Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SIX HUNDRED SIXTY FOUR
Palash Biswas
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India's security market is expected to double to $ 16 bn (Rs 73,000 crore) by 2018, opening up vast opportunities for the private sector!All Fllodgates are Wide Open for Lobbying, Kickbacks and Corruption in Free Market Economy! Pushing and Helping Economic Reforms How the CIVIL Society May Claim to Wipe Out Corruption with Just LOKPAL? Ramdev`s Agenda of Spritual Rule Puts Meat on the Bones of Manusmriti. As in Bengal, Riding over Matua support, Mamata Replaces SC Anita Mandal with BRAHAMIN KRISHNA CHATTOPADHYAYA. DUMPED Remains the SC, ST, OBC and MUSLIM Representatives in Policy Making. This is the PROTO Image of the Nationwide People`s Empowerment subjected to HOMELAND Security with Militray OPTION and Zero Tolerance! According to television reports, the govt draft on the Lokpal Bill says that the prime minister will be included under its ambit, but with some safeguards. Complaints against the prime minister, if any, will be entertained, but investigations will begin only after he leaves office!Would it make any Difference at all?
The govt has rejected the civil society's demand that the prime minister be liable to prosecution.
This draft will be discussed in al all-party meet in the first week of July.
India's security market is expected to double to $ 16 bn (Rs 73,000 crore) by 2018, opening up vast opportunities for the private sector, experts said today.
By 2018, the homeland security market comprising of capital spend from the government, private sector and some export demand is likely to be worth $ 16 bn.
It is expected to expand to $ 13 bn by 2014, opening up significant opportunities for the private sector, said security experts and policy makers at INDESEC conference- cum-expo organised by industry body Assocham and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
"The government and industry should collaborate to upgrade and modernise security systems and communication networks," Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu said.
Meanwhile, Assocham's National Defence Council Chairman P C Bhasin said there is a plethora of state security agencies with minimal ability to coordinate while dealing with the threats in an effective manner.
Homeland security is an umbrella term for security efforts to protect a country against terrorist activity. It is a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks by reducing its vulnerability, minimising the damage and recovering quickly from attacks.
Over 100 exhibitors from 25 countries are participating in the meet.
Quit text from Salt Lake boss | ||
| BARUN GHOSH | ||
Anita Mondal offered to resign as chairperson of Bidhannagar Municipality in a text message to party boss and chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday afternoon. Trinamul sources said the top leadership had been nudging Mondal to put in her papers following differences over the running of the civic body. "I sent an SMS to Didi saying I shall quit as chairperson of the municipality after Monday's meeting of the board of councillors. I cited personal reasons for the decision," Mondal told Metro on Sunday afternoon. She, however, made it clear that she would remain a councillor. Trinamul sources said Krishna Chakraborty, one of the three members of the chairperson-in-council, might succeed Mondal. "I have not been formally informed about any development by the party or the chief minister. If I am selected for a bigger role, I will obey the decision," Chakraborty said on Sunday night. Sixteen of the 25 members of the civic body are from Trinamul. A Trinamul councillor close to Mondal attributed her decision to persistent rumours in party circles that the leadership wanted her to resign because of her action against illegal construction. Mondal admitted to Metro that a section of the leadership had asked her to slam the brakes on the drive. "But as a key member of the civic body I could not do that." Trinamul sources, however, said Mondal's "prolonged absence" from the township at a time when Mamata has been cracking the whip on party functionaries to perform has tipped the scales against her. The chairperson pleaded helplessness. "One of my sons studies in Delhi. I have to visit him," she said. | ||
| ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SUCHETA CHAKRABORTY http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110620/jsp/calcutta/story_14133803.jsp |
Land issue: Industry & Bengal govt difference to continue
Published on Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 22:30 | Source : CNBC-TV18
Updated at Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 22:40
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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's high profile industrialists meet on Saturday made it clear that a resolve between the industry and government on the issue of land is a far-fetched idea for now. But even though industrialisation is top on Didi's agenda, if she doesn't manage to balance the concerns of both farmers and industries, Bengal could well be a no-go zone for big investments. CNBC-TV18's Amrita Panja delves deeper.
Taking a cue from the Prime Minister, Mamata Banerjee has setup a core committee on the lines of the PM's Economic Advisory Council. This core committee will be headed by the CM herself and will have representatives from the local and national chambers of commerce as well as certain cabinet ministers.
Also read: Singur Bill receives Governor's assent
"I think it's a big announcement that has been made today. The committee will meet next Friday and that's the kind of deadline you are setting for us," West Bengal's finance minister Amit Mitra said.
Acquisition: Govt to stay away
While wooing investors is a priority, Mamata has made it clear that the government will not play a role in land acquisition, even if it means losing out to states like Gujarat, where the government proactively works with the industry for land acquisition.
"Gujarat is Gujarat, Bengal is Bengal. I have to work in a Bengal-specific situation. Gujarat never faced our problems. There was competition among their alternate governments. We have to overcome our problems and move ahead. We won't follow the Gujarat model but rejuvenate our industries with our own model." Banerjee said.
Mamata's decision not to cede ground on the sensitive issue of land acquisition has left the industry concerned.
YC Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC, stated, "If you are going to deal with a large industry, say if you are going to build a big paper mill of 500,000 tonne or 1 million tonne, then it cannot be that private enterprise can go and get seven hectare. So for a small industry this policy might be workable but for large industries, and West Bengal is going to require a mix of large, medium, small and micro industries."
While the industry is sceptical of large scale investments if the issue of land acquisition is not resolved, they give a thumbs-up to the CM putting business on her radar.
Mamata completes 30 days as West Bengal chief minister
Kolkata, June 20 (IANS) Barring the CPI-M, political parties in West Bengal Monday welcomed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee completing her first month in office and praised the 'positive steps' taken by the new government but felt that 30 days are too early to judge the new regime.
The Trinamool Congress-led new government completed a month in office under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, who defeated the 34-year old Left Front government in the April-May assembly elections.
The Trinamool and Congress alliance is running the state.
Among the various initiatives of the new government, the most popular one seems to be the decision to return 400 acres of land to the farmers of Singur who had parted with it unwillingly. A few days ago, the assembly passed a bill to return a portion of the land acquired by the previous government from 'unwilling owners' for setting up the now abandoned Tata Motors small car factory in Singur.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front was divided in analyzing Banerjee's performance as the new chief minister.
'We do not want to comment on her performance. It is too early,' CPI-M state secretariat member Rabin Deb told IANS.
While the CPI-M declined to comment on the performance, Left allies such as the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) welcomed Banerjee's initiatives as positive steps.
'She has taken steps in order to fulfill her election promises. It is good. But we will see how the people get affected by this new decision,' RSP interim state secretary Khisti Goswami told IANS.
Four days after her May 20 swearing-in, Banerjee had announced that teachers of all government-funded schools will get their salaries on the 1st of every month beginning July.
Banerjee has also brought a qualitative change in the services and the atmosphere of several government hospitals by undertaking surprise visits.
'The initiatives are positive steps. We welcome those decisions and steps,' SP general secretary Kiranmoy Nanda told IANS over the phone
Less than a month after coming to power, Banerjee's government took a big step towards restoring peace in the Darjeeling Hills by finalising a pact with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha for creation of a new hill council with wider powers.
The Congress and Trinamool Congress leadership was all out in praising the initiatives taken by the new government under the dynamic leadership of Banerjee.
'We have fulfilled the promises we had said we will fulfill in one month. We should be given full marks,' Public Health Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee told IANS.
'The steps taken by the government are really good. They are fulfilling their election promises,' state Congress working president Pradip Bhattacharjee told IANS.
The new government has also set up an expert committee which has recommended that government will have no role to play in land acquisition for private industry and that private companies will have to buy land directly from land owners.
'By adopting this policy the government will ensure free land market, which is good for a free market economy. I think it is alright,' Bipul Malakar, professor of economics at Jadavpur University, told IANS.
Last week, Banerjee held a lively interaction with captains of industry, trying to woo investment for her state and shed her anti-industry image.
The industrialists and the economists welcomed the initiatives of the new government and felt that Banerjee was trying to ensure a good work culture.
'Thirty days are too early to judge a new government. But I think the government is moving in the right direction on the economic front. They will do well...right initiatives have been taken so far,' said Hemant Kanoria, managing director of Srei Infrastucture Finance Ltd.
'What I liked most is Banerjee's aim to ensure good work culture in every public department,' Malakar said.
©Indo-Asian News Service
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May 29, 2010
Meanwhile,the Orissa Government is likely to resume acquiring land for Posco's mega steel plant in the Gobindpur area of Jagatsinghpur District from Monday.
The government had planned to resume the land acquisition drive after a gap of five days on Friday, but inclement weather stalled the operations.
Meanwhile, a large number of anti- Posco activists supported by thousands of villagers have formed of human chain on the outskirts of Gobindpur this morning to protest the forceful land acquisition for Posco.
Eminent social activist Medha Patkar is likely to visit the Posco project area on Monday to support agitating villagers.
The strong resistance from the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, an anti-Posco body spearheading the agitation, and now opposition from the Joint Action Committee , a pro-Posco body, for beginning of project work, have made things more difficult for the Orissa Government which has been finding it really hard to acquire the 4004 acres of land needed for the Rs 52,000 crore project.
Earlier, Steel and Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty said: "We are not acquiring land forcibly for the Posco project. Land acquisition work is being done peacefully by the district administration and Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (IDCO)".
Posco had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa Government in June 2005 for the 12-million-tonne-capacity steel plant to be built in three phases by 2016, with production scheduled to begin by the end of 2011 on the completion of the first phase.
However, from 2005, continuous local opposition delayed the project amid allegations that the union and state governments had been illegally trying to acquire land and forests for the project.
FDI in retail: States to have final say
In what could be a dampener for the global retail chains, the Centre is considering allowing 51% FDI in the politically-sensitive sector with a rider that permission of the states would be a must to open stores, sources said. "The states' permission would be required, since the trade is a state subject," an official said. The development could be a big dampener for the global chains like Wal-Mart, Metro and Carrefour, which have been waiting since long for India to open foreign direct investment (FDI) in the multi-brand retail sector, industry sources said.
They said even if the Centre were to throw open the sector to overseas investment, several states, particularly those ruled by the BJP, might not allow entry of these chains, thus impacting their front-end plans. Committee of Secretaries (CoS), headed by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth, which met on June 15, has discussed the issue of allowing FDI into the politically-sensitive sector. "All the secretaries were of the consensus to open the sector for foreign investors. However, before sending a final Cabinet note, the CoS will meet again soon to finalise the modalities," the official said.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), which is piloting the issue, is happy with the support it received from the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on inflation, headed by Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry, Kaushik Basu. The group has strongly advocated opening the sector to foreign investment, as it feels the layers between the farm gate and the consumers need to be cut through a strong supply chain and backend logistics. DIPP had proposed other riders as well. These included a minimum FDI of $100 million (about .`450-460 crore), half of which must be invested in the back-end infrastructure like cold storage, soil testing labs and seed farming.
At present, India allows FDI only in single-brand retail chains like Nike, Louis Vuitton with a cap of 51%. It also permits 100% overseas investment in wholesale cashand-carry format. Several of the big chains like Wal-Mart and Carrefour have set up their joint ventures in India, waiting in the wings for their fullscale entry into multi-brand retailing.
A discussion paper on opening of the sector has been in the public domain since July 2010. Among others, states were also consulted by a committee which evaluated the feedback on the initial proposal. India's total retail sector is estimated at $590 billion, with unorganised sector accounting for $496 billion, according to an Icrier report. The government's policy on retail investment will also help in boosting the country's FDI, which dipped by 25% to $19.42 billion in 2010-11 from $25.83 billion in the previous fiscal.
20 JUN, 2011, 07.00AM IST, VIKAS DHOOT,ET BUREAU
Civil servants unwilling to take risks due to fear of corruption scandals & CBI shadow
NEW DELHI: In the corridors of power in New Delhi, India's top civil servants are feeling besieged. Everywhere they look, officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) see corruption scandals erupting and the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI )) lurking.
A former minister, members of Parliament, and senior corporate executives are in jail facing corruption charges. Worst of all for them, one of their charmed set, Siddhartha Behura, has been locked up behind bars for nearly six months.
In fear and in self-defence, civil servants have deployed a weapon of mass obstruction- Red Tape. So, while a jittery cabinet dithers over crucial policy decisions and cagey civil servants adopt a time-tested defensive stratagem, the United Progressive Alliance government belies its middle name.
"The bureaucracy is feeling stifled and after Behura's arrest, they are becoming aloof," said former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian, referring to the 1973 batch IAS officer who is in Tihar jail accused of conspiring with former telecom minister A Raja to sell valuable mobilephone spectrum at bargain-basement prices. "Decision making becomes difficult when everything can be questioned and motives attributed. If everybody is playing safe, nothing gets done," he added.
In interviews with ET, at least a half-a-dozen senior civil servants confessed they feel very vulnerable, forcing them to stall decision-making just to prevent any blame falling on them. All of them declined to be identified for this story.
"Behura's case has shown us that if you allow something wrong under your watch, you go to jail. In today's environment, the executive won't save you and the judiciary won't grant you bail," said a secretary in an economic ministry. A favourite stalling tactic is the clever use of what are called 'file notings', bureaucratic terminology for the opinions recorded by civil servants. Instead of precisely stating their positions, many are taking refuge behind voluminous 'file notings' designed to test the patience and intelligence of the minister.
Faced with the prospect of reading verbose essays masquerading as opinion, many ministers retreat. Another method is the polar opposite. Ultra-safe bureaucrats are refusing to take verbal orders from their ministers or their flunkeys and getting precise in stating their opinions. Instead of using coded phrases such as 'may be submitted after reconsideration' or 'could be reviewed' when they mean 'no way', civil servants are actually beginning to say 'no way'.
"Suppose I advise my minister that (something) is not feasible or is illegal or is not good. If he overrules me without giving good reason in writing, in today's political atmosphere the presumption would be that the minister is in the wrong (and not me)," a secretary said. Even seasoned cabinet members are evading decisions that have the potential to result in controversy, leading bureaucrats to ask why they should take risks that ministers are not willing to take. "Fear has very high motivational power," said a senior civil servant.
"Without passing a law to hang the corrupt, the judiciary has sent a clear signal. This fear has forced a rethink among those bureaucrats who were happy to play along with ministers' plans." Fear has also gripped the committees of secretaries- one of the UPA's favourite ploys to defer crucial decisions on which ministers cannot agree. The indecision over reviewing a 2007 ban on wheat exports provides an example of how scared bureaucrats are, whether they are acting singly or in a pack.
A committee of secretaries reviewing the ban threw up its hands after several meetings because none of the civil servants wanted to say anything that contradicted the view of their political bosses. The government eventually decided not to decide on wheat exports till it took a call on another issue it couldn't decide on-a new food security law that is stuck over sharp differences with the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council.
The result is that wheat farmers have not only been deprived of lucrative global prices but also been forced to sell below the minimum support price. The government has no space to store the wheat, exposing it to the risk of rotting. Though officials were aware of the repercussions of indecision, no one wanted to speak out of line with their respective ministers' stance. A similar paralysis is plaguing several other official panels where secretaries reiterate their ministers' positions rather than consider an issue objectively. Subramanian doesn't agree with this approach.
"An officer's job is to recommend what should be done in the circumstances. The cabinet would be responsible for the final decision. Officials must not try to second-guess them and try to recommend ideas that suit their political masters."
The bright side The environment of fear has had some welcome consequences too. While bureaucrats and ministers dither over wheat exports and the food security law, there is comfort for a finance ministry that is struggling to meet fiscal deficit targets in the middle of an economic and investment slowdown.
"Our food subsidy spends are unlikely to rise due to the food security law as it is unlikely that the government will make up its mind about it before the third quarter of 2011-12," a senior finance ministry official said. In Udyog Bhawan, which houses several ministries dealing with industry, a controversial proposal being championed by a few junior officials in tandem with the minister's office has been stymied after the secretary pointed criticism in 'file notings'.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/civil-servants-unwilling-to-take-risks-due-to-fear-of-corruption-scandals-cbi-shadow/articleshow/8918406.cms
Bidhannagar civic chief may resign
TNN | Jun 20, 2011, 01.14am IST
KOLKATA: A long-brewing trouble in Bidhannagar Municipality has reached such a critical stage that its chairperson Anita Mandal may resign from her post on Monday. It is less than a year that the Trinamool Congress came into power in the civic body - the first time since its formation in 1995.
Senior party leader Mukul Roy said that an instruction had come from the party that there should be change in the running of the Bidhannagar Municipality and that the change will take place accordingly.
Mandal and the municipality's vice-chairperson Sabyasachi Dutta were openly engaged in a war of words and the councillors were constantly engaged in strife as the chairperson's selection had been resented by a section of them from the very beginning.
Mandal refused to comment on this on Sunday, saying she would make a statement on Monday. "I will speak only on Monday," she said, when asked if she was stepping down. Other senior Trinamool leaders too remained tightlipped on the issue.
It is, however, reliably learnt that she may discontinue in her position after a board of councillors' meeting on Monday.
Sources in the Trinamool said Mandal had called up chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday to talk to her on the crisis. "She is stepping down following instructions from the party top brass," said an insider.
There is a strong possibility of the present chairperson-in-council member Krishna Chakraborty - who is close to chief minister Mamata Banerjee - of becoming the next chairperson of the municipality.
Party insiders said that the CM was displeased with Mandal and another senior Trinamool councilor of the municipality because of the way they were running the civic body.
"In the last one year, allegations of irregularities in the running of the civic body were raised against Mandal and a councillor. The CM was displeased after the information reached her," said a senior Trinamool leader.
However, according to what Mandal apparently said to a section of party insiders, she was voluntarily stepping down as she was unable to fulfil her family commitments.
Also, there was an inner feud brewing for some time in the municipality. From the very beginning, after the Trinamool had come to power in the civic body, disputes and a verbal war between Mandal and municipality's vice-chairperson Sabyasachi Dutta had come out in the open. Mandal was reportedly facing many obstacles in running the civic body.
In fact, Mandal's selection as the chairperson had taken many by surprise. Initially, there were talks that either senior Trinamool councillor Anupam Dutta, who was the previous Opposition leader of the municipality, or Krishna Chakraborty would become the chairperson.
But Mandal was selected after some senior Trinamool councillors pushed her name before Mamata Banerjee, citing a legal provision that says a woman can be nominated chairperson of a civic body if over 50% of the councillors are women. Of the 25 seats in Bidhannagar Municipality, 14 are held by women.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Bidhannagar-civic-chief-may-resign/articleshow/8918353.cms
Will never allow any operator to overbill govt, says oilmin
Finding itself amidst a raging controversy over comments against it in a draft Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report, the oil ministry has said it will never allow Reliance Industries or any other operator to overbill the government and cause loss to the exchequer. The ministry is in the process of preparing a response to the draft report of the CAG, which slammed the oil ministry and its technical arm, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), for allegedly showing favours to private operators.
"We have very stringent regulations. A operator, say Reliance, is allowed to recover only that part of the investment which it has spend on ground and which has been established through an audit done by government auditors. So, no matter what an operator may put in his budget for a gas field development cost, only that amount is permissible which is actually spent," a ministry official said. Operators like Reliance are allowed to recover all capital cost incurred on developing a field from revenues earned from the sale of oil or gas before profits are split between the stakeholders, including the government.
The CAG conducted the audit of the accounts of Reliance after allegations of 'gold-plating', or artificially inflating the cost of development of Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields, two of the 18 discoveries in its KG-D6 block, leading to reduction in government take from the eastern offshore block. CAG in its draft report did not say if the increase in development cost of D1 and D3 fields was unjustified. "We will never allow Reliance to dupe the government," he said. The nation's top auditor in the draft report stated that it is "unable to comment on the reasonableness, or otherwise of the increase in (Phase-1) cost (from $2.39 billion proposed in May 2004 to $5.196 billion in 2006), both overall and in respect of individual line items".
Nothing wrong with SBI opting for more provisions: Gopinath
MUMBAI: The outgoing Reserve Bank deputy governor, Shyamala Gopinath , has defended higher provisionings that SBI made in the Q4 of FY11 which saw its net plunging 99 per cent, saying it does not call for a change in bank's accounting and reporting standards and that RBI can only ensure that a bank makes all the mandated provisions.
"The accounting or reporting standards of banks cannot change. How can they? If at all there is an issue, it is about the rise in NPAs, and not in other provisions, which SBI made. The Reserve Bank can only ensure that a bank makes all the mandated provisions for all the heads we ask for," Gopinanth, who is on the board of SBI, told PTI in her last interview as the deputy governor here yesterday.
"If a bank chooses to make a one-time provision, it is their choice and there's nothing wrong with it. The provisions towards gratuity, pensions and other annuities that SBI made in Q4 could have been staggered," Gopinath said, adding that the directors have no way to know the individual slippages.
These comments are contrary to those of her colleague, KC Chakrabarty. Recently he had gone public about disconcerting trend of state-run banks reporting poor numbers whenever a new chairman comes in.
"See our banks, I see when the chairman retires the profit goes down. Books should not be as per the minds of the chairman, but reporting should be as per books," he had said.
"The point is that irrespective of the fact who is the chairman, those provisions are to be made one quarter or other. So it is not about typically flouting norms, but about timing the provisioning," Gopinath argued.
She further said, "SBI's Rs 500-crore teaser loan provision was one-time and was mandated, but the rest all, barring those for new NPAs, could have been staggered. If at all previous chairman OP Bhatt had remained in office, he too would have made these provisions."
