Can we have peoples’s choice ?

Col (Dr) PK Vasudeva (Retd)

The political parties’ clamour for having their choice of candidate in the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President House) doesn’t augur well for the post itself, the Head of State. Not only would majority of citizens welcome a restrain but would approve that the election should be based on people’s choice, as he is the first citizen. The Rashtrapati must be a person of high moral values, well recognised in social, political and scientific circles, high profile academician and known for his impeccable integrity and character. There should be no two opinions.

However, there is a nagging doubt that if this idea is put across, the Government, the Constitutional purists and political power brokers are bound to immediately shoot it down. And argue that Article 54 of the Constitution has provided an elaborate procedure of electing the President and that is how it should be.

The Rashtrapati is elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of the States, including those of Delhi and Pondicherry. It will be further emphasised that the Constitutional provision of Article 54 has stood the test of time so far and therefore where is the need to bring in a change. Unfortunately, they appear to be afraid of bringing reforms in the Presidential election, which have acquired importance with the passage of time.

Former Chief Election Commissioner, TS Krishnamurthy, has suggested a Constitutional amendment to include local governments elected representatives in the Presidential Electoral College as a way of broad-basing the composition of the electors to the high office. S Kalyanaraman, who has held a top post in the Asian Development Bank, supports the proposition, stating that the inclusion of members of the Panchayati Raj institutions will be consistent with the Indian tradition of janapadas and shall also strengthen those institutions and help them slowly evolve into the Peoples’ Parliament like China’s Peoples’ Congress.

It must be noted that there is no way the political class can be stopped from going for mediocrity or a worthless dummy as the President, since it will regard as a threat any person of strong moral fibre and high professional and intellectual endowments with capacity for independent thinking.

Whatever may be the case, the paramount consideration before the political class in the choice of the President should be that he should do the nation proud? To fulfil this mandatory requirement, political parties should shed their narrow party interests, and agree on the best person for the job.

The Constitution has made him an integral part of Parliament itself, and on the analogy of Britain’s Constitutional Monarch, India’s President too can exercise the prerogatives ‘to advise, to encourage and to warn’ the Government where nation’s well-being is at stake. That is why it is necessary to choose persons of true and solid worth to occupy the Presidency. Let us hope India’s political class will act up to the sacred responsibility cast on it.

For the past 60 years the majority of those elected to the high office so far have been persons of high stature with unsurpassed record of public service. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Dr. Zakir Hussein and Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam are names to conjure with and can hold their own before the best in the world. Rajendra Prasad was a towering freedom hero of freedom struggle but for whose wise steering of the debates in the Constituent Assembly as its President, it would not have been possible to frame such a masterpiece of a Constitution within such a short time. Radhakrishnan inspired such awe around the world with his scholarly intellect that even Josef Stalin meekly submitted to him.

They had the moral eminence to pull up even the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on occasions and has also acknowledged how he deferred to them and benefited from their advice. Kalam made a game-changer of the presidency, by acting as a useful bridge between the people and the their representatives and electrifying the younger generation with his rousing call to make the nation number one in the world.

Giani Zail Singh had no background other than that of party politics. However, the Giani did give a jolt or two to the Congress in whose sycophantic culture he had been nurtured, first by killing the draconian Postal Bill passed by the huge Congress majority, and by keeping Rajiv Gandhi himself on tenterhooks over possible dismissal.

That out of the 12 full-time Presidents India has had so far, four were unmatched in their accomplishments, four were outstanding, two were passable, and only two were below par, is an excellent track record by any reckoning.

By and large, the political establishments of the day had adhered to plausible parameters for selection of candidates. The compulsions of coalition politics and the dominance of regional parties will also ensure that the persons fielded should command acceptance cutting across party lines.

Even so, political parties, in general, and the ruling dispensation at the Centre, in particular, should adopt the convention of broadening and deepening the process of consultations among themselves, on the one hand and, on the other, between themselves and the civil society, encompassing the legal fraternity, business and industry, trade unions, women’s groups, voluntary organisations, the academia and even the student community, to arrive at a consensus on the choice of the Presidential candidate.

