The Nagas who constitute the Christian majority State of the Union with a high rate of literacy are by disposition very jovial and love to enjoy life. But years of insurgency and apathy by rulers towards the people have turned them into an inveterate haters of India.

Underdevelopment, poor living standards of the people notwithstanding a massive dose of Central grants and Plan assistance amounting to Rs. 1,63,534 crore since 1947 has not made any significant dent in alleviating the poverty. On the other hand, Naga politicians and bureaucracy are rolling in wealth unseen anywhere else in the country.

Their lifestyles is cause for envy by the Nagas. The sheer loot is reflected in miles of roads having been built on the paper without any construction work of such a nature. Thousands of bridges have been built to inter-connect villages, but people even today travel across the countryside wading through rivers and rivulets.

More than 12,000 primary schools have been constructed in rural areas, and teachers are getting paid their salaries without any trace of such schools.

On paper all the villages have been provided drinking water facilities while the capital city Kohima itself does not get enough filtered water. The pure drinking water is the privilege of the few -- ministers, MLAs and officials of the Government.

Thousands of developmental projects have been completed without anyone where these projects are located!

Kohima itself is short of electricity whereas all the villages on paper have "power supply for 24 hours". But if asked nobody in the State secretariat has any clue where the hydel projects are located which are generating enough power for 24 hours supply.

The question that can be addressed to both the Centre and the State Governments; Where will all this fraud lead to?

In fact, Nagaland at present is at the crossroads, people are bewildered with the kind of administration they have got. The rule of few individuals in collusion with the insurgent groups who are not willing as yet to recognise the Shillong Accord of 1975, that brought peace to the State, have all contributed to the grand disillusionment.

Of late, a realisation is dawning upon the officials, the army and other security personnel that the State cannot be governed peacefully as long as the Nagas remain alienated. Attempts are being made to clean the cobwebs of doubts and suspicion and bring people of this unfortunate State into what is called the "mainstream" of national life. But politicians are reluctant as it would deprive them of the loot.

What Nagaland needs is a healing touch. Instead of using armed forces recklessly, the loyalty and integrity of the Nagas must be ensured by offering adequate economic and development opportunities nad other civic facilities.

Lack of economic development has been one of the major grievances of the people. Many Nagas have been arguing that all will be well if the living standards improve.

Besides, the main problem lies in understanding the Nagas psyche. The people here tend to emphasis their point of view in a different way from the rest of the country. Race, language and creed are the three powerful factors which unite or divide the people.

The Nagas are not given to taking anything lying down. A number of old guards have still not forgotten own roughly they were handled by the Centre though they admit that many amends have been made since.

The desire for peace and normal living in many hideouts is sincere and many of them who advocated violence earlier, have come out and joined the BSF and it is to their credit that they have kept their words as loyal soldiers. But all the Nagas are unanimous in their resolve about their distinct culture traditions.

But it does not mean that the insurgency menace in Nagaland is anywhere near a solution. The killing and lootings spearheaded by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), a splinter group comprising mainly Tangkhul and Sema tribals, is still a cause of concern.

The insurgency clearly aims at filling the void created by un unstable political apparatus. The political fortunes of the State have a long -drawn a struggle between the tribal aspirations and the Centre's vacillating policies, except for the brief period of in 1975 when through the signing of the Shillong Accord between Governor L P Singh and representatives of the underground organisations, a mirage of peace emerged.

It may be recalled that Muviah was responsible in 1975 to reject the Shillong Accord by calling it a sell-out and betrayal of the Naga people. Muviah, the underground leader who came back from China indoctrinated in communist ideology, alongwith Issac Swu was responsible for scutting the Shillong Accord by refusing to surrender arms.

This resulted in the first split in the NSCN in 1980. It split again in 1989. the Tangkhuls and Semas under the leadership of Muviah and Issac Swu were hounded out of the North Burma hills by majority Konyak tribals headed by Khaplang. While the hawks comprising largely the Konyak, Sema and Tangkhul tibes started calling themselves NSCN, the breakaway moderate group Naga Federal Government (NFG) suffered erosion both in strength and effectiveness. Against this background and the fact that the NSCN has been deplected of strength, finance and operating base in Burmese Naga hills by the majority Konyaks and Tangkhuls, Muviah, moved into Nagaland.

This event is of immense import. While earlier the NSCN wold foray into the urban areas of Nagaland from the adjoining regions, the violatile Tangkhuls are now making their operational bases in Nagaland itself and adjoining areas of Manipur.

It means that the insurgent camps are likely to proliferate, ambushes of security forces' convoys and cash-looting will increase and the usual insurgence propaganda machinery will work overtime to make common cause with the inhabitants in predominantly Tangkhul and Sema tribal areas.

