Gs 29th August

8/4/2019 Gs 29th August

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Getting chewed up over a cultural symbol

Picture this: from posh city restaurants to tree-shaded charpoys in the villages of India, peopleare blissfully chewingpaan , or betel nut, as they have done for centuries. Suddenly, United

Nations narcotics agents arrive, and either arrest the chewers or confiscate all stocks of theculturally-important product.

While this may never ever be a nightmare scenario for India, a similar situation has been giving aheadache to one head of StatePresident Evo Morales of Bolivia.

With his country pushed into a diplomatic corner owing to the obstinacy of the U.N. system, onJune 29 Bolivia's first-ever Aymara Indian President was left with no option but to announce itwould exit from one of the most important global conventions on narcotic drugs.

The convention

The temporal provenance of his troubles goes back to 1976 when, under the brutal dictatorship

of Hugo Banzer, Bolivia signed up to the 1961 U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs(UNSCND). The Convention had on its list of banned substances Bolivia's cultural equivalent ofpaanthe coca leaf.

Mr. Morales described the chewing of coca leaf as an important symbol of the history andidentity of the indigenous cultures of the Andes. The report that sought its inclusion in the list

was criticised for its poor methodology, racist connotations, and cultural insensitivity.

A study by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) cited shoddy work by the U.N. inquiry

into the coca leaf's properties, which sought to link coca chewing to a lack of productivity in thework environment because indigenous coca chewing communities... had a poorer jobperformance when compared with non-coca chewing regions. But it did not specify howperformance was measured, or whether there was any direct causal connection between coca-chewing and productivity.

Coca leaf composition

Writing about the biochemical composition of the coca leaf in The New York Times , Mr.Morales argued that, similar to many other plants, coca leaf had small quantities of chemicalcompounds called alkaloids. In other plants these include caffeine and nicotine, which have

addictive properties, and quinine, which has medicinal properties. While the coca leaf hasalkaloids, the one that concerns anti-drug officials is the cocaine alkaloid, which amounts to lessthan one-tenth of a percent of the leaf. To be made into a narcotic, the alkaloid needs to beextracted, concentrated and subjected to extensive chemical processing.

Mr. Morales wrote: What is absurd about the 1961 convention is that it considers the coca leaf

in its natural, unaltered state to be a narcotic. The paste or the concentrate that is extracted fromthe coca leaf, commonly known as cocaine, is indeed a narcotic, but the plant itself is not.


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The fact that a plant, leaf or flower contains a fractional amount of alkaloids does notautomatically imply it is a narcoticcertainly not in the eyes of the U.N. So why discriminateagainst the coca leaf? A more insidious factor driving this debate came up when in 2009 Mr.Morales wrote to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon seeking the reform of Article 49 of theUNSCND. He affirmed that coca leaf chewing is a one-thousand-year-old ancestral practice of

the Andean indigenous peoples that cannot and should not be prohibited. But he was rebuffed.The U.S. publicly opposed the amendment in an attempt to maintain control and stabilise the

prolonged international drug war, according to the COHA analysis.

The questions

So, is this a fallout of the U.S. offshoring its drug wars and targeting developing countries forsupplying cocaine to willing consumers within its own borders? If so, should its primary focusnot be on securing its own borders from drug inflows or adopting anti-drug policies to curbdomestic consumption? Does it even make sense to go after an iconic cultural symbol of Boliviaespecially when over 90 per cent of cocaine coming into the U.S. is anyway from Colombia,

according to the U.N.'s own Office on Drugs and Crime?

In any case, under its 2009 Constitution, Bolivia had four years to renegotiate the terms of theUNSCND or adherence to it, or withdraw from the Convention. Facing a wall of opposition byadvanced economies, led by the U.S., this condition inexorably led Mr. Morales to announce thatBolivia would exit the Convention.

The U.S. is unlikely, however, to allow Bolivia to exit unpunished. When Bolivia proposedexpanding legal-licensed coca farming in 2003, U.S. officials warned that Bolivia might losemost of its $50 million in U.S. aid.

Yet it is the U.S. that may find itself at the wrong end of a relationship with a solid ally in thefight against illegal cocaine production. As the U.S. State Department admitted in a 2008narcotics report, During 2007, the Government of Bolivia managed to eradicate more than

6,000 hectares of coca, surpassing its eradication goal of 5,000 hectares. Boliviancounternarcotics units were active in interdiction and lab seizures.

With the U.N. moving against coca-chewing in Bolivia, the U.S. may find itself at the wrong

end of a relationship with a solid ally.

China's steady progress in spaceChina's manned space programme is preparing for another decisivestep forwardthe launch of its first outpost in space, the Tiangong-1. This orbiting space

laboratory and its two successors will test hardware and provide the operational experienceneeded for the country to put up a full-fledged space station by around 2020.

Media reports have indicated that the Tiangong-1, a name that translates as Heavenly Palace,could be launched by an improved Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite LaunchCentre (JSLC) in north-west China at the end of August. However, the recent failure of a LongMarch 2C rocket carrying an experimental satellite has given rise to rumours that the launchmight be postponed.


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In 2003, China became the third nation capable of sending humans into space when Yang Liweicircled the earth for about 21 hours in the Shenzhou-5 capsule. Two years later, two of itsastronauts stayed aloft in the Shenzhou-6 for nearly five days. That was followed by a three-daymission by three men aboard the Shenzhou-7 in 2008, one of whom came out of the capsule andcarried out a spacewalk.

Right from 1987, when the Chinese government came up with Plan 863-2 for the developmentof the space sector, a space station in low earth orbit was set as the goal for its human spaceflight programme, according to Gregory Kulacki of the U.S.-based Union of ConcernedScientists and Jeffrey Lewis, currently with the Monterey Institute of International Studies inCalifornia.

A place in space

The Chinese aerospace experts on the committee that developed the plan decided that such aspace station would be one of the hallmarks of a twenty-first century great power. A country

with the capability of claiming and holding a long-term place in space would signal internationalsignificance and national strength, Dr. Kulacki and Dr. Lewis observed out in their book on theChinese space programme.

The Tiangong-1, along with the Tiangong-2 and -3 that are to follow, will be vital steppingstones towards that objective. Much as the Salyuts did for the Soviet Union in the 1970s and1980s and the Skylab for the U.S. in 1970s, the Tiangongs will provide China with hands-onexperience in docking spacecraft, maintaining crew in space and keeping a space laboratorygoing.

Indeed, the path that the Chinese have chosen to follow resembles that of the Soviet Union,

which launched a series of smaller Salyut stations before going on to assemble the much largerMir space station.

The eight-tonne Tiangong-1 will have two modules. The larger one, which the Chinese havecalled the experiment module, will be here the astronauts live and, as its name suggests, carry

out various experiments. The other, which has been termed the resource module, will house

support systems, including the solar arrays that supply the electricity required by on-boardequipment.

Docking of spacecraft

China's goal is to realise the docking of two spacecraft during the second half of 2011, declaredMr. Yang Liwei, now deputy head of the China Manned Space Engineering office, at a pressconference earlier this year.

The Tiangong-1 will have two docking ports, one at each end of the spacecraft, according toinformation published by the office on its website.


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The plan is to first launch the space lab and then send an unmanned Shenzhou-8 to automaticallydock with it. Such docking is essential for periodically sending crews and supplies to an orbitingspace laboratory or station. That capability will also be needed for assembling the large spacestation that China wants to establish by early next decade, which will have multiple modules thatare launched separately.

The Soviet Union first demonstrated automatic docking between two spacecraft in October 1967and repeated it again the following year.

Despite this experience, several early manned Soyuz capsules had difficulties in automaticallydocking with Salyut stations.

