PROSPERITY THROUGH ENVIRONMENT

Protection of the environment in all  its forms has been receiving much public attention at domestic and international forums. The  question is by no means new but it has acquired much greater urgency than ever before because of the ceaseless pollution of the atmosphere, the reckless destruction of the multi-faceted gifts of Nature by thoughtless human beings. Among the offenders are people who are, or should be, aware of the folly of their deeds and the irreparable damage they are doing to the safety and prosperity of mankind, the present and the future generations. Hence the environmentalists' clarion call.

Human existence depends upon the environment. Few persons would now question the statement that we have been poisoning or destroying valuable resources on earth (including water) and also in the air—all in the name of  economic development. In fact, development, expansion and growth are the key slogans in the modern world; nothing else seems to matter. Senseless poisoning is proceeding with unbelievable speed. While genocide rightly receives severe condemnation, ‘‘ecoside’’—ruthless murder of the environment—has only recently become a cognisable offence.

After all, it is the biosphere, that is, the air and water encasing the earth, besides the green cover and the wildlife, that sustain life on this planet. In chemical terms, it is the mixture and  fine balance of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapour that is vital for life. These are operated and maintained by multiple biological processes. For centuries man took for granted that the bounties of Nature were inexhaustible and that the resources get renewed automatically. Both these assumptions have lately been proved wrong.

The struggle now is for adequate renewal of such resources as man has to use every day, and also for preservation and protection of as many resources as possible. Attempts are being made to check the reckless destruction of precious environment. Scientists have warned that mankind might have to return to the much-dreaded ‘‘ice age’’ if the reckless destruction of trees, other greenery and natural resources continues at the pace associated with ‘‘modern’’ progress, especially in industry.

A look-back in this regard would be helpful. Oddly enough, it was only in 1972 that the first systematic international effort was made to take stock of the situation and plan adequate steps to counter the process of destruction. The step was the UN Conference on Environment held in Sweden. The conference was poorly attended, for political and other reasons. Then came the UN Habitat Conference on Human Settlements in 1975 in Vancouver and the UN Desertification Conference in Nairobi in 1977 to check the ruinous growth of deserts.

But in many ways the year 1990 marked a specific advance in the programmes for saving mankind from disaster. The occasion marked recognition of the basic fact that the environmentalists are fighting for the concept of sustainable progress with the belief that environment and development are not opposite poles. In this connection, the observation of the Brundtland Commission (in its report published in 1987) was recalled. The commission said: ‘‘Economy is not just about the production of wealth, and ecology is not just about the protection of Nature; they are both equally relevant for improving the lot of mankind.’’

The Montreal Protocol was very much in the news in 1990. The aim of the Protocol is to save the precious ozone layer from chemical damage. All enlightened countries now concede that destruction of the ozone layer will have serious consequences on human, animal and plant life.

There is no denying that the major culprits in causing pollution and damaging the ozone layer are the developed countries. These countries have benefited all through the years by using cheap CFCs and have harmed the global environment. If they want the developing countries to restrain themselves from following the same course, they should assist them. Though the developing countries produce only a small proportion of the world output of CFCs, they require massive assistance to switch over to new technologies and to less harmful substitutes. Therefore, a large fund is needed.

The Government of India’s growing concern over this problem is obvious from the establishment of a department and Ministry for Environment and the series of laws passed to check the practices that endanger the environment. Among these are: The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the Water (Pollution and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Environment (Protection) Act, May 1986, the Forests (Conservation) Act, 1980, the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which has been frequently amended to make it more effective. Besides, there is a full-fledged national forest policy, several programmes and projects to conserve the environment and check the destructive practices.

There have been many social conflicts over the issue of natural resources in India. The controversies over the Sardar Sarovar Dam and the Narmada Project are among the outstanding examples. Competing claims and Inter-State disputes over water and forests are quite common. As in the case of land disputes, the controversies over the natural resources involve vested interests. There are, in many cases, unequal antagonists; several agrarian conflicts have ecological roots. The grave consequences of some of the dam construction projects have been highlighted by the numerous agitations carried on by voluntary agencies and courageous individuals. The Chipko movement started by the brave Sunderlal Bahugana to save the Garhwal forests won well-deserved international recognition.

The social good has to be weighed against individual benefit and a rational balance needs to be struck. The writing on the wall is clear. If the present generation fails to preserve and protect Nature’s bounty, the coming generations will hold us guilty of betraying an invaluable trust. But in their excessive zeal the environmentalists ignore a vital aspect. India needs more foodgrains, more water, more electricity, more industries for manufacturing and finishing goods for domestic consumption and exports—all for the social good.

Dams over rivers and construction of large power houses to harness energy sources enable the economy to flourish. These amenities can be made available only by sacrificing some of the greenery. If the building of large dams is to be halted in response to the environmentalists' agitations, where are the additional foodgrains, irrigation facilities and uninterrupted power for industry to come from?

PROMOTION OF SPORTS: A SOCIAL NECESSITY

The importance of sports and games is being increasingly recognised in India from both the educational and social points of view. More and more funds are being allocated for encouraging sports in schools, colleges and universities; in fact, sports have become an essential part of the curricula. Time was when only a few students who were fond of certain games, like hockey, football, cricket or tennis, were allowed special facilities. But now regular programmes are drawn up in all educational institutions to persuade as many students as possible, regardless of special aptitudes, to participate in games and not merely watch matches occasionally to cheer up their favourite teams and attend the prize distribution functions at the end of a sports season.

Educationalists and others have come to the conclusion that it is in the interest of society as a whole that adequate facilities should be provided, depending of course upon the availability of funds, for games and sports for the country’s youth, both boys and girls. Sports foster friendship and amity. Nor does the belief hold good any more that those who take part in sports or games would be no good at studies and that each year their absence from the class or shortage of lectures would be condoned because they can either attend to their studies or be on the playing field for some game or the other. It is felt that apart from some exceptional cases of students showing extraordinary talent and skill in  certain games, or students who are expected to be high on the merit list in university examinations, most other students should play one game or other, not necessarily for achieving distinctions but for the sake of sport.

Several factors need to be taken into account in this connection. First, physical fitness is of the utmost importance for everyone, young and old. Participation in games and sports invariably ensures good health, fitness and, generally, freedom from ailments of various types which find easy victims among people who take no physical exercise and are either lazy, indolent or desk-bound or are book worms and keep studying all the time under the mistaken concept that they can win success in life by studying all the time and concentrating on the development of their mental faculties. They feel convinced that brains matter, not brawn, that spending hours on the play-field is a waste of time. But such students, sooner or later, find that unless the human body is kept in smooth trim and in an overall fit condition, even the brain will refuse to co-operate after some time. Actually, physical fitness is essential for proficiency in studies and for winning distinctions in examinations. Ailing bodies do not make for sharp brains. Exercise in some form or another is necessary, and sports provide an easy method to ensure such fitness.