New manufacturing policy likely to give impetus to the sector
MUMBAI: Emphasising the need to boost growth in the manufacturing sector, industry veteran Baba Kalyani on Monday expressed hope that the soon-to-be-announced manufacturing policy would give an impetus to the sector.
"If India has to achieve exponential growth, it would have to be on the back of strong growth in the manufacturing sector. Recognising this, the government is about to announce a new manufacturing policy, aiming to increase the share of the manufacturing sector from about 15-16 per cent to 20-25 per cent (of GDP) in the next 10 years," Baba Kalyani, chairman and managing director of Bharat Forge said at an event.
"The new manufacturing policy expected to be announced in a week or two would provide a thrust to the manufacturing sector," Kalyani said.
Envisaging India as a global leader in the manufacturing sector in the next 10-years, Kalyani said that "with the manufacturing sector in China losing some of its earlier sheen, India could become a global hotspot in the next 10-years."
Referring to a recent report that projected that GDP growth at 13 per cent would make India a $4.5-trillion economy in ten years against $1.5-trillion at resent, Kalyani observed that even if India continued to grow at 8-8.5 per cent, the target would be achieved by 2024.
It is imperative for the manufacturing sector to grow at a faster rate to provide a boost to the economy. It should no longer grow at 7 per cent. It has to grow at 11-12 per cent, he said.
Fertiliser ministry seeks clarifications on draft urea decontrol policy
The fertiliser ministry has sought clarifications from the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) on a proposal to increase urea prices by 10 per cent in the draft policy on urea decontrol .
The CoS, under the chairmanship of planning commission member Saumitra Chaudhuri, suggested partially freeing the retail price of urea in the draft policy, besides hiking the rate by 10 per cent after a year of implementing the new policy.
It has also recommended 'notional price-pooling' of natural gas for the fertiliser sector and an additional subsidy for under-performing units to improve production efficiency.
"Fertiliser and chemicals minister MK Alagiri has raised queries on the draft policy. The ministry has asked CoS the reasons for recommending a urea price hike," a senior fertiliser ministry official said.
The ministry has also asked the CoS to check the legal compatibility and tax implications of gas price pooling and the impact on naphtha-based fertiliser units, the official said.
Urea is the the only fertiliser that remains under full price control after the government partially freed the prices of phosphatic and potash fertilisers at the beginning of the previous fiscal. Its current retail price is Rs 5,310/tonne.
As much as 80 per cent of India's production of urea is gas-based and urea manufacturers now buy gas from suppliers through separate Production Sharing Contracts.
The CoS has suggested that the government should purchase natural gas directly through the Fertiliser Industry Coordination Committee and supply it to companies at a "weighted average price".
The CoS has also recommended 'notional gas price pooling' for 17 fertiliser units and said the government will calculate the subsidy on urea based on a weighted average pooled gas price.
However, four units -- RCF Trombay, GSFC and two units of BVFCL -- will be kept out of the ambit of this gas price pooling arrangement.
Demand for urea is expected to increase to 30 million tonnes in the next five years and India has to enhance domestic production, which remained stagnant at 21.2 million tonnes in 2009-10.
The CoS noted that the gas price pooling model and freeing of urea retail prices would enhance domestic production, as the cost of production of gas-based units is much lower than the imported urea price.
New CAG guidelines for government accounting to be unveiled tomorrow
The CAG guidelines for a new government accounting system aimed at improving transparency and fixing the accountability of departments for managing state-owned assets will be unveiled on Tuesday.
In line with the recommendations of the 12th and 13th Finance Commissions and the second Administrative Reforms Commission, the operational guidelines suggest shifting from the present cash-based accounting system to an accrual basis of accounting.
"A move from cash to accrual accounting will be a fundamental change which will help overcome the deficiencies of the present system," a finance ministry statement said on Monday.
Under the accrual system, transactions will be recorded at the time when economic value is created, exchanged, transferred or impaired, irrespective of whether cash is actually exchanged or not, it said.
"Only accrual accounting captures the full cost of services provided by the government, thereby supporting effective and efficient decision-making," it said, adding it will also fully disclose information on the assets and liabilities of the government.
The new norms would be unveiled at a national conference of state finance ministers by union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The present system lacks an adequate framework for accounting of assets and liabilities, depicting consumption of resources and presenting the full picture of the government's financial position at any point of time.
In this system, there is no effective way of tracking assets created out of public money which, in turn, dilutes the accountability of departments for management of government assets, it said.
The deficiencies in the present system result in a lack of transparency, poor stewardship and impaired ability to accurately predict the future cost of a current financial commitment, it added.
The job of steering the transition to accrual accounting was given to the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Board (GASAB) under the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
The GASAB is a high power advisory body which includes the heads of six major accounting departments of the government of India, namely Indian Audit and Accounts Department, Indian Civil Accounts Department , Indian Defence Accounts Department , Indian Railway Accounts Department and Indian Postal Department.
'Tax reforms in India lag behind growth'
Taxation reforms in India have not kept pace with economic growth, leading to the problems of tax evasion and money laundering and resulting in an estimated $1.4 trillion of black money, an expert said.
"In India, tax reforms have lagged behind growth. It is a big challenge for politicians and policymakers to keep the pace of reforms with growth," Jeffrey Owens , director of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) Centre for Tax Policy and Administration , told IANS during a visit to New Delhi.
He said high tax rates and loopholes in policies led to huge black money in India, which is mostly stashed abroad.
According to unofficial estimates, the quantum of Indian black money ranges from $450 billion to $1.4 trillion.
"Indian economy has transformed in the last two decades. Along with high growth, it has increasingly become importer and exporter of capital. But tax regulations have largely remained the same. You have to change with the changing environment," the OECD official said.
Owens said the proposed tax reforms would help plug loopholes in the system and boost growth.
India plans comprehensive reforms in both direct and indirect tax regulations. The government aims to replace the archaic Income Tax Act, 1961, with a simplified norm called Direct Tax Code (DTC) from the beginning of the next financial year.
The DTC Bill, that aims at reducing tax rates but expanding the tax base by minimising exemptions, was introduced in parliament in August last year. However, the bill has not been passed yet.
Under the new tax regime, the government proposes to introduce measures that would help curb tax evasion and black money. It proposes to bring into the tax net all passive income earned by residents from substantial shareholding in companies situated in the low tax jurisdictions, often referred to as tax havens.
Assessees are also required to furnish details of their investment and interest in any entity outside India.
Finance secretary Sunil Mitra said recently that the reformed tax regime would help bring back the ill-gotten money stashed abroad.
To reform the indirect tax regime, the government proposes to introduce a unified Goods and Services Tax (GST). It seeks to bring uniformity in indirect tax structure across the country by replacing the excise duties, services tax, value-added-tax, state surcharges and local levies with a unified tax rate.
Originally, the GST was planned to be introduced from April 1, 2010, but it has been delayed because of stiff opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ))-ruled states.
The new tax regime is unlikely to be implemented soon, given the rift between the federal government and opposition-ruled states.
Owens said the proposed reforms would boost the government's revenues and economic growth.
According to him, the focus of the reforms should be on broadening the tax base and reducing dependence on direct taxes. "The focus should be on consumption tax and property tax. Corporate taxes need to be reduced and the tax base broadened," he said.
Owens said that to attract more foreign investment, India needs to bring stability and predictability in its tax regime.
Govt on toes as flood alarm looms in S Bengal
Sujay Khanra, TNN | Jun 20, 2011, 01.14am IST
MIDNAPORE: With the spectre of flood looming large, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday evening held an emergency meeting with irrigation minister Manas Bhunia in her Kalighat home to take stock of the rapidly deteriorating situation and to deal with it on a war footing. The CM has also formed a three-member cabinet committee, comprising state industries minister Partha Chatterjee, minister for disaster management Jawed Khan and Bhunia himself to keep a round-the-clock tab on the situation.
The CM also informed her cabinet colleagues that any further release of water from the DVC's Panchet or Mython dams should only be done after people living along the river's downstream be evacuated to safer places. DVC has requested the state government to allow it to release 10,000 to 12,000 cusecs to ease the pressure on the dams due to incessant rainfall.
"According to the CM's directives, any release of water by DVC should be only after consultation with the DMs of Burdwan, Hooghly and Howrah," Bhunia said. He admitted that the situation was assuming threatening proportions due to the unexpected heavy rainfall. "Even an otherwise arid district of Bankura has received 300 mm of rainfall," he said.
The situation turned worse in West Midnapore's Debra. Nearly 5,000 people belonging to 14 villages in Raipur block were inundated after the DVC was forced to release 15,000 cusecs in Kansabati river from the Tarapheni barrage late on Saturday. People alleged that the administration was yet to provide relief. Local MLA Radha Kanta Maiti is camping on the spot with a large contingent of police.
The Rupnarayan has already caused damage in Kolaghat, said Bhunia. "Four deaths have been reported from Bankura and North 24-Parganas," he said. An emergency control room has already been set up at the Jalsampad Bhawan in Salt Lake, manned by senior engineers.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Govt-on-toes-as-flood-alarm-looms-in-S-Bengal/articleshow/8918354.cms
Actress Suchitra Sen's secrets out!
Ajanta Chakraborty, TNN | Jun 18, 2011, 07.26pm IST
KOLKATA: Oh, those dreamy eyes that enthralled not just the viewers of the black-and-white era, but continue to charm Gen Y and beyond! We are talking of the legendary Rama Dasgupta aka Suchitra Sen -- the first Indian actress to be awarded in an international film festival (Best Actress award for the Saat Paake Bandha in 1963 Moscow film festival). The one who refused the Dada Saheb Phalke award because she wished to remain in recluse forever.
Sen -- who was dubbed by none other than Jaya Bachchan as "just a good looking actress", thus evoking wrath from this part of the globe -- indeed had a melodious voice. She had sold as many as 300 records. The megaphone edition of this Suchitra number is 650. The song in question, Mom Jochhonay Ango Vijiye" was later recorded by Bengal's nightingale Arati Mukherjee and ended up being a super-hit.
And now for the man who has kept such "Suchitra secrets" close to his heart is the 28-year-old Pabitra Pal, a resident of Palpara at Narayanpur in North 24 Parganas. Pal, a post-graduate in Bengali literature from Jadavpur University, has been an avid record collector. That's how he chanced upon this rare piece of history and the rarest information about the legend who is also called Bengal's Greta Garbo in international circles.
He wants to approach the government if the record could be sent to some museum. Alas, the authorities haven't been doing their bit to keep memories of this great actress in place. Sen's birthplace, Pabna (now in Bangladesh) still hold celebrations of her birthday. But the Bengal government's plans of setting up a heritage museum has been shelved for years. Sen's father, Karunamoy Dasgupta, was the head master of the Pabna local school and her mother Indira Devi a homemaker. She was their fifth child and third daughter. She had her formal education in Pabna. Suchitra married Dibanath Sen, son of a wealthy Bengali industrialist, Adinath Sen, in 1947. Her daughter Moon Moon Sen joined films as did her grand-daughters Raima and Riya.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Actress-Suchitra-Sens-secrets-out/articleshow/8904113.cms
20 JUN, 2011, 08.30PM IST, NAGESHWAR PATNAIK,ET BUREAU
Cracks in pro-Posco group as Orissa govt fails to break resistance
BHUBANESWAR: Orissa government is finding it difficult to acquired land for Posco's Rs 52,000 crore steel project as anti-displacement brigade gained strength from political parties and social activists with Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patker on Monday visiting Dhinkia, the entry point to the proposed plant site on Monday and lending her support to protester.
Last week social activists Swami Agnibesh visited Dhinkia and warned the government of any violence against peaceful protest. Mrs Patker also made it clear that the government just could not bulldoze the human barricade by the villagers unwilling to leave their land. The BJP delegation also visited the site and the Congress also has lent its support to the protest.
What is still worse is the fact that cracks have surfaced in the pro-Posco group with majority from it lending support to the resistance. The district administration, which planned to resume land acquisition on Monday, once again deferred its decision to break open the human barricade at the entry point to Posco project area.
Beginning from acquisition of land, water supply, power connection and fighting local resistance, the project authorities are at the mercy of the officials, who do not want to take any risk in the aftermath of Kalinganagar massacre.
The whole land acquisition process for Posco's mega steel plant got a twist on after the president of a pro-project group Joint Action Committee (JAC) Anadi Rout resigned on Monday after some members alleged involvement of Mr Rout's kin in engaging an outsider as contractor on his behalf for setting up the boundary wall of the project.
Though the state government is trying to put up a brave face, saying it was least worried as it would not go for forcible acquisition of land and try to convince the locals how the project will benefit them, the specter of Kalinganagar massacre on January 2, 2006 when 14 tribals including three women were killed in a police firing, appears to be haunting the Naveen Patnaik government.
Steel and Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty clarified: "We are not acquiring land forcibly for the Posco project. Land acquisition work is being done peacefully by the district administration and Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (IDCO)".
Officials of state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IIDCO) and contractors last night visited Polanga and Noliasahi villages under Gadakujanga panchayat for laying the foundation for the boundary walls.
During the visit JAC leaders demanded fulfillment of their demands including appointment of locals as contractors. Their other demands were employment for one member from each family, enhanced compensation to land-losers and proper rehabilitation of the projected-affected people.
The officials and contractors left the area in the face of protests, the sources said.
Gadakujanga, Nuagaon and Dhinkia are the three gram panchayats where the Posco project is proposed to be set up.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/indl-goods-/-svs/steel/cracks-in-pro-posco-group-as-orissa-govt-fails-to-break-resistance/articleshow/8927953.cms
19 JUN, 2011, 07.38PM IST,ET BUREAU
Nalco cuts product prices by Rs 5,000 per tonne
BHUBANESHWAR: National Aluminium Company, the Navratna PSU , has reduced basic price across all its product segments by Rs 5,000 per tonne. In case of 5 inch billets, the price has been cut by Rs 4,500 per tonne.
The cut has been due to slow demand for products in the monsoon.
The reduction in prices will be implemented with immediate effect.
Agnivesh joins Posco land acquisition opposition
BHUBANESWAR: Social activist Swami Agnivesh Saturday opposed the "forceful" acquisition of land for the $12 billion Posco steel project in Orissa , adding that he will take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Agnivesh, who spent Friday night with panic stricken villagers at the project site in Jagatsinghpur district, said he will meet Manmohan Singh and Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh to request them not to allow the destruction of an agriculture-based economy for a multinational company.
Extending his solidarity to the villagers, he also joined them in their demonstration against the project in the troubled Govindpur village.
Addressing a gathering of thousands, including women and children, he said the government had no right to forcibly evict families who have been earning their livelihood from land since generations.
"I am surprised that the government has been trying to demolish such a well developed agrarian economy to set up a steel plant," he said.
Posco has planned to built a 12 million tonnes steel plant -- the largest foreign investment in India -- near the port town of Paradip, about 120 km from here.
The company requires about 4,004 acres of land for the project, of which 2,900 acres is forest land. The local administration said it has already acquired nearly half of the land required for the project.
The land acquisition was scheduled to resume Saturday. However, authorities postponed it to Monday due to heavy rains.
"The process might resume Monday if the weather remained conducive," Additional District Magistrate S.K. Chaudhuri told media.
20 JUN, 2011, 09.30AM IST, PARTHA SINHA,TNN
Policy revival can halt Indian markets' slide
MUMBAI: With a slew of negative factors-domestic as well as global-weighing down the benchmark indices in India, the question that's on everyone's mind is: where is the market headed over the next few months? And if it goes southward, what could be done to change the expected slide?
Top investors like Rakesh Jhunjhunwala have indicated that the NSE nifty could fall to 4,800-5,000 level over the next few months, a decline of 10-12% from the current levels. Similarly, experts have downgraded most companies and technical analysts see over 10% correction in the benchmark indices. The feeling on Dalal Street is that if the government starts moving on the policy front, the sentiments could be reversed. Jhunjhunwala had recently told TOI in an interview that reforms in retail and insurance are imperative at this juncture.
Top broking house officials TOI spoke to say that with bearish undertone setting in the developed markets like the US and Europe, there is enough money waiting to enter emerging markets, including India. But it would need at least some triggers for the flows to start.
"Our interactions with investors indicate that surely there is money waiting on the sidelines to enter the (Indian) market," said Anup Bagchi, MD & CEO, ICICI Securities. "As of now there is a policy freeze. But with any small trigger, funds would start coming in again," Bagchi said.
Runaway inflation has compounded the negativity, forcing RBI to take monetary actions leading to higher interest rates in the economy, which in turn is affecting the profitability of Indian companies. For instance, the earnings growth of sensex 30 companies during the January-March quarter was just 2.4%, compared to an estimated 20.3%, a report by retail broking house Sharekhan pointed out. However, the numbers show some improvement if one excludes SBI and ONGC , both of which had huge exceptional items in their results last quarter. Compared to an estimated 16.4% earnings growth, the actual number was 11.4%, the report showed. This slide in bottom line has in turn forced most broking houses to cut price targets and profitability numbers of companies under coverage.
That's not all.
The slowdown in the advance tax filings of companies has also impacted growth, which points to the fact that companies expect their earnings to be lower. "There is a chain of government inaction, policy freeze, slide in corporate profitability and downgrades, which is at work now," said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, MD & CEO, Destimoney Securities.
The series of scandals involving top politicians, bureaucrats and company officials, some of them already in the jail, has hampered investor sentiment, brokers said. "FII fund managers agree there would always be scams, but they are surprised by the regularity," said head of institutional sales at a local brokerage.
Bandyopadhayay said some of the least-controversial policy decisions that the government can take include passing of the Warehousing Bill that would have a huge impact on the supply chain for food articles and amending the Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA), which will make the Forward Markets Commission an independent body, allowing only domestic companies to procure from farmers directly. "Just getting a few things right can change the entire mood of the market," he said.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/analysis/policy-revival-can-halt-indian-markets-slide/articleshow/8921477.cms
US-India business conclave to boost commercial tiesJun 14, 2011 Rediff (7 occurrences)more by Mamata Banerjee
WASHINGTON: Leading Indian and US business leaders are set to meet here this week to take stock of the US-India commercial relationship and calibrate a fresh course for progress for decades to come.
Organised by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) representing 400 US companies doing business in India, the trade association's 36th annual conclave will also feature three business delegations from India led by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), The Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII )), and AmCham India.
India's Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma, and President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff and former US Secretary of Commerce, William Daley, will be the featured government speakers, USIBC said.
Several other US and Indian government officials, senators and congressmen, ambassadors, and the Indian-American community are also expected to attend.
USIBC Chairman, Harold "Terry" McGraw III will present USIBC's Global Leadership Award, to ICICI Bank's Managing Director & CEO, Chanda Kochhar and FedEx Corporation's Chairman, President, & CEO, Fred Smith, for their contributions to the US-India commercial relationship.
The theme of this year's USIBC Leadership Summit, Addressing Challenges, Boosting Ties, reflects a growing concern among investors over headwinds that the US-India relationship has recently encountered, USIBC said.
Noting that overall, two-way trade in 2010 surpassed $72 billion, whereas just five years ago, trade was only $25 billion, USIBC said US companies are evaluating investment opportunities in India as never before.
The conclave it said aims to consolidate the impressive gains already made on this exciting US-India journey, while setting a fresh course that looks towards a bright, promising future.
20 JUN, 2011, 02.21AM IST, RISHI SHAH,ET BUREAU
Focus on export competitiveness for growth
NEW DELHI: A government panel has been set up to recommend steps to boost manufacturing sector exports over the next five years. A working group, headed by the commerce secretary, will recommend a sector-wise strategy that will form a part of the 12th Five Year Plan proposal. The government recently unveiled a strategy paper on exports growth, which has set a target of about $400 billion for export of manufactured products by 2014.
The panel, whose report could take up to two months to finalise, will focus on the engineering, leather, gems & jewellery, textiles and sports goods sectors. Manufactured goods account for about 80% of the country's total exports. In May, exports jumped 56.9% year-on-year to $25.9 billion. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set a goal of boosting manufacturing as a percentage of India's gross domestic product (GDP) to 25% from the current 16%. However, constraints on production could act as a dampener.
"Land is one of the most important factors for growth in manufacturing and the clear conflict in ways to acquire land is the prime concern," said an official, who is a part of the committee. The committee feels a sustainable land acquisition policy should be put in place before manufacturing can gain momentum. The government has been facing problems in this area, which has delayed billions of dollars in investments. Growth in exports of manufactured products has escalated in the past few months with India entering new territories.
Economists say there is a need for India to raise export competitiveness if it wants to achieve a higher level of sustainable growth. Another issue of concern is labour, as restrictions on hiring and firing create rigid operating conditions for manufacturing units. "We will find out ways of increasing manufacturing export growth, but with major issues on labour still unresolved, achieving output growth would be difficult," the official said.
In India, manufacturing has close to 14% share in the GDP, as compared to almost 19% in Nepal and about 45% in China. Singh's intervention has failed to resolve differences between the industry department and labour and environment ministries, which have opposed some of the provisions of the proposed manufacturing policy. The policy seeks to create mega industrial zones with special set of rules and world-class infrastructure. It is expected to catalyse manufacturing and increase its share in the GDP to 25%, from 16% at present. Though the policy has been in the pipeline for 18 months now, ministries have failed to close the gaps on policy measures, prompting the prime minister to intervene on Thursday.
