Nine Point Proposal for Babri Masjid-dispute

March 7, 2019

Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood, Convener, Watan ki Fikr & President, Zakat Foundation of India has issued a press statement yesterday 6^th March wherein he has proposed 9 points which, if the Government of India accepts and implements, Indian Muslims might agree for the construction of a Ram mandir at Ayodhya.

Dr Zafar proposed points are:

1 De-reserve the constituencies of Lok Sabha and state assemblies where the Scheduled Caste percentage is not the highest in the state. Instead, reserve those constituencies where SC percentage is the highest, as recommended by Justice Sachar Committee. Thus end the widespread violation of section 9(1)(c) of the Delimitation Act.

2 The Alternative Admission Criteria (apportioning 60% for merit + 40% for backwardness) for undergraduate level admission into all universities and colleges of India should be accepted, approved and implemented as recommended by Justice Sachar Committee.

3 To fill the posts of CEO of state waqf boards the central government should accept, approve and implement the launching of Indian Waqf Service as recommended by the Justice Sachar Committee.

4 The earlier RBI proposal of allowing the banks to have a window for interest less banking should be accepted, approved and implemented by the central government.

5 The minority character of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia and all other educational institutions established by the minorities should be accepted, approved and implemented by the central government.

6 Any person who is charged of terror activity and is, after several years of multi-dimensional sufferance, is exonerated by the court as innocent should be given Rs fifty lakh as compensation by the government. Later on, this money should be at least partly deducted from the salary/pension/provident fund/retirement benefits of the officer(s) who wrongly implicated him.

7 Through a simple majority vote of parliament, amend the definition of ‘Scheduled Caste’ as given in para 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and make this definition religion-neutral. That is to say, delete the conditionality of religion, as recommended by Justice Ramanathan Mishra Commission.

8 Give proportionate share to Muslims in central and state council of ministers and in all nominated posts and appointments under the state & central governments.

9 Appoint Equal Opportunity Commission at the centre and in the states as recommended by Justice Sachar Committee.

Courtesy:Two Circle

Don’t Play Politics Over Martyrdom, Give Us Fair Price for Potatoes

March 7, 2019

Senior Journalist Abhisar Sharma reports about the distress of potato farmers from the ground zero at Mathura.

Potato farmers in Mathura are saying that while their crop has been fully destroyed, the government instead of listening to their woes is busy playing politics over the martyrdom of soldiers. NewsChakra team travels with Senior Journalist Abhisar Sharma to the ground zero at Mathura to talk to potato farmers about their distress.

Courtesy: News Click

Rafale Scam: State threatens action against media houses under OSA

March 6, 2019

As if using it as a weapon against dissenting voices wasn’t enough, the state has now raised the issue of ‘national security’ to threaten fearless journalists and publications that refuse to toe the government’s line. During a hearing in the Supreme Court (SC) in the Rafale scam, Attorney General (AG) KK Venugopal alleged that stories exposing dirty dealings in the case published in two newspapers, were based on documents ‘stolen’ from the Defence Ministry, thereby making it a case fit to be tried under the Official Secrets Act.

An SC bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, and Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph were hearing a batch of review petitions filed by various parties including senior advocate Prashant Bhushan in the Rafale case. Referring to the use of the ‘stolen’ Defence Ministry documents, the AG submitted, “We are considering action against two newspapers which published government documents and a senior counsel.”

One of the publications mentioned was The Hindu newspaper that has been consistently publishing scathing criticism of the entire process followed in the Rafale deal. A specific reference was made to this article published on March 6, 2019, that explains how the absence of bank guarantees made the deal more expensive. Venugopal alleged that the article was published on the day of the court proceedings to influence the hearing and claimed this amounted to contempt of court. The other publication that allegedly published the said ‘stolen’ documents was identified by advocate Prashant Bhushan as ANI.

What followed was a heated exchange between the bench and the Attorney General.

Examining the issue of Official Secrets Justice KM Joseph observed, “The question of national security will not arise when the issue before Court is whether investigation should be ordered. Even stolen evidence can be looked into by the Court. It is well settled under Evidence Act. If an act of corruption is committed, government cannot take shelter under the Official Secrets Act.”

