Issue 65 Vol III, June 15, 2008
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Issue 65 Vol III, June 15, 2008 |
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C O M M E N T Corruption
'adorns' India THIS article analyses by a young talent thinker Prashant Kumar the issue of corruption plaguing the Indian society in the light of repeated unsuccessful attempts. Further as writes, it identifies the flaws in the current scheme and comes up with measures in order to deal with the menace effectively. As per the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), 2007, published by Transparency International, India stands at the 72nd rank with an abysmal score of 3.5 on a 10 points scale. A total of 180 countries were ranked for the level of corruption existent in different corners of the world. The CPI exists as the most authoritative exhibit on the level of corruption. Corruption stands as a major roadblock in the accomplishment of developmental objectives of the nation as the rot seems to have seeped into every possible organisational set-up. The debate as regards the manner it should be tackled has been raging on for as long as one can possibly remember. Despite all efforts made to the contrary, the problem continues unabated and has gone on to attain unexplored heights of sophistication every time an initiative is taken. I am reminded of a friend’s interview with a Navratna Public Sector Enterprise wherein he was appraised as regards the manner he would approach corruption, a phenomenon quite apparent in governmental organisations. His was the banal response: Running to concerned higher-ups, complaining against officials indulging in such practices, and various others on similar lines. This is no Greek to suggest that though such an approach may work out well against a few instances, it would go on to make marginal difference to an entire culture of such practices that have taken root. The idea that we might ourselves have played a part towards resulting of such an outcome seems to have eluded the imagination of most of us. A phenomenon like corruption doesn’t happen out of the blue just one fine morning. It entails an entire process of self-centric and opportunistic practices which have made their way into the processes of society. Individuals need taking priority over the overall wellbeing of the society, an attitude of indifference towards issues concerning others however iniquitous are a few instances to name. A menace like corruption cannot survive in society without support from those who constitute it. The fact gets aggravated when seen in the light of active obliviousness exercised on our part as regards the role played by ourselves. The mechanism adopted for the redressal of the problem seems to be seriously flawed for may be our infatuation with a system wherein we are accustomed to responding in a restricted manner; rather than delving deep into the roots of the problem, we pick it up at a convenient level only to find ourselves dumbfounded and dejected when it blows out of proportion. The entire scheme against corruption is aimed at exposing and incarcerating the corrupt officials which I would term as ‘attending to instances’ of a problem. Nevertheless, such an approach can barely have the effect of achieving the desired outcome as instances are mere upshot of a problem which no matter what will continue to exist as long the problem persists. Any earnest effort towards uprooting the same should first be targeted at dismantling the structure whereby such instances continue to flourish. The fact that corruption is the fall out of abandoning of responsibilities by the very members of society coupled with opportunism exercised on the part of authorities needs to be realised in all its earnestness. Small acts of unwarranted favors like bribery give rise to a ‘culture’ wherein they come to be asked for as a matter of right. Further, as the society makes progression so does its culture. Unwarranted favors in the nature of bribe, etc, assume the ability to transform any impossibility into a possibility. By the time a realisation dawns on us, we find our voice too insignificant to cause any perceptible harm to this new-formed culture. Seeking a way out of such a predicament entails a much wider and concerted approach. A reawakening of the dormant sense of responsibility among the individual members of society is called for in addition to initiative towards creating awareness amongst people as to the existence of their rights. Further, a system needs to be instituted whereby grievances of the people are attended to effectively. However, as they say every cloud has a silver lining, the creation of the office of Lokayuktas (Ombudsman in States), and the enactment of the Right to Information Act, 2005, seem to be so. Nevertheless, much headway still needs to be made with these initiatives before the benefit trickles down to those it is intended for. It is worth noting that Lokayuktas still have not been afforded their own independent investigative machinery making them heavily reliant on government agencies. The same leaves enough scope for the politicians and bureaucrats to fiddle with the investigative process. Besides, legislatures in most states have been kept outside the purview of Lokayuktas jurisdiction. The Lokpal (Ombudsman at the Centre) Bill languishes in the Parliament for decades for reasons which are but obvious. Further, the Right to Information Act is still in its infancy and needs massive popularisation before any perceptible change could be brought about. It emerges that though we have charted out in the right direction, a long way is still to be traversed before any change could be perceived. The movement has been dishearteningly sluggish and short on enthusiasm and pragmatism.
