Can Modi pass the first governance test?

Sanjeev Ahluwalia
19 May 2014, 12:09 PM IST

The Modi led "near national" government has been voted in for its perceived capacity for good governance. Good governance is an amorphous concept. But one essential component is access to timely justice. Punishing people for the crimes they commit, at the earliest, through due process becomes a key measure which makes commitment to the rule of law credible.

India is a terrible laggard in this regard. Criminal cases drag on for years with the perpetrators, if they are rich, either out on bail or ensconced in jail with all comforts and privileges.

The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has done stellar work in informing citizens about the criminality of Lok Sabha candidates, using the information submitted by the candidates themselves at the time of filing their nominations.  It is tragic that whilst the Election Commission does not highlight such information for the public, it is left to NGOs to cull and present it to citizens.

(Photo credit: wahsarkar.com)

ADR has reported on 8163 out of the 8236 candidates who contested the 2014 elections. Of these 889 declared that they had serious criminal cases pending against them, including murder, attempt to murder, assault on women and hate crimes. Sadly the proportion of such candidates increased from 8% in 2009 to 11% in 2014.

21% of the candidates the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) put up, belong to this category. Nine parties fielded a lower proportion of "tainted" candidates: Amma's AIDMK (8%), Didi's Trinamool Congress (10%), Aam Admi Party (10%), Biju Janta Dal (10%), CPI (12%), Congress (13%), DMK (14%), Bhenji's BSP (15%) and the CPI (M) (16%).

ADR has yet to report on how many "tainted" candidates have won from each party. But 21% of the 521 studied by ADR had serious criminal cases against them as compared to 15% in 2009. Unless candidates are convicted of serious criminal crimes, they remain eligible for becoming MPs. There is little Modi can do about that till the law is changed.

But there is one major way in which Modi can herald the era of good governance in India to which he and his party are committed. He can declare that no BJP MP shall be made a minister if there is a serious criminal case pending against her. The data is a bit fuzzy here. What is a criminal case? Is it the filing of a First Information Report; completion of investigation report by the police; presentation of charge sheet by the prosecution in court or the framing of charges by the court? But this is a technicality and can be used to massage the data.

Good governance is as much about changing the reality as it about shaping perception. Modi is the proclaimed master of perception and should rightly be concerned that his government starts off on the right foot.

The World Justice Project which tracks the health of the Rule of Law worldwide, in its Index 2014, ranks the criminal justice system in India at 48 out of 99 countries; better than China (rank 51) or Malaysia (rank 53) but lower than Brazil (rank 37) or Sri Lanka (rank 38). More importantly on the factor of "timeliness and effectiveness" India does worse that all these countries, except Brazil.

Improving the criminal justice system, to developed country standards, is a time consuming effort involving change in practices; incentives for judges to conclude cases; better investigation practices and capacity and more motivated prosecution. These are deep procedural and bureaucratic reforms which should be started, but are unlikely to kick in with results by 2019.

In the meantime, the problem of sitting MPs with unresolved criminal cases needs to be deal with pronto if Modi's promise of good governance is to be implemented. Modi and his team are not one to let the grass grow under their feet.  So here are three initiatives to deal with the problem:

1.      An all-party committee of the Lok Sabha should review the cases of all MPs with pending criminal cases to identify those with serious charges against them.

2.      Modi to request the new Chief Justice of India to constitute a fast track court specially mandated to decide all such cases by June 2015.

3.      In the meantime, all MPs with serious criminal cases against them to be embargoed from getting ministerial berths in his government.

The electorate dealt harshly, in 2014, with parties which claim to align with good governance norms but fail to take effective action, when mandated to rule. Across India, the electorate has rewarded parties with strong leaders and a record of effective governance (BJP, BJD, AIDMK, TMC) and punished those which are ideological without being pragmatic (AAP, CPM) or enabled but self-serving (Congress and Alkali Dal). This is not the moment to disappoint them with false integrity.

Making public commitments on the manner in which ministers are going to be appointed is unprecedented. It takes away some discretion from the PM. But good governance is also about tying your hands publicly to do the right thing and burning your bridges, lest one is tempted to retreat into half-truths. Best to start now.

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Thomas Cup: German show makes it tougher for India

Amit Karmarkar
19 May 2014, 01:13 PM IST

Don't be too surprised if India fail to win a single group contest in the Thomas Cup. India didn't win a single game in the top-two singles matches against Malaysia; and Germany showed their singles strength by losing to Korea 2-3 on Sunday.

India play Korea on Monday and Germany on Wednesday. The latter contest can either way with the Germans holding the advantage, if any.

And yes, despite being the weak link, India won their first 'game' against Malaysia through the doubles performance of Akshay Dewalkar and  Pranav Chopra. K Srikanth and P Kashyap lost in straight games.

Here are other off-beat highlights from Day 1 at Siri Fort Complex in New Delhi:

Diving saves - Korea's Yeon Seong Yoo made two successive retrieves: first a diving save and then with lying-on-the-floor position in the doubles against Germany in the critical state (18-17) of the third game. It was a bit of anti-climax that Yoo played the next service fault (short) to lose the point. But his acrobatics were simply breathtaking.

Four-beat chants - The four-beat rhythmic cycle was on display when a sizeable Malaysian supporters chanted "Chong Wei Feng" during a tense phase of his match against India's P Kashyap. And when the Indians joined in with "Kashyap" bit, the tempo was increased without the breather to fit it into the four-beat cycle!

So, first it was "Chong Wei Feng (breather..)" to complete the four-beat cycle. And then ChongWei Feng (in the space of two beats) from the Malyasian supporters followed by Indian fans' "Ka..shyap" (two beats) (repetition without breather).

It was doubles in display in cheering too. Who says only the musicians know 'layakari'?

Gopi the monk - During India's singles matches, former players P Gopi Chand and Vimal Kumar (student and coach respectively in the former's early days in Bangalore) were in the coach's chairs. While Vimal was showing some emotion and clapped during some points, Gopi was watching like a monk. Lee Chong Wei and K Srikanth were coming up with some astounding shots, but Gopi was breathing normally.

Maybe that's a secret of his coaching success!

Rs 1k per ticket - It's still early days but the spectator response for the meet here is not astounding.

Yes, there was some quota of free entries for students who were wearing the sponsor's shirt. The matches are live on TV too. Maybe that's a strong reason not to buy a ticket: the minimum denomination is of Rs 1,000.

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Citylights

Meeta Kabra
19 May 2014, 03:31 PM IST

At first glance, Citylights comes across as a run-of-the-mill helpless villagers caught in the big bad world kind-of-a-film, which it still might be. But, there is something about the performances that hooks you in those two minutes. The couple's desperation comes across rather crudely and therein lies the ironical and rugged charm.

It is surely a depressing tale. Now even if it has a happy ending after all, the process of getting there doesn't look too easy for both the characters and the audience. On the other hand, the situations seem very typical, guy is insulted, slapped around and resorts to something he had never thought himself capable of and the woman is insulted, humiliated and resorts to selling her flesh and thus soul.

I just hope that like the trailer, the movie is able to take us beyond the "no great shakes" feel that the story and situations give. Through the performances and through some good music and that something little more. That this is a film under the Bhatt banner doesn't help its case too much now, does it?

Music Reviews:
Bollywood Life - "3.5/5"
glamsham - "4/5"
Milliblog - "best Hindi soundtrack by Jeet Ganguli yet"
Music Aloud - "7/10"

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Jayalalithaa: The queen who couldn’t be the kingmaker

Arun Ram
17 May 2014, 03:25 PM IST

She is the victor who lost; the queen without the crown. Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa created history on Friday when her party AIADMK won 37 of the 39 seats in the state—the biggest tally for any party so far in Tamil Nadu. Yet, she couldn't get anywhere near power at the Centre when BJP would be sharing it with some parties that got just a couple of seats, maybe just one.

Elections offer takeaways for winner and losers, and here are a couple for Jayalalithaa: Strategic compromise is sometimes better than a Pyrrhic victory. Wishful thinking of a prospective post-poll ally under performing may be as dangerous as underestimating a rival.

The AIADMK prima donna has left none in doubt over her ability to win on her own, especially when there is a multi-cornered contest. But had she tied up with the BJP before the polls, she would have ended up having a handful of Union ministers, though with a lesser number of MPs.

Some may contest this on the premise that a Jayalalaithaa-Modi alliance would have triggered a reconfiguration of political equations in Tamil Nadu; that the DMK might have gone with the Congress; that the Left and the smaller parties would have joined such a coalition sensing anti-right polarisation.

Okay, so what?

The AIADMK might not have managed such huge margins in many places if Jayalalithaa, who started off a silent friend of Modi, didn't change tack midway her campaign and attacked the BJP after sensing a Muslim consolidation against her (But, mind you, she never attacked Modi). She would have lost some minority support had she joined hands with the BJP, but the results show that that would have been more than compensated by the BJP. The results also show that the rest of the parties in TN have not garnered enough to open an account under the NDA umbrella, and hence wouldn't have changed the pathetic fate of the DMK alliance.

It's common knowledge that the AIADMK, having shed the vestiges of the Dravidian philosophy long ago, would make a natural ally of the BJP. And Jayalalithaa made no secret of this: She was the first leader of another party to congratulate Narendra Modi when he became the chief minister of Gujarat last two times. The two leaders have been exchanging more than pleasantries over the phone for a while before the elections which both knew would make Modi the Prime Minister.