Secondly, regular participation in sports provides a healthy channel for diversion of energies. Wherever students and other youth participate in sports regularly ensure constructive sublimation, misdirection of youthful vigour is much less and the tendency to indulge in indiscipline and mischief, disruptive activity of various kinds is curbed. Young people have surplus energy, and if this is fruitfully utilised, the foundations are laid for a healthy society where people are fully aware of the need for discipline, co-operative effort, team spirit, the cult of sportsmanship, of joint devotion to the achievement of a common goal in collaboration with others. They also learn to cultivate the vital quality of learning how to work together, to become not only good winners but also good losers. Both sides playing a game cannot win simultaneously and ups and downs are common.

The losers must learn to take their defeat sportingly. The right spirit can be learnt on the playgrounds. There is no point in bearing a grudge against the rivals; today’s losers can be tomorrow’s winners, as in society in general and the political arena in particular.

Thirdly, the statement that ‘‘the battle of Waterloo was won on the play-fields of Eton’’, implying that playing games and the spirit of sportsmanship help to inculcate lasting values which make for good soldiers, good fighters and good discipline, apart from promoting 100 per cent physical fitness. In British schools and colleges the fullest importance is given to sports, especially cricket and football. The result has been the creation of a healthy, well-developed, disciplined and efficient society in which people know the right proportions in life, put everything in the right perspective and seldom conduct themselves in an unsporting, ungentlemanly and unbecoming manner. Playing the game on the playground naturally instructs people to play the game of life in the right spirit, which is what matters most, not victory or defeat.

According to sociologists, society gains in many ways when the government encourages sports and games everywhere, provides playgrounds, the necessary equipment and other facilities, rewards outstanding sportsmen so as to encourage others also to play games. The crime graph dips, which means that the incidence of general crimes decreases because the right spirit and the right approach to things is developed on the playground. Sport, it has been said, is not only a manifestation of animal energy of surplus strength to develop more strength; it is, in addition, a safe and wholesome outlet for the aggressive spirit in human beings. 

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines play thus: ‘‘to move about in lively or unrestrained or  capricious manner, frisk, flutter.’’ This definition, however, also conveys a wrong concept and a misleading interpretation. In genuine sports there is no question of a ‘‘capricious manner’’; the aim is to play the game in a fair manner according to the prescribed rules of which every player is supposed to be fully aware. Those who violate the rules, play foul or exceed the permissible limits, or indulge in tactics that are unfair, are promptly pulled up by the referee or the umpire. Anyone who refuses to mend his ways or to repeatedly violate the rules is ordered to quit the field and is replaced by another player. This helps to inculcate the habit of respecting the judge and of observing the rules.

Obviously, society as a whole stands to benefit if its members play the game according to the prescribed rules, which means the laws and regulations, and does not flout them. Those who flout the law and become anti-social elements are hauled up by the forces responsible for maintaining law and order. The executive authorities enforce the laws and the judiciary punishes those whose guilt is duly established. Sportsmen generally tend to become good citizens, and society is thus the ultimate beneficiary.

While most people concede the importance of sports in a healthy society and under a good government, there has also been much criticism, which is fully justified, too, about the craze, enthusiasm and fervour displayed by people of all ages, especially the country’s youth (except the  sober elders and duty-conscious officers and employees), whenever cricket Test matches are being played in India or abroad and wherever India is one of the participants. Work virtually comes to a stop in offices, factories, schools and colleges. Everyone starts listening to cricket commentaries, forget their work and duty, in effect lose themselves mentally in the process; all their attention is concentrated on the ball-by-ball Test  commentaries. At wayside shops, in trains and buses, on ships and in aircraft, it is the same story during the cricket season—people attentively listening to radio commentaries or watching the cricket matches on TV.

Surely this is not what we mean by sport and sportsmanship. The right description for this habit is ‘‘craze’’. It does not develop any of the values which sports and games inculcate—discipline and playing the game in the right spirit. Tennis, hockey and football are more vigorous games, and a match is over in about an hour. Watching such games is understandable and should be encouraged but cricket Tests last for five or six days each, and the waste of time of the  general public who listen to the commentaries from morning to late afternoon can be well imagined.
Some observers have contended that there is a close link between sports and a country’s industrial development and the general progress of society. That is why it is contended, most of the gold medals at the Olympics are bagged by advanced countries such as the USA, Russia and Germany, and Britain too manages to bag a few of them. Of the eastern countries, China and  Japan plunder most of the gold and silver medals.

Is there a link also between performance in sports and a country’s military might? Militarily China is the most powerful country in the East, but Japan, which matches the USA in industrial, especially electronic, advancement, does well in sports despite its small size. India is a large country of continental size, and given the proper incentives and the necessary facilities, this country’s sportsmen should do well on the sports field, but whether it is the climatic factor, the lack of adequate nutrition and of incentives, our sportsmen do not compare favourably with  those of the USA, Russia, Germany and Australia.

In any case, the relatively poor show of our athletes in international  competitions does not weaken the case for encouraging sports which help to lay the foundations of a healthy, sound society. The cost is returned several-fold.

TRADITION AND MODERNITY: FRIENDS OR FOES?

Modernity in the Indian sense is, in any case, a command from the West. India did not get enough time to develop an indigenous idea of modernity because of the intervention of colonialism. At the time of Independence, urban India had inherited a rather basic problem: this was a contradiction between imposed modernity and age-old traditional values. There were, as a consequence, three options for the average Indian urban man: whether to embrace the Western model of modernity; or to go back, if possible, to her traditional roots; or to try to create a synthesis between the two. It was colonial education that brought to us a historical understanding of our culture. Western education gained currency which taught us to value our past and it became fashionable to talk about our heritage—Jyotindra Jain, Former Director of Crafts Museum, New Delhi.

Jean Baudrillard, a major theoretician of the European present, characterizes the present state of affairs, at least in the Western context, as “after the orgy”: the “orgy”, according to him, was the moment when modernity exploded upon us, the moment of liberation in every sphere—political liberation, sexual liberation, liberation of the forces of production, liberation of the forces of destruction, women’s liberation, liberation of unconscious drives, liberation of art. It was an orgy of the real, the rational, of criticism and of anti-criticism, of development and of the crisis of development. There has been an over-production now of objects, signs, messages, ideologies and satisfactions. When everything has been liberated, one can only simulate (reproduce) liberation, simulate the orgy, pretending to carry on in the same direction; accelerating without knowing we are accelerating in a void.

