RSS Review of Constitution and GST Changes

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The Constitution:
Why the RSS Wants a Review
October16, 2017
GST:THE
GOVERNMENTBLINKSFacingawitheringassaultfromcriticsandajoltfromRBI,theFinanceMinistryisreviewing
thecontroversialtax.Ananalysisofthenewroadmap
Mohan
Bhagwat

HE INDIAN prime minister is a magi-
cian at making storms disappear into a
teacup. But try as he might, he is find-
ing it a mite difficult in trying to wea-
ther the gusts of Hurricane Economy.
This is perhaps because this time the climate is
of his own making. And somewhere along the
line, it will wear his political Teflon coating thin.
There’s an evergreen American saying, “If it
ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In other words, if some-
thing is not seriously in need of repair or func-
tioning normally, do not try and repair it; it may
backfire or get worse. Narendra Modi’s advisors
are obviously unaware of this little homily. Or
why else would they have indulged in the kind
of economic adventurism that plunged them
into the never-never land of demonetisation
and the hastily conceived and poorly executed
Kingdom of GST?
Why the tearing hurry? What was the press-
ing need? After all, just over two years ago, the
economy was swimming along at a decent pace
of over 8 percent growth, (with the World Bank
and IMF making rosy predictions for the fut-
ure), inflation was under control, FDI was
pouring in, the markets were booming, con-
sumer spending was healthy, joblessness was on
a holding pattern, forex reserves were rising,
rural cash liquidity and purchasing power
were steady. And Big Business was in a
mood to invest.
The downturn of 2010 had been
more or less been reversed. In other
words, the economy wasn’t broke. It
didn’t need fixing. It needed more
priming. It was ripe for speedier
reform—lesser babu raj, more incen-
tives for investors to counter China’s allure,
tax cuts for the professional class, encourag-
ing competition, discouraging crony capital-
ism, banking reform to curtail NPAs, safe-
guards against tax terror, and, yes, a simpli-
fied, low-rate GST system to unify the
Indian market.
These were achievable goals. Little did we
think that Modi, with his uncanny instinct for
kicking so accurately at the target, would ever
score a goal against himself and face an econo-
mic slowdown circa 2008-2010, or possibly even
worse. The world’s most brilliant economists
and specialists, among them Nobel Laureates
Paul Krugman and Amartya Sen and former
RBI chief Raghuram Rajan, warned against the
long-term perils of demonetisation. They were
dismissed as so many Jeremiahs or Hoseas.
Today, many of Modi’s well-wishers and for-
mer allies and elder statesmen of his own party
are sounding alarms. Former Finance Minister
Yashwant Sinha and former Disinvestment
Minister Arun Shourie have called the govern-
ment’s economic policies an unmitigated disas-
ter which have not only put development in
reverse gear but also created misery for farmers
and the unorganised sector and small traders.
B
ut these are big, prominent names and
convenient targets for alt facts and troll
brigades. More worrisome for the BJP
government are critics who are not sitting
ducks, like the RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran
Manch, the All India Kisan Sabha, the Bharatiya
Mazdoor Sangh, (also affiliated with the RSS)
and hundreds of thousands of farmers who have
marched in protest in BJP-ruled states like
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
Textile and jewellery traders in Modi’s backyard,
Surat and Ahmedabad, have also taken to the
streets in mass protest. Their grievances, too,
centre on falling farm incomes and the massive
disruption in supply chains caused by demoneti-
sation and the imposition of GST.
Allies like both factions of the Shiv Sena are
mounting frontal, often crude attacks on the
government’s economic policies with no holds
barred. And some media outlets whose promot-
ers are recognised as being generally sympathe-
tic to the BJP government with a decidedly soft
corner for Modi, have become more strident in
NAMO’S
FIRST REAL CRISIS Inderjit Badhwar
Letter from the Editor
T
4 October 16, 2017

their reporting and criticism. Among them is
the leading website Firstpost.
T
he prime minister appears to have taken
this rising tide of critical opposition seri-
ously. But being an eternal optimist, he
recently derided his critics as “pessimists who
spread despair”. But what was significant was
his admission of a slight slowdown in the econo-
my as well as glitches and problems with the
GST system which he promised would be fixed.
He compared the pessimists to Shalya, the
Kaurava charioteer in the Mahabharata who
tried to paint a negative picture of the raging
battle against the Pandavas. In his widely
reported speech, the indefatigable Modi tried to
put a positive spin on the economy, still hanging
on to his promise of acchey din, but a friendly
website took him to task in the very headline to
that story, a sentiment echoed by many other
several analysts: “PM’s data is impressive but it’s
selective and fails to answer tough questions.”
One reason for that is that among the “pes-
simists” is none other than the Reserve Bank of
India headed by Modi’s own choice for gover-
nor, Urjit Patel. You need not turn to any news-
paper or media source for details. Go straight to
the RBI website and click on the “Fourth Bi-
monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2017-18
Resolution of the Monetary Policy Committee
(MPC) Reserve Bank of India.”
It says in no uncertain terms that while the
world economy is on the upswing following the
terrible recession years, the Indian economy,
which was among the fastest growing in the
world, has been unable to take advantage of this.
Here are highlights of the report:
Since the MPC’s meeting in August 2017,
global economic activity has strengthened fur-
ther and become broad-based. Among advan-
ced economies (AEs), the US has continued to
expand with revised Q2 GDP growing at its
strongest pace in more than two years, support-
ed by robust consumer spending and business
fixed investment. The Euro area purchasing
managers’ index (PMI) for manufacturing
soared to its highest reading in more than six
years. The Japanese economy continued on a
path of healthy expansion despite a downward
revision in growth since March 2017 on weaker
than expected capital expenditure.
The latest assessment by the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) indicates a significant
improvement in global trade in 2017 over the
lacklustre growth in 2016, backed by a resur-
gence of Asian trade flows and rising imports
by North America.
INDIA: On the domestic (India) front, real
gross value added (GVA) growth slowed signif-
icantly in Q1 of 2017-18, cushioned partly by
the extensive front-loading of expenditure by
the central government. GVA growth in agri-
culture and allied activities slackened quar-
ter-on-quarter in the usual first quarter
| INDIA LEGAL | October 16, 2017 5
Littledidwethink
thatModi,withhis
uncannyinstinct
forkickingso
accuratelyatthe
target,wouldever
scoreagoal
againsthimself
andfaceaneco-
nomicslowdown
circa2008-2010.
Photos: UNI

Beinganeternal
optimist,Modi
recentlyderided
hiscriticsas
“pessimistswho
spreaddespair”.
Butwhatwas
significantwashis
admissionofa
slightslowdownin
theeconomy
aswellas
glitcheswiththe
GSTsystem.
moderation, partly reflecting deceleration in
the growth of livestock products, forestry and
fisheries. Industrial sector GVA growth fell
sequentially as well as on a year-on-year
basis. The manufacturing sector—the domi-
nant component of industrial GVA—grew by
1.2 percent, the lowest in the last 20 quarters.
The mining sector, which showed signs of
improvement in the second half of 2016-17,
entered into contraction mode again in Q1 of
2017-18, on account of a decline in coal pro-
duction and subdued crude oil production. Of
the constituents of aggregate demand, growth
in private consumption expenditure was at a
six-quarter low in Q1 of 2017-18. Gross fixed
capital formation exhibited a modest recov-
ery in Q1 in contrast to a contraction in the
preceding quarter. (My italics)
The index of industrial production (IIP) reco-
vered marginally in July 2017 from the contrac-
tion in June on the back of a recovery in mining,
quarrying and electricity generation. However,
manufacturing remained weak. In terms of the
use-based classification, contraction in capital
goods, intermediate goods and consumer
durables pulled down overall IIP growth.
On the services side, the picture remained
mixed. Many indicators pointed to improved
performance even as the services PMI continued
in the contraction zone in August due to low
new orders. In the construction segment, steel
consumption was robust. In the transportation
sector, sales of commercial and passenger vehi-
cles as well as two and three-wheelers, railway
freight traffic and international air passenger
traffic showed significant upticks. However,
cement production, cargo handled at major
ports, domestic air freight and passenger traffic
showed weak performance.
Retail inflation measured by year-on-year cha-
nge in the consumer price index (CPI) edged up
sequentially in July and August to reach a five
month high, due entirely to a sharp pick up in
momentum as the favourable base effect tapered
off in July and disappeared in August. CPI infla-
Letter from the Editor
6 October 16, 2017
VICTIMS OF
ADVENTURISM
(Top) A protest in Mumbai
to highlight the problems
caused due to GST;
(above) Long queues in
Allahabad to exchange
old currency notes
following demonetisation
in November 2016

WhileFormer
FinanceMinister
YashwantSinha
(L) hascalledthe
government’s
economicpolicies
anunmitigated
disaster,even
RBIgovernor
UrjitPatel(R),who
isModi’schoice,
hasexpressed
pessimism.
tion excluding food and fuel also increased
sharply in July and further in August, reversing
from its trough in June 2017.
India’s export growth continued to be lower
than that of other emerging economies such as
Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and
Vietnam, some of which have benefited from the
global commodity price rebound. Import growth
remained in double-digits for the eighth succes-
sive month in August and was fairly broad-
based. The sharper increase in imports relative
to exports resulted in a widening of the current
account deficit in Q1 of 2017-18, even as net
services exports and remittances picked up.
Outlook: In August, headline inflation was
projected at 3 percent in Q2 and 4.0-4.5 per-
cent in the second half of 2017-18. Actual infla-
tion outcomes so far have been broadly in line
with projections, though the extent of the rise in
inflation excluding food and fuel has been some-
what higher than expected. Taking into account
these factors, inflation is expected to rise from
its current level and range between 4.2-4.6 per-
cent in the second half of this year.
Turning to growth projections, the loss of
momentum in Q1 of 2017-18 and the first
advance estimates of kharif foodgrains produc-
tion are early setbacks that impart a downside
to the outlook. The implementation of the GST
so far also appears to have had an adverse
imp-act, rendering prospects for the manu-
facturing sector uncertain in the short term.
This may further delay the revival of invest-
ment activity, which is already hampered by
stressed balance sheets of banks and corpo-
rates. Consumer confidence and overall busi-
ness assessment of the manufacturing and
services sectors surveyed by the Reserve Bank
weakened in Q2 of 2017-18 (My italics); on the
positive side, firms expect a significant improve-
ment in business sentiment in Q3. Taking into
account the above factors, the projection of real
GVA growth for 2017-18 has been revised down
to 6.7 percent from the August 2017 projection
of 7.3 percent.
Imparting an upside to this baseline, house-
hold consumption demand may get a boost from
upward salary and allowances revisions by sta-
tes. Teething problems linked to the GST and
bandwidth constraints may get resolved relati-
vely soon, allowing growth to accelerate in H2.
On the downside, a faster than expected rise in
input costs and lack of pricing power may put
further pressure on corporate margins, affecting
value added by industry. Moreover, consumer
confidence of households polled in the Reserve
Bank’s survey has weakened in terms of the out-
look on employment, income, prices faced and
spending incurred.
The MPC reiterated that it is imperative to
reinvigorate investment activity which, in turn,
would revive the demand for bank credit by
industry as existing capacities get utilised and
the requirements of new capacity open up to be
financed. Recapitalising public sector banks
adequately will ensure that credit flows to the
productive sectors are not impeded and growth
impulses not restrained. In addition, the follow-
ing measures could be undertaken to support
growth: a concerted drive to close the severe
infrastructure gap; restarting stalled invest-
ment projects, particularly in the public sector;
enhancing ease of doing business, including by
further simplification of the GST; and ensuring
faster rollout of the affordable housing pro-
gramme with time-bound single-window clear-
ances and rationalisation of excessively high
stamp duties by states.
In other words, the MPC is saying that India
is lagging behind because the government tried
to fix something that wasn’t broken and wound
up making things worse which now needs to
be fixed if we are to get out of the crisis. And
it pulls no punches on GST. This is not Yash-
want Sinha or Shourie speaking. This is the
Voice of RBI.
Twitter: @indialegalmedia
Website: www.indialegallive.com
Contact: editor@indialegallive.com

