india together emagazine 2013mar04

india

together

The news in proportion

03 March 2013

www.indiatogether.org

Fortnightly

Terror reporting

by Indian media

P19

Pages 54

Is India at its ‘progressive moment’?

BUDGET: Why more taxes may be good P2 Government ignores adverse TEC report P12 Why is Naveen Soorinje still in jail? P14

Cauvery: Preferring politics to solutions P18 Verma Committee: Key recommendations P26 A good school for Maqbool P30

Opting out of the chaos P32 Founders would have wanted inheritance tax restored P39

ECONOMY

BUDGET: Why more taxes may be good The Union Budget 2013 was presented on February 28.

Shankar Jaganathan argues why, in an economy such as India, despite the general public vote against taxes, raising the tax-to-GDP ratio is more critical than restraint in fiscal spending.

C

ome February, the much discussed annual ritual of the Union Budget takes center stage.

For many taxpayers, budgetary debates are their most involved participation in public policy making. More often than not, these debates centre around tax incentives for economic growth or tax implications on their personal budgets. Given the personal slant of these discussions, it is worth asking if these are public policy discussions or public debates on personal budgets.

On the few occasions, when

the discussion turns to public expenditure, the most frequently heard prelude is ‘I am a taxpayer and I have a right to know’ This almost equates governmenttaxpayer relationship to the buyerseller exchanges, ignoring its nondiscretionary nature. Probably reflections of the time we live in, these discussions convey the idea that if a referendum were to be held in India today, the urban middle-class will vote against any form of tax, especially taxes that touch their personal budgets.

Given this overwhelming idea, can 2 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

we revalidate from a clean slate the need for taxes?

Rape and murder of vulnerable women and innocent children, political leaders spitting venom in the name of religion, multithousand-crore scandals and power abuse by people in office is a daily occurrence captured relentlessly by the 24x7 news channels and newspaper headlines. This poses a serious question, are we living in a civilized society? Do we live in a humane society where individual life and freedom is secure? Probably

ECONOMY

A primary school in Chittoor, AP. Given India’s abysmally low public investments, increase in taxes are needed to ensure even the most basic rights, such as elementary education for every child. Pic: Sandeep Gupta via Wikimedia.

reflecting on similar issues and using the logic of buyer-seller, the 19th century American writer, Oliver Wendell Holmes remarked ‘I like to pay taxes. This way I buy civilization.’

Civilization is a product of an educated mind. Recognizing this in India we have made elementary education a fundamental right for every child. However to translate this intent reality we need public resources that can come only from tax collections. In addition, taxes are also needed to fund other facets of civilization like

basic healthcare and old-age care than that of USA and Japan at for all in society. India invests less around 30% and less than half than 3% of its GDP on elementary of the comparable numbers education and less than 1% of its for major European countries GDP on public healthcare. including Russia. A few percentage Given this state of affairs, is it points increase in this parameter not logical that our news channels will ensure that our fiscal deficit is and newspapers reflect the reality manageable even with increased of our low public investments? public investments in ‘buying’ If we want a civilized society, we civilization. Incidentally, the fiscal have no option but to buy it and deficit to GDP number for India, the only way we can buy it is by even at 5.3%, is about half of the paying higher taxes which will comparable number for USA and fund our social investments.

UK which is in double digits.

If the taxpayer is worried about Well wishers who believe taxes, economists are worried about Well wishers who believe the level of the fiscal deficit, rightly so since economic activity is influenced by tax you can’t live off rates oppose any increase in taxes for borrowed money its dampening effect. There is a merit forever. Looking away from the in their logic. abstract economy Hence taxing activities that into the more contribute to human and social familiar terrain welfare should be avoided. But what of our personal budgets, we about activities that have negative need to see how effects on the society? a layman will approach a fiscal deficit. What would we advise a the level of economic activity is poor individual, to earn more or influenced by tax rates oppose any borrow less, especially if they need increase in taxes for its dampening to spend on necessities? Shorn effect. There is a merit in their off the euphemism contained in logic. Hence taxing activities that the term 'emerging economy,' contribute to human and social every right thinking individual will welfare should be avoided. But acknowledge the fact that India what about activities that have is a poor country. If patriotism negative effects on the society? prevents us from calling India a Urban air pollution due to poor country, we cannot deny vehicular traffic, drunken driving that India is inhabited by mostly leading to hit and run deaths poor people, a small section of the and conspicuous consumption middle-class, peppered with a few depleting the environment millionaires and billionaires. Given are definitely issues that can this reality should we not debate be addressed by levying what on how to increase India’s tax to is popularly called the ‘sin’ tax.

GDP ratio rather than focusing on Increasing taxes on large cars, reducing fiscal deficit?

SUVs and fuel guzzling vehicles At around 17%, India’s tax to by making it prohibitive will not GDP ratio is significantly lower only enhance public revenue but 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 3

ECONOMY

Terror media r

also reduce public expenditure incurred on road infrastructure and fuel subsidy.

Turning to conspicuous consumption, can we take a leaf out of the Singapore 2012 budget, which provided Silver Housing Bonus for senior citizens shifting to smaller flats? Can we extend this concept and provide tax deductions for housing only to residences below a specified area? This will not only conserve environment, but also increase the public revenue.

To conclude, what this article proposes to do is not provide an exhaustive list of what can or should be done. Instead, the attempt is to provide an alternative lens to view the union budget, where taxes are seen as desirable for building a civilized society and the debate on tax to GDP ratio gets as much attention as the fiscal deficit number. Just as economic reforms without a revised social view is not sustainable, focusing on social justice by ignoring its impact on economic activity is not viable. Balance between these two conflicting objectives is essential.

If a tradeoff is to be made in India today, my vote will be to tilt the balance in favour of social justice to keep India together as a civilized society.

Shankar Jaganathan is passionate about corporate governance, sustainability practices and economic history. With two decades of varied experience in corporate, social and academic sectors he divides his time between consulting engagements, teaching and research. He is the author of the book 'Corporate Disclosures 15532007, The Origin of Financial and Business Reports', published by Rutledge in 2008. His second book 'The Wisdom of Ants, A Short History of Economics' was published by Westland in November 2012.

4 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

Media

r reporting by Indian reveals gaping holes The pervasive tendency to speculate and insinuate involvement of individuals and selective groups in instances of terror, without authentication or references to source of information, is not only an unfair attack on those implicated but against the very essence of journalism.

Ammu Joseph elaborates.

T

Shahina K K at the Media Watch seminar "The framing of a terrorist" organised by Media Watch Bengaluru in February 2013 at St Joseph's College in the city.

he proliferation of headlines such as the above within hours of the bomb blasts in Hyderabad on 21 February conforms to a pattern that has become all too familiar in the aftermath of such deadly, dastardly, utterly deplorable violence targeting ordinary citizens going about their normal lives.

03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 5

Media

Even as investigators began the difficult task of hunting for clues that could lead to the perpetrators and questioning witnesses as well as informers and suspects, sections of the media seemed to see nothing wrong in naming names and indulging in what can only be pure speculation immediately after such an event. They are, of course, aided and abetted in this process by anonymous sources within investigative agencies, the customary cast of “national security experts” and politicians out to score points against rival parties even if it means misguiding the public.

The embarrassing and, in many ways, damaging mistakes of the past are rarely acknowledged at such times. For example, on 22 February, The Times of India flagged the “last terrorist strike in Hyderabad” (the twin explosions at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat in August 2007), recording that “three Indian Mujahideen members were arrested” and “investigations are still on.” The Mecca Masjid blast, which had occurred just a few months earlier, in May 2007, was conveniently left out. Could it be because that act of terrorism, along with the bombing of the Samjhauta Express (2007) and the Malegaon blasts (2006, 2008), would muddy the waters since investigating agencies ultimately uncovered a totally different set of actors who may be responsible for them?

Deccan Chronicle and DNA did include the Mecca Masjid blast in their lists of earlier attacks without mentioning the individuals or groups implicated in the crime, thereby leaving many readers to wrongly assume that the Indian Mujahideen (IM) referred to in the headlines was responsible for that

act of violence, too.

Interestingly, the Hyderabad edition of The Hindu carried an important story on 22 February referring to the sensational turnaround in the Mecca Masjid bomb blast case (“Mecca blast case casts doubts on narco”).

According to the report, after the violence that killed 14 persons, including five in subsequent police firing on a riotous mob on 18 May, the Hyderabad Police had picked up several Muslim youths for interrogation and booked six based on narco analysis test reports. Three years later, first the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and later the National Investigating Agency (NIA) concluded that “the perpetrators of the blast were of a different colour” and confirmed the involvement of as many as nine “right wing activists.” The six Hyderabadi suspects were acquitted in the case and the Andhra Pradesh government paid compensation to them. Yet on 24 February, there were reports that these men have again been picked up for questioning after the recent blasts.

Concern about speculative reporting A statement on the recent Hyderabad blasts, released by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties in Delhi on 23 February, expressed concern “over some sections of the media indulging in speculative reporting and alluding to the alleged involvement of some groups, even when investigation is still underway” and pointed out that “such competitive posturing and motivated reporting fans communal hatred, creates mass paranoia and vitiates communal harmony.”

6 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

Last week’s blasts in Hyderabad occurred the day after the NIA filed a charge-sheet before the Special Court in Bangalore against 12 persons accused of links with banned terrorist organisations – such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and/ or Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) – and involvement in an alleged plot to kill certain individuals, including a couple of journalists and a publisher. Eleven of them have been in custody for nearly six months, while one is said to be absconding.

Four of the 15 individuals arrested in August-September 2012 by the Central Crime Branch of the Bangalore Police were not named in the chargesheet. Among them is a young journalist, Muthi-ur-Rehman Siddiqui, who at the time of his arrest was a reporter with Deccan Herald, covering education. On 23 February the NIA Special Court ordered his release and that of a fellow accused, Yusuf Nalband, since the investigative agencies had found no prosecutable evidence against them despite keeping them incarcerated for close to six months, branded as terrorists.

Siddiqui’s arrest had initially caused a sensation in media circles, especially since police sources were quick to name him as “the mastermind who identified high-profile personalities for assassination by his associates.”

On 31 August, The Times of India carried a headline stating this clearly premature allegation as fact (“Scribe was mastermind”).

The notion that “the discipline of verification is what separates journalism from entertainment, propaganda, fiction, or art” is obviously either unknown or ignored in some media organisations.

Interestingly, TOI’s front page story on 24 February, headlined “NIA clean chit to accused leaves police red-faced,” makes no reference to the paper’s own misjudgement not so long ago.

Some would speculate that the space given to the relieved families’ reactions to the imminent release of their imprisoned relatives – under the slug, ‘Truth Prevails’ – and the caption below the young journalist’s photograph – ‘Innocent: Siddiqui’ – are meant to make up for their unseemly (not to mention unprofessional) haste in earlier labelling him the mastermind of the alleged plot.

"Framing" the terrorist Siddiqui’s situation was among the several triggers that led to a panel discussion titled “The framing of a ‘terrorist’ – Risks and lessons for the media” organised

by Media Watch Bengaluru (MWB) in the city on 16 February, a week after the controversial, secret execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru. The meeting began with opening remarks by the moderator, who referred to Siddiqui and other journalists who, like countless other citizens, have been wrongly charged with links to terrorism over the past decade: K K Shahina, Syed Mohammed Ahmad Kazmi and Syed Iftikhar Gilani.

Two criminal cases have been booked against Shahina, Keralabased Assistant Editor of Open, forcing her to travel to Karnataka every month to appear on different dates before separate sessions courts. Speaking at the MWB event, she described the ordeal she has been through since November 2010, when the Karnataka Police charged her under several sections of the Indian Penal Code as well

Media

From Principles of Journalism Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth

Democracy depends on citizens having reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context. Journalism does not pursue truth in an absolute or philosophical sense, but it can--and must--pursue it in a practical sense. This “journalistic truth” is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts.

Then journalists try to convey a fair and reliable account of their meaning, valid for now, subject to further investigation. Journalists should be as transparent as possible about sources and methods so audiences can make their own assessment of the information. Even in a world of expanding voices, accuracy is the foundation upon which everything else is built--context, interpretation, comment, criticism, analysis and debate. The truth, over time, emerges from this forum. As citizens encounter an ever greater flow of data, they have more need--not less--for identifiable sources dedicated to verifying that information and putting it in context.

Its essence is a discipline of verification Journalists rely on a professional discipline for verifying information. When the concept of objectivity originally evolved, it did not imply that journalists are free of bias. It called, rather, for a consistent method of testing information--a transparent approach to evidence--precisely so that personal and cultural biases would not undermine the accuracy of their work. The method is objective, not the journalist. Seeking out multiple witnesses, disclosing as much as possible about sources, or asking various sides for comment, all signal such standards. This discipline of verification is what separates journalism from other modes of communication, such as propaganda, fiction or entertainment. But the need for professional method is not always f- See more at: http:// www.indiatogether.org/2013/feb/med-terrorism.htm#sthash.

ZfHBVJAo.dpufully recognized or refined. While journalism has developed various techniques for determining facts, for instance, it has done less to develop a system for testing the reliability of journalistic interpretation.

as Section 22 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 – all for doing her job as an investigative journalist then with Tehelka (as described in her recent article, “Prisoner of an image,” and her speech at the 2011 Chameli Devi Jain award ceremony, “I am a Muslim, not a terrorist,” which also refer to media coverage based on 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 7

unverified information supplied by the police).

Since July 2011, when she was granted bail by the High Court of Karnataka, she has had to make fortnightly visits to Bangalore to present herself before the investigating officer.

Now she will have to make the trek to Somwarpet and Madikeri

Media

in Kodagu district, where the cases against her are being heard.

Despite protests and statements by journalists’ organisations (like the Kerala Union of Working Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists) and others against such harassment, the cases against her seem all set to march on.

On 22 February she was granted bail by the Somwarpet magistrate, Jitendra Nath, who posted the case to 30 March.

Self-styled patriots (aka activists belonging to right-wing groups) reportedly created an ugly scene inside the premises of the court, attempting to intimidate two friends who had accompanied her to court and offered to stand surety for her. The mob seemed particularly incensed that one of them was a Hindu. They also tried to snatch the camera of a news channel present at the scene.