MR. Autar Singh from Malaysia has some observations on the British Experience regarding a Sikh girl, Sarika Singh who was kicked out of the Aberdare Girls Comprehensive School in south Wales for wearing a kada. [http://www.southasiapost.org/2008/20080531/analysis.htm#2] We are reproducing his comments along with a rejoinder from the writer of the article, Mr. Jagpal Singh Tiwana.
Sarika’s parents may not approve her wearing the uniform skirt and blouse and may prefer her to wear the salwar kameez with a dupatta. But they abide by the uniform as they have no reason to argue against it based on religious grounds, or any other grounds. They are not arguing that this is the dress code of another faith being imposed upon her. This may be because the skirt and blouse is not a religious garb of another faith. The students in Punjab are NOT being denied the wearing of their articles of faith, are they? By the way, what are their mandatory articles of faith? Just like Sarika, the parents of the Punjab students may not approve of the kurta pajama with dastaar as the uniform for their children. They may prefer their boys to be shirtless with a dhoti around their waist and being bareheaded and their girls being in saris. But they cannot argue that the uniform of Akal Academy is the religious garb of another faith, and that they are being forced to don the apparel and articles of another faith, thus depriving them their religious freedom. Thus we can only equate the two situations if Sarika was objecting to wear the skirt or the blouse, since the Punjab students are objecting to wear the turban. We all agree that while the turban is a religious requirement for all practicing Sikhs, it is in no way a proprietary dress of the Sikhs alone. Hindus, Muslims and all sorts of people wear the turban as a head dress. Thus requiring Hindu students to wear the turban is not against their culture, their religion or their social norms. So what is the fuss about? It is also NOT a Sikh article of faith that they are being forced to wear, that will somehow project them as Sikhs. What is the uniform of the Punjab Police? Does it include the turban? Do only Sikh policemen wear it? What about the armed forces? When we see soldiers parading with beautiful turbans, are they all Sikhs? If the Hindu parents can get the turban removed from the heads of their children, would the Sikh parents follow suit in the near future? Especially those who themselves do not wear the turban! |
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Akal Academy needs to define its uniform upfront so that parents can decide whether to enroll their children in the Academy, if at all. Mr. Tiwana from Dartmouth, Canada writes: You have included several issues from Sarika Singh, Akal Academy to whether Sikhs who do not wear turbans will allow remove their kids from Schools imposing turban policy. The main issue is really Sarika Singh. Sarika real name is Sarika Watkins Singh. To date her father has neither appeared in the media nor made any statements. Her mother’s pictures are shown with this girl. It is not clear whether both are practicing Sikh. We do not know whether Sarika Watkins Singh is an amritdhari Sikh. She has not mentioned any thing about Kirpan. I do not know whether she can read and write Gurmukhi or can read the scriptures. It might be good idea for Sarika dad to come out and support his daughter. It might be good idea for Sarika to go the whole hog, wear Salvar, Kameez and turban. This might test the School policy further. However, what is known is that some elements have hijacked her case and made a political issue. The School has a uniform policy which both parents were aware. It is not known whether she started using the Karra recently or when she joined the School. The web site set up to support her cause has only 24 signatories. As regards respect to Sikh Karra as an article of faith, in Punjab, outside all Gurudwaras there are piles of these on floors being sold by street vendors. All kinds of shapes are available including big hideous metal Karra's studded with ball bearings. There is no outcry from Sikhs about the commercialisation of this article of faith. It is available on eBay too. One can see piles of small and large Kirpans on sale alongside other trinkets. Tourists haggle over the price of Karah which they take home as a souvenir. Of course, it is normal for Sikhs to give the bridegroom a Gold Karra. It is supposed to be made of simple iron and not ostentatious, gaudy or made of stainless steel etc. It is a reminder to the wearer not to do anything immoral, steal. Nowadays, many Sikhs call it either an article of faith or gift of our Guru to us It is revered and idol worshipped. Young Sikhs use massive stainless steal Karra's as a sign to show male macho. As regards Akal Academy: The truth of the matter is Sikhism is a religion of tolerance, and that is what the Akal academy policy should portray. It needs to define its uniform upfront so that parents can decide whether to enroll their children in the Academy, if at all. The Welsh School did define its policy upfront; Sarika went on visit to Punjab and on return wore a Karra. She and her mother did know what the School policy. The only winners in this situation will be the Sikhs who have hijacked her protest and turned into a political stance and giving her cause to be more insistent.
