No Right to Information??

As a welcome and much needed reform in the world’s largest democracy, India enacted the Right to Information Act of 2005. Two years after this step, the Government of India announced that it was making available this right to Indian citizens abroad through Indian Embassies and missions around the world. First of all, why it took the Government two years to take this step is unclear. Neither the Citizenship Act 1955 nor the RTI statute differentiates between Indian citizens living within India or abroad. So theoretically, all Indians have had this right from day one.

So I am giving the government the benefit of doubt and taking a position that this announcement meant that Indians abroad could file RTI applications at Indian Missions abroad by paying application fees in local currencies. A quick googling on the web showed me that I was not the only one assuming this. Even the Central Information Commission thinks so because it has on its website the same article that most of us on the web read on Government announcement.

Having finally found an avenue to file RTI application, I sent 3 different RTI applications to the Indian Embassy in Washington DC along with proof of my citizenship and requisite fees (I personally think charging equivalent of Rs. 10 in foreign currencies is ridiculous and that it should be at least $1 considering the local costs. But that is besides the point of this article so I won’t digress). Now, just because they are located outside does not mean GOI babus work any differently. Dutifully, the designated PIO at the Embassy replied that such information was not available with the Embassy and that I should apply to concerned PIO instead. Even the Embassy website was updated with that interpretation.

I am no lawyer, but even a cursory reading of Section 6 (3) of RT Act of 2005 and I quote

“Section 6 (3): Where an application is made to a public authority requesting for an information,—
(i) which is held by another public authority; or
(ii) the subject matter of which is more closely connected with the functions of another public authority, the public authority, to which such application is made, shall transfer the application or such part of it as may be appropriate to that other public authority and inform the applicant immediately about such transfer:
Provided that the transfer of an application pursuant to this sub-section shall be made as soon as practicable but in no case later than five days from the date of receipt of the application.”

makes it clear that it is the responsibility of the Embassy PIO to forward my application to the concerned PIOs. However, the position of the embassy that it will only accept applications related to information at the Embassy itself defeats the basic purpose of providing RTI facility through the embassies and high commissions. So I guess if you are an Indian citizen living outside India – you have no right to information at least as it stands now because you really have no way to send your application with requisite fees in Indian Rupees.

I have filed an RTI application with the embassy to find origins of this interpretation and validity and I will keep the readers posted.

One Year Later......

Today, it is one year since the terrible terrorist bombings on Mumbai’s suburban trains. Let’s pray that those 187 unfortunate and innocent souls rest in peace…..

Suni who?????

Sunita Williams is back on earth – thank god! Her achievement is definitely a great one and good for her!! However, the obsession that we Indians have shown about her being of “Indian origin” is borders on being the most ridiculous. Let’s face it…. Sunita Williams is NOT Indian but an American.

Last few years, with the burgeoning number of news channels and news outlets, we are increasingly seeing a flood of non-sensical reports passed on as news. Along has come the race to report about achievements about people with even remote Indian connection. Most times, their achievements have nothing to do with India, these individuals do not care one bit about India nor do they contribute in any way to India’s betterment. Why then do the Indian media have such an obsessive compulsive disorder of covering these people of so-called “Indian” origin?

When Suni (that’s the name she goes by – the fact that she does not even use her “Indian” name but chooses a more palatable American version shows how “Indian” she is) was in space, we were endlessly served with news about how her days were at the International Space Station, how she missed her pet Jack Russell Terrier named Gorby, how she ran the Boston Marathon in space, how entire India was worried when her return to earth was delayed and so on. The coverage was nauseating at best and also about the most trivial happenings. There was a similar slew of coverage a few years ago when another PIO - one Bobby Jindal ran for the office of the Governor of US state of Louisiana and lost and then ran and won the race for the US House of Representatives.

Why is it that we Indians have a desire to be associated with achievements of people who are Indians remotely at best but associated with “the White and Western world” while not giving enough recognition to our won – people who struggle to beat all the odds and do real work for the progress of the Indian society? Should we not celebrate more of what is really our own?

I guess it all begins at the top. When even our senior most politicians and leaders would gladly be water carriers for Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and claim her to be worthy of a position no one else ought to desire, why are we surprised that generally speaking, most of us still tend to view anything associated with white skin to be qualitatively better?

Race to the bottom….

The recent clashes between the Meena and the Gujjar communities in Rajasthan illustrate well the race to towards the bottom. India is probably the only country in the world where people actually strive to be “backwards” thanks to the generous reservations policy under the Constitution.

The current crisis in Rajasthan also highlights an important issue on the subject of reservations that it does not matter how much a caste or tribe is indeed deprived or the need for affirmative action by means of reservations. It however does matter how much of a clout it holds in politics of the state so as to be included in the coveted list. In India, many of the so-called “backward classes” (a.k.a. Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) are actually the most powerful in terms of influence on matters of state. In Rajasthan, Jat is one of the most powerful communities and are still included in the OBC category. Meenas are included in the ST category but dominate the civil services like no other caste or tribe.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who himself came from a Harijan family strongly advocated limiting reservations for first 10 years of the new Republic. Sadly, politicians who came after him did not see the real logic behind his thoughts and have taken over the reservations issue as a convenient weapon in electoral politics. As long as this populist game continues, the unfortunate casualty will be the people who really need the reservations – the economically backwards from every caste, creed and religion.