Shahina and her supporters had to leave the area under police escort.

This is the second time Shahina has faced such a situation. The first hearing in the second case is scheduled on February 26th in the Madikeri sessions court.

Syed Iftikhar Gilani’s traumatic experience of a decade ago came back to haunt him within hours of the hanging of Afzal Guru on the 9 February. Gilani, then Delhi bureau chief of Kashmir Times, was arrested in June 2002.

Despite the lack of proof, he was remanded first to police custody, then judicial custody and finally charged under the Official Secrets Act. If the case had been moved against him, he would have faced a minimum of 14 years in jail. In his case, too, some sections of the press used information fed to them by the police without bothering to crosscheck facts (some details are available in this

interview and in this report on an interaction with him, both dated 2003).

Fortunately for him, an expose in the Indian Express, and followup by his family and supporters (including the Delhi Union of Journalists, the Editors’ Guild of India and other media colleagues), established conclusively that the so-called "classified" documents in his possession were reports that were freely available on the Internet. And so the case against him had to be dropped, albeit seven months after he was detained. Despite this and despite his track record since then, including an award from the Sahitya Akademi, he was again detained and his family (including his children) harassed and intimidated by the Delhi Police in February 2013.

Building false cases?

Syed Mohammed Ahmad Kazmi, accused of conspiring to bomb an Israeli embassy car in Delhi in February 2012, was finally released on bail in October last year, after being held in custody for seven months.

The Delhi Union of Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists issued several statements in support of him.

In July 2012 a group of senior journalists, academics and activists based in the capital wrote to the editors of The Times of India and Times Now, strongly protesting against stories that were “highly prejudicial to Mr. Syed Kazmi, a journalist himself,” and the apparent “attempt to pass judgement on Mr. Kazmi” through their media outlets.

In August-September 2012 the global news agency, Inter Press Service, ran a three-part series by an award-winning investigative 8 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

journalist (Gareth Porter) titled, “The Delhi Car Bombing: How the Police Built a False Case.”

The articles exposed the tactics employed by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, including the leaking of false confessions and evidence to the news media.

According to the series, the first wave of leaks to the press about Kazmi’s alleged confessions – suggesting that he had admitted to having participated

Media

Siddiqui and others were arrested by the Bangalore Police. The detailed report, relying mainly on court documents, chronicles 16 cases in which people arrested as operatives of various terrorist groups were later acquitted by the courts. Of course, acquittals do not generally make as much news as arrests – so their names are often not cleared in the minds of the public.

Word-terrorism?

B M Basheer, News Editor, Varthabharati with Mushin Parari, Writer and Director of Native Bapa, at "The framing of a terrorist".

in the embassy car bomb plot – were timed to generate a wave of sensational articles in March 2012, just before his first bail application.

That manoeuvre apparently prompted the court hearing the bail application to admonish the public prosecutor. Kazmi himself denounced the “disclosure statements” attributed to him as false, stating in a handwritten petition to the court that the Special Cell had coerced him into

providing his signature on blank pages, threatening that his family would face “dire consequences” if he did not do as they directed.

In this context, it is worth taking note of the 200-page document titled “Framed, Damned, Acquitted: Dossiers of a Very Special Cell” produced by the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association and released in September 2012, coincidentally soon after Muthi-ur-Rehman 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 9

Speaking at the MWB session in Bangalore on 16 February, senior journalist B M Basheer highlighted the role of sections of the media in using misinformation about terrorism to stereotype and stigmatise an entire community. According to him, Muslims of coastal Karnataka have been “victims of the media’s word-terrorism.” He cited several examples of irresponsible coverage of terrorism-related news in the Kannada press to illustrate his point: • On 14 January 2008, Udayavani, a leading Kannada daily, published a front page story headlined “Terrorists in Shabarimala.” This was clearly shocking news, coming as it did at the peak of pilgrimage season when an act of terrorism at the shrine would be devastating.

According to the report, a person pretending to be a pilgrim was found to be carrying explosives and was about to be arrested when he consumed cyanide. He apparently revealed information about the plot before dying and seven persons were reportedly arrested in this connection. Only one source was quoted in the piece: a pilgrim claiming to be an eye-witness to the incident. No police personnel were quoted.

When reporters from

Media

Varthabharathi, the newspaper Basheer serves as news editor, tried to find out more about the incident, none of the officials in Karnataka or Kerala appeared to be aware of it. They eventually discovered that a mock antiterrorism exercise had been conducted at Shabarimala during that period, which may be what the eye-witness mistook for the real thing. Varthabharathi reported the following day that no such incident had taken place. However, there was no clarification, let alone apology, from Udayavani. The local Press Council did issue a notice to the paper, which was apparently ignored, but did not initiate any action against it. So the readers of the most popular newspaper in the region probably continue to believe the false story about the foiled terrorist attack in Shabarimala.

• The second example concerned reporting about the blast in the Hubli district court in May 2008. Soon after the blast the then Police Commissioner, Narayan Nadamani, told the press that preliminary investigations had revealed the involvement of activists of LeT and the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Not only was his assertion faithfully reported, but several newspapers carried stories describing in detail how the whole operation was conducted, from the sourcing of materials for the bombs onwards, without referring to or naming any sources. As

it turned out, of the nine people finally arrested for the blasts, several were found to have direct links with the Sri Rama Sene and Pramod Muthalik. According to Basheer, no correction or apology was published and, as far as the general public is concerned, LeT and SIMI continue to be associated with the crime.

• A slightly different example of misreporting relates to the brutal mistreatment of three persons – two Muslims and a Dalit – who were accused of killing a cow, beaten up and paraded naked by members of the Bajrang Dal in Chikmagalur district in 2008. The incident caused an uproar and a meeting to protest the atrocity attracted over 10,000 people across communities. According to Basheer, several newspapers – including Kannada Prabha, another leading Kannada daily – chose to ignore the huge crowd that had assembled to express

public outrage at this violation of human rights, preferring to focus attention, instead, on a young boy holding a green flag. Photographs and reports on the front page suggested that Pakistani flags were seen at the rally, even though the flag the boy was holding was the plain green one commonly seen atop mosques in India, which has nothing to do with Pakistan.

Basheer pointed out that such irresponsible – if not mischievous – misreporting, of which the above are just a few examples, not only ruins many young lives but could well push youngsters towards extremism.

Creative response The third speaker at the MWB event, Muhsin Parari, is a founding member of Mappila Lahala, a collective seeking to use hiphop to initiate conversations about religion, violence and related issues. Parari confirmed the surveillance that has become a routine, uncomfortable reality in the lives of many young Muslim men but he has clearly opted for a creative response to the situation.

Parari was 20 in 2008, when security forces killed four suspected LeT militants in Kashmir. It soon emerged that they were from Kerala. When the media descended on their families, one mother declared that she did not wish to see her dead son’s face since he was a traitor.

The statement was widely reported, with several politicians and some sections of the media describing her as

If the media wish to serve the public interest - and not just titillate the public - they need to renew their commitment to providing citizens with “reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context” and, of course, to the various fundamental rights conferred on all citizens by the Constitution of India.

10 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

a role model for Muslim mothers in the state. She subsequently confessed that she had said what she did out of desperation, after days of being hounded by the police and facing suspicion and hostility from neighbours. The incident moved Parari to write a poem: an imaginary monologue by the father of one such youth, expressing astonishment at the discovery that his son had been branded a terrorist.

The inaugural project of Mappila Lahala, Native Bapa, is based on that poem. Parari set it to a rap rhythm and directed the music video, the official version of which has had 1.6 lakh hits on YouTube since it was released at midnight on 31 December 2012. Native Bapa, the “reluctant secularist,” does not ask listeners to take sides but condemns violence in all forms: “No scepticism in my lyricism / I raise an iron fist against terrorism / Islam is peace in its definition / People are brainwashed by the television / Open your eyes, take away the prejudice / Bombing innocents, I’ll call you a terrorist / I don’t care if you are an al-Qaeda militant / Or if the world calls you the US president.”

In October 2011, soon after taking over as chairperson of the Press Council of India (PCI), Justice Markandey Katju called attention to the tendency of the media to jump to conclusions about terrorism and terrorists. In an interview with Karan Thapar he cited the example of the kind of reporting that follows bomb blasts: “within a few hours almost every channel starts showing that an e-mail has come or a SMS has come that Indian Mujahideen have claimed responsibility or Jaish-e-Mohammad or Harkat-ulJihad, some Muslim name. You see,

e-mail or SMS any mischievous person can send, but by showing it on the TV channels and next day in print, you are in a subtle way conveying the message that all Muslims are terrorists and bomb throwers and you are demonising the Muslims. And, 99 per cent people of all communities, whether Hindu, Muslim, are good people.”

I do not necessarily agree with all the statements made and stands taken by Justice Katju in his PCI avatar. However, there is considerable evidence to suggest that his observation about the kneejerk response of many publications and news channels to “terror attacks” is, by and large, correct.

It may well turn out that the IM and/or a similar outfit were indeed responsible for the recent bomb blasts in Hyderabad. The point, however, is that the news media need to be far more scrupulous about verifying facts, critically assessing information from official sources, independently seeking inputs and comments from multiple, diverse sources and disclosing as much as possible about the sources so that readers can evaluate the information for themselves. And, above all, the media need to guard against prejudging the matter based on partial, unsubstantiated material.

No one in their right mind would want the perpetrators of the terrible violent attacks that seem to recur with frightening and depressing regularity in India today to get away with their crimes. But if the media wish to serve the public interest – and not just titillate the public – they need to renew their commitment to providing citizens with “reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context” and, of course, to the 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 11

Media

various fundamental rights conferred on all citizens by the Constitution of India.

Ammu Joseph is an independent journalist and author based in Bangalore, and writing primarily on issues relating to gender, human development and the media. Disclosure: Oorvani Media Pvt Ltd, publisher of India Together is a member of the MediaWatch Bengaluru group.

NOT READY YET

Government ignores adverse TEC report The Ministry of Agriculture moves to introduce adoption of genetically modified crops in India, in the name of food security. Scientists, however, are critical of this move. Neha Saigal reports.

T

hree years ago, the then Minister of Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh declared a moratorium on Bt Brinjal, adopting a precautionary approach to the introduction of genetically modified foods in India. More importantly, he cited among his reasons for the moratorium the need to be "responsive to society and responsible to science."

The decision to impose a moratorium was an important one in many ways. It re-instated the growing evidence by the scientific community on the health and environmental impacts of Genetically Modified (GM) crops, and - perhaps even more importantly - the inadequacies in our own regulatory mechanism

to regulate this controversial technology. The most valued lesson from this milestone decision was the coming together of sound science and public opinion, which resulted in democratic decision making.

This year, to mark the importance of 9 February (the date on which the moratorium was issued in 2010), diverse groups from around the country celebrated 'National Safe Food Day.' A variety of events from different states around the country displayed the strength and diversity of the opposition to GM crops in India. From the organic mela organised by farmers in Karnataka, to the initiative by young people in Kerala to spread 12 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

awareness about the risks of switching to GM crops, and a rally of 300 people in Gujarat, the day saw strong voices of opposition to GM crops echo throughout the country.

In Bangalore, Greenpeace volunteers created the image of happy brinjals walking down a traffic signal, imitating the famous Beatle's Abbey Road album cover.

The message that these smiling brinjals carried was one of hope - that the people of India can imagine a GM-Free future due to the moratorium on Bt Brinjal and can only hope that the current Minister of Environment, Jayanthi Natrajan will also uphold the precedent set by Jairam Ramesh.

While the debate around GM

Greenpeace volunteers mark National Safe Food Day in Bangalore.

The most valued lesson from the moratorium decision was the coming together of sound science and public opinion, which resulted in democratic decision making.

crops in India has always shown the voices of dissent from civil society, the past few months have also established that science is divided on the need for and the safety of GM crops. One recent example was the scientific interim report by the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) of the Supreme Court in October 2012. The report highlighted the potential impact of GM crops on human health, biodiversity and our socioeconomic conditions, and has recommended a precautionary approach towards the adoption of GM crops, including those being released for open field trials.

The Government, however, has decided to ignore this warning.

The Ministry of Agriculture, on behalf of the Government of India, has filed an affidavit to the effect that we need GM crops in order to achieve food security in this country. This is the same argument that is used by global biotech companies to promote GM crops. This is also an argument made very casually and loosely - exactly what food security the government seeks, while it has no capacity for storing and transporting the produce that is already grown, is never spelled out properly.

It is very absurd that the MoA, under Minister Sharad Pawar, seeks to lead the country down the path of GM crops while scientists from around the nation have roundly criticised the illogic of GM crops being linked to food security.

While civil society celebrated the moratorium on BT Brinjal on 9 February, a letter addressed to Jayanthi Natrajan, signed by 150 scientists, was made public. The letter highlights that GM crops are only grown in 3 per cent of the world's agricultural lands, and 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 13

NOT READY YET

in countries like the USA, which is the largest cultivator of GM crops, food insecurity has actually increased. The scientists finally urge the MoEF to come forward to accept the recommendations of the TEC, so that the MoA does not misdirect the debate on GM crops and food security in the country.

The sounds and colours of the celebrations of the National Safe Food Day have a serious message for our decision makers. There has been enough and more evidence in the last year pointing to the inefficiency in our regulatory system and the risk to human/ animal health and biodiversity. This was also emphasised in the report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, which was tabled in August 2012; its recommendations were unanimously agreed across party lines.

What further evidence does the Government need? If the MoEF is not going to act on the recommendations of the Committee, it must explain to the public why not. For the moment, the problem appears to be that the only 'explanations' it can offer don't find favour with the scientific community. Such deliberate ignorance of informed input only adds fuel to the fire of suspicion that the Government's actions reflect the agenda of vested interests in corporate agriculture, rather than the public interest.

Neha Saigal is with Greenpeace India.

MEDIA FREEDOM

The 5th Open Media Matters talk series at Bengaluru, conducted by Media Watch, was on 'The curious case of Naveen Soorinje: Why shoot the messenger'. From left: K S Dakshinamurthy, Independent journalist and Faculty at Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media, Nitin R, noted criminal lawyer, Bengaluru, and Vasanthi Hariprakash, independent journalist and former awarding winning radio jockey. Pic: Media Watch, Bengaluru.

