In historic vote, Scots decide to remain with the UK

The people of Scotland voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent against independence in a vote that saw an unprecedented turnout.

Scottish voters have rejected independence, deciding to remain part of the United Kingdom after a historic referendum that shook the country to its core.

The decision prevented a rupture of a 307—year union with England, bringing a huge sigh of relief to the British political establishment. Scots voted 55 percent to 45 percent against independence in a vote that saw an unprecedented turnout.

A majority of voters did not embrace Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond’s impassioned plea to launch a new state, choosing instead the security offered by remaining in the United Kingdom.

Salmond conceded defeat, saying “we know it is a majority for the No campaign” and called on Scots to accept the results of the vote.

Salmond had argued that Scots could go it alone because of its extensive oil reserves and high levels of ingenuity and education. He said Scotland would flourish on its own, free of interference from any London—based government.

Nonetheless, the skilled 59—year—old leader of the Scottish National Party came close to winning independence his long—cherished goal and still won a promise of new powers for Scotland from rattled London politicians.

Many saw it as a “heads versus hearts” campaign, with cautious older Scots concluding that independence would be too risky financially, while younger ones were enamored with the idea of building their own country.

The result saves British Prime Minister David Cameron from a historic defeat and also helps opposition chief Ed Miliband by keeping his many Labour Party lawmakers in Scotland in place. His party would have found it harder to win a national election in 2015 without that support from Scotland.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a Scot, returned to prominence with a dramatic barnstorming campaign in support of the union in the final days before the referendum vote. Brown argued passionately that Scots could be devoted to Scotland but still proud of their place in the United Kingdom, rejecting the argument that independence was the patriotic choice.

“There is not a cemetery in Europe that does not have Scots, English, Welsh and Irish lined side by side,” Brown said in his final speech before the vote. “We not only won these wars together, we built the peace together. What we have built together by sacrificing and sharing, let no narrow nationalism split asunder.”

For his part, Cameron aware that his Conservative Party is widely loathed in Scotland begged voters not to use a vote for independence as a way to bash his party.

The vote against independence keeps the U.K. from losing a substantial part of its territory and oil reserves and prevents it from having to find a new base for its nuclear arsenal, now housed in Scotland. It had also faced a possible loss of influence within international institutions including the 28—nation European Union and the United Nations.

The decision also means Britain can avoid a prolonged period of financial insecurity that had been predicted by some if Scotland broke away.

In return for staying in the union, Scotland’s voters have been promised significant though somewhat unspecified new powers by the British government, which had feared losing Scotland forever.

Nalanda University reopens after 800 years, Sushma Swaraj inaugurates academic session

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Friday inaugurated the revived Nalanda University, renowned as a centre for learning till it was burnt down 800 years ago by an invading Turkish army. Swaraj said it was a matter of pride for her to inaugurate the academic session of the university after a gap of over 800 years. - 

The good cop

What is common between the much-hyped recent books on the Indian polity? Whether it is The Accidental Prime Minister by Sanjaya Baru, One Life is Not Enough by K. Natwar Singh, Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and Other Truths by P.C. Parakh or Not Just an Accountant: The Diary of the Nation’s Conscience Keeper by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai, they all reflect on the ugly malfunctioning of the polity under the previous government. Added to this is the erosion of parliamentary control over the executive, which has led to corruption on a massive scale and the arbitrary exercise of executive power.

The former CAG, acting as the “conscience keeper” of the nation, has decided to let the cat out of the bag: coalition functionaries of the UPA regime had deputed politicians to get him to leave out certain names from audit reports. Rai believes that the history of Indian politics would have been different had then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to put his foot down against the wrongdoings that he knew about. At that time, it was the Supreme Court which came to Rai’s rescue and observed that “the CAG is not just a munim (accountant)”. According to Rai, he was under severe pressure during Public Accounts Committee meetings on the coal allocation issue, during which Congress members would put hostile questions to him. Despite the arguments and counterarguments about the veracity of the facts contained in all these books, one thing is clear: parliamentary democracy has deteriorated in recent times.

Now, we are facing yet another scam — the British Serious Fraud Office has alleged that Alstom Network UK paid bribes to win infrastructure contracts for the Delhi Metro between 2000 and 2006. This raises serious questions about the independence, integrity and competence of a plethora of anti-corruption investigative agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, CVC and Serious Fraud Investigation Office. Similar to this was the case in 2013, when the Italian special police exposed Indian politicians, bureaucrats and armed forces personnel for indulging in bribery in the multi-crore helicopter purchase deal with AgustaWestland.

