Issue 18 (Low Res)

insight: jagdeep chhokar on why uid is a number of problems
October 16-31, 2010 | Vol. 01 Issue 18 | ` 30
WHOSE HEAD, Mr PRIME MINISTER?

RNI No. UPENG/2010/33794
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Salman Khurshid: Expect more shareholder democracy

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Ayodhya verdict: holy men at ground zero want development first

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This mans vision has shaped a model of self-governance

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contents
40 Interview with Salman Khurshid
Expect more shareholder democracy in the new Companies Bill
08 For a village for this age
How one mans vision transformed Kuthambakkam village near Chennai into a model of self-governance
16 pride wash

The Commonwealth Games Circus would have been ridiculous if it were not such a disaster with an astronomical bill. But they asked us to be patient promising the legacy of a global city and then there was the question of national pride. How deceived we were on both counts!
32 The resort as the first politics of the scoundrel

Resorting to resorts re-sorts all sorts of political alignments CWG Inquiry Report 2010 in 2010
30 Reading Marx in Ayodhya

Dateline Ayodhya continues to spark heated debates elsewhere but in this quiet holy town, fanaticism has given way to pragmatism and holy men are demanding economic development first
50 Last Word

36 UID: A number of problems Benefits of a unique identity number will not be af

fected if critics genuine doubts are cleared and citizens apprehensions are allayed
44 Ground realities of welfare state

The state sets out to replace a British era law for land compensation with more anti-people laws
12 Blueprints for green designs Women architects plans to reduce carbon footprint
www.GovernanceNow.com 3
EDITORIALS
Faith in judiciary is vindicated

Now it is up to the other organs of the state to do their bit for solving Ayodhya imbroglio
t is impossible to solve a puzzle from the state of mind in which it was created. You need to go to a different plane to solve it. That is exactly what has happened in Ayodhya. For the past six decades, the political executive has been prevaricating on the issue, more often keeping in mind its own narrow ends. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Ayodhya imbroglio is the creation of the countrys muddled politics. When the idols were smuggled into the central dome on December 23, 1949, Nehru and Patel were furious and had sought their removal forthwith. Ayodhya then was not even a local issue, let alone a national issue. The then UP chief minister Govind Ballabh Pant prevaricated. That a Faizabad district magistrate had the temerity to overrule his political masters speaks of the confusion in the countrys top power echelons at the time. The next generation of politicians had ample opportunity to salvage its image by resolving the dispute which began to simmer in the eighties. Besieged by Punjab militancy and troubles in the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir, Indira Gandhi chose to ignore the issue as it was not worth her attention. But her assassination and polarisation of the electorate on communal lines in 1984 made Rajiv Gandhi the biggest political beneficiary. The Congress party tasted blood and
Albert Einstein had rightly said, We cannot solve todays problems using the mindset that created them. Our politicians are doggedly refusing to shed the old mindset and still seeking a refuge in raking up Ayodhya controversy to ramp up their political fortunes.
it was the Congress that opened the locks at the Babri Mosques central dome on February 1, 1986. Since then, Ayodhya has turned into a place where angels fear to tread but politicians rush to reap rewards. That is why Mulayam Singh Yadav is fuming at the verdict. The Congress has been maintaining a studied ambiguity while the Hindutva Parivar is just waiting for the right opportunity to strike and win over its lost constituency. In their three separate verdicts, the judges of the high court tried to grapple with facts, faith and fictions of each group to arrive at a decision. A glance at the judgment clearly belies the belief that the judgment was based solely on faith without giving due consideration to law. Only a nave reader would say that the learned judges of the high court ignored the facts of law while deciding about Rams birthplace. The judges, particularly Justice S U Khan, dwelt at length on cases of Hindu law to grant Ram Lalla the status of a juristic person. Obviously there is no denying that people have a right to find fault with the high courts verdict on merit but they will not be able to do so on intent. Like professional politicians, there is a group of professional secularists who regard themselves to be sole champions of minority rights. They refuse to acknowledge the fact that for the first time in six decades, a judicial solution to the dispute is at least made available. And, in any case, aggrieved parties are
Not so judicious
The judicial accountability bill proposes an oversight committee that is neither independent nor permanent in nature
he Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill of 2010, which was approved by the union cabinet on October 5, is yet another formulation in the decadeslong endeavour of the government to bring in transparency and accountability in the higher judiciary. Meant to replace the Judiciary (Inquiry) Act of 1968, the latest formulation provides for a national oversight committee with which anyone can lodge a complaint against the higher judiciary, including the chief justice of India (CJI) and the chief justices of high courts. The oversight committee will be a five-member body, which will be headed by a retired CJI, one judge each from the
apex court and the high court who will be nominated by the CJI, the attorney general and an eminent person nominated by the president. Once a complaint is received, it will be forwarded to a scrutiny panel. If the complaint is against a supreme court judge, the panel will consist of a former CJI and two sitting apex court judges and if it is against a high court judge, the panel will have a former chief justice of high court and two of its sitting judges. This panel will submit its report in three months. In case the complaint is against a chief justice, the oversight committee itself will carry out the scrutiny. If charges are found correct, an investigation committee will go into it and the action will
follow. If charges are not serious, the oversight committee will issue an advisory or warning. But if serious, the judge will be requested to resign, failing which the oversight committee will recommend his removal to the president. In such an eventuality, the impeachment proceeding will begin as per the existing system of impeachment. There are two other key features in the proposed bill. One, the judges will be required to file annual return of assets and liabilities of their own, their spouse and children and will be put up on the websites of the respective courts. Two, the judges will be prohibited from having close association with lawyers who practise in the same court, permit relatives to appear before him or hear a case involving their family, close relatives or friends. Besides, there are other donts like not to contest elections to any club, association connected with the law or any court, not to air views on political issues or pending cases and not to speculate in securities or indulge in any trade or allow official residence for professional work by
GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010
allowed to approach the supreme court for final resolution. It is certainly not our case that the judgment be accepted without criticism. But we must appreciate the fact that an effort has been made by the judiciary to resolve a festering dispute which has the potential of developing into gangrene in the countrys body politic. That the country heaved a sigh of relief after the verdict is evident by the mature reaction of people across the communal divide. Though the final verdict will come only from the supreme court if an aggrieved party approaches it, there is certainly a light at the end of a long, long tunnel. Albert Einstein had rightly said, We cannot solve todays problems using the mindset that created them. Our politicians are doggedly refusing to shed the old mindset and are still seeking refuge in raking up Ayodhya controversy to ramp up their political fortunes. By all indications, the Ayodhya controversy is finding least acceptance as a political controversy. Judicial intervention has effectively defanged its potential as religious discord since the disputed land has been equally distributed among the three parties. That the judiciary has shown foresight in dealing with a contentious issue in the face of abdication by the executive and the legislature is a matter of celebration. And this reflects the inherent strength of our republic.
Call me chhote sardar

Monument politics scales new heights as Modi plans a Sardar statue
ime was when our leaders used to be nation-builders. Now we have statue-builders as our leaders. They have reduced historical leaders to brand ambassadors. Ambedkar statues in Uttar Pradesh are a case in point. Now it is Sardar Patels turn. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has announced plans to build a statue of the Iron Man of India, overlooking the controversial Sardar Sarovar dam. At 182 metres, it will be taller than the tallest statue in the world today the Statue of Liberty. Consider it as Modis reply to the US, which has denied him visa for obvious reasons. Sardar is one Congress leader Modi is in awe of. In his public speeches soon after 2002, he began quoting (and misquoting) the great leader, delivering the message that great minds think alike. His followers got the cue and anointed him as Chhote Sardar. There, however, was a protocol issue: Chhote Sardar was supposed to be the then union home minister, L K Advani. The veteran leader apparently gave up his claim to the title (he preferred Loh Purush); otherwise we would have a Bade Chhote Sardar and a Chhote Chhote Sardar. Imagine the confusion that would have ensued, when you also consider their
Congress counterparts, the one in 7 Race Course Road, and the other at the Yojana Bhavan. When Modi and the rest of the Sangh Parivar are out to appropriate Gandhiji, who was killed by a communal fanatic, Sardar and other Congress leaders like K M Munshi are of course easy targets for them. Never mind the fact that Patel always remained with the Congress. Sardar comes handy to Modi when he wants to woo the influential Patel community that is still not firmly behind him when he enters the tenth year of his rather eventful chief ministership. His announcement of the project also came after the model code of conduct was in place ahead of the crucial civic polls. Modis real inspiration is not Sardar but Mayawati. Remember those elephant statues in memorial parks of Uttar Pradesh? Well, the Sardar statue will have the Iron Man holding a lotus. (For lotus was his favourite flower, he never left home without one and only a Congress conspiracy could have hidden this historical fact.) Modis other real inspiration is the above mentioned Planning Commission deputy chairperson, since the statue is coming up in a public-private partnership (PPP).
family members. It must be acknowledged that these are quite radical steps, especially in view of the fact that there is no legal mechanism to deal with the complaints against judges and an in-house system that exists doesnt really work, which was evident in the way complaints against Justice PD Dinakaran and Justice Nirmal Yadav were dealt with. Impeachment has not been able to remove even one judge for misconduct in the past 60 years because of the stiff conditionalities and reluctance of the politicians to antagonise the judiciary. But the proposed bill falls short of expectations in one crucial area. The oversight committee consists of a majority of ex-officio members. To expect sitting judges to sit on judgment over the misconduct of brother judges, who could be their senior (if the complaint is against the CJI, for example) or with whom they may be sharing the bench every day, is expecting too much. So is the case with the attorney general who has to practice in their courts. The
To expect sitting judges to sit on judgment over the misconduct of brother judges, who could be their senior (if the complaint is against the CJI, for example) or with whom they may be sharing the bench every day, is expecting too much.
scrutiny panel too suffers from the same shortcoming and cant be expected to do any better than the in-house mechanism that exists now. Apart from reluctance, ex-officio members may be short on time and motivation. As Prashant Bhushan, senior advocate campaigning for judicial accountability for many years, has been pleading, such a body has to be an independent and permanent body, members of which should be drawn from a wider catchment area and involving various other institutions like the leaders of opposition, human rights bodies, CEC, CVC and CAG etc. The problem with the nature of the oversight committee becomes even more acute when we realise that the judges self-appoint themselves through a collegium, which consists of a group of senior judges of the apex court. This is an opaque system and needs to be replaced with an outside body, without which any talk about transparency and accountability in judiciary is meaningless. The bill should start from there, instead of overlooking it.
www.GovernanceNow.com
LETTERS
Congresss Jenson & Nicholson formula for Ayodhya

Refer to Congress and its Jenson & Nicholson formula for Ayodhya (October 1-15). The Ayodhya verdict comes at a changed time in Indian history. Courts have always found the right solutions even for political mess. This verdict is with the mood of masses. It is in the nations need of peace and harmony. Though legally and strictly speaking, it is more of national justice rather than legal justice to a certain extent but that is what the need of the hour is. It is sad that some politicians still wish to exploit it for their personal vote-bank politics at the cost of the national interest of unity and brotherhood. Now it is turn of people to vote them out. Mahesh Kumar on email Toll charges or one-time tax? This is with reference to PPP: Pure and Private Pelf (October 1-15). Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway toll charges are quite hefty. In fact, the toll bridge is wastage of precious fuel as millions of vehicles halt and pay toll charges. If the government wants more revenue for maintenance of roads and similar purposes, such a collection should be grouped with other taxes like road tax that are charged only when the vehicle is purchased. This would also result in a drop in the cost of collecting toll charges. Mahesh Kapasi on email Uncommon services! I have gone through your report on e-governance in Assam (No wrong. That type of non-controversial stance is currently popular with world leaders because the world is excessively polarised on many issues at the moment. Buddhavarapu Murthy on email Debate and discussion A silent gratitude is not of much use to anyone. So I wish to thank you for having come out with Governance Now which highlights very pertinent issues of governance. The most despicable part of our public life today is that governance is not debated, especially among youth. Ive always believed that it is better to debate without a decision than to decide without a debate. Governance Now promises to be that debating forum. Sunil Zalmi, Mumbai Great job Governance Now magazine and its website are a great job delivered by your team. MP MOnitor (on the website) is the finest among all other good things. I am looking forward to some innovative journalism from your team. Keep going with the same spirit. Giridhar on email Corrigendum Ref. the article Axe the laws by Justice S U Khan (Octber 1-15). In the sentence Useful seeds require tending for growth, however, seeds grow untended by themselves and at a faster rate, the second part should have read reeds grow untended by themselves... The error is regretted. Editor
Write to Governance Now We invite your suggestions, reactions to the stories and analyses and, of course, your own take on all matters related to governance. You can email or send snail mail. All letters must accompany your postal address. feedback@governancenow.com SABGROUP Publishing Division 24A Mindmill Corporate Towers Film City, Sector 16A, Noida 201301
Debate
Will Ayodhya verdict lead to resolution of the dispute?
The Allahabad high courts verdict on Ayodhya would seem to suggest that the resolution of the long-standing dispute lies in building both a temple and a mosque at the site a perfectly secular solution for a secular country. But there is one jarring note. The claim for a temple seems to have been granted on the basis of faith and belief of Hindus, rather than legal reasoning and historical facts. It not only ignores vandalism by the faithful who sneaked in an idol in 1949 or the politicians who led the mob to demolish the mosque at the site in 1992 but also seems to lend credence to ASIs questionable findings about a pre-existing temple there. This issue is bound to figure prominently when the matter reaches the supreme court, primarily because of the fear that this verdict, if not overturned, will legitimise vandalism and provoke more of the same in future. Hence the question: Will the Ayodhya verdict lead to a resolution or merely prolong the dispute? Join the debate, send your views to feedback@governancenow.com
service is common at these centres, July 1-15). I read it so late because I had seriously lost all hopes on this project and started to ignore all news items related to the CSC (Common Service Centre) scheme. But having gone through your report, I am writing this mail to you just to say Thanks. Our organisation has again started fighting against the irregularities of Amtron and Sahaj, as these companies with the help of the state government are again planning to pocket money which was released for the VLEs by central government. As per our information, the state government has signed an MoU to implement the UID project in our state for which each CSC will be given contracts of printing citizens photographs. But, again, SREI is trying to pocket at least 65 percent of this whole money from us without doing anything. This service is purely an offline service. From shooting photographs by visiting each house to printing, all the work will be done by us and SREI will pocket 65 percent of our money! Saumarjyoti Baruah Assistant secretary, Arunodoy Kendra Owners Association, Assam Manmohans leadership secrets Regarding your column, Manmohan, the leader of leaders! (September 1-15), I think it is an accurate reflection of the weakness of politicians outside of Indira Gandhis family and therefore I think it is a little too harsh on Manmohan Singh. Manmohan is a manager of my style. If you havent said anything, you havent said anything
6 GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010
More and more millionaires now
people
Honour for Rahman, Ramakrishna Mission Ashram
ndias millionaires are doing pretty well. The net worth of the countrys 100 richest people has touched $300 billion, up from $276 billion last year, according to the India rich list prepared by Forbes. The list has 69 names, 17 more than last year. Mukesh Ambani has retained the top
slot for the third time. This, despite his net worth falling to $27 billion from last years $32 billion. Second on the list is Lakshmi Mittal with a net worth of $26.1 billion. Among the top seven, it was Anil Ambani who had to face the steepest drop in his wealth by 24 percent.
Development economist Arjun Sengupta is no more

