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DELHI THE HINDU
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CMYK
A ND-NDE
EDITORIAL
Mrinal Sharma
Indian prisons make news whenthere is a jail break, a prisonriot or when the lawyers of
highprofi��le businessmen or economic evaders fi��ght against theirextradition to India. And in themidst of the election process thisyear, the release of the datadrivenreport, the Prison Statistics India2016, published by the NationalCrime Records Bureau (NCRB) inApril went largely unnoticed.
This edition of the report is different from its earlier versions onaccount of its omission of certainkey demographic data. Despitethese gaps, the report raises anumber of red fl��ags signalling therot in India’s prison system. Butbefore we go forward, a simplequestion needs to be asked. Whoare our prisoners?
The report tells us that at theend of 2016, there were 4,33,033people in prison; of them 68%were undertrials, or people whohave yet to be found guilty of thecrimes they are accused of. India’sundertrial population remainsamong the highest in the world
and more than half of all undertrials were detained for less thansix months in 2016. This suggeststhat the high proportion of undertrials in the overall prison population may be the result of unnecessary arrests and ineff��ective legalaid during remand hearings.
No demographic detailsThe most signifi��cant shortcomingof the report lies in the NCRB’s failure to include demographic details of religion and the ScheduledCaste and Scheduled Tribe statusof prisoners, which are crucial tounderstanding India’s prison population. This information was consistently published for the last 20years and instrumental in revealing the problematic overrepresentation of Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis among undertrials inprisons.
The report of 2015, for instance,said that Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis accounted for 55% of the undertrial population even thoughthey made up only 50% of the convict population and 38% of the total Indian population.
Another disturbing point is therise in the number of people heldunder administrative (or ‘prevention’) detention laws in Jammuand Kashmir (a 300% increase),with 431 detainees in 2016, compared to 90 in 2015. Administrative, or ‘preventive’, detention is
used by authorities in J&K and other States to unfairly detain personswithout charge or trial and circumvent regular criminal justiceprocedures.
Data on prisoner releaseBut a new and important additionto the report is the number of prisoners eligible to be released andactually released, under Section436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows undertrialsto be released on a personal bondif they have undergone half of themaximum term of imprisonmentthey would have faced if convicted. In 2016, out of 1,557 undertrials found eligible for release under Section 436A, only 929 werereleased. Research by Amnesty India has found that prison offi��cialsare frequently unaware of this section and unwilling to apply it.
In 2017, the Law Commission ofIndia had recommended that undertrials who have completed athird of their maximum sentence
for off��ences attracting up to sevenyears of imprisonment be releasedon bail. Perhaps the NCRB shouldconsider including the number ofsuch undertrials in its upcomingreport for informing the policy onthe use of undertrial detention.
The 2016 prison statistics do notmention the number of prison visits by offi��cial and nonoffi��cial visitors which typically include district magistrates and judges, socialworkers and researchers. Thisnumber, while not as disaggregated as it should be, must nevertheless be used to provide some information on independentmonitoring of prisons. This is essential to uncover torture and other forms of illtreatment, increasetransparency and balance thepower asymmetry in prisons.
Mental health concernsThe relevance of prison visits isunderlined by the number of “unnatural” deaths in prisons, whichdoubled between 2015 and 2016,from 115 to 231. The rate of suicideamong prisoners also increased by28%, from 77 suicides in 2015 to102 in 2016. For context, the National Human Rights Commissionin 2014 had stated that on average,a person is oneandahalf timesmore likely to commit suicide inprison than outside, which is anindicator perhaps of the magnitude of mental health concerns
within prisons.The NCRB has said that about
6,013 individuals with mental illness were in jail in 2016. It doesnot provide information on whether these prisoners were diagnosedwith mental illness before entering prison, making it diffi��cult todetermine whether prison conditions worsened their plight.
The report states that there wasonly one mental health professional for every 21,650 prisonersin 2016, with only six States andone Union Territory having psychologists/psychiatrists. Odisha,Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the three States with themost prisoners with mental illness, did not have a single psychologist or psychiatrist.
All things considered, the report has important informationwhich can be used to facilitate adialogue on improving prison policies. But these conversations willbe limited and the public’s right toknow about the functioning of thecriminal justice system thwarted ifcritical information is delayed inordinately or withheld withoutcredible reason. The NCRB’s apparent reluctance to be prompt andopen about its prison statisticsdoes not bode well for the democratic discourse in India.