In spite of having various investigative authorities, most corruption cases — 2G, Commonwealth Games, Adarsh and coal allocation, among others — were brought to light by CAG reports, media probes, PILs and judicial activism. The CAG reports on the coal block allocation, 2G and Commonwealth Games cases had estimated the notional losses to be Rs 1.86 lakh crore, Rs 1.76 lakh crore and Rs 8,000 crore, respectively. Besides, innumerable scams had occurred in different states during the same period. The media’s contribution to bringing wrongdoing to light has also been significant — the Tatra truck purchase case and urea scam are examples. The media is acting responsibly by highlighting corruption and nepotism. It is serving as the fourth pillar of democracy. Underlying all these cases is the politician-bureaucrat-businessman nexus, which tries to scuttle investigations. It is dismaying that the present CBI chief has been questioned by none other than the Supreme Court for hobnobbing with tainted individuals and corporate executives. Earlier, the court had directly asked the CBI whether the rule of law had been observed in the coal block allocation case and whether criminal acts of omission or commission had been committed. The CBI’s closure report in one of the cases has also been questioned by the court. The serious governance deficit in the country is highlighted by the Supreme Court’s recent judgment, which deems coal block allocations between 1993 and 2010 to be “illegal” and “arbitrary”. This could have an enormous impact on the economy because companies engaged in power, steel and cement production could lose coal blocks that have been allocated to them. If sincere efforts are made to prioritise good governance, accountability and transparency, the apex court’s ruling could pave the way for cleaning up the process of allocating natural resources. The judiciary has put certain ambiguities to rest, which could help put the economy back on the rails. But it is high time for the government to make investigators accountable. The checks and balances of a parliamentary democracy must be allowed to function as per the rule of law and the Constitution. 

India Proposed to Establish SAARC Centre for Good Governance

Union Home Minister Attends The Sixth Meeting of SAARC Ministers of Interiors/ Home

The Union Home Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh participated in the sixth meeting of SAARC Ministers of Interior/Home held at Kathmandu, Nepal today. All the other SAARC Ministers of Interior / Home of the member countries viz. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also participated in the Meeting. In his opening remarks during the meeting, the Union Home Minister stressed India’s commitment to a stable, peaceful and prosperous South-Asian neighbourhood. He emphasized the commitment of the present Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for giving primacy to improving India’s relations with all SAARC neighbours. The Home Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh underlined that terrorism is a major issue of concern for the region. This is driven by internal, regional as well as international factors. Further, groups with radical and extremist ideologies pose threats across national boundaries in the volatile security environment. He also mentioned that India is carefully assessing the impact of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan on the entire South Asian region. The Home Minister expressed concern about the new threats of extremism, terrorism, violence emerging in this region. The Union Home Minister also stressed that Government of India is committed to securing justice for the families of the victims of deadly terrorist strikes like the killings during the terrorist attack in Mumbai in November 2008. Shri Rajnath Singh referred to the problems that India is facing due to drug smuggling particularly in Punjab, money laundering, terrorist funding, Cyber Crime, human Trafficking and illegal movement of arms across National boundaries. Linked to this issue is the increasing circulation of counterfeit currency in India’s neighborhood. The Home Minister further stated that the menace of terrorism, drug abuse, drug trafficking etc. can be best fought if we share our experiences at the operational level. He proposed to establish a SAARC Centre for Good Governance where officers from all member countries can come together to exchange their experiences on good governance. While concluding, Shri Rajnath Singh stated that the periodic meeting of SAARC Home Ministers provides India a timely opportunity to underscore the imperative of meaningful and substantive cooperation within the region, against terrorism in particular and organized crime in general.

IITians create solar-powered cold storage with no running cost

Young IIT engineers have come up with an affordable solution to the wastage of agricultural produce by developing a unique solar-powered cold storage system which works at almost zero running cost.

Developed at the Science and Technology entrepreneurship Park (STEP) of IIT-Kharagpur by mechanical engineering student Vivek Pandey and his team, the micro cold storage system has been successfully tested in a Karnataka farmland.

“It is a first of its kind product developed anywhere in the world as there are no running costs for the farmer and works on clean and sustainable technology for all 12 months. We have even applied for four patents for technologies used in the product,” Pandey said.

Under the banner of Ecofrost Technologies, the young graduates are now ready to move out of the campus and start a manufacturing and assembly unit in Pune next month.

Using a uniquely designed thermal storage methodology that controls compartment cooling in tandem with regular cooling, micro cold storage helps increase the shelf life of agricultural produce using solar panels of 2.5 KW – 3.5 KW.

“The power generated is sent directly on to the compressor which can run at various speeds to adjust itself to the cooling demand. Instead of batteries, the system has a thermal storage unit which can store power for more than 36 hours to provide power in case there is no sun during cloudy or rainy weather,” the young innovator said.

Existing solar-powered units run on batteries which need to be replaced after 2-3 years making the running cost very high for farmers.