rjun Kumar Sengupta, a development economist, is no more. He died on September 26 at the age of 73. After his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and teaching stints, he served as special secretary (economic advisor) to prime minister Indira Gandhi during 1981-84. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2005.
scar-winning composer A R Rahman and the Ramakrishna Mission Ashram in Chhattisgarhs Narainpur have jointly won the 25th Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for 2009 for their services in promoting and preserving national integration. The award, which consists of a citation and Rs 2.5 lakh, will be presented by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on October 31, the death anniversary of the former prime minister. The Congress instituted the award in 1985 to recognise people and organisations for outstanding contributions to the cause of national integration.
In 2004, he was appointed chairman of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised and Informal Sector, whose recommendations led to the enactment of the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008. It was this commissions report that said that 77 percent of Indias population lived on less than Rs 20 a day.
Habibullah on the other side of governance

ajahat Habibullah, who retired as chief of the Central Information Commission (CIC), has said that his stint in the panel gave him a feeling of how the common man viewed the government. I was aware of the failings of the government, but I learnt to view the government from the outside, as to how those outside the government see it, he said on the last day in office. Habibullah, who has joined the World Bank as a member of its first Appeals Board, said he did not see the
political regime as threat to the Act. I have of course been in discussion with political leaders and a number of people. Everybody has been actually making use of the law and I dont think the law is under any threat from that quarter. The political class in general has been supportive, he told the Mint. Meanwhile, A N Tiwari, a 1969 batch IAS officer and former secretary, department of personnel and training, is the new CIC chief. His term ends in December 2010.
people politics policy performance

Governance and I
For a village for this age

How one mans vision transformed Kuthambakkam village near Chennai into a model of self-governance
Sonal Matharu
uthambakkam village, on the outskirts of Chennai, challenges your modern-day conception of the countryside. The roads are neatly laid, the drains are not clogged and the vast stretches of paddy fields paint an idyll that is a pleasant departure from the regulation underdeveloped rural backwater that residents cannot wait to flee just to be able to feed themselves. It was not always so. Just a decade and a half ago, Kuthambakkam was like any other village in this part of the country unloved and uncared for by the powers that be. Poverty was rampant and opportunity scarce. There was no water supply, no electricity and no road. Caste tensions simmered and occasionally boiled over. It took one mans vision and untiring efforts to change all that and transform this dalit-majority village into a self-sustaining community that has become a model of self-governance.
GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010
Photos: sonal matharu
Women organised under self-help groups in the village working at the Trust for Village Self Governance campus
Rangasamy Elango, who belonged to a relatively well-off dalit family and had the good fortune of being able to study chemical engineering, gave up lucrative opportunities elsewhere to stay back and work for his people. When Tamil Nadu government enforced the Panchayati Raj Act, following the 73rd Amendment to the constitution, Elango contested in the elections and went on to serve for two consecutive terms which gave him an opportunity to turn his vision into sustainable reality. But Elangos efforts date further back, to 1983, when he was just a 22-year-old student in Chennai where he formed the Youth Education Society. He started teaching children and organised women and young men to fight against liquor brewing, which was a big menace in his village. With the presence of a water body in the village, the land was fertile for local liquor brewing, he recalls, There were 20-30 selling points and onethird of the population was into illicit
The night he was elected president, he marched to the upper caste clusters in the village and sought the support of the people there. He promised them that he would put an end to the violence rampant in the dalit-dominated parts of the village. The move paid off and the next morning all upper caste people rallied around to work with him.
liquor brewing. Almost all the men would get drunk every night and beat up their women and children like animals. My first target was to stop this practice in the village. Within a year, though, his efforts came to a standstill when he lost connection with the village, for his job as an executive engineer with Oil India Limiteds drilling exploration took him to Bhubaneswar, Orissa. The lucrative job killed the small initiatives which he had started at his village. He was faced with a tough choice: to live for money or to live for his people. I resigned and came back to Chennai to work but I was not happy with the new job either, he remembers, I couldnt concentrate on the welfare activities in my village, so I took the job of a scientist with the CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) which gave me a lot of free time. Thus he managed to devote time to his village once again, trained women, formed self-help groups and sought the help of the police to stop liquor brewing. He helped villagers procure bank loans from the Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP) and helped set up a dairy on the extra land in the village. Once the villagers realised they could get together and procure government funds to change their lives for the better, there was no looking back. All this while, Elango constantly contemplated strengthening local self-governance. His opportunity came when the state government passed the Panchayati Raj Act in 1994. When Rajiv Gandhi came to power, he questioned why resources were not percolating to the villages. He realised that the people, the villages had no power. There was no plan for the gram sabha (which comprises the entire adult population). The block development officers did not know anything about the village. Only 19 percent of the total funds from the centre were reaching the grassroots, he says, and reasons that it was so because there was an absence of sustained demand from the villages. Following a dramatic first round of panchayat polls, which he won by 500 votes, he called the first meeting of the gram sabha. He realised that development could neither be initiated meaningfully nor sustained without a resolution of the divisive caste issues. The night he was elected president, he marched to the upper caste-dominated clusters in the village and sought the support of the people
Men organised under self-help groups in the village working inside the campus of the Trust for Village Self Governance.
Twin houses at Samathuvapuram, where brahmins and dalits share a common roof.
Panchayat president Geeta and children from the village at the panchayat office.
Village roads levelled by the villagers themselves.
White board in the panchayat office displaying break-up of money spent by the panchayat.
Medical kits for Red Cross packed by women associated with self-help groups in the village. Hammock making attracts more women to seek employment. Women employed under self-help groups in the village.
Residents of Samathuvapuram, or harmoney estates in the village.
Computer training centre for children.
Locally produced clay bricks which are used in constructing buildings and houses in the village. These bricks were also donated by the village to Tsunami victims in Tamil Nadu.

Governance and I
there. He promised them that he would put an end to the violence rampant in the dalit-dominated parts of the village. The move paid off and the next morning all upper caste people rallied around to work with him. The second gram sabha collectively decided that panchayat funds would be used for the uplift of the neglected dalit-dominated areas. When all people were given a chance to decide for themselves, they were already using their discretion with wisdom. More dramatic developments were to follow. With the entire community getting together, Elango helped build a seventh cluster in the village where brahmins and dalits actually came together to live as neighbours in twin houses. Samathuvapuram, meaning harmony estates, had been an initiative of the state government but Elango needed to create the right environment to get it sanctioned for the village. Built over 100 acres, it came to house a hundred homes, built in clay, bricks and cement, with the villagers providing free labour. Fifty families of brahmins and dalits each, half of them from other villages and urban slums which did not have pucca houses, were invited to occupy these homes. One family from either community shared the same roof, with just a common wall separating their homes. Most of these families shifted here in 2001, when this hamlet was constructed, and have been living here peacefully ever since. Those families which could not contribute monetarily towards this venture helped in constructing the houses free of charge. The houses are built of materials locally produced by the villagers like the clay bricks which keep the houses cool in summers. Each family has 150 square feet of land, irrespective of the size of the family and income. Sambat, a mason who did not have a house of his own, says he shifted here as soon as the house became ready. His wife invites us for food as Sambat points to the community hall across the street where all the villages weddings take place. Panchayati Raj becomes a slave to the government when it has no plan of its own, says Elango, who made it a point to have a clear roadmap for the village soon after he became president, We mapped each and every street of the village and marked down all the needs and requirements. We decided to prioritise things. The panchayat was tasked with giving
Kuthambakkam in five years what it had not got in 50 years. There was absolute poverty in some pockets. There was hunger. There was destitution. But the village now had its people together. It had the will. It had a leader. The plan just followed. As a result, the village was freed of its open gutters. The roads were levelled and proper storm water drainage ensured that water didnt stagnate. Seated in the office of the charitable Trust for Village Self Governance, which he formed in 2001, Elango says he now shares his experiences with panchayat leaders from across the states 12,620 panchayats under his newly-formed Panchayat Academy. Villages can be revitalised to play an important role in the nations economy once again, he believes. Before the villagers got the power to govern themselves, the only school in the village had classes only till eighth standard. Elango remembers that he was the only one in his class of 40 who went to school after eighth standard as he could travel six km on a bicycle which his friends could not afford. Elango served as the panchayat president until 2006, after which his sister-inlaw, Geeta, took over. She took charge of an office that, besides charts and other informative diagrams, has a white board which gives details of all the money spent by the panchayat. Anybody can just walk
If there is real concern for local governance, there should be no tied grants. There is no freedom of thinking then. Where is my authority? Who asked for the NREGA? Panchayat is reduced to a mere agency of implementation.
Rangasamy Elango Former panchayat president
in and check out where exactly the money is going. Geeta says that three days before the panchayat meeting, held once a month, the ward members are informed about the agenda of the meeting. These ward members discuss it among their representative groups and present their demands and suggestions at the meeting. There are nine ward members, one for every 300 people and they are selected by the people. January 26, May 1, August 15 and October 2 are all mandatory gram sabha days under the constitution. Elango continues to be just as busy as he used to be as panchayat president. He looks after his charitable trust and the academy. The Trust for Village Self Governance has 48 womens as well as mens self-help groups. Inside the trust complex, women pack medical kits for the Red Cross while in the other building some roll metal pipes to make stoves. A few men are busy welding in another room. In real federal governance, there should be no state or central government schemes, says Elango, If there is real concern for local governance, there should be no tied grants. There is no freedom of thinking then. Where is my governance? Where is my authority? Who asked for NREGA? Why do we need District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) when there is no authority with the panchayats? Panchayat is reduced to a mere agency of implementation. Gram sabha can evolve the schemes. It should be peoples power. Community strength should be utilised. For 14 years, panchayat has been there for namesake, says Elango. He further argues that Section 205 of the Panchayat Act, which gives power to the collector to remove a panchayat leader, should be removed. Elango now wants to hoist a flag with former president APJ Abdul Kalam and declare Kuthambakkam village as Annamkodi, meaning food security, by 2020. I want gram swaraj self-reliant villages to liberate my people from dependency. I have no faith in poverty reduction. I have faith in prosperity generation, prosperity addition, he says. Coming from someone who has proved within a matter of a decade that if people are given swaraj, or the right to rule themselves, they are capable of forming their own policies and governing themselves, the words just ring true. n
sonal@governancenow.com

Green Gov
LAVANYA G ORADIA/WFS
Blueprints for green designs

A small band of women is turning to eco-friendly architecture, helping us reduce our carbon footprints
Surekha Kadapa-Bose
n energy-efficient home is the new buzzword among those who want to reduce their carbon footprint on Planet Earth. The trend, which surprisingly is more popular in small towns, is also likely to impact the real estate industry in big cities
like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, which are facing a severe shortage of space. Among those in the forefront of this change are some leading women architects, who are designing and building eco-friendly homes that are comfortable, easy to maintain, reduce energy related greenhouse gas emissions, and are more easy on the purse in the long term than conventional homes. This trend is slowly changing and is
like a silent revolution, explains Bangalore-based architect Chitra Vishwanath, 47, who has designed and got constructed over 600 eco-friendly houses in and around her city in the last decade. In fact, over 6,000 eco-friendly houses have come up in Bangalore and its vicinity in the last 10 years thanks to many architectural firms that now offer clients green or energy-efficient buildings. Eco-friendly structures mean using local materials, local skills and imply
aNUPAMA KUNDOO/WFS
(Left) A green house in Bangalore designed by architect Chitra Vishwanath. (Right) An eco-design by Anupama Kundoo.
low-technological dependency. None of these buildings is more than two or three floors high and so power is not consumed for running lifts, for instance. Most of these buildings are made up of soil stabilised blocks, Balipatnam bricks (solid and hollow), stone masonry, tiled roofs and recycled wood. They also use biogas. Their materials include natural stones and clay tiles for the flooring. They function on solar and wind power to run fans and power the LED bulbs for light. Each one of them has a rainwater-harvesting facility as well as infrastructure to recycle the garbage. And because of good cross-ventilation through large windows and doors, these abodes dont require air-conditioning. Says architect Anupama Kundoo, known for the green homes she has built in cities across India, Eco-friendly is not defined as a clear measurable standard. Its more a tendency. It is an effort to reduce the strain on water and energy as compared to conventional building practices. Its an effort to consider the health and pollution impacts and focus on reducing the waste generated. As such there is a lot of scope to improve the performance of buildings, particularly in densely populated cities. Eco-friendly doesnt mean only mud buildings today. Kundoo, incidentally, divides her time between India and Germany and is currently teaching architecture and urban management at the University of Technology in Berlin. Mumbai-based architect Shimul Javeri Kadri, who has designed several energy efficient buildings in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Karur (Tamil Nadu) among other places, puts it this way, If buildings are constructed giving attention to the direction of natural wind flow and the angle of sunlight, a lot of energy
Eco-friendly is not defined as a clear measurable standard. Its more a tendency. It is an effort to reduce the strain on water and energy as compared to conventional building practices. Its an effort to consider the health and pollution impacts and focus on reducing the waste generated.
Anupama Kundoo Architect
can be saved. Of course, one cant but consume power for the usage of lifts in multi-storied buildings. But power consumption can be reduced if the rooms are properly ventilated. Even the glass faades that are so popular at present can help reduce power consumption. This is possible if the glass windowpanes are replaced by reflective window panes that considerably reduce the solar heat. In support of her argument, Kadri cites an example of a building designed by Chicago-based architect Jeanne Gang. Named Aqua, Gangs 84-storied condo building is making waves amongst architects the world over. The building has a protruding concrete faade resembling sea waves on each floor that controls the breeze flow in the apartments and also provides natural shade to the occupants from the scorching sun. Kadri is currently working on a residential bungalow in Alibaug, near Mumbai, where she has shaped the roof like a peepal tree leaf, with the front of the roof tilting upwards and facing the wind flow. The wind flow is thus used to cool the interiors of the bungalow. Architects admit that the concept of eco-friendly buildings to help fight global warming could become successful only when the entire landscape of the city and lifestyle of its residents undergo a change. And cities need to be planned properly, the way they used to be in earlier times. You cant commute four to five hours in your AC car to and from office and say that you are helping the planet by living in eco-friendly homes. Whatever energy you have saved in your house design goes waste. The ideal eco-friendly

