Daily Excelsior... Editorial

EDITORIAL

Debating the idea of
Federal Police Agency

By Saumitra Mohan

By R.S. Wahi

The government of India has unveiled a "Power for All" plan, whereby it will be setting up ultra mega power projects (UMPP) as to enable every household to have electricity connection by 2012. The government plans to add 100,000 MW of power generation capacity in the 11th plan. With the private players showing active interest and funding no longer a major issue, that ...more.

The business of
civilian awards

By G S Bhargava

EDITORIAL

Breeding terrorism

What breeds terrorism? This question has often been debated. Poverty has been identified as one major reason. It is at least a potent catalytic agent. Former World Bank president James Wolfensohn has observed: "We have a situation where 20 per cent of the world's population have 80 per cent of the wealth, and the other 80 per cent has just 20 per cent. If that's a situation that leads to instability, then we are saying that that instability will convey itself through migration, through wars within countries and through crime and terrorism. Many people of my generation grew up in developed countries thinking that the world was divided into two parts, and that there was a wall round the developed world. They thought that poor people had no relevance to us. What happened on September 11 was that anybody who thought there was a wall now knows that there is no wall. Conditions in one part of the world can affect us in the world behind that imaginary wall. Afghanistan can land in New York or on the Pentagon." It sounds very logical for all those who believe that we live in a small global village these days. Nevertheless the role and performance of countries remains important. If they are not well managed they do become breeding grounds of all ills including terrorism. Afghanistan in our vicinity is a telling example. Iraq was exposed to the charge of patronising the evil phenomenon and piling up Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) --- a wrong accusation as it has turned out to be. Iran and North Korea are being blamed now for joining nuclear race. They are being looked upon by the countries that are already sitting on nuclear piles. This is an anomalous situation and calls for a balanced perception. Domineering attitude of one country can invite aggressive reaction from the other howsoever economically backward it may be. It leads to other complications as well. If some people think Iraq has give a fillip to terrorism there are others who are convinced that Iraq war is the actual cause.

There are then countries like Pakistan that have trained the militants almost as a matter of policy and are left to rue the decision. It was a cry of despair that the neighbouring country's President Pervez Musharraf had once made before the European Union's Foreign Affairs Committee. Tracing the genesis of terrorism in his country, he had expressed the view: "Whatever extremism or terrorism is in Pakistan is direct fallout of the 26 years of warfare and militancy around us. It gets back to 1979 when the West, the United States and Pakistan waged a war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. We launched a jihad, brought in mujahideen from all over the Muslim world, the US and the West. We armed the Taliban and sent them in; we did it together. In 1989 everyone left Pakistan with 30000 armed mujahideen who were there, and the Taliban who were there… Pakistan paid a big price for being part of the coalition that fought the Soviet Union." Living in the neighbourhood as we do we are aware that the Pakistan President has not spoken the whole truth. It is hardly a secret that it has employed terrorists not only in Afghanistan but also to create havoc in this country. We in this State have been the victims of the proxy war it has thrust on us. However, that is not our concern today.

What has appealed to us instead is British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's remark that "failed states and failing states" posed dangers by harbouring terrorism. He has not named any country but it has been presumed that his finger is pointed in the direction of Pakistan. During his just-concluded visit to this country, Mr Brown has opined: "Failed states can harbour terrorism and be a source of disorder and then spread across the international community." The world, according to him, is not currently equipped to respond to the rise of non-state terrorism and spread of WMDs. Therefore, he has pleaded: "So it is time to set a new and ambitious agenda to prevent conflict and to stabilise and reconstruct failing and failed states." He has echoed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's words that the two countries would work together in a "coherent global effort with shared perspectives and commitments to combat terrorism wherever and whenever such (terrorist) attacks take place." This is the same strategy that the ex-World Bank chief has spoken of albeit in a somewhat different context. The reality is that terrorism is terrorism and one can't call it by any other name or vindicate it on any ground. One can't also deny that it has become a global menace and can be uprooted only by all countries pooling in their resources.

Suicide in uniform

A suicide almost every second day by a uniformed person in this district during the last week is a matter of serious concern. In the latest incident, an Army jawan has shot himself with his service rifle in his establishment at Bari Brahmana. Before this, a Lance Naik had opened fire on his two colleagues in Akhnoor before shooting himself as a result of which he got wounds to which he eventually succumbed. This traumatic spell had begun with a Border Security Force jawan taking his life in the Khour belt. The causes in all these occurrences are being ascertained through formal inquiries. Can they be different from what have already been identified as domestic tensions, haughty attitude of seniors in a hierarchical order, anxiety, depression, boredom and overwork? How can a suicide be an answer to all these difficulties? Armed forces have engaged counsellors to impart healing touch to those having psychological problems. Is it that not many jawans and officers are coming forward to seek their guidance? Do the majority of us continue to nurse the perception that emotional upheavals are best hidden? It is high time that such notion was dropped. A mental trouble is as good a disease as a physical one. What is to be noted is that it can be resolved through discussion that does not require any medicine or surgery.