Given this bonhomie which never got to the level of mutual commitment, Jayalalithaa had two options before the elections: One, to join NDA as its leading partner in Tamil Nadu and give the BJP half-a-dozen winnable seats; two, to go it alone. The trade-off was, if she opted for the first, she would end up with a little over 30 seats, but, as the largest NDA partner, she could demand half-a-dozen ministerial berths for her MPs. The second, as she rightly read the anti-DMK/Congress mood in the state, would reap a richer harvest for her to emerge the king-maker if the NDA tally tottered around 250 seats.

To be fair to the Chennai Super Queen, she was probably right. Just that Modi was more right.

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Is anti-incumbency working against Pinarayi?

John Cheeran
17 May 2014, 02:58 PM IST

Considering the outright rejection of Congress and UPA across India, chief minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC president V M Sudheeran can console themselves for avoiding a rout and keeping the party intact in the state.

The Congress had to battle anti-incumbency both at the Centre and state.The fact that UPA's six ministers from the state, five of them Congressmen, in the fray – Shashi Tharoor (Thiruvananthapuram), K V Thomas (Ernakulam), K C Venugopal (Alappuzha), Kodikunnil Suresh (Mavelikkara), Mullapally Ramachandran (Vadakara) and E Ahamed (Malappuram) - have won is important.

What saved the day for Chandy, who had turned this election into a referendum on the performance of his government, was the fear of Narendra Modi among minorities and the anti-incumbency mood against CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan (who is leading the party since 1998) among non-partisan voters.

Despite winning an additional seat (LDF has won four seats more) compared to 2009, for the CPM the results have come as a dampener since it reveals the party's inability to turn the nationwide anti-UPA mood into votes. Remember, CPM lost Vadakara, despite a 'faction-less' party and V S Achuthanandan's new-found bonhomie with Vijayan.   

It's clear that UDF received the support of Christian and Muslim communities apart from retaining its goodwill among upper caste Hindus. But Chandy would do well to remember that the minority support comes with a caveat — defeats in Kannur, Idukki, Chalakudy and Thrissur prove they can be tough bargainers.

The big message is, however, that Modi's version of Hindutva is ready to swamp the state's traditional Hindu parties - CPM and CPI. In six constituencies – Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Kasaragod, Palakkad, Kozhikode and Thrissur - BJP logged more than one lakh votes and in three others – Ernakulam, Chalakudy and Attingal - it crossed the 90,000 mark. In Thiruvananthapuram, O Rajagopal almost pulled off the impossible, logging 2,82,336 votes to finish an impressive second.

LDF had played the 'minority' card across the state – it had fielded 10 minority candidates compared to UDF's nine. And the Hindu backlash is evident, especially, in Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta. Lowering the Left guard as they did would have disastrous consequences for Communist parties in the long run.

CPM's second setback is its failure to defeat first, N K Premachandran, and RSP in Kollam. The loss is not merely that of a politburo member, but the party's political antenna consistently picking up the wrong signals.Another interesting pointer emerges from Ponnani where Muslim League struggled to win. E Mohammad Bashir's margin of victory has come down from 82,864 to 25,410, thanks to splinter Muslim groups and the growing presence of BJP.  

The large number of first-time, young voters have not changed the entrenched political equations in the state, at least for now. Aam Aadmi Party's first tryst with Malayalis has been disastrous when one considers that non-political Anita Pratap managed more votes in Ernakulam (51,517) than the anti-corporate, neo-Left, feminist litterateur and culturally sensitive Sara Joseph in Thrissur (44,638). May be there are more politicians in Kerala than Aam Aadmis.

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Spoofy noodles from sporty elections

Amit Karmarkar
17 May 2014, 06:05 PM IST

A day after the counting, sports folks ponder over the mandate for a change and not about mandatory overs!

Mohd Azharuddin: "My opponent chose to bat first after winning the toss. You know... you know... I was bad in chasing anyway. My opponent was lucky with the toss. If my grandfather was alive today, he would have advised me and people of India to ......"

Mohd Kaif: "Sadly, good fielders are in a minority. Even I'm from the minority community. But don't forget that Rahul Gandhiji remains our deity!"

Dilip Tirkey: "It's foul... foul... foul! Voters' hands were shaking while casting votes (like my hands used to during a tight hockey match). Hence they pressed the wrong button. In hockey, we should go back to natural turf from 'ass'tro turf and Indian players should umpire their own hockey matches. And in elections, we should go back to the ballot paper from EVM machines."

Baichung Bhutia: "I thought I was taking a free-kick. Instead, voters kicked me. Praful Bhai should show red cards to all of them.

Rajyavardhan Rathore: "I was telling Rajeji to give me two seats to contest like Modiji. After all, I'm an Olympic silver medalist in the double trap. You never know, I may have won the Amritsar seat!"

Kirti Azad: "Considering that Farooq Abdullah paid the price for giving an impression that he knows everything and he is God and that he has answers and solutions to all problems, I should not talk much."

PS:

Ravi Shastri (in Gabbar Singh's tone) to his guest IPL co-commentator and who can qualify as an IPL cheerleader after losing his clothes: "Itna Sannata Kyon Hai Yaar!" 

Prince: "I will get back to you after speaking to Mamma. But silence is not too bad Ravi."

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India needs and education strategy

Meeta Sengupta
16 May 2014, 08:13 AM IST

India stands at a cusp today between two governments. The previous one has been serving the nation for the past ten years the new one will hopefully get a mandate strong enough to stand for the next five.

As we stand on this platform between the old and the new (regardless of which party comes back to power, though by now it seems to be fairly clear) it is a time to call for change.

First, it would be graceful to acknowledge what went well, especially in the Education sector. Much was achieved including investments in infrastructure, near universal enrolment at the primary level, acknowledgement of the private sector contribution, the groundwork for the entry of foreign universities to India, the almost universal acceptance of the RTE Act (flawed as it is) and of course the slow but steady entry of technology in education. For each of these I can hear critics harrumphing. I agree, not enough has been done. Progress has been painfully slow. In many cases the slow progress has been a boon because the direction chosen was so obviously flawed. A generation has lost many chances. The current one must not be let down.

The good news is that much of the thinking and debating has been done for years. There are clear opinions and choices on most institutional and policy issues. The path forward is known and the structural gaps are identified. There can be nothing better to inherit for a team that knows that actions often speak larger than words. For example - it is acknowledged that Indian universities need to focus on research and international engagement to ride up the global rankings. (I of course advocate a diversified model for post secondary education that does not require all universities to fight for a spot on the same greasy pole). It is also clear that multiple accreditation bodies need to be set up with the blessings of the sector skills councils that represent the employer's requirements  - these are to guide the content and certification of competencies to fill the skills gap. At the primary school level we know that qualified teacher gaps are a national emergency - this is already a national mission and must be executed well.

Other issues that always get pushed under the carpet are also acknowledged as being awkward - Foreign Direct Investment in education, private sector provision of primary education, the mess that the current community college model presents (when the answer is obvious to some of us) and of course the very troublesome issue of apprenticeships that falls somewhere in the gaps between the ministries of Human Resource Development and Labour. Many of the issues that need to be sorted out are ideological - tradition pulls policy towards treating it as a public good. Pragmatism and resource constraints, and dare I say it - common sense too - negates that view. At the same time one realises that the current structures, behemoths as they are may be flawed, but are the only vehicles for the distribution of the new national policies. These knots will have to be cut before the new government can begin to make meaningful progress.

Of course, some changes are easier than they look, such as the RTE Act that has been attacked by many. It is enough to acknowledge the RTE 2.0 movement that is ready to move past recriminations and chart a path to better education for all. The RTE comes with fundamental flaws that cannot be allowed to continue into the future but has clearly established the principle of social engineering via education policy. Where it fails is in arrogating private property to the state, in discriminating against the majority institutions and in creating a distrust of government aid. These flaws will only strengthen the suspicion that government wants to play big brother and nanny - a creepy thought at best. The RTE itself has many flaws such as the emphasis on input based criteria rather than on value addition during the school year (though activists cry out for output based norms for schools). Many flaws have been patched over, but fundamentally it remains a noble thought that seems to be designed for flaws to show up in operation.

The new government has all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle in place. They have all been tagged and sorted too. Now it is up to them to create a the picture that they believe will built a better future for the nation. It is time for a national action plan. What India needs is a National Education Strategy.

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Restaurant Review: La Folie - tea salon, patisserie, chocolaterie

Rashmi Uday Singh
16 May 2014, 08:00 AM IST

I confess. I'm a dessertaholic and a chocoholic. So, I conduct three tasting sessions at this new French-inspired Patisserie, Chocolaterie and tea salon. I land up at La Folie, when I go to do a clothes trial (her boutique is next to La Folie) to the dynamic and multi-talented Shaina NC's boutique. This to walk the ramp (with Vivek Jain) for the mammoth 7,000 audience, celebrity studded fund raiser for Cancer patients for which Shaina made time in spite of her hectic electioneering. I do a marathon-hour long tasting with patissieur extraordinaire, Cordon Bleu trained Firoza Moos (pay bill of Rs 5,015). The third tasting feedback is on twitter and instagram.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION
Another confession... I don't know the French language at all, in spite of spending years in Paris while writing my food book. So  interpreting "La Folie's" French words is tough, but I've had the good fortune to interview and taste all of Sanjana Patel's French mentor's Alain Ducasse creations. Less than two months ago, I not only ate Pierre Herme's  patisserie but also flew down to Delhi to anchor Pierre Herme's interview for a national magazine's conclave.

