The mere act of offering a bribe to a government servant is enough to get you charged with abetment under the Prevention of Corruption Act, even if the servant concerned did not accept your bribe, the Bombay high court has ruled. The ruling, which would be considered par for the course in many Western democracies, came recently in a case of attempting to bribe a police officer in Solapur. The ruling is also significant because it comes at a time when some intellectuals, including a senior economic adviser to the prime minister, have been claiming that corruption could be brought under check by decriminalising the act of offering a bribe and only penalising the one who takes the bribe. Abetment of any offence is also punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, Justice BR Gavai said. In such cases, whether the public servant concerned accepted the bribe is of no consequence, he said.
16.8.11
Somewhere in Pakistan....
In recent months, an unprecedented review of Pakistan’s history in relation to India is taking place. In early June, Air Marshal (rtd) Asghar Khan, the first Pak Air Chief (1957–65) delivered a public lecture in Islamabad on “Pakistan’s Security”. The 90-year-old veteran, who is president of the Tehrik-i-Istaqlal party, made a startling revelation when he asserted: “None of the four wars we fought with India were started by India. From first incursion after Independence in Kashmir till Kargil, we started the hostilities.” Air Marshal Khan added that an objective history of the subcontinent indicates that no incursion started from southeast and it was always from northwest. Apropos the 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh, he stated that many other Pakistani politicians also disliked the military action by General Yahya Khan but did not speak out. Asghar Khan recalled that he openly opposed the operation against Mujaeeb-ur-Rahman and was accused of being a traitor. He reiterated: “We (Pakistan) had started Operation Gibraltar in Kashmir before the 1965 war and Kargil (1999) was also our misadventure.” The gist of the Asghar Khan thesis was familiar and privately supported by many liberals in Pakistan – that the Pak military had hijacked the state in the early decades and had created a false narrative about the threat from India and the contours of Pakistan’s security, even while underlining democracy and the civilian political system, to ensure their own institutional primacy. Regrettably the Pak military was supported in this endeavor by the US and the false narrative kept alive by the Anglo-American media/academic combine of the time. Predictably the response from the Pak establishment to this historical corrective was that the veteran and highly-respected Asghar Khan had become senile. But more objective and rational voices in Pakistan supported the candor of the former Air Chief and Najam Sethi, Pakistan's best known editor has confirmed this version. In a recent article (August 12) Sethi opined: “We miscalculated when we sent Pashtun lashkars to liberate Kashmir in 1948, because that provoked the partition of Kashmir…and the compulsion to demonize India as the biggest and continuing threat to Pakistan, thereby creating the budgetary rationale for an authoritarian national security state…”. Sethi adds further: “The second, third and fourth wars with India were all provoked by Pakistan and lost by it, whereas the national security paradigm was constantly strengthened by the propagation of an exactly opposite narrative in which we were portrayed as the heroic victims against a venomous and aggressive India.”
12th plan snippets
The government has offered to develop one major port each in seven coastal states during the 12th Five Year Plan. The estimated cost of investment is pegged between Rs 18,000 crore and Rs 20,000 crore from 2012 to 2017. Shipping secretary K Mohandas said the ministry has sent letters to respective state governments. “The states have to play the role of a facilitator to ensure land for developing such facilities. The Centre needs to spend Rs 2,500 crore or more to develop each port,” he added. Sources said states are likely to show interest considering the economic growth push they would get due to the development of new major ports. There are 13 major and 176 non-major ports in the country. Government records show that in the first quarter of this fiscal (April-June), there was an increase of 4.8% in cargo traffic to 193 million tonnes (MT) at major portscompared to 184 MT during the corresponding period last fiscal. Only three major ports — Chennai, Mumbai and Mormugao — registered negative growth. The shipping ministry has chalked out an ambitious target of creating a port capacity of around 3,200 MT to handle the expected traffic of about 2, 500 MT by 2020. Ports play a vital role in the overall economic development of the country. About 90% by volume and 70% by value of the country’s international trade is carried through maritime transport.