Mrinal Sharma is Policy Adviser, Amnesty
International India
The state of Indian prisons The National Crime Records Bureau must be more prompt and open in releasing data
GE
TT
Y IM
AG
ES
more letters online:
www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/
Weeks after the nation gavea decisive mandate toPrime Minister Narendra
Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)led National DemocraticAlliance (NDA), political analystsare yet to come up with plausiblereasons for what happened. Noone had forecast this kind of majority, though there are many whonow claim they saw it coming.
The magnitude of victory The fi��gures say it all. First and foremost, in 2019 the NDA eclipsed itsperformance of 2014. It secured352 seats, while the Congressledalliance came next with 91 seats.The BJP tally of seats was 303while the Congress secured 52. Regional parties such as the DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam, All India Trinamool Congress, YSR CongressParty, Shiv Sena, Janata Dal (United), Biju Janata Dal and BahujanSamaj Party each secured 1023seats, demonstrating the overwhelming nature of the Modi victory. In 224 of the 303 seats it won,the BJP vote share exceeded 50%,compared to 136 in 2014. The BJPretained over 81% of the seats ithad won previously.
With regard to voting percentages, the BJP vote share this timewas around 37.4%, while that ofthe Congress was 19.5%. Analysingthe results on the basis of seatswon and voting percentages conveys an impression that the BJPhad enlarged its reach not only inGujarat, but also in Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh (which only a fewmonths earlier had dealt the BJP aresounding defeat in the Assemblyelections). The reality may, however, be diff��erent. What is more true,perhaps, is that the BJP’s voteshare among the Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes appears tohave gone up. Also interesting isan analysis that fi��rsttime votersand younger sections among theelectorate revealed a clear preference for the BJP.
Mundane statistics still do notexplain the scale of victory. Various theories have been fl��oated,viz. that India was entering a newepoch in which MandirMandalpolitics had no place; caste andsubaltern politics had receded intothe background; and we are seeinga new India. These are mere facilearguments being put forward toexplain an unprecedented victorywhich no one saw coming. Certainstrategists meanwhile have speculated that the “victory” could beattributed to: the adoption of anew revolutionary approach to‘datadriven’ communications; theutilisation of ‘infl��uence politics’;and the employment of new ‘social media tactics’, which had thepotential to change the behaviourof the electorate. This again makesfor good copy, but the truth ofwhat led to such a massive victoryfor the BJP still eludes everyone.
Without issuesWhat, perhaps, is nearer the truthis that ‘issues’ as such had little resonance in the just concludedelections. The Opposition concentrated its attack on the weakeningeconomy, but it is conventionalwisdom that the true state of theeconomy or the lack of jobs is often irrelevant to voters when othermatters of greater signifi��cance intrude. The Prime Minister, knowingly or unknowingly, never entered into a debate on theeconomic aspects, thus denyingthe Opposition a platform. TheOpposition also had little occasionto bring up the Mandir issue, sincethe BJP never projected it as a major election card this time. Mandalpolitics has long since lost its edge,as the benefi��ts to be derived fromit have since become part and parcel of the political philosophy ofevery party in the country. The
Opposition, hence, had little ammunition to deploy against the ruling dispensation.
For its part, the BJP (as alsosome analysts) has argued that itwas peoplefriendly policies suchas the cooking gas subsidy, the AtalPension Yojana, and the Ujjwalascheme that had created a wave intheir favour. This again is more illusory than real.
This election was one of a kind,in which issues did not matter.This may seem like an ‘anomaly’,but in much the same manner as‘anomalies’ during revolutions inscience led to new paradigms, theOpposition failed to recognise thechange that had taken place thistime. This, together with the unparalleled polarisation and a Hinduconsolidation, meant that the Opposition had probably lost theelection even before the majorityof the electorate had got to thepolling booths.
It is hardly surprising in thesecircumstances that the grand Opposition alliance proved to be adamp squib, and not only becauseof their internal squabbles.Whether in Uttar Pradesh oracross other States, the Mahagathbandhan was doomed from its inception. The electorate could notquite understand what the Mahagathbandhan was opposing. Thiswas an extraordinary situation,the like of which has not been seenpreviously.
The ruling dispensation was,perhaps, as clueless as the Opposition about the changes takingplace. Bereft of any grand strategy,
by default it took a leaf from thestrategy of the most consummatepolitician in the ranks of the BJP,L.K. Advani, viz. whipping up nationalist fervour and passions, andemploying high decibel rhetorictowards this end, not excludingthe demonisation of Pakistan. Thiscreated an atmosphere in whichthe BJP stood for patriotism, oneby which the Opposition could bebranded as antinational if theycontested the arguments put forward by the ruling party. Pulwamaand Balakot were critical to thesuccess of this strategy and the BJPemployed both to the hilt. Vastsegments, especially in the northern belt of the country, wereswayed by this type of propaganda, and there was hardly any requirement for the BJP faithful tospread this message.
