China has already entered South Asia in a big way. It is selling its Maritime Silk Road (MSR) concept to India’s neighbors and wants India also to partner China in this endeavor. Given MSR’s negative strategic implications, it could benefit India only if Chinese involvement in South Asia is managed properly. This is possible only if cordial relations are maintained between both.

One of the key objectives of Xi’s talks with Modi has been to wean away India from the lure of Japan. The huge delegation of Chinese business leaders and five major

“Modi’s biggest challenge is to kick-start a lagging economy. India needs Japan’s investment and technology, but it also needs economic cooperation with China.”

—Chinese analyst Liu Zongyi banks accompanying the Chinese president underscored Xi’s serious efforts to win over Modi. For the same reason, probably Xi thought it wiser to postpone his visit to Pakistan, originally clubbed with his Delhi trip.

Chinese analyst Liu Zongyi, writing in the Global Times, aptly summed up Modi’s dilemma: “Modi’s biggest challenge is to kick-start a lagging economy. India needs Japan’s investment and technology, but it also needs economic cooperation with China.” But the Chinese troops’ intrusion exposes the soft underbelly of India-China relations. And this is where Japan has an edge over China in dealing with India.

The Global Times editorial observed: “Maintaining strategic independence is India’s diplomatic tradition. It’s also in the Indian interest to be a balancer in the international system.” This shows its expectations from India. IL

(The writer is associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies and the South Asia Analysis Group) INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

59

GLOBAL TRENDS/ british muslims

Disowning british-muslims want little to do with this terror outfit, revolted as they are by the barbarity of its merchants of death. this is a far cry from their anti-war mood in 2003

By Sajeda Momin in London

M

ORE than a decade ago, when the British government decided to join the US in its war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, there was a lot of resistance from the ordinary people of this country. In fact, over a million of them, an awful lot for this tiny island nation, had joined a historic anti-war march to Trafalgar Square to show their displeasure. But times have changed. On September 26, after an overwhelming pro-war vote in parliament, Britain has committed to a second war in Iraq, but this time, the anti-war voice has been muted, if not silent.

In 2003, the anti-war campaign was led from the front by British Muslims and supported by left-wing and liberal non-Muslims.

However, during the current war, the Islamic State (IS), or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or any other name it might like to call itself, has not received support from the majority of ordinary British-Muslims. Rather, they are repulsed by the IS and its barbaric acts.

SEVERE BACKLASH There have been no anti-war marches and very few opinions in favor of the IS in mainstream media. In fact, so strong has been the revulsion towards the IS that British-Muslim women have launched a campaign proclaiming their “abhorrence of extremism and terrorism”. They

60

October 31, 2014

took their “MakingAStand” campaign to the Ministry of Home in Whitehall in London and urged Conservative Home Secretary Theresa May to stop the “brutality and barbarism” of IS from spreading to the UK. They have also urged other Muslim women to join them in stopping hate preachers in their local communities from trying to spread their propaganda and luring susceptible youth into fighting their “irreligious jehad”. And this backlash against the IS has also spread to other radical groups like the Al-Muhajiroun, as people want them banned in Britain.

The Al-Muhajiroun is a British organization based on the Salafi-Wahabi sect of Islam, which believes in establishing an Islamic Caliphate around the world, much like the IS. It was founded by Omar Bakri Muhammad in Saudi Arabia in 1983, and banned by the Saudis in 1986, when Bakri moved to Britain and began operating the group from London.

It was disbanded in 2004 because of bad publicity, but it is believed to have continued to operate under a different name, The Saviour Sect. This was, then, banned by Tony Blair shortly after the 7/7 London transport bombings. In 2009, Al-Muhajiroun was relaunched, but banned in January 2010 under the Terrorism Act of 2000.

However, many of the terror acts that have taken place in the UK since then and the hate literature that is being dispersed are thought to have been carried out by groups or people who

the IS owe their allegiance to the Al-Muhajiroun.

British intelligence feels it’s this terror network that is linked to the IS. Coming to the war in Iraq, there are many reasons for the change of heart among BritishMuslims, and the methods used by the IS have certainly played a role. “I protested in Trafalgar Square to prevent Britain from joining the war on Iraq in 2003, but that was because I strongly believed that it was an illegal war by Western governments with an ‘imperialist’ agenda. The US, particularly, cooked up proof of nuclear weapons just to get their hands on Iraq’s oil,” says Saira Amin, a British-Muslim and mother of two. “But I am totally disgusted and repulsed by the IS. I neither believe in their aims or methods, nor do I think they are Islamic in nature. They are simply going around killing innocent people and I believe they need to be stopped. They are also giving Islam and Muslims a bad name,” she adds. Amin’s views reflect the majority of ordinary British-Muslims.

DEAL STERNLY Parents, family and friends of those few Britons radicalized by groups like Al-Muhajiroun and who have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq, have demanded that the government deal severely with these “merchants of death”. One of them is the British-accented masked terrorist, who features in the latest round of beheadings of American and British civilians by IS. He is said to be a rapper who has been nicknamed “Jehadi John” by the British media.

Last month, former students of Bakri distributed leaflets in the heart of London’s shopping area, Oxford Street, demanding that Muslims pledge allegiance to the “Khaleef”, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the IS. Anjem Choudary, spokesperson for the AlMuhajiroun said there was “nothing wrong” with wanting to “go and to live there and bring up your children under the Khilafah”. He also

CHANGING STAND (Facing page and above) British Muslims join the cause against Islamic State’s atrocities through their “MakingAStand” campaign in London; (left) the same community protesting in Trafalgar Square against the war on Iraq in 2003

added that the reports of the slaughter were “not true” and that Muslims were living in “peace and security under the Sharia” in IS ruled areas.