If the Shenzhou-8 is successful, then two manned missions are likely to follow next year. TheShenzhou-9 could have a three-person male crew while the Shenzhou-10 could see two men anda woman going to the space lab, according to Brian Harvey, an Ireland-based space analyst whohas published a book on the Chinese space programme.

The Tiangong' series

Although the Tiangong-1 is expected to remain operational for about two years, it will not,unlike the Mir and now the International Space Station, be continuously occupied.

The Chinese had not disclosed how long the Shenzhou-9 and -10 missions would last, Mr.Harvey told this correspondent. However, it was thought that these missions could each be about10 days to 20 days in duration.

Subsequent Tiangongs were likely to see increasingly longer missions, as happened with the later

Salyut stations of the Soviet Union. The Chinese were also working on a cargo version of theShenzhou, which would allow the astronauts to stay aboard a space station for extended periodsof time, he said.

An important part of the thinking of Tiangong is that it will carry scientific experiments that are

man-tended from time to time and can be left to operate automatically in between visits, headded.

China's progress in manned spaceflight was very impressive, remarked Phillip S. Clark, a

British expert on the Chinese programme.

The speed and capabilities of China's manned programme are often derided but on their fourthmanned flight the Chinese aim to complete orbital docking and transfer to a space lab, hepointed out in a recent posting on a forum at the space website NASASpaceFlight.com.

Space station


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For China, the goal is to build a 60-tonne space station made up of different modules. Earlier thisyear, the public were asked to suggest names for the space station, which is to be completedaround 2020.

The core module of the station, weighing of 20 tonnes to 22 tonnes, will be launched first. Two

smaller laboratory modules will then be linked to the core module. A manned spaceship as wellas a supply vessel can be docked to the space station.

In order to launch modules of the 20-tonne class, the Long March 5 rocket, which is underdevelopment, has to become operational. The rocket will also be used to send a sample-returnmission to the Moon.

China currently anticipates completing its space station in the early years of the next decade,which, coincidentally, is about the time that the International Space Station is scheduled to bedecommissioned, observed Dr. Kulacki on the blog All Things Nuclear.

If both those things happen, China's space station will become the de-facto new internationalspace station, he pointed out.

The impending launch of its first space outpost is part of a very impressive' plan.

Libya poses policy challenge to Asian giants

James M. DorseyShare print T+ T+&nbsp T-

An offer to assist Libya with its post-Qadhafi reconstruction and rehabilitation coupled withIndia's remaining days as president of the United Nations Security Council and an invitation toattend this week's Friends of Libya conference in Paris enable India to turn the page in itssomewhat troubled relations with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-backed rebelspoised to form the North African country's new government.

The opportunity arises as India alongside China, Russia, Brazil and South Africathe fiveSecurity Council members that did not support the imposition last March of a no-fly zone inLibya and NATO's bombing campaignfinds itself forced to rethink its approach towardsembattled Arab autocratic leaders in the wake of the rebels' takeover of the Libyan capital ofTripoli.

China and Russia scrambled last week to improve their ties with the rebel Transition NationalCouncil (TNC) in a bid to salvage commercial ties and opportunities in post-Qadhafi Libya.Libya may be their most immediate concern as the TNC asserts its authority in the country, butIndia like China, Russia and the others, is certain to debate the implications of Mr. Qadhafi's fallin its policy towards other embattled Arab leaders, first and foremost Syrian president Bashar alAssad.
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Alarm bells rang out last week in the Chinese and Russian capitals after Abdeljalil Mayouf, amanager of the rebel-controlled Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) warned that China,Russia and Brazil, in contrast to Western nations, could face political obstacles in reverting backto business as usual once Mr. Qadhafi has been removed from power. Mr. Mayouf did notmention India, but there is no doubt that in his view, it falls into the same category as China,

Russia and Brazil.

To be sure, Mr. Mayouf represents only one strand of thinking among the rebels, who haveagreed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy inviting India along with the other four recalcitrantSecurity Council members to the Paris conference to discuss support for the TNC.

Foreign assistance is crucial as the TNC faces the daunting task of enforcing law and order;preventing further acts of revenge and retribution; providing basic services such as water,electricity, food and fuel; reviving oil exports and kick-starting the economy while at the sametime hunting down Mr. Qadhafi and gaining control of Qadhafi strongholds such as hishometown of Sirte.

The exercise is likely to provide India and others in the international community a template forsimilar situations that are certain to arise as anti-government protests sweep the Middle East andNorth Africa, particularly as protesters' resolve in Syria and in Yemen is boosted by events inLibya and opposition groups seek to emulate the Libyan model of forming a united leadershipthat effectively serves as a government-in-waiting.

Syria is probably next in line with protesters displaying the kind of resilience and perseverancethat has rendered Mr. Assad's five-month old brutal crackdown a failure. As western sanctionsparticularly of Syria's oil sector start to kick in, the question no longer is if but when Mr. Assadwill be forced out of office. India alongside China and Russia is likely to want to ensure that it

maintains some kind of constructive relationship with the forces likely to succeed the Syrianleader.

Commentators have been quick to note that Asia's commercial interests in Libya are limited andare likely to in good time assert the same with regard to Syria. India's interests in Libya arevirtually non-existent while China relied last year on Libya for only three per cent of its crudeimports but had to evacuate from Libya 36,000 workers employed by 75 primarily State-ownedChinese companies earlier this year.

Yet, even if commercial ties with Libya and Syria are relatively miniscule, there is a lot more atstake for India and other Asian nations not only in the three countries whose autocratic leaderswere toppled this year, i.e. Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, but across the Middle East and NorthAfrica. Beyond chancing that their companies will be at a disadvantage in competing forlucrative post-revolution contracts, they risk negative perceptions in a region in which millionsare closely monitoring events in Libya and Syria and are likely to be reinvigorated by the demiseof Mr. Qadhafi.

Mr. Qadhafi's fall was preceded by peaceful mass protests that forced the Presidents of Tunisiaand Egypt to resign earlier this year. The grievances that have propelled the rebellion in Libya


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and the protests in Syria, Tunisia and Egypt are shared with the population of a swath of landthat stretches from the Atlantic coast of Africa to the Gulf. Change by hook or by crook is likelyto be the name of the game for the next decade in the Middle East and North Africa, a region thatis strategic because of its geography, energy resources and the financial clout of its oil producers.

No doubt, the struggle for greater political freedom and economic opportunity is likely to beprotracted and bloody and the transition towards more open societies messy at best. In a regionin which the struggle to get rid of the yoke of dictatorship faces the constant threat of sectarianand tribal strife, India with its mosaic of ethnic and religious groups cohabiting in a democracyand its long-standing ties to parts of the Middle East has much to offer.

That is most immediately true in Libya where the TNC has to quickly move from the rebelcapital of Benghazi in the east of the country to Tripoli in a demonstrative gesture of its takingcontrol of the country and a city of two million that is without political leadership or direction.With no running water in Tripoli because supply from aquifers in the desert has been disruptedby the fighting and barely any electricity, the TNC has already promised to immediately start

distributing 30,000 tons of gasoline as well as diesel fuel for power stations.

In a country, in which in his 42 years in power Mr. Qadhafi ensured that no institutionsdeveloped that could challenge his authority, the TNC and its elected successor will needsubstantial support in building a more open, transparent society from scratch. Iraq, which waswracked by sectarian violence and fratricide after the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein, has served asan example of how not to do it. Those lessons are reflected in the TNC's blueprint for the future,which outlines a 20-month timetable for the transition as well as procedures to ensure that theprocess is transparent.

