8/20/2019 The hindu review may 2015

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CMYK

BG-BG

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 2015

10   T H E H I NDU F R I DAY , MA Y 1 , 2 0 1 5BENGALURU

EDITORIAL

 W ith an explicit signal to Pakistan to open

up its trade access for Afghan trucks all

the way to the Indian check posts at the

 Wagah-Attari border, Afghanistan’s Pres-

ident Ashraf Ghani is doing more than talking about

economic connectivity. His pointed remarks in an ex-

clusive interview to this newspaper seemed to under-

score possibilities of an alternative reality for South

 Asia, one in which all countries in the region open up

the world for one another. Thus, while Pakistan could,

if it chooses, offer the possibility of trucks moving from

Kabul to Kolkata and Chittagong, it could equally open

up opportunities for India to Central Asia, even as

other countries in SAARC follow suit. While this may 

sound fanciful, the reality is that the only road blocks to

such a vision are political and can easily be adopted on

the ground. If Pakistan joins other SAARC countries to

sign the Motor Vehicles Agreement and fully imple-

ments the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit and Trade

 Agreement (APTTA) it signed in 2011, the subconti-

nent could see a revolution on the roads. The call fromPresident Ghani during his visit to Delhi comes at a

particular ‘subcontinental moment’. Every SAARC na-

tion has pitched in to help with Nepal’s urgent need for

help in the aftermath of its earthquake. While India has

taken the lead, rushing planes with relief just six hours

after the tragedy struck, others have followed. Pakistan

and Sri Lanka have rushed manpower and supplies

with their own relief planes. Nature’s fury doesn’t rec-

ognise political borders, and neither should humans. In

a welcome move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dis-

cussed earthquake relief with Pakistan Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif on the telephone on Thursday. Mr. Modi

did well to suggest a SAARC disaster management team

and joint exercises on mitigating natural disasters.

Significantly, Mr. Ghani also spoke of building a

subcontinental network to cooperate on fighting ter-

ror. The new and mutating threat from IS or Da’esh has

‘changed the game’, according to him. In the past,

insurgencies or anti-national terror organisations

threatened the state, but the “prize” now is not in

defeating the state but in destruction. The only way to

counter the threat is for these very states to unite in

fighting it. The key challenge is to solve political differ-

ences so that all the countries of the region can remove

road blocks to growth and build highways, energy pipe-

lines and fibre optic i-ways which will bring prosperity 

to the region. Building connectivity economically and

thereby politically will provide the key to a more in-

tegrated economic region, paving the way for better

relations in the larger neighbourhood.

Message loud

and clear

100 Smart citiesThe Union Cabinet’s move to make100 cities across India “smart” isill-conceived especially when amajority of the population lives in villages (April 30). The outlay of Rs.one lakh crore for this projectshould instead be diverted to make villages more liveable. This projectalso has a direct connection withthe land acquisition ordinance andcould be aimed at pleasing thecorporate audience.

B.Prabha,Thiruvanathapuram

The idea may be close to the PrimeMinister’s heart, but it underminesthe “R-urban” concept as thegovernment appears to be focussingmore on “smart” cities which inturn will lead to greater rural-to-urban migration. Instead, thegovernment needs to rejuvenaterural life and focus more on solvinggrass-root problems. The creationof “smart cities” will not ensure

“acche din” for the majority especially as they are poor. Thesecentres will be far from inclusive.

 Vineet Sharma, Hathras, Uttar Pradesh

 When thousands are migrating tothe cities in search of work in thewake of a deepening agrarian crisis,the move is bound to halt this tide.There will now be more avenues tolook for rather than flock to themetropolitan cities; congestion andpollution can be reduced.

S. Srinivasan,Chennai 

If the idea is to make urban livingmore liveable, more inclusive and adriver of economic growth, onehopes that urban planners do theirhomework by taking a holistic view of living in harmony with nature. Inthese “smart” cities, adequatepublic spaces must be created forpeople to relax and exercise. There

must be pedestrian plazas that aretraffic-free and where free electric-operated vehicles are in abundance.

The size of these cities should belimited. Needless to say, localresidents, associations and NGOsworking in urban centres should beinvolved in any developmentactivity while setting up “smart”cities and rejuvenating existingurban centres.

D.B.N. Murthy, Bengaluru

On MGNREGSThe BJP-led NDA governmentshould implement MGNREGS withgreater conviction now than everbefore, considering the graveagrarian situation. If farmers areprovided with alternative work in atime of need, it can save many afamily. The Right to Information Act and MGNREGS are the twogems introduced by the UPA government. At least now with the World Bank report, the NDA government should accept the factsand give this programme due credit.

Khalid Mahfuz, New Delhi 

The fact is that MGNREGS hasgiven people in rural India a fairopportunity to earn their ownincome and without any caste orgender discrimination. The mostremarkable feature is that it hasensured equitable pay for men andwomen, something virtually unimaginable in rural India.However, its main drawback is alack of durable asset creation. Whileit cannot be a long-term solution tothe unemployment problem of rural India, there needs to be acomprehensive and moresustainable solution that createslarge-scale self-employmentopportunities in the secondary andtertiary sectors in the rural areas,that stimulates demand andincreases rural productivity.

K.M.K. Murthy, Kochi 

Learning from JapanThe article, “Japan and quakepreparedness” (April 30), wassignificant and timely. It is

paramount to draw lessons frompolicymakers in Japan. While wemay some have time to work out theappropriate technology, let us notoverride caution and fall intodanger, but take urgent steps to atleast sensitise the public onimplementation of quake-resistantbuilding compliance.

Dr. Gramle Amol, Bengaluru

 A UN report says that 200 millioncity dwellers in India will be at graverisk from natural calamities by 2050. As a result, India needs tohave a special disaster managementteam in place.

 A CAG report on the subject isalso alarming. The work given to theBuildings Materials andTechnology Promotion Council(BMTPC) in 2011 to identify areasand structures in cities vulnerableto earthquakes and to renovatethem is still in an elementary stage.Nepal’s trauma should be a wake-upcall.

 Anurag Kamal,Thiruvananthapuram

India may not be at the level of development of Japan. We are alsohandicapped by our highpopulation and where most citiesare built without any planning ormapping. Where is the question of even creating awareness on thesubject of quake preparedness? It isalso very difficult for the commonman to even think of his own house.

IIT Roorkee installed a network of 293 seismic sensors between2005 and 2008 in districtheadquarters across northern andeastern States, including Bengaland Bihar, under a project fundedby the Union Science andTechnology Ministry. Funding forthis was stopped in 2014. It is saidthat most did not work during theNepal quake which affectedresearchers. When this is the case,how can we expect to emulate the

Japanese example?Jatin Jain,

 Faridabad, Haryana

Tough decisionsThere has been a flurry of activity inthe defence sector (“In defence,time for tough decisions”, April 30).The Rafale agreement should meetthe IAF’s immediate operationalneeds as highlighted by the DefenceMinister. However, for India totruly develop its defencecapabilities, it must give morethrust to indigenous hardware. Ithas taken baby steps with theCochin Shipyard and the GRSE,Kolkata, performing well andmeeting the delivery schedulesbeing maintained for the Navy. Thistrend ought to be encouraged forthe Army and Air Force too.

The problem with importingdefence hardware is that India willbe bound by conditionalities likemaintenance to be done by theselling country, permission to besought for using it in war, etc. Indiafaces this issue with the U.S. ForIndian defence to come out of therut, the Forces and the Ministry 

ought to work in tandem ratherthan independently and both mustbe sensitised at the highest levels onhow to ensure smooth cooperation.

 Akshay Viswanathan,Thiruvananthapuram

Marital rapeIt is disturbing to read the views of the Minister about why marital rapecan’t be criminalised (April 30). Theconcept of a “sacred” marriage to justify his view is misplaced.Physical and sexual control by aman over his wife perpetuates apatriarchal mindset. Today, whenwe are fighting for women’s rights,there is a serious need to discuss thegravity of the issue.

Mani Agarwal, Agra

Medicine wars While medical harmony isattempted at the global level,particularly in the tropics, it is

disheartening to read about the“medicine wars”, between allopathy and alternative systems in India

(April 26). Traditional herbalmedicines are the synthesis of therapeutic experiences of generations of practising physiciansof indigenous systems of medicineover hundreds of years, and is stillthe mainstay of 75 per cent to 80 percent of the world’s population.India is sitting on a gold mine of well-recorded and well-practisedknowledge systems of traditionalherbal medicines such as Ayurvedaand Siddha. Herbal medicines havestood the test of time for theirsafety, efficacy, culturalacceptability and fewer side-effects.The introduction of Westernmedicine, or allopathy in the early 19th century rapidly sidelined theindigenous systems. Fortunately, inthe last few decades, there has beensome reversal in the trend due tothe scientific evaluation of folk medicines in the process of revitalising indigenous systems of medicine wherein allopathy is alsogreatly benefited.

