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AN ECSTASY The wall we need to build is between our work life and our home life BILL MAHER

While the French lead in giving workers off-time, we in India aren’t far behind nly connect! exhorted EM Forster to his readers. Giving workers a New Year gift, the French government reversed the British novelist’s dictum and gave employees the right to disconnect from their mobile phones and computers so that office work didn’t disrupt their spare time. The French fondness for leisure – preferably over an extended meal – is famous. Even the august Académie Française, the linguistic watchdog which keeps beagle-eyed vigilance against Anglo Saxon intruders trespassing into the sacrosanct domain of the French language, has not been able to ban such entrenched Franglaisisms such as ‘le weekend’ and ‘le bifstek’ from rushing in where other Anglicisms fear to tread. French employees, who already enjoy a 35-hour just in working week which is the envy of workers in other parts of the EU, can now with impunity refuse to accept office-related phone calls or emails during their off-time. The ‘right to disconnect’ came into law after the French labour minister, Myriam El Khomri, commissioned a study on the ill-effects of what she called ‘info-obesity’ caused by people being unable to get away from work, even when they were off-work, because of the long arm of communication technology. While the right to be absent from work after working hours has been criticised by some on the grounds that it will adversely affect productivity, proponents of the new legislation can claim a philosophical endorsement for their view from none less than Sartre who, in his monumental ‘Being and Nothingness’, argued that often absence has greater presence than presence itself. The Calvinist doctrine that work is worship can be countered by the Biblical injunction to consider the lilies of the field, which though they neither toil nor spin, out-array Solomon in all his glory. Which is another way of saying that if leisure is the curse of the working classes, work is the curse of the leisure classes. Closer to home, our own sarkar appeared to back this laid-back argument by continuing to make it mandatory for banks to shut shop on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, despite the postdemonetisation cash crunch which witnessed many skipping work to stand in long money queues as though in compliance with Milton’s pronouncement that they also serve who only stand and wait. Putting precept into practice, our lawmakers themselves played hookey from work by getting into a dangal over demonetisation and ensuring that the winter session of Parliament was a total washout. That shirk culture expands according to the time allotted to it is suggested by the story of the corporate recruit who, when told that timely clock-punching was a company rule, promptly obliged by giving the office clock a hefty uppercut that put it out of action, once and for all.

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Pure Red Herring Modi may be looking to create the New Indian in an uncomfortable echo of Mao but also Gandhi Manoj Joshi

