Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Bush can force Pakistan
to change its Kashmir policy

By J N Raina
The situation in Pakistan is really chilling. People are in rage, and
thousands of them have been holding massive demonstrations against the United States and Gen Musharraf. People are having bad dreams about the ugly turn of events , following carpet . ....more

Tobacoo deception
and women

Dr Roopa Vajpeyi
Tobacco consumption and usage in India is a very complex issue. It encompasses,not just tobacco smoking but also .....more

The Unknown NPA scam

By S. V. Vaidyanathan
The National Commission set up to review the working of the Constitution has suggested a number of measures for bringing probity in governance and ....more

EDITORIAL

Government, Servants...

One of the many evil legacies of the British Raj is the prerogative of the Government to shuffle its servants around as and when its whim decides. The British were a foreign people who had a rule to maintain over the Indians. From the very inception of the Empire, Indians had been skeptical of the Englishmen's designs. They opposed the imperial agents for reasons that had not always been motivated by the nationalist ideas. Most of the times it was personal considerations of the rulers and many a time the dethroned kings and queens were raging at their own dispossession. Some were fiercely nationalist who hated the sight of the foreign usurpers. The British had to secure themselves against all of them. They had to win the support of the people, but sought to enforce it with the fear of the Empire and their own military superiority over the natives. Army was the major instrument here. For the civilian part the British recruited people whom they could use for the purposes of extending the Empire’s sway and rule. These were the 'Government servants’ from the menial workers engaged on almost daily basis to the high-ranking bureaucracy.

They served the Government carried out the orders of the rulers and sided with the Government against the people of India when needed. For a hundred years of their two-centuries of rule the British did not recruit Indians to the positions of power in the Government. After the mutiny of 1857 the Indians could not be ignored. They started recruiting Indians but the Indians were always suspect in their eyes, at least till the 'loyalty' to the ‘Government’ had been established. Since they could not declare this as an open policy, it remained an unwritten understanding that was confidentially shared among the blue-blooded ones or with the most 'loyal' servants of the Raj. Since the ability of the ‘servant-officer’ to further the imperial interest could not be stated openly as the criterion for assessment of the efficiency, it was introduced and applied in a sly way. They called it ‘the interest of administration’. An officer who was found inconvenient was shuttled around ‘in the interest of administration’. All understood what that ‘interest’ was; it was furtherance of the Empire. The imperative to have complying officers at the key posts most compelling in the twentieth century when the freedom movement became intense.

That was the immediate legacy the Governments of free India inherited at the time of independence. They received a power they did not need. A prerogative that had no contemporary relevance; it was actually opposed to the objectives of a free peoples’ Government where all Indians, whether they were the 'Government' or the 'Government servants', were equal participants. But the new rulers never gave up the prerogative. They possibly thought it useful in ushering in new patterns of economy and administration. Probably, they never thought about how sinister it could get over the years. The more critical view holds that they found the slave-master relationship of the British paradigm of ‘Government-servant’ very satisfying and useful for their own personal ends. Whatever, the new Governments not only continued with the imperial style of governance but assumed the same powers and prerogatives that the British had exercised. Though the euphemism of the 'public servant', was applied, the public servant remained 'Government servants' who had to be ‘loyal’ to the government of the day. To this end the government servants are still barred from standing for elections while the minister who controls the whole Government machinery -and, as the past fifty years have shown, controls it unfairly with fear and favor' - can without any questions contest all the elections he/she wants. The Government servant is not to hold, much less air any view; he/she is to serve loyally and that is all.

...And transfer troubles

From the same British legacy comes the power of the ‘Government to shunt, shift and shuttle the poor servant as the rulers may fancy. To the British -interest of administration’ the democratic Government has added the ‘interest of public’ and has, thus, actually extended sanction that was available to the imperial agents. The rulebook for 'Govt servants' became even more extensive after independence; in fact, the 'loyalty' clause was further tightened with the concept of ‘committed bureaucracy’ mooted by Indira Gandhi. After twenty years the concept has not clearly been discarded by any of the succeeding Governments. Indeed, there is a pressing need to change the whole Government-servant relationship. The ‘servants’ and the 'Government' are equal partners in the governance as well as the interests of the free India. Besides. there are any number of rules to deal with any delinquency of duty on the part of the poor ‘servant’. And, there is a body of clearly laid down rules which detail minutely how the government servant is to function and within what limits. If any thing, the experience of the past half a century has shown that it is the rulers who have tend to act unfairly, and with bias, not the ‘Government servants’.