20 JUN, 2011, 01.46AM IST, DHEERAJ TIWARI,ET BUREAU
Govt to push for Concor, Ircon divestment
NEW DELHI: Public sector enterprises under the Railway Ministry could be back on the disinvestment list soon. The Finance Ministry is likely to initiate discussions with the Railway Ministry amid concerns that the government will not be able to meet its disinvestment target for this fiscal. The companies in which the government could dilute its stake are Container Corporation of India (Concor) and Indian Railway Construction Corporation (Ircon).
"All administrative ministries are looking at suitable candidates under their control. We expect the Railway Ministry to soon initiate the exercise," a government official said, requesting anonymity on the ground that the move may also require political consensus. Mamata Banerjee, when she was the railway minister, had opposed disinvestment in railway public sector companies. But following her Trinamool Congress party .s landslide victory in West Bengal elections, she is expected to be more open to the idea of a stake sale in some companies under the Railway Ministry.
The new railway minister is likely to be a representative of the Trinamool Congress party. "In any case, we are talking of sharing the wealth of these public sector units with the people. There should be no opposition to that," the official said. The government holds over 99% stake in Ircon and 63.09% in Concor and may dilute about 10% in Ircon and 5% in Concor. A finance ministry official said the government has strong reasons to list these companies under the current circumstances as small issues, such as that of the National Building Construction Corporation, would not fetch enough money.
"You cannot bring companies where disinvestment was done said that the rise in global crude prices was raising the government's subsidy burden. "In this scenario, we would not like to miss our disinvestment targets," the finance ministry official said. In this fiscal, the government has only raised .`1,162 crore by selling 5% of its stake in Power Finance Corporation . The cabinet has also approved disinvestment in Sail, ONGC and Hindustan Copper. The volatile market conditions have already led to delay in some of the proposed public offers. Last week, Hindustan Copper said there was no pressing need for a follow-on offer as the company has enough funds. -
Civil society
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- 20/06/2011
Krishna in Myanmar to sign infrastructure deals
Yangon: Marking the first high-level engagement with Myanmar's three-month-old civilian government, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna arrived here Monday on a three-day visit during which they sign major infrastructure and development project pacts.
Accompanied by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, Krishna flew in here from New Delhi on a special aircraft. He was received by Yangon regional Minister for Education, Health and Foreign Affairs Nyan Tun Oo and Indian ambassador V.S. Seshadri.
The new civilian government of President Thein Sein took charge March 30 after his party won the November 2010 elections.
The civilian government has replaced the military junta under Senior General Than Shwe that ruled Myanmar for over 22 years.
Krishna's visit is looked at by India as an opportunity to engage the new civilian regime and to take stock of broad-based engagements with Myanmar.
Before leaving for Delhi, Krishna said in New Delhi: "The visit will give us an opportunity to further vitalise our multi-faceted relationship. We will exchange of views on enhancing security cooperation and collaboration in connectivity, IT, energy, agriculture, power, telecommunications and infrastructure."
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Krishna will meet the Myanmar president and the foreign minister.
The two sides will sign memorandum of understanding on a project to link India's Manipur state with Tiddim in Chin state of Myanmar for more border trade.
India has also offered to cooperate with Myanmar on a trilateral highway to Thailand.
They will also sign an agreement setting up Myanmar's second industrial park with Indian help. India will supply 100 computers to Myanmar's land records department to digitalise its operations.
Myanmar is the only Asean (Association of South East Asian Nations) country that India shares a land border with.
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India's interaction with Myanmar continues strongly, despite Western nations disapproving this relationship, citing poor democratic credentials of the erstwhile military junta, which is still influential.
India supported the former military rulers' desire to carry out political reforms in the country.
The urgency shown by India to have close relations with Myanmar is also the result of increased Chinese involvement in Myanmar's infrastructure projects such as roads, ports and power plants.
Myanmar shares a 1,642-km winding and porous border with four northeastern states of India - Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.
Source: IANS
20/06/2011Broad consensus on draft Lokpal bill: Sibal
New Delhi: Terming the meeting between the government and civil society representatives on the proposed Lokpal bill a "major breakthrough", Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Monday said there has been a "broad consensus" between the two sides.
"We had a meeting of three hours, between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and had full-fledged discussions on a range of issues. There was a frank exchange of views and there has been a broad consensus," Sibal told reporters after the seventh meeting between the two sides.
"This has been a major breakthrough," he added.
Saying that the atmosphere of the meeting was "non-acrimonious", Sibal added: "We were clear about the diversions and disagreements. Almost on 80-85 percent clauses of the bill, there is agreement."
Another meeting is scheduled Tuesday. There are five representatives each from the government and the civil society in the committee that was set up in April to frame a comprehensive Lokpal bill to fight corruption in high places.
Meanwhile, civil society activists, led by Gandhian Anna Hazare, described the meeting with government representatives for drafting the Lokpal bill as "cordial", but said a few "differences persisted" between the two sides.
"We had two new issues that were discussed. One was the appointment of the Lokpal selection committee and the other was the removal of the Lokpal," lawyer and Hazare confidant Prashant Bhushan told reporters.
"The differences are still persistent, but the atmosphere of the meeting was quite cordial," added Bhushan.
The meeting started Monday 11 a.m. and went on till 2 p.m.
"We have proposed a broad-based committee consisting of non-political and independent people in our draft of the proposed bill while the government's version has mainly political people in the appointment committee," said Arvind Kejriwal, civil society member in the Lokpal draft panel.
"There were a lot of disagreements between both the sides, but all of them were discussed in an elaborate way," Kejriwal said.
Another meeting is scheduled Tuesday. "Both the sides will place their versions of the draft to each other. The draft that will be presented to the cabinet will have points from both the drafts," added Bhushan.
Besides Gandhian Anna Hazare and Prashant Bhushan, other civil society activists on the panel are Arvind Kejriwal, Santosh Hegde and Shanti Bhushan.
The government is represented by cabinet ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, M. Veerappa Moily, Salman Khurshid and Kapil Sibal.
Source: IANS
Timeline of articles
Number of sources covering this storyWhat Supreme Court's order on Kanimozhi's bail plea says1 hour ago - NDTV.comSupreme Court denies bail to Kanimozhi9 hours ago - The Hindu2G scam: SC to hear Kanimozhi's bail plea today15 hours ago - IBNLive.comCineyug gave Rs200cr to KTV as loan: KanimozhiJun 18, 2011 - Times of IndiaKanimozhi, Raja conspired to get Rs 200 crore for Kalaignar TV, CBI tells SCJun 17, 2011 - Times of IndiaImages
20/06/2011Adarsh scam: Ashok Chavan blames then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh
Ashok Chavan, who was the Revenue Minister from 1999-2003 when land was allotted to the Adarsh Housing Society, today said the plot was sanctioned by the then chief minister and he had no role to play in it.
Without naming Vilasrao Deshmukh, Chavan, who stepped down as chief minister last year following controversy over Adarsh, told the Commission probing alleged irregularities that allotment of plot worth more than Rs 25 lakh were made by the chief minister.
Deshmukh, who filed an affidavit before the Adarsh Commission on June 17, had put the onus on the Revenue department and the Mumbai Collector, saying he had acted on proposals sent by them on allotments.
Chavan has been named among the 14 accused by the CBI in its probe. He is accused of recommending 40 per cent allotment of flats in the Adarsh Society, originally meant for Kargil war widows, to civilians. Chavan is also facing allegations that his relatives got flats in the society.
Chavan has said, "There was no question of me suggesting that civilian members be included in the Society. Any suggestion that this was discussed with me or that I had suggested or directed or decided on the same is false and denied."
"In the meeting, I have asked the department only to look into the issue relating to the allotment of land and call for the required information in the respect thereof. No decision was taken at the meeting."
Chavan said the file on the verification of the Adarsh Society, the eligibility of members and value of the land, was placed before him in July 2002.
"At that stage the matter relating to allotment of land was still only at the stage of verification of the proposal and there was no question of the Revenue department having taken any decision on allotment of land," the eight-page affidavit filed by Chavan said.
"This decision for allotment of land took place more than 16 months after I ceased to be the Revenue Minister. In view of this, I have no personal knowledge of any matter regarding the actual verification/approval of members by the department or matters related to allotment of the land to the Society," Chavan said.
Chavan further said when he was Revenue Minister, his actions were only to seek compliance of the Government Resolution (GR) of July 1999 for allotment of land belonging to Maharashtra.
"Matters relating to the eligibility of membership of the (Adarsh) Society, reservation of the land or membership of the society for defence personnel were all matters which were governed by the GR," said Chavan.
Chavan said the procedure relating to the verification of the relevant facts was undertaken by the Collector of Mumbai and officials of Revenue Department and this procedure went on even much after he left the Revenue Department.
Saying matters did not come under the scope of duties and responsibilities of the Revenue department, Chavan absolved himself on subjects relating to reduction of width of Prakash Pethe Marg, change of reservations from road to residential, deletion of reservation of plot reserved for BEST and issues relating to Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, Development Control Rules and CRZ.
Source: PTI
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Number of sources covering this storyAdministration to probe use of women, kids in Posco protest2 hours ago - Business StandardOrissa defers land acquisition for PoscoJun 18, 2011 - The HinduShowers stall land acquisitionJun 17, 2011 - Times of IndiaPosco: Administration ready after 6-day lullJun 17, 2011 - IBNLive.comImages
20/06/2011No fingerprint records of Dawood Ibrahim with Maharashtra Police
Maharashtra Police has no records of India's most wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's fingerprints, despite the fact that he was in its custody several times in the past, a top police officer has said.
"Though Dawood Ibrahim was in the custody of Maharashtra Police number of times, it doesn't have any record of his fingerprints," said National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Director General, NK Tripathi.
"If the police had this record, then it could have taken action against the fugitive in a much better way," Tripathi said.
He said work was going on in the area of 'Crime and Criminal Record Tracking System' in the country and once completed, the system would make available the finger-print records of arrested persons to all the police stations across the country, if the concerned police station had taken the fingerprint records.
Tripathi said at present there are nearly 15,000 police stations in the country and soon all of them will get connected through this system.
The official said that work was progressing at a fast pace and within a year or so, it will be completed and then training will also be given to the police officials to handle it.
Source: PTI
"These (DTAA & TIEA) are two important instruments which will help the income tax department tackle black money and black money stashed outside......we will able to impose tax on them," Mukherjee had said.more by Pranab Mukherjee - 11 minutes ago - Economic Times(12 occurrences)
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Number of sources covering this storyRe-negotiation of DTAA with Mauritius to resume in July: Govt11 minutes ago - Economic TimesNifty nears 5300; RCom, RInfra, GTL, GTL Infra down9 hours ago - Economic TimesSensex slumps 600pts in panic selling12 hours ago - Business StandardImages
20/06/2011Delhi government health scheme left 775 kids dead
New Delhi: As many as 775 children and eight pregnant women, enrolled in the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme of the Delhi government under which nutritious food and health facilities are provided to underprivileged women and children, died last year, a RTI reply says.
In a reply to an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act filed by child rights activist Manish Bhatnagar, an ICDS official said: "According to record, the number of children enrolled in ICDS scheme who died in Delhi last year was 775."
Eight pregnant women enrolled also died last year.
The ICDS scheme is a pilot project of the Delhi government's women and child development department with an aim to improve nutritional and health status of children below six years and reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity and malnutrition.
"In 2009, seven pregnant women and 882 children enrolled with the ICDS died," the official said.
Women and child development department director Rajiv Kale told IANS: "The mortality rate is not so high. We are covering approximately 727,000 children and only around one percent of them died."
Bhatnagar said: "The reason behind the deaths is yet unknown. However, the number of deaths is alarming as the scheme provides health facilities and food to children who are economically deprived in Delhi."
NGO Centre for Social Research director Ranjana Kumari says: "The death figure is high. A total of 775 kids died in Delhi in 365 days. It is a matter of concern."
"There is need for serious investigation into the circumstances under which the deaths took place. People responsible for this must be punished and the government should be accountable," Ranjana Kumari told IANS.
Currently, 55 projects are functioning under the ICDS in various parts of Delhi, covering approximately 727,000 children up to the age of six as well as pregnant and nursing mothers.
In addition, supplementary nutrition is being provided under the scheme to 648,000 children and women through 6,606 anganwadi centres.
Supplementary nutrition is provided at the rate of Rs.5 per child, Rs.5.30 per woman and Rs.6 per malnourished child per day for about 300 days in a year.
In partnership with the Delhi Social Welfare Board and non-government organisations, 60 anganwadi centres are also functional.
Six services -- non-formal pre-school education, supplementary nutrition programme,
nutrition and health education, immunisation, health check-up and referral services -- are being provided to the beneficiaries covered under these centres.The ICDS services were started in India with 33 projects all over the country Oct 2, 1975. It was launched in response to the challenge of meeting the holistic need of the child.
Source: IANS
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20/06/2011Terrorism focus of talks with Pakistan, Headley revelations to figure: India
New Delhi: Terrorism will be the "central point" of New Delhi's agenda when the Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries meet in Islamabad Thursday, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said Monday.
Krishna said India will also take up the issue of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley's revelations about the terror links of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
He admitted at the same time that incidents like the confrontation at sea between a Pakistani and an Indian naval warship could become an irritant in the talks.
"Of course, terrorism is the central point of our interaction with Pakistan," Krishna told reporters before leaving for Myanmar on a three-day visit.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will be in Islamabad June 23-25 for talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir.
"This menace (of terrorism) has to be dealt with firmly and in a transparent manner for the common good of India and Pakistan and the region beyond," Krishna said.
But he underlined that "in the kind of talks we are going to be involved with, patience is something to be called for".
Krishna also asserted that India will raise the issue of Headley's revelations during the foreign secretaries' meeting.
"Whatever Headley has revealed under oath in a court of law in Chicago, would be relevant for the government of India to take up with Pakistan and then try to get Pakistan's response to that. Well, that certainly will be taken up with Pakistan," Krishna said.
Headley, who has pleaded guilty to his role in the Mumbai terror attack, claimed that the ISI and LeT separately gave him identical instructions to scout Mumbai locations to be attacked.
Besides, the two foreign secretaries are expected to talk on various subjects, including the Kashmir dispute.
"We have to be patient, realistic and positive. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said on more than one occasion, peace and prosperity of South Asia is interlinked," Krishna said.
The minister sounded unhappy over the recent brush between an Indian and a Pakistani warship in the Gulf of Aden.
Pakistan says that its PNS Babar was escorting to Oman an Egyptian carrier freed by Somali pirates June 14 when INS Godavari came dangerously close by. The incident led Pakistan to protest -- and India to deny the accusation.
"It is not desirable that such instances (take place)... On one hand, we are trying to improve our relationship, on other hand, such solitary instance takes place which become cause for irritant for the talks.
"If there is any misunderstanding between the two countries on this score, I think it is necessary to sort them out," he said.
Krishna also expressed frustration at the pace of the trial in Pakistan against some masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack .
"Our trial (of sole surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab) has concluded and an appeal is pending before the Supreme Court. And virtually, their trial has not even started. I think examination of witness has begun yet. It is a sad commentary on what is happening there," he said.
Krishna added that India has been constantly raising this point with Pakistan.
"Whatever occasion we get, we always convey that it is necessary that the trial should be hastened. The process should become quicker and the people who are involved in the heinous crime against Mumbai and India should be brought to justice," the foreign minister said.
Krishna added that India will also keep "pursuing" the extradition of Indian nationals taking refuge in Pakistan, including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
On the reported talks with Taliban, Krishna reasserted that this should be within the "redlines" prescribed by the international community.
Source: IANS
20/06/2011Sensex slumps 600pts in panic selling
The markets took a sharp dip in mid-morning trades on panic selling on reports that tax treaty talks between India and Mauritius are likely to resume soon. The Sensex tumbled to a low of 17,314, and is now down nearly 300 points at 17,577.
In the doing so, the index almost revisted its February low of 17,295. The NSE Nifty has plunged 100 points at 5,272.
Stocks with investment in Mauritius have collapsed on reports that tax treaty talks between India and Mauritius are likely to resume soon. Over 40% FDI in India comes from Mauritius. KS Oils (down nearly 25%), Deccan Chronicle (down nearly 6%), Lanco Infra (down nearly 13%), Delta Corp (down nearly 12%), S Kumars (down nearly 7%), Cipla (down nearly 5%), Hindalco (down nearly 4%), JP Associates (down nearly 4%), Grasim (down nearly 5%), HCL Tech, DRL and Wipro (down nearly 4%), HDFC Bank (down nearly 3%), IDFC (down nearly 6%).
The Sensex had opened up 21 points at 17,891 and the Nifty, which slipped into red soon after opening, was up five points at 5,371.
IT and Power indices weighed on the benchmark indices in early trade. These indices are down between 1 and 1.5%, respectively. Wipro, Tech Mahindra, TCS, HCL Tech, Infosys are all down 2-4%. Reliance Infra dragged the Power index after being removed from the Sensex, the stock is down 5.5%. Suzlon, Reliance Power, GVK Power, GMR Infra are others down over 3% each. Reliance Power's 4,000 MW UMPP hits a roadblock, the company may seek government's help.
Metal index is the biggest sectoral loser, down 0.7%, pulled down by Welspun Corp (down almost 5%), JSW Steel (down 2.5%) and Hindalco (down 2%). Auto is the other laggard on BSE, down nearly 1%. Tata Motors, M&M are down 3% each, Amtek Auto, Apollo Tyres are down nearly 4% each.
RIL (down nearly 3%) has pulled down Sensex by 55 points, followed by Infosys, TCS and HDFC Bank, which have lowered Sensex by almost 30 points each. The stock is seeing selling pressure since last week. Reliance Communication is another big loser on the back of being excluded from Sensex, the stock is down over 8% on the Sensex.
Sugar stocks are in focus after the government rules out additional exports before next harvest. Balrampur Chini is down 4%, Sakthi Sugars down 6%, Shree Renuka down 3.5%.
Market breadth is extremely negative. Only 362 stocks are advancing against 1,920 declining stocks.
Broader markets have crashed. CNX MIdcap is down 214 points and BSE Small Cap is lower by over 250 points.
Other stocks in news are GTL Infra, which touched a new low of Rs 16.90, down 43% on the back of its $300 million fund raising plan being scrapped. Bank of India is flat on its plans to enter mutual fund business with Bharti AXA. Bombay Dyeing is down over 5% after coming under the CCI scanner for dictating prices and sale terms.
Source: Business Standard
20/06/2011Taxman pins hope on TDS to meet target
CBDT to keep an eye on interest earned from bank fixed deposits.
New Delhi: Amid apprehension over slowing corporation tax collections, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) plans to increase the contribution of tax deducted at source (TDS) in the direct tax kitty from 37 per cent to 40 per cent.
A senior CBDT official told Business Standard the idea was to use TDS as a major driver to meet the stiff direct tax collection target of Rs 5.33 lakh crore in the current financial year.
The official said CBDT was preparing a strategy for this.
"The TDS standing committee, which has representatives from seven-eight areas, including industry, chartered accountants and CBDT officials, is slated to meet for the first time on Monday. Its main task will be to suggest steps to increase TDS collections," he said.
The government collected Rs 1.66 lakh crore through TDS in 2010-11, 37.37 per cent of the total direct tax collection of Rs 4.46 lakh crore.
At 40 per cent, TDS will yield Rs 2.13 lakh crore if the government meets its direct tax collection target of Rs 5.33 lakh crore.
TDS collections have grown steadily in the last five years, from Rs 70,689 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 1,66,687 crore in 2010-11.
CBDT's focus will be on generating awareness about TDS rules and plugging loopholes in TDS payments and their reporting by the assessees.
As part of this, it is enhancing vigil on interest earned from deposit schemes, especially bank fixed deposits, where TDS is not paid in a large number of cases. The official said TDS on salaries would be targeted in the next phase.
The department conducted 2,798 TDS surveys and inspections in 2010-11 and reported a revenue gain of Rs 3,000 crore. There were 62 cases in which more than Rs 1 crore was collected.
CBDT GAME PLAN
* Raise TDS contribution from 37 per cent to 40 per cent
* First meeting of the standing committee on TDS on Monday
* Interest income to be targeted in the first phase
* Salary segment to be tackled in the next phaseSource: Business Standard
While human resource development minister Kapil Sibal described the meeting as a "major step forward", the civil society members were less happy, saying that "two new issues of disagreement have emerged" and the key issues are yet to be resolved.more by Kapil Sibal - 1 hour ago - Hindustan Times(11 occurrences)
STRATEGIC ANALYSIS
India's Internal Security Challenges
Volume:27Issue:4ArticlesOctober 2003Shri N N Vohra, Shri K Santhanam, Director IDSA, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I deem it a privilege to be invited to deliver the IDSA Foundation Lecture. Since inception in November 1965, under the stewardship of the late Shri Y B Chavan and the subsequent direction provided by Shri K Subrahmanyam, former Director, the IDSA has acquired a creditable profile. Over the years, the IDSA has played a commendable role in enriching the security discourse and deliberations in India. It is in this context that I propose to share my thoughts with you on a matter of concern to all of us, namely, "India's Internal Security Challenges".
India was partitioned in the backdrop of large-scale communal riots, but the partition of the country on religious lines, without taking into consideration its multiple identities, instead of bringing the communal tensions down, in fact, worsened the situation. The two-nation theory created Pakistan, and it still survives on this theory. Pakistan finds it difficult to accept the reality that India continues to be a democratic, plural, multireligious society and that India today has more Muslim citizens than Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan has taken upon itself the responsibility of not only protecting its own citizens, but also the Indian Muslims. The power structure in theocratic Pakistan, dominated by the army, the feudal landlords, the bureaucracy and the religious leaders has been able to retain its hold over the levers of power by playing the anti- India and Islamic cards. Pakistan plays the Islamic card in its foreign policy also. It misses no opportunity to club India as an anti-Islamic country where Muslims are not safe. The continuing tensions between India and Pakistan have a direct bearing on the internal situation in India. They have further complicated the internal security situation.