Green Gov
SHIMUL JAVERI KADRI/WFS
An eco-design by Mumbai-based architect Shimul Javeri Kadri, who has designed several energy efficient buildings. constructions are those where the office, schools, colleges, hospitals and recreation centres are close by, says Vishwanath. This is the reason why many big names in the world of construction are offering townships. Far removed from the maddening crowds of the cities, these builders provide everything including recreation facilities, sports space, office space, hospitals and markets, within the cluster of buildings they build. They also provide rain harvesting systems and many of them have set up garbage recycling facilities. In addition, many projects that are now coming up have solar panelling on the rooftops to tap the energy from the sun. Women architects are very optimistic that within the next couple of decades, the lifestyle of ordinary people will undergo a sea change. The concrete-aluminum-steel buildings that are considered sophisticated today may soon become pass. And the mud houses, which are considered the poor persons habitat at present, may well become fashionable in the years to come. Says Kundoo, Cement stabilised rammed earth walls allow a cleaner monolithic and modular solution with a minimalistic look in tune with modern trends. Five percent cement added to the mud mix allows one to do away with the large tiled roof overhangs. This gives a rural and rustic look that is slowly becoming popular with urbanites. People today are more conscious about environmentally sound solutions, especially young couples who prefer to have a unique house and who want to fight the battle against global warming, indirectly if not directly. They are constantly in search of green architects, who on their part go out of their way to experiment with newer technology to make a house as energy efficient as possible. Cost wise, some of these eco-homes may not come cheap. But while many a time they are more expensive to construct, they could prove much cheaper to maintain in the long term. Reveals Sandhya Mahesh, wife of Mahesh Babu, a scientist with the space research centre, Bangalore, Living in this house designed and constructed by Chitra makes us feel one with the nature. We dont have an AC in our house plus the harvested rain water helps us water our garden. With more and more people adopting eco-friendly lifestyles and with architects willing to experiment with building styles and materials, eco-homes are just what India and the world need in these times of climate change and global warming. n
Womens Feature Service
You cant commute fourfive hours in your AC car to and from office and say that you are helping the planet by living in ecohomes. Whatever energy is saved goes waste. The ideal eco-friendly constructions are those where the office, schools, hospitals... are close by.
Chitra Vishwanath Architect
Countrys first model district health project

ssam chief minister Tarun Gogoi launched Morigaon Model District Health Project, an ambitious initiative of the health department, recently. With this, Morigaon becomes the first district in the country to have started the project and is among the five districts in the country to have been selected under the model district health project. The objective is to reduce infant and
performance
Single test for entry to central varsities
he process of college admissions in India is set for a radical change, with the central universities agreeing to conduct a common entrance test for selecting students from across the country. Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal said the move was part of an attempt to reform the education system and assess students holistically. Vice-chancellors of 40 central government funded universities also agreed to create an inter-university credit transfer system to help students switch from one university to another. The central universities have decided in principle to have a common aptitude test. The score of the class XII exam and that of the aptitude test will be combined while admitting students to the undergraduate courses across these central universities, Sibal said.
maternal mortality rates by 2015. It is in collaboration with The Earth Institute, Columbia University, and the union ministry of health and family welfare. Nirupam Bajpai, senior adviser at The Earth Institute, said the project aimed at scaling the healthcare services from one district to that of the state, and subsequently to all parts of the country by 2015.
No laxity in disciplinary action

he government has warned senior bureaucrats not to be casual in handling disciplinary and vigilance proceedings against the staff by making an excuse of delay in getting appropriate advice from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The erring officers against whom inquiry establishes irregularities escape penalty for many years just because the UPSC, whose advice is mandatory before taking action, often does not get all relevant papers and the file keeps going back
and forth between the commission and the concerned department. Pointing out that the UPSC cannot react if the case records and relevant documents are not provided, a circular warns that the bureaucrat concerned will now be issued a written warning to be more careful in future if the commission returns any incomplete proforma and documents. A second time default by the same officer shall invite minor penalty proceedings against him, says the circular.
Ramesh trashes scientists report on Bt brinjal
nvironment minister Jairam Ramesh has dismissed a Bt brinjal report prepared by six scientific academies. He said It doesnt appear to be the product of rigorous scientific evaluation. There is not a single citation or reference in the report. So there is no way to know how the authors reached their conclusions. The report doesnt even say who all were consulted in this exercise. The academies involved in preparing the report
were: Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Engineering, Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Medical Sciences and National Academy of Sciences (India). The academies had favoured a limited release of Br brinjal and later issued a statement saying they stood by their findings. Ramesh had announced a moratorium on Bt brinjal in Fenruary this year.
PRIDE WASH
CWG Con Job
Even if the Commonwealth Games were supposed to be the Big Fat Indian Wedding where everything would work out well in the end, it is clear Manmohan Singh needs to hire a few good band-wallahs and fire a few. Will he do that as promised or, now that the Games are a grand success, will he pride-coat the shame and ridicule India was subjected to?
B V Rao
few weeks ago, when the Great Indian Commonwealth Games Circus was at its best, our columnist Suresh Menon had written that the expectations from the Games were being driven so low that it just needed the microphone to function during oath-taking for the organisers to declare the Games a grand success! As is obvious, much more than a mike worked well on October 3 and by all accounts the opening ceremony was spectacular. From the evidence of the first week, it is risk-free to assume, the roofs will hold for another week. And by October 15, when you get to read this a day after an equally (assumed) spectacular closing ceremony and a possible No. 2 slot on the medals tally, the news channels will not allow us to think and feel anything other than immense pride as Indians. All the mighty pre-Games messthe turf wars, lack of leadership, pass-the-parcel accountability, corruption, nepotism, inefficiency, leaking roofs, crashing bridges, stinking toilets, clogged drains, submerged roads and traffic jamswill already seem like a distant
memory. There is serious risk that Suresh Kalmadi, who could have been lynched by mobs as recently as last week, will be knighted by the next and Sheila Dikshit, who could have lost an election last week, would win unopposed if she sought election by next week to be chief minister for life. That is why, in spite of the mike working, Suresh Menon was not wrong. Indeed, it doesnt take much to make Indians proud and India amnesic. Unlike Mani Shankar Aiyar, we are not sports-haters. It would not have gladdened our socialist hearts if the games had failed and India was shamed. Anyway, the queens lap (London) is perhaps not the best vantage point to pontificate about Indias hungry and rail against her Games. Neither do we think that the debate should be about priorities; it is ridiculous to contend that everything else must be on hold till the last hungry stomach is filled. Hunger, as Suresh Kalmadi and his band of boys will tell you, is not only of food and can be a bottomless pit. No, the Games are not the debate. It doesnt take much to organise a sporting event involving 71 countries for all of 11 days. Delhi had done damn good job of hosting 23 countries for Asiad way back in 1982 when, thankfully, Mani Shankar Aiyar was still a babu without a voice and 24x7 news was not around to amplify every noise. The
Soon the guests will go back and Delhiites will reclaim all the lanes. Delhis drive to the next traffic light will be hastened by a few minutes. That will be enough for all to wonder if they have been unfair to Sheilaji all this while.
circus that was conducted before and around the Games is the debate. The Games were made to stand on two stilts: legacy (of infrastructure) for Delhi and national pride. No less a person than the prime minister invoked national pride to plead for postponing all questions of accountability and action against the inept and the corrupt till after the Games. Now that the Games are over, lets restrict the debate to just the two issues: legacy and national pride.
Legacy for Delhi
When Delhis citizens were bearing the brunt of the preparations, Sheila Dikshit would blame the rains and counsel patience and forbearance because she was doing all this for Delhi. The legacy of infrastructure that her
government was getting up would make life easy for all and make Delhi a global city, no less. Undoubtedly, when so much money is poured into a city in such a short span of time, some things have to improve. And they have, that is undeniable. The rains have stopped and the slush has given way to neatly paved roads and newly laid (though rarely used) pedestrian ways that make at least parts of central and south Delhi look a little more beautiful than before. Soon the guests will go back and Delhiites will reclaim all the lanes and access all the flyovers. Delhis drive to the next traffic red-light will be hastened by a few minutes and that will be enough for everybody to wonder if they have been unfair to Sheilaji all this while. Kuchh bhi kaho, games ke chalte Dilli toh sudhar gayi yaar. Yes, that is already getting to be the refrain of Delhiites suffering guilt pangs for cursing their favourite, aunt-nextdoor chief minister: Say what you may, Delhi has definitely improved thanks to the Games. Sheile Dikshit must have banked upon this fickleness of the people and the narrow (how-soon-can-I-get-to-thenext-red-light) yardstick used by Delhis great vocal motorowning minority (13%) for measuring improvement while imploring them to wait for the Games to be over. It doesnt take much to con Delhi and conned it has been.
Con No. 1
Take the Games village for example. As Boria Majumdar

CWG Con Job
and Nalin Mehta have pointed out in their book, Sellotape Legacy: Delhi and the Commonwealth Games, the village was supposed to be a hostel for Delhi University students post Games. That is what India promised in the bid for the Games in 2003. That would have been a legacy to be proud of. But as supreme court judge, Justice G S Singhvi, rightly said, the Commonwealth Games would be public purpose only till October 14, after that it will be private pursuit. Within a few days from now, Delhis uber rich will be vying with one another to buy up houses here in the range of Rs 6 crore or more per flat. Even foreign delegates say the Village is the best any Commonwealth Games has put up. But the Village will not be Delhis to feel proud of, it will belong to about 1168 of the richest of its rich. Exclusive, absolutely private. And to think that the Delhi Development Authority sunk in about Rs 700 crore of taxpayer money to bail out the private contractor who has now taken it to court (whats the charge, ill-conceived munificence?)!
Con No. 2
The ride to Mayur Vihar and Noida (across the Yamuna in East Delhi) was made smooth and easy many years ago
from the Nizamuddin bridge side. That ride got even better and faster after the new flyover opened a few months ago. Delhiites must be happy with this legacy of the games for sure. But it doesnt take much to realise that this flyover was never meant to be for Delhi. This was purely and simply meant to make life easy for the 1,168 families that will soon inhabit the Village. The only purpose this flyover serves is to give these favoured few families easy entry and exit to the Nizamuddin bridge and save them the trouble of waiting at a traffic light just as they emerge from their gated colony. It will not get the rest of Delhi a minute faster to Mayur Vihar or Noida than before. There was of course a way of avoiding the traffic light without building the flyover. The Nizamuddin bridge road is so wide that provision could have been made for the Villagers to take a free left turn, join the traffic and then take a U-turn further down the road (to head for Central and South Delhi). This kind of innovation is in evidence across Delhi where wide roads permit a portion to be cordoned off for U-turns to minimise traffic stoppages (see picture of Badarpur-Mehrauli road above). That would have meant a signal-free journey
make them drive an extra kilometre. The irony is that the Village doesnt need this access at all; it already has easy access to Central and South Delhi from the Akshardham side. The cost of this useless legacy for the taxpayer: Rs 90 crore.
Con No. 3
Unlike Mani Shankar Aiyar, we are not sports-haters. It would not have gladdened our socialist hearts if the Games had failed and India was shamed. Anyway, the queens lap (London) is not the best vantage point to pontificate about Indias hungry and rail against her Games.
for the well-heeled Villagers at no extra cost to the taxpayer. Instead, a six-lane flyover was built because their time is precious and you cant
Same is the case with the signal-free travel between Mayur Vihar and Noida. Two new flyovers have sprung up on this long road. This stretch was a traffic nightmare with at least three traffic light stoppages. It needed tending to much before the Games came acalling. But the government of course got thinking only because it wanted to provide non-stop travel for the athletes from the Village to the velodrome (in Noida) and back. So the whole stretch of the road was widened more than two times over and making space for the two successive flyovers (one of them a six-lane one). Here again, it did not cross anybodys mind that if provision was made for three Uturns on this widened road, it would have provided Delhi the same relief that two gigantic flyovers will. But creating legacy for a city is no joke and always costs some small change. Which in this case is about Rs 400 crore!
Photos: Ravi Choudhary
Above Left: The flyover on Nizamuddin bridge road opposite the Games Village (visible to the left of frame) built only to facilitate easy entry and exit for the rich and famous who will occupy the Village soon. Cost to taxpayer: Rs 90 crore. Centre: The U-turn on the Badarpur-Mehrauli road. Hundreds of such U-turns across Delhi have speeded up traffic at practically no cost to the taxpayer. The Nizamuddin and Noida roads are broad enough for this solution to have been tried. Instead we have flyovers. Right: The gigantic flyover on the Mayur Vihar-Noida road (shot from the Noida end). This flyover was built to facilitate a signal-free ride to athletes from the Village to the Velodrome in Noida. Cost Rs 360 crore. Two U-turns could have achieved the same purpose for a fraction of that cost.
These are examples that are evident to a layman. Urban planners can point out many more and question this whole political sales pitch of the Games as the impetus for Delhis claim to global greatness (see report, Delhi dazzled to deceive). It is estimated that Rs 1,00,000 crore (close to $ 20 billion) have been pumped into Delhi in a short span of three years (the Delhi government itself admits to Rs 87,500 crore). A few new cities could have been created with that kind of money, forget about refurbishing just one. No city in recent memory has poured in so much into infrastructure. If all that money indeed went where it was meant to go, Delhiites would not have to die to experience heaven. It could have been created right here, right now. So, that is the big question prime minister Manmohan Singh and chief minister Sheila Dikshit have to answer. If so much money was actually spent, where is the evidence? Why are only parts of Delhi which were already its showpieces, the better for it?
The pride sledgehammer