DÉCOR
Wedged into Kala Ghoda, La Folie is a small, stark space with tables and a  dark wood bench running along one wall. It seats 8 to 10.  Quite a contrast to the ornate French La Duree with it's jewel box looks.

FOOD
There's a catwalk here too... behind the glassed off counter, gleaming superstar desserts  preen and strut...  pralines,  truffles, macarons, entremets (that French for textural layered desserts) there's a huge choice of teas and coffee too.

Hero #1 is the"100% Chocolat" dense and moist with a dark chocolate cake base, crispy praline, bitter chocolate mousse capped off with chocolate fondant. Heroine #1 Rouge Velour (big fat, bright red rose) moist, zesty lemony sponge cake with strawberry compote Supporting hero #1 Infinite Caramel seasalt cream with hazelnut praline and milk chocolate. Child star#1  Colorful candy cake layered with mentos, eclair nutties and marshmallow.

Full marks to La Folie's slim chocolate squares... single origin Venezuelan and Equador chocolate truffles. Macarons (lemon grass and basil, pop rock candy) delight.

MINUS POINTS

Though they say they open at 11am, at both our tastings, they were not open till 12 noon. A lot of the menu is not available... Black Forest, tarts, Viennoiserie, cookies, tea time cakes and hot chocolate. Some of the non-chocolatey patisserie, like the Raspberry Litchi Damask, Mango Lemon Pabana are too gelatinous for my liking. Some complain about the high price.

MY POINT

La Folie's Sanjana's French-grounded creations bridge the classically saucy decadence of the past and the progressive derring-do of a new generation.

She treads the right middle ground between hyper-imaginative artistry and molten chocolate pandering. Of course it is expensive (`215 to `235 for a pastry, `75 for a macaron) but worth it. Now, if only the whole menu was available, the opening timing fine tuned, some of the desserts less gelatinous. I fell in love with it gradually, not all at once. The experience had a sweetness, all its own.

La Folie
16, Commerce House, Rope Walk Lane, Next to Trishna, Kala Ghoda, Fort. Timings 11 am – 11 pm
Call 022 - 6772 2181
Rating: * Food: 4 * Service: 3.5 * Décor: 3

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There's no other place like India for cricket

Archana Vijaya
16 May 2014, 07:00 PM IST

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Dubai was great whether it was their hospitality or the crowd. Everything was superb. I would really like to thank Dubai for being a great host. The best thing about the first league of IPL was that I didn't had to travel to different cities like I do in India. The reception was amazing there and all the matches were jam packed. It was so well organised. I could actually feel a slice of India there as people simply enjoyed all the games. They were cheering for their favourite team by sporting T-shirts of that particular team. There were flags all over the place in the stadium. I had an amazing time in Sharjah and it was my favourite stadium. We had an excellent time in the Extra innings Studio in the company of Siddhu Paaji, Ajay Jadeja, Danny Morrison and this year we were joined by Shoaib Akhtar. Then I actually shopped till I dropped in Dubai.

Sachin Tendulkar's presence at one of the Mumbai Heroes matches was a brilliant gesture. He's the icon of the game so his presence definitely brought a change. It was truly needed at that time. We should really thank Neeta Ambani for doing such a thing. It was the prayers of those 20000 kids that Mumbai actually won the match. Their prayers worked for the team.

No comment |  Post Your Reviews. Rated

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Sports lack counting day, thanks to unopposed terms; factions & ad-hoc bodies

Amit Karmarkar
15 May 2014, 12:21 PM IST

This Friday is far bigger than India vs Pakistan cricket final in Sharjah. For, it's the counting day for Lok Sabha elections. In a five-year cycle full of speculation, one-upmanship and frauds, this is the only day when the politics comes closer to sports. For, the voters tell the contestants in the most emphatic manner: you WON or you LOST. Period.

However, in sports politics counting days are a rarity: Either there are factions (like Hockey India, IHF and their honorable state heirs), or administrators with high credentials, experience and integrity (like Srinivasan, Kalmadi, Verma, Batra) get elected unopposed. And yes, how can we forget unelected and hence 'born out of wedlock' ad-hoc bodies (like in boxing or the one in Pune chess).

But hey, why do we need contests and healthy confrontations in sports bodies? Because peace is bad, it leads to either mediocrity, unnecessary controversies and scams.

When Sharad Pawar (president) and N Srinivasan (treasurer) won the BCCI elections, they indirectly felt obliged to the voters. That played a huge role in their good performance in the initial phase. But once they succeeded in luring the opposite faction and made it into one power-hungry group, it was a breeze for them; that is: ELECTED UNOPPOSED.

My grouse about a lack of elections is not limited to national sports federations. It trickles down to the state and district bodies too. Take the latest example of Pradeep Gandhe retaining his post as Maharashtra Badminton Association president. Yes, elected unopposed, no counting needed.

In last year's Maharashtra Cricket Association's AGM, a 20-odd member managing committee was elected unopposed: simply beautiful.

When you sense defeat in the elections, the trend shows various options:
1. Lack of will to contest;
2. Try to change the constitution to get more votes;
3. Start a new faction.
4. Join the group in power by 'setting';
5. Get an order from higher authority for ad-hoc committee.

The inertia that many citizens of India face (and hence they don't vote) can also be found in some able persons who don't take the plunge in the elections of sports bodies. Both cry in the same tone: "Kuch bhi honewala nahi hai!" (And hence they don't do anything!)

It's bad because:
1. It indicates that not many administrators are interested in contesting;
2. People who are interested won't mind a backdoor entry through internal arrangement.
3. Power without proper, fair mandate corrupts absolutely (scams generally happen in the latter terms, not the initial ones).

The Delhi High Court has upheld the government regulation which forbids more than two administrative terms in the national sports federations for any person. It's time to implement that law even at the state or district level of sports administration. Maybe with a rider: you can retain power beyond two terms if you 'win' the election in subsequent years. That way, at least counting will happen: Of sins and achievements.

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10 things India’s new Prime Minister should do

Rajesh Kalra
15 May 2014, 03:25 PM IST

Although the results are still a day away, the nation, in all likelihood, would soon see a new government. So, before everyone joins the cacophony on what, who, when, why, where, why not etc that the new government must do, I looked around to see what is it that the new dispensation needs to tackle to win over the people of this country.

These are not economic mumbo-jumbo, nor management jargon, but something that whoever is entrusted with the job of running the nation must bear in mind. Some of it we have read, but there is a lot else that we know, but it gets lost in the general push for what the economists alone think is the panacea for this nation's ailments.

So, here are my 10 suggestions for the new Prime Minister and his government to follow. The list can be a hundred long, but this can be a good start, I feel.

1. INFRASTRUCTURE PUSH: There needs to be a huge infrastructure push. Yes, we have seen growth in telecom and roads have improved, but are we anywhere close to what a world-class network should be? No! And about electricity, the less said the better. Isn't it funny that on July 31, 2012, dubbed as the largest power outage in world's history that affected "620 million Indian people",  except for people outside India, it didn't really make a difference.Let me put it differently, most of those who should have been affected, did not even notice there is no power. Why? Because they barely got power anyway. And in the richie-rich condominiums, they have power back-up, so they didn't feel it either.
2. SHUN CRONY CAPITALISM, THROW OUT 'PERMANENT FIXTURES' FROM TOP LEVEL COMMITTEES: When you talk of infrastructure, a lot of inputs on what and how come from the powerful committees that work under the Prime Minister's Office. These could be committees on investment, on enterprises, manufacturing, skills development and what have you. The governments may change but these committees don't. In some of the most important committees, the same set of industrialists have ruled the roost. These individuals also take control of various industry associations and lobby, disadvantaging the vast majority who are not in their cozy clubs. Everyone talks about how the same set of people influence policies and decision making in sectors that affect them, sup with the decision-makers and don't let anyone enter to hurt their almost monopolistic control over the sector.Their control is sometimes so complete, that they force governments to take decisions that are not even in national interest and have actually hurt our oil and defence preparedness. The new government would do well to throw out all those who have lasted dynasties and regimes.
3. TACKLE CORRUPTION: It may sound clichéd, even sloganeering, but this is something that this nation now needs to tackle almost as a mission. It is not going to be easy, but where there's a will, there's a way.One of the most memorable interviews I have had in my career was with the former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra. When I asked him about comparing working in India with Thailand, he said: In my country, there is honest corruption, but in your country, there is dishonest corruption. I remember laughing, but he explained. When I pay money in my country, work gets done, here, it doesn't.Do I need to elaborate more?
4. IMPROVE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX: We may tom-tom our nuclear prowess and huge skilled manpower and young population, but on some of the basic HDI, we are an embarrassment. This needs to be top priority. More so, since it does not single out a particular community, but benefits all.
5. HEALTH AND EDUCATION: Both these points can never be overemphasised. They are critical for any nation. We may have a 'great and vibrant' democracy, but those on ground know better. It is often as if the politicians themselves do not want the masses to be educated, lest they develop the ability to see through their lip-service, their games.As for healthcare, it is an area that the government seems to have almost abdicated its responsibility. And in this, there should be a marked push towards preventive healthcare. We are good at creating AIIMS like institutions, but have done precious little for preventing those who have to use the overcrowded facilities run by the government. The rich have already found their solutions. Mosquito repellent devices keeps them safe from malaria and RO plants ensure they are safe from cholera and diarrhoea. But the poor? Preventive healthcare would ensure hygiene and clean drinking water. Surely, a nation that aspires to be a superpower cannot not have this as a priority.
6. BUILD A SCIENTIFIC TEMPER: There was a time when this nation could be counted among those what gave top class thinkers in every field, including science. But now? And if truth be told, the tag of us being an IT Superpower is phoney, to say the least. We are software pygmies, at best.One of the largest growing population in the world needs to be harnessed and that can happen through a combination of several things, education, as mentioned above.
7. EMPOWER YOUTH: This nation's youth has huge potential and they have high hopes too, for themselves and for their nation. But they can see the promise being frittered away. Make the huge young population of this country regain pride in their nation. It is something they seem to have lost. Let them regain the confidence in themselves and their nation. Empower youth. Grow economy, give them jobs. Use them for nation-building.
8. PUNISH OFFICIALS AND MINISTERS WHO DON'T RESPECT LAW: The common man is quite sick of how the powerful misuse their position. It should be your priority to make these 'law-unto-themselves' fear, and respect laws of land. Make sure they don't grab all that is scarce. Let the word get out that the common man has first right over resources that are scarce. It could be seemingly unimportant things like school and college admissions, but am sure you have an idea what it means to those who are going through the exercise.And this list of misuse can go on and on from grabbing non-political postings to not giving up sprawling and palatial government bungalows and so on.Those who are caught doing wrong need to be given exemplary treatment. Just one firm act on this count and all would fall into line.
9. DON'T SINGLE OUT COMMUNITIES: Improve the lot of all religions. Some minorities are used only as vote banks. They deserve better. An improvement in their condition would expose their so called leaders as having used them. No harm in getting genuine converts to your brand of progress. At the end of the day, people want progress and dignified life.
10. RESTORE OUR RIVERS: Rivers, other than being sacred to a large number of Indians, are our lifeline, but thanks to rampant misuse and lack of respect for what they give, most have turned into open sewers.

