I WITNESS - The good people of DELHI

I WITNESS - The good people of DELHI

by Sangeeta Das on Monday, December 24, 2012 at 1:13pm ·

I am appalled at the lop-sided relay of events and incomplete images being telecast by some of the NEWS channels on TV, regarding the incident that happened at India Gate yesterday at around 5:30 PM.

I was there. We were all on the other side of India Gate towards the Dhyan Chand Stadium.

I think I need to paint the correct picture for the nation. Except for CNN IBN and NEWS X, most other channels are not showing the peaceful gathering. Thus it gives out the wrong message to the nation, to the politicians, to other women that there was violence by the women on our side.

Please pass on this note to as many people as you can and post it at as many places.

THERE WAS NO VIOLENCE NO PROVOCATION…THE POLICE ATTACKED WITHOUT ANY WARNING. I have been through section 144 earlier. At least there should have been one warning issued to us to get up and leave, peacefully, before they started hitting us.

Ms.Naina Kapur, of VISHKHA GUIDELINES fame, was there with me. Ms.Smita Bharti of SAAKSHI, an NGO working on SEXUAL HARASSMENT on women, was there. Ms.Nafisa Ali was standing behind us, Mr.Arvind Kejriwal was sitting just two rows in front of me, Mr.Arvind Gaur of ASMITA THEATER GROUP was there asking all the people to sit down and listen to the talks.

There were about 200-250 girls and equal or more number of men of all ages. There were young girls, some children, families and some elderly people along with hoards of photographers, journalists and reporters.

WE WERE ALL SITTING ON THE ROAD PEACEFULLY and listening to the painful account, of the mother of ‘KIRAN NEGI’, a 3 yr old who has been brutally raped and disfigured and killed, by her attackers. Even the sloganeering had stopped.

Many young and old men of Delhi were standing around us in a 3-4 layer human chain to protect us from any hooligans or nasty elements. It was like a CHAKRAVYUH.

Members of the ASMITA THEATER GROUP, including Mr.Gaur, were constantly walking around the circle. Young boys and girls of his team were repeatedly requesting and talking to people to not resort to violence, not to panic or run or throw stones, not to damage public property, AND not to hurt or abuse the female protestors.

There were many volunteers distributing biscuits and water to every protestor.

We were talking to the ‘AAM JANATA’ of Delhi on how to tackle the violence on women and children starting from ourselves, our homes and communities.

WE WERE SIMPLY TALKING.

I had just finished my packet of biscuit when the police, hundreds of them from DELHI POLICE and RAF, charged at us from behind, WITHOUT ANY WARNING.

They first attacked the men from behind, breaking their CHAKRAVYUH. I stood up to see what the commotion was about, and immediately fell as most girls didn’t get enough time to stand up. I hugged Smitaji as we fell on each other and there was a stampede over us.

Some of the men from the circle ran for their lives, but most of them ran towards us and hugged us and fell on us and took the initial blows of the LATHI CHARGE.

I couldn’t see anything; I just heard the two cracks of a SPLIT BAMBOO STICK on my back, butt and thighs. Then I heard the police screaming, HARAMZADIYON, RANDIYON, and then I saw a boot kicking my knees and shin.

They hit Smitaji on her lower-back and spine. The boys of ASMITA, and some more men pulled us all up and all of them formed protection girdles around the girls to push us out of the range of the water cannons and charging men in KHAKI AND BLUE.

Visibility was poor due to fog and tear gas; many girls were hit; even when we were running away and saying, “Ham jaa rahen hain, hame mat mariye”,…. they were hitting the boys rampantly, constantly spitting abuses on the girls. Many women reporters were also hit and chased, their vans attacked, equipments broken. Some girls still managed to pull a few lathis and gave it back to the men. I don’t know what happened to the children in the group and how the aunties in saris managed to run. I just hope they are all well.

There was not a single ambulance in sight; the entire C- Hexagon of India Gate was empty, barring the police. We walked for almost 45 min, as there was no way out from the outer circle. Finally we managed to duck behind press vans and escaped via Shahjahan Road.

Do I look like a hooligan? Was I armed? Was I provoking the police or creating a nuisance? Was I resorting to violence, by sitting there and listening to, or sharing our personal grievances of Sexual harassment and assault? You judge for yourself.


Agreed, that in such gatherings, some nasty elements do infiltrate and create a raucous, but the police didn’t seem to have the basic sensibility to differentiate between hooligans and some young girls, children, and elderly people.