The impact of technology is fast changing our everyday too: the major difference may be that we are not in the age “after the orgy”, for, our revolutions have not succeeded, but have aborted, got stopped midway, our utopia has taken an atavistic (reappearance of characteristic or quality not seen for many generations) turn, our Janus now has both its faces turned towards the past. Our struggles for emancipation—social, sexual, aesthetic—seem to have left us half-way, having failed to bring about a transformation that embraces all the layers of society.

Nevertheless, tradition gives a sense of identity. There is an element of security in it; yet innovation is necessary to prevent stagnation and rot. Society must and will continue to innovate. Cultural exchange is the stuff out of which social processes are made. Traditional medicine, for example, was humane and modern medicine is merciless; traditional science had built in correctives, but modern science and technology is aggressively domineering; in tradition there was respect for plurality, but modern societies are self-consciously homogenising. Modern societies may breed fascists, but traditional ones had their share of Changez Khans too.

True, modernity has got many emancipatory possibilities. But then, modernity is not free from its discontent—dislocation of the individual from the protective context of family-kinship ties, alienation from the communitarian ideal and loss of collective memory.

Perhaps, in matters of faith and fashions, it is neither the hard stands taken by both, nor the rigidity of their arguments that brings them nearer to each other. Just as all that meets the eye may not be the only reality, in the same vein, to assert with authority that tradition and modernity are incompatible is to rush in where even the angels would pause and ponder to tread. Seemingly, both tradition and modernisation look to be at loggerheads with each other, but on deeper analysis, one finds that even the most traditional/orthodox societies have prepared themselves, though reluctantly, to accept new realities which modernity has unfolded with an unprecedented speed. It is almost hypocritical to disown the advantages of modernisation in our daily perceptions and practices.

Since no age or generation is fully static in thought and action, there are always some prudent persons who take on the untenable and anachronistic spell of traditions and prefer new ideas and concepts (that) are born out of the existing realities. For analytical/inquisitive minds, tradition is stagnant in nature and nuance and modernisation is consistent with change and challenge of times. If some knowledgeable persons opine that tradition and modernity are not friends, they are not much off the mark. To them tradition is a morass of beliefs and customs that refuse to liberate human minds from its stranglehold. On the contrary, modernisation is a process that tries to update men, minds and machines. Since the trio holds key to all material progress and prosperity, it is not unnatural that both tradition and modernity should live in a ‘love-hate’ relationship with each other.

“Inclusive Growth: Two Decades of Economic Liberalisation

I feel proud of the achievements of our nation and of Indians. I am using the word “Indian” to mean much more than nationality. The gathering today is a symbol of the larger idea of Indian identity. This is an identity that goes beyond nationality. It refers to our common history and heritage. In that sense this is a gathering of family members who have spread all over the world but who nevertheless share a deep common bond. I welcome you to our motherland
This larger concept of internationalism was repeatedly stressed by our founding fathers. In 1961 Pandit Nehru had reminded us: “Ultimately … nationalism will prove a narrowing creed, and we shall all be citizens of the world with a truly international vision. … The nationalism that we build in India should have its doors and windows open to internationalism.” Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore showed us how India might be intensely national and at the same time international with her thought and sympathy embracing the world.
Today India has begun playing a global role unlike ever in the past. Our economy had been relatively stagnant during the initial years after India’s independence. Then from the early 1980s the growth rate picked up. It rose further after the economic reforms of the early 1990s. And since 2005 there has been no looking back. The economy grew for three successive years at rates over 9 per cent. Even during the global recession of 2008-09, India’s GDP grew by nearly 7 per cent.
The year 2011 has been an eventful one. In terms of the time line in the economic history of the country its passage marks two decades on the path of economic liberalisation. Though we have witnessed ups and downs, this period has transformed our country and catapulted it into the centre stage in the world. India is viewed as belonging to the group of the fastest growing nations of the world. We are widely recognized as a major driver of global growth. India is a member of the G20 and, within the G20, it is considered a part of the systemically most important 7.
India’s integration into the world has had a long history. In the colonial era we had witnessed the migration of large numbers of our fellow Indians, often in pursuit of economic opportunities in agro-produce rich colonies. Others moved to pursue business goals. Then in the post-colonial era the trend turned to a movement towards the industrialised nations. When in the 70s a large number of highly qualified Indians were moving abroad, we were warned of the severe consequences of the brain drain. Contrary to conventional, and in hindsight myopic opinions, luckily we made no attempt to stop the flow. Today we are better off due to that.
The movement of the diaspora is no longer unidirectional as it was in the past. What started as a brain drain, has now become a brain gain, not just for India but the world as a whole. Today mobile Indian professionals and entrepreneurs are contributing across the global economy and enhancing its resilience in these troubled times. Many have also returned to the home turf and are engaged in its socio-economic fabric. Still others have set up enterprises or professional relations that span national boundaries.
This movement of global talent has had many consequences. First of all, it has brought in many global best practices into the Indian economy. At the same time, it has created networks and linkages which serve as channels for flows of ideas across boundaries. This has given the Indian economy an edge in the seamlessly connected global economic environment.
The global success of the Indian diaspora in the spheres of science, economics, education, business, public life and the arts is a matter of great pride for us all. The ‘pravasi bharatiya’ has contributed significantly to India’s ‘soft power’ and global image in a multidimensional manner. This has no doubt contributed to its attractiveness as an investment destination. The entrepreneurial skills of the Indian business community settled abroad are a matter of envy for other nations. Foreign firms are increasingly aware of the sharp business acumen of the Indian entrepreneur and managers. They have come to respect our business houses and practices.
I believe however that much still remains to be done. We have not yet reaped the full benefits of India’s great diaspora. The most obvious area remains that of investment and entrepreneurship. For instance, in China a large chunk of foreign direct investment has come from overseas Chinese. I am aware that there have been large ticket investments by non-resident Indian entrepreneurs. But I think it is far less than the potential and perhaps too concentrated on the formal sector. Rather, we must pursue an alternative model. One that is more balanced and holistic in a socio-economic sense.
For this we must rightly turn to the inspiration behind the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. The 9th of January, marks the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India. The subsequent new vigour he granted our freedom movement is well known. But the Mahatma also brought with him a new outlook and social vision: one that gave great emphasis to the dignity of labour, the importance of our rural sector and social equity. He was intensely aware of the need for social inclusion and had great faith in the ability of the rural economic system to provide a balanced, equitable and optimal solution to the issue of economic development and social equity. His model of development was based on the harmonious self sustaining village economy which put minimal pressures on scarce resources while maximizing livelihood and well-being. In today’s parlance what he was aiming for was inclusive development coupled with sustainable growth.
India’s economic achievements over the last few years have been commendable. The broad-based growth has brought improved opportunities for livelihood and employment across a wide range of skills. There is also a significant increase in public resources through better tax mobilisation. It has created, perhaps, for the first time in India’s post-independent history, the means to bridge the chronic deficits in social and economic attainments and reducing the disparities across different population groups and between the regions. But on our social indicators much remains to be done. In his respect there is need to engage in social enterprises in a proactive manner.
We have tried to evolve a model of development, which is more inclusive and people centric. It has sought to improve the access of the poor and the vulnerable to vital public services by creating entitlements backed by limited legal guarantees. This includes the right to information, the right to work in rural areas, the right to education and the right to food which is in the process of being enacted. There is progress, in all spheres including education, healthcare, financial inclusion and financial literacy, skill development and mainstreaming of hitherto marginalised sections of society, but there is still a long distance to traverse.
It is here that the pravasi bharatiya can probably make the biggest contributions. This requires not just financial contributions, but rather dedication of time, ideas and endeavour. From the agenda of the pre-conference seminars I am aware that discussions have been held on ‘Solar Energy- Investment and R&D’ and ‘Social Entrepreneurship-Water’. These are extremely relevant topics for our development. I hope some new ideas will emerge from your deliberations.
The Indian inclusive growth model – within the framework of democracy and human rights and freedoms, within a diverse and heterogeneous culture – is being recognized the world over as a viable paradigm. The strong diversity also has to be ‘included’ in the agenda for reforms. And though, as we have seen, it may tend to slow down things a little, as long as the direction is positive and forward looking, we can derive some satisfaction. Every incremental step which comes about with consensus is better than imposing big bang reforms without consensus.
Let me conclude by reiterating that a strong foundation is being created through a pro-active policy framework in both economic and social sectors. It should help form the springboard for the inclusive involvement of the overseas Indian in India’s development and its destiny. India presents an opportunity for the world as a whole. Our overseas Indian family with its multifaceted talents, excellent capacity for adapting to and ability to operate within different cultures and environments should make a concerted effort to connect with India’s growth and its prosperity in the times to come.

