ONE YEAR OF RTI ACT - TAKING STOCK IN U.P.
Before the people could even grasp the full implications of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the officials are already busy trying to find ways to scuttle the Act. The present Parliament must be congratulated for having passed such a path-breaking Act, which is going to define new standards for our democracy and will check some of the anomalies of the system. However, the bureaucracy is in no mood to give up what has hitherto been their prerogative of keeping important information to themselves and do not want people to question their unaccountable ways of decision taking. Most of the departments have still not nominated a Public Information Officer, who accepts the application to begin the process under the Act. Even if the PIOs are nominated there is no way for people to know who he/she is? In most cases the PIOs want to remain anonymous lest they are flooded with applications from people. And when people have come to know who the PIO is the final hurdle is how to submit the fee of Rs. 10 with every application under this Act? The rules provide for cash payment of this fee. However, only a few departments are accepting fees in cash and issuing proper receipts. Most departments are asking people to submit the fees through Chalan in the Treasury, something which is not provided for in the rules. People are resorting to sending their applications by registered post since the officials are not accepting their application on one pretext or the other in person.
The lucky few who are able to submit their RTI applications – at most places it is only the government employees or members of political, social organizations who have been successfully able to do so – do not know what to do when they do not receive their desired information within the prescribed one month period. The identification of First Appeal Authority is even harder. Applications sent by registered post are being returned. Only a very few are finally able to approach the Information Commission.
The information being provided is turning out to be incomplete, misleading and unclear. The Information Commissioners are soft on the government departments, taking too much time in disposing off cases and not giving sufficient opportunity to hear out the common people, as a result of which less than 50% of the complainants feel that justice has been done to them. Since the Act has not been publicized very well by the Government a number of people are wrongly sending their applications seeking information directly to the Information Commission. The government departments are not complying with the orders of the Information Commission in all cases. While the Commissioners dismiss the case if the complainant doesn’t show up or is late for some reason, the government departments from whom the information is being sought are given a number of chances to appear and not penalized if they fail to provide the desired information. As a result of this an impression is being created that the government departments needn’t take this Act very seriously. For example, an applicant had sought information about Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojna from the Rural Engineering Services department. The Information Commission gave three chances to RES on 4th July, 7th August and 31st August and when nobody turned up even on the 3rd date it merely passed an order for them to update their website in ten days. Nothing has happened and neither has the Information Commision thought it fit to take any action against the department. The applicant has now approached the Governor questioning the performance of the Commissioner himself. The Information Commission is also not fulfilling its role of overseeing the proper implementation of the Act or preparing the PIOs to fulfill their duty in accordance with the Act.
At the State headquarters in Lucknow people are finding it difficult to enter the Secretariat to submit their RTI applications as one requires a pass approved by the official one wishes to meet for entry into the premises. The applications being sent with fee in the form of Postal Orders are being returned and to make a Bank Draft of Rs. 10 one has to pay a commission of Rs. 35. Although, some people are directly attaching a Rs. 10 note with their application and sending their applications by post. Such applications are being accepted. The list of PIOs mentioned on the website is incomplete and outdated and people are at a loss to know who the First Appeal Authorities are in case they do not receive information within the stipulated period of one month and have to file an appeal. At the District Magistrate’s office a form is being given out for Rs. 2, in violation of the Act, and people are being told to deposit the fees in a nearby bank.
In Rae Bareli out of thousands of applications filed under RTI only about 65% people have received information within the stipulated period. About 200 people are at the stage of appeal with state departments and 75 with central departments. Santosh Bahadur Singh, an advocate playing crucial role in fighting to get the Act implemented in his District says that he has sent 7 letters by registered post to the Chief Information Commissioner in Lucknow without having received a reply to single one of them even after 2 months have passed. Santosh Bahadur Singh was successfully able to get an illegal construction on the Collectorate campus demolished using RTI. He filed an application on 31st January to the DM. Receiving no reply he filed a PIL on 20th March on the basis of which the court ordered the Government to appoint a Chief Information Commissioner. CIC was appointed on 24th March and on the night previous to his fourth hearing on 17th July, the illegal construction was demolished.
In Sultanpur the police department refuses to accept any applications under RTI and letters sent by registered post are being returned. They have been acting very rudely with people. Finally, when they accepted two applications with great difficulty, the original copy of the enclosed treasury chalan was removed and the application returned to the applicant saying that original chalan was missing. In most other departments PIOs have been nominated and the fees is being accepted by chalan. The only silver lining is that the chalan is being accepted without requiring the approval of officials, as is being required in other districts, easily by the banks. Information has been obtained only in about 25% cases and that too is incomplete and flawed. Nobody knows who the First Appeal Authorities are in various departments. The administration is trying its best to make the law ineffective.
In Gorakhpur no list of PIOs has been made public as yet. Gorakhpur Development Authority and Nagar Nigam are accepting applications with cash fees. However, information is being provided in merely 20% of the cases. At the Gorakhpur University many applications are being filed but here again very little information is being provided. The Univeristy has decided its own norm in charging fees under the RTI Act. For every question that an applicant asks she is required to pay Rs. 10, as opposed to Rs. 10 for every application as is the general norm everywhere. Most other departments are not entertaining the RTI applications. Some officers do not seem to be aware of the Act. Clerks would not accept any application without officials approving them. People are being made to run from one office to another. Electricity department is not cooperating at all. People do not know who the First Appeal Authorities are. At the tehsil and block levels the situation is even worse. The performance of central government departments, both in terms of accepting applications as well as providing information, is significantly better.
In Deoria district the Social Welfare Officer is willing to share information but in other departments the officials and clerks are in no mood to receive application from common citizens. Here 86 PIOs have been nominated but most of them do not wish to identify themselves. In the neighbouring Kushinagar district except for the District Development Officer, Ravi Kumar, who was one of the first officers in State to begin accepting applications under RTI with cash fee of Rs. 10 and has been issuing receipts on Treasury Form No. 385 to individual applicants, no other official is willing to receive applications.
In Varanasi, Nagar Nigam, Jal Sansthan and Varanasi Development Authority are accepting RTI applications with cash fees and in 80% of the cases they are also providing information within the stipulated time. About 80 PIOs and 30 First Appeal Authorities have been identified in different departments. A detailed list was made public by the administration. However, departments like the Electricity and Education continue to he hostile. Both the Basic Shiksha Adhikari and District Inspector Of Schools are playing hard and turning down applications on one pretext or the other. The only recourse people have is to send applications by registered post. Out of the 9 blocks in Varanasi district, except for Chirai Gaon and Cholapur, fees in cash is not being accepted anywhere along with RTI applications. Inspite of a promise by the DM Rajiv Agarwal that he will make arrangements for cash to be accepted everywhere most departments are asking people to deposit the fee in the Treasury through Chalan. Among the success stories in Varanasi about 35 people have managed to get their passports made using RTI on applications which were pending for a long time.
In the neighbouring Chandauli district applications are being accepted only under the social pressure created by activists and media. Most departments are not willing to accept fees in cash and the information being provided is not correct in general. The District Magistrate refuses to be the First Appeal Authority even in cases where he should be and his office is turning down applications for first appeal. Four officers have been summoned so far by the State Information Commission for failing to provide information within stipulated time period. In Ghazipur, even though names of 42 PIOs are known their offices are not accepting applications in person. People are forced to send their applications with fees in the form of Bank Drafts by registered post. In Mau district the list of PIOs has been made public by the administration through local newspapers, however some officials are still not recognizing the existence of such a law! Fees is being accepted only by submitting Chalans in the Treasury.
In Faizabad, where a proactive DM Amod Kumar had ensured that every single application during the 1st to 15th July, ‘Don’t Pay Bribe: Use RTI’ national campaign run by people’s organizations and media together, was accepted at the camp site itself, which in itself was a big wonder in a state like U.P., action has been taken on very few applications. The process is very much dependent on the DM. Only his intervention moves things, otherwise the clerks in the offices do not even care to inform their officers that applications have been received which require time bound action. Names of 34 PIOs are known but most departments do not accept the application along with the fees.
In Jaunpur names of 45 PIOs are known. Cash fees is being accepted with RTI applications only in one department, otherwise people have to submit the fees through Chalans in the Treasury. As most offices are not very cooperative, people prefer to send their applications by registered post. In Azamgarh, the ADM returned an application seeking information about the nomination of PIOs stating that the applicant has no right to ask a question like that! No list of PIOs has been made public in this district. In Pratapgarh district the list of PIOs has been made public by the DM but the DIOS has refused to provide information to one applicant saying that the applicant did not have a right to ask question.
In Hardoi district PIOs have been nominated in almost all departments and cash fees is being accepted. The applications are being received on a form, format of which was suggested by the activists to the DM, and the lower portion of this form is being returned to the applicant as receipt after mentioning acceptance of Rs. 10 fees on it. However, the departments are not prompt in providing information. In the neighboring Sitapur district, the District Development Officer Makhan Lal Gupta is the only officer readily accepting applications under RTI and promptly providing information as well. In Unnao, even though the ADM office has a form available which can be used to ask information under RTI Act, but nobody knows about it. The officials are avoiding receiving applications under the Act.
In Moradabad there is very little awareness about the Act. Some people confuse it with the ‘Lokvani’- a computer based grievance redressal mechanism – which also requires a fee of Rs. 10 to be submitted with every complaint. The departments try to evade their responsibility of providing information under the Act. An activist was able to obtain information about a Community Health Centre only after two months and several protest demonstrations. A list of about 40 PIOs has been made public by the administration recently. However, the fees with the application is being accepted only through Treasury Chalan.
Overall, the scenario in U.P. is not very bright. Activists and motivated individuals have brought pressure on the officers to receive applications under the RTI Act by showing them copy of the Act and the gazette issued by the U.P. government. The common citizen is still being turned away and finding it very difficult to exercise her legal right. The officials are ignorant, evasive and in some cases even hostile. With a meek Information Commission, they have no fear of being pulled up. So, it appears that the high handed ways of bureaucracy will continue to be the norm in U.P. for some more time to come and corruption will go on as usual. The common person, like before, will have to stand on the margins and watch the game of democracy being played in her name with very little role for herself to intervene. The only positive aspect of the Act is that it has awakened some democratic consciousness among the people and activated some individuals and groups to play the role of watchdog. It is going to be a long tough battle to make the system transparent and accountable to the people.
By Sandeep Pandey
BOOK REVIEW: Postmodern Gandhi and other essays by Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph
BOOK REVIEW: Postmodern Gandhi and other essays by Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph
The book by former Professors of Political Science at the University of Chicago couldn’t have come at a better time. A popular Hindi film ‘Munna Bhai Lage Raho’ has revived interest in Gandhism, even coining a new term ‘Gandhigiri’ in the process, and youth are willing to experiment with the idea. The other day some youth chose to distribute rose flowers, rather than adopt any aggressive ways, to protest against a wine shop in Lucknow inspired by Gandhigiri. That Gandhi was always relevant, in fact, more so presently than the times he lived in, was clear to anybody even with a slight interest in Gandhi. The book analyzes Gandhi’s thoughts, especially those articulated in ‘Hind Swaraj,’ and shows with great lucidity that Gandhi was thinking ahead of his times. While the world was overwhelmed with the modernization project, Gandhi was already critiquing it. Gandhi opposed machines whenever they took away jobs and when independent India decided for the first time to give its poorest citizens this year an Employment Guarantee Act, machines were banned under it. Gandhi advocated celibacy or restraint in sexual behavior and we are already advising our citizens publicly about this as part of AIDS awareness program. Gandhi stood for Gram-Swarajya, i.e., decentralized political system and control of local people over their resources and we are beginning to realize the pitfalls of mega development projects and centralized decision making. Gandhi supported non-violent methods of struggle to gain one’s rights and we’ve witnessed how groups believing in violent ways of resistance like the PWG, separatists in Kashmir and Nagaland have shown more willingness in recent times to come around and discuss their issues over table. Similarly, the global protests by people coming out in large numbers on streets against the recent US military misadventures demonstrate a commitment of the common people to the values of truth and non-violence. We may not explicitly refer to Gandhi every time we follow some values dear to him, but we do justify his philosophy by an number of our actions. No doubt, in a year beginning survey by CNN-IBN - Hindustan Times, Gandhi emerged as the most popular national figure. And internationally India derives its best identity from Gandhi.
The book dwells at length on comparison between Gandhi with Christ. Given the extent of coverage of this comparison one gets the feeling that it is hard for Christians to digest the fact that in the entire history the man who most closely resembled Christ in thought, words and deed was not a Christian. The book also has a separate chapter on ‘Gandhi in the Mind of America.’ It is not clear why it is such an important issue deserving a separate chapter, considering the fact that US was then not a very important player in global politics as it is now and that Gandhi did not ever visit US or had very many associations there. Probably, Gandhi in the Mind of British or South Africa or even Pakistan would have made a more interesting case study. The book gives the western world credit for most of Gandhi’s progressive ideas. It is a moot point whether Gandhi would have developed the same world view that he did if he had not got a chance to go to Britain. If we look at Gandhi’s choices - vegetarianism, celibacy, truth, non-violence, giving up western clothing in favor of traditional Indian dhoti, emphasis on using right means to achieve right ends - it is quite clear that orientalism had more influence on Gandhi than the west. The basic values that a person chooses to live by come not from the exterior influence but from within. I think, and we may also conclude this from Gandhi’s childhood and youth experiences, that values of truth and non-violence were inherent in him. It was merely a series of events that brought out his personality which become a symbol of these values. Even if he had not left the shores of the country chances are that he would have arrived at the same final destination going through a different set of experiences. The basic essence of the man would have been quite close to how we know him today. It, however, remains a question whether he would still have been the most popular Indian world figure inside and outside the country, if he had not gone to Britain. But the basic premise that the credit for Gandhi’s holistic, democratic and humanitarian world view goes to his exposure to the western world is flawed.
Overall the book presents Gandhi is a positive light and it would inspire a few more individuals to adopt Gandhigiri as a life style. From that standpoint it is a very valuable piece of work, a collection of essays, which even though is an academic work but has a practical value. Any work on Gandhi, if it cannot inspire a few more individuals to act in similar ways, would not be considered of worth given the fact that Gandhi was a practitioner and an activist in addition to being a theorist.