Debate , dialogue & consensus
Both parties are in the wrong I guess....Team Anna by holding a public show of strength when the draft bill is before Parliament and the Government by stopping the show forcefully. We need a national debate on the Lok Pal bill in which the best minds of the country should get involved and then by dialogue and consensus the final bill should be arrived at. It's gotten dirty , political and indisciplined at the moment. This is no solution against corruption. I don't think that we the aam aadmi realise the ramifications of the Jan Lok Pal bill. We all just want corruption to come to an end. Have we lost the plot ?
DMK unfurls tricolour for the first time !
Going against its long-standing practice of not acknowledging Independence Day, the DMK, whose ideological foundation was firmed up on an anti-Congress plank, joined in the celebrations along with millions across the country. For the first time in the history of its 62 years of existence, the party unfurled the national tricolour on Independence Day at Anna Arivalayam, the party’s headquarters in Chennai. DMK organising secretary and MP TKS Elangovan hoisted the national flag and hundreds of DMK cadres participated in the function. The celebration came as a surprise to many DMK seniors. But the move could well be a shrewd strategy to flaunt nationalism at a time when the Anna Hazare movement is catching up and the mood of the nation appears to be against corruption, feel a section within the party. Others say it could be a gesture to project itself on the national forum, weakened as it is after its defeat in the state elections.
PM's Independence Day speech
With corruption cases and Gandhian Anna Hazare’s threat to go on an indefinite fast from 16th August casting a dark shadow on the government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised the “strictest possible action” against those involved in graft. He, however, opposed hunger strikes as a means of protest. The immediate crises engaging the government seemed to influence the tenor of Singh’s Independence Day speech from the Red Fort-—his seventh in succession—as he argued that only Parliament could decide on the Lokpal Bill. At odds with Team Anna’s insistence that Parliament consider its version of the anti-corruption ombudsman, the PM said, “Those who don’t agree with the bill can put their views to Parliament, political parties and even the press.” With corruption cropping up no less than 16 times in his speech, the PM’s preoccupation with the crisis of credibility confronting his government seemed clear enough even as he indicated that reaching a middle ground over Hazare’s demands was unlikely. PM Manmohan Singh seemed to be taking charge of the Congress’s counter-attack against Anna Hazare, holding a meeting with leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee. With the UPA-II in a firefighting mode over corruption cases since mid-2010, the dilemma of acting against a transparency movement while apprehending Anna Hazare’s capacity to garner 24x7 media coverage saw PM Manmohan Singh underlining his determination to prevent graft in high places in his Independence Day speech on Monday. The PM even put corruption ahead of price rise—an issue that would resonate most widely—admitting that government functionaries had been held on graft charges. “There is no single big step which we can take to eradicate corruption. We will have to act simultaneously on many fronts,” he said. “I have said so much on corruption because I know that this problem is a matter of deep concern for all of us,” he said, but reiterated that no government had a “magic wand” to tackle the menace. Apart from elaborating on anti-corruption measures, the PM spoke of his focus on health, agriculture, inflation control, economic and social inclusiveness, outlining what government sources said was an “integrative agenda”. Speaking of the need to deliver justice, he said, “Everyone should know that quick action will be taken against the corrupt and punishment meted out to them…government officials will think twice before committing a wrong act out of greed or under political pressure.” Singh did not refer to the demand to place the PM under Lokpal’s ambit but opposed including of the judiciary, saying it would undercut the independence of the courts. The need to regulate the courts would be addressed by the judicial accountability bill, he said. Given the intense public dissatisfaction over poor governance and political privileges, the PM said discretionary powers that allowed those in office to misallocate resources would be pruned. “We should also have a public procurement legislation that lays down principles and practice with regard to government purchases. We will introduce a bill by end of this year,” he said.
15.8.11
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