Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

By Joginder Singh

It has been said that laws are like cobwebs which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornests break through. They try all sort of tricks to escape the consequences of their misdeeds. Infact, a number of them are or have been on the centre stage of governance. Law says that all are equal before it. Though some politicians .....more

Controlling pollution
in agriculture

By Prof (Dr) R D Gupta

India: Troubled
neighbourhood

By Sita

The developments of the past few years in India's neighbourhood give a complex picture. After decades of independence some of the countries are still debating what should be the rules of governance of their state?

EDITORIAL

Heal thyself

Physician, heal thyself. It is an age-old proverb but is relevant for all times for all of us. Its meaning is simple that the people should take care of their own defects and not just correct the fault of others. Arguably it assumes added significance in today's materialistic world. One wanting to pursue an honest life is required to ceaselessly look within lest one was carried away by baits dangled by others. This applies especially to those engaged in the momentous task of public welfare. If politics, police and administration have become synonymous with corruption these days it is because the men in charge have not cared to weed out black sheep. Instead, they have mostly sought to shut their eyes towards wheeler-dealers if not thriving with their help while claiming innocence. That is why when politicians utter homilies they fail to carry conviction. For the same reason it is taken for granted that the policemen wield stick motivated by selfish interests and not for enforcing discipline in social order as a whole. Can ordinary citizens claim easy access to those sitting in the Secretariat? Invariably they have to contend with a cumbersome hierarchical order made worse by a tough security cordon. The result is that unscrupulous people in authority find it easy to indulge in blackmail and bullying. They throw their weight around instead of carrying out their assignments with an eye on meeting popular aspirations. Almost every government department has an inbuilt system to check wrong doings by its employees. Yet, it fails to command due respect. Is this not an anomalous situation? Why does it exist? Is it because there is very thin dividing line between those keeping a watch and being watched? Is it not a case of birds of the same feather flying in concert?

With this background in view one will have to wait for some more time before passing a conclusive judgment on certain measures introduced by the State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) to set its own house in order. It has been decided, for instance, that the Vigilance Commissioner will be the sole authority to institute an inquiry in writing against a government servant after having received and studied a complaint. Another step that has been publicised is to keep rotating SVO officers from one department to the other. The same yardstick will be applied to investigating officers: one-fourth of them have actually been already transferred. The stated purpose of these exercises is two-fold. One is that vigilance officers don't use "false or frivolous" grievances received at their levels to extract their pound of flesh. The other is that they don't develop intimacy and thereby vested interests in any department.

Clearly the SVO has been prompted to apply these correctives because of certain violations it has noticed. It has done well to tell its officers to keep off tainted employees. At the same time, its advice to government officers to approach the higher authorities should they be unduly harassed by any SVO executive makes sense. An apparatus can only be as good as the men operating it. It is a pity though that that despite having made its presence felt the SVO is not able to decentralise its functioning. Perhaps it is a telling commentary on the milieu it has to contend with.

Down the drain

No tears will be shed for the people who have been caught by the Central Bureau of Investigation for looting the State exchequer of lakhs of rupees in the name of a watershed development project in Kathua district. The accused who have since been charge-sheeted had floated a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to carry out their fraudulent exercise. Two Central Government officers and a former deputy commissioner of Kathua are also facing the heat. The CBI has recommended departmental action against them. Their direct complicity has not been established so far as the embezzlement of funds is concerned. However, the premier investigating agency has found enough evidence that they had helped the NGO knowing fully well that it was not competent to carry out the assigned task. It is thus an instance of wilful violation of duty. The purpose of involving NGOs in development works is to encourage the participation of people as they have a direct stake in environment around them. Off and on one comes across quite a few examples in which they fail to live up to their responsibilities. What is worse is that some of them are seen in bad light to the extent of being exposed to the charge of being fake instrumentalities to siphon off public money. This is possible only through the collusion between corrupt bureaucrats and dishonest citizens. In this case too the NGO had been given Rs 54.92 lakhs --- Rs 49.34 lakhs by the Central Government and the rest of the amount by the State Government. On verification of facts the CBI has found that the actual works worth only Rs 20 lakhs have been executed. There has been bungling step by step. irst, the NGO is formed claiming expertise it does not possess in the field of watershed development. Secondly, the officers confirm its claims and credentials by deliberately closing their eyes. Thirdly, the NGO produces false receipts to declare that it had completed the work. It turns out that certain vigilant officers had timely smelt the rat and made adverse recommendations against the NGO. But they were sidelined as their unfavourable remarks were consigned to dustbin.