Most Muslims laugh at his views and demand that Choudary should go and live in this IS idyll rather than forcing others to go there. But when British-Iraqi student Asmaa Al-Kufaishi, questioned the leafleters in Oxford Street, she was assaulted by them. Al-Kufaishi is a Shia from Iraq—a community which the IS has vowed to exterminate. “This group was proINDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

61

GLOBAL TRENDS/ british muslims

THE HATE PREACHERS (L-R) Al-Muhajiroun founder Omar Bakri Muhammad; 45-year-old Sally Jones who moved to Syria to join the IS; Sally’s 20-year-old extremist husband Junaid Hussain

moting IS on Oxford Street. When my friends and I spoke out, we were racially abused. They don’t know Islam. Promoting death of innocent people, telling me to die because of my faith and race and insulting me is not Islamic behavior,” she says.

Similarly, Ghaffar Hussain, managing director of the counter-extremism think-tank, the Quilliam Foundation, denounces the IS propaganda as a clear breach of law. “We need to have a zero tolerance policy towards IS supporters and recruiters in the UK. It is about supporting one of the most evil groups we have ever seen,” he says.

JEHADI BRIDES Even some women have fallen prey to the radicalization, with reports emerging of girls joining IS fighters and marrying them. They have been nicknamed “Jehadi brides” by the tabloid press. One of them is 20-year-old Aqsa Mahmood, daughter of a successful Pakistaniorigin businessman, who abandoned her university course last year to join IS fighters in Syria. Since then, she has married, has delivered a baby, and is now posting regular messages on Twitter, urging people to commit atrocities in the West. Her family and friends in Glasgow, where she was born and led a privileged life, going to an expensive private school, are shocked and shamed by her involvement with radical Islam.

“We still love you Aqsa, but we now have to put your family first, as you have betrayed us, our community and the people of Scotland

62

October 31, 2014

when you took this step,” said her parents, Muzaffar and Khalida Mahmood in a press statement. Khalida Mahmood cried and warned of other young British-Muslim women following their daughter’s example. Her sentiments put fear into many a parents’ heart, as they do not want to lose their children to such an abhorrent “jehad”.

Another case which recently hit the headlines is that of Muslim convert, Sally Jones, who abandoned her two children to join her extremist husband in Syria after an online romance. The blonde 45-year-old now goes by the name of Umm Hussain al-Britani and has been described as “scatty” by her friends. She joined her 20-year-old husband Junaid Hussain in Raqqa province at the end of last year.

Her family in Surrey in South England has said they will not disown her and feel there is more to the case than meets the eye.

While most anti-war supporters feel that violence simply leads to more violence, in the case of the IS, there is little political or moral legitimacy or sympathy for their cause. As Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, an opponent of the 2003 Iraq war and now a proponent of the war on the IS, says: “This is not a clash of civilizations, but a specific war to stop the spread of IS, and supported by the democratic government of Baghdad.”

This war has legitimacy, which the previous one didn’t. It is views like these, shared by a majority of Muslims, that makes the IS one of the most hated and feared terrorist organizations in the world. IL

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GLOBAL TRENDS/ oil industry / wages

OF OIL A RIGS AND RIGGED WAGES

ProPublica review of US Department of Labor (DoL) investigations shows that oil and gas workers—men and women often performing highrisk jobs—are routinely being underpaid, and the companies hiring them often are using accounting techniques to deny workers benefits such as medical leave or unemployment insurance.

The DoL investigations have centered on what is known as worker “misclassification”, an accounting gambit whereby companies treat full-time employees as independent contractors paid hourly wages, and then fail to make good on their obligations. The technique, investigators say, has become ever more common as small companies seek to gain contracts in an intensely competitive

64

October 31, 2014

investigations by the united states department of labor have uncovered hundreds of cases in which oil and gas workers, many involved in dangerous jobs, are being cheated of earnings

By Naveena Sadasivam market by holding labor costs down.

In the complex, rapidly expanding oil and gas industry, much of the day-to-day work done on oil rigs and gas wells is sub-contracted to smaller companies. For instance, on one gas rig alone, the operator might hire one company to construct the well pad, another to drill the well, a third company to provide hydraulic fracking services and yet another to truck water and chemicals for disposal. But for the thousands of workers in the hundreds of different companies, a single standard is supposed to apply: by law, they must be paid more than minimum wage and they must be fairly compensated for any overtime accrued.

In 2012, the DoL began a special enforcement initiative in its Northeast and Southwest regional offices targeting the fracking industry and its supporting industries. As of August this year, the agency has conducted 435 investigations resulting in over $13 million in back wages found due for more than 9,100 workers. ProPublica obtained data for 350 of those cases. In over a fifth of the investigations, companies in violation paid more than $10,000 in back wages.

One of those companies was Morco Geological Services, a company providing mud logging services for other oil and gas drilling companies. In 2013, the DoL found that Morco was paying some workers $75 daily for working virtually round-the-clock shifts.

The company eventually agreed to pay $595,737 in back wages to 121 workers following the DoL’s investigation. In another significant case, Hutco, a company providing labor services to the oil and gas industry, ended up paying $1.9 million to 2,267 employees assigned to work in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

“The problem of misclassification has become pervasive,” said Dr David Weil, a former economics professor at Boston

University, who today heads the DoL’s Wage and Hour Division. “Employers are looking for opportunities in a changing business landscape, at the employee’s expenses, to cut corners as much as possible, leaving room for wage and hour violations.”

BLACK GOLD, DARK REALITIES (Facing page) An operator at Baker Hughes oil and gas company, which had to pay back wages after the DoL investigation

O

ver the last decade, the oil and gas industry has seen tremendous growth. Between 2007 and 2012, when average employment in all US industries fell by 2.7 percent, employment in the oil and gas industry increased by over 30 percent. According to research conducted by Annette Bernhardt, a scholar on low-wage work, 84 percent of workers in the oil, gas and mining industry were employed by contractors in 2012.

At the same time, the industry has also seen an increase in fatalities and injuries on the job. There is, so far, no evidence to suggest that these accidents are a result of inadequate training or overworked laborers. But accounts from other industries that heavily outsource work suggest those risks could be present.