 Also, Prime Minister, there would be several who would be chuckling at the thought of you inheriting an economy that is nowhere close to what it should be. Price rise being one, law and order, defence preparedness, more specifically low on ammunition and spare reserves, etc. Let them chuckle. People are no fools. Put your points across forcefully. Tell them this is what you have inherited but you will work in the most earnest manner to get us out of it.

Spell out what you wish to do. As soon as they see things moving in the right direction, there would be acceptance. They will support the right moves. Miracles won't happen overnight, they don't happen overnight, but if they see things moving in the right direction, they would support not just these 5 years, but after that too

And ultimately, Prime Minister, please provide governance, don't rule!

 

1.       INFRASTRUCTURE PUSH: There needs to be a huge infrastructure push. Yes, we have seen growth in telecom and roads have improved, but are we anywhere close to what a world-class network should be? No! And about electricity, the less said the better. Isn't it funny that on July 31, 2012, dubbed as the largest power outage in world's history that affected "620 million Indian people",  except for people outside India, it didn't really make a difference.Let me put it differently, most of those who should have been affected, did not even notice there is no power. Why? Because they barely got power anyway. And in the richie-rich condominiums, they have power back-up, so they didn't feel it either.

 

2.       SHUN CRONY CAPITALISM, THROW OUT 'PERMANENT FIXTURES' FROM TOP LEVEL COMMITTEES: When you talk of infrastructure, a lot of inputs on what and how come from the powerful committees that work under the Prime Minister's Office. These could be committees on investment, on enterprises, manufacturing, skills development and what have you. The governments may change but these committees don't. In some of the most important committees, the same set of industrialists have ruled the roost. These individuals also take control of various industry associations and lobby, disadvantaging the vast majority who are not in their cozy clubs. Everyone talks about how the same set of people influence policies and decision making in sectors that affect them, sup with the decision-makers and don't let anyone enter to hurt their almost monopolistic control over the sector.Their control is sometimes so complete, that they force governments to take decisions that are not even in national interest and have actually hurt our oil and defence preparedness.

    The new government would do well to throw out all those who have lasted dynasties and regimes.

 

3.       TACKLE CORRUPTION: It may sound clichéd, even sloganeering, but this is something that this nation now needs to tackle almost as a mission. It is not going to be easy, but where there's a will, there's a way.One of the most memorable interviews I have had in my career was with the former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra. When I asked him about comparing working in India with Thailand, he said: In my country, there is honest corruption, but in your country, there is dishonest corruption. I remember laughing, but he explained. When I pay money in my country, work gets done, here, it doesn't.Do I need to elaborate more?

 

4.       IMPROVE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX: We may tom-tom our nuclear prowess and huge skilled manpower and young population, but on some of the basic HDI, we are an embarrassment. This needs to be top priority. More so, since it does not single out a particular community, but benefits all.

 

5.       HEALTH AND EDUCATION: Both these points can never be overemphasised. They are critical for any nation. We may have a 'great and vibrant' democracy, but those on ground know better. It is often as if the politicians themselves do not want the masses to be educated, lest they develop the ability to see through their lip-service, their games.As for healthcare, it is an area that the government seems to have almost abdicated its responsibility. And in this, there should be a marked push towards preventive healthcare. We are good at creating AIIMS like institutions, but have done precious little for preventing those who have to use the overcrowded facilities run by the government. The rich have already found their solutions. Mosquito repellent devices keeps them safe from malaria and RO plants ensure they are safe from cholera and diarrhoea. But the poor? Preventive healthcare would ensure hygiene and clean drinking water. Surely, a nation that aspires to be a superpower cannot not have this as a priority.

 

6.       BUILD A SCIENTIFIC TEMPER: There was a time when this nation could be counted among those what gave top class thinkers in every field, including science. But now? And if truth be told, the tag of us being an IT Superpower is phoney, to say the least. We are software pygmies, at best.One of the largest growing population in the world needs to be harnessed and that can happen through a combination of several things, education, as mentioned above.

 

7.       EMPOWER YOUTH: This nation's youth has huge potential and they have high hopes too, for themselves and for their nation. But they can see the promise being frittered away. Make the huge young population of this country regain pride in their nation. It is something they seem to have lost. Let them regain the confidence in themselves and their nation. Empower youth.

 

8.       PUNISH OFFICIALS AND MINISTERS WHO DON'T RESPECT LAW: The common man is quite sick of how the powerful misuse their position. It should be your priority to make these 'law-unto-themselves' fear, and respect laws of land. Make sure they don't grab all that is scarce. Let the word get out that the common man has first right over resources that are scarce. It could be seemingly unimportant things like school and college admissions, but am sure you have an idea what it means to those who are going through the exercise.And this list of misuse can go on and on from grabbing non-political postings to not giving up sprawling and palatial government bungalows and so on.Those who are caught doing wrong need to be given exemplary treatment. Just one firm act on this count and all would fall into line.

 

9.       DON'T SINGLE OUT COMMUNITIES: Improve the lot of all religions. Some minorities are used only as vote banks. They deserve better. An improvement in their condition would expose their so called leaders as having used them. No harm in getting genuine converts to your brand of progress. At the end of the day, people want progress and dignified life.

 

10.   RESTORE OUR RIVERS: Rivers, other than being sacred to a large number of Indians, are our lifeline, but thanks to rampant misuse and lack of respect for what they give, most have turned into open sewers.

21.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Happy that Kings XI Punjab is playing so well

Archana Vijaya
15 May 2014, 07:27 PM IST

Riding high on brilliant performances, Kings XI Punjab has almost knocked everyone out. The players are doing a fabulous job. With the series of victories back to back, Kings XI Punjab have risen to the top of the game. I am really happy for Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia. Before IPL started, I had said that I want a new team to win the game and Kings XI Punjab was one of my favorite contenders for this season. I am so happy that my prediction has come true and Kings XI Punjab is playing so well.

Back to back matches are leaving me with no sleep and the heat has really exhausted me. I am trying to cope with the heat by hydrating myself with liquids as I am travelling across different cities back to back. It's hectic but am thoroughly enjoying myself as the adrenalin is high and we are having a lot of fun on and off the field. I will be wearing a lot of lighter fabrics as the climate is getting bad with each passing day and my hair will also be tied up.

I just hope that the teams continue to entertain cricket buffs with great matches. We have seen some fantastic matches so far and I hope it continues. Some good games are lined up before the finale match. It has been a close contest and I just hope that rains don't play spoil sport. Rains should stay away because a lot of hard work is put in by everyone and the rains will ruin that.

21.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sonia Gandhi, party and democracy

TK Arun
14 May 2014, 02:24 PM IST

Once again, a book has given occasion for public bemoaning of Sonia Gandhi's role in the UPA government. Arun Maira says in his new book that Sonia Gandhi called the shots in the UPA government, decided on policy and appointments. This is portrayed in the media as major subversion of democracy. Really?

The assumption implicit in this criticism is that the political party is some kind of a seasonal expedience, to be of some use at election time and otherwise meant to reveal its good character by keeping quiet and speaking only when spoken to. Governance, including formulation of policy, would be the sole prerogative of those who man the government; their preferences and occasional brainwaves would shape government programmes and policy. The party should retreat to the margins and passively wait for the next elections to come out of hibernation.

