Two Pieces from the Sentinel:
( Highlighting mine)
Army the Main Hurdle
At a time when the people of Assam are so desperately awaiting a
positive response from the ULFA that it will sit for talks with the
Government of India, there is reason for despair as the ULFA has again
resorted to its earlier stratagem of playing hot and cold by turns. What
started as the ULFA's constitutional difficulties in sending a written
confirmation to the Union Government of its willingness to sit down for
negotiations, has now been supplemented by yet another reason for ULFA's
reluctance to come to the negotiating table. The ULFA leadership now says
that the Indian Army has decided to extend further its presence in Asom by
expanding its bases in Misa, near Nagaon and Changsari, near Guwahati. ULFA
commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah is strongly opposed to such expansion moves
not merely because of the implications for the ULFA, but also because "more
militarization" would displace a large number of "our people" from their
land and take away huge stretches of arable land that can feed thousands of
people. It is another matter that the ULFA has been silent all along about
the huge stretches of land occupied by Bangladeshis around the Kaziranga
National Park (KNP) that has gone for many years. Obviously the ULFA has
decided to turn a blind eye to this loss of Asom's arable land. If anything,
this is one clear indication of what the ULFA is going to do to Asom if it
ever manages to secure sovereignty for our State. It is going to hand over
the State to the ISI of Pakistan the very next day. So we in Asom ought to
know what to expect if the ULFA secures sovereignty.
Having said this, it is also necessary to assert that every
valid argument does not become a bad one merely because it has been offered
by the ULFA. Everyone in Asom and the Northeast will agree that the
sustained army presence in the region with special powers vested even in the
non-commissioned officers has given rise to a situation without parallel
anywhere in the civilized world. With the Armed Forces (Special Powers)
Act and the Disturbed Areas Act in force, the armed forces can treat anyone
in Asom and some of the northeastern States as no better than street dogs,
to be shot down at the smallest provocation. And the Army has taken full
advantage of these two Draconian laws to stage countless fake encounters and
kill innocent youths on the plea that they were terrorists or were engaged
in anti-national activities. Army jawans have done all this as coolly as
they have raped women in rural areas as well as in State capitals like
Imphal. No wonder, even very senior dyed-in-the-wool retired army
officers from the north have expressed the view that today the army in Asom
is an army of occupation. Nothing could be a better assessment of the
Indian Army as it has managed to project itself. One is naturally beginning
to ask another very pertinent question: Is the army here only to tackle
insurgency (which it has not managed to too well despite its overkill in
this region), or is there a vested interest that has very little to do with
counter-insurgency responsibilities? One does not easily forget the armed
forces' presence in Jammu & Kashmir in the days of Governor's rule.
Everyone in the bureaucracy, the police, the armed forces and the
paramilitary forces was singing the same refrain: that it was impossible to
hold elections in Jammu & Kashmir. This was because they were all very
anxious to continue Governor's rule indefinitely. After all, Governor's rule
meant no State Assembly and therefore no accountability anywhere. The
bureaucracy, the military, the police and the paramilitary forces could do
precisely what they liked. And the sums of money going in from the Centre to
J&K were astronomical. So what is so terribly surprising about a vested
interest growing up there to postpone elections for as long as possible. In
like manner, the value of food and other supplies coming in for the armed
forces in the Northeast has also become astronomical. So what is to rule out
a similar vested interest convincing the Centre that the armed forces should
not only continue to remain in the Northeast for counter-insurgency
operations, but that military presence here has to be enhanced.
However, it is difficult to agree with the views of Paresh Baruah
about keeping out a nuclear research centre from the region to process the
uranium from the rich deposits in Meghalaya. Uranium is best handled in the
public sector with very stringent controls. Otherwise the Meghalaya uranium
will find its way to Bangladesh and Pakistan. The fear of ecological hazards
is a misplaced fear considering that the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre has
been functioning in Mumbai for decades without any known harm to anyone.
