Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

By Arup De

Bangladesh has had interludes of democratically elected governance in the early years of independence and, subsequently, after the fall of Hossain Mohammad Ershad in 1990. Such democratic periods have been characterized by misgovernance, nepotism, corruption and an attitude of winner-takes-all. The parties that found themselves in opposition after 1991 have invariably branded the election results as fraudulent, and refused to ..more

Is biofuel anti-people?

By Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala

Right to Information : Making it effective

By Saumitra Mohan

It has been more than two years since the Right to Information Act (RTI) came into force in October 2005. Immediately after its enforcement, ..more

Mush in mesh

By Sushil Vakil

There is no denying the fact that Benazir's barbarous assassination is boomeranging on President Musharraf. And to tide over the crisis is now trying every trick in the book to absolve himself and his government of the blame. From a passionate human being to a true son of the soil Musharraf is changing postures ...more

EDITORIAL

Turf wars between
NC and PDP

Hardly a day has passed during the first week of the ongoing session of the State legislature without the National Conference (NC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) taking on each other. They have matched one another word for word. Going by this trend there is no doubt that their exchanges will grow bitterer in the coming days. They have never hidden their common acrid feelings. However, both of them have found the forums provided by the Assembly and the Council handy to test their lungpower and spread a message about their strong points. The smell of forthcoming Assembly polls seems to have only sharpened their belligerent faculties. As a consequence one finds that even seemingly small issues assume sharp pungent dimensions. Historic occurrences are twisted for the sake of mutual convenience. Why should an incident like Dr Farooq Abdullah shedding copious tears while taking oath as the Chief Minister in 1996 be relevant in 2008? The NC patriarch's emotional outburst had been seen by one and all on television. It had virtually been forgotten as a passing event. A PDP legislator's reading at this juncture is that Dr Abdullah had wept because he was surprised by the mandate he had received. This statement is not wide off the mark. Anybody in Dr Abdullah's position would have become sentimental: he had made a spectacular comeback after having been ridiculed for his frequent forays outside the State during the peak of militancy. Perhaps the tone of the PDP MLA was such that it annoyed one of his NC counterparts. The latter sought to settle the score with a winding accusation. According to him, Dr Abdullah had been moved by the thought of those persons killed during the tenure of former Governor Jagmohan who was sent to the State by PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the Union Home Minister. Since the NC and the PDP indulge in a game of one-upmanship they are prone to selectively interpreting the past. The PDP member could have turned back and pointed out that Dr Abdullah had on one occasion described Mr Jagmohan as the most popular figure in the Valley. That he did not do so is not surprising. Long ago Plato has said: "Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men." George W. Bush, who belongs to our turbulent times, is equally close to the reality: "That's just the nature of democracy. Sometimes pure politics enters into the rhetoric." Dictators like Hitler have also incidentally thought likewise: "The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force." If one goes by his experience one will find that oratory can camouflage the truth just for a short while. That is an entirely different story. For the moment we would focus on the home scene.

It is a common knowledge that PDP Minister Qazi Mohammad Afzal is to the NC what a red rag to a bull is. Having inflicted the most severe blow on the NC in the 2002 elections the Ganderbal legislator is supposed to always remain on his toes. Any chinks in his armour will make him vulnerable. It is small wonder then that the NC has demanded the tabling of the Kundal Committee report. The document refers to several scams in the forest department during the Qazi's earlier stint at the Minister in charge. It is in turn the outcome of an inquiry ordered by the Chief Minister. Why should the NC let this chance go? A report in this newspaper of the relevant proceedings in the Assembly notes: "… the Minister came under blistering and direct attack from the entire NC…The arch rivals of PDP were so vociferous that they didn't allow the proceedings of the House for about 15 minutes that too even after the deferring of the question pertaining to the forest department by the Speaker Tara Chand." For his part the Qazi appears to be girding up his lions. On yet another occasion heated arguments were witnessed in the Assembly between the two parties over the rehabilitation of Dal Lake dwellers and shortage of fertilisers and seeds. Generally the NC as the main opposition party has adopted an offensive approach against the Government as a whole during the present session. However, it is at its best when confronting the PDP ministers who for their part relish the war of words no less. Only the naive believes that it will not exploit the discomfiture apparently caused by independent MLA Shoaib Lone to the PDP leadership. The week has ended with Mr lone levelling serious charges in connection with the murder of his father Ghulam Nabi Lone, a PDP leader and minister in the coalition government then headed by the Mufti, in October 2005. The last word has not yet been heard in this regard. The elder Lone was killed at his ministerial residence in a high-security zone in the Summer Capital.