Policy orientation of this naturerequired a towering symbol andvoice. Mr. Modi with his powerfuloratory was the quintessential person for this task. He did his partsplendidly, addressing over a 100rallies in the space of six weeks,covering over one lakh kilometres,in which economic issues, unemployment, farmers’ distress, MandalMandir were conspicuous bytheir absence. Nationalism was thetheme, and defending the nation’sintegrity from threats of everykind, especially terror attacksfrom Pakistan, was the line of propaganda. The strategy succeededfar beyond the expectations of theBJP. One person alone was the architect responsible for this victory.The 2019 verdict was, hence, a verdict for Mr. Modi, and not for theBJP.
What does the 2019 election victory of Prime Minister Modi presage for parliamentary democracy?Parliamentary democracy is thecornerstone of the edifi��ce sanctifi��ed by the Constitution. If any partof the edifi��ce, and especially itscornerstone, is aff��ected or diminished, it could spell damage towhat we have come to believesince 1950. The question is not
rhetorical, but requires a wellconsidered answer.
When any individual, the PrimeMinister included, eclipses his party that is notionally responsible forvictory in a parliamentary election, then we are entering uncharted waters, where currentrules do not apply. Across theworld, there is a wave today in favour of tall and powerful leaders —from Donald Trump to VladimirPutin and Xi Jinping — but they donot head parliamentary democracies. In a parliamentary democracy, the Prime Minister is clearlythe fi��rst among equals, but is notlarger or bigger than the party.
Presidential-style voteIn 2014, Mr. Modi had crested thewave of disillusionment againstthe then ruling dispensation,which had been in offi��ce for a decade. This was not, however, thecase in 2019, where incumbencyand the inability to deal with a variety of issues had led to a degreeof disillusionment with the BJP.Yet, Mr. Modi proved invincible,and the party benefi��ted from it.Few among the electorate possiblyvoted for the BJP; they voted forMr. Modi and what Mr. Modi stoodfor. The reality is that the electorate voted as if it were a presidential election to elect Mr. Modi.
Where does this leave parliamentary democracy? If politicalparties are redundant, can parliamentary democracy survive? If thecurrent trend is maintained, itcould well mean the end of parliamentary democracy. Now that theelections are over, it might beworthwhile to look dispassionately at the growing trend of favouring ‘maximum leaders’ to the detriment of the parties they lead,and to the policies and practicesthe latter espouse. This does carryrisks for the future of parliamentary democracy.
M.K. Narayanan is a former National
Security Adviser and a former Governor
of West Bengal
The future of parliamentary democracyWhen any individual eclipses his party in a parliamentary election, it is uncharted terrain for the system
M.K. Narayanan
V. SU
DE
RSH
AN
Minimally decent lifeIt has been proved time andagain that mere recognitionof a right and enacting it asa law does not translate intonecessary action on theground (Editorial page,“Basic needs, basic rights”,June 25). The basic duty ofa democratic government,which is “of the people, bythe people, and for thepeople”, is to meet thebasic needs. If this basicduty, for which thedemocratic form ofgovernment exists, cannotbe performed without itbeing reminded by meansof a law, then the verypurpose of electing thatgovernment becomesmeaningless. Every political party in itselection manifestoroutinely promises all thesebasic needs. But onceelected, its agenda appears
to be dictated by bigbusinesses and politicalinterests. Earlier, foodsecurity and the right toeducation were enacted aslaws. But they have madelittle diff��erence. In theabsence of a real and fi��rmcommitment to addressbasic needs, mererecognition of a need asright and enacting it as alaw will remain on paper.Instances such asMuzaff��arpur will keeprepeating themselves.Kosaraju Chandramouli,
Hyderabad
■ The writer may have madea point with some of hisarguments (Editorial page,“Basic needs, basic rights”,June 25), but making theDirective Principles of StatePolicy enforceable to someextent can address the issuein simpler ways. As a mature
democracy, people areexpected to fi��nd a way outagainst all odds, as there arealso constitutional and legalprovisions in place. Thegovernment cannot beexpected to do everything. Itonly ‘helps’ people toachieve what they want andwhat they ‘need’. Beingunable to meet our needs isperhaps a refl��ection of ourfailures as a cooperative unit.Bitra Raghuveer,
Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh
■ There have been numerousinstances of governmentapathy and neglect as far asour basic needs and rightsare concerned, especiallywhen it concerns those inthe lowest strata.Governments, State orCentral, do not feelthreatened or worried asthey seem to have developeda system which revolves
around issues that can bestoked at periodical intervalsand are enough to win theconfi��dence of the masses.Above all is an illusory pridein achieving global standingin some areas which mattersmore than basic rights. Thewriter’s justifi��able demand,that erring governmentsshould be held responsibleand accountable for theirinabilities andincompetence, will not strikea chord as governments havea hold over the minds ofmost people. G.B. Sivanandam,
Coimbatore
Defection and ethicsIt is wellknown that in India,politics and opportunism gohand in hand (Editorial, June25). Scruples, ethics,principles, honesty andservice to the electorate arefastfading political traits. N.