ContentsVOLUME. X ISSUE. 48
OCTOBER16,2017
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Technical Executive Anubhav Tyagi
GST: The Government Blinks
Facing a withering assault from critics and a jolt from RBI, the finance ministry is reviewing
the controversial tax. An analysis of the new roadmap
16
LEAD
Gaze of the Predator
The Bombay High Court has said that looking at a minor with a sexual intention will invite
prosecution under the POCSO Act with a punishment of three years in jail and a fine
COURTS 22
8 October 16, 2017
Cloud on Judges’ Appointments
In a rare move, a bench has issued notices to two judicial officials on a petition challenging
their appointments as additional judges of the Rajasthan High Court
SUPREMECOURT
20

REGULARS
Followuson
Facebook.com/indialegalmedia
Twitter:@indialegalmedia
Website:www.indialegallive.com
Contact:editor@indialegallive.com
Ringside .........................10
Delhi Durbar ...................11
Courts.............................12
Briefs........................14, 45
Media Watch ..................49
Satire ..............................50
Cover Illustration & Design:
ANTHONY LAWRENCE
Dhaka’s Compassionate Burden
As Bangladesh struggles to accommodate over five lakh Rohingyas, the world
wants to know why the Myanmar government should not be tried for genocide
36
GLOBALTRENDS
HUMANRIGHTS
Retired Justice in the Dock
IM Quddusi of the Orissa High Court is under the CBI scanner for
his role in an MBBS admission scam. He was arrested but got bail
23
PROBE
The recent shooting of over 50
people by a lone gunman in Las
Vegas has brought under the
scanner lax gun regulations in the
US. Also, how do India’s gun
laws compare?
46Point, Shoot,
Repent
The Burning Fields
In a bid to deter farmers from torching paddy straw, the Punjab
government has laid down strict orders to punish law violators
STATES
32
Subverting the Constitution?
RSS leaders have of late been demanding a review, but what is the
motive and where does that leave the Venkatachaliah panel report?
24
POLITICS
A New Power Bloc Rises
As Washington gets closer to New Delhi, a new equation is taking shape in Asia with
China, Pakistan and Russia ranged against the US, India, Japan and South Korea
38
DIPLOMACY
Whither Will of the People?
Is it constitutionally valid for one partner of a coalition to ally with a
party in opposition after forming a new government?
LEGAL EYE
28
An investigation by two UK news
networks has found that a large
food company owned by an Indian
origin couple has poor hygiene
standards leading to a crackdown
by supermarkets
42Sting Kills
Chicken King

10 October 16, 2017
“
RINGSIDE
This is a government of two-and-a-
half persons, that is, Narendra
Modi, Amit Shah and one in-house
lawyer. They don't have the expert-
ise and they have surrounded
themselves by persons who don't
have the expertise.
—Former union minister Arun Shourie,
in an interview to NDTV
At the (UN) General
Assembly, Sushma Swaraj
accused us of exporting ter-
ror, while in fact, it is a ter-
rorist who is the prime min-
ister of her country, his (the
PM’s) hands have the blood
of murdered Muslims in
Gujarat.
—Pakistan's foreign minister
Khawaja Asif in an interview
with Pakistan’s Geo TV
I have no ego problems. I can touch the feet of
our MLAs to stop them from leaving the
Congress.
—Working president of Bihar Congress, Kaukab
Quadri, in The Indian Express
My entire film-making
career has been built upon
the foundation of disap-
pointment and rejection. But
I never give up. I always
believe that if there is a story
in my heart, one day I will
get to express it. I have never
tried to make great films. I
find it very limiting and
arrogant to plan greatness.
—Director Hansal Mehta,
in Outlook
I do not understand how can
someone question the holy
relationship of a father and
daughter. My main concern
was the way the media pro-
jected me. How can they
malign a father and daugh-
ter's relationship? Can a
father not keep his hands on
his daughter?
—Honeypreet Singh, adopted
daughter of jailed sect leader
Gurmit Ram Rahim,
to India Today
Hurriyat insiders tell me if GOI continues with
its clear tough stand, separatists will soon come
with folded hands & accept 370 abrogation.
—Activist Madhu Kishwar, on Twitter
I spent six years as chief
minister very carefully dis-
tancing tourism from the
perception of a return to
normalcy. When we start
looking at things from this
equation, tourism or terror-
ism, we become our own
worst enemies. Because we
are then incentivising attacks
on tourists at the hands of
those very terrorists.
—National Conference leader
Omar Abdullah, in Scroll.in

An inside track on
happenings in Lutyen’s Delhi
Delhi
Durbar
JOBS FOR THE
BOYS…AND GIRLS
Former diplomats are aghast at the manner
in which the external affairs ministry has
become a propaganda machine for the
RSS/BJP. To commemorate the birth anniver-
sary of RSS ideologue and
Bharatiya Jan Sangh
founder Deendayal
Upadhyaya, the ministry
uploaded an e-book titled
Integral Humanism on its
website.Badly written and
poorly edited,
the e-book—
which
External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj describes as
the product of the “hard work of MEA offi-
cials”—distorts facts and describes the BJP
as the only political alternative for the coun-
try. Here’s an extract: “The democracy of the
country required a capable Opposition;
Bharatiya Jansangh (sic) emerged as a
strong Opposition in the first three Lok
Sabha elections…. Only the party, Bharatiya
Janata Party, developed by him became the
political alternative.” The e-book says that
the Bhartiya Jan Sangh “emerged as a
strong Opposition in the first three Lok
Sabha elections”. The reality is that the Jan
Sangh won 4, 4 and 14 seats respectively. If
the MEA has become a propaganda vehicle
for the RSS/BJP, it is a depressing sign.
Narendra Modi came to
power with the promise of
“minimum government, maxi-
mum governance”. However,
BJP spokespersons and party
workers sit on the boards of
no less than 11 Central Public
Sector Enterprises (CPSE)—
the latest is Sambit Patra,
familiar to all TV watchers,
who was recently nominated
as a non-official director on
the board of oil giant, ONGC.
The others include Shazia Ilmi
Engineers India Ltd), Sipra
Goon (Andrew Yule &
Company), KG Sinha
(National Aluminum
Company), Bharatsinh
Prabhatsinh Parmar (State
Trading Corporation), Rajika
Kacheria (Cotton Corporation
of India), Asifa Khan
(Hindustan Petroleum
Corporation Ltd), Surama
Padhey (Bharat Heavy
Electricals Ltd), Tamilisai
Sounderarajan (Bharat
Petroleum Corporation Ltd), S
Malathi Rani (Export Credit
Guarantee Corporation Ltd)
and Shikha Roy (National
Handloom Development
Corporation Ltd). Two promi-
nent journalists who were
rewarded with corporate
directorships at CPSEs were
Swapan Dasgupta (Larsen &
Toubro) and Ashok Malik
(India Tobacco Company).
These are mostly Maharatna
or Navaratna companies
meant to be managed by
professionals.
There are increasing signs that the RSS is
not on the same page as the government
and has started to put pressure on the
prime minister to consult the BJP’s parent
organisation before announcing any big tick-
et economy decisions. This comes after
RSS grassroots workers, who are spread
across the country and have their ears close
to the ground, reported to the leadership
that there is growing unhappiness among
the populace over the government’s eco-
nomic performance and extravagances like
the bullet train. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat,
in his annual Dusshera speech, was sympa-
thetic to farmers and small traders who are
the worst hit, indirectly slamming the govern-
ment. In another public speech, he came
down hard on Niti Aayog saying the centre’s
premier think-tank and economic advisers
should abandon the “same old economic
isms and present solutions based on reality
on the ground for India’s growth.” He has
reportedly told the PM that the RSS needs to
be consulted more in the period leading up
to the 2019 elections.
EXTERNAL IS INTERNAL
THE HIGHER COMMAND
Despite the prime minister’s assurances that
the economy is on track, the signs all point
in the opposite direction. Here’s just one
example: A huge amount of `65,000 crore is
due to exporters as refund/rebate for the
period July to October. This is more than
thrice the earlier refunds paid through duty
drawback. This amount cannot be released
till the filing of GSTR3, so any refund will not
be paid till end November, leaving the gov-
ernment with a major headache. More worry-
ing is that export orders are down by 15-20
percent in what is a peri-
od of peak demand
leading up to Christmas
sales. The lower export
orders could lead to fur-
ther job losses and con-
traction in the econo-
my—foreign trade is
close to 40 percent
of India’s GDP.
ECONOMIC BACKLASH