Purity versus pollution have been part of the Indian way of life for millennia, manifested most perniciously in our caste system, which divides people between the highest, who are ritually the purest, and the lowest who are the most polluted. Ritual purity is the feature of many religions, but nowhere has it had the malign impact that it has in India. Confined to religious and social practice and scientific practice, the concept now seems to have leapt across social and religious practice into the contemporary political discourse. Speaking to the nation on New Year’s Eve, Prime Minister Narendra Modi weighed in, terming the whole demonetisation exercise as ‘a historic rite of purification’ aimed at ridding the society of the ‘badness’ and ‘evil’ that had crept in in the form of corruption, black money and counterfeit currency. ‘Purity’ is fine as a scientific concept, but applied to religious, political, social and economic categories it is troublesome. We often hear of temples being washed after Dalits have entered them, or Dalits being segregated from upper castes in schools, villages and eating places. The ‘ghar wapsi’ movement calling for the reconversion of those whose ancestors had allegedly converted from the Hindu faith is another manifestation of this, as are movements to dictate dietary choices. Most crippling remain the notions of purity applied to the female body, which are the foundation of the poor status of women in our society. But what is ‘purity’ when it comes to economic development and growth? Modi’s words suggest that it means a society without corruption and an economy where everyone pays his/her taxes. This is perfectly fine as an ideal for a society, but to term them as a sine qua non (essential condition) for economic growth is both ahistorical and fraught with risk. A glance back at the growth of capitalism will reveal that the industrial transformation of the West came along with crass exploitation, colonialism, robber barons and genocide. Subsequently these countries have cleaned up their act, though instances of corruption and bribe often pop up in countries like Sweden, Norway or the UK. The Chinese version of growth between 1990-2010, too, came with huge corruption, which Xi Jinping is now trying to fix. But wealth came before the cleanup. Actually, the closest parallel to emphasising ‘purity’ in a society comes from the failed socialist experiments ranging from the utopians like the Saint-Simon or Robert Owen and the Marxist-Leninists. Indeed, in their zeal, the latter committed even greater crimes in pursuit of that ‘pure’ ideal called communism. There is, of course, our own version of a pure society in Ram Rajya, which is entirely mythical. With the decline of communism, almost everyone agrees that some form of capitalism is the best means of economic progress. ‘Pragmatism’ in policy is the key word – once a goal is identified, appropriate ways and means are worked out to achieve it without being over-burdened by ideology. We are all agreed that India should become a developed economy, with a special thrust on inclusiveness, given our background of exclusion of large chunks of society. The issue of ‘pure’ versus ‘impure’ means, or ‘goodness’ and ‘badness’ of people or society are red herrings. The essence of modern capitalism is the freedom of choice, constrained by rules and laws to make an otherwise brutal system humane, efficient and inclusive. Certainly, India need not go through the terrible 19th century experience of capitalism. Fighting corruption and tax-evasion is important, but it cannot be a pre-condition to the growth process, but only part of a more complex process that irons them out over a period of time through appropriate policy. India’s obsession with purity has cost us dear through history. The opportunity costs of denying social mobility to large segments of the population, especially the Dalits and women cannot even be computed. What we do know is that a society so divided was unable to offer resistance to repeated invasions of the country because purity rules demanded that only certain castes could wield weapons. It almost seems that Modi is looking to create the New Indian, an uncomfortable echo of Stalin and Mao’s New Socialist. But there is also an echo of his fellow Gujarati, Mahatma Gandhi, who believed that impure means could never deliver pure ends. Our Independence had to be obtained through non-violence, the Mahatma believed, and our economy based on satisfying the minimal needs and a rejection of mass industrialisation. Eventually, Independence came because World War II bankrupted Britain. And, fortunately, Gandhi’s heirs rejected his ideas of a village-based economy which would have been a disaster of epic proportions. Where will the current drive for a ‘pure’ means of attaining economic growth lead us? No one knows, probably not even Modi.

THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 2017

Let’s Clean Political Cesspool

A thought for today

All Hail The Right To Disconnect

OF IDEAS

When parties take money in cash from ‘unidentified’ donors, they work for tax evaders Pavan K Varma

The recent demonetisation decision may have its supporters and detractors, but no political leader or political party can convincingly speak about the need to eliminate corruption without resolving to pass the comprehensive electoral reforms bill that has been pending before Parliament for the last two decades. This is so because the pernicious nexus between politicians and political parties on the one hand, and black money on the other, is the principal cause of all corruption in India. If those who are supposed to make laws against corruption are themselves the products of a corrupt system, how can the rest of society be clean? When parties take money in cash from ‘unidentified’ donors, they work for tax evaders. When candidates illegally spend many times the prescribed limit on elections, their first priority is to milk the state to recoup their ‘investments’. India is among the lowest scoring countries on political finance regulation according to the Global Integrity Report. India scored zero out of hundred on implementation and disclosure of political party and candidate financing. It also scored a zero on the effectiveness of its party financing regulations. By contrast, if there is an international reward for lip service on the need to bring greater financial transparency to transactions of political parties, India would probably be at number one! Starting with the Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms in 1990, the Vohra Committee in 1993, the Indrajit Gupta Committee in 1998, Law Commission Report on the Reform of Electoral Law 1999, Election Commission of India Report on Proposed Electoral Reforms 2004 and the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission 2008, scores of committees have spewed out voluminous reports but all of them have largely remained confined to proposals, ideas and intentions. The truth quite bluntly is that most political parties and politicians have no

Uday Deb

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reason to change the current system because they are the biggest beneficiaries of it. The time has thus come to turn the spotlight on politicians, who speak about eliminating corruption the most. Several immediate steps can be taken. Firstly, the current practice which allows parties not to identify donors contributing less than Rs 20,000 must be scrapped, as recommended by the Election Commission (EC). This is the principal channel for parties to collect vast amounts of undeclared funds. The EC has recommended that existing limits for cash donations should be lowered to Rs 2,000, but, frankly, there is no reason why every paisa given to a political party cannot be accounted for and transacted through auditable and transparent financial channels. Secondly, all payments made by political parties must be made digitally or through banking channels. This has been recommended by the Core Committee on Electoral Reforms sponsored by the EC, and the ministry of law and

