EDITORIAL
Nature's
fury
Avalanches and frigid temperatures
have struck us with all their ferocity. Normal
life has gone upside down all the way from
Lakhanpur to Leh. Mercury has touched new low
almost everywhere. Districts of Doda and Kishtwar
have been exposed to the heaviest snowfall in
history this time ranging from 6 feet to 15 feet.
Worse, there seems to be no end in sight to the
nature's least desired bounty at this time of the
year. Half of villages in mountainous parts of
this region are covered with thick white blanket.
There is massive destruction on either side of
the Jawahar Tunnel. It is accompanied with the
loss of human lives. Snowy graveyards have been
reported in far-flung higher reaches.
Unsuspecting people have been trapped and buried
alive. There are several features of the weather
that are surprising. In between harsh spells of
cold we are all of a sudden exposed to pleasant
interludes of climate. As we think that the worst
is over we are astonished by another wicked
interruption which is crueller than the earlier
one. A consequence is that we are left unsure
whether the sun has come out to lift our spirits
or just to flatter to deceive. Gone are the days
when we bade good-bye to winter with Lohri or
chille kalan (The Valley's severest 40-day
coldest period that usually begins from December
20 and continues till the end of January every
year). These days we are not simply talking about
brutalities of the weather but also living in the
midst of them. Who will say that it is the middle
of February? What more can fuel our worries? None
of us can say with confidence that the coming
days will be better. The danger, on the other
hand, is that snow as it melts will cause us
sleepless nights as it does when it falls
indiscriminately. Thick deposits of snow in this
province and Gurez, Nowgam, Uri, Machhil, Karnah,
Dooru, Kapran, Kulgam and Shopian, among other
places, on the other side of the Pir Panjal are
waiting to burst as and when the mercury rises.
Are we fully prepared to face the situation?
The present scenario reminds us of gory
happenings three years ago. It may be a
coincidence that the month then was also
February. Unexpected avalanches at that time had
overwhelmed us all over engulfing villages and
killing about 300 persons. If one goes by the
available reports so far the death toll currently
is not yet that high. Why should, however, there
be any loss of life in the first place? Scores of
people have gone missing in snowstorms and their
chances of survival are considered very dim. It
is to be admitted that we as human beings are no
match for the nature as and when it decides to
show its teeth. Our supercomputers and other
technological innovations too are rendered
ineffective. They can't gauge the mood of the
weather making us rue our own inventions.
In the prevailing circumstances all that we can
do is to minimise our adversities. This will
become easier if the administration and the
citizens closely work together. Primarily,
however, it is the Government's responsibility to
manage disasters. The experience shows it fumbles
instead in the beginning. It is the same story
this time as well. .
Messy
affair
Indeed, one finds it surprising that
the Government has not been able to utilise loans
available to it from several centrally and
externally funding agencies like National
Agriculture Bank for Rural Development (NABARD),
Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO)
and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), among
others. The Government has lifted only Rs 79.60
crores out of a tied allocation of Rs 355 crores
under externally-aided projects during the first
ten months of the current financial year. On the
other hand, an expenditure of just Rs 73.49
crores has been made from available loans worth
Rs 635 crores. This is not the end of a woeful
financial tale. The Government has missed a HUDCO
loan of the tune of Rs 100 crores due to default
in repayment. Likewise, the LIC loan (Rs 95
crores meant for power sector and Rs 20 crores
for public health engineering) has gone abegging.
A revealing report in this newspaper recently has
pointed out that the default in payment of HUDCO
loan and LIC outstandings has cost the Government
Rs 215 crores worth of loans. It is strange that
power sector which needs prime attention is a
major sufferer on account of low utilisation of
funds. It was meant to be major consumer of plan
funds both under the State Plan and the Prime
Minister's Reconstruction Plan. Actually it has
come a cropper as a lot has been left undone
including in well-intentioned schemes like the
Accelerated Power Development and Reform
Programme (APDRP) and strengthening of
transmission and distribution network. During the
last financial year the transfers from the Centre
were estimated at Rs 7985 crores but they fell
short by a whopping Rs 1008 crores. The
Government estimated to receive Rs 700 crores
under centrally-sponsored schemes but the actual
receipts were only Rs 539 crores --- a shortfall
of Rs 161 crores. Power reforms grant of Rs 300
crores was also not released while the Government
did not claim amount for externally-aided
projects as no scheme was put forth-again a
shortfall of Rs 298 crores. The old adage well
begun is half done does not apply to eight newly
created districts-four each in Jammu and Kashmir
regions. They have not been able to utilise
approved plan outlay for the current financial
year. An outlay of Rs 45 crores was provided for
their infrastructure. Its utilisation has been
delayed because of the time taken to finalise
designs. The expenditure has started picking up
only now with less than two months for the
financial year to close. One key reason for low
expenditure is said to be "non-availability
of full complement of staff which is hampering
developmental activities." This is partly
understandable. New administrative units do have
teething troubles. What are intriguing are untidy
doings in other spheres. How can they be
justified?