If the Delhi Police and RAF lack the basic cognizance to recognize the good from bad, what protection can we expect from them? Instead I thank the men of Delhi, the boys of Delhi, who helped all the girls to escape from the wrath of THE POLICE. 

I request the people who were present there, to paint the correct picture, so that Mr.Manmohan Singh, Mr.Shinde and others would get the correct picture of what happened on the ground.

I request the PM and the Home Minister to believe that “I, the woman of India,” am not violent or the ‘Shame of the nation’... that we have to be ashamed that the world is watching. I was not offensive. But I will definitely stand up again to defend myself, my mother, my daughter and my kind. Let the world watch.
  Source: http://www.facebook.com/notes/sangeeta-das/i-witness-the-good-people-of-delhi/10151383785584595

The real Face of Delhi Police during peaceful student agitation

This pic I got from the Social media during Nirbhaya protect in Delhi in 2012. The officer seems IPS with 3 star. Is this Humanity or policing ???

Political Parties continue to field candidates with various charges of crimes against women

MY DEAR INDIANS

 As the outrage grows against the heinous incident of rape in Delhi and as the parliament discusses the issue, we looked at the background of our lawmakers(MPs and MLAs) with respect to rape cases and other crimes against women based on their self sworned affidavits. While several MPs showed disgust about the case in the parliament and some also showed helplessness about the situation, we found that there are several lawmakers which have similar cases pending on them as per their last affidavit declaration to the ECI.

 What we also found to be appalling was that even larger number of such people have been given tickets by the parties to contest elections in last 5 years. This includes several of our major parties. Here are the highlights of the report:

 Highlights

MPs/ MLAs

6 MLAs have declared that they have charges of rape against themselves in their sworn affidavits submitted with the Election Commission of India at the time of their election.

• Of these 6 MLAs with declared rape cases, 3 are from SP namely Sribhagwan Sharma, Anoop Sanda and Manoj Kumar Paras from Uttar Pradesh, 1 from BSP namely Mohd. Aleem Khan from Uttar Pradesh, 1 of BJP namely Jethabhai G.Ahir from Gujarat and 1 of TDP namely Kandikunta Venkata Prasad from Andhra Pradesh.
• 36 other MLAs have declared that they have other charges of crimes against women such as outraging the modesty of a woman, assault, insulting the modesty of a woman etc.
• Of the 36 MLAs who have declared that they have charges of crimes against women, 6 MLAs are from INC , 5 from BJP and 3 from SP.
• U.P. has the maximum number of MLAs (8) who have declared that they have charges of crimes against women, followed by Orissa and West Bengal with 7 MLAs each
• 2 MPs, namely Semmalai S of ADMK from Salem constituency in Tamil Nadu and Adhikari Suvendu of AITC from Tamluk constituency in West Bengal, have declared that they have charges of crimes against women, such as cruelty and intent to outrage a woman’s modesty etc. 

Political Parties gave tickets to 27 candidates who contested the State Elections in the last five years, who have declared that they have been charged with rape.

• Of these 7 are Independent candidates, 5 have been given tickets by SP, 2 have been given tickets by BJP and 2 are BSP candidates.
• Out of these 27 candidates who declared rape charges, 10 are from Uttar Pradesh, and 5 are from Bihar.
• Political Parties also gave tickets to 260 other contesting candidates in the Legislative Assembly Elections held in the last five years have declared that they have charges of crimes against women such as outraging the modesty of a woman, assault, insulting the modesty of a woman etc.
•  Out of the 260 candidates who declared that they have been charged with crimes against women, 72 are IND candidates, 24 have been given tickets by the BJP, 26 candidates have been given tickets by the INC, 16 have been given tickets by the SP and 18 have been given tickets by BSP.
•  Maharasthra has the maximum number of such candidates (41), followed by Uttar Pradesh (37) and West Bengal (22).

  In Lok Sabha 2009 Elections, political parties gave tickets to 6 candidates who declared that they have been charged with rape,

•  Of these, 1 is from RPP, 1 from RCP, 1 from BSP, 1 from JMM and 2 Independent candidates.
• Out of these 6 candidates who declared rape charges 3 are from Bihar, 1 from Delhi, 1 from Uttar Pradesh and 1 from Andhra Pradesh
•  34 other contesting candidates from the Lok Sabha 2009 General Elections declared that they have charges of crimes against women.
•  12 out of the other 34 Lok Sabha 2009 candidates declared that they have been charged with crimes against women, 77 are IND candidates, 4 are BSP candidates and 2 each from AITC and CPI (ML) (L).
•   Maximum cases of crimes against women are against candidates from Bihar (9), followed by Maharashtra (6), and Uttar Pradesh (5).

