India’s stand prevails in Bali
Delhi’s draft based on its stand on food security, trade facilitation to be adopted
India has had its way on the Bali Package at the Ninth Ministerial of the World Trade Organisation here. The draft Ministerial Decision put up for endorsement to the member-countries is the draft India submitted; it takes care of India’s position on both food security and trade facilitation.
Cuba and Venezuela and one other country are holding up/delaying the adoption of the Ministerial text for some issues they have with it. The deliberations are going on. It has been decided to adopt the draft at the closing ceremony early on Saturday.
Indian delegates say they don't feel that the delay will result in non-adoption of the draft.
Adoption of the text would be the first major decision of the century on global trade after the WTO came into being, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters here. The draft proposes an interim mechanism to safeguard minimum support prices to farmers against WTO caps till a permanent solution is adopted. Over the past two days, WTO Director-General (DG) Roberto Azevedo and Ministerial Chair and Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan held marathon meetings with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Mr. Sharma. “We live in interesting times, but I stand firm on the Indian position of food security,” Mr. Sharma said on his way out of his meeting with the three “giants”.
Later on Friday, he told The Hindu he had rejected the text prepared by the DG for the Ministerial Decision. “Ambassador Froman told me he would need a mandate from Washington to agree with us, and I told him to convey to President Obama that we wouldn’t like to see him stand against developing countries’ right to food — and I found the USTR receptive.” Three hours after this meeting, at 3 a.m., India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO in Geneva Jayant Dasgupta handed over to the DG the Bali text India had prepared.
Draft bifurcation Bill sent to President
The AP States Reorganisation Bill 2013 was referred to the President on Friday, a day after it was cleared by the Union Cabinet. Sources said the draft legislation is likely to reach the AP Assembly on December 9 for opinion of the members before it is sent to the Union Government for further action.
It all depends on how much time the President gives to the Assembly to discuss and return the Bill.
Earlier in the day, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh hinted that a special session of Parliament may be convened if the Centre is unable to table the legislation in the winter session.
He told reporters in Delhi that he could not really say how much time the President would give to the Assembly.
With Yameen’s visit, ties with Maldives set to shine again
After almost two years of testy ties, India and Maldives will seek to repair their relationship in the run-up to the visit by the newly elected President, Abdulla Yameen, from December 23 to 25, according to sources in the government.
The process will begin next week during the visit of Maldives Defence Minister Col. (retd.) Mohamed Nazim when India will formally hand over an indigenously made helicopter for surveillance and domain awareness operations in northern Maldives.
India has already gifted Maldives an advanced light helicopter (ALH) for its southern most island Addu. This ALH will be for the northern most inhabited island.
In addition, his visit could also see the gifting of a landing craft to Maldives.
During Mr. Yameen’s first overseas visit after taking over as President, both sides would be signing a package of measures to resume projects that seem to have gone on the backburner after Mohd Nasheed was ousted as President in February last year.
These include the construction of a national police academy, refurbishing of the Indira Gandhi Hospital in Male and setting up a faculty for teaching tourism and hospitality.
Mr. Yameen will be here to chair the convocation ceremony of South Asia University here, as Maldives is currently chairing the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). He will then be holding delegation level talks as well as meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the parameters of cooperation over the next couple of years.
However, Indian corporates that felt they were done in by the previous government are hoping their concerns will also be put up to the Maldives President. Among them is the cancellation of a contract given to GMR, said to be the single biggest foreign investment proposal in Maldives, Tata Housing’s real estate project and Tattva Global’s contract for waste management.
“The initial signs have not been too encouraging,’’ said a spokesperson of one of the corporates, referring to a futile meeting with the Maldives authorities in which Indian High Commission officials from Male had also participated.
Law soon to ensure delivery of resources under SC, ST sub-plans
The Union Ministries of Social Justice and Empowerment and Tribal Affairs are working overtime to ready law that will ensure that resources allocated as part of the Scheduled Caste sub-plan and Scheduled Tribe sub-plan reach intended beneficiaries. Top sources in both Ministries told The Hinduthat they hope to introduce and pass the Bill in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.