The Supreme Court recently ruled that legal
proceedings against those accused of
heinous offences (rape, murder, dacoity as
also financial and economic frauds), can’t be
set aside even if the parties have
resolved all issues between them-
selves amicably outside courts.
The Court was hearing a plea for
quashing of an FIR related to land
grabbing using forged documents.
The petitioners against whom the
FIR (criminal) was lodged pleaded
that the issue had been resolved
with the complainant.
The bench headed by the chief
justice of India observed that all
such offences, especially financial
ones, were public in nature with
severe ramifications on society and
therefore the trial must continue. It,
however, maintained that high courts
may use their judicial powers to do away
with trials in criminal cases which are over-
whelmingly civil, provided the dispute had
been settled.
Apetitioner’s plea for a
direction to the UP gov-
ernment not to force stu-
dents in madrassas of the
state to sing the national
anthem was struck down by
the Allahabad High Court.
The state government
had passed an order in
August, followed by another
one in September, making
singing of the national
anthem compulsory in all
schools and madrassas.
The writ petition filed by
Alaul Mustafa was dis-
missed by the Court as it felt
that singing of the national
anthem was in the interest of
the nation. Anyone respect-
ing the history and tradition
of India must not excuse
himself from reciting it, the
Court observed.
It did not agree with the
petitioner’s viewpoint that
forcing anyone to sing the
anthem was akin to shoving
patriotism down someone’s
throat. There was nothing to
show that those studying in
madrassas did not want to
sing the national anthem, the
Court said.
Kerala HC’s
order on Hadiya
questioned
Courts
The Supreme Court questioned
the Kerala High Court’s deci-
sion to strike down the marriage
of a woman from Kerala, Hadiya
(earlier Akhila Ashokan) to a
Muslim man named Shafin Ja-
han. The apex court wondered if
the High Court had the powers
under Article 226 to take such a
decision. It also ruled that Ha-
diya’s father could no longer
insist on her custody.
The father had received a
favourable verdict from the High
Court which also allowed him to
take custody of his daughter.
Jahan challenged the order in the
Supreme Court. The apex court,
after hearing arguments, had
ordered an NIA probe into the
case. Jahan again pleaded in the
last hearing that the apex court
rescind its NIA order. The coun-
sel for Jahan, Dushyant Dave,
contended that the probe order
was detrimental to the spirit of a
multi-religious society in India.
He wondered if the apex court
would order a similar NIA probe
into the marriages of two senior
BJP leaders with women from
the minority community.
The counsel for NIA argued
that a pattern had been unearth-
ed in such wedlocks in Kerala
and all the issues raised by Ja-
han’s counsel were already taken
into account by the apex court
before ordering an NIA probe.
The next hearing is on October 9.
12 October 16, 2017
Protest against national anthem shot down
The Supreme Court has made it
clear that the decision to
transfer Justice Jayant Patel from
the Karnataka High Court to the
Allahabad High Court was “con-
scious”, “unanimous” and taken
after “adequate deliberation” on
feedback received from the high
courts involved. The collegium
that took the decision comprises
the Chief Justice of India, Dipak
Misra, and Justices J Chelames-
war, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B
Lokur and Kurian Joseph.
According the media reports,
the collegium had even asked
Justice Patel what he felt about its
decision to shift him to Allahabad
High Court. But Justice Patel did
not offer his response and instead
quit office.
Jayant Patel’s
transfer justified
— Compiled by Prabir Biswas
No escaping trial in
heinous crimes

Briefs
VK Sasikala, jailed for amassing
disproportionate assets,
walked out of a Bengaluru prison,
nearly eight months after she was
arrested. She has been granted
five-day parole to travel to Chennai
and visit her ailing husband, M
Natarajan.Recently evicted as chief
of Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK,
Sasikala was denied parole earlier
in the week on account of “incom-
plete paperwork”. She has been
allowed to leave with conditions. In
Chennai, she has to live at the
home of her sister-in-law Ilavarasi,
who is also in jail. The 61-year-old
also has been banned from any
political activity.
Sasikala released
on parole
—Compiled by India Legal Team
PaneltoexaminesplittingofOBCs
Plea to commute Beant killer sentence
The number of pending
cases in the Supreme
Court and the 24 high
courts has fallen in the last
three years. However, there
has been an upward swing
in the pending cases in the
lower judiciary, as per law
ministry data. According to
figures compiled by the
ministry, the top court had
62,791 pending cases at the
end of 2014. The figures fell
to 59,272 in December
2015. At the
end of 2016,
the number of
cases left in the
Supreme Court
rose to 62,537.
The ministry
said according
to latest data
provided by the
Supreme Court,
as on July 17, 2017, the
pending cases have been
pegged at 58,438. These
include 48,772 civil and
9,666 criminal cases.
In the subordinate
courts—considered the
backbone of the country's
justice delivery system—the
pendency of cases has gone
up in the last three years.
While the pending cases in
2014 were 2.64 crore, they
were 2.70 crore in 2015. In
December, 2016, the pend-
ing cases were 2.74 crore.
GRohini, former Delhi high court
chief justice, has been appointed
to head a commission to examine the
proposal for sub-categorisation of
Other Backward Classes (OBCs). This
issue is packed with significant politi-
cal ramifications. The proposal for
sub-categorisation is rooted in the
complaints of “most backward castes”
that Mandal reservation benefits have
been monopolised by some socially
and economically stronger communi-
ties. The proposal is likely to be
received with mixed feelings by the
more dominant OBC groups, and has
implications for parties like Lalu
Prasad’s RJD and Mulayam Singh
Yadav’s SP.
The commission’s members include
JK Bajaj, director of the Centre for
Policy Studies, Chennai. The President
gave his nod to the panel, which will
seek to ensure the most backward get
the benefits of reservation.
Two ex-officio members of the panel
will be the director of Anthropological
Survey of India and the registrar gen-
eral and census commissioner of India.
Pending cases fall
in SC, HCs, but not
in lower courts
14 October 16, 2017
Twenty-two years after
the then Punjab chief
minister Beant Singh (left)
was assassinated, a petition
seeking directions to com-
mute the death sentence of
convict Balwant Singh
Rajoana into life imprison-
ment has been moved in
the Punjab and Haryana
high court.
Rajoana’s sister Kamal-
deep Kaur has sought the
commutation on grounds of
“excessive and unreasonable
delay" in carrying out the
death sentence and the con-
sequent “irreparable mental
agony and suffering” that his
family has suffered during
this period. She has submit-
ted that her brother has
suffered much physical
and mental torture during
the two-decade-long impri-
sonment.
“Being the sister of
Balwant Singh Rajoana, I
have also suffered along with
the rest of family, and have
faced mental and economic
distress,” she has submitted.

Lead/ GST
Looking at a
RIME Minister Narendra Modi is quite used
to taking criticism in his stride. He either
ignores it, or dismisses it as the rants of oppo-
nents who have nothing better to do than to
throw darts at him. But when the venerable
Reserve Bank of India supports a negative
assessment of his government’s key economic initiatives, he
has no option but to sit up and listen, as well as to act.
Well before the implementation of the Goods and
Service Tax (GST)—described by the government’s spin
doctors as the mother of all big bang tax reforms—doubters
had sprung up from within the academic community, char-
tered accountants, and tax lawyers who advised caution and
gradualism. Among them was India’s most notable tax and
corporate attorney Arvind P Datar who predicted at
Hyderabad’s NALSAR that the scheme was headed for seri-
ous trouble. In his talk on “Constitution,
Federalism and GST” before students of
the prestigious law university, Datar
warned that a “terrible” thing was about
to happen to the country. “It is not known
whether the software has been tested. In
order to avoid chaos, the GST regime
should be implemented in phases. It
should be first implemented for select
industries and then expanded further.”
Senior advisors paid scant heed to
these cautionary notes until, barely three months into the
implementation of this scheme, the drizzle of criticism has
turned into a torrential downpour. The barbs have been fly-
ing from all sides—traders, exporters, professional acc-
ountants, farmers, the media, and former finance ministers
cutting across party lines, prominent among them BJPs
Yashwant Sinha and Congress’ P Chidambaram.
But the unkindest cut of all came from a totally unex-
pected quarter: the prestigious Monetary Policy Committee
(MPC) Reserve Bank of India, in its fourth bi-monthly mon-
etary policy statement, 2017-18. Headed by no less a lumi-
nary that Governor Urjit Patel, Modi’s personal choice for
that post after the exit of Raghuram Rajan, the MPC did not
mince its words in citing a prime cause for the alarming
slowdown in India’s economy:
“Turning to growth projections, the loss of momentum
in Q1 of 2017-18 and the first advance estimates of kharif
foodgrains production are early setbacks that impart a
downside to the outlook. The implementation of the GST so
far also appears to have had an adverse impact, rendering
prospects for the manufacturing sector uncertain in the
short term. This may further delay the revival of investment
activity.... Consumer confidence and overall business
assessment of the manufacturing and services sectors sur-
veyed by the Reserve Bank weakened in Q2 of 2017-18; on
the positive side, firms expect a significant improvement in
business sentiment in Q3. Taking into account the above
factors, the projection of real GVA growth for 2017-18 has
been revised down to 6.7 per cent from the August 2017 pro-
jection of 7.3 per cent, with risks evenly balanced.”
The message was loud and clear. And the prime minister
went into damage control. He went into a huddle with
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and party supremo Amit
Shah who had to cut short a campaign visit to Kerala. And
Modi chose the Golden Jubilee of the
Institute of Company Secretaries to assure
the country that he had instructed the GST
Council to review the problems being faced
by traders and the business community
after the launch of GST. He said: “Hum
lakir ke fakir nahin hain” (We are not
inflexible)” and promised that his govern-
ment is willing to make necessary amend-
ments upon recommendations by various
political parties and state governments.
On October 6, two days after Modi’s statement, the GST
Council began its emergency session at Delhi’s Vigyan Bha-
wan under the chairmanship of Jaitley to try and iron out
some of the major glitches. In addition, a committee led by
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, the Gujarat cadre IAS
officer who was Modi’s principal secretary when he was chi-
ef minister, will submit a preliminary report to the Council
on steps needed to provide relief to exporters who have also
been at the receiving end of the SST shockwaves.
Even as the Council meets, India Legal asked former
CBEC Chairman SUMIT DUTT MAJUMDER, author of
the book Know Your GST- GST Unraveled, to take a reality
check and explain what changes the country can expect to
see in both the implementation and rationalisation of GST
so that it can become more business friendly and help the
economy grow into a one-nation-one tax structure as was
originally planned. Here are some of the problems along
with solutions:
TheimplementationoftheGSTso
farappearstohavehadanadverse
impact,renderingprospectsfor
themanufacturingsectoruncertain
intheshortterm.Thismay
furtherdelaytherevivalof
investmentactivity.
16 October 16, 2017
P