This will, to a great extent, get over the limitations of an indirect election, and generate a sense of the people’s participation in the choice. This will also lead to the President being regarded, when he assumes charge, as a choice of the people as a whole, reflecting their aspirations and symbolising the unity of the nation.

This will help him/her rise to the full potential as a friend, philosopher and guide to his Council of Ministers, Parliament and the people at large – exactly as the founding fathers intended him to be. Indeed, if he is a person of sagacity and integrity, he can, from behind the scenes, even serve as an antidote to political opportunism and instability. A unanimous election for the country’s highest post should be the efforts of all the political parties to show solidarity in the largest democracy of the world. (INFA)

Shivaji Sarkar

Small change can play havoc with the economy! The Government and the Reserve Bank of India policy is adding to at least three to five per cent inflation. The decision to scrap small coins makes products dearer for the consumers as the sellers, big or small do not return small change.

On an average every individual loses at least Rs 3 a day in such transactions. Sometimes the loss may be even Rs 10 or more if one enters into a multiple transaction. This apart it has led to rounding of most products to Rs 5 or 10. Recently, the Railway Ministry even took this specious argument to raise the train fares (calling it rounding off local train fares). Now even Rs 5 coins are vanishing so should such departments round it off to the next Rs 10 and when Rs 10 coins and currency notes become scarce it would be raised to the next higher amount.

It is a vicious method of depriving the common man, of their precious earnings. Lower availability of small coins leads to a rising price level. Let us assume that of a population of 121 crore only 25 per cent – 30 crore people – are losing Rs 3 a day. It comes to Rs 90 crore a day. It they are losing it for 300 of the 365 days, the loss to the common man, eventually becomes a whopping Rs 27000 crore a year, larger than the budgetary allocations to many ministries.

In cities such as Delhi, the customer demanding small change back is looked down upon by the shopkeepers, the taxi drivers etc. In fact, in many cases, they pocket even Rs 10 or Rs 50. The people who are being cheated grumble but can do little and get no relief.

It is also interesting to note that more affluent a region is, the larger is the loss to the consumers. In some of the remote areas of Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand, the shopkeepers, it is learnt, take it as insult if someone does not take back small change like ten or 20 paisa. Yes, despite the RBI having stopped minting of coins of 5 and 10 paisa, these still remain in circulation in these areas.

Undoubtedly, this calls for a review of the RBI policy to do away with such small denomination coins. In fact, it has a wider social ramification as well. It causes bad blood among the people. In many cases, people avoid shops which gobble up their small change. The shopkeepers are also known to be gruff with people who insist on having their coins back. Some even force on their customers sweets, toffees or lozenges even when they don’t want these instead of the small change.

Acrimony in retail or vegetable markets is a common phenomenon. In reality, consumers have a grudge that it is adding to the inflation. Businesses crib that people are so small-minded that they demand such small amounts back. The coin shortage is also posing problems for the businesses. In some cases, as in Kolkata, shopkeepers have been purchasing coins from beggars at a premium!

On the national front, India claims to have developed. It, however, still suffers from the psyche of poor developing nations. In the US, a consumer is returned 96 cents in coins if his bill is for say $1 and 4 cents. This in India is simply unthinkable.

If businesses have to grow smoothly, the RBI has to make arrangements for easy supply of small coins. It needs to innovate. Coins worth crores get locked in donation boxes of large temples like Tirupati or Vaishno Devi. The RBI needs to formulate a policy to bring these back into circulation. Some of the temples send these coins into their chambers where with time the value gets appreciated.

The practice of the banks and credit card issuers to round off the change mostly to the nearest higher rupee also makes people lose loads of money. Banks are becoming richer with many unethical practices and surreptitious increase in bank charges. It is affecting the core of the economy.

Many other service industries such as telephone, gas, or petrol pumps also do the similar rounding off – gobbling up consumers’ money. Shortage of coins is having a ruinous effect on the economy.