Why is Naveen Soorinje still in jail?

Despite a political decision to drop charges against Kannada TV reporter Naveen Soorinje, he continues to remain in prison. A PIL filed soon after the decision has put the case in limbo. Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya tracks and analyses the developments.

14 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

W

ell over three months after his arrest in the Mangalore homestay attack case, Naveen Soorinje, reporter of Kannada channel Kasturi Newz 24, languishes in jail. This, after the decision of the Karnataka cabinet to withdraw all charges against him.

As a journalist, Soorinje had covered the now infamous assault by right-wing activists belonging to the Hindu Jagaran Vedike on a group of boys and girls partying at the "Morning Mist' homestay in Mangalore in July 2012. Shortly afterwards, he himself was alleged to be an accomplice in the attack and chargesheeted. This was done on the basis of an FIR, which evidence shows was prepared with a forged complaint. On November 7th, 2012, Soorinje was arrested after a local court issued a warrant against him.

On December 26th, the Karnataka High Court rejected Soorinje's bail application, clubbing him indistinguishably with the perpetrators of the attack and pronouncing that he had in fact "encouraged the happening of the incident and assisted in videography of the event, and thereafter facilitated its telecast in television channels, which has caused greater damage to the dignity and reputation of the victims."

However, after sustained campaigns by media persons, activists and intellectuals, the Karnataka state cabinet decided to withdraw the criminal suit against Soorinje. Law minister S Suresh Kumar reportedly briefed journalists himself that all charges against Soorinje would be dropped "following a demand by the journalistic community in this regard."

Despite such a public

announcement however, Soorinje continues to be incarcerated.

Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has been dragging his feet on signing the final cabinet decision, though the reason for such procrastination is far from clear.

In an added complication, shortly after the cabinet decision was announced, a Division Bench of the High Court served notice to both Soorinje and the state government on the back of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a Bangalore-based advocate, N P Amrutesh. The latter contends that the decision to drop charges was taken "not in public interest but private interest of the government to get future mileage, propaganda and media publicity in the forthcoming elections" and "without application of mind."

Curiously, Amruthesh - details of whose identity or affiliations remain clouded - has also challenged an earlier decision to withdraw criminal charges against Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists and two MLAs in the case.

The fresh litigation has effectively placed the entire case in limbo yet again, and there is no clarity on when the detention might end, if at all, for Soorinje.

Dakshina Kannada continues to assault media freedom In the meantime, curbs on free expression and reporting continue unabated in the coastal regions of Dakshina Kannada. Just over a week back, members of the Hindu Jagaran Vedike attacked an employee of Mangalore-based Kannada tabloid Karavali Ale, ransacked its offices and burnt 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 15

MEDIA FREEDOM

copies following a front page report linking a member of the group to narcotics handling and trafficking.

This is not the first time either that the publication has come up against gagging efforts by Hindutva outfits. Karavali Ale, a daily local tabloid, has continually reported incidents and trends that underline the growing communal polarisation and its control over life in Mangalore and coastal Karnataka. It does not have too many friends in the establishment and its reporters, staff, distributors and even the publishers have faced harassment, intimidation and physical assault many a time.

In 2009, B V Seetharam, Director of Chitra Publications (publishers of Karavali Ale) and his wife were arrested in connection with an old case in which the couple faced criminal charges for allegedly offending the sensibilities of a religious group in articles published by two vernacular dailies published by them, one being the aforementioned.

Interestingly, Naveen Soorinje, too, was an employee of Karavali Ale at one time, and had during his stint exposed inconvenient truths and taken on bodies suspected of corruption in the establishment in Mangalore religious organisations, political gurus and others. He also exposed ethical violations by media persons, for example, the acceptance of gifts by journalists.

As chances of his release from jail appear increasingly remote, a group of journalists and activists fighting for Naveen's cause are now considering re-applying for bail. But the rejection of bail in earlier instances and the High Court's indictment of his role in the affair leave little room for hope, apart from raking up several

MEDIA FREEDOM

grave questions related to the very legitimacy of media and its functions.

There has also been a lack of conviction regarding impartiality of the judiciary, especially at the lower courts ďż˝ even among legal practitioners themselves. A report

by Daijiworld Media Network quoted Justice Michael F Saldanha at a PUCL Press Meet as saying, "The judicial system is (meant) to protect the public, but in DK (Dakshina Kannada), it seems like the judicial system is in the hands of some influential persons, as evident by the charges and arrests of Soorinje and, earlier, Karavali Ale editor." He also raised the possibility of there being a strong political hand in the case and perhaps, even a personal grudge of the police against the journalist.

The circumstances therefore inspire scant hope for the grant of a bail for Soorinje.

Local TV channels maintaining a distance But perhaps most noticeable has been the distance of television - even regional channels including Naveen's own - from this case. In the era of 24x7 news channels, where television media constantly attempts to foment public passion on various issues of social and political significance, it remains a mystery why they have not come out more strongly in support of one in their own league.

However, the objectivity of media cannot be placed entirely above suspicion either.

A senior journalist belonging to the Mangalore Press told India Togetherthat most regional channels in Karnataka have strong affiliations to ultra right-wing organisations or political parties with similar leanings; naturally,

therefore, they could hardly be expected to rally behind one who has clearly been such groups' b'te-noire for years. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he also pointed out that cut throat competition among these media channels often meant that they would place their selfinterest above any kind of ethical consideration and would not care to devote prime-time visibility to something that actually involves a rival channel. Incidentally Kasthuri News 24 - the channel for which Naveen worked - is owned by the wife of former Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Added to this perhaps is what Bangalore-based Sudipto Mondal of The Hindu calls the broader lack of "a culture of media reportage on media" in India.

The fact that there may be strong pressure on the channels to maintain a degree of aloofness in the case is corroborated by senior media-observer, K Murali Mohan Kati, who says, "Most regional channels belong to one or the other among political parties, mostly with strong communal ideologies, and would not care to highlight the plight of a reporter from some other channel or seek justice for one who has exposed the excesses of the region." Kati also pointed out that a senior leader of a religious outfit, reputed to wield strong power in political circles as well, is known to have told local channels not to publicise Naveen Soorinje's case. The fact that Soorinje was an activist of sorts who did not shy away from targeting undesirable or corrupt practices even within media has not helped his cause either.

Such views cannot be dismissed completely as one can hark back to the 2010 case of Parashuram Tehsildar - a reporter 16 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

Law minister S Suresh Kumar was reported to have briefed journalists himself that all charges against Soorinje would be dropped "following a demand by the journalistic community in this regard."

Despite such a public announcement however, Soorinje continues to be incarcerated.

from ETV Kannada (later with Janasri TV) implicated and arrested in a case involving volunteers of a group known as the Karnataka Nava Nirmana Sene. More than his wrongful detention, what deeply disturbed Parashuram was the way a section of media reported his arrest at the time (referring to uncorroborated links between him and the actual perpetrators) and seemed inclined to malign him rather than fight for the truth.

Parashuram was bailed out following efforts by a personal friend but his biggest concern remains the absence of any support from the larger media fraternity during the incident.

There are many journalists and public figures, however, who do not buy in to this theory of vested interests working against Soorinje in electronic media. It is not as if regional channels have not stood by him, points out D S Shreenidhi, Programming Head at local channel Spandana TV. "They did report the incident when it happened; a few channels even brought in experts to discuss the dynamics of the case but then over time, the focus faded and the compulsions of TRPs and more immediate issues pushed it out of prime time coverage", says Shreenidhi.

if they are close to home -- i.e., if something happens in the capital city or to someone who lives there, or if there are repercussions on high profile persons such as politicians (preferably based in Delhi), or if the event/issue is in some way linked to something that happened in, or to someone in, Delhi. It's unfortunate, but that seems to be the way the �national 'media cookie crumbles'", says Ammu.

In all of this, Naveen Soorinje, who has had an unblemished professional record before this and a reputation for fearless reporting, continues to share jail space with criminals he exposed, with slim chances of a quick release. From a media perspective, it is not just the predicament of Soorinje as an individual that is concerning but also a much larger threat, which the International Federation of Journalists summarises succinctly: "To pursue the case against him any further would be a serious deterrent to journalists in conscientiously carrying out their professional responsibility to report cases of civil unrest or illegal activities."

Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya is Associate Editor at India Together.

Silence at the national level As far as the broader media silence at a national level is concerned, it is perhaps, as veteran journalist and author Ammu Joseph points out, because the activity in the case has been largely local and confined to the state.

"The Delhi-based news channels tend to take up such issues in campaign mode primarily 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 17

MEDIA FREEDOM

CAUVERY RIVER DISPUTE

Findings of a unique apolitical initiative that brings farmers from the Cauvery basin together indicate that a fair distress-sharing formula may not be as elusive as it seems. Shamala Kittane reports.

Cauvery: Prefer politics to solut 18 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

Pic: The river at Tiruchirapalli.

Source - Wikipedia

rring tions

‘‘I

f we deal with conflicts in a humane way with an objective to resolve them - the outcome could be great ideas that work towards healthy development. Else we would be stuck with conflicts fuelled by people who profit out of it. 35 years of conflict over river Cauvery leaves behind bitterness and frayed relationships", says Dr S Janakarajan, Professor at Madras Institute of Development Studies.

It is the complete disregard by the state governments for such a humane approach and their vested interests in keeping the people alienated that might be at the root of the inability to arrive at a solution to the longdrawn Cauvery river water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, he feels.

Janakarajan is the chief architect of the "Cauvery Family". an initiative that seeks to find an amicable solution to the standoff over riparian rights in the Cauvery basin. It brings farmers and farmer representatives who are dependent on the river to dialogue. It has found through its experience that Multi Stakeholder's Dialogue (MSD), without politicising the issue, could actually result in a fair and acceptable distress sharing formula.

In his talk on February 15th at Bengaluru on "Inter-state water disputes: Judicial interventions and beyond - The Cauvery Family experience" organised by the research organisation ATREE, Professor Janakarajan discussed learnings that make it clear that farmers from both states have overcome misunderstandings to a significant extent on the Cauvery issue. The state governments themselves, unfortunately, refuse to leverage, or even attach 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 19

CAUVERY RIVER DISPUTE

importance to, MSD as a means of resolving the issue. (Atree is Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment) There are several facts that make the Cauvery dispute unique and particularly challenging, as several case studies have pointed out.

First, it is not a case of trying to reach an agreement on sharing a river that is as yet largely unused, but a case of re-sharing a heavily used river.

Second, the demands for water from either of the states presented to the CWDT (Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, 2007) as detailed in 'Vol V' of the CWDT final award further highlight the challenges: "During the arguments the learned counsel appearing on behalf of these States could not satisfy how the demand of 566 TMC on behalf of the State of Tamil Nadu and 465 TMC on behalf of the State of Karnataka can be adjusted when the total yield of the basin of river Cauvery has been estimated to be about 740 TMC. Apart from the claim of these two States there are claims on behalf of the State of Kerala for about 100 TMC and Union Territory of Pondicherry for about 9 TMC." Some restrictions have been imposed by the tribunal to achieve reasonable quantities of water to be shared. Thus, neither of the states is allowed the practice of growing double crops in areas other than those prior to the 1924 agreement. There can be no further expansion of area under summer paddy crops. But so far, these restrictions have failed to yield any tangible outcomes.

The inception of Cauvery Family in 2003 involved a tour of the fields in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for the farmers of both states

CAUVERY RIVER DISPUTE

where certain misapprehensions prevailed about Karnataka growing sugarcane in districts other Mandya and Tamil Nadu farmers growing three crops of paddy. The visit helped to clear these misconceptions.

Janakarajan recounts a particular incident that happened during the group's visit to Tamil Nadu that highlights the importance of farmer interactions in tense situations. He recalls the KRRS (Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha) leader K S Puttannaiah's reactions when an old lady took his hands and pleaded for some water. She showed him the dry farm and narrated their plight to him. Puttannaiah was in tears on seeing the pathetic condition of people in the delta and said that this was not the picture of the Cauvery delta that they had in their minds.

The Cauvery Family has met 19 times since 2003 - the most recent being in July 2011. The Family was due to meet on December 17th, 2012 but did not do so as a result of mounting tension over the issue in the states around this time.

The family is now 22-member strong with 11 member representations from each of the states.

In the meetings so far, the Cauvery Family has arrived at two models for sharing water and they intend to present one final model. Janakarajan points out that a distresssharing formula that CWDT lists in a table showing the quantity of monthly releases of water is not practical in crisis situations; however, if a dialogue can be arranged during these times then stakeholders can come up with a formula that takes into account ground realities

Dr S Janakarajan, Professor at Madras Institute of Development Studies, speaking at ATREE, Bengaluru. Pic: Shamala Kittane.

at that point in time. And if the group is kept apolitical, as it is now, then it is possible that there is no violence and damage caused as a result of the issue.

There has been no tangible outcome of these meetings in that they are neither heard, nor is their advice sought for when rains fail and Cauvery is unable to meet the demands. "The state governments

refuse to acknowledge the existence of such camaraderie among farmers from the contending states, purely with the ulterior motive of gaining votes at the cost of aggravating the issue," alleges Janakarajan. According to him, it is cheap politics that has given rise to and nurtured a bitter chauvinistic stance and mindset among the farmers of TN and Karnataka.

Janakarajan's experience with state governments has found the Karnataka government to be relatively more accessible; he has held discussions with erstwhile Chief Minister H D Devegowda. But DMK or AIADMK have never come forward for any discussion about the establishment of a Multi Stakeholder's Dialogue. Overall, neither of the states has been encouraging enough for MSD to gain momentum.

"The state governments refuse to acknowledge the existence of camaraderie among farmers from the states, purely with the ulterior motive of gaining votes at the cost of aggravating the issue," alleges Janakarajan.

20 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

Major outcomes of the Cauvery Family committee meetings The committee emphasized the absolute need for continuing the dialogue among farmers and to keep up people-to-people contact The committee agreed to develop a long-term perspective and focus on optimizing use of currently available water in the best possible mannerfor the benefit of all riparian States The committee's deliberations have contributed to an atmosphere of mutuality, respect, and trust.