Source: National ElectionWatch/Association for Democratic Reforms

PM speech to the nation - Comment to Reply him

My dear brothers and sisters,
I am speaking to you tonight to explain the reasons for some important economic policy decisions the government has recently taken. Some political parties have opposed them. You have a right to know the truth about why we have taken these decisions.
No government likes to impose burdens on the common man. Our Government has been voted to office twice to protect the interests of the aam admi.
At the same time, it is the responsibility of the government to defend the national interest, and protect the long term future of our people. This means that we must ensure that the economy grows rapidly, and that this generates enough productive jobs for the youth of our country. Rapid growth is also necessary to raise the revenues we need to finance our programmes in education, health care, housing and rural employment.
The challenge is that we have to do this at a time when the world economy is experiencing great difficulty. The United States and Europe are struggling to deal with an economic slowdown and financial crisis. Even China is slowing down.
We too have been affected, though I believe we have been able to limit the effect of the global crisis.
We are at a point where we can reverse the slowdown in our growth. We need a revival in investor confidence domestically and globally. The decisions we have taken recently are necessary for this purpose.
Let me begin with the rise in diesel prices and the cap on LPG cylinders.
We import almost 80% of our oil, and oil prices in the world market have increased sharply in the past four years. We did not pass on most of this price rise to you, so that we could protect you from hardship to the maximum extent possible.
As a result, the subsidy on petroleum products has grown enormously. It was Rs. 1 lakh 40 thousand crores last year. If we had not acted, it would have been over Rs. 200,000 crores this year.
Where would the money for this have come from? Money does not grow on trees. If we had not acted, it would have meant a higher fiscal deficit, that is, an unsustainable increase in government expenditure vis-a-vis government income. If unchecked, this would lead to a further steep rise in prices and a loss of confidence in our economy. The prices of essential commodities would rise faster. Both domestic as well as foreign investors would be reluctant to invest in our economy. Interest rates would rise. Our companies would not be able to borrow abroad. Unemployment would increase.
The last time we faced this problem was in 1991. Nobody was willing to lend us even small amounts of money then. We came out of that crisis by taking strong, resolute steps. You can see the positive results of those steps. We are not in that situation today, but we must act before people lose confidence in our economy.

I know what happened in 1991 and I would be failing in my duty as Prime Minister of this great country if I did not take strong preventive action.
The world is not kind to those who do not tackle their own problems. Many European countries are in this position today. They cannot pay their bills and are looking to others for help. They are having to cut wages or pensions to satisfy potential lenders.
I am determined to see that India will not be pushed into that situation. But I can succeed only if I can persuade you to understand why we had to act.
We raised the price of diesel by just Rs. 5 per litre instead of the Rs 17 that was needed to cut all losses on diesel. Much of diesel is used by big cars and SUVs owned by the rich and by factories and businesses. Should government run large fiscal deficits to subsidise them?
We reduced taxes on petrol by Rs. 5 per litre to prevent a rise in petrol prices. We did this so that the crores of middle class people who drive scooters and motorcycles are not hit further.
On LPG, we put a cap of 6 subsidised cylinders per year. Almost half of our people, who need our help the most, actually use only 6 cylinders or less. We have ensured they are not affected. Others will still get 6 subsidised cylinders, but they must pay a higher price for more.
We did not touch the price of kerosene which is consumed by the poor.
My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
You should know that even after the price increase, the prices of diesel and LPG in India are lower than those in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The total subsidy on petroleum products will still be Rs. 160 thousand crores. This is more than what we spend on Health and Education together. We held back from raising prices further because I hoped that oil prices would decline.
Let me now turn to the decision to allow foreign investment in retail trade. Some think it will hurt small traders.This is not true.
Organised, modern retailing is already present in our country and is growing. All our major cities have large retail chains. Our national capital, Delhi, has many new shopping centres. But it has also seen a three-fold increase in small shops in recent years.
In a growing economy, there is enough space for big and small to grow. The fear that small retailers will be wiped out is completely baseless.