peninsular India where mostof the rivers in this part ofIndia are rainfed. Butcontrary to belief, theGangetic regions and largeparts of northern India arefacing a water crisis. Thegovernment’s move to have aJal Shakti Ministry shouldlook at water management ina holistic manner.Steps to build the waterpipeline infrastructureshould also promotesafeguarding preciousfreshwater. We cannot passthe next fi��ve to 10 yearsrelying on the government’spromises on environmentalprotection. Citizen’smovements need to startpicking up the leads. Theparticipation of every citizenis vital.Kirti Wadhawan,
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Chandrababu Naidu did thesame by toppling his fatherinlaw, N.T. Rama Rao, whileK. Chandrashekar Rao, theChief Minister of Telangana,appears determined todecimate the Opposition.Unfortunately, even theSpeakers in Assemblies turna Nelson’s eye toconstitutional mandates. Inthe present case, theChairman of the Rajya Sabhashould have made anattempt to curb thisunethical practice. Finally, money, numbers,and a warped vision toimplement a political agendadetermine the future of thiscountry. Bhaskara Rao Suddapalli,
Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
A water visionMany readers (“Letters to theEditor” column) seem to belooking at the water crisis in
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
Chennai’s aspirations to grow into a global eco
nomic hub appear considerably weakened as it
struggles to fi��nd water. The shadow of drought
from 2018 has stretched into the torrid summer this
year, evaporating not just the city’s reservoirs, but the
prosperity of its residents who are forced to hunt for
tankers, pay bribes and spend hours even at night wait
ing for trucks to dispense some water. Ironically, Tamil
Nadu’s capital, which in a normal year gets anything
between 1,300 mm and 1,400 mm of rainfall, has been
laid low by the indiff��erence of successive governments.
That residents are now given minimum piped water
and meagre tanker supplies totalling a third of the in
stalled capacity of 1,494 million litres a day, that too
mainly from desalination plants, faraway lakes and
farm wells, is proof of the neglect of water governance.
Yet, even searching questions posed by the Madras
High Court to the AIADMK government have elicited
only vague assurances on meeting basic requirements
and restoring 210 waterbodies to augment future stor
age, rather than a fi��rm timeline. Chief Minister Edappa
di K. Palaniswami was wrong to dismiss reports on wa
ter scarcity as “an exaggeration”, and he must end this
businessasusual approach. A timebound plan is need
ed to augment the resources in the Greater Chennai re
gion encompassing the neighbouring districts of Thiru
vallur and Kancheepuram. This plan should be tasked
to a Special Offi��cer, to be framed by offi��cials in consulta
tion with credentialed experts in research and acade
mia, and public comments invited before it is fi��nalised.
Given the large base of tanks and reservoirs in Grea
ter Chennai — over 4,000 waterbodies of signifi��cance —
prudent rainfall management can help it through with
ering summers and weak monsoons. A white paper
with a full assessment of these wetlands and their stor
age potential should be a priority for the State’s Sustain
able Water Security Mission. Deepening storage in the
four major reservoirs must get priority. Such a project
must quantify the increase in storage and set an early
deadline of a year. These measures can harvest the bulk
of the rain in a good year, and prove superior to the fi��re
fi��ghting approach of installing expensive desalination
plants and bringing small quantities by rail from anoth
er district. Tamil Nadu made rainwater harvesting man
datory quite early, but failed to follow it up with an in
stitutional mechanism to help citizens implement it.
The government should give monetary incentives to
NGOs, as NITI Aayog proposed in its Water Index re
port, to encourage them to install systems and show
quantifi��able recharge outcomes. On the consumer side,
devices and practices to reduce wastage should be pro
moted, especially on commercial premises. Droughts
are bottlenecks for profi��t, and several actors have deve
loped a vested interest in transferring water to the city
at high cost. Longterm solutions can end this cycle.