Days before what seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, the prime minister got into action. He held a flurry of meetings and announced that since national prestige, pride and
honour were at stake, the government should be allowed to tackle the problem on hand and everybody would be held accountable after the event. That was an entreaty to the media to be kind. The government couldnt have had a kinder response. Suddenly the discourse changed and the channels started singing the pride tune willingly suspending the questioning (and perhaps enjoying the ringing of the cash registers from the CWG advertising). A few days into the Games, that positive approach is in danger of being replaced by total jingoism. The international delegates are happy, the government is happy, Delhi is happy and, most important, the national media is happy. Everybody says the nation can be proud because of two spectacular ceremonies, a second place in the medals tally and stadium roofs holding for 11 full days. Quite forgetting the fact that nothing we do can wipe off the shame of an entire national government and a city governmentthe prime minister, the sports ministry, the UD ministry, the Group of Ministers, Delhis lieutenant governor, CM and her entire Cabinetconsumed by no business other than hosting of a sporting event for the better part of a week. Or an entire fleet of secretaries to the
government of India supervising the cleaning of toilets at the Games Village for three full days! It is of course tough to turn the attention of a happy nation to troubling questions such as why and who allowed a simple sporting event to be scaled up to the level of a nations prestige? Or, in a country that has an allocated budget of Rs 120,000 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for 63 cities for five-years, which great financial and economics wizard, the prime minister himself they say is one, cleared Rs 100,000 crore for the renewal of one city for a 11-day event? Even if this was supposed to beas sports minister M S Gill so eloquently pointed outthe Big Fat Indian Wedding where everything would work out well in the end, it is clear Manmohan Singhs Cabinet needs better bandwallahs and tentwallahs. There are myriad other questions that need answers and accountability. That is why it is time to remind the prime minister of his pre-Games pledge to the nation that post-Games people will have to pay for sullying our image irrevocably. Time to ask him: Whose head, prime minister? n
bvrao@governancenow.com

CWG Con Job
Delhi dazzled to deceive
It is time to look at the legacy of the Commonwealth Games and admit that precious little wealth of infrastructure has been generated that is common to all residents. Yet, the city has been left poorer by an estimated Rs one lakh crore. So everybody will have to bear the burden of debt for years. Contrary to what the organisers would have us believe, better alternatives were always available
photos: Ravi Choudhary
Ashish Sharma
onnaught Place has turned whiter than white, the roads have seldom been smoother, the traffic never so orderly in recent memory. The air has turned crisper toward the evenings, heralding the onset of the coming autumn, and the swollen Yamuna has already receded to a mere suggestion of a river. You can scarcely remember the ordeal of the
past several months when large swathes of the city had been dug up seemingly forever. If this is what all those people on the telly called a fiasco, give us a fiasco every time, you can reasonably conclude while comfortably ensconced in your private saloon. Even if you do not own a fancy car, you can now take the metro to many more destinations across the national capital region. Despite all the sound and fury in the runup to the Commonwealth Games, the event seems to be progressing fine, save some mishaps early on and the many mysteriously unfilled seats in most stadia, and Delhi seems set to become more liveable than ever once the games get over. With good reason. After all, never before has Delhi, or any other city in the country
for that matter, seen development works on this scale. When was the last time you heard of the city spending Rs 165 crore on potted plants? Or Rs 400 crore on streetscaping? Or Rs 740 crore on shifting slum-dwellers to purposebuilt flats? Or Rs 800 crore on upgrading areas such as Daryaganj, Paharganj and Karol Bagh? The list goes on. All the way to include Rs 7,200 crore on the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS), Rs 12,700 crore on the new T3 airport terminal and Rs 19,000 crore on the second phase of the Delhi Metro. If you have spent so much money, it cannot be all waste, even if you discount largescale corruption, agrees A G K Menon, convenor of the Delhi chapter of the Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH),
Residents can only benefit from improved infrastructure and beautification of parts of the city. The larger question, though, as Menon and other urban planners continue to ask, is whether the city should have spent a staggering sum of at least Rs 70,000 crore some informed estimates peg the total expenditure at more than Rs one lakh crore in this fashion. When you begin to address this question, you soon get to the even larger question as to whether the city should have spent money on this scale at all. Given the governments assertions that the 11-day sporting extravaganza came as Delhis one-way ticket to the league of world-class cities, it is time to look at the legacy of the Commonwealth Games. Now that the few

CWG Con Job
foreign guests who turned up have returned home, it is no longer unpatriotic to do so. It is time to ask whether the games village should have been built on the river bed and whether switching from the original plan of using the accommodation as a hostel to selling it off as any other privately built condominium smacks of a ploy to facilitate and legitimise an illegal and ill-advised construction. Or whether Rs 550 crore should have been spent on the elevated Barapullah road which was built just to transport athletes from the games village to the main venue at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Especially since traffic was going to be severely curtailed on the regular roads as well. In any case, was any new flyover needed at all? The more closely you look at the details of the projects and the funds splurged the more you realise that there is much less to the legacy of the games than meets the eye at first glance. The metaphor of the Indian wedding that some of the organisers, including sports minister M S Gill, have been using to justify the delays and cost escalations may in fact be far more apt than many of us appreciate. The preparation has all the glitz and glamour of the Indian wedding pandal. What is worrying is that it also has just as much longevity as any wedding pandal, says H R Suri, a veteran urban planner who has twice been president of the Institute of Town Planners, India, Such events should lead to permanent facilities. If you hold the Olympics next, you will need to start all over from scratch because you are going to sell off the apartments at the games village that you have built by destroying the riverfront. What will you destroy next time to build something like this again?
Architect and author Gautam Bhatia uses the metaphor somewhat differently but expresses a similar sentiment when he says, Maybe we should have held the games in temporary tents. That would have been a better way of showcasing India. We Indians are experts at temporary structures such as wedding tents. A Pappu Tent House would have been a more authentic way of showcasing India than imported goods and services from Australia, America and South Korea. If this event was about the pride of India, there is nothing to be proud of in the manner we have organised it. The only message that we have desperately sent across is that we are almost as good as you are. There is nothing Indian about our solutions. The entire philosophy behind the preparations for the games has rankled with the urban planners. The reason, Bhatia says, is that at no point did the organisers pause to consider whether the event could be turned into an opportunity to address the growing problems in the city. It was always a case of easing some of the mess of the rapidly expanding city through piecemeal solutions. The legacy issue did not figure prominently in the official scheme of things, he says, simply because the organisers focused on just a fortnight rather than the 50-year lifespan of a building. The stadia are not filled even during the games. There is every likelihood of these structures turning into white elephants soon, he laments. This, when Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium alone has taken Rs 900 crore to refurbish, Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium Rs 512 crore, Siri Fort Sports Complex Rs 329 crore and Talkatora Stadium Rs 295 crore, among other stadia, accounting for a total of more than Rs 5,000 crore.
Maybe we should have held the games in temporary tents. We Indians are experts at temporary structures such as wedding tents. A Pappu Tent House would have been a more authentic way of showcasing India.
Gautam Bhatia Architect and author
Dunu Roy, director of Hazards Centre, the non-government organisation which has compiled these figures, says his latest estimate of the total expenditure for the event stands at Rs 1,02,000 crore. Of this, non-games expenditure accounts for Rs 46,681 crore, he says. The new airport terminal, the BRTS, the expansion of the Delhi Metro and development work in unauthorised colonies are among the key components under this head. Costs have escalated by four to 40 times, says Roy, Remember that the initial bid for the entire event was just Rs 1,772 crore. Within six months, the figure for the stadia alone was revised to Rs 1,700 crore, which eventually went up to Rs 5,214 crore. As both the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and Central Vigilance Commission have detailed in their reports, as has the media through a series of exposes, most projects have been beset by the twin evils of gross corruption and substandard quality. Delhi has just joined a long list of cities that have hosted such events and struggled to repay the debt over the next 10 to 30 years. Los Angeles is the only city since 1968 the year from when financial records
for such multi-discipline international sporting events are available which did not fall into the debt trap, says Roy, That is because Los Angeles is the only city that did not build new facilities for the summer Olympics that it hosted in 1984. In a study conducted at the National Institute of Urban Affairs, senior research officer Debjani Ghosh, who earlier taught urban planning at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, pointed out as much. Ghosh also did a comparison with the Asian Games that Delhi hosted in 1982. If India had to host the Commonwealth Games, such an event could only have been held in Delhi. No other city has the infrastructure that Delhi already had in place. No other city, whether it be Mumbai or Kolkata, has the land, she says, But those who marvel at the Asiad forget that the then prime minister stepped in two years ahead of the event, while in the present case the prime minister stepped in only three or four months ahead of the games. If you consider the absence of a central command in this case, the authorities seem to have managed a pretty decent job in the end.
You have made the city even more attractive. You have made a strong magnet even stronger while you needed to create an alternate magnet. So, will you arrive at solutions, or attract more problems?
A G K Menon Convenor, Delhi chapter, INTACH
The cost however spiralled so much that, Roy says, the government will have no option but to raise at least Rs 3,000 crore per year just to service the debt. This will lead to an inevitable rise in taxes and user charges, including a possible leasing out of the stadia and privatisation of some of the flyovers, he says. How else will the stadia pay for themselves? he asks, Surely, not by holding such events once in 20 years. I wont be surprised if the government imposes a special games tax on fuel, too. Justice G S Singhvi of the supreme court expressed it most memorably when he observed, barely a fortnight ahead of the games, Till October 15, Commonwealth is a public purpose, and thereafter it will be private purpose... When the new bridge collapsed, it collapsed like a pack of cards. There is rampant corruption... Ghosh agrees that the issue of legacy is linked directly to the post-games use of the facilities that have been created or renovated. Much will depend on how these stadia are used after the games. Unless they are used on a regular basis, there will be little incentive to maintain them, she points out. If these planners had their way, though, Delhi would not have spent so much money on such an event at all. If I were to be offered Rs one lakh crore to spend on Delhi over three years, as the organisers of these games have done, I wouldnt take it, says Roy, Delhi does not need more than Rs 20,000 crore for all the improvements it needs. Menon, too, says that planning for Delhi should not be considered in isolation, especially since the budget under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for 60 cities across the country over seven years,
including the share of the states, is just about as much as the amount spent on these games. In this context, therefore, even considering a budget of Rs one lakh crore for a single city, any city in India, is anathema to planners. Much of the problem arises from this self-demeaning concept of a world-class city, says Menon, If we just say that we will deliver first-class games, we can do so at a fraction of the cost. If I were to plan such an event, I would have done it anywhere but at this venue. Instead of relocating slum-dwellers to Bawana, I would have held the games in Bawana or Narela. This alone would have reduced the costs considerably and developed an alternative area at the same time. Urban planners argue that the so-called development bequeathed by the games may actually end up accentuating the citys problems. For example, they say that flyovers serve just 13 percent of the total population that owns private vehicles. They also argue that the expansion of the metro is likely to concentrate congestion along its routes, clogging the city further. Strengthening the bus service would have made more sense, says Roy. In any case, the games have led to creation and improvement of facilities in a small area, thereby widening the gulf with the rest of the city. West Delhi, for example, has remained largely untouched by these games. The approach seems to be to just accommodate the trends. If more people are taking to drinking, let us build more whisky factories, seems to be the approach says Bhatia, The need, on the other hand, is to provide a substantial upgrade of basic facilities of drainage and so on to everybody, including in the slums and, equally important, to clamp restrictions on the unsustainable
Laltun cobbler, Badli
Virendra Yadav property dealer, Badli
Cleanliness is only being
ensured in places where the games are being held. Look around this place. There is no cleanliness here. Poor people are dying of dengue every day but no one bothers. They are spraying medicines only near the stadiums. Looking at this part of the city, can anyone make out that we are hosting the Commonwealth Games?
Just look at the roads here. There are so many potholes. Water collects here and it gives way to mosquito breeding. The government has finished constructing flyovers and met deadlines for new metro routes, but no one has come to complete unfinished work in the villages. No new flyovers have come up in this part of the city. Roads havent been repaired after the rains. Badli underpass is still under construction and traffic jams are as bad as ever.
BADLI, DELHI
SONAL MATHARU
Mahesh Yadav dry fruit seller, Samaypur
infrastructure ahead of the Commonwealth Games, but once the games are over, they will not bother about it a bit. There will be no maintenance and the city will come back to where it was before the makeover started. They are building roads and flyovers for public convenience but this is being done in selected places and not in the entire city.
The government is improving
habits of the growing middle class. Whether it is for ownership of land or of cars, there is need to restrict the increasing consumerism of the middleclass. Some people say it is undemocratic to do so. What nonsense! All great cities in the world, whether Copenhagen or Vienna, are liveable only because they have effective restrictions in place. Bhatia is not alone in lashing out at the governments basic approach to planning for the city. If you can limit the number of coolies, autos and cycle-rickshaws, why not cars? asks Roy. He says it is also a complete myth that there is no choice but to relocate slum-dwellers to Bawana. There is enough land, right here in South Delhi, he says, If you can destroy the ridge and give away the land for building malls and a fivestar hotel in Vasant Kunj, or to malls in Saket, why cant you build houses instead? If a Delhi Haat can come up over a drain, why cant houses? Roy says he would rather spend on just housing and creating livelihoods to transform Delhi into a more liveable city for all. Dont build houses for the poor. How can a family earning Rs 3,000 per month afford to pay up Rs 60,000 at one go, as the government is demanding from those who have been relocated? Give them plots instead. People can always build houses for themselves in a more cost-efficient manner. Just give them plots and access to credit, he says, and adds, Similarly, all you need to do is just support livelihoods. Provide sanitation and other infrastructure to vendors, for instance. These people will manage the rest themselves. But to do this you have to first understand and appreciate that street food, for example, is organic part of the city. Planners are therefore arguing for sustainable Indian
solutions to Indian problems. I dont think much of what they have built using the games as the excuse is relevant for the city either today or after the games, says a disappointed Bhatia. Menon says the problem stems from the desire of those among the decision-makers to transform Delhi into Shanghai or Singapore instead of a global Indian city. Forty percent of Delhis population lives under the poverty line. If I have to plan for Delhi, I cannot turn to any Western city for solutions. None of them has as many poor people. I can look to them for best practices but not for solutions. Where is the plan to make Delhi a more liveable city for this section of the population? The only solution the organisers of the games offered was to turn these people out, Menon fumes. Suri says the expansion of the metro is a prime example of wastage of public money. Why couldnt the existing railway lines be used for the Delhi Metro? Delhi already had a ring railway besides several railway lines connecting Rohtak, Rewari, Ghaziabad, Agra and Loni, among other places. Where was the need to set up a separate infrastructure at such cost? Now, even after spending so much on the metro, is the metro able to serve a
If I were to be offered Rs one lakh crore to spend on Delhi over three years, I wouldnt take it. Delhi doesnt need more than Rs 20,000 crore for all the improvements it needs. I would spend the sum only on housing and livelihoods.
Dunu Roy Director, Hazards Centre
majority of the commuters? The answer in this city will always be no, he says. The important issue in terms of transport, says Bhatia, is connectivity more than even increase in the number of modes of transport. Everybody living anywhere across the city should be connected by reliable public transport, which is still not the case despite a massive expenditure on the metro. There is a longstanding need to augment local forms of public transport for short distances, he says. One legacy of the Asiad in 1982, reminds Ghosh, is that most of the labourers did not return to their native places. Perhaps that is why the organisers have been very clear that this time round the labourers should be made to return home, she says, But what if these people stay on and become part of the cityscape? Will they add to the number of slum-dwellers? Menon says the organisers have violated a classic town planning strategy in this respect. The fundamental principle is that you dont add to the congestion in an already congested area. In this case, however, you have pumped money into a city that has already been a strong magnet for people from across the country. One of the main problems facing Delhi is that there is no restriction on the number of people flocking to the city. But now, you have made the city even more attractive. You have made a strong magnet even stronger while you should have created an alternative magnet. By doing so, will you arrive at solutions, or attract more problems? Unfortunately, the question is a complete no-brainer. It seems Delhi dazzled during the games only to deceive in the long run. n
ashishs@governancenow.com