We should also remember that the opening of organised retail to foreign investment will benefit our farmers. According to the regulations we have introduced, those who bring FDI have to invest 50% of their money in building new warehouses, cold-storages, and modern transport systems. This will help to ensure that a third of our fruits and vegetables, which at present are wasted because of storage and transit losses, actually reach the consumer. Wastage will go down; prices paid to farmers will go up; and prices paid by consumers will go down.
The growth of organised retail will also create millions of good quality new jobs.
We recognise that some political parties are opposed to this step. That is why State governments have been allowed to decide whether foreign investment in retail can come into their state. But one state should not stop another state from seeking a better life for its farmers, for its youth and for its consumers.
In 1991, when we opened India to foreign investment in manufacturing, many were worried. But today, Indian companies are competing effectively both at home and abroad, and they are investing around the world. More importantly, foreign companies are creating jobs for our youth -- in Information Technology, in steel, and in the auto industry. I am sure this will happen in retail trade as well.
My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The UPA Government is the government of the aam aadmi.
In the past 8 years our economy has grown at a record annual rate of 8.2 per cent. We have ensured that poverty has declined much faster, agriculture has grown faster, and rural consumption per person has also grown faster.
We need to do more, and we will do more. But to achieve inclusiveness we need more growth. And we must avoid high fiscal deficits which cause a loss of confidence in our economy.
I promise you that I will do everything necessary to put our country back on the path of high and inclusive growth. But I need your support. Please do not be misled by those who want to confuse you by spreading fear and false information. The same tactics were adopted in 1991. They did not succeed then. They will not succeed now. I have full faith in the wisdom of the people of India.
We have much to do to protect the interests of our nation, and we must do it now. At times, we need to say "No" to the easy option and say "Yes" to the more difficult one. This happens to be one such occasion. The time has come for hard decisions. For this I need your trust, your understanding, and your cooperation.
As Prime Minister of this great country, I ask each one of you to strengthen my hands so that we can take our country forward and build a better and more prosperous future for ourselves and for the generations to come.
Jai Hind.

In the Name of the Poor - Review of NREGA by Surjit Bhalla

Marie Antoinette, the liberal and concerned queen of France, on seeing the poor and hungry masses demanding bread, said in a fit of charity — “let them eat cake”.

 

Member of the prestigious National Advisory Council (NAC) Jean Dreze surveyed the performance of the existing National Food For Work Programme (NFFWP) in July 2005 and concluded that the performance was “alarming”. The work guidelines were not being enforced, and the workers were not getting the minimum wage (only Rs 25 to Rs 30 a day). The major problem was with “muster rolls”. There was a lot of corruption, Dreze concluded.

 

To help provide cake to the needy, the UPA government introduced a replacement for the NFFWP in the form of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). This act would right the wrongs of existing NFFWP programmes. Why would it right the wrongs? Because it would be implemented by committed experts rather than by corrupt government officials.

Given the lessons learnt from the failure of food-for-work programmes, the NREGA is seemingly a booming success. In April 2008, Phase 3 of the programme was introduced across 285 additional districts. With this addition, all the districts of India have been covered, and the government claims that 130 crore workdays were provided in 2007-08 at an average wage of Rs 75 per person, per day. Buoyed by this success, the NAC recommended, and obtained, an expansion of the NREGA programme to more than triple the 2007-08 allocation, to Rs 39,000 crore in 2010-11. Interestingly, the programme continues to be non-corrupt and as evidence, there is the fact that all the money allocated for 2010-11 has not been spent.

However, the government, and the NAC, are asking for more money to be spent on the NREGA. Is it the case that the poor are actually getting bread under the scheme? And how likely is it that after decades of poor implementation and corruption (recall that food-for-work programmes first started in 1973), Indian administrators have suddenly become efficient and non-corrupt?

As agreed by all, corruption is the number one issue facing the country. The biggest scam that the country has encountered, ever, is the telecom 2G scam, where rough estimates suggest that Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 crore were “lost”, disappeared into thin air, did not accrue to the government, etc. Thankfully, such scams come once a decade or less.

But the scams pertaining to national welfare schemes like the NREGA and the public distribution system of food (PDS) may annually be about the size of the 2G scam, if not more. I repeat — the flow of corruption money via operation of NREGA, PDS, fertiliser subsidy, kerosene subsidy, etc, may well be substantially in excess of Rs 40,000 crore a year, and well in excess of 1 per cent of GDP each year. This conclusion is not new — the late PM Rajiv Gandhi reached the same conclusion in 1985 when he claimed that only 15 per cent of the money meant for the poor reached the poor.