Our State is not an epitome of managerial
competence. It hardly bears any reiteration. Less
said the better about corruption which is
all-pervasive. The sad state of our monetary
health is explained by miserable revenue
collections. We should totally reverse this
trend. It is necessary for our credibility. Yes,
it is also essential for our survival. We will
lose in the race for development if we are not
disciplined enough to stick to the right lane.
Terrorism
indigenised
By
Allabaksh
The
discovery that terrorist
training camps were being
run in the dense forests
of Dharwad and Uttara
Kannada districts of
Karnataka should not come
as a surprise. It is the
same state where the
inaccessible jungles had
provided a safe sanctuary
for a 'dreaded'
sandalwood smuggler and
bandit called Veerappan
who was able to stay out
of reach of the law for a
long time even though
some scribes were able to
reach his hideout with
remarkable ease.
But the discovery of
these terrorist training
camps, following the
arrest of suspects, has
to be seen as the larger
designs of the main
exporter from across the
border and its efforts to
'indigenise' terrorism in
India so that it can run
on its own steam in the
unlikely event of the
exporting nation actually
forced to dismantle the
entire edifice of its
officially sponsored
terror business.
There was anger in the
country over
'intelligence failure'
while terrorism crept
into the Karnataka woods.
But the country can ill
afford any further
failure after a long
string of such
intelligence failures.
Today all four corners of
the country are bristling
with pockets of 'home
grown' terrorists.
Reports about jihadi
terrorist camps being run
in Karnataka jungles
validated the fear
expressed only haltingly
till recent days that the
terror network was
spreading into the
southern states which
were considered to be
comparatively free from
the scourge of terrorism.
It is hardly comforting
that terrorism took
longer to cross the
Vindhyas than it did to
arrive at other corners
of India from Pakistan.
It is disturbing that
quite a few of the 'home
grown' jihadi militants
come from middle class
backgrounds and by no
means belong to the
unprivileged sections of
society.
It was easy to begin the
export of terrorism to
India through the
northern parts of the
country, especially
Kashmir where Pakistan,
the acknowledged
epicentre of world
terrorism, has been
diligently working right
from the time of
independence in 1947 to
arouse strong anti-India
sentiments for carrying
out subversive
activities. Entry of
terrorism through the
eastern route was equally
easy because of the wide
porous border with
Bangladesh and Nepal.
Thanks of official
condoning of the rising
tide of fundamentalism in
that country Bangladesh
became an important agent
of exporting
made-in-Pakistan
terrorism to India.
The open seas that border
the western part of the
country had seen a
thriving smuggling
business into India. The
smuggler syndicates faced
little resistance in
bringing in their
contraband. If the
security forces and the
customs were looking the
other way so were the
intelligence agencies.
The masters of the
terrorist outfits
expanded this 'facility'
to export their own
merchandise of death.
Shelter for terrorism
became more readily
available in the area
with the growth of hate
politics in the region
that had alienated the
minorities.
The prime mover behind
the efforts to cover
entire India with a
terror network is not
Osama bin Laden's Al
Qaeda or Mullah Omar's
Taliban but Pakistan's
notorious Inter Services
Intelligence. Unforeseen
circumstances, especially
after the 9/11 attacks,
obliged it to change its
tactics for spreading
subversive activities in
India. There were
stronger reasons for
effecting a strategy
change after 2004 when
the then prime minister
of India, Atal Bihari
Vajpayee was assured---
no doubt under US
pressure---by the
Pakistani strongman,
Pervez Musharraf that he
would not allow terrorist
activities directed
against India from
territories under
Pakistani control.