By Sandeep Pandey
The book by former Professors of Political Science at the University of Chicago couldn’t have come at a better time. A popular Hindi film ‘Munna Bhai Lage Raho’ has revived interest in Gandhism, even coining a new term ‘Gandhigiri’ in the process, and youth are willing to experiment with the idea. The other day some youth chose to distribute rose flowers, rather than adopt any aggressive ways, to protest against a wine shop in Lucknow inspired by Gandhigiri. That Gandhi was always relevant, in fact, more so presently than the times he lived in, was clear to anybody even with a slight interest in Gandhi. The book analyzes Gandhi’s thoughts, especially those articulated in ‘Hind Swaraj,’ and shows with great lucidity that Gandhi was thinking ahead of his times. While the world was overwhelmed with the modernization project, Gandhi was already critiquing it. Gandhi opposed machines whenever they took away jobs and when independent India decided for the first time to give its poorest citizens this year an Employment Guarantee Act, machines were banned under it. Gandhi advocated celibacy or restraint in sexual behavior and we are already advising our citizens publicly about this as part of AIDS awareness program. Gandhi stood for Gram-Swarajya, i.e., decentralized political system and control of local people over their resources and we are beginning to realize the pitfalls of mega development projects and centralized decision making. Gandhi supported non-violent methods of struggle to gain one’s rights and we’ve witnessed how groups believing in violent ways of resistance like the PWG, separatists in Kashmir and Nagaland have shown more willingness in recent times to come around and discuss their issues over table. Similarly, the global protests by people coming out in large numbers on streets against the recent US military misadventures demonstrate a commitment of the common people to the values of truth and non-violence. We may not explicitly refer to Gandhi every time we follow some values dear to him, but we do justify his philosophy by an number of our actions. No doubt, in a year beginning survey by CNN-IBN - Hindustan Times, Gandhi emerged as the most popular national figure. And internationally India derives its best identity from Gandhi.
The book dwells at length on comparison between Gandhi with Christ. Given the extent of coverage of this comparison one gets the feeling that it is hard for Christians to digest the fact that in the entire history the man who most closely resembled Christ in thought, words and deed was not a Christian. The book also has a separate chapter on ‘Gandhi in the Mind of America.’ It is not clear why it is such an important issue deserving a separate chapter, considering the fact that US was then not a very important player in global politics as it is now and that Gandhi did not ever visit US or had very many associations there. Probably, Gandhi in the Mind of British or South Africa or even Pakistan would have made a more interesting case study. The book gives the western world credit for most of Gandhi’s progressive ideas. It is a moot point whether Gandhi would have developed the same world view that he did if he had not got a chance to go to Britain. If we look at Gandhi’s choices - vegetarianism, celibacy, truth, non-violence, giving up western clothing in favor of traditional Indian dhoti, emphasis on using right means to achieve right ends - it is quite clear that orientalism had more influence on Gandhi than the west. The basic values that a person chooses to live by come not from the exterior influence but from within. I think, and we may also conclude this from Gandhi’s childhood and youth experiences, that values of truth and non-violence were inherent in him. It was merely a series of events that brought out his personality which become a symbol of these values. Even if he had not left the shores of the country chances are that he would have arrived at the same final destination going through a different set of experiences. The basic essence of the man would have been quite close to how we know him today. It, however, remains a question whether he would still have been the most popular Indian world figure inside and outside the country, if he had not gone to Britain. But the basic premise that the credit for Gandhi’s holistic, democratic and humanitarian world view goes to his exposure to the western world is flawed.
Overall the book presents Gandhi is a positive light and it would inspire a few more individuals to adopt Gandhigiri as a life style. From that standpoint it is a very valuable piece of work, a collection of essays, which even though is an academic work but has a practical value. Any work on Gandhi, if it cannot inspire a few more individuals to act in similar ways, would not be considered of worth given the fact that Gandhi was a practitioner and an activist in addition to being a theorist.
By Sandeep Pandey
CLOTH IS A SECURITY THREAT TO INDIAN STATE
CLOTH IS A SECURITY THREAT TO INDIAN STATE
During the recently concluded national convention on ‘One Year of Right to Information’ organized by the Central Information Commission in New Delhi the security and intelligence agencies were caught unawares when some activists unfurled cloth banners saying ‘Sack CIC, Save RTI’ and ‘President, we want to speak for 2 minutes’ immediately after the President sat down after making his inaugural speech. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was gracious enough to let it be known to the activists that they could seek an appointment with him by sending an e-mail message. It was quite obvious that he took the entire episode in the right spirit and that would have been the end of an attempt by some citizens to exercise their right to speech in the least disruptive manner. It was quite heartening to note that our democracy allowed such space where ordinary citizens could attract President’s attention on an important issue. However, the joy was only short-lived. The security forces surreptitiously arrested 6 activists – Manish Sisodia, Rekha, Santosh, Ritu, Javed and Rajiv - who had raised the banners and took them to the Tughlaq Road Police Station where the intelligence agencies took over and subjected them to thorough interrogation, also parallelly sending teams to their homes to make additional enquiries. They were let go off at 3 am in the morning. When a senior police official was enquired about the objective of interrogation, it was reported that antecedents of these activists were being
checked to ensure that none of them had any terrorist links. Now, if terrorists started using peaceful ways of protest, it would be the victory of philosophy of satya and ahimsa. Moreover, a terrorist getting converted to an RTI activist would have to be considered quite an achievement! Then on the last day of the Convention, 5th October, 2006, another activist, Rakesh Agarwal, was taken
into custody when he refused to open his shirt to show what kind of t-shirt he was wearing inside. On the first day the activists before raising their banners had opened their shirts to reveal t-shirts inside saying ‘Sack CIC, Save RTI’. Probably, the security and intelligence agencies were in no mood to take a chance during the Prime Minister’s closing speech of the Convention to save themselves a dual embarrassment. When this activist did not comply he was asked to leave the venue of the Convention. However, later, the security forces changed their mind and took him to the same police station. He was detained there until the PM was speaking at Vigyan Bhawan and then let go off. Earlier at the Convention venue, every single individual was thoroughly checked to ensure that nobody was carrying any banners again! The security forces were so paranoid that they would not even let handkerchiefs be carried into the hall.
Why is the Indian State so afraid of pieces of plain cloth and cloth banners? The security forces say that the dignity of the President was compromised when cloth banners were raised after his
speech. The President, of course, didn’t seem to have any objection to it as he readily promised to grant an appointment but our security and administrative apparatus, seeped in colonial and feudal mindset, could not tolerate the fact that some citizens had shown the courage to register their views peacefully in an unconventional manner. The activists didn’t mean any disrespect to the President, did not shout any slogans neither did they attempt to disrupt the meeting. How is a common citizen who cannot approach the President and doesn’t know how to send an e-mail expected to attract the President’s attention without offending him? If we cannot even allow such freedom of speech and expression then what kind of democracy are we living in? And why should the dignity of the President be any higher than that of any common citizen in a democracy? The security forces were reasserting some vague and hollow concept of ‘dignity’ of the President’s office by adopting repressive
measures violating the basic human rights of 7 activists in this case. On the contrary, the endeavour should be to offer every citizen the same status of dignity which the President of India enjoys. When will our bureaucracy and security forces bring about a change in their attitude? The same colonial and feudal attitude is also the cause of failure of the RTI Act. The officials feel it is their prerogative to keep the information secret and away from people. When common people are filing applications under the RTI Act, 2005, the officials and Information Commissioners are making every attempt to ensure that the
protective invisible shell of the administration which hides a plethora of irregularities and corruption is not pierced. The citizens are right now engaged in what is going to be a long drawn battle to make the officials loosen their grip on information and to bend the Information Commissions to their side. The Information Commissions are right now standing in guard of the official information almost taking on the responsibility of providing a protective cover to the bureaucracy, as if the immunity that they presently enjoy is not good enough. The above incident during the national convention on Right to Information
highlights the reality that under the prevailing circumstances none of the basic rights and the right to information are guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. The activists who were hauled up have also realized from this experience the right to information is closely linked to basic human rights and ‘security’ will be cited as a reason for denying both. Hence the fight to secure right to information is going to be part of a larger fight to ensure basic human rights. This fight will include fighting and changing the colonial and feudal mindset of our rulers. The only way this can be done is by openly challenging and questioning their authority like the 7 brave activists did. We are grateful to these seven who decided to make a dent in the system and displayed the courage which the activist community is proud of.
By Sandeep Pandey
During the recently concluded national convention on ‘One Year of Right to Information’ organized by the Central Information Commission in New Delhi the security and intelligence agencies were caught unawares when some activists unfurled cloth banners saying ‘Sack CIC, Save RTI’ and ‘President, we want to speak for 2 minutes’ immediately after the President sat down after making his inaugural speech. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was gracious enough to let it be known to the activists that they could seek an appointment with him by sending an e-mail message. It was quite obvious that he took the entire episode in the right spirit and that would have been the end of an attempt by some citizens to exercise their right to speech in the least disruptive manner. It was quite heartening to note that our democracy allowed such space where ordinary citizens could attract President’s attention on an important issue. However, the joy was only short-lived. The security forces surreptitiously arrested 6 activists – Manish Sisodia, Rekha, Santosh, Ritu, Javed and Rajiv - who had raised the banners and took them to the Tughlaq Road Police Station where the intelligence agencies took over and subjected them to thorough interrogation, also parallelly sending teams to their homes to make additional enquiries. They were let go off at 3 am in the morning. When a senior police official was enquired about the objective of interrogation, it was reported that antecedents of these activists were being
checked to ensure that none of them had any terrorist links. Now, if terrorists started using peaceful ways of protest, it would be the victory of philosophy of satya and ahimsa. Moreover, a terrorist getting converted to an RTI activist would have to be considered quite an achievement! Then on the last day of the Convention, 5th October, 2006, another activist, Rakesh Agarwal, was taken
into custody when he refused to open his shirt to show what kind of t-shirt he was wearing inside. On the first day the activists before raising their banners had opened their shirts to reveal t-shirts inside saying ‘Sack CIC, Save RTI’. Probably, the security and intelligence agencies were in no mood to take a chance during the Prime Minister’s closing speech of the Convention to save themselves a dual embarrassment. When this activist did not comply he was asked to leave the venue of the Convention. However, later, the security forces changed their mind and took him to the same police station. He was detained there until the PM was speaking at Vigyan Bhawan and then let go off. Earlier at the Convention venue, every single individual was thoroughly checked to ensure that nobody was carrying any banners again! The security forces were so paranoid that they would not even let handkerchiefs be carried into the hall.
Why is the Indian State so afraid of pieces of plain cloth and cloth banners? The security forces say that the dignity of the President was compromised when cloth banners were raised after his
speech. The President, of course, didn’t seem to have any objection to it as he readily promised to grant an appointment but our security and administrative apparatus, seeped in colonial and feudal mindset, could not tolerate the fact that some citizens had shown the courage to register their views peacefully in an unconventional manner. The activists didn’t mean any disrespect to the President, did not shout any slogans neither did they attempt to disrupt the meeting. How is a common citizen who cannot approach the President and doesn’t know how to send an e-mail expected to attract the President’s attention without offending him? If we cannot even allow such freedom of speech and expression then what kind of democracy are we living in? And why should the dignity of the President be any higher than that of any common citizen in a democracy? The security forces were reasserting some vague and hollow concept of ‘dignity’ of the President’s office by adopting repressive
measures violating the basic human rights of 7 activists in this case. On the contrary, the endeavour should be to offer every citizen the same status of dignity which the President of India enjoys. When will our bureaucracy and security forces bring about a change in their attitude? The same colonial and feudal attitude is also the cause of failure of the RTI Act. The officials feel it is their prerogative to keep the information secret and away from people. When common people are filing applications under the RTI Act, 2005, the officials and Information Commissioners are making every attempt to ensure that the
protective invisible shell of the administration which hides a plethora of irregularities and corruption is not pierced. The citizens are right now engaged in what is going to be a long drawn battle to make the officials loosen their grip on information and to bend the Information Commissions to their side. The Information Commissions are right now standing in guard of the official information almost taking on the responsibility of providing a protective cover to the bureaucracy, as if the immunity that they presently enjoy is not good enough. The above incident during the national convention on Right to Information
highlights the reality that under the prevailing circumstances none of the basic rights and the right to information are guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. The activists who were hauled up have also realized from this experience the right to information is closely linked to basic human rights and ‘security’ will be cited as a reason for denying both. Hence the fight to secure right to information is going to be part of a larger fight to ensure basic human rights. This fight will include fighting and changing the colonial and feudal mindset of our rulers. The only way this can be done is by openly challenging and questioning their authority like the 7 brave activists did. We are grateful to these seven who decided to make a dent in the system and displayed the courage which the activist community is proud of.
By Sandeep Pandey
WHO ELSE NEEDS TO BE HANGED TO SATIFY THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE?
WHO ELSE NEEDS TO BE HANGED TO SATIFY THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE?
The Supreme Court judgment awarding death sentence to Mohammad Afzal says, ‘The incident, which resulted in heavy casualities, has shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender. The challenge to the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India by these acts of terrorist and conspirators can only be compensated by giving the maximum punishment to the person who is proved to be a conspirator in this treacherous act. The appellant, who is a surrendered militant and who was bent upon repeating the acts of treason against the nation, is a menace to the society should become extinct.’ The Supreme Court states that there is no evidence to show that Mohammad Afzal is a member of any banned organization. In fact, the Court acquitted Afzal of the charges under POTA. It further adds that even going by the confessional statement (which could possibly be the only basis to take any action against him) it is doubtful whether the membership of a terrorist gang or organization is established. None of the 80 prosecution witnesses alleged that Afzal was in anyway associated with any terrorist organization. Hence the grounds for awarding death sentence to Mohammad Afzal are really very very flimsy. Yet, most of the conscientious citizens of India seem to have made up their mind that Afzal should be hanged.