Like the rebels, Mr. Qadhafi too appears to have drawn inspiration from Iraq's example. He

allowed his capital to fall, ensured his escape and vowed to wage an insurgency. Hussein fled tohis hometown of Tikrit where he exploited his successor's policies to fuel sectarian strife. Mr.Qadhafi's whereabouts remain a mystery and it is not clear whether he has returned to Sirte.Unlike Hussein, Mr. Qadhafi has no powerful neighbours on whose support he will be able torely. As a result, Mr. Qadhafi's final stand could prove to be a less bloody and wrenching battlethan that of Hussein and his associates.

For India like for China and Russia, the challenge is to develop middle rather than short-termpolicies that enable it to capitalise on political and economic opportunities amid initial chaos andinstability. Transition in Syria is likely to prove as messy as it is in Libya.

It took five months of bloodshed in Syria for India and the other Security Council holdouts toendorse condemnation of Mr. Assad's crackdown and then only in the weakest possible formbecause of their concern that it could lead to foreign military intervention. Syrians, unlikeLibyans, oppose foreign military aid and have so far insisted that they do not want to move frompeaceful to armed resistance.

This should make it easier for India, if not for Russia and China, to get on the right side ofhistory. Doing so does not require a political U-turn but would mean a more forceful stand


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against the brutality of an embattled leader that does not give him an effective license to brutallycrackdown on protesters by effectively blocking an international consensus. Libya offers anopportunity for countries like India to demonstrate that their heart is in the right place.

(James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam

School of International Studies and author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle EastSoccer.)

Change by any possible means is the name of the game in the Middle East and North Africa.

Significant victory

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Parliament's unanimous adoption of a resolution agreeing in principle with Team Anna's

position on the three sticking points that prolonged the standoff on the Lokpal legislation is atriumph for the anti-corruption mood in the countryand for the Gandhian technique of non-violent mass agitation on issues of vital concern to the people. Anna Hazare and his team deservefull credit for recognising and riding this popular mood, which showed plenty of signs ofbecoming a wave; for giving concrete shape to the inchoate aspirations of the movement againstcorruption through the provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill; and for working out a strategy andtactics that refused to compromise on the core issues but knew when to raise the stakes and whento settle. As for the political players, the major opposition parties did well to recognise thesoundness of the core demands of Team Anna and keep up the pressure on the government.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the politically savvy elements in the United ProgressiveAlliance regime can also take some credit for the way they finally acted to resolve this crisis.

What is clear to everyoneexcept the unreconstructed elements within the political systemwho have long been opposed to a strong, independent, and effective statutory authority to goafter corruption at all levelsis that the Lokpal Bill that was introduced in Parliament by thegovernment and is now before a Standing Committee lies thoroughly discredited. Thegovernment must not be guided by those in its ranks who advocate some kind of rearguard actionin committee or on the floor of the House to go back on commitments made. The fact is that insum, that is, in the parliamentary resolution and during the preceding rounds of discussion withTeam Anna, the government conceded the following key demands. In addition to Ministers,Members of Parliament (subject to Article 105 of the Constitution), and Group A' officers, the

Prime Minister at one end and the lower bureaucracy at the other will be brought under thejurisdiction of the Lokpal. Secondly, under the same statute, strong and effective Lokayuktas onthe same model as the Lokpal will be established in all States. Team Anna contends that noconstitutional problem is involved here since the Lokpal legislation deals with substantive andprocedural criminal law, which is covered by Entries 1 and 2 of the Concurrent List in theConstitution. The bottom-line is that it makes no sense to have a strong and effective Lokpal toinvestigate and prosecute central public servants for corruption while having defunct or noLokayuktas in States. Thirdly, the Lokpal legislation will provide for a grievance redressalsystem, requiring all public authorities to prepare a citizen's charter and make commitments to be


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met within a specified time frame. Constitutionally speaking, these arrangements are covered byEntry 8 of the Concurrent List dealing with actionable wrongs. Whether the Lokpal or anotherauthority established under the same law will oversee this grievance redressal system remains anopen question. For its part, Team Anna has agreed that judges need not come under the Lokpalprovided a credible and independent Judicial Conduct Commission, free from conflict of interest

and empowered to investigate and prosecute charges of corruption against judges, is establishedby law. Unfortunately, the contentious issue of a selection committee for the Lokpal could not beresolved. But considering that virtually everyone outside the UPA seems opposed to the officialLokpal Bill's provision that the government will nominate five of the nine members of theselection committee, this can probably be regarded as a dead letter.

There are some excellent provisions in the Jan Lokpal Bill that have gone mostly unnoticed. Forinstance, Section 6(o) provides that the Lokpal can recommend the cancellation or modificationof a lease, licence, permission, contract or agreement obtained from a public authority by corruptmeans; if the public authority rejects the recommendation, the Lokpal can approach [the]

appropriate High Court for seeking appropriate directions to be given to the public authority. It

can also press for the blacklisting of those involved in acts of corruption. Then there is Section31(1), which stipulates that no government official shall be eligible to take up jobs,assignments, consultancies, etc. with any person, company, or organisation that he had dealt within his official capacity.Section 31(2) provides that all contracts, public-private partnerships,transfer by way of sale, lease, and any form of largesse by any public authority shall be donewith complete transparency and by calling for public tender/auction/bids unless it is anemergency measure or where it is not possible to do so for reasons to be recorded in writing.And Section 31(3) requires that all contracts, agreements or MOUs known by any name related

to transfer of natural resources, including land and mines to any private entity by any methodlike public-private partnerships, sale, lease or any form of largesse by any public authority shallbe put on the website within a week of being signed.

In appraising what has happened over the past fortnight, a red herring needs to be got out of thewaythe idea of the supremacy of Parliament' versus everyone who comes up against it.Parliamentarians who assert this need to learn their Constitution. In India, unlike Britain,Parliament is not supreme; the Constitution is. Nor is law-making the sole prerogative ofParliament. The significant victory of the anti-corruption campaigners gives political India a rareopportunity to translate fine anti-corruption sentiments into a potent law that can be a game-changer. The challenge before the people of India is to ensure, by keeping up the pressure, that inthe tricky business of law making in committee and on the floor of the Houses of Parliament apotentially powerful instrument is not blunted.

Media pressure may help speed up foodsecurity moves



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S. Viswanathan

More than two years have passed and there seems to be no progress worth speaking about inmaking the promised law that will guarantee food for the people. The promise came from theUPA-2 as part of its election manifesto in 2009. It was a time of recovery from a time ofeconomic troubles. The impact of the global economic slowdown came on top of the agrariancrisis and the closure of several industrial undertakings, resulting in the loss of jobs and wagecuts that impoverished thousands of workers.

Economists have warned of yet another economic crisis, which may turn out to be more severethan the 2008 financial crisis and recession. Nearer home, the Reserve Bank of India has warnedof higher inflation and a slowdown in economic growth. The food inflation rate is dangerouslyclose to 10 per cent.

Seen in this context, the need to speed up the process of providing food security to hundreds ofmillions of people, whose ranks are likely to increase in the months to come, stands out. Thenews media have a role to play in meeting this challenge. Last year, it was a news report in anational daily that drew the attention of the highest court of the land to the fact that thousands oftonnes of wheat and rice were rotting in warehouses. The Supreme Court of India gave adirection to the government that if it could not store the grain, it could give it to the people to eat.

The 2010 Global Hunger Index shows that India holds the 67th rank among 122 developingcountries. It has also stated that serious hunger is prevalent in all the States. According to theIndex, 42 per cent of the world's underweight children live in India. A 2005 study showed 46 percent children under three years of age were underweight. These studies bring home the point thatthe food security law must urgently ensure not just foodbut nutritious food.