FIXING THE RATES
Problem: The expectation that there
would be one flat GST rate for all com-
modities across the country was not
realistic for a nation comprising the
super rich, rich, common man, poor and
very poor people. There had to be differ-
ent tax rates on different classes of
goods consumed by different classes of
people. Therefore goods generally con-
sumed by the very poor and essential for
New Roadmap
a living were either exempted or put
at the lowest rate of duty (5 percent);
similarly, those consumed by the weal-
thy were taxed at the higher rate
(28 percent). But there also appeared
with-in this configuration some inter-
mediate rates of 12% and 18% which
creates confusion.
Solution: Eliminate the multiplicity of
rates which cause disputes in classifica-
UNLEASHING THE GENIE
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and President Pranab
Mukherjee launching the
GST scheme on July 1
tion. In all likelihood, there will be fewer
GST rates once revenue buoyancy is
achieved.
MEDIUM, SMALL AND MICRO
ENTERPRISES
Problem: The role of small business-
es in the economy, particularly in the
area of employment generation, is para-
mount. It cannot be not be destabili-
sed. The aim of converting the huge
PIB

unorganised sector into the organised
one by making it GST-compliant is ide-
alistic rather than practical. The thresh-
old for exemption from GST in India is
the lowest (`20 lakh /`10 lakh for spe-
cial category states) compared to inter-
national standards which generally vary
between `80 lakh to `1 crore before
taxes kick in. For example, Malaysia has
a threshold of `86 lakh.
Experts across the world have advi-
sed against taxing small businesses
because it is not cost-effective, it is cum-
bersome and it breeds corruption. By
keeping the threshold at `20 lakh, the
policymakers have already ensured that
only a small number of very small busi-
nesses will remain outside the ambit of
GST. But, even that exemption benefit
has been further curtailed by the follow-
ing two policy decisions.
First, there would be no threshold
exemption for those who undertake
inter-state supplies. Thus, even a tax-
payer with an annual turnover below the
threshold will have to pay GST if he tra-
des across state lines. Such a taxpayer
would have to discontinue inter-state
supplies, thereby shrinking his business.
Secondly, because of Reverse Charge
Mechanism (RCM) applied to certain
small businesses, the taxpaying recipi-
ents have been called upon to pay GST,
take credit and file returns in respect of
goods and services received from the
unregistered suppliers who are below
the threshold.
This is a burden on the taxpaying
recipient since his working capital
would remain blocked during the period
of payment of tax and taking of credit,
and the compliance costs of filing of
returns on behalf of the supplier would
add to his cost.
As a result, bigger businesses have
stopped dealing with such unregistered
tax payers. This is further wiping out
small businesses which provide an esti-
mated 60-65 percent of the country’s
employment. The cascading effect will
hit Big Business as well, since it depends
heavily on the small business for supply
of raw materials and components.
Solution: The “composition scheme”
which is available to small business up
to the threshold of `75 lakh provides the
benefit of a flat tax rate of 1 percent to 5
percent and easier compliance. For
starters, this scheme should be made
available to the taxpayers making inter-
state supplies. Reverse charges on recip-
ients from unregistered suppliers will
have to be abolished. Simply by with-
drawing these disruptive clauses, more
people will be able to avail of the “com-
position scheme” benefit.
TECHNOLOGY
Problem: It was expected that before
implementing GST, the IT infrastruc-
ture known as the GSTN would be fully
operational after test runs. That did not
happen. The GST rules, based on which
the IT softwares were to be finalised,
were disclosed only a few days before
the target day, leaving no time for the
GSTN to be fully operational. Conse-
quently, the GSTN was functional in
parts and there were IT glitches for
various business processes.
These deficiencies could have been
largely corrected through a few test
runs. However, the government must
have had its compelling reasons to
disregard the call in certain quarters
for deferring the implementation by
two months.
Solution: On realising the gravity of
the situation after implementation of
GST, the GST Council in its meeting in
September formed a Group of State
Finance Ministers headed by Sushil
Modi, the deputy chief minister of
Bihar, to “monitor and resolve the IT
challenges faced in the implementa-
tion of GST”.
The Group has started its work, and
Sushil Modi summed up the situation by
stating that correcting glitches in the
GSTN was like repairing a ship while it
was already sailing. It is hoped that the
GSTN will be set right soon.
18 October 16, 2017
Theexpectationthattherewould
beoneflatGSTrateforallcom-
moditiesacrossthecountrywas
notrealisticforanationwith
superrichandverypoorpeople.
BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID:
A Group of Ministers will
examine issues concerning the
small-scale sector
Lead/ GST
Anil Shakya

FILING RETURNS
Problem: On procedural issues, there
is an urgent need for simplification of
the return filing process. Since the
GSTN was not fully operational, the
proposed system of filing three ret-
urns—GSTR1, GSRT2 and GSTR3—
each month had to be postponed, and
instead a system of filing GSTR-3B
which was basically a monthly summ-
ary was introduced.
Solution: This monthly return should
be continued and the three monthly
returns should be deferred till the time
the GSTN stabilises and becomes fully
operational. Further, amendment of
GSTR-3B returns by taxpayers should
be allowed. There is also the need for a
relook at the requirement of 36 monthly
returns each year for each state. Filing
of quarterly returns with reduced num-
ber of fields may also be considered for
the ease of doing business.
Another concern is on the matching
of invoices which is designed to ensure
that the input tax credit taken by the
recipient matches those for which the
supplier has paid the tax. This is likely
to put tremendous pressure on the
GSTN. This secondary process may also
be deferred till the GSTN stabilises.
EXPORTERS
Problem: Taxes are never exported. In
the pre-GST era, the exporters did not
pay tax in most cases. Wherever tax was
paid, it was refunded in the form of re-
bates, drawback or export- refund. One
basic principle of GST is: Pay tax first,
and then either take credit or claim
refund in appropriate cases. This has
resulted in massive costs related to
blocked working capital for exporters.
Solution: Suggestions have been
made to set up a dedicated fund to help
the exporters. Another suggestion is of
instituting an e-wallet mechanism for
SMEs and complete exemption for mer-
chant-exporters. Based on exports of the
preceding year and an average GST rate,
the e-wallet will facilitate crediting of e-
currency in exporters’ accounts.
E-WAY BILL
Problem: An added disruptive issue is
the introduction of the E-way Bill to
track every movement of trucks across
states. This will again put extra burden
on the GSTN. Besides, stopping of
trucks in highways to check E-way Bill
will only delay the transportation of
goods and breed corruption. Since all
states have the same rate of states GST,
the E-way Bill has lost its relevance.
Solution: Scrap it, or at least defer it
until the GSTN is fully operational.
Its introduction will increase the trans-
portation time and cost. E-Way Bill
should preferably be dropped or defe-
rred till the GSTN is fully operational.
Initial glitches notwithstanding, GST
has to be taken as a “work in progress”.
But the government has recognised the
urgency of removing roadblocks, partic-
ularly those relating to interstate supply
and the reverse charge mechanism for
small businesses.
HEARING THE COMMON MAN: The GST
Council meeting in progress on October 6, to
look into some gray areas
The GST Council which met on
October 6 has given a major relief
to small companies and traders.
Some of them are:
Businesses with a turnover of `1
crore to pay tax and file returns quar-
terly instead of monthly
Has raised the composition scheme
threshold to `1 crore from `75 lakh
Service providers providing inter-state
services up to `20 lakh will be exemp-
ted from GST
Exempted exporters from payment of
tax under various promotion schemes
Suspended reverse charge mecha-
nism until the fiscal year-end
e-wallet facility by April; will be pro-
vided with notional credit as an
advance refund for exporters
Merchant exporters need to pay 0.1
percent GST on goods they source
Slashed tax rates on 27 items, inclu-
ding man-made yarn, a key demand of
the textiles sector
Set up a group of ministers to exam-
ine issues concerning the small-scale
sector
GSTsops
UNI

Supreme Court/ Appointment of Additional Judges
20 October 16, 2017
224 of the Constitution, the president
is pleased to appoint Ashok Kumar
Gaur, Manoj Kumar Garg, Inderjeet
Singh, Dr Virendra Kumar Mathur, and
Ramchandra Singh Jhala as additional
judges of the Rajasthan High Court in
order of seniority.
The appointment of Ashok Kumar
Gaur, Manoj Kumar Garg and Inderjeet
Singh was for a period of two years with
effect from the date they assumed
charge of their respective offices.
However, the period of appointment of
Dr Virendra Kumar Mathur and
Ramchandra Singh Jhala was with
Inararecase,theapexcourthasissuednoticestotwoRajasthanHighCourtjudgeswho
retiredin2016andwereineligibleforthepostofadditionaljudges
By Vinay Vats
Judges under Notice
WRONG PRECEDENT
The questionable
appointment of two judges
in the Rajasthan High Court
brings into focus the need
for a Memorandum of
Procedure for judges’
appointments
n a one-of-its-kind move, the Sup-
reme Court has issued notices on a
petition challenging the appoint-
ment of two additional judges in
the Rajasthan High Court. A ben-
ch headed by Justices AK Sikri
and Ashok Bhushan issued the notices
to Dr Virendra Kumar Mathur and
Ram-chandra Singh Jhala challenging
their appointments as additional judges
of the High Court.
On May 12, 2017, the government
had published a notification in the
Official Gazette that in exercise of the
powers conferred by Clause (1) of article
I

that qualification for appointment has
to be seen on the date of issuance of
warrant by the President of India.
Mathur and Jhala retired from judi-
cial service on attaining the superannua-
tion age of 60 years on September 30,
2016 and on July 31, 2016 respectively.
Thus, they neither held judicial office
nor were part of the judicial service of
the state on the date of issuance of war-
rant by the President of India. Hence,
the appointments are bad in law.
In April 2016, the Supreme Court
had put on hold the appointments of
110 additional judges till it ratified the
long-awaited revised draft of the Memo-
randum of Procedure. Even at that time,
recommendations were made by chief
justices of different high courts. In Dec-
ember 2015, a constitutional bench of
the Supreme Court had directed the
government to draft a Memorandum of
Procedure for appointment of Supreme
Court and High Court judges with some
basic guidelines.
One draft was prepared by the gov-
ernment and sent back with some modi-
fications. Since then, it has been pend-
ing with then Chief Justice of India Jus-
tice TS Thakur and is now with Justice
Dipak Misra for final approval.
The writer is a Supreme Court Advocate
(L-R)DrVirendraKumarMathurandRamchandraSinghJhalaretiredfromjudicialser-
viceonSeptember30,2016andonJuly31,2016respectively.Theywerenotpartof
thejudicialserviceofthestateonthedateofissuanceofwarrantbythePresident.
a minimum term of two years for an
additional judge, appointed under Arti-
cle 224 (1) of the constitution in a high
court where judicial arrears (pending
cases) are of more than two years.
Thus, it is alleged that the appoint-
ments of Virendra Kumar Mathur and
Ramchandra Singh Jhala for a short
period of 1 year, 3 months, 17 days and
1 year, 1 month, 17 days respectively in
Rajasthan High Court, where arrears
of pending cases is more than 10 years,
is contrary to the minimum term pre-
scribed by the constitutional bench
judgment and is therefore void from
the beginning.
T
he petition also says that the
present appointments are also
contrary to Arti-cle 217(2)(a) in
view of the law declared by the Supreme
Court in Kumar Padma Prasad Vs
Union of India and Others [AIR 1992
SC 1213]. There it was categorically
declared that in order to qualify for
appointment as a judge of a high court
under Article 217 (2) (a), a person “must
hold” “judicial office” which must be a
part of judicial service of the state and
Article 224
(1) If by reason of any temporary
increase in the business of a high
court or by reason of arrears of work
therein, it appears to the President
that the number of the judges sho-
uld be increased, he may appoint
duly qualified persons to be addi-
tional judges there for such period
not exceeding two years as he
may specify.
(2) When any judge of a high court
other than the chief justice is by rea-
son of absence or for any other rea-
son unable to perform the duties of
his office or is appointed to act tem-
porarily as chief justice, the Pre-
sident may appoint a duly qualified
person to act as a judge of that
court until the permanent judge has
resumed his duties.
(3) No person appointed as an addi-
tional or acting judge of a high court
shall hold office after attaining the
age of 62.
Article 217
Every judge of a high court shall be
appointed by the President by war-
rant under his hand and seal after
consultation with the chief justice of
India, the governor of the state, and,
in the case of appointment of a
judge other than the chief justice,
the chief justice of the high court,
and shall hold office for two years.
Whatthe
lawsays
This is what the constitution
says on the appointment of addi-
tional and acting judges:
effect from the date they assumed
charge of their respective offices till
September 1, 2018 and July 2, 2018
respectively.
The petition contends that the law
declared by a constitutional bench of the
Supreme Court in the case of SP Gupta
and Others Vs Union of India and
Others [(1981) Supp SCC 87], mandates
InApril2016,theSupremeCourt
hadputonholdtheappointments
of110additionaljudgestillitrati-
fiedthereviseddraftofthe
MemorandumofProcedure.