A city gone dryThe water crisis in Chennai needs
holistic and widely resonant solutions
The death of a 24yearold man in Jharkhand days
after he was brutally beaten by a mob is a sordid
reminder that the disturbing phenomenon of
lynching is not going away any time soon. The assault
on Tabrez Ansari also followed a recognisable pattern.
The victim was Muslim and came under the suspicion
of a mob, which chose to mete out vigilante justice, and
someone in the crowd recorded trophy footage. This
one was not motivated by cow vigilantism or suspicion
of transporting cattle for slaughter or possessing beef.
Yet, the communal angle was on display, with the
crowd forcing him to shout ‘Jai Sri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanu
man’, confi��rming that vigilante justice and mob lynch
mentality are invariably accompanied by a sectarian
motive in the present context. Following a public out
cry, some of the villagers allegedly involved were arrest
ed on suspicion of murder. However, the conduct of the
police typifi��es the offi��cial apathy and tacit acceptance
of mob justice as a way of life in some parts of the coun
try. Ansari was tied to a tree and beaten for hours be
fore they came to his aid. They merely took him into
custody based on a complaint of theft, and neither re
corded his injuries nor mentioned in the FIR that he
was assaulted. It was only after his condition worsened
in jail that he was taken to hospital, where he died.
It is distressing that lynching, as a consequence of vi
gilantism, communal bigotry and the dissemination of
hate messages and rumours on social media, has ac
quired the status of a preponderant social trend. The
Supreme Court noted this when it observed in a judg
ment last year that “rising intolerance and growing po
larisation expressed through [a] spate of incidents of
mob violence cannot be permitted to become the nor
mal way of life or the normal state of law and order”. It
directed States to take specifi��c preventive, punitive and
remedial measures. It mooted a special law to deal with
lynching and the appointment of a nodal offi��cer in each
district to combat the threat. While these measures are
not yet in place, the latest incident must be thoroughly
investigated and the perpetrators brought to book. Ho
wever, the larger issue has to be faced squarely by the
political leadership. Organised vigilantism by cow pro
tection groups was initially behind a wave of lynchings;
rumourmongering through social media platforms
came next. The Ansari incident shows that the problem
has transmogrifi��ed into a sinister form of enforcing the
chanting of Hindu slogans by citizens professing other
religions. It may well be that the unseemly political use
of the religious chant of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Parliament by
some ruling party members to heckle those in the Op
position ranks is fi��nding its echo on the streets.
Lynching reduxIn Jharkhand, another instance of mob
mentality combining with a communal motive
https://t.me/TheHindu_Zone_official
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THE HINDU DELHI
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CMYK
A ND-NDE
OPED
The Central Government is expected to release nine highyielding tapioca hybrids and three sweet potato hybrids shortly. These hybrids have recorded two to three times more yieldthan the existing varieties. They were evolved at the CentralTuber Crops Research Institute, Trivandrum, and their releasewas recommended by a twoday workshop on tuber cropsheld here [New Delhi]. The Director of the Institute, Dr. M. L.Magoon, explained at the meeting the salient features, including production potentials, of the tapioca and sweet potato hybrids. The workshop felt that early release of these new varieties would bring about a major breakthrough in tuber cropsproduction in the country. Noting the lack of attention to theproblem of collection of valuable germ plasm of the diff��erenttuber crops, the workshop recommended that a coordinatingunit be established to undertake intensive survey and collection from diff��erent parts of the country.
FIFTY YEARS AGO JUNE 26, 1969
High yielding tapioca and sweet potato
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FROM ARCHIVES
A public meeting was held on Tuesday night [ June 24] in Bombay under the auspices of the Satyagraha Sabha at which resolutions were passed protesting against the Rowlatt Bills andpraying the Viceroy and the Secretary of State to withdraw thelegislation. Another resolution moved by Mrs. AvanthikabaiGokhale prayed for withdrawal of the deportation orderagainst Mr. Horniman in view of the fact that the reason givenby the Secretary of State in justifi��cation of the said order wasfound to be not capable of being substantiated. Mr. Gandhi inhis concluding remarks said that if they could hold similar orderly meetings all over India the Government would have tocancel the orders against Mr. Horniman. If the people of Indiadid their duty the Government would have to do their duty.
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO JUNE 26, 1919.
Protest against Repression. Mr. Gandhi’s Speech.