The management of internal security, therefore, assumes great importance. If the internal security issues are tackled effectively, subversion by the external forces to that extent becomes more difficult. Unfortunately, the rise of contentious politics based on sectarian, ethnic, linguistic or other divisive criteria, is primarily responsible for the many communal and secessionist movements flourishing in India. The presence of hostile neighbours enables the internal conflicts to get external support, which includes money, arms and sanctuaries. The vested interests exploit these conditions to pursue their own agenda.
In a well-established political system and a developed economy, conflicts between the various group identities are kept under check as in due course they get assimilated into the national identity. But that has not happened in India as yet, where the wounds of the partition and the colonial rule have still not fully healed. Moreover, the dependence on the government by a large section of our people for their very survival sharpens these conflicts among them. The democratic institutions and the state structures are still not strong enough to fully harmonise these conflicts in a peaceful manner. Violence erupts when conflicting interests cannot be consensually reconciled. The hostile external forces, taking advantage of this situation through subversive propaganda, further accentuate these conflicts. They give material and ideological support to aggravate this sense of grievance to such an extent that a small minority are willing to become tools in their hands to subvert the stability and security of the country.
In addition, a number of secessionist and the so-called revolutionary movements are operating in India today. Their goal could be to overthrow the government and bring about revolutionary changes in the structure and functioning of the state, or even secession from the Indian Union. Ever since independence, India has been facing all types of violent conflicts based on religion, caste, language, ethnicity and regional loyalties. Political insecurity further compounds the problem. Preoccupied with the problem of survival, the governments in some of the most affected states are not looking at the problem from a long-term perspective. They have bought temporary peace by compromising with the subversive forces. Such shortsighted policies can have disastrous consequences in the long run. Instead of effectively dealing with them in the initial stages when the problem is manageable, they have allowed these anti-national forces to take roots and spread their tentacles far and wide. When a state government is unable to effectively deal with them, instead of strengthening the state police machinery, it rushes to the Centre to hand over its responsibility at the first sign of any serious trouble. It is not surprising that in these states some sections of the police have actually joined hands with the subversive forces against the central forces. "If you cannot fight them, join them". Finding themselves at the mercy of these subversive forces, the people tend to change sides and start supporting them instead of supporting the security forces. It would be wrong to assume that all those supporting, directly or indirectly, these forces are sympathetic to their ideology. Far from it! For most of them, preoccupied with the daily battle of survival, this is the obvious choice, because the police are unable to protect them. Polarisation on caste and religious lines can further reduce the credibility of the police in the minds of the people.
The police-politician-criminal nexus can embolden the criminal elements. Their activities can create an environment of lawlessness, where influential and rich people violate the law with impunity. The police is not the only component of the criminal justice system that has suffered because of this nexus. In fact, the entire criminal justice system is under strain. Not all crimes are being registered and those registered are not being properly investigated; and even out of those charge-sheeted, very few are ending in conviction. The conviction rate in case of heinous crimes is steadily falling. In some North-Eastern states it has reached almost zero level, where the police have stopped even submitting the charge sheets in the insurgency-related cases. When the fear of legal punishment disappears, organised crime finds it convenient to spread its tentacles. The crime syndicates are finding the new communication and information technology very useful. Extortion and payment of the so-called 'protection money' is more widespread than we would like to believe. According to some reports, direct extortion from the government funds runs into hundreds of crores of rupees. Many of the insurgent and militant groups are not driven by ideology, but by sheer greed. Money power is a bigger motivating factor than ideology. Vested interests have developed around these groups with active connivance of corrupt politicians, police officers and civil servants. Some politicians even take their assistance during election times. They have to return their favours when they come to power. This mutually beneficial relationship has seriously damaged the quality of governance in the interior areas. The real losers are the people. The development process gets seriously hampered in a violent environment. When large development funds are siphoned out by this unholy alliance between the criminal and corrupt forces, even the delivery of the most basic services like water, power, healthcare, education and communications becomes a stupendous task.
A vicious circle starts. The deprived and the marginalised sections of the society, unable to survive in the present system, get alienated. The militant and extremist forces thrive in this environment. The rise of Left extremism is more due to these compulsions than on ideological grounds. There are media reports about the carving out of a corridor by the Left extremist forces from Nepal to Tamil Nadu. Even if there is no truth in these reports, the involvement of hostile external forces in support of the Left extremist forces to destabilise the country cannot be ruled out.
The mushrooming of armed 'Senas' on caste and ethnic lines in some parts of the country is a direct consequence of the polarisation of the society. This phenomenon has also affected the police and the administration in general. Loss of public confidence in the capacity of the state to protect their life and property is the primary cause of this dangerous development. Far from controlling them, a politicised and partisan police actually encourages this development. The tensions in some parts of the country, especially in the tribal areas, due to a perceived threat to their identity is not new, but the rise of so many violent movements is a relatively recent development. In the border states these movements become secessionist because of the support they receive from the hostile neighbouring states.
The rise of fundamentalist forces is posing the most serious threat to India's security. Fired with religious zeal these forces have created an entirely new situation. The intelligence agencies in our neighbourhood and the organisations, like Al Qaida, and Jaish-e-Mohammad, are encouraging the so-called 'Jehadis' to enter India from outside. After first targeting the border states they have now spread deep inside the country. These bands of fanatics are not only indulging in subversive activities, but are spreading the virus of fundamentalism among the Indian Muslims. The break-up of the Indian Union continues to be the main goal of Pakistan's domestic and foreign policy. Easy availability of deadly weapons with the subversive groups operating in India has created new dangers for India's security.
With the 'Golden Crescent', and the 'Golden Triangle' in India's neighbourhood, drug trafficking poses yet another threat to our security. Drug syndicates are generating huge funds, a part of which is being used to give financial support to some of these subversive groups. The intelligence agencies like the ISI are recruiting a number of 'carriers' in drug trafficking as their agents. These agencies provide legal immunity for their criminal activities in their own country in addition to giving them financial and logistical support. Internal security challenges are not confined to any one area, but the North-East, Jammu and Kashmir, and the areas afflicted by Left extremism deserve special mention.
North-East
The Naga leadership under Z.A. Phizo had challenged their integration into the Indian Union even before India became independent in 1947. The Naga insurgency started way back in the early 1950s. Since then the insurgencies in this region have multiplied and spread to many new areas. In this extremely diverse and strategically sensitive region, there are different reasons for the ethnic upsurges and insurgencies in different states. Some seek secession from the Indian Union, some others seek separate states and yet others greater autonomy within the existing state. The number of such insurgent groups could reach three-digit figures. In Manipur alone, more than twenty-five groups are operating. Thousands have died in the insurgency-related violence. Insurgencies have seriously affected the economic life of the region. The whole developmental process is seriously hampered because of this unending violence. One can imagine the plight of the people who are already living on the margin. What to talk of getting a share of the fruits of development, they are deprived even of the most basic services. Unfortunately, unlike Jammu & Kashmir, these violent movements do not stir much response in national consciousness. Even serious incidents of violence hardly find any mention in the so-called mainstream media. The geo-strategic importance of the North-East is not sufficiently appreciated even in the security establishment. All the states in the North-East share an international border with other countries and the seven North-Eastern states are linked to the rest of the country only by a narrow strip of land. The lack of physical, cultural and emotional links has encouraged a feeling of alienation, which is being exploited by the nottoo- friendly neighbours to pursue their own agenda. They are giving support and sanctuaries to many of these groups to use them as leverage against a much bigger and more powerful neighbour.
The roots of these many insurgencies in the North-East lie deep in its history and its geography. But, it would be wrong to treat it as one homogeneous region with common problems, or social systems and customs. Even physiographically, the region can be divided into three broad areas — hills, plateaus, and plains. The many ethnic groups, speaking many different languages and dialects, who inhabit this remote part of the country consider themselves as separate people with little in common with the people in the rest of the country. The lack of physical, cultural and emotional links has encouraged this feeling of separation.
The partition of the country seriously dislocated the old system of communications with serious demographic consequences. At the heart of the problem, however, is the new political consciousness and an urge for asserting their identity, especially among the fiercely independent tribal communities. The partition left the entire region land-locked, and even the old road, railway and river-waterway links with the rest of the country were severed, because they all passed through East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The new rail link via North Bengal is circuitous and too long and expensive for easy access to the region. The air link is not only expensive, but also unreliable due to climatic conditions. The people have to bear enormous additional transport cost for all their supplies. Another intractable problem is created by the influx of migrants from East Pakistan and now continuing from Bangladesh. In the beginning it was confined to the Hindus leaving East Pakistan due to insecure conditions, but later, because of intense population pressure even Muslims started migrating. The fear that immigrant population will one day dominate them is keeping many of the insurgent and secessionist movements alive.
The terrain in this region is eminently suitable for insurgency. The hilly terrain and dense forests provide convenient hiding places to mount ambushes on the moving convoys of the security forces. Large parts of the interior areas have little or no police presence. The insurgent groups virtually control the administration in these areas. After attacking the security force they can easily disappear into the local population. Because of deprivation and alienation, a large section of the people tend to be sympathetic to the members of these groups. It is the alienation of the people that has sustained insurgency all these years, though logistic support and sanctuaries provided by the neighbouring states play a vital role in sustaining them. The dispersion of ethnic groups across the international boundaries has profoundly influenced the nature of political conflicts. However, it needs to be emphasised that internal-external linkages originate with the failure of the domestic political and administrative system in coping with the internal conflicts.
Secessionist leaders often adopt alternative strategies to achieve their goal. They keep on changing their tactics and demands according to the ground situation. The intensity of the conflict depends very much on how strong the public support is. Ethnicity can become an important dimension of internal conflict when it becomes intertwined with other social, political and economic issues. As conflicting groups go from one crisis to the next, they learn by experience to raise their demands to increase their bargaining power. Political changes that offer new opportunities for personal gain and extending their influence can spark violent conflicts. Even though most of them are conscious of the fact that secession is not a viable option, they keep on raising this demand to bring together the various contending conflicts on one platform. Making common cause against the Indian state is how many of these groups with conflicting ideologies cooperate with each other in their fight against the Indian state. The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) was born out of the demand to throw out the migrants from Bangladesh, and yet its top leaders are today finding sanctuary in that country.
The South Asian countries have more in common with India than with other countries in the region. They do not even have a common boundary with each other. But this reality has not made them friendlier towards India. History and geography have encouraged negative sentiments rather than positive sentiments about India in these countries. The big powers too have not hesitated to fish in troubled waters. Till the 1970s, China was directly supporting the insurgencies in the North-East. Strategically, politically and economically the North-East is the most sensitive part of the country and should receive the serious attention it deserves.
The ongoing dialogue between the government and the NSCN (IM) is a positive development, but it is going to take a long and torturous route. The NSCN (IM)'s claim on the Naga-inhabited areas in the neighbouring states has created serious complications. The riots in Manipur in 2001 following the extension of the ceasefire to the areas beyond the boundaries of Nagaland are a pointer to the difficult road ahead. The situation in Assam has shown some signs of improvement, but large-scale extortion by the ULFA and other groups is posing serious problems. The NLFT and the ATTF continue to be active in Tripura. They have sanctuaries in Bangladesh. Mizoram is quiet, but there are problems between the Mizos and the Chakmas, and the Mizos and the Reangs. Thousands of Reang refugees from Mizoram are staying in camps in Tripura. In spite of many rounds of negotiations between the Mizoram government and the representatives of the Reangs, so far no solution appears to be in sight. The unending internecine feud between the NSCN (IM) and the NSCN (K) has spilled over from Nagaland to the neighbouring states and even to Myanmar. A number of Meitie and Kuki groups have sanctuaries in the Chin Hills in Myanmar. The ULFA and the Bodo groups have sanctuaries in the forests of Bhutan. There are unconfirmed reports of some sort of tie-up between the ULFA and the LTTE. A number of groups have also come up in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. Many experts have called the Naga insurgencies as the mother of all insurgencies in the North-East. The level of violence, however, in this explosive region continues to be high in spite of the fact that the ceasefire agreement with the NSCN (IM) has been in place since 1997. This only goes to show how difficult the road to peace is going to be in this trouble-torn region.
It is truism to say that it is not only a law and order problem. It has many other dimensions. No strategy will succeed unless it strikes a right balance between political, economic and security measures. There is need for closer co-ordination among the policymakers. Ideally, there is need for a consensus among the major political parties. The pursuit of narrow political agenda can be exploited by the subversive groups. Many political leaders in this region indulge in double-speak. They mouth nationalist slogans in Delhi but have no hesitation in making strong anti-national statements and collaborating with the insurgent groups in the state. Nor do they have any reservation in changing parties. They frequently hop from one political party to another. In Manipur some politicians have changed sides as many as six times in a year. A chief minister changed his party three times in one month, and his coalition partners three times in 48 hours. A party label has very little meaning. Money and muscle power with active support of the insurgent groups play a key role in the elections.
Most of these states are not financially viable. They hardly collect any revenue and depend almost entirely on the Union government for financial support. This has caused lack of responsibility in incurring public expenditure. For example, Manipur has created a huge bureaucratic structure with a workforce of almost 100,000 on its pay roll. Over 80% of its total revenue (both Plan and non-Plan) is spent on payment of salaries and pensions. Extortion by the insurgent groups, the leakage's of huge funds through corrupt practices leave very little for development. And they conveniently put the blame on the Centre for not giving them adequate funds. Through years of neglect this potentially rich region is today the most backward, almost primitive, part of our country. In these appalling conditions an alienated population becomes an easy target for the secessionist propaganda.
Jammu & Kashmir
The problem has been with us since independence even though Pakistan has no legal case. The ruler of this erstwhile princely state decided to accede to India. According to the Independence Act it was for the rulers of the princely states to decide to join India or Pakistan. Pakistan has been disputing the legality of the accession signed by the then J&K ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh. The initial hesitation of the Maharaja to accede to either India or Pakistan and the unilateral Indian offer to find out the wishes of the people of the state has given Pakistan an excuse to challenge the legality of the accession. It has been doing everything for the last 56 years to grab this state. It has not been able to achieve its objective through wars with India. So, it has started a proxy war since 1989. Waging of a proxy war fits into the Pakistani designs of bleeding India. Unfortunately, the weaknesses of the state and of the administrative systems have provided Pakistan with opportunities to fish in troubled waters. More interested in perpetuating their rule than governing the state, its rulers have been exploiting regional and religious differences. Anti-national forces thrived in this environment and Pakistan has missed no opportunity to support and encourage them. Over the years it has succeeded in building a pro- Pakistan base in the state. Frustrated in their efforts to gain power through democratic means, some politicians joined the anti-India front, more to put pressure on the Indian government than on ideological grounds. In a state, where the overwhelming population was against communal politics at the time of partition, the fundamentalist forces have managed to penetrate into the secular polity. The many serious problems of the people have to be addressed. It is not a coincidence that Pakistan's efforts to destabilise the situation in the state received some success only when our own political mismanagement provided it with an opportunity to intervene, as in 1965 and again in 1989. One of Pakistan's main aims is to divide the polity on communal lines.
The attitude of the Pakistani military government is unlikely to change in the near future. But that does not mean that Pakistan should be allowed to set the Kashmir agenda. Moves will have to be made on all fronts to regain the initiative on both political and diplomatic fronts. The proposals made in the announcements by the Cabinet Committee on Security on October 22 are steps in the right direction, but the ground situation does not justify over-optimism. There are likely to be many ups and downs on this long torturous road to peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
Left Extremism
Making a beginning in Naxalbari in West Bengal and Telengana in Andhra Pradesh in the 1970s, the movement has since spread to many states: Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa. The root cause for the rise in Left extremism is the inability of the states to address the many genuine grievances of the people. The gap between the unrealistic expectations, fuelled by populist rhetoric, and their actual fulfilment has increased and not decreased over the years. The younger generation is no longer willing to put up passively with injustice and humiliation without a fight. The bitterness of the angry young man against the prevailing unjust socio-economic system is spilling over. The older generation is not unsympathetic to them. An educational system which produces unemployable young boys and girls has not helped. Pressure on land has made the task of survival on agriculture more difficult. A callous district administration, especially in the rural areas, a clogged judicial system and feudal attitudes have compounded the problem. The land disputes have multiplied, but the land records and the judicial system to settle them is in disarray. There is a sense of frustration and anger.
The most prominent among the groups, that have mushroomed in the recent years, are the People's War Group (PWG) and the Marxist Communist Centre (MCC) . But it is not ideology and revolutionary zeal that is driving them. For many, joining these groups is the only way to survive. Their main activity is extortion. Huge funds amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees are being extorted by them. What they cannot get through legitimate means they obtain through arms and explosives. Their tactics are no different from the insurgents and terrorists. Create terror and extort money. They are, however, not secessionists. Their aim is to overthrow what they call an unjust socio-economic system. But they are in no hurry to achieve their ideological aims as long as they can extort enough money. Corrupt politicians, policemen and civil servants have made their own adjustments with these groups. A live-and-let live attitude is mutually beneficial to all of them. Who knows how much money goes to the extremists and how much goes to the others. The real sufferers are the very people for whom the extremists are waging this war against the state.
In public perception a government that is unable to discharge all its responsibilities is more likely to respond when the demand is loud, organised and backed by acts of violence. The many progressive, wellintentioned legislations are not being implemented effectively and sometimes have done more harm than good by creating more bitterness and frustration, e.g., the Minimum Wages Act. The marginal and deprived sections of the society are the worst hit.
Social and economic factors are important, but even more important are religion and identity. The secessionist movement in J&K is politically motivated, but its ideological base is built around religious funda-mentalism. Fired by religious fervour, the young recruits have no hesitation in attacking ruthlessly what they consider the decayed political and moral order, which they perceive as hedonistic. Once the instruments of governance are discredited, it is not too difficult to justify their destruction as in J&K, the North-East or in the states afflicted by Left extremism. In another sense, however, the aim of all these movements is no different from the aim of legitimate political movements. They too seek to acquire power, measured in terms of exercising influence or control over the people and acquisition of wealth for them is the source of all power. Extortion, therefore, becomes an essential part of their strategy. Their goal and strategy could change during the course of the movement. In the initial stages some of them may only demand economic and political justice or more autonomy in the existing political system, like the Bodos in Assam, but they can take a more extremist stand and demand secession in the later stages.
Effective steps to reduce ethnic and social inequalities, disparities in educational and employment opportunities, and for creating an effective machinery for the redressal of public grievance, are absolutely essential to improve the environment in which extremist violence flourishes. Steps to reduce economic deprivation and improve the delivery of essential services can erode the base of public support on which the extremist movements survive. It is relatively easier to find solutions to seemingly intractable political problems, like in J&K, in an environment where people are by and large satisfied with the functioning of the government agencies and are not deprived of essential services. More than anything else, it is the economic policies that would ultimately determine the future of these movements. A thriving economy, which gives hope and opportunity to the people, is more likely to defeat all types of extremist movements than any other strategy.
The need for a well co-ordinated security apparatus can hardly be overemphasised. It should include the police, the paramilitary forces, the army and the intelligence agencies. A composite force on the lines of the National Security Guards (NSG) should be organised in all the states, even in those states where the internal security situation is not so serious. It is easier to deal with the problems at the initial stages, than later, when the state police is no longer able to cope with them.
But in the states where the situation has gone beyond their control, the Centre, as laid down in the Constitution, is duty-bound to intervene, notwithstanding the fact that law and order is under the State List. The Union government is charged with the responsibility of protecting the states from internal disturbances under Article 353 of the Constitution, even though law and order comes under List-II, the State List. The Union government can issue directions to the state under Articles 257-258. Action for non-compliance of the directions from the Union government can be taken under Article 365. A state government can be dismissed under Article 356, if a situation arises in which the administration of the state cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. A national emergency can be declared under Article 352.
But, even if the Centre decides to intervene, the state's role cannot be minimised. The primary responsibility to deal with the security challenges must rest with the state governments. A situation should not be allowed to develop where the state government washes its hands off, or its forces instead of cooperating with the central forces, actually work against them. The many internal security challenges can be met effectively only with full cooperation between the central and the state governments. The police, the paramilitary forces, the army and all the intelligence agencies must act in close co-ordination. The hostile foreign forces can and will take advantage of the internal situation to destabilise the country in pursuit of their own agenda. All serious internal security problems: communal and sectarian violence, organised crime, drug-trafficking, labour and students' unrest, political violence and even economic crimes, if not checked effectively can develop an external dimension. There is an urgent need to make the police and the paramilitary forces more professional. The emphasis has to shift from 'more numbers' to 'more professionally trained forces'.
The internal security problems should not be treated as merely law and order problems. They have to be dealt with comprehensively in all their dimensions and at all levels — political, economic and social. They are all interlinked. At times, the required measures will conflict with each other. Going too far in one direction could be counter-productive. The security requirements have to be met, but that does not mean giving the security agencies a free hand. Striking the right balance is the key to success in meeting these challenges effectively. We need a comprehensive security policy that will be implemented effectively at all levels.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for your indulgence. It has been my endeavour to offer a personal perspective on the nature of the internal security challenges that India currently faces. I hope these thoughts and observations would encourage greater deliberations amongst you. From this interaction we could perhaps distil a collective perspective that would be relevant both to the policy makers and the civil society. And finally, my best wishes to the entire IDSA fraternity on this occasion — and may your stature grow.