In such a milieu where the tribal loyalties are sharply polarised, and support from within and outside is growing by the day, the army can at best create a conducive atmosphere by keeping insurgency within manageable limits. It is eventually a political solution, which by addressing to the grievances of the people, can uproot insurgency. This, in the turbulent history of the State, has been the Achilles Heels.

A large section of the NSCN members are those young educated youth who did not get jobs and insurgency was the only vocation left.

Since 1980, every successive Government had made Nagaland a paradise for corruption. Administration has become almost non-existent and the law and order a cruel joke. The common man had no place to go to seek justice. In addition, financial bankruptcy and religious fundamentalism have made the situation worse. Unless peace returns to Nagaland, the North-East will remain turbulent region of the country. (INAV)

The 40-page judgement was delivered by Mr Justice SHM Quadri on behalf of a three-judge bench headed by the then Chief Justice, M M Punchhi (now retired), and comprising Mr Justice K T Thomas and Mr Justice Quadri himself, in a case- Dr Muktiar Chand and others Vs State of Punjab and others in civil appeal No. 89 of 1987 with other civil appeals and special leave petitions.

It happened so that in 1986 a two-judge bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Mr Justice Tewada and Mr Justice D D Sehgal in Dr Swarn Singh Dardi vs State of Punjab struck down a gazette notification issued by the Government of Punjab in 1967 under powers vested vide D R (2) (ee) (ii) as it clashed (in the view of the High Court) with section 15 (2) (b) of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1970. The H C also rejected, thereafter, a review petition forcing petitioners/intervenors to move to the Supreme Court in 1987. Following a disagreement in the two-judge bench, the matter went to another two-judge bench headed by the then CJI Mr Justice Pathak, which committed the case to a larger bench of three judges.

While the Punjab and Haryana High Court did not question the legislative competence of the Government of India to make such rules, the High Court of Rajasthan did the same, while striking down the notification of 1982. As such a SLP was filed against this judgement too before the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, two judgements of the Supreme Court complicated the matter a little more. In 1992, a two-judge bench comprising Mrs Justice Fatima Beevi and Mr Justice S C Aggarwal in Dr A K Sabhapati vs State of Kerala ruled that section 15 (2) (b) debars non-allopaths from using the allopathic (schedule H&L drugs) drugs and, in 1996 another bench comprising Mr Justice Kuldeep Singh and Mr Justice Sagir Ahmed in Ms Poonam Verma vs Dr Ashwani Patel reiterated the supremacy of the IMC Act, 1964, while declaring Dr Patel a 'quack'.

The three-judge bench, as Mr Justice Quadri notes in the judgement, considered three questions for determination.

1. Whether Rule 2 (ee) (iii) of the Drugs Rule is bad for want of legislative competence; and are the impugned notifications issued by the State Governments, under clause (iii) of the said rule, declaring the categories of persons who were practising modern system of medicine invalid in law ?

2. What is the impact of Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and Indian Medical Central Council Act, 1970 on rule 2 (ee) (iii) of the Drugs Rules and the notifications issued thereunder? and

3. Whether the persons who have qualified the integrated courses in Ayurveda and Unani from various universities are entitled to practise in and prescribe allopathic medicines.

Here it is noteworthy that Mr justice Quadri on 29th July, ' 98 issued an order on behalf of the three-judge bench, which was a sort of curtain-raiser for the judgement of 8th October ' 98. The order said :

''For the last few days we have heard a batch of civil matters in which sub-clause (iii), clause (ee) of Rule 2 of the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules, 1945 has been the subject matter of debate in its widest spectrum. Prima facie conclusions drawn therefrom make us feel that the judgement of the High Court cannot be faulted with. The Respondent does come within the definition of a registered medical practitioner entitled to keep allopathic medicines by virtue of his degree and registration in the State of Bihar. We thus find nothing to interfere in this appeal. The appeal is therefore dismissed.''

Therefore, it was quite natural for their lordships to declare, that Rule 2 (ee) (iii) as effected from 1960 is valid and does not suffer for want of legislative competence and the notifications issued by state governments thereunder are not ultra vires of the said rule and are legal.

So far as questions no. 02 and 03 are concerned, opines Mr Justice Quadri, consideirng a little overlapping as a result of the insertion of sub-section 2 (b) to section '15' of the IMC Act, 1956 in 1964, the privilege of the right to use allopathic drugs would be available only in those states where the privilege of such right to practice any system of medicine is conferred by the State law under which practitioners of Indian medicine are registered in the State, which is for the time being in force''.