The Urbanisation Challenge

One of the features of the provisional results of Census 2011 that has already captured a lot of media attention is the apparent increase in urbanisation. At one level, this may not seem to be all that significant, with urban residents going from 27.81 per cent of total population in 2001 to 31.16 per cent in 2011, or an increase of only 3.35 percentage points over a decade. This is not really a very major shift, and certainly a rate of urbanisation of less than one-third of the population is significantly less than in many other developing countries, even those at similar levels of per capita income.

Nevertheless, it has created some excitement, because for the first time since Independence, the decadal increase in the size of the urban population (by 90.99 million people over 2001-11) was greater than that of the rural population (90.47 million). It is not only in the smaller states that urbanisation appears to be proceeding apace. In some larger states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the proportion of urban to total population is already approaching nearly half, while Maharashtra and Gujarat are not too far behind.

This finding has quickly generated reactions in the policy making community. The Planning Commission has already noted that ''addressing the problems posed by the urban transformation that is likely to occur'' is among the four key challenges posed for the next Five Year Plan. (The others are described as those of managing energy and water and of protecting the environment.) Other commentators have talked about the need to put much greater emphasis on urban infrastructure creation and management, and on the need to ensure that the growing cities are ''livable''.

The implicit assumption in much of the discussion seems to be that the expansion of urban population is occurring largely in the bigger towns and cities, as well as the apparently unstoppable metros. But is this supported by the evidence?

Urban population increase reflects the outcome of three separate forces: the natural increase in population within the urban areas; the migration of rural dwellers to urban areas; and the reclassification of settlements from rural to urban. All three have been at work over the past decade. While we still do not have access to the detailed Census data that would allow for the disaggregation, we do know that the last factor is likely to have played a major role, simply because there has been a significant, even remarkable increase in the number of urban conurbations in the latest Census. The number of urban settlements has increased from 5161 in 2001 to 7935 in 2011, an increase of 54% that dwarfs the 32% growth in urban population.

The 2011 Census classifies an area as urban if it fulfils any one of two conditions. Firstly, any area that comes under a corporation, municipality or town panchayat is automatically classified as urban, and is defined as a ''statutory town''. Secondly, a location is considered to be urban if it contains a population of 5,000 or above, has a density of at least 400 persons per square km and 75 per cent of the male work force employed in non-agricultural occupations. It is then defined as a ''Census town''.

Table 1: Urban Settlements in 2011
	Per cent urban population in 2011		Total urban settlements in 2011	Increase in number since 2001
				Statutory towns	Census towns	Total
India	31.16		7935	242	2532	2774
Jammu & Kashmir	27.21		59	0	2	2
Punjab	37.49		217	4	56	60
Uttarakhand	30.55		116	0	30	30
Haryana	34.79		154	-4	52	48
Rajasthan	24.89		297	1	74	75
Uttar Pradesh	22.28		915	10	201	211
Bihar	11.3		199	14	55	69
Assam	14.08		214	8	81	89
West Bengal	31.89		909	6	528	534
Jharkhand	24.05		228	-4	80	76
Orissa	16.68		223	0	85	85
Chhattisgarh	23.24		182	93	-8	85
Madhya Pradesh	27.63		476	25	57	82
Gujarat	42.58		348	27	79	106
Maharashtra	45.23		535	5	152	157
Andhra Pradesh	33.49		353	8	135	143
Karnataka	38.57		347	-6	83	77
Goa	62.17		70	0	26	26
Kerala	47.72		520	-1	362	361
Tamil Nadu	48.45		1097	0	265	265

Table 1 >> Click to Enlarge

As the table shows, one of the significant processes that has been at work in India over the past decade is the very significant increase in ''Census towns'' – that is, those places that are not recognised in a statutory sense as urban areas but fulfil the criteria laid down by the Census. These account for more than 90 per cent of the increase in the total number of urban settlements. In a few states (such as Karnataka, Haryana and Jharkhand) the number of statutory towns has actually fallen, while the number of Census town has increased very sharply. Overall all, the number of Census towns has increased by more than 180 per cent, while there has been more than threefold increase in their numbers in Bihar, Kerala, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

It is also likely that a very significant part of the ''urbanisation'' that is being talked about is actually a reflection of this reclassification of settlements, rather than of rural-urban migration per se. This will only be clear when further Census 2011 results are provided, but it is obvious that such a large increase in the number of Census towns must have had a counterpart in the number of people defined as living in urban areas.