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Following several rounds of discussion at various levels for about two years, the EmpoweredGroup of Ministers (EGoM) on Food cleared the Food Security Bill in the second week of July2011. The Bill seeks to cover 75 per cent of the BPL (Below Poverty Line) population and 50per cent of the urban population. The Bill thus entitles 68 per cent of the country's population tofood security. Each beneficiary under the BPL (now renamed the priority sector) will be entitled

to 7 kg of food grains; rice will be provided at Rs. 3 a kg and wheat at Rs. 2 a kg. In the generalcategory, each identified beneficiary will be given 3-4 kg at half the minimum support price thegovernment pays to the farmers from whom they procure rice and wheat. The government plansto introduce the Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament after consulting Chief Ministers. Thetotal subsidy is estimated to be in the region of Rs. 95,000 crore.

The final bill appears to be a heavily doctored version of the draft presented by the NationalAdvisory Council (NAC) headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi. For instance, althoughthe NAC proposed that 90 per cent of the rural population must be covered for food security, theofficial draft has reduced the coverage to 75 per cent. The UPA government's refusal to acceptthe Universal Public Distribution System recommended by several experts in the field has come

under sharp criticism from political leaders and social activists. Another major criticism isagainst the cash transfers system, which will only place the beneficiaries at the mercy ofretailers.

The Bill in its present form may not be acceptable to many State governments, which followmuch better norms in defining the beneficiaries as well as their entitlements. Even the Chairmanof the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, C. Rangarajan, who was against theinclusion of APL households among the beneficiaries has apparently changed his stand and saidthat they could be given legal entitlements, though with a lesser quantity of food grains. Thereare some positive elements in the Bill such as the inclusion of the mid-day meal scheme amongthe beneficiaries and the provision of cooked and nutritional food for pregnant and lactatingwomen. But among those who were actively working for a strong and effective Food SecurityAct, there is an overwhelming feeling of disappointment and being let down.

The news media, particularly the Indian language press and television channels, can still play amore informative and insightful pro-active role in educating readers and audiences on the vitalissues at stake. Nothing can bring out the social responsibility role of the media than thechallenge of covering mass deprivation and building a public agenda to overcome massive socialdeficits on the food and nutrition fronts.

[email protected]

Efforts on to lock away CO2 foreverShare print T+ T+&nbsp T-
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Futuristic vision: A researcher conducts indoor experiments simulating the CarbFix test planned to begin in September. PHOTO: AP

Sometime next month, on the steaming fringes of an Icelandic volcano, an international team ofscientists will begin pumping seltzer water into a deep hole, producing a brew that will lock

away carbon dioxide forever.

Chemically disposing of CO2, the chief greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, is a kind of21st-century alchemy that researchers and governments have hoped for to slow or halt climatechange.

The American and Icelandic designers of the CarbFix experiment will be capitalising on a

feature of the basalt rock underpinning 90 per cent of IcelandIt is a highly reactive materialthat will combine its calcium with a carbon dioxide solution to form limestone: permanent,harmless limestone.

The researchers caution that their upcoming 6-to-12-month test could fall short of expectations,and warn against looking for a climate fix from CarbFix any year soon.

In fact, one of the objectives of the project, whose main sponsors are Reykjavik's city-ownedutility and U.S. and Icelandic universities, is to train young scientists for years of work to come.

A scientific overseer of CarbFixthe man, as it happens, who also is credited with coining theterm global warming four decades ago says the world's failure to heed those early warnings,to rein in greenhouse-gas emissions from coal, gasoline and other fossil fuels, is drivingscientists to drastic approaches.

Whether we do it in the next 50 years, or the 50 years after that, we're going to have to storecarbon dioxide, said Columbia University's Wallace S. Broecker in an interview in New York.

The world is already storing some carbon dioxide. As a byproduct of Norway's natural gasproduction, for example, it is being pumped into a sandstone reservoir beneath the North Sea.

But people worry that such stowed-away gas could someday escape, while carbon dioxidetransformed into stone would not.


13/28

The experimental transformation will take place below the dramatic landscape of this place 29km southeast of Reykjavik, Iceland's capital. On an undulating, mossy moor and surroundingvolcanic hills, where the last eruption occurred 2,000 years ago, Reykjavik Energy operates ahuge, 5-year-old geothermal power plant, drawing on 30 wells tapping into the superheatedsteam below, steam laden with carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. CarbFix will first separate

out those two gases, and the CO2 will be piped 3 km to the injection well, to combine with waterpumped from elsewhere.

That carbonated waterseltzerwill be injected down the well, where the pressure of thepumped water, by a depth of 1,600 feet, will completely dissolve the CO2 bubbles, formingcarbonic acid.

The acid's very corrosive, so it starts to attack the rocks, explained University of Iceland

geologist Sigurdur Reynir Gislason, CarbFix's chief scientist.

The basalt rockancient lava flowsis porous, up to 30 per cent open space filled with

water. The carbonic acid will be pushed out into those pores, and over time will react with thebasalt's calcium to form calcium carbonate, or limestone. CarbFix's designers, in effect, areradically speeding up the natural process called weathering, in which weak carbonic acid inrainwater transforms rock minerals over geologic time scales.

The CarbFix team, beginning work in 2007, had to overcome engineering challenges,particularly in the inventive design and operation of the gas separation plant. They have appliedfor U.S. and Icelandic patents for that and for the injection well technique.

They plan to inject up to 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide over 6 to 12 months and then follow howfar the solution is spreading via tracer elements and monitoring wells. Eventually they plan to

drill into the rock to take a core sampling.

AP

Scientists warn against looking for a climate fix

Hurricane Irene leaves U.S. battered

Stuart EmmrichShare print T+ T+&nbsp T-

Cuts a path of destruction; becomes a tropical storm
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14/28

Aggressive waves: The shore during a storm surge from Hurricane Irene in Bayshore, NewYork, on Long Island, on Sunday. PHOTO: AP

Having cut a path of destruction that stretched from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to theeastern tip of Long Island in a 24-hour period that killed at least nine people in five states andcaused an unprecedented shutdown of the transit systems in Washington, Philadelphia and NewYork, a weakened but still ferocious Hurricane Irene, now downgraded to a tropical storm, set itssights on a battened-down New England late Sunday morning.

To the south, millions of residents were trying to pick up the pieces left in the storm's wake.

In North Carolina the state that took the first, hard hit from Irene residents woke up to a sun-drenched morning and ventured out to assess just how much damage she brought. The hurricane,which hit the coast Saturday morning with sustained winds of 136 kmph, was well on its waynorth by late evening, leaving a state soggy but grateful the damage wasn't worse.

The flooding picture was better on Sunday than feared the day before, but state and federalofficials said they still do not know the extent of Irene's damage.

I think the cost is going to be significant, said Gov. Beverly Perdue. On Sunday morning, morethan 225 roads and 21 bridges remained closed, blocked by trees and flood waters or to keeptravellers from dangerous conditions, said an official . More than half a million people remainedwithout power. Workers at 56 shelters housed more than 4,600 people overnight.

Water rescues dominated the weekend. All told, swift water rescue teams pulled 76 people fromthe water. Nine people were rescued from flooded homes in Northampton County, which isinland and near the Virginia border.

Though the storm weakened throughout the day on Saturday, it continued to funnel storm surgeand flood water to the Jersey shore overnight, where the National Hurricane Center said the

centre of the storm crossed over land near Little Egg Inlet, north of Atlantic City, at about 5:35a.m. Even before Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm, federal, state and local officialsalong the East Coast strongly recommended that people not be fooled into complacency by thegradual decrease in the hurricane's maximum wind speed. They said a central concern was thestorm surge of such a sprawling hurricane the deluge to be dumped from the sky or thrown ontoshore by violent waves moving like snapped blankets.

With the anxiety of the storm gone, days of response and cleanup begin.