The expectation is that such an environment is likely to be more conducive to the prospects of a resolution than one of mistrust, unilateralism, and potential violence Arising from this, it has never been the intention of the Cauvery Family to supplant or substitute the efforts of other agencies engaged in a quest for resolving the Cauvery dispute.

It is the firm and profound conviction of the Family that its entire orientation has been to help and not to hinder the efforts of all official and political initiatives. Further, a deliberate and conscious effort has been made by the Cauvery Family to carry forward its work in a spirit of both involvement and non-partisanship. (As reported by Janakarajan in his talk at ATREE, Bangalore)

When law fails

The refusal to recognize MSD as a potential means of arriving at a water sharing formula is both unfortunate and unwise, given the fact that judicial interventions have not helped in the matter.

Janakarajan emphasises the legal impossibility of resolving an issue with a history of failure and the incapacity of the judiciary to handle the situation in recent times.

He questions the Supreme Court's wisdom in directing the chief ministers of the Karnataka and TN government to engage in a dialogue to resolve the issue, even after long drawn battles in the court.

The law is weak to enforce its orders with the states rebelling against the Supreme Court, resorting to violence and invalidating the order by filing review petitions. "The Final Award was declared in the year 2007, but all contending states filed the review petitions in the Supreme Court of India".

The judicial pronouncements, in fact, make a mockery of the needs of the farmer. "The latest judicial pronouncement of releasing a meagre 2.44 TMC ft of water to TN - I do not know whom it would help - TN politicians, opposition parties in both states but certainly not farmers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and residents of Bangalore city," says Janakarajan, fearing that this may lead to further divide and mistrust amongst farmers.

Beyond rights, towards duties More importantly, dialogue between multiple stakeholders could also be a forum for exchange of critical information about the 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 21

CAUVERY RIVER DISPUTE

well-being of the river itself - an issue that is being lost sight of in the fight over waters.

The stakeholders' meeting has seen a breakthrough in educating farmers about the river and the degrading effects of the demands over the river water - such as the fact that it is a deficit basin with claims for double the quantity of water it holds. Such dispute makes it easy for industries to grab farmers' lands leading to unchecked commercialisation and urbanisation. They also understand that the river is under severe stress for various ecological and environmental reasons, and the negotiators and bargainers should move ahead with longterm perspectives and an agenda of sustainable use of water.

"We could come up with a formula for water sharing that is applicable to local conditions through dialogues between people to whom the resource matters most, instead of relying on an international doctrine," claims a hopeful Janakarajan.

"The rule of law is frustrating with weak law enforcement and monitoring mechanisms," he says, thus justifying the need for a track II diplomacy in the case of the Cauvery river water sharing.

Shamala Kittane is a Bangalore-based writer. She reports for Citizen Matters and India Together.

FOOD SECURITY BILL

The panel discussion was on "Hunger and Nutrition: Time to Act". In addition to Amartya Sen, others who spoke were Montek Singh Ahluwalia (Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission), Shantha Sinha (Chairperson, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights) and Shyama Singh (NREGA Sahayata Kendra, Latehar District, Jharkhand). Pic source: Reetika Khera, IIT Delhi.

22 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

FOOD SECURITY BILL

Neglecting children a blunder: Sen The National Food Security Bill is an important step towards ensuring the country’s founding principles of health, education and nutrition services for all, but can achieve that end only when it addresses children’s entitlements more effectively, argues economist Amartya Sen in a speech given in New Delhi on 15 February 2013.

03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 23

FOOD SECURITY BILL

S

peaking to an enthralled audience of 1,500 students and faculty at IIT Delhi on the 15th of February, 2013, Nobel Laureate and economist Amartya Sen said that the idea of the National Food Security Bill was "a matter of appreciation and support", and that the tabling of the Bill in Parliament was in itself a big achievement. However, he also drew attention to various shortcomings of the Bill and argued for it to be strengthened, particularly in terms of children's entitlements.

Also in this panel discussion on "Hunger and Nutrition: Time to Act" were Montek Singh Ahluwalia (Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission), Shantha Sinha (Chairperson, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights) and Shyama Singh (NREGA Sahayata Kendra, Latehar District, Jharkhand).

Shyama Singh, an Adivasi activist from Latehar District in Jharkhand, opened the discussion with a spirited account of people's struggles for their basic entitlements, including employment under NREGA, land titles and the Public Distribution System. She paid homage to her friends Lalit Mehta and Niyamat Ansari who have lost their lives in this struggle.

Recalling the critical importance of early childhood for lifetime health and wellbeing, Sen deplored the fact that children's entitlements under the food security bill were so weak. Recent Supreme Court orders on midday meals and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), he said, have made an important contribution to the health and nutrition of children. The Bill, he felt, should not dilute these entitlements in any way.

Sen also stressed that health, nutrition and elementary education were important in themselves as well as for longrun economic success. Neglecting children is not only unjust but also an economic blunder.

Shanta Sinha, chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) also pleaded the case of young children and criticized the National Food Security Bill for giving them a raw deal. She took issue with the Parliamentary Standing Committee report on the Bill, which suggests replacing children's entitlements with an additional allocation of 5 kgs of foodgrains per month for pregnant women under the PDS. The word "anganwadi", she pointed out, is not even mentioned in the revised version of the Bill, despite 24 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

the critical importance of ICDS services for children. Shantha Sinha also criticized the proposal to restrict maternity entitlements in the Bill to the first two children.

Amartya Sen recalled that the principles of free and universal provision of essential health, education and nutrition services were part of the country's vision at the time of Independence.

It can be found, for instance, in the Bhore Committee Report on health, 1946. The country needs to revive this broad view of the links between human capability, economic success, and social justice.

Professor Sen recalled in particular three advantages of universal coverage when it comes to basic public services and social facilities. First, it makes these facilities a matter of citizens' right,

Amartya Sen speaking on the National Food Security Bill on 15 February 2013. Pic source: Reetika Khera, IIT Delhi.

Recalling the critical importance of early childhood for lifetime health and wellbeing, Sen deplored the fact that children’s entitlements under the food security bill were so weak.

and avoids any exclusion. Second, it ensures that powerful and influential people have a stake in them. Third, universal coverage helps to avoid corruption.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia agreed that malnutrition among children was indeed a national shame, as the Prime Minister himself put it a year ago, and gave credit to civil society for sensitizing the government to this issue. Also a matter of shame, he said, was the state of nutrition statistics, with the latest comprehensive data on child health and nutrition going back to the Third National Family Health Survey, conducted in 2005-6. He stressed the need for a range of interventions, related for instance to immunization, breastfeeding, drinking water and sanitation.

He said that the government was also committed to a Public Distribution System that provided access to subsidized grain.

Anticipating concerns from the business media and others about the costs of the food bill, Ahluwalia said: "I don't think the government or anyone else should say that we can't afford the food subsidy because of the fiscal deficit - that would be actually dishonest". He added, however, that funding the Bill might call for a reduction of other expenditure.

Sen also spoke about the politics of food and other subsidies. He pointed out that there are powerful lobbies for diesel and LPG subsidies, and even for exemptions of custom duties on gold imports, but not for children's rights. Because of these imbalances of power and influence, there are also massive imbalances in India's spending priorities. In his concluding remarks, Sen argued that better practice of democracy was the 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 25

FOOD SECURITY BILL

way to bring about constructive change, and invited everyone to contribute to it.

Dr. Reetika Khera (IIT, Delhi), who chaired the discussion, spoke about the findings of recent field surveys of social programmes such as NREGA and the PDS, conducted by student volunteers. One of the main insights of these surveys, she said, was that these programmes can make a real difference to people's lives - something that the media, and even academic research, often fail to report.

This article is compiled from a speech delivered by Amartya Sen at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi.

DELHI GANGRAPE

Verma Committee: Key recommendations In late January, the Justice J S Verma Committee recommended amendments to the India’s criminal law so as to provide for quicker and more effective redress of sexual assault against women. PRS Legislative Research provides highlights.

O

n December 23, 2012 a three member Committee headed by Justice J S Verma, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was constituted to recommend amendments to the Criminal Law so as to provide for quicker trial and enhanced punishment for criminals accused of committing sexual assault against women. The other members on the Committee were Justice Leila Seth, former judge of the High Court and Gopal Subramanium, former Solicitor General of India.

The Committee submitted its report on January 23, 2013. It made recommendations on laws related to rape, sexual harassment, trafficking, child sexual abuse, medical examination of victims, police, electoral and educational reforms.

We summarise the key recommendations of the Committee.

Rape: The Committee recommended that the gradation of sexual offences should be retained in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).

The Committee was of the view that rape and sexual assault are not merely

crimes of passion but an expression of power. Rape should be retained as a separate offence and it should not be limited to penetration of the vagina, mouth or anus. Any non-consensual penetration of a sexual nature should be included in the definition of rape.

The IPC differentiates between rape within marriage and outside marriage.

Under the IPC sexual intercourse without consent is prohibited. However, an exception to the offence of rape exists in relation to un-consented sexual intercourse by a husband upon a wife.

The Committee recommended that the exception to marital rape should be removed. Marriage should not be considered as an irrevocable consent to sexual acts. Therefore, with regard to an inquiry about whether the complainant consented to the sexual activity, the relationship between the victim and the accused should not be relevant.

Sexual assault Currently, 'assault or use of criminal force to a woman with the intent to

26 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

The UPA government asked Justice J S Verma to head a three-member committee after protests mounted in Delhi and other parts of India in latter December. Pic: Wikimedia Commons.

DELHI GANGRAPE

outrage her modesty' is punishable under Section 354 of the IPC with 2 years imprisonment. The term outraging the modesty of a woman is not defined in the IPC. Thus, where penetration cannot be proved, the offence is categorized as defined under Section 354 of the IPC. The Committee recommended that nonpenetrative forms of sexual contact should be regarded as sexual assault. The offence of sexual assault should be defined so as to include all forms of non-consensual non-penetrative touching of a sexual nature. The sexual nature of an act should be determined on the basis of the circumstances.

Sexual gratification as a motive for the act should not be prerequisite for proving the offence. The offence should be punishable with 5 years of imprisonment, or fine, or both.

Use of criminal force to disrobe a woman should be punishable with 3 to 7 years of imprisonment.

Verbal sexual assault At present, use of words or gestures to 'insult a woman�s modesty' is punishable with 1 year of imprisonment or fine or both under Section 509 of the IPC. This section should be repealed. The Committee has suggested that use of words, acts or gestures that create an unwelcome threat of a sexual nature should be termed as sexual assault and be punishable for 1 year imprisonment or fine or both.

Sexual harassment Some of the key recommendations made by the Committee on the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2012 that is pending in Parliament are provided below: Domestic workers should be included within the purview of the Bill. Under the Bill the complainant and the respondent are first required to attempt conciliation. This is contrary to the Supreme Court judgment in Vishakha vs.

State of Rajasthan which aimed to secure a safe workplace to women. The employer should pay compensation to the woman who has suffered sexual harassment. The Bill requires the employer to institute an internal complaints committee to which complaints must be filed. Such an internal committee defeats the purpose of the Bill and instead, there should be an Employment Tribunal to receive and adjudicate all complaints.

03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 27

DELHI GANGRAPE

Acid attack

The Committee opined that the offence should not be clubbed under the provisions of grievous hurt which is punishable with 7 years imprisonment under the IPC. It noted that the offence was addressed in the Criminal Laws Amendment Bill, 2012 which is currently pending in Parliament.

The Bill prescribes a punishment of imprisonment for 10 years or life. It recommended that the central and state government create a corpus to compensate victims of crimes against women.

Offences against women in conflict areas: The continuance of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in conflict areas needs to be revisited. At present, the AFSPA requires a sanction by the central government for initiating prosecution against armed forces personnel. The Committee has recommended that the requirement of sanction for prosecution of armed forces personnel should be specifically excluded when a sexual offence is alleged.

Complainants of sexual violence must be afforded witness protection.

Special commissioners should be appointed in conflict areas to monitor and prosecute for sexual offences. Training of armed personnel should be reoriented to emphasise strict observance of orders in this regard by armed personnel.

Trafficking The Committee noted that the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956 did not define trafficking comprehensively since it only criminalised trafficking for the purpose of prostitution. It recommended that the provisions of the IPC on slavery be amended to

criminalise trafficking by threat, force or inducement. It also recommended criminalising employment of a trafficked person. The juvenile and women protective homes should be placed under the legal guardianship of High Courts and steps should be taken to reintegrate the victims into society.

Child sexual abuse The Committee has recommended that the terms �harm� and �health� be defined under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 to include mental and physical and health, respectively, of the juvenile.

Punishment for crimes against women The Committee rejected the proposal for chemical castration as it fails to treat the social foundations of rape. It opined that death penalty should not be awarded for the offence of rape as there was considerable evidence that death penalty was not a deterrence to serious crimes. It recommended life imprisonment for rape.

The Committee recommended that the offence of sexual assault should be defined so as to include all forms of non-consensual non-penetrative touching of a sexual nature.

The sexual nature of an act should be determined on the basis of the circumstances.

Medical examination of a Sexual gratification as rape victim The Committee a motive for the has recommended the discontinuation of the two- act should not finger test which is conducted to determine the laxity of the vaginal be prerequisite muscles. The Supreme Court has for proving the through various judgments held that the two-finger test must offence. not be conducted and that the previous sexual experience of the victim should not be relied upon for determining the consent or quality of consent given by the 28 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

victim.

Police reforms The Committee has recommended certain steps to reform the police. These include establishment of State Security Commissions to ensure that state governments do not exercise influence on the state police.

Such Commissions should be headed by the Chief Minister or the Home Minister of the state.

The Commission would lay down broad policy guidelines so that the Police acts according to the law. A Police Establishment Board should be established to decide all transfers, postings and promotions of officers. Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police should have a minimum tenure of 2 years.

Reforms in management of cases related to crime against women: A Rape Crisis Cell should be set up. The cell should be immediately notified when an FIR in relation to sexual assault is made. The cell must provide legal assistance to the victim.

All police stations should have CCTVs at the entrance and in the questioning room.