Referring to the fact that the victim
had testified before a metropolitan mag-
istrate that one of the accused always
used to look at her “with a bad inten-
tion”, the Court said: “Therefore, it can-
not be said that there are no sufficient
grounds to proceed against the accused
for the offence as defined by Section 11
and made punishable under Section 12
of the POCSO Act.”
In their writ petition, Vadher and
Vishwakarma had contended that the
FIR was based on hearsay which is
inadmissible as evidence, and anyway,
the allegation of looking at someone
with a bad eye was too vague to attract
provisions of the criminal law.
Refusing to accept the aforesaid con-
tentions, the Court relied on the victim’s
testimony before the magistrate and
held that it needs to be mentioned that
if a person with sexual intent repeatedly
or constantly follows or watches or con-
tacts a child either directly or through
other means, then he can be said to have
committed an offence defined under
Section 11 of the POCSO Act. The ques-
tion whether the act was with sexual
intent is a question which needs to be
adjudicated on appreciation of evidence
adduced by the prosecution at the stage
of trial.
Vishwakarma had contended that
Section 11 of the POCSO Act could not
be invoked against her. The Court
accepted this submission but rejected
the plea of Vadher, who was the second
petitioner in the case, and ordered that
he should stand trial. “Watching a
female child with sexual intent comes
under the mischief covered by Section 11
of the POCSO Act. Therefore, it cannot
be said that there are no sufficient
grounds to proceed against petitioner
no.2 Valji Vadher for the offence as def-
ined by Section 11 and made punishable
under Section 12 of the POCSO Act.”
The writer is an advocate.
N September 27, Justice
AM Badar of the Bombay
High Court held that
looking lecherously at a
minor boy or a girl is
punishable under the
Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences (POCSO) Act, 2005.
The ruling came while declining to
quash the FIR against one Manju Tejbal
Vishwakarma, the victim’s mother, and
Valji Vadher who had been booked
under the law to protect children and
minors from sexual offences. “Watching
a child with sexual intent comes under
mischief covered by Section 11 of the
Courts/ Sexual Offences
22 October 16, 2017
TheBombayHighCourthassaidthatlookingataminorboy
oragirlwithasexualintentionwillinvitetheprovisionsof
thePOCSOAct
By Rajesh Kumar
Leering at a Child
is Punishable
POCSO Act,” the Court ruled.
Section 11 of the POCSO Act defines
“sexual harassment of a child”, and
includes the words “constantly watching
a child with sexual intent”. This offence
is punishable by up to three years
imprisonment and a fine under Section
12 of the Act.
O
Section11ofthePOCSOAct
defines“sexualharassmentofa
child”,andincludesthewords
“constantlywatchingachildwith
sexualintent”.
Anthony Lawrence

admitting fresh students for two years
from 2017. It also authorised the
Medical Council of India (MCI) to en-
cash the bank guarantee of `2 crore.
W
hile their petitions were
pending before the Supreme
Court and Allahabad High
Court, the Yadav duo got in touch with
Quddusi. According to the FIR, Qudussi
and his confidant, Bhawana Pandey,
assured them that the matter would be
settled in the Supreme Court.
However, the CBI says that in return,
“he demanded the gratification for
inducing the public servants by corrupt
and illegal means in lieu of the afore-
said help”.
The CBI received information that
these people were likely to meet the
wheeler-dealer, Biswanath Agarwal,
who claimed to have “very close contact
with senior relevant public functiona-
ries” and assured them that he would
get the matter “favorably settled” and
had allegedly agreed to deliver the cash.
In subsequent raids, CBI recovered
close to `2 crore in cash and several
incriminating documents. The agency
seized `1 crore which Agarwal had
handed over to Pandey.
ORRUPTION in the higher
echelons of the judiciary is
often spoken about only
in hushed tones in court-
rooms. But the recent arr-
est of a retired judge of the
Orissa High Court has shown that some
of these allegations could well be true.
It was on September 21 that the
CBI arrested Justice (Retd) Ishrat
Masroor Quddusi and four others in a
corruption case. While bail was granted
to Quddusi on September 27 by Tis
Hazari Court in Delhi, his name will
nonetheless be attached to the case
relating to admitting students in a med-
ical college in Uttar Pradesh, which was
debarred by the government.
The arrests were made after the CBI
carried out searches in eight locations,
including the judge’s residence in
Greater Kailash in Delhi. The others
arrested in the case were BP Yadav and
Palash Yadav of the Prasad Educational
Probe/ UP Medical Colleges Scam
AretiredjudgeoftheOrissaHighCourtbringsignominytothe
legalprofessionasheisarrestedinacorruptioncase
By Saurav Datta
TAINTED JUDGE: Justice
Ishrat Masroor Quddusi
(above) tried to help out the
debarred Prasad Institute of
Medical Sciences in Lucknow
in return for money
Judge in the Dock
Trust, which runs a medical college—
Prasad Institute of Medical Science—
in Lucknow; Biswanath Agrawala, a
middleman; and hawala operator
Ramdev Saraswat.
The medical college is one of the 46
colleges barred by the government from
admitting medical students for the few
years because of substandard facilities,
according to the FIR. These 46 colleges
had challenged the debarment in the
Supreme Court.
The Court had directed the govern-
ment to consider the materials on re-
cord afresh. The government, after due
diligence, debarred the college from
C
Quddusiandhisconfidant
assuredthepartiesofsettlingthe
matterfavourablyintheSupreme
Courtbybribingpublic
functionaries.

Politics/ RSS
PEAKING recently at the
silver jubilee celebrations
of the Akhil Bharatiya
Adhivakta Parishad (All
India Advocates Council)
in Hyderabad, RSS
strongman Mohan Bhagwat dropped a
bombshell. The essence of his speech
called for a review of the working of the
Constitution. This may not be new—the
RSS has made similar demands in the
past—but now it seems that a definite
plan is in the works. The use of a
lawyer’s conference to propagate the
idea suggests that testing it before an
audience of law makers is the precursor
to a more forceful push. In fact,
Bhagwat’s speech spelled out what sort
of a review they wanted by speaking
about how Indian culture and tradition
had a lot to offer and suggested that law
makers can look at them while planning
a review. The unsaid addendum was
that Indian culture essentially meant
Hindu culture. That is also in line with
the Modi government’s push for a
Uniform Civil Code.
Speaking to India Legal, RSS
Pracharak Manmohan Vaidya says: “In
our ancient civilisation the Code had
been reviewed and reframed suitable to
the changing times and situations. Now
RSSleadershaveoflatebeendemandingareviewoftheConstitutionbutwhatisthemotive
andwheredoesthatleavetheJusticeVenkatachaliahCommissionReport?
By Chandrani Banerjee
Targeting the
Constitution
S
PUSHING FOR CHANGE
RSS strongman Mohan Bhagwat
24 October 16, 2017
UNI

Venkatachaliah suggests that his
Commission’s role was more in the
nature of a trail balloon. “They (the
Commission’s recommendations) were
never meant to be put in place. The
committee made recommendations and
also shared observations. Sadly, it was
restricted to that.’’ Another prominent
member, Dr Subhash Kashyap, told
India Legal: “I do not want to comment
about the political angle behind this
demand. However, I would want to say
that very useful recommendations were
made by the Commission which would
benefit citizens. They should not gather
dust. They are implementable and they
should be implemented.”
The Commission submitted its report
to then Union minister for law and jus-
tice Arun Jaitley on March 31, 2002 in
New Delhi. Kashyap revealed, the actual
time spent on the task was three
months. The Commission held 16 meet-
ings, and did a lot of background work.
It collected material and obtained
suggestions from the public and inter-
ested groups. The Commission agreed
that a Constitution, however lofty
after 70 years of Independence, the
experts should review the provisions
accordingly, so that people can be edu-
cated about law. This will help increas-
ing the ease of enforcement of the law.”
RSS functionaries, however, down-
play any deeper motives. One senior
RSS leader told India Legal: “In 70
years we have changed a lot. India is
known for its culture and traditions. A
holistic world-view needs to be reflected
in the Constitution.’’ That was, in fact,
the reason why the then prime minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee was provoked to
constitute an 11-member National
Commission to review the working of
the Constitution on the grounds that
much had changed in India in 50 years.
The Justice Manepalli Narayana Rao
Venkatachaliah Commission was set up
to in 2000 to suggest possible amend-
ments to the Constitution of India.
Headed by the former Chief Justice
of India, the other members were
prominent individuals with credibility
and proven experience. They included
BP Jeevan Reddy (Chairman of the Law
Commission), RS Sarkaria (former
judge of the Supreme Court), K
Punnayya (former judge of Andhra
Pradesh High Court), Soli Sorabjee
(Attorney-General of India), K
Parasaran (former Attorney-General of
India), Subhash C Kashyap (former
Secretary-General of Lok Sabha), CR
Irani (Chief Editor & Managing
Director of The Statesman), Abid
Hussain (former ambassador to the
USA), Sumitra Kulkarni (former
Member of Parliament) and PA Sangma
(former speaker of Lok Sabha). The set-
ting up of the Commission triggered
opposition from other political parties
and the civil society as a whole. The
criticism revolved around the fact that
the Commission lacked the legitimacy to
perform the review because it neither
had the parliament’s sanction nor was
political consensus in its favour with
regards to its terms of reference
and composition.
T
he parallel with the current situa-
tion is glaringly obvious. The
main opposition to the Justice
Venkatachaliah Commission was that it
smacked of ulterior motives on the part
of the government. There was a fear that
it sought to effect changes in the
Constitution to serve its own interests.
The fear was that there could be
attempts to tamper with the avowed
concept of secularism, one of the basic
features of the Constitution, or that it
would entail an overhaul rather than a
review of the Constitution. Speaking to
India Legal from Bangalore, Justice
MAJOR CHALLENGES
Seventy years after Independence,
the country is still grappling with problems
of illiteracy, hunger, protest, pollution and
insufficient healthcare
Themainoppositiontothe
JusticeVenkatachaliah
Commissionwasthatitsmacked
ofulteriormotivesonthepart
ofthegovernment.