15/28

Downed and denuded trees. Impassable roadways. Damaged municipal buildings. Widespreadflooding. The partial loss of a modest civic center's roof, forcing the relocation of dozens ofpeople who had found shelter there.

Damage assessments will begin in earnest. About 3 million people were reported to be without

power, including more than one million in the Washington area.

The hurricane contributed to at least nine deaths on Saturday. In Maryland, a person in QueenAnne's County died after a tree fell on a house, The Associated Press reported. Five people diedin North Carolina, including a man installing plywood on the windows of his home in OnslowCounty who suffered a heart attack. Three died in car accidents died. One man in Nash Countywas killed when a tree limb fell Saturday. Three more people died in Virginia: in Newport News,a fallen tree crashed through the roof of an apartment building and killed an 11-year-old boy; inBrunswick County, a tree fell on a car and killed a man; and the most recent death was caused bytoppled trees.

Flooding was reported all along the Eastern Seaboard. In the sounds and bays of eastern NorthCarolina late Saturday as the storm surge that had swept water inland began to wash back intocoastal communities. Parts of the Outer Banks were impassable because of sound-side flooding,and the water was said to be chest-high in Manteo, an island town just across a bridge from NagsHead.

Evacuees were told that they were not allowed to re-enter Dare County, where Nags Head islocated, until damage assessments were completed.

In Virginia, authorities began re-opening roads and lifting curfews, though arterial roads like theChesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel were expected to remain closed well into the day on Sunday.

Several bridges were closed to traffic during the storm.

Early Sunday, according to the Associated Press, more than 2.3 million customers were withoutpower from North Carolina through parts of Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Yorkand Connecticut. In North Carolina, the communities of Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beachstruggled with flooding, while Atlantic Beach dealt with a pier's partial collapse. And justoutside the port city of Wilmington, the dangerous weather conditions forced the police tosuspend the search for a teenage boy who had jumped off a boat ramp and into the churningwaters.

Power was out for about half of Wilmington's 106,000 residents. At the New Hanover RegionalMedical Center, several dozen children had spent the night in sleeping bags and inflatable beds,arriving with staff members who had to work and parents from the area who wanted a safe placeto wait the storm out.

After a night of fierce winds that gusted to nearly 128 kmph, people emerged from their homesto downed trees, darkened traffic lights and a collective sense of having been spared the worst ofthe storm's wrath.


16/28

Up to this point, most people had experienced Hurricane Irene only through the multicoloredradar maps that appeared on television. Or maybe they had seen the breathtaking, evenhumbling, images arriving from some 320 kmph, via the International Space Station: thephotographs taken by astronauts that showed what looked like a massive swirl of mashedpotatoes straddling the edge of the green plate of the United States.New York Times News

Service

Continues to funnel storm surge and flood water

Millions of people go without power

Bhattarai new Nepal Prime Minister

Prashant JhaShare print T+ T+&nbsp T-

NEW UNITY: Nepal's newly elected Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai (right) being greeted by Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda' in Kathmandu on Sunday. PHOTO: AFP

Nepal's legislature-parliament on Sunday elected Baburam Bhattarai, Vice-Chairman of theUnified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), new Prime Minister. The Maoists were supportedby the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), an alliance of five Madhesi parties. In theHouse of 594 MPs, 575 members participated in the election and around 340 voted for Dr.Bhattarai, helping him secure a simple majority.

The other candidate, Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel, got 235votes. The NC was supported by the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist).

Proposing Dr. Bhattarai's name, Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda' said:

Baburamji is known for his intellect, his sacrifices during the People's War, and his appealspreads across classes. The party's decision to nominate him has created a new unity.

Dr. Bhattarai told Parliament, Even though this will be a majority government, our ultimate

goal is creating a national unity government with the common agenda of peace andConstitution.
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NC and UML leaders said they had no reason to trust the Maoists. Mr. Poudel told the House:The NC is totally committed to democracy and democratic principles. The Maoists have

constantly breached past agreements and continue to retain their military apparatus.

The UML said it had not received a credible and acceptable peace process proposal from the

Maoists. The Maoist victory was made possible, thanks to a last minute four-point agreement'with the Madhesi parties on fundamental issues of peace, constitution and functioning of a jointgovernment'. The Maoists agreed to positively revise' their proposal for the integration and

rehabilitation of Maoist combatants.

Political sources told The Hindu that the Madhesi parties would get 10-12 ministries, includingHome and Defence.

An alumnus of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, Dr. Bhattarai has been in the Leftmovement for three decades.

Agni-II likely to be tested todayShare print T+ T+&nbsp T-

The nuclear-tipped Agni-II intermediate range ballistic missile, with a range of 2,000 km, islikely to be test-fired as part of the user trial by the Army from the Integrated Test Range atWheeler Island off the Orissa coast on Monday.PTI

Pakistan to confer MFN status on India


Pakistan has agreed to grant the Most Favoured Nation status to India this year, Urdu dailyJangreported on Sunday. India has been demanding it for many years.PTI

What can we do to maintain democracy in truesense?

Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN

Anna Hazares superhuman fast injected a much needed urgency into a lethargic legislativeprocess, which appears to have gathered velocity in moving towards establishing a newanti-corruption institution, Lokpal, a concept that took root 42 years ago.

Few of us believed that Annas fast could turn the tables on seasoned yet slippery

politicians. He did while presiding over a rare phenomenon of peoples will prevailing overlegislature in the parliamentary history, which commenced its real journey in November

1949 when stalwarts of freedom struggle debated on the kind of Constitution We the
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18/28

People of India would give ourselves.Annaism dissipated energy was felt on the streets. An unusual flavour of patriotism

gripped many, who felt proud holding the national flag and wearing I am Anna cap.Support came from film actors, playback singers, retired bureaucrats and cops, lawyers,students, ex-servicemen, traders and even a Judge. Yoga gurus, heal-talkers and socialactivists played the role of brokers between Team Anna and the government.

One saw few farmers and fewer rural folk at Annas much publicised rallies across Indiathough they constitute majority of population who face the brunt of corruption much morethan many of us.

I am Anna cap and the tricolour became the licence for some of those gripped by the

unseasonal patriotic emotion to either ride a bike without wearing helmets, lunge out of acar to shout and startle a passerby, or simply squat on roads during peak traffic hours atbusy intersections. It became a fad to express support to Annas fast thereby exhibit the

intrinsic hero-worship tendency among us.As this hero worship reached a crescendo, parliamentarians panicked and made placatory

gestures needed for resolving the perceived stalemate. In the closing speech of the first

Constituent Assembly in November 1949, Dr B R Ambedkar gave a stirring speech and

asked: If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must

we do?

He said: The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutionalmethods of achieving our social and economic objectives.The second thing we must do is to observe the caution which John Stuart Mill has given

to all who are interested in the maintenance of democracy, namely, not to lay their libertiesat the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert

their institutions," he said.

He knew that in India Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship,

plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of anyother country in the world.

Hence, he warned: Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But, inpolitics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.

A man may be simple and honest. But if he is eulogised 24X7 by TV channels as a

messiah leading a large crowd frustrated and angry against corruption and on the brink offlooring the mighty government, he is bound to appear powerful, attract like minded

persons and as many vested interests. When the popular wave turns into a tide, vestedinterests seize control of navigation and fuel heroworshipping of the leader.

Power concentrated in the hands of a few is sure to spell destruction for any democracy.

It is equally bad if a mass leader, however genuine be his intent, dictates terms to ademocratic machinery.

Faced with a somewhat similar situation Lord Acton in April 1887 had said: I cannotaccept your cannon that we are to judge Pope and the King unlike other men with a

favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the otherway, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility

has to make up for want of legal responsibility.And then came the warning from Lord Acton All power tends to corrupt and absolute

power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exerciseinfluence and not authority.