If Afzal is going to be hanged merely to satisfy the collective conscience of the society then there are a number of other cases where people will have to be hanged. Who will be held responsible for the farmers who have committed suicides and poor people who have died of starvation? The flawed policies of the State and the siphoning off of the resources meant for the poor have led to these deaths. People may not have died with a ‘bang’, but people nevertheless died! They died a slow, painful and humiliating death. It is a shame for the society that people who do hard labour to feed us have to commit suicides and die of starvation, inspite of no shortage of foodgrains. Who must face the death gallows for these heavy casualities which have also shaken the entire nation – the concerned District Magistrates, Chief Secretaries, Chief Ministers, Cabinet Secretary or the Prime Minister himself?
Then who will be held responsible for the various scams, especially those related to Defence, where the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India is compromised in no less harmful a way than was done by the conspirators who carried out the attack on the Parliament? Some of the people involved in these scams sit inside the very same Parliament. If one were to conduct a referendum, the people of this country will be of the opinion that their collective conscience will be satisfied the most when all the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats will be hanged together. Which court will translate this popular public opinion into a death sentence for some of the responsible, like in the case of Afzal? In fact, any case of corruption should be treated as an anti-national activity. How many people in this country have even been jailed for being involved in corruption, what to talk of being hanged? The unaccountable legislature and executive awards itself with hike in emoluments, whereas common people are being looted of their resources and pushed into more severe state of deprivation and poverty. Can this be considered anything less than treachery? The masters of democracy are being cheated in broad daylight by their servants and representatives. What would be the mechanism to hang some of these anti-democratic people involved in treason against the nation and its people? Who would not agree with the opinion that Members of Parliament exposed for accepting bribes for asking questions should be served the harshest sentence? Will not the collective conscience of society be satisfied if this was actually done?
The politicians and bureaucracy, in the era of new economic policy, are selling the assets created with public money at throw away prices to the private companies in the name of reforms and allowing multinational corporations to take over invaluable natural resources of this country, like the water, land and forests. This is obviously at the cost of the common population. The influential ruling class, for its own vested interest, is clearly hand in gloves with these private and foreign parties, whose only motive is profit. In less than 60 years, it seems, we’ve even forgotten that we have freed ourselves with great difficulty from an imperial force. We do not seem to mind being subject to such powers once again. None of the major economic decisions are being taken inside the Parliament of our country. They are being dictated by international monetary agencies, the US Government or the multinational corporations. We do not continue to enjoy the same sovereignty as we used to before these economic policies were implemented. It would be a matter of interesting debate whether a physical damage to the Parliament by a bomb from outside is more damaging than the subversion from within by our so called leaders? Who deserves a harsher punishment? The physical damage could be repaired but who’ll perform the more difficult task of resurrecting the autonomy of our supreme decision making body?
There are feudal, casteist and communal elements, who in collusion with the ruling class, subvert law, scuttle democracy and oppress poor people. They commit most heinous crimes and influence the police and judiciary so that no action is taken against them. They are responsible for the most gross human rights violations. For them the Constitution of this country has no meaning. They have evolved their own systems of operation, in which contractors-criminals-mafia nexus is at the centre. We see a plethora of them dominating and sometimes actually running our system. Who will hang these people who bring the Constitution into disrepute everyday?
It is unfortunate that only explosion of a bomb is considered a terrorist activity whereas a whole range of people are bent upon damaging our democracy and Constitution on an everyday basis, sometimes in ways more detrimental than a physical attack, and yet we choose not to consider them anti-national. On the other hand, the people at the receiving end of the slow bleeding of our system – the agricultural labourers who do not receive their due minimum wages, mostly dalits and tribals, most artisans who have to labour hard to make both ends meet, child labourers, women pushed into prostitution or who are open to exploitation because they have no other means to earn a livelihood, people who live in slums continuously facing the uncertainty of demolition, people displaced by wonderful projects of modernization, most citizens of Northeast and Kashmir - who do not share the same passionate but hollow version of nationalism with the minority mainstream educated elite of this country, do not feel quite agitated about the attack on the Parliament because they face such attacks everyday on their lives and livelihood.
By Sandeep Pandey
The Supreme Court judgment awarding death sentence to Mohammad Afzal says, ‘The incident, which resulted in heavy casualities, has shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will be satisfied if the capital punishment is awarded to the offender. The challenge to the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India by these acts of terrorist and conspirators can only be compensated by giving the maximum punishment to the person who is proved to be a conspirator in this treacherous act. The appellant, who is a surrendered militant and who was bent upon repeating the acts of treason against the nation, is a menace to the society should become extinct.’ The Supreme Court states that there is no evidence to show that Mohammad Afzal is a member of any banned organization. In fact, the Court acquitted Afzal of the charges under POTA. It further adds that even going by the confessional statement (which could possibly be the only basis to take any action against him) it is doubtful whether the membership of a terrorist gang or organization is established. None of the 80 prosecution witnesses alleged that Afzal was in anyway associated with any terrorist organization. Hence the grounds for awarding death sentence to Mohammad Afzal are really very very flimsy. Yet, most of the conscientious citizens of India seem to have made up their mind that Afzal should be hanged.
If Afzal is going to be hanged merely to satisfy the collective conscience of the society then there are a number of other cases where people will have to be hanged. Who will be held responsible for the farmers who have committed suicides and poor people who have died of starvation? The flawed policies of the State and the siphoning off of the resources meant for the poor have led to these deaths. People may not have died with a ‘bang’, but people nevertheless died! They died a slow, painful and humiliating death. It is a shame for the society that people who do hard labour to feed us have to commit suicides and die of starvation, inspite of no shortage of foodgrains. Who must face the death gallows for these heavy casualities which have also shaken the entire nation – the concerned District Magistrates, Chief Secretaries, Chief Ministers, Cabinet Secretary or the Prime Minister himself?
Then who will be held responsible for the various scams, especially those related to Defence, where the unity, integrity and sovereignty of India is compromised in no less harmful a way than was done by the conspirators who carried out the attack on the Parliament? Some of the people involved in these scams sit inside the very same Parliament. If one were to conduct a referendum, the people of this country will be of the opinion that their collective conscience will be satisfied the most when all the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats will be hanged together. Which court will translate this popular public opinion into a death sentence for some of the responsible, like in the case of Afzal? In fact, any case of corruption should be treated as an anti-national activity. How many people in this country have even been jailed for being involved in corruption, what to talk of being hanged? The unaccountable legislature and executive awards itself with hike in emoluments, whereas common people are being looted of their resources and pushed into more severe state of deprivation and poverty. Can this be considered anything less than treachery? The masters of democracy are being cheated in broad daylight by their servants and representatives. What would be the mechanism to hang some of these anti-democratic people involved in treason against the nation and its people? Who would not agree with the opinion that Members of Parliament exposed for accepting bribes for asking questions should be served the harshest sentence? Will not the collective conscience of society be satisfied if this was actually done?
The politicians and bureaucracy, in the era of new economic policy, are selling the assets created with public money at throw away prices to the private companies in the name of reforms and allowing multinational corporations to take over invaluable natural resources of this country, like the water, land and forests. This is obviously at the cost of the common population. The influential ruling class, for its own vested interest, is clearly hand in gloves with these private and foreign parties, whose only motive is profit. In less than 60 years, it seems, we’ve even forgotten that we have freed ourselves with great difficulty from an imperial force. We do not seem to mind being subject to such powers once again. None of the major economic decisions are being taken inside the Parliament of our country. They are being dictated by international monetary agencies, the US Government or the multinational corporations. We do not continue to enjoy the same sovereignty as we used to before these economic policies were implemented. It would be a matter of interesting debate whether a physical damage to the Parliament by a bomb from outside is more damaging than the subversion from within by our so called leaders? Who deserves a harsher punishment? The physical damage could be repaired but who’ll perform the more difficult task of resurrecting the autonomy of our supreme decision making body?
There are feudal, casteist and communal elements, who in collusion with the ruling class, subvert law, scuttle democracy and oppress poor people. They commit most heinous crimes and influence the police and judiciary so that no action is taken against them. They are responsible for the most gross human rights violations. For them the Constitution of this country has no meaning. They have evolved their own systems of operation, in which contractors-criminals-mafia nexus is at the centre. We see a plethora of them dominating and sometimes actually running our system. Who will hang these people who bring the Constitution into disrepute everyday?
It is unfortunate that only explosion of a bomb is considered a terrorist activity whereas a whole range of people are bent upon damaging our democracy and Constitution on an everyday basis, sometimes in ways more detrimental than a physical attack, and yet we choose not to consider them anti-national. On the other hand, the people at the receiving end of the slow bleeding of our system – the agricultural labourers who do not receive their due minimum wages, mostly dalits and tribals, most artisans who have to labour hard to make both ends meet, child labourers, women pushed into prostitution or who are open to exploitation because they have no other means to earn a livelihood, people who live in slums continuously facing the uncertainty of demolition, people displaced by wonderful projects of modernization, most citizens of Northeast and Kashmir - who do not share the same passionate but hollow version of nationalism with the minority mainstream educated elite of this country, do not feel quite agitated about the attack on the Parliament because they face such attacks everyday on their lives and livelihood.
By Sandeep Pandey
HOW EFFECTIVE CAN A SOCIAL AUDIT ON GOVERNMENT’S INITIATIVE BE?
HOW EFFECTIVE CAN A SOCIAL AUDIT ON GOVERNMENT’S INITIATIVE BE?
The Rural Development Department of the Andhra Pradesh Government is conducting Social Audit of the Andhra Pradesh Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme being implemented under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which came into force from Februray 2, 2006. Andhra Pradesh is probably the first state in the country where such a process has begun and the credit for this goes entirely to the Principal Secretary of the Rural Development Department here, K. Raju. It is normally unheard of that any government department would subject its performance to public scrutiny, especially a department dealing with development works where huge siphoning off of resources has become the norm rather than exception. Fake muster rolls are one of the biggest sources of corruption in this country. By mentioning fictitious names, names of upper caste people who never perform manual labour, names of people who have migrated to cities long time back, names of people who are too old to work or exaggerating the number of days of work for labourers who have performed work, it is a common practice to withdraw huge sums of money from the government exchequer. In addition to the abovementioned discrepancies, it might also be the case that the work being shown on paper was never actually performed. In Hardoi District of U.P., recently is was discovered that a canal was being desilted on paper in 2004-05 by using the funds of Bharawan Block Panchayat whereas the Irrigation Department had taken a decision five years back not to release water in this canal. Over Rs. 3 lakhs were embezzled in this instance.
Social Audit is a process where in an open meeting of the village physical verification of the records is done with the help of officials, people’s representatives and the people. In fact, the citizens of the Gram Sabha are supposed to perform this audit. In addition to the verification of financial details it is also ensured that other provisions of the NREGA are being followed. It is an opportunity for the people to evaluate the entire scheme and also determine the quality of development works in their village. In a new democratic culture building up in the country since the Right to Information Act has been implemented, it is a chance for citizens to intervene and check the rampant prevalent corruption and irregularities in the system.
The advantage of Government itself facilitating such a social audit process is that the government documents become easily accessible to the people, a right for which the country had to wait for 58 years since independence. Since most of the corruption takes place by fudging figures on paper, once documents start becoming public there will be a natural check on corruption. As these papers get into the hands of common people, they also discover ways and manners in which irregularities are committed. It is a real feeling of empowerment to be actually checking whether everybody has received the wages that have been mentioned on the muster rolls and whether the measurements of the work are according to what is mentioned in the measurement books.
Considerable enthusiasm is seen among the people in these social audit exercises. The entire atmosphere of transparency forces the officials to take corrective action whenever a discrepancy is discovered. For example, if a person had not been paid what is shown on the muster roll or pay order then she is paid the full amount due to her. There have been instances where the Post Office incharge, who disburses the payments, deducts a portion of the wages before making payments to the villagers. Sometimes, the measurements of the work are exaggerated. In Andhra Pradesh, where the administration is proactively involved in social audit it is also making sure that such discrepancies are removed as soon as they are discovered. Because there is a will at the top, the errant officials or functionaries are punished or fall in line. Moveover, the officials and functionaries performing their duties diligently get recognition. For example, a Field Assistant paid one day’s wage from her pocket when she discovered that for a woman labourer one day less was mentioned by mistake on the muster roll. She also watered the plants, planted as part of the works under APREGS, when they were going dry by carrying a water can on her bicycle. A Post Office incharge went to 3 villages to distribute the wages himself to ensure that no middlemen took away any commissions. This Field Assistant and Post Office Incharge were recently honoured at a meeting held a Mulugu Mandal Office. Otherwise, the norm is that such honest and diligent employees are marginalized in a system where the corrupt receive patronage from the higher ups. The present set up of Rural Development department of the A.P. is a welcome exception to this norm.
However, if the initiative of social audit remains in the hands of the government or administration, there is a danger that ultimately it’ll be subverted. How many cases of corruption do we know where an enquiry was set up and because the individuals who were conducting the investigation were from the same class of people as they were investigating, the results of such exercises did not yield the desired result and the matters were covered up? We would not like to see the social audit process currently being undertaken in A.P. to degenerate to a state where the social auditors develop vested interests shared with the people responsible for implementing the APREGS. Hence it is very important that the initiative of the social audit process remains in the hands of common people. The Gram Sabha is the appropriate body to conduct this exercise and not some externally chosen professionals. Hence the Gram Sabhas or some people’s organizations (not NGOs who normally do not represent the interests of the community and whose agenda is driven by funding agencies) should be entrusted with this task. If the department of Rural Development can ensure this and can keep the intervention of the officials minimal in the process of social audit then this exercise will bear fruits. The government department’s role should be limited to creating public awareness and facilitating the social audits where there are some obstacles. An empowered citizenry is the only key to ensuring transparency and accountability in the system.