All political parties must compulsorily make public their audited accounts every year. CEC and CAG must be given powers to scrutinise and monitor a party’s financial transactions justice. The EC’s order that all candidates must open separate bank accounts for cheque payments is the right step, but given the current digital emphasis, there is no reason why all payments, and not only those above Rs 20,000, should not be made by cheque or digitally. Thirdly, all political parties must compulsorily make public their audited accounts every year. Currently, candidates are required to disclose their assets and liabilities but not political parties. As far back as 2004 the EC recommen-

ded that, “Political parties should be required to publish their accounts annually for information and scrutiny of the general public for which purpose the maintenance of such accounts and their auditing to ensure their accuracy is a prerequisite. The audit may be done by any firm approved by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). The audited accounts must be made public.” Further, once made public, the audited accounts should be brought under the RTI Act. Fourthly, the CEC and the CAG must be given powers to scrutinise and monitor a party’s financial transactions. Currently, political parties merely obtain a certificate from the EC that they have submitted their annual audited statements of accounts. Fifthly, the EC should have powers to take action against parties that are found culpable of illicit financial transactions, including deregistering those that are repeat offenders. Similar powers should be available against politicians who verifiably flout regulations. Any judicial appeal from an action by the EC should be with a fast track court or special election tribunal. This too has been specifically recommended by the EC. Sixthly, all candidates for elections must show, as the EC has now directed, the source of their incomes, and not merely their assets and liabilities under Form 26 of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961. It is common knowledge that Form 26 declarations hide more than they reveal and are in fact a tribute to the ingenuity of chartered accountants. Effect should also be given to the EC’s recommendation that Section 125 (A) of the Representation of the People Act be amended to provide for more stringent punishment of imprisonment for two years to those who conceal or provide wrong information. There is a Hindi saying: Diya tale andhera: darkness below the lamp. In the case of corruption and black money, the real darkness is below the glow of political rhetoric. It is time that our politicians stop pointing the finger at others and look at the cesspool in their own backyards. The writer is an author and member of JD(U)

Bridge gaps in children’s schemes with adequate financing, they are the future and 39% of the Indian population Puja Marwaha

Children are the heart of any agenda for transformation. Every child’s unrealised potential translates into an unrealised growth potential for the country. Our government’s intent to positively impact various indicators of child rights has been consistently evident in the slew of policy formulations as well as the commitment to international ratifications, the most prominent being the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Whether this has translated into a reality for children on the ground, is another story altogether. Child labour in the decade from 2001to 2011has reduced at a dismal rate of 2.2%, the country still housing 33 million children under the age of 18 in labour. Crimes against children have increased by 500% from 2005 to 2015. Out of every 100 children in India, only 32 (less than one-third) finish school education age-appropriately. The change we have envisaged for our children evades us primarily because the design of

our schemes has been marred by gaps, lending to challenges faced in their implementation. Most of the personnel in child related schemes and laws are ad hoc or honorary. The labour inspector mandated to rescue and rehabilitate children in labour is primarily responsible for implementing over 32 other labour laws, which translates into shockingly poor rates of conviction in child labour cases. Under the child marriage

Out of every 100 children, only 32 finish school education age-appropriately law, it is the sub-divisional magistrate or a child development project officer who is given the additional responsibility of preventing a complex, deep seated social taboo of child marriage. Under the juvenile justice law, abused and traumatised children are at the mercy of a child welfare committee of five honorary members, who many a times are inadequately trained to deal with child protection. Budgetary investment in personnel across the laws has

remained minimal. Absence of dedicated resources stems from absence of a dedicated budget, adjusting children’s ‘negotiable’ concerns against other areas. One of the largest integrated schemes in the world providing education, nutrition and care to our young children is a classic example, struggling with inadequate resources. The aanganwadi worker in the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) is an honorary worker, earning a meagre salary even when her role is so critical. A second worker, especially for preschool education, has remained a dream even after restructuring ICDS, in the light of budget paucity. We are still struggling with teacher vacancies and lack of trained teachers for our children

throughout their schooling years. Over 1 lakh government schools in India are single teacher schools and about 20% teachers are untrained. Public provisioning for children under six, under ICDS which is a universal scheme, is only able to reach 50% of the population of 164.5 million of these children. This is despite the well-known fact that lack of nutrition, care and education during these growing years has lifelong implications for the child. Government’s targeted approach for some schemes also leads to limited coverage. For instance the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls is only implemented in 200 select districts. Considering that 56% of the