The Bill will be moved by Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Kumari Selja, but it envisages two authorities, one that will be located in her Ministry — for SCs — and the other — for STs — in the Tribal Affairs Ministry headed by Kishore Chandra Deo to monitor how the various other ministries plan and spend the money set aside for SCs and STs.
If the shortcomings in the implementation of the SC and ST sub-plans have long been felt, the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) took the initiative in UPA-II to take a fresh look at them to see whether a new system could be devised for the 12th Plan to ensure that the sub-plans “are implemented in letter and in spirit”: it made its recommendations for a reform process of the SCSP/TSP to the Government in December 2011, and then suggested a framework a year later.
With inclusive growth being the Congress’ mantra, the party now wants to push the Bill to reform implementation of the SC/ST sub-plans in the ongoing session to reach out to two communities that have been its traditional voters ahead of the general election in 2014.
The Bill, sources in the government said, was circulated to various Ministries and the 24 States and three Union Territories that have a substantial SC/ST population. Thus far, in the States, only the Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh has enacted such law and Ms. Selja urged Karnataka and Uttarakhand, also ruled by the Congress — to take steps in the same direction.
Rs. 7,500-cr. interest-free loan for sugar mills
To clear arrears payable to cane farmers; loan can be repaid in 5 years with a moratorium of 2 years
In a major initiative to end the face-off between the sugar industry and farmers, an informal Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday recommended a financial package to millers, which includes an interest-free loan of Rs. 7,500 crore to pay off arrears. The loan can be repaid in five years with a moratorium of two years.
According to sources in the industry, the arrears stood at Rs. 5,064 crore in 2012-13.
After a two-hour meeting with invited Chief Ministers of major sugar-growing States, the GoM agreed on interest subvention of 12 per cent on the Rs. 7,500-crore loan. Of this, 5 per cent will be borne by the Centre and 7 per cent will come from the Sugar Development Fund under the Ministry of Food. Each mill can avail itself of a loan under this arrangement equivalent to the average excise duty paid by it.
Other measures include incentives for production of 4 million tonnes of raw sugar, restructuring of loans as per the Reserve Bank of India guidelines and doubling of ethanol blending in petrol to 10 per cent. An inter-departmental panel will be set up to coordinate with oil marketing companies and sugar mills for ethanol blending.
For now, there will be no increase in duty on sugar imports.
On the millers’ demand for the creation of a buffer stock on government account, the Finance Ministry would come up on the financial burden this would create on the exchequer. The States have been asked to examine different modalities for sugarcane pricing, including the revenue-sharing model (suggested by the C. Rangarajan panel), Mr. Pawar told journalists after the meeting.
“Our effort is to help both, the farmers and the industry,” he said adding that the crushing of sugarcane had begun in all parts of the country.
The recommendations will be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and Food Minister K.V. Thomas were present. The Chief Ministers of Karnataka (Siddaramaiah), Maharashtra (Prithviraj Chavan) and Uttar Pradesh (Akhilesh Yadav) participated in the meeting, while Tamil Nadu was represented by Chief Secretary Sheela Balakrishnan.
Coming out of the meeting, Mr. Yadav and Mr. Siddaramaiah said: “Some measures are being worked out,” and Mr. Chavan pointed out that “it is a process.”
The industry, represented by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), welcomed the initiatives, saying it will help in clearing the cane arrears. “The proposed measures will also help the industry venture into production of new product ‘raw sugar’ and grab opportunities whenever they are available,” ISMA Director-General Abhinash Verma said.
In the last few weeks, millers had declined to crush cane in the ongoing season, saying it was financially unviable for them to do so. They cited higher production of sugar and decline in sugar price as the reasons for their agony. Farmers, on the other hand, sought higher cane price over last year as input costs had gone up, leading to the formation of the GoM by the Prime Minister to resolve the matter.
Upholding judicial independence
The provisions of the Constitution (120th Amendment) Bill later corrected as the Constitution (99th Amendment) Bill read with the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2013 (JAC Bill), if adopted, will emasculate an independent judiciary and will pose a grave threat to the rule of law. The Constitution Amendment having been passed by the Rajya Sabha on September 5, 2013 is coming up before the Lok Sabha in the winter session.