Future articles will look into the possible “leakages” in the PDS and other subsidy schemes. For the moment, the NREGA deserves a closer scrutiny. To date, all expert analyses of the NREGA programme have regurgitated the official ministry of rural development (MRD) data on the administration of the programme — presumably the same statistics that the NAC, Dreze and others use to conclude that the people, via the NREGA, are eating both bread and cake. Using these statistics may be akin to asking the accused to be the judge! Fortunately, there is data from outside of the MRD that can be used to test not only the veracity of the MRD claims, but also the efficacy of the old, much maligned (and rightly so) food-for-work programmes.
All of this is possible through use of the National Sample Survey for 2007-08 (July 2007 to June 2008). The following question was asked of all individuals in households covered by the survey: How many days in the preceding week did you work as a casual worker in a public works programme? The respondent days will be an upper-bound to the NREGA programme since there can be public works programmes that are not NREGA.

The results are the following. The government claims of 130 crore person days of work seem to be wildly exaggerated (interestingly, not dissimilar to the CAG claim that Rs 1.76 lakh crore were lost in the 2G scam, rather than the more realistic figure of Rs 40,000 crore). The NSS figure is 46 crore person days total and 38 crore in districts where the NREGA was operational. The NSS data can identify whether a household was poor or not according to the Tendulkar poverty line; the result — only 8.8 crore person days of the NREGA programme were availed by the poor.

One final statistic — for 285 Phase 3 districts, there was no NREGA between June 2007 and March 2008. Yet these districts had provided as much as 86 per cent of the workdays in non-NREGA programmes as was provided by NREGA after its implementation in April 2008.

A conservative estimate of the disappearance into thin air of money meant for the poor NREGA recipients in 2007-08 is about two-thirds of the money spent on the programme. Disappearance means money not accounted for by receipt, by the poor or the rich. It is unlikely that corruption in the NREGA has decreased in the last three years while having increased in all sectors of the economy. Which means that scam money in the NREGA, in just one year, 2010-11, is upwards of Rs 25,000 crore.

The writer is chairman of Oxus Investments, an emerging market advisory and fund management firm 

 

Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
Take the first step.............................................!!!!! 

 

Only way to Improve the Political Culture (i.e. dismantle - Money/Muscle Power, Vote Bank and Dynastic Politics) is that the best and the brightest will have to enter politics as they did prior to independence and during first two decade thereafter.

If not now ? If not you and I ?? Who?? But remember politics is a very hard and sustained work but is an opportunity, as a noble endeavour, to serve the people, society and the Nation

Lokpal Bill should provide for Lokayukta: Lok Satta

A delegation of the Lok Satta and the Foundation for Democratic Reforms has told the Rajya Sabha Select Committee on the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill that it shall include provisions for the constitution of Lokayukta at the State level. The States, however, may be given the option of constituting Lokayuktas.

The delegation, led by Lok Satta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan impressed upon the committee headed by Mr. Satyavrat Chaturvedi that Parliament has power to legislate upon Lokayukta, considering that criminal law procedures and crime investigation come under Concurrent jurisdiction of the Center and States. Again under Article 253 of the Constitution, the Government of India is entitled to pass a law on corruption applicable throughout the country as it has become a signatory to the United

Nations' Convention against Corruption. The Union Government had in the past adopted Acts on human rights and money laundering applicable throughout the country in accordance with international treaties.

The delegation, which held detailed discussions lasting for about two hours with the committee on September 6, was convinced that the Select Committee members cutting across party lines were keen on adopting a

strong law to combat corruption.

The delegation underlined that all steps be taken to ensure that investigative agencies enjoy independence. Specifically, it suggested that Clause 6 A of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act be dropped under which the Central Bureau of Investigation has to take prior Government permission before launching investigation against senior Government officials. The Central Vigilance Commission and not the Government shall be vested with the power to grant permission for investigations.

It also suggested amendment of Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act under which an investigating agency cannot prosecute a Government official without prior consent. The Lok Satta-FDR delegation suggested that the power to permit prosecution be taken away from the Government and entrusted to the Lokpal. The Lokpal will ascertain Government objections if any within a stipulated period and then decide on granting or denying permission for prosecution. All anti-corruption agencies at the State level by whatever name they go shall be brought under Lokayukta purview.