A complainant should be able to file FIRs online.

Police officers should be duty bound to assist victims of sexual offences irrespective of the crime's jurisdiction.

Members of the public who help the victims should not be treated as wrong doers.

The police should be trained to deal with sexual offences appropriately.

Number of police personnel should be increased. Community

policing should be developed by providing training to volunteers.

Electoral reforms The Committee recommended the amendment of the Representation of People Act, 1951. Currently, the Act provides for disqualification of candidates for crimes related to terrorism, untouchability, secularism, fairness of elections, sati and dowry. The Committee was of the opinion that filing of charge sheet and cognizance by the Court was sufficient for disqualification of a candidate under the Act. It further recommended that candidates should be disqualified for committing sexual offences.

Education reforms The Committee has recommended that children�s experiences should not be gendered. It has recommended that sexuality education should be imparted to children. Adult literacy programs are necessary for gender empowerment.

India Together regularly republishes reports from PRS Legislative Research on bills pending in Parliament. A full list of such legislation can be found at www.prsindia. org.

03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 29

DELHI GANGRAPE

MUSLIM MARGINALISATION

A good school for Maqbool The refrain of late has been that a Muslim middle class is developing, implying that Muslims are beginning to do well in the country. Why, then, is it so hard to find Muslim children in elite schools, asks Firdaus Ahmed.

A

revealing, if unsurprising, observation brings out starkly how marginalised the Muslim community is, and is set to remain over the middle term. I happened to browse through the results of the Class V Aryabhatta Mathematics Inter-School Competition, posted on the website of one of the participating institutions. The competition is an annual event which tests the mathematical skills of students in 30 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

middle school.

Eighty nine schools participated, including all the elite schools of Delhi. One school, Hamdard Public School, Sangam Vihar, fielded 10 Muslim student participants. Of the other 880 students from 88 schools (each school sending in 10 students of Class V), only eight had Muslim names, making a figure of less than one per cent. All told 13 children with Muslim names

participated out of 880, making a total of two per cent. From the list of schools, it is evident that these are the elite public schools in the national capital.

The percentage of Muslims in Delhi is about 12 per cent.

This implies that Muslim representation has been one sixth of what it could, and perhaps should, have been in a city-wide competition.

The refrain of late has been that a Muslim middle class is developing, implying that Muslims are beginning to do well in the country. This does not seem to be borne out by this stark statistic. It could have been expected that traces of the so-called Muslim middle class would show up in such data. However, the opposite seems to be true; the touted take off of the Muslim community has not quite begun. Muslims remain marginalized.

It seems that only Muslimrun schools now have Muslim students. That is a double disadvantage. For other schools, it is to deprive them of the diversity that reflects the national composition. For Muslims, it suggests two things. One is that their children do not manage to qualify for such schools. But more pertinently, it is possible that the lack of exposure to Muslims in general and Muslim children, due to underrepresentation, sets up a vicious circle in which schools are reluctant to give Muslim children the benefit of doubt. There could be a more sinister reason to this that regrettably must also be included here: such schools may have an unwritten policy that keeps Muslim children out.

What are the long term implications of this? In case the emerging Muslim middle class is kept out, as suggested

MUSLIM MARGINALISATION

Since Muslims of the middle class are not normally covered by reservations, they will lose out to communities in other religions that are so favoured.

Marginalisation will only deepen. by the statistics, Muslims will continue to be disadvantaged for some time to come. Not being represented in this cohort of young children means that they will be underrepresented in the work force in middle classfavoured occupations for at least a score years and more. This means the already existing gap between Muslims and forward communities will expand. In fact, since Muslims of the middle class are not normally covered by reservations, they will lose out to communities in other religions that are so favoured. Marginalisation will only deepen.

Of course, studies indicate that Muslim children are going to school in increasing numbers.

It is clear that the schools they go do not figure in the list and they do not go in numbers that 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 31

reflect the overall proportion of their population, or that of the middle class. Even those that do, trip up, for instance, Hamdard Public School fielded 10 children of which five were absent. The valiant five who turned up could only manage an average score of about 15 per cent, in an exam in which the highest was about 65 per cent and the average was probably around 25-30 per cent.

This implies that the schools Muslim children go to have much catching up to do. This can only further widen the mentioned preexisting gap, setting it in stone for another couple of generations, since only a Sisyphian future awaits this generation of children.

What needs to be done?

There is no cause for a call for reservations, even if there is a plausible case for one. It can only be counter-productive and will lead to a dependency syndrome within the Muslim community. In any case, the numbers of Muslims could go up in case the Right to Education Act's promise of inclusion of 25 per cent of children of lower economic backgrounds in schools, including elite schools, is implemented over time. Instead, assuming that the middle class is not a chimera but is indeed forming, then there is a need to revisit policies, more so the covert ones, of schools that have been slow to reflect the social change underway.

The administration needs looking at the figures of Muslim children in schools. A finding of 'Nil' would indicate clearly a policy that keeps them out. Such schools must be encouraged to reform, if not penalized. 'Naming and shaming' is one way, but unlikely to work since such schools can brazenly resort to a communal rationale, knowing that the times

MUSLIM MARGINALISATION

are such that they will get away.

Change is therefore easier said than done.

At least one school in the middle class locality I live in is reputed to have no Muslim children in its rolls. This cannot be by default. It is by design, one in which the management, staff and education department officials are culpable. Parents from my neighbourhood are equally culpable in turning a blind eye at best and at worst condoning and insisting on the practice.

This is not a stand-alone feature. It is linked to the well-known nation-wide malady of Muslims not finding flats to buy or rent in 'respectable' neighbourhoods - note use of the apostrophes here!

Not living in such locales, they don't get to send their children to either middle class or elite schools either.

This personal aside is entirely unremarkable in terms of amounting almost to a defining feature of modern India.

The representative lists of Aryabhatta prize competitors can be perused for other clues such as the numbers of children with upper caste names or the absence of names that are usually found in lower castes. Allowance can be made for Sanskritisation by way of which the Hindu majority is being rapidly homogenized towards a telling political outcome.

The picture could reveal much more than the backwardness of India's largest minority discussed here. It would tell about the warts on India's complexion that even as enlightened a document as the Constitution has been unable to erase over three score years and as many generations of Indians.

One way out could be to sensitise schools to include more children from the marginalised peoples, without compromising merit. This will be to the betterment in terms of well-rounded growth of their students. After all, much learning in school is from peers. Anecdotally, it is fairly evident that having friends and class fellows of other religious and ethnic backgrounds does make for a secular and tolerant outlook among children. This can be done by parents' bodies interfacing with schools and with the management to oversee the change in the best interests of their wards.

Middle class India is a reality that has surfaced unmistakably over this decade. Anti-corruption and a fair treatment of women have been causes that have seen national level assertiveness from this class. One area calling out for its attention is to make school-going a level playing field.

Opting Endless ethnic clashes in the state since the 1990s, coupled with chronic flood and erosion, have triggered large scale migration from Assam to greener pastures outside the state. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports.

Women displaced by erosion in Majuli at make shift settlement on an embankment.

Firdaus Ahmed is a freelance writer on security issues.

32 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

OUT-MIGRATION

out of the chaos I

visited Majuli island on the Brahmaputra river which has been severely hit by flood and erosion. I also visited Kokrajhar, immediately after the ethnic clashes that broke out during July 2012, due to which thousands of families have been forced to leave their villages. The local economy, based on indigenous adaptation to the land, has failed due to lack support from the government. There is also very little hope of rehabilitation of those affected by ethnic violence. People are simply moving on, with no other option.

In most of the visited erosion-hit villages of Majuli and in Kokrajhar district, groups of 10-20 young men and women in each village have left for better livelihood opportunities. Agriculture, the mainstay for generations, has either become non-remunerative, or the plot of land available for agriculture has been already lost due to erosion. In conflict affected areas on the other hand, young boys have left their villages mostly for fear of atrocities from both sides - militants as well as security forces, as well as acute livelihood risks.

Indigenous mechanisms for survival have collpased, as circumstances have changed dramatically. In Majuli for instance, the Mishing tribal people, the worst hit by erosion, traditionally have their unique dwelling housing called chang-ghar (house built on a raised platform, ideal for co-existence with flood) This technique has been successful over the years, and even adopted by the some government departments while constructing modern government buildings including hospitals, post offices, and tourist lodges. But for over 2700 families living on embankments of the river, there is simply no more space available to erect such houses.

The situation in conflict-hit areas is different.

In Bhumka village in Bismuri area of Kokrajhar, for instance, altogether 10 women aged between 10 and 55 were reported to have been brutally raped by the Assam Police, during January 1988.

These rape victims are still awaiting justice, and some have even died waiting. The villagers have had to face unbearable suffering from both security forces and militants during the peak of the Bodo movement for a separate state. Today, the village wears a barren look; most have left the village searching livelihood opportunities in cities outside the state.

"What we get from our little agriculture is not enough to survive. Some of us can produce some surplus food. But it has no market value. The village lacks all the modern amenities including electricity, drinking water, sanitation facility and others. There is no job locally available for the youth. The only option for getting employed is to go to find jobs in cities", says Dubi Basumatari, the village headman.

According to estimates, over 12 lakh have had to face temporary displacement, some of them several times due to ethnic clashes since 1993. Additionally ravaging flood and constant erosion have led to displacement of another 9 lakh people, and 1.25 lakh of them have now permanently settled on the embankments, for want of ay other land to settle on. Even the Chief Minister of the state has expressed helplessness in rehabilitating such a large number of people, providing them land to settle permanently.

Displacement due to ethnic clashes is not new. But the most recent bout of ethnic clash that broke out in Kokrajhar district, the headquarters of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts (BTAD) area during July 2012, unfurled a cluster of hard realities, which had remained unnoticed over time. Out-migration of skilled and semiskilled youth in large numbers from the state,

03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 33

OUT-MIGRATION

had been going on in a trickle over years, but until those migrants began thronging railway stations in other parts of India, no one really realised how many had left the Northeast.

The out-migration caught the national attention when thousands of youths from northeastern states began fleeing from distant Indian cities, frightened by rumours spread throughout the country through SMS and MMS displaying brutal torture faced by youths of this region and working in these states as retaliation of the Kokrajhar incident. The rumours of alleged assault on youths of Assam and other northeastern states spread like wildfire, stretching the railway services beyond their capacity, and forcing many state governments to arrange special trains to Assam.

The impact of such mass return of youth jeopardised economic life in Bangalore and other South Indian cities, compelling the Deputy Chief Minsiter of Karnataka to visit Assam, urging people to resume work, assuring them full security.

Assam itself was caught unawares by the large numbers, returning from their jobs as security guards, restaurant boys, beauty parlour assistants, etc.

The return of such semi-skilled youth en masse also put the state government under pressure, and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi appealed to these youth to return to their work-places and resume their work following the assurance of political leaders of those states.

Special trains were arranged to carry them back to their work places.

The views of overcrowd of youths in different railway stations, panicked and in a hurry to return home for fear of life, exposed the realities of extreme

Ironically, the out-migration caught the national attention when thousands of youths from northeastern states began fleeing from distant Indian cities. For the first time, it became evident how many had fled the conflict in their homelands. poverty and hunger in Assam.

A Planning Commission report, published in March 2012 stated that the percentage of people living Below the Poverty Line (BPL) in Assam had risen to 39.9 per cent in 2009-10, against 36.4 per cent during 2004-05. The report also said that among the casual labourers working in urban areas of the state, the poverty ratio is as high as 89 per cent. The per capita income of Assam during 2001-11 rose at only a quarter of the pace seen in Sikkim, ranking the state 30th among all Indian states.

In such a situation, 34 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

institutionalised support to ensure food security and to address issues of livelihood risks would have been of a great relief for these people living in extreme poverty. But the statistics of implementation of a number of government schemes to support food, health, livelihood and shelter reveal only a harsh picture.

In Jorhat district for instance, in which Majuli is one of the two sub-divisions, 100 days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was provided to only nine families till January, during 2012-13. The number was 275 the previous year, 509 during 2010-11 and 295 during 2009-10 for the entire district.

In four districts of the BTAD area, severely hit by armed conflict and frequent ethnic clashes, the figures for the year 2012-13 (up to January) are as follows: Kokrajhar - 68, Baksa - 79, Chirang - 136, and Udalguri - 36. In fact, the 'guaranteed' 100 days of work under the MGNREGS has been provided to only 1818 families till January, 2012-13. In 2011-12, there were 15,750 beneficiaries, and even that was much lower than the 49,197 beneficiaries during 2010-11.

According to the Annual Health Survey, 2011, conducted by the Government of India in 284 districts of eight states including Assam, the highest Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the country was in Kokrajhar, at 76. The Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) too is very high with 366, while the underfive mortality rate is 103. The MMR in Jorhat district is even higher with 430, with an under-five mortality rate of 71. The IMR of the district is 57. The alarmingly high rate of under-five mortality rate in these districts reveals a high

degree of hunger, malnutrition and under-nutrition among young children, as the economy of these areas is beseiged by prolonged conflict, erosion and massive displacement.

These images of Assam come at a time when India has set a national goal to achieve MMR of 109, IMR of 28, and an under-five mortality rate of 42 by 2015 under the Millennium Development Goals to reduce hunger and poverty. Moreover, the Midday Meal Scheme, which has been instrumental in bringing children to school and also help improving their health indicators, have been disrupted by the practice of starting relief camps in school campuses, more or less shutting the school down in the process.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the region, and rice is the staple food, but the state could achieve self-sufficiency in rice production only during 2011-12, with a marketable surplus of 5 lakh MT. However, production isn't the same thing as livelihoods from the sale of crops. The state does not have mechanism to procure surplus food from the farmers.

During 2011-12 only 27,000 MT of rice was procured by the Food Corporation of India.

For the current year, although the state government has assured farmers it will procure rice through 18 centers, and fixed a Minimum Support Price (MSP) price of Rs.1225 and Rs.1280 per quintal for coarse and fine varieties, the actual procurement has been very low. Farmers have to sell their surplus rice to local traders, at Rs.600-800 per quintal, and often this is lower than what has been invested in growing the crops.