After all, the NC and the PDP are fighting for domination over the same electoral turf in the Kashmir Valley. By and large any contest on the other side of the Pir Panjal is confined between them. The scenario will be no different this year. The NC eventually has a rival on hand that has collected an array of leaders in nearly all corners in the Kashmir region including in its northern parts. At one time the NC had pleaded for involving the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) in the dialogue process. On the face of it this was a stunning ideological shift on the part of the State's premier political organisation for, the NC has always distanced itself from the Jamaat-e-Islami and its actual or perceived off-shoots. In reality, however, it seemed to be nothing more than a ploy to dent the PDP's base in the south of Kashmir from where the HM has drawn a lot of its muscle. The PDP has always favoured roping in the HM into any talks for lasting peace. On the present reckoning the NC and the PDP should trigger more fireworks during the rest of the session. The spill-over of their row into the public arena will be more exciting. Their tug-of-war is likely to augur well for democracy and result in further marginalisation of separatists.

Indo-Bangla relations

By Arup De

As such, the much-beleaguered and long-suffering public could form little idea of what any of the main parties really stood for-other than that each nakedly wanted to seize power at all costs. Party politics in Bangladesh was reduced to the politics of power, revenge and plunder; and the ballot box was used only as a means to subserve those ends. Politicians were both incompetent and venal, and the conduct of the general elections by an election commission, which lacked both authority and impartiality, fell below acceptable standards. The electoral roll was known to be totally unreliable as an authentic guide to the number of eligible voters.

The military-backed interim government came into office in January 2007 after months of controversy, conflict and bloodshed between the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and their respective allies. It promptly cancelled the elections scheduled for last January 22, and was confronted by the immense task of impartially conducting general elections after cleansing political life of a kind of people who had impoverished the country for the past 16-years.

These years had seen three elections and the rampant misrule of the BNP, followed by the Awami League, and then the BNP. There is no doubt that the state of emergency and the pursuit of corrupt politicians and civil servants by the interim administration were at first hugely popular. The common man felt that at last something was being done to purge the political system and that this would lead to a better future. The treatment of politicians and senior bureaucrats was seen not as repression but retribution.

But there is a time-line beyond which an unelected and unaccountable administration cannot sustain its credibility. In order to amend the electoral roll to make it reflect the reality and to provide voters' identity cards to eligible persons, the administration banned all political activity and stated that elections would be held within two years, that is, by December 2008. It is widely believed that the government then tried to engineer a situation where the leaders of both the main political parties would leave Bangladesh and remain abroad, in actual or self-imposed exile.

These two former prime ministers, implacable enemies, have perpetuated the dynastic and dictatorial style of politics in Bangladesh, stifled internal democracy in their parties, and have dealt vindictively with any threats to their position from colleagues from the second rank. It is therefore self-evident that no enduring political reform would ever be possible without the removal of the two demagogues from political activity. This manoeuvre by the interim authorities came unstuck when Sheikh Hasina Wajed, who was bizarrely described as being 'on holiday' in the United States of America, returned to her country despite attempts by the regime to block her re-entry. Once Khaleda Zia knew that Hasina Wajed was returning, she dug in her heels and refused to emigrate.

This was the first set-back to the purification plans of the interim administration. The second was when the Nobel Prize laureate and micro-credit pioneer, Mohammad Yunus, announced that he had abandoned plans to form his own political party, Nagarik Shakti, as an alternative to the two main established ones owing to the lack of support. The government feared that the main political parties might be emboldened to challenge the authority of the emergency, and decided to contain the situation through the rigorous pursuit of Khaleda Zia and Hasina Wajed through the court.

In July, Hasina Wajed was arrested on charges of extortion, to which was added a charge of corruption in September. She is also accused of being involved in the murder of four political rivals. Khaleda Zia was ordered to appear in court over tax-evasion allegations, and was arrested in September on charges of corruption and abuse of power. The two women join a list of some 170 politicians, civil servants and businessmen who have been detained on various counts.

The situation in Bangladesh remains on the brink. If there is a return to old-style politics, the charges against the accused persons, who belong to the party in power, will be swiftly dropped and there will a stampede of floor-crossing for self-preservation. This will be the negation of everything the interim administration stands for. Ominously for the authorities, there were three days of student-led rioting in Dhaka and some other cities recently. It apparently started when some youths were manhandled by soldiers during a football match in the capital. The students, who are intensely politicized, have always been the agents of political change in Bangladesh, and though calm has been re-imposed through curfew and the detention of some academics and members of the student community, there is a mood of sullen discontent, mainly owing to the rise in living costs. Apprehension stalks the land, especially among those who have good reason to be apprehensive.