Thomas J Sargent and Francois R Velde in their recently published book Big Problem of Small Change say that for the last many centuries shortage of small coins has been a phenomenon and governments have been finding it difficult to face the challenge. In a way it has been afflicting nations in different times. But the governments have to innovate to look for new ways to overcome such shortage.

The RBI certainly has a case for deciding the intrinsic value of such coins. It is stated that the razor blade industry melts one-rupee coins to manufacture six blades. In other words, they are earning huge profits as the quality of metal is unmatchable and selling the blades at premium.

Some artificial jewellers also melt the coins as the intrinsic value is more than the face value of the coins. The RBI is not supposed to provide raw material to this kind of industry. But it needs to evolve a system to mint coins with metals which should have a junk value. It calls for RBI to carry out research for minting coins or printing small value currency notes.

Sometime back there was a proposal to print small value plastic tokens with due security marks. Any metallic coin is certain to have the value appreciated. Of late, RBI has decided to change the raw material used for manufacturing of coins from Copper-Nickel to FSS (Ferritic Stainless Steel). But FSS is also a coveted metal for some industries, which would like to melt it to make fancy items and earn larger profits.

The challenge is perennial. The answer is not in giving up small denomination coins or currency notes. It is true that small coins and small denomination currency notes get soiled soon. Their intrinsic value also has to be kept lower than their face value. These call for looking for new methods.

It can be done in two ways. One is to mint plastic tokens with security marks perhaps with a small metal foil type cover and also issue small currency notes with plastic lamination. The other is also to print currency notes of odd denominations like Rs 6, 7, 9, 11, 15, 19 and so forth. The problem is often with odd figures. This may solve the problem to a large extent. However, giving up small coins is no solution. The RBI should think how to handle the small change problem which has a severe economic and social cost. Any remedies? INFA

Col J P Singh, Retd

God has blessed Gilgit-Baltistan region with high mountains, huge water resources, enchanting lakes, large variety of fruits, lush green forests, rivers, springs, largest glaciers, variety of minerals and hardy people. We often heard such tales from our forefathers who took part in battles of Skardu and Chitral and served in these areas. Its enchanting beauty is enshrined in our folklore and often sung by pahari folk singers. Ironically it is forsaken by India. Before Pakistan carried out nuclear tests, tourism was the lifeline of this area but the explosions and 9/11 have almost dried up the tourism potential of this region. The resultant unemployment and lack of opportunities have created an explosive situation and led to widespread frustration and unrest in the masses. The area has never been given any democratic dispensation and continues to be ruled arbitrarily from Islamabad with a status of something like a colony. Until 1988 the people of Gilgit-Baltistan boldly fought for their democratic rights. Gen Zia ul Haq subverted their campaign by clamping the martial law and dividing them on sectarian lines. Gen Zia posted Brig Musharraf ( architect of Kargil and later President of Pakistan) to suppress regional uprising. He also sent armed Sunni extremists who killed hundreds of Shias whenever and wherever a riot brew. The details of Pakistan’s deceit and treachery in respects of these areas may take volumes to recount. Some briefs accounts have been enumerated below to project the appalling state of affairs in a piece of land and group of people who have nothing in common with Pakistan except that they also profess Islam of a different shade.

Killing and vandalizing the minorities is getting institutionalized in Pakistan. Predominantly Shia dominated Gilgit-Baltistan has been subjected to unjust treatment and unfair killings by Sunni musclemen of the region who have been brought in from Punjab for the purpose. Some nationalist organisations have been espousing the cause of justice to local people at various levels including the United Nations but in vain. Recently Kargil district observed a day long complete shut down to mark their protest against massacre of Shias.