CWG Con Job
GOD KNOWS DELHI
With traffic lights like this one at Lodhi Road designed more to be hidden from public eye than to help... God knows Delhi needed traffic lights like this at Lodhi Road (at the same crossing as the well-hidden one) which are visible from far.
With autos spewing venom... God knows Delhi needed erickshaws a long time ago.
With zig-zag-zoom being the favourite past time of every Delhi motorist... God knows Delhi needed traffic lane discipline.
But for Gods sake, did Delhi have to
photos: Ravi Choudhary
DELHI NEEDED...
With Blueline buses killing more than transporting... God knows Delhi needed a disciplined and safe fleet. With historical monuments resembling public urinals, God knows Delhis history needed a good facelift.
With railway stations looking worse than horse stables... God knows Delhi needed a railway station it wouldnt be ashamed of.
With hardly any exclusive facility to treat sports injuries... God knows Delhi needed a superspeciality sports injury centre.
With every Delhiite and all visitors being taken for a ride by the autowallahs... God knows Delhis autowallahs needed lessons in etiquette.
wait for the Games to realise this?

Governance Now Roundtable CWG Con Job
Culprits of Commonwealth Games

Those found wanting in their call of duty
Organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi: Lorded over the show marred by messy run-up, corruption, nepotism, poor hygiene, missing players, missing crowds. Took no responsibility.
Sports and youth affairs minister M S Gill: Ignorance personified...about players and preparedness. Renovations of stadia cost a bomb and missed deadlines. Busied with photo-ops.
Delhis chief minister Sheila Dikshit: Created questionable legacy for Delhi with massive public spending while blaming multiplicity of authority and rains for all-round mess in the run-up.
Lieutenant governor of Delhi Tejendra Khanna: Games village was meant for DU students. As DDA chairman, bailed out contractor with Rs 700 cr for flats that will now be sold to the super rich.
Mani Shankar Aiyar: As sports minister, refused sanctions to projects, badmouthed everyone for holding the games, prayed for its failure. When all his antics failed, fled the city.
Urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy: Had key role in readying infrastructure. Remained unruffled throughout. When a bridge collapsed close to deadline, dismissed it as minor incident.
Cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar: As head of bureaucracy, took no note of bad planning, huge public spending for the games until PM asked him too close to the deadline.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh: Acted as if it was none of his business for six years, until it was too late. Then evoked national pride and honour. Held off accountability to post-show.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi: Seemed to think it was being held on some other planet. One word from her would have changed the course. Kept herself completely insulated.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi: PM-in-waiting holds immense power (ask Niyamgiri tribals). Shirked responsibility, said he was busy 24X7 building partys youth brigade.
28 GovernanceNow | July 1-15, 2010
In Bihar, no paid news will be good news

or the first time in its history, the Election Commission will monitor the print and electronic media during the upcoming Bihar assembly elections to check against any paid news. It has rushed to the Bihar chief electoral officer the revised formats of daily reports to be filed by candidates and the media expenditure monitoring team of the commission. Earlier, the monitoring team comprising observers
politics
Bihar cannot get rid of criminal politicians
s Bihar goes to polls, 44 percent of the candidates announced in the first lists have a criminal past, an analysis by the Association for Democratic Rights (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) has found. BJP has 62 percent candidates with pending criminal cases whereas the figures for other parties are LJP 53 percent, JD(U) 33 percent, RJD 31 percent and the Congress 24 percent. In the second and third lists, 43 percent have criminal background. Out of these BJP has fielded 62 percent with pending criminal cases, Congress 29 percent, LJP 46 percent, JD (U) 36 percent, and RJD 39 percent candidates with pending criminal cases.
posted by the commission in each district used to keep a tab only on advertisements in the media, but a new column has been added in the format to provide details of paid news and cost of such paid news. The EC will include the cost of such news in the candidates expenditure to check if they are exceeding the ceiling on expenditure by resorting to paid news instead of advertisements.
Did Congress steal BJPs online identity?

he BJP has accused the Congress of petty, pickpocket-like theft of its online identity. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said a surreptitiously created website, bjp.com, was diverting users to the AICC website. The Congress termed the allegation ridiculous. Its spokesperson Jayanthi Natrajan said that the BJP was
showing that it was totally bankrupt of any agenda. The Congress maintained that bjp.com appeared to be a domain of a corporate Bharat Journals and Publishers or Bharat Janta Prakashan, which existed long before BJP had its website.
Lawyer or politician?
bhishek Manu Singhvi, a Congress leader as well as lawyer, had to withdraw from a case in the Kerala High Court, in which he was representing a lottery distributor charged with irregularities. But an angry party leadership went ahead and barred him from briefing the media as Congress a spokesperson. Congress leaders from Kerala wanted action against Singhvi as defending Santiago Martin, the lottery distributor, was quite an embarrassment for the party in the state. This is not a one-off incident. More and more lawyers are getting into politics. Both the Congress and BJP have a
battery of lawyers holding key organisational posts. As they also continue their law practice, a clash of interests is not rare. Home minister P Chidambaram reportedly represented Vedanta before the Bombay High Court in 2003. Arun Jaitley too was criticised when in 2005 he decided to represent Ketan Parekh, the alleged stock market manipulator.
Reading Marx in Ayodhya

Dateline Ayodhya continues to spark heated debates elsewhere but in this quiet holy town, fanaticism has given way to pragmatism and holy men are demanding economic development first
Ajay Singh
an is essentially an economic animal. If you dont believe this Marxist maxim, visit Ayodhya and meet those who profess to have renounced the material world and aspire for the ethereal one. Mahant Man Mahesh Das of Nayak Mandir heads a group of holy men and writes frequently to prime minister Manmohan Singh about the Ram temple construction. His dilapidated ashram
is situated in the heart of Ayodhya, it is called Pramod Van (forest of joy), which ironically looks like ruins of old concrete structures with deplorable civic facilities. He blames it all on the RSS-VHP combine. The mahants anger against the RSS-VHP is expressed in a rather queer manner. He has decided to give his 25 bighas of land to Muslim tenants to till. At least I will get a fair share of my agriculture produce after every crop and there willl be no attempt to capture the property, the mahant says in a worldly-wise tone. He is right. For the past 10 years, the VHPs agenda
of self-aggrandisement has rubbed many holy men of Ayodhya the wrong way. Real estate prices have shot up because the VHP had bought large tracts of land in the temple town. This has left local sadhus a sulking lot. In fact, the entire edifice of economy in Ayodhya is built around devotees, prasad (offering to gods) and large ashrams owned by sadhus. In the past two decades, the economy has also been lying in ruins thanks to a series of confrontational agitations led by the RSS-VHPBJP. There is palpable anger among sadhus over the monumental neglect of Ayodhya in
terms of development. Significantly enough, there is a strong clamour among holy men to put Ayodhya on the development agenda. Can Ayodhya be compared to any city like Varanasi, Hardwar or Allahabad? asks the mahant while lamenting the dwindling tourist flow to the temple town. In his view, people have stopped visiting Ayodhya because of the VHPs Ram Janmabhoomi agitation. What makes our life difficult is the call for agitation by the Hindutva parivar every year, he says, referring to the fact that the deployment of forces in Ayodhya had led to a spiral

Dateline Ayodhya
Just another day in Ayodhya: policemen and saints outside the place of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas Samiti president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das a day after the court verdict
in prices beyond the reach of the common man. Let Ayodhya be developed as a model township with all civic facilities to attract tourists, he says. It is not fanatic zeal but economic sense that has turned the holy men of Ayodhya wiser. Now they realise it too well that a minuscule minority of Muslims in Ayodhya is a socio-economic necessity. At the same time they are pretty sure of the fact that it would be next to impossible to alter the status quo at Ayodhya. Then what exactly is the issue in Ayodhya? The clarion call of VHP chief Ashok Singhal to construct a bhavya mandir (grand temple) befitting Lord Ram evoked stony silence from all quarters in this town. That the issue evokes little response from people is evident by the fact that there was hardly any increased rush of devotees after the high court verdict. A senior police officer entrusted with the task of security in Ayodhya pointed out that the rush of devotees remained more or less the same as before. On September 30, when the verdict was delivered, there was no display of elation by anyone. People heard about the verdict and heaved a sigh of relief. Despite administrative arrangements, which were quite elaborate, the restraint was self-imposed, police officers involved in the preparations confirmed. This self-imposed restraint was quite evident among Muslims as well. A day after the high court verdict, intelligence operatives monitored Friday prayers all over Uttar Pradesh and found nothing that can be termed provocative. Though the mood was sullen, it was not belligerent. Some of those
who offered prayers said the grudging acceptance of the verdict was indicative of the fact that any attempt to build a confrontation on the issue would have few takers. This prevailing mood became all too evident when Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav drove to Nadwa, a prominent Islamic seminary, and got a cool reception a day after. Have people of the state become peace-loving in the past two decades? Given the history of communal violence in Uttar Pradesh, this inference would be untenable. However, there are enough indications to prove that the growth
Aj ay Singh
Mahant Man Mahesh Das has decided to give his 25 bighas of land to Muslim tenants to till. At least I will get a fair share of my agriculture produce after every crop and there will be no attempt to capture the property, the mahant says in a worldly-wise tone.
trajectory across the state in the recent past accompanied by an effective distributive justice has radically altered peoples psyche. Economists working on data supplied by the NSSO confirm that though the state clocked around seven percent growth, far below the national average, its fruits percolated all the way down. According to Arvind Mohan, a professor of economics at Lucknow University, if one looks at the economic data of Uttar Pradesh for the decade, it appears that the state has been evolving its own model of development. Though its rate of growth is below the national average, indicators suggest efficacy of distributive justice. In effect, the poor have benefited through active intervention of the state. Various social programmes under the banner of the Ambedkar Yojna have been unfolding in rural parts of the state ever since the emergence of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Though the regimes have changed many a time, the content of the social programmes remained the same. Dalit assertion has made administration responsive to the needs of the poor, points out Arvind Mohan. That the thrust on developing dalit villages has spurred peoples ambition to aspire for more is a new development in the state. The ever-growing density of mobile phones, televisions and other gadgets of necessity or luxury and changing consumption pattern among dalits and most backward classes are some of the indicators of peoples rising aspirations and their aversion to upset the existing social equilibrium. That is why people in Ayodhya and adjoining regions are more interested in sharing the fruits of development than pursuing any divisive political agenda. Apparently the region adjoining Ayodhya has lagged far behind in terms of development. The industrial growth in the
Ajay Sin gh
According to Arvind Mohan, a professor of economics at Lucknow University, if one looks at economic data for the decade, it appears that Uttar Pradesh has been evolving its own model of development. Though its rate of growth is below the national average, indicators suggest efficacy of distributive justice.
region is stagnant while agriculture, despite its immense potential, has seen stilted growth. The economic profile of districts like Gonda, Basti and Bahraich can match the worst in the country. However, in the past decade, targeted poverty alleviation programmes have made people aware of benefits of development. In such a scenario, the politics of rabble-rousing has naturally given way to peoples materialistic aspirations, including those of the holy men of Ayodhya. n
ajay@governancenow.com