Medicinal plants discovered by 

indigenous societies are proving tobe an important source of therapeutic drugs: the traditionalherbal combination theory tocombat multidrug resistant strainsof malaria, and a local andaffordable alternative in managingHerpes Zoster in HIV infectedpatients are noteworthy.

Dr. A.N. Henry,Coimbatore

There are a number of exampleswhere modern medicine has failedand ayurveda has given results.Theresearch methodologies availabletoday favour a reductionist systemof modern medicine. The factremains that policymakers,bureaucrats and the mainstreammedical groups have never tried tounderstand ayurveda and support itto the extent required and exploreit. It is the multinationalpharmaceutical industry that fearsthe resurrection of alternative

medicine the most.Dr. A. Ramya,

 Kannur 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.inmust carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.The Union Cabinet’s nod on Wednesday to the

100 smart cities project and a new urban

renewal mission is an important first step

toward dealing with an old problem that has

only got progressively worse over the years: urban

liveability. A shade less than a third of India’s pop-

ulation now lives in urban areas, overcrowded citiesand towns with infrastructure bursting at the seams.

This problem will only worsen with little or no in-

tervention happening. The proportion of the urban

population can only go in one direction — upward — as

more Indians migrate to the cities and towns in search

of jobs. Cities are engines of growth, and as a result

attract a lot of people. The country’s urban population

contributes over 60 per cent of India’s GDP; in 15 years

this will be 70 per cent. On the other hand, there is little

incentive for people to migrate out of cities. Earlier

attempts at providing better urban infrastructure or at

creating new townships have not been able to deal with

the issue of liveability satisfactorily. Even successful

special economic zones have had to contend with the

issue of lack of social infrastructure, which usually 

means access to avenues of education, health, arts,

sports, and so on. There are numerous definitions of a

smart city but the Modi government’s idea of one

usefully encompasses institutional infrastructure

(governance), physical infrastructure, as also social

infrastructure.

The Cabinet approval marks the first of many steps,as also the easiest, that will be required for the project.

The challenges start now. Of course there is no doubt

that this has created tremendous enthusiasm amongst

many possible stakeholders, including service provid-

ers who have been part of smart city projects elsewhere

in the world. Countries such as Japan, Singapore and

Germany, among many others, have evinced interest to

be a part of this. Yet, in its scale and complexity the

project will be second to none. The official estimates of 

per capita investment requirement is Rs.43,386 for a

20-year period, or a total investment of Rs.7 lakh crore.

Creating a smart city isn’t just about creating the phys-

ical infrastructure — roads, clean water, power, trans-

port and so on, things India finds difficult to deliver to

its citizens nearly seven decades after Independence. It

is hoped that public private partnerships (PPP) will

deliver but the mechanism seems to need a lot of 

tweaking in order for it to work, a fact acknowledged in

the recent Budget. The big challenge will be to create

self-sustaining cities, which create jobs, use resources

wisely and also train people. This also means more

autonomy for these cities. Whether that can happen is amoot question depending heavily on the maturity of 

the Indian political system.

India’s urbanchallenges

CARTOONSCAPE

The gloom over economic growth ap-pears to have dissipated a bit afterthe new numbers on National In-come were released at the end of 

January 2015. However, there is continuedscepticism about the numbers as several

analysts feel that they are not in accord withthe ground realities. According to the ad- vanced estimates for 2014-15, the growthrate is projected at 7.4 per cent. What are theprospects for 2015-16? We do not have thedata for past years reworked on the new baseand the new methodology, and without sucha time series it becomes hard to forecast.Perhaps, 2015-16 will be a shade better than2014-15, if all the positive factors mentionedlater come together. However, it will fallshort of the Budget expectations of eight percent.

Favourable factors and uncertainty 

 What are the favourable factors that cancontribute to a better performance of theeconomy in 2015-16? First and foremost,there is the advantage of low crude oil prices.This will not only reduce the oil import billand impact favourably on the current ac-count balance, but will also moderate theprice increase in general because petroleumproducts are used in the production of almostevery commodity and service. Second, thecredit rating agency, Moody’s decision to up-

grade the outlook to “positive” may facilitatethe inflow of capital. Though the recovery of the advanced economies is still tepid, theexternal environment as far as India is con-cerned may be benign. On the domestic front,there are signs of a gradual improvement inthe investment “sentiment”.

Still, there are several unfavourable or un-certain factors, chief among them being theuncertainty about the monsoon. We have notyet seen the full impact of the unseasonalrains of the last few months. The damage tocrops has been extensive in several States

and the natural consequence will be some

pick up in food prices. Initial reports indicatethat rainfall this time will be below normal.The impact on production will depend notonly on the quantum of rainfall but also on itsdistribution over time and across States.Even though agriculture contributes only about 15 per cent to the GDP, any shortfall inagricultural production has serious implica-tions. It fuels inflation and human distress ishigh as more than 50 per cent of the pop-ulation depends on agriculture. Second, theseveral initiatives promised in the Budgetwill have the desired impact only if they areimplemented speedily and effectively. Forexample, take the increased allocation of funds for railways and roads. Are these min-

istries adequately prepared to utilise thesefunds? Some of the initiatives such as theNational Investment and Infrastructure

Fund and Mudra Bank will take time to be setup and for their impact to be felt.

Role of public investment

The Economic Survey has persuasively ar-gued for larger public investment at a timewhen private investment is yet to pick up.The same point was made by the Report of the Economic Advisory Council to the PrimeMinister in September 2013, that said: “Thefocused attention that is being given toachieving the production and capacity cre-ation targets in coal, power, road and rail-

ways should generate higher growth. In

effect, the public sector would act as thedriver of growth and crowd in private sectoractivities”. It is to be noted that capital ex-penditures of the Central government in theBudget are not significant. Capital expendi-tures are also not synonymous with invest-ment. While capital expenditures in 2015-16show an increase over the revised estimatesof 2014-15, as a proportion of GDP, they re-main the same as in the Budget estimate of 2014-15, i.e. at 1.7 per cent of GDP. In fact, thebulk of the investment has to come frompublic sector institutions such as Coal Indiaand the Indian Railways. What is needed isfor the government to come out with a state-ment regarding the quantum of investment

that will be made by the various public sectorinstitutions. This should be monitored every quarter and the actual investments made

should be made public. Apart from makingthe government accountable, this will inspireconfidence in investors.

The new initiatives

For raising the growth rate, the govern-ment relies on many of the initiatives an-nounced in the Budget. Several of them needclarification and refinement. For example,how will the National Investment in Infras-tructure Fund operate? Will it take the formof a trust or a non-banking financial company (NBFC)? The word “trust” was used in the

Budget speech. The sooner the details arespelled out, the better it will be. Take anotheridea, of the Mudra Bank. To call the institu-tion a “bank” will be incorrect if it is only tobe a refinancing institution. Which are thelast mile finance institutions which will berefinanced by this institution? Apparently,this institution will have to rely totally onBudget allocation. The idea of a refinancinginstitution is good but, once again, the detailsneed to be spelled out. In fact, in this context,perhaps the best way to promote investment

in the large-, medium- and small-scale sectoris to go back to the days when we had devel-opment banks which provided long-term fi-nance to large, medium and small industries. At the national level, the IDBI (IndustrialDevelopment Bank of India of that time)played a major role. At the State level, Statefinance corporations operated to providelong-term finance to medium and small en-terprises. The development banks becameuniversal banks and in that process we havelost out on long-term finance. Even the new initiative of allowing commercial banks toraise infrastructure bonds may not be ade-quate. Very soon, they will reach the limits of exposure with respect to industries andgroups. And, it is also difficult to have fire-walls separating short term from long-termcredit. While the new ideas promoted in theBudget are welcome, it is time to think interms of creating long-term finance institu-tions to provide equity and long-term loansto large and medium industries.

‘Stalled’ projects and consensus

The easiest way to achieve higher growth

in the short run is to ensure that the projectsthat are under way are completed in time sothat output will flow out of them. India’sinvestment rate as a proportion of GDP hascome down from the peak it had reached in2007-08. Nevertheless, it is still around 32per cent. In normal circumstances, thisshould have given us a growth of 7.5 to 8 percent. But the actual growth rate was below it.The decline in output growth is sharper thanthe decline in investment rate. This may bebecause of the delay in the completion of projects or a lack of complementary invest-ments. In some cases, it can also be due tonon-availability of critical inputs such as coaland power. The Economic Survey has exam-ined in detail the causes behind “stalled”projects. The reasons include not only delay in clearances and permits but also decline indemand and lack of finance. The analysis alsoshows that clearing the top 100 projects by  value will address 83 per cent of the problemof stalled projects. Focussed attention on re-moving the bottlenecks will give one an im-mediate pay off.

Strong economic growth is imperative as

growth is the answer to many of our socio-economic problems. Prospects for a rise ingrowth rate in the immediate future appearto be bright. This depends critically on imple-menting, in a time-bound manner, the vari-ous initiatives announced in the Budget.Public investment is directly in the hands of the government. A continuous progress re-port regarding the performance in this areawill go a long way in building up confidence. What is needed is a timetable of action. It isimportant that non-economic factors are notallowed to derail the process of economicgrowth. Contentious issues must be avoidedand consensus building on key economic is-sues is very much the need of the hour.