One must express appreciation about the villagers who had cried foul. They must be finding themselves vindicated now. Their alertness makes a strong argument in favour of publicising the names of each and every NGO and the amount of money they receive from the Government along with their complete project details. Such dispensation will ensure transparency. It is all the more necessary in plans targeted at ameliorating the lot of common masses. It needs to be understood that a watershed development scheme does not simply concern the drainage basin or catchment area of a particular stream or river. It goes beyond that as it is based on the sound principle that people and their surroundings are dependent upon each other. That is why it envisages simultaneous development and management of community, soil and land, water, crop, pasture, fodder, livestock, rural energy and farm and non-farm value addition activities. It is regrettable that these beneficial objectives should come to harm because of a few insincere elements among us. They should be taught an exemplary lesson if we truly want to get rid of relationship between poverty and degraded environment.

For whom the bell tolls

By Joginder Singh

The Supreme Court, in a historic judgement on 5th December 2006 decisively intervened to stem corruption in the political system. It laid down that public servants, including chief ministers, MPs and MLAs can be prosecuted without any prior sanction. It has held that sanction under section 197 CrPC, which has been used to delay and shelve prosecution, a favourite of the tainted, is not necessary for prosecution of corrupt public servants. It was so, according to the apex court, that taking of bribe while in office would not form part of discharge of official duties.

The court passed this order while dismissing a bunch of appeals fled by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, former Chief Minister of Punjab Prakash Singh Badal, former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran and several former ministers who had challenged the sanction accorded for prosecuting them.

Section 197 of CrPC requires that a sanction of the competent authority should be there before a court can take cognisance of an offence committed by a public servant. This requirement was insisted upon even after a person ceased to hold any office and was no longer a public servant.

The Delhi High Court had given a far-reaching ruling in November 2000 in which it sought to help the electorate in securing information about the antecedents of candidates.

The Election Commission was asked to supply relevant information about the candidates so as to enable the electorate to assess the capabilities of candidates who intend to become law makers.

The Court also said that if criminalisation of politics is to be prevented, the fundamental right to information for the benefit of the citizens must be enforced in letter and spirit. All candidates seeking election to Parliament or a Legislative Assembly must submit relevant information about their background at the time of filing nomination papers. The High Court observed: ‘‘Furnishing of false information will result in prosecution of the candidate. Persons with questionable background do not deserve to be occupying seats in Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies.. Such persons need to be eliminated from the race.’’

‘‘The irony is that those who live by breaking the law are turning into law-makers and some of them had even found ministerial berths. It is a dangerous development which does not augur well for the country and parliamentary democracy.’’

On an appeal being field by the Government, the Supreme Court not only confirmed the orders, but also asked the Election Commission to take steps to comply with them.

On top of that, the Parliament passed a law literally invalidating Supreme Court Judgement.

Earlier, the Supreme Court decision of December 1997 on a new anti corruption set up was passed in the form of CVC Bill without any discussion in the Lok Sabha. The entire political class was united in its ambivalance on fighting corruption. The central theme of the new regime was the return of the infamous ‘‘single directive’’. Simply put this provision- Section 6A of the proposed CVC Bill-made it obligatory for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to secure prior approval of the Central Government before conducting any investigations under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, if the allegations relate to an officer of the rank of Joint Secretary or above.