Indeed, one of the high abuses of the power by the ruling party and persons is through manipulating the body of the ‘Government servants’, by placing the complying ones in places of importance, browbeating the others with the sword of transfers and enticing the rest with plums and postings. Above all, there is no earthly reason why the party in power should have the arbitrary right to place and post Government servant. If the functionary is inefficient, in competent, he/she must be shunted out of employ, not shunted around. And If all are efficient and competent, as they must be if they are retained in service. they can be posted at any approximate place without the Government making arbitrary transfers ‘in the interest of the public and/or administration’. People cite cases by hundreds where it is the honest and upright officers who are transferred by the Government in, the so-called, public interest’ and not the corrupt and inefficient ones. And ask why? Why , are the ‘servants’ who refuse to serve illegal masters and cater to the public instead, not in the interest of the administration? There is a more fundamental question. Isn’t it undemocratic to plant Government servants suitable for carrying out the policies of this or that party’s Government? Indeed, there is a solid case for taking the transfers of all Government servants out of the hands of the ruling political parties and handing it over to an unbiased tribunal which can make transfers on a random basis, impartially, on merit without any favor whatever.

Bush can force Pakistan to change its Kashmir policy

By J N Raina

The situation in Pakistan is really chilling. People are in rage, and
thousands of them have been holding massive demonstrations against the United States and Gen Musharraf.

People are having bad dreams about the ugly turn of events , following carpet bombing of Afghanistan, to extricate Osama bin Laden ( dead or alive ) from his hitherto unknown den .

Pakistan is on the cutting-edge of anarchy . Indications are rife that our neighbouring country is in dire straits . Gen Musharraf is cut-up. He is distressed and behaves in an awkward and aggressive way.

The majority of people in Pakistan are up in arms against the ruling junta, anguished over the unstinted support extended to the United States in its global war against terrorism . Osama , symbol of " Islamic terror", and his Al-Quida outfit are the main targets.

Not only the military regime has handed over the fourth base-till now— to the U S for conducting air raids on Afghanistan, to punish Taliban for sheltering Osama, but reports are widespread about the U S’s " desire" to ensure that it " gets some kind of handle" on Pakistan’s nuclear assets. This is beyond the immediate objective of decimating Osama bin Laden and Al Quida , and toppling the Taliban regime, nurtured by Pakistan painstakingly.

Because of Talibanised Pakistan army, as is being perceived , the U S administration fears that nuclear weapons in Pakistan might fall into the hands of " fundamentalist jehadi regime" , at any time, in a bid to oust Musharraf . Osama has already laid claim to ‘ Islamic bomb" in possession of Pakistan.

Obviously, Gen Musharraf must be perturbed over George Bush’s attempt at " nidification". His " nest building activity" in Pakistan might include seeking control of the nuclear assets , on the pretext of guarding them from jehadi elements, which will surely impinge on Pakistan’s sovereignty . Such a trend can have a destabilizing effect on the entire region, political observers fear.

Gen Musharraf ’s mood was unpleasant from the day he hesitantly supported the U S on countering terrorism, before he was sternly warned " either you be with us or face consequences". He was caught between the devil and the deep sea.

The kind of scenario which is likely to emerge in Pakistan is well discernible. Feelings are getting strong that that country is zeroing in towards the description of a " failed state". Former cricket captain of Pakistan and leader of Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan , has convincingly summed up the peoples hysteria thus: " If Osama bin Laden is killed, there will be rage. Westerners will be killed and they would attack back. Mosques and churches will be burnt and the clash of civilizations would become a self-fulfilling prophecy". Osama—— freedom fighter-turned master terrorist— is regarded hero in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world. He has embarked on the path of what has come to be known as " Islamic colonialism". His jehad has divided the world into two distinct camps, " the civilized western world and the barbaric Islamic world", says noted film star and social activist Ms Shabana Azmi

" Bequeathing " of territory by Pakistan , though for a limited purpose , can take a different turn tomorrow. Pakistan has already given on a platter a chunk of territory in PoK toChina while negotiating a border deal. This was just to appease China to garner its support on Kashmir . The same mistake can be repeated by Gen Musharraf to obtain U S support on Kashmir.