By Sandeep Pandey
The Rural Development Department of the Andhra Pradesh Government is conducting Social Audit of the Andhra Pradesh Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme being implemented under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which came into force from Februray 2, 2006. Andhra Pradesh is probably the first state in the country where such a process has begun and the credit for this goes entirely to the Principal Secretary of the Rural Development Department here, K. Raju. It is normally unheard of that any government department would subject its performance to public scrutiny, especially a department dealing with development works where huge siphoning off of resources has become the norm rather than exception. Fake muster rolls are one of the biggest sources of corruption in this country. By mentioning fictitious names, names of upper caste people who never perform manual labour, names of people who have migrated to cities long time back, names of people who are too old to work or exaggerating the number of days of work for labourers who have performed work, it is a common practice to withdraw huge sums of money from the government exchequer. In addition to the abovementioned discrepancies, it might also be the case that the work being shown on paper was never actually performed. In Hardoi District of U.P., recently is was discovered that a canal was being desilted on paper in 2004-05 by using the funds of Bharawan Block Panchayat whereas the Irrigation Department had taken a decision five years back not to release water in this canal. Over Rs. 3 lakhs were embezzled in this instance.
Social Audit is a process where in an open meeting of the village physical verification of the records is done with the help of officials, people’s representatives and the people. In fact, the citizens of the Gram Sabha are supposed to perform this audit. In addition to the verification of financial details it is also ensured that other provisions of the NREGA are being followed. It is an opportunity for the people to evaluate the entire scheme and also determine the quality of development works in their village. In a new democratic culture building up in the country since the Right to Information Act has been implemented, it is a chance for citizens to intervene and check the rampant prevalent corruption and irregularities in the system.
The advantage of Government itself facilitating such a social audit process is that the government documents become easily accessible to the people, a right for which the country had to wait for 58 years since independence. Since most of the corruption takes place by fudging figures on paper, once documents start becoming public there will be a natural check on corruption. As these papers get into the hands of common people, they also discover ways and manners in which irregularities are committed. It is a real feeling of empowerment to be actually checking whether everybody has received the wages that have been mentioned on the muster rolls and whether the measurements of the work are according to what is mentioned in the measurement books.
Considerable enthusiasm is seen among the people in these social audit exercises. The entire atmosphere of transparency forces the officials to take corrective action whenever a discrepancy is discovered. For example, if a person had not been paid what is shown on the muster roll or pay order then she is paid the full amount due to her. There have been instances where the Post Office incharge, who disburses the payments, deducts a portion of the wages before making payments to the villagers. Sometimes, the measurements of the work are exaggerated. In Andhra Pradesh, where the administration is proactively involved in social audit it is also making sure that such discrepancies are removed as soon as they are discovered. Because there is a will at the top, the errant officials or functionaries are punished or fall in line. Moveover, the officials and functionaries performing their duties diligently get recognition. For example, a Field Assistant paid one day’s wage from her pocket when she discovered that for a woman labourer one day less was mentioned by mistake on the muster roll. She also watered the plants, planted as part of the works under APREGS, when they were going dry by carrying a water can on her bicycle. A Post Office incharge went to 3 villages to distribute the wages himself to ensure that no middlemen took away any commissions. This Field Assistant and Post Office Incharge were recently honoured at a meeting held a Mulugu Mandal Office. Otherwise, the norm is that such honest and diligent employees are marginalized in a system where the corrupt receive patronage from the higher ups. The present set up of Rural Development department of the A.P. is a welcome exception to this norm.
However, if the initiative of social audit remains in the hands of the government or administration, there is a danger that ultimately it’ll be subverted. How many cases of corruption do we know where an enquiry was set up and because the individuals who were conducting the investigation were from the same class of people as they were investigating, the results of such exercises did not yield the desired result and the matters were covered up? We would not like to see the social audit process currently being undertaken in A.P. to degenerate to a state where the social auditors develop vested interests shared with the people responsible for implementing the APREGS. Hence it is very important that the initiative of the social audit process remains in the hands of common people. The Gram Sabha is the appropriate body to conduct this exercise and not some externally chosen professionals. Hence the Gram Sabhas or some people’s organizations (not NGOs who normally do not represent the interests of the community and whose agenda is driven by funding agencies) should be entrusted with this task. If the department of Rural Development can ensure this and can keep the intervention of the officials minimal in the process of social audit then this exercise will bear fruits. The government department’s role should be limited to creating public awareness and facilitating the social audits where there are some obstacles. An empowered citizenry is the only key to ensuring transparency and accountability in the system.
By Sandeep Pandey
ARE WE PREPARING FOR A SCENARIO OF THIRST DEATHS?
ARE WE PREPARING FOR A SCENARIO OF THIRST DEATHS?
Hunger deaths and farmer suicides are now becoming a common phenomena in this country. Initially, when we would hear of a hunger related death in Kalahandi or Baran in Rajasthan, it would prick our conscience. As economic globalization, privatization and liberalization proceeded and we were made to believe that India was shining, reports of more people succumbing to poverty and hunger started pouring in. It was not the case that there was a shortage of food grains. The FCI godowns, we are told, had enough. But the food grains were not reaching the people who needed it because of massive siphoning off in PDS. The worst is, probably, yet to come.
Water has now become a commodity. Bottled water is a thriving business in this country. Rivers are getting sold and MNCs are eyeing the water supply in big cities. Mahatma Gandhi had said that there is enough in this earth to take care of everybody’s need but not enough to fulfill anybody’s greed. The relationship between human beings and water was based on fulfillment of human needs before the companies in water business came into existence. The human being would take as much water from nature as was required to fulfill her drinking and irrigation needs. However, the companies were interested in making profits by selling water, even though they had no role in its creation or conservation. They were not ashamed of taking a raw material free of cost, packaging it and selling it at exorbitant prices – more than that of the milk! We have to give credit to our ancestors for whatever water we find today in earth, as they did not treat it as a saleable commodity. With our relationship with water undergoing a change, now there is a threat to water. Companies like Coca Cola and Pepsico are amassing so much profit from this business that they were the fifth and fourth largest contributors, respectively, to Geroge Bush’s election campaign during the last US elections. Like petroleum now there is race to make as much profit over water in the quickest possible time. Corporations are competing with each other fiercely in emptying the earth of two of the most precious resources – one without which we may be able to live but the other without which we’ll be doomed.
The Coca Cola plant in Mehdiganj, Varanasi, for example, has caused the water table in wells to fall 18 feet during the last decade compared to 1.6 feet in the decade previous to that, as revealed by a study conducted earlier this year by V. Chandrika of all water sources falling within 3 kms. of the plant site. The plant has been responsible for sucking most of the wells, hand pumps and tube wells dry or causing them to go out of order. About 90% of wells in the region have been affected. 25% wells have completely dried, 14% wells are in the process of drying and 50% have witnessed a fall in water table. Out of 73 bore wells in the area, 10 have dried up which includes 4 which have dried up after the Coca Cola plant started operations. As the traditional source of water, the wells, started drying up people resorted to hand pumps. 220 hand pumps have been installed since the Coca Cola plant was set up as opposed to 45 which were installed in the decade previous to that. But 43% of the hand pumps are already adversely affected. 11% have completely dried and 32% work intermittently. Coca Cola alleges that drought and excessive use of water by farmers is responsible for dangerous fall in water table. The reality is, however, that the situation of drought was about the same during the last decade as it was in the decade previous to that. The region saw droughts in 1991-93, 2002 and 2004. The number of bore wells installed in 1990-2000 was 15 and after the Coke plant started functioning some 12 new bore wells have been installed. Hence the number of bore wells cannot be the sole reason for dangerous fall in water table. Another independent survey shows that the state of affairs of ponds is equally dismal. Out of 18 ponds falling in a radius of 4 kms. from the plant site, 1 has dried completely, 14 are seasonal and the remaining 3 retain too little water.
The farmer of Mehdiganj says that she is not going to survive by drinking Coke. If the water table falls so much that they will not be able to grow their crops then what will they eat? In spite of whatever the GDP may be and however much the credit available might be, we’ll need food grains to eat to survive. Our planners must realize this simple fact. If the privatization of water is not stopped soon, it is not difficult to imagine a scenario where all the water sources will be controlled by private water lords, the interlinked river network will be controlled by one of the big MNCs, and water will be available at a price in bottles which will be beyond the purchasing capacity of most of the common citizens of this country. Thirst related deaths cannot be completely ruled out in the next 50-100 years.
By Sandeep Pandey
Hunger deaths and farmer suicides are now becoming a common phenomena in this country. Initially, when we would hear of a hunger related death in Kalahandi or Baran in Rajasthan, it would prick our conscience. As economic globalization, privatization and liberalization proceeded and we were made to believe that India was shining, reports of more people succumbing to poverty and hunger started pouring in. It was not the case that there was a shortage of food grains. The FCI godowns, we are told, had enough. But the food grains were not reaching the people who needed it because of massive siphoning off in PDS. The worst is, probably, yet to come.
Water has now become a commodity. Bottled water is a thriving business in this country. Rivers are getting sold and MNCs are eyeing the water supply in big cities. Mahatma Gandhi had said that there is enough in this earth to take care of everybody’s need but not enough to fulfill anybody’s greed. The relationship between human beings and water was based on fulfillment of human needs before the companies in water business came into existence. The human being would take as much water from nature as was required to fulfill her drinking and irrigation needs. However, the companies were interested in making profits by selling water, even though they had no role in its creation or conservation. They were not ashamed of taking a raw material free of cost, packaging it and selling it at exorbitant prices – more than that of the milk! We have to give credit to our ancestors for whatever water we find today in earth, as they did not treat it as a saleable commodity. With our relationship with water undergoing a change, now there is a threat to water. Companies like Coca Cola and Pepsico are amassing so much profit from this business that they were the fifth and fourth largest contributors, respectively, to Geroge Bush’s election campaign during the last US elections. Like petroleum now there is race to make as much profit over water in the quickest possible time. Corporations are competing with each other fiercely in emptying the earth of two of the most precious resources – one without which we may be able to live but the other without which we’ll be doomed.
The Coca Cola plant in Mehdiganj, Varanasi, for example, has caused the water table in wells to fall 18 feet during the last decade compared to 1.6 feet in the decade previous to that, as revealed by a study conducted earlier this year by V. Chandrika of all water sources falling within 3 kms. of the plant site. The plant has been responsible for sucking most of the wells, hand pumps and tube wells dry or causing them to go out of order. About 90% of wells in the region have been affected. 25% wells have completely dried, 14% wells are in the process of drying and 50% have witnessed a fall in water table. Out of 73 bore wells in the area, 10 have dried up which includes 4 which have dried up after the Coca Cola plant started operations. As the traditional source of water, the wells, started drying up people resorted to hand pumps. 220 hand pumps have been installed since the Coca Cola plant was set up as opposed to 45 which were installed in the decade previous to that. But 43% of the hand pumps are already adversely affected. 11% have completely dried and 32% work intermittently. Coca Cola alleges that drought and excessive use of water by farmers is responsible for dangerous fall in water table. The reality is, however, that the situation of drought was about the same during the last decade as it was in the decade previous to that. The region saw droughts in 1991-93, 2002 and 2004. The number of bore wells installed in 1990-2000 was 15 and after the Coke plant started functioning some 12 new bore wells have been installed. Hence the number of bore wells cannot be the sole reason for dangerous fall in water table. Another independent survey shows that the state of affairs of ponds is equally dismal. Out of 18 ponds falling in a radius of 4 kms. from the plant site, 1 has dried completely, 14 are seasonal and the remaining 3 retain too little water.
The farmer of Mehdiganj says that she is not going to survive by drinking Coke. If the water table falls so much that they will not be able to grow their crops then what will they eat? In spite of whatever the GDP may be and however much the credit available might be, we’ll need food grains to eat to survive. Our planners must realize this simple fact. If the privatization of water is not stopped soon, it is not difficult to imagine a scenario where all the water sources will be controlled by private water lords, the interlinked river network will be controlled by one of the big MNCs, and water will be available at a price in bottles which will be beyond the purchasing capacity of most of the common citizens of this country. Thirst related deaths cannot be completely ruled out in the next 50-100 years.
By Sandeep Pandey
FINALLY THE CRIMINAL STUDENT LEADERS FIND THEIR MATCH
FINALLY THE CRIMINAL STUDENT LEADERS FIND THEIR MATCH
The Vice Chancellor of the Lucknow University Professor Ram Prakash Singh has shown rare courage in holding the bull of campus hooliganism by its horns. The LU, like most of the campuses in north India was taken over by criminals in the garb of students who were patronized by opportunist national political parties. These so called student leaders, who are neither students nor leaders, hope to catch the attention of one of the parties so that they may use campus politics as a stepping stone into the state or national level politics. If one gets elected to one of the three important posts of any student union of a major university, then sooner or later one is ensured of a ticket from one of the major political parties to contest the assembly or parliamentary elections.
I, as a student with a rosy picture of politics as an instrument to bring about social change, had contested the position of representative of Institute of Technology to the Banaras Hindu University Students’ Union in 1985. It was a shocking experience even at that time and at such a level as university politics that I found the candidates for the big three posts, President, Vice President and General Secretary, asking me to align with them on the basis of a common caste and offering me free unlimited viewing of cinema in the Halls in city and liquor if needed for students who could pledge their votes in exchange. After having won the election for the representative’s post, attendance at the first few meetings of the Students’ Union was sufficient to disillusion me of the Indian electoral politics for life. The students who won or ran for the top three posts did very well in their political career subsequently. The Vice President at that time Rajesh Mishra is the Congress MP from Varanasi presently. The General Secretray O. P. Singh, was a minister in the last BJP Government in UP. A former President of the Union Manoj Sinha also became a MP for BJP from Ghazipur. Satya Prakash Sonkar, who ran for a post in that election but did not win, also became a MLA later.
While it may be a good opportunity for these student leaders to maintain their student status and indulge in campus politics so long as they have not won an election or become sufficiently important (read notorious) so that they cannot be ignored by the mainstream political parties, the university suffers in general because of them. They contribute to deteriorating law and order situation on campus, often forcing the VCs to close the universities sine die. The academic activity takes a back seat so long as the political heat is on. The sessions are delayed and sincere students are losers. It is virtually impossible under these circumstances that professors or researchers would engage in any serious research activity. Instead of enhancing the standards of these seats of learning the faculty members have to bother about how to just keep the normal affairs going.