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Paper no. 2629
17-Mar.-2008
India's Internal Security Dimensions
Guest Column by R.Swaminathan
In pre-independence India, conventional wisdom had it that external security threats stemmed from hostile countries and internal security threats were all totally indigenous. In the six decades since then, the internal security situation has undergone a sea change. Many internal security threats are externally sponsored or guided or inspired or supported or tolerated. Therefore, as change has been said to be the only constant in the order of things, we have to adapt our attitudes and policies to the new realities. We can no longer merely offer or accept the excuse of the "foreign hand". The rapidly developing political, economic and military strength of India, if unfortunately accompanied by a fragile internal security scenario, could become a significant factor for instability in the region and in the world.
This paper is a quick walk-through of the various dimensions of India's internal security and will not touch upon military, energy or food security.
External Factors
Pakistan has been using state-sponsored and state-supported cross-border terrorism (primarily in Jammu & Kashmir) as an instrument of its state policy. China had, at one stage, provided shelter and support to ethnic-separatist militancy in the north-east. Various militant groups operating in India's northeast have often found safe haven and operational bases in Bangladesh. The linkages between the Maoists in Nepal and those in the bordering states in India remain a cause for major concern. One, however, has to recognize, accept and cater for the fact that while external factors could provide seen-or-unseen, real-or-virtual, inspiration and support (like fertilizer and water) to various groups that pose internal security threats, only the pre-existence of the basic grievances and causes (like soil and seeds) could make them functional.
Jihadi terrorism, inspired by externally generated ideas about taking revenge for perceived wrongs committed against Islam over the centuries and the grandiose ambition of establishing an Islamic Caliphate across international borders, is posing a major threat. The increasing numbers of Indian Muslims seen to be involved in such activities calls for special attention. The so-called "global war on terror" is not likely to be of much help to India. It is not as if the jihadi terrorists have a joint "global" or "national" headquarters or if such groups hold any defined territories from which they operate. There may be similarities in methodologies and techniques; but it would be a big mistake to try and evolve a grand plan of macro solutions to this problem. In order to gain local support, every such group would have to focus on specific local-oriented politico-economic-religious issues; and these may have to be tackled through customised approaches that include the addressing of genuine grievances.
Jihadi terrorism, based only on Islamic extremism, is eventually most likely to fail in South Asia, even as Muslims themselves (as well as the Islam-based power structures within the sponsoring/supporting states) increasingly become prime targets. Their support to the ideological and/or religious presuppositions of the Islamic terrorist groups may become inadequate to shield them from harm. When such unavoidable termination would happen would depend largely on the intentions and capabilities of the two primary state sponsors/supporters of terrorist groups in India - Pakistan and Bangladesh - and on the international support and acceptance they would continue to receive.
One of the unfortunate consequences of the raise of Islamic fundamentalism is the mostly indigenous "retaliatory" raise in fundamentalist revivals amongst Hindus and other religionists. Such revivals have the dangerous potential of being accepted by the majority as totally justified.
It is essential to be aware of the potential danger from the spill-over effects of any unstable conditions in India's neighborhood. The Maoist participation in the government in Nepal, the continuing ethnic problem in Sri Lanka with the increasing menace of smuggling and drug trafficking, events in Pakistan and Bangla Desh etc. would all have their own effect in the adjoining areas in India.
Ethnic Militancy
There has been some success over the years in handling ethno-centric militancy in the northeast. Successive governments in India have been following the dual path of negotiation on grievances and firm handling of violence. The near and long term prospects of this approach would very much depend on the fine tuning of the balance between the two paths and the drying up of external support or safe havens. The future would also depend on the relative strengths (real and perceived) of the government and the militant groups. If the latter are able to consolidate their positions and secure an advantage over the state - as had been happening in Sri Lanka - they may be tempted to escalate their demands to the point of a breakdown and reversion to violence. On the other hand, if the state negotiates from a position of demonstrated strength, these groups could weaken with the passage of time and may be inclined to accept the maximum benefits and honourable solutions offered; and rejoin the mainstream.
A potentially dangerous development is the "opportunistic" and "unprincipled" (but limited) international support to the declaration of independence by Kosovo. Ethnic separatists like ULFA, NSCN and those in Manipur could try speciously to apply the Kosovo precedent to their areas. The Government of India should therefore take note of this potential land-mine and be very careful in framing its reaction and response to the developments in Kosovo.
Maoist Insurgency
Maoist (Naxalite) movements have gripped a significantly large portion of India and presently pose one of the most serious threats to our internal security. Though the "ideology" and the "methodology" may be imported, the basic causes are indigenous. There is a wide-spread perception that "land reforms" and efforts at redressal of genuine grievances have only been superficial and that the "exploiters" continue to "exploit" the poor and the landless agriculturists. It cannot be a coincidence that the Maoists are most effective in areas of past maximum exploitation. If, however, this perception is wrong, it is for the state agencies to inform the public of the correct position. On the other hand, if there is any element of truth in this perception, urgent steps are required to remedy the situation on the ground.
A majority of India's small farmers have been facing severe economic problems due to various factors, including globalization, credit crunch (compounded by usurious money-lenders), non-inclusive economic progress etc. It would not be difficult for the Maoists to project themselves as the sole protectors of the poor farmer's interests and the militant way as the only viable redressal procedure available to them. Some recently announced relief measures, including the "revolutionary" farm loan waiver scheme, are very welcome steps, but they should be the beginning and not the end of the many measures necessary to retrieve the poor farmers from the potential embrace of the Maoists. The perception of imbalanced subsidies, which is also a major source of alienation, needs to be overcome by introducing a more rational system.
Maritime & Cargo Security
Apart from the conventional maritime threats to India's national security, special attention needs to be paid to the protection of Indian interests in the exclusive economic zone, to the protection of the (lives and) interests of Indian fishermen, to threats of sabotage/drug trafficking/smuggling posed by container traffic etc. An example of the kind of threat from un-inspected container traffic was graphically provided a couple of days ago, by the fire that started in the privatized luggage (parcel) enclosure in the Chennai-Madurai Pandian Express.
The potential of the presence of the Sea Tigers in the Palk Strait (and of the clashes between the Sri Lankan Navy and the Sea Tigers in that area) becoming a serious threat to India's national security cannot be forgotten or ignored.
Cyber Space
India is becoming notorious as a major originator of spam and "phishing" on the internet. Cyber-based economic offences like illegal money transfers to anti-social entities, laundering of black money, share market manipulation, bank frauds etc. are on the increase, though specific and reliable data is not available.
Changes that Need to be Considered
The above listing (albeit incomplete) of the dimensions of the internal security threats faced by India may seem extremely frightening and may lead to theories of "conspiracies" against India's inevitable march towards becoming a major actor in the international arena. India has the human and material resources for overcoming the problems and for ensuring her internal security; but some significant changes in our mind-set and in our policy-making are necessary. One thing that is certain is that we cannot afford to continue doing business as usual.
First and foremost is the need to recognize that our internal security can be ensured only if there is a consensus on national security policies. Political entities need to agree to eschew the temptation of exploiting (for narrow party interests or for creating/maintaining vote-banks) divisive issues which have the potential of posing threats to national security and cohesion. Such issues should be discussed between all the concerned political entities and the concerned people, so that agreed policy approaches could be worked out. The relatively easy procedure of inciting emotions and passions on potentially divisive issues needs to be given up, though at some cost to the popular "image".
Similarly, parochialism (whether in Assam or Tamil Nadu or Karnataka or Mumbai or anywhere else) should not be allowed to over-ride overall national interests, particularly relating to national security and national integration. Local and minor issues should not emotionally be blown up to become a major national issue. Local and regional concerns no doubt require attention, but they could be pursued with a proper sense of proportion; and discussion and negotiation should become the first choice – instead of agitation, merely to attract the attention of the media and the public. All sections of the media need to resolve that they would demand and encourage such a change in the priorities for the procedures to be adopted for the resolution of potential (and existing) conflicts of interest.
On the part of the government, it has to recognize the public perception that while considerable progress has been made in the area of collection of intelligence, through technical means, about the activities of terrorist and militant groups, such progress does not seem to have been matched in the areas of penetration of those groups and collection of intelligence through human agents. If this perception is correct, necessary measures to rectify the imbalance need to be initiated urgently.
Further, though the required mechanisms are stated to have been created for effective co-ordination between state and central agencies, as also amongst central agencies themselves, the results do not reflect the effectiveness of these mechanisms. What the public see and hear, soon after any "incident" or "failure of security", is a prompt litany of complaints from state and central security agencies, , though mostly indigenous against each other. This effort to shift "blame" often takes precedence over speedy investigation and relief measures.
The variety of internal security threats makes it essential that coping with those threats cannot be left to be the sole responsibility of the state security agencies. There is an inescapable need effectively to involve all other state agencies, all political and religious entities, private security agencies, educationists, social workers and the civil society as a whole to protect our nation. Prevention should be the primary objective, with effective detection and deterrent punishment (when prevention fails) as the backup. It is in the area of prevention that the total involvement of the nation could be made most effective.
Conclusion
Security is not a luxury and is not merely a function of the state; it is a way of life. India has to and can overcome the general inability of democracies to put together the political will, the resources and the strategies that are necessary to prevail over all internal security threats. Real reforms that would remove or minimize economic and religion/caste-based inequalities, good and honest governance and effective policing are pre-requisites for the marshalling the total resources of the nation in these efforts. The Govt of India should also be prepared to lower the threshold of tolerance in relation to cross-border terrorism and to serve credible notice that India has the capabilities and the determination to inflict prohibitively high and unacceptable cost on the state sponsors of terrorist acts against Indian interests.
(This presentation was prepared for delivery on 15 March 2008 at the One-Day National Seminar on "Internal Security Dimensions of India", jointly organized in Chennai by the Dept of Defence & Strategic Studies (University of Madras) and Observer research Foundation (Chennai Chapter). The author can be contacted atrsnathan@gmail.com)
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Post Comment #3126, 14 May 2010 CHALLENGES BEFORE INDIA'S INTERNAL SECURITY: COUNTERING TERRORISM
Kriti Singh
Research Officer, IPCS
email: kriti@ipcs.orgThe dawn of the 21st century has witnessed the rise of a most serious crisis in the form of global terrorism. Irrespective of their position, power, influence and progress, all nations across the globe have experienced the disastrous impact of terrorism. India has been a particular victim of this form of warfare for at least the last four decades. In the backdrop of the growing and altering non-conventional and conventional threat perception and the metamorphosis of the world into a global village coupled with easier access to technology, today terrorism is one of the most challenging internal security threats that India is dealing with.
The term 'terrorism' is exceedingly difficult to explain. A Chinese philosopher describes it as, "to kill one and frighten a thousand". In simple words, "terrorism is the indiscriminate use of force to achieve a political aim". It involves committing outrageous acts in order to precipitate political change. Terrorism is also distinguished by its non-state charter even when terrorists receive military, political, economical and other means of support from states. The object of a terrorist act is to deliberately target the innocent with surprise use of violence.
Terrorism in India has had a long and violent history going back several decades. But, in the recent past it has witnessed a series of strikes in many parts of the country. The last decade has witnessed lethal strikes on the Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001, synchronized series of attacks in the economic hub of India, Mumbai on 26 November 2008, and the bomb blast in the technology, educational and real estate hub of India, Pune on 13 February 2010. As per the Annual Report of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) 2009-2010, "there are subversive/extremist/terrorist activity in Jammu and Kashmir and various States in the North- Eastern region particularly Assam and Manipur; Left Wing Extremism is concentrated in five or six States but is found at some places in other States also."
As terrorism emerges as one of the greatest threats to India's internal security, the government, policy makers and strategic community continue their efforts to find an anti-dose to counter the menace of terrorism. Poignantly, the Mumbai terror strike in 2008 exposed the fissures in the India's internal defense apparatus as it was caught unaware and unprepared. However, the incident provided the Indian government an important lesson to prepare itself and deal with the new-age terrorism. A stringent series of measures have since been initiated to revamp its existing homeland security apparatus to shield and secure the country against future terror aggressions.
The Annual Report of the MHA 2009-2010, has identified a number of new measures undertaken by the government to strengthen the country to meet the grave challenge posed by global terrorism. These include operationalization of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), establishment of four National Security Guards (NSG) hubs to ensure quick and effective response to any possible terror attack, augmentation of the strength of Intelligence Bureau (IB), strengthening of the Multi-Agency Centre in the IB to enable it to function on a 24X7 basis and strengthening coastal security.
With an alarming rate, the threat of terrorism is changing and becoming more and more deadly. Terrorism is no longer confined to a particular region or state, but it has become globalized and operates in a network system. With globalization and advancement in technologies, terrorism has also spread in the veins of all nations and India is no exception. Before 11 September 2001, terrorism was perceived as a local affair. It was condemned but not seriously dealt with by the international community. However, the massive blow of 9/11 came as a wake-up call to the international community and shattered the earlier complacency. Today terrorism is no longer considered an internal affair of one state, but one that has an international connotation. Each act of terror, no matter where, is often linked to, or supported by terrorists somewhere else.
Working together in the fight against terrorism and supporting India's active role in its fight against it, the Obama Administration has recently asked Congress to double its anti-terrorism budget to India. While testifying before a Congressional Committee, the Coordinator for Counterterrorism in the Department of State Daniel Benjamin said, "Under our fiscal year (FY) 2011 request, India's Anti-terrorism assistance (ATA) bilateral budget would almost double, to US $4.5 million, to meet the increasing political will on the part of the Indian government, which has requested more and higher-level training in the aftermath of the Mumbai attack." However, apart from providing India with funds, the Obama Administration should help India in its battle with cross border terrorism and bring the brain behind terrorist strikes against India to books.VIEW COMMENT(0)POST YOUR COMMENT No comment for this articleRELATED ARTICLE ARTICLE BY SAME AUTHOR - ADD TO:
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Armed Forces Special Powers Act:
A study in National Security tyranny
1. INTRODUCTION
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 (AFSPA) is one of the more draconian legislations that the Indian Parliament has passed in its 45 years of Parliamentary history. Under this Act, all security forces are given unrestricted and unaccounted power to carry out their operations, once an area is declared disturbed. Even a non-commissioned officer is granted the right to shoot to kill based on mere suspicion that it is necessary to do so in order to "maintain the public order".
The AFSPA gives the armed forces wide powers to shoot, arrest and search, all in the name of "aiding civil power." It was first applied to the North Eastern states of Assam and Manipur and was amended in 1972 to extend to all the seven states in the north- eastern region of India. They are Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, also known as the "seven sisters". The enforcement of the AFSPA has resulted in innumerable incidents of arbitrary detention, torture, rape, and looting by security personnel. This legislation is sought to be justified by the Government of India, on the plea that it is required to stop the North East states from seceeding from the Indian Union. There is a strong movement for self-determination which precedes the formation of the Indian Union.
2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
As the great Himalayan range dividing South and Central Asia runs down the east, it takes a southward curve and splits into lower hill ranges. The hills are punctuated by valleys and the valleys are washed by the rivers that drain into to the Bay of Bengal. Waves of people settled in these blue hills and green valleys at various times in history. They brought with them cultures and traditions. The new interacted with the old and evolved into the unique cultural mosaic that characterizes the region.
Through the centuries, these hills and valleys have bridged South, South East, and Central Asia. On today's geo-political map, a large part of the original region constitutes the seven states of the Republic of India, but its political, economic and socio-cultural systems have always been linked with South East Asia. The great Hindu and Muslim empires that reigned over the Indian sub-continent never extended east of the Bhramaputra river.
India's British colonizers were the first to break this barrier. In the early 19th century, they moved in to check the Burmese expansion into today's Manipur and Assam. The British, with the help of the then Manipur King, Gambhir Singh, crushed the Burmese imperialist dream and the treaty of Yandabo was signed in 1828. Under this treaty, Assam became a part of British India and the British continued to influence the political affairs of the region.
This undue interference eventually led to the bloody Anglo- Manipuri conflict of 1891. The British reaffirmed their position but were cognizant of the ferocious spirit of independence of these people and did not administer directly but only through the King.
It was during the Second World War, when the Japanese tried to enter the Indian sub-continent through this narrow corridor, that the strategic significance of the region to the Indian armed forces was realised. With the bombing of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a disenchanted Japanese had to retreat from Imphal and Kohima fronts, however the importance of control over the region subsequently remained a priority for the Government of India.
With the end of the war, the global political map was changed over night. As the British were preparing to leave Asia, the Political Department of the British Government planned to carve out a buffer state consisting of the Naga Hills, Mikir Hills, Sadiya Area, Balipara Tract, Manipur, Lushai Hills, Khasi and Hills in Assam, as well as the Chin Hills and the hills of northern Burma. The impending departure of the British created confusion and turmoil over how to fill the political vacuum they would leave behind. Ultimately, the various territories were parceled out to Nehru's India, Jinnah's Pakistan, Aung Sang's Burma and Mao's China according to strategic requirements. As expected, there were some rumblings between the new Asiatic powers on who should get how much - India and Burma over Kabow valley, India and East Pakistan over Chittagong Hill Tracts, and India and China over the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA), present day Arunachal Pradesh.
Compromises were made, and issues were finally settled in distant capitals, to the satifaction of the new rulers. The people who had been dwelling in these hills and valleys for thousands of years were systematically excluded from the consultation process. The Indian share of the British colonial cake in this region constitutes the present "Seven Sisters" states of the North-East.
Over the years, thanks to the British, the advent of western education and contact with new ideas brought about the realization that the old ways had to give way to the new. Indigenous movements evolved as the people aspired to a new social and political order. For example, in the ancient Kingdom of Manipur, under the charismatic leadership of Hijam Irabot, a strong popular democratic movement against feudalism and colonialism was raging. After the departure of the British, the Kingdom of Manipur was reconstituted as a constitutional monarchy on modern lines by passing the Manipur Constitution Act, 1947.
Elections were held under the new constitution. A legislative assembly was formed. In 1949, Mr V P Menon, a senior representative of the Government of India, invited the King to a meeting on the pretext of discussing the deteriorating law and order situation in the state at Shillong. Upon his arrival, the King was allegedly forced to sign under duress the merger agreement. The agreement was never ratified in the Manipur Legislative Assembly. Rather, the Assembly was dissolved and Manipur was kept under the charge of a Chief Commissioner. There were protests, but the carrot-and-stick policy launched by the Indian Government successfully suppressed any opposition.
The Naga Movement
At the beginning of the century, the inhabitants of the Naga Hills, which extend across the Indo-Burmese border, came together under the single banner of Naga National Council (NNC), aspiring for a common homeland and self-governance. As early as 1929, the NNC petitioned the Simon Commission, which was examining the feasibility of future of self-governance of India. The Naga leaders were adamantly against Indian rule over their people once the British pulled out of the region. Mahatma Gandhi publicly announced that the Nagas had every right to be independent. His assertion was based on his belief in non-violence, he did not believe in the use of force or an unwilling union.
Under the Hydari Agreement signed between NNC and British administration, Nagaland was granted protected status for ten years, after which the Nagas would decide whether they should stay in the Union or not. However, shortly after the British withdrew, independent India proclaimed the Naga Territory as part and parcel of the new Republic.
The NNC proclaimed Nagaland's independence. In retaliation, Indian authorities arrested the Naga leaders. An armed struggle ensued and there were large casualties on either side. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act is the product of this tension.
In 1975, some Naga leaders held talks with the Government of India which resulted in what is known as the Shillong Accord. The Naga leaders who did not agree with the Shillong accord formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and continue to fight for what they call," Naga sovereignty".
Problems of Integration
Much of this historical bloodshed could have been avoided if the new India had lived up to the democratic principles enshrined in its Constitution and respected the rights of the nationalities it had taken within its borders. But in the over-zealous efforts to integrate these people into the "national mainstream", based on the dominant brahminical Aryan culture, much destruction has been done to the indigenous populations.
Culturally, the highly caste ridden, feudal society is totally incompatible with the ethics of North-East cultures which are by and large egalitarian. To make matters even worse, the Indian leaders found it useful to club these ethnic groups with the adivasis (indigenous peoples) of the sub-continent, dubbing them "scheduled tribes". As a result, in the casteist Indian social milieu, indigenous peoples are stigmatized by higher castes.
The languages of the North-East are of the Tibeto- Chinese family rather than the Indo-Aryan or Dravidian. Until the recent Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, none of the Tibeto- Chinese languages were recognized as Indian languages. The predominantly mongoloid features of the people of the North-East is another barrier to cultural assimilation.
Politically dependent, the North East is being economically undermined; the traditional trade routes with South East Asia and Bangladesh have been closed. It was kept out of the Government of India's massive infrastructural development in the first few five-year-plans. Gradually, the region has become the Indian capitalist's hinterland, where local industries have been reduced to nothing and the people are now entirely dependent on goods and businesses owned predominantly by those from the Indo- Gangetic plains. The economic strings of this region are controlled by these, in many cases, unscrupulous traders.
All the states of the North-East are connected to India by the "chicken's neck", a narrow corridor between Bangladesh and Bhutan. At partition, the area was cut off from the nearest port of Chittagong, in what is now Bangladesh, reducing traffic to and from the region to a trickle. The states in the region are largely unconnected to India' vast rail system.
India freely exploits the natural resources of the North-East. Assam produces one-fourth of all the petroleum for India, yet it is processed outside of Assam so the state does not receive the revenues. Manipur is 22% behind the national average for infrastructural development, and the entire North-Eastern region is 30% behind the rest of India.