For too long we have been worried about the twin phenomenon of suicides and fratricides in our forces. It is true that it is a universal happening. The best armies of the world are afflicted with this malady. This realisation, however, does not address our stress. Why should the people trained to make supreme sacrifices waste their lives as if they don't matter at all?

Debating the idea of Federal Police Agency

By Saumitra Mohan

The perceived failure of our police machinery to deal with various cases of law and order satisfactorily has often led to demands for CBI inquiry in those cases. Frequent calls to CBI for causing inquiries in matters as may strictly relate to matters in the state domain point to the lack of popular confidence in our police. This has not only dented the morale of the provincial police, but has also resulted in the central agency being overly burdened to do justice to its original briefs.

The blame game between the Centre and many State Governments as seen recently in the wake of critical law and order failures or terrorist bomb blasts is also supposed to be laid to rest by institution of such an agency. After the recent serial bomb blasts in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre shirked the responsibility saying that law and order is a state subject and the State Government need to be more vigilant in such matters. The State Government, however, blamed the Centre for having not provided it with adequate intelligence inputs to this effect.

It is in this light that there has been mooted a proposal for a Federal Police Agency (FPA) to deal with such issues in state domain which go beyond the normal law and order or which require more specialised attention and investigation. The same shall also have positive pay-offs for our internal security.

The Central Administrative Reforms Committee headed by Veerappa Moily has also recommended such an independent Crime Investigation Agency. The performance of this agency is proposed to be monitored by a 'high powered collegium’ comprising the Chief Minister, Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Justice of the High Court and Leader of the Opposition.

The committee, inter alia, suggested a State Police Performance and Accountability Commission with the Chief Minister as the head, but also with many members from the civil society to review and evaluate the police performance. The Citizens' Committee has also recommended specific measures for proper supervision of the police force.

The idea of a Federal Police Agency has been on board for a long time and now the Government of India is also learnt to be actively toying with such an idea. But before we go about this, there are many issues which need to be discussed and sorted out.

When we go about setting up such an agency, we should see to it that the jurisdictions of the state police and that of agencies like CBI and FPA remain clearly demarcated to avoid any duplication or overlapping of functions and duties, as far as possible. It needs to be ensured that inquiries and investigations as entrusted to these agencies become more automatic and systematic than be reactive entrustments to pre-empt and negative reflection on performance of the local police.

It has been noticed in recent past that the State Governments or high courts have entrusted enquiries in high profile cases to the central agency only after there has been a popular outcry demanding the same. The same was seen in Nandigram and Rizwanur Rahman cases where ongoing state police inquiries were discontinued or nixed in favour of inquiries by the central agency. Such an approach often has dampening impact on police morale.

We should also ensure that even while creating such a central agency, we should not ignore and forget that there is no substitute to an efficient and effective police force as that still remains the most primary level where the State-citizens interface usually takes place. Hence, the provincial police needs to be spruced up further rather than marginalising it by whittling down its authority or overshadowing it by creation of parallel authorities.

Ergo, increased attention should continue to be paid to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the state police to restore the popular confidence therein. The state police needs to be made more professional and effective than it has been found to be so far. And to ensure this, the police must be allowed to function more independently and autonomously than it has been able to.

It is realising this that the Dharamvira Commission recommended complete police autonomy long back in the 1970s, but till date no serious thought has been given to this recommendation for the simple reason that the idea does not suit the interests of our political class. The cosmetic changes effected in police organisation recently consequent to the Supreme Court judgement have not made any substantive and qualitative difference to their service delivery. Proposal of the FPA also points to the dilettantism which informs the police reforms.

It remains a fact that since law and order is a state subject, frequent calls to CBI also results in erosion of the state authority and , thereby, of our federal structure. Even though our founding fathers never meant India to be a true federation as is obvious in the Constitutional appellation ‘Union of States’, centralisation of powers beyond a point is not advisable notwithstanding the centralising tendencies seen in federal countries across the world. Many State Governments have opposed this idea for the same reason.