A 2012 investigation by ProPublica and PBS Frontline showed that cell phone carriers often contract out the dangerous job of climbing towers to smaller firms, which don’t provide the necessary training and equipment to climbers. As a result, the death rate was 10 times higher among cell tower climbers than other construction workers.

Employers are looking for opportunities in a changing business landscape, at the employee’s expenses, to cut corners as much as possible.

—Dr David Weil, former professor, Boston University INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

65

GLOBAL TRENDS/ oil industry / wages

the DoL show there are companies willfully dodging their responsibilities. The violations —accidental or intentional—are being committed by companies large and small, lawyers and labor officials say.

“You would think that some of the larger companies would be better in terms of compliance. What we’re seeing is these violations are really rampant in this industry and affect all sizes of companies,” said Shanon Carson, a lawyer with Philadelphia-based Berger & Montague, who has represented several oil and gas workers, including Bearden, in class action lawsuits.

T

DAILY DRILL Workers cleaning the oil spillage caused by rigging

66

October 31, 2014

Between December 2009 and November 2011, Troy Bearden worked on gas rigs in Pennsylvania and Colorado for Precision Air Drilling Services, a company that provides labor services for oil and gas exploration around the country. During that time period, Bearden worked an average of 12 hours a day, seven days a week, unloading and hooking up drilling equipment and maintaining it during operation.

Bearden was a full-time employee of Precision Air Drilling, but the company classified him as exempt from the federal overtime statute, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and did not pay him for his overtime hours.

In 2011, Bearden and other workers filed a class action lawsuit against the company.

Precision Air Drilling settled for $5,00,000.

“We know that the oil and gas industry has a reputation of paying high wages, but the economic reality often is they receive large paychecks because of the number of hours they’re putting in,” said Betty Campbell, the Deputy Regional Administrator for the Wage and Hour Division’s Southwest Region.

Labor lawyers specializing in wage disputes say the governing law—the Fair Labor Standards Act—is not easy to understand, interpret and comply with. As a result, they say employers can be unintentionally violating wage laws. But several investigations by

he oil and gas industry is hardly the only industry to be afflicted with wage abuses. A recent investigation by McClatchy found that misclassification of workers was especially rampant in the construction industry, where companies flouted labor laws to evade taxes.

In the last few years, the DoL has been cracking down on companies in several industries, including construction, healthcare and hospitality. In recent years, the Wage and Hour Division has had its funding increased by millions of dollars and upped its number of investigators by 300.

Federal wage and hour lawsuits have also seen an increase. Last year alone, the number of Fair Labor Standards Act cases increased by 10 percent to 7,764.

“Anecdotally, I think the trend is similar if not more in the oil and gas industry simply because since the downturn in 2008, they’ve continued to grow and continued to expand and hire,” said Steve Shardonofsky, a lawyer with Seyfarth and Shaw, a Chicago law firm that typically represents the industry.

Yet, worker rights groups and some lawyers believe there are likely thousands of mistreated workers unaware of protections under wage laws, partly because oil and gas activity primarily takes place in rural areas.

“Oil field workers are traditionally nonunion. They’re isolated in man camps and on their sites and it’s hard to get to them,” said Alex Lotorto, union delegate for Industrial Workers of the World. IL

Courtesy ProPublica

HUMAN INTEREST/ immigration woes

Flight to Perdition “sweet dreams are made of these”…this song by eurthymics could well sum up the aspirations of many youth who migrate abroad and are shocked by the dismal conditions there

By Ashish Srivastava

E

XPLOITATION of Indian migrants in foreign countries is a festering issue. They are forced to stay back, are tricked by recruitment agencies, have their passports impounded and are not paid wages— these are the common complaints heard from those who have returned home, somehow.

Take Mehboob Alam. I met him in 2012, when he came to us with a request to help him get his brother and 26 other youth from and around his village in Gorakhpur back from a Malaysian prison. I used to work for an NGO that was working against human trafficking and promoted safe migration. While he was

narrating the story to our director, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of those who had migrated to Malaysia, the UAE and other Gulf nations, ended up stranded in prisons in an alien land?

HUGE MIGRATION My questions were soon answered. We had requested the UP government for information in this regard and soon, I was bamboozled with a CD containing a data file that was so enormous that it could not be sent electronically. Scanning through the 364 MB data file, I came to know that from 2009 to mid-2012, 1.4 million youth from just eastern UP had INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

67

HUMAN INTEREST/ immigration woes

As many as 1.4 million youth had migrated between 2009-mid 2012 from eastern UP alone. Most are cheated by agents and end up in most abysmal working conditions.

ROAD TO NOWHERE (Above and facing page) Construction workers at a site in a Gulf country; (previous page) Workers keen to immigrate queue up with documents

migrated to different parts of the world.

Coming back to Mehboob’s brother, he had paid more than ` 2 lakh to migrate to Malaysia and ended up in prison. Worse, this humungous amount was for a job which paid just `20,000 a month and where the entire process lasted six months. The irony is that even after paying this sum and wasting time, he was cheated as he was issued a simple tourist visa, which, he learned the hard way, was not good enough for a foreigner to work in any country.

But that was the least of their problems.

The two months these youth spent in Malaysia were pitiful. They ate just once a day and seldom slept with a full belly. They received their wages twice, but it was just 25 percent of what was promised. Four agents from Gorakhpur to Malaysia received commissions on every hour these boys toiled there. On top of that, the boys were arrested in a raid, after which their labor contractors vanished. And the company for which they were working washed its hands off all responsibility.