Observers have pointed out that "...it is clear that in the North East, insurgency and underdevelopment have been closely linked; in such a situation strong-arm tactics will only help to further alienate the people."
The shifting demographic balance due to large-scale immigration from within and outside the country is another source of tension. The indigenous people fear that they will be outnumbered by outsiders in their own land. Laborers from Bihar and Bengal who live under rigidly feudal, casteist socio-economic conditions in their states are ready to do all kinds of menial jobs at much lower wages. As they pour in, more and more local laborers are being edged out of their jobs. Illegal immigration from Bangladesh and Nepal is also percieved as a threat. In Tripura, the indigenous population has been reduced to a mere 28% of the total population of the state because of large scale immigration from then East Pakistan and now Bangladesh.
In Assam, a similar fear of " immigrant invasion" was at the root of a student movement in the early eighties. The student leaders formed a political party called the Assam Gana Parisad (AGP) and contested state elections and won. In 1984, the Assam Accord was signed with the Central Government. However, the provisions of the Accord were never implemented. The failure of the AGP to bring about change in the state of Assam fostered the growth of the armed and overtly seccessionist United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).
Mizoram
In the Lushai hills of Assam in the early sixties, a famine broke out. A relief team cried out for help from the Government of India. But there was little help. The relief team organized themselves into the Mizo National Front (MNF) and called for an armed struggle, " to liberate Mizoram from Indian colonialiasm." In February 1966, armed militant groups captured the town of Aizawl and took possession of all government offices. It took the Indian army one week to recapture the town. The army responded viciously with air raids. This is the only place in India where the Indian Security Forces actually aerially bombed its own civilian population. The armed forces compelled people to leave their homes and dumped them on the roadside to set up new villages, so that the armed forces would be able to better control them. This devastated the structure of Mizo society. In 1986, the Mizo Accord was signed between the MNF and the Government of India. This accord was identical to the Shilong Accord made with the Nagas earlier. The MNF agreed to work within the Indian Constitution and to renounce violence.
The Government of India's primary interest in the North East was strategic, and so was its response to the problems. A series of repressive laws were passed by the Government of India in order to deal with this uprising. In 1953, the Assam Maintenance of Public Order (Autonomous District) Regulation Act was passed. It was applicable to the then Naga Hills and Tuensang districts. It empowered the Governor to impose collective fines, prohibit public meetings and and detain anybody without a warrant.
On 22 May 1958, a mere 12 days after the Budget Session of Parliament was over, the Armed Forces (Assam-Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance was passed. A bill was introduced in the Monsoon session of Parliament that year. Amongst those who cautioned against giving such blanket powers to the Army included the then Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, (Upper House of the Indian Parliament), Mr P N Sapru. In a brief discussion that lasted for three hours in the Lok Sabha and for four hours in the Rajya Sabha, Parliament approved the Armed Forces (Assam- Manipur) Special Powers Act with retrospective from 22 May 1958.
3. THE ACT AND ITS PROVISIONS
Section 1: This section states the name of the Act and the areas to which it extends (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram).
Section 2: This section sets out the definition of the Act, but leaves much un-defined. Under part (a) in the 1972 version, the armed forces were defined as "the military and Air Force of the Union so operating". In the 1958 version of the Act the definition was of the "military forces and the air forces operating as land forces". In the Lok Sabha Debates which led to the passing of the original Act, Mr Naushir Bharucha commented, "that probably means that the Government very mercifully has not permitted the air forces to shoot or strafe the area ... or to bomb." The Minister of Home Affairs did not confirm this interpretation, but certainly "acting as land forces" should rule out the power to resort to aerial bombardment. Nevertheless, in 1966, the Air Force in Mizoram did resort to aerial bombardment.
Section 2(b) defines a "disturbed area" as any area declared as such under Clause 3 (see discussion below). Section 2(c) states that all other words not defined in the AFSPA have the meanings assigned to them in the Army Act of 1950.
Section 3: This section defines "disturbed area" by stating how an area can be declared disturbed. It grants the power to declare an area disturbed to the Central Government and the Governor of the State, but does not describe the circumstances under which the authority would be justified in making such a declaration. Rather, the AFSPA only requires that such authority be "of the opinion that whole or parts of the area are in a dangerous or disturbed condition such that the use of the Armed Forces in aid of civil powers is necessary." The vagueness of this definition was challenged in Indrajit Barua v. State of Assam case. The court decided that the lack of precision to the definition of a disturbed area was not an issue because the government and people of India understand its meaning. However, since the declaration depends on the satisfaction of the Government official, the declaration that an area is disturbed is not subject to judicial review. So in practice, it is only the government's understanding which classifies an area as disturbed. There is no mechanism for the people to challenge this opinion. Strangely, there are acts which define the term more concretely. In the Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976, an area may be declared disturbed when "a State Government is satisfied that (i) there was, or (ii) there is, in any area within a State extensive disturbance of the public peace and tranquility, by reason of differences or disputes between members of different religions, racial, language, or regional groups or castes or communities, it may ... declare such area to be a disturbed area." The lack of precision in the definition of a disturbed area under the AFSPA demonstrates that the government is not interested in putting safeguards on its application of the AFSPA.
The 1972 amendments to the AFSPA extended the power to declare an area disturbed to the Central Government. In the 1958 version of the AFSPA only the state governments had this power. In the 1972 Lok Sabha debates it was argued that extending this power to the Central Government would take away the State's authority. In the 1958 debates the authority and power of the states in applying the AFSPA was a key issue. The Home Minister had argued that the AFSPA broadened states' power because they could call in the military whenever they chose. The 1972 amendment shows that the Central Government is no longer concerned with the state's power. Rather, the Central Government now has the ability to overrule the opinion of a state governor and declare an area disturbed. This happened in Tripura, when the Central Government declared Tripura a disturbed area, over the opposition of the State Government.
In the 1972 Lok Sabha debates, Mr S D Somasundaram pointed out that there was no need to extend this power to the Central Government, since the President had "the power to intervene in a disturbed State at any time" under the Constitution. This point went unheeded and the Central Government retains the power to apply the AFSPA to the areas it wishes in the Northeast.
Section 4: This section sets out the powers granted to the military stationed in a disturbed area. These powers are granted to the commissioned officer, warrant officer, or non-commissioned officer, only a jawan (private) does not have these powers. The Section allows the armed forces personnel to use force for a variety of reasons.
The army can shoot to kill, under the powers of section 4(a), for the commission or suspicion of the commission of the following offenses: acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area prohibiting the assembly of five or more persons, carrying weapons, or carrying anything which is capable of being used as a fire-arm or ammunition. To justify the invocation of this provision, the officer need only be "of the opinion that it is necessary to do so for the maintenance of public order" and only give "such due warning as he may consider necessary".
The army can destroy property under section 4(b) if it is an arms dump, a fortified position or shelter from where armed attacks are made or are suspected of being made, if the structure is used as a training camp, or as a hide-out by armed gangs or absconders.
The army can arrest anyone without a warrant under section 4(c) who has committed, is suspected of having committed or of being about to commit, a cognisable offense and use any amount of force "necessary to effect the arrest".
Under section 4(d), the army can enter and search without a warrant to make an arrest or to recover any property, arms, ammunition or explosives which are believed to be unlawfully kept on the premises. This section also allows the use of force necessary for the search.
Section 5: This section states that after the military has arrested someone under the AFSPA, they must hand that person over to the nearest police station with the "least possible delay". There is no definition in the act of what constitutes the least possible delay. Some case-law has established that 4 to 5 days is too long. But since this provision has been interpreted as depending on the specifics circumstances of each case, there is no precise amount of time after which the section is violated. The holding of the arrested person, without review by a magistrate, constitutes arbitrary detention.
Section 6: This section establishes that no legal proceeding can be brought against any member of the armed forces acting under the AFSPA, without the permission of the Central Government. This section leaves the victims of the armed forces abuses without a remedy.
4. LEGAL ANALYSIS
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act contravenes both Indian and International law standards. This was exemplified when India presented its second periodic report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1991. Members of the UNHRC asked numerous questions about the validity of the AFSPA, questioning how the AFSPA could be deemed constitutional under Indian law and how it could be justified in light of Article 4 of the ICCPR. The Attorney General of India relied on the sole argument that the AFSPA is a necessary measure to prevent the secession of the North Eastern states. He said that a response to this agitation for secession in the North East had to be done on a "war footing." He argued that the Indian Constitution, in Article 355, made it the duty of the Central Government to protect the states from internal disturbance, and that there is no duty under international law to allow secession.
This reasoning exemplifies the vicious cycle which has been instituted in the North East due to the AFSPA. The use of the AFSPA pushes the demand for more autonomy, giving the peoples of the North East more reason to want to secede from a state which enacts such powers and the agitation which ensues continues to justify the use of the AFSPA from the point of view of the Indian Government.
A) INDIAN LAW
There are several cases pending before the Indian Supreme Court which challenge the constitutionality of the AFSPA. Some of these cases have been pending for over nine years. Since the Delhi High Court found the AFSPA to be constitutional in the case of Indrajit Barua and the Gauhati High court found this decision to be binding in People's Union for Democratic Rights, the only judicial way to repeal the act is for the Supreme Court to declare the AFSPA unconstitutional.
It is extremely surprising that the Delhi High Court found the AFSPA constitutional given the wording and application of the AFSPA. The AFSPA is unconstitutional and should be repealed by the judiciary or the legislature to end army rule in the North East.
Violation of Article 21 - Right to life
Article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees the right to life to all people. It reads, "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law." Judicial interpretation that "procedure established by law means a "fair, just and reasonable law" has been part of Indian jurisprudence since the 1978 case of Maneka Gandhi. This decision overrules the 1950 Gopalan case which had found that any law enacted by Parliament met the requirement of "procedure established by law".
Under section 4(a) of the AFSPA, which grants armed forces personnel the power to shoot to kill, the constitutional right to life is violated. This law is not fair, just or reasonable because it allows the armed forces to use an excessive amount of force.
The offenses under section 4(a) are: "acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area prohibiting the assembly of five or more persons or the carrying of weapons or of things capable of being used as weapons or fire-arms, ammunition or explosive substances". None of these offences necessarily involve the use of force. The armed forces are thus allowed to retaliate with powers which are grossly out of proportion with the offence.
Justice requires that the use of force be justified by a need for self-defense and a minimum level of proportionality. As pointed out by the UN Human Rights Commission, since "assembly" is not defined, it could well be a lawful assembly, such as a family gathering, and since "weapon" is not defined it could include a stone. This shows how wide the interpretation of the offences may be, illustrating that the use of force is disproportionate and irrational.
Several incidents show how the Border Security Force (BSF) and army personnel abuse their powers in the North East. In April 1995, a villager in West Tripura was riding near a border outpost when a soldier asked him to stop. The villager did not stop and the soldier shot him dead. Even more grotesque were the killings in Kohima on 5 March 1995. The Rastriya Rifles (National Rifles) mistook the sound of a tyre burst from their own convoy as a bomb attack and began firing indiscriminately in the town. The Assam Rifles and the CRPF who were camped two kilometers away heard the gunshots and also began firing. The firing lasted for more than one hour, resulting in the death of seven innocent civilians, 22 were also seriously injured. Among those killed were two girls aged 3 1/2 and 8 years old. The injured also included 7 minors. Mortars were used even though using mortars in a civilian area is prohibited under army rules.
This atrocity demonstrates the level of tension prevalent in the North East. For a tire burst to be mistaken for a bomb proves that the armed forces are perpetually under stress and live under a state of siege.
In the Indrajit Barua case, the Delhi High Court found that the state has the duty to assure the protection of rights under Article 21 to the largest number of people. Couched in the rhetoric of the need to protect the "greater good", it is clear that the Court did not feel that Article 21 is a fundamental right for the people of Assam. The Court stated, "If to save hundred lives one life is put in peril or if a law ensures and protects the greater social interest then such law will be a wholesome and beneficial law although it may infringe the liberty of some individuals."
This directly contradicts Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which guarantees equality before the law. This article guarantees that "the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India." The AFSPA is in place in limited parts of India. Since the people residing in areas declared "disturbed" are denied the protection of the right to life, denied the protections of the Criminal Procedure Code and prohibited from seeking judicial redress, they are also denied equality before the law. Residents of non-disturbed areas enjoy the protections guaranteed under the Constitution, whereas the residents of the Northeast live under virtual army rule. Residents of the rest of the Union of India are not obliged to sacrifice their Constitutional rights in the name of the "greater good".
Protection against arrest and detention - Article 22
Article 22 of the Indian Constitution states that "(1) No person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for such arrest nor shall he be denied the right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of his choice. (2) Every person who is arrested and detained in custody shall be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court of the magistrate and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a magistrate." The remaining sections of the Article deal with limits on these first two sections in the case of preventive detention laws. On its face, the AFSPA is not a preventive detention law therefore the safeguards of sections (1) and (2) must be guaranteed to people arrested under the AFSPA.
Section (2) of Article 22 was the subject of much debate during the framing of the Indian Constitution. There was argument over whether the time limit should be specified or whether the words "with the least possible delay" should be used. Dr Amedkar, one of the principal framers of the Indian Constitution argued that "with the least possible delay" would actually result in the person being held for a shorter period of time, whereas "twenty- four hours" would result in the person being held for the maximum time of twenty-four hours. The application of these terms has since shown that a specified time period constitutes a greater safeguard. Under the AFSPA, the use of "least possible delay" language has allowed the security forces to hold people for days and months at a time. A few habeas corpus cases in which the court did find the delay to be excessive are indicative of the abuses which are occurring in practice. It should be noted that habeas corpus cases are only filed for those who have access to lawyers and the court. In all the seven states of the North East only the Guwhati High Court bench in Assam can hear habeas corpus cases. So although in the two following cases the time of delay in handing over the arrested person was found excessive, it can only be imagined what types of abuses occur in the states of Manipur and Nagaland where the people do not have access to the court. In Nungshitombi Devi v. Rishang Keishang, CM Manipur, (1982) 1 GLR 756, the petitioner's husband was arrested by CRPF on 10 January 1981, and was still missing on 22 February 1981. He had been arrested under AFSPA Section 4(c). The court found this delay to have been too long and unjustified, even under Section 5 of the AFSPA. In Civil Liberties Organisation (CLAHRO) v. PL Kukrety, (1988) 2 GLR 137, people arrested in Oinam were held for five days before being handed over to magistrates. The court found this to be an unjustified delay.
In its application, the AFSPA does lead to arbitrary detention. If the AFSPA were defended on the grounds that it is a preventive detention law, it would still violate Article 22 of the Constitution. Preventive detention laws can allow the detention of the arrested person for up to three months. Under 22(4) any detention longer than three months must be reviewed by an Advisory Board. Moreover, under 22(5) the person must be told the grounds of their arrest. Under section 4(c) of the AFSPA a person can be arrested by the armed forces without a warrant and on the mere suspicion that they are going to commit an offence. The armed forces are not obliged to communicate the grounds for the arrest. There is also no advisory board in place to review arrests made under the AFSPA. Since the arrest is without a warrant it violates the preventive detention sections of article 22.
The case of Luithukla v. Rishang Keishing, (1988) 2 GLR 159, a habeas corpus case, exemplifies the total lack of restraint on the armed forces when carrying out arrests. The case was brought to ascertain the whereabouts of a man who had been arrested five years previously by the army. The court found that the man had been detained by the army and that the forces had mistaken their role of "aiding civil power". The court said that the army may not act independently of the district administration. Repeatedly, the Guwahati High Court has told the army to comply with the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), but there are is no enforcement of these rulings.
Army officers have accused High Court judges of weakening military powers in the North East, exemplifying that the armed forces are not interested in complying with civil law standards. Any attempt by the courts to oblige compliance with police procedure is ignored. (see further section on the lack of independence of the judiciary)
In the habeas corpus case of Bacha Bora v. State of Assam, (1991) 2 GLR 119, the petition was denied because a later arrest by the civil police was found to be legal. However, in a discussion of the AFSPA, the court analyzed Section 5 (turn the arrested person over to the nearest magistrate "with least possible delay"). The court did not use Article 22 of the Constitution to find that this should be less than twenty-four hours, but rather said that "least possible delay" is defined by the particular circumstances of each case. In this case, the army had provided no justification for the two week delay, when a police station was nearby, so section 5 was violated. Nevertheless, this leaves open the interpretation that circumstances could justify a delay of 5 days or more.
The Indian Criminal Procedure Code ("CrPC")
The CrPC establishes the procedure police officers are to follow for arrests, searches and seizures, a procedure which the army and other para- military are not trained to follow. Therefore when the armed forces personnel act in aid of civil power, it should be clarified that they may not act with broader power than the police and that these troops must receive specific training in criminal procedure.
In explaining the AFSPA bill in the Lok Sabha in 1958, the Union Home Minister stated that the Act was subject to the provisions of the Constitution and the CrPC. He said "these persons [military personnel] have the authority to act only within the limits that have been prescribed generally in the CrPC or in the Constitution." If this is the case, then why was the AFSPA not drafted to say "use of minimum force" as done in the CrPC? If the government truly means to have the armed forces comply with criminal procedure, than the AFSPA should have a specific clause enunciating this compliance. Further it should also train the armed forces in this procedure.
The CrPC has a section on the maintenance of public order, Chapter X, which provides more safeguards than the AFSPA. Section 129 in that chapter allows for the dispersal of an assembly by use of civil force. The section empowers an Executive Magistrate, officer-in-charge of a police station or any police officer not below the rank of sub-inspector to disperse such an assembly. It is interesting to compare this section with the powers the army has to disperse assemblies under section 4(a) of the Act. The CrPC clearly delineates the ranks which can disperse such an assembly, whereas the Act grants the power to use maximum force to even to non commissioned officers. Moreover, the CrPC does not state that force to the extent of causing death can be used to disperse an assembly.
Sections 130 and 131 of the same chapter sets out the conditions under which the armed forces may be called in to disperse an assembly. These two sections have several safeguards which are lacking in the Act. Under section 130, the armed forces officers are to follow the directives of the Magistrate and use as little force as necessary in doing so. Under 131, when no Executive Magistrate can be contacted, the armed forces may disperse the assembly but if it becomes possible to contact an Executive Magistrate at any point, the armed forces must do so. Section 131 only gives the armed forces the power to arrest and confine. Moreover, it is only commissioned or gazetted officers who may give the command to disperse such an assembly, whereas in the AFSPA even non-commissioned officers are given this power. The AFSPA grants wider powers than the CrPC for dispersal of an assembly.
Moreover, dispersal of assemblies under Chapter X of the CrPC is slightly more justifiable than dispersal under Section 4(a) of the AFSPA. Sections 129-131 refer to the unlawful assemblies as ones which "manifestly endanger" public security. Under the AFSPA the assembly is only classified as "unlawful" leaving open the possibility that peaceful assemblies can be dispersed by use of force.
Chapter V of the CrPC sets out the arrest procedure the police are to follow. Section 46 establishes the way in which arrests are to be made. It is only if the person attempts to evade arrest that the police officer may use "all means necessary to effect the arrest." However, sub-section (3) limits this use of force by stipulating that this does not give the officer the right to cause the death of the person, unless they are accused of an offence punishable by death or life imprisonment. This power is already too broad. It allows the police to use more force than stipulated in the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (see section on International law below). Yet the AFSPA is even more excessive. Section 4(a) lets the armed forces kill a person who is not suspected of an offence punishable by death or life imprisonment.
Under the Indian Penal Code, at Section 302, only murder is punishable with death. Murder is not one of the offenses listed in section 4(a) of the AFSPA. Moreover the 4(a) offences are assembly of five or more persons, the carrying of weapons, ammunition or explosive substances, none of which are punishable with life imprisonment under the Indian Penal Code. Under section 143 of the Penal Code, being a member of an unlawful assembly is punishable with imprisonment of up to six months and/or a fine. Even if the person has joined such unlawful assembly armed with a deadly weapon, the maximum penalty is imprisonment for two years and a fine. Moreover, persisting or joining in an unlawful assembly of five or more persons is also punishable with six months imprisonment, or a fine, or both. The same offence committed by someone in a disturbed area under the AFSPA is punishable with death. This again violates the Constitutional right to equality before the law. Different standards of punishment are in place for the same act in different parts of the country, violating the equality standards set out in the Constitution.
Supposedly the military do have instructions on the procedures they are to follow when they act in aid of civil power. In People's Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, (1991) 2 GLR 1, when the court reviewed the army's powers it referred to two sets of instructions issued to the military when acting in aid of civil power. The first was a 1969 pamphlet issued by the Government of India as guidance for military but it was confidential and the court was not allowed to review it. A 1973 basic book instructions for army acting in aid of civil power was also referred to in the case. In a personal meeting with Justice Raghuvir, former Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court, and the Justice who wrote the opinion in People's Union for Democratic Rights, SAHRDC asked for details on the nature of these instructions. Justice Raghuvir told us that he was only able to see a few pages and that the whole booklet was not available to non-military personnel. He believes that the military keeps these instruction manuals confidential so that it can not be shown that the armed forces fail to comply with their own standards. This is another example of the lack of judicial review and allows the armed forces to remain above the law.
Military's Immunity / Lack of Remedies
The members of the Armed Forces in the whole of the Indian territory are protected from arrest for anything done within the line of official duty by Section 45 of the CrPC. Section 6 of the AFSPA provides them with absolute immunity for all atrocities committed under the AFSPA. A person wishing to file suit against a member of the armed forces for abuses under the AFSPA must first seek the permission of the Central Government.