On a hot afternoon in Jaipur recently, the driver of the cab inwhich I was travelling wantedto know where I was from. Kerala, I replied. Where in Kerala?Wayanad, I said. He smiled: Ohyes, Rahul Gandhi’s constituency.
The hilly district in northernKerala has suddenly become a
familiar name across the country thanks to the Congresspresident contesting the parliamentary election from there.And what a wise decision it turned out to be.
Ever since making its debut as a Lok Sabha constituencyin 2009, Wayanad has been one of the safest bets in Keralafor the Congress, due largely to the unwavering support enjoyed by the party’s ally, the Indian Union Muslim League.The late M.I. Shanavas from the Congress had won both theprevious Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad, after losing allthe fi��ve he had contested elsewhere.
Given Mr. Gandhi’s stature and the response to his campaign, he was expected to signifi��cantly improve Shanavas’svictory margin of 20,870 in 2014. He lived up to the expectations by winning 4.31 lakh votes.
Earlier this month, Mr. Gandhi came to Wayanad to thankthe voters, ensuring it continues to stay featured in nationalnews.
There was a time when it hardly fi��gured even in Statenews. I remember having to tell someone, when I was a student in Thiruvananthapuram, where exactly Wayanad waslocated. Most people then imagined Wayanad as a place fullof forests and tribal settlements. This is sadly not true anymore. Wayanad continues to lag behind many districts onmost indices. It has among the lowest per capita incomes inthe State. It has poor infrastructure. It only ranks high ontourism, which has paved the way for the mushrooming of alarge number of hotels and a real estate boom. But this hascome at a heavy cost to the environment. Wayanad is nowhere near as green it used to be, nor is it as cold. There was atime when very few shops used to sell fans. Now peopleswitch on air conditioners during the summer. Earlier, wewould see much heavier showers during the monsoon. Lakkidi, the gateway to Wayanad district, once recorded amongthe highest average rainfall in the country. That has now become a distant memory.
What hasn’t changed is the quality of medical care, whichremains as poor as before. Even now, a seriously ill patientin Wayanad has to go to Kozhikode, some two and a halfhours away. During his campaign, Mr. Gandhi had talkedabout setting up a new medical college. Given the Congress’s poor show this election and reports about Amethi’sdisappointment with Mr. Gandhi’s performance, Wayanadis hoping for more from its new MP.
P.K. Ajith Kumar is Senior Assistant Editor with The Hindu
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SINGLE FILE
Wayanad’s hopeRahul Gandhi has his task cut out inWayanad, which is among the poorestperforming districts in Kerala
P.K. Ajith Kumar
PT
I
Bond vigilanteFinance
This refers to any of the large bond market investors who aggressively sell government bonds in the open market as amark of protest against the policies adopted by the government or the central bank of a country. The huge selling of government bonds can cause the price of these bonds to witnessa sharp drop in price, thus leading to a signifi��cant rise in theiryields. In other words, bond investors can cause a considerable rise in the borrowing rates of governments, thus exertingsignifi��cant pressure on them. While some view bond vigilantes as harmful speculators, others see them as an essentialforce disciplining governments that spend beyond theirmeans.
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CONCEPTUAL
Watch: The state of Indo-US ties
http://bit.ly/PompeoUS
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MORE ON THE WEB 3
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DATA POINT
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has often said, “Whoever wins Istanbul wins Turkey.” This must havecome to haunt him last Sunday whenEkrem Imamoglu, the Opposition CHP(Republican People’s Party) nominee,defeated Binali Yildirim, the AKP ( Justice and Development Party) candidate,decisively in Istanbul’s mayoral election. What must have added insult to injury was the fact that Mr. Imamoglu garnered close to 55% of the votes, thusincreasing his vote share by seven percentage points compared to the March31 result when he had barely managedto defeat Mr. Yildirim. Under pressurefrom Mr. Erdogan and his party, theHigh Election Board annulled theMarch 31 election result on fl��imsy technical grounds. It is clear that many AKPsupporters switched to supporting Mr.Imamoglu this time, punishing Mr. Erdogan and his party for theirhighhandedness.
The beginning of the end?Does this mean the beginning of theend of Mr. Erdogan’s semiauthoritarian rule in Turkey? If one accepts thefact that the Istanbul verdict is a bellwether for what could happen in therest of the country when the nationalelection is held, then it is good news forthe Opposition. The verdict is very important because onefi��fth of the Turkishpopulation lives in Istanbul and the citycontributes over 30% of the nationalwealth to the country’s GDP. Moreover,Istanbul is not alone in sending the signal that large segments of the population are disenchanted with Mr. Erdoganand the AKP. The second and third largest cities in the country, Ankara and Izmir, also elected Opposition candidatesin the March 31 election, as did severalother urban concentrations. It is theAnatolian heartland with its conservative and religious orientation that hasso far stood by the AKP. But even thereMr. Erdogan’s popularity seems to bewaning.