LACKADAISICAL RESPONSE These youth were rescued and brought back to

68

October 31, 2014

India, but the story doesn’t end there. Even the release was possible only because the then DIG of Gorakhpur, Aseem Arun, took a keen interest in the case and did not rest till the 27 boys had reached home safely. During the entire process that lasted six weeks, I noticed a couple of lacunae: The Indian embassy in Malaysia was not too interested in the matter and was able to inform us about the situation only when the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) instructed them MEA also took an interest only after rigorous follow-ups from this senior IPS officer, our NGO and a multilateral development agency It was not just the detainment of these boys that was distressing, but also the fact that there was not a single window which could be reached for redressal. What was equally shocking was the attitude of the Indian embassy in Malaysia, which, alleged the boys, demanded `25,000 from each of them to purchase return tickets for them. It makes me wonder: If stranded abroad, do you really have the option of returning home?

That’s not all. A couple of months later, we received a call saying that there were 257 people forgotten in jails in Riyadh. This time, the quantum of problems was huge. To begin with, the new police official who was posted in place of Aseem Arun as Gorakhpur DIG had no time to listen to us as the state legislative elections were going on. When we complained to the MEA, it had only withered updates for us. Worse, the Indian embassy in Riyadh did not respond to our emails. Not only did the

rescue mission fail, it also left us in a quandary—whose was the ultimate responsibility in such crucial times?

TROUBLED LIFE Not many people know the plight of families taking the risk of sending their boys abroad.

These youngsters have to bear a lot of burden: Sisters who have to be married off, ancestral land that is mortgaged and aspirations to see that their children get a good education, which they themselves never got.

Talking to the family of Mehboob and others who were frequent visitors to our office, made me sad and nervous. I had to resist the feeling to take the placement agent to task.

The words of his father still ring in my ears— how the mother wanted to see her elder son once before she died, how their land had been mortgaged so that he could go to Malaysia and how Mehboob’s sister, Shazia, had waited for a new purple dress from her brother.

As of now, there is no concrete mechanism to solve these problems. I have worked on the human trafficking issue for over a decade and feel there is a serious need for intervention, either at the source of the journey, transit or destination. The organization I worked for helped victims at transits points along the Indo-Nepal border.

India has, for very long, been a transit point for Nepali citizens to migrate to other countries. This is not only because India has better connectivity with every country, but also due to Nepal having several laws that make migration for their countrymen difficult.

Weird, isn’t it? Believe me, if a Nepali woman wants to migrate to a foreign country seeking employment as a domestic help, the minimum age bar is 35 years. Though India has been a signatory to many conventions that prevent human trafficking, keeping a check on employment-induced migration has been lackadaisical.

EXPLOITED LOT I had a chance to interact with the late Irene Fernandes, who gave up her teaching job in her 20s to fight against abuses faced by migrants in immigration detention centers in Malaysia. What she told me, made me lose my appetite that day. These detention centers

hold illegal migrants for a certain period of time, after which they are deported in the cheapest way possible—by sea. She further told me that one batch of 57 migrants that was deported in a boat was never heard of again.

I have developed programs which focus on the transit phase of migration and feel that interventions should be done at the source of journey itself. There should be an association of recruitment agencies, based in small cities, to provide services to migrants and prevent illegal migration. Through this, we can develop a model code of conduct for recruitment agencies with a joint monitoring mechanism.

It should be spearheaded by the association and include members of civil society, media and concerned government departments. All recruitment agencies can then report to this committee on a monthly or quarterly basis and compile a report to be submitted to the district administration for further action.

An alternate approach is to have migration secretariats at the block level, who act as onestop solutions for aspiring youth who want to migrate. Support from the government is important for the fruition of these efforts. I am working on this concept and hopefully, it will fructify next year. IL

(The writer was associated with an NGO in UP which worked on human trafficking and unsafe migration) INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

69

SPORTS/ asian games / india

Hope amidst despair the hockey gold made up for the dip in the medals tally. but there were some stirring performances as well in other disciplines that hold promise for the rio olympics in 2016

By V Krishnaswamy in Incheon

T

HE medals tally came down as did the gold count at the 17th Asian Games at Incheon, South Korea. But the disappointment of a lower count was offset by the success of the Indian hockey team which won a gold 16 years after the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok. What made it even more sweeter was that the gold earned the team an automatic berth in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil.

The medals count fell from 65, inclusive of 14 gold, in 2010 to 57 medals, including 11 gold in 2014. Not a very happy figure for the world’s second most populated country, and especially

70

October 31, 2014

Photos: UNI

CURTAINS DOWN Fireworks near the Incheon Asiad main stadium during the closing ceremony of the 17th Asian Games

WINNERS’ PRIDE (From left) The women’s 4x400 meter relay team celebrates after winning the gold; Boxer Mary Kom with her gold; Hockey team skipper Sardar Singh posing with his medal; The archers after winning in the men’s compound team category

India’s medal count (57) as well as the gold tally (11) fell as compared to 2010. China topped with 342 medals that included 151 gold medals.

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

71

SPORTS/ asian games / india

The men’s kabaddi team created a record with a seventh successive gold.

India has dominated the sport ever since it was introduced in 1990.

Performance index GOLD 2010

Athletics Boxing Tennis Kabaddi Shooting Rowing Cue Sports Archery Wushu Golf Sailing Squash Wrestling Chess Roller Sports Swimming Gymnastics Hockey Badminton TOTAL 72

SILVER

BRONZE

2014

2010

2014

5

2

2

2

1

2

TOTAL

2010

2014

2010

2014

4

5

7

12

13

3

0

4

4

9

5

1

1

1

2

3

5

5

2

2

0

0

0

0

2

2

1

1

3

1

4

7

8

9

1

0

3

0

1

3

5

3

1

NA

1

NA

2

NA

4

NA

0

1

1

1

2

2

3

4

0

0

1

0

1

2

2

2

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

1

1

1

0

1

0

2

3

1

3

4

0

1

0

1

3

3

3

5

0

NA

0

NA

2

NA

2

NA

0

NA

0

NA

2

NA

2

NA

0

0

0

0

1

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

1

0

0

1

0

0

1

1

1

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

1

14

11

17

10

34

36

65

57

October 31, 2014

when the world’s most populated country, China, had 342 medals, including 151 gold.