The change of tactics is
not synonymous with
change of heart. The
unwritten but frequently
spoken Pakistani resolve
to bleed India with a
thousand wounds remains.
The anti-Indian
sentiments in the
Pakistani establishment
remain deeply entrenched.
It makes sure that the
ISI does not withdraw
patronage from
India-specific terrorist
outfits in Pakistan. It
is a different matter
that Pakistan does not
see the danger it faces
from this policy even as
the monsters it had long
nursed have started to
operate within Pakistan
itself.
Pakistan might have
diluted--though not
entirely given up--its
policy to bleed India if
it was under any real
pressure from the US,
which along with China is
the only country that has
some leverage over
Islamabad. But Washington
seems to have a secret
understanding with
Islamabad that the
latter's bleed-India
policy can continue but
with a shift in strategy.
It should not leave
blatant signs of
Pakistani involvement,
which were evident from
the large number of
Pakistanis arrested or
killed for carrying out
terrorist activities in
India.
The terrorist centres--or
cells or whatever--have
been set up in India with
the blessings of the
Pakistani army and
government; it is
impossible to believe
otherwise. But it suits
Pakistan if its 'bleed
India' policy can be
continued with the help
of 'home grown' militants
in India.
If these indigenous
terrorists in India are
able to serve the
subversive interests of
Pakistan over the next
few months Pakistan may
be able to start the
charade of ordering
closure of some
India-specific
jihadi-terrorist outfits
that had changed their
name, some claiming to
have been converted into
'humanitarian' groups.
Pakistan is not willing
to take action against
these dubious
'humanitarian' outfits
without first raising a
sufficient indigenous
terrorist structure in
India.
With the seeds of 'home
grown' jihadi warriors
starting to sprout in
various parts of India,
Pakistan may be able to
cut down the number of
its own citizens sent
into India for executing
acts of terrorism.
Islamabad can now
consider a shift in its
strategy because it
thinks its efforts of
nearly two decades to
enlist local jihadi
recruits in India has
shown some success. Even
after going to the extent
of refusing to accept the
bodies of its citizens
killed by Indian security
forces fighting
terrorists Pakistan was
finding it increasingly
difficult to convince the
world outside that none
of its citizens took part
in acts of terror in
India.
In recent days there has
been a drop in the direct
involvement of Pakistanis
in the acts of terrorism
in India. It is by no
means an indication of
Pakistan abandoning its
'bleed India' policy,
which can now be
continued with an army of
'home grown' Indian
terrorists, complete with
both active soldiers and
sleeper cells. The only
obstacle to their grand
designs can come from
better intelligence and
security apparatuses.
(Syndicate Features)
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Reduce tax
burden on commonman
By Dr Bharat
Jhunjhunwala
People's support for
the Congress seems to be receding
despite high growth rate of nine
percent and implementation of
people-oriented Employment
Guarantee Programme. The Party
has lost power in Punjab,
Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Himachal
Pradesh. The increase in Maoist
activities and restiveness of the
people as seen in flare-up of
son-of-soil syndrome in
Maharashtra are indication in the
same direction. People are
disaffected. The coming budget
can make a decisive difference in
the fortunes of the Congress
Party as well as the people.
Why should the common man be
unhappy despite high growth rates
and rise in per capita incomes?
The answer lies in the
distribution of wealth. The
increase in incomes has wholly
accrued to the middle- and upper
classes. There is little for the
common man in it. The daily wage
for a skilled worker was Rs 80
about five years ago. Today it
has risen to Rs 100. But the
prices have also increased.
Taking inflation at 4 percent the
real income of the worker has
actually declined. He is agitated
because high rate of economic
growth for him is like the basket
of fruit kept in the showcase of
a shop which he cannot enter.
He has benefited from employment
guarantee scheme. But there has
been decay of his traditional
sources of income. Trades such as
selling buttermilk and making
earthen pots and leather chappals
have become nearly extinct. This
loss has only partly been
compensated by Employment
Guarantee scheme. The poor fellow
has lost his income of 300 days
while he is getting relief on
average only for 35 days.
Congress had declared in its
Election Manifesto its intent to
increase the tax-GDP ratio.
Thinking is that higher rates of
tax and revenues will make it
possible to increase government
expenditures on employment
guarantee and mid-day meals. The
Congress Government has indeed
delivered on this promise and
made increase in expenditures on
these heads. But in order to
understand the impact of these
one has to look at the total
incidence of tax on the common
man.