The‘‘single directive’’ had been thrown out by the Supreme Court in the Vineet Narain judgment on a most palpably fair argument: ‘‘every person accused of committing the same offence is to be dealt with in the same manner in accordance with law, which is equal in its application to everyone’’.....

‘‘Obviously where the accusation of corruption is based on direct evidence and it does not require any inference to be drawn dependent on the decision-making process, there is no rational basis to classify them differently. In other words, if the accusation be of bribery which is supported by direct evidence of acceptance of illegal gratification by them, including trap cases, it is obvious that no other factor is relevant and the level of status of the offender is irrelevant. It is for this reason that it was conceded that such cases, i.e. of bribery, including trap cases, are outside the scope of the Single Directive.. It is clear that the accusation of possession of disproportionate assets by a person is also based on direct evidence and no factor pertaining to the expertise of decision-making is involved therein. We have, therefore, no doubt that the Single Directorial cannot include within its ambit cases of possession of disproportionate assets by the offender.Thus the protection enjoyed by the higher echelons of the bureaucracy till December, 1997 against investigation by CBI was held illegal.

The above decision has been reiterated in the recent judgement of the Supreme Court.

The well-deserved judicial intervention comes in the backdrop of the refusal of the political class to break mould of extraneous political influence or other consideration, and in its failure to set highest standards of public probity and accountability. These considerations in the past had enabled the corrupt and crooked to escape the consequences of their actions and in the event of their caught, evade or delay the legal process, thus making a mockery of the whole criminal justice system. The judgement has been welcomed by the man in street, as it puts a check on some legislators, who thought that they could get away with anything, from ticketless travel to murder, extortion and hobnobbing with the criminals or being thickly mixed up with them. On the other hand, some members of Parliament view it as judicial activism. It is deplorable and disappointing that some people have taken the judgement amiss, for removing one of the impediment which stood between the law and the delaying tactics of the criminals. After all, if the objective of all wings of the Government, whether it is legislature or executive or judiciary is good governance, the personal egos of some should not feel slighted at any judicial decision. It has been clarified that Parliament does not have the power to change the basic structure of the Constitution. Court is the final interpreter of the laws and the Constitution. Nobody, not even elected legislators are above the law, though in actual practices, some pretend to be the law. It is time to remind that the unnecessary noise about judicial activism does no good to the country and in fact, it will lead to a further downward swing of the popularity of the elected class. People are aware that is the self preservation instinct which gives rise to this kind of clamour and din and not anything remotely connected with the national interest. But for the Supreme Court rulings, police reforms and equal turf for all political parties, where the governors acted in a partisan manner, would not have been available. It is time that the Supreme Court order should be applied uniformly to the entire spectrum of public servants, whether elected or selected.

(The author is former Director CBI)

Controlling pollution in agriculture

By Prof (Dr) R D Gupta

Green Revolution’’ based upon high yielding varieties of various crops, chemical fertilizers and pesticides has not doubt helped in making India self sufficient in food grain production. However, Agricultural Scientists have now been able to find out the injurious effects of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on the soils. Use of fertilizers has, infact, depleted the soils of their nutrients, microflora and microfauna which has led to serious reduction in the crop yields. For instance, Ludhiana District (Punjab) although has recorded the highest yields of a number of crops yet it has shown the maximum deficiencies of plant micronutrients.

Apart from using N, P2 O5 and K2O fertilizers, now many farmers of Punjab have commenced to use Zn SO4 as Zn fertilizer to coup with the growing soil Zn depletion which has evinced to reduce the yields. It is because Zn is one among several micronutrients essential for plant growth like micronutrients Viz, C,H, O, N, P,K, Ca, Mg and S. The other six mocronutrients are: Fe, Cu, Mn, Mo, B and Cl. The latest studies have shown great impact of micronutrients on high yielding varieties of crops. For example, a rice-wheat cropping sequence yielding 88 q ha -1 year -1 removes 663 Kg N, P and K, and several Kg micronutrients, causing, thereby, a serious drain on the plant nutrients reserve in soil. It, therefore, becomes necessary for the farmers to put N, P, K back into the soil to get higher yield of crops vegetables and fruit trees. Most of the farmers, however, add only nitrogenous fertilizer (urea, ammonium sulphate) as other fertilizers are beyond their means. Thus, it is not surprising that P, K and micronutrients deficiency has become severe in the intensively cropped areas. The deficiency of P and K has been substantiated by the National Average N : P2 O5 : K2O ratio of 8:3 : 3:1 against 4:2:1.