India won gold medals in nine disciplines this time as compared to seven last. But in 2010, India won medals in 18 disciplines, whereas this time, it was 14. But then, three of the disciplines in which India won medals last time—chess (two bronze), roller sports (two bronze) and cue sports (one gold, one silver and two bronze)—were off the program in 2014. So, in that sense, India is very much where it was four years ago. Not a very good sign, considering that the rest of the world is surging ahead.

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here were just four individual gold medals for India this time. Jitu Rai’s gold for the men’s 50-meter pistol event on the first day did give rise to heightened expectations but the contingent had to wait for almost a week to win a second gold.

Apart from Rai, the other individual gold medalists were wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt (men’s 65-kilogram freestyle); women’s boxing legend MC Mary Kom (48-51 kilogram category); and discus thrower Seema Punia.

Gold medals also came in for India in tennis—the high-profile Sania Mirza partnering a near-tyro Saketh Myneni in the mixed doubles.

The women’s 4x400 quartet, comprising 400 meter individual bronze medalist MR Poovamma, 800 meter silver medal winner Tintu Luka, besides Priyanka Pawar and Mandeep Kaur ensured a fourth successive gold in the longer relay.

That was not all. The men’s kabaddi team created a record in the games with a seventh successive gold—India has dominated the sport ever since the sport was introduced at the 1990 edition at Beijing.

Women added to the supremacy with a second successive gold medal—kabbadi for

women was introduced only in 2010.

The men’s team squash gold medal reduced the hurt for Asia’s top squash player, Saurav Ghosal, who lost the gold after almost having it in his grip at match point in the third game, before losing it to a Kuwaiti, Abdullah Al Mezayen, in five grueling games.

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ut the finest story came from the group of compound archers—men and women. Each member of the men’s trio was so different from the other yet so devoted to each other. The team comprised Abhishek Verma, Sandeep Kumar and Rajat Chauhan.

In the women’s group, Trisha Deb, who after being part of the Indian team in a Recurve event—different from Compound— was at crossroads without a job and hope, till she met coach Jiwanjot Teja. The slightly-built Bengal girl moved from Kolkata to Patiala to study and pursue compound archery. Now, she has a World Championships medal and a bronze in an Asian Games, which came when her rival, while leading by a big margin, missed the target completely to hand the bronze to Trisha. And what does the simple girl want? “I hope I can get a job at least now,” she said.

Here in Incheon and before the Indian contingent left for Korea, there were enough controversies. Before the team left, there was the usual “battle” between the Sports Authority of India, the Indian Olympic Association and the sports ministry. Some teams were not cleared at first (it came later) while in other cases, the managers were dropped only to come under different heads as captains and coaches.

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he Sarita Devi controversy raised a lot of heat and dust, and lost in that din was a similar decision suffered by male boxer Devendro Singh. Steeplechasers Lalita Babar and Sudha Singh were led to believe they were to be elevated to silver and bronze as Kenyan-born Ruth Jebet from Bahrain was first disqualified for cutting lanes, only to be reinstated a day later and the medal ceremony, too, was put off for a day. So, Lalita stayed at bronze and defending champion, Sudha remained fourth.

The shooters blamed their poor show on excessive travel throughout the year and the badminton duo, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu,

Bout to forget THE 17th Asian Games will also be known for the controversy surrounding boxer Laishram Sarita Devi. There are various versions floating around—ranging from Sarita having apologized for her actions at the presentation ceremony to the medal being finally given to the Indian chef-de-mission, Adille Sumariwalla. But what is still unclear is whether Sarita “accepted” the decision and the medal, or merely apologized for “disrupting” the sanctity of the medal ceremony.

Interestingly, there was a temporary office of the Council of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) at the games to ensure that participants had free access to quick justice. The office was barely 300 meters away from the media center of the games. Did the Indian officials know about it? If they did, were the players informed about it? And, did the Indian chef-de-mission know about it and inform Sarita that she had an option?

Technically, Sarita could still approach the CAS office, which could then ask for the videos of the bout itself and a new committee could sit on it.

Having said that, Sarita and her husband did lodge a strong protest with the boxing officials at the games, soon after the “injustice” meted out to her, even though the Indian officials stayed mum. The coach, GS Sandhu maintained that International Boxing Association (AIBA) rules no longer allowed for a “protest” or an “appeal”. But Sarita and Thoiba insisted on filing an official protest.

With no other Indian officials in sight, Sarita and her husband put together $500.

They had $400 with them and borrowed $100 from a journalist and requested Sandhu to lodge the protest. The coach finally relented.

However, the reply to the protest came with a couple of hours, with AIBA supervisor David Francis’ “notice of protest evaluation” reading: “After review of your protest for the bout between India and Korea, the protest was about judging of the bout. Following Article 8.4 in the AOB competition rules, you cannot protest against the judges’ decisions. Therefore, we would like to inform you that your protest is now rejected.” So, what the AIBA in essence said is that “judges” are beyond reproach. Sandhu also threw in the towel and apologized after immense pressure from boxing associations.

failed to make it to the semis in singles, but did manage a team bronze at the games.

Tennis also took a hit as big stars Somdev Devvarman, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna gave the games a miss and Sania Mirza almost did the same only to come back at the last minute to give the team a gold in the mixed doubles as well as a bronze in the women’s doubles.

A rare bronze in swimming from Sandeep Sejwal in 50-meter breaststroke and the firstever medal (a bronze) in women’s sailing (29er class) were other noteworthy successes.

The next big multi-discipline engagement for India will be the Rio Olympics in 2016, but as things stand, the wrestlers, shooters and boxers stay as the best hope in that mega event.

