ISSUE OF CREATION OF NEW STATES

The recent announcement of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government's proposal to divide Uttar Pradesh into four smaller States the proposed new States – Paschim Pradesh, Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal and Awadh Pradesh to end the crippling regional disparities in the country's most populous State.
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION RELATING TO CREATION OF A STATE:
Under Article 3 of the Indian constitution, Parliament may by law (a) form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State; (b) increase the area of any State; (c) diminish the area of any State; (d) alter the boundaries of any State; or (e) alter the name of any State.
New states U/A 3 of the constitution can only be formed by introducing a bill with prior consent of the president of india.the parliament refers the bill for formation of a new state to the state legislative assembly for its views on the matter within a stipulated period of time.the bill then is reverted to the parliament for creation of the state, which can be achieved through a simple majority.the views of the state are not binding on the parliament.If the State legislature fails to express its views within the stipulated time, Parliament is free to proceed with the matter. The word ‘State' under Article 3 includes the Union Territories, too, whereas under the proviso, Union Territories have been excluded from the definition of States because Parliament itself legislates for U.Ts.thus Parliament can pass the law to reorganize either reorganise States or create new states with a simple majority.
Parliament has so far passed 20 laws under Article 3 to reorganise various States. The last Act to be enacted under this provision is the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000. (The Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Acts, 2000, preceded this.)
On close observation the union governments over the years have evolved a broad pattern of guidelines while considering demands for the creation of new States.These are:
(a) Demand for a state shouldn’t be based on a secessionist motive;
(b) Demands based on language and culture could be accommodated, but not those based explicitly on religious differences;
(c) Demands must have clearly demonstrated public support; and
(d) Division of multilingual States must have some support from different linguistic groups.
(e) If the demand is driven by the specific needs of the political economy of development, then it qualifies for due consideration by the Centre.
While the BSP’s move fulfills the criteria (a), (b) & (e), it doesn’t fulfill (c) & (d).the very nature and timing(a year before the forthcoming assembly elections) of the move to consider creating four new states evokes suspicion. There has not been any demand from the people of the state for dividing the state. It was orchestrated by the BSP unilaterally.opposition parties such as SP,RLD & BJP in U.P allege that this bolt from the blue is a move by the BSP’s top brass to divert people’s attention from a spate of scams which caused embarresment to the government (the embezzlement of public funds in the NRHM(National rural health mission) & MGNREGS(mahatmagandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme).they opine that the BSP deliberately cooked up the issue of statehood to shift the focus of the people which is currently focused on widespread discrepancies in maintainance of law & order & inability to check corruption.
Are smaller states better?
THE CASE OF UTTARAKHAND:how it has fared since its inception
1. As per statistics, uttarkhand has more than trebled its percapita income which is higher than the national percapita income .The State launched has been among the top three States recording the highest growth rate in the past few years.
2.due to high industrial investments & a10-year concessional industrial package granted to the State in 2003 by the Union government, which included a tax holiday and capital investment subsidy , there has been a phenomenal increase in employment.
3.Uttarakhand has been able to develop into a prominent tourism hub. In the past decade, Uttarakhand also emerged as a centre for higher education. Universities imparting specialised professional education, such as the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, which is the only one of its kind in Asia have been established.