Anna, no doubt, is a great man. He is also a man of influence. Undeniably, it was hismovement that brought into focus the enormity of pent up public anger and frustrationagainst corruption and forced a change in the legislatures approach towards tacklingcorruption.

But, now it is the responsibility of Anna and his team to ensure that they handle theemerging situation in a mature way shunning a dictatorial Parliament must do this attitude.


19/28

Pak ready to give MFN status to India: Report

TNN & AGENCIES

In a move likely to boost trade ties and people-to-people contact, Pakistan has agreed to

grant the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, a media report said on Sunday. Indiahas already conferred MFN status on Pakistan and has been seeking reciprocity.

A senior official of the ministry of trade said on the condition of anonymity that the status

of MFN would be granted during the current year, Urdu daily Jang reported. Pakistan has in

return asked for immediate lifting of nontariff restrictions on its exports to India.Sources said that trade and commerce minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim would soon

announce basic changes in Pakistans trade policy. One of the amendments will be a draft to

review the list of trade items between the two countries.According to the source, Pakistan has agreed to grant MFN status to India this very year

in return for lifting the nontariff restrictions on imports from Pakistan. This will fulfill the

long-standing Indian demand in return for lifting of non-tariff restrictions alone.The report comes ahead of a possible meeting between the commerce ministers of India

and Pakistan after a gap of over three years in New Delhi next month to discuss ways to

boost trade and proposals to remove non-tariff barriers as the two countries make efforts tonormalize relations.

Indian commerce minister Anand Sharma has invited his Pakistani counterpart Fahim, a

senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, to visit New Delhi.

We will finalise our report in shortest possibletime

TIMES NEWS NETWORK


20/28

Chairman of the standing committee on law and justice Abhishek Singhvi in conversation

with TOI dismisses apprehensions that the panels report may be delayed and not reflect thesense of both Houses of Parliament.

Q: Civil society says the standing committee should wrap up drafting of the

Lokpal bill in 2-3 weeks?

A: Apart from diverse inputs to the standing committee in the form of different draft bills,written representations, sense of each House of Parliament transmitted to us forms a mostvital and valuable input. It is now for us to go into the constitution and feasibility of

implementation. Since both God and Devil lie in detail, we hope to seek the divine while

avoiding the devilish within the shortest possible time.On August 10, we had the secretary of the ministry and Anna Hazares team making a

detailed presentation. Though our next meeting was fixed for September 1, in view of the

declaration of holiday, it has been rescheduled for September 7. Several government andnon-governmental entities shall give evidence on that day, including Jaiprakash Narayan,Aruna Roy, some Bar associations, CVC and CBI.

Thereafter, there will be some more meetings, calling other slices of public opinion to give

evidence, which will be NGOs, governmental and non-governmental, and others.Meanwhile, in parallel, the number of representations received pursuant to the

advertisement are being analyzed, collated and circulated. After the process of evidence iscompleted, deliberations will start within the committee followed by meetings for adoptionof records and, thereafter, submission to Parliament.

It would not be fair on my part to fetter the committees discretion by indicating timelinesor deadlines. Suffice it to say that we will be sincerely endeavouring to balance the

competing demands of urgency and expedition on the one hand along with wideconsultations with diverse stakeholders and in-depth deliberations on the other.

Indeed, I have gone on record earlier while a couple of extensions of three months eachare not uncommon for several standing committee reports, we on the contrary are hopeful

of trying to finish the job within the initial remit itself. I hasten to add that this is subject to

discretion of the committee, and I am unable to put specific timeline. Naturally, thisinterregnum of the initial remit to the committee virtually merges and coalesces into the

beginning of the winter session.Q: How do you deal with the ticklish and knotty issues that are involved and

straddle many agencies, such as the issue of the merger of the anti-corruptionwing of CBI into the Lokpal?

A: There are a lot of important issues, in addition to the three vital issues contained in the

sense of each House under transmission to us. Naturally, each issue has several pros andcons. All I can say is that each perspective will be looked at carefully, but since all

proceedings are confidential, I cannot discuss the merit of each issue.

Q: Will you consider Rahul Gandhis suggestion that the Lokpal be made aconstitutional body an idea which has been backed by former Chief Justice ofIndia J S Verma and former CEC T N Seshan?

A: Certainly, other suggestions like constitutional status form the corpus of valuable

inputs. Certainly, subject to the committees acceptance, there can be recommendations for

the future and provide a constructive and progressive roadmap for future. It would,however, be wrong to suppose that the suggestion was made with any intention to not

decide on an existing Lokpal structure within a statutory format. Both concepts arecompatible and may involve merely different timelines.

Q: You had earlier said that the report of the standing committee will surprise

those who doubted its willingness and capacity to prepare the legislation for astrong and effective Lokpal. Do you still stand by that?

A: I have no hesitation in repeating that given a fair and balanced opportunity, my


21/28

committee which I have the privilege to chair is likely to surprise all cynics, sceptics andnon-believers.

Collegium system lacks quality, integrity: Jaitley

Says Time To Introspect As We Cannot Afford To Fail Judiciary

Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN

New Delhi: Fresh from tackling the Anna onslaught on polity to act towards Lokpal, the BJPon Sunday said it was time Parliament seriously introspected and devised ways and meansto rid higher judiciary of the menace.

Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said, We all hold judiciary in highrespect. It is an institution where we cannot afford to fail and the benchmark for judgingjudges is very high.

Till 1993, when Chief Justice of India got primacy in appointing judges, it was the

governments job to fill vacancies in HCs and the SC. But later, the SC devised the collegiumsystem headed by the CJI to make recommendation to the government for appointment of

judges.

Jaitley said the collegium system was better than executive appointing judges and hewould never advocate executive interference in judiciary. But the collegium system ofappointing judges too lacks in terms of quality and integrity. The standard needs to be

improved far more, he said.I have always preferred a National Judicial Commission where judiciary has primacy,

executive participates and includes some eminent citizens who act in safeguarding public

interest, he added.

On the objections raised by certain quarters in judiciary to the debate in Parliament onthe motion for removal of Calcutta HCs Justice Soumitra Sen, the BJP leader and formerlaw minister said what the members spoke against the corruption of one judge need not be

taken as denigrating the judiciary.

The issue is not individual or personality based. It is entirely an introspection as to wherethe institution stands. Just as we are concerned that the quality of people in polity andlegislature has to improve, we are struggling to find ways and means to reduce corruption

in judiciary without any interference in its independence, he said.He said Parliament in a dignified way discussed the health of judiciary. There cannot be

any censorship on the introspection on where the judicial system stands today.Legitimately, polity is concerned about several issues quality of judges, their

appointments and accountability. It is a matter of institutional reform not individual centric,he said.

Asked whether the Lokpals ambit be expanded to include the President and governors, he

said, As of today, it is not necessary because they predominantly act in aid and advice ofthe government. But I am one with the recommendations of the Constitution reviewcommittee headed by Justice M N Venkatachalaiah that active practitioners of politics must

not be made governors. Politicisation of governors office is a problem but their powers are


22/28

not much in commercial matters. And if they exercise their powers in a mala fide manner,

then the judicial review grievance redressal system is available.

Arun Jaitley says he prefers a National Judicial Commission

Dance Of Democracy

Parliament and peoples power come together

The Lokpal is an idea whose time has come. Thats how BJP leader Sushma Swaraj put it

last Saturday. Its a point hammered home by Anna Hazares anti-graft protest and how.