(C. Rangarajan is former Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and former Governor, Reserve Bank of India.) 

Growth: the next steps to be taken

C. Rangarajan

There are several unfavourable or uncertain factors, chiefamong them being the uncertainty about the monsoon.

Strong economic growth is imperative as growthis the answer to many of our socio-economicproblems. Prospects for a rise in growth rateappear to be bright, which depends critically onimplementing, in a time-bound manner, the various initiatives announced in the Budget

www.jobsalerts.in

8/20/2019 The hindu review may 2015

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Union Finance Minister Arun Jait-ley struck the right note recently while speaking at the 16th D.P.Kohli memorial lecture organised

by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)on April 27 in New Delhi. D.P. Kohli was the

founder director of the CBI who held officefrom April 1, 1963 to May 31, 1968. The CBItraces its origin to the Special Police Estab-lishment (SPE) which was set up in 1941 by the Government of India. It became the DelhiSpecial Police Establishement and acquiredits popular current name, the Central Bureauof Investigation through a Home Ministry resolution dated April 4, 1963. Kohli is rightly remembered as being a determined crusaderagainst corruption.

One may not agree with all that Mr. Jaitley said at the lecture especially with regard tohow an investigator somehow wants to makeout a case against an accused, although theevidence marshalled by him did not justify it.He had said: “He [the investigator] followsthe golden rule that if he gives a report thatthe accused is prima facie not guilty, thenquestions are going to be raised about him.Therefore, his golden rule is he must some-how make the case and it is the accused’sgood luck that he gets a fair trial,” adding thatthis process has hindered the whole processof economic decision making. Mr. Jaitley fur-ther added that under such circumstances,

decision-making becomes a game of passingthe parcel. “Departments of purchase, de-fence and disinvestment have all suffered,”he said.

Hurdle in administration

However, his views on the need to revisitseveral provisions of the Prevention of Cor-ruption Act (PC Act), 1988, cannot be ig-nored. His description of the fear psychosisthat grips the bureaucracy is no exaggeration.It is real, I have heard about this and had thisconveyed to me strongly by many friends inthe civil service.

I agree that apprehension by civil servantsof the consequences of taking a decision in amatter of public importance — especially onethat involves huge expense to the public ex-chequer — has been a roadblock to proactiveand positive administration. I highlight this

especially at a time when the entire nation

wants governments, both Central and State,to work fast and effectively. Ironically, fear isthe hallmark of those more honest amongcivil servants than the ones who are venaland bereft of values. In this context, it shouldbe remembered that there are instanceswhere an honest civil servant makes a rank bad decision, not because of a lack of in-telligence or inarticulation, but because of timidity and an inability to turn down un-scrupulous, off-the-record directions from apolitical master. In cases like these, the offi-cial concerned has to be punished withingovernment and not in courts, that too forlack of courage rather than of integrity. Un-fortunately the law, as it exists, does notmake a distinction between the reasonably 

honest yet pusillanimous government offi-cial and the dishonest one. It places both on apar. This is the crux of the matter with regardto a lack of integrity in the civil services.

The reforms era 

I was struck by the distinction Mr. Jaitley drew between the pre- and post-1991 sit-uation in government and its impact on anti-corruption investigations. In the second timeframe, the civil servant at the higher levelshad to take momentous decisions to fasttrack liberalisation and quicken the proc-esses of a failing economy. Conventional androutine thinking had to be shed and boldcourses of actions adopted to meet the direneeds of the country. Mr. Jaitley was on tar-get when he said that the PC Act was totally unsuited for such a situation facing a nation

that was trying to march ahead on the eco-

nomic front. He said, “… the Act pre-dated1991, when the economic reform process be-gan. It was perceived in a regulatory frame-work when we were still more regulated.That Act has today to evolve. And the basis of the evolution is that when economic activity is being enlarged in the country, in any eco-nomic activity and decision-making therewould always be new areas to charter out andquick decisions to be taken.”

Presumption of guilt

Unfortunately, necessary changes to thelaw were not put in place and this failure toreform anti-corruption law had its impact onthe pace of public administration and staff morale. Even now, the proposed amend-

ments to the Act are excruciatingly slow incoming, although approved by the UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA) governmentmore than a year ago. The information now isthat the Union Cabinet has cleared the sug-gested changes and has improved upon themeasures agreed upon by the UPA.

Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Act is generally looked upon as being the villain of the piece.Under this provision of law, the investigatingagency has to prove that a civil servant whoseconduct was in question took a decisionwhich “obtains for any person any valuablething or pecuniary advantage without any public interest” in order to proceed againsthim under the Act. There is a suggestion hereof a presumption of guilt that can be drawnagainst the official in question. This, primafacie, is a negation of the English jurispru-

dence which we inherited and adopted. Theoverall perception generated by the sternwording of this subsection was that it was notnecessary at all for the investigator to provemens rea  or dishonest intention to proceedagainst the civil servant being probed, andthat an adverse presumption could be drawnstraightaway against him. Section 20 of the Act, which deals with presumptions that canbe drawn against an accused by the court,however refers only to clauses (a) and (b) of subsection (1) of Section 13 and not to clause

(d)(iii) that punishes even an inadvertent actcausing loss to government. Even so, as a ruleof thumb, investigating agencies, both in theCentre and in the States, have, in the initialstages of an investigation and before obtain-ing legal opinion, tended to interpret the law in a very narrow perspective. In turn, this hashad an adverse impact on civil servant mo-rale. In these circumstances, relief to a civilservant can come only from the court beforewhom he/she is arraigned. For this, the civilservant should be lucky to get a knowledge-able judge and an objective public prosecutor— both of whom are now a vanishing tribe.

 An amendment to the PC Act, which woulddelete this particular subsection (1)(d)(iii) of Section 13, has been on the anvil for quitesome time. I am certain that there is politicalconsensus that this harsh provision will haveto go sooner than later. This move will greatly reduce misgivings in the civil service.

Rise of corruption

Naturally, Mr. Jaitley’s speech did not cov-er dishonest acts by government servants inroutine decisions, such as assessment of in-

come, granting exemptions from tax, pur-chase of material and award of contracts. Therise of corruption at the level of senior mem-bers of the bureaucracy, especially in reve-nue collection agencies, has been alarming.Many officers are guilty of blatant dishon-esty, taking advantage of the enormous dis-cretionary authority vested in them. Thedisease of corruption afflicts even those di-rectly recruited through the All India com-petitive examination, and generally considered to be the cream of the civil ser- vices, and who have no justification to beeven slightly dishonest. In a number of re-cent cases, a few who have not even complet-ed five years of service, have been caught redhanded for accepting bribes. It is not my casethat the direct recruits into the other Ser- vices are angels. They have possibly less op-portunity to indulge in wanton corruption.

Overall, this sad state of affairs calls forruthless penal action in a court of law. TheSupreme Court observed recently that theprotection of the law, both under the Code of Criminal Procedure and the PC Act, in theform of a requirement of government sanc-tion for criminal prosecution, will not apply to corrupt public servants. This is most wel-come because the procedure for accordinggovernment sanction for prosecuting a cor-rupt public servant is tortuous and time-consuming. In the past, this had helped todelay or even halt proceedings against influ-ential senior officers in cahoots with dis-honest Ministers. This ruling by the SupremeCourt has to be taken seriously and usedliberally in the future while handling re-quests from the CBI for such sanction.

In my view, an officer recruited to an AllIndia Services and the Central Services —after a rigorous process of screening by theUnion Public Service Commission (UPSC),who is then paid handsomely and who getspromotions on time in spite of uniformly mediocre performance — can commit mis-takes. But he or she should never be dis-honest. If we do not act decisively to stem therot, we will only fall in the eyes of the worldwhich wants to do business with us but willnot because of the problems of dealing with acorrupt civil service.

(R.K. Raghavan is a former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi.) 

Removing ambiguities in graft lawInvestigating agencies have tended to interpretthe law in a narrow perspective. In turn, this has had an adverse impact on morale in the civilservice. In these circumstances, relief to a civilservant can come only from the court before whom he is arraigned

R.K. Raghavan

An officer recruited to an All India Services and the CentralServices can commit mistakes. But he or she should never be

dishonest. If we do not act decisively to stem the rot, we will

only fall in the eyes of the world.

CMYK

BG-BG

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015

10   T HE HI N D U S A T U RDA Y, M A Y 2, 20 1 5BENGALURU

EDITORIAL

Not all the amendments to the Prevention of 

Corruption Act cleared by the Union Cabi-

net last week inspire public confidence or

meet the objective of filling gaps in domestic

anti-corruption law. In significant respects, the pro-

posals fall short of public expectations and fail to ad-

dress key issues in corruption jurisprudence. In its Bill

introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2013, the UPA govern-

ment proposed to extend the protection of prior sanc-

tion for prosecuting public servants to former officials.