This vision of politics reflects, essentially, the rudimentary development of democracy in the country. Except in a context of direct democracy, possible in tiny communities where every member plays a direct role in taking every decision for the collective, democracy is not possible, or rather will not be substantive without vibrant political parties. Parties exist to mediate between the people and the state. The party organisation and its wide reach enable elected representatives to get to know their voters' concerns and, in turn, let them convey back to the people what the government can do about these concerns and has been able to achieve.

Indian elected representatives hold durbars, a feudal court, in which the subjects gather to petition the ruler for favour and relief. This form of supplication before a representative of the state and the latter's condescension in granting an audience reflect underdeveloped democracy and a stunted party system.

It is only in such a system and resultant low level of democratic consciousness that the party is seen as an adjunct to politics rather than its driving force. The ease with which politicians change their party affiliation and the tendency for individual leaders to dominate a party, to the extent of making it a personal, heritable fief, both reflect the same failing of stunted democratic development. Democracy stands stunted in the Congress as well, of course.

All parties exist to capture state power and use that power to mould society according to their respective vision. Difference in vision demarcates one party from another. Sometimes, even when sharing the same broad vision, difference of opinion on current strategy and tactics could be so severe as to make the followers of different schools of thought gather themselves into different parties. Sometimes, the only point of difference might be over who should lead the party in its pursuit of a particular vision and strategy.

Even within the framework of India's rudimentary democracy, parties do play an important role. People vote, for the most part, on the basis of party affiliation. When a candidate gets a certain number of votes, more than half that many votes would have accrued on the strength of his/her party affiliation. The party gets elected.

The party with the largest number of elected representatives is called on to form the government. The party chooses its leaders in the legislature, decides on ministerial appointments The party is held accountable for the performance of the government led by it. When the BJP called on the electorate to throw out the corrupt Congress, they endorsed the concept that the party is being held to account, primarily. When the Congress is held responsible for the state of the nation, after having functioned as the ruling party for 49 out of the 62 years of democratically elected governments since the first general election of 1952, the same principle applies.

Inclusive growth is not the vision of an individual leader in the government, but the vision of the Congress party. Land reforms in West Bengal and Kerala were not bright ideas that occurred to their chief ministers when Communists formed their governments. Rather, land reforms were the rallying point of the Left parties, for which they mobilised support and on the basis of which they sustained that support. The leaders of the Communist parties naturally played a major role in deciding what the policies of the Left led governments would be. Promode Dasgupta, the CPI(M) state secretary was, in his lifetime, far more powerful and far more respected a leader in West Bengal than chief minister Jyoti Basu was.

The president of the Congress party was a powerful leader, before Indira Gandhi was appointed prime minister and then staged a coup and took over the government and the party. No one found it strange that the Congress party and its president should wield power and influence policy.

Sonia Gandhi led the Congress to victory across the country in 2004 and 2009, as the party's president and most popular leader, its cementing force, to use Sharad Pawar's phrase. This time around, she and her son would jointly share responsibility for defeat or victory, as the case may be. She and the Congress are being held to account for the performance of Congress-led government, the scams under its tenure, and also take credit for its achievements in inclusive growth. How could she not have played a role in deciding the policies of the government led by the Congress party?

Democracy would have been subverted if arbitrary people in the government had formulated policy divorced from the vision and expectation of the party that got them elected and installed them in office.

Legitimate criticism of the National Advisory Council is not that it served as a platform for Sonia Gandhi to wield influence over the government. Rather, the problem is that the Congress did not have sufficient emancipatory imagination of its own within the party and had to outsource thinking up creative policies to an advisory body. Whether as chairman of the advisory body or simply as president of the ruling party answerable to the people, Sonia had both the right and the responsibility to play a major role in determining the policies of the UPA government.

Those who criticise her for this fail to appreciate the role of the political party in a functional democracy, and see politics only in terms of individuals and leaders. The shoe, in other words, pinches on the other foot.

21.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

What is Mr. Modi thinking?

Sanjeev Ahluwalia
14 May 2014, 05:55 PM IST

Modi can't stop thinking. It was whilst wandering in the Himalayas, as a young adult, that he decided to make the RSS his karm bhoomi, developed his vision of what he wanted to do and how. Should he revisit those grassy slopes and rugged peaks again to refresh his mind? Kedarnath is waiting.

But this is unlikely. Those times are long gone; subsumed by the mechanics of leading a juggernaut. He will be the first of India's popularly elected CEOs, having managed both a party and a state. Being a CEO, it is unlikely that he will be looking to conceive a game plan. He will bring one with him with all the homework done.

The only thing which could occupy his mind would be his strategy for managing less than a majority verdict on May 16. Should that happen, BJP stalwarts, existing and potential allies would all prefer him out and a weaker BJP PM. After all, the winner takes all in our system and that does not suit anyone, except the winner. Yes the BJP has won and by corollary so has the RSS but the real winner is Modi … and no one likes that, least of all his own colleagues.

His biggest card to remain in control, if BJP is in a minority, would be to propose that lacking a mandate, they should not form a government.

This aligns with the party's stand in the Delhi elections and is sufficiently high minded to have wide appeal. Without Modi's consent and cooperation, the BJP/RSS have no hope of being able to form a minority government with someone else as PM, even if potential allies are available on this condition only. This leaves only two option for the party; Modi as PM even in a coalition government or for the BJP to opt out.

There is very little down side for the BJP in opting out. The rag-tag government, which could be formed with the congress and others, or the impossible but gender responsive trio of Amma, Mayawati and Didi, who between them may have numbers similar to the Congress (sub 100), is sure to collapse, Janta Dal/United Front style.

Conversely, for the BJP, forming a minority government is fraught with the danger of failing to live up to the lavish promises they have made and the even higher expectations they have aroused. In many ways their conundrum would be similar, to what the AAP faced in Delhi. How does one explain the inability to rule when offered the chance, even with ones hands tied behind ones back?

Does this compulsion to form a government, weaken Modi's bargaining power to remain in control? Certainly not. Modi has become so much the face of the BJP and the RSS, that a BJP government without him is inconceivable.

Of course adopting this hard stand would fast forward, what must be Modi's long term plan. To soar as an independent eagle watchful, above the fray, swift as lightning in action but unfettered by "earthly" concerns, ties and social commitments. After all, it is not for nothing that the Gods reside where the eagles soar.

If the unfortunate scenario, of less than a majority mandate to rule fructifies, which way Modi jumps will be determined by the real circumference of his chest and the extent to which he has learnt from the Gir Lion, he is so justifiably proud of. I suspect he will not be found wanting.

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Draw the boundary on the LoC

Indrani Bagchi
14 May 2014, 07:38 PM IST

The Line of Control should become a border between India and Pakistan, said Satinder Lambah, PM's special envoy for Af-Pak, who has conducted back-channel negotiations with Pakistan for the past decade. The bald assertion junks the parliament resolution of 1994 which appropriated the entire territory of the old J&K as Indian territory. Moreover, it firmly plants the Indian position on the LOC-as-border viewpoint, finally removing the cobwebs Indian diplomat-speak had placed on it.

At least after this, India, in any negotiation with Pakistan, will not have to jump through hoops to arrive at this conclusion. The downside of Lambah's assertion is it robs India of the starting point for Kashmir negotiations, which is traditionally that we want all of it.
But when you think about it, we would be insulting everybody's intelligence if that is the starting point of our negotiations. The real question is how should Pakistan reconcile itself to this Indian position.

At the end of a decade of trying to improve relations with Pakistan, the UPA government in its final hours, laid out the most comprehensive peace proposal so far to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Coming just after the elections and before a new government takes office, the Indian proposals for a solution were expressed by at the Kashmir University, Srinagar, on Tuesday. Lambah's remarks will set out the backdrop for a Modi government if they decide to pick up the baton on Kashmir negotiations.

Lambah said, "After three wars and long periods of disagreements, it is essential that any agreement must ensure that the Line of Control is like a border between any two normal states. There can be no redrawal of borders." The essential "prerequisite" for a possible deal on Kashmir, he said, is an "end to hostility, violence and terrorism." While Lambah said he was speaking in his personal capacity, his remarks were crafted at the highest levels in the government. For many years, Pakistan has attempted to take the initiative on a Kashmir solution. For the first time, India has put out the contours of its own version of a solution.

The other elements of a possible deal on Kashmir include, allowing people of J&K on either side to move freely, progressive removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers for locally produced goods, reduction of military footprint after violence has abated, self-governance for internal management, and respect for human rights.

The Indian proposals, Lambah said, derive from both the Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration. Laying out the red lines, he said, "the past six decades have clearly shown, the Kashmir issue cannot be settled by war, force or violence. A solution will also remain elusive if we keep harping on positions that have failed to resolve the problem in the past."

Former Pakistan president, Pervez Musharraf was the first to state his famous "four-point solution". Between 2004 and 2007, Lambah and Tariq Aziz, Musharraf's envoy met in different capitals __ Dubai, Bangkok, etc __ to work out the shape of a deal. But by 2007, Musharraf's troubles internally started to overwhelm the process, particularly after he ran up against the activist chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. For Musharraf, it was downhill from there on. Manmohan Singh, who was personally invested in working out a deal with Pakistan on Kashmir, had soldiered through 2006 and 2007, years when Pakistan-sponsored terrorism against India was rampant. In 2008, after Musharraf was replaced by Ashfaque Kayani as army chief, the Kashmir negotiations ran aground. Kayani may have signed on to the talks as DG-ISI, but he indicated clear disinterest as army chief. However, Zardari pushed through several rounds of talks with Riaz Mohammed Khan as the Pakistani interlocutor.