Politics on Holiday
Resorting to resorts re-sorts all sorts of political alignments
The resort as the first politics of the scoundrel
Suresh Menon
coundrels, politics and resorts have an enduring relationship. As the elected leaders in Karnataka have shown, not for the first time, the resort is the first politics of the scoundrel. When in doubt, turn dissident, and lap up the goodies on offer; such goodies as an all-expensespaid holiday to a popular resort where your silence is golden, although sometimes its opposite can be platinum. Resorting to resorts re-sorts all sorts of political alignments. Or so politicians believe. In the age of mobile phones and wireless communication, there is something almost innocent in the belief that resort politics works. This peculiarly Indian tactic of hiding away impressionable
politicians (or top footballers during the transfer season in Kolkata) is intended to tell them that they cannot get a better deal from the other side. Those who are in the game to make up the numbers are given a good time, their consciences well lubricated. While the Congress party was reported to have ferried 60 of its MLAs to a Pune resort for rest, recreation and reassurance, the BJP dissidents are thought to have decided on Thailand or Malaysia (they were in Chennai and Kochi earlier) for the final phase of their working holiday. The chief minister meanwhile sought succour at a Kerala temple (unless that is a euphemism for something else). On an earlier occasion, then chief minister Kumaraswamy of JD (S) sent his loyal supporters to resorts around the state. Eternal holidaying is the price of democracy. Just under a year ago, it was the BJPs turn to hide to fight another day. Such behaviour cuts across party lines, and so must be a democratic manoeuvre. The trick is to ensure that he who is bought remains bought that is the true
test of loyalty. Goa and Hyderabad were the preferred destinations then, but clearly things have moved on. Karnataka has played host to politicians from Andhra, so there might be a quid pro quo involved too. This is the most some politicians will do for the tourism industry in the country. It is a delicate balancing act people have to be sent away far enough to be out of reach and near enough if a show of hands is required in a hurry. That rules out (for the moment) Paris and New York, but our politicians are thinking out of the box all the time, and there might be an all-party agreement soon on how to spend tax-payers money more effectively for party purposes. Soon a bemused public is told what the price of the pound of flesh is (the figure 30 to 50 crore is too vague, but that is what is being bandied about at present and it is amazing how we accept it). We will be told who demanded and got what for staying on or moving over. And importantly, if the recession has affected the bribing classes at all.
ashish asthana
The consolation for those who elected these flexible people into power is that politicians are doing it all for our good. They are willing to do anything in the service of the people even if it means that they make substantial gains in the bargain. It never occurs to them how badly their own party is treating them. It is as if the leader is saying, Listen, you keep away from temptation, and hide from our opposition because we know how fragile you are and how easily you can be bought by the other side too. This insults the resort-politicians intelligence, his integrity which has been bought at a price, and his ability to negotiate through representatives. The writer Suketu Mehta in his story of Mumbai has written about the way racketeers operate under powertoni. He assumed this was a local expression, but realised after a while that it was a contraction of power of attorney. As Mehta explains, it is the awesome ability to act on someones behalf, or to have others do your bidding, to sign documents, release
The consolation for those who elected these flexible people into power is that politicians are doing it all for our good. They are willing to do anything in the service of the people even if it means that they make substantial gains in the bargain.
wanted criminals, get people killed. Powertoni: A power that does not originate in yourself, a power that you are holding on someone elses behalf. Politicians have powertoni all the time. The game follows a pattern. Rebels prepare to pull the rug from under their own government; the party in power responds by asserting its moral if not numerical superiority. Stories planted in the media hint at big names being signed up, rather in the manner of footballers or Formula One drivers. Then come the compromises. Politicians who wouldnt be caught breathing the same air now discover new blood relationships. There is much hugging and kissing as leaders decide to sink their difference. To bury the hatchet, and not in one anothers backs. All in the national cause. Those who missed out on the holiday resorts know that another crisis is just around the corner. No resorting to force here, just the reverse. n
talmenon@yahoo.com

Power Buzz
Delhi Diary
Chidambaram prefers written word
Governor troikas sway over PMO
ome minister P Chidambarms penchant for written communication has caused consternation among bureaucrats. The home minister seeks report on every minute thing. His favourite noting on the file is reported to be obtain comments and the file is sent to the concerned officials. Since Chidambaram is regarded as a punctilious home minister who cares about the quality of the language and content, it normally consumes much of the working hours for chiefs of the Central Police Organisations (CPOs) to draft a response for perusal of Chidambaram. Sources in the government admit that the heads of the CPOs are on tenterhooks whenever they get a file from the home minister with his noting on it. A senior official said most queries were nothing but meaningless exercises. Since the law and order and its
any in North Block are not happy with the prime ministers troika of governor-consultants West Bengals M K Narayanan, Andhra Pradeshs E S L Narasimham and Punjabs Shivraj Patil, who reportedly advise the PM on nearly everything from Maoists to Ayodhya. Some policy aides, mostly junior ministers and bureaucrats, resent having to share space with the three. PMO knows what we think, but, of course, it understands North Blocks compulsions, a junior minister in the home ministry comments.
Raja swamped by stamp requests

implementation falls within the jurisdiction of the state government, CPO officials have adequately learnt the art of writing a response that would please the minister without saying anything new. Officials however admit that in the process they are being groomed in the art of good writing without saying anything categorically. Of course their training in internal security has taken a back-seat in view of their new preoccupation. ommunications and IT minister A Raja is often flooded with requests for approving commemorative postage stamps. He receives 350-400 such letters every day and his office refers 25-30 of them to the Philatelic Advisory Committee. The number goes up around the time of birthdays and anniversaries of various public figures. Two PAs read out the contents of such letters which the minister acknowledges by signing his initials on the corner of the epistles. The sheer volume of requests has nearly stamped tolerance out of the minister, who is considering outsourcing the approval process.
Who will watch the watchdog now?
he manner in which prime minister Manmohan Singh has appointed P J Thomas as chief vigilance commissioner (CVC) has irked a section of officials in the Central Bureau of Investigation. According to highly placed CBI sources, Thomas was under investigation of the agency on the charge of corruption. There was a running file against him in the CBI, a senior officer said. Obviously, Thomas was facing heat of the investigation over his role in the 2G auction. And the CBI found a prima facie case against Thomas who was then secretary (communication). With Thomas as CVC, he would be monitoring the agencys functioning in all cases
related to corruption. A section of bureaucrats feels that the very purpose of CVC has virtually been subverted. There was a clear understanding that the person appointed as the CVC had to be above board. And the supreme court had also laid down the guidelines by which the leader of opposition was required to be consulted for the appointment. That the PM chose to ignore Sushma Swarajs objection on such a grave issue has certainly sullied hiss image. Now the CBI would be in a peculiar situation as it would be difficult to initiate any inquiry into the role of Thomas who would preside over the agencys functioning.
Chandrasekhar sick with CWG

ipping around Commonwealth Games venues, trying to get the mess sorted at the last minute, has taken its toll on cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhars health. He has reportedly sought a fortnight-long breather. He has also indicated that he does not wish to continue in his post. Speculation is that he will be appointed to a gubernatorial post after the Games.
RS to get full-fledged TV channel
ajya Sabha TV will soon telecast more than just house proceedings. A revamped channel is up for launch, complete with talk-shows and special features a la its older cousin the Lok Sabha TV. RS chairman Hamid Ansari will present discussions with speakers of state assemblies on parliamentary procedures. RS members will also present a series in which they will interact with people from the states they represent. Deputy chairman Rehman Khan will answer public queries on air.
Saving elephants from runaway trains
policy
T
Budget making is no longer a secret
he annual ritual of the budget preparation is no longer veiled in secrecy and mystery. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee put the entire process in the public domain to enable a better understanding of the exercise by all the stakeholders. The first of its kind, Budget Manual of the Union Government, which was unveiled by the minister, details various aspects of the whole exercise including its constitutional provisions, structure of government accounts and budget preparation. Mukherjee said the manual was an attempt to bring together the entire budget related activities and procedures which were hitherto available in a dispersed manner in the form of executive instructions and guidelines.
he ministry of environment and forests and the West Bengal government have suggested a three-pronged strategy to contain elephant mortality in train accidents. The suggestions require the railways to identify and bring more elephant corridors under speed restriction, stop night movement of
goods trains through forest areas and reduce their speed further during day time to 20 kmph from the current restriction of 50 kmph. The suggestions have been made following the death of six elephants in West Bengal last month. The ministry has granted Rs 7 crore for preventive measures.
Ayurvedic products to get quality assurance

over 12 ayurvedic products ranging from capsules, shampoos, oils and syrups from five manufacturing companies from India. The products certified under these companies will carry a label on the packet which will mean that they comply with the international or national (depending on the label) guidelines for quality.
elected ayurvedic drugs manufactured by Indian companies will soon carry a quality assurance mark which will increase their credibility in the domestic as well as international markets. The Quality Council of India (QCI) has given its premium and standard quality stamp to
IAS prelims: Aptitude test to replace optional subjects
AS aspirants, take note: in the coming year, the government is set to introduce a Civil Services Aptitude Test in place of optional subjects at the preliminary level examination. Minister for personnel, public grievances and pensions Prithviraj Chavan has announced that
the common aptitude test would assess the reasoning ability of the candidates. There will be a test for certain basic English language skills as well. Once the new process is in place, there will be no need for normalisation as every candidate will get the same set of question papers.
ashish asthana

Identity Issues
A number of problems
Benefits of a unique identity number will not be diluted if the government allays genuine apprehensions of its critics
Jagdeep S Chhokar
start has been made to provide unique identification (UID) numbers in Tembhli village in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra on September 29. While the UID project started with much fanfare and enthusiasm, gradually some doubts started emerging, which have now acquired the form of a No UID campaign. Opposing positions have hardened or are at least hardening. Before matters reach a point of no return, it may be useful to take a kind of an unbiased or balanced view of what is at stake in the whole issue and what can be done.
Background and evolution
The background of UID, at the website of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) says that the unique identification project was initially conceived by
the Planning Commission as an initiative that would provide identification for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services. It would also act as a tool for effective monitoring of various programmes and schemes of the government. The UIDAI was constituted and notified by the Planning Commission on 28 January, 2009 as an attached office under the aegis of Planning Commission. Its role, as stated on the website, is to develop and implement the necessary institutional, technical and legal infrastructure to issue unique identity numbers to Indian residents. The stated mission is to issue a unique identification number that can be verified and authenticated in an online, cost-effective manner, which is robust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities. The three first steps described in the evolution of the UID are (a) unique ID for below poverty line (BPL) families given to the National Informatics Center (NIC) on March 3, 2006 by the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, (b) a strategic vision on the UIDAI project prepared by Wipro (consultant for the design phase and programme management phase of the pilot UIDAI project) that envisaged the close linkage of the UID to the electoral database, (c) since the Registrar General of India was engaged in the creation of the National Population Register and issuance of multi-purpose national identity cards to citizens of India at the same time, it was decided to collate the two schemes
the National Population Register under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Unique Identification Number project of the Department of Information Technology. The above is a brief, and debatably selective, description of the early stages of the UID.
National security and terrorism
National security is an issue on which one assumes there cannot be much disagreement since if the nation is in danger or suffers grievous damage, the citizens obviously suffer. Terrorism has been a constant fact and threat in this country for over 20 years now. It is a curse that the country has not been able to get rid of despite varied attempts by different governments. The geopolitical situation has of course contributed to it. That the world as a whole is now more prone to terrorist acts than it was a few decades ago also seems irrefutable. It is in this climate of increasing global terrorism that a proposal to set up a National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) was reported to have been initiated by the home ministry. The purpose of NATGRID is supposedly to coordinate intelligencegathering efforts of various agencies. It is supposed to harmonise the databases of various intelligence agencies and coordinate and synergise their efforts in tracking and surveillance so that national security can be ensured. The spread and threat of terrorism has made this exercise even more relevant and urgent. According to reports, some 20 to 25 databases are proposed to finally feed into the NATGRID. Some of these are reported to be
Prime minister Manomhan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi distribute the first set of UID numbers at Tembhli, Maharashtra on September 29
those of train and rail travel, income tax records, bank account details and credit card transactions, driver licences, property transactions. The NATGRID proposal came to light around the same time that the UID scheme was taking shape.
Sources of doubt
The apprehensions about UID seem to stem from several distinct but interlinked sources. The first is lack of trust in the government agencies by people at large. It certainly is sad but also true that the visible symbols of the state such as the police do not inspire confidence amongst the people at large. The general image of the political class certainly does not evoke respect though people may pay homage to politicians in order to get their work done. The bureaucracy also does not fare much better. Added to this lack of trust are painful experiences of the Emergency and other occasions when personal information was used by government agencies (and their henchmen) to harass and blackmail individuals. Similar experiences get repeated every now and then, to different individuals and
It certainly is sad but also true that the visible symbols of the state such as the police do not inspire confidence amongst the people at large. The general image of the political class certainly does not evoke respect... The bureaucracy also does not fare much better.
sometimes to groups of people. The second is technology. It is often said, and believed, that technology is value-free. Whether technology, by itself, is value-free or not, it can be nobodys case that even the use of technology is value-free. Perhaps the most celebrated example of that is the Manhattan Project, which resulted in the holocausts of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Many of the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project lived to regret what they did. What is its relevance in the UID case? It has been reported that whenever the concerns of possible misuse of UID have been raised, the UIDAI authorities refer to their mission (to issue a unique identification number that can be verified and authenticated in an online, cost-effective manner, which is robust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities), adding that they are doing a technical job of issuing UIDs and are not responsible for its uses. The UIDAI is well within its mandate to take this position but this does not help in allaying fears and doubts. The third is the threat of exclusion. While it is often said, and correctly, that