The delegation emphasized that there shall be stringent provisions for confiscation of property in proven corruption cases. It pointed out that the Supreme Court in 1988 upheld the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange

Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act of 1976 and suggested that there should be similar provisions for confiscation of property in corruption cases. The delegation cited instances of an NRI doctor couple and a former Illinois Governor being stripped of all of their ill-gotten wealth for indulging in fraud. In fact, the Law Commission had drafted a Bill containing such provisions for property forfeiture in corruption cases.

The delegation drew the committee's attention to certain omissions and commissions in the Bill. For instance, it has failed to bring public private partnerships involving allocation of public resources and creation of

monopolies under Lokpal purview. The Select Committee has to make up for the lapse.

Again, the Bill brings tens of thousands of institutions ranging from resident welfare societies to media houses and political parties under Lokpal purview. The provision not only makes the functioning of the Lokpal

unwieldy but also unconstitutional as it seeks to fetter the freedom of citizens for unrelated purposes.

The team that called on the Select Committee included Dr Ashwin Mahesh, (Lok Satta, Karnataka), Ms Ankita Verma (Lok Satta, Mumbai), Mr. Anurag Kejriwal (Lok Satta, Delhi), Mr. Senthil Kumar Arumugam (Lok Satta, Tamil Nadu), Mr. Sandeep Verma ( Lok Satta, Delhi) and Ms Tara Krishnaswamy (Lok Satta, Bangalore).

ADR’s appeal to CIC for declaring Political Parties as Public Authorities

Political Parties receive government funds, directly or indirectly, under following heads:

·         Tax Exemption provided to political parties

-          All the political parties have been claiming tax exemptions on 100% of their incomes, under the provisions of section 13A of the Income Tax Act.

-          The total tax exemptions received by six national parties during the 3 financial years beginning from FY 2006 to FY 2009 is Rs. 510.02 crores. The maximum tax exemption during this time period (FY 2006-2009) was received by INC, which is Rs. 300.92 crores, followed by BJP that enjoyed the concession of Rs. 141.25 crores.

-          The tax rebates enjoyed by four other national political parties during the same time period are as follows- BSP: Rs. 39.84 crores, CPI(M): Rs. 18.13 crores, CPI: Rs. .24 crores, NCP: Rs. 9.64 crores.

·         Free air time on Doordarshan and AIR to political parties during elections 

-          All political parties are provided free airtime on Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) during elections for canvassing purposes. Based on the data received under RTI we have been able to calculate only the revenue forgone by DD and AIR during LS 2009 elections and  the elections in the  5 states that were held during Jan-Mar 2012.

-          DD and AIR have different commercial rates for prime time and non prime time telecast and broadcast. We have conservatively calculated the revenue forgone, by the Government, by using the non-prime time commercial rates. Therefore, the actual revenue forgone by the Prasar Bharti would have been higher. We have used the conservative rates of non-prime time in calculating the revenue foregone by the state. The revenue foregone by the state actually could be much higher.

-          The free airtime provided to INC during the above mentioned two sets of elections is Rs. 8.42 crores followed by BJP that got airtime of worth Rs. 6.38 crores. For other political parties the corresponding figures are- BSP: Rs. 3.96 crores, CPI(M): Rs. 2.77 crores, CPI: Rs. 2.62 crores and NCP: Rs. 2.89 crores.

·         State funded electoral rolls provided to political parties during elections

-       Under the provisions of rules 11 and 12 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 two copies of the Electoral roll, one printed copy and another in CD are supplied to recognized political parties, free of cost, after draft and final publications.

-       It is normally understood that the Government spends only a trivial amount on the free supply of electoral rolls. However, according to our calculations the money spent is significant. We filed RTIs to various states in order to ascertain the cost per voter roll during the 2009 elections. We took a sample of 10 constituencies consisting of a range of constituencies varying from small to large constituencies.

-       One assumption we made was that the political parties received copies of electoral rolls only of those places where they actually fielded their candidates. Based on our calculations, the total amount spent by government, only during Lok Sabha elections of 2009, in providing electoral rolls to the six national political parties stands at Rs. 8.9 crores.

-       The maximum amount was spent on BSP i.e. Rs. 2.82 crores because it fielded the maximum number of candidates (500) during the LS elections of 2009. The corresponding figures for other national political parties are as follows- INC: Rs. 2.48 crores (440 candidates), BJP: Rs. 2.45 crores (433 candidates), CPI(M): Rs. .46 crores (82 candidates), CPI: Rs. .31 crores (56 candidates) and NCP: Rs. .38 crores (68 candidates).

