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Vol.18 No.2 BULLETIN December2, 2013 OF THE CENTRE FOR POLICY STUDIES (GAYATRI VIDYA PARISHAD) THE NEXT SIX MONTHS… IDEAL TIME FOR COURSE CORRECTION In more ways than one the next 180 days are the judiciary while the hyperactive electronic media crucial for the nation. With the completion of elections daily enacts the roles of the prosecutor and judge as in five states the countdown has begun for the general well, on issues big and small. elections to be held in May 2014. The successful 'The continuous coexistence of democracy and conduct of sixteen general elections from 1952 to 2014 poverty’ bodes ill for the future of Indian democracy. and all other polls during the last sixty one years is a The conclusion is inescapable, if not harsh, that State testimony to the faith of the people in the democratic and society appear to have become functional allies process and to the integrity and efficiency with which in perpetuating poverty through acts of omission and every election has been conducted by the Election commission. The causal relationship between poverty, Commission of India and state election commissions. corruption and violence is a serious affliction that No ordinary achievement it is to manage smoothly and needs to be rectified with firmness and urgency. successfully such gigantic democratic exercises. Poverty at birth triggers a vicious chain reaction India’s democracy, now in its 67th year, has resulting in backwardness in education, employment ceased to be ‘the role model for Asia and third world and life in general. countries’ it was in the first decade of independence. Coalition politics have created considerable The time has come for Indian democracy to effect a space for power brokers and manipulators to distort major course correction and to discard the negative the system to benefit vested interests. The paradigm tags like —‘a mere electoral democracy’ and ‘a shift in power from centripetal to centrifugal forces functioning anarchy’, giving way to more positive labels calls for new leadership skills to build national in tune with the aspirations and expectations of the consensus on major issues. Paradoxically the people of India. The enfeeblement of the world’s democracy that was hailed as ‘ a grand coalition of all largest and most heterogeneous democracy is due to linguistic and religious groups which enjoy cultural a number of factors, most notable among which is the autonomy’ has failed to develop a coalition culture rise of adversarial politics and decline of important under successive coalition governments during the last institutions. Parliament, the backbone of parliamentary two decades. The need of the hour is to generate democracy, has sunk so low in public esteem that its national consensus on vital issues like elimination of debates and discussions, as and when they take place, corruption and poverty, improvement of educational make no impact on either the government or the standards and the creation of inexpensive and society. As against more than 130 sessions a year accessible health care system, especially for children, during 1952-57, the number has come down to less women and senior citizens. Conventions and customs, than 80 during the last two decades. In the present so vital for the stability and success of any democracy, parliament 30% of sitting members of Lok Sabha and should regain their importance in governance. They 31% of Rajya Sabha MPs have criminal cases pending were respected during the first two decades which against them. Some state legislatures like those of were aptly described as ‘the faded golden years’. The Bihar with 58% and UP with 41% provide greater reconstruction of Indian polity requires the recovery representation for ‘the criminal elements’. Some of the of that spirit and culture. functions of the legislature have been taken over by The system of parliamentary democracy becomes fragile if its conventions are not respected. Justice M.N.Venkatachaliah. Manmohan's Colombo boycott CHOGM and Sri Lanka is not an isolated case, will have long-term implications and the nature of the India-Bangladesh relationship over the last four years is cause for similar concern. Cmde. (Retd) C . Uday Bhaskar The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) II has found Former Director NMF & Ex Director IDSA itself constrained by the Chief Minister of West Bengal Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not to Mamata Banerjee, and both the river water sharing attend the CHOGM summit scheduled to be held in Sri accord and the final settlement of the long-festering Lanka on Nov 15-17, and this imprudent decision with border enclaves issue remains suspended. long-term implications for India’s regional credibility has An objective review of both the Sri Lanka and clearly been arrived at due to emotive domestic political Bangladesh examples is necessary, for this trend of compulsions. The strong sentiment expressed by the Tamil Nadu legislature urging Delhi to boycott the allowing short-term political compulsions to muddy and summit - a view shared by most Congress leaders with distort foreign policy initiatives can have a very Tamil Nadu connections, has prevailed. negative impact on India’s profile over the next decade – which is critical for a variety of reasons. While a last-minute change of decision was being hoped for, (maybe Rahul Gandhi could have It is nobody’s case that the considerations of stepped in again?!), it is understood that while the individual states should not be taken into account, or prime minister himself was inclined to be part of the that they can be peremptorily overruled by Delhi. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting need to arrive at a centre-state consensus is indeed (CHOGM) deliberations, since it is in keeping with his at the heart of the Indian model of governance, and larger regional vision, the Congress party is deeply while there are many inadequacies and omissions in concerned that ignoring Tamil Nadu sentiments will this area, where both the ruling party in Delhi and state have a very adverse impact on the general election in governments are culpable, it merits repetition that the 2014. Regional parties hold the key to a stable security and foreign policy domain should not become coalition in Delhi, and the Congress, it is argued, can victim to this malaise. ill afford to alienate the Tamil parties – one of whom may well be a valuable electoral ally. The reason for avoiding such a trend becomes more urgent since it is reasonably evident that the The constituency in favour of the prime minister next government in Delhi will be an uneasy and not going to Sri Lanka also avers that Delhi cannot unwieldy coalition, led in all likelihood by a leader with ignore the sentiments reflected in an all-party little hands-on foreign policy experience. resolution of a state legislature, and that any unilateral step by the Centre would have an adverse impact on Dr. Manmohan Singh is the last in a continuum the spirit of federalism that India has sought to nurture. of prime ministers going back to Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpaye who While there is validity in the argument that some had either years of experience or a strong political degree of consensus and harmonization between Delhi base, thereby enabling them to address foreign policy and the state governments on foreign policy matters is highly desirable, it may not always be possible to challenges with continuity and confidence. arrive at the same. Under such circumstances, it is Going back to Sri Lanka and the CHOGM summit, imperative that the larger national interest guide the the reasons for urging the prime minister not to go, formulation and pursuit of the relevant policy. However, include the fact that the Mahinda Rajapaksa a review of the UPA II’s regional policies indicates that government has failed to deliver on its promise to a weak central government has allowed itself to be redress the condition of its Tamil citizens and that the coerced into a situation wherein domestic and state human rights violations in the campaign against the specific political calculations have trumped the LTTE are tantamount to genocide. This is a view that abiding strategic and regional politico-diplomatic has been expressed with considerable intensity across consideration. the Indian audio visual medium in recent days. The self-sacrifice of one innocent man is a million times stronger than the self-sacrifice of millions of men 2 who die in the act of killing others Mahatma Gandhi However, if it is a shared objective in both THE NUCLEAR GENIE- 10 Chennai and Delhi that what matters finally is the Pakistan’s Nuclear Walmart welfare of the Sri Lankan Tamils, then by snubbing Colombo over CHOGM India would hardly be any Prof. M.N. Sastri closer to its objective. Ironically, this Indian snub would Pakistan’s entry into the nuclear arena began also weaken the position of the recently-elected with the constitution of the Pakistan Atomic Energy provincial government in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province Commission (PAEC) in 1956 to enable the country to led by C.V. Wigneswaran – the first step in redressing participate in the Atoms for Peace programme. The the political status of the Sri Lankan Tamils. progress was slow till 1960 when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Minister for Mineral and Natural Resources began In all likelihood by embarrassing the Rajapaksa taking active interest in the project by appointing Ishrat government over CHOGM, what Delhi would have H. Usmani as the Chairman of the PAEC. Usmani achieved is no doubt a symbolic victory that will established the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Sciences assuage domestic sentiment in Tamil Nadu; but at a and Technology (PINSTECH) in Nilore, Islamabad substantive level, future engagement with Colombo Capital Territory, and sent hundreds of young scientists will be that much more strained and bitter.