Till the sixth century Gilgit-Baltistan was called Brooshal, later called Bloristan and till mid twentieth century it was Dardistan. Local residents call it Balwaristan. During 1970s Pakistan, in a clever move and with malafide intentions named it ‘Northern Areas’. Legally it is Indian territory and has been fulcrum of Central Asia being at the cross roads of ancient Silk Route. Like Kashmir it is yet another paradise on the earth. It is blessed with abundance of natural resources despite which it is most backward in entire South Asia. Karakoram Highway which passes through Gilgit-Baltistan enables easy Chinese access to the sea port of Gwadar at the mouth of Persian Gulf. Karakoram Highway has been so aligned and extended to Chinese territory that it will facilitate export from Chinese factories located in North Western China straight to Gawadar deep Sea Port. Pakistan offers to serve as ‘energy corridor’ between China and gulf. The two countries have started a rail link between them. Gilgit-Baltistan borders Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tibet, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan, hence a bridge between India and Central Asian Republics. Being in Pakistan occupation, India is denied the right of direct access to Afghanistan and central Asia. Pakistan allows access to China but deprives the real inheritor this right of passage. Therefore we are struggling to seek route through Iran and Afghanistan to reach Central Asian Republics instead of seeking one through this region.

Sectarian clashes between Shias and Sunnis have taken many precious lives and created bitterness among two communities. Sectarian organisations have come up with the avowed objective of striking at each other. This is an unfortunate situation for a country which was carved out of India on the assumption that it would be a homeland for all Muslims. People have been attacked and butchered in Mosques, schools, hospitals, in buses and other public places. Administration is paralysed in various towns and cities which emboldens brutalities and benefits terrorists and further creates unrest in the region. Sectarian killings in Gilgit-Baltistan have evoked reactions in Kargil and many places of Pakistan blaming the govt for silently watching the decimation of Shia community. It is only during the Assembly and Parliament sessions that POK, Northern Areas and Aksai Chin becomes imaginary part of India for a short duration. This disparaging memory passes over from Indian minds when nasty political and criminal issues take over the proceedings of the House. Issue of illegal occupation of 1/3rd part of J&K under illegal occupation was seriously debated in J&K Legislative Assembly on 21st March 2012. Ironically no resolution emerged from the House debate.

Gilgit -Baltistan is seething with discontentment. ISI managed Jehadi camps have been established in Gilgit-Baltistan. Senior retired army officers have been employed to train J&K militant groups like the redundant JKLF, HM and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and to infiltrate them back into the valley. Latest intelligence reports suggest that youths from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir are trained together in camps run by ISI in Ghowadi, Skardu, Darel, Astor and Gilgit. After the Kargil war, military build up has been augmented in Northern Areas with construction of roads and helipads within three kms of LOC. A High Altitude Training School has been opened near Gilgit and SSG Commando Training Centre has been established near Skardu. It amounts to military encirclement of India from this direction. Fearing American drone attacks in Swat Valley, Al Qaeda and Taliban militants have migrated to Gilgit-Baltistan where they intimidate and endanger indigenous Shia population.

Military imposes curfew at the drop of the hat and indulges in human rights violations with impunity. People deserve attention of International Red Cross and UNO. There is no Dalai Lama for Gilgitis and Baltis. There may be some in the making but lying low for the fear of persecution at the hands of Pak Army. Even if they get the support of the kind which Pakistan gave to Khalistan movement and now to the Kashmiri separatists, it would be suicidal for them to under take the cause of their identity and ethnic cleansing because Pak Army will eliminate them as it did in case of Nawab Bhugti, most popular Baluch leader.

The Indian mind is not poised to think in terms of understanding the potential of vast area of the kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir beyond Muzaffrabad. The geography of erstwhile vast princely state, which merged with India, has almost disappeared from Indian memory. Violation of international conventions, violation of human rights, ceding of Indian territories to China and construction of KKH in Indian territories whether contested bilaterally/ globally or not is not in the public knowledge. India did very little diplomatically through UN and friendly countries to prevent Pakistan from ceding territories of India to China in 1963 followed by construction of KKH by China and persecution of aborigines. Politicians and the govt has not made average Indian aware of the fact that Pakistan has ceded large area of J&K to China and almost leased entire POK to construct Karakoram Highway and Karakoram Railway line. What follows from this silence? Will India remain silent if Pakistan cedes Gilgit-Baltistan to China?