Lambah was very clear from the beginning that no deal with Pakistan could be concluded by quiet negotiations. These talks were important to set out the context and remove the detritus of misconceptions that dog India-pakistan relations. Pointing out the importance of these talks, Lambah said, they were "conducted quietly and without the knowledge, prompting and involvement of any third party. The process has survived and sustained itself despite brutal and high visibility assaults – from the Parliament attack to the embassy bombing in Kabul and to the Mumbai terror attack - and through political transitions in both countries. This progress was based on two pillars – respecting ceasefire along the Line of Control and a disavowal by Pakistan of the use of terrorism as a state policy allowing the use of its territory by non-state actors."

This message has been consistent from Vajpayee government through the Manmohan years. The clear articulation of Manmoahn Singh's Kashmir policy will also insulate his government from possible attacks by a subsequent government on the "soft line" on Pakistan. In essence, Lambah's remarks also made it clear that this would be the only credible solution to the Kashmir issue.

Taking on some critics who contend that India's growth has not been hampered by the Kashmir problem, Lambah added a touch of reality, saying "a solution of the Kashmir issue will substantially enhance India's security, strengthen the prospects for durable peace and stability in the region and enable India to focus more on the rapidly emerging long term geopolitical challenges." For Pakistan, he said, a solution would "relieve (it) from a debilitating military competition with a much larger neighbour that has drained its economy." It ought to refocus its energies to tackle radical militancy and benefit from the economic opportunities.

Lambah's remarks are in direct contrast to Pakistan's army chief Raheel Sharief who described Kashmir as a "jugular vein", which many interpreted to mean that Pakistan could revert to terrorism again. India has a plan to resolve Kashmir, but its not yet clear whether the next government will sign off on the details.

The Indian Proposals:

• Any agreement must ensure that the Line of Control is like a border between any two normal states. There can be no redrawal of borders;

• It is imperative that the people of J&K on either side of the Line of Control should be able to move freely from one side to the other;
• The process of progressive removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers in specified locally produced goods already underway has to be expedited to ensure meaningful trade between the two sides of the LoC;
• The essential prerequisite is that there has to be an end to Hostility, Violence and Terrorism;
• Once this happens, it would be important that military forces on both sides of the LoC are kept to the minimum, particularly in populated areas;
• It would be important to ensure self-governance for internal management in all areas on the same basis on both sides of the LoC;
• There has to be respect for Human Rights on both sides of the LoC and efforts need to be made to reintegrate into society those sections who had been involved in violent militant activities.

21.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

When a rescue raid goes wrong

Alisa Schubert Yuasa
12 May 2014, 06:23 PM IST

On May 2, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) – an NGO dedicated to fighting child labourers – and the Delhi police raided a residential building that was reported to be a hidden factory using child labourers. I was allowed to accompany the operation. I am not sure what I had expected, but I had somehow unconsciously established an image of a clean operation: enter building, find children in horrible condition, gather them up and herd them to organized waiting vehicles, arrest perpetrators. Boy was I ever wrong.

I was wrong that the children would be waiting for us like wrapped presents, all ready to be saved. I was wrong that the locals would have a sense of morality and help the operation, or at least not impede it. I was wrong that it would be a clean operation.

The caravan of NGO and police cars arrived in a heavily populated residential area in NE Delhi called Nand Nagri, where there was a reported illicit bindi-making factory. I enthusiastically ran behind the police officers as they swarmed the alleyway and banged the doors of an innocuous-looking building, demanding entry. I avidly followed a BBA volunteer as he crashed into the small set of blue-painted rooms like a good old-fashioned Hollywood movie to find… no children. There were conspicuous empty spots surrounding the worktables, with half-assembled bindi packets strewn everywhere that little hands had obviously just abandoned. But no children. Someone had called ahead of time and given the traffickers enough time to hide their child labourers.

That was the first indicator that I was dead wrong with my "I know how this goes" hubris. We jogged desperately to a nearby park immediately after receiving a lead that the children would be there, to find quite a few children. But who were the locals? Who were the labourers? Although we found glitter on the hands of many of them, a sure sign that they had been working at a bindi-factory, they glanced around with furtive eyes, desperate to escape. That was where I realized something I stupidly had not even contemplated: the children didn't want to be rescued.

By then a crowd had gathered, and instead of being passive or helpful they were furious. They aggressively grabbed at the children and yelled "these are local boys!" or "that's my son!" creating a cacophony of noise and jostling bodies. I began to realize that these people must be in on it. You cannot be blind to a child labour factory if you live in the neighborhood. These people were actively, consciously, trying to cover the operation, trying to pull the children away from the police's grasp.

Things were getting dangerous, and we had to make a quick retreat. We were able to hack through the crowd and quickly piled into the cars again, police holding out batons to hold the locals back. As we slowly moved to the main road people banged the side of the cars in protest and yelled. The air was sizzling with closely held-in violence and desperate anger.

Once back to the police station, volunteers started trying to gather the 27 rescued children's information. The older boys had small smirks on their faces, sniggering in the corner. "I live in the area, just went to pick up some milk for my mom when the raid happened" one 14 year old blithely told me. Was he telling the truth? The younger ones started talking quite easily though. One 12-year-old boy from Bihar, Sanjay, had been there for 7 months and worked 13 to 14 hours a day. His parents had received 5,000 rupees for him.

Many of the boys, either from fear or shock, kept denying that they were labourers. BBA founder Kailash Satyarthi explained that it was because the children were told that the police would arrest them and would gauge their eyes out and rip their kidneys from their bodies. What must it be like to live in such fear and uncertainty, when the only stable entity is the men forcing you to work in ungodly situations with no pay?

The mystery of who told the factory beforehand was pretty much solved. A BBA member showed me a number he said was found in the dial history of one of the detained factory employers. It was a police number, and had been received mere minutes before the raid started. No one seemed very surprised that a police officer had allegedly tipped off the operation before the police arrived.

No one seemed surprised that locals had actively tried to pull the child labourers away from the would-be rescuers. No one was surprised that the children were lying that they had been bought from their families to work in small, cramped spaces for 12 to 14 hours a day. I seemed to be the only one utterly bewildered.

According to one friend of mine, everyone's in on it. The police get a cut as long as they allow the operation to continue. The factory helps the local economy in the area, so the people living in the area won't report the child trafficking. The children themselves are convinced that they are the bread-winners of their families, despite the fact that they have no way of knowing if the employers are sending money back home.

No one has given me satisfactory answers to these questions: what is being done to stop this whole operation? Not saving the children, but actually imprisoning the employers.

Who is catching the middle-men responsible of finding desperate rural families willing to sell their children for a meager 5,000 rupees and bringing them to cities?

Who is finding and prosecuting the people running illegal child trafficking rings? Who is prosecuting the corrupt police who allow this to continue?