Tax collection from the rich has
increased. Personal Income Tax
and Corporate Taxes are
especially buoyant. But this does
not mean that burden of tax on
the poor has decreased. More
damage to the fields of the
landlord from floods does not
mean that the small farmer has
gained. He looses, though to a
smaller degree. Yet, his pain is
much greater because the small
loss represents a bigger share of
his income. Similarly increased
collection of taxes from the rich
has come along with increased
collections from the common man.
His burden of tax has increased
variously-service tax on
telephones, electricity and
transport have been increased,
for example. Tax rates on coarse
and fine cloth and on unbleached
and bleached paper have been
equalized in order to simplify
the tax system. But this has led
to higher burden on the coarse
material that the poor man buys.
In the end the common man is
paying higher taxes. The
additional burden of tax on a
family earning Rs 4,000 per month
would be, in my reckoning, about
5 percent or Rs 200 per month or
Rs 2,000 per year.
The Finance Minister can easily
rectify this situation. On the
collection side he must give up
the effort to make one single tax
rate. Goods must be classified
from the standpoint of the buyer.
Goods used by the poor such as
bus services, rural telephones,
cheap cloth and soap, bicycle
tyres and match boxes should be
made tax free or taxed at low
rates. The Finance Minister
should remember that the purpose
of one single rate of tax is to
generate efficiency so that the
cost of goods is reduced and
consumption of the common man is
enhanced. But a single rate has
an opposite result when applied
to goods consumed by the poor.
Take the case of match boxes. Let
us say the match box previously
contained 48 match sticks. Now it
contains 50 match sticks because
the tax system has been
simplified and economy has become
efficient. The buyer saves 4
paise on a match box of Rs one.
But, say, the tax rate on matches
is increased from 8 percent to 16
percent in order to obtain this
efficiency.
The common man pays an additional
7 paise tax. In the end the gain
to the common man from efficiency
is eaten away by the increase in
tax. The Finance Minister must,
therefore, reduce the level of
taxes on items consumed by the
common man. I daresay the
budgetary impact of this will be
small because the common man buys
few goods while the beneficial
impact on the common man's income
will be large. The Finance
Minister will gain huge
popularity also. But he will have
to overcome his obsession with
efficiency-which, in its present
dispensation, means efficiency
for he who has purchasing power.
There is a need to make
improvement on the side of
expenditure also. The present
model is to pay more salaries to
government servants ostensibly to
reach benefits to the poor.
Government teachers are paid high
salaries but they do not teach
and children of the poor fail in
larger numbers. The Finance
Minister should instead provide
education vouchers to all youth
in the country. Let them encash
these vouchers either in
government- or private schools.
This will empower the common man
instead of empowering the
government servants as presently.
There is a need to make huge
increase in expenditures on the
judicial system. The poor often
bear the crimes of the rich
because redressal from the
judiciary is slow and costly.
The poor fellow has to go hungry
on every date that his case is
fixed in the court. The poor
should be provided with quick
justice. Similarly, instead of
spending huge monies on
government hospitals the Finance
Minister should pay the money
directly to the poor families in
form of vouchers with which they
can buy milk, Chyawanprash or
other specified health foods. The
health of the people will improve
spontaneously because they suffer
more from malnutrition and less
from diseases. Such creative
policies will provide relief to
the common man and also laurels
to the Finance Minister.
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Reforming
the electoral system
By Saumitra Mohan
The regularity with which
Pakistan keeps going back to martial law
shows in stark relief the strength of
Indian democracy which appears to be
taking newer strides with each passing
day. One principal reason for the same
lies in the strong democratic foundations
which are predicated on a very sound and
effective electoral system. And our
electoral system has been moving from
strength to strength since the time of Mr
T. N. Sheshan, the redoubtable Chief
Election Commission of the nineties.
But there still remain many issues that
need to be attended to fortify the gain
already made for further solidifying our
democratic base and one such important
issue relates to our electoral system.
The task of conducting elections in a
billion plus country is really humongous
and mind-boggling. It requires
extra-ordinary preparations coupled with
astute management skills.