The ostensible reason was that Section 197 of the Code

of Criminal Procedure protected retired officials, while

the PCA covered only serving officials. The govern-

ment wants to stick to this change, when it would have

been more advisable to bring the CrPC in consonance

with the PCA. The sanction provision ought to have

been restricted to prosecutions that flow from devia-

tions from public policy, laws and regulations. Possess-

ing unexplained assets, being caught red-handed while

taking a bribe and misappropriating property cannot

be actions in the course of official functions, and in

such cases prior sanction cannot be required. The Bill

drops the protection accorded to bribe-givers if they 

depose during trial, thereby deterring those coerced

into giving a bribe from subsequently testifying against

offenders. A distinction ought to have been made be-

tween collusive bribery and bribery under coercion.

The expanded provision relating to bribery and en-

hanced jail terms are positive developments, but the

idea of subsuming most offences now covered under

‘criminal misconduct’ into a single clause should be

revisited, lest some form of abuse of office slips through

the net. Another worrisome aspect is the change made

to the offence of possessing ‘disproportionate assets’.

 When the 2013 Bill u sed the term ‘intentional enrich -

ment’, it seemed as though the prosecution needed to

prove the possession of unexplained assets as well as

the ‘intention’ to enrich oneself. The government now 

says “possession of disproportionate assets” will be

proof of “such illicit enrichment”. It is to be hoped that

this will mean the prosecution need not prove the

intention to amass wealth, as such an additional re-

quirement would allow those in possession of ill-gotten

wealth to escape the law. The proposed amendmentshave positive aspects too. They seek to curb commer-

cial entities from offering inducements to public ser-

 vants and provide for punishments to individuals in

charge of such entities. The trial court itself can now 

deal with the process of attachment of property instead

of the district court. Fixing a time frame for grant of 

sanction and completion of trial is a welcome feature. A 

crucial opportunity to overhaul the anti-corruption

law should not be lost through imperfect amendments.

 Amending the law 

against corruption

Moga molestationThe incident of the molestation of ateenage girl, who later died, on amoving bus in Punjab shows thatensuring women’s safety is still outof reach despite all the tall talk of women’s empowerment andensuring their rights (“Teenage girlmolested, dies in Punjab”, May 1).Post the Nirbhaya incident, theground reality as far as women’ssafety is concerned is still bleak asthere appears to be no fear of thelaw in the minds of anti-socialelements. The government needs tosend out a strong message to themthat it means business when itcomes to curbing harassment andrape.

P.K. Varadarajan,

Chennai 

It is unfortunate that the incident istaking on a political angle. The focusshould be more on law and orderthan on the Badals, alleged to be theowners of the transport company which runs the bus service. Cases of molestation on buses are commonin this region though most gounreported. In employing staff suchas drivers/conductors/helpers torun such services, there must be aprocess of verification. More thanthis, there must be a system like inthe West where the driver is also incharge of issuing tickets, and whichwill enhance passenger safety.

Balvinder,Chandigarh

There must be a social boycott of the persons associated with the busservice. It will be an act of Gandhigiri with betterconsequences than enacting the

law.Rajnish Goyal,

 Bathinda, Punjab

Public debt planThe BJP-led NDA governmentappears to have now turned itsattention to curtailing theindependence of the Reserve Bank of India (“Jaitley rolls back publicdebt plan”, May 1). Our country hasbeen served well by eminentGovernors of the RBI for the past 68years without exception, Even inthe dark days of mounting publicdebt to the U.S. and the USSR,negotiating better terms and barterdeals and intra debts with variousinstruments, the RBI did well. Withthis kind of a history, I cannot seethe reason why the governmentnow wants to interfere in the RBI’spowers. As the country’s financeand policy manager, the bank needs

to discipline big spending and bigborrowing. The proposed new agency will not be able to maintainthe required financial discipline andthe government needs to respectthe RBI’s statutory independence.It is better left alone.

I.P.P. Prabhakar Rao, Secunderabad 

Religious freedomThe U.S. panel’s report on religiousfreedom in India is based on limitedor no understanding of India’shistory, society and Constitution(May 1). In fact, Kerala is the idealparadigm for the remarkablereligious and cultural diversity andunity in India. John Keay in hisdelightful read, Into India , writes:“There are whole streets of nothingbut Churches and half thepopulation seems to be in holy orders — Bishops, Archbishops,Cardinals and Catholicos”. Hefurther recommends: “If you have a

new religion to impart to the worldnow where will you find a morepromising seedbed than in Kerala?”

The U.S Ambassador would do wellto sign off with a visit to Kerala,preferably on a Sunday. He wouldbe thrilled and delighted to attendSunday Mass at a church of hischoice/denomination in most citiesin the State. I do not think this ispossible anywhere else in the world.

C.V. Venugopalan, Palakkad 

The government has done well indismissing the U.S. panel’s reporton religious freedom in India. Thereappears to be some ulterior motivebehind the report and with an aimto obstruct the growth of India by inciting the minorities. If theminorities are not safe in India,then how has phenomenal growthof India taken place? What was the

population of the minorities at thetime of Indian independence andwhat is it now? The kind of facilitiesextended to the minorities in Indiaare not possible even in the U.S.

M.P. Yadav, Hyderabad 

The truth is that the minorities inIndia enjoy a number of privileges. Which country which is non-Muslim extends to the community aHajj subsidy? The U.S. should stopsermonising to the rest of the worldabout equality. To begin with, wecan ask the U.S. to start treating African-Americans on an equalfooting as the whites and to look into police brutality against African-Americans.

Hareesh Janakiraman,Texas, U.S.

Wrong frequencyIt was quite disheartening to readabout the diktat issued by 

government to community radiostations to throw open theircontent for scrutiny on a daily basis

(May 1). It clearly infringes uponthe right to freedom of expressionand speech which is a pillar of ourdemocracy. This retrograde stepwill have widespread repercussionas citizens, especially tribals andthose in remote areas, will bedeprived of a voice. Given thetremendous ethnic and linguisticdiversity of India and centralisingtendencies on the Indian radionetwork, community radio providesthe stage to facilitate “unity indiversity”, where radioprogrammes in regional languagesdo great service to remote areas.

 Vipna Verma, Shimla

Demographic dividendDr. Subramanian Swamy’s article

(“Building a young nation of character”, May 1) is right inhighlighting the necessity to utilisethe natural resource of youth powerin a proper way. Parents andteachers in this great nation have asignificant role in transforming ouryouth into a quality humanresource. If our youth develop theseven dimensions of intelligence —cognitive, emotional, social, moral,spiritual, environmental andinnovational — then India can aimto be the best in the world in allspheres.

S. Ramakrishnasayee, Ranipet, Tamil Nadu

Delhi and green goalsThe article, “Green Goals for theDelhi aam aadmi ” (May 1), thoughwell-intentioned, seems to havestrayed into questionable territory in its proposal to cap the number of licences issued in the city (followingSingapore’s model). The problem

with a cap and subsequentauctioning off of licences will makethe ability to drive a car a privilege

available only to the upper class. Atprojected rates of Rs.12 lakh, themiddle class and lower classes willhave to forego their right to drive a vehicle. While this may seem apositive development for pollutionlevels, the less well-off will be victims of a discriminatory system.For instance, if there is a medicalemergency and a family memberneeds to be driven to a hospital,does this mean a person who hasnot shelled out Rs.12 lakh will haveto take public transport to reachhis/her destination?

Saumya Varma, New Delhi 

 Auctioning of licences as a solutionto control pollution is whimsicaland bound to fail in the backdrop of 

rampant corruption. The emphasison the use of public transportation,compulsory afforestation, parkingproblems, and acting concurrently with the NGT are more what thepermanent solution should look like rather than adopting one thatcreates chaos. Laws should createconfidence in people rather thanfear.

Naveen Bijender Chhillar, Bahadurgarh, Haryana

The auctioning of licences is awonderful idea to gradually reducethe number of vehicles in the city. And this would lead to much neededimprovements in the quality of airwe breath. However, my questions:wouldn’t Rs.12 lakh be a very highamount per licence, even for thewell to do? Also how do you arrive atsuch a figure? Using the Singaporeexample, the amount to be chargedin India is quite a stretch. I can alsoimagine the amount of protests

such a move will generate. Amit Yadav,

 New Delhi 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.inmust carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

That despite being an economic superpower

the United States has severe domestic issues

tied to poverty, marginalisation and crime

was made even more evident in the recent

protests that turned into riots in Baltimore. These riotsfollowed the death of an African-American youth,

Freddie Gray, at the hands of the city police in early 

 April and were not a one-off occurrence. They were just

the latest in a series of convulsions that has rocked

 American cities owing to what is perceived as racist

policing and targeting of “black” youth by law enforce-

ment officials. Last year in the town of Ferguson in

Missouri, similar riots had occurred after a white police

officer shot down a black teenager, Michael Brown, in

what was perceived as an unprovoked act. The U.S. had

also seen a raging public debate over the acquittal of a

neighbourhood protection volunteer, George Zimmer-

man, in the case of the murder of another black teenag-

er, Trayvon Martin, in Florida in 2012. These and other

recent incidents suggest a disturbing picture of law 

enforcement in which African-Americans — especially 

young males — are unfairly targeted, stereotyped and

subject to brutal methods of policing. With dwindling

employment opportunities due to insufficient educa-

tion and poverty, the community suffers from high

rates of criminal incidence, stereotyping the young

 African-American. The problem, which is somewhatdifferent from more blatant issues of racism, segre-

gation and civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s, has been

acknowledged by President Barack Obama and other

politicians, but little has been done to address it.