I can perfectly understand the predicament of Professor R.P. Singh, as I had to myself face the hooliganism of these student leaders. The occasion was a programme organized in the honour of 40 visiting Pakistani guests in August 2005 at the prestigious Malviya Bhavan of LU. Since the programme was being held at LU we also decided to invite the then LUSU President Rajpal Kashyap as a representative of the student community to share the dais along with other dignitaries. The other student leaders present there also wanted to sit on the stage without realizing the seriousness of the programme or being considerate of the guests from across the border. We put our foot down and told the student leaders that there was no scope for any other student leader to join the dais. A melee followed and there was attempt by these so called student leaders to compete with each other in making their presence felt. Each one of them appeared more threatening than the other and they continued to hover around the stage while the programme was in progress. Some of them also said some abusive things about the organizers, especially the ladies.
Much to our embarrassment, with Pakistani guests as witness, we decided to protest against the unruly behaviour of the LU students by boycotting the snacks which were organized by the Union for the Pakistani guests. The Pakistani guests not knowing what to do just walked out along with us. Before making the exit I had announced that I would never organize any further event in LU.
Frankly, I think the LU needs an overhaul. It must be rid of all its goonda elements. Having observed the student politics at BHU and now at LU, I had never thought that it was possible. When Professor R.P. Singh had taken over as V.C. of LU and used to talk about making an IIT out of LU, we had thought that he would get disillusioned soon. But he has demonstrated the guts and can take on not only the university goondas but also state level politicians. While Mulayam Singh Yadav shamelessly patronizes the goonda elements of campus and other political parties support him or keep silent on the issue, Prof. Singh has stuck to his guns. He needs all our support to take on Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brand of politicians. He deserves kudos for not having buckled under the political pressure and attempts to isolate him and threaten him. Without caring about the danger that he has invited to his personal security he has shown the determination to convert the LU into an academic institution from the hopelessly messy situation to which it had degenerated. If the political parties think that they can ride roughshod over the VC by supporting the kind of rowdyism which has become the hallmark of Indian politics they are mistaken. People are tolerating this brand of politics because they have no option. As soon as they’ll have a cleaner and healthier alternative they’ll reject the dirtier and murkier characters.
By Sandeep Pandey
The Vice Chancellor of the Lucknow University Professor Ram Prakash Singh has shown rare courage in holding the bull of campus hooliganism by its horns. The LU, like most of the campuses in north India was taken over by criminals in the garb of students who were patronized by opportunist national political parties. These so called student leaders, who are neither students nor leaders, hope to catch the attention of one of the parties so that they may use campus politics as a stepping stone into the state or national level politics. If one gets elected to one of the three important posts of any student union of a major university, then sooner or later one is ensured of a ticket from one of the major political parties to contest the assembly or parliamentary elections.
I, as a student with a rosy picture of politics as an instrument to bring about social change, had contested the position of representative of Institute of Technology to the Banaras Hindu University Students’ Union in 1985. It was a shocking experience even at that time and at such a level as university politics that I found the candidates for the big three posts, President, Vice President and General Secretary, asking me to align with them on the basis of a common caste and offering me free unlimited viewing of cinema in the Halls in city and liquor if needed for students who could pledge their votes in exchange. After having won the election for the representative’s post, attendance at the first few meetings of the Students’ Union was sufficient to disillusion me of the Indian electoral politics for life. The students who won or ran for the top three posts did very well in their political career subsequently. The Vice President at that time Rajesh Mishra is the Congress MP from Varanasi presently. The General Secretray O. P. Singh, was a minister in the last BJP Government in UP. A former President of the Union Manoj Sinha also became a MP for BJP from Ghazipur. Satya Prakash Sonkar, who ran for a post in that election but did not win, also became a MLA later.
While it may be a good opportunity for these student leaders to maintain their student status and indulge in campus politics so long as they have not won an election or become sufficiently important (read notorious) so that they cannot be ignored by the mainstream political parties, the university suffers in general because of them. They contribute to deteriorating law and order situation on campus, often forcing the VCs to close the universities sine die. The academic activity takes a back seat so long as the political heat is on. The sessions are delayed and sincere students are losers. It is virtually impossible under these circumstances that professors or researchers would engage in any serious research activity. Instead of enhancing the standards of these seats of learning the faculty members have to bother about how to just keep the normal affairs going.
I can perfectly understand the predicament of Professor R.P. Singh, as I had to myself face the hooliganism of these student leaders. The occasion was a programme organized in the honour of 40 visiting Pakistani guests in August 2005 at the prestigious Malviya Bhavan of LU. Since the programme was being held at LU we also decided to invite the then LUSU President Rajpal Kashyap as a representative of the student community to share the dais along with other dignitaries. The other student leaders present there also wanted to sit on the stage without realizing the seriousness of the programme or being considerate of the guests from across the border. We put our foot down and told the student leaders that there was no scope for any other student leader to join the dais. A melee followed and there was attempt by these so called student leaders to compete with each other in making their presence felt. Each one of them appeared more threatening than the other and they continued to hover around the stage while the programme was in progress. Some of them also said some abusive things about the organizers, especially the ladies.
Much to our embarrassment, with Pakistani guests as witness, we decided to protest against the unruly behaviour of the LU students by boycotting the snacks which were organized by the Union for the Pakistani guests. The Pakistani guests not knowing what to do just walked out along with us. Before making the exit I had announced that I would never organize any further event in LU.
Frankly, I think the LU needs an overhaul. It must be rid of all its goonda elements. Having observed the student politics at BHU and now at LU, I had never thought that it was possible. When Professor R.P. Singh had taken over as V.C. of LU and used to talk about making an IIT out of LU, we had thought that he would get disillusioned soon. But he has demonstrated the guts and can take on not only the university goondas but also state level politicians. While Mulayam Singh Yadav shamelessly patronizes the goonda elements of campus and other political parties support him or keep silent on the issue, Prof. Singh has stuck to his guns. He needs all our support to take on Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brand of politicians. He deserves kudos for not having buckled under the political pressure and attempts to isolate him and threaten him. Without caring about the danger that he has invited to his personal security he has shown the determination to convert the LU into an academic institution from the hopelessly messy situation to which it had degenerated. If the political parties think that they can ride roughshod over the VC by supporting the kind of rowdyism which has become the hallmark of Indian politics they are mistaken. People are tolerating this brand of politics because they have no option. As soon as they’ll have a cleaner and healthier alternative they’ll reject the dirtier and murkier characters.
By Sandeep Pandey
BASIC MECHANISM FOR IMPLEMENTING RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT NOT IN PLACE IN BIHAR
BASIC MECHANISM FOR IMPLEMENTING RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT NOT IN PLACE IN BIHAR
If you needed to file an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005, you would have to submit your application to the Public Information Officer of the relevant department with a fee of Rs. 10 as prescribed under the Act. However, if you were living in any of the districts of Bihar and went to any particular department to find out who their PIO is, chances are that you will get blank faces, because the PIOs have not even been nominated in most departments. Somebody may even ask you to go to the Information Department of the government, which has nothing to do with the implementation of the RTI Act, as certain citizens recounted their experiences in Vaishali and Khagaria districts.
A state-wide RTI campaign was organized recently in 30 districts of Bihar simultaneously. Voulnteers, including mostly activists of local NGOs, public spirited citizens and retired government servants, had set up camps all over the state to make people aware of the Act, help them draft their applications under the RTI Act and also help them in filing their applications. Curious citizens, with some skepticism, flocked to the camps to learn about this new instrument which has been placed into their hands by the national legislature on 13th October, 2005 .
After a visit to Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Munger, Chappra, Siwan and Gopalganj it is apparent that the basic minimum system to implement the Act is missing. When one does not even know who the PIO is in any particular department how is one supposed to even get started with using the RTI Act? Applicants are being turned away from the offices either on the pretext of sheer ignorance of the Act or absence of any mechanism to accept the application or the fees along with it. It is a pity that a Block Development Officer in Banka district was not even aware of the fact that applicants belonging to the Below Poverty Line category are exempt from paying the Rs. 10 fee with their applications. Some of the officials use more crude ways of turning away their applicants. The BDO of Shambhuganj in Banka district got his bodyguard to pull out a gun to threaten one of the applicant who had come to file an application under the RTI Act with him.
On 29th January, a telephone line was launched with much fanfare by the Chief Minister himself so that people could file their applications as well as appeals, in the case of information not being provided within stipulated time, over telephone. Much publicity was given to the fact that Bihar was the first state in the country to have initiated such a service. In a country where most of the citizens still cannot write an application on their own this seemed like a wonderful idea. However, not a single citizen from the abovementioned ten districts visited during the campaign has been able to get through the designated telephone number – 155311, to file their application. Hence the telephone service too fails to provide any relief to the harassed citizens who are made to run by the government offices umpteen number of times even to perform the most simple things. In Muzaffarpur it was learnt that the government offices do not have the normal practice of providing proof of receiving any applications. The situation in rest of the Bihar would not be much different. However, if the officials don’t change their method of working, how will a RTI applicant file an appeal to the first appeal authority or the information commission if she will not receive a proof of having submitted an application under the Act in the first place?
The people’s campaign also witnessed some success stories. In Begusari where close to a hundred applications were submitted under the Act during the campaign, a primary school teacher Ranjan Kumar had filed an application under the RTI Act to the District Superintendent of Education on 31st January asking him why his enhanced salary after he had undergone the required training was not being given to him for the last 19 months, even though he had submitted all the necessary documents to the DSE’s office. On 9th February, Ranjan got a reply that his enhanced salary had been sanctioned and he could come to the office of DSE and collect the order for payment. Four other teachers also benefited along with Ranjan in this matter. Ranjan, who is also a spirited RTI activist was obviously overjoyed. He has now taken a vow along with his fifteen young friends to file an application under the RTI Act every month. It is such initiatives by citizens’ groups which will ensure that the RTI Act is implemented in proper spirit.
In Khagaria district one applicant is now going to file an appeal with the information commission because he has not got a proper reply from a bank manager. He had applied for a loan to set up a sattu-besan industry. The bank manager wanted a 10% commission. The applicant refused to pay the bribe. The manager rejected his application on the ground of his project not being viable. Hence the applicant asked the manager under the RTI Act which industry according to him is viable? The manager is now in a dilemma and he had to reply that he is not a competent authority in this matter. The applicant is now going to appeal to information commission and question the manager’s decision to reject his application. The bank manager is trying to prove that the applicant is mentally unfit. This is a good example of how officials have been taking decisions arbitrarily or because of vested interests, which will become increasingly difficult if more and more people decided to use RTI Act to question their decisions.
It is just the beginning of the movement in the area of RTI. People are getting ready for a long drawn struggle with officials which could see the relationship between the citizens and bureaucracy undergo dramatic changes.
By Sandeep Pandey
If you needed to file an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005, you would have to submit your application to the Public Information Officer of the relevant department with a fee of Rs. 10 as prescribed under the Act. However, if you were living in any of the districts of Bihar and went to any particular department to find out who their PIO is, chances are that you will get blank faces, because the PIOs have not even been nominated in most departments. Somebody may even ask you to go to the Information Department of the government, which has nothing to do with the implementation of the RTI Act, as certain citizens recounted their experiences in Vaishali and Khagaria districts.
A state-wide RTI campaign was organized recently in 30 districts of Bihar simultaneously. Voulnteers, including mostly activists of local NGOs, public spirited citizens and retired government servants, had set up camps all over the state to make people aware of the Act, help them draft their applications under the RTI Act and also help them in filing their applications. Curious citizens, with some skepticism, flocked to the camps to learn about this new instrument which has been placed into their hands by the national legislature on 13th October, 2005 .
After a visit to Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagaria, Munger, Chappra, Siwan and Gopalganj it is apparent that the basic minimum system to implement the Act is missing. When one does not even know who the PIO is in any particular department how is one supposed to even get started with using the RTI Act? Applicants are being turned away from the offices either on the pretext of sheer ignorance of the Act or absence of any mechanism to accept the application or the fees along with it. It is a pity that a Block Development Officer in Banka district was not even aware of the fact that applicants belonging to the Below Poverty Line category are exempt from paying the Rs. 10 fee with their applications. Some of the officials use more crude ways of turning away their applicants. The BDO of Shambhuganj in Banka district got his bodyguard to pull out a gun to threaten one of the applicant who had come to file an application under the RTI Act with him.
On 29th January, a telephone line was launched with much fanfare by the Chief Minister himself so that people could file their applications as well as appeals, in the case of information not being provided within stipulated time, over telephone. Much publicity was given to the fact that Bihar was the first state in the country to have initiated such a service. In a country where most of the citizens still cannot write an application on their own this seemed like a wonderful idea. However, not a single citizen from the abovementioned ten districts visited during the campaign has been able to get through the designated telephone number – 155311, to file their application. Hence the telephone service too fails to provide any relief to the harassed citizens who are made to run by the government offices umpteen number of times even to perform the most simple things. In Muzaffarpur it was learnt that the government offices do not have the normal practice of providing proof of receiving any applications. The situation in rest of the Bihar would not be much different. However, if the officials don’t change their method of working, how will a RTI applicant file an appeal to the first appeal authority or the information commission if she will not receive a proof of having submitted an application under the Act in the first place?
The people’s campaign also witnessed some success stories. In Begusari where close to a hundred applications were submitted under the Act during the campaign, a primary school teacher Ranjan Kumar had filed an application under the RTI Act to the District Superintendent of Education on 31st January asking him why his enhanced salary after he had undergone the required training was not being given to him for the last 19 months, even though he had submitted all the necessary documents to the DSE’s office. On 9th February, Ranjan got a reply that his enhanced salary had been sanctioned and he could come to the office of DSE and collect the order for payment. Four other teachers also benefited along with Ranjan in this matter. Ranjan, who is also a spirited RTI activist was obviously overjoyed. He has now taken a vow along with his fifteen young friends to file an application under the RTI Act every month. It is such initiatives by citizens’ groups which will ensure that the RTI Act is implemented in proper spirit.