Nandigram has brought to the fore a sinister side of the reality which needs to be addressed urgently for the better management of law and order situation with serious implications for our internal security. Most importantly, we need to realise that we can allow the institution of police to languish only at the peril of our system.

So, even while we go about creating FPA, it should be ensured that police functions remain unencumbered by interference from any quarters including insidious influence by the politicians and political parties. The police force not only needs to be made more professional, but it also needs be better trained and better motivated to deal with various demands and challenges of policing an anomic society. (PTI)

Increasing power generation

By R.S. Wahi

The UMPPs have affected the economy in more ways than one. The international competitive bidding process for the allocation of the projects resulted in discovery of prices more competitive than was thought possible for electrical energy. While the state electricity boards were making losses even after selling power at Rs. 3 or more a unit, the private sector bidders have offered a levelised tariff of Rs. 1.196 and Rs. 2.26 per unit for the two UMPPs at Sasan and Mundra, respectively. With the expected success of these UMPPs, the demand for alternate energy sources will definitely decrease and it is possible the rates of other fuels might well be on the road to price discovery.

The Power Ministry has done well for this important price discovery. The innovation has been to combine the economies of scale through pithead power generation with competitive bidding. But it could have done better. The government has been inefficient in not looking at the projects from a systems perspective. The sites, viz, Sasan (MP), Mundra (coastal Gujarat), Akaltara (Chhattisgarh), Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) and coastal Karnataka were broadly chosen on the basis of either being pithead, coastal receiving imported coal, or coastal with domestic or blended coal. Instead, it should have been the outcome of a cost minimisation programme or else the ministry must have left the decision to the bidders. All they needed to specify was the load centres and quantum of demand in each of them. They could have evolved a common wheeling charge in consultation with the central and state regulators.

Premature selection of site and foreclosing the choice of imported versus domestic coal have introduced inefficiency in the project. We are content with the tariffs that have been bid by the private players and assume that the tariffs bid are the lowest possible generation cost the developer could have bid. But these tariffs could have been lower, if private sector had its way in deciding the optimal location and had the choice regarding importing or locally procuring the coal.

The approach to select sites for the project seems to be dependant on the availability of optimum location in terms of seismological, geological factors, availability of land and to some extent political issues. The critical factor of location of load centre doesn't seem to figure in the list of parameters of the government and therefore projects are coming up at locations which may not be best suited for a large thermal power plant.

With the coastal regions governed by coastal laws which are different and more stringent on the environmental aspects, installing such a large thermal project would definitely raise eyebrows of the environmentalists. There has been an attempt to address the issue with stipulation that only imported coal be used for the coastal projects. But is that a solution in the long term?

Why do we at all need a project at the coastal region fired by coal imported at a much higher price than Indian coal and finally end up paying a higher price for the electricity thus generated? With the world's third largest reserves of coal (and proven reserves of over 250 billion tonnes), which can meet India's power needs for many years to come, do we need to import coal from abroad at the cost of our own coal mines?

Energy experts are of the opinion that the use of domestic coal even at Mundra from the domestic sources would bring down the levelised cost by about 50 paise per kwh. This, of course, begs the question why power plants should not be at a pithead location and electricity transported to the load centres. Mundra UMP was awarded with the clause that the Tata Power can only use imported coal for energy production, whereas Sasan UMPP uses captive mine for domestic coal. Result is a difference of more than one rupee per unit of energy between two projects which are exactly the same in scale and most probably in technology too.

The identification of the sites for the project should have been left to the private bidder and the bids should have been invited after incorporating the wheeling and transmission costs for the power from the UMPP plant to the load centre.

It appears that the UMPPs are being awarded to the states as rewards for good performance. What is required, instead, is a much more holistic approach which incorporates the effect of existing power generation centres (interaction effect if any). Rather than treating the UMPPs in isolation, the government needs to focus on a comprehensive systems framework and look from an economic perspective. INAV

The business of civilian awards

By G S Bhargava

India is a unique democratic republic to have civilian awards. During the Constituent Assembly discussion on the propriety of a republic having civilian awards, non-Congress members like Prof. K.T.Shah and H.V.Kamath opposed the idea as an unhealthy practice. But Nehru and Rajendra Prasad, among others, defended it, apparently because Nehru wanted a source of vicarious political patronage. So came the Padma awards in 1954 from Bharat Ratna (or jewel of India) to Padma Shri at the bottom rung, as a kind of consolation prize.

Initially, it was said the award could not be conferred posthumously -- like the Nobel Peace prize - and so Mahatma Gandhi was ruled out but the rule was changed when Rajiv Gandhi had to be made a Bharat Ratna!