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adolescent girls in India are anaemic and 47% are underweight, schemes such as these need to reach all children and thus need adequate backing. Our schemes are skewed and children continue to be seen in fragments. In a country where the rate of crime against children has increased by more than 15 times in the last decade, the framework of our child protection schemes is largely urban with a limited reach to children in rural areas. There is no clear convergence of different departments and no onus for a shared responsibility. The budget for POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act), for example, lies with the women and child ministry, while the budget for training important stakeholders like doctors and health professionals dealing with these children, lies out of its ambit, with no clarity on the convergence. Our resources and policies have to be aligned to deliver better, more sustainable outcomes. While budgeting for 2017-18 we should factor in that the stagnant 4% investment in the last 15 years has not made any dent in improving the lives of children, who are 39% of our population. The writer is Chief Executive, CRY

Sacredspace The Trigger Religion is part of our cultural and intellectual history. It was our first attempt at literature, at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at healthcare, believing in faith healing, and at philosophy.

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Christopher Hitchens

Supreme Court’s Secular Fundamentalism Sudheendra Kulkarni

he Supreme Court’s January 2 ruling on the issue of religion and the election process is deeply flawed. India’s divided polity is bound to use its flaws to bring a mountain of cases before the judiciary, which will find it impossible to settle them in a consistent and principled manner. The apex court’s inconsistency is already evident in its refusal to review its own ‘Hindutva judgment’ in 1995, which held that since ‘Hindutva’ connoted a ‘way of life’, invoking it would not amount to a corrupt electoral practice. The ruling is defective on both social and spiritual/ethical grounds. The democratic edifice in any country rests on its social foundation. Diversity in terms of religion, caste, language and race is an irrefutable and immutable characteristic of Indian society. To ignore this diversity, and to think of India as an undifferentiated collective of

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Indians, purged of their multiple social identities, is to live in a fantasy. Our electoral system is based on the principle of one-person, one-vote, but voters do vote guided by diverse social considerations. Their right to do so cannot be constrained, except by infringing upon their fundamental rights. If voters have this right, candidates too cannot be denied the right to promise that they would, if elected, try to set right certain social wrongs, injustices, inequalities or deprivations. Such socio-economic and political disparities and deprivations are incontrovertible realities of contemporary India. The only obligation on candidates is that they should not speak ill of other communities or incite social disharmony. The entire history of social justice movements in post-Independence India, which have infused greater equity and

vibrancy into our democracy, is testimony to the fact that diverse social groups, especially under-represented ones, have been mobilised electorally, following their social mobilisation. True, identity politics has created several problems, but these have to be set right by the democratic process itself, not by judicial fatwas. The Supreme Court’s ruling that religion can have no role in elections, since the latter are a “secular exercise”, is also highly problematic since it seeks to de-legitimise the role of religion in our national life. Ours is a deeply religious society. But this fact does not come in the way of India being a secular nation. Indeed, India’s multi-faith character is a guarantor of secularism. The apex court has erred by looking at religion only as an identity marker of voters and candidates. But isn’t religion also a source of ethics and spiritual light? It is indeed the most

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powerful provider of moral guidance to individuals as well as collectives (political parties, leaders and functionaries of the state, judges included). Mahatma Gandhi said: “For me, politics bereft of religion is absolute dirt, ever to be shunned. Politics concern nations and that which concerns the welfare of nations must be one of the concerns of a man who is religiously inclined, in other words, a seeker after God and Truth. For me, God and Truth are convertible terms … Therefore, in politics also we have to establish the Kingdom of Heaven”. (Young India, June 18, 1925.) True, religion has been often misused in the electoral process. But its misuse cannot be stopped by banishing religion itself. The answer lies in reforming religious practice, as also the practice of politics, governance, statecraft and justice delivery. Irreligious secularism is poisonous. (The writer was aide to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.)