There are also a few nuclear power plants running in different parts of
India without any mishaps so far. And nuclear plants for producing
electricity will be the norm in the years to come. That is why the
processing of nuclear materials is far safer in the public sector.
Good governance, which way?
ON THE
SPOT
Tavleen Singh
This piece is about the failure of governance not about the post
office. But, I am going to begin with a description of the Nariman Point
post office in Mumbai with the idea of showing you that we cannot have
governance, national security or dream of being an economic superpower as
long as we have public buildings that look like garbage dumps. Why this
particular post office? Because I went there last week to retrieve a parcel
of books that was confiscated under some outdated law made in the days when
India was desperately short of foreign exchange. More about that later.
The first thing that hits you when you enter Nariman Point post
office in fashionable, up market South Mumbai is the unmistakable stench of
uncleaned toilets because this amenity has been thoughtfully provided at the
entrance. Visitors are forced to notice the grime that coats white tiled
walls not to mention unspeakable other sights. You then wander into rooms
with paan-stained walls and filled with dust from old files and packages
making what should be the reception area of the post office look like a
disused warehouse. By the time I got to the official I had come to see,
Mahesh Anand Wagholikar, sub-postmaster and public relations inspector, I
was so disgusted with the state of his office that I berated him for not
doing more to keep it clean. He seemed surprised but said it was because the
government did not give them funds for maintenance. I told him he could
clean things up by putting his staff to work. They seemed to be doing very
little. This annoyed him.
Then, I demanded to know what gave him
the right to confiscate a parcel that belonged to me and how dare he send me
a notice that said it would be 'returned to sender' if I did not collect it
within five days. He said I had refused to pay the postman who brought the
parcel so this was procedure. I told him the parcel was from
Amazon.com and contained books
and I had already paid postage for them. He said the money was customs duty
and I pointed out that there was no duty on books which confused him but
made him more belligerent. 'You can't come in here and start making a racket
like this,' he said raising his voice 'this is a government office'. This
made me belligerent and I told him that as a government servant he was there
to serve the people not get officious with them. He got angrier and
threatened not to give me my parcel even though I had by now paid Rs 600 for
it. He also refused to give me a receipt.
To cut a long story
short, I complained to the Principal Chief Post Master General, Ms
Noorjehan, and got an apology and a receipt for the money along with an
explanation. A postal law made in 1985 obliges us to pay for parcels coming
from abroad because in those days we were so short of foreign exchange that
the government was forced to charge those who dared to spend it. Times have
changed as has the state of our foreign exchange reserves but the law
remains.
Why do I consider this story important? Because I want to
draw your attention to the sad reality that good governance is impossible as
long as officials work out of public buildings that look like garbage dumps.
Good governance, like charity, begins at home. Officials who work in filthy,
disorderly conditions cannot begin to dream of providing us with the
standards of governance we need if our cities are to look like clean, modern
cities. They cannot be expected to provide us first world services if they
work in third world conditions. Post offices, police stations and public
hospitals must be well run if we want these services and utilities to
improve but sadly we only become aware of this in times of crisis. So it was
only after the bombs went off in Malegaon last week that Sonia Gandhi
noticed that her government in Maharashtra had failed to build the hospital
that was promised years ago.
National security is a huge issue these days. Recent terrorist
acts have drawn everyone's attention to the inability of our government to
protect the lives of ordinary citizens but while expressing our anger we
seem unable to understand that we cannot expect first rate security out of
third rate governance. You only need to visit your local police station to
know that policemen live and work in appalling squalor and conditions of
virtual penal servitude. They are expected to be on duty 24 hours a day for
a pittance. If things are bad in the cities they are beyond horror in rural
parts of our poorer states where our policemen are being ordered to win the
war against the Naxalites. Police stations in rural Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
are infinitely more squalid than the Nariman Point post office and often
policemen are expected to live and work out of the same hovel.
In the glittering public forums of Delhi and Mumbai you hear much
talk these days of India's status as an 'emerging economy' and a future
economic superpower. Nariman Point, they say, is the centre of our
economic might. May I recommend that they visit the post office for a quick
reality check.