21.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

World’s largest polls marked with EC violations

Gajanan Khergamker
12 May 2014, 09:34 PM IST

"Isn't it so evident? The bias?" shot off an irate Bharatiya Janata Party enthusiast while talking about Election Commission's repeated raps to the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Within days, the constitutional authority with all its colossal powers blinked and did a turnabout.When Bharatiya Janata Party's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi defied the State orders, he called 'unjust', and embarked on a road show in Varanasi despite being prohibited by the district administration, it was perceive as a 'violation of the Code of Conduct Rules.' It was perceived as an affront to democracy itself.Narendra Modi was supposed to hold a rally in two places in Varanasi but was only given permission for one just road show. According to the State and Election Commission, Modi was denied from holding the rally for security reasons. But, the BJP termed it as a ploy to stop their Prime Ministerial candidate from canvasing and accused the Election Commission of being 'biased' and working under pressure of other political parties. Narendra Modi is contesting from Varanasi against Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal and Congress's nominee Ajay Rai.
A little earlier, Modi was accused of 'influencing voters' after he posed for a 'selfie' showing his 'voting finger' while holding the BJP election symbol in hand. Also, he made a public speech when he came out after casting his vote. First Information Reports (FIRs) were file against him and the Election Commission booked him for violating the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Some dubbed the Election Commission of being 'too harsh' on Modi for booking him for violating the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The opposition had a field day after the selfie incident but BJP maintained that Modi had not flouted any laws. The party's claims however seemed founded when the day after the selfie incident the police affirmed that Modi did not flout any rules since he made the speech outside the restricted 100-metre radius. 
Going by the way thing did, they seem that Modi is the only one violating election rules day after day and with flagrant disdain for the law. But, it's not just the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate who has been booked for not adhering to the Code of Conduct Rules. Political aspirants and leaders from every other political parties have been charged with flouting election rules. 
Just a few days back Congress' Prime Ministerial candidate too made news when he was seen at three polling booth just hours before the election process began. Reportedly, he had gone near the EVM area to 'inspect' the EVM machines in Amethi. Rahul Gandhi is the sitting MP from Amethi.
Election Commission maintained that entering the polling area is a violation of rules. 
A candidate can talk to the voters outside the polling booth but entering the voting compartment is only for the voters, polling officer and the presiding officer. Congress, however said that it 'believes' that merely examining the EVM machines in the polling booths is not a cognisable offence. 
And, even though EC agreed that entering the polling area was an offence, it decided not to book Gandhi because he was only there to inspect the 'faulty' EVM machine (at Phoola polling station at Amethi) and left before the new machine came or the polling began. The EC reasoned that "since Rahul left the polling station before polling began, he did not violate the secrecy of ballot and also did not hinder the polling process in any way."
When asked about Gandhi's presence at two other polling stations - Ashtabhuja Vidyalaya, Sahamau and Prathamik Vidyalaya, Koora – where there was no broken EVM machine, the EC said that 'Rahul's presence at these polling stations was not examined as the formal complaint made to the poll panel related only to the Phoola polling station."
It is essential to note that the EC has the power to suo moto take up matters where politicians are found violating the Code of Conduct, it doesn't 'need' formal complaint to act against anyone violating rules, but the EC chose not to act against it.
In April, West Bengal Chief Minsiter Mamata Banerjee got into a spat with the EC when it had asked the West Bengal state government to transfer eight of its officials. Banerjee even termed the commission's decision as a conspiracy hatched by the central government, the poll panel, the Congress, the BJP and the CPI-M and a media group.
The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission recently reported that it has received over 3,000 complaints of Model Code violation. It also stated that efforts are being taken to ensure that a maximum number of charge-sheets are filed before May 16.
From this, charge-sheets for around 1,200 complaints were being readied and would be filed in the court before the election result day Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar said to a section of media. The Tamil Nadu Election commission aims to file a maximum number of cases in court before the Poll result declaration day.
Flouting Election Commission's orders and failing to pay heed to the Code of Conducts Rules is not a new phenomenon. 
Every election, whether state or national, political parties and politicians are known to flout norms and try to find loopholes in the Code of Conduct Rules to try and campaign/influence maximum voters till the day of voting. 
But, this time around, considering the 2014 Lok Sabha poll is being touted as the biggest-ever democratic election so far, there're correspondingly myriad complaints being filed against parties and political leaders across the nation.
Every political party flouts some norms, files complaints against the competing parties, feels cheated and claims that the Election Commission is being soft on opponent parties. 
This time around, it has been no different. Every party had their share of rule breaking and calling upon Election Commission for other parties' faults.
The poll panel in early April had ordered the transfer of five police superintendents, one district magistrate and two additional district magistrates from their posts. But, Banerjee up till now had relented saying that she will resign but will not transfer her officials. 
But just a couple of days ago, Banerjee agreed to transfer the officers as per the EC's orders 'till the time of election duty.' She, however, maintained that the Election Commission ordering the transfer of state official was 'unconstitutional' and it needed to be looked in to. 
Even Union Ministers were found flouting Code of Conduct Rules.  References to ministers/politicians on the ministries portal are prohibited during elections. But, many Union Ministers were found to be violating this rule. 
Right from Corporate Affairs minister Sachin Pilot to other Union Cabinet ministers like telecommunications minister Kapil Sibal, civil aviation minister Veerapa Moily, health and family welfare minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and human resources development ministries Pallam Raju - were found to be promoting their 'achievements' and political careers on the national portals.
According to the EC circular, all references of the ministers, politicians and political parties on the official websites have to be deleted during the election period of general/assembly and bye-polls. The circular explains the section 7 (4) of the model code of the conduct which ensures the 'party in power' doesn't use its official position for the election campaign.
The ministries didn't even comply with the other notices the EC sent to the cabinet secretary, chief secretaries and chief electoral officers of all the state and union territories towards March end. 
In its notice the commission has expressed displeasure over non-compliance of the rules. "It was observed that many ministries and departments and government organisations are 'eulogising' their achievements as the personal achievements of the ministers and politicians." The authorities were asked to ensure 'strict compliance'.
Almost in vindication of allegations of bias after being charged with the same, following the election commissioner HS Brahma's 'public criticism' of Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath with regard to the handling of the BJP's Varanasi rally dispute, a special poll observer has been appointed for overseeing the polling in Varanasi. The seemingly-selective discretionary attitude of the Election Commission risks thwarting its Constitutional basis. The EC, like every other constitutional authority, won't have to be just…it'll have to seem just. And sadly, it seems to be failing at that.

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With his horseshoe moustache, Sudhir was a familiar Bollywood villain

Avijit Ghosh
13 May 2014, 02:14 AM IST

In 1970s and earlier too, you could watch most of popular Hindi cinema through the looking glass of muscle memory. You remembered faces and you remembered what they had done in previous films. And you knew they were always going to do the same thing again. This was the cinema of familiarity.

Sudhir, who passed away due to long-standing ailment of the lungs, was the kind of actor who did those roles. With his horseshoe moustache and gravel voice, he was always a recognizable presence. In dozens of films, he would be a walking advertisement for any section of Indian Penal Code; if only in repetitive bit parts.

Few films gave him decent screen time and the luxury of a well-etched character. Feroz Khan's superhit Khote Sikkay (1974) was an exception. Here Sudhir revelled as a rake who lured young girls by gifting them his mother's gold chain. Once he had seduced them, he would take the chain off without the girl noticing it. In the 1970s that kind of scene prompted wolf whistles galore in cinema halls. Like the other khote sikkays (Fake coins or Bad pennies) in the film, Sudhir too got reformed sometime in the ninth reel. It was one of the few films where he did not get killed or went to jail in the end. Later, they did a sequel of Khote Sikkay called Kachche Heere, where Sudhir reprised his earlier role. But the film did not work at the box-office.

Sudhir was part of another ensemble movie: Satte Pe Satta playing one of the seven brothers. But in a film where Amitabh Bachchan had a double role, how much solo screen time could anybody else get? In fact, in a career spanning over 200 films, Sudhir acted in at least a dozen Bachchan movies. You might also remember him as one of the four villains whom Shakal (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) puts through a gruelling ordeal before one of them gets eaten by a shark in Shaan. Again, Sudhir was also a regular in almost every Navketan film after 1970s. The 40plus might recall the handicapped artifact thief played by him in Hare Rama Hare Krishna.

He also did quite a few movies with the versatile director Ravi Tandon. One such forgotten film was Muqaddar, where he stabs Parikshit Sahni and a mute urchin, who saw the killing, draws his face on the road with a piece of chalk to identify him. 

Another Tandon film, Majboor, showed he had nice comic timing. Just watch the scene where he nonchalantly asks a nervous flyer to open the door and get off the plane, in case he gets overstressed. Many years later in Shah Rukh Khan's Badshah, Sudhir demonstrated he could still tickle the funny bone.

With passage of time as the roles dried up, Sudhir also acted in a couple of sleazy C grade films such as Qatil Chandalini and Chandal Atma. May be, he needed the money. May be, he just wanted to do some work.

Thousands come to Bombay every year hoping to become a star. Many fail to become anything. But Sudhir carved out a small shelf space for himself. He may not have become a star but he certainly lived his life in the movies.

It's no shame being an honest spoke in the giant Bollywood wheel.

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No man alone

Anoop Kohli
12 May 2014, 01:24 AM IST

If someone ever made a statement that India is among the nations that are difficult to govern, the only correction one can make is that indeed it is the most difficult, bordering somewhere close on "ungovernable".If you thought that this 60-plus democracy has matured, one would agree to the extent that from the "teething" stage, we are now into pubertal confusion. There has been an awakening of the "master gland", but physical manifestations do not always sprout in a neat succession. The armpits have grown more grease and sweat, than a decent manly beard, or a symmetrical powering of the shoulders and hand grip. The last month of polling has shown this, the next five days will show the final outcome.

There are various hangovers of all previous mini-eras, and truncated leaderships. They invariably add up with each new regime. The foremost dates back to the inception of the nation-state. The split was on religious grounds, but the forefathers rightly clamped a great Constitution with an unambiguous secular structure. Few constitutions have such categorical clarity on this as ours. That should have been the end of any infighting or rallying for votes on communal grounds. But political maturity has little to do with the guiding principles of state policy. The guiding principles of political expediency took the upper hand at each political crossing. The Constitution was compiled by Dr Ambedkar, not so much to balance the caste system, but because he was the most capable man to do so. Merit was respected over community backgrounds. Statesmen as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad joined the Congress, because the Mahatma found a common purpose in his fight for Independence by supporting the Maulana's stand on the Khilafat Movement. The divisions in society were understood, but there would have been no Independence without enrolling everyone who had the common will to fight for freedom, and sufficient intrinsic talent to contribute. Despite a bloody partition, India held on with its stand to be a land for those who wanted to remain Indian, under an exceptionally well-carved Constitution.

Ruling and governance are so different from revolutions. Subsequent generation of politicians had no idea how to steer the nation-state forward. Development, economy, GDP should have been the key agendas for the making of a progressive nation at peace with itself. Maybe the manufacturing centres in the Heavens produce composite leaders in limited editions. Subsequent cadres of political leaders were not that meritorious, and with little insight or zeal in uplifting the common man out of plight, matters conveniently fell into the vote traps of short-sighted self-serving groups. The scholarly Ambedkar was stamped to be a champion of the backwards, and one would not know what would be his reaction to the present state of caste divisiveness. His embracement of Buddhism as an elite philosophy was considered a reprieve from caste-ridden Hinduism. Whereas the Buddha was born as a prince and his philosophy of renunciation and ultimate nirvana enthralls the most evolved minds, Buddhism became a social shelter to restore civil dignity. The neo-nomenclatured Gautam Buddh Nagar in Greater Noida, UP, is perhaps the most lucrative, luxurious real estate hotspot in the country. Politicians have the guile to attach their own meanings even beyond the dictionary. Perhaps there was one more "noble sight" which the Buddha failed to take note of. And whereas his analysis led to an overall uplift, this particular state of existence is to be perpetrated for permanent hold to power. The so-called leader of the dalits is perhaps the richest politician in that state.