Thus , indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers has created deficiency both of macro (P&K) and micro nutrients. A study conducted at Ranchi Agricultural College farm during 2004-2005 showed that use of 100 Kg NPK (50,25,25) has led to the depletion of Zn by 629 gha -1, Cu by 433 gha -1, Fe by 41809 ha -1 and Mn by 4185 ha -1. Their depletion was directly proportional to N,P,K use. In the years to come deficiency of Zn would further magnify and that of other micronutrients like Fe, Mn and Cu would crop up if inherently poor soils are continuously exploited even at this level of production. According to ICAR reports in areas where Zn deficiency was reduced , Fe and other micro-nutrients deficiency started to rise.

Application of urea alone has also made many of the soils acidic and contaminated the drinking water with NO3. NO3 contaminated water has produced ‘‘blue baby disease’’ in many parts of India among the babies. Nitric Oxides (NO, N2O, NO2 etc) are being increased in the atmosphere. These are one of the agents responsible for depleting Ozone layer.

Use of chemical fertilizers in this way is creating lot of problems viz, soil depletion of macronutrients and micronutrients, soil pollution, water and air pollutions.

Pesticides and Pollution

In modern agriculture more than 900 pesticides are being used for plant protection i.e in controlling different kinds of pests which damage to various crops and reduce their produce thereof. However, their improper and indiscriminate use have now a days caused a number of problems. Each year thousands of persons are poisoned by pesticides. Out of them, about half are from third world countries. According to US Environmental Protection Agency pesticides are responsible for 6,000 cases of cancer in the USA. As per WHO report about 3 million people world over suffer annually from exposure to pesticides with, 22000 deaths in third world. Third world countries use nearly one sixth of the total pesticides produced globally with poisoning at least 37500 people yearly and nearly 1000 being fatally. It has been found that pesticide worth Rupee 1 may cause loss of more than Rupee 10 in animals, humans and environmental health too.

Owing to their toxic effects a number of pesticides like DDT and BHC have been banned in western countries. In India and other developing countries these are being still used. Because of their over use, some organisms have developed resistance of these chemicals. This has necessitated to use their higher doses or to develop new chemicals to replace them. Some pesticides are nonbiodegradable and tend to persist for years together in the soil resulting thereby, their movement to other components of environment. As only 1 percent of the applied pesticide is consumed to kill the targetted organisms, whereas the rest 99 percent moves into the soil causing hazardous effects.

Control Measures

i) Traditional farming systems : Although a simple solution of preventing pollution in agriculture is to come back to traditional farming systems such as the use of organic manures, biopesticides and following of intercrops. For instance in Punjab Agricultural University experiments done with the use of poultry manure, farm yard manure have given good and effective results in meeting the zinc requirement of maize wheat crops. Growing of some leguminous crops like clusterbean and green manure through dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata) have been found to recycle the nutrients back into the soil.

Integrated Pest Management : Although use of botanical pesticides has helped in controlling some insect pests yet adoption of Integrated Pest Management Approach is the only solution to control the various pests i.e cultural, biological and chemical methods.

( The author is ex-Associate Dean cum Chief Scientist KVK SKUAST-J)

India: Troubled neighbourhood

By Sita

Take the case of Pakistan. It has experimented all types of governance known in any political science text book-from authoritarianism to democracy; and is yet to evolve coherent political institutions. The debate in Pakistan's polity today is whether Pakistan should have an Islamic form of Government or a democracy? For more than five decades Pakistan is debating who is a muslim; and who should interpret the Holy Book, Koran. For the common man in Pakistan, fortunately or unfortunately, no one in that country is able to come out with a clear-cut definition.