It is estimated that every year India loses around 30 per cent of food production due to wastage and contamination.

“We want to provide farm-level solar cold storages in areas that lack access to grid connected electricity. By increasing the shelf life of agriculture produce, it will improve farmers’ livelihood by reducing losses and allowing better price realisation,” Pandey said.

Meant for horticulture produce, the micro cold storage system has a capacity of 5 metric tonnes and a price varying between Rs 5 to 6 lakh.

“We have started getting orders and will start a manufacturing and assembly unit in Pune next month. We have a target to manufacture 20,000 such cold storage units in the next five years,” the IITian said, adding that they are looking to raise around Rs 5 crore from venture capitalists.

Their promising innovation has won the first prize of Rs 10 lakh in the national university competition ‘DuPont: The Power of Shunya’.

Besides selling directly to farmers, they are also trying to create village-level entrepreneurs who will act as nodal points for cold storage in mandis where any farmer can store his produce at a fixed cost.

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Hindi-Chini 2.0

The visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping is an important event. Unlike other countries, which want to cooperate with us because they have business interests here, China wants to cooperate and compete with us at the same time. China and India are civilisations, and this fact lends complexity to diplomacy and trade.

Personally, Xi’s visit brings back memories of an earlier event. Then Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited India in 1996, and I was the Indian minister-in-attendance. Jiang was a technocrat. Like most high-level leaders of the socialist world, he was well informed about societal developments. He asked me what I thought of Francis Fukuyama. I told him Fukuyama had got it all wrong. How could history come to an end just when it was China and India’s turn to take centrestage? At his farewell press conference, Jiang mentioned that he had discussed cultural matters and chaos theory with me.

China and India must learn to compete and cooperate

Simply put, foreign policy is an attempt to extend the national pursuit of certain objectives to the global plane. The Chinese, like others, are very focused on this. In August 1982, I was asked to be deputy leader of the first large official delegation to China since the early-Sixties. P.N. Haksar had written a non-paper with a senior Chinese colleague after a series of meetings in hill stations in India and China. It argued that trade and contact between Indian and Chinese people should resume. This first delegation comprised social scientists, led by G. Parthasarathy, who, apart from being a formidable diplomat, was the first vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and was the chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) at the time. Back then, I was on deputation to Delhi, but my parent institution, the Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research at Thaltej, had just become a national ICSSR institute on the centenary of Sardar Patel’s birth.

When we reached Beijing, we were told that the great Deng Xiaoping would meet us for 10 minutes. This was a great honour and the meeting in the famous Great Hall of the People was quite an event. Deng began with “we are now opening, but you already know them”, referring to Western countries. “Our experience is that the richer they are, the meaner they are, so we want to cooperate with you.” He then told us about the developmental trajectory he expected China to trace. And that is indeed the way China developed. That country has travelled a lot since then. My point is that China and India are not just nation states, they are civilisations, and we have to learn to compete and cooperate in spite of our conflicts.

While on a visit to western China, I observed that red chillies, which came from Gondal, were in greatdemand in local supermarkets. In fact, I later learnt that sometimes the Chinese buy the entire crop. In western China, even though religion is not favoured by the socialist government, there was a Buddhist revival. So, there is a high demand for vegetarian food. But vegetarian Chinese food of the Sichuan variety requires a great deal of chilli. I told my hosts that with the Sardar Sarovar project, we could meet any agricultural demand. The scope for cooperation between economies growing at more than 6 per cent per year (it is to be hoped India does so) is limitless. We need to understand the explosion of small-scale industry in China. It is competitive, not because of subsidies but because of the country’s solid infrastructure. A Chinese business that competes with small-scale firms in India pays a pittance for regular and assured power supply. China’s highways, used to carry its exports to markets, are first rate, too. In fact, what we need to learn from China is not the art of running a small firm well, but the art of supporting a small business. At the beginning of this century, I was asked to project “India 2020” for the United Nations, taking sustainability concerns on board. A colleague in China was to do the same. The Goldman Sachs numbers only came later. Since our income levels would reach a quarter of those in the US by 2020, the spread of energy-consuming technology like air conditioners was inevitable. But we also pointed out that the world would end if we did not worry about sustainability. China was already burning two billion tonnes of coal, our projected demand for 2020, at the beginning of this century. But this cannot go on. Not because there isn’t enough coal but because our lungs won’t be able to take it. China and India should show the world what they can do together. -

On trial, the criminal justice system, for ias mains

In a recent landmark order in Bhim Singh vs Union of India, the Supreme Court directed the fast-tracking of criminal cases, and the release of undertrial prisoners who had completed at least half their maximum prison term pursuant to Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Bringing attention to the plight of those languishing in prison while awaiting trial, the court’s order coincides with the Narendra Modi government’s mandate to decongest prisons by releasing undertrials.