But the AG responded saying, “They have come with a document which is stolen. Your Lordships might have your view on it (admissibility of such a document) but I have a different view.”

That’s when CJI Gogoi weighed in saying, “An accused is having difficulty in proving his innocence. He steals a document and shows it to judge. The document clearly shows he is innocent. Should the judge not admit the document?”

To this the AG responded saying, “He has to disclose the source of the document. The submission is, once the document is a subject matter of criminality, in my opinion, the court should not look into it.”

But the CJI countered asking, “If your submission is that petitioners have not come bona fide, then that’s different. But can you say that the document is completely not touchable?”

That’s when AG KK Venugopal appeared to not only add a political angle to the proceedings, but also cautioned the judges advising them how to conduct themselves, saying “In this limited area concerning the defence of frontiers, would it not be appropriate for Your Lordships to exercise restraint? This is a matter by which opposition is trying to destabilise the government.”

The entire episode is unsettling given how the State appears to be determined to muzzle independent media in the country, using extreme provisions of the law, all under the guise of defending ‘national security’ and ‘official secrets’. The case has now been adjourned to March 14, 2019.

#GoBackSadistModi Twitter backlash catches BJP and PM Modi by surprise

March 6, 2019

Tamil Nadu’s politicians and citizens have made #GoBackSadistModi and #GoBackModi trend not just India but also worldwide. The criticism for him, BJP and how the country is being run, were many on the popular social media site.

Image Courtesy: chennaimemes

Things are not going the way PM Modi would’ve wanted in Tamil Nadu. The state’s politicians and citizens have made #GoBackSadistModi and #GoBackModi trend not just India but also worldwide. There were many tweets and images shared on the microblogging site critical of Modi, BJP and how the country is being run by the government.

Twitter was briefly seen as the fiefdom of BJP IT Cell’s troll army. The IT Cell has been consistently exposed by fact-checking websites on how they made and broke trends and how they attacked people who ridiculed or questioned the party and its work. They now seem to be confused as to how to tackle or curb this backlash that has come in the form of #GoBackModi and #GoBackSadistic Modi.

Modi’s visit to Tamil Nadu triggered social media users in the state who could not forget how they were left to their own devices in the time of need.

It is a reflection of the state’s anger over PM Modi not visiting the districts in Tamil Nadu that were ravaged by cyclone Gaja that left more than 3 lakh homeless and uprooted around 11 lakh trees, crippling the livelihood of a huge population. Many were furious that he did not even address the loss or show empathy.

DMK President MK Stalin also attacked Prime Minister Modi’s rule by saying how he thinks of himself as an ‘emperor’ and not an elected Prime Minister. He even emphasized the need to save the country’s democracy.

He said, “We oppose Narendra Modi government who has destroyed social justice. Modi does not consider him as an elected Prime Minister but thinks himself as an emperor who has been in this post for a long time. We have come here together to save the democracy of India.”

The DMK leader cited how the country has regressed and gone 15 years behind and slammed Modi for his silence on the cyclone in Tamil Nadu. He said, “Modi thinks he is the SC, he is the RBI, he is the IT department. We have gathered here to develop a new India. under Modi’s regime, India has gone 15 years back. He is functioning as a sadist Prime Minister. Cyclone Gaja battered Tamil Nadu. Had cyclone happened in Maharashtra he would have gone but because it’s Tamil Nadu he didn’t come. But he didn’t even offer a word of solace to the people.”

Many students in the state were angry at how S. Anitha’s suicide was treated by the govt and trended her image with the #GoBackSadistModi hashtag.

Anitha secured good marks in the higher secondary examination but could not secure an MBBS seat due to the introduction of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

She even went to the Supreme Court seeking exemption from NEET and to consider her academic marks for medical admission. However, as the court turned down her plea, she committed suicide on September 1, 2017, due to disappointment and depression.

This reverse trend on Twitter has not gone down well with Modi supporters. Many tried to counter it by saying the trend originated in Pakistan.

But as this tweet map shows, it was driven by tweets from Tamil Nadu and the rest of the world.