In Khagaria district one applicant is now going to file an appeal with the information commission because he has not got a proper reply from a bank manager. He had applied for a loan to set up a sattu-besan industry. The bank manager wanted a 10% commission. The applicant refused to pay the bribe. The manager rejected his application on the ground of his project not being viable. Hence the applicant asked the manager under the RTI Act which industry according to him is viable? The manager is now in a dilemma and he had to reply that he is not a competent authority in this matter. The applicant is now going to appeal to information commission and question the manager’s decision to reject his application. The bank manager is trying to prove that the applicant is mentally unfit. This is a good example of how officials have been taking decisions arbitrarily or because of vested interests, which will become increasingly difficult if more and more people decided to use RTI Act to question their decisions.
It is just the beginning of the movement in the area of RTI. People are getting ready for a long drawn struggle with officials which could see the relationship between the citizens and bureaucracy undergo dramatic changes.
By Sandeep Pandey
PEOPLE WILL REJECT ‘UTTAM PRADESH’ JUST LIKE THEY DID ‘INDIA SHINING’
PEOPLE WILL REJECT ‘UTTAM PRADESH’ JUST LIKE THEY DID ‘INDIA SHINING’
Mulayam Singh Yadav is desperately trying to convey a feeling of well being through big Amitabh Bachchan hoardings in Uttar Pradesh claiming that the state is doing quite well. The need to launch such a high profile campaign betrays that probably things are not too rosy. Hence he has not just left it to these hoardings. Even before other leaders could get into a full fledged election campaign mode, Mulayam Singh is already on his feet, addressing several political rallies every day.
One of the hoarding says that crime rate in U.P. is comparatively lower. However, anybody with a real experience at police stations in U.P. will tell that it is quite difficult to register cases. In fact, the police stations have instructions that, if they can help it, they do not have to register certain types of cases and number of cases registered per month should not exceed beyond a prescribed quota. Once we were trying to register a case of PDS food grain caught at somebody’s place right opposite the Atrauli police station in Hardoi district. The SHO politely told us that he would register the case on the 1st of next month as he had already crossed the quota fixed for number of cases for that particular month. Hence, the less the cumulative number of cases registered in all police stations of U.P. shows up in Lucknow, the better is the law and order situation in the state. What a fantastic way of controlling crime!
While the BJP ruled states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have very effectively implemented the NREGS, giving people work as well as claiming the credit for it, Mulayam Singh government decided to not take the NREGA seriously. Instead, he offered unemployment allowance for the educated youth. The message was clear. Why do you need to work to earn wages when you can get Rs. 500 per month for free? He continued to play the game of one-upmanship with the Congress for most of his present duration as Chief Minister.
His political engagement did not allow him time for governance. More than 40 starvation deaths, mostly in eastern U.P., have taken place during his regime. One farmer, on an average, per day has been committing suicide in Bundelkhand for the last five years. The government is viewed as a criminal friendly government. And yet, he has the audacity to make pompous claims about Uttam Pradesh. It is a cruel joke with the people. People do not pardon such gimmicks. During the last Lok Sabha elections when the BJP was trying to make people feel good with its ‘India Shining’ slogan, while farmers continued to commit suicide and the gap between the rich and the poor widened, the common people of India comprehensively rejected the BJP’s idea. We are in a similar situation in U.P. The government’s claims do not reflect the reality on ground and people will definitely teach Mulayam Singh a lesson.
CPI(M) extended staunch support to the Mulayam Singh government when it faced danger of being dismissed under Article 356, as it now becomes clear, to defend it own crimes in West Bengal. It has lost all its natural and traditional allies in U.P. because of its anti-people stands and is doomed like its senior partner, the Samajwadi Party.
Mulayam’s exit will make way for Mayawati to return to power. U.P. has now begun to resemble Tamil Nadu. Two regional parties rule by turn. When people become sick of one of them after a term, they bring the other back. And, they keep switching between the two.
While Mulayam may have allowed the state to slip into a state of lawlessness, we remember how we desperately wanted Mayawati out, the last time she was the Chief Minister. Mayawati will definitely control the law and order situation. But she is autocratic. Mulayam’s rule has at least some semblance of democracy and there is room for some dissent. With Mayawati it is only her writ which runs. Bahujan Samaj Party is probably the only major party not to have any manifesto. Since Mayawati has centralized all powers, there is no structure in the party and no system of resolving grievances through dialogue. This is the reason it was so easy for Mualyam Singh to stage a coup last time and encourage defections from her party. If only Mayawati was slightly more democratic, she would have been effectively able to counter the challenge posed by Mulayam Singh.
However, in the situation that BSP is not able to muster enough support to form a government, Kalyan Singh may reclaim the Chief Ministership with outside support of Samajwadi Party. This will bring back the communal rule in U.P. which will not be good for the state. Since Mulayam Singh has been honeymooning with BJP now for sometime, in the hope that BJP will some day support his candidature for Prime Ministership (remember how Chandrashekhar became PM with some 40 MPs or V.P. Singh became PM with outside support of both the left and the right), this possibility is not completely ruled out. This is the reason Mulayam Singh’s government has allowed the communal forces a free hand in places like Mau and Gorakhpur during the past two or three years. A communal riot or tension, polarizes the Hindu votes in favour of BJP but, in reaction, it also polarizes the Muslim votes in favour of Mulayam Singh. Mulayam Singh still remains the best bet for the Muslims in U.P.
Congress remains essentially an outsider in the game. The best role it can fulfill is to provide the remaining numbers to Mayawati to form a government if BSP falls short of the clear majority. The star campaigner Rahul Gandhi is not effective beyond the boundary of Amethi. His claim that a member of Gandhi family may have prevented the fall of Babri Masjid may not be true but his confession that anybody else may not even be able to win the election in Amethi is certainly true. He doesn’t hold any post in Delhi but still he spends most of his time there instead of nursing his constituency. The problem with Congress party is that it aspires to become a force to reckon with without the will to do any hard work at the grassroots. It relies too much on the politics of wave. But unfortunately there is no wave in favour of Congress for quite some time to come in U.P.
The most uncertain element in U.P. politics is Ajit Singh. He should hold some sort of record now for having changed his political partners the maximum number of times. Which way he’ll go is unpredictable. There seemed to be lot of promise in Jan Morcha when it was launched with much fanfare. However, Raj Babbar and V.P. Singh have not been able to capitalize on the initial gains. They did not set up a mechanism to incorporate different political parties which were willing to go along with them. They were probably too hopeful of striking a deal with Congress. This let them down.
Udit Raj is working hard to emerge as an alternative dalit leader. He has also been willing to accommodate other interests. If he continues to put in the hard work, he may gain the numerical strength to be counted in U.P. politics. He has already struck a deal with Beni Prasad Verma. Indian Justice Party along with CPI, CPI(ML), Rashtrawadi Communist Party, NCP, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, RPI and Samajwadi Jan Parishad are few parties which have been raising the issues of the marginalized. As Acts like the RTI and NREGA create more grassroots awareness for democracy, the common people are going to voice their concerns through these parties, even thought they may not play an important role in government formation.
By Arundhati Dhuru and Sandeep Pandey
Mulayam Singh Yadav is desperately trying to convey a feeling of well being through big Amitabh Bachchan hoardings in Uttar Pradesh claiming that the state is doing quite well. The need to launch such a high profile campaign betrays that probably things are not too rosy. Hence he has not just left it to these hoardings. Even before other leaders could get into a full fledged election campaign mode, Mulayam Singh is already on his feet, addressing several political rallies every day.
One of the hoarding says that crime rate in U.P. is comparatively lower. However, anybody with a real experience at police stations in U.P. will tell that it is quite difficult to register cases. In fact, the police stations have instructions that, if they can help it, they do not have to register certain types of cases and number of cases registered per month should not exceed beyond a prescribed quota. Once we were trying to register a case of PDS food grain caught at somebody’s place right opposite the Atrauli police station in Hardoi district. The SHO politely told us that he would register the case on the 1st of next month as he had already crossed the quota fixed for number of cases for that particular month. Hence, the less the cumulative number of cases registered in all police stations of U.P. shows up in Lucknow, the better is the law and order situation in the state. What a fantastic way of controlling crime!
While the BJP ruled states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have very effectively implemented the NREGS, giving people work as well as claiming the credit for it, Mulayam Singh government decided to not take the NREGA seriously. Instead, he offered unemployment allowance for the educated youth. The message was clear. Why do you need to work to earn wages when you can get Rs. 500 per month for free? He continued to play the game of one-upmanship with the Congress for most of his present duration as Chief Minister.
His political engagement did not allow him time for governance. More than 40 starvation deaths, mostly in eastern U.P., have taken place during his regime. One farmer, on an average, per day has been committing suicide in Bundelkhand for the last five years. The government is viewed as a criminal friendly government. And yet, he has the audacity to make pompous claims about Uttam Pradesh. It is a cruel joke with the people. People do not pardon such gimmicks. During the last Lok Sabha elections when the BJP was trying to make people feel good with its ‘India Shining’ slogan, while farmers continued to commit suicide and the gap between the rich and the poor widened, the common people of India comprehensively rejected the BJP’s idea. We are in a similar situation in U.P. The government’s claims do not reflect the reality on ground and people will definitely teach Mulayam Singh a lesson.
CPI(M) extended staunch support to the Mulayam Singh government when it faced danger of being dismissed under Article 356, as it now becomes clear, to defend it own crimes in West Bengal. It has lost all its natural and traditional allies in U.P. because of its anti-people stands and is doomed like its senior partner, the Samajwadi Party.
Mulayam’s exit will make way for Mayawati to return to power. U.P. has now begun to resemble Tamil Nadu. Two regional parties rule by turn. When people become sick of one of them after a term, they bring the other back. And, they keep switching between the two.
While Mulayam may have allowed the state to slip into a state of lawlessness, we remember how we desperately wanted Mayawati out, the last time she was the Chief Minister. Mayawati will definitely control the law and order situation. But she is autocratic. Mulayam’s rule has at least some semblance of democracy and there is room for some dissent. With Mayawati it is only her writ which runs. Bahujan Samaj Party is probably the only major party not to have any manifesto. Since Mayawati has centralized all powers, there is no structure in the party and no system of resolving grievances through dialogue. This is the reason it was so easy for Mualyam Singh to stage a coup last time and encourage defections from her party. If only Mayawati was slightly more democratic, she would have been effectively able to counter the challenge posed by Mulayam Singh.
However, in the situation that BSP is not able to muster enough support to form a government, Kalyan Singh may reclaim the Chief Ministership with outside support of Samajwadi Party. This will bring back the communal rule in U.P. which will not be good for the state. Since Mulayam Singh has been honeymooning with BJP now for sometime, in the hope that BJP will some day support his candidature for Prime Ministership (remember how Chandrashekhar became PM with some 40 MPs or V.P. Singh became PM with outside support of both the left and the right), this possibility is not completely ruled out. This is the reason Mulayam Singh’s government has allowed the communal forces a free hand in places like Mau and Gorakhpur during the past two or three years. A communal riot or tension, polarizes the Hindu votes in favour of BJP but, in reaction, it also polarizes the Muslim votes in favour of Mulayam Singh. Mulayam Singh still remains the best bet for the Muslims in U.P.
Congress remains essentially an outsider in the game. The best role it can fulfill is to provide the remaining numbers to Mayawati to form a government if BSP falls short of the clear majority. The star campaigner Rahul Gandhi is not effective beyond the boundary of Amethi. His claim that a member of Gandhi family may have prevented the fall of Babri Masjid may not be true but his confession that anybody else may not even be able to win the election in Amethi is certainly true. He doesn’t hold any post in Delhi but still he spends most of his time there instead of nursing his constituency. The problem with Congress party is that it aspires to become a force to reckon with without the will to do any hard work at the grassroots. It relies too much on the politics of wave. But unfortunately there is no wave in favour of Congress for quite some time to come in U.P.
The most uncertain element in U.P. politics is Ajit Singh. He should hold some sort of record now for having changed his political partners the maximum number of times. Which way he’ll go is unpredictable. There seemed to be lot of promise in Jan Morcha when it was launched with much fanfare. However, Raj Babbar and V.P. Singh have not been able to capitalize on the initial gains. They did not set up a mechanism to incorporate different political parties which were willing to go along with them. They were probably too hopeful of striking a deal with Congress. This let them down.
Udit Raj is working hard to emerge as an alternative dalit leader. He has also been willing to accommodate other interests. If he continues to put in the hard work, he may gain the numerical strength to be counted in U.P. politics. He has already struck a deal with Beni Prasad Verma. Indian Justice Party along with CPI, CPI(ML), Rashtrawadi Communist Party, NCP, Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, RPI and Samajwadi Jan Parishad are few parties which have been raising the issues of the marginalized. As Acts like the RTI and NREGA create more grassroots awareness for democracy, the common people are going to voice their concerns through these parties, even thought they may not play an important role in government formation.
By Arundhati Dhuru and Sandeep Pandey
is tobacco company seriously concerned about people's lungs in Pakistan?
Published in:
Asian Tribune: 15 April 2007: http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5330
Scoop Independent News: 17 April 2007: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00265.htm
-----------------------------
Is tobacco company seriously concerned about people's lungs in Pakistan?
Is tobacco company seriously concerned about people's lungs in Pakistan?
Bobby Ramakant
Will Pakistan Tobacco Company protect people's lungs by building environment parks alone? Nine out of ten lung cancers are attributed to tobacco use, says Pakistan's noted expert Prof Javaid Khan. Time to seriously ponder and act on to make effective tobacco control a reality.
A colour newspaper advertisement was published in Pakistan's newspapers to announce the foundation stone-laying ceremony of Ghourghushti Environment Park in Attock district by collaborative efforts of Pakistan Tobacco Company and Government of Pakistan on 8 April 2007. Prime Minister Mr Shaukat Aziz laid the stone.
Pak
istan is one of the 146 countries that have ratified the global tobacco treaty and in doing so has taken a great step forward in protecting the health and lives of its citizens from the tobacco epidemic. Formally known as the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the treaty aims to reverse the tobacco epidemic by changing the way tobacco corporations operate around the world.