Massacre at Virginia Tech

The shooting rampage on Virginia Tech campus at Blacksburg VA will surely be the darkest day in the University’s history. My deepest condolences to the families of the victims of this horrendous tragedy.

I am an alumnus of VA Tech. I have never been to the main campus in Blacksburg because I studied at one of the extension campuses. However, that does not lessen the shock or sadness of this tragedy. I think everyone – whether related to the University or not, will definitely be shocked and saddened at this cowardly and heinous act.

This attach again brings to the forefront the need for gun control in the US. Having lived here for over a decade now, I am yet to understand the fascination in this country for firearms possession by individuals. These have no place in a civilized society and the quicker people understand this, the better off this country be in the long run. US is probably the only country in the civilized world that has minimal, if any, restrictions on carrying firearms and somehow, people and politicians do not seem to learn from tragedies like Columbine at Littleton CO, Jonesboro AR, Padukah KY and now VA Tech in Blacksburg VA. It is about time that the Federal and State governments pay attention to this menace before it becomes a bigger problem than it already it.

If I had to take a guess, the CNN s and MSNBC s of the world will incessantly cover this story until something new comes along and after they get a new fodder, nothing more will happen. There will be no serious debate on the issue nor there any legislative change in favor of gun control. The life will go on as usual. Oh well….

May the departed souls rest in peace.

Fight against Corruption

Corruption has been the worst bane of India’s maturity into a developed country. From the very beginning of an independent India, the socialist mentality and model of government meant the politicians and bureaucracy held disproportionate power and hold on the life of an ordinary citizen.

Till some years ago, the Government was directly or indirectly involved in every single aspect of an ordinary person – ration cards, gas connections, telephone, and banking. The procedures were set up so that an ordinary person had to jump through a thousand hoopes to get a single request approved. This was a favorable breeding ground for corrupt bureaucrats who began asking for bribes for the most routine issue to be sorted out. And when everyone realized there was at the most a remote chance that they would be prosecuted and an even remote chance that they would ever be convicted for these offences, over the years it became a norm. Secrecy about how government offices worked and made decisions was of utmost importance. Most people had not seen anything better in the Government and only a daring few could do something about it. People have become so used to it now that they cannot believe any civil servant will actually be clean and do their job without asking for favors.

However, ever since the Right to Information Act of 2005 came into effect, there are positive signs that things may finally be beginning to change, albeit slowly. While the media has been slow to use this to the advantage and dig up information about waste of public funds, corruption and other acts of malfeasance, various individuals and Non Government Organizations (NGOs) have taken up the cause to fight corruption and are doing commendable job at it.

Arvind Kejriwal of Parivartan was awarded the 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for activating India's Right to Information movement at grassroots and social activities to empower the poorest citizens to fight corruption by holding the government answerable to the people. More recently, another NGO has been launched in Chennai. It is known as the 5^th Pillar. 5^th Pillar was in the news recently when it launched its initiative to fight corruption using a “Zero Rupee Note”.

It is up to each and every one of us to get involved in such efforts to root out the culture of bribery and corruption plaguing our public sector. Let’s all hope that such efforts can on and gather critical mass in the society that a difference becomes visible to the common man in next 5 years.

Judicial Activism in India

A war of words has recently broken out between two branches of the Indian Government – the executive and the judiciary and looks like that the issues may not be resolved for a long time to come. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan defended their own turfs at a seminar in New Delhi recently.

My personal opinion is that the executive / legislature should decide the laws of the land and that the judiciary must interpret those in case of a conflict. If the judiciary finds the legislation as unconstitutional, it should simply strike it down and direct the executive to remedy the unconstitutionality. The judiciary however must not make policy decisions. All this is fair in academic terms, but in reality, in India, the executive branch has gotten used to taking decisions irrationally and purely for political gains without much regard for fairness.

The legislation allocating an arbitrary quota for the OBCs has been stayed by the Supreme Court and rightly so because a 76 year old census cannot be used as a basis for deciding any policy today. A previous judgment indicating that even the IX th schedule of the Constitution is not immune from judicial review is another example where in my view the so-called judicial activism is justified. It is also justified in cases that review purely political actions like dismissal of state governments under article 356 without regard for ground realities in state legislatures.

Unfortunately, such examples are not uncommon because successive administrations in the Centre over the years have shown little respects to laws of the land which they themselves enacted. In India, if you are privileged enough, you can almost break every statute in the book with impunity. The court system is so backlogged that everyone knows that it will take over a generation for any case to come to trial and if they have good influential lawyers, they would be able to get out with a minor slap on the wrist.

While in theory, judiciary overstepping its mandate may not be a good thing; but in India, unfortunately, that is the only branch of Government and even that mostly at High Court and Supreme Court level that citizens can somewhat trust to enforce their rights and receive justice. And until our political leaders mature enough to separate governance and politics, judicial activism is about the only hope for Indian people.