My visits to these areas also revealed that the system of ensuring food security to people

living in extreme poverty through the Public Distribution System is also full of loopholes. Most beneficiaries have to pay more than the fixed price to get their rations, as intermediaries act surcharges such as transportation cost to the final sale.

Lack of a policy Although large scale displacement due to ethnic clashes has been a reality for many years, and previous indications as well as modus operandi too are similar in many cases, the state government is yet to come up with preventive intervention policies to tackle ethnic tension.

It also seriously lacks policies to address the genuine demands of tribes and communities for economic development in different parts of the state. Clashes have not only led to displacement of people for a certain period of time, resulting in breaks in the social fabric, but the entire economy has been damaged by violence - burning down villages, and destroying properties of targeted communities, apart from the killings.

Whenever any ethnic clash takes place, it becomes the priority of the administration to send affected people back as soon as possible to their respective villages, giving them some paltry funds as rehabilitation grants. But livelihood risks, and larger issues of hunger and impoverishment remain unaddressed, pushing people to utter helplessness.

For the erosion-affected areas, although the state government has taken steps for the reclamation of affected land, there is still a long way to go. However, the latest satellite imagery of Majuli (which was reduced from 1256 sq. km. during 1950 to 520 by 2011) has 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 35

OUT-MIGRATION

shown an increase of seven square kilometers of its total landmass.

Such efforts may improve the situation a little, but without a concrete policy to ensure proper rehabilitation as well as to provide livelihood support to address issues of hunger and impoverishment, it will be a long time before the State can hope for better human development indicators.

Ratna Bharali Talukdar is a freelance journalist based in Guwahati, Assam. She received the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Media Person and the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award in 2005 and 2006 respectively. This article has been generated under the media fellowship offered by The Akshaya PatraOneWorld Media Fellowships on Hunger, 2012.

POLITICS OF NEUTRALISATIOn

Law, justice, and compensation Protest at India Gate related to the December 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. Message reads "delay in justice is injustice". Pic: Ramesh Lalwani via Wikimedia

36 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

POLITICS OF NEUTRALISATIOn

the ‘placebo’of

Governments have taken to announcing monetary compensation for victims’ kin in cases of criminal acts as well, but it hardly masks their failure to impose the rule of law or bring about systemic improvements, says Harish Narasappa.

T

he Governments of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh have announced monetary compensation to the family of the brutal gang rape victim. The Central Government announced compensation to the families of the two soldiers who died in the skirmish with Pakistan near the LoC in Kashmir. This is mere continuation of a state practice in India wherein any tragedy, primarily accidents and other natural disasters, is followed by announcements of monetary compensation.

Occasionally, the monetary compensation is accompanied by promise of jobs to the survivors. It is only in recent years that relatives of the victims of private criminal acts have also been offered monetary compensation by the government.

Compensation appears to be an act that is at once humane, constitutes 'perceived' good governance and provides succour to the victims. A deeper analysis however reveals that providing compensation is only a placebo - an act that merely gives the impression that justice is being done.

In fact, there is no justice but only a charade which seeks to mask the incompetence of our institutions in protecting citizen's rights.

One of the basic tenets of a society governed by the rule of law is that violations of citizens' rights need to be adjudicated and the violator or perpetrator punished. Providing compensation is an added benefit no doubt, but it is the perpetrator who needs to pay both monetarily and otherwise. Successive governments in India however focus mainly on providing compensation as it is something they can do easily and immediately.

Identifying the perpetrators and punishing them takes a long time and is most often very difficult. The inadequacies of our police and judicial system more often than not make this already difficult task improbable.

However, it is this process that safeguards the rights of the citizens in the long run and more importantly fixes responsibility on the person or persons responsible for the act. It is this fixing of responsibility in accordance

03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 37

POLITICS OF NEUTRALISATIOn

with the law that ensures guarantee of rights, respect for the law and acts as deterrence for future acts. Compensation does not do any of this- it only provides immediate and temporary relief for the concerned victim, but does not benefit either the society at large or the victim's own rights in the long run.

Compensating victims (or their families) instead of focusing on upholding of the law and rights of individuals reflects just a continuance of the symptom in our country of governance focused on immediate gains and crisis management rather than long term goals that aim to build strong institutions and ensure that rights are meaningful.

This attitude of compensating for the wrong caused has a lot of unwanted side effects. Recently in Karnataka, newspapers reported that tremendous societal pressure was exerted on the family of a minor rape victim to get her married to the perpetrator of the crime. When the girl's father resisted the pressure, the family was subjected to a social boycott and was threatened, forcing the father to seek police protection.

Examples of many rape victims marrying their perpetrators are numerous and are often aided and abetted by the police and the judiciary. Marriage is considered sufficient compensation for the victim and penance by the perpetrator. Taking off from this, government practice appears to be encouraging objectionable, nonpecuniary forms of compensation insisted upon by state actors and society. This is also a slap in the face of legal principles and India's commitment to the rule of law.

Even in cases of tragedies, compensation is generally announced before any analysis

One of the basic tenets of a society governed by the rule of law is that violations of citizens' rights need to be adjudicated and the violator or perpetrator punished.

Providing compensation is an added benefit no doubt, but it is the perpetrator who needs to pay both monetarily and otherwise.

of the causes of the tragedy and the identification of people responsible for those causes. The rush to compensate the victims appears to be an effort to ensure swift closure to the incident and to prevent any questions from being raised on the reasons for the tragedy. Governments appoint enquiry committees or commissions which then function for years together collecting data and information about the tragedies. These reports are rarely given any importance when they 38 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

are finally submitted because the incidents have faded from memory by then and each of the interested victims have received some compensation that has given them a false sense of justice and closure.

Even when the reports receive due importance it is generally a long time before any meaningful corrective step recommended by these committees are taken. In recent times, I cannot think of even a single tragedy that has resulted in the persons responsible being punished and corrective and long term systemic changes being implemented. These reports are dusted off and given a lease of life only when the next tragedy occurs and a noise is made by the media or the public. For example, nearly 10 commissions have enquired into the anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

What has happened to their findings and recommendations?

Unfortunately, compensation cannot address any real systemic problems. It is only a placebo that gives an impression of justice. Compensation is also a discretionary measure adopted by the state and does not follow after rights and wrongs are evaluated.

It is not a drug that rights a wrong, punishes the guilty and helps learn lessons to prevent future tragedies and crimes. That can happen only when the state pursues every tragedy or crime with the same seriousness and with a commitment to enforce the rights guaranteed by law. It can only happen when we recognise that mere compensation is not good enough and move beyond it.

Harish Narsappa is a lawyer based in Bangalore.

TAXATION

Pic src: Wikimedia commons

Founders would have wanted inheritance tax restored Given our Constitutional mandate to “endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities,� Shankar Jaganathan explains why reintroduction of the Inheritance Tax may be a step worthy of serious consideration.

03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 39

TAXATION

T

axes in any form are frowned upon. The reason for this is not very hard to find. Taxes reduce the standard of living for the taxpayer.

However, socially they serve a very useful purpose by increasing the quality of life for everyone in society. This concept is best illustrated by the road-tax paid by car owners. Tax-paying owners have less money to spend on cars, but the money they forego helps build better roads to commute for all road users.

Ever since taxes were conceived, the quest has been to find the ideal tax. Could there be a tax without a taxpayer? Thomas Paine, the 18th century EnglishAmerican philosopher, seems to have found the answer when he conceived of Inheritance tax.

He reasoned that tax paid from the estate of the dead had no taxpayer as it was collected during transmission. The inheritor has not yet received it and hence will not feel the pain, and likewise its original owner is no more to feel for it. Conceptually, it looked as if the least offensive of all taxes was found. Collected from the estate of the deceased, it was called the Estate Tax and when collected from the inheritors, it became the inheritance tax. Both together are called the Death tax.

Opposition to Death tax came from very different angles. Their opponents hold that property is not owned by an individual, but by their family. Hence the death of an individual does not change the ownership of the estate, which continues with the family. The second reason to oppose Death tax was due to the difficulty in paying it. Estates including large blocks of shares by nature are not liquid assets, whereas the tax is to be paid in cash. The levy of Death tax would force the inheritor to

Given the social and economic inequality in the country, coupled with the lack of basic facilities such as primary health and quality education, is reducing public expenditure a viable or feasible option?

If it cannot be cut, what is the alternative? sell the assets, thereby reducing its value or in the case of companies, would result in loss of control for the inheritor.

While there are other reasons for opposing Death tax, they are not specific to Death tax itself but are generic to taxes or to the concept of state welfare schemes.

These include, illustratively, government inefficiencies, corruption and leakages, rewarding idleness and diluting meritocracy.

40 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

Despite this opposition Death tax is levied in almost all democracies. Market rationale supporting it is based on promoting meritocracy and efficiency in society. This reasoning supports promoting economic inequality within a lifetime as it provides an incentive for greater effort and initiative in the society.

At the same time it discourages inheritance as it dilutes efforts and initiative of the inheritors by presenting them with a silver spoon. On the economic front too, Death tax is seen to promote a healthy economy as recent macroeconomic research studies show more equal societies have longer duration of economic growth with shorter recession cycles.

As with most human endeavours, intellectual reasoning only supports what the human mind believes, which to a large extent is determined by emotions.

Looking around in India today, we see a few stark facts. Despite the Planning Commission fixing the poverty line in India at Rs.29 and Rs.22 per capita consumption for a day in urban areas and rural areas respectively, 29% of Indian population is below this abysmally inhuman poverty line. India is also home to the largest number of poor people and children suffering from malnutrition.

On the other hand, in India, 55 dollar billionaires and 200,000 dollar millionaires reside, with these numbers expected to double in the next few years.

This rich India is visible through opulence and extravagance on an unimaginable scale that hurts the sensitivity of the thinking individual. To paint the garish picture, a Pune politician hits the headlines for wearing a 3.5 kg gold attire costing Rs.1.25 crores and a Mumbai businessman lives

in a billion-dollar plus residence.

This is only the tip of the iceberg with much more hidden. India is also the fastest growing market for ultra-luxury products like million dollar Lamborghini cars and multi-million dollar villas in gated communities.

Indian economic growth is sliding down and the focus is on the widening budgetary fiscal deficit. At 5.3% of GDP, it has caught the attention of policy makers. Two paths to bridge this deficit exist. One, cut expenditure and the other, increase revenue.

Given the social and economic inequality in the country, coupled with the lack of basic facilities such as primary health and quality education, is reducing public expenditure a viable or feasible option? If it cannot be cut, what is the alternative?

For the government, taxes are the primary source of revenue.

Within taxes, the direct tax is seen as less draconian as it harms the poor the least. Given the magnitude of social and economic inequality, can the Indian policy makers choose between raising the income tax rates for higher income brackets and introducing new taxes like the inheritance tax?

Or do they need to do both?

As can be expected, there are already voices audible against inheritance tax introduction. Both the logic of family ownership and illiquidity of estates are used. But we need to remind ourselves that our tax system recognizes only individuals and not the family as a unit, except for the Hindu Undivided Family recognized as a taxable entity. Likewise, we can dismiss the logic of illiquidity too, as taxes are not intended to promote the convenience of the tax payer. Moreover, our Constitution also commends it.

The Directive Principle 38 (2) of the Indian Constitution reads, 'The State shall in particular, strive to minimize the inequality in income, and endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations'. Given this line of thought in our constitution, do you think our founding fathers would have wanted the inheritance tax removed in 1985?

Even if one concedes the logic that there was inadequate wealth formation in 1985 justifying its removal, this does not seem to hold true in 2013, when India is a land of dollar billionaires and millionaires; where Lamborghinis and Ferraris are parked in multimillion dollar villas.

Turning to the specific, do you think we should have the inheritance tax reintroduced now? I for one will vote for it and strongly recommend that you, too, seriously consider it. For this will go a long way in making our Indian society humane, just and equitable.

Shankar Jaganathan is passionate about economic history, sustainability practices and corporate governance. He is the author of the book, 'The Wisdom of Ants, A Short History of Economics', published by Westland in November 2012 and 'Corporate Disclosures 1553-2007, The Origin of Financial and Business Reporting' published

by Routledge.

03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 41

TAXATION

THE BIG QUESTION Prakash Bhanu Mehta giving the inaugural Constitution Day lecture at Bengaluru, on 26 November 2012. Pic src: Daksh Video.

42 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

Is India at its ‘progressive moment’?

Over the past few years, demands for change have been getting louder in India. But when you have a political system which is not willing to run with this new tide, the cost of this transition is going to be much higher, says Pratap Bhanu Mehta, calling the Congress party a monarchy and the BJP a church.

03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 43

‘I

THE BIG QUESTION

s India at its kind of Progressive Moment?' was a lecture delivered by promient political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta at the inaugural Constitution Day Lecture series organized by Daksh, a Bengaluru-based not-for-profit organisation. Mehta delivered this lecture on 26 November 2012.

The speech I was tempted to speak on why Bangalore and not Delhi should rule India. But I thought it might be actually misunderstood both in Bangalore and Delhi!

It is particularly humbling to be in the presence of Justice Venkatachaliah, they don't make many like him in the Supreme Court anymore and I think that has to be said on public record; and particularly given this audience, with some old friends, who know a lot more about the themes that I am going to be talking about today than I do.

Today, in some senses, is one of those days which is now going to be marked with an overdetermination of meaning: 26/11 - Mumbai, of course, as well as an important day in the history of our Constitution; a new political party is being formed in Delhi, which I am going to talk about a little bit, later on. Some policy wonks now feel that the announcement of cash transfers is a kind of a new constitutional moment in the history of the Indian welfare state. How does one tie all of these things together? A bit reckless, but I will actually try and do that because I think in some senses, it is important to see the evolution of our constitutional life in the context of these broader changes in state and society.

The title I give to this talk, which will sort of set the theme for today, is 'Is India at its kind of

THE BIG QUESTION

Progressive Moment?' The term Progressive Moment derives from analogies with US History and I will draw a lot of analogies and derive contrasts with US history.

These are meant to be heuristic aids to thinking rather than to be taken quite literally.

The debate was sparked off by a claim that is being made generally that what India has been living through in the last 5 to 7 years is India's version of the gilded age. Ashutosh Varshney and Jayant Sinha made that argument, but many others have made a similar argument.