These are India and worldwide trends as of March 6, 2019:

Students at IIT Kharagpur where Modi addressed students via teleconferencing two days ago were also dissatisfied, not only because of his distasteful joke about dyslexia but also because his PR team did ‘rehearsals’ and choreographed the entire interaction.

It is not the first time Modi has been accused of faking live TV Broadcasts. After broadcasting a recent show “2019 Ke Joshile (enthusiasts of 2019)”, shot at the IIT- Bombay campus, ABP News channel was accused of having invited young men from outside campus to speak in favour of the Modi government. The show was broadcast live on March 2 between 4 and 5 pm and then at 10 am the next day with the slug “IIT Bombay supports Modi”.

The students at IIT Bombay said that they found many new faces in the audience who were not even a part of the college.

The issue of misrepresentation and creating fake opinions was first raised by the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) of IIT-Bombay. The students have now identified at least 11 of the total participants (over 50 participated in the show) to be “outsiders”. Of them, at least one person has been identified as a member of the Hindu fringe group Hindu Yuva Vahini, The Wire reported.

Ever since it was out in the open that BJP manages and manipulates its image through its IT Cell, there have been periodic reverse trends critical of the government. When they get the taste of their own medicine, PM Modi gives statements like these.

Many were critical about this statement on the microblogging sites.

It’s becoming apparent that for every ultra-nationalist Twitter trend, there will be an equal and opposite accountability trend. As long as ground realities and facts are used as a countermeasure against rabid social media hatred, these trends must continue to keep the spirit of democracy alive.

Tamil Nadu’s politicians and citizens have made #GoBackSadistModi and #GoBackModi trend not just in India but also worldwide.

SC asks centre and Assam govt to explain Muslim exclusion from modified Foreigners’ Rules

March 6, 2019

The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna has issued notice to the two governments on a petition filed by the Assam State Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind challenging the relaxation in the Passport Rules and Foreigners Rules that allows religious minorities, except Muslims, facing persecution, particularly in the neighbouring countries, to continue to stay in India.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Central and Assam governments on the exclusion of Muslims from two notifications related to Passport Rules and Foreigners Rules that allow religious minorities facing persecution in neighbouring countries to stay in India even if they had entered without valid documents.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Centre on a fresh plea seeking to quash a series of subordinate laws which allows the naturalisation of illegal immigrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The petitioners have urged the court to declare the amendments made through the Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015; the Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015 and the order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on December 26, 2016 under the Citizenship Act, allowing the naturalisation of illegal immigrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, as “illegal and invalid”.

They have contended that the leeway offered by the subordinate laws would further multiply the “uncontrolled influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh to Assam”. The illegal immigration has caused huge demographic changes in the northeastern State, the petitioners claimed.

The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued a notice to the two governments on a petition filed by the Assam State Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind challenging the relaxation in the Passport Rules and Foreigners Rules.

The petitioner described the modification to Passport Rules and Foreigners Rules as discriminatory.

The court tagged the plea by Assam State Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind with the one filed by the Nagarikatwa Aain Songsudhan Birodhi Mancha (Forum Against Citizenship Act Amendment Bill), which too has challenged the amendments to the Passport Rules and Citizens Rules framed under the respective statutes.

The notice on Nagarikatwa Aain Songsudhan Birodhi Mancha was issued on February 27 and is returnable in six weeks’ time.

Contending that the government could not have issued the two notifications in 2015 without amending the law, the petitioner has asked the apex court to declare the Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules 2015, notified on September 7, 2015, as “discriminatory, arbitrary and illegal”.

Besides seeking the striking down of the 2015 notifications and the 2016 order of the Union Home Ministry in this regard, the petitioners wanted a direction to the Centre to take effective steps for the “conservation and preservation of the distinct culture, heritage and traditions of the indigenous people of Assam.”

The apex court had on February 27 issued notice on the plea filed by Forum Against Citizenship Act Amendment Bill which had sought to declare the Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015 and the Foreigners (Amendment) Order as “discriminatory, arbitrary and illegal”.

Prior to this, it had decided to keep the plea pending saying that it would be taken up “only after the Citizenship Act Amendment Bill, consideration of which is now stated to be pending before the Rajya Sabha, reaches its finality”.