Baltimore, a city that has a high concentration of 

 African-Americans relative to other parts of the coun-

try, suffers from specific issues such as urban poverty 

owing to long-term deindustrialisation and unemploy-

ment. It has very high crime rates with the African-

 American youth of the inner cities in particular prone

to be blamed for them even as they face difficult living

conditions. Law enforcement in the city has been char-

acterised by police brutality, and despite a better racial

balance than elsewhere in the country in the city’s

administration there is a severe lack of confidence in

the system among residents. The abysmal state of af-

fairs, which was depicted realistically by the popular

TV series The Wire , extends to other inner cities as

well. Unless the U.S. rethinks its strategies on crime

and punishment with respect to the black community 

— incarceration rates among African-Americans con-

tinue to remain unacceptably high – and until theeconomic system evolves a way of addressing inner-

city poverty, such incidents seem destined to recur.

 America’sperennial angst

CARTOONSCAPE

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MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015

8   T H E H I N D U M O N D AY , M A Y 4 , 20 1 5BENGALURU

EDITORIAL

 A s the dust settles over Nepal, the landlockedcountry is saddled with questions related todisaster management and state structure, tobe answered by its polity and those in charge

of governance. As reports point out, Nepal’s earthquaketragedy — with the loss of 7,000 lives (and counting),physical and psychological injuries to many more, andextensive damage to property — has been exacerbatedby the fact that rescue, relief and rehabilitation effortsare concentrated in the Kathmandu valley. Areas closerto the epicentre are mostly inaccessible: the roads arebroken, and landslips have ravaged an already difficultterrain. Yet it is in these very areas that the damage hasbeen the most severe. The Nepal government has vir-tually thrown its hands up, showing up its incapacity toaddress the severity of the problem, as aid flow fromagencies, and countries including India and China, hasfilled the breach to a limited extent. This incapacity is,to a great extent, the Nepal polity’s own making, unableas it has been to complete the Constitution-writingproject started in 2008. Meanwhile, poor governancehas rendered Nepal a difficult place to live in. Out-migration has been on the rise, even as many Nepalishave flocked to the capital city despite its congestion.Most of the economic activity is concentrated in andaround the valley. So are the donor agencies and thebulk of the political leadership in charge of aiddistribution.

The issues that have held up the successful comple-tion of the Constitution-writing process are closely related to the present inability of the Nepal governmentto respond quickly and effectively to the natural disas-ter. If Nepal had been a truly federal republic withgreater decentralisation of power at the local levels, andhad a diversified economic base that is not limited to the

 valley, would there not have been better roads and moreresponsive administrative systems in place in some of the most-affected places beyond the valley? If thesefederal units had been structured in such a manner as togive local communities greater power and responsib-ility, would they not have been more prepared to handledisaster? Would not a strong executive unhindered by differences between the presidency and the parliamen-tary leadership have helped more streamlined decision-making? The answers to these questions are in theaffirmative. This then suggests that the promise of thesuccessive Jan-Andolans that led to the formation of the Constituent Assembly in the first place has to berealised by a responsible and forward-thinking polity.Nepal’s political class ought to use this juncture as aspur to finalise a Constitution. This should allow itscitizenry to be better prepared for any more such trage-dies in the seismically fragile zone they inhabit.

Nepal’s

moment of truth

A middle-class causeIt is surprising that political partiesalways say all sections of the publicare happy when they are in powerand, when in the Opposition,suddenly declare that people,especially the poor and farmers, aresuffering a great deal (May 3).

I am referring to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and hisattempts to reach out to the middle

class. By accusing the NDA government of trying to dilute thereal estate Bill, has Mr. Gandhiforgotten that it was the Congressthat was in power for decades? Whatdid the Congress do then and why didn’t it take care of the interests of these sections?

Gurajala Alekhya, Secunderabad 

 All this while, the key constituency of the Congress was the aam aadmi .The middle class never seemed to beon its agenda. If the Congress andRahul now want to look towards themiddle class, they will have to bewatchful while making assurances.The middle class is one section thatis known to ask searching questionsand cannot be taken for a ride.

Maya Hemant Bhatkar, Mumbai 

Rahul’s recent sabbatical has turnedout to be a shot in the arm for the

Congress. His batting for seriousissues such as the plight of farmers,agrarian distress and other related

causes show that he is a rising forcein politics. But all this should not bea flash in the pan. He has to make theruling BJP realise that even with itsminuscule numerical strength inthe Opposition, the Congress canstill play a vital role in Parliament.For now, Rahul needs to keep goingahead as this is the only way he canget the Congress out of its miserablestate.

R. Sridharan,

Chennai 

The fact of the matter is thatfarmers in India have no long-term vision of their occupation andpoliticians have no role to play. In allthis, the matter now lies betweenthe government and the farmers.That realtors have been having afield day all these years is somethingthat cannot be denied by anyone.Builders must have fixed theirprofits first, then hunted for a cheapdeal in getting swathes of land and

then constructed buildings to sell at

exorbitant prices. It is the gulliblemiddle class that has fallen prey totheir game. What was the Congressdoing all this while?

T.M. Renganathan, Srirangam, Tamil Nadu

Beasts of burden We are a nation that has doublestandards. On the one hand thegovernment bans the sale of beef and on the other, it washes its hands

of farmers’ problems (“Vidarbha

farmers bear beasts of burden”, May 3). Cattle are a part and parcel of agriculture and have a life.Therefore, the government mustthink of a scheme to ensure theirupkeep. When the government isnot bothered about farmer distress,how can we expect it to extend somecourtesy to a beast?

T. Anand Raj,Chennai 

Laws and rules only appear to beincreasing the suffering of the poor.Having to look after their cattle willonly aggravate the sorrow plight of the farmer. Also, beef was mostoften consumed by the poor as it isthe cheapest meat when comparedto mutton. One hopes that thegovernment does a beef ban rethink.

 Amina Omer,Chennai 

Judge RajeswariThe appointment of Raja Rajeswarias the first Indian woman to beappointed to a criminal court inNew York is heartening (May 3).Had she stayed on in India, she may not even have become an advocate!In her success, she has rightly highlighted that it is ‘equality of opportunity’ which has helped animmigrant like her. India too hasabundant opportunities but theinnumerable hurdles placed beforeone by social and political factors

are what hold back the deserving.S. Rajagopalan,

Chennai 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.inmust carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

The imbroglio over Baba Ramdev’s ‘Divya Pu-trajeevak Beej’, the ayurvedic medicine thatwas allegedly branded to promise the birth of male offspring, has mostly been about its bla-

tantly expressed son-preference. Raised in the RajyaSabha, the issue hogged the limelight last week, with theOpposition demanding an explanation from the govern-ment whose Chief Executive has shared many a plat-form with the yoga guru in the past. Positing the drugbeside the recently-launched Beti Bachao Beti Padhao(save the girl child) programme of the Central govern-ment, critics used the opportunity to level questions atPrime Minister Narendra Modi. The outrage was war-ranted: the 2011 Census indicated a child sex ratio (0-6years) of 914 — meaning for every 1,000 boys there were86 girls missing. For years the sex ratio in India hasbeen low, abysmal in certain decades as in 2001-11,skewed in favour of males, thanks to an irrational pref-erence for boys over girls. Amounting to eugenics, in itsextreme, involving attempts to influence the sex of thechild preconception, son preference is more commonly manifested as insidious termination of pregnancies orfemale infanticide. Any attempt to perpetuate genderbias must be nipped in the bud.

Baba Ramdev himself subsequentlyretorted that Pu-trajeevak was only a generic term for child in its original

Sanskrit sense, and that it only promised to targetfemale infertility. He stoutly maintained that any refer-ence to son preference was imagined, not intended, andpromised non-ambiguous packaging. However, withoutsplitting hairs over nomenclature, it is important to seethe occasion for what it presents: an opportunity tomake an emphatic call for a scientific validation of thecountry’s traditional systems of medicine. When theBharatiya Janata Party government upgraded the De-partment of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani,Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) into a Ministry in2014, it was expected that this would result in thescientific validation of various drugs offered by thesesystems. It has been the argument of scientists that thepotency claims with respect to these drugs rest largely on those making or dispensing them, and as such theseundergo no proper review or validation — a tried andtested process that allopathy swears by. Some of theseclaims tend to border on the fantastic, and can evenattract the penal provisions of the Drugs and MagicRemedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act. It is ab-solutely essential that the state, while promoting these

pluralistic healing traditions, ensures that when peoplemake the choice to go in for such treatment, they arereassured by science, and not just blind faith.