Religious identities are universal. It is natural that they may have internal leanings. Political maturity and focused minority governance was a way towards a healthy nationhood. The first riot that ever took place should have been studied well enough to stop any other. Perhaps lessons of political gains were more easily understood by such hate, to be emulated in future. Religious fundamentalism in every sect should not be a surprise to any government. Enough programmes for reconciliation should have been put in place. Thoughtless leadership found it more convenient to copy-paste their old masters' policy of divide and rule. The big blunder was that they were ruling their own country, and not an annexed territory and people. Clearly, our leadership was either too dumb or too crafty.

Considering this labyrinthine mess, and the innumerable other issues that can spurt animosity within hours, today's times offer a rather welcome and achievable solution. This is the panacea of economic prosperity. Let every man have a job, education for his children, and adequate and affordable healthcare. Old sins may not be entirely forgiven, but forgotten for all practical purposes. Considering the success of Indians abroad, irrespective of caste and religion, it is quite clear that our self-perpetrated problems on the said fronts are because we are underachievers. We yet have to evolve programmes that start making immediate, even if small differences in the life of the common man, naturally upgrading to universal standards.

To corroborate the above hypothesis, a substantial minority vote has gone to AAP, rather than their local religious heads, or bigger parties with their communal baits, or long-established and  taken-for-granted loyalties. AAP's agenda is anticorruption, pro-common man. It does not talk of any sect or religion. Just clean public life and governance. The final outcome of success of this party may not entirely be measured by the seats. Percentage of voting in each segment would be a more appropriate criterion. The bigger parties may like to take a page or two from AAP's strategy. I believe, the day has come when being fair, straightforward and effective in governance is what the polity will appreciate more and more.

This was a queer poll, where everyone had something vicious to say about everyone else, without projecting their own national candidates.  Except Mr Kejriwal and Mr Modi, none of the other parties put forth a PM candidate. Not a healthy trend. It is better to have contested and lost, than not to have contested at all. That is the only way to get a feel of the nation. 

The results are not for me to speculate on. A good state executive should know how to get the best from every segment of a diverse population, and to see that they reap the benefits of the opportunities given. Nation heads mostly  have one weakness. They love to be loved, to be adored for being just and non-partisan and strive for respect and adulation from all their people, keeping constitutional fairness intact. Let these positive ambitions come alive in whoever takes the seat.

One positive aspect of this election has been that people have spoken freely. Every skeleton in the cupboard was exposed, and every one spoke, particularly the young. They seem to have a more objective analysis of each other. This new generation is what will matter.

So what will it be? "Rahalofication", "Modification" or "Ar-vindication"? Irrespective of the electoral arithmetic, it will be a bit of everything. That accusations, particularly the scary communal ones, have come out in the open is good. They will have to be addressed, and fairly sorted out. The days of pampering are over. Everyone must see tangible benefits. That alone makes one people, one nation.And your usual couplet:

"Huyee muddat, Ghalib mar gaya, par ab bhi yaad aata hai/ Wo har ek baat pe kehna, ki yun hota to kya hota."

(Though long passed away, Ghalib is still remembered/ His penchant for pondering, if this be done, then what would happen.)

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Kejriwal may have 'unintentionally' helped Modi

Indrajeet Rai
12 May 2014, 02:42 AM IST

The campaigning for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls has come to an end. The 2014 general election was supposed to be a presidential kind of fight between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Arvind Kejriwal deserves credit for making it a triangular contest. In fact, by the time the campaigning ended in Varanasi, Kejriwal has managed to trump Rahul Gandhi to emerge as the leading voice against Modi. But in so doing, he and the AAP may have "unintentionally" helped the BJP and Modi come on the top during the polls. Here is how:

Spreading out too thin

When AAP decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections, it had two choices: To concentrate on some winnable 40-50 seats or to fight on as many seats as possible. It went for the latter and the party is contesting on over 400 seats, second only to the Congress. It would have been better if the AAP had focused on winning maximum number of Lok Sabha seats. By not concentrating on "winnable" seats, the AAP is indirectly helping the BJP in the following ways:

* The decision to go national has diluted the brand AAP. The AAP did not have time and resources to verify credentials of its candidates. Many of its candidates have withdrawn from contests, giving the AAP a bad name. With the Congress in total disarray, the BJP is likely to be the main beneficiary of any failings of the AAP.

* The AAP is still an emerging party and its support base lies primarily in urban areas — a traditional stronghold of the BJP. Its means of mass mobilization like door-to-door campaign and holding mohalla meetings are more apt for the urban areas. So, it could have easily avoided the temptation to field candidates in rural areas and should have focused on winning in cities. In the last election, the Congress did manage to win a large number of urban seats; but with the ruling party in decline, the Modi-led BJP is expected to win handsomely in cities again. An urban-centric AAP would have given a tough fight to the BJP. Had Kejriwal and Co fought only in cities, they may have turned it into a direct fight between the BJP and the AAP. In such a scenario, a tally of even 20 seats for the AAP would mean a loss of 40 seats for the BJP. In the end, it could well turn out to be the difference between an NDA and a non-NDA government. 

Kejriwal's decision to challenge Modi in Varanasi

On the face of it, Kejriwal's decision to fight against Narendra Modi in Varanasi appears a master stroke on many counts. First, the AAP is no position to match the BJP and Congress's financial resources and media blitzkrieg. But, with this single decision of not caring for his reputation and challenging Modi in Varanasi, Kejriwal has managed to keep the AAP in media all the time. Second, Kejriwal has convinced his supporters that he is not after power; had it been so, he would have fought from any "safe" seat and would have won easily. 

Third, a victory in Varanasi will galvanize the AAP for the coming Delhi assembly elections. Finally, in Kejriwal's own words, "if Modi is defeated in Varanasi, no one will make him the PM." In Kejriwal's scheme of things, a defeat for Modi in Varanasi would stop him from becoming the PM.

Is it so? Will a Kejriwal win in Varanasi mean Modi would not be the PM even if the NDA has the numbers? It does not look like. When it comes to the leadership issue, the Modi-led BJP has moved even beyond the Congress. As Congress goes all out to defend the Gandhis on any issue, the BJP would find innumerable reasons to justify the "Modi for PM" chant, even if he is defeated from Varanasi. 

'What if Kejriwal loses in Varanasi? It will demoralize the AAP and if Modi becomes the PM, the BJP would certainly have an upper hand in the Delhi assembly elections. Thus, while trying to stop Modi from becoming the PM, Kejriwal might blow his chances to be the Delhi CM again. If this happens, the BJP would have the last laugh.

AAP's conscious attempt to play the secular card

No one doubts the secular credentials of Arvind Kejriwal and other high-profile AAP leaders. But in the last few months, there appears to be a conscious effort from Kejriwal to play the secular card. When Kejriwal first visited Varanasi to announce his candidature, he bathed in the Ganga, visited the Sankatmochan temple and stopped during an "azzan". There is nothing wrong in doing all these, but if you are doing this in full media glare, then it becomes difficult to refute the charge that you are putting up a "public show". This is a very treacherous path to walk. Trying to pander to all religions is like doing the great Indian rope trick with every chance of likely to fall — the Congress found it out in 1989, when it tried to please both Muslims and Hindus and ended up antagonizing both. 

Then, there was the issue of Shazia Ilmi's video. No "play of words" can justify it as  a secular way of canvassing for votes. The AAP was right in quickly distancing itself from Shazia Ilmi's comments. 

Nevertheless, the "impression" has gone out that the AAP is consciously courting Muslim votes. The AAP looks set to win away a large chunk of Muslim votes from the Congress. With its own win in doubt, the AAP is also reducing the Congress's chance of winning. Again, it is an outcome which only favours the BJP.

AAP's attack on media

There is an apprehension that a Narendra Modi-led Centre would test the autonomy and independence of key democratic institutions, including the media. No one can deny that the media has its own corporate interests and "embedded journalists" who are more than sympathetic to Modi. But to paint all media with one brush is patently wrong. Kejriwal's alleged threat to put journalists in jail if he came to power put him in the league of Modi. It made Kejriwal appear "dictatorial" and blunted the AAP's attack on Modi — at least, on the style of leadership.

AAP has made a place for itself

Despite all these missteps, Kejriwal and AAP can proudly claim that they are trying to practice an alternative kind of politics and it hardly matters who wins in the short term. 

Since its formation in November 2012, the AAP has defied many predictions and surprised us with its unique style of politics. It may again catch us off guard with its performance in the Lok Sabha elections. But even if it fails, it might be a blessing in disguise for the party. The AAP has been running too fast. It will get a chance to reassess itself and plan afresh. Given the current level of socioeconomic development, India is ready for the AAP or a new avatar of it. If not in this election, then certainly in the next. 
 

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