The bill has been cleared by the Lok Sabha and it would now be presented in the Upper House of Parliament.

Passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8, the bill provides for according Indian citizenship to the Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis who fled religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, after six years of residence in India instead of the 12 years currently, even if they do not possess any document.

It also seeks to provide relief to the persecuted migrants who have come through the western borders to states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, the home minister had said.

The PIL of Forum Against Citizenship Act Amendment Bill has opposed the bill on the ground that it had introduced religion as a new principle into the citizenship law and termed it as “communally motivated humanitarianism”.

“Never before has religion been specifically identified in the citizenship law as a ground for distinguishing between citizens and non-citizens. It has introduced religion as a new principle into the citizenship law and can be conveniently branded as ”communally motivated humanitarianism,” it said.

“The illegal immigrants who are to be granted the benefit of this legislation are to qualify for citizenship only on the basis of religion, a requirement that goes against one of the basic tenets of the Indian Constitution, secularism,” it said.

It further sought directions to the Centre to constitute a National Immigration Commission or any other appropriate body to frame a National Immigration Policy and a National Refugee Policy.

With inputs from IANS.

Tribal leaders in Bastar claim that security forces killed 10 innocent people and raped children

March 6, 2019

Security forces gunned down at least 10 alleged Maoists during an encounter in Bijapur and claimed that 11 weapons were found by them. The activists claimed that none of the ten people killed that day by the security forces were Naxalites, and no encounter took place on that day.

Image Courtesy: Two Circles

Bastar: Human rights defender and tribal leaders Soni Sori and Lingaram Kodopi released a statement on the murder of 10 innocent people by security forces in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. They spoke about how the truth was shoved under the carpet about the continuing onslaught of violence against the indigenous Adivasi population of Bastar, especially after the incident of February 7 in village Tadiballa, Tehsil Bhairamgarh, Bijapur situated in the hills of Abujhmad.

“It is notable that the government and the Home Minister are presenting this as a great victory of the security forces, but if one asks just a few questions and conducts even a small inquiry, a chilling reality emerges. We, the residents of many villages of Bastar, have gathered at Bhairamgarh today, on March 5, to expose the lies of the government, to tell our story to the world, and to seek justice,” they said in their statement.

Security forces gunned down at least 10 alleged Maoists during an encounter in Bijapur and claimed that 11 weapons were found by them.

The activists claimed that none of the ten people killed that day by the security forces were Naxalites, and no encounter took place on that day. “Most of the villagers who died that day were our children, who had gathered that day to participate in village sports. The security forces came and started firing indiscriminately on the crowd of villagers without any warning, as a result of which people panicked and there was utter chaos. Those hit with bullets were brutalized further by the security forces. Two girls were raped, of whom a young girl of 12 years was not only raped, but her nose and private parts were mutilated. All the dead were subjected to brutal torture, despite the security forces clearly knowing that they were only villagers. The force personnel also burned all the clothes, vessels, containers etc present at the incident site,” the activists said.

Video Courtesy: Two Circles

“We want to know why the security forces behave so badly each and every time they visit our village on routine patrol. From where do they get these orders? Every day, without any reason or any evidence, Adivasis are being rounded up, taken to a camp or police station where they are being detained for days on end and beaten up. Their family members are denied any information about their whereabouts, at the end of which they are either let go or arrested in a false Naxalite case. Under whose orders do the security forces consider women’s bodies as their own property to assault and violate at their will? Even pregnant women, young girls and mothers with children at their breasts are not spared. When we file complaints, they come up with casteist defences – that Adivasi women have a foul smell, and none of these men would even touch them. What kind of orders are these which call for brutal extermination of hundreds of innocent Adivasi civilians?” they said in their statement.