This brings into play a set of entirely new issues around the phenomenon of urbanisation, and it is surprising that these have not yet come up in any significant way in the policy discussion. How exactly do we define ''urban''? When villages grow in size and start including a greater proportion of work force engaged in non-agricultural activities, they will increasingly be considered as ''urban'' in this sense, but they will be outside of the administrative and policy framework that is designed to deal with urban areas. And this leads to a huge range of new questions and problems.

In the absence of the institutional framework of a municipality, how are the standard problems relating to urban infrastructure, utilities like electricity and water, sanitation and the provision of other basic services to be dealt with? To what extent has the planning process (and policy making generally) incorporated the needs and requirements of these areas? Indeed, are there any plans at all for such settlements, including the standard plans relating to land use, provision of schools, health care centres, community services and the like? What about spatial provisions like sufficient open spaces, public parks and playgrounds, and avoiding congestion?

It could well be that currently these ''Census towns'' are simply off the radar of most policy makers and implementers, because they do not fall into the statutory definition of urban and are still included in ''rural'' areas for administrative purposes. Yet there are 3,894 such towns according to Census 2011, and they are bound to account for a significant (and possibly growing) part of the urban population as described in the Census. Ignoring the specific needs of these areas and their residents is likely to create many problems in the future.

So this clearly amounts to another major challenge posed by ''urbanisation'', but one that has still barely been recognised in official circles.

It is worth adding to this another feature that has emerged from the other important official dataset that has just been released – the employment and unemployment data of the National Sample Survey round of 2009-10. That reveals that rates of employment generation have slowed down dramatically in both rural and urban areas (though it is not clear whether they have included only statutory urban areas in their definition).

So we have a potentially deadly combination: growing population in small urban areas, with poor or possibly non-existent facilities, no urban planning to speak of to ensure liveable conditions, and inadequate employment generation especially for the increasing numbers of young people that are part of the demographic bulge. The potential for social tensions and conflict as well as instability of various sorts, hardly needs to be reiterated given our unfortunate history with such issues.

In this context, it is surprising that the Planning Commission did not list adequate good quality employment generation as a major challenge for the coming Plan period. Ignoring this very formidable challenge is perilous, because the adverse implications are not long term or even medium term: they are likely to come and bite us only too soon.

Does India Need A Second Green Revolution?

In his Independence Day speech Manmohan Singh has emphasised on the need for a second green revolution and the Food Security Bill. While making these comments, he has completely ignored the Supreme Court’s proposal to distribute surplus food rotting in the open among the poor

Political observers, who watch the Congress-led ruling coalition’s moves with suspicion, are somewhat alarmed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s refrain of launching a second green revolution, as well as the implications of the Food Security Bill. He stressed the need for a second green revolution in his Independence Day speech as well. Baffled commentators have since long been pointing out that before initiating this exercise, which requires enormous investment, policy-makers should try and implement the Supreme Court’s proposal that surplus foodgrains be distributed free or at minimal cost to the poor and hungry, instead of rotting in warehouses or wherever.

It is a national scandal, with the media routinely reporting about sacks of foodgrains being left out in the open, in school rooms, beside roads, anywhere, exposed to the elements and assaults by rodents and pests. If the UPA Government is serious about feeding those who lack food security, it should have heeded the apex court’s suggestion.

Instead, last August Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar had stated that it was not possible to distribute food grains free. But the Government was buying wheat at Rs 16 per kg and selling it for Rs 2 a kg to the poorest of the poor. It is difficult to ascertain whether such wheat is reaching all the targeted people. So far as storage of foodgrains is concerned, a large quantity continues to rot in the absence of proper facilities.

One might have assumed that after the ineptitude of the Food Corporation of India in this matter was exposed, remedial action would immediately have been initiated. That is expecting too much. Last August, seven FCI open godowns in Haryana’s Kalyat, Kaithal district, were found full of mud. More than 10 lakh bags of wheat were reported to be rotting inside. The godowns were private, and had been hired by the FCI with the State Government’s help. The colossal waste was replicated this year, with TV channelHeadlines Today reporting:

“Hundreds of tonnes of wheat and rice are rotting in godowns across the nation — the reason being there is simply no space. So, while paddy sacks are dumped inside classrooms in Andhra Pradesh, wheat is left to rot on the roadside in Kurukshetra and sacks can be seen lining up parking lots of residential areas in the fertile wheat belt of Punjab and Haryana.”

This is a criminal waste. The Prime Minister must explain to the nation why we need a second green revolution when India is said to be self-sufficient in foodgrains. The report estimates that foodgrains production including wheat, rice, pulses and coarse cereals will go up to a record 235.88 tonnes. The earlier record was 234.47 million tonnes in 2008-09. The report adds that the current storage capacity is 62.8 million tonnes, which is proving inadequate.

There were record rice and wheat stocks of 65.6 million tonnes in godowns in early June. The problem is expected to become worse after the kharif harvest arrives by September-October. Clearly, what ails India is a lack of will to create better storage and ensure that the hungry get access to foodgrains at an affordable rate, even free, during hard times.

Our cattle, too, should be fed the surplus since that would mean better milk yield. Non-dairy cattle can be saved from slaughter houses and deployed to till fields and for providing natural fertilisers, in place of agrochemicals. That is also a cheaper option for farmers, otherwise forced to borrow from banks to buy costly and toxic pesticides and fertilisers. The grain yield would be healthier without chemical residue, with people in southern Punjab reportedly afflicted by a range of cancers, infertility, neurological and other maladies, resulting from sustained use of agrochemicals.

Bumper harvests are negated by letting grain rot or be devoured by pests. The public distribution system, the ubiquitous ration shops of the socialist era, are rife with malpractices, with commodities being diverted to the open market, hoarded and misused. The Supreme Court had ordered enhancing storage facilities. There really would be no need for the food security legislation if the concerned agencies could ensure proper storage and distribution of foodgrains.