And needless to say, hockey will be the discipline that most will emote with, just as it was in Incheon. Let’s hope for the best. IL

Golden moments Jitu Rai in men’s 50 meter pistol shooting Men’s compound team in archery Men's squash team Yogeshwar Dutt in men’s freestyle 65 kilogram, in wrestling Seema Punia in women’s discus throw Tennis mixed doubles team MC Mary Kom in women’s boxing in the 48-51 kilogram category Men’s hockey team Women’s 4X400 meter relay team Women’s kabaddi team Men’s kabaddi team

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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TRENDS/ legal grads / emerging options

All the world’s bright, young minds today are taking up law as a career. but choosing one specialization over another is a tough judgment they have to arrive at

By Jui Mukherjee “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…”

—Robert Frost

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HESE words could well sum up the dilemma facing fresh graduates from India’s law schools.

Should they go in for LLM (Master of Law) or garner work experience? Dabble in corporate law or litigation? As these youngsters step into the real world of tough decisions, stiff competition and strict opposition, the choices are many and the final decision, confusing.

The questions plaguing them are numerous: “Will I be able to support myself during the initial struggling years of litigation?”, “Will I be happy in a sterile corporate setting, away from the hurly-burly of courtrooms?”, and “Will my LLM be of any value sans a solid work experience?”

In a bid to understand their motivations and choices, India Legal spoke to a few law graduates who have stepped into the world of cut-throat competition.

KRITHIKA SUNDARAMAN, 23 Landing a job in a law firm in Mumbai and living away from family seems like the ultimate dream for many youngsters. So it was for Krithika. But when the opportunity arose, she found herself in a difficult spot. “I studied law in Pune and had been living away from my parents for four years. So, when, in my final year, they decided to move from Hyderabad to Pune to be with me, I was overjoyed. But when I began looking for better job opportunities in

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a court...

Mumbai after my fifth year, my family was a little disappointed,” she says. Her mother wanted her to stay in Pune for another year or so in order to keep the family together for a while longer.

“I even received a job offer from a firm in Pune, making matters worse. I was torn. It took me days to come to a final decision about moving to Mumbai and it was very hard to explain it to my mother. But she understood and supported me completely,” adds Krithika.

Besides debating over which city to work in, there was also the question of the type of work she would take up. “I was very confused about whether to take up corporate law or litigation. While litigation work was appealing, I was also aware of its demanding nature, where it takes at least 6-7 years to become an established advocate with a desired clientele. On the other hand, pay scales in corporate law were attractive too. I couldn’t pick,” she says.

After a while, Krithika started leaning towards corporate law, as she realized that litigation would cause hardship in her personal life. “In litigation, people put in 14 hours a day for years without making much money to reach a respectable position. I knew I would want to settle down in 4-5 years,” she says.

Her decision was met with criticism from her peers, who knew her to be “the perfect fit” for litigation. Being an active participant in several national-level moot courts and debates, her love for arguing was not a secret.

“People would tell me: ‘Kaka (her nickname), you are crazy to go into corporate. It will be a big loss to the field if you aren’t arguing in court.’ And it would confuse me even more.”

Finally, her love for litigation and everyone’s encouragement caused her to take up a job in a law firm in Mumbai with a starting salary of `20,000. She shifted to another law firm in the city after nine months, where she worked for four months before the next big choice caught her off-guard. “I was offered a

very attractive job in a good corporate firm in Chennai. The perks included international travel, township accommodation, free food and a salary of around `45,000 per month. I almost took it up, but then came another job offer at a bank in Mumbai, which paid me `10,000 less, but was interesting.”

After thinking hard and following endless discussions with family and friends, she took it up. “I am happy with where I am right now. I plan to stay here for a long time and gain experience. Who knows, I might just want to set up my own practice in a decade or so,” she says, giving a hint about her future plans.

OSCAR VARGHESE ABRAHAM, 24 Being a commerce graduate and having an affinity for economics, Oscar decided to pursue chartered accountancy. It was only after his German tutor advised him to pursue law as a career that he thought it might be a more

CAREER PATH With a knack for litigation, Krithika Sundaraman (facing page) is working with a bank in Mumbai.

She plans to set up her own practice in a decade Oscar Varghese Abraham (left) didn’t pursue higher studies in law abroad and is working as a corporate lawyer INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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TRENDS/ legal grads / emerging options

advancement in a career as a whole, but minus work experience, it would be like a softy without the cone,” he explains.

Oscar is now working in a well-known corporate firm, where, after initially handling contracts, he is now looking into intellectual property. “It gets a little frustrating, not being able to use my economics education, which I loved. But I know it will kick in sooner or later,” he says, adding that he will soon be shifting jobs to handle capital markets and financial instruments.

FRINGE BENEFITS Being a law graduate, Bhakti Dhorey took up photography as a profession. But she claims that legal knowledge does benefit her

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interesting option. “I thought it would be less monotonous of the two. My mother was completely against me taking up law. “However, when I told my family that I was firm about my career choice, they supported me.”

Oscar knew from the beginning that he wanted to get into corporate law. “It seemed more exciting than litigation, which involves using the same procedures to achieve similar objectives in court...” he says.

However, the path to success wasn’t easy.

“It wasn’t until my final year that I realized I wasn’t sure what I would do after college— whether to take up a job or pursue LLM. I got through the London School of Economics and National University of Singapore. But when I decided an LLM wouldn’t hold much value without work experience, my friends were shocked,” he says. They warned him not to let go off a “once in a lifetime opportunity” in these colleges. Many felt he was making a big mistake, but he was clear. “My parents were extremely supportive of me. An LLM is an

BHAKTI DHOREY, 23 Bhakti is the oddball. While all her peers were dabbling either in corporate law or litigation, she found herself drawn to a completely different field—photography.

“I wasn’t very active in my law college in the first two years. I made good friends in due course and started exploring what my interests were. It was then that I discovered my love for photography, but still didn’t think of taking it up as a career,” Bhakti says.

In the fourth year, Bhakti took up an internship under a family court advocate. “My experience there made me take the decision to shift my line of work. Every day in that court, all I saw was families fighting, children crying and being asked difficult questions like ‘Does your father hit your mother?’, ‘Does your father come home drunk?’, ‘Do your parents neglect you?’It started getting to me.”