THE CASE OF CHHATTISGARH:
1. Chhattisgarh has managed to achieve a high growth rate owing to its immense mineral and natural resources. The State posted the highest economic growth rate of 11.49 per cent among all Indian States
2. in terms of social indicators, chattisgarh has shown cconsiderable improvement since its inception. Its literacy rate of 71.04 per cent is close to the national figure of 74.04 per cent. Its sex ratio(991) is much better than the national average of 940.
3. The State, which harnessed its massive coal reserves to generate power, has a per capita energy consumption of 1,547 units as against the 779 units at the national level. It is an energy surplus State today, which was not the case when it was part of Madhya Pradesh.
4.The State has managed to maintain an average growth rate of 10.05 per cent for the past six years, which is the highest for any State in India. The State ranks first in industrial investment in the country, with $63 billion in 2010.
5. The downside: But the growth story has a number of contradictions. While mining and mining-based industries, specifically steel and power, have helped push up the State's gross domestic product, there has been little qualitative improvement in people's lives. The percapita income of the state is still at Rs.33,952 compared to the national average, of Rs.54,835. 10 out of its 18 districts are affected by left-wing extremism, more than 40 per cent of its population is below the poverty line, and over 75 per cent of its population can be categorized as small and marginal farmers.
6. The State has done well in the agricultural sector too. It is a major rice-producing State, the second largest in India in terms of procurement. The e-procurement policy of the Chhattisgarh govt has ensured transparency in procurement of food grains without delay & also eliminated middle men. The State has received accolades for putting in place an effective public distribution system (PDS) as well. It has fair price shops, in place in each gram panchayat. The State has ensured that by the 1st week of every month, commodities are supplied to fair price shops. Steps have been taken to prevent pilferage.
7. Although it has some bad social indicators – in terms of high prevalence of malnutrion, anaemic pregnant women as compared to the national average, the State has managed to reduce the infant mortality rate through increasing institutional deliveries.
8. Governance at the doorstep: The small size of the State has ensured that governance reaches the doorsteps of its people. For 10 days every year, all government officials, from patwaris to secretaries and even Ministers (sometimes even the Chief Minister), visit the villages to clear all the pending applications and cases. Direct feedback is taken from the villages and new schemes are formulated on the basis of the feedback.
THE CASE OF JHARKHAND:
1. In its 11 years of existence, Jharkhand has essentially been perceived as an archetype of political instability and corruption. In this period, it saw eight Chief Ministers and numerous corruption cases against its political leadership. Political instability & corruption have pushed development to the backburner.
2. A study pointed out that the State had failed to add a single megawatt to its power generation, despite the signing of many memorandums of understanding with private firms. When Jharkhand was formed, it had three State-owned power plants. In 10 years, the State has not added another to it.
3. Among the three States formed in 2000, Jharkhand has the second highest percentage of population below the poverty line (BPL). the State fares badly in terms of basic parameters such as health and nutrition.
4. There has been some improvement in higher education after the State got a Central university and an Indian Institute of Management in Ranchi. But these have failed to stop the migration of students. On an average, more than 1,00,000 students migrate from the State for degree and professional courses.
5. The study also says that lack of development in far-flung areas has allowed Maoists to gain traction in Jharkhand. Clearly, Jharkhand's record is one that does not uphold the theory that small States are more effective.