If Parliament adopted a unanimous sense of the House resolution to break the Lokpallogjam, its because Annas done what politicians generally havent save when expedient:

hes turned national spotlight on corruption. Its been a victory for the social activist, whoended his fast only when his key demands were met. Yet we also witnessed lawmakers go

beyond homilies to adopt a just cause backed by ordinary citizens: the creation of a strongantigraft watchdog. It was a memorable day: Parliament and peoples power partneringeach other in the dance of democracy.

With a fasting Anna standing firm, it had become untenable for the UPA to prolong theface-off. But isnt there a larger lesson for those who set store by the fact that theyreelected by the people? The democratic contract bonding citizens to their political

representatives isnt just a matter of form; its substance is what political institutions deliverbetween and irrespective ofperiodic elections. Massive popular participation in Annas

campaign signals societys deep anguish at corruption-fuelled institutional rot. Lets wake upto that. Yes, itll take time and collective effort to find remedies via legislative deterrence

and systemic reform. Thats no excuse for inaction.The government and Team Anna must now move from conflict to cooperation. With its

broad framework in place, disagreements on the Lokpal Bills details shouldnt prompt

renewed breakdown in negotiations. Crafting this legislation is a complex and onerous task,aimed at establishing an authority in sync with the system of checks and balancesunderpinning our democracy. No one as of now can claim to be the sole and final word on

what the contours and powers of such an ombudsman should be. The governments


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proposed Lokpal is widely viewed as toothless, the Jan Lokpal version too harsh. Onlyflexibility will help find middle ground.

Both government and civil society must be willing to consider all inputs so that the best

possible Bill can be framed. As for the political class as a whole, its time to demonstratesincerity of purpose. The Lokpal Bill, hanging fire for over four decades, has come before

Parliament nine times in different versions. Thats poor advertisement for politicians

claiming to be as keen on fighting corruption as civil society. Anna has said the battle tocreate a good, effective Lokpal is only half-won. Given that they assert parliamentaryprerogative in lawmaking, legislators must help win the other half.

Ways To Fit The Bill

Accommodating Annas three key demands will require imaginative lawmaking

Manoj Mitta

When Aamir Khan, the hero of the film 3 Idiots, was at the Ramlila Ground last Saturday,Parliament was debating the three sticking points between the government and Team Anna.

Though the sense of the House resolution proclaimed an in principle agreement withthem, it is far from certain to what extent Anna Hazares three non-negotiable demands will

be accommodated in the Lokpal Bill ultimately passed into law. For, each of those demands

incorporation of a citizens charter, jurisdiction over lower bureaucracy and the same lawstipulating state Lokayuktas will have far-reaching repercussions, whether constitutionalor administrative.

Take the question about Parliaments legislative competence to establish an ombudsmancovering public servants at the state level. Though there were eight earlier attempts in 43years to have a Lokpal enactment, this is the first time the federal issue of imposing the

Lokayukta on states has arisen. Curiously, this is despite the fact that the first ever Bill was

called the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill 1968. But the two terms then had no federal

connotations. While Lokpal referred to the chairperson of the central ombudsman,Lokayuktas referred to its own members!

So, if Lokayukta is instead regarded as the Lokpals statelevel counterpart, one school ofthought is that the Bill passed by Parliament can be little more than a model law for states.Another is that since India is a signatory to a UN treaty on corruption, the Centre isempowered by Article 253 of the Constitution to enact a law applicable across the country in

keeping with its international obligation.Between these two weighty viewpoints, there is one reason why the UPA government

should go by the latter. Notwithstanding the buzz created by his gamechanging idea,Rahul Gandhi is not the first person to suggest the Lokpal should be a constitutional body

(like the Election Commission) rather than just a statutory body (like the CBI or CVC). Thecredit is due to the Veerappa Moily-headed Second Administrative Reforms Commission

which recommended in 2007 that

the Constitution should be amended to create a national ombudsman having jurisdictionover not only Union ministers but also chief ministers. In the detailed presentation it isscheduled to make in the near future before the standing committee, Team Anna would do

well to exploit this opening offered by the Moily panel.Similarly, Team Anna could take advantage of the 1968 Bill to drive home its demand

that, besides dealing with corruption cases, Lokpal and Lokayuktas should enforce the

citizens charter made by each department. The charter is meant to give, amongother

things, an undertaking on the time it would take to fulfil various public grievances. The 1968


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Bill, which had been passed by the Lok Sabha before it lapsed, can well be cited as aprecedent since it covered complaints concerning allegations of misconduct and also

grievances of maladministration. The counter-argument to including public grievances in the

Bills ambit is that the Lokpal might get over-burdened and diverted from attending tocorruption cases.

Such apprehensions about efficiency can perhaps be addressed by studying the

experience of the Karnataka Lokayukta, which deals with both corruption cases and publicgrievances. If the much-touted Karnataka model bears out those fears, the Centre has theoption of adopting the alternative suggested by the Aruna Roy-led National Campaign for

Right to Information (NCPRI). Namely, create a separate body focussed on public

grievances.The NCPRI draft formulations may prove to be a practical solution to the conflict on

whether the Lokpals remit should extend to the lower bureaucracy. According to Team

Anna, in the interest of uniformity, the Lokpal should be the sole corruption ombudsmanwhether the allegations are against the prime minister or the lowest central governmentemployee. The counter-argument is again the problem of overburdening. The government is

evidently so apprehensive of this that, in the resolution Parliament adopted, it entered a

caveat saying the lower bureaucracy would be under Lokpal through appropriate

mechanism.

Given the commitment to keep that appropriate mechanism under the Lokpal, thestanding committee could, tweaking the NCPRI formulation, suggest a body that deals withthe lower bureaucracy in coordination with the Lokpal. Such an arrangement may also meet

Team Annas contention that there could often be confusion over where an FIR should beregistered if there were two separate bodies for investigating corruption allegations against

government servants. After all, the level up to which officers are involved in a given scam isnot always apparent at the stage of the FIR.

There is another public interest issue that forced the government to deviate from itsapproach of letting the Lokpal focus on big-ticket scams. As Team Anna emphasised, the

Lokpal in such a scenario would have no remedy for the common man who is a victim of

extortionate corruption by petty officials.In any case, the legislative outcome of the historic Ramlila fast goes beyond the cryptic

parliamentary resolution. It bears no mention of the issues on which the government andTeam Anna came to an agreement. Team Anna, for instance, is not insisting any more on

the Lokpal being the sanctioning and investigating agency for allegations against the higherjudiciary. It settled for an assurance that its concerns would be addressed while

strengthening the pending Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill. In return, the

government is apparently reconciled to bringing the PM under the Lokpal. Giveand-takenegotiations do not, however, detract from the magnitude of Annas achievement.

Tablet Wars

Spurring innovation, and thats a good thing

With the announcement of Steve Jobs stepping down as Apple CEO, theres gloom aboutApples uncertain prospects without him at the helm. But doomsayers miss the point. The

issue isnt about which of the two heavyweights currently slugging it out in the mobile

computing segment Apple or Google with its Android platform will come out on top. Its


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about how competition is spurring innovation at a breakneck pace. Thats not going to

change. Even if the former does lose some of its edge temporarily, its unlikely to slip too

far. And Android, which has grown blazingly fast to become the dominant smartphone

platform, isnt going away anytime soon.While fears about the death of the personal computer are exaggerated, these technology

wars are pushing up the timeframe for evolution and innovation. New versions of both

platforms, due this year, are shaping up to be the most significant ones to date. Theyrelikely to provide some clarity on how the industry will shape up in the short-to-mediumterm. The two represent drastically different views of what post-PC devices might look like:

Apple with its walled garden approach, limiting what a user can do with his device in order

to give him a cohesive experience, and Android devices with the reverse trade-off morecustomisation, less slickness. The latter appears well suited to evolve a device with theflexibility necessary to replace the traditional computer. The free, open nature of this

platform makes it possible for innovators in developing markets like Ind ias to utilise theirtech expertise. But in the end, whichever wins out or, as is more likely, however both

learn to coexist given the markets sheer size the end-user is the winner.Advertisement

Q&A

Government must end impunity culture, repeallaws like AFSPA

The discovery of over 2,000 bodies buried in unmarked graves in Kashmir has caused widespread shock. Links are being drawn between these

bodies and civilians who disappeared over the years, allegedly targeted by security forces fighting militancy. Meenakshi Ganguly, SouthAsian director at the Human Rights Watch (HRW), spoke with Humra Quraishi on the need for accountability:

Does the HRW think the dead in these graves could be civilians missing from theValley?