its exhortations and sentiments, is not a
self-executing document; it requires the
aid of a human agency to implement its
provisions. “The political traditions of
the people and the spirit of constitution-
alism are what make a Constitution
work. Its essence is its practice,” the
Commission said.
The Commission came up with a
total of 249 recommendations.
These included:
The heading of Part IV of the
Constitution should be amended to read
as “Directive Principles of State Policy
and Action”. Under this head should
come the rights of work, social security,
health, education, food, freedom from
hunger, shelter and clothing.
A special Article is needed to be incor-
porated for population control. “The
State shall endeavour to secure control
of population by means of education
and implementation of small family
norms.”.
The State will be under the duty of
promotion of inter-religious harmony
and inter-faith values by setting up of
“mohalla committees” with the partici-
pation of prominent members of differ-
ent communities to take note of early
warning symptoms and alerting the
administration in preventing them.
It is necessary to separate religious
percepts from civil law.
Every person must have the right of
safe drinking water and of an environ-
ment that is not harmful to one’s health
or well-being.
Right to information should be guar-
anteed and needs to be given
real substance.
J
ustice Venkatachaliah maintains
his position that the Commission
was intended as an academic exer-
cise. Making no claims to legitimacy at
all, the Commission has left it to parlia-
ment and the States to decide which of
its recommendations are implemen-
table. Of the 249 recommendations that
the Commission made, 58 involve
amendments to the Constitution, 86
involve legislative measures and the rest
involve executive action. Four members
of the Commission, Justice BP Jeevan
Reddy, Subhash Kashyap, CR Irani and
Sumitra G Kulkarni, appended separate
notes to the report. The existence of that
report puts a question-mark over why
the RSS is demanding a review now. It
would suggest that the recommenda-
tions made by the Commission are not
really in tune with the changes the
Sangh would like to see. A top RSS
functionary said: “Mohan Bhagwaatji
has put forward an idea before the legal
fraternity and now it is up to them to
take it forward. If they want to do some-
thing about it. they (the legal fraternity)
will do it. Our job is to draw the atten-
tion towards the need. We have done it.”
The legal fraternity is fine with a
review but with certain conditions. Says
Supreme Court lawyer Abani Sahu:
“While there is an unsaid fear about the
constant mention by the RSS about the
review of the working of Constitution, I
Over the past 15 days, RSS chief
Mohan Bhagwat has said that there
should be a review of the working of
the Constitution. What is your opinion?
I don’t want to comment on a political or
organisational viewpoint.
Do you think there is a need to review
the working of the Constitution?
Yes, as a member of the judiciary, I would
say there is a need for it. It is an issue
that needs to be considered with the
utmost seriousness.
You headed a committee that made
recommendations in 2002 on this sub-
ject. Why were those recommendations
not put in place?
“Wearealowenergydemocracy”
JUSTICE MN VENKATACHALIAH,
the 25th Chief Justice of India, headed
the National Commission to review the
working of the Constitution from
2000 to 2002. He made significant
recommendations and the report was
submitted in 2002. However, though
the recommendations were considered,
they were not implemented. Speaking
to CHANDRANI BANERJEE from
Bangalore, Justice Venkatachaliah
said that reviewing the Constitution
was a serious subject and should be
taken seriously.
Thereisnobetterpersontocomment
ontheConstitutionthantheman
whowasitsarchitect,DrBhimrao
Ambedkar.Hesaid70yearsago:
“TheConstitutionisonlyas
goodasthemenandwomen
whooperateit.”
26 October 16, 2017
Politics/ RSS

would say if a review is needed then we
should hear the views of the public.
Invite people to send suggestions and
express their fears. People’s participation
and their views should be taken into
consideration without following any
political ideology.” In fact, it was
Jawaharlal Nehru who observed in the
Constituent Assembly on November 8,
1948: “While we want this Constitution
to be as solid and as permanent a struc-
ture as we can make it, nevertheless
there is no permanence in Constitutions.
There should be a certain flexibility. If
you make anything rigid and perma-
nent, you stop a nation’s growth, the
growth of a living, vital, organic peo-
ple.... we should not make a
Constitution, such as some other great
countries have, which are so rigid that
they do not and cannot be adapted easi-
ly to changing conditions. Today espe-
cially, when the world is in turmoil and
we are passing through a very swift peri-
od of transition, what we may do today
may not be wholly applicable tomorrow.”
P
rophetic words, considering the
turmoil and swift periods of tran-
sition almost 70 years later.
Moreover, any review of the
Constitution at this stage will meet with
the same resistance from the Opposition
that the Justice Venkatachaliah
Commission did when it was set up
under the first BJP-led government. It
may be just a coincidence that the cur-
rent demand from the RSS comes when
there is once again a BJP-led govern-
ment at the Centre, but the kind of
majority the Modi government enjoys
gives the question of a constitutional
review a sharper edge. Opinions differ
as to whether the resurfacing of the
demand is really an effort to push a cer-
tain ideology. Justice Venkatachaliah
himself agrees that a review of the
working of the Constitution is needed
but not for any ideological reasons—he
says his recommendations are now
old and obsolete, although his definition
of India’s democratic credentials
are interesting.
“We are a low energy democracy.
And there is difference between a low
energy democracy and a high energy
democracy. There is no equality any-
where in the country. There is problem
in every system and there is no will for
correcting it,” he says.
The difference lies in the current
political atmosphere where Hindu-
ism and the Hindu way of life has
assumed centrestage.
In this kind of surcharged atmos-
phere, a demand for reviewing the
Constitution acquires added impor-
tance. There is, in fact, no better person
to comment on the Constitution than
the man who was its architect, BR
Ambedkar. As he said 70 years ago:
“The Constitution is only as good as the
men and women who operate it.”
They were never meant to be put in
place. The committee made the recom-
mendations and also shared its observa-
tions. Sadly, it was restricted to that.
What are the reasons it never shaped
up the way the Justice Chaliah
Committee perceived it?
See, we are a low-energy democracy.
And there is difference between a low-
energy democracy and a high-energy
democracy. Secondly, the legitimacy of
our election system is not above average.
So, we are only good at making a façade
of democracy. There is no equality any-
where in the country. There are problems
in every system and there is no will to
correct it.
What is the roadmap for an improved
democracy?
Either we have democracy or concentrat-
ed wealth in the hands of a few. We can-
not have both. Currently, one percent of
people in India own 60 percent of wealth.
Clearly, there is a problem and we cannot
figure it out. The growing economy is also
a made-up concept and is just a façade.
Actually, black money is in use. Clean
money is not in circulation. Nothing much
can be done to solve this problem.
Where are we failing in the whole
process?
A system has not been made in this
democracy. A system that can help and
support a healthy democracy should be
put in place. It is not that nothing
good has happened so far, but the
lack of a system has damaged us.
Should we take a lead from your
recommendations?
My review is old and obsolete. When
the US completed 200 years of its
constitution, it invited eminent law-
yers, teachers, thinkers, doctors and
professionals from every field to sit
and analyse the working of the
Constitution. Those who participated
were critical, and gave an honest and
open view. We need to be frank and
open too. It is a serious subject. The
problem in our country is that serious
things are not taken seriously.
RSSpracharakManmohanVaidyasays
ontheUniformCivilCode:“Inourancient
civilisation,theCodehadbeenreviewed
andreframedsuitabletochangingtimes
andsituations.Nowafter70years
ofIndependencetheexpertsshould
reviewitaccordingly.”

among political par-
ties to avoid elections
as long as possible.
Hence their eagerness
to form a new govern-
ment when a coalition
breaks up.
BREAKING COALITIONS
It must be said in this context that a
coalition breaking up is not a result of
any basic ideological difference among
the partners. Far from it. Indian politics
was never an ideology driven activity.
Politics is practised to gain power, which
normally keeps the coalition from
breaking up. But when one of the part-
ners finds better prospects elsewhere
and leaves, the coalition breaks up and
the government falls. But a government
will be in office with a new partner very
soon. No one has ever asked as to what
happens to the original mandate the
people gave to one coalition. Is it consti-
tutionally valid for one partner (may be
the dominant partner) to tie up with a
party in opposition after breaking up
the coalition and then form a new
government?
ITH the gradual dis-
appearance of one-
party domination or
single-party majority
in India’s legislatures
(2014 election results
are an exception), a coalition of political
parties has become a credible arrange-
ment to win elections. A pre-poll coali-
tion is the most common form of this
arrangement. Political parties bind
themselves to a common minimum pro-
gramme which is presented before the
electorate and seek their support. It is
obvious that when a particular pre-poll
coalition is voted to power, the people
vote not for any one party or leader.
Their vote is for the coalition as a whole.
So what happens when such a coali-
tion breaks up and the government
falls? Can any of the coalition parties
join hands with a party in the opposi-
tion and form another government?
Political parties are all in favour of such
arrangements because they keep an
immediate election at bay. The most
dreaded thing in the life of an elected
MLA or MP is an untimely election. So
there is a fair measure of agreement
Legal Eye/ Anti-Defection Law
28 October 16, 2017
This questions assumes importance
not only because of the unethical con-
duct of a coalition partner in breaking
the coalition, but also because of the
clear negation of the original mandate
given to the coalition by the people. Can
the mandate of the people, once
obtained, be ignored and are coalition
partners free to join hands with any
party to form alternative governments?
The constitution or the
Representation of the People Act, 1951,
does not address this issue directly. But
it is clear to all that it is the mandate of
the people which sustains representative
governments. If a party which has won
the election cracks up into warring
groups later, it loses the mandate to rule
because the people had given the man-
date to that party as a whole. What hap-
pened to the AIADMK in the aftermath
Isitconstitutionallyvalidforonepartnerofa
coalition,maybethedominantpartner,toally
withapartyinoppositionafterbreakingupthe
coalitionandforminganewgovernment?
By PDT Achary
W
Violating the
People’s
Mandate