This becomes more important because these
days elections have to be conducted with
increasing regularity given the fact that
elections to parliamentary, different
state assemblies and local bodies
including panchayats keep taking their
turns to keep the Election Commission of
India (ECI) and its cognate state bodies
engaged throughout the year. Hence, there
is an urgent need for ECI to keep its
machinery well-oiled all the time.
As the ECI works through the
instrumentality of district
administration across the country, myriad
elections related activities also keep
the latter occupied through the year. And
as the ECI takes newer initiative to
further sanitize the electoral system in
this country resulting in more works, it
has increasingly become difficult for the
district administration to devote the
requisite attention and energy to sundry
more pressing functions of administration
and development.
Many Government departments including
education, relief, women and child
development, PWD, health, and backward
classed development departments have
issued specific directions from time to
time against engaging their officers and
staff numbers in election works for the
simple reason that such engagement tells
negatively on the normal functioning and
performance of these departments,
preventing them to do the very basic work
which they are meant to do.
For example, the school education
department has the largest number of
employees in the form of teachers and
when these teachers are engaged in
election and other works round the year,
their basic teaching job really suffers,
more so when they happen to be teachers
from a single or double teacher schools.
And now that the Supreme Court has
completely banned such employment of
school teachers, it has become further
difficult for the district
administration.
The district administration is,
therefore, finding it increasingly
difficult to rope in the services of line
department officers and staff for
electoral purposes. Even though some
permanent staff members have been
provided recently, the manpower crunch is
a serious problem and the Government
really needs to ponder over this issue
seriously need to ponder over this
district offices are already
understaffed.
Though electors' photo identity cards
(EPIC) has to a large extent prevented
bogus voting, but it is still for from
full-proof. Frequent reports of tampering
with the cards and recovery of fake EPICs
have given the tell-take hints of the
unholy practice that might be existing.
Hence, the need for making the EPIC more
tamper-proof than it is now. The proposal
of implanting some sort of bio-metric
identification feature in the EPIC to
reduce any scope for tampering or faking
EPIC needs to be given a serious thought.
There is also a need for further
rationalising the polling booths. Still,
the size of many polling booths is more
then thousand and the same needs to be
cut down to half to make the booth size
more manageable. This would allow the
completion of the voting process within
the scheduled time during an actual
voting rather than extending it beyond
the stipulated time which has often come
to be noticed.
It is with this in mind that ECI
introduced the concept of Voter
Assistance Booth (VAB) for multi-booth
polling premises in the recent assembly
elections. This has been taken very well
by the people and was a great help to
them. However, it was felt by many a
great help to them. However, it was felt
by many that the booth was not set-up
properly and was often not visible to
people. The people manning them need to
be properly oriented and motivated before
they are sent to do the job.
Also, one feels that such VAB can also be
set up across the constituency at regular
distance, irrespective of the number of
booths in a premise as that would be of
greater help to the voters who are not in
a position to get such assistance if the
premise comprises only one or two booths.
Introduction of alphabetically arranged
electoral roll at such VABs has also been
a good beginning and should be continued.
Such electoral roll should also be there
at the Permanent EPIC Centres which
should actually be suitably renamed e.g.
as Permanent Voter Assistance Centre.
Further steps must also be taken to
completely rule out the spectre of
booth-jamming and booth capturing. The
alleged practice of such a thing as
planting dummy candidates and thereby
having dummy election agents within the
polling booth should also be guarded
against.
The electronic voting machines are still
not used in election to the local bodies
which should be started immediately as
the local body elections are the base
upon which is built the edifice of
electoral democracy. ECI should ensure
that exemplary punishment is meted out to
those who are directly or indirectly
found to be involved in aiding and
abetting electoral mal-practices.
The Election Commission has needs to
further tighten the noose on political
parties to ensure that they not only
adhere to the model code of conduct
including sticking to the allowable
electoral expenses during an election,
but their accounts are also regularly
verified and audited to ward against any
ill-gotten money having its influence on
our electoral system.
Even though ECI has been trying for quite
some time to cleanse the system of people
with criminal backgrounds/antecedents,the
same should be done more effectively to
purge the system from such people or
their unwholesome influence. Laying down
some sort of minimum qualification and
experience for contesting candidates
should also be given a thought.
One just hopes that some of these
measures, if undertaken in right earnest,
shall do a world of good to our fledgling
democracy. The more we delay, the more
disservice we shall be doing to the
people of this country at the expense of
the democratic traditions and foundations
of this country. PTI
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