‘Small is manageable'
Proponents in favour of small states argue that they are more manageable, better governable, more efficient and more sensitive to people's aspirations and ambitions.
My view: The criterion for creation of new states should be based on administrative feasibility rather than being dictated solely on political compulsions or on regional demand. Division of a state also implies division of resources. Different regions of a state cater to development in different sectors for e.g.: in andhrapradesh, the telengana region has the lion’s share of industrial infrastructure but depends upon coastal Andhra to meet its agricultural needs & on rayalaseema for its mineral resources. If states are created without factoring in such inter-dependence of various regions for its development, then such a move would be counterproductive. Similarly, division of U.P could lead to multiple conflicts on sharing of resources, including water and electricity between the regions.

Further, division of a State is not the only method to overcome imbalanced development in a state. Efforts to correct imbalances through focused regional development to address the problems plaguing the region & improve the quality of life on par with the other developed regions of the state should be resorted to. The move to carve out 4 new states out of U.P has been on the basis of increasing political footprint of a regional party, in order to gain a foothold in national politics.
What will be the outcome of such a move?
The announcement is bound to accentuate the emotive element in the Telangana movement. Further it could spur long-standing demands for statehood which include the demands for Vidarbha, Gorkhaland and Bodoland.

COUNTERING THE MAOIST CONNUNDRUM

the prime minister Mr.manmohan Singh not so long ago had labeled the Maoist insurgency as among the gravest threats to our internal security and stressed on the need to address this problem with “utmost urgency"....while governments both central and state have grappled to address the issue in myriad ways, the most blatant tactic among them all was that employed by the Chhattisgarh government in the form of SALWA JUDUM ....what started out as a successful model which helped villagers in Maoist areas defend themselves from the atrocities committed on their lives and property by the Maoist, gradually transformed into a rouge, unaccountable outfit charged with unbridled violation of human rights. The state adopting a policy of "arming citizens to fight disgruntled citizens" is a blasphemy of the principles of democracy enshrined in our constitution. Every civilized society in our world has public institutions entrusted with the onerous task of securing the confidence of the people it seeks to serve. Our country has many.... the police and the paramilitary forces have their job cut out to secure the lives of ordinary citizens & maintain law & order. By resorting to salwa judum, the govt of Chhattisgarh has not only obliterated any remnants of morale which the battered police force has, but also has exposed the inadequacies of rural policing & intelligence. Involving people in the process of development for long has been regarded as a prerequisite for securing good governance….but such organizations such as salwa judum shouldn’t be the means employed to realize this goal!!.The recent Supreme Court judgment in this regard holds significance. The SC has now banned the salwa judum and other organizations of the ilk from operating and pulled up the chattisgarh govt for conceiving such a policy.this is indeed a positive development.sense has finally prevailed!!
.good governance has often been cited as a cure for Maoism .involvement of all stake holders in their respective capacities to contribute towards addressing the endemic & systemic problems is imperative. While the security of the rural populace can only be ensured by boosting up the capabilities & morale of the rural police force in affected regions[in terms of weaponary,training,preparedness,technology aids(night vision, bullet proof vests etc )], “community policing” model could be actively promoted through awareness programs to bridge the “trust deficit” & improve “grassroots level intelligence” capabilities . For any civil administration to exist and operate to its fullest potential in the affected areas there is a need to provide adequate security to civil infrastructure, personnel & villagers. Securing such an environment for development is not possible unless people themselves want it to stay that way. Identifying and tracking overt as well as covert Maoist “sympathizers” is important in this regard. On one hand there is a need to restore faith in the government through proactive action by the administration .on the other hand there is a need to plug in the loopholes which have rendered democratic methods of protest defunct & ineffective. If this can be achieved to some degree & if the people are educated on the means to bring erring officials to book for violation of norms or shirking from their authoritative responsibility, then it could go a long way in curbing Maoism in the long run.
Maoism today lacks the ideological force it once commanded. Unlike the earlier cadres composed of distinguished ideologues, Maoists of the present day are a frustrated lot devoid of ideological underpinnings. A Maoist today is one who is affected by unemployment or victimized by any atrocity conducted by a public authority. The external financial & arms support which the Maoists once had from the Nepal Maoists and the Chinese has also gradually tapered down. The fact that Maoism is slowly but surely on the path of decline, provides immense opportunity to the government to counter them. It is an opportunity which govt can let go only at its own peril. The government has to revisit its policy on the Maoists and adopt a clever mix of force, diplomacy, dialogue, rehabilitation for employment and proactive visible development to reverse the inroads made in the past few decades by the Maoists. There is a need to recognize the common necessities of the reds (sympathizers, arms, ammunition, finances for propaganda and sustenance) as well as the tactics employed by them (hit & run/guerilla tactics ,slipping across jurisdictions of states ) to evolve effective strategies to deal with them.
The need of the hour thus is a committed, proactive bureaucracy and governmental agencies working in tandem to dismantle the Maoist on one hand and ensuring good governance to all citizens so that any kind of depravation doesn’t persist. And even when it does, there are democratically mandated mechanism to ensure complete, speedy and transparent redressal of grievances.