Pseudo-scienceand gender bias

CARTOONSCAPE

The intense fighting that resulted inthe virtual takeover of Yemen by the Shia Houthis earlier this yearsent foreign nationals fleeing the

chaos, resulting in the recent, splendidly exe-cuted, and deservedly, well-publicised rescue

of more than 5,000 Indian and foreign na-tionals by the Indian government. It also sentshock waves through neighbouring Saudi Arabia which chose to react robustly thoughthere was no attack on Saudi Arabia by Yemenis.

To properly understand the situation, onefirst needs to study Yemen, its politics and itsturbulent history. The Shia Imams ruled Ye-men for over 1,000 years till 1962, when theImamate was overthrown by nationalist mil-itary officers led by Col. Abdullah Sallal. BothCol. Sallal and Republican Yemen’s secondPresident, Abdul Rahman Yahya Al-Iryani,were Zaydi Shias; Ali Abdullah Saleh, Presi-dent for 34 years, is also a Zaydi. In fact, Mr.Saleh waged a bitter military campaignagainst the Houthis from 2004 to 2010. TheMuslim Brotherhood is quintessentially aSunni entity, but in Yemen, its chairman andsecretary general are Zaydis. Thus, all thisshows that political contestations in Yemenhave always been driven by personal ambi-tions and political ideology, and never by sectarianism.

Chronic infighting 

 A unique attribute of Yemeni society isthat every individual has several firearms. Asa result, the country is awash with millions of weapons. Rockets and missiles, Kalashni-kovs, machine guns, and even tanks havebeen on sale openly for decades. Also, resort-ing to violence is the usual medium of set-tling disputes. Both the Imams/Kings of Yemen in the 20th century were assassinat-ed; a President too. Two others were over-thrown in coups. In Yemen, chronicinfighting is a normal thing.

Soon after Saudi Arabia was formally es-tablished in 1932, it invaded Yemen in 1934and absorbed the Yemeni provinces of Asir,Jizan and Najran. In the Yemen civil war of 1962-1967, Saudi Arabia supported the ZaydiImam. Since then, Saudi Arabia has sought toinfluence internal political dispensations by providing billions of dollars in aid.

Yemen was amongthe four Arab countriesconvulsed by massive demonstrations fromFebruary 2011 onwards. Alarmed by its pro-tégé, Mr. Saleh’s inability to control burgeon-ing unrest, mediation by the Saudi-led Gulf 

Cooperation Council (GCC) forced him tostep down in February 2012, while power wasredistributed among the other existing pow-

er holders — Mr. Saleh’s General People’sCongress, the Mushtarak, the “loyalist” Op-

position and the Sunni Islah party, leavingout the Houthis even though they had partic-ipated very actively in the 2011 uprising. AbdRabbuh Mansour Al Hadi, Vice-Presidentunder Mr. Saleh, was elected President with-out any candidate to oppose him. However,he lacks legitimacy in the eyes of the people,especially after fleeing the country and oper-ating from Saudi Arabia. He has no tribal orpolitical support base in northern Yemenand even in the south, outside Aden.

 With both Mr. Saleh and the Houthis shutout, the stage was set for an alliance betweenthese erstwhile bitter enemies. Having head-ed the Army for so long, Mr. Saleh enjoysconsiderable support within it and partic-ularly among the powerful RepublicanGuard. The Army’s huge weapons inventory became the key factor that enabled theHouthis to take control of Sana'a in Septem-

ber 2014, and later, of many of the country’smain cities and ports, and more crucially, itsadministrative, energy, financial and govern-mental apparatus.

The Iranian angle

Saudi rhetoric has focussed on Iranian in- volvement. Yemeni Zaydi Shias are “fivers”whose ideology is closer to the Sunnis than tothe Iranian “twelver” Shias. There is no re-cord of significant Iranian involvement withthe Zaydi Shias of Yemen beyond someHouthis pursuing religious studies in Iran inthe early 1990s. Among them was HusseinBadr Al-Deen Houthi, the founder-leader of the Ansar Allah, during which he picked upwhat became the Houthi motto: “Death to America, Death to Israel, Damn the Jews, Victory to Islam.” Iranian interest was kin-dled by the six-year conflict between Mr.Saleh and the Houthis from 2004 to 2010 buttruly meaningful interaction between the

two began only after the Houthis took con-trol in Sana'a. Direct flights between Tehranand Sana'a started in March 2015 after a gap

of 25 years. Iran has signed agreements withthe Houthi-led Yemeni authorities to supply 

Iranian oil, for help in the construction of power plants, and the modernisation of stra-tegic ports. Implementing these agreementswill take a long time, if ever. There is littlecredible evidence that Iran has providedlarge enough consignments of weapons tothe Houthis to make any tangible differenceon the ground; logistically, it is almost impos-sible to do so. However, with several airportsand ports now under Houthi control, thepossibilities of Iranian weapons supplies toYemen exist, if needed. From being an in-terested bystander at best, Saudi actions, pol-icies and rhetoric in the past few years haveenabled Iran to acquire credible locus standiand become an active player in the processesof determining Yemen’s future.

Iran’s influence throughout West Asia hasrisen dramatically since the so-called ArabSpring unrest began — it has become the

most influential power in Iraq, Lebanon, Sy-ria and now Yemen also. The success of nego-tiations between the U.S.-led P5+1 (theUnited States, the United Kingdom, Germa-ny, France, Russia, and China, facilitated by the European Union) has further augmentedIran’s regional standing while further exa-cerbating already mounting Saudi concerns.

The Saudi response

Saudi King Salman ascended the throne onJanuary 23, 2015, and within hours appoint-ed his son, less than 30 years old, with nogovernmental experience, as Defence Minis-ter. Ambitious, brash, and oozing self-confi-dence, he is believed to be the driving forcebehind Saudi Arabia’s extremely muscularreaction to events in Yemen. Within hours of President Hadi fleeing Yemen, Saudi Arabialaunched “Operation Decisive Stsorm” onMarch 25. The Defence Minister has beenpersonally supervising these operations.

Rather impressively, Saudi Arabia has suc-cessfully forged a “grand Sunni alliance” in amatter of days and committed 100 fighter

 jets, 150,000 soldiers deployed along the bor-der and some naval units, with Bahrain, Ku-wait, Qatar, Jordan, Sudan, the United ArabEmirates and even faraway Morocco joiningthe air strikes. Egypt is deploying an un-specified number of naval and air force units;ground forces will be deployed “if necessary.”The United States is only providing “logis-tical, intelligence and technical support”.Concerted efforts led by King Salman per-sonally to persuade Pakistan to join havefailed. This could have consequences for Pa-kistan later. Despite initial support for the air

strikes, Turkey now feels that a negotiatedsolution is a better approach.

“Operation Decisive Storm” has involvedextensive daily air strikes against Houthi andSaleh forces mainly in and around Sana'a,Saada, Taiz, Hodeidah and Aden. Despite al-most 2,500 air strikes, the overwhelming ma- jority by Saudi Arabia, killing many Houthiand allied fighters and resulting in the large-scale destruction of their weaponry, theHouthi/Saleh dominance has not been mea-ningfully dented. The air strikes are causingmounting civilian casualties and wholesaledestruction of villages, sending thousandsfleeing from their homes; this is causing afurther alienation of Yemenis from Saudi Arabia.

The UN Secretary-General has called foran immediate ceasefire and has appealed for$274 million in aid for urgent relief and reha-bilitation measures. The ceasefire demandhas been rejected but King Salman has decid-ed to contribute this entire amount immedi-ately. However, this will not mitigate Yemenianger. Meanwhile, by default, the al-Qaeda inYemen is benefiting enormously.

Though the war cannot be won through airstrikes, sending in ground troops will be di-sastrous. Given that Saudi troops performedpoorly against the then much weaker and lessorganised Houthis in 2009-2010, and haveno real combat experience, they are hardly likely to do any better this time fightingagainst battle hardy Yemenis on their ownterrain. Nevertheless, on April 21, King Sal-man ordered the mobilisation of the NationalGuard also which has since been deployedalong the border. Confusingly, later that eve-ning, Saudi Arabia unexpectedly announcedthe end of “Operation Decisive Storm” andthe beginning of “Operation Restore Hope”,promptly welcomed by the U.S., only for theair strikes to be resumed the very next day and which continue with increasing intensi-ty! It is reasonable to assume that the De-fence Minister was behind this since on April29 he was also appointed Deputy CrownPrince.

Despite growing U.S. reservations, Saudi Arabian hardliners seem determined to im-pose a military solution; instead, Saudi Ara-bia is likely to find itself mired in Yemen for a

long time in an unwinnable war.The way forward

The Houthis have welcomed Yemen’s ex-iled President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi’s re-cent appointment of Khaled Bahah, anIndian-educated former Yemeni PR to theUN and Prime Minister, as the new Vice-President; this provides an opening for nego-tiations which are the only way forward. Ini-tially they should be convened by the new U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen and the Yeme-ni government representation should be ledby Khaled Bahah. The various UN resolu-tions over the past four years, the Peace andPartnership agreement signed between theHouthis and Mr. Hadi in September 2014 andthe outcomes of the National Dialogues in2013 and 2014 provide a good basis fornegotiations.