Mr Pawar has already voiced reservations about the mammoth cost and burden of the proposed legislation. He is reported to have written to the Prime Minister, suggesting direct cash transfer to target groups, in place of cereals and foodgrains. But such cash transfers are likely to reach the pockets of middlemen, in part or whole, just as essential commodities under the public distribution system are often diverted. Under the Food Security Bill, framed by the National Advisory Council, an extra constitutional body, the state will give 35 kg of foodgrains to each household below poverty line every month at Rs 3 for rice, Rs 2 for wheat, and Rs 1 for millets. General category households will be entitled to 20 kg of foodgrains at half the minimum support price.

The Government will undertake an agricultural survey, like the economic survey, before tabling the Bill. The second green revolution presumably will be launched to fulfil the commitments made in the Bill, with the Government expressing worry about the successive failure to achieve the targeted four per cent growth in agriculture in the last three Five Year Plans.

However, cynics interpret this as a prelude to letting in agro MNCs, with the second green revolution hinging on the latest agrochemicals, patented seeds and genetically engineered inventions, available at great cost. Traditional farming methods, more congenial to health and the economy, would perish. 

DOPING IN SPORTS

These have been athletics’ darkest decades. Evidence of doping, or the use of banned performance-enhancing substances, has been lengthening its shadow on track and field events ever since Canada’s Ben Johnson was stripped of his Olympics 100m gold medal almost within hours of breaking the world record at Seoul in 1988. With improvements in diagnostic tests and more proactive investigations, others too have been retrospectively relieved of their titles — most notably American Marion Jones, once hailed as the greatest athlete of her generation, who lost the three gold and two bronze medals she had won at the 2000 Olympics. The prevalence of doping — or the suspicion of it — is so overwhelming that now even those who have cleared tests are viewed with suspicion, and at the great championships sprinters have lost their celebrity status.

The Indian sport establishment cannot affect surprise at the instances of doping that have come to light these past few days, with one after another athlete testing positive for anabolic steroid use. Among them are Ashwini Akkunji, the golden girl of the moment with her medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games last year, and her colleagues on the celebrated 4x400m relay squad. With the scale of possible offences growing, coach Yuri Ogorodnik and two of his assistants have been sacked. The athletes claim that they did not intentionally consume banned substances, and that it could be that their nutritional supplements had been contaminated. Cases will, as they must, be investigated individually, but the number indicates complicity and callousness at many levels. In fact, suspicions have been rampant not just about widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs, but also about a systemic support for the practice.

Enforcing a zero-tolerance regime of surprise checks is an obvious requirement. But athletes and their support staff also need to be updated constantly on training practices. Just the other day athletics was India’s good news story, a story of aspiration. That it’s changing so fast is sad. It must also serve as an alarm that we can no longer postpone the enforcement of best practices.

Shri Ajay Maken, Union Minister of State ( I/C) for Youth Affairs & Sports has outlined various steps to  inquire into whole doping episode and curb this menace. At the press conference here today, Shri Maken gave the details of the six point directions issued to the officers of Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India (SAI) to inquire into doping episode.

In light of the positive dope tests of eight athletes, M/s Mandeep Kaur, SiniJose, Joanna Murmu, Ashwini Akkunji, Tianna Mary Thomas (4*400 m), HariKrishnan (long jump), Sonia (shot put) and Priyanka Panwar ( 400 m)  and the ongoing inquiry thereof, it is directed that the Department/ SAI should take note of and focus on the role of the personnel support infrastructure behind these athletes, Shri Maken said.

Shri Maken further stated that while every doping incident involves personaldisgrace , banning and even threats of medals getting withdrawn from the accused athletes; the role of supporting coaches , doctors officials and other needs to be inquired, ascertained and suitably disposed.   Accordingly, the Government/SAI should;

1. Withdraw/ relieve the foreign coach/ coaches attached to these athletes with immediate effect.
2. Seek a report from Sports Authority of India (SAI) about any vigilance lapses and availability of such drugs/ dope on NIS, Patiala premises. DG, SAI should seek and submit this report within three days.
3. Immediate provisions be made for changing/ rotating Doping officers frequently.
4. Seek a report from the Athletics Federation of India ( AFI) regarding the issue.
5. Examine provisions for increasing the strength of Doctors at NIS, Patiala to at least three, including one Lady Doctor. And,
6. An inquiry headed by a Retd. High Court Judge or  Chairman, Disciplinary hearing Panel of NADA be constituted to look into and establish the reasons leading up to such state of affairs, its effect, prevalence and modus operandi. The inquiry may also suggest concrete measures to ensure that such events/ issues do not emerge in future.

The Sports Minister also gave the details of the various measures announced by the National Anti Dope Agency (NADA) in the last two days to prevent the occurrence of dope in sports. These are

1.      Increase in frequency of Dope Test.

2.      Tie up with the customs authorities to detect the import of such banned food supplements /drugs.

3.      Track movement of drugs in and around the campus area of TrainingCentres.

4.      Increase the session of counseling of the players.

5.      Greater surveillance of coaches, doctors and support staff through their employers.

6.      Conduct frequent searches of room/s of the players, coaches and support staff.

“Corruption and Human Rights in India – Comparative Perspectives on Transparency and Good Governance”

Corruption, whichever way it is defined, is essentially a governance issue. Every society in history has pronounced norms of governance to distinguish between a good and a bad ruler, a happy and an unhappy people. The only meaningful corrective to bad governance is good and responsive governance.

The Constitution of India prescribes justice, and equality of status and opportunity, to all our people along with the ideals of liberty and fraternity. It lays down an institutional framework for achieving these objectives. At the same time, Dr. Ambedkar had administered a note of caution. His words remain relevant:

The working of the constitution does not depend wholly upon the nature of the Constitution. The constitution can provide only the organs of the state such as the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. The factors on which the working of those organs of the state depends are the people and the political parties they will set up as their instruments to carry out their wishes and their politics. Who can say how the people of India and their parties will behave?’

The starting point of discussion, therefore, should be the efficacy with which the people of India and their political formations have operated the institutions. The successes, and limitations, have to be shared in equal measure. At the same time, any study of governance in practice cannot avoid the changes in citizen awareness emanating from experience and a deepening of their understanding of norms. This provides the backdrop to many of our current debates.

Three questions come to mind:

• Is the basic problem of countering corruption a lack of good legal framework, or an understanding of the human rights implications of corruption?

• At a time when the phenomenon of corruption looms large on our public and personal arenas, what is the importance of politics and the political processes in addressing this malaise?

• What role do we assign to ethical conduct in public life and upholding of political virtue?