When some Pakistani journalists drew the attention of Gen Musharraf towards such feelers, he just fumbled and smiled away the question, describing these rumours as " figment of imagination " .

Gen Musharraf is on the horns of a dilemma, having " surrendered" his nation’s sovereignty, in return for some economic benefits. There seems to be a clandestine understanding on Kashmir too. When the U S Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Pakistan, he made serious statements on Kashmir to keep Gen Musharraf in good humour. " Together we can do so many things", was his refrain. Gen Powell considered Pakistan " as an exceedingly strong partner"‘ and would pursue " measures to make ties firmer".

George Bush has even asked India to " stand down" and not to create " more problems" for Pakistan at this juncture. This statement in fact emboldened Musharraf to warn India to " lay off’.

The military ruler is heading " towards precarious difficulties", a well-known astrologer Kedar Sharma has predicted so. Sharma had made similar predictions for George Bush and Bill Clinton .

Colin Powell’s reiteration of " Kashmir being the central issue " between India and Pakistan has left New Delhi bemused . The ministry of external affairs within hours rejected his claim that " Kashmir was at the heart of tension" between the two countries. India made it clear to Gen Powell that the present conflict was the result of state-sponsored terrorism.

However, India need not despair . Instead, it should seek comfort from the fact that Pakistan has got embroiled in a vicious circle of its own creation. Prime Minister A B Vajpayee has well said that the situation has come to such a pass that one thorn has started extricating another it had sown.. Gen Powell’s change of stance on Kashmir and his Pakistan-oriented visit might be a cause of minor irritation for India, but there is no alternative to India to support the U S . It is for New Delhi to derive maximum advantage from the ongoing war against terrorism, of which Pakistan is the epicenter.

Washington’s close alliance with Pakistan is quite understandable. Believing that Pakistan and Taliban are two faces of the same coin, George Bush has no choice but to use two-pronged strategy to wean away Pakistan from the die-hard Talibans, in its first phase of attack on terrorism. Obviously, the U S used the carrot-and-stick approach in the process of establishing bases on Pakistan soil, evoking large-scale protest .

The moment Taliban regime falls, and Osama is captured, many a heads will roll in Pakistan. The ISI-sponsored proxy war in India will meet its death . It is hard to imagine what sort of a situation will emerge in Kashmir.

India need not indulge in hot pursuit of terrorists in PoK . Pakistan is keen to keep alive the LoC to drag the attention of the U S and its allies from the real issue of combating terrorism.

Pakistan has created havoc in Afghanistan and Kashmir by export of terrorism. It has now got trapped in a web because of its follies. The possibility is that extremists, radical Islamists and terrorist organizations may start drubbing Gen Musharraf . If such a situation develops and Pakistan is sucked into a civil war , the entire region will be unstable.

Pakistan must dissociate itself from terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley. Musharraf had realised that bomb blast near the state legislature in Srinagar on October 1 was a terrorist act, but he subsequently changed his words and described the terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir as freedom struggle. He has become a laughing stock for making these absurd assertions.

There should be no mediation on Kashmir. Former U S Secretary of State Henry Kissinger , a long -time interventionist, has suggested to the U S " to stay out of Kashmir". The American officials investigating the fidayan attacks in New York and Washington , know well how neck deep Pakistan is involved. Time will come when the U S will find it hard to rely on Pakistan.

Robert G Wirsing, a researcher at the Asia Pacific Centre for Se curity Studies in Hawaii has suggested that Kashmir’s final status must be " indefinitely postponed" . Even autonomy is no solution, he avers and has rejected the notion that Kashmir is the only solution between India and Pakistan. If Bush administration is sincere, it should simply ask Pakistan to lay off and change its Kashmir policy. It is in Pakistan’s own interest and must learn a lesson from its Afghan experience.