"On one hand the government of Pakistan ratified FCTC and committed itself to comprehensive tobacco control, yet they are accepting money from the tobacco industry to create a public park at Attock District (NWFP)" said Senior Chest Physician and noted tobacco control advocate Prof (Dr) Javaid Khan from Aga Khan University. He further said that by such collaboration, tobacco industry is trying to tell the public that they are doing public welfare for the country. Previously they also claimed that they have made mobile dispensaries for poor patient and planted million of trees in the country to help the environment. Our government should not accept money from the tobacco industry as this money is tainted with the blood of those who have died from tobacco related diseases.
If tobacco industry is seriously interested in public welfare, the first step it can take on its own is to reduce the mountainous burden of diseases, disabilities and deaths attributed to tobacco use. By building environment parks for people's lungs and hoping people will believe that they are concerned about their lungs, tobacco industry must be kidding! People of Pakistan are smart enough to understand that the single largest preventable cause of lung cancer is tobacco.
"Unfortunately, tobacco corporations like British American Tobacco, Philip Morris/Altria and their subsidiaries (Pakistan Tobacco Company is the subsidiary of BAT) have attempted to interfere with the implementation and enforcement of the global tobacco treaty in countries around the world. These corporations use their tremendous political influence to weaken, delay and defeat tobacco control legislation around the world." said Kathryn Mulvey, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability International (http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/ ).
Corporate Accountability International has been urging governments to be attentive to tobacco industry interference in public health policy, said Kathryn Mulvey. BAT and Philip Morris/Altria spend millions annually in an attempt to brand themselves as "socially responsible" corporations. This allows them to hide behind glossy image make-overs while continuing to promote tobacco addiction to children and adults around the world.
"Pakistan Tobacco Company sought to curry public favor through a public-private partnership to build the Ghourgushti Environment Park in Pakistan's Attock district. Pakistan's Prime Minister Mr. Shaukat Aziz accepted the tobacco corporation's invitation to lay the foundation stone at the Park's ground-breaking. This behavior is one clear example of tobacco corporations seeking to buy favor with the public and with elected officials" said Mulvey.
All around the world, people are rejecting Big Tobacco's attempts to interfere with health policy. And people of Pakistan are no exception. Let us hope that Government of Pakistan will dissociate itself from this 'environment park' venture with Pakistan Tobacco Company to begin with and further strengthen its commitment to global tobacco treaty.
Bobby Ramakant
(The author is a senior health and development journalist writing for newspapers in Asia and Africa. He is a member of Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnational (NATT). He can be contacted at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com)
-----------------------------
Keep-The-Promise Campaign is a 120 days (7 April – 4 August 2007) media advocacy and communications campaign dedicated to raise awareness about existing tobacco control legislations (including FCTC) in countries in Asia and Africa, bring out challenges in their enforcement and increase media coverage of the same. The campaign shall also remind of promises made on tobacco control by policy makers of different countries in Asia and Africa and strengthen advocacy to Keep The Promises! More details about the KTP Campaign are available online at: http://mycitizennews.blogspot.com/2007/04/keep-promise-campaign.html
The next big healthcare question: Tobacco cessation
Online at: http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/14tobacco.htm
The next big healthcare question: Tobacco cessation
Bobby Ramakant
April 14, 2007
Rediff News
The next big healthcare question: Tobacco cessation
Bobby Ramakant
April 14, 2007
Rediff News
“The World Health Organisation had taken a leadership with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to establish state-of-the-art Tobacco Cessation Clinics in mainstream hospitals across India about 5 years back. But the number of these clinics is far too low …Effective tobacco control doesn't seem to be a reality unless public health and corporate accountability initiatives unite in tandem. As we control tobacco corporations and enforce legislations to regulate tobacco and its promotion, we also must not neglect a vital key to the whole puzzle --tobacco cessation”
NEW DELHI: The decision of Kerala's leading traders' association not to sell cigarettes from April 16 has opened the debate about an important smoking related issue -- tobacco cessation.
There is already a ban on smoking in public places in India, but it has not been strictly enforced.
Even otherwise, the main issue in combating smoking is quality tobacco cessation and counseling services. Without these, there is no way to effectively enforce these bans.
NEW DELHI: The decision of Kerala's leading traders' association not to sell cigarettes from April 16 has opened the debate about an important smoking related issue -- tobacco cessation.
There is already a ban on smoking in public places in India, but it has not been strictly enforced.
Even otherwise, the main issue in combating smoking is quality tobacco cessation and counseling services. Without these, there is no way to effectively enforce these bans.
These tobacco control policies came into being after mountainous healthcare and non-smokers' rights' advocacy initiatives and are indeed vital. If this is to be of any relevance at all, we also have to develop a fairly strong understanding of how tobacco corporations have duped young people with deceptive advertising and tobacco promotion and initiated them into tobacco use. So the 'blame' is not entirely on the tobacco users.
Tobacco cessation has emerged as a specialty of its own, and various disciplines from clinical management of nicotine dependence to faith based healings have conclusively proven to be effective in different settings.
Experts say that there is a complex and circular relationship between depression, smoking and medical illness that complicates smoking cessation in those who have a history of depression.
Depression-history smokers require a multimodal approach to assist with mood regulation and nicotine withdrawal. Nicotine dependence is associated with increased rates of depression prior to and after taking up smoking as well as increased rates of suicidal ideation.
While nicotine replacement and counselling are effective for smoking cessation, standard smoking cessation strategies may not pay sufficient attention to the needs of smokers with a depression history. Psychological and lifestyle strategies, such as motivational interviewing, relaxation exercises and mood charts, assist in mood regulation over and above the standard smoking cessation treatments for smokers with a depression history, who require more attention to relapse of depression and smoking after quitting.
The World Health Organisation had taken a leadership with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to establish state-of-the-art Tobacco Cessation Clinics in mainstream hospitals across India about 5 years back. But the number of these clinics is far too low for a population of more than a billion people. Moreover, documented studies showing higher tobacco use incidence in medical students than in general population.
Effective tobacco control doesn't seem to be a reality unless public health and corporate accountability initiatives unite in tandem. As we control tobacco corporations and enforce legislations to regulate tobacco and its promotion, we also must not neglect a vital key to the whole puzzle -- tobacco cessation.
With India struggling to even deliver basic healthcare services to a majority of underserved communities, in terms of affordability, accessibility and availability -- it is not going to be easy to integrate tobacco cessation services in existing healthcare service network.
It is clear that there is a lot to learn from other healthcare service-delivery initiatives before we go forward rapidly expanding tobacco cessation services in India.
And there is no place for complacency. Rather a sense of urgency has to drive us further.
The author is a senior health and development journalist. He is a member of the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals. He can be reached at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com
---------------
Keep-The-Promise Campaign is a 120 days (7 April – 4 August 2007) media advocacy and communications campaign dedicated to raise awareness about existing tobacco control legislations (including FCTC) in countries in Asia and Africa, bring out challenges in their enforcement and increase media coverage of the same. The campaign shall also remind of promises made on tobacco control by policy makers of different countries in Asia and Africa and strengthen advocacy to Keep The Promises! More details about the KTP Campaign are available online at:
http://mycitizennews.blogspot.com/2007/04/keep-promise-campaign.html
The World Health Organisation had taken a leadership with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to establish state-of-the-art Tobacco Cessation Clinics in mainstream hospitals across India about 5 years back. But the number of these clinics is far too low for a population of more than a billion people. Moreover, documented studies showing higher tobacco use incidence in medical students than in general population.
Effective tobacco control doesn't seem to be a reality unless public health and corporate accountability initiatives unite in tandem. As we control tobacco corporations and enforce legislations to regulate tobacco and its promotion, we also must not neglect a vital key to the whole puzzle -- tobacco cessation.
With India struggling to even deliver basic healthcare services to a majority of underserved communities, in terms of affordability, accessibility and availability -- it is not going to be easy to integrate tobacco cessation services in existing healthcare service network.
It is clear that there is a lot to learn from other healthcare service-delivery initiatives before we go forward rapidly expanding tobacco cessation services in India.
And there is no place for complacency. Rather a sense of urgency has to drive us further.
The author is a senior health and development journalist. He is a member of the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals. He can be reached at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com
---------------
Keep-The-Promise Campaign is a 120 days (7 April – 4 August 2007) media advocacy and communications campaign dedicated to raise awareness about existing tobacco control legislations (including FCTC) in countries in Asia and Africa, bring out challenges in their enforcement and increase media coverage of the same. The campaign shall also remind of promises made on tobacco control by policy makers of different countries in Asia and Africa and strengthen advocacy to Keep The Promises! More details about the KTP Campaign are available online at:
http://mycitizennews.blogspot.com/2007/04/keep-promise-campaign.html
With inadequate cessation services, what will Kerala smokers do after April 16?
With inadequate cessation services, what will Kerala smokers do after April 16?
Bobby Ramakant
‘We will sell no cigarettes from 16 April 2007’ said the President of ‘Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi’ – the leading traders’ association in Kerala state of India on 12 April 2007 in a Kozhikode board meeting. The Cigarette and other tobacco products Act 2003
also had a provision of ban on smoking in public places across India. But without quality tobacco cessation and counseling services, how will we ever effectively enforce these bans?
These
tobacco control policies came into being after mountainous healthcare and non-smokers’ rights’ advocacy initiatives and are indeed vital. I don’t mean to push the tobacco control efforts decades back. Rather will like to assert that we also have developed a fairly strong understanding of how tobacco corporations have duped young people with deceptive advertising and tobacco promotion and initiated them into tobacco use. So the ‘blame’ is not entirely on the tobacco users. Also I agree that it is not impossible - yet not so easy - to quit tobacco use. Tobacco cessation has emerged as a speciality of its own, and various disciplines from clinical management 
of nicotine dependence to faith based healings have conclusively proven to be effective in different settings.
Kerala is the most suicide prone state of India. With no cigarettes being sold after 16 April, and hardly one tobacco cessation clinic in Thiruvananthapuram, what will Kerala smokers do? Switch the form of tobacc
o they use? Experts say that there is a complex and circular relationship between depression, smoking and medical illness that complicates smoking cessation in those who have a history of depression. Depression-history smokers require a multimodal approach to assist with mood regulation and nicotine withdrawal. Nicotine dependence is associated with increased rates of depression prior to and after taking up smoking as well as increased rates of suicidal ideation.
While nicotine replacement and counselling are effective for smoking cessation, standard smoking cessation strategies may not pay sufficient attention to the needs of smokers with a depression history. Psychological and lifestyle strategies, such as motivational interviewing, relaxation exercises and mood charts, assist in mood regulation over and above the standard smoking cessation treatments for smokers with a depression history, who require more attention to relapse of depression and smoking after quitting.
World Health Organization had taken a leadership with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India to establish state-of-the-art Tobacco Cessation Clinics in mainstream hospitals across India about 5 years back. But the number of these clinics is far too low for a population of more than a billion people even today. Moreover with documented studies showing higher tobacco use incidence in medical students than in general population, is of grave concern. The challenge posed by the tobacco epidemic is not easy.
Effective tobacco control doesn’t seem to be a reality unless public health and corporate accountability initiatives unite in tandem. As we control tobacco corporations and enforce legislations to regulate tobacco and its promotion, we also must not neglect a vital key to the whole puzzle – tobacco cessation.
With India struggling to even deliver basic healthcare services to a majority of underserved communities, in terms of affordability, accessibility and availability - it is not going to be easy to integrate tobacco cessation services in existing healthcare service network.
It is clear that there is a lot to learn from other healthcare service-delivery initiatives before we go forward rapidly expanding tobacco cessation services in India.
And there is no place for complacency. Rather a sense of urgency has to drive us further – not-to-forget - each tobacco-related death is entirely preventable.
Bobby Ramakant
(The author is a senior health and development Journalist, writing for newspapers in Asia and Africa. He is also a member of NATT (Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals) and can be reached at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com)
Bobby Ramakant
‘We will sell no cigarettes from 16 April 2007’ said the President of ‘Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi’ – the leading traders’ association in Kerala state of India on 12 April 2007 in a Kozhikode board meeting. The Cigarette and other tobacco products Act 2003
also had a provision of ban on smoking in public places across India. But without quality tobacco cessation and counseling services, how will we ever effectively enforce these bans?These
tobacco control policies came into being after mountainous healthcare and non-smokers’ rights’ advocacy initiatives and are indeed vital. I don’t mean to push the tobacco control efforts decades back. Rather will like to assert that we also have developed a fairly strong understanding of how tobacco corporations have duped young people with deceptive advertising and tobacco promotion and initiated them into tobacco use. So the ‘blame’ is not entirely on the tobacco users. Also I agree that it is not impossible - yet not so easy - to quit tobacco use. Tobacco cessation has emerged as a speciality of its own, and various disciplines from clinical management 
of nicotine dependence to faith based healings have conclusively proven to be effective in different settings.Kerala is the most suicide prone state of India. With no cigarettes being sold after 16 April, and hardly one tobacco cessation clinic in Thiruvananthapuram, what will Kerala smokers do? Switch the form of tobacc
o they use? Experts say that there is a complex and circular relationship between depression, smoking and medical illness that complicates smoking cessation in those who have a history of depression. Depression-history smokers require a multimodal approach to assist with mood regulation and nicotine withdrawal. Nicotine dependence is associated with increased rates of depression prior to and after taking up smoking as well as increased rates of suicidal ideation.While nicotine replacement and counselling are effective for smoking cessation, standard smoking cessation strategies may not pay sufficient attention to the needs of smokers with a depression history. Psychological and lifestyle strategies, such as motivational interviewing, relaxation exercises and mood charts, assist in mood regulation over and above the standard smoking cessation treatments for smokers with a depression history, who require more attention to relapse of depression and smoking after quitting.
World Health Organization had taken a leadership with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India to establish state-of-the-art Tobacco Cessation Clinics in mainstream hospitals across India about 5 years back. But the number of these clinics is far too low for a population of more than a billion people even today. Moreover with documented studies showing higher tobacco use incidence in medical students than in general population, is of grave concern. The challenge posed by the tobacco epidemic is not easy.
Effective tobacco control doesn’t seem to be a reality unless public health and corporate accountability initiatives unite in tandem. As we control tobacco corporations and enforce legislations to regulate tobacco and its promotion, we also must not neglect a vital key to the whole puzzle – tobacco cessation.