It is undeniable that public perceptions have evolved and that today our awareness of, and demand for, better governance is quantitatively and qualitatively greater. So is the awareness that deficit impinges on human rights guaranteed to citizens by national laws and international covenants subscribed to by us as a nation.

This heightened consciousness of rights is the result in good measure of the successful functioning of the institutional system and laws bestowed on us by the Constitution. Citizens have operated it through political parties as instruments to implement their agenda and work in accordance with their mandate.

Political parties are thus needed for exercise of political power and for conducting governance. Their credibility and efficacy are critical elements in bringing about stable polities that are essential for socio-economic progress. They are expected to set examples of democratic practice, influence the nature of political mobilization, alliance formation and societal accommodation. They can facilitate conflict management. Political parties lie at the root of any debate on representative-ness, societal conciliation, and governance that is accountable, stable and efficient.

Shortcomings, wherever identified, must be made good. At the same time, there is a peril to be avoided. Urgency in the search for solutions, or impatience with established political processes, or sheer frustration with the current state of affairs can not, and should not, prompt us towards quasi-legal or extra-legal options. Any thinking towards solutions that delegitimize the constitutional process can do incalculable harm.

Likewise, it is incumbent on each of us, and especially those in public life, to respect the careful in-built balance between the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary as contained in the Constitution. Eroding the balance, either through under-reach of one or over-reach of another, could lead to chaos.

The last question, on ethical conduct and public virtue, can only elicit one response. Negativity of mind and soul cannot but result in diminishing the public spirit needed to deliver public good.

Highlights of the Prime Minister’s Independence Address

·         Prime Minister cautions against “some people who want to create disturbances in the country so that our progress gets stalled”.   Prime Minister calls for understanding and restraint, otherwise our security and integrity can get adversely affected. Prime Minister vows that “we will not let this happen”.
 Prime Minister claims “we have provided political stability and socio and economic progress”.Prime Minister says this is time “to rise above personal or political interests and build consensus on issues of national importance”. Prime Ministers asserts that we have “established an environment of communal harmony in the country”.Prime Minister says his seven years have seen rapid economic development.·         Prime Minister says “we have taken a special care of the needs of our brothers and sisters from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Minorities, Women and Children”. Prime Minister promises food security legislation soon. Prime Minister says the country is full of “confidence and self-respect”.         Prime Minister acknowledges “corruption is a big obstacle in national transformation”. Prime Minister says corruption should be discussed in a manner that “should not create an atmosphere in which country’s progress comes into question”. Prime Minister urges that discussion on corruption should not distract from self-confidence.  Prime Minister asserts that “the government is taking strictest possible action in cases of corruption”. Prime Minister says “there is no single big step which we can take to eradicate corruption”. Prime Minister says corruption cannot be eradicated unless “we improve our justice delivery system”. Prime Minister asserts “we want strong Lokpal to prevent corruption in high places”. Prime Minister says no one “should resort to hunger strikes and fast-unto-death”. Prime Minister says nothing should be done to dilute independence of the judiciary. Prime Minister acknowledges “misuse of governmental discretion in allocation of scarce resources”.  Prime Minister says the Government working on measures to reduce corruption in government projects. Prime Minister says “government will lay down principles and practices with regard to government purchases”.  Prime Minister says no government has a “magic wand” to eradicate corruption. Prime Minister asserts “we have to fight against corruption on many fronts”.  Prime Minister compliments farmers on producing a record level food grains. Prime Minister says we need a second Green Revolution in Agriculture. Prime Minister acknowledges “a phase of sustained high inflation”. Prime Minister says “our government fully understands its responsibility to control rise in prices”. International markets fuel inflation in India.    Prime Minister says “finding a solution to inflation will be our top most priority in the coming months”.         Prime Minister says “land acquisition must be transparent and fair”.  Prime Minister says “government will establish a new Education Commission to suggest improvements in education at all levels”. Prime Minister wants 12th Five Year Plan to focus on health. Prime Minister says investment in infrastructure has grown more than 1 1/2 times in the last seven years. Prime Minister says “we want to make India slum-free and the ownership of clean houses to slum dwellers”. Prime Minister says “malnutrition in women and children is a matter of concern for all of us”.  Prime Minister regrets “declining sex ratio and wants a change in approach towards girls and women”.  Prime Minister says we should not lower guard against terrorism; says it is a long battle to be fought jointly by the Central Government, State Governments and the citizens.  Prime Minister promises to eradicate the very reasons which gave rise to naxalism. Prime Minister warns against climate change and promises “an environmental assessment and monitoring authority to streamline the process of environmental clearances”.  Prime Minister acknowledges our younger generation’s higher aspirations and says our institutions should tap our people’s potential.  Prime Minister says “our entrepreneurs and business men should not feel constrained in their activities”. Prime Minister urges “we should all stay away from tactics that creates suspicion or apprehension among those connected with industry, business and investment.  Prime Minister says our development should not increase inequalities. Prime Minister says we have the collective capacities and the confidence to deal with tensions and conflicts in the society.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND INDIA : UN WOMEN REPORT

Justice is still out of reach for thousands of women in India with the acceptance of violence being a general mindset, said the report launched by UN Women’s flagship report on world’s women progress.
Addressing issues like marital rape, domestic and sexual violence, gender inequality etc, the survey done in the report suggest that 39 per cent men and women in India think that it is justifiable for a man to beat his wife.
According to the report, 63 per cent of women in India, between the age group of 15 and 49 years, lack autonomy in their homes which is defined as having no say in any of the vital everyday decisions, including own health care, large household purchases, purchases for daily needs and visits to family or relatives. India also significantly lags behind the rest of the world with women being just 3 per cent of the judges.
UN Women, the United Nation’s new organisation for women has called on the government to take urgent action to transform justice system and laws for women in India. Some of the key recommendations of the report include employing more women police, providing legal aid and awareness for women, creating specialised courts, implementing gender-sensitive law reforms.

Talking about women presence in politics and public life, the report said that much needs to be done to ensure that women can access justice and achieve their rights. “The report has found that the existing laws are inadequately enforced. Many women avoid reporting crimes due to social stigma, prohibitive costs, expensive legal advice and weak justice systems.The report has also emphasised employing of women on the front line of justice services and police officers.