The other traditional agent of change is the army, and it has been Delphic. Is it looking for a longer-term, formal role in the future? The army chief, Moin Ahmed, is supposed to have said, "Bangladesh will have to construct its own brand of democracy. This needs rethinking so that we can re-invent a system of governance with new leadership at all levels." Loaded words, but few believe that the military is interested in taking power in the way it did in the coups of the Seventies and the Eighties.

A similarly Delphic attitude has been maintained by New Delhi, except for recent pious expressions of support for democracy from the official spokesman. The interim regime in Dhaka has shown signs of paying close attention to India's concerns, especially terrorism and transit, though there is yet to be concrete action. But even this is better than elected leaders like the ultra-nationalist Khaleda Zia and the Indira-Rajiv familiar Hasina Wajed pledging friendship and cooperation with India and doing absolutely the contrary in practice, on the pretext that it would be politically suicidal for them to accommodate India's wishes.

There is no better government in Bangladesh for India's national interests than one which is neutral, apolitical and run by professionals and technicians, and New Delhi should give the present dispensation, despite its limitations, full support. Small wonder that India does not plead the democratic cause more stridently: lip-service is sufficient. INAV

Is biofuel anti-people?

By Dr Bharat Jhunjhunwala

Government has made it compulsory for oil companies to mix 5 percent ethanol in petroleum products. This is to be raised to 10 percent shortly. Ethanol can be produced from molasses-a bye-product of sugar industry. Molasses is used to make alcohol presently. It can be used to make ethanol instead. Brazil has obtained great success in this. Sugarcane juice is directly converted into ethanol in that country. Minimum 20 percent ethanol has to be mixed with petrol. Cars have been designed to operate on 100 percent ethanol. This has helped Brazil reduce its dependence on imported oil and people have got employment in the production of sugarcane. Government of India seems to be trying to replicate Brazilian experiment. Additionally efforts are being made to grow Jatropa, neem and other non-edible oilseeds on wastelands. They can be converted into biodiesel. Biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel are being seen as renewable sources of energy to break India's dependence on imported oil.

Biofuels are produced from crops like sugarcane and Jatropa that absorb carbon-dioxide (CO2) from the environment. Production of coal and crude petroleum also absorbs CO2 but this was done long time in the past. Biofuel absorbs this here and now. The amount of CO2 emitted in the burning of biofuel is absorbed in its production. Thus biofuel is considered 'clean'.

This advantage of biofuel is accepted. But case for biofuels is not made on this basis alone. We have to compare the benefits with alternate uses of the same land. There is no gainsaying that the farmer must cultivate his land. The tricky part, however, is to determine which crop to grow. Similarly, there is no gainsaying that degraded lands must be regenerated. The tricky part is to determine between biofuel and other alternatives. Compare Jatropa cultivation with growing natural forest on degraded lands. I suspect the natural forest will absorb more carbon due to its biodiversity. It will also create more jobs. People can gather tendu leaves, berries, fuel wood and grasses. In contrast only Jatropa seeds are collected once a year. The wood of this plant does not serve as fuel. Its leaves are not used as fodder. Similarly, more jobs and income is generated for the local people in the cultivation of paddy, wheat and other food crops instead of sugarcane. The former provides them with jobs in ploughing, planting, weeding, harvesting etc. many times through the year. Thus case for biofuel cannot be made on the grounds of carbon absorption or employment generation.

There are other disadvantages of biofuel. Water is consumed in large quantities in cultivation of sugarcane. Water that is probably sufficient to grow three crops of wheat and paddy on four acres of land is consumed in growing single crop of sugarcane on one acre land. Biodiversity is not promoted in cultivation of Jatropa either. Large trees, small trees, shrubs, grasses and vines all grow together in a natural forest. Not in a Jatropa plantation. The latter is like a public garden with a huge lawn without flower beds, ornamental trees or fountains.