Meanwhile Pakistani military through the Commander-in-Chief cum President, wants to build Pakistan into " a liberal, forward looking state." What it means, nobody knows; and the Islamic clergy in the country accuse the President that he is selling away the country to western ideas at behest of the US.

While this unending debate is on, a section of the Pakistani elite think in terms of "destroying" countries like India for its plural and secular social order- strangely enough does not find, anything wrong with so called "atrocities" committed on Moslems in countries like China.

While Pakistani polity is in a chaotic condition, Bangladesh is undergoing similar traumatic experiences. Though founding fathers of Bangladesh wanted the country to be secular, it went through swift changes during its 34 years of independence, from democratically elected governments to military rule and back to democracy.

In the process of these dramatic changes, Islamic revivalism took its birth; and is debating whether Holy Book should be the ultimate in governing the country. In addition radical Islamic groups from across the globe are finding Bangladesh as a safe haven. The present day rulers are oscillating between secularism and Islam, thinking which will enable them to retain political power.

Myanmar is another extreme case. Initially started with democratic credentials, but it midway changed its course to military rule. Myanmar has the dubious distinction of being part of the drug racketing Golden Triangle. To this now added the Myanmar muslims joining hands with the drug mafia and radical Islamic groups in the neighbouring Bangladesh. With the result the country is permanently under confrontation between the ruler and the ruled.

From Indian perspective, the situation in Nepal too is not comfortable. King Gyanendra of Nepal due to some ill advice decided to dissolve the Parliament and took upon himself as the head of the government. With already going through a political polarization on the process of development, between leftist radicals, (Communist Party of Nepal - Maoists) and other political parties and the king, the situation becomes explosive. The rank and file of CPN (Maoists) is swelling and a confrontation seems to be imminent. Already there is speculation in some quarters that monarchy in Nepal is dispensable.

While Bhutan is relatively peaceful except for the migrant Nepali population, in the higher echelons China is creating anxieties. Though Chinese economic boom is considered as a miracle, the division of population in to rich and poor, with the later more in number; vulnerability of China is slowly increasing. The Chinese economic planners assumption that wealth would automatically percolate to the grass root levels over a period of time has not worked. With the result there is an all-round anxiety about future of China and the authoritative system of governance there.

Further westwards, the war ravaged Afghanistan is trying to rebuild its country, the ousted regime along with its supporters in neighbouring Pakistan is trying to create mayhem in Kabul. In 2005 Afghanistan becoming the biggest producer of opium in the world, acquired the dubious distinction of leader of Golden Crescent. Thus a new dimension has been added to the India's neighbouhood politics.

In south, Sri Lanka is perpetually in a state of conflict for more than past two decades. The Government in Colombo, giving the impression to the rest of the world that it is a lost case, could not check terrorism and violence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

All this indicates that from the beginning India could evolve a long-term perspective and moulded its polity accordingly, but the same cannot be said about its neighbours.

At another level India's neighbours are still not clear about the ideological moorings of their nation states. In 21 Century Pakistan; Afghanistan and Bangladesh are debating whether they should have Islam as an ideology for the governance of the state or LTTE trying to draw a separate Eelam (homeland) for the Sri Lankan Tamils show how the political elite of these debates are away from the dynamics of the global order.In this not so comfortable situation, what are India's options? Since Indian Republic is making rapid strides in almost every sphere, it is bound to create uncertainty among the ruling elite in these countries. Some among these elite are trying to come to terms with ground realities like Sri Lanka, while others think in terms of acquiring pressure points to acquire leverage vis--vis India. Pakistan and Bangladesh are two examples in the second category.

This necessitates a carrot and stick approach when required and a flexible approach to accommodate neighbours aspirations to the extent possible by New Delhi. Such an approach would require sophisticated diplomatic skills among South Block mandarins to succeed in evolving a composite policy for South Asia. -CNF