The radical change in Pakistan’s Afghan policy—— under duress— from open support to Taliban to active opposition to it, should open its eyes towards Kashmir Imbroglio. Gen Musharraf should announce an equally radical change of policy on Kashmir. That will ensure stability for Pakistan itself .

Tobacoo deception and women

Dr Roopa Vajpeyi

Tobacco consumption and usage in India is a very complex issue. It encompasses,not just tobacco smoking but also tobacco chewing, tobacco labour, economic activities like bidi rolling, passive smoking, use of tobacco as a traditional remedy for certain illnesses, tobacco cultivation and a host of other socio- economic factor.

In rural India, most Indian women are exposed to tobacco from an early age-filling their father’s hukkas, watching adults eat pan masala, gutkha or chewing tobacco, and sometimes rolling bidis with their mothers at home for a living. In some ways, the rural scenario is much more serious than in the urban areas, since in urban areas, cigarette and bidi smoking are two main forms of tobacco use.

The cigarette manufacturing industry in India is regulated to some extent, has a tax structure and give benefits for labour dependent on the cigarette-making industry. On the other hand, the bidi rollers and tobacco growers have virtually no job security or job-related facility. Bidi rollers are often women and children, who are uneducated, economically and socially oppressed, and exploited to the hilt by middlemen and the industry. A marked characteristic of the bidi rolling industry is that despite its huge market and sales, it is an unorganised sector and the labour mostly operates from home, thus making it even harder to assess labour exploitation, and working conditions.

India has one of the biggest bidi-rolling industry and market in the world. Around 102 billion cigarette sticks are sold in India every year but cigarettes account for just 19% of the total tobacco consumption. Bidis are highly popular in India, especially in the rural and semi-urban areas. For every cigarette sold, 8.5 bidis are smoked in India. In 1998-99, 858 billion bidis were sold in the country.

The bidi industry employs around 40 million people for collecting tendu leaves, used for rolling bidis done by another 60 million. Largely, women are employed for this purpose, since they work from home. Being economically impoverished they accept less wages than men, and also bring along the added free labour of children.

The industry selects workers who are under-age. ie, below the age of 14. This allows the industry to escape government regulations and labour law.

It is predominantly the rural women who are employed for rolling bidis. A middleman, called the sattedar, operates in a cluster of villages, supplying raw material like tendu leaves, tobacco and strings for making the bidi.

A female labourer gets around Rs 20 to Rs 35 for rolling a thousand bidis. This back-breaking and monotonous job cannot be performed by one woman alone in a day. Thus, invariably the rest of the family members, especially children pitch in.

In case fewer bidis are rolled in a day, the workers are held responsible for it and this leads to a-cut in their wages. Defective bidis are also not counted in the final tally, and the deficit again leads to reduction in wages. Also, defective bidis are not returned to the workers after inspection and rejection. Most of the time, they are deliberately mixed up with the final lot of rolled bidis.

The raw material provided to women workers is often inadequate, low-weight and low-quantity but since there is no way of accurately weighing it, women often have to bear the loss, which ultimately amounts to fewer number of bidis rolled and consequent wage cuts.

Bidi rollers suffer from asthma and other respiratory diseases due to poor working conditions and almost no precautionary measures during bidi rolling. The government has mooted some plans to provide scholarships to children of bidi- rollers, which range from Rs 125 per year for a primary class student to Rs 3,000 a year for a medical or engineering student. There are other benefits like medical care and welfare schemes for workers but government application and awareness among women of such programmes is so low that most welfare initiatives do not show any results. In short, the exploitation of women and children by the tobacco industry is complete and pervasive. it pervades all facets of their lives and leaves for them little room to devote any time or money to their own development or that of their families.

The tobacco industry has many devious ways of wriggling its way into lives of unsuspecting women and children. Even when women do not smoke, or consume tobacco consciously, tobacco and its ill-effects become an integral part of their lives.