The Adivasi population in Bastar continuously lives in the shadow of death and destruction. “Our houses are looted and burned, and our carefully earned money, clothes, cash, crops, sheep and cattle, chicken, and all our wealth is like an eyesore for the government. What kind of militarization is this, supposedly for the protection of Bastar’s population, but something which only arouses utmost fear in us? What we have lost, what torture we have borne, what misery the government has bestowed on us is immeasurable, but today it is the duty of the government to answer our questions and give us justice,” they said while making the following demands from the government-

1. As per our description of the event, a counter-FIR should be lodged into the incident under sections 302, 307, 376(2)(c), 201 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5(b) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, which should be investigated in an unbiased and transparent manner

2. To get to the bottom of this matter, a Commission of Inquiry should be instituted, presided by a retired High Court Judge.

3. The family members of the deceased should be given copies of the FIR and the Post Mortem.

4. The Magisterial Inquiry should be conducted as per the guidelines of the NHRC and in a manner making it possible for the family members of the deceased to give their testimonies fearlessly.

Two Adivasi women were also shot at by CRPF officers on February 2 in in the forest of Rengaiguda village, around 450 kms from Raipur, under Polampalli police station limits, when a joint team of security forces was returning after an area domination operation.

While a woman named Podiyam Sukki died of the gunshot wounds, another woman Kalmi Dewe was wounded and is currently being treated at a hospital. The police have been calling them Maoists but villagers have rejected these claims and said that they were not involved in any skirmish. The officers were also seen changing the women’s clothes and dressing them up in Naxal uniforms.

Read Also:
Sukma fake encounter: Jawans were dressing up victim in Naxal uniform after shooting her

What will come after a US withdrawal from Afghanistan?

March 6, 2019

The United States and the Taliban may be nearing an agreement to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan after more than 17 years of conflict.

When U.S. troops go home, ethnic militias will likely gain strength. REUTERS/Parwiz

In return, the Taliban would commit to refusing access to anti-American organizations such as al-Qaida on its territory.
How did we get to this point – and what will be the consequences of such an agreement?

How did we get here?

As a longtime scholar of Afghanistan’s wars and conflict dynamics, I suggest beginning with a bit of history.

The current conflict began when the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan a few weeks after 9/11.

It was on Afghan soil that Osama bin Laden hatched the plot to attack the U.S. The Taliban, the de facto rulers of much of Afghanistan in the wake of a bloody civil war, had given bin Laden and his supporters shelter.

Two months into the U.S. invasion, Taliban state institutions and defensive positions crumbled and the United States formed new state institutions led by Afghans who had fought the Taliban. The U.S. maintained a limited force to fight and capture al-Qaida and Taliban leaders but otherwise invested little in the Afghan economy or society.

It took the Taliban four years to reconstitute itself as an effective force of insurgents to fight the U.S. and the Afghan government, and they became stronger every year after 2004. As I explain in my research, the United States and the coalition of 42 countries it formed to defeat the resurgent Taliban was poorly organized, abusive and mismanaged.

Since 2001, the U.S.-led coalition has spent US$1 trillion dollars and committed a peak of 140,000 troops and 100,000 contractors to an unsuccessful attempt to defeat the Taliban. More than 5,000 American soldiers and contractors were killed.

Today, a U.S. force of 14,000 troops and massive U.S. Airforce assets are helping maintain the defensive positions of an Afghan government that is widely considered as one of the most corrupt in the world.

The Taliban are making territorial gains and killing hundreds of regime troops each month, and feel that they are on the cusp of victory.
Militias that recruit from the Hazara, Tajik and Uzbek minorities have rearmed in anticipation of the collapse of the regime in Kabul and fear of a coming civil war with the mostly Pushtun Taliban. Afghanistan is nearing an endgame.

What it means for the Taliban

An agreement between the Taliban and the U.S. would be an impressive accomplishment for the Taliban. From their perspective, it would be their reward for fighting the world’s strongest military power to a stalemate.

They already were rewarded by getting to negotiate directly with the United States, as they have always requested, instead of the Afghan regime which they despise. If the negotiations are successful, they would also be getting precisely what they asked for: an American withdrawal.

In return, they are making a commitment to do something they would likely have done anyway. Al-Qaida’s attack on the U.S. caused the Taliban to lose control of Afghanistan for years. They are not likely to risk having to pay that cost again once they regain control of Kabul, even if they don’t sign an agreement.