MGNREGS & SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Over the past few decades, there has been a considerable change in the mindset of academics & policy makers with regard to perceived notions on our ever growing population. While population explosion is still considered as a serious concern with respect to percapita availability of resources, it is no longer seen as a serious impediment to growth (courtesy: china!!).A testimony to this changed mindset is the way in which the population stabilization target was blatantly pushed to 2070 without even batting an eyelid!! ....some of us may scoff at this indifference & call for corrective action. But the truth remains that there far too many complexities involved in securing population control than we are actually aware of !...much of the factors which influence population explosion are beyond cognitive control…they are so firmly entrenched in our social fabric that there is as such no concurrence among the think tanks of India regarding a foolproof counter strategy.
If unbridled population is growth is to be accepted as a reality which all of us have to live with, then what could be our strategy to convert this 1.2bn population with over a 400 million work force into a productive one?....the answer to this lies in the world’s largest wage employment guarantee program  the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program( MGNREGS)…it is now of common knowledge that the rapid strides made by our country in the past six decades has effected a significant shift in employment patterns across India. The shift from agriculture & allied activities as the principle source of employment to other occupations which form the bulk of the unorganized sector is evident all around us. However, as a classical case of the fabled “riggsian prismatic society”, we still have a majority of our workforce still occupied as agricultural workers.
When the NREGP emerged as a flagship scheme of the UPA govt, there were apprehensions regarding its capability to provide guaranteed gainful employment in rural areas as a supplementary avenue of income. Five years on, the verdict is a chequered one…..while the program did perform admirably (given its scale of operation & size of beneficiaries) , the results were not uniform across the country. Further there were reports of malpractice, embezzlement & fraud in areas where miscreants found out ways to beat the system & navigate through loopholes….nevertheless the experiment was a fruitful one which came up with periodic reforms (like social audit) to counter most drawbacks…..now rechristened as the MGNREGP, the program which has both its scope & mandate expanded is regarded as one among the greatest human resource development programs undertaken in history. All this sounds good isn’t it?....but is it true?...is the MGNREGP a “human resource development ” program in the first place?.......hell no!....its at best a “human resource utility” program!!.....
There is seldom any cognizable development of human resource ….all we do is provide the poor blokes “guaranteed employment & timely wages” just because we are bound by duty to do so…isn’t that pathetic? Doesn’t it look like the government is trying hard to continue its tradition of “distributing alms” & “perpetuating the culture of beggary”?
That’s exactly what the successive governments have been doing since independence….most of our poverty alleviation programs & policies(national food for work program(NFWP);conditional cash transfer scheme; huge subsidies given all along the production-consumption chain etc) point to a pattern wherein , no effort is made to develop the skill of the beneficiaries. It is sad that MGNREGP which has the potential to transform millions of lives is going down the same way…
Any serious effort towards human development should focus on skill development. a renowned luminary once said that , its better to teach a man how to fish rather than put food on his plate…the relevance of this view is greater today as we live in a knowledge economy where lack of knowledge is viewed as incompetence. In such a scenario would it be wise on our part to merely use our human resource to carry on doing manual unskilled labour throughout their lives? Should we not nurture the ability of population to equip itself with all the skills which are required to secure self employment?
We should indeed!...there is no better opportunity to do this than carry this out on an already established robust platform such as MGNREGP.if the skill set of our working population is bolstered to its potential & sufficient freedom to express one’s scientific temper is given, it would lead to a social entrepreneurship movement which could revolutionize the way we Indians looks at things, infuse innovative spirit in our citizens & usher in dignity in their lives.
One of the fundamental reasons china was able to achieve double digit growth in spite of starting out later than India was due to the fact that they embarked on a systematic process of upgrading the skills of their workforce .the level of civilization in modern parlance is determined by the degree of specialization of the work force of a country….the scope of developmental activity is infinite!....if our work force can develop specialization in various fields, new vistas of employment .could open up & we could secure inclusive growth .
Are we doing enough to enhance the skill of our work force?....apparently not!...there are a lot of things which we should be doing on this front which we are not. The current govt policy to upgrade skill has been carried out through ITI’s .but like a lot of policies; these institutions are besotted with an array of problems such as lack of proper infrastructure, funding & archaic practices & procedures. There is a huge deficit between the technical expertise required for a job on field & the obsolete training that is imparted at these institutes. Further, there is no synergy between our premier educational institutions (read IIT’s,IIM’s & universities),R&D facilities & the ITI’s which has rendered them defunct. The need of the hour is to come up with a system of vocational education which could educate the illiterate unskilled labour & make them competent enough to secure employment on their own. A strategy of using development programs involving people’s participation as a plank to launch major skill development programs may be used.Further, this could be augmented by issuing certificates to those workers who develop an expertise in a particular field of skilled work. This would not only help them tide over unemployment (enabling them to secure employment in the private sector) but also gradually reduce the subsidy burden of the government. Such surplus funds could be ploughed back into more social sector spending. It is thus imperative that social development schemes of the Ilk of MGNREGP be used as a tool to herald a new era of change.
If we should transform our teeming millions into a potent human resource capable of sustaining our burgeoning growth & securing inclusive growth, we should ensure that our unorganized, unskilled work force embrace the culture of “consistent skill upgradation” on par with global standards .if we are able to achieve this in the next decade, it could as well serve as an antidote to most of the undesirable social issues of our times.