With India struggling to even deliver basic healthcare services to a majority of underserved communities, in terms of affordability, accessibility and availability - it is not going to be easy to integrate tobacco cessation services in existing healthcare service network.
It is clear that there is a lot to learn from other healthcare service-delivery initiatives before we go forward rapidly expanding tobacco cessation services in India.
And there is no place for complacency. Rather a sense of urgency has to drive us further – not-to-forget - each tobacco-related death is entirely preventable.
Bobby Ramakant
(The author is a senior health and development Journalist, writing for newspapers in Asia and Africa. He is also a member of NATT (Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals) and can be reached at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com)
Published in:
The Asian Tribune (13 April 2007)
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5298
The Asian Tribune (13 April 2007)
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5298
The Kashmir Times (14 April 2007)
The Rediff News (14 April 2007)
The Seoul Times (14 April 2007)
Scary Photos of cancer patients to discourage tobacco users
Scary Photos of cancer patients to discourage tobacco users
Bobby Ramakant
From 1 June 2007, tobacco products in India will have pictorial warnings with photographs of tobacco-related cancer patients. Many countries like Thailand, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Poland and Singapore already have a strong warning label regulation. Bobby Ramakant ponders over the effectiveness of warning labels in preventing needless tobacco-related deaths:
Health warning labels, both on cigarette packages and on all tobacco marketing materials, help create informed consent between tobacco companies and their customers and are an inexpensive and important first step in a national health education programme.
146 countries have ratified
the World’s fist corporate accountability and public health treaty - FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) so far. Article 11 of the FCTC states that warning messages should cover at least 50% of the principal display areas of the package (i.e. both the front and back), but at a minimum must cover at least 30% of the principal display areas. It also requires that the messages be rotated and encourages the use of pictures and pictograms as well as the use of non-health messages (e.g. “Quit smoking — Save money”).
“We have tried ev
erything but it has been of no use. So now we have decided to put scary photos of cancer patients on tobacco products to discourage consumers” said India’s Union Health Minister Dr Ambumani Ramadoss said on 10 April 2007 at the New Delhi summit of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).
Dr Ramadoss further announced that “all tobacco products would from 1 June 2007, bear photographs of patients suffering from cancer caused by tobacco consumption as further warning”.
Tobacco product packaging should be designed to maximize informed consent on the part of the consumer, not to maximize the appeal of the product. Strong and prominent health warning labels, limits on labels such as “slim” and “light,” package inserts containing detailed health and ingredient information, and standardized packaging formats are among the ways to accomplish this goal.
Unfortunately, warning labels tend to be weak in all but a few countries. More than 40 developing countries do not require any warning labels at all. Of those that do, 73% require weakly worded warnings on the side of the package and many of those are in English rather than local languages.
Numerous studies have been done to determine which elements are most important in creating effective labels. Findings include:
* To command attention, warning labels should occupy a minimum of 25% of the top of the front and back of the package. They should be in black and white or other
sharply contrasting colors. Type style and size also must be specified to avoid industry efforts to undermine the impact of the warning.
* Messages should be unequivocal, simple, and stark. They should convey both the nature and magnitude of the risks, since studies show smokers underestimate most
risks associated with tobacco use.
Pictorial warnings may also be appropriate, particularly in countries with low literacy rates or where research shows that smokers are ignoring standard warning labels.
Several nations have implemented strong health warning label requirements. Examples include:
- Canada, whose health minister recently proposed enlarging the labels from 30% of the package face to 60%;
- Thailand, which has added the message “SMOKING CAUSES IMPOTENCE” to its list of required warnings; and
- Australia, which was the first nation to require that “how to quit” information be printed on every pack.
- South Africa, Singapore and Poland also require strong warning labels.
Tobacco companies use words such as “light,” “ultralight,” “slim” and “superslim” in their brand names and in their marketing materials. Research suggests that these words are intended to make implicit health claims minimizing the harmfulness of the product, and may encourage smokers motivated to quit to switch to a “light” brand. These words also appeal to smokers, primarily women, who believe they can use cigarettes to lose weight.
These pictorial warnings provide smokers with helpful information on the health effects. Most smokers want this information, and certainly want their children to have this information too. The tobacco industry is continuing its decades-long strategy of trying to minimize the effectiveness of package warnings. The tobacco industry is no friend of smokers — and ironically it’s true that ‘the tobacco industry kills its best customers’.
Also package warnings are a good public health strategy because the cost of package warnings is paid for by tobacco companies, not government. Also this should not be looked upon as an isolated initiative rather has to be supported by comprehensive healthcare, legislations and education programmes to attain long-run public health gains.
Bobby Ramakant
(The author is a senior health and development journalist writing for newspapers in Asia and Africa. He is also the member of NATT (Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals) and can be reached at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com)
From 1 June 2007, tobacco products in India will have pictorial warnings with photographs of tobacco-related cancer patients. Many countries like Thailand, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Poland and Singapore already have a strong warning label regulation. Bobby Ramakant ponders over the effectiveness of warning labels in preventing needless tobacco-related deaths:
Health warning labels, both on cigarette packages and on all tobacco marketing materials, help create informed consent between tobacco companies and their customers and are an inexpensive and important first step in a national health education programme.
146 countries have ratified
the World’s fist corporate accountability and public health treaty - FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) so far. Article 11 of the FCTC states that warning messages should cover at least 50% of the principal display areas of the package (i.e. both the front and back), but at a minimum must cover at least 30% of the principal display areas. It also requires that the messages be rotated and encourages the use of pictures and pictograms as well as the use of non-health messages (e.g. “Quit smoking — Save money”).“We have tried ev
erything but it has been of no use. So now we have decided to put scary photos of cancer patients on tobacco products to discourage consumers” said India’s Union Health Minister Dr Ambumani Ramadoss said on 10 April 2007 at the New Delhi summit of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).
Dr Ramadoss further announced that “all tobacco products would from 1 June 2007, bear photographs of patients suffering from cancer caused by tobacco consumption as further warning”.
Tobacco product packaging should be designed to maximize informed consent on the part of the consumer, not to maximize the appeal of the product. Strong and prominent health warning labels, limits on labels such as “slim” and “light,” package inserts containing detailed health and ingredient information, and standardized packaging formats are among the ways to accomplish this goal.
Unfortunately, warning labels tend to be weak in all but a few countries. More than 40 developing countries do not require any warning labels at all. Of those that do, 73% require weakly worded warnings on the side of the package and many of those are in English rather than local languages.
Numerous studies have been done to determine which elements are most important in creating effective labels. Findings include:
* To command attention, warning labels should occupy a minimum of 25% of the top of the front and back of the package. They should be in black and white or other
sharply contrasting colors. Type style and size also must be specified to avoid industry efforts to undermine the impact of the warning.* Messages should be unequivocal, simple, and stark. They should convey both the nature and magnitude of the risks, since studies show smokers underestimate most
risks associated with tobacco use.
Pictorial warnings may also be appropriate, particularly in countries with low literacy rates or where research shows that smokers are ignoring standard warning labels.
Several nations have implemented strong health warning label requirements. Examples include:
- Canada, whose health minister recently proposed enlarging the labels from 30% of the package face to 60%;
- Thailand, which has added the message “SMOKING CAUSES IMPOTENCE” to its list of required warnings; and
- Australia, which was the first nation to require that “how to quit” information be printed on every pack.
- South Africa, Singapore and Poland also require strong warning labels.
Tobacco companies use words such as “light,” “ultralight,” “slim” and “superslim” in their brand names and in their marketing materials. Research suggests that these words are intended to make implicit health claims minimizing the harmfulness of the product, and may encourage smokers motivated to quit to switch to a “light” brand. These words also appeal to smokers, primarily women, who believe they can use cigarettes to lose weight.
These pictorial warnings provide smokers with helpful information on the health effects. Most smokers want this information, and certainly want their children to have this information too. The tobacco industry is continuing its decades-long strategy of trying to minimize the effectiveness of package warnings. The tobacco industry is no friend of smokers — and ironically it’s true that ‘the tobacco industry kills its best customers’.
Also package warnings are a good public health strategy because the cost of package warnings is paid for by tobacco companies, not government. Also this should not be looked upon as an isolated initiative rather has to be supported by comprehensive healthcare, legislations and education programmes to attain long-run public health gains.
Bobby Ramakant
(The author is a senior health and development journalist writing for newspapers in Asia and Africa. He is also the member of NATT (Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals) and can be reached at: bobbyramakant@yahoo.com)
Published in:
12 April 2007: Pakistan Tribune
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?174961
13 April 2007: The Scoop Independent News (New Zealand)
New Zealand: Scary photos of cancer on cig packs
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00219.htm
13 April 2007: The Seoul Times (Republic of Korea [South Korea])http://www.theseoultimes.com/ST/db/read.php?idx=5128
14 April 2007: The Times of Zambia (Zambia) http://www.times.co.zm/ .
16 April 2007: The Dispatch (South Africa) http://www.dispatch.co.za/ .
17 April 2007: The Brunei Times (Brunei Darussalam): http://www.bruneitimes.com.bn/details.php?shape_ID=27182
LOG of Keep-The-Promise Campaign
LOG of Keep-The-Promise Campaign
7 April 2007
- Op-Ed indepth article on theme of WNTD (Smokefree environment)
Swatantra Bharat (national hindi newspaper)
by Amit Dwivedi
Online available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9pzE0CxsEuGN9-DThOuHfSzNdhuyafLCdvw4VNjoo1v-iWeSHIbDygPM63EVQpN65haTjA_saSrSgg3qrzs-L3eZMChPOR51yjouH41wBoqS5jmOj9NfQ6iPh3MzydlBsMyUGOIWeGM/s1600-h/DSC05283.JPG
10 April 2007
- Smokescreen at work: No ifs about this butt !
The Times of India
Online at: http://cns-mediawatch.blogspot.com/2007/04/smokescreen-at-work-no-ifs-about-this.html
12 April 2007
- FCTC enforcement in Pakistan: Warning labels' issue
Pakistan Tribune
Online at: http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?174961
13 April 2007
With inadequate cessation services, what will Kerala smokers do after 16 April?
The Asian Tribune (13 April 2007)
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5298
New Zealand: Scary photos of cancer on cig packs
The Scoop Independent News (New Zealand)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00219.htm
The Seoul Times (Republic of Korea [South Korea])
Cancer photos to discourage tobacco users
http://www.theseoultimes.com/ST/db/read.php?idx=5128
14 April 2007
The Kashmir Times (14 April 2007)
What will Kerala smokers do after 16 April?
http://www.kashmirtimes.com/feature.htm
The next big healthcare problem: Tobacco Cessation
The Rediff News (14 April 2007)
http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/14tobacco.htm
What will Kerala smokers do after 16 April?
The Seoul Times (14 April 2007)
http://www.theseoultimes.com/ST/db/read.php?idx=5137
India to follow South Africa with pictorial warnings on Cig Packs
Times of Zambia (Zambia) (14 April 2007)
http://www.times.co.zm/
15 April 2007
Is tobacco company seriously concerned about people's lungs in Pakistan?
Asian Tribune (15 April 2007)
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5330
16 April 2007
India to follow South Africa with pictorial warnings on Cig packs
The Dispatch (South Africa) (16 April 2007)
http://www.dispatch.co.za
17 April 2007
Is tobacco company seriously concerned about people's lungs in Pakistan?
Scoop Independent News (New Zealand) (17 April 2007)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00265.htm
Scary photos to discourage smokers
The Brunei Times (Brunei Darussalam): (17 April 2007)
http://www.bruneitimes.com.bn/details.php?shape_ID=27182
7 April 2007
- Op-Ed indepth article on theme of WNTD (Smokefree environment)
Swatantra Bharat (national hindi newspaper)
by Amit Dwivedi
Online available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9pzE0CxsEuGN9-DThOuHfSzNdhuyafLCdvw4VNjoo1v-iWeSHIbDygPM63EVQpN65haTjA_saSrSgg3qrzs-L3eZMChPOR51yjouH41wBoqS5jmOj9NfQ6iPh3MzydlBsMyUGOIWeGM/s1600-h/DSC05283.JPG
10 April 2007
- Smokescreen at work: No ifs about this butt !
The Times of India
Online at: http://cns-mediawatch.blogspot.com/2007/04/smokescreen-at-work-no-ifs-about-this.html
12 April 2007
- FCTC enforcement in Pakistan: Warning labels' issue
Pakistan Tribune
Online at: http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?174961
13 April 2007
With inadequate cessation services, what will Kerala smokers do after 16 April?
The Asian Tribune (13 April 2007)
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5298
New Zealand: Scary photos of cancer on cig packs
The Scoop Independent News (New Zealand)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00219.htm
The Seoul Times (Republic of Korea [South Korea])
Cancer photos to discourage tobacco users
http://www.theseoultimes.com/ST/db/read.php?idx=5128
14 April 2007
The Kashmir Times (14 April 2007)
What will Kerala smokers do after 16 April?
http://www.kashmirtimes.com/feature.htm
The next big healthcare problem: Tobacco Cessation
The Rediff News (14 April 2007)
http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/14tobacco.htm
What will Kerala smokers do after 16 April?
The Seoul Times (14 April 2007)
http://www.theseoultimes.com/ST/db/read.php?idx=5137
India to follow South Africa with pictorial warnings on Cig Packs
Times of Zambia (Zambia) (14 April 2007)
http://www.times.co.zm/
15 April 2007
Is tobacco company seriously concerned about people's lungs in Pakistan?
Asian Tribune (15 April 2007)
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5330
16 April 2007
India to follow South Africa with pictorial warnings on Cig packs
The Dispatch (South Africa) (16 April 2007)
http://www.dispatch.co.za
17 April 2007
Is tobacco company seriously concerned about people's lungs in Pakistan?
Scoop Independent News (New Zealand) (17 April 2007)
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0704/S00265.htm
Scary photos to discourage smokers
The Brunei Times (Brunei Darussalam): (17 April 2007)
http://www.bruneitimes.com.bn/details.php?shape_ID=27182
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