Identity Issues
the accessibility of entitlements will become easier if one has a UID, what is left unsaid is the flip side of this equation that if one does not have a UID, there might be absolutely no access to entitlements! This introduces an element of coercion in the whole scheme of things. With the UIDAI having signed memorandums of understandings with 33 states and union territories, 11 banks, and other institutions such as Life Insurance Corporation of India, Department of Posts and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to deliver Aadhaar to residents, the possibility of having a UID effectively compulsory becomes more real. Yet another source of doubt is the way the scheme has been promoted or is being sold. Whenever an article appears in the media even mildly critical of the scheme, it is almost immediately and invariably followed by a couple of pieces praising the scheme generally extolling its pro-poor virtues, completely ignoring all apprehensions or an almost summary dismissal of the apprehensions. In these days of increasing citizen awareness and the diversity of opinions in India, it seems incredible to have a scheme, which has only positives and no negatives. The way the UIDAI was created, by a kind of an executive order without any public debate, is also a source of apprehension. The draft of a National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 is now finally available. The bill appears to be largely aimed at granting the statutory status to the Authority rather than its regulation. It does not contain details of implementation, which are covered by ambiguous phrases such as as may be specified by regulations.
essential. If that process can also clean up, integrate, converge and de-duplicate, thereby arresting leakages and fraud, thus bringing new governance to the tarnished act of development, so much the better. But is the UID scheme, as currently formulated and being implemented, the most efficacious way of doing it? This is the question that cries for an answer.
Way forward
The National Identification Authority of India Bill appears to be largely aimed at granting the statutory status to the UID authority rather than its regulation. It does not contain details of implementation
boundaries and have drifted into cities from their villages for work and employment. A lack of identity becomes the trigger to their systematic exclusion they cannot claim subsidised ration, access public health service, demand inclusion in pro-poor schemes, get their children into schools or even find rental accommodation. They cannot open bank accounts, remit money or get loans social security is too far a cry. They are the first to be picked up by the police and last to be saved by the state, if at all. On the other hand, there are those flush with ration cards, voter IDs, credit cards, licences, passports, residence proofs, bank statements, credit cards and credit card histories, frequent flyer and lounge access cards and, of course, the now omnipresent PAN. All of these, in various combinations and circumstances, assert their identity beyond doubt. A unique and indisputable identity to all residents of this country, regardless of their fortune or fate, is obviously
Identity
A major issue pertaining to the UID is that of identity. Undoubtedly, the imperative of having a valid and undisputable proof of identity is indisputable. A verifiable identity is the gateway not only to the vast array of essential services but also to the individuals exercise of citizenship. Given the uneven development in the country, it is also a fact that very large sections of the population find it impossible to prove their legal existence and a missing identity proof remains at the core of their systemic denial. Included among these millions are the urban homeless, the nomadic, the displaced, the forcibly evicted, the refugees of violent conflict and above all the mobile migrants, particularly those who have crossed their state
Providing a valid, unambiguous and verifiable identity to those who need it; allaying apprehensions of those who have them; and ensuring national security are not, and need not be, mutually exclusive. It should be possible to do all these in an inclusive way. That the poor want the UID whereas the rich are protesting against it, as some so-called analysts have been saying, is not only simplistic but also mischievous. It amounts to exacerbating the cleavages in society that are already bad enough and which the nation does not need. With polarised positions developing fast, the only way out is transparency, openness, and dialogue so that something like an acceptable consensus can be achieved which can only happen by wider public participation. It should happen as the National Identification Authority of India Bill goes through the legislative process. All stakeholders need to work towards expediting that. Given the wide extent of the impact that the UID is likely to have or at least can have, socio-political questions need to be squarely faced. It does not do any good to any one for the UIDAI to say that it is only doing a technical job and is not responsible for the use and consequences of what it creates. It owes it to the country to bring the concerns to the attention of whoever are the appropriate authorities to deal with these concerns. It may also be wiser to acknowledge the negatives and work to reduce their impact rather than trying to brush them under the carpet. The questions about UID are not technical or technological; they refer to the functioning and governance of society. These can, need, and should be responded to by the government of the day of which UIDAI is a part. n
Chhokar is a former professor, dean, and director in-charge of IIM, Ahmedabad, and is associated with the Association for Democratic Reforms and the Aajeevika Bureau.
INTERVIEW Salman Khurshid
Expect more shareholder democracy in the new Companies Bill
s minister of state, Salman Khurshid holds independent charge of the ministries of corporate affairs and of minority affairs. Educated at the St. Stephens and Oxford, the 57-year-old advocate is a busy man as he has set out to overhaul the regulation framework for the corporate sector with the new Companies Bill. His views on corporate social responsibility have also led to a vigorous debate on its very nature. Khurshid talks about his plans in an exclusive interview with Sweta Ranjan. Edited excerpts:
What are your immediate priorities?
Absolute priority, frankly, is the Companies Bill. We have reached the last lap. The standing committee has
given its recommendations. We had very widespread consultations. They had very widespread consultations. But still it cant seem to please everyone. There are very strong views on audit firms, rotation of audit firms and the tenure of independent directors in particular. Now we are in the process of drafting or redrafting provisions and as soon as we are ready we will come back to parliament. There are some other important issues that we have to get moving on and we have got a roadmap for them. One of them is the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) conversion issue. We have a major plan for the launch of the campus of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. We will bring in in-residence faculty and start the institute in a big way by December when the campus is ready. Then there is some updating of the principal acts of the
professional bodies, of chartered accountants, cost works accountants and company secretaries because of the LLP (limited liability partners) legislation and because of multi disciplinary firms being now permitted.
What major amendments can we expect in the new Companies Bill?
It will rely more extensively on disclosures, on shareholder democracy. It will have greater accountability and checks and balances within the management and within the board (of companies). It will have a code of conduct for independent directors and greater transparency in appointments and remunerations. Most important, it will look at accountancy and managerial issues, making them largely principle based not controlled by the government but consistent with our belief in enlightened regulation.
R avi Chou dhar y
Will it also strengthen the Serious Fraud Investigation Office?
SFIO has already been strengthened in that it has to be recognised in the bill. There are some more powers that we need to give it but professionally and administratively the strength that it requires has already been provided.
financial year will be the beginning for the top companies of the country. Then over a three-year period we will move from different levels and finally get banks and insurance companies on board as well. By 2014-15 we should have converged to the extent that our roadmap requires us to converge.
When will the National Company Law Tribunal come into force?
Amended provisions will come in the bill. The supreme court has given us some clearances and some guidelines. The court wants such tribunals to be kept away from line ministries. Therefore we have asked the law ministry to tell us how we proceed from here. The issue is now before the law minister. I hope to hear from him very soon.
Why is it that more than two lakh companies failed to file their annual returns in the past five years?
When should the IFRS replace Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)?
IFRS has already arrived. The new
I think there is a whole range of reasons. We introduced the easy exit scheme and the scheme under which people who defaulted in filing returns can make up at concessional rates. Both the schemes were enormously successful. In fact, on the last day of the scheme all our systems were completely choked. We will open another window once the software for making necessary amendments is introduced. Prosecutions are not the answer
because courts are in any case overloaded and slow. Moreover, they dont give priority to what they consider to be technical wrongs rather than major criminal acts and offences. We are now going to the second generation MCA21 [a premier e-governance initiative to streamline corporates interface with the Registrar of Companies]. Keeping track of the people who are not filing and using the whip a little bit more will help. We hope we will have a much better profile on this within one year.
When will the upgraded and scaled-up version of MCA21 roll out?
We are just beginning to look at the next generation MCA21. Improvements can be made in this one as well but for purposes of mining the information and making it more extensively useable by other agencies we will have to go in for the next generation
and switch to the extensible business reporting language (XBRL) format so that it can be more interactive. We are in touch with our present service provider, TCS, to upgrade the systems. But obviously the next generation (version) will have to decide how to move forward on that. Its two years away but we will have to work for at least a year on that before we unveil it.
How has your ministry helped the corporate sector in becoming more socially responsibility?
in some industry, much more difficult in another industry. If we know the mining industry has a CSR deficit they can at least finance or purchase an equal number of CSR credits from somebody else. This is what we are doing in carbon credits and I see no reason why we cant do it in CSR but obviously it needs to be formalised into an institution of an exchange where this trading can be done.
There is an issue of mandatory CSR. Last year we issued guidelines on voluntary CSR but since then the public sector companies have been asked to plough two percent of their profits into CSR. Some people think such mandating is not a good idea and the voluntary method was more acceptable. I think we need to work largely on the basic concept of CSR. Very clearly, it is not philanthropy, it is more than philanthropy. Its part of an internalised approach to business. And I think CSR, ethical business issues, sustainability issues and environmental concerns combine somewhere. We need to look at it a little more carefully, define what CSR is but some features of CSR are already known and understood and the stakeholders concerns that are generally understood must be addressed. We have done it up till now in a voluntary manner but there is a suggestion that some of it should be made mandatory. Now we are examining it.
Ratan Tata is open to the idea of an outsider taking over his mantle. Should this trend be encouraged, on the lines of Bill Gates announcement?
The new Companies Bill will have greater accountability and checks and balances within the management and within the board (of companies). It will have a code of conduct for independent directors. It will have greater transparency in appointments and remunerations.
Bill Gates is a wonderful person and he has done fantastic things in terms of philanthropy and helping the needy, but apart from his personal preferences, the tax structure in the US also discourages people from passing on their fortunes to their children because the cost of transfer is very high. Thats never been acceptable in our country. Here the model of family companies is considered very important. Passing on to your own children is seen as not just important but something essential. I think one should respect that but its good to have different models and if there are people who want to move to fully professionally managed companies I see no reason why they should not be encouraged.
Will such a trend also help in cleaning up the corporate sector?
If CSR is done voluntarily, how do you keep a check?
Disclosure is the issue. We have said we will move towards annual statements making disclosures and where there is a failure of compliance, there should at least be an explanation. Peer pressure and public pressure are very important in these matters. As long as information is available to public and public is able to make an assessment of the quality of managerial and other decision making in the company, it might go a long way.
Well, thats again something I have asked some institutions to work on. They promised me they are working on it. ITC Green Centre is working on it. I have asked some other activist groups to work on it. I am in touch with Arun Maira in the Planning Commission as well. We are looking at how this can be institutionalised and formalised. We are waiting for a comprehensive report on this.
credit trading.
Your ministry has also proposed CSR
How will it help?
Yes and no. I think we have to understand that there are no easy answers to any form of sleaze or corruption or unwholesome conduct in any institution. Laws can go up to a point but its the general calibre, general fibre of people, the education that we have, not just in schools and colleges but in the education that we have in our homes, our society. I think all that matters. Regulation has its own place but the leadership of society matters. When you have a Mahatma Gandhi or a Nelson Mandela (as leaders) then you have ordinary people taking a different view of life. n
sweta@governancenow.com
CSR is possibly easier for some people

Lies of the Land
narmada.org
Ground realities of welfare state

The state sets out to replace a British era law for land compensation with even more anti-people laws
Prasanna Mohanty
n the third week of October, people of the Narmada valley will observe the 25th anniversary of their struggle against large-scale displacement in the name of development and their right to be resettled and rehabilitated something that was unheard of until then though development projects, especially big dams like Bhakra, Hirakud, Tungabhadra and Rihand had displaced thousands before that and in spite of the fact that our constitution had, in 1950, declared that ours was a welfare state. So this might be a fit occasion to take stock of another struggle the struggle of our supposedly welfare state to resettle and rehabilitate people affected by the supposedly development projects. The magnitude of the problem can be gauged from the
simple fact that six crore people have been displaced by development projects between 1947 and 2004, involving 25 million hectare of land (40 percent of which is tribal land), according to a rural development ministry report of 2009. N C Saxena, a retired bureaucrat and member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), circulated a note to the fellow council members last month which said: Studies have shown that in the past only 20 to 25 percent people benefited after displacement, the rest were left worse-off. This sort of displacment happens to be one of the major reasons why the Maoists have come to virtually rule one-third of our country. The rural development ministry, several state governments and various central government departments which acquire land for development projects have, since then, adopted various resettlement and rehabilitation policies and even laws. But these policies and laws have failed to address the problem because the fundamental issues remain unaddressed.
Right to land
The central government stepped in for the first time during the NDA regime but all it has done so far is to produce two bills Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill of 2007 (LA Bill) and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill of 2007 (RR Bill) which were introduced in the last Lok Sabha and lapsed with it. Thanks to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhis interest in the farmers protest against land acquisition for the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh that the prime minister woke up and promised a couple of months ago that these bills will be taken up for passage in the winter session of the parliament. As we will see, the two bills, which are inter-linked and should have actually been part of one piece of legislation, too will fail to make any material difference to the ground realities because no lessons have been learnt from the Narmada struggle, or from any other such struggle going on in several states across the country.
The key to the problem, it was realised, lies in the
antiquated Land Acquisition Act of 1894 that embodies the doctrine of eminent domain, which means the government can acquire any private land for public purpose with or without the permission of the owner. It does provide for compensation for land, standing crop, house etc but not for resettlement and rehabilitation because the context then, 116 years ago, was different. There has been a paradigm shift in our policies in recent years. The Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act of 1996 (PESA) and the Forest Rights Act of 2006 (FRA) have dented the eminent domain doctrine and provide for mandatory prior consent before any land can be acquired, primarily in the tribal areas, by recognising both peoples right and the communitys right over their land and forests. The NAC, which took up the resettlement and rehabilitation issue in 2006, argued that this legal right should extend beyond the tribal areas. It had proposed that the law should primarily defend the fundamental and other legal rights
Postcards from a 25-year-old struggle: The Narmada oustees have been campaigning for their rights with little success of the citizens, rather than facilitate the exercise of the eminent domain of the state. Recognition of this right over land and forests is also essential to make the RR Bill meaningful and effective. The purpose of the RR Bill, as its statement of objects and reasons acknowledges, is to recognise that land acquisition leads to displacement of people, depriving them of their land, livelihood and shelter, restricting their access to traditional resource base and uprooting them from their sociocultural environment and that these have traumatic, psychological and socio-cultural consequences on the affected population which call for protecting their rights, in particular of the weaker sections of the society including members of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, marginal farmers and their families. While it remains a mere statement in the RR Bill, the LA Bill doesnt even acknowledge that or factor in peoples right over land and forests as granted by the PESA and the FRA while going for acquisition. Further, the LA Bill retains clause 17 of the 1894 Act, which provides special powers in case of urgency to acquire land. Demands that this clause should be qualified so as to be used rarely, as the NAC and social activists have been proposing, and with prior informed consent of the affected people have also been ignored. Advocate Sanjay Parikh, who has been dealing with the issue, warns that this provision will unleash moneybags, land sharks and their musclemen who can cause havoc in tribal and other vulnerable areas, besides being violative of the welfare state concept enshrined in the Directive Principle of State Policy. This has other serious consequences too. The governments RR schemes and plans under the RR Bill will actually apply to the 30 percent area that the government acquires, not the 70 percent that the private entity does (clause 2) that being the private entitys responsibility. Further, clause 20 (1) of the RR Bill says the proposed law is meant for involuntary displacement of 400 or more families en masse in plain areas, or 200 or more families en masse in tribal or hilly areas. Which means, even if 399 families (about 2,000 people) lose their land and are displaced in the plains and 199 families (about 1,000 people) do so in the hills, they will not be covered by the law. Clauses 6(1) and 34 of the
The Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, which are inter-linked and should have been part of one legislation, too will fail because no lessons have been learnt from the Narmada struggle, or from any other such struggle.
Right to livelihood
On the contrary, the LA Bill says public purpose for which land can be acquired are three: (i) strategic purposes relating to defence forces or any other work vital to the state, (ii) infrastructure projects and (iii) for any purpose useful to the general public for which land has been purchased by a person under lawful contract to the extent of 70 percent but the remaining 30 percent of the total area of land required for the project as yet to be required. Purpose number (iii) makes a dangerous proposition, that a private entity can acquire 70 percent of land, before the state steps in to acquire the rest on its behalf for a project.