One such example is that of induction of tobacco as an ingredient in products like toothpaste and tooth powder. In Maharashtra, especially the low-income group women of Mumbai, people consume tobacco in the form of a product called mishri (a black toothpaste made of burnt tobacco) to brush their teeth with.

Women consume this hazardous product in large numbers and, consequently, continuously ingest tobacco. The unwary consumers not only cause severe damage to their health but also become addicted to the product.

In a study conducted to assess the health fallout of mishri consumption,it was found that women as young as 20 were addicted to the product and 59% of the women surveyed used it more than once a day. Women who consumed mishri had higher pre-natal mortality rate and higher incidence of pregnancy-induced hypertension.

The nicotine content in mishri is particularly harmful to pregnant women and the foetus since nicotine easily crosses the placental barrier to harm the baby.

Inclusion of tobacco in toothpaste and toothpowder is a common way surreptitiously hooking people, especially women and children on to tobacco consumption. A similar case was reported in Rajasthan, where it was found that tobacco-laced toothpowder was being marketed to consumers as an Ayurvedic remedy.

The Rajasthan High Court ruled in the Ms Kasturbi Manjan Vs The Union of India’ that his practice was completely unethical and asked the Ministry of Health to constitute an expert committee to look into the deterimental effects of tobacco consumption in chewable form.

Tobacco consumption hits women and children the hardest, destroying their social and familial security when men start to splurge onto tobacco products and later, when they succumb to its health-related fallout. A private business concern in Andhra Pradesh has found a novel way of keeping its employees off the habit.

The company pays an incentive to its employees, wives by cheque if the men keep away from tobacco and alcohol consumption. A monthly allowance of Rs 215 per month is paid to the male employee’s wife if the man shuns smoking during that period. The 1,200 workers of Rayalseema Alkalies and Allied Chemicals are said to be responding well to this innovative public welfare scheme. Women are effective barometers of assessing the men’s habits and have a stake in keeping them away from tobacco and alcohol addictions.

Generally speaking, the adverse health effects of tobacoo consumption, like lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases are well know, but the health fallout of tobacco are even more serious for women since they directly intervenes in women's biology and affect their fertility.

Smoking and nicotine in women can cause:

* early onset of menopause

* can cause damage to the foetus

* Increases the risk of maternal rejection of the foetus at all stage of gestation.

* Increase the chances of malformations among babies like central nervous and digestive malformations.

* Maternal nicotine inhalation has also been found to increase the foetal heart rate.

Congenital heart defects are found among infants born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy.

Studies are being conducted to find out why women are more susceptible to the adverse effects of tobacco than met. It is suspected that the female hormone oestrogen may be to blame for it.
PTI Feature

The Unknown NPA scam

By S. V. Vaidyanathan

The National Commission set up to review the working of the Constitution has suggested a number of measures for bringing probity in governance and ending the menace of corruption in public life. These include a law to provide for confiscation of illegally-acquired assets of public servants, the enactment of a Public Interest Disclosure Act, and strengthening of the criminal judicial system.

Amids many scams involving hundreds of crores of rupees, the most staggering is what is called in the banking parlance the non-performing assets (NPA). The NPA has been caused by indiscriminate sanction of loans and advances to business and industry by private and public sector banks and also financial institutions like IDBI, ICICI and IFCI. The problem has arisen because of their failure to exercise effective supervision, and also their utter laxity in effecting recovery; which has now increasingly become irretrievable casualty. These unrecovered loans have now been conveniently given the euphemistic appellation of having become non-performing assets (NPAs), holding out belief as though these unpaid loans and advances are still recoverable, and that these are still assets but that they are presently non-performing. Developments over the last few years are actually indicative of the fact that these loans have mostly become unrecoverable and may eventually have to be written off.

The aggregate amount of NPAs at the end of 1997 was officially stated to be Rs. 43,577 crore; with inclusion interest accruing thereon the figure would have been almost twice this figure but attempts continue to made by the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India to play down the actual figure. With the passage of time this amount has further increased, and now the figure officially admitted is Rs. 61,416 crore. With inclusion of interest the aggregate amount recoverable from these loans and advances is definitely over Rs. 120,000 crore. It is a matter of serious concern that in the list of defaulting companies the NPAs are stated to be the largest in the portfolio of State Bank of India, comprising about one-third of the aggregate amount.