·         State funding in the form of government land/offices provided to political parties

-          As per Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, there is a well-defined policy for allotment of land to the political parties. Political parties, accordingly, have been allotted large sized plots of lands in Delhi.

-          We have attempted to value these plots of land using highly conservative rate taken from category ‘B’ of Delhi Circle Rates of Nov’ 2011. The real market rates are substantially higher than this category ‘B’ rate taken by us.

-          INC has been allotted the maximum land area of 18737 sq. m. followed by BJP that possesses 10410.8 sq. m. of land. The corresponding area figures of other national political parties are as follows- CPI(M): 3732 sq. m., CPI: 1500 sq m., NCP: 1000 sq. m. and BSP: 2000 sq. m.

-          Our calculations of these plots of land based on the above mentioned highly conservative rate show that the value of land held by INC stands at Rs. 231 crores and the worth of BJP held land is Rs. 117.35 crores. The values of land possessed by other parties are as follows-  CPI(M): Rs. 50.75 Crores, CPI: Rs. 16.91 Crores, NCP: Rs. 13.6 Crores and BSP: Rs. 27.20 Crores.

-          The cumulative value of the land that is in possession of these six national parties stands at Rs. 456.91 crores.

The details of above arguments have been provided in the elaborate report attached.

It is quite evident from these arguments that political parties receives substantial funding from government and hence they should be declared as public authorities in order to bring them under the purview of RTI.

Bitter Reality - India

I was at Kolkata. It was12 past 15 night on 22 January 2012. at Sealdah railway station. I was just in-front of the platform no7 out site the station. I saw few boys aged between 9 to 13 were roaming and talking on some thing. I took a cup of tea and tried to talk to them. In my surprise I saw them smoking. Suddenly I stopped. oh My God! What I am seeing i cant believe. Those boys are taking  some kind of drugs.

I saw policemen were  roaming but not saying any thin nor they try to stop them. A question was going in my mind that why these police men are from. Why Govt promise a lot that they are doing blah blah....

what will happen when these kids will grow up??????? I was thinking that they will become criminal and nothing else.. Who is responsible????? I was also thinking that what I can do except sharing it over here.

If any one reading this can you please suggest me what I can do next time i see these kind of thins with the kids. Please don't suggest the theoretical thing. Suggest me what practically can be done.

The corrupt rule the roost

 The corrupt rule the roost

The Lokpal Bill failed to become law in 2011. The Lok Sabha passed it after some acrimony, but the Rajya Sabha did not even vote on it. Three views emerged during the debate inside and outside Parliament. First, it is a weak Bill not worth passing in its present form. Secondly, it is better to have some sort of Lokpal even if it is not what it ought to be. Lastly, the Bill would create a monstrous institution that will undermine Indian democracy, especially as it would affect the functioning of legislators and the Prime Minister.

Many parliamentarians (publicly and/or privately) understandably supported the third view, given that either they themselves or some of their party colleagues face charges of corruption. They argue that Indian democracy is one of the best in the world: so why disturb it by creating a new institution that would have powers over the people's representatives. While this argument has some merit, perhaps their real worry relates to the possible truncation of their capacity to wheel and deal. Do they not see that the public is angry with the politicians because it believes they undermine democracy? A Chief Minister resigns over corruption charges, but installs his wife as Chief Minister. Many who are accused of corruption have become Chief Ministers or Ministers. Politicians often make public statements, only to deny them later, showing utter disregard for public opinion. The public has reacted by increasingly becoming contemptuous of them.

The middle path

The middle position prevailed in the Lok Sabha but not in the Rajya Sabha. The argument is that it is better to have some kind of Lokpal than none. A middle path is favoured over extreme positions. However, can the position midway between two incorrect positions be automatically considered correct, or even that which is midway between an incorrect and a correct position be a correct one? It was argued, for instance, that even if the Central Bureau of Investigation remains under government control it may be granted more autonomy. The moot question is whether such a CBI can be effective.

Some people suggest that the absence of constitutional status would weaken the Lokpal. It is true that constitutional status rather than statutory status is better. But how would that by itself make the Lokpal effective? It is argued that a government that is unhappy with a Lokpal can remove the body, as happened in the case of the Punjab and Haryana Lokayukta, or have the Bill modified through a simple majority in Parliament. However, in today's environment this would be difficult since anti-corruption movements are stronger than earlier. The moot question is: how would constitutional status help curb corruption if the Lokpal itself is weak because of the inadequate provisions in the Bill? India has several constitutional authorities, such as the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Central Vigilance Commissioner, to check malpractices. Yet, illegality has only grown.