Lies of the Land
RR Bill rub more salt by saying that the environment impact assessment and social impact assessment studies will also be restricted to the 30 percent area. Read together, all these provisions defeat the very purpose of both the LA Bill and the RR Bill. But these are not all. The RR Bill further dilutes resettlement and rehabilitation schemes and plans through several other provisions. Clause 36(1) says land will be given to the displaced if government land is available. Clause 41 says jobs will be given subject to the availability of vacancies and suitability of the affected person for the employment. Clause 35 says only the BPL families will get house for losing theirs, the rest will get land. Clause 30 (3) says the government will decide what infrastructure facilities and amenities be given at the resettlement colony, without specifying anything. By now it is clear that the RR Bill goes on to systematically defeat its very raison dtre. Medha Patkar, the torch bearer of the Narmada struggle, has been insisting on a framework that should govern the policy of land acquisition and RR. She advocates: (i) recognition of the displaced as investors in the project as their land, forest and natural resources are used for development, (ii) recognition of rights of people over their land and natural resources, like forest rights etc, (iii) protection of constitutional rights of everyone, including the displaced and (iv) recognition of decision making power of the affected people. Concerns of the Narmada struggle that found an outlet through NACs formulation on the RR policy in 2006
So long as the constitutional rights to land and livelihood are honoured the issues will be addressed adequately. If not, the proposed legislations will benefit only a handful.
had spelt out what the objective of the RR law should be: (i) displaced families to have a standard of living superior to what they had, (ii) they should have sustainable income above the poverty line and (iii) gains to the displaced be proportionate to the gains to the project beneficiaries. There is no sign of any of these being considered while drafting the two bills.
on these aspects. Para 4.38 of the parliamentary panel report says: Further, the Committee feels that the definition of public purpose as given in Section 3 (f) of the Principal Act (of 1894) was much better. Besides, Part VII of the Principal Act which the amending legislation proposes to delete further tightened the definition of public purpose by putting some of the conditionalities. In view of this, the Committee unanimously decided not to agree to the proposed definition of public purpose as per Clause 5 of the amending legislation. The Committee after deliberations unanimously decided that the definition of public purpose as given in the Principal Act of 1894 along with Part VII of the Principal Act should be retained.
advocating a policy to return land to the people, and not vest it with the government when a projects fails to take off in five years or excess land is detected, on the ground that this would act as an effective deterrent. The bill ignores this aspect too.
Stake in development
Land to the tiller
Private purpose
Revisit the definition of public purpose in the LA Bill (clause 5) mentioned earlier. A parliamentary committee that examined the bill and submitted its report in 2008 was so disappointed that it actually said unanimously that this definition should be scrapped and replaced with, irony of ironies, the one in the British era law of 1894! The Raj law had defined public purpose to include land for village, planned development or improvement of existing village, town and rural planning, housing for the poor or landless, educational, housing, health facilities etc. But the bill is silent
Singur and Nandigram happened because the government acquired fertile, multicrop agriculture land which was the only source of livelihood for thousands of farmers. At a time when food security and falling productivity of land are a cause of concern and the government records show how the cultivable land has shrunk from 18.50 crore hectares in 198081 to 18.25 crore hectares in 2005-06, the LA Bill is silent on protecting such land. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had joined issue with the prime minister Manmohan Singh in early September by asserting that development or industrialisation shouldnt be at the cost of fertile land. Acquiring land in excess of need is another cause of concern. So is the absence of any legal provision to return the acquired land, excess or unused when the project fails to take off within a time frame, back to the people. K B Saxena, former bureaucrat associated with the Council for Social Development, has been
In the mid 1990s, the Dilip Singh Bhuria Committee made a dramatic suggestion to resolve the growing conflict between the tribals and the development projects in their area. He proposed an ownership pattern in all such projects in which community will have 50 percent stake, the displaced 24 percent and the investor the rest, 26 percent. More recently, the ministry of mines circulated a draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2010, proposing 26 percent stake for tribals in the mining companies. Needless to say, Bhurias suggestion was never considered. That of the mines ministry is strongly opposed by the private companies. In the meanwhile, Haryana devised a vastly attractive RR policy in 2007 which, apart from various compensations, provides for an annuity of Rs 15,000 a year for every acre of land acquired for next 33 years. UP chief minister Mayawati made an improvement to this recently by announcing an annuity of Rs 20,000. Many, including NAC member Saxena, have suggested that the compensation package should also take into consideration future value of the land. All these, however, are a matter of details. So long as the constitutional rights to land and livelihood are honoured, the issues will be addressed adequately. If not, the proposed legislations will benefit only a handful. n
prasanna@governancenow.com
NOTES
76 percent Indians have fallen victim to cybercrime
ndia seems to be the worst affected nation when it comes to online frauds, with over three-quarters of Indian web surfers having fallen victim to cybercrimes including computer viruses, online credit card frauds and identity thefts, says a study by the security solutions provider Symantec. According to the study, Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact, about 65 percent of Internet users globally have fallen victim to cybercrime, while the number is much higher for India at 76 percent.
e-gov

Governance 2.0
Money for e-courts doubled
The cabinet committee on economic affairs approved Rs 935 crore as the revised cost estimate for implementing the e-courts project. The cost approved in 2007 was Rs 441.8 crore. e-Courts is one of the key mission mode projects under the National e-Governance Plan. It will now be extended to 14,249 courts in 3,069 court complexes as against 13,348 courts in 2,100 court complexes approved earlier.
Punjab police to be e-literate

Punjab police is all set to become e-literate. It signed a memorandum of understanding with Punjab Infotech to provide computer training and IT skills to all its personnel. The basic training will lay the foundation for training them on the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) project under the National e-Governance Plan to modernise the police force giving top priority to enhancing outcome in the area of crime investigation.
UID bill approved
The union cabinet approved the proposal for introducing the National Identification Authority of India Bill in parliament. The bill proposes to constitute a statutory authority to be called the National Identification Authority of India and lays down the powers and functions of the Authority, the framework for issuing UID (Aadhaar) numbers, major penalties and other related matters through an Act of parliament.
Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister on IT and infrastructure, has proposed a Rs 13,228 crore project to connect 2.5 lakh panchayats with broadband connectivity. In a letter to the Prime Ministers Office, Pitroda suggested that the required investment could be drawn from the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund, which has sufficient money.
Pitroda suggests Rs 13,228 cr project to e-link panchayats
Jawans salaries to be credited online
The 64-year-old system of manually paying salary to jawans of the Armoured Corps and Mechanised Infantry Regiment has made way for a computerised system which credits pay directly into their bank accounts.
GIS for NREGA
Impressed with Gujarat in use of the geographic information system (GIS), a central expert group has recommended it as a base model to develop a national framework for utilisation of the technology in monitoring and implementing NREGA.
UPSC to catch talent online

The Union Public Service Commission has introduced a system of online submission of applications for the examinations conducted by it. Candidates wishing to apply can visit the website www.upsconline.nic.in (which is different from the UPSC portal, www. upsc.gov.in). The online system facilitates prompt confirmation
Kolkata cyber police station makes its first arrest
Plan panel to become paperless body
of submitted application and also allows the applicants to pay fees through debit/credit card or internet banking.
The Kolkata city cyber police arrested a man from the adjoining Howrah district on the charge of sending lewd mails to his sister-in law. The south Kolkata resident used to send mails to her from different places including Mumbai and Delhi. This was the first arrest made by the cyber police station.
The Planning Commission will soon become a paperless body, with all its work, right from the drafting of proposals to approval of projects and grant of funds, done through an internal computer network. The project will be implemented by the National Innovation Council. It will develop software and the National Informatics Centre will provide technical support.

Last Word
Bikram Vohra
CWG Inquiry Report
2010 in 2010
ather than hang about 27 years till the CWG 2010 Inquiry Committee presents its interim report on all the mudslinging that will start post the closing ceremony I thought, what the heck, let me make my own Commission and indict folks already. After deep thought and reflection these are my observations and recommendations. At the outset find the person who paid the drummers Rs 1,000 each and A R Rahman Rs 5 crore and have him shot at dawn by a firing squad selected from the performers who got sweetly shortchanged. Talk about unbalanced scales, this financial chasm is dissss-gusting. And the song is pure bilge anyway. Face it guys, it does not rock your boat. While on the subject ask Mr Rahman to cough back Rs 4 crore for failure to perform at the level expected of him. Discover the formula that made Sheila Dikshit a princess to the rescue in a golf cart and patent it. Like how come the buck not only did not stop at her but zinged past and allowed accolade to step in instead, seeing as how she is the CM why is she getting away with it? Imagine the whole buildup was on her watch. Shouldnt someone say, look lady, it is you and the government that messed up and had egg on the national face, so stop with the great rescue act, no one is buying it. Ban Barkha Dutt. Just for the fun of it. Start a Save Suresh Kalmadi campaign and make him a martyr and collect some money, too. After all, by the morning of October 15, when we are all hypocritically drunk on culture we will be feeling so good
ashish asthana
about being Indian and all, that folks will contribute. What did Kalmadi do that a posse of thousands of bureaucrats dont do every day in our lives? He fibbed, he conned, he delayed, he messed about, he lost the files, he dicked the public, he bumbled along and whats new about any of it? And he remembered Princess Diana. Sorry, Camilla, it sucks. Feel such rising shame that despite the gold tally we know not who these Indian boxers, shooters, wrestlers, swimmers are nor do we give a damn. We do not even know the names of the members of the Indian hockey team. Where did they
come from, Mr Dhoni, you are richer than all their tribe together and yet all they get is 14 and a half minutes of fame. Back to the darkness of anonymity in an instant. Sack all journalists and columnists who write those deadly dull after the Games roundups, assessments, reviews replete with lessons learnt drivel and aftermath insights. Without benefits. Indict all the officials of all the sports federations and associations along with Barkha Dutt, and not just for the fun of it. Because their contribution is zilch, cipher, zero. Non-existent. Give them a written exam
on October 15 listing the Indian winners of medals and they will all fail to get even ten right. Call all heads of TV news channels to the National Stadium and shoot them before dawn unless they promise, cross-my-heart promise, to guarantee that their anchors and correspondents will not mispronounce more than three words a minute and thus help restore sanity in this nation of 5,000 babbling channels because one more ve vill vitness wery, wery vunderful ewent and I will shoot them. Cheerfully. Bring back all the huddled masses, the wretched and the poor and let them live again. Last heard we were still a free country which sort of includes the right to be poorI think unless Sheila Dikshit finds the whole dirty people scenario nose wrinkling unattractive. Find the guy who messed up the protocol at the opening ceremonies and shoot him, too, unless, of course, it wasnt his fault that Prince Charles, the duchess of Cornwall, the president of India and her husband, and the PM were all playing musical chairs, moving hither and thither because I believe the presidential spouse was thulking about where to thit (gosh this TV anchor accents thing is infectious). Have a huge garage sale at the National Stadium of all the goodies confiscated by the cops and make more money illegally. Finally, bring along Mr Fennel who was responsible for the whole pre-Games mess anyway and penalise him by sending him out for a dinner date with Barkha Dutt. Unless, of course, someone takes me seriously, and she is banned. Then Fennel can just be made a scapegoathmmm, worth a thought, Suresh. n
The author is senior editorial advisor to Khaleej Times. bikram@khaleejtimes.com
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insight: jagdeep chhokar on why uid is a number of problems

October 16-31, 2010 | Vol. 01 Issue 18 | ` 30

WHOSE HEAD, Mr PRIME MINISTER?

Salman Khurshid: Expect more shareholder democracy

Ayodhya verdict: holy men at ground zero want development first

This mans vision has shaped a model of self-governance

Get informed. Get involved. Because governance is about

a Sri Adhikari Brothers enterprise

40 Interview with Salman Khurshid

Expect more shareholder democracy in the new Companies Bill

08 For a village for this age

32 The resort as the first politics of the scoundrel

30 Reading Marx in Ayodhya

36 UID: A number of problems Benefits of a unique identity number will not be af

44 Ground realities of welfare state

Faith in judiciary is vindicated

GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010

Call me chhote sardar

Congresss Jenson & Nicholson formula for Ayodhya

6 GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010

More and more millionaires now

Development economist Arjun Sengupta is no more

Habibullah on the other side of governance

people politics policy performance

For a village for this age

GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010

Photos: sonal matharu

Village roads levelled by the villagers themselves.

Residents of Samathuvapuram, or harmoney estates in the village.

Computer training centre for children.

people politics policy performance

people politics policy performance

Blueprints for green designs

12 GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010

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SHIMUL JAVERI KADRI/WFS

14 GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010

Countrys first model district health project

No laxity in disciplinary action

Ramesh trashes scientists report on Bt brinjal

people politics policy performance

CWG Con Job

16 GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010

Legacy for Delhi

Take the Games village for example. As Boria Majumdar

people politics policy performance

18 GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010

Photos: Ravi Choudhary

The pride sledgehammer

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Delhi dazzled to deceive

20 GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010

photos: Ravi Choudhary

people politics policy performance

22 GovernanceNow | October 16-31, 2010

Laltun cobbler, Badli

Virendra Yadav property dealer, Badli

Cleanliness is only being

Mahesh Yadav dry fruit seller, Samaypur

The government is improving

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GOD KNOWS DELHI

But for Gods sake, did Delhi have to

photos: Ravi Choudhary