Bhakti then took a course in photography and landed a job involving candid photography at high-profile weddings with a top-notch photographer in the country. “I was the first among my friends to land a job, and they were all very happy for me because they knew where my passion was,” she says.

Bhakti now works on an assignment basis out of Pune, travelling across India to document lavish weddings, charging around `25,000 per day. She, however, is grateful for her education in law. “Knowledge of law helps when I have to negotiate the rights of pictures clicked by me and their use on websites and my own portfolio. Also, if someone were to threaten me with legal terms, I can always strike back and tell him I have a law degree,” she exclaims.

The future is, indeed, bright. IL

INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

Kenya’s Kenyatta vs ICC KENYAN president Uhuru Kenyatta, who had earlier said that he would respect the summons by the International Criminal Court (ICC), has stuck to his word, becoming the first head of state to do so. He received a warm welcome on October 8 at The Hague, as Kenyan expats flocked to greet him. He has temporarily ceded power by invoking Article 147(3) of the Kenyan constitution, installing

vice-president William Ruto as acting president.

Kenyatta, son of Kenya’s founding father Jomo Kenyatta, faces five charges for instigating ethnic violence post the 2007 elections, in which 1,200 Kenyan lives were lost. The ICC took up the case after the Kenyan courts seemed unable to prosecute him. The Kenyan parliament withdrew from the ICC’s jurisdiction this September.

Draconian law

Reprieve for short-term rentals

SARAH EWART of Northern Ireland was in the 20th week of her pregnancy in 2013 when she found out that her unborn baby was diagnosed with Anencephaly, a condition where the skull is not developed. But she would have to continue the pregnancy, as the laws prohibit abortion. Instead, she travelled to London to get an abortion. This raised a national debate on the choices a woman has in these circumstances.

A year later, Northern Ireland’s Department of Justice is to begin public consultation on changing abortion law in case of fetal abnormality and rape.

Justice David Ford, who is heading the consultation, says: “It is not about the wider issues of abortion law, often labeled ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’. It is about considering legislative changes in the two specific sets of circumstances.”

SAN FRANCISCO’S Board of Supervisors, a legislative body, has given its nod for a controversial proposal.

Popularly called the Airbnb Law, it legalizes short-term rentals and use of websites to facilitate that. Housing laws of San Francisco had earlier barred residential rentals of 30 days or less, which meant that most of Airbnb listings were banned. However, the opponents of the bill raised concerns that the new legislation was not stringent.

A fine balance ISRAELI ministers recently held discussions on a new legislation to handle illegal immigrants. This comes just a day after the high court did away with the country’s infiltrator law that granted the authorities the right to detain illegal immigrants indefinitely without trial. The court also ordered the shutting down of “Holot” detention center

that houses around 2,000 African nationals.

However, the residents of Southern Tel Aviv are angry over the court ruling. As per the government statistics, 48,000 Africans are living illegally in Israel.This, according to the locals, has led to a rise in crime. A justice ministry spokesperson said that new legislation would not jeopardize the fundamental rights of the Africans or contradict the court’s ruling.

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

77

FILM REVIEW/ haider

KASHMIR’S V HAMLET in haider, vishal bhardwaj magically weaves the shakespearean narrative into the troubled valley’s landscape

By Ramesh Menon

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ISHAL Bhardwaj rarely disappoints.

Look at how he dealt with complex Shakespearean plots in Maqbool and Omkara. With Haider, he shows what a celluloid craftsman can do within the confines and limitations of Bollywood. When you hear ranting, fanatic voices from the growing Hindutva brigade demanding that the screening of Haider, an adaption of Hamlet, be stopped, you see what I mean. They do not understand fiction or poetry for that matter, and so, they can be forgiven.

Along with celebrated writer Basharat Peer whose first novel, Curfewed Nights, which dealt with Kashmir, became a bestseller, Bhardwaj transforms scriptwriting to a different level. The dialogues are loaded. That Basharat is from Kashmir helped bring reality to the gruesome violence, midnight raids, simmering anger and guerilla justice in the story. The film does not let you relax even after it

is over. The helplessness of the characters haunts you. The truth is not easy to fathom; there are many shades of black, grey and white. The characters struggle in a timeless tragedy that seems to have no end.

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et in the Kashmir of 1995 when militancy and terror ravaged the countryside, the film forces you to think of the continuing tragedy of broken lives and dreams of what was once Paradise. Haider (Shahid Kapoor) returns home to discover that his father was spirited away by the army for treating injured militants as he felt that saving lives was his job as a doctor. He later learns how he was tortured and killed.

Meanwhile, Ghazala (Tabu), his widowed mother, has moved in with his scheming and over-ambitious uncle (Kay Kay Menon) and on an unannounced visit home, Haider finds they are a cosy twosome.

This is enough to tear Haider into emotional shreds as he deeply loves his mother.

The film subtly underlines the Oedipus complex playing out silently and devastatingly.

The ache is deep. His only aim is to avenge his father’s death which was plotted by the scheming uncle to marry his mother…. But he has Arshia (Shradda Kapoor) to fall back on, who

soaks his pain and occasionally, lets him smile.

If Shahid’s real mother hugged him, saying that this was his best film, she has a point. It probably is his best till now.

Bhardwaj chose Kashmir as his stage as he knew it was the story he wanted to tell. In a recent interview to The Indian Express, he said: “Kashmir is the Hamlet of my film.” It was the political turmoil and tragedy that took him there. No wonder the human conflict plays out in such haunting detail. Years of living in a war-like situation has made many of the victims numb to the senseless violence.

Bhardwaj once saw his wife crying while reading Curfewed Nights. When he read the book, he knew he had to make Haider. This is how Basharat became his co-writer. He acknowledges that the film would not have been the way it is, had it not been for Basharat.

Breathtaking cinematography by Pankaj Kumar, riveting script, soulful music and stellar performances help Haider soar. It is only towards the end that Bhardwaj slips on a typical Bollywood floor. He must have thought of recovering the `57 crore the film cost to make.