One of the main reasons for this isthe very visible downturn in the economy and the precipitate fall of the Turkish currency over the past year. Some
of this is the result of Mr. Erdogan’s continuing feud with the U.S. More important, the AKP government has grosslymismanaged the economy by spendingunwisely on giant and prestigious projects like a new airport in Istanbul,which is slated to be the world’s largest,and constructing bridges and giganticmosques that have depleted resourcesand driven the government into debtsof huge proportions. With the buildingboom turning into bust and infl��ationrising, the average voter has been hithard. This has also begun to alienatethe religiously observant bourgeoisie inthe towns and cities of interior Anatoliawho had formed the fi��nancial backboneof the AKP and the engine of growthduring Mr. Erdogan’s long tenure fi��rstas Prime Minister and then asPresident.
Simultaneously, Mr. Erdogan hasalienated a section of his Islamist baseby constantly quarrelling with Fethullah Gulen, the leader of the Gulenmovement. Following the abortive military coup of July 2016, thousands of Gulen supporters, the most educated andskilled among the religiously observantpopulation, are in jail and thousands ofothers have been sacked from theirjobs. Several universities and schoolsrun by the Gulen movement have beenclosed and this has aff��ected the qualityof education in the country.
Alienating the KurdsMr. Erdogan’s popularity has also diminished because his recently cultivated ultranationalism seems to haveboomeranged. This ultranationalismwas intended to placate his allies in theNationalist Movement Party (MHP),which provides the AKP governmentcrucial support in Parliament, but it
seems to have driven many moderatesto side with the Opposition instead.This is particularly true of the Kurdishpopulation — and Istanbul with aboutthree million Kurds is the largest Kurdish city in the world — that has beenalienated by Mr. Erdogan’s stridentlyantiKurdish rhetoric and the resurgence of confl��ict between the state andthe PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). Mr.Erdogan’s military campaign againstthe Syrian Kurdish enclave has added toKurdish disenchantment with him.
Ankara’s illconceived involvementin the Syrian civil war has cost Turkeyhugely. A massive infl��ow of refugeesand an expanding defence budget haveadded to its economic woes. At thesame time, the Turkish government hasbeen engaged in a running feud with itsprincipal NATO ally, the U.S., over tradeissues, diff��erences regarding the SyrianKurds, and the Turkish decision to buythe S400 antimissile systems fromRussia. The U.S. has threatened economic sanctions if Ankara acquires theS400 systems. Turkey has been defi��anton this issue, and the fi��rst S400 deliveries are scheduled for July. Experts believe that these sanctions will kick in automatically under the CAATSA(Countering America’s AdversariesThrough Sanctions Act), a 2017 Congressional law penalising any countrythat has purchased military equipmentfrom an American foe. The continuingspat with the U.S. threatens to negatively aff��ect the Turkish economy further,with the lira plummeting to new lowsfollowing the U.S.’s threats of sanctions.
Some good newsWhile all these factors point to a gradual but certain weakening of Mr. Erdogan’s hold on power, it is too early tosay that it will lead to him being unseating in the next election. Parliamentaryand presidential elections are morethan four years away and much canhappen in between to reverse the Istanbul verdict, especially given the way Mr.Erdogan has concentrated power in hishands and misused it to muzzle the media and harass opponents of all hues.Nonetheless, the Istanbul election doesindicate that the President’s semiauthoritarian rule has not been successful inquashing the democratic spirit amongTurkey’s voters. This is good news.
Mohammed Ayoob is Senior Fellow, Center forGlobal Policy, Washington, DC, and UniversityDistinguished Professor Emeritus ofInternational Relations, Michigan StateUniversity
Why Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grip on Turkey is weakening
The loss is not just Istanbul
Mohammed Ayoob
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There have been no mass tort cases inIndia like the Acetabular Surface Replacement (ASR) hip implant case. Inthis, Johnson & Johnson has been accused of selling its faulty ASR hip implants to approximately 4,700 Indianpatients between 2004 and 2010. Thecompany announced a global recall ofthe ASR hip implants in 2010 after doctors in the U.K. and Australia reportedan extremely high failure rate for theimplant. The metal in the implant wasapparently degenerating, causing damage to the bone and tissue, apart fromleaching dangerous metals like cobaltand chromium into the blood stream ofthe patient. By 2013, J&J announced a$4 billion settlement to cover the claimsraised by 12,000 patients in the U.S.