What it means for US

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani meets U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in Munich, Germany, Feb. 16, 2019. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani meets U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in Munich, Germany, Feb. 16, 2019. REUTERS/Michael Dalder
There is little hope for an outright U.S. victory over the Taliban at this point.

The remaining force of 14,000 U.S. troops is mostly meant to shore up Afghan state defenses. It is too small to reverse momentum on the battlefield. An agreement and withdrawal would therefore be attractive for those who value less military spending and stress on the military, including General John Nicholson, the previous commander of the American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The agreement, however, could undermine U.S. reputation in ways big and small. The Obama and Trump administrations never reversed a 2002 Bush executive order that added the Taliban to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, but they have simultaneously pleaded with them to negotiate in spite of claims that Washington does not negotiate with terrorists.

It also signals U.S. weakness and inability to fight a dedicated force of insurgents. Militants elsewhere, including Islamic State leaders, could find this lesson instructive. I believe such an agreement may well be remembered as a turning point in America’s ability to successfully project its military power around the Muslim world.

An agreement could also signal that the U.S. is an unreliable ally that abandons those who side with it. The United States is involved in numerous conflicts worldwide in places as diverse as Syria and Somalia, and many of its local allies would logically recalculate their own commitments after witnessing a U.S. disengagement from Afghanistan.

What happens to the state

As I describe in my book “Organizations at War in Afghanistan,” governments tend to unravel quickly in Afghanistan when foreign support, both military and financial, ceases.

This is precisely what happened after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan and stopped their support to the Najib regime in the early 1990s. As I report in greater detail in my book, different regime militias and military units either disintegrated, joined their erstwhile Mujahideen opponents or became independent militias.

Similarly, today’s Afghan state officials at all levels have long hedged their bets by maintaining ties with the Taliban, their nominal opponents and minority militias. If history is any indication, we can expect that entire agencies and units will either fragment or collectively join any of several strongman-led ethnic militias when the rewards of working for the regime stop outweighing the risks of facing the Taliban. Some may even defect to the Taliban. This is expected behavior in dangerous environments such as Afghanistan, where everyone is expected to have a hedging strategy for survival.

Once the state gets pulled in all directions, Afghanistan will likely degenerate into a civil war very similar to the one that the United States interrupted when it invaded in late 2001. Other countries, including Russia, Iran and India will choose sides to back. I estimate that the Taliban, with their dedicated Pakistani and Arab Gulf backers will win that conflict, just like they almost did in 2001. We may very well reach a point where we see the 17-year American occupation as merely a futile, bloody and costly interruption of the Afghan civil war.

I consider a U.S.-Taliban agreement to be no more than a face-saving measure to conclude a failed and costly American military intervention. If there is a useful lesson to be learned from this misadventure, it is that leaders of even the world’s mightiest military power need to reconsider the merits of a militarized foreign policy in the Muslim world. U.S. military interventions are stoking resentment and inflaming a perpetual transnational insurgency across Muslim countries. If it doesn’t change its course, the U.S. may very well suffer more defeats such as the one in Afghanistan and will cause even more hurt and damage in other countries along the way.

Courtesy: The Conversation

Gaps in governance: Need for timely intervention in court cases pertaining to SCs, STs, SEdBCs

March 6, 2019

Almost all Law Officers appointed by successive Governments, while being eminent and distinguished lawyers with deep knowledge of Constitutional laws and legal issues, have no substantive and in-depth knowledge of the socio-historical facts pertaining to the severe oppression of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and, though to a lesser extent, also the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEdBCs), through the centuries of history and decades of our independence till now.

They also do not have in-depth knowledge of Constitutional provisions pertaining to them. There have been, in some periods, a few exceptional law officers, who had some background of these aspects and who were painstaking enough to get further briefed.

A personnel policy should be laid down that at least some of the Law Officers at different levels of Attorney General (AG), Solicitor General (SG), Additional Solicitor Generals (ASGs) and Assistant SGs should be selected from among lawyers who have such substantive and in-depth knowledge and commitment to the legitimate cause and rights of the SCs, STs and SEdBCs, as evidenced by their long and consistent handling of cases in defence of the rights of these three deprived classes and in defence of legislative and executive measures taken to meet their legitimate rights and genuine needs.