DEMOCRACY IN PERIL: IS INDIA A PSEUDO-DEMOCRACY?

Democracy as a potent tool to exercise control over the governance can be effective only when the citizens of a country are empowered in terms of :

a) Expressing their viewpoints without fear;
b) Assured dignity & enforceability of rights & liberties against arbitrary actions of the state
c) Possessing the ability to bring the requisite change & accountability in the system.

The vibrance of a democracy is best expressed through the amount of emphasis it places on human rights. If indices to measure democracy should be arrived upon, it should primarily include the attribute of “implied human rights”. There is a difference between universally agreed attributes of human rights and implied human rights. While the former is confined to defining human rights from the point of view of rights which a man/woman/child should enjoy, the latter is concerned with the emotional –psychological content involved by the virtue of being human. Accordingly,
even acts which cause small inconvenience/dissatisfaction for an individual citizen could be treated as a human rights violation. While there is a rising consensus among countries of the world with regard to maintenance of human rights, such an approach is essentially a micro-approach. There is a need to strive towards achieving implied human rights. The Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Sweden & Finland are already on that path. It is high time that India being the world’s largest democracy takes a baby step in that direction.

When the whole world condemned china for its gross violation of human rights during the 1989 Tiananmen square incident(where army tanks were sent in to crush protesting students),there were imminent comparisons with the human rights scenario in India. Media entities urged china to “learn” the “art of valuing a citizen’s rights & upholding their dignity” from India. In the past, India’s compassion towards its own citizens was setup as a benchmark /ideal to be followed .both nascent democracies like South Africa & seasoned ones like the USA & Canada sought to emulate the “gandhian vision” of a democracy.

However, recent trends in the human rights record of India have been abysmal. While overt violation of human rights in Kashmir, northeastern states etc have been highlighted in the UNDP human development report 2009, there are gross HR violations happening every minute in India as we speak.these go unreported or even unnoticed. We Indians thrive on this callous attitude. There is a scant respect for the “ aam aadmi “ whose everyday problems are treated as “minor glitches or aberrations” in a largely successful government machinery.

The treatment meted out to the common man in the event of a VVIP visit is particularly appalling. It goes on to show, how we value our citizens. It is ironical, how the government servants & elected representatives, who derive their purpose, authority & value from the citizens of India are given precedence over the citizens of the country!!. Traffic snarls during VVIP visits, cordoning off public places to ensure safe passage of VIP convoys etc have become the order of the day.

a recent incident , in which three aircraft loaded with around 500 passengers were not given clearance to land just because the president was supposed to return from Beijing. Over 11 flights were delayed, some of them cancelled and the three in question were circling in the air waiting for ground clearance. The flights were not notified in advance of plans to divert the flights elsewhere due to “security concerns which could endanger the life of the president”. They were left hanging perilously mid -air running on reserve fuel, with all the passengers hanging on to their dear lives. Now, if we are a true democracy, does it make sense to endanger the lives of 500 passengers & cause so much inconvenience to ordinary citizens , just to give clearance to the first citizen of our country? Is it not the moral responsibility of our government to value the lives of our citizens? ...and considering that this incident occurred just days after the tragic aviation disaster at Mangalore speaks volumes of our indifferent governance.

To top it all, apart from a few news items in the media, there was little public outcry. The people of our country have come to live with it. They have accepted it as a part of their life.it is difficult to say whether this is due to the passiveness ingrained in Indians due to nature of our freedom struggle or due to loss of faith of the people in general that any progress is achievable. But irrespective of what the reason is, we continue to live in misery & have accepted it as our fate.
This is in complete contrast to the attitude of citizens of western countries. There the citizens are proactive in demanding for their rights and the authorities are obliged to provide what the citizen demands of them.