By 'gilded age', we simply mean that period in a society when it is undergoing rapid growth, increasing urbanisation, a growing middle class, but is also associated with extraordinary rent-seeking, a nexus between business and politics that is unprecedented, and rarely, a view of life that says (as Mark Twain once put it about the gilded age), 'make all the money dishonestly if you can and honestly if you must'.

The argument that this follows is that what followed the gilded age in the US was the progressive movement, a kind of reaction against the excesses of the gilded age. Now, at one level this comparison between US and India strikes us as very odd since the historical circumstances are very different, and so are the social circumstances and our conceptions of national identity.

But if you were taking a strictly policy-wonkish view, it is not an entirely outrageous comparison.

Our per capita GDP is roughly around what the United States' was in 1880 and it's bearing that perspective in mind that we have to talk about our contemporary problems. Often we forget to ask this question, what kind of state

do you expect to have at that per capita level of GDP? I am not an economic determinist but I think, keeping a sense of the right historical perspective in mind is important.

I want to begin with setting the scene - going back to the founding movement and the constitution which we are here to celebrate.

I think most in this room will celebrate the constitution. For all kinds of reasons, the sobering fact is that 80-85% of all constitutional transitions fail. Ours didn't. That itself is a remarkable historical achievement. This was an achievement made possible not just by the text of the document, but also by the surrounding circumstances in political culture that nurtured and sustained it.

If you were to ask most people who engage themselves with the constitution, ‘What does the constitution mean to you now' or ‘How has the constitution acquired a place in our national life, what sustains it?' I suspect you would get two contrasting answers.

One, the idealist one, would view the constitution as some kind of semi-sacred text, the lode star for political existence which has given the basic frame work and underwritten the basic social contract of our society.

And the claim on this view is that if only we could recover the constitutional morality that our founding fathers gave us, many of our problems would at least diminish in their intensity if not be entirely solved. Now the phrase, constitution morality, is used a lot these days (including in Supreme Court judgments) and I tried to do some historical digging about how this phrase was used during the Constituent Assembly debates. To my knowledge there 44 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

are only three references to the phrase constitution morality. The most extensive one was made

by Ambedkar, in one of his final speeches, in which there is an extensive treatment of what he actually meant by constitutional morality.

I think it is worth reading that speech because it is really different from what we understand by constitutional morality. We take it literally to be the precepts of the constitution - that is, it's the text which gives you morality, while

THE BIG QUESTION

On one hand, there is the idealist or normative promise of constitutional morality and on the other, there is the reality of using the constitution as a tool by which to knock other people on the head rather than viewing it as a set of norms which we all internalise and share. I think the struggle for the soul of Indian politics is which version of constitutionalism will triumph?

Ambedkar is actually not talking about the text at all. He is talking about the underlying sensibility, an appreciation for plurality, the spirit of the constitution that sustains that text. But one element of what he highlighted is what I want to begin with. When he describes what he means by constitutional morality, he quotes extensively from George Grote who was a great 19th century Greek political historian (and who sparred with John Stuart Mill on many issues relating

to liberty) and he describes constitutional morality in these words, "Constitutional morality is a paramount reverence for the form of the constitution, enforcing obedience to authority and acting under these forms, combined with the habit of open speech subject only to particular legal control but unrestrained censor of those authorities as to all their public acts."

One of the parts which Ambedkar chose to emphasise is the unrestrained censor of all 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 45

those acting in the name of public power and (if you were to discuss his definition of democracy and ask, is democracy really government by discussion?) he makes this remarkable claim that one of the great features of the Indian constitution is that no part of government or no entity can claim monopoly in representing the people. His idea was that, people in that sense cannot be represented; no institution can stand up and say we are the sole repositories of what the people

THE BIG QUESTION

mean. The conception of what the people want and require is a conception that emerges through open speech and discussions and debate. In that sense, Ambedkar's vision of constitutionalism was firmly rooted in the influence of his teacher John Dewey, one of the great thinkers of the progressive era. This is sort of one version of the constitution - constitution that facilitates a kind of democratic experimentalism by consensus.

What, however, is the practice of our constitutional morality? I think most people would agree that it is best summed up in another picture of ancient constitutionalism, given in Heinrich Meier's view of the Roman Constitution and in particular, Caesar's relationship to it. Meier writes very powerfully that Caesar was insensitive to political constitutions and the way they operate. He was unable to see them as autonomous entities. He could see them only as instruments in the interplay of forces. He had no feeling for their power but concerned himself only with what he found useful or troublesome about them.

So, on one hand, there is the idealist or normative promise of constitutional morality and on the other, there is the reality of using the constitution as a tool by which to knock other people on the head rather than viewing it as a set of norms which we all internalise and share. I think the struggle for the soul of Indian politics is which version of constitutionalism will triumph?

Mind you, the instrumentalist version of constitution can be quite stable as Adam Jaworski, political scientist, reminded us that often constitutions can be stable not because there is a normative consensus about

Section of the audience at the lecture. Pic src: Daksh Video.

them, but simply because lots of different forces in society find them convenient instruments in this interplay of forces. To that extent, our constitution has been a huge success. It has fragmented power in a way that has produced its own stability. But the question is, can we make the transition from the constitution being simply an instrument in the interplay of forces, convenient in the hands of some to beat up another? (Everybody invokes the constitution without really adhering to what the norms require).

46 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

Now, a contemporary version of this rather abstract philosophical dilemma is being played out right now in our politics. I think one of the hopes that India is at its own progressive moment comes from the fact that there seems to be widespread consensus that the old principles on which the Indian state administered the country are on the verge of breaking down or have broken down irrevocably, and this breakdown is all for the good.

What were the old principles of the Indian state? They were those that were embodied in

THE BIG QUESTION

the 1935 Government of India Act which we adopted full scale; it says that power is organised vertically - you are answerable only to people above you, power is associated with secrecy - the relative asymmetry of information between the state and society favours the state, the state has wide discretion which is not subject to public reason, the state is centralised (and mind you, the first 3 elements are key attributes of that centralisation, so you can exercise discretion because there is secrecy, which in turn produces centralisation,

which in turn produces forms of vertical accountability) and the final principle that by and large, the identities of social actors within this polity are relatively simple identities - either they are simple ethnic identities or they are relatively simple class identities.

Now, the revolution that we are undergoing is that it is very clear that no government can hope to run India if it now organises governance on any of these principles. Secrecy is gone, and by secrecy I don't mean the RTI kind that is only one element, it is also the generation and production of 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 47

information about social working.

If the government doesn't tell you that your air is polluted, then some nice NGO in Bangalore will tell you that it is. So there has been a sort of relative shift in power.

Vertical accountability is gone thanks to the dispersal of power within the institutions of Indian state and outside, like what Daksh is doing - holding legislators accountable by examining their records. We have seen different examples of this in the CAG, media, all kinds of institutions. A state official simply cannot say I have done my bit to be accountable if I have satisfied my boss, which is really the way in which the principle of accountability operated in practice in the past. Centralisation is clearly unsustainable to the extent that the Indian state exercises. So one of the hopes of this particular moment is what we see as this great angst about corruption. It really is a reflection of the breakdown of the fundamental principles by which the old state governed us.

The question is: What will replace these old principles?

Will discretion be replaced by public reason, or another form of arbitrariness? Will the fact that the asymmetry of information has shifted lead to more opening or will it lead to more ham-handed attempts by the state to control and repress information? Will this clamour for participatory governance lead to genuine decentralisation or will the state again find ways of subverting the genuine devolution of power that's required?

Now, all societies, in some way or the other, have gone through versions of this dilemma. This is just a very stylised, ideal kind that I am positing, between principles of

THE BIG QUESTION

the old order and those of the new order. The question is what are the pre-conditions that enable a more successful transition to a new order that is based on more horizontal accountability, decentralisation, open transparent government, government by public reason and discussion rather than arbitrary power? It is in this context that the analogy with the US progressive movement is often invoked: if we had a progressive movement of the kind that the US had in its revolt against the gilded age, we would be successful.

India is not unique in this dilemma; almost every developing country - Brazil, China - in different ways are also facing the same structural dilemma.

What can we learn from these different successes? As I said, the old order is collapsing with the birth of this new order, but in India it is going to be extremely difficult, and I would argue, perhaps more difficult than anywhere else.

The first reason paradoxically is that despite the fact that India is a democracy, India's ruling order is one of the most closed that any modern democracy has seen. To put it provocatively, we have one national party which is a kind of quasi-monarchy legitimized by democratic mandates and another party which is a quasichurch and a pretty dysfunctional one at that. You have to go back to 1840s' France to think of these analogies: so, a party of a monarchist legitimate order and a party of a decaying corrupt obnoxious church are your two national parties. As with any old legitimist order involving a party of the monarchy and another of the church, they have been in collusion with each other.

They are in collusion about the fact that they both subscribe

to Heinrich Meier's description of what the constitution means to them. For both, the constitution is an instrument for governing, not the source of norms. Both are in collusion in the sense that 90% of those members of the church and monarchical party could have easily been members of the other party, if you take the 10% fanatic right out of the picture. But interestingly, what has emerged very powerfully in the last two years (and this has shocked me) is that, both of them have an interest in subverting or not appropriating the anti-corruption agenda that is sweeping through society.

The Indian political order is comparatively a more closed order - I was recently in Brazil, which over the last 8-10 years has gone through a process similar to ours - great civil society movements clamouring for change. The interesting difference with India is that the minute those civil society movements started, the structure of the political system was such that it became an incentive for new entrants into politics to actually appropriate the anti-corruption agenda. So, for example, you had Lula running against Cardoso, and in particular taking on board the anti-corruption agenda.

What is interesting and really quite sobering about this political moment in India is that the one mechanism that democracy relies on for accountability, namely competition, is simply not working. No political party is willing to articulate or stand up and say, this is our vision for transition from the old order to the new order. By accident, some have subscribed to elements of this but you do not have the emergence of a political structure that can actually make this transition.

You can see this over and over 48 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

again, in every institution; the real scandal is not simply that Parliament is not functioning we can argue who is to blame, but I think it is actually very nicely choreographed among all political parties - but even in routine institutions like the JPCs or PSEs, where you expect competition, the core mechanism of democracy to work, it has completely broken down. Ask yourself, why no political party in Maharashtra seriously meant to take on any of the anti-corruption agenda - there is a pantomime-ish reference to it but they don't want to build a political movement around it.

So, in comparison to other democracies, because power in political parties is so centralised, we don't get these natural openings at the top that other political systems do either because of term limits or Presidential forms of government. In a Parliamentary Federal System, the entry barriers to politics are also going to be high. I don't mean entry barriers at a local level, but entry barriers in terms of being able to generate sufficient nationwide momentum to form an alternative to these monarchical and church parties are much higher because there is no natural locus of political mobilisation. So, we must acknowledge, despite India's openness, it has a much more closed political system at the top than in any other contemporary democracy that I can think of.

The second feature which I feel will make the struggle harder in India has to do with the character of the Indian middle class. A lot has been made out of recent discussions over whether the Indian middle class will finally transform politics? Now, we have to be very precise about what we

mean by the Indian middle class.

There are two forms of middle class: one is the global Indian middle class with incomes of $10 PPP and above, comprising about 8-10% of the Indian population; the other would be the Local Indian middle class, with a median income of roughly $4-$10 PPP. Alternatively, if you are distributing them around a median income of the population, then those whose incomes are not below 80% of the median income, or not higher than 200% of the median income.

Historically middle classes have played an important role in this transition for a variety of reasons - education, a different kind of engagement with the state etc. To me, the most important dynamic of a growing middle class is the following: if you have a very small middle class, you have a kind of two- track politics - a small group is engaged with the state at this high level of abstraction, but most citizens rarely engage in the ordinary politics of survival and the State creates structures of patronage to keep them that way.

Once you have a rising middle class, the anger against breaking rules increases, not because the middle class is virtuous but because the middle class is in a sense in an aspiration to join a particular game. If more people feel that they are being excluded from that, you have a very different kind of pressure.

Based on some number crunching, the distinctive thing about the Indian middle class has been found to be a huge race between exit and accountability.

Compared to the middle class in any other country (including the United States in 1910-20, most certainly Europe or even East Asia), the Indian Middle class is

the most 'privatised' middle class, sociologically. Take any attribute, such as primary school enrollment: urban India is soon going to approach 60 -70% (in population), which is unprecedented in historical terms. If you take consumption of two-wheelers, the consumption graph looks very nice but the fact that in India, even the lowest 20th decile has to have a two-wheeler to be able to get around is actually a very bad sign.

On any index of engagement, therefore - education, health, water, sanitation, transport and possibly even energy and electricity, it is the most historically privatised middle class that I have seen in comparative development literature.

Now, the jury is out on what this extent of privatisation of the Indian middle class will actually do to the race between its exit and its demand for accountability. I don't want to go into whether this exit was justified or what created it or whether this was a rational response to the way that the state delivered goods and services, but once you are locked in to an exit mode of coping - for example, the Indian middle class doesn't have a stake in public schools, public hospitals, water, transport - even with the best of intentions, is it going to be the site for that kind of democratic experimentalism with institutions of the state which Ambedkar and Dewey hoped and talked about?

I am not saying there is no middle class civic engagement there is huge engagement - but in some senses, it is something that works outside the interstices of your own construction of your life chances vis-Ă -vis the state. In sociological terms, this is totally unprecedented and a characteristic worth bearing in 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 49

THE BIG QUESTION

mind.

Coming to the second characteristic of the Indian middle class which again is historically very interesting, most middle classes elsewhere are usually an amalgam of forces - old landed elites transiting to modern modes of life. In England, for example, this happened due to primogeniture.

That mattered a lot to the selfidentity of that middle class. One thing that I find amazing about the Indian middle class is that it is attuned to thinking of itself as a pure meritocracy - which is a middle class that has risen by dint of its own talent. Again, sociologically speaking, for the politics of common good and experimentalism, a meritocratic society is about the worst form you can imagine, because meritocrats feel that whatever privileges they have got are the ones that they are actually entitled to. As the slogan goes, you can shame an aristocracy but you can never shame a meritocracy. I am not saying that meritocracy should not be there as an institution, but I feel the self- identity of this middle class in relation to the rest of the society is more likely to exacerbate the exit mechanisms than you have sociologically seen elsewhere.