Our Supreme Court has said “[the] Rule of Law is a basic feature of the Constitution which permeates the whole of the constitutional fabric and is an integral part of the constitutional structure. The independence of the judiciary is an essential attribute of the Rule of Law.”
The court has also observed: “In India, however, the judicial institutions, by tradition, have an avowed apolitical commitment and the assurance of a non-political complexion of the judiciary cannot be divorced from the process of appointments. … The constitutional values cannot be whittled down by calling the appointment of judges an executive act.”
The doctrine of separation of powers cannot be stretched so as to set up a mechanism which is capable of being abused by making judicial appointments completely subservient to the will of the executive.
Pernicious features
First, the composition of the JAC is the Chief Justice of India (CJI), two seniormost judges of the Supreme Court, the Law Minister, and two eminent persons selected by a panel consisting of the Prime Minister, the CJI and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It can be modified or altered by Parliament by ordinary law (Article 124A). This configuration of six members is not part of the Constitution and is not constitutionally entrenched. The JAC can be ‘packed’ by pliant elements in future by the executive even by an Ordinance and the JAC can recommend non-meritorious persons even on the basis of caste, religion or loyalty to the government.
The appointment of the CJI, the CJ of High Courts, and judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and transfer of High Court judges are to take place on the recommendation of the JAC. Thus, a JAC can, even by a majority, recommend a junior judge of the Supreme Court to be a CJI — or even a Chief Justice or judge of the High Court can be recommended to be the CJI. Further, with six members as contemplated in the JAC, a casting vote for the CJI is essential.
Secondly, there is no provision recognising the convention that the seniormost Supreme Court judge will be appointed as the CJI (unless physically impaired) — a constitutional convention adhered to from 1950 except for the two supersessions concerning Justice A.N. Ray and Justice M.H. Beg. Such a provision will prevent lobbying and will preserve collegiality in the apex court.
Thirdly, the JAC Bill provides that the Central government will appoint the officers and employees of the Commission, making its secretariat a government department. This is the most dangerous provision. The officials and personnel of the Commission should be appointed in the same manner as those of the Supreme Court (Article 146), viz. by the CJI or such other judge or officer of the court as he may direct. If the secretariat or officers and servants of the JAC are treated as government departments, there are a hundred ways of making the JAC dysfunctional. In addition, the confidentiality and secrecy of the JAC deliberations cannot be maintained. The importance of an independent secretariat is a sine qua non for an independent and politically neutral JAC.
Fourthly, all expenses including salaries, allowances and pensions should be charged upon the Consolidated Fund of India as provided for the Supreme Court and the High Courts (Article 146 and 229). The JAC must be financially independent of executive budgetary control.
Finally and, most importantly, the criticism against the collegium system was lack of transparency, no consultations with the Bar, favouritism, the lack of a level-playing field for meritorious members of the Bar, no list of potential candidates prepared after advertisements and nominations to be put up in the public domain and lack of guidelines and criteria in the selection process. These core concepts must be incorporated in the Constitution Amendment and not left to be addressed by the Central government or the JAC. One opaque collegium need not be substituted by another, raising the apprehension that future vacancies may be shared by internal accommodations within the JAC.
The above pernicious shortcomings are ticking time-bombs which can be detonated at any time by a powerful executive having a parliamentary majority in the future — and we are looking at a future which may extend to many years.
If these flaws are removed and appropriate ancillary provisions are made in the Constitution Amendment Bill itself, the entire judicial reform can be part of the Constitution and the JAC Bill will become wholly redundant.
It is worth recalling that the provisions of the Bills were never communicated to the Bar for a robust debate, in spite of a written request by leading members of the Bar in April 2013. The two Bills were gazetted and tabled in the Rajya Sabha on August 29, 2013. On September 5, 2013, the Constitution Amendment Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha by 131 votes in favour and a single vote by Ram Jethamalani in opposition. The JAC Bill has been referred to a parliamentary committee. This great hurry reminds one of the amendments passed during the Internal Emergency — the 39th Amendment moved on August 6, 1975, and passed on August 8, 1975; the 40th Amendment moved on May 18, 1976, and passed on May 27, 1976; the 41st Amendment moved on August 18, 1976 and passed on August 30, 1976; the 42nd Amendment moved on August 28, 1976, and passed on November 11, 1976.
