Why do I think India is backpedaling?

While there are quite a few reasons to this, the one reason that can be singled out (and also the one that made me think this way) is a Constitutional Amendment passed by the Upper House of the Parliament today, which is, The Constitution (One Hundred Seventeenth Amendment) Bill, 2012.

This particular bill seeks to amend Article 16 (4A) of the Constitution of India, to enable the Government to provide quotas in promotions for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. 

To understand the background of this charitable backward amendment, read: http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/constitution-one-hundred-seventeenth-amendment-bill-2012--2462/

Clearly evident in the aforesaid background for this amendment, whenever the court struck down any law, the legislatures were quick and alert to immediately change the Constitution with unanimous voice and complete absence of debate on the floor. 

At the cost of getting slightly technical, let me try and analyze relevant parts of Article 16 of the Constitution:

Article 16 (1) – There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.

(By this proposed amendment, the purpose of this article is being defeated as there is discrimination against people who are not SC/ST)

Article 16 (2)– No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the state

(The bill being passed today does the exact opposite)

Article 16 (4A) - as it read now: -Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for reservation in matters of promotion, with consequential seniority, to any class or classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes which, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State.

Proposed Amended version of Article 16 (14A)

“(4A) Notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in the Constitution, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes notified under article 341 and article 342, respectively, shall be deemed to be backward and nothing in this article or in article 335 shall prevent the State from making any provision for reservation in matters of Promotions, with consequential seniority, to any class or classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes to the extent of the percentage of reservation provided to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the services of the State.”

Now, what does Article 335 say:  The claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State

In effect, the slight restraint in the form of term ‘efficiency of administration’ is being done away with by over-riding the provisions of article 335.  

It’s an all out effort to please the vote bank at the cost of efficiency which was built-in through article 335. SC/ST gets quota even in promotion without being efficient to the administration or the country.

While I agree that there is nothing new as promotions in reservations for SC/ST, what is being done is giving sanctity to the whole thing.  Earlier, The Supreme Court while deliberating on the issue of validity of Constitutional amendments in the case of M. Nagaraj Vs. UOI & Ors., observed that the concerned State will have to show in each case the existence of the compelling reasons, namely, backwardness, inadequacy of representation and overall administrative efficiency before making provision for reservation in promotion. 

If you read the statement of objects and reasons for the proposed amendment, which reads as ‘There is difficulty in collection of quantifiable data showing backwardness of the class and inadequacy of representation of that class in public employment. Moreover, there is uncertainty on the methodology of this exercise”, it is clear that the amendment is to bypass the Supreme Court direction and have an impediment-free reservation in promotion to SC/ST.

We are all for helping the under privileged, but should it not be restricted to provide them free education as long as they want to study and necessary infrastructure?  Why in job and then in promotion too?  Continuation of reservations even after 50 years of independence in itself is proof enough that the strategy of uplifting the under privileged through reservations has not worked.

This in all probability seems far more dangerous to the country than the highly debated FDI in Retail Bill and the never ending debates. This particular bill, which many term as quid-pro-quo between UPA and BSP for BSP’s support for FDI in Retail, is going to do more damage and deteriorate the country’s fabric in the long run compared to FDI in retail.

Alas! We can’t change the way politicians function.  For me, this is the most backward of bills passed in recent times.  Did the parliamentarians debate this? Yes, for some cosmetic changes and most parties were for this.  It was passed with an overwhelming vote of 206 in the 245-member House. The people who voted against had a more draconian demand – to make ‘Muslims’ also eligible along with SC/ST.

I also recommend Arun Shourie’s “Falling over Backwards: An essay against Reservations and against Judicial populism”, for anyone who is keen on some insight into this disastrous trend of RESERVATIONS.  
Read more at http://www.indianexpress.com/news/affirmative-activism/989733

End of the day – it’s all about votes at the cost of efficiency, growth and development! 

Miscellany…

Here's my take on some issues that made for eye-grabbing headlines, expressed in no particular order...

The End of Kasab!

How does it get any better any than this! Not the hanging in itself, (which, in my humble opinion is overdue) but the manner in which he was executed.  It is difficult (and rather disastrous to imagine the kind of circus the media would have indulged in had there been a prior notice). The fourth estate would have gone berserk as always and the issue would have ended up being trivialized. End of the day – it was good riddance of bad rubbish without media intervention for once!