Meanwhile, in India, individual patients fi��led cases against the companybefore consumer courts. There was nogovernmental response till 2017 whenthe Drug Controller General of India(DCGI) set up a committee of experts toprobe the matter. This committee stated that J&J, as part of its global recall,had published advertisements in twoEnglish language newspapers informing patients that it was eff��ecting a recallof the ASR hip implants and would payfor the revision surgery of those patients who required the implant replaced. Apparently 1,032 Indian patients contacted the company inresponse to these advertisements. Andof these patients, the company paid forrevision surgeries of 254 patients, whileanother 774 patients were kept on monitoring. The remaining 3,600 patientsare likely not even aware of the issueswith their hip implants because J&J didnot contact each patient individually.
The challenge before courtIn 2018, an expert committee under Dr.R.K. Arya recommended that J&J be ordered to pay each patient a baselinecompensation of ₹��20 lakh and additional compensation based on the age of thepatient and disability suff��ered by him.When the DCGI ordered J&J to pay compensation as per the formula laid downby the expert committee, its order waschallenged before the Delhi High Court
on April 8, 2019 by J&J which argued,and rightly so, that only courts of lawand not regulators like the DCGI couldorder payment of compensation.
In May, the company struck an entirely diff��erent chord, claiming that itwas willing to pay ₹��25 lakh to patientswho had a revision surgery and approached the government’s committee,provided that the payment was not construed as an acceptance of any liability.As per the court’s order, this settlementoff��er would not aff��ect the patient’s rightto claim further compensation subjectto the fact that any possible futureaward of compensation from a courtwould have to be adjusted with the ₹��25lakh already paid. The order recordsthat J&J was in eff��ect extending this off��er to merely 67 of the 289 patients whohad approached the ‘expert committee’of the Central government because only these 67 patients had been “verifi��ed”and had received revision surgeries.
Problems with the settlementThere are several problems with thissettlement. The fi��rst is that the patientswho are the most important stakeholders are not party to this litigation. Oneof the fundamental tenets of law is thatno order, not even one that is perceivedto be a favourable order, should bepassed by a court of law without hearing the parties who are going to be impacted by the order. The only way patient interests can be protected is toinvite patients to be part of the process.This is not merely an issue of abstracttheory but one of practical implications. For instance, if there was evenone lawyer for the patients present incourt, he or she would have informedthe court that most patients have notapproached the expert committee ofthe government because it was as clear
as day that the committee did not haveany legal powers to award damages. Instead, most patients moved consumercourts seeking compensation. Thus,dealing with the claims of only the 289who contacted the committee is pointless. The same lawyers would have alsoinformed the court that as per the expert committee report, J&J has knowledge of at least 254 patients who havehad revision surgery. Why then is J&Jprepared to pay only 67 patients whohad the revision surgery? Also, what ofthe remaining 3,600 patients who havenot been informed of problems withthe implant?
The perfect smokescreen The second problem with this paymentof ₹��25 lakh per patient is that there is notheory of damages supporting the payment of this amount. Normally damages are split under diff��erent heads suchas loss of future earnings and solatiumfor hardship — all of which will be calculated on the basis of the age of the patient. A 40yearold patient who has amuch higher earning potential than a60yearold patient deserves to be compensated at a higher rate. J&J needs toexplain the basis of treating all the patients equally. The expert committeehad recommended ₹��20 lakh as a baseline compensation to which more couldbe added as per a formula it proposed.Going by this formula, the compensation payable to these patients would depend on age and disability and wouldbe far in excess of the ₹��25 lakh proposed by J&J. The High Court needs toguarantee some transparency in this regard since there are pending cases before the consumer courts which will bedealing with similar questions.
The third tragedy with this settlement is that it provides the perfect smokescreen to both J&J and the DCGI whohave so far had to deal with intense media scrutiny over their failure to takecare of patient interests. By presentingto the media a deal that has the blessings of the Delhi High Court, both J&Jand the DCGI will get away with the appearance of having taken care of patients even when it is clear that ₹��25 lakhis a pittance of a compensation. The image of this settlement which costs J&J apaltry sum of ₹��16.75 crore will end thepublic pressure on the company despite no justice being done to thepatients.
Prashant Reddy T. is a Senior Resident Fellow at
Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
Johnson & Johnson’s paltry settlement for faulty hip transplants is problematic
An indecent settlement
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Prashant Reddy T.
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