independent is disqualified if he joins a
political party after such election. The
underlying idea is that if an elected
member acts against the mandate, he
will suffer the consequences.
The entire anti-defection law is
designed to establish the principle that
legislators elected by the people are
required to adhere to the original man-
date. The same principle applies to the
coalition of parties, too. What is sauce
for the goose is sauce for the gander. It
can, therefore, be safely stated that the
whole exercise in ministry-making by
one of the partners in collaboration with
the party in opposition has no constitu-
tional legitimacy.
The argument by the politicians that
it is their duty to provide a government
to the people and going back to them
should be the last alternative is only
self-serving and has no constitutional
backing. Sovereignty resides in the peo-
ple and it is only proper to seek a fresh
mandate from the sovereign when the
old mandate is exhausted.
ILLEGAL CIRCUMVENTION
Politicians are generally averse to rules
and regulations which constrain them,
and often circumvent such inconvenient
boundaries. Take the case of the anti-
defection law. This law constrains
of Jayalalithaa’s death is a case in point.
Notwithstanding the hasty disqualifica-
tion of 18 MLAs by the Speaker, which
created a temporary majority for the
government, the fact is that the original
mandate of the people in favour of that
party no longer survived. The only legit-
imate course in such a situation is to
seek a fresh mandate.
Now let us test this proposition.
When a coalition of parties running a
government breaks up during its tenure
and one of the partners joins hands with
a party in the opposition and forms
another government, it loses the original
mandate and hence becomes illegiti-
mate. What is then the mandate of the
new government? The party in opposi-
tion has no mandate to rule. Similarly,
one partner in the erstwhile coalition
has no mandate to form a government
with the help of the party in opposition.
So neither partner in the new coalition
has a mandate to form the government.
BINDING MANDATE
The new partners, no doubt, cobble
together a majority in the assembly. But
such a majority is only a numerical one
without the backing of the mandate of
the people. It is sheer fallacy to think
that after being elected, the members of
the legislature can act in any manner
they like. They do not have such unbri-
dled freedom in a manner which
negates the mandate of the electorate.
The mandate binds them. This principle
is laid down in the 10th Schedule of the
constitution. Under Paragraph 2(2) of
the Schedule, a person elected as an
Itisasheerfallacytothinkthat
afterbeingelectedlawmakerscan
actinanymannertheylike.Theydo
nothave suchunbridledfreedom.
Themandatebindsthem.
TEST OF DEMOCRACY
Citizens vote in the 2014 general election;
(above) then Tamil Nadu acting chief
minister O Panneerselvam after the
Supreme Court convicted Sasikala
Photos: UNI

30 October 16, 2017
These parties have erred grievously
by switching their loyalty en masse.
Paragraph 4 of the 10th Schedule gives
protection to the defecting members
only on the fulfillment of two condi-
tions. One, the original political party
should decide to merge with another
party; two, as a part of this decision, two
thirds of the legislators merge with
another party. It is not enough for two-
thirds of the legislators to merely merge
with another party; the original political
party should also merge with it. If this
does not happen, there is no merger
under para 4 of the 10th Schedule and
all the defecting legislators are liable to
legislators from partyhopping. But the
ingenuity of Indian politicians knows no
bounds. They often find a way to get
round anti-defection rules. These days,
legislators defect in large numbers. In
Arunachal Pradesh, for example, the
entire legislature wing of a political
party defected to another party.
Similarly in Tripura, most of the mem-
bers of the legislature wing of the
Trinamool Congress joined the BJP.
They did so under the mistaken belief
that they are protected because instead
of two-thirds of the members, the entire
legislature party walked over to the
other party.
be disqualified.
The law on this point was clarified by
the Supreme Court in two cases—
Rajender Singh Rana v Swamy Prasad
Maurya (2007) and Jagjit Singh v State
of Haryana ( 2006). These two decisions
of the apex court would not give much
comfort to either the defected legislators
or the potential defectors. The mandate
of the law is being defeated at present
by the Speaker not deciding the petition
during the entire term of the assembly.
It is being experimented rather success-
fully in at least some assemblies. But,
hopefully, this phase, too, will come to
an end when the constitution bench of
the Supreme Court finally fixes a time-
limit within which to decide all cases of
defection.
The writer is a former secretary
general of the Lok Sabha
RENOUNCE AND BE REWARDED
Six Trinamool Congress MLAs join the BJP
in Agartala; Arunachal Pradesh Chief
Minister Pema Khandu at a BJP Pratibad
Sabha. Khandu was once a minister in the
Congress government of Nabam Tuki
Legal Eye/ Anti-Defection Law

States/ Punjab/ Stubble Burning
32 October 16, 2017
HE Punjab government
has shed its complacency
and advised district
administrations to act
against farmers burning
paddy stubble in fields,
including imposition of fines and denial
of loans. Last year, the Akali Dal govern-
ment had ignored the polluting activity,
despite tell-tale signs in fields, as it was
facing elections and did not wish to risk
aggravating the farming community.
Farmers were still recovering from loss-
es caused by the slump in basmati prices
and the failure of the cotton crop owing
to a devastating attack of whiteflies the
previous year.
In an order issued, in late September,
the Punjab government has told revenue
officials to note violations in red ink in
A Burning Issue
Inanattempttostemtheseriousproblemofpaddystrawbeingtorchedbyfarmers,
thestategovernmenthaslaiddownstrictorderstopunishviolatorsandwillhold
educativemeetingwithstakeholders
By Vivian Fernandes
TGONE UP IN SMOKE
An estimated 15 million
tonnes of stubble is burnt
in fields to make way for
wheat farming

the land record of defying farmers.
Restrictions have been imposed on
many others.
Government officials risk disciplinary
action if they burn stubble in their
paddy fields. They are also required to
dissuade others and report violations.
Staff of schools, public and private,
including non-teaching ones, have been
instructed likewise. Canal patwaris, jun-
ior engineers of the electricity depart-
ment and pollution control board offi-
cials have been told to keep a watch in
their jurisdictions. Elected panchayat
members are to take a pledge against
stubble burning in the prescribed for-
mat. Commission agents at regulated
mandis have been told to desist and
report violations. District collectors have
been instructed to hold educative meet-
ing with farmers and officials.
It was in October 2013 that Punjab
had passed an order against burning of
crop residue. The National Green
Tribunal too ruled against stubble burn-
ing in its order of December 2015. But
there has been little action.
DESTRUCTIVE METHODS
Bhatinda’s additional district collector
Sheena Aggarwal had called a meeting
of farmers and had persuaded and
warned them against burning stubble in
fields, said Jagtar Brar, an educated and
progressive farmer of village Mehma
Sarja near Goniana Mandi in Bhatinda.
Brar said he had suffered a loss of `50
lakh earlier this year due to a slump in
prices of potatoes, which he had grown
on 60 acres. Therefore, he had planted
rice on 85 acres, some of which he
EFFECTIVE
TECHNOLOGY
Paddy straw planted
in the soil helps
lock-in moisture and
adds high organic
carbon content to
the soil. (Below) A
reversible plough
that can cut the
foot-long stubble left
after combine
harvesting
Agitatedfarmers
protestoutsideNGT
A
large number of farmers from
Punjab gathered outside the
National Green Tribunal in
Delhi on October 4 to protest over
the stubble-burning issue and
lashed out at the Punjab govern-
ment. Furious with it for not repaying
them enough for removing the stub-
ble, they told India Legal that they
were under colossal losses due to
the NGT forbidding stubble burning.
Meanwhile, the NGT pulled up
the Punjab government for not tak-
ing sufficient measures to help the
farmers in disposing of the stubble
—a major reason for air contamina-
tion during the reaping season. Prior
to this, the NGT had told the state to
embrace a town in Patiala and moti-
vate farmers there and to give them
infrastructural help. “As on date,
have you possessed the capacity
to discover a solitary agriculturist
whom you have offered motivating
force to stop stubble copying?
Reveal to us where are those ranch-
ers? Demonstrate to us that you
have met individuals and given them
the endowment,” said the bench
headed by NGT chairperson Justice
Swatanter Kumar. “We are truly wor-
ried about this.”
The farmers alleged that the
administration was acting like a wild
bull and taking superfluous correc-
tional activities against poor farmers.
They asked why they were being
penalised when the general popula-
tion burnt firecrackers during Diwali
leading to excessive smoke.
—Nikhil Pandey

34 October 16, 2017
had leased. Brar has taken a pledge not
to burn paddy stubble “as a responsible
citizen”. He admitted that the practice
“destroys bio-flora and depletes the fer-
tility of soil”.
Despite the financial pinch, Brar has
bought a mulcher and a reversible
plough for `4 lakh, which will neatly cut
the foot-long stubble left after combine
harvesting and incorporate it in the soil
after chopping. Brar would have hired
the machines but they are not being
rented out, he said. Brar intends to grow
potatoes next. Paddy straw in the soil
gives the tubers a nice sheen and also
allows them to bulk up. But he also
intends to grow wheat on larger area,
saving some from the potato crop.
Brar says he has not got “a single
rupee as subsidy” though the Punjab
government had in a press release listed
the number of straw management
machines it had subsidised. The state
is also educating farmers through films
on why they should not burn stubble
and how they can deal with it in non-
polluting ways.
GRADED FINE
The governments of Punjab, Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are under
orders from the National Green
Tribunal to check the burning of crop
residues in fields. They have been told
to impose a graded fine, based on the
size of holdings, and also give a sub-
sidy for the purchase of machines like
seed drills.
Punjab usually produces about 22
million tonnes of paddy straw, according
to a handbook of Punjab Agricultural
University (PAU). The quantity may be
less this year because early maturing
varieties of rice, which are shorter, are
being preferred.
Not all the straw is burnt in fields.
Basmati straw can be fed to cattle. The
straw of ordinary rice is used to produce
electricity, though its high silica content
reduces boiler efficiency. Some of it is
fermented in digesters to produce cook-
ing and auto gas. It is assumed that 15
million tonnes goes up in smoke.
This is both unhealthy and wasteful.
Retaining paddy straw in fields would
add 82,500 tonnes of nitrogen, 34,500
tonnes of phosphorous, 19,500 tonnes of
sulphur and 3,75,000 tonnes of potassi-
um to Punjab’s soil. Only 12 percent of
Punjab’s soil has high organic carbon
content; 32 percent is running low.
Leaving straw in fields will replenish it.
TEACHING FARMERS
PAU vice-chancellor Baldev Singh
Dhillon said farmers have been given a
menu of choices at the seven annual
kisan melas held in September and
March. Paddy straw can be spread as
mulch in orchards to retain moisture
and suppress weeds. Farmers following
the rice-potato system can incorporate it
in the soil. It can also be used to grow
mushrooms. Composting is a good
option but needs scarce and costly
labour. The university has been working
on microbial decomposition using fungi
and urea. With this method, paddy
straw decomposes in about six weeks.
That is too long because farmers have a
wedge of three weeks between the third
week of October and the middle of
November to sow wheat. A day’s delay
beyond that means a loss of output of
about 23 kg per acre due to terminal
heat in March.
HEALTHY FARMING PRACTICES
PAU vice-chancellor Baldev Singh Dhillon
says the farmers are given a menu of
choices at the seven annual kisan melas
that the university holds in September and
March (below)
States/ Punjab/ Stubble Burning
ThePunjabgovernmenthas
subsidisedstrawmanagement
machinesandiseducatingfarm-
ersviafilmsonhowtodealwith
stubbleinnon-pollutingways.