Reactions to the Bill
The views of former CJI M.N. Venkatachaliah (who headed the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution) as reported mention that it would be dangerous if the primacy of the CJI in the appointment process was done away with — it would be against the basic structure of the Constitution. Two other former CJIs are reported to have strong reservations about the JAC being altered by a simple majority and even somebody other than the CJI being made chairperson of the JAC ( Indian Express , September 6, 2013).
If the Bills in the present form are passed without eliminating the pernicious features, a serious constitutional challenge is likely to be mounted on the ground of violation of the basic structure by undermining an independent judiciary and consequently the rule of law. These are not imaginary fears. Who expected constitutional amendments which effectively emasculated judicial review being passed during the Internal Emergency after detaining all Opposition leaders, gagging the press and controlling the media and intimidating High Court judges by punitive transfers?
Modus Vivendi: possible consensus
Is a consensus possible? Dr. Rajendra Prasad in his speech in the Constituent Assembly on the eve of the adoption of the Constitution said: “We have prepared a democratic Constitution. But a successful working of democratic institutions requires in those who have to work them willingness to respect the viewpoints of others, capacity for compromise and accommodation. … After all, a Constitution like a machine is a lifeless thing. It acquires life because of the men who control it and operate it, and India needs today nothing more than a set of honest men who will have the interest of the country before them…”
The Law Minister in his speech delivered in Hindi in the Rajya Sabha on September 5, 2013, said that Parliament had great respect for the judiciary and that the independence of the judiciary should not be impaired. There seems to be some rethinking by the government in regard to the composition of the JAC being entrenched in the Constitution.
It is a unanimously held view that the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary should in no manner be compromised. It is widely perceived that the collegium system has not worked well and requires extensive reforms.
If the amendment is passed with the pernicious flaws indicated above, it is likely to create enormous tensions between the Bar and the judiciary on the one side and the executive on the other — a bruising confrontation which could well be avoided before the coming general elections.
It is hoped that our political leadership will rise to a level of statesmanship to give substance to the prophetic words of Rajendra Prasad, and bring judicial reforms while preserving the rule of law supported by an independent judiciary.
(Anil Divan is president, Bar Association of India. anildivan@gmail.com)
It is a unanimously held view that the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary should in no manner be compromised. It is widely perceived that the collegium system has not worked well and requires extensive reforms.
Up close and personal
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela died in the fullness of years, in the fullness of being witness to and a participant in the making of history. Even as we mourn the passing of the man, this is also an occasion to celebrate that life — in the best African tradition.
When I was reporting for The Hindu from South Africa during the period June 1994 to December 2001, there were occasions when one could see President Mandela in the corridors of the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters at Shell House in Plein Street, Johannesburg, or as he sometimes walked the short distance from Tuynhuis, the President’s office in the Parliament complex, to Parliament, in Cape Town.
Security in those early days of freedom was not very tight within the Parliament complex. However, the best bet was to be in the ANC headquarters at Shell House on Friday mornings, when he was usually at the ANC Office, moving in and out of rooms of comrades like Walter Sisulu on the same floor. I was a regular at Shell House in those days, having secured permission to study in the ANC library but actually hoping to catch a glimpse of Nelson Mandela.
During this period, I lived in a block of flats in Berea, Johannesburg, and had befriended Rica Hodgson, who lived in the same building. A veteran of the liberation struggle, Rica was Walter Sisulu’s secretary. I also had two other friends in the ANC: Pallo Jordan, a minister in the first Mandela cabinet, whom I knew from my days at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1965-66), and Moosie Moola, the ANC veteran from Johannesburg who worked from Shell House. It was through these contacts that I was able to secure an exclusive interview with President Mandela within months of my arrival in the country.