It is the duty of the officers concerned to brief the law officers and be present in the court during proceedings to give information and instructions, as I used to do in important cases pertaining to the SCs, STs and SEdBCs when I was in Service till 1990-end. But for this there have to be, in the Ministries concerned, persons with deep knowledge and experience of socio-historical facts and issues pertaining to these deprived classes and commitment to the legitimate needs and Constitutional rights of these classes.

The personnel policy of the Government consistently selects officers with knowledge and expertise in areas like finance, economic policy, industrial development, infrastructure development, defence, external affairs etc for the respective Ministries. In the case of the Ministries concerned with these deprived classes, there is no such approach. The result is that, subject to exceptions, in certain brief periods, there is nobody in the official machinery capable of effectively briefing, guiding and instructing the law officers.

Nor do they try to fill this gap by tapping knowledge available outside the system. There have been exceptions like the initiative taken by the then HRD Minister the late Shri Arjun Singh and the then HRD Secretary the late Shri Sudip Banerjee, who sought my help, years after my retirement, as Advisor in defending the case of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act case [Ashoka Kumar Thakur case] in 2006 to 2008, which I agreed to on my condition that no remuneration shall be paid to me, and I thoroughly briefed the then AG, ASG and Special Counsel, and also lawyers for State Governments and organizations which were with the Central Government in this case, and orchestrated and symphonized the entire defence, and I was personally present on every day of the proceedings in the court, furnishing on the spot information to the lawyers on matters raised by the Bench, resulting in the unanimous judgment in favour of the Government’s correct position and legislation and the related Constitution Amendment.

Further, there is a general tendency for officers to seek to find placement in economic and other “prestigious” Ministries and avoid Ministries dealing with the deprived classes and categories, who form the vast majority of the people of India.

The personnel policy needs to be made sensitive to carefully identify and provide to the Ministries dealing with SCs, STs and SEdBCs, officers with the right attitude to SCs, STs, SEdBCs and experience and competence in dealing with their issues.

There is also need to have a personnel policy of special incentives. One instance is, no officer should be allowed to go into coveted Ministries unless he or she has spent not less than five years in the Ministries dealing with the three deprived classes.

As a result of the gaps above, cases involving the Constitutional rights and genuine needs of SCs, STs and SEdBCs too often go by default. Sometimes, certain law officers have even made erroneous and harmful admissions. For example, one law officer made the erroneous and atrocious admission in the Supreme Court that there is rampant misuse of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. In many other cases also, the correct and full facts do not get placed before the Supreme Court and High Courts.

There is no policy in the selection of judges for High Courts and Supreme Court to select some of the persons with this background and commitment. For example, at present there is not a single judge of the SCs and STs in the Supreme Court. The National Commission for Review of the Working of Constitution, set up in 2000 under the Chairmanship of the Chief Justice (Retd) M.N. Venkatachalaiah, by the Vajpayee Government, which submitted its Report in 2002 to the then Law Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, has pointed out the need for an advantage, for the judiciary itself, of having judges from SCs, STs and SEdBCs in the High Courts and Supreme Court. But its recommendations are yet to be seriously considered.

The social imbalance on the Benches of the High Courts and Supreme Court has to be rectified by taking pains to identify district-level judges belonging to SC, STs and SEdBCs and lawyers belonging to these classes, who by their performance have shown in-depth understanding of the issues of SCs, STs and SEdBCs, along the lines of the recommendations of the Venkatachalaiah Commission, and as I have been writing to successive Law Ministers of successive Governments.

A long-term measure is to operationalize the 42nd Constitution Amendment of 1976 and create an All-India Judicial Service, in which there will automatically be reservation for SCs, STs and SEdBCs as for other All-India and Central Services, creating a large pool of SC, ST and SEdBC law officers from which future appointments of judges to the High Courts and Supreme Court can be made. I have been recommending this too to successive Law Ministers of successive Governments.