In a report on the AFSPA to the UN Human Rights Committee in 1991, Nandita Haksar, a lawyer who has often petitioned the Guwahati High Court in cases related to the AFSPA, explains how in practice this leaves the military's victims without a remedy. Firstly, there has not been a single case of any one seeking such permission to file a case in the North East. Given that the armed forces personnel conduct themselves as being above the law and the people are alienated from the state government, it is hardly surprising that no one would approach Delhi for such permission. Secondly, when the armed forces are tried in army courts, the public is not informed of the proceedings and the court martial judgments are not published. In a meeting with the government National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), a representative of SAHRDC was able to discuss cases where BSF and armed forces in Jammu and Kashmir were punished for abuses. Yet, the results of these trials were not published and the NHRC representative stated that it would endanger the lives of the soldiers.
This section of the AFSPA was also reviewed in Indrajit Barua. The High Court justified this provision on the grounds that it prevents the filing of "frivolous claims". The court even said that this provision provides more safeguards, obviously confusing safeguards for the military with safeguards for the victims of the military's abuses.
Instances of human rights abuses by the army have shown that unless there is public accountability there is no incentive for the army to change its conduct. This was exemplified in Burundi when security forces killed 1,000 people in October 1991. Amnesty International reported, "The failure to identify those responsible for human rights violations and bring them to justice has meant that members of the security forces continue to believe that they are above the law and can violate human rights with impunity." Without the transparency of the public accounting, it is impossible to be sure that perpetrators are actually punished.
Habeas corpus cases have been the only remedy available for those arrested under the AFSPA. A habeas corpus case forces the military or police to hand the person over to the court. This gives the arrested person some protection and it is in these cases that legal counsel have been able to make arguments challenging the AFSPA. However, a habeas corpus case will not lead to the repeal of the act nor will it punish particular officers who committed the abuses. Also, only people who have access to lawyers will be able to file such a case.
Section 6 of the AFSPA thus suspends the Constitutional right to file suit. Mr Mahanty raised this crucial argument in the first Lok Sabha debate on the AFSPA in 1958. He said that Section 6 of the AFSPA "immediately takes away, abrogates, pinches, frustrates the right to constitutional remedy which has been given in article 32(1) of the Constitution." This further shows that the AFSPA is more than an emergency provision because it is only in states of emergency that these rights can be constitutionally suspended.
Section 32(1) of the Constitution states that "the right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this Part is guaranteed." In the Constitutional Assembly debates, Dr B R Ambedkar said, "If I was asked to name any particular article of the Constitution as the most important - an article without which this Constitution would be a nullity. I would not refer to any other article except this one (Article 32). It is the very soul of the Constitution and the very heart of it."
During the emergency in 1975 the right to file for writs of habeas corpus was suspended as ruled by the Supreme Court in A.D.M. v. Shivakant Shukla, (1976) 2 SCC 521. The Emergency had been declared under Section 359 of the Constitution. This section has now been amended, stating that the fundamental rights of section 20 and 21 cannot be suspended, even in a state of emergency. Therefore, should an emergency be declared today, the right to file habeas corpus on the grounds that the fundamental right to life has been denied should be allowed. Nevertheless, the 1975 case exemplifies the court's deference for the executive, even if it means a total suspension of individual liberty.
In the 1958 Lok Sabha, debate also occured about whether the right to file suit was a guaranteed right under the Constitution. The Speaker said, "Now who is to decide whether a right is one which has been guaranteed under this article? (article 32) The Supreme Court will decide it." Turning to this argument later, the Home Minister pointed out that under the Criminal Procedure Code and the Civil Procedure Code that the Government's consent was already required before a member of the armed forces could be sued in connection with their duties. This remains the case under both Codes today. Since, as seen above, the Supreme Court so readily defers to the executive and legislative branches, if the legislature does not pause to ask if a provision is constitutional, should the court review it once the legislature has passed it, it will most likely be deemed constitutional.
The Army Act
The 1950 act was a revision of the 1911 Indian Army Act. One of the goals of this revision was "to bridge the gap between the Army and civil laws as far as possible in the matter of punishments of offenses." The High Courts of the country have a limited right to interfere with the court-martial system. Court-martial proceedings do not have to satisfy Article 21 of the Constitution. In chapter five of the Army Act, the members of the services are granted privileges, including immunity from attachments and arrest for debt. The only civil acts committed by members of the army which are not triable by court-martial are murder or rape of a civilian, unless this was done while on active service. This means that soldiers operating under the AFSPA will, if tried at all, be tried by court-martial, leaving no civil law remedy for the victims. Section 6 of the AFSPA only further reinforces the army's immunity.
States of Emergency
The declaration that an area is disturbed essentially amounts to declaring a state of emergency but by-passes the Constitutional safeguards. The point that this bill invokes a state of emergency was raised immediately by Mr Mahanty (Dhenkanal) in the 1958 Lok Sabha debates. He said the Assembly could not proceed if Section 352(1) of the Constitution was not fulfilled. In response, Mr K C Pant, then Home Minister, attempted to argue that the powers granted under the AFSPA do not resemble a state of emergency. He said that in an emergency fundamental rights can be abrogated and that the AFSPA does not abrogate those rights. But under Section 4(a) the right to life is clearly violated. An officer shooting to kill, because he is of the opinion that it is necessary, does not conform, even prima facie, with the Article 21 Constitutional requirement that the right to life cannot be abridged except according to procedure established by law. The Home Minister said the AFSPA powers stem rather from Article 355 of the Constitution, which gives the Central Government authority to protect the States against external aggression.
Dr Krishnaswanmi (Chingleput) also made the argument that the AFSPA was outside the powers granted in the Constitution, since it was declaring a state of emergency without following the Constitutional provisions for such a declaration. He argued that this Bill would take away the State's power by bringing in the military. The Speaker responded that this did not take away the State's power, rather it granted the States more power because it allowed them to decide to "hand over thoroughly, entirely and completely to the Armed Forces". This argument is circular - the Speaker was saying that the States are given more power because they are now able to freely hand over their power. And because this was explained as granting power to the States, no Presidential proclamation was necessary (the proclamation is only made when the State powers are restricted). So the emergency provisions in the Constitution were cleverly by-passed.
In a state of emergency, fundamental rights may be suspended under Article 359, since the 1978 amendment to this article, rights under Articles 20 and 21 may not be suspended. As shown above, the AFSPA results in the suspension of Article 21 right to life, therefore AFSPA is more draconian than emergency rule. Emergency rule can only be declared for a specified period of time, and the President's proclamation of emergency must be reviewed by Parliament. The AFSPA is in place for an indefinite period of time and there is no legislative review.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention noted in its report of 17 December 1993, that states of emergency tend to be a "fruitful source of arbitrary arrests." In its report of 21 December 1994, the Working Group concluded that preventive detention is "facilitated and aggravated by several factors such as ... exercise of the powers specific to states of emergency without a formal declaration, non-observance of the principle of proportionality between the gravity of the measures taken and the situation concerned, too vague a definition of offenses against State security, and the existence of special or emergency jurisdictions." This describes exactly the situation under the AFSPA. The AFSPA grants state of emergency powers without declaring an emergency as prescribed in the Constitution. The measures taken by the military outweigh the situation in the North East, notably the power to shoot to kill. The offences are not clearly defined, since all of the Section 4 offences are judged subjectively by the military personnel. And the AFSPA is a "special jurisdiction" provision.
B) INTERNATIONAL LAW
Under relevant international human rights and humanitarian law standards there is no justification for such an act as the AFSPA. The AFSPA, by its form and in its application, violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the "UDHR"), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the "ICCPR"), the Convention Against Torture, the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the UN Body of Principles for Protection of All Persons Under any form of Detention, and the UN Principles on Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra- legal and summary executions.
A UDHR argument would just be repetitive with ICCPR so SAHRDC has not done it but the UDHR articles which the AFSPA violates are the following: 1 - Free and Equal Dignity and rights, 2 - Non- discrimination, 3 - Life, liberty, security of person, 5 - no torture, 7 - equality before the law, 8 - effective remedy, 9 - no arbitrary arrest, 17 - property.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ("ICCPR")
India signed the ICCPR in 1978, taking on the responsibility of securing the rights guaranteed by the Covenant to all its citizens. The rights enunciated by the ICCPR are those which must be guaranteed during times of peace by the member states. In times of public emergency, the ICCPR foresees that some rights may have to be suspended. However, the ICCPR remains operative even under such circumstances since certain rights are non- derogable. The AFSPA violates both derogable and non-derogable rights.
This first article of the ICCPR states that all people have the right to self-determination. As discussed previously, the AFSPA is a tool in stifling the self-determination aspirations of the indigenous peoples of the North East.
Article 2 imposes an obligation on the states to ensure that all individuals enjoy the rights guaranteed by the Covenant. This includes an obligation to provide a remedy for those whose rights are violated. When India gave its second periodic report to the UN Human Rights Committee in March 1991, members of the Committee pointed out that the AFSPA violates this right because article 2 foresees more than just a legal system which provides such remedies, but requires that such a system work on the practical level.
Article 4 of the Covenant governs the suspension of some of the Covenant's rights. Derogation of the ICCPR has three conditions. Firstly, it is only "in time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed" that states may derogate from their obligations under the ICCPR. Also, such derogation must be "strictly required by the exigencies of the situation" and cannot be inconsistent with other international law obligations nor "involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin." The AFSPA has been enacted without such an official proclamation of emergency and goes beyond the requirements of the situation. Moreover, the fact that the AFSPA targets the population of the North East shows that it does discriminate on the basis of social origin. Secondly, there can be no derogation from articles 6, 7, 8 (paragraphs 1 and 2), 11, 15, 16 and 18. As discussed below, the AFSPA violates three of these, article 6 guaranteeing the right to life, article 7 prohibiting torture and article 8 prohibiting forced labour. Thirdly, any state which derogates from the ICCPR obligations must inform the other states party to the Covenant. India has not met this obligation as regards the AFSPA.
The AFSPA comes within the purview of article 4 as understood by the Human Rights Committee. The members found that since it "enables the army to supplement ... [the] civil authorities [in] powers of arrest, powers of search" the AFSPA is the equivalent of emergency legislation. Moreover, a committee member stated that the AFSPA had actually created a "continuous state of emergency" since it has been in application since 1958.
The greatest outrage of the AFSPA under both Indian and international law is the violation of the right to life. This comes under Article 6 of the ICCPR, and it is a non-derogable right. This means no situation, or state of emergency, or internal disturbance, can justify the suspension of this right. Committee members insisted on this particular point in regards to the AFSPA. They found that the powers to kill under the Act are simply too broad. As pointed out by a member of the committee, the offences under Section 4(a) for which the soldier may shoot do not threaten the soldier. The Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials only foresees the use of deadly force when the officer is threatened with force. Under Section 4(a) of the AFSPA, the officer can shoot when there is an unlawful assembly, not defined as threatening, or when the person has or is suspected of having a weapon. Since "weapon" is defined as anything "capable of being used as a weapon", a committee member pointed out that this could even include a stone, further bringing out the lack of proportionality between the offence and the use of force by the army.
The armed forces in the North East have systematically tortured the people they arrested under the AFSPA. Article 7 of the ICCPR prohibits torture and this also is a non-derogable right. Moreover, the prohibition against torture is a "norm of customary law". Under the UDHR, torture is defined as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted by or at the instigation of a public official on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or confession, punishing him for an act he has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating him or other person."
During Operation Bluebird, the Assam Rifles committed gross abuses of this right. The Operation was launched in the wake of an attack on an Assam Rifles outpost in Oinam, a village in Manipur. The attack is believed to have been carried out by the NSCN. The armed forces retaliated by perpetuating atrocities on the village people of Oinam. The Amnesty International report found that more than 300 villagers claimed they were beaten, "some torture victims were left for dead ... others were reportedly subjected to other forms of torture including inserting chili powder into sensitive parts of the body, being given electric shocks by means of a hand operated dynamo ... or being buried up to the neck in apparent mock executions." The headman of the village was also tortured and reported, "I was called out and repeatedly interrogated throughout the day ... I was beaten by the officers an jawans ... they also indiscriminately attack[ed] the villagers - ... chili powder dissolved in water [was] rubbed into the nostrils, eyes and soft parts of the body and [officers and jawans] took sadistic pleasure from the cries of pain by the victims."
Under similar circumstances in "Operation Rhino", Rajputana Rifles surrounded the village of Bodhakors on October 4, 1991. An extensive house to house searched was conducted during which women were sexually harassed and men were taken to interrogation camps. They were beaten up and kept without food or water. During this combing operation not a single insurgent was found. The People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) noted, "It is very difficult to understand the logic such useless raids, mass torture and interrogations, unless the purpose is taken to be the creation of pure terror for some sinister and ulterior motives."
During Operation Bluebird, the military also forced the villagers of Oinam to work for them and provided them with no compensation. This violates article 8(3) of the ICCPR which prohibits forced labour. The Assam Rifles "rounded up villagers for forced labour for such tasks as porter service, building new army camps, washing clothes and carrying firewood."
Article 9 of the ICCPR guarantees liberty and security of person, and the AFSPA violates all five sub-parts of this right. Sub- part (1) guarantees that "Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his Liberty except on such ground and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law." All the residents of a disturbed area are subject to arbitrary arrest. The military can arrest them on mere suspicion and detain them for unspecified amounts of time before handing them over to the nearest magistrate. Sub-part (2) states "Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him." The AFSPA does not require the arresting army officer to inform the person of the reason for their arrest. This is a requirement under Indian criminal procedure, but the military are not trained in this procedure. Sub-part (3) requires that "Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other official authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time of release." The AFSPA requires less than this since it states that the person should be brought to the nearest police station "with the least possible delay". Moreover, requiring the person to be handed over to the police station does not assure that they will be brought promptly before a judge.
Article 26 of the ICCPR, like article 14 of the Indian Constitution guarantees equal protection for all persons before the law. The AFSPA violates this right because the inhabitants of the North East do not have equal protection before the law. They live under a virtual but undeclared state of emergency and are given no remedy for the injustices they suffer at the hands of the military. Inhabitants of the rest of India, with the exception of Punjab and Kashmir are not subject to this law.
In response the UN Human Rights Committee in 1991, the Attorney General from India did not address the specific points of these various ICCPR articles. He justified the AFSPA under Section 355 of the Indian Constitution which makes it the duty of the Union to protect each state from external aggression. He said the AFSPA was necessary given the context of the North East where there is "infiltration of aliens into the territories mingling with the local public, and encouraging them towards this [secession]." He stated that the ICCPR does not encourage secession and governments are not encouraged to promote it. He said the AFSPA is a "temporary measure", not addressing the concern of committee members that the AFSPA has proven to be a longterm provision as it has been in force for over thirty years.
International Customary Law
The UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the UN Body of Principles for Protection of All Persons Under any form of Detention, and the UN Principles on Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal and summary executions all form part of international customary law because they were passed by UN General Assembly resolutions. They lend further strength to the conclusion that the AFSPA violates basic human rights standards.
The UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials was adopted by the UN General Assembly in resolution 34/169 of 17 December 1979. This code applies to all security forces stationed in the North East since "law enforcement officials" are defined as all those who exercise police powers, and it can include military officers. The first article requires that, "Law enforcement officials shall at all times fulfil the duty imposed upon them by law, by serving the community and by protecting all persons against illegal act, consistent with the high degree of responsibility required by their profession." A high degree of responsibility is sadly lacking in the troops stationed in the North East. As exemplified by the atrocities noted above, the BSF, CRPF and Assam Rifles are not concerned with the requirements of the law enforcement profession, rather they are operating on a "war footing".
The second article of the code requires that, "In the performance of their duty, law enforcement officials shall respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons." As demonstrated above, multiple provisions of the basic human rights standards in the ICCPR are violated under the AFSPA. The AFSPA encourages the military officers to violate human rights because it allows the armed forces to base arrests, searches and seizures on their subjective suspicion. The armed forces know their actions will not be reviewed and that they will not be held accountable for their actions. They have neither the training nor the incentive to comply with this article of the Code.
Under Article 3 of the Code, "Law enforcement officials may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty." The Attorney General of India tried to convince the UN Human Rights Committee that the use of force under the AFSPA is strictly necessary and is "squarely within the requirements of Article 3 [of the Code]." However, this argument ignores the sub-sections of Article 3 which stipulate that "(a) This provision emphasizes that the use of force by law enforcement officials should be exceptional; while it implies that law enforcement officials may be authorized to use force as is reasonably necessary under the circumstances for the prevention of crime or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders, no force going beyond that may be used." This provision aims at establishing proportionality between the use of force by an officer and the use of force by an offender. Under 4(a) of the AFSPA, the military personnel can use force against people who are not presenting any force. Under 4(c) they can use any amount of force necessary to arrest someone who is suspected of having committed, or being about to commit, an offence. Under 4(d), this same excessive use of force can be justified in entering and searching premises without a warrant.
Sub-section (c) of the code further clarifies that "in general, firearms should not be used except when a suspected offender offers armed resistance or otherwise jeopardizes the lives of others and less extreme measures are not sufficient to restrain or apprehend the suspected offender." When armed forces fire upon an unlawful assembly under Section 4(a) they are violating this basic provision. Moreover, the fact that the armed forces have begun firing into crowds and lob mortar shells in the middle of a town in the North East proves they are not interested in "less extreme measures".
Under the Code, the armed forces have no grounds on which to justify their broad powers in the North East. Article 5 of the code reads, "No law enforcement official may inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, nor may any law enforcement official invoke superior orders or exceptional circumstances such as state of war or a threat of war, a threat to national security, internal political instability or any other public emergency as a justification of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." (emphasis added) This sweeps aside all the arguments made in the Lok Sabha to justify the original passage of the AFSPA, as well as the Attorney General's arguments before the UN Committee. Even if the North East is a "disturbed area" there is no justification for the human rights abuses being carried out by the military in the region.
The Body of Principles on Detention or Imprisonment was passed by UN General Assembly resolution no. 43/173, on 9 December 1988. This body of principles applies to all persons under any form of detention. It further strengthens several of the points raised under both Indian and international law.
Principle 10 states that "Anyone who is arrested shall be informed at the time of his arrest of the reason for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of the charges against him." The armed forces are not obliged to provide this information under the AFSPA. Moreover, under principle 14, "A person who does not adequately understand or speak the language used by the authorities responsible for his arrest, detention or imprisonment is entitled to receive [information] promptly in a language which he understands". Since the armed forces stationed in the North East are foreign to the region they are unable to comply with this principle. Under principle 32 the right to habeas corpus must be absolutely guaranteed.
The Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions adopted by Economic and Social Council also offer guidance for the use of force. Principle 3 says, "Governments shall prohibit orders from superior officers or public authorities authorizing or inciting other person to carry out any such extra-legal, arbitrary or summary executions. All persons shall have the right and the duty to defy such orders. Training of law enforcement officials shall emphasize the above provisions." The armed forces operating in the North East should therefore not follow the excessive power to shoot to kill granted in the AFSPA.
International Humanitarian Law
The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 along with the two optional protocols, constitute the body of international humanitarian law. These provisions are suited to human rights protection in times of armed conflict. Under these conventions the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is given access to all international conflicts. In non-international armed conflicts, the ICRC can only offer its services.
The ICRC's mandate in the context of non-international armed struggle is based on Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions. However, India has not signed either protocol to the Geneva Conventions. Nevertheless, the ICRC can offer its services in such a conflict based on Article 3, paragraph 2, common to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 ("an impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict"). When the ICRC offers its services in such a situation, a state does not have to accept them, or consider it an interference in its internal affairs. However, "in situations of internal disturbance, the rules of international humanitarian law can only be invoked by analogy."
The British armed forces presence in Northern Ireland is an apt comparison to the Indian military presence in the North East. The British carry out arrests under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act or the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act. When detainees were held for seven days without charge the European Court of Human Rights found this to be in violation of the European Human Rights Covenant.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The Supreme Court of India reached a low for its lack of enforcement of fundamental rights in the Jabalpur case of 1975. The country was in a state of emergency and the high courts had concluded that although the executive could restrict certain rights, people could still file habeas corpus claims. The Supreme Court rejected this conclusion and said the high court judges had substituted their suspicion of the executive for "frank and unreserved acception of the proclamation of emergency." Noted Legal luminary, H M Seervai notes that this shows the lack of judicial detachment. Indeed, it exemplifies a deference to the executive which leaves the people with no enforcement of their constitutional rights. Jabalpur has since been deemed an incorrect decision, but it remains an apt example of the judiciary's submission to the executive.
The Supreme Court has avoided a Constitutional review for over 9 years, the amount of time the principal case has been pending. The Court is not displaying any judicial activism on this Act. The Lok Sabha in the 1958 debate acknowledged that if the AFSPA were unconstitutional, it would be for the Supreme Court to determine. The deference of the Delhi High Court to the legislature in the Indrajit case also demonstrates a lack of judicial independence.
The Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary was adopted by the seventh UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders and was also adopted by the UN General Assembly. Principle 2 of this document says, "The judiciary shall decide matters before them impartially, on the basis of facts and in accordance with the law, without any restrictions, improper influences, inducements, pressure, threats or interferences, direct or indirect, from any quarter or for any reason." The Indian judicial system is not subject to direct interference. It seems to function independently, but under the surface it is possible to discern indirect pressure. For example, the practice of appointing retired judges to commissions may well influence judges while they are on the bench. There may not be direct pressure to render decisions favorable to the executive, but certainly a judge who has "towed the government line" is more likely to be appointed by that same government to a position of prominence upon retirement.