It is noteworthy that under sub-section 3(b) of section '17' of the IMC Act, 1970, a practitioner enjoys nationally only those rights that are given to him/her in the state act for Indian medicine, its practitioner is given the right to use allopathic drugs only then the spirit of DR (2) (ee) (iii) will become effective.

In the judgement of 8th October, ' 98 the three-judge bench diagreed with the judgement given in the Sabhapati case, but accepted the defintion of a quack as laid down in the Poonam Verma case. In otherwords, if a practitioner of Indian medicine has studied subjects of modern medicine, then he/she can't be considered a quack.

The most significant aspect of the October 8 judgement is recognition of the fact that there exists a class of practitioners of integrated medicine (of course within the broader spectrum of Indian medicine) that needs a separate, special and different treatment. As such, the judgement declares regarding them that their position is on the same plain in as much as if any State Act recognises their qualifications as sufficient for registration in the State medical register, the prohibition contained in section 15 (2) (b) of the 1956 act will not apply''. In other words, an integrated practitioner can get himself registered with a State medical council provided the government of the said : State recognises their qualification. This comes as a sort of unsolicited windfall for integrates.

In the whole case the role of the Government of India and Governments of States of Rajasthan, Punjab as well as Haryana became exposed so much so that the Oct 8 judgement states. ''Here we are constrained to observe that the stand taken by the Central Government shows utter bewilderment inasmuch as the authority which framed rule is not interested in supporting the legality and the validity of the rule nor does it want to do away with the rule wholeheartedly''.

The judgement of Oct 8 and order of 29th July, expose the nexus between the Health authorities of the Centre and the States, the Indian Medical Association and the BJP. Health Ministers of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan belong to BJP, though Union Health Minister is not from that party.

It is true that the Congress failed to honour its solemn pledge made in 1920 with regard to Ayurveda etc., but it was only in the BJP-ruled States that vaids/hakims were dubbed as quacks, paraded handcuffed on the roads, slapped with section 420 of IPC and, above all, killed in police custody. So much about 'Bhartiyata' or swadeshi of BJP brand.

The Supreme Court judgement of Oct 8 must now lay to rest the ghost of quackery as resurrected by the IMA with the active connivance of the health authorities and backed by the BJP. The Government of India has promised to abide by the judgement of the Supreme Court. But no one knows how the wooden-headed bureaucrats, greedy allopaths and short-sighted politicians will respond to the historical judgement.- CNF

Challenges of globalisation

By Navin Chandra Joshi

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee recently outlined a seven-point programme to revive the economy in the face of an increasingly difficult and uncertain international environment. The strategy aims at achieving a seven per cent GDP growth, ten percent rise in industrial production and 15 to 20 per cent increase in exports.

Claiming that India has overcome the impact of sanctions, the Prime Minister told the first meeting of the Advisory Council on Trade and Industry, that the country's economy has inherent resilience and strength.

India, China and Taiwan would be among the few countries to show positive growth in the Asian region in 1998-99, he said.

The success of the Resurgent India Bonds has demonstrated that the Non-Resident Indians have full faith in the strength of Indian economy. In his view, in the context of a depressed world market, marked by economic crisis in South East Asia, Japan and Russia, a GDP growth of around six per cent with single digit inflation, satisfactory agricultural output, stable reserves and signs of further industrial revival were by any reckoning no mean achievement.

The first element of the seven-point programme is to rekindle the spirit of enterprise. Measures need to be adopted which will dispel lingering fears and fortify confidence. The country must also focus on a comprehensive strategy to deal with the debilitating impact of a global meltdown. It is also necessary to demonstrate that India has attractive economic prospects for domestic and foreign investors.

There has to be focus on measures which can enhance the productivity and competitiveness of Indian corporates to face the increasing challenges of globalisation. There must be sufficient emphasis on ways to reach a higher growth path and steps to increase investment in infrastructure, as also on revival of the capital market.

Public enterprises need to be restructured for greater efficiency and productivity while continuing the disinvestment of their shares through a transparent mechanism.

The Government's communication strategy needs to be refreshed. The fruits of development should get percolated to the grassroots for alleviating poverty. There is need to invest in and foster knowledge through skills and improving quality of life index as contained in the World Development Report.

Finally, a strategy is needed which can enable a GDP growth of seven per cent per annum for the next three years and thereafter eight per cent, 10 per cent industrial growth and 12 to 13 per cent later on, while exports to grow at 15 to 20 per cent, along with a level of high employment. As such, there is need for partnership and trust between industry and the Government. There is also need to jointly embark on a course of action to bring about a revival of the economy.

It would also be pertinent to note that the most outstanding event during ther last fifty years of India's independence has been the economic reforms initiated in July, 1991. Since then, the Indian economy has witnessed a sea-change--a shift from a mixed but controlled, centrally planned, command economy to a free, competitive, market-oriented one with a thrust towards globalisation.