Election Commission's efforts

Is it the case that because the Election Commission is a constitutional body it is successful? Elections to five States have been announced. In this season to fight corruption, the Commission has announced steps to reduce the role of black money in elections. Income tax officers will be posted to monitor expenditure, bank accounts will have to be opened by candidates to route funds, and so on. These seem timely since much black money is used in elections, resulting in the forging of ties between politicians and the corrupt. Most candidates spend way above the election expenditure limit since they buy votes, hire workers, travel, organise meetings, and so on. The politicians accepting funds know that a quid pro quo is involved. There are also the wealthy fighting elections using their own unaccounted funds. They pay off the party leadership to get nominations. They may not be obliged to others but their motive is not selfless service, rather the furthering of their business interests.

Election Commissions have tried to curb the role of black money in elections, but the politicians have proved cleverer and circumvented it all. T.N. Seshan as Chief Election Commissioner cracked the whip, but many politicians have said in private that he only succeeded in driving spending underground. There are reports of large cash movements during election-time. It is good that this would be monitored, but will that be effective? One election organiser of a candidate in the last parliamentary elections admitted that money came in sacks. Apparently, counting machines were installed in safe houses where cash was counted and distributed.

In the last two decades, no Election Commissioner has been accused of being corrupt, though there have been accusations of bias. Yet, the Commission has not been successful in checking malpractices that result in the compromised getting elected — who then claim legitimacy and propagate corruption with impunity. Instances of booth-capturing have declined, but new forms of grabbing votes have emerged. There are election expenditure limits but these are hardly kept. Parties and candidates are supposed to get their accounts audited, but how can unrecorded transactions be audited?

The failure of a constitutional body like the Election Commission to check the growing scale of corrupt practices has important lessons for the reform of the existing watchdog institutions and the Lokpal. India has a multitude of watchdog institutions, constitutional and statutory. What is their experience?

The CAG audits government departments to track malpractices, but those in power have found ways to get around it. Intelligence agencies (the Intelligence Bureau, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and so on) keep tabs on important people and their wheeling and dealing and hold vast amounts of information, but illegality has only grown. There are the CVC, the CBI and various police agencies. Government departments have their vigilance wings. There are agencies to protect the environment, but the powerful violate environmental laws with impunity. There are regulatory authorities (such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) to check private business activity, but they could not prevent the 2G scam or insider trading in the stock markets. The Reserve Bank of India regulates financial institutions, but it has been found wanting, as in the Harshad Mehta scam, the failure of cooperative banks, and so on.

The Information Commission oversees the Right to Information. It has shown some success, but increasingly the whistle-blowers are being eliminated and its success has remained limited to the highly literate. The media have exposed innumerable cases of corruption, but now sections of them are entangled in the vice of paid news. Some media stars have been found to be hobnobbing with the powerful and the compromised.

The judiciary is an independent constitutional body, yet the number of cases of alleged corruption against judges is increasing. Cases are piling up in courts, and the number of pending cases has crossed four crore. This has resulted in miscarriage of justice in many instances.

Watchdog institutions & ruling class

In brief, neither independence of functioning nor constitutional status has helped watchdog institutions to effectively perform their assigned tasks. The reason is that democracy, the super-watchdog which should deliver all-round accountability, has become weak in India. The ruling class has played havoc with the watchdog institutions so as to control them for their narrow ends. That is why the demand for a strong Lokpal gained momentum. Democracy ought to have ensured accountability of institutions. Votes should have weeded out the corrupt but just the opposite has been happening — the honest rarely win elections.

Democracy has become formalistic. Legislatures should check corruption but it would not be so if the elected are beholden to the corrupt or are themselves corrupt. The problem is political; it cannot be resolved through technical fixes or by having more laws — these are anyway being circumvented. A weak democracy presents a no-win situation: if a democracy is weak, the corrupt get elected and misuse their autonomy; if the legislators' autonomy is curbed, democracy weakens. Only a conscious public, not rules and laws, can deliver autonomous and incorruptible legislators.

That is why today there is a need for political movements that can change the national consciousness, a task being addressed by the movement against corruption and for Lokpal. So, the question is, can there be strong watchdogs in a weak democracy?

(The author is a Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. E-mail: arunkumar1000@hotmail.com)

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2781180.ece