It was for me a memorable occasion; I was utterly overawed in his presence, but he was kind and informal, put me at ease and answered my questions and indeed made the interview more of a conversation, as it were. I was allotted exactly 45 minutes by his secretary Priscilla Naidoo, but the conversation stretched to an hour and 10 minutes, to the consternation of the secretary and the annoyance of more important persons who had an appointment with the President.
On Nehru and Gandhiji
One of the points that came through during this conversation was the high regard he had for Jawaharlal Nehru, though he was also respectful towards Gandhiji. But more than Gandhiji, he admired Nehru for his understanding of the struggle in South Africa as part of the unfinished business of decolonisation,
I had two other encounters with him, while being part of a crowd. The first was at a large meeting in the media briefing room in Parliament complex in Cape Town. The meeting had been called in the context of the growth of a disturbing kind or vigilantism represented by a phenomenon called People against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD). The reporters had squeezed themselves wherever they could in the midst of a much larger “faith community” that had foregathered. President Mandela decided to walk up and individually greet those present. Walking in the narrow spaces between the rows of chairs as everyone stood up to make way for him, he said as he came up to where I was standing, “Hello, Old Man, how are you,” and without waiting for any reply, passed on to shake the next pair of hands.
My most memorable informal encounter was during the ANC’s 50th National Conference in December 1997 at the University of Mafikeng — the venue. The morning hours were quiet during the conference, and I was having breakfast in the university cafeteria. All of a sudden, the small staff of workers, mostly women with pails, brooms and mops, left their stuff and ran out ululating as they saw President Mandela walking in the vicinity of the canteen. Soon they surrounded him, singing songs celebrating the President. Mandela too was enjoying himself doing his famous shuffle, shaking hands all around. I had also left my breakfast unfinished and gone down to watch, standing on the periphery of the group of workers who were so delighted to see President Mandela at such close quarters, shake hands with him, sing and dance with him. He saw me, and raised his hand in greeting, saying “Hello Old Man, still here I see, how are you!” as he walked off without waiting for an answer.
It was but a moment, but I was profoundly moved at the way he could connect to a group of charladies, be one with them, of them, with no media or TV cameras to catch him “performing,” for he had walked away as a by now alerted TV crew advanced towards the spot. Truly, he was a People’s President.
E-mail: kamaroopi@gmail.com
Mandela was a man who could truly put you at ease, who enjoyed interacting heartily with the common people
‘I was profoundly moved at the way he could connect to a group of charladies, be one with them, of them, with no media or TV cameras to catch him ….’
U.S. top nuclear regulator urges storage solution
The United States’ top nuclear regulator said on Friday that atomic energy users, including Japan, must figure out how to ultimately store radioactive waste.
Allison Macfarlane, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in Tokyo that finding an underground repository remains a challenge despite a global consensus on the need for such a facility to deal with waste coming out of nuclear power plants.
Japan has no final waste repository, not even a potential site. The U.S. government’s plan for building a repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been halted by strong local opposition due to safety concerns.
“In the nuclear community, we of course have to face the reality of the end product spent fuel,” Ms Macfarlane told reporters.
She urged countries that are contemplating or embarking on a nuclear power programme to formulate back-end plans at an early stage.
The new policy under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pro-nuclear government is pushing to restart as many reactors as possible if deemed safe under the new, stricter safety standards that took effect this past summer. The new policy, whose draft was discussed on Friday by a government panel, is also expected to stick to Japan’s shaky fuel cycle programme despite international concerns about the country’s massive plutonium stockpile.
Japan is stuck with 44 tons of plutonium at home and overseas after unsuccessfully pushing to establish a fuel cycle, with its fast breeder reactor and a reprocessing plant never fully operated. Experts say Japan’s plutonium stockpile poses a nuclear security threat and raises questions over whether Japan plans to develop a nuclear weapon, which Tokyo denies.
Japan also has more than 14,000 tons of spent fuel in cooling pools at its 50 reactors, all of which are offline. Some pools are expected to be full in several years, and are expected to be moved to a dry cask facility just completed in northern Japan.
Ms Macfarlane said moving them to dry cask storage is a safer option but still only a temporary measure. — AP