Moreover, there is an absence of creative legal thinking. When the Guwahati High Court was presented with international law argument in People's Union for Democratic Rights, the court ignored it. Justice Raghuvir said in a personal interview that the court could not use international law. If the government has signed an international convention like the ICCPR which requires the government to guarantee rights to its citizens, how can these be enforced if the judiciary does not turn to the text of the convention in its rendering of decisions? The courts are not turning to the spirit of the law which guarantees the fundamental right to life to all people and as a result violations of human rights go unchecked.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence and Impartiality of the Judiciary, Jurors and Assessors and the Independence of Lawyers, Mr Param Cumaraswamy, stated in the 51st Session of the Commission on Human Rights on 10 February 1995, at the United Nations in Geneva that," The power of judicial review is vital for the protection of the rule of law." He also quoted from Mr L M Singhvi's 1985 report that "the strength of legal institutions is a form of insurance for the rule of law and for the observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms and for preventing the denial and miscarriage of justice."
6. RECOMMENDATIONS
The only way to guarantee that the human rights abuses perpetrated by the armed forces in the North East cease is to both repeal the AFSPA and remove the military from playing a civil role in the area. Indeed with 50% of the military forces in India acting in a domestic role, through internal security duties, there is a serious question as to whether the civil authority's role is being usurped. As long as the local police are not relied on they will not be able to assume their proper role in law enforcement. The continued presence of the military forces prevents the police force from carrying out its functions. This also perpetuates the justification for the AFSPA.
Among the recommendations made by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, from 1994 was the statement that "Governments which have been maintaining states of emergency in force for many years should lift them, limit their effects or review the custodial measures that affect many persons, and in particular should apply the principle of proportionality rigorously."
The National Human Rights Commission is now reviewing the AFSPA. Hopefully, the NHRC will find that the AFSPA is unconstitutional and will submit this finding to the Supreme Court to influence its review of the pending cases. However, the NHRC has a very limited role. In past cases, the Supreme Court has not welcomed such intervention by the NHRC. This was evident when the NHRC attempted to intervene in the hearing against the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA).
If the AFSPA is not repealed, it must at a bare minimum comply with international law and Indian law standards. This means the powers to shoot to kill under section 4(a) must be unequivocally revoked. Arrests must be made with warrants and no force should be allowed in the search and seizure procedures. Section 5 should clearly state that persons arrested under the Act are to be handed over to the police within twenty-four hours. Section 6 should be completely repealed so that individuals who suffer abuses at the hands of the security forces may prosecute their abusers.
Moreover, the definition of key phrases, especially "disturbed area" must be clarified. The declaration that an area is disturbed should not be left to the subjective opinion of the Central or State Government. It should have an objective standard which is judicially reviewable. Moreover, the declaration that an area is disturbed should be for a specified amount of time, no longer than six months. Such a declaration should not persist without legislative review.
Armed forces should not be allowed to arrest or carry out any procedure on suspicion alone. All their actions should have an objective basis so that they are judicially reviewable. This will also assist those who file suit against the security forces.
All personnel acting in a law enforcement capacity should be trained according to the UN Code of Conduct for law enforcement personnel. The instructions and training given to the armed forces should be available to the public. Complete transparency should be established so that a public accountability is rendered possible.
Having the armed forces comply with the Indian CrPC would also be a bare minimum. The CrPC itself does not fully comply with international human rights standards, so making the AFSPA comply on its face with the CrPC provisions for the use of minimal force, arrest, search and seizure would only be a rudimentary step in reducing the abuses committed under the AFSPA.
If the Indian Government truly believes that the only way to handle the governance of the North Eastern states is through force, then it must allow the ICRC to intervene. This can only have a calming influence. Acceptance of ICRC services would demonstrate that the fighting parties want to bring an end to the violence. The ICRC's involvement could help protect the residents of the North East who are currently trapped in the middle between insurgents and the military.
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Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Pleasehelp improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (October 2010) The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), was passed on September 11, 1958 by the Parliament of India.[1] It conferred special powers upon armed forces in what the language of the act calls "disturbed areas" in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur,Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. It was later extended to Jammu and Kashmir as The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 in July 1990.[2]
Contents
[hide][edit]The Act
The Articles in the Constitution of India empower state governments to declare a state of emergency due to one or more of the following reasons:
- Failure of the administration and the local police to tackle local issues.
- Return of (central) security forces leads to return of miscreants/erosion of the "peace dividend".
- The scale of unrest or instability in the state is too large for local forces to handle.
In such cases, it is the prerogative of the state government to call for central help. In most cases, for example during elections, when the local police may be stretched too thin to simultaneously handle day-to-day tasks, the central government obliges by sending in the CRPF. Continued unrest, like in the cases of militancy and insurgence, and especially when borders are threatened, are the armed forces resorted to.[3]
In a civilian setting, soldiers have no legal tender, and are still bound to the same command chain as they would be in a war theater. Neither the soldiers nor their superiors have any training in civilian law or policing procedures. This is where and why the AFSPA comes to bear - to legitimize the presence and acts of armed forces in emergency situations which have been deemed war-like by local leaders which led to the armed forces' presence in the first place.[3][4]
[edit]Constitutionality and other issues
According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), in an area that is proclaimed as "disturbed", an officer of the armed forces has powers to:
- "Fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law" against "assembly of five or more persons" or possession of deadly weapons.
- To arrest without a warrant and with the use of "necessary" force anyone who has committed certain offenses or is suspected of having done so
- To enter and search any premise in order to make such arrests.
It gives Army officers legal immunity for their actions. There can be no prosecution, suit or any other legal proceeding against anyone acting under that law. For declaring an area as a 'disturbed area' there must be a grave situation of law and order on the basis of which Governor/Administrator can form opinion that an area is in such a disturbed or dangerous condition that use of Armed Forces in aid of civil power is necessary .[5]
The Act has been employed in the Indian administrated state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1990.[2] It was withdrawn by the Manipur government in some of the constituencies in August 2004 in spite of the Central government not favouring withdrawal of the act.
In December 2006, responding to what he said were 'legitimate' grievances of the people of Manipur, Prime Minister Manmohan Singhdeclared that the Act would be amended to ensure it was 'humane' on the basis of the Jeevan Reddy Commission's report, which is believed to have recommended the Act's repeal.[6]
Violence has increased in the past two decades since enforcement of the Act.[7] The state has created a "Gallantry Awards" pool for the arms forces which are awarded for elimination of insurgencies and conduction of operations. The term 'encounters' is used by the security forces to describe confrontations where it is deemed appropriate, under the provisions of the act, to employ violence.[7]
Protests began in Kashmir valley on Sep 10, 2010, on the occasion of Eid and turned violent on Sep 11, the anniversary of the controversial act. Indian Goverenment is considering partial withdrawal of the act.
[edit]The Jeevan Reddy Commission
In 2004, in the wake of intense agitation [8] that was launched by several civil society groups following the death of Thangjam Manorama, while in the custody of the Assam Rifles and the indefinite fast undertaken by Irom Sharmila, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil visited Manipur and reviewed the situation with the concerned state authorities. In the same year, Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh assured activists that the central government would consider their demand sympathetically.
The central government accordingly set up a five-member committee under the Chairmanship of Justice B P Jeevan Reddy, former judge of the Supreme Court. The panel was given the mandate of "review[ing] the provisions of AFSPA and advis[ing] the Government of India whether (a) to amend the provisions of the Act to bring them in consonance with the obligations of the government towards protection of human rights; or (b) to replace the Act by a more humane Act."
The Reddy committee submitted its recommendations on June 6, 2005. However, the government failed to take any concrete action on the recommendations even after almost a year and a half. The then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee had rejected the withdrawal or significant dilution of the Act on the grounds that "it is not possible for the armed forces to function" in "disturbed areas" without such powers.[citation needed]
The 147-page report recommends, "The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, should be repealed." During the course of its work, the committee members met several individuals, organisations, parties, institutions and NGOs, which resulted in the report stating that "the Act, for whatever reason, has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high handedness." The report clearly stated that "It is highly desirable and advisable to repeal the Act altogether, without of course, losing sight of the overwhelming desire of an overwhelming majority of the [North East] region that the Army should remain (though the Act should go)."[citation needed]
But activists say the Reddy panel despite its recommendation for the 'repeal of the Act' has nothing substantial for the people. The report recommends the incorporation of AFSPA in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, which will be operable all over India.[citation needed]
[edit]Non-state views and commentary
[edit]United Nations view
When India presented its second periodic report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1991, members of the UNHRC asked numerous questions about the validity of the AFSPA. They questioned the constitutionality of the AFSPA under Indian law and asked how it could be justified in light of Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR. On 23 March 2009, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay asked India to repeal the AFSPA. She termed the law as "dated and colonial-era law that breach contemporary international human rights standards."[9]
The Attorney General of India responded that the AFSPA is a necessary measure to prevent the secession of the North Eastern states.[citation needed] He said that a response to this agitation for secession in the North East had to be done on a "war footing."[citation needed] He argued that the Indian Constitution, in Article 355, made it the duty of the Central Government to protect the states from internal disturbance, and that there is no duty under international law to allow secession.[citation needed]
[edit]Non-governmental organizations' analysis
The act has been criticized by Human Rights Watch as a "tool of state abuse, oppression and discrimination".[10]
The South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre argues that the governments' call for increased force is part of the problem.[11]
"This reasoning exemplifies the vicious cycle which has been instituted in the North East due to the AFSPA. The use of the AFSPA pushes the demand for more autonomy, giving the people of the North East more reason to want to secede from a state which enacts such powers and the agitation which ensues continues to justify the use of the AFSPA from the point of view of the Indian Government." - The South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre[12]
A report by the Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis points to multiple occurrences of violence by security forces against civilians in Manipur since the passage of the Act.[13] The report states that residents believe that the provision for immunity of security forces urge them to act more brutally.[13] The article, however, goes on to say that repeal or withering away of the act will encourage insurgency.
[14] In addition to this, there have been claims of disappearances by the police or the army in Kashmir by several human rights organizations.[15][16]
Many human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch(HRW) have condemned human rights abuses in Kashmir by Indians such as "extra-judicial executions", "disappearances", and torture;[17] the "Armed Forces Special Powers Act", which "provides impunity for human rights abuses and fuels cycles of violence. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) grants the military wide powers of arrest, the right to shoot to kill, and to occupy or destroy property in counterinsurgency operations. Indian officials claim that troops need such powers because the army is only deployed when national security is at serious risk from armed combatants. Such circumstances, they say, call for extraordinary measures." Human rights organizations have also asked Indian government to repeal[18] the Public Safety Act, since "a detainee may be held in administrative detention for a maximum of two years without a court order.".[19]
[edit]United States leaked diplomatic cables
The Wikileaks diplomatic cables have recently disclosed that Indian government employees agree to acts of human rights violations on part of the Indian armed forces and various paramilitary forces deployed in the north east parts of India especially Manipur. The violations have been carried out under the cover of this very act. Governor S.S. Sidhu admitted to the American Consul General in Kolkata, Henry Jardine, that theAssam Rifles in particular are perpetrators of violations in Manipur which the very same cables described as a state that appeared more of a colony and less of an Indian state.[20][21]
Earlier leaks had also stated that International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had reported to the United States diplomats in Delhi about the grave human rights situation in Kashmir which included the use of electrocution, beatings and sexual humiliation against hundreds of detainees. Kashmir is currently adminsitered under this very act.[22]
[edit]See also
[edit]Footnotes
- ^ "THE ARMED FORCES (SPECIAL POWERS) ACT, 1958"
- ^ a b "(PDF) The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990" Indian Ministry of Law and Justice Published by the Authority of New Delhi
- ^ a b Harinder Singh (July 6, 2010). "AFSPA: A Soldier's Perspective". Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
- ^ Anil Kamboj (October 2004). "Manipur and Armed Forces (Special Power) Act 1958". Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
- ^ ""Naga People's Movement of Human Rights vs. Union of India,1998"".
- ^ ""Humane garb for 'black law'"". December 3, 2006.
- ^ a b IDSA strategic analysis: Armed Forces Special Powers Act
- ^ "MANIPUR ON FIRE". Frontline. September 2004. Retrieved 2011-06-05.
- ^ "United Nations asks Indian govt to repeal AFSPA". IRNA. March 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-24.
- ^ "Crisis in Kashmir" Council on Foreign Relations
- ^ India: Repeal Armed Forces Special Powers Act; 50th Anniversary of Law Allowing Shoot-to-Kill, Other Serious Abuses.Human Rights Watch
- ^ AFSPA South Asian HRDC
- ^ a b Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis, 'Manipur and Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958' "the alleged rape and killing of Manjab Manorama", "security forces have destroyed homes", "arrests without warrants", "widespread violations of humane rights", "The cases of Naga boys of Oinam village being tortured before their mothers by Assam rifles Jawans in July 1987; the killing of Amine Devi and her child of Bishnupur district on April 5, 1996 by a CRPF party; the abduction, torture and killing of 15-year-old Sanamacha of Angtha village by an Assam Rifles party on 12th February 1998; the shooting dead of 10 civilians by an Assam Rifles party in November 2000 are some of the glaring examples that are still fresh in the mind of Manipuris."
- ^ "Blood Tide Rising". TIME Magazine. January 18, 1993.
- ^ India
- ^ BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Kashmir's extra-judicial killings
- ^ Behind the Kashmir Conflict - Abuses in the Kashmir Valley
- ^ India: Repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
- ^ Behind the Kashmir Conflict: Undermining the Judiciary (Human Rights Watch Report: July 1999)
- ^ Nambath, Suresh (March 21, 2011). "'Manipur more a colony of India'". The Hindu (Chennai, India).
- ^ http://www.thehindu.com/news/the-india-cables/the-cables/article1556742.ece/ref>
- ^ Burke, Jason (December 16, 2010). "WikiLeaks cables: India accused of systematic use of torture in Kashmir". The Guardian(London).
[edit]External links
Wikisource has original text related to this article: - Coverage on website of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre
- "Armed Forces Act to go from Imphal" - rediff.com article dated August 12, 2004
- Interview with Arundhati Roy on Manipur and the AFSPA, on Democracy Now
Categories: Indian Army | Kashmir conflict | Human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir | Indian legislation | 1958 in law | Indian federal legislation | 1958 in Indiarom Chanu Sharmila
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaIrom Sharmila Chanu 
Irom Sharmila ChanuBorn March 14, 1972
Kongpal, Imphal, Manipur, IndiaOccupation Civil rights activist, Politicalactivist, Poet Parents Irom c Nanda (father)
Irom Ongbi Sakhi (mother)Irom Chanu Sharmila (born March 14, 1972), also known as the "Iron Lady of Manipur" or "Menghaobi" ("the fair one")[1] is a civil rights activist, political activist, journalist and poet from the Indian state of Manipur. Since 2 November 2000, she has been on hunger strike to demand that the Indian government repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA), which she blames for violence in Manipur and other parts of India's northeast.[2] Having refused food and water for more than ten years, she has been called "the world's longest hunger striker".[3]
Contents
[hide][edit]Decision to fast
On November 2, 2000, in Malom, a town in the Imphal Valley of Manipur, ten civilians were allegedly shot and killed by the Assam Rifles, one of the Indian Paramilitary forces operating in the state, while waiting at a bus stop.[4][5] The incident later came to be known to activists as the "Malom Massacre".[6] The next day's local newspapers published graphic pictures of the dead bodies, including one of a 62-year old woman, Leisangbam Ibetomi, and 18-year old Sinam Chandramani, a 1988 National Child Bravery Award winner.[5]
Sharmila, the 28-year-old daughter of a Grade IV veterinary worker, began to fast in protest of the killings, taking neither food nor water.[7] As her brother Irom Singhajit Singh recalled, "The killings took place on 2 November, 2000. It was a Thursday. Sharmila used to fast on Thursdays since she was a child. That day she was fasting too. She has just continued with her fast".[8] Her primary demand to the Indian government was the repeal of the AFSPA, which allowed soldiers to indefinitely detain any Manipurian citizen on suspicion of being a rebel.[4]The act has been blamed by opposition and human rights groups for permitting torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions.[4][7]
Three days after she began her strike, she was arrested by the police and charged with an "attempt to commit suicide", which is unlawful under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, and was later transferred to judicial custody.[8] Her health deteriorated rapidly, and the police then forcibly had to use nasogastric intubation in order to keep her alive while under arrest.[3] Since then, Irom Sharmila has been regularly released and re-arrested every year since under IPC section 309, a person who "attempts to commit suicide" is punishable "with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year [or with fine, or with both]".[8][9]
[edit]Continued activism
By 2004, Sharmila had become an "icon of public resistance".[4] Following her procedural release On October 2, 2006, for around four months, Irom Sharmila Chanu went to Raj Ghat, New Delhi, which she said was "to pay floral tribute to my idol, Mahatma Gandhi." Later that evening, Sharmila headed for Jantar Mantar for a protest demonstration where she was joined by students, human rights activists and other concerned citizens.[7] On 6 October, she was re-arrested by the Delhi police for attempting suicide and was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where she wrote letters to the Prime Minister, President, and Home Minister.[7] At this time, she met and won the support of Nobel-laureate Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Laureate and human rights activist, who promised to take up Sharmila's cause at the United Nations Human Rights Council.[7]
[edit]International attention
Sharmila was nominated to the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize by a Guwahati-based woman's organization, the North East Network.[10]
She was awarded the 2007 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, which is given for "an outstanding person or group, active in the promotion and advocacy of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights".[11] She shared the award with Lenin Raghuvanshi of People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, a northeastern Indian human rights organization.[11]
On 28 November 2010, UK Green Party leader and European Parliament member Keith Taylor wrote to the Indian government seeking the release of Sharmila and the repeal of the AFSPA.[12]
[edit]Works on her life
Deepti Priya Mehrotra's Burning Bright: Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur details Sharmila's life and the political background of her fast.[13]
Kavita Joshi's short documentary My Body My Weapon (released by Why Democracy? in 2007) alleges violations by security forces that fuel Sharmila's resolve to keep fasting until AFSPA is repealed. Tales from the Margins, a twin project of the above film, also focuses on Sharmila, locating her resistance in the larger context of women's protests against the AFSPA in Manipur.
Ojas S V, a theatre artist from Pune has been performing a mono-play titled Le Mashale (Take the torch), based on Irom Sharmila's life and struggle at several places in India. It is an adaptation of Meira Paibi (Women bearing torches), a drama written by Malayalam playwright Civic Chandran.[14][15]
[edit]References
- ^ Rituparna Chatterjee (20 April 2011). "Spot the Difference: Hazare vs. Irom Sharmila". Sinlung. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
- ^ "Manipur Fasting Woman Re-arrested". BBC News. 9 March 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ a b Andrew Buncombe (4 November 2010). "A decade of starvation for Irom Sharmila". The Independent. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ a b c d Nilanjana S. Roy (8 February 2011). "Torchbearers for Victims in a Violent Land". New York Times. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ a b Rahul Pathak (6 August 2004). "Why Malom is a big reason for Manipur anger against Army Act". IndianExpress.com. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Malom Massacre
- ^ a b c d e Shoma Chaudhury (5 December 2009). "Irom And The Iron In India's Soul". Tehelka. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ a b c "Manipur fasting woman re-arrested". BBC News. 9 March 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Section 309 in The Indian Penal Code, 1860
- ^ "Irom Sharmila: A potent revolutionary fights the unacceptable". headlinesindia.com. 6 March 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ a b "Gwangju Prize for Human Rights". May 18 Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
- ^ K Sarojkumar Sharma (28 November 2010). "EU leader seeks Sharmila release". srai.org. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Penguin Review, Burning Bright
- ^ The Hindu, For a Noble cause
- ^ Times of India, Single act that captures a dozen wounds of Manipur
[edit]External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Irom Chanu Sharmila - Babloo Loitongbam, North-east India Experience
- A write-up on Irom Sharmila, with video clips, IMOW
- My Body My Weapon, a short documentary on Irom Sharmila by Kavita Joshi
- Irom's Iron in the Soul, an interview with Irom Sharmila
- The Unlikely Outlaw, cover story on Irom Sharmila
- Daughter of peace, cover story on Irom Sharmila
[hide]Gwangju Prize for Human Rights laureates Xanana Gusmão (2000) • Basil Fernando (2001) • Korean Association of Bereaved Families for Democracy (2002) • Dandeniya Gamage Jayanthi (2003) •Aung San Suu Kyi (2004) • Wardah Hafidz (2005) • Malalai Joya (2006) • Angkhana Neelaphaijit (2006) • Irom Chanu Sharmila (2007) • Lenin Raghuvanshi (2007) •Munir A. Malik (2008) • Min Ko Naing (2009) • Sushil Pyakurel (2010) • Binayak Sen (2011)
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Irom Chanu Sharmila - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Abhay Deol stands for Irom Chanu
6 hours agoSo it's hardly surprising to see him talk his mind on the burning issue of Irom Chanu Sharmila's hunger strike. The 'Iron Lady of Manipur' has been on a ...Hindustan Times - 2 related articles -
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Irom Sharmila Chanu - IIPM
14 Feb 2011 ... As Irom Sharmila Chanu inches towards completing ten full years of her hunger strike against AFSPA and as civil rights activists try to ...
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12 Apr 2011 ... Irom Sharmila Chanu, also known as the Iron Lady of Manipur has been on an political fast since November 4, 2000 demanding the Government of ...
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YouTube - IROM SHARMILA CHANU.wmv
5 min - 12 Nov 2010 - Uploaded by priscacol6345
This is my 1st project on 5 mins film making....Please comment so that i can improve my work in future...
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