This whopping scam has arisen because of the policy adopted by the Central Government in 1980s to encourage the banks to liberally advance loans to the "needy and weaker sections" which were named as priority sector. In addition to looking after the requirement of this priority sector, the banks continued to be encouraged to assist the medium and large industries, as well as wholesale trade.

It is the duty and responsibility of the banks to carry out business of safeguarding bank funds, to ensure utilisation of surplus funds judiciously, and to earn reasonable return on the investments for the benefit of their depositors. It is obligatory for them to ensure that loans and advances granted by them are recovered along with the interest on schedule and in full. They carry the fundamental duty of ensuring that they continue to exercise precautionary measures to eliminate scope and possibility of any defaults in conducting this business.

It is now clear that all attempts to effect recovery of the outstanding loans appear to have been ineffective. At best the cases have been referred to the Board of Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) and Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRT),with inadequate results. Arising from inadequacy of any effective results the NPAs can now actually be equated to bad and doubtful assets, mostly defaults. Quantum of NPAs as percentage of total advances is obviously one of critical indicators to the equity of bank’s loan portfolio and hence its overall health. Assessed on the basis of the volume of gross NPAs, financial health of these banks cannot be called sound. They merrily carry these NPAs in their books to match profits, making their balance sheets look more respectable. Banks are trustees of depositors and they cannot resort to these tactics where they bloat profits, relying on advances and loans which in fact have become largely irrecoverable.

Detailed analysis of the advanced loans shows that large amounts of loans advanced to big business houses become unrecoverable because these influential borrowers are aware of lack of any stringent recovery mechanism, and also due to political and official patronage enjoyed by them. Such defaulters have been able to secure largescale monetary concessions. Write-offs, waivers, reduction in rate of interest, etc. Banks have been only too willing to accede to their pleas for these concessions because recovery through legal process is a long drawn affair, and second because banks find it difficult to resist the pressure of powerful interests. Banks have in fact been making attempts to conceal the correct magnitude of NPAs by resorting to financial jugglery, avoiding to show amount of principal and interest separately in the accounts. They have also been writing-off large amounts as bad debts. During the last two years. They are reported to have written off more than Rs. 4,000 crore as bad debt.

It is accepted by experts that ratio of NPAs to total advances should be brought down to five per cent to ensure profitable and healthy functioning of banks. The facts, however, indicate alarming picture. The NPAs of SBI alone amount to over 56 per cent of the net worth of the bank. With the Bank of Baroda it is 74 per cent and in Punjab National Bank as much as 107 per cent. These figures are indicative of how NPAs actually pose a potential threat to the viability of the banks because if this extent of NPAs are written off, the bulk of concerned bank’s own capital would disappear. There has been tendency to avoid divulging the names of loanee companies and the extent of outstanding amount against them. RBI has itself been keeping the list of corporate defaulters as top secret, with the result that the defaulter companies continue to seek benefits of more loans form other banks.

It has been possible to secure a publication which has recently been brought out, ultimately by the RBI. It contains the names of companies, loans they have taken, and the names of the banks. The list is apparently not complete and self-contained. However, a glance through it shows that there are 3,348 names of companies from which the payment of loans ranging up to Rs. 10 crore each is due; these loans have been advanced by 19 nationalised banks, the State Bank of India, seven Associates of SBI, 28 private sector banks, and even 23 branches of foreign banks, besides the three known financial institutions, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), and Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI).

The country has thus witnessed in the last few years the occurrence of these huge scams which have affected the economy and large number of people. Established banks of public and private sector, and even branches of foreign banks operating in the country, have liberally played havoc with people’s funds, bowing to pressure sand influences of big business and politicians, and advancing loans which have now been conveniently dubbed as non-performing assets (NPAs). Unscrupulous elements among the financiers have set up NBFCs which have robbed the people of their hard earned money and disappeared. It is a matter of very serious concern that while politics in the country is befouling the atmosphere, financial institutions on which people have reposed faith, have also defrauded them.