There are diverse views on the critical issues pertaining to agriculture, energy and external sector. Prof K N Raj, eminent economist, has noted that we had enormous problems in the first 15 to 20 years, primarily because of the difficulties faced initially in raising the output of foodgrains. "But once the agricultural breakthrough came in the 1970s, first in wheat production and then in rice, everything changed completely. From then on, the Indian economy began to follow, more or less, the perspective we had set out. Looking back, we have done much better than we thought was possible.''

In the context of our growing population and agricultural productivity remaining almost stagnant, noted agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan observes that about 20 per cent of our population suffers from endemic hunger. Many more, particularly women and children, suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. The rate of growth in non-farm employment is not adequate to provide the needed livelihood opportunities.

Modern industry generally promotes jobless economic growth. In his view, we have to rely on crop and animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry, agro-forestry and agro-based industries for achieving the needed livelihood and food security. Nehru's statement "everything else can wait but not agriculture'' is even more relevant today than when he said it 50 years ago.

Dr Swaminathan goes on to add that "The year 1998 marks the bicentenary of Thomas Malthus's essay on population. The global population in 1798 was 930 million, much less than India's current population. Yet, Malthus was concerned about the human capability to increase food production to a level required to meet the needs of the growing population to a level required to meet the needs of the growing population. Fortunately, science and technology, coupled with appropriate public policies, have so far helped to keep the Malthusian fear of widespread famines at bay. But as we approach the beginning of a new millennium, there is apprehension that Malthusian predictions may yet come true.''

In the infrastructural sector, power position presents the most grim picture. By the turn of the century, power generation would be around 91, 190 MW as per the projections made, but still there would be a peak shortage of 30 per cent by that time considering the growing demand for energy due to industrialisation.

Even the entry of the private sector for generating electricity is not likely to retrieve the situation immediately as power projects have a long gestation period of five to seven years in the case of thermal plants and seven to nine years for hydel projects. Power being a highly capital intensive industry, unless continuous large investments are made, which presently is nine per cent annually, it would be difficult to improve the situation.

Therefore, in the current economic reforms package, there is need for setting up a National Power Grid by integrating the existing grids to ensure smooth and uniform power supply in different parts of the country. The integration of regional grids should be in such a manner that the surplus power generated in a region or a State is passed on to the power starved States or other regions. This would call for strengthening and improving the regional power grids and progressively integrating them through inter-State transmission lines and central sector transmission projects which cut across State boundaries.

Also important is the need to lay down adequate emphasis on improved technologies by oil-consuming industries and the transport sector. It is necessary to harness all the present energy supply options, including nuclear energy and to develop renewable energy sources such as wind and hydro-power.

Increasing research and development in the energy sector should be promoted. While India is the lowest consumer of energy in the world, it is here that wastage of energy is the highest and it is attributed mainly to lack of modern fuel, efficient equipment, absence of energy management and a culture of saving and conservation.

What is more, today the question to ponder is: Will India's programme of economic liberalisation run into an energy trap? Perhaps, not. With the increasing emphasis on harnessing power from various sources and neighbouring countries, it can be hoped that energy management would be given the top priority in the continuing process of India's economic reforms.

Today, the fundamentals of the Indian economy in general and more particularly in relation to the external sector, are strong and the economy possesses the capacity and the resource availability to grow around seven per cent per annum in a sustained way. Ironically, it is the high and sustained growth of the East Asian economies that has focussed on the advantages of openness to a country both in terms of trade and capital flows.

While India's current account deficit as a proportion of the GDP has almost been falling and is presently around one per cent only, foreign exchange reserves have continued to increase. Rightly, therefore, a modest level of the current account deficit and a calibrated composition of capital flows, including low level of short-term debt, have always been the guiding factors of our economic strategy.

Overall the performance of the Indian economy in the post reform period has been highly satisfactory. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha recently said the Government would not let the fiscal deficit go beyond 5.6 per cent of GDP, as projected in the current year's budget. While the Government has to consider a number of innovative measures with regard to public sector disinvestment, there is utter need to keep expenditure under tight control.

Although direct tax collections have shown buoyancy, every effort should be made to keep inflation within single digit. It is encouraging that on the external debt front, India has never defaulted on any of its debt repayment or reneged on its international obligations since independence. Even in difficult times the country did not ask for rescheduling of its debt repayments.

Just on this basis it can be said that India is a very safe destination for foreign investors. All said and done, we must make use of any external capital that comes into the country only for productive purpose, choosing the fields of investment with great care. --PTI