For those planting wheat after rice,
conservation farming is a neat option.
It is being demonstrated for the past
five years at the Borlaug Institute for
South Asia (BISA), which has been
set up at Ludhiana by the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research and
Mexico’s International Centre for Maize
and Wheat Improvement, where the
father of the Green Revolution,
Norman Borlaug, developed dwarf
wheat varieties.
In this system, wheat is sown while
rice is harvested. With a device at the
ejection vent of conventional combines,
straw is shred and spread evenly in
rice fields. This is grandly called the
super straw management system. An
attachment hitched to a tractor called
Happy Seeder, which follows the com-
bine, cuts 4-5 cm deep slits in the straw-
covered fields and sows wheat in them
along with fertiliser. The straw acts as
mulch. It conserves moisture and sup-
presses weeds. Over time, it degrades
naturally and adds to the soil’s organic
carbon content.
Harminder Singh Sidhu, who is in-
charge of BISA’s station in Ludhiana,
said there was a “lot of movement
among officials, farmers and manufac-
turers” to check stubble burning. Accor-
ding to him, conservation farming is
catching on. PAU has given the design
of the straw management device to
about 20 manufacturers, he said, for a
one-time fee of `30,000 and free test-
ing of prototypes. There may be an
equal number of copycat manufacturers,
he said. He estimates that 1,500 com-
bines have been equipped with the straw
management device and another 500
are likely to be fitted before the start of
the wheat-planting season.
That is about a sixth of the combines
in operation in Punjab. Until last year,
he said, only two combines in the state
were equipped with the device. Sidhu
estimated there were about 20 manufac-
turers of Happy Seeders as well.
With conservation agriculture, farm-
ers save about `3,000 an acre which
they would have otherwise spent in cut-
ting and chopping the straw and
ploughing into the soil. The Happy
Seeder was developed by a PAU team
with funding from the Australian Centre
for International Agricultural Research.
(Sidhu, who was part of the team, says
it is called Happy Seeder because it
obviates smoke-induced tears!) It has
gone through five iterations. The cur-
rent one can operate early in the day
when morning dew makes the soil hard
to work upon.
Meanwhile, farmers’ unions have
made the issue a bargaining chip. Their
demand for a subsidy on straw-manage-
ment equipment is legitimate but their
push for debt relief is not.
Punjab farmers need to practice sus-
tainable agriculture. They have made it
an extractive activity, overdrawing
groundwater, depleting the soil of its
nutrients and fouling up the air. Not a
wise move at all.
MAN-MACHINE PARTNERSHIPS
(Right) A farmer with his pile of paddy crop.
(Below) An attachment hitched to a tractor
called Happy Seeder, which cuts 4-5 cm deep
slits in the straw-covered fields and sows
wheat in them along with fertiliser
UNI

Dhaka’sRefugeeNightmare
Human Rights/ Rohingyas
36 October 16, 2017
VEN as the Supreme Court
of India is hearing the pleas
of Rohingyas in the country,
Bangladesh is facing a crisis
of gigantic proportions. Some
five lakh Rohingya refugees
who fled Myanmar's western Rakhine
state, have sought refuge there, plunging
the country into a humanitarian night-
mare. UN Secretary-General António
Guterres said: “The situation has spi-
ralled into the world’s fastest developing
refugee emergency and a humanitarian
and human rights nightmare.”
The plight of these refugees has
AssomefivelakhpeoplefleeingMyanmarpourintoBangladesh,questionsarebeing
raisedaboutwhyitshouldn’tbetriedforgenocide
By Prakash Bhandari in Dhaka
E internationally recognised tribunal,
which accused Myanmar of committing
genocide on the poor. The seven-mem-
ber panel said: “The state of Myanmar is
guilty of the crime of genocide against
the Rohingya group. The casualty of the
genocide could be even larger in future
if nothing is done to stop it."
The PPT was established in 1979 and
since its inception, has had an interna-
tional network of experts, activists and
gripped the world and Burmese leader
Aung San Suu Kyi was condemned
worldwide for not doing enough for
them. Even the honour of the Freedom
of Oxford given to her was withdrawn
recently and Hugh's College, Oxford,
removed her portrait from display. Suu
Kyi has not responded to suggestions of
the UN to visit Rohingyas in Rakhine
and in Bangladesh.
TRIBUNAL INDICTMENT
And adding to the stern condemnation
of this Nobel Prize winner was the
Permanent People's Tribunal (PPT), an
PUSHED TO THE FRINGES
A Rohingya woman waits to receive aid in
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
UNI

scholars. It has given a
clarion call to the UN
and other international
bodies to act to bring
the Myanmar authori-
ties to book for “com-
mitting the genocide”.
Taureen Afroz, a Dhaka-based prose-
cutor with the International Crimes
Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICTB), told
India Legal: “This is the first time that
the PPT delivered a verdict of such a big
dimension accusing a government hav-
ing a link with a Nobel laureate, Aung
San Sun Kyi. She is now facing growing
criticism over the Rohingyas. It’s clear
that Myanmar is committing genocide
against the Rohingyas. The verdict has
helped their cause and it is drawing the
world’s attention.”
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secre-
tary-general of the opposition
Bangladesh National Party, has ques-
tioned Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s
demand that “safe zones” be established
under UN supervision in Myanmar for
the protection of people irrespective of
their religion. “Sheikh Hasina’s demand
in the UN General Assembly for a safe
zone would mean creating another
Palestine. The BNP opposes this
demand. Myanmar will have to take
back Rohingyas ensuring their dignity,
respect and right. If the Rohingyas are
kept isolated in the so-called safe zones,
repressions on them will continue. The
fact remains that Myanmar had
launched aggression against Bangladesh
by forcibly pushing its citizens into our
country,” he said.
RAPE VICTIMS
In Cox’s Bazar here, doctors in
makeshift clinics have reported rape and
horrific sexual abuse of Rohingya
women who fled from Rakhine. Doctors
at a clinic run by the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM) treat-
UN member states to prevent genocide,
war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes
against humanity. Mir Aftabuddin
Ahmed, a scholar at international rela-
tions at the University of Toronto, said:
"The Bangladesh government has recog-
nised the Rohingya crisis as being under
the category of ethnic cleansing. As a
norm, it demands that national govern-
ments essentially do not take sovereign-
ty for granted. R2P is based on the prin-
ciple that sovereignty requires a respon-
sibility to protect all population from
mass crimes and human rights viola-
tions. The Myanmar government's fail-
ure to protect the Rohingyas makes a
strong case for an intervention by the
international community, either through
taking measures stated in the R2P
framework or by involving regional
powers like China and India.”
That is easier said than done.
ed many women with injuries from vio-
lent sexual assaults. In clinics run by the
Bangladesh government, 19 cases of
rapes were reported.
The UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi,
who visited Rohingya camps in
Bangladesh, described their exodus as
the “most urgent refugee emergency in
the world. People have fled unspeakable
violence and their needs are enormous”.
Grandi was thankful to the Bangladesh
government which kept its borders open
to facilitate the arrival of the suffering
Rohingyas. “In a world that is hostile to
refugees, Bangladesh has shown exem-
plary character. Just like the causes of
the influx are in Myanmar, clearly the
solution is in Myanmar as well. The
Rohingyas need a permanent solution to
ease their immediate suffering. Though
the UNHCR and the World Food
Programme have their presence in
Rakhine, our movements are restricted,"
admitted Grandi.
He said the solution to the crisis lay
in the refugees returning voluntarily to
Myanmar from Bangladesh. “In order
for this to happen, conditions have to be
changed in Rakhine state. The issues are
citizenship, violence, discrimination and
poverty. Myanmar should do the regis-
tration of all such people who fled it and
went to Bangladesh. The international
community should come out with multi-
ple aids as Bangladesh alone cannot
cope with the situation,” he added.
Intellectuals in Bangladesh have
demanded invoking Responsibility to
Protect (R2P) against Myanmar. R2P is
a global commitment endorsed by all
HELPING HAND
UNHCR head Filippo
Grandi meets Rohingya
children in Cox’s Bazar,
Bangladesh
On October 3, the Supreme Court
heard arguments from the govern-
ment and two Rohingya Muslims who
had challenged the government’s
decision to deport them. While on the
one hand, the counsels for the
Rohingyas claimed that it was a
case of religious discrimination and
an attempt to arouse an anti-Muslim
feeling, Additional Solicitor General
Tushar Mehta argued that they would
cause a security threat to the nation
and give rise to a decrease in wages.
The bench, headed by Chief
Justice Dipak Misra, observed that it
would hear all aspects in detail,
including the center’s plea that the
matter is not maintainable and is in
the executive domain. The bench,
which also included Justices AM
Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud,
asked the petitioners as well as the
respondents to file a compilation of
all relevant documents which will be
required in assisting the Court. The
matter is listed for October 13.
SChears
Rohingyacase

Diplomacy/ Indo-US Defence Co-operation
38 October 16, 2017
operation gathers steam, it will be a tec-
tonic change.
This will affect not just South Asia,
but change the strategic dimension of
the larger Asia-Pacific region which is
now dominated by the US and China.
None of this will be apparent immedi-
ately but will evolve over the next
decade or more.
India has already bought weapons
worth $15 billion over the last ten years.
Russia, the main supplier of Indian
arms all through the Cold War, is gradu-
AsAmericatransfershigh-endmilitarytechnologytoIndia,itwantsittotakeonagreaterrolein
thePacificOcean.AnewequationistakingshapeinAsiawithChina,PakistanandRussia
rangedagainsttheUS,India,JapanandSouthKorea
By Seema Guha
NEW CO-OPERATION
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis
with Prime Minister Narendra
Modi in New Delhi
A New World Axis
NHANCED Indo-US
defence co-operation got a
fresh boost with the visit of
US defence secretary Jim
Mattis recently. Though no
major announcements were
made during this visit, the first by a sen-
ior Trump administration official, it is a
fact that last year the US acknowledged
that India was now a major defence
partner. Delhi may not become an ally
in the way Japan or South Korea or any
of the NATO countries are, but if co-
E
PIB

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