WTO negotiations: no protection to livelihood AGAIN the heat on WTO negotiations is on. The recent drafts on Agreement on Agriculture and Non Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) are completely against the interest of the developing countries particularly farmers. On 11th of June a meeting was organised by Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security & UNCTAD India which was attended by various farmers’ leaders, civil society organisations and academicians. All of them unequivocally demanded that agriculture should be out of WTO. The resolution stated, “ We, the representatives of farming community, fisher folks, agricultural workers, adivasis, dalits and rural women, civil society organizations, academia, resolve that the latest drafts on Agriculture and Non Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) are the final nails on the coffin of the country's food security and sovereignty. Both the drafts are an orchestrated attempt to open up the Indian markets for highly subsidized cheaper imports. Importing food is importing unemployment that will destroy livelihoods and the country's food self-sufficiency. It also said, “We, representing the majority India are highly concerned about the dilution of Government's position in the WTO negotiations which will play havoc with the lives of us millions. What is being offered to us at WTO by way of special products (SP) and Special Safeguard Measures (SSM) is only a smokescreen and offers no real protection to Indian agriculture, fisheries and forestry. We do not see any efforts by rich countries to remove their agriculture subsidies that depress global prices and insulate their transnational corporations against any market volatility. In this context they demand that the Government should reject the two drafts, as they fail to take India's minimum concerns on-board. Since this has implications on millions of lives and livelihoods of our people, the government should restore import duties to the bound levels and bring back quantitative restrictions. Given the global food crisis, and the extent of agrarian distress in the country, the SP's and SSM's are inadequate to protect livelihoods and food security. This entire process of negotiations ending up in such one sided deals is a wasted and futile exercise. It is high time the Indian government stands up for its people otherwise the socio, economic and political consequences will be disastrous. Hence, Agriculture should be left out of WTO. The resolution
was signed by:
Russia to side with India at the WTO RUSSIA has agreed to side with India in the agriculture negotiations at the WTO. It would also support the developing countries demand for self-designation of Special Products for ensuring food and livelihood security, according to the Counsellor (Agriculture) in the Russian Embassy in India, Valeriya Popotsev. He complimented India for taking a tough stand at the WTO in the interests of the farmers of the developing world. "It would be disastrous for the developing countries to unilaterally open their domestic markets on pressures from the developed countries," he said. Mr Popotsev was speaking at a seminar on Tuesday jointly organized by the Bharatiya Krishak Samaj (India's largest farmers' union) and the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in Delhi to mark the 165th birth anniversary of the famous Russian agri scientist, Kliment A Timiryasev. He expressed happiness at the good wheat harvest that enabled India to do away with imports. He castigated the EU and the US for their bio-fuel programme which has caused phenomenal rise in food prices hurting the poor. He said that Russia's unique collection of seeds is available to anyone in India and can be used to develop local seeds. Chairing the seminar, the president of Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary said that India-Russia friendship was time tested. He said that Russia’s cooperation with India in agriculture was without any conditions unlike the US-India Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture where the US has proposed that its companies would have an upper hand in the execution of the deal. It has also proposed to promote genetically modified (GM) crops in India in a big way. "GM crops are known for their health and environmental hazards. If we promote GM crops at the instance of the US we would be inviting disaster. Russia is a true friend to make India conscious about its export market when recently it temporarily suspended import of Indian rice and sought clarification whether it was genetically contaminated", said Dr Chaudhary. The former horticulture commissioner, Dr KL Chadha emphasized upon the need for micro-irrigation, precision farming