A pivotal characteristic of a vibrant democracy is citizen activism. There is a need for the citizens of our country to shed their impassive & indifferent nature towards what is happening around them. Social consciousness brought about through awareness could help them in sensitivising individual towards other’s problems & issues in the society in general. An important lesson should be learnt from our freedom struggle. No change could have been possible without collective representation & demands. However, effective citizen group action should be accompanied by acquired human sensitivity.

If our civil society can take over the reins and act as a responsible “fourth pillar” of governance, its contribution towards strengthening democracy, ensuring the wellbeing of all citizens & achieving the ideal of “inclusive growth” would be priceless.

The government and its functionaries(civil servants included) are responsible to the citizens of this country both “collectively as well as individually”.i am stressing on this point , as the concept of responsibility of the government towards an “individual citizen” is often underplayed ,in favour of responsibility to the citizens as a whole. There is a need to revise our traditional concept of democracy and work towards establishing the notion that “the responsibility (of the state) towards the people of India is the sum total of responsibility of the state towards every individual citizen of India” .further, there is a need to define a new paradigm of democracy where, “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”…..meaning, it is the primary responsibility of the state to uphold the rights & dignity of an individual citizen. The responsibility of the state towards an individual citizen cannot be shirked or compromised in the garb of securing responsibility towards the citizens of India as a whole.

Having said that, there are many problems involved in ensuring that a regime of participative governance & citizen activism emerges. Based on the experiences gathered in western countries, it can be inferred that people become proactive only when their basic needs are met. As long as there is deprivation, people would continue to be self-centered and not work towards development of the nation as a whole. The bureaucracy & the political heads would continue to wield a great deal of power there by jeopardizing the lives of ordinary citizens. The paradigm of “developmental bureaucracy”, “participative democracy” & “compassionate representatives” should work together in unison towards securing the goal of achieving a true democracy. If this is not done & if they pull in different directions, any claim of being a democracy would sound hollow.

is the indian defense sector the proverbial "dinosaur" ?

high profile bickering among the "nuts & the bolts "of the government machinery has become the order of the day!!.taking a cue ffrom the "twitter happy" shasi tharoor , its now the turn of DRDO chief saraswat to embarrass the armed forces top brass before the hordes of lens-men media.marking a departure from the hushed up boardroom jibes ,he chose to bring out the sharp differences from within the defense establishment into the open....now the pending question is will he like tharoor get the sack too?

would defence minister A.K.Anthony save the skin of his scientific advisor?all this drama remains to be seen ..if at all such an issue snowballs into epic proportions.speaking about the content of discontent between the armed force top brass , both the sides do have a valid point.the armed forces have long argued that the DRDO has not been able to churn up cutting edge defense technology at the pace required to maintain battle readiness.the armed force cite the slow pace as the sole reason why they are "forced" to secure weapons from abroad.the truth however is that , the armed forces are happy being plagued by the "dependency syndrome " akin to pasting "made in India" on cheap Chinese goods!!.

the pathetic state of affairs has not even spared the space industry where india is supposed to be a "global player". the "bottom up" approach is often negated and we always choose "tested patterns" to developing one ourselves.we preferred to be pampered by our Russian friends with all the discarded technology.a clever Russian ploy to keep our technological obsolesce intact.

will india be able to stop the chinese jauggernaut in the event of a war?...the answer to this is obvious isnt it?...the question is if india should be able to stop agressive neighbours to infringe upon its sovereignity, what is it that needs to be done?

thankfully, there is a way out this dilemma.instead of resorting to a blame game, why don't we just unshackle our defense industries & push them towards becoming world class industries.there is a need to press for an aggressive agenda on this front.if Indians do want to not let go of their "copycat"tag, let them copy the practices followed elsewhere and not the technology!!.practices such as heavily relying on the private sector expertise to develop world class technology and innovative practices would go a long way into developing our industries into the future Lockheed martins & Boeings.