First, India has one of the lowest police-population ratios, of 131.1 officers per 1,00,000 population (against the UN norms of 222)

While laudable, these measures reiterate previous judicial directives (SC Legal Aid Committee vs UoI; Rama Murthy vs State of Karnataka) and Law Commission reports (78th and 239th). Releasing undertrials is a short-term solution; as explained below, it does not address the underlying causes for the high proportion of undertrials in India.

Pre-trial detention is a real problem. More than 66 per cent of India’s prisoners are undertrials, which is over twice the global average of 32 per cent. Of these 2,54,857 undertrials, more than 2,000 have been in prison for over five years. Overburdened by the flood of arrestees (nearly 75 lakh were arrested in 2012, according to the National Crime Records Bureau), prisons have experienced an increase in the number of undertrials and overcrowding. The average occupancy rate in India’s prisons is 112.2 per cent, with the situation particularly dire in states such as Chhattisgarh (252.6 per cent) and Delhi (193.8 per cent).

Unfortunately, reforms have favoured measurable quick fixes — fast-track courts and greater judge-population/ police-population ratios — without attempting to understand the high incidence of pre-trial detention. This can be explained by, first, criminal justice functionaries (police, prosecutors, judges and prison officials), who are often overworked, understaffed and underpaid; second, the socio-economic profile of the undertrials, which affects their ability to post bail; and finally, an ineffective legal aid system.

First, India has one of the lowest police-population ratios, of 131.1 officers per 1,00,000 population (against the UN norms of 222).

Corruption is also an endemic problem; in 2013, Transparency International found that 62 per cent people reported paying bribes during their interactions with the police. Misaligned incentives to arrest persons (for example, to demonstrate the progress of investigations) have resulted in 60 per cent of all arrests being “unnecessary or unjustified”.

Prosecutors lack basic facilities, such as access to legal databases, research and administrative assistants. The Delhi High Court, in a March 2014 order, noted that prosecutors’ laptop allowances exclude payment for internet facilities and legal databases; they do not have exclusive office space in courts and lose files because of insufficient file space. As the court observed, “one of the predominant cause(s) for delay in disposal of criminal case is due to shortage of public prosecutors.”

India has around 15 judges per million population, despite the 2002 Supreme Court order, in All India Judges’ Association, directing an increase to 50 judges per million by 2007

- But the bigger problem is the backlog of more than three crore cases, with the SC itself currently hearing 64,000 cases. Delays in the conclusion of trials often result in pre-trial detention being used a punitive measure, causing denial of bail. They also spawn informal justice measures, such as plea-bargaining or jail adalats, where fewer procedural safeguards nudge the accused to plead guilty to escape detention in lieu of the time already served. Prison officials are one of the most important, and often the most neglected, part of the criminal justice system. They regularly review the legal status of undertrials to determine whether they have spent enough time in custody to warrant release under Section 436A. Unfortunately, on average, only 66.3 per cent of the sanctioned posts are filled, with Bihar having only 21.1 per cent of the sanctioned prison official strength. Second, the inability to post bail arises partly due to the profile of undertrials. Some two-thirds are SCs/ STs/ OBCs and three-fourths are illiterate or have studied till below Class X. Low education levels and economic activity mean lower incomes, making it harder to afford bail. Third, the ineffectiveness of the existing legal aid system prevents these undertrials from being able to access statutory and constitutionally guaranteed legal aid. Poverty and low legal literacy makes many undertrials ignorant about the benefits afforded by Section 436A and their right to legal aid. Further, inadequate coordination among the legal services authorities and prison officials results in a failure to identify those requiring legal aid. What are the solutions? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Simply sanctioning an increase in the judge-population ratio does not account for the existing reality of 4,564 judicial vacancies. Nor does it consider the work these criminal justice functionaries are doing; police officers often spend their time on law and order and VIP security, instead of criminal investigation. Thus, there are three officers for every “protected person”, but only one officer for 761 common citizens. Similarly, fast-track courts do not resolve the underlying structural problems since they function within the same procedural framework as regular courts. Reforms should be oriented towards bringing criminal justice functionaries together and starting a conversation. Instead of merely announcing new initiatives, emphasis should be on ensuring the implementation of existing provisions, such as regularising the functioning of the Undertrial and Periodic Review Committees. Finally, efforts should focus on improving data collection and digitisation, and on mapping the existing reform landscape to prevent duplication of work. The SC order and the government decision are steps in the right direction. Nevertheless, a lot more needs to be done to mainstream the prison reform agenda to ensure that our undertrial prison population is commensurate with, or below, the global average.