and boosting horticulture growth rate which would push the farm growth rate to over 4%. Dr Balram Sharma emphasised the need for adequate research to increase crop productivity. Noted agriculture scientist, Dr MS Swaminathan who was to deliver his keynote address as the chief guest was unable to attend as he was in an urgent meeting with the President of India, Pratibha Patil. Professor and chair of the Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Dr J George expressed concern over the weakening of government institutions and social structure and the neglect of fundamental research in agriculture which have left the small and marginal farmers in the lurch. He blamed inadequate distribution, concentration of food in the hands of the few and bio-fuel factor at the global level responsible for the current food crisis. "The developed countries want to protect their farmers, but they do not like when we protect our farmers. We relaxed our quality norms on wheat imports on pressures from the US and on the contrary the US and other developed countries imposed stringent norms to prevent food exports from the developing world," he said. Arun Shrivastava, senior management consultant, raised concerns over decline of nutrition in conventionally grown food and threats posed by genetically engineered foods. Citing research studies from Europe and US, he said that contamination is inevitable and horizontal contamination (crossing specie barrier) is an established fact. He warned the Russians that their seed bank is as much threatened as India's farmer-saved seeds. The Congress leader and former Member of Parliament, Harikesh Bahadur hoped that the increased bilateral cooperation would boost food production in both the countries [Capt. Gulia is Organising Secretary, Indian Farmers' Organisation]
Inflation a challenge for Pak budget AT 11 per cent inflation, the 2008-09 Pakistan budget would make it difficult for the government to live up to its promise of brining macro-economic stability and its hope of reducing the rich and poor divide.
The Government understands that it might have to extend direct support to the low-income groups, and the middle and upper classes because the prices of gas, electricity, and oil are expected to rise dramatically in the coming months. It, however, can take consolation from the fact that this problem is a global one and not limited to Pakistan alone. To soften the blow of the impending price rise, public sector workers have been given a 20 per cent raise on their basic pay. In order to help the economically weaker sections to tide over budgetary after-effects, the government has introduced Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) as it is not happy with the workings of the Zakat fund and Bait-ul-Mal. Rs. 34 billion would initially be given to 3.3 million households, and the amount would be later raised to Rs. 50 billion. The plan is to give Rs 1,000 per month to each qualifying household with the aid of an impartial computerised database. On the international front, Pakistan PM Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s plan to freeze defence expenditure has not been reciprocated by its neighbour India. Indian Defence Minister A. K. Antony does not think cutting the defence budget is necessary as India’s defence allocation does not match its booming economy. He argues that it is below two per cent of India’s gross domestic product, while its neighbours have apportioned 3 per cent for defence. The government would spend Rs 24 billion for education, out of which the on-going and new projects of Higher Education Commission would get Rs 18 billion, and a meagre Rs 6.2 billion is for primary and secondary education. The health sector gets Rs 18 billion, which is Rs 2.2 billion more than the last financial year. As loans and grants for development of projects the country will be getting Rs 300 billion loans from foreign resources, an amount that is 8.14 percent more than Rs 277.775 the previous year. The budget has been strongly criticised by the opposition leaders as it belies the government’s commitment to the poor as the subsidy on wheat has been cut down to half. This is bound to result in wheat, a staple diet in most parts of Pakistan, becoming a lot dearer. Criticising the cut down in subsidy, JUI Chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman urged the government to probe into the factors responsible for the wheat crisis. “Our western borders were being violated and protests were being lodged only in such cases when soldiers were martyred, while no protests were being made on the killings of the common men by declaring them terrorists,” he said. Clearly inflation is Pakistanis hard and the government has no solution in mind.