If Yemen is to have long-term domesticstability, it is exceedingly important that allpower brokers of the past are exiled abroadfor at least five to 10 years. Reports that Mr.Saleh and his family have left Yemen, prob-ably for Oman, which has offered to mediatebetween the contending parties, are encou-raging. However, restarting the politicalprocess will take time and getting resultseven longer. In the meantime, the unfortu-nate people of Yemen have to face an eventougher future than their difficult past.

(Ranjit Gupta was Indian Ambassador to Yemen, and in January 1968 had visitedSana 'a as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy.) 

Saudi Arabia’s war in YemenDespite growing American reservations,Saudi Arabian hardliners seem determined toimpose a military solution on the Yemen crisis.Instead, Riyadh is likely to find itself mired in Yemen for a long time in an unwinnable war

From being an interested bystander at best, Saudi actions,policies and rhetoric in the past few years have enabled Iran

to acquire credible locus standi and become an active player inthe processes of determining Yemen’s future.

Ranjit Gupta 

It is baseless to say that theMinister of State forEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change, PrakashJavadekar, and his friends inindustry are out to finish off whatlittle is left of the Himalayas, itsrivers and glaciers (“Killing acountry’s ecology”, Commentpage, April 29). It is the BJP-ledNDA government, and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, whichhas given importance toprotecting the ecology of theHimalayan region. As examples,the government has already launched the ‘Ganga Mission’which will give impetus toprotecting the Himalayas. Thegovernment has allocated Rs.150crore for Himalayan studies.

It has also launched aHimalayan initiative, wherein 11hill States will be partners in

to assess the status of clearancesof these projects on the date they were granted. Clearances for sixhydroprojects in Uttarakhand,and which have been referred toby the writer, Mr. ColinGonsalves, were accordedapprovals by the previous UPA government. Clearance from theNational Board for Wildlife hasnot been granted to any of theseprojects. Forest clearance to oneof the six projects has beenrevoked. All the clearancesrequired are not available for any of these projects. Mostimportantly, the issue is beforethe Supreme Court as “sub judice”.

P.J. Michael, Deputy Secretary (Media),

 Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change,

 New Delhi 

preserving the ecological balanceof the Himalayas. After naturalcalamities in Jammu andKashmir and Uttarakhand, thegovernment is working closely with the States concerned inensuring that the Himalayanecology is protected. The articlealso creates a wrong impression,as if Mr. Javadekar has given hisapproval to six hydro-electricprojects in Uttarakhand. In thelast 11 months, not a singleenvironmental approval has beengiven to any hydro-electricproject in the Himalayas.

In December 2014, theMinistry had sought 12 months’time from the Supreme Court tocarry out a comprehensiveimpact assesment of river valleysin the Himalayas. Reference forsix projects has come on thedirections of the Supreme Court

Preserving Himalayan ecology

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8/20/2019 The hindu review may 2015

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CMYK

BG-BG

TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2015

10   T HE HI N D U T U E S D AY, M A Y 5 , 20 1 5BENGALURU

EDITORIAL

 W hen it comes to foreign policy, India is one

whole, not the sum of its parts. Which is

why the government’s plans to introduce

a Constitutional amendment in Parlia-

ment in order to operationalise the India-Bangladesh

land boundary agreement (LBA) for the three States of 

 West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura, but not f or As-

sam, is an unwholesome precedent. Simply put, of all

the 162 enclaves and 5,044 acres of land in ‘adverse

possession’ that have been carefully analysed and

agreed to for the land swap on both sides of the border,

the 268 acres that Assam is due to hand over will not be

included. The reasoning for this exclusion seems to be

political: ahead of the Assam Assembly elections this

year, the ruling BJP doesn’t wish to be seen “giving

away” land to the neighbour, Bangladesh. Equally polit-

ical is the reaction of the Opposition Congress party,

that rules the State of Assam, which now opposes the

government move simply because it doesn’t want to

give it a political advantage ahead of elections. Both

have over the past decade allowed these short-sighted

calculations to turn an important bilateral agreement

into a game of political football. Even though former

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had, after several

delays, signed the protocol for the LBA in 2011, the UPA 

government never made it enough of a priority to clear

it through both Houses of Parliament during its tenure.

Now, the NDA government, that had promised Prime

Minister Sheikh Hasina that the bill would be tabled in

the winter session, plans to introduce it at the fag end of 

the budget session, and that too in truncated form. Each

of these delays don’t just put off an agreement to resolve

a crucial issue between India and Bangladesh, they chip

away at India’s credibility in the neighbourhood. Four

decades later, India seems no closer to completing an

agreement that had been all but signed and sealed, and

even ratified by Bangladesh in 1974. And it is no closer

to putting the roughly 51,000 people living in these

areas out of their uncertainty and misery.

 What seems to be even more troubling is the Bangla-

desh government’s claim, as spelt out in an interview by 

the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs to The Hindu in

Dhaka, that it was yet to be formally notified about the

revised plan for the bill. If the NDA government isindeed serious about its neighbourhood policy, such a

lapse of communication is unhealthy, as its handling of 

this issue will be a key indicator to all neighbours about

how India will attempt to resolve issues with them in

the next few years. The government and the Opposition

must put their political differences aside to build bipar-

tisan support for the original agreement they have both

at various points acceded to. Bilateral accords are built

on the principle that the government of India speaks for

all States and all parties within the country.

Local politics in

foreign policy 

Case mountain to climbThe report, “New database of HighCourts unearths a 57-year-old case”(May 4), is not astonishing butinevitable given the way the judiciary has been functioning allthis while with its British-stylelegacy. Rather than wait for moresuch news reports, there needs to beconcerted action to find a solution.To begin with, the judiciary can be

asked to start working extra and onholidays to clear the massivebacklog of cases.

Roshan Raja, Bengaluru

How can a 57-year-old case gounnoticed? Why can’t courts go infor computerisation of allactivities? Innovative ways such ashaving a second shift in courts andmore mobile courts can help get thesituation under control.

Delayed justice is no justice at all.S. Ramamurthi,

 Puducherry

Systems of medicineThere is a strong case for thescientific validation of products of traditional systems of medicine,given that there is a proliferation of ‘pseudo-Ayurvedic’ and otherherbal medicines in the marketclaiming to promote good healthand other benefits (Editorial, May 

4). Helpless patients, who aredissatisfied with allopathy, fall inthis trap and waste hoards of money 

and time. Infertility is the favouritetarget area. All this happensbecause there is a complete lack of credible and accurate informationabout these medicines — how they work, their potency and side effects.In setting this right, the Ministry of  AYUSH should take the lead.

 Amritpal Singh, Amritsar 

The validation of drugs is a colossal

task which requires highly trainedmanpower and sophisticatedinfrastructure. AYUSH may havebeen elevated to the level of aministry, with a large number of laboratories across the country andmanpower trained both intraditional and modern systems of medicine, but I gather that poorcoordination and squabbles havecome in the way of output despitetaxpayer’s money being given to theorganisation.

M. Saleemuddin, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh

It is painful that India has still toconfront the ugly reality of femaleinfanticide and the commerce andmarket for products that promotethis social evil in an indirect way.For any form of acche din or for‘Make in India’ to flourish, suchregression must be tackled. Thebroader idea should be to educateand create an awareness among the

weaker sections of the society asthey are the ones who are more vulnerable to falling prey to these

bizarre ideas. Also, the importanceof a girl child should permeatethrough all the sections of society.

 Vidushi Uniyal, Dehradun

 Any ready-made formula of the Ayurvedic system of medicinecannot be patented since such aninvention — in effect, traditionalknowledge or duplication of knownproperties of traditionally known

components — has been made non-patentable under Section 3(p) of thePatents Act, 1970. Substantialimprovements in traditionalmedicines which meet therequirements prescribed forpatentability in the Patents Act,1970, can be granted patents.Section 6(i) of the BiologicalDiversity Act, 2002 requires anapplicant to obtain the priorapproval of the NationalBiodiversity Authority beforeapplying for a patent for any invention based on biologicalresources obtained from India. ThePatents Act also requires anapplicant to obtain the necessary permission from the NationalBiodiversity Authority and submitthe same to the office of theController General of PatentsDesigns and Trademarks before thegrant of patent. Hence, ayurvedicmedicines like “Putra Jeevak Beej”,if patentable, can be put through

such a process.K.M.K. Murthy,

 Kochi 

Media and Nepal reliefThe lashing out against the Indianmedia, especially by Nepal-basedTwitterati, is unwarranted anduncalled for (“Quake-hit vent theirire on Indian media”, May 4). It isonly because of active mediacoverage that the world has got toknow of the scale of the disaster.Nepal should appreciate the Indianmedia for a very proactive role in

re-establishing the emotional linksbetween Indians and theearthquake victims.