Man is the highest animal on earth. It is man's responsibility to carry other animals with it just like the Prime Minister carries all sections of the society with him. Not so in biofuel. Cultivation of sugarcane is mainly beneficial for the upper sections. The car of the rich plies on the roads with ethanol. The poor get nothing. In comparison there is greater spread of the benefits from cultivation of food grains. The poor gets more food to eat, the cow gets straw, the horse gets bran, the child gets milk and the homemaker gets fuel from cow dung. The natural forest provides berries for the children, home for the deer and elephant and place for small and big birds to make different types of nests. Thus biofuel fails on the tests of social benefit and biodiversity.

The experience of Brazil is not applicable to us. Our land to population ration is very different. 45.4 square kilometer land is available per 1000 population in that country against only 2.7 square kilometer in India. 32.5 hectares cultivable land is available in that country per 100 persons against only 14.8 hectares in India. It is possible for Brazil to use large tracts of land for cultivation of sugarcane without impairing its food security. Not so for us. More cultivation of sugarcane necessarily translates into lower production of food grains in our country. Water is no different. Brazil has 29,066 cubic meters per person of renewable sources of water against only 1,152 cubic meters in India. The level of ground water is falling steeply across the country because overexploitation of this historical resource. More cultivation of sugarcane will only put greater pressure on this scarce resource and it will affect our food security adversely.

Mr R K Pachauri, Director of Tata Energy research Institute heads the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Pachauri has tried to meet these objections against biofuel in an essay titled "The Promises and Challenges of Biofuels for the Poor in Developing Countries" published by the International Food Policy Research Institute in its Annual Report of 2005-06. He says that biofuels can be produced from agricultural wastes like wheat straw and bagasse. Indeed, bagasse is used much for production of power by sugar mills. But wheat and paddy straw are used as fodder for livestock. Conversion of straw into biofuels will deprive livestock of fodder. Second argument is that a crop cycle can be made that takes care of both food crops and fuel crops. This ignores the fact that a crop cycle already exists which rotes different food crops. Introduction of fuel crops in that cycle will only edge out part of food crops. Third argument is that cultivation of fuel crops will lead to higher incomes for the poor and they will be able to buy more food grains. But a similar increase in their incomes will take place from more cultivation of value-added food crops like vegetables. These scientists, it seems to me, promote the interests of their paymasters in ignoring the adverse impacts of such policies on the common man.

Biofuels are being promoted not because they are clean or because they provide more employment or incomes to the poor. They are being promoted because they provide benefits to the rich. Biofuels are required to run the rich man's car. The poor man looses in depletion of ground water, loss of biodiversity and less fodder for his cow. A World Bank paper titled "Review of Environmental, Economic and Policy Aspects of Biofuels" by Deepak Rajagopal and David Zilberman says explicitly: "We are aware that the use of biomass for household heating or electricity production is very important especially among the poor in developing countries, while demand for liquid biofuels is largely from the richer sections of society." It is another matter that World Bank yet supports biofuels. Thankfully, we are not paid by the World Bank. We must, therefore, adopt these crops with great care remembering that no civilization has survived that has not taken care of its poor.

Right to Information : Making it effective

By Saumitra Mohan

It has been more than two years since the Right to Information Act (RTI) came into force in October 2005. Immediately after its enforcement, a concern was expressed in certain quarters about adequate efforts not being made by all those concerned to implement the Act in its true spirit. It was felt that vested interests were making an all our effort to sabotage the Act.

Lot of hue and cry was heard when there was an attempt from within the Government to water down certain portions of the Act by excluding the details of information contained in an official note sheet on the pretext of administrative necessity and for securing the officials against victimisation.

But in this all, people failed to realise that the Act was in its infancy and would take its time before it starts working to its potential. And it was not very late before people actually started realising the import and power of the right emanating from this particular act. Now they seem intent on using the right enshrined in the Act for anything and everything pertaining to their civil right in democratic India.

The many path-breaking decisions and judgements consequent to sundry appeals for information under RTI by the Central Information Commission and various State Information Commissions, the veil of secrecy hanging over the official records has slowly been lifting, resulting in substantive dilution of the draconian Official Secrets Act, 1923 which has been the last resort of a reluctant bureaucrat for denying even innocuous information to the members of common public on one or the other pretext including the one pertaining to state's security and integrity and the larger public interest.

Now, several landmark decisions and judgements of the Central and State Information Commissions later, it is reinterpretation of the same ‘larger public interest’, which is being proffered as a ground on which various wings of central and State Governments should be sharing the information with the common public of this country. Even though today the right to seek information under RTI has come into its own and has become a powerful tool for exercising one's democratic rights, one feels that still a lot needs to be done to further strengthen and reinforce this right before it can really become a genuine weapon of popular control exercising benign influence over the different Government bodies.