58th Republic Day in Washington DC

We were planning a quick trip to Washington DC on 26th January to visit the Indian Embassy to attend the Republic Day celebrations there. It was sunny but a really cold day – about 18 deg. F (about -7.7 deg. C) at 9.00 am that day.

The function at the Embassy started sharp on time at 10.00 am with the unfurling of the flag at the hands of the Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen. Bowing to the elements, the rendition of the national anthem and other festivities were held indoors in the Chancery building of the Indian Embassy.

The Chancery building is not huge but nonetheless an impressive building (actually two adjoining ones) and one of the oldest properties held by GOI abroad. In the front of the building is a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. The function was held in the lobby of the building. It was a neat little lobby but a little too small to accommodate crowd nearly a hundred strong. The lobby is has photographs of sitting President and PM as well as those of late Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. An impressive oil portrait of Sardar Patel also adorns the walls. There was a small reception room and two bigger adjoining rooms on either side of the lobby, which that day were reserved for food arrangements.

The function indoors began with the national anthem. Later the Ambassador read the speech by the President Dr. Abdul Kalam. While the contents of the speech were impressive in the usual Kalam style, the listless reading by the Ambassador turned it into a test of audience’s endurance. Also lacking was any note of welcome from the Ambassador himself and this made it feel as if he was there only because he had to. The cultural program was a display of typical “babu”dom that the GOI is famous for. After a couple of decent patriotic songs rendered by some Embassy staffers, there were a few songs by an ex-AIR lady singer. Some were OK and some quite so-so. Then came something, calling which a song would be a crime. The beautiful “Ae mere watan ke logon…” was destroyed to shreds by a lady who was introduced as being from the World Bank. There was no tune, notes were all over the place and it was just plain torturous. The master of ceremonies had told us this divine song would move us and bring tears to our eyes. It almost did – albeit for totally different reason than intended. The saving grace of the function was the last performance by an elderly gentleman who rendered a Tamil song in praise of India. It was quite good though I do not understand Tamil myself.

Then it was time for some refreshments. As I noticed this time around and also on last Independence Day, Embassy does a good job of arranging for hearty refreshments for the gathering. The fare war tasty and appetizing; consisting of dhokla, pakode, chana-puri, upma, gajar halwa and laddoo and hot and cold beverages.

The crowd was mostly enthusiastic at the function and as always, the most impressive attendees were the members of Indian Armed Forces currently posted in the US. Their faces showing the pride they took in defending our frontiers and their demeanour stately like lions and tigers. They are the main reason that made it worth our while to attend the function in the bitter January cold in Washington. Jai Hind!

Why ban AXN? Just stop this hypocrisy!

The self appointed guardians of all things moral are at it again. The I&B minister P.R. Dasmunshi has banned the Sony-owned AXN channel on the grounds that its “world’s sexiest advertisements” was “a programme against good taste or decency and is likely to adversely affect public morality,”.

Why do these politicians consider themselves the vanguards of Indian morality? This entire concept of the government teaching us individuals about what our morality is or should be is a throw back to socialist and communist times and not worthy in an open and democratic society. In democracy, it is absolutely imperative that people have a right to read and watch anything that they please so long as it does not adversely affect anyone else. And this should include the so-called “morally objectionable” content as well.

What we need is a well-defined system where by channels who use free public airwaves to broadcast without paying any airwaves license fees to the government (like Doordarshan) to abide by the “decency” standards until say 11 pm (as proposed for everyone under the proposed Broadcasting Bill). However, if public is paying for certain channels – as will happen with the upcoming conditional access system for cable television, the choice should be left entirely up to the consumers.

We do not need moral policing – especially from the politicians who, except for a few exceptions, are shameless users of their power and position to advance their own agenda and not their constituents' and have no right to talk about morality and definitely don’t have the right to force it down society’s throat.

SC cracks the whip on IXth Schedule

Supreme Court of India on 11th January 2007 delivered a significant judgment that is sure to wake up the politicians who run our parliament and the government. SC essentially made it abundantly clear through its 9-judge Constitutional Bench’s near unanimous (8-1) judgment that it alone has the right to interpret the Constitutionality of acts passed by the Parliament and that the Union and State governments cannot slide statutes into the IX schedule of the Constitution for the sole reason of avoiding judicial scrutiny. It is heartening to note that in its judgment, the bench has noted that any statute violating basic structure of the Constitution and fundamental rights afforded to citizens under the same.

This judgment essentially throws open the floodgates for a lot of potential lawsuits challenging the validity of umpteen numbers of statutes that politicians managed to stuff in the IX schedule – one of the most prominent being the one reserving 69% seats in Tamil Nadu which directly contradicts SC’s judgment limiting all reservations to no more than 50%.

While I do believe that in a democracy, the will of elected representatives should prevail, the statutes like the anti-defection law make it all but impossible for our representatives to vote their conscience and they have to toe the party-line. Thus we end up depending on the unelected judiciary to do the job of protecting and strengthening our constitutional rights.

Let us hope that our politicians leran their lesson and apply their minds to the laws and legislations they pass.