The third reason that I feel we still have a long way to go despite the possibility of such a revolution is this: I think Ram Guha has very rightly pointed out in many of his writings, most recently in his new book, about the death of the bilingual intellectual. In India, even 15-20 years ago you had genuine bilingual intellectuals who could bridge the politics of the vernacular with larger cosmopolitan concerns and social changes. Intellectuals may not matter that much but I think

THE BIG QUESTION

we could argue that we are also witnessing at the moment the death of the genuine bilingual politician.

By a 'genuinely bilingual politician' I mean a politician who is both embedded enough in society to perform the function of social mediation and yet connect that arm to a larger national or international narrative. Is the new emerging breed of politicians able to do that?

For me, there are two indications of the loss of the vernacular politician. One is the fact that except for one or two politicians who are at a leadership position at the state level - like Mamata, Jayalalithaa, Modi or Naveen Patnaik (or even if you look at the structure of the Congress Party) - there are no politicians beneath them today who actually come to Parliament commanding a social base of any kind. What this does is that it diminishes the capacity of political parties to perform any kind of social mediation.

As a proxy to this, look at the new breed of urban politicians; who are the politicians running cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad?

Who are your corporators? 70% of them are actually contractors. It is an extraordinary social profile. It shows that we have moved away from the idea that politics is a form of social mediation to a much more deepening of the idea that politics is really about an access to instrumental growth.

State leaders, like Nitish Kumar, Naveen Patnaik are an interesting phenomena. Some states are certainly doing better than others.

But I would caution against overcelebrating these state leaders for the following reason. Most of them have been able to create their legitimacy in the last 8-10

years based on two cardinal facts.

One, which is very important for the politics of accountability, is that the scale of the Indian State has changed enormously.

I think one of the most underexamined things in the study of Indian politics is the fact that, by and large, between 1975 and 2000, most state governments were either relatively bankrupt or grew at an incremental rate. Even the best performing state leader at that time had small marginal impact on his population. To just give one example, Bihar has given out more road contracts in the last five years than in the preceding 40 put together. When Rajiv Gandhi came to power, central spending on centrally sponsored schemes was to the tune of Rupees 8500 crore, whereas today it is Rupees 265000 crore!

The scale of the state that was transformed by growth along with some incredible debt restructuring that happened in the late 1990s and 2000 (in retrospect, I do think it was a miracle that we passed the FRBM Act which paved the way for the largesse of the last 10 years) allowed some good Chief Ministers to use that scale to create an alternative basis for legitimacy. But it rested principally on bypassing their own political parties. So the common refrain is that Nitish has successfully insulated the bureaucracy from his party as has Modi in a very different way, as has Naveen Patnaik. The question with all of these states is, can they make the transition from this sort of low-hanging NeoKeynesian expansion to a more genuinely participatory form of state? The fact that they are all resisting decentralized modes of governance makes you feel as if you are in Bismarckian Germany in these states - so, you will have 50 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

this moment where an individual does very well for 10 years but the underlying structures do not quite change dramatically.

I would actually argue that, despite the fact that power has moved to the states, it is too premature to say that what you are finding in state structures today is the genuine kind of decentralisation that is needed.

In this context, one thing that you have to say in favour of India Against Corruption, whether you agree or disagree with a lot of what they do, is that they have brought about a couple of things in common with the progressive movement in the US. One is the politics of muck-raking (the term muck-raker was actually invented during the Progressive Movement when intrepid journalists simply held press conferences every month exposing one form of corruption or the other); the second, for which you have to give them credit, is that they are the first to have actually placed decentralisation, front and square, on the political agenda.

The fundamental question that the big constitutional negotiation in India needs to address is at what level will what service of government be performed? This current architecture of centralisation simply cannot continue. I don't think decentralization is in any sense a vote-catching slogan; I doubt there can be great political mobilization on that but I do think that what it picks up is very interesting at this moment - you cannot think of restoring the existing architecture to the new order without a radical form of decentralisation.

The last and final difficulty which I will present is the following: the old system for all its

faults had a certain equilibrium we had all adapted to it. It made us complicit in it but we had accepted that's how the state runs and that adaptive equilibrium worked at all levels of society. Big business knew how to operate that state and there was also lower level complicity in corruption.

The difficult moment for any society is that when you transition to new rules there is a great danger of choking off the small freedoms that the old order had given us.

When you move from zero or weak enforcement to mild enforcement of rules, the first thing that would expect to happen is that most people - particularly those who invest and not just big investors will stand back and say, 'We don't know what the new rules of the game are going to be." This is true at all levels of society.

One of my consistent critiques of Indian liberalisation has been that it has been a liberalisation programme for big business only.

It facilitated all the exit options for big business in terms of preferential credit. However, what it also did was, in a sense, make life difficult for small business for whom life had always been difficult. But right now India is in this very precarious position, where nobody knows what the new rules of the game are going to be. The telecom sector is the most dramatic illustration of that with a lot of agencies trying to engineer the new order. The Supreme Court has got into the act, TRAI has got into it, and even civil society has got into the act.

Now, this moment of transition in our case is creating more uncertainty than is necessary, for the reason I mentioned at the start: when you have a political system which is not willing to run with this new tide, the cost of this

transition is going to be much higher, because that negotiation which the political system needs to do during this transition is simply not taking place. The old system is still too entrenched, not just too defensive but frankly, still using every trick that it can of the old order to try and subvert the seeds of the movement.

The danger in this situation is that, if growth slips as a result, then all bets are off on this moment of Indian revolution. I am not a growth fanatic, and do feel the need for more intelligent and sustainable conceptions of growth; but, there is no absolutely no doubt in my mind that growth was the single most unsettling and potentially revolutionary fact about modern Indian history, particularly post 1998-99. It unsettled social relationships at so many different levels. I think that it is something interesting about our national psyche, that on one hand it generated this instrumentalist concept of the state while on the other, it reduced the political anxiety that we had about our future. If growth slips below 5-6% for the next two years, all bets will be off on the Indian experiment.

If you look at the different elements required for progressive politics of the kind that I have assembled, they would be 1. An emphasis on growth and macro-economic stability which are absolutely essential.

2. A form of inclusion - both in a social sense (where you can actually speak the vernacular language to create a political culture and make people feel a part of that political culture) as well as in an economic sense.

3. A commitment to radical decentralisation which allows a form of experimentalism to emerge, without which we cannot 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 51

THE BIG QUESTION

survive.

4. A premium upon innovation, knowledge and productive energies 5. A transition of the state from a hierarchical to the horizontal order.

The trouble with the Indian political landscape, and I shall conclude on that note, is that there is no political formation wherein all of these elements go together.

So Arvind Kejriwal has picked up decentralization, Congress has in principle picked up the inclusion element but without recognizing the revolutionary transformation that must take place within the party and state for the inclusion story to function, while the BJP - much like a Church caught up in theological disputes - has no idea what it is going to pick up next. It is this bifurcation of the progressive agenda into these warring factions that is going to make mobilisation around a new progressive politics much more difficult.

So what can we hope for? I don't think, given the structure of Indian politics, there is going to be any grand way, there will be lots of these little by-ways. But the one thing that is clear is that the climate is propitious for the muckrakers to now really take up the battering ram and try and break down both the monarchy and the church.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta is currently the President of the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. He has previously held various academic positions at Harvard University, NYU Law School, Jawaharlal Nehru University and writes extensively on political theory, intellectual history and constitutional law.

PRE-RELEASE: BOOK ON AMBANI GAS WARS

Natural gas, unnatural realities

Veteran journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta’s forthcoming book tentatively titled Gas Wars: Ambani brothers and the fight for India’s natural resources, co-authored

by Subir Ghosh delves into the unholy world of crony capitalism in India, writes Satarupa Bhattacharya.

P

ublic memory is famously reputed to be short-lived and what better proof of it than in a country as ours, where scams surface every other day, seriously jolt and shame national consciousness, create a furore and then slowly but inevitably get sucked into the morass of acceptance and resignation.

Around the middle of 2011, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) draft report bearing the results of an audit of the Production Sharing Contracts related to on-shore and off-shore oil and gas blocks was widely reported by media. It brought into the open concrete evidence

of a dubious nexus between government and big private players, most prominently Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd. While the glare of electronic media and the general feeling of outrage have since characteristically subsided, the conscientious can now look forward to a detailed exposition of the murky realities behind the government's deal with the Reliance Group involving extraction of natural gas from the Krishna-Godavari (KG) offshore basin. Backed by years of research that took roots long before the CAG report became public,

52 |www.indiatogether.org| 03 Mar 2013

veteran journalist and academic Paranjoy Guha Thakurta delves into the unholy world of crony capitalism in his forthcoming book tentatively titled Gas Wars: Ambani brothers and the fight for India's natural resources, co-authored by Subir Ghosh, a journalist and author with over 20 years of work experience.

The book will be published by HarperCollins and is expected to be released sometime in the second half of 2013.

In 2004, two years after iconic entrepreneur Dhirubhai Ambani died intestate, the rivalry between sons Anil and Mukesh Ambani erupted out of

the boardroom and into the open, generating significant public and media interest, scorn and powerpeddling. The common view was that the ugly sibling clashes were an inevitable outcome of the tussle over ownership of the huge empire that their father had carved; however, it was only a discerning few – such as the author – who actually grasped that the key bone of contention was the control over the mining and marketing of India's natural resources, more specifically the unexplored gas reserves in the Bay of Bengal off the south-eastern Indian coast.

In May 2010, much to the chagrin of younger brother Anil Ambani, the Supreme Court of India awarded the control of these natural gas resources to Mukesh's Reliance Industries. This set the context for the ensuing exploitation of public resources in connivance with top government officials, who not only condoned, but actively created scope for subverting fair and equitable distribution, the dynamics of which is what the volume highlights, says Guha Thakurta.

Guha Thakurta is a seasoned and informed observer of India's political economy. Describing the book in detail, he says he uses the draft CAG report as just one of his reference points to raise critical issues that highlight the loopholes not just in this contract in particular, but in the overall framing of rules and procedures that encourage a culture of favouring a few at the cost of many.

The author also gave a talk about the book at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, in November 2012.

From a conversation with the author, it emerges that several questions may be raised based

PRE-RELEASE: BOOK ON AMBANI GAS WARS

on the damning findings of the CAG that clearly show how the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with Reliance is deeply biased in favour of the private operators and actually provides an incentive for them to inflate capital costs resulting in a dent in the government's share.

To cite a few: Why did the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons approve an increase in capital costs from $2.4 billion to $8.5 billion for a mere doubling of production and that too, in a record 53 days?

Why were areas not developed within the stipulated time allowed to be designated as “discovery area” in blatant violation of the terms of the PSC? Even beyond the perverse terms of the PSC exposed by the CAG, one cannot but question how an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Pranab Mukherjee (then external affairs minister) in 2007 set the price of Reliance gas at an exorbitant $4.2 per MBTU when Reliance had itself admitted in a court case that the cost price of its gas was $1.43 per MBTU and had also expressed concurrence in selling gas to NTPC at $2.34.

The findings in the public domain and the deeper questions pertaining to propriety and transparency that arise from them are legitimised and corroborated in the book by exclusive interactions and revelations. The author discloses that the edition will feature a last interview with former chairman and managing director of the governmentowned ONGC, the late Subir Raha, as well as an exclusive, unreported speech made by a former Union Minister for Petroleum with reference to the cloud around the 03 Mar 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 53

administered price of gas set by the EGoM. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta's credentials as a man of letters and his insight into and knowledge of the Indian political, economic and sociological environment require no introduction or endorsement. He was one of the first journalists to write about the telecommunications (2G) spectrum scandal in November 2007 and was also one of the petitioners in the public-interest litigation on the subject in the Supreme Court of India. It is therefore not unreasonable, perhaps, to expect that his acute understanding of the realities of the KG-D6 scam in particular, and of the overall underbelly of liberalisation in general, as detailed in the forthcoming book will raise awareness about a system where apparently rational laws and policies leave huge room for exploitation and cronyism.

It is a worrisome reflection on the government of the world's largest democracy that it is unable to protect and distribute the resources that rightfully belong to its people. But the enormity of it is greater when government policies and norms are actually devised and implemented in a way that benefits a privileged few and allows predatory capitalism to spread its roots. It is important therefore that such practices are not perpetuated in the shadows of fickle media and public attention span. Therein lies the deep and more permanent significance of Gas Wars: Ambani brothers and the fight for India's natural resources.

Satarupa Bhattacharya is a Bangalore-based journalist. She wrote this article based on material released to India Together by the authors of the book.

Support Independent Journalism

re tions a support a r e p o do to ether ’s eader, Dear R dia Tog hat you could ther is largely n I w o Toge r red h self w . India like you. You wonde e asked your e u g a o y p t ’t ws h n s ’v r e ig u n e v r o d a u H yo e the rea ps y g n a m o h in r o r e r e b f ’r P ns d? her n’t you finance cation. Well, ial contributio s India Toget . If you have y li c lp a b n e d ther this pu y annual fina rt is vital; it h r, every day, and toge they e t t a b m o funded tion and supp e issues that ntribution to ocacy where a th co s for d adv particip pth views on r, make your tion an rmed choice a m e a r d e o f y o ws, in and in ke inf o this done s lic interest ne can then ma ood. y d a e alr cg ho ub keep p of citizens, w ote the publi er.org t m we can n togeth o r o ia r p f d o t in in or@ ts, and belong — edit interes n w o their

Make your annual contribution | Basic: Rs.500 | Recommended: Rs.1000 | Friend: Rs.5000 or higher |Sponsor articles |

In India India Together 1677, 17th Main Road J P Nagar II Phase Bangalore- 560078

Outside India India Together PO Box 26254 San Diego CA 92196 USA

facebook.com/IndiaTogether.org twitter.com/itdotorg

Oorvani Media Pvt Ltd A/c no: 00532020001014 HDFC Bank, Bangalore Current Account IFSC Code: HDFC0000053 (For RTGS/NEFT)

www.indiatogether.org