How Musharraf handed over Pakistanis for Guantanamo Bay’ AS many as 66 per cent of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay were picked up from Pakistan during last six years in exchange of millions of dollars accepted by President Musharraf. This was revealed by United Kingdom’s Legal Director Zachary Katznelson while delivering a lecture on ‘Forgotten prisoners of Guantanamo Bay’, organised by Institute of Policy Studies on June 4. According to journalist Saadia Khalid, Zachary said that it was President Musharraf who sold the innocent people of his country without proving any charge against them. “Not a single charge has been proved against these prisoners till now,” he said. He said that 20 per cent of the prisoners were handed over by the Afghanistan government while rest of 14 per cent was handed over by other countries. “Not a single trial had been conducted since the opening of Guantanamo Bay in 2002,” he said. Zachary said that the prisoners housed in Guantanamo Bay were living in miserable conditions where they were not allowed to meet or contact their families through telephones. He displayed the photographs of various camps of Guantanamo Bay where the United States abandoned all human values and legal rights. The six camps were no larger than an area of 2x3 metres and the ventilation system was nowhere. He also displayed the pictures of a cell made up of the iron walls, iron ceiling and iron floor. “The officials turn the air-conditioning on when they intend to torture some prisoner which led to decrease in mercury up to the minus degrees,” he said. The pictures of recreational cages at Guantanamo Bay were also displayed in which the prisoners were allowed to visit for two hours in a day while for the rest of 22 hours they have to spend in the camp. The so-called recreational cages are also built in a way that hardly any light or air comes in. Zachary also pointed out various techniques used for torturing the prisoners to make them accept the crime that they had never committed. “One of the barbarous techniques for torture is water pouring, in which the prisoner is left with no choice than to admit that he had committed some crime as his lungs are filed up with water,” he said. He said that four prisoners had been died during last six years, which the CIA officials termed as suicide while one Abdur Razaq said to have a natural death. He further added that no compensation had been given to the prisoners’ families who died during imprisonment or had been released. “President Bush is not acting as a public representative or a president but acting as if he is a god,” he said. He said majority of Pakistani prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were innocent. He quoted the case of Mohammad Paracha who had been arrested in 2003 from Bangkok by the CIA officials. “They alleged that Paracha had a talk with Usama Bin Laden during 2001 but in fact he is an innocent man who was running his business of import and export in Bangkok. Some officials from Pakistan Ministry of Interior met Paracha and concluded that he was neither a terrorist nor a threat to Pakistan and America,” he said. Zachary said that Foreign Minister of Pakistan would be going to America for the release of Paracha in the coming days. “The negotiations between Pakistan and America should not be confined to the release of Paracha but the other six innocent prisoners including Mjid Khan, Umar Baloch, Khalid Sheikh, Abdur Rahim Rabbani and Mohammad Rabanni. He said that the CIA officials were not in favour of following any rule regarding the human rights or the rights of prisoners and claimed that the terrorist did not deserve any relief in this regard. “The officials put forward the point that if terrorist are not following any rules then why the investigating agencies should follow them,” he said. |
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Mr. Autar
Singh writes: In my humble opinion, the article is comparing apples and oranges.
By banning the wearing of an article of faith, the Wales school is violating the
student's right to practice her faith. The girl is abiding by the school uniform
as prescribed. Additionally, she is wearing an article of her faith, which is
mandatory. She is being loyal to both her school and her faith.
To
Purchase or Sell any Land, commercial or residential property
in Canada,
In order to
keep inflation at respectable level, Minister for Finance, Revenue and
Privatisation, Syed Naveed Qamar aims at controlling current account deficit in
order to make it a little easier for the salaried class, labourers and the
extremely poor. He plans to curb the budget deficit, which is expected to be 4.7
per cent of the GDP for current financial year, and in this, he would be tapping
the National Saving Schemes, whose profit rate has been increased by 2 per cent,
government paper float, bonds float, stock markets, privatisation proceeds etc.
The idea is to reduce borrowing from State Bank of Pakistan.