At the mundane level, I remember a present day Union Minister, as minister of state for home affairs in the Rajiv Government, hawking Padma Shri's to persons hungry for civilian awards. He had enrolled a lawyer past his prime at Masulipatam as Congress party activist in return for a promise of Padma Shri! That was in the early 1985-86. Buta Singh was the Union Home Minister.

The aggrieved hanker -after - the award landed in Delhi with a note from my friend, his younger brother. He had learnt in Hyderabad that 'no recommendation' for an award for him had been sent to the Centre. In other words, contrary to 'Minister's promise,' the Union Home Ministry had not acted in the matter.

I managed to get an audience for him with the Home Minister along with permission for me to accompany him as an informal interpreter. Buta Singh was not naturally abreast of English as spoken in Andhra Pradesh and the lawyer did not know Hindi or Punjabi. As it happened, the few minutes with the minister saw a piquant situation with the lawyer advancing towards the dignitary to make his point and the security personnel holding him back!

Reverting to Bharat Ratna, the first three Presidents, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Dr. Zakir Husain --- posthumously - got the award - - C.Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), V.V.Giri but not Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Gobind Ballabh Pant, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and future Home Minister, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, the then chief minister of West Bengal, --he was incidentally the uncle of Renuka Chakravarthy - Communist MP and wife of Nikhil Chakravarthy, (Dr. Roy had left his vast fortune for Renuka ) - M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) -- the famous Tamil film personality, who after a long stint in DMK went on to found A-I ADMK presently headed by Jayalalithaa ---but not C.N. Annadurai, the suave and scholarly originator of DMK and a member of the Rajya Sabha; and K.Kamaraj, ex-chief minister of Tamil Nadu, putative Congress party president and author of the so-called Kamaraj Plan.

Among more recent Presidents, Dr. A.P.J Abul Kalam got the award for his scientific work in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), now sought to be disbanded.

The first and second crops of prime ministers Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi but not her husband Feroze Ghandi, Rajiv Gandhi but not P.V.Narasimha Rao got the award almost automatically. In other words, the nepotistic -- from the Italian word nepote -- bias in the conferring of the award was ill concealed, even if there had not been much talk of it. On the other hand, when candidates for the awards these days, naturally political leaders, good and not so good, are discussed, it is said the matter has been politicised!

Sardar Vallabhai Patel-Nehru's partner in consolidating India's freedom and political companion for twenty-eight years, had been left out until Chandra Shekhar in his brief tenure as 'defector' prime minister made good the omission in 1990.

The practice of conferring the awards was suspended during the 18-month Janata Government due to Morarji Desai's ideological aversion. Ironically, the Pakistan Government of Gen. Zia-ul- Haque conferred its highest civilian award Nishan-e- Pakistan (star of Pakistan) on Morarji in appreciation of his Government's scrupulous non-involvement in Pakistan's internal affairs. It was awarded posthumously.

The first non-political recipients of Bharat Ratna were Maharshi Dhondo Karve, pioneer founder of a women's university in Maharashtra, Dr. Bhagwan Das, a companion of Annie Besant, and father of Sri Prakasa, our first High Commissioner in Pakistan, and Mokshagundam Viswesswarayya, the celebrated civil engineer who had built old Hyderabad and Bangalore. (It is said of Dr. Bhagwan Das that in order to keep pace with Annie Besant who was religiously punctual to the minute, he would keep his watch an hour ahead but would be still be late for appointments because he would be conscious of it!)

The immortal Shenai maestro, Bismillah Khan, golden voiced M.S.Subbulakshmi, world renowned Pandit Ravi Shankar and evergreen Lata Mangeshkar are among the musicians honoured. Also Mother Teresa, Badshah Khan, Nelson Mandela, C.V.Raman, Amartya Sen. Dr.Ambedkar and Lenin Peace prize recipient Aruna Asaf Ali but not Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay.

Meanwhile, inveterate opponents of State participation in matters unconnected with non-government matters -or champions of 20th century laissez- faire -- oppose altogether the prevalent practice of the Government conferring civilian awards on chosen citizens. They want the corporate sector to take over the chore. They claim it to be the hallmark of liberalism!

On the other hand, 'progressives' have faulted the BJP leader, L.K. Advani, for making an open appeal to the Prime Minister to confer Bharat Ratna on the veteran leader, Atal Behari Vajpayee. They want it to be a private matter between Advani and Manmohan Singh so that the Prime Minister does not have to show his hand!

---Syndicate Features