The present Law Minister has been expressing his intention to create such a Service. But he has expressed hesitation as the High Courts are not in agreement. As there is a Constitutional provision, there is no need to secure the consent of the High Courts. When it is Constitutionally possible and still it is not done, citing one reason or the other, the seriousness and sincerity of expressions of intent will come under doubt.
The draft revised MOP must provide for selection of adequate proportion district-level judges and lawyers belonging to SCs, STs and SEdBCs, possessing the prescribed qualifications and the above qualities, to the High Court Benches and Supreme Court Bench.

One qualification prescribed for a lawyer to be considered is that of income. High income is possible only for lawyers who deal with cases of persons accused of evasion of Income Taxes, Customs and Excise duties etc. Instead, one of the important qualifications should be that a lawyer for consideration of appointment to the High Court and Supreme Court Benches should have been actively, effectively and consistently taking up cases in defence of the rights of the deprived classes and categories. The experience and commitment of such lawyers will be valuable for the High Court and Supreme Court Benches, but they will not be able to fulfill the present income criteria.

The detailed suggestions made by me on these points and pending with the past and present Law Ministers needs to be seriously considered, accepted and implemented.

The office of the PM is extremely important in guiding governance at the national level. The office of successive PMs has had eminent civil servants and others with expertise in areas like industrial development, infrastructure development, defence, external affairs etc. While these are important, there has been, most of the time, not a single officer in the PMO with in-depth knowledge and experience of the issues of the deprived classes and Constitutional provisions for them, and commitment to their legitimate needs and rights.

There have been rare exceptions like Shri K.R. Venugopal, who was Secretary to the PM during Shri V.P. Singh’s tenure and continued into Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao’s tenure. This gap continues in the present PMO also. As a result, important matters pertaining to these classes are not brought to the PM’s notice in the right perspective in time and with top urgency that they deserve, thereby enabling the PM to respond and intervene promptly without delay.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (ABVKA), in the meeting of its Kendriya Karyakari Mandal at Satna on February 24, has inter alia underlined the Government’s silence on the February 13 order of the Supreme Court, adversely affecting many lakhs of people of the STs, and deplored that even after two weeks of the Supreme Court order, no statement had come from the Government, because of which agony and panic is prevailing among the tribal community. Such Governmental silence is on account of the above gap in the PMO and in the concerned Ministries.

After angry and agonized reactions from STs like the Dongria Kondhs and those working for the rights of the STs and interventions by me and a few other such persons with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, that Ministry moved the Supreme Court on 27.02.2019 and secured from it an Order on 28.02.2019 staying its earlier Order of 13.02.2019 for eviction of lakhs of STs. But in the meanwhile, much damage has been caused by creating doubts about whether the Government seriously tried to defend this case earlier and prevent the Order of 13.02.2019. The proceedings in the Supreme Court on 28.02.2019 and angry comments of the judges and the admission of the Solicitor General clearly bring out all the above gaps, namely,

(a) Government’s long “slumber”, in the words of the a h, all theses years
(b) Solicitor General’s admission of neglect
(c) Non-availability of knowledge about the conditions and plight of STs, especially in Scheduled Areas, in the Bench itself, prior to 28.02.2019
(d) Absence of necessary knowledge, background and commitment on the part of the governance and administrative system in Ministries dealing with the deprived classes and in the PMO.

The PMO, which is the nerve-centre of national governance, needs carefully selected Principal Secretary and/or Secretary-level officers with in-depth knowledge and experience of the above three deprived classes of our people, and proven commitment to their legitimate needs and rights, who should keep watch over all matters of significance to them, maintain close contact with the concerned Ministries and ensure that nothing negative is allowed to happen and positive measures required are taken [e.g., proper and speedy implementation of Forest Rights Act, SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act) – the implementation of these and other such Acts is at present casual and lackadaisical], and bring to the PM’s notice in time important developments requiring PM’s intervention.

Such persons are available. It is for the Prime Minister and Ministers to look for such persons, identify them and bring them on board. If such persons are there, it will become possible for the PM to intervene in time and effectively as the PM has done in the aftermath of Pulwama.
—
*Former secretary, Ministry of Welfare, Government of India

This article is based on the author’s analysis of serious gaps in governance and administrative system in respect of issues and Court Cases pertaining to SCs, STs and SEDBCs and Suggested Remedial Measures

Courtesy: Counter View

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