The Aam Aadmi Party!

Mr. Arvind Kejariwal (messiah of the ‘mango’ people) has arrived with his party for the people, by the people and of the people, christening it as the “Aam Aadmi Party”!   

Rewinding a little, the events prior to the launch of the party have urged me to think that news channels should now have a separate corruption bulletin, something on the lines of a “SportsCentre”, “World of Sports”, or “Weather Update”. The said special can highlight the day’s exposé, a status on the last few exposés and so on. Throw in a Top-10 of Exposés as a highlight and interested people can keep tab, while others can stick to regular news! There is some reprieve these days considering these revelations have slightly lost their steam!  

 

If it sounds absolutely cynical and irresponsible to make the issue of corruption look trivial, that is certainly not the intention. Corruption is an ultimate evil and needs to be addressed. The point that I am trying to ascertain is that the aam aadmi is beginning to lose interest in these “startling exposés”, considering they are going nowhere besides ‘Breaking News’ on TV. It is not front page news anymore, none of these seem to reach a logical conclusion and the ones named in them are not going to get hurt, barring, maybe, minor electoral setbacks. 

What I think is being missed in this ‘press-conference-driven-system-clean-up-act’ is, we Indians are almost used to corruption and there is no element of shock or surprise to this.  Probably one of the sensible comments was made by a Union Minister was when he stated that the amount mentioned in a so-called scam was too low for a Union Minister to get involved in.  While he may have defended himself (read clarified) later by saying he was misquoted, but come to think of it, what he said made perfect sense and I’m sure the majority public agrees with him. Public is already of the opinion that such things are a part and parcel of politics and “yeh chota mota corruption toh chalta hai boss”!!  

What the Aam Admi Party could rather do is focus on what they can offer other rather than mere exposés. At the end of the day, you do need capable people to run government not just clean people!

Parliamentary functioning!

What amuses me is the childish behavior of politicians, especially the so-called Opposition. In India, Opposition takes the word ‘opposition’ a bit too seriously – they HAVE to oppose everything.  It is understood that there are few contentious issues, for instance ‘FDI in retail’. Why can’t they conduct regular business and agree on agreeable things like passing a simple economic legislation like Companies Bill? Why stall the functioning of parliament for an issue which they don’t have a consensus on or rather an issue on which they don’t want to have a consensus on?  It’s funny but that’s democracy for you. Latest is the opposition wants two separate voting and discussion on same issue of FDI in retail.  It is hard to imagine the time that gets wasted and of course, the taxpayer’s money.

Tendulkar and the ‘R’ Word!

Disclaimer – like the millions of other Indians, I also like Tendulkar – but the way things are unfolding is nothing but disappointing.  To see THE MAN struggle and allowing every Tom Dick and Harry (including me) to debate on his calling the shots is appalling. Let’s hope he goes out on a high and not like this.

Indo-Pak Cricket Diplomacy! 

In spite of a thousand debates on this, it still does not make any sense.  The only beneficiary of this is the BCCI considering the moolahs they get to make from this one. As we all know, cricket diplomacy has not helped the two countries improve their ties in any way.  It’s just a gimmick.  And yes, India and Pakistan have been playing against each other on other tournaments, which should be enough to cater to a cricket fan’s appetite.  We are under no moral responsibility to revive or help Pakistan Cricket by offering to play a series with them.  The only outcome can be some law and order problem in the country which, we have in plenty anyways!

The Sahara Saga!

Another news making headlines these days is the Sahara saga.  To re-capitulate, Sahara Group has raised huge sums through issue of OFCD (optionally fully convertible debentures) and it is alleged that they violated several statutory provisions of Companies Act and SEBI regulations. Strangely, while the whole world knows Sahara gets funds by running these finance schemes, SEBI got to know about this only when the group initiated listing of two of their companies and filed prospectus with SEBI.  The concern here is the OFCD issue through which the funds were raised were actually cleared by the Registrar of Companies and it appears that they are not being held responsible in any way for this mess!

Apart from the legalities, I happen to read an interesting piece on how companies like Sahara succeeds in an article titled ‘Why the poor are willing to hand over their money to Sahara’ which is worth a read…

http://www.firstpost.com/business/why-the-poor-are-willing-to-hand-over-their-money-to-sahara-438276.html

A few more thoughts in a probable Miscellany 2!!