“Data shows that there is a positive correlation between the presence of women police officers and reporting of sexual assault. Recruitment of women police officers and resourcing of gender desks must be part of a broader strategy to train the police to adequately respond to women’s needs

LIMITATIONS OF OMNIPRESENT LOKPAL

FOR many who quite rightly guessed that the Lokpal Bill drafted by the government would be a non-starter, the alternative merited automatic support. However, little was known about the contents of the two Bills except that the alternative being proposed by “India Against Corruption” had the prefix of being a “people’s” Lokpal. The consequences are too important to leave the issue to the expertise of the drafting committee. The people must comprehend, and play their part in ensuring that there will be an Act that will empower them to fight corruption — not make them surrender their hopes to yet another anti-corruption organisation. How people-centric is the Jan Lokpal Bill?
While the Jan Lokpal Pill is going through rapid revisions — 12 so far — the basic framework and some principles have remained constant. Broadly, the Bill can be divided into four sections: the mandate and scope of the Lokpal; composition and selection of the Lokpal; powers of the Lokpal; and functioning of the Lokpal. The composition and selection of the Lokpal is substantively one of the least contentious sections – concerning largely with procedural matters and subjective preferences, rather than ideological or legal viewpoints. A discussion of the other three sections is necessary.

Jurisdiction over all public servants

The Jan Lokpal is being conceived of as an institution with far-reaching powers. It will exercise jurisdiction over all “public servants”, including the entire executive, the legislature and the judiciary (Section 2.11), and will be tasked for the investigation and prosecution of all actions punishable under anti-corruption provisions in various laws. It is also mandated to act on allegation of misconduct by a government servant, grievances of citizens, complaints from whistleblowers, and complaints against its own staff (Section 8.1).
This ambitious agenda, suffers from many problems. An essential feature of democratic governance is the separation of powers to preclude the exercise of excessive authority by any one institution. The well-intentioned objective of administrative, financial and functional independence (Section 14.3D) raises fundamental questions about its own accountability. The “people” are confined to being complainants and applicants.
In addition the centralised structure of the Lokpal is ill-suited for sorting out governance deficit and the inclusion of citizens charters and grievance redress in its ambit is likely to swamp the Lokpal. Effective grievance redress needs to be built upon participative collective processes that empower citizens. Instead the proposed system of a two-step appellate process centralises power in the Lokpal, each escalation leaving the individual citizen at the mercy of an increasingly powerful and inaccessible authority.

Judiciary too under Lokpal?

The inclusion of the judiciary within the purview of the Lokpal also needs discussion. The Bill proposes only to investigate complaints relating to judges that would fall under the Prevention of Corruption Act. However, judicial accountability extends beyond quid pro quo corruption of individual judges – and issues of transparency, judicial appointments and judicial standards will be left unaddressed. Many eminent judges have suggested that the important issue of judicial accountability should be tackled simultaneously through a separate statute that will also protect the constitutionally mandated independence of the judiciary.
The Jan Lokpal has been vested with sweeping powers, which are susceptible to misuse. The Lokpal can suo-motu initiate investigation (Section 14.6), tap phones and intercept other communication (Section 13C), has powers of search and seizure (Section 9) and initiate prosecution (Section 8.2b) without sanction (Section 8.6 and Section 8.7). According to Supreme Court judgments, the government can tap phones only if there is “occurrence of any public emergency” or “interest of public safety” and the power to tap phones goes beyond the Lokpal’s mandate to tackle corruption.
Other powers trespass the executive and judicial domain such as the power to order the cancellation of a licence, lease or contract (Section 8.2.d), blacklist firms (Section 8.2.e), order the removal of public servants (other than ministers, MPs and judges) on the completion of investigation (Section 18.8), mandate changes in the citizen charters (Section 21.5), investigate judicial orders if mala fide alleged (Section 17.2) and ensure compliance of its orders through the contempt of court powers (Section 13.4). The only oversight is the Constitutional default of judicial review. However, with the entire judiciary envisioned to be within the purview of the Lokpal, this may not be an effective enough safeguard.
The Lokpal or Lokayukta will respond to what are likely to be lakhs of complaints and applications through powerful local-level machinery of vigilance and investigation officers whose only accountability is to their superiors. It is difficult to imagine why these officers of the Lokpal will not be as susceptible to corruption as the public servants they would investigate. The janata at the grassroots faces the imminent danger of being saddled with an even more unaccountable centre of arbitrary power.

Public anger revives Lokpal

The Jan Lokpal will subsume the CVC (Section 24) and the anti-corruption investigative wing of the CBI (Section 25.3). It also has complete discretion to determine the number and categories of its officers (Section 23.2) at “special conditions or special pay” which “may be different and more than ordinary pay scales” as prescribed by Lokpal (Section 23.3 and 23.7).
This provision attempts to carve out a separate and special regime under the Lokpal, and it is unclear why standards and norms applicable for other government employees shouldn’t apply to those of the Lokpal. Elsewhere the Bill mandates that all records and information held by the Lokpal shall be public, even during investigation (Section 18.9).
While the commitment to transparency is admirable, this provision may violate the fundamental right to individual privacy since it is inevitable that the Lokpal will be privy to some information about the accused that will either be irrelevant to the investigation or false (e.g., malicious testimonies).
The Lokpal has the power to levy fines and penalties all of which will be deposited in its “Lokpal fund”, as will 10 per cent of public monies recovered for disposal as per its discretion (Section 5.5). This provision creates a perverse incentive for the Lokpal to levy fines and usurps parliamentary prerogative of oversight over public money.
The strong popular support for the Jan Lokpal Bill comes from a sense of anger and frustration with the spate of scams, particularly “grand corruption” where ordinary citizens have helplessly watched money being illegally accumulated by people who seem to be beyond the law. There is a need to create, as this Bill does, a body that is well selected, empowered and supported, to fight corruption at the very top.
Perhaps innovative provisions could have been included for the Lokpal to enlist the support of the many public spirited citizens who even the RTI Act has spawned. However, by setting an agenda that mandates the Jan Lokpal to respond to all matters of mis-governance that spans the length and depth of the arms of the state, there is the obvious danger of losing focus. More frightening is the prospect that the Lokpal would create a huge bureaucracy that could become another source of corruption that it might not be able to monitor or control.
The joint committee has begun by promising to consult people with an open mind. To realise the ideal of participatory democracy, the committee will have to encourage widespread debate and own responsibility to initiate diverse public consultations where each principle of the Bill is critically discussed before its inclusion. That process could perhaps promote a culture of putting people at the centre of anti-corruption efforts. Corruption is finally about imbalanced and arbitrary power relationships. The people need to be active participants in framing a law that in turn empowers them to fight corruption and the arbitrary use of power. That would ensure the “Jan” prevails