Even though the number of petitions requesting information under RTI has gone up by leaps and bounds, this number could be much more substantial than it is presently. Still, there is a lot which needs to be done to generate awareness among the people about their powers under RTI, though various adverse judgements of information commissions resulting in imposition of pecuniary and disciplinary action against many Government servants are also creating enough awareness by way of demonstration effect.

Many Government departments and bodies including judiciary have made it costlier for the hoi polloi to seek and access information. The price to seek and obtain information has been made prohibitive by many agencies defeating the very intents and purposes wherefor RTI was conceived. Since it has been left to various State Governments and autonomous Governments bodies to frame such rules relating to the various charges for information sharing, they have found an excuse in the same by way of making the same ridiculously high.

While these prohibitive costs to seek information do discourage non-serious information seekers, they also repel the many genuine ones who are not well-off enough to be able to foot the bill for the purpose. However, there are specific provisions in the Act about the inadvisability of charging anything from people below the poverty line. But one has to understand that there are many millions others in the country who, even though above the poverty line, are no better. These people are, at least, definitely not so better as to be able to spend a princely sum for seeking and obtaining information under RTI.

Then, there is a practical problem which has come to the fore after the requests seeking information started to flow in thick and fast. The problem relates to the shortage of staff and officers for attending such requests. It is because of this that there has been an overlaod of pending requests with different information commissions and Government bodies.

Since there has been many landmark judgements by now wherein specific pecuniary penalties have been imposed upon many Government servants for deemed deliberate failure to provide information in time and since such penalties have to be footed from one's own pockets, Government staff and officers are found to be on toes now to attend to such requests and provide the requested information within the statutory 30 days’ period as per the Act.

Today, when many Government departments and bodies are already reeling under the shortage of staff and officers in these times of downsizing and rationalizing of the size of the Government employees, the normal functioning of these departments and bodies are severely getting hampered. As non-compliance under the Act results in personal financial loss including the fear of departmental proceedings, a Government staff or officer is more than keen to attend to RTI requests before anything else.

Some of these problems have arisen also because of the fact that many Government departments and bodies have still not put the requisite in-house information into the public domain as they are supposed to do under RTI. This also results in delay or outright refusal in furnishing of the desired information to the petitioners. When a request to furnish information on National Policy and Action Plan on computerization of judiciary under RTI was sent to the PIO (Public Information Officer) in the Ministry of Law and Justice, the response was ‘‘the details of implementation of the plan are still being worked out. That being so, it is not possible to give any information in the matter at this stage.’’

The Right to Information Act is merely an instrument that lays down the statutory procedure in the exercise of this right. It is, therefore, necessary that all exceptions and denials of the right to information must necessarily conform to the restrictions that bear a nexus to those mentioned in Article 19 (2) and to none others.

So, there is an urgent need to do some further soul-searching as far as implementation of the Act is concerned. All the Government departments and bodies should not only put all the permissible information pertaining to their establishments in readily sharable form, they should also immediately notify and properly publicise the APIO, PIO and AA for accessing information relating their offices. Also, it is advisable that such notified authorities should remain in the same office for ensuring better efficiency and accountability.

In fact, it is proposed that as far as possible, a self-contained office should have APIO, PIO and AA in the same premises. It makes the system more efficient and also makes it easier for the common public. For example, if the District Magistrate starts entertaining all RTI petitions pertaining to every office under his/her control and supervision, then he/she would be left with no time to attends to his/her normal work.

So, it is advisable that various authorities to be notified remain within the same premises. Moreover, the Central and State Governments should make further clarifications to ensure that the cost of seeking and obtaining information under RTI does in no case become prohibitive. Also, the entire process of moving an RTI application has to be further simplified.

The phone-in system, as instituted in Bihar, should now be extended to rest of the country. This avoids a common citizens several trips to the Government office. E-governance should be utilised to the maximum for the purposes of RTI.

Moreover, there shall also be a need for dedicated staff and officers to attend to RTI requests and also to pre-empt the hampering of the normal functioning of the office by engaging regular staff and officers. There is also a need for grant of specific financial grant to a Government office for meeting various expenses required to be incurred for provisioning of information (e.g xeroxing et al) and for further strengthening and reinforcing the service delivery system under RTI for being able to serve the people better.

If we are able to modify and further refine the RTI Act, one is sure that the powers granted to a common citizen in India shall go a long way in strengthening and reinforcing our democratic foundations. (PTI)