Yes, we do link these graves to those that are missing. The government insisted that allthose missing had gone to Pakistan to join militant groups. Some did. But in other cases,

witnesses saw a person being taken into custody by the security forces after which theydisappeared.

The report by the Jammu & Kashmir State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) issignificant because it is the first official investigation. It has found, as human rights workers

and Kashmiris alleged, that some graves contain the bodies of the disappeared. These are

not mass graves as in Iraq or former Yugoslavia where scores of bodies were dumped intopits. But the SHRC inquiry found 18 graves that contain more than one body.

What should happen now?We want an independent and credible investigation into this. A commission of inquiry should

be formed with the capacity to conduct forensic tests and question members of security

forces involved in operations, even those no longer in service.The government should invite Kashmiri families to submit all information about the

disappeared, so that each case can be investigated.

How has the state machinery responded to the discovered graves?We have not yet seen a clear response. The inquiry report was leaked. The commission

has to submit its findings to the government and make recommendations. We hope the

SHRC makes strong recommendations to conduct a proper inquiry in a time-bound and


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transparent manner. The state government should then investigate each and every

allegation of a disappearance. The central government should cooperate because many

possible perpetrators could belong to the army or federal forces like the CRPF and BSF.

Could the reality of these graves disappear under politicking?The government has repeatedly claimed there will be zero tolerance for human rights

violations. Addressing the issue of enforced disappearances will be a significant confidence-

building measure. India also has an obligation to investigate these under international lawsand because it has signed the United Nations convention against enforced disappearances.

Human rights forums cannot go beyond a point in confronting governments so,what next?

In a democracy, eventually governments have to respond to public sentiment we sawthis play out at the Ramlila Ground. Human rights groups and the media have a significantrole in highlighting violations in Kashmir and elsewhere. But the government must end the

culture of impunity, repeal laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) thatprovide soldiers with widespread powers but immunity from prosecution for human rightsviolations. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must keep his 2004 promise to repeal AFSPA.

How does the reality of mass unmarked graves impact people?

Disappearances are among the most heinous of human rights violations. Families are left

without answers, caught between hope and despair. Ive met numerous families still waiting

for news of their loved ones. I hope finally the government will provide answers and solaceto these families and prosecute the perpetrators.

A LONG WAY?

Govt to ready public procurement law

To Cover PPP Contracts, Plan Panel May Use Model UN Law To Draft

LegislationSurojit Gupta & Sidhartha TNN

New Delhi: The government is expected to draw heavily from the model UN (United

Nations) law while drafting Indias public procurement legislation, which will also coverpublic private partnership projects, a move aimed at rooting out corruption from lucrative

contracts, a top government official said.

Although a committee headed by former Competition Commission of India member VinodDhall has submitted its report to the government, the Planning Commission has also begundrafting a Public Procurement Bill after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced it as

part of his strategy to combat criticism of being soft on corruption. The government is on

the back foot after a series of corruption scandals that has stalled policymaking and led to

calls for cleaning up the system of government project contracts.Officials say an inter-ministerial group is likely to be formed soon and by middle of the

next year, a fresh law on public procurement is expected to be in place. They say such a law

will go a long way in assuring investors and promote India as a stable and investment

destination.That law on procurement will have to cover PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) also. PPP is

a contract to procure services for the next 30 years. For a contract to work for 30 years,

you have to allow for the fact that the world will change. Its not like buying wheat. We areworking on it, a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified, told TOI. Our


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general financial rules are only good for buying wheat and cement, the official added.PPPs are going to play a key role in creating infrastructure in the country. A bulk of the

infrastructure projects, worth nearly Rs 45 lakh crore to be awarded over the next years,

would be developed through this route. Even education and healthcare have now beenincluded under the model.

In recent years, there has been criticism of how PPP work has been undertaken in case of

airports and roads with the government blamed for changing the rules of the game midwayduring the concession period. PM Singh has said that large government contracts can breed

corruption when procurement procedures are inadequate. Wherever there is governmentdiscretion in the allocation of scarce resources, whether it be land, or mineral rights, or

spectrum, if the method of allocation is not transparent, there is a possibility of corruption,Singh has said.

The new law on procurement is expected to lean on the model law on public procurement

unveiled by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Laws (UNCITRAL).According to UNCITRAL, the Model Law on Public Procurement contains procedures andprinciples aimed at achieving value for money and avoiding abuses in the procurement

process.

The 2011 Model Law replaces the 1994 UNCITRAL Model Law on Procurement of Goods,Construction and Services. While the 1994 text was recognized as an important

international benchmark in procurement law reform, in 2004, the commission agreed thatthe 1994 Model Law would benefit from being updated to reflect new practices, in particularthose resulting from the use of electronic communications in public procurement, and theexperience gained in the use of that Model Law as a basis for law reform, according to

UNCITRAL.

It says the nature of procurement is that it involves discretionary decision-taking onbehalf of government at all levels; procurement spending may represent 10-20 % of GDP

and up to 50% or even more of total government spending.The model law allows government purchasers to take advantage of modern commercial

techniques, such as e-procurement and framework agreements, to allow it to maximize

value for money in procurement.UNCITRAL says the model law is aimed at assisting states in formulating a modern

procurement law. Although developing countries and states whose economies are intransition were the main users of the 1994 text, the new model law reflects international

best practice and is designed to be appropriate for all states, it says. Singh has said thatIndia can benefit from UNCITRALs latest model law and incorporate the international best

practices. He has also urged state governments to embrace such a law.

Economy entering dangerous phase, says IMFchief Lagarde


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Christine Lagarde, the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund chief,

warned that the world economy is in a dangerous new phase and that officials must takenew steps to strengthen growth.

Lagarde, speaking to international finance officials and economists in Jackson Hole,Wyoming, said the US should arrest a slide in house prices and European banks must be

required to boost capital to prevent the continent's debt crisis from infecting more countries.The US and European Union should enforce long-term budget discipline to free up cash forshort- term stimulus, she said. We risk seeing the fragile recovery derailed, Lagarde, 55,said. So we must act now.

Lagarde spoke near the end of a month when the value of global equities dropped by $5.7trillion on concern global growth is slowing and governments will be unable to tacklesovereign debt burdens. UBS AG and Citigroup cut their forecasts for expansion of the world

economy and predicted major central banks will leave interest rates on hold through 2012.The slowdown provided the impetus for three days of debate at the conference, with

Federal Reserve chairman Ben S Bernanke saying the US central bank still has tools to

boost its economy, without specifying what they were or whether they would be deployed.

The stakes for the world economy are high, said Allen Sinai, president of DecisionEconomics in New York, who put the odds of another global recession at 30%. Europe is

struggling to contain a sovereign debt crisis that is nearing its third year and has left manybanks from Spain to Greece in or close to insolvency. Stress tests on 90 European bankspublished on July 15 showed eight lenders had a combined 2.5 billion-euro ($3.6 billion)capital shortfall, failing to ease concern that many of them remain vulnerable to a potential

sovereign default. BLOOMBERG

Documents

Gs 29th August