Th Luwangamba, New Delhi 

That the visual media in India lackssensitivity is well known, proved yetagain by its coverage of Nepal’strauma. What is disturbing in thedog-eat-dog scenario of competition is the way silly questions are being asked in thename of interviewing the poor andin stark contrast to the way theIndian Army and other IndianNGOs are extending help to them inthe hour of need. It is unfortunatethat the Indian media always hasTRP ratings in mind unlike the Western media which have a humanface to their coverage.

 A.V. Narayanan,Tiruchi 

The reason behind much of theanger is that the media has been

presenting Nepal as a province of India. Also, to say that the “Nepalgovernment has virtually thrown its

hands up, showing up its incapacity to address the severity of theproblem” (Editorial, May 4) isinsensitive. No government officialor minister in Nepal has issued suchstatement, verbal or otherwise. With such negativity, India cannotwin friends in its immediateneighbourhood, much less in Nepal.

Laxman Pant, New Delhi 

‘Towel reservation’Thank you for taking us back tothose good old days. The newsclipping (“From the Archives, The Hindu, dated May 4, 1965”), May 4,made a few of us nostalgic about ourstudent days in the 1960s when weused to hire our college attender ora known porter to reserve a placefor all of us on a 18-hour journey onthe GT or Southern Express on ourway home from college or on ourway to college after a vacation. Asstudents we used to travel in groupswhich helped us overcome theordeal of travelling in midsummerand without reservation. Thinkingabout it now we wonder how weever did it. ‘Kerchief /rumal’reservation in buses too was also aprevalent practice. As soon as wespotted a bus, we used to make adash for it and drop ‘kerchiefs’ orsmall bags through the windowsand reserve our seats even beforethe bus driver drove to the parking

bay.R.R. Gandikota,

 Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.inmust carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

That India’s courts are clogged with long-pend-

ing cases is well-known, but the texture of the

problem is something we’ve known little

about so far. A new database of court data laysout some of the contours of the issue: over 40 lakh cases

are pending in India’s High Courts, and a tenth in

courts for which data are available have been pending

for over ten years. The oldest case languishing in the

few courts for which enough data are available is just a

decade younger than India itself. A quarter of the cases

for which information is available are pending at the

admission stage itself. An earlier Law Commission re-

port found that the situation was far more dire in the

lower courts — at the end of 2012, some one crore cases

were pending in Subordinate Judicial Services courts

and 20 lakh cases in Higher Judicial Services courts

across 12 High Court jurisdictions in the country. A 

certain fatality has marked India’s efforts to deal with

pendency thus far. We are a big country, we are a

litigious people, we have chronic administrative under-

capacity and a perennially under-resourced judiciary,

we are told. So enormous has the problem begun to

appear in the public mind that it has seemed impos-

sible to fix. This is not necessarily true.

For one, the real extent of judicial pendency in India

is nearly impossible to estimate on account of an utterlack of standardisation in data classification and man-

agement systems; virtually every State is a law unto

itself, collecting and classifying case data as it chooses,

making it impossible to compare with the neighbour-

ing State. This is not a purely technical concern; it has

severely hamstrung India’s efforts to understand the

nature of not just judicial delay, but the judicial process

itself. There is no good reason for this state of affairs to

continue; the technology to resolve this is now easily 

and cheaply available. In addition, there are simple

administrative fixes that have been suggested by re-

form-minded judges. As Chief Justice of the Madras

High Court, Justice A.P. Shah had instituted evening

courts to look after traffic and police challans, which

account for over a third of all cases pending in th e lower

courts. Such cases need to be removed from the regular

court system altogether. Plea bargaining is another

 judicial reform step that has not yet picked up in India.

Finally, the grossly inadequate judge strength must

increase; even if not the doubling of judge strength as

promised in the past by the Ministry of Law and Jus-

tice, a significant leap is unavoidable. For justice andthe rule of law to seem meaningful to the people, the

government must back its assurances with resources.

Pile-ups atHigh Courts

CARTOONSCAPE

 A few weeks ago, the media capturedthe stark and shocking image of people — family members andfriends — climbing and getting on

to the ledges of the high-rise Vidya Niketanschool in Mahnar village, 60 kilometres from

Patna, Bihar, to pass on answer chits to stu-dents appearing for their school exams onMarch 18, 2015. Headlines such as “Scalingnew heights to deliver cheat sheets” andscenes on TV made it clear that this couldnever have happened without the conniv-ance of teachers and examination personnel,thus laying bare the deep flaws in the Indianeducation system. The incident caused theState Education Minister P.K. Shahi to ad-mit that stopping malpractices in Board ex-aminations was a huge task.

“If we try to stop unfair means at a centre,friends and family members of the exam-inees gang up to intimidate us,” said aschoolteacher. The incident at Mahar wasnot an isolated one. Reports also came in of people scaling compound walls of schools tohelp examinees at centres in Sharsha andKhagaria districts.

Just a few weeks after this, on April 15,BBC News published a story titled, “Jail forcheating Atlanta teachers”.

These two starkly different responses tounfair means in exams, in India and theUnited States, are startling. In spite of a

difference between teachers adopting unfairmeans with regard to manipulating examresults and school authorities, includingteachers, allowing students to use unfairmethods in exams using help from outsiders.

 Who is to blame? Who should be heldresponsible? In both these examples, onehas to acknowledge the great pressure of competitive exams and the mark sheet-cen-tric approach in academics as being a mea-sure of human worth in trying to understandwhy this happens. One also has to look close-ly at the relationship between education,learning, exams and competition.

 Authentic self and education

 We often talk of education as being aninstrument of economic development of self and society. Sometimes, we also allude to itas being an instrument to help one preparefor critical, democratic citizenship. But rare-ly do we talk of education being a process tohelp a person form his authentic self. When Italk about “formation of the authentic self”, Ido not mean the oft-talked about characterdevelopment and education in values. Allthree aims of education — economic, citizen-ship, and character/values — though neces-

sary, fall short of helping one form one’sauthentic self. Moreover, they can be used to

work against it.The three characteristics I would like to

count as being a part of the authentic self of an individual are: autonomy, integrity andharmony. Apart from one’s intellectual ca-pabilities, all three necessarily should mani-fest themselves as character traits of anindividual. Further, their necessary ingre-dients are a deep, emotional investment aswell as a dispassionate understanding.

Let’s examine these three. Autonomy means using one’s own mind in makingchoices whether they are personal or public.This is possible only with a robust under-standing of the world and one’s situation init. It also demands a level of self-confidenceand self-respect without being conceited orindulgent.

Integrity is more than just autonomy as itinvolves a coherence in the results of one’sintellectual deliberations and taking them

seriously while putting them in action andthus imparts an overall stability to one’spersonality.

Harmony, metaphorically, may be termedas a state of internal peace. More precisely, itmeans an alignment between one’s emotion-al states, intellectual understanding and ac-tions. I will also bring in “an absence of fragmentation”, which does not mean thecomplete absence of internal tension. Therewill always be a certain degree of tension asone constantly faces new situations and inutilising one’s emotional and intellectual en-ergies to bear upon them. But this tensionwill always be confined to being within thelimits of one’s strength of character. Thiswholesome development of an individualcan be called the formation of an authenticself. Education is the primary means of help-ing an individual form such a self. Perhaps, itis also the highest goal of education. An al-ternative expression for an authentic self can be: manasa , vachaa , karmana ; with the

proviso that all three are governed by one’sown judgement.

Examinations and testing 

So far there is no method by which toassess the development of an authentic self.The only test is life itself! Examinations are aseverely limited means by which to assesseducational development, even if the assess-ment of an authentic self is left out. First,they are limited to testing the present reper-toire of knowledge of an individual; even thishas severe problems of validity and reliabil-ity. Knowledge is a fully connected wholeand it cannot be tested by seeking fragmentsof information as is usually done in exam-inations. Going deeper into the interconnec-tions of concepts and beliefs of an individualis a time-consuming and subjective affair;subjective for both examiner and examinee.In order for it to be reliable, it demandsobjectivity across a sample of examinees.Therefore, validity and reliability vary in-

 versely with each other. Large-scale testssuch as the Programme for InternationalStudent Assessment (PISA) and the AnnualStudent Assessment Report (ASER) can en-sure a satisfactory level of reliability and validity only if the testi ng is limited to a very small portion of student learning. Thismakes them almost useless in understand-ing the development of an authentic self.However, to be fair, in such tests, this is noteven the goal.

Competition, an endemic problem of ev-eryday life, is aggravated through a system of testing and examination. In the name of pur-suing “success”, schools start encouragingcompetition at the individual level rightfrom standard one. Measuring one childagainst the other becomes the motivatingfactor in learning; in the process, immeasur-able damage is done to the child’s self-image;in most cases, a child’s worth is reduced to apiece of paper signed by the class teacher. Inschools, students become almost intellec-

tual slaves, competing with each other for agreater share of the market. At another level,as in States, large-scale, unreliable and inval-id methods of testing are used. Education isreduced to the level of “teaching for testing”. At the national level, it