It is just not like him to be stereotyped.

Watch it. You will have some disturbing questions for which answers are equally disturbing. IL

Rating *** out of ***** HAIDER DIRECTION: Vishal Bhardwaj STARRING: Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon, Irrfan Khan, Shraddha Kapoor

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

79

IS THAT LEGAL?

Unreliable eyewitnesses In India, eyewitnesses give their statement to the police but back out by the time the matter reaches court, often due to threat to their life. Is there any precedent from other countries, where a recorded statement given to the police is accepted as evidence?

Generally, a witness is labeled as hostile when he furnishes a certain statement on his knowledge about commission of a crime before the police but refutes it when called as witness before the court during the trial.

However, Section 154 of the

Indian Evidence Act, 1872, that deals with this subject, does not define the term hostile witness.

The matter is left entirely to the discretion of the court. A witness is considered hostile when, in the opinion of the judge, he bears a “hostile animus” to the party calling him and not merely when his testimony contradicts his proof. Under the Evidence Act, only the statements recorded before the court of law and not the one given before the police is given evidentiary value.

There is no precedent from other countries, where a recorded statement given to the police is accepted as evidence.

Illustrations: Udayshankar

Religion of love The term “love jehad” is frequently used these days to refer to inter-faith marriages. Does the child born out of such marriages take the father’s or the mother’s religion for his official records?

The right to freedom of religion is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 25 of the constitution. Article 25 says that all persons are equally entitled to profess, practice and propagate a particular religion.

Even though the child is a result of an inter-religious wedlock, he cannot be compelled to follow any particular religion. The ultimate freedom lies with the child himself to adopt or not adopt a particular religion.

The three-month dilemma A few companies are known to specify a notice period of as long as three months, which is not feasible for employees who are looking for a job change. What legal recourse do they have if they get a new job and their employer doesn’t relieve them?

In case of private companies, we find that there are different durations of notice period for different levels of employees, ranging from one to three months. Notice period of as

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long as of three months is generally for higher managerial posts, to avoid any vacuum that might be created. If a person wishes to leave his job he will have to follow the terms and conditions of his appointment letter given during the appointment. In any case, when a person wishes to leave before his/her notice period expires, he can buy out his remaining notice period, as specified in his appointment letter.

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1. An inhabitant of Toronto.

A: Torontoist B: Torontorian C: Torontonian D: Torontan 2. A psychopath.

A: Unstable person B: Psychiatrist C: Psychologist D: Neurosurgeon 3. An Irish vacation.

A: Business with pleasure B: A term in prison Quickly C: Work on holidays D: All alone in vacation 4. Synonym for donkey.

A: Honkey B: Moke C: Beast of Jordan D: Dobbin 5. A shoemaker’s son always goes ....

A: alone B: early C: barefoot D: hungry 6. What’s GIGO? A: Garbage In, Garbage Out B: Going In, Going Out C: Go India, Go Overseas D: Go In, Get Out 7. A jelly-belly.

A: A fat person B: A thin person

have fun with english. get the right answers. play better scrabble.

By Mahesh Trivedi

C: A cabaret dancer D: A new-born baby 8. What’s the correct spelling?

A: Protruberant B: Protuberant C: Protubarant D: Protrubrant 9. What does “asinine” mean?

A: Poisonous B: Foolish C: Lethal D: Kind

C: Pallet D: Pallette 15. So mean!

A: Viscous B: Viscious C: Viscose D: Vicious 16. Mutton dressed as lamb.

A: Cheating husband B: Big bribe C: Double-faced politico D: Old woman acting young

10. As quarrelsome as a ....

A: mom-in-law B: weasel C: cat D: dog

17. Talking turkey.

11. Fear of noise.

A: Cacophobia B: Audiophobia C: Radiophobia D: Phonophobia

18. This term does not mean “brothel”.

12. The meaning of “nouveau riche”.

A: Hitler rule B: Not for rich C: Newly rich D: Only for rich 13. To recoup is to....

A: retaliate B: recover C: rehabilitate D: re-arrange 14. Roof of the mouth.

A: Palette B: Palate

ANSWERS

A: Serious talk B: Gossip C: Small talk D: Lovers’ talk

A. Fish market B. Punch house C. Knocking shop D. Closet of ease 19. A misogamist hates .

A: women B: games C: marriage D: misers 20. There is no peace for the ...!

A: wicked B: wise C: wife D: wealthy

1. Torontonian 2. . Unstable person 3. A term in prison 4. Moke 5. barefoot 6. Garbage In, Garbage Out 7. A fat person 8. Protuberant 9. Foolish 10. weasel 11. Phonophobia 12. Newly rich 13. recover 14.Palate 15. Vicious 16. Old woman acting young 17. Serious talk 18. Closet of ease 19. marriage 20. wealthy

Y L D R WO ISE

SCORES

0 to 7 correct—You need to do this more often.

8 to 12 correct—Good, get the scrabble board out.

Above 12—Bravo!

Keep it up! textdoctor2@gmail.com

INDIA LEGAL October 31, 2014

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PEOPLE / dog’s day out Photos: UNI

BOUNCY RIDE A dog surfs at the 6th Annual Surf City surf dog contest in Huntington Beach, California.

PILLION POOCH A local in Hong Kong rides his bicycle around the city with his dog on the carrier’s seat.

BORN WITH A SILVER SPOON Whole Pet Kitchen in Metro Manila is a restaurant that serves food edible for both humans and pets. A helper is seen spoon-feeding mini-schnauzer Rex. COMPANIONS FOR LIFE Dog trainer Jeremiah Gerbracht from Los Angeles can’t part either with his dogs or his Harley Davidson. So in 1996 he sought and won permission to ride his motorcycle with his dog on board

LIKE MASTER, LIKE PET A man and his dog take a dive into the sea in Piran, a town in Slovenia.

.