Be Intelligent about Intelligence!

The country is debating on a very key issue of whether to bring CBI under the purview of Lokpal or sorry is it Jan Lokpal? Time will tell. As I write on this topic, more as an after thought or a pre-thought , I feel no one is serious about Jan Lok Pal. Of course not the Government and neither the “team Anna”. Had they been, by now we would have seen some result, a creation of a middle path acceptable to all stake holders. But in reality it has become opposite, the stakes of different representative groups are just going up not to merge anywhere.

Anyways, this battle is going to continue for some more time but it is indeed important to look into this demand to include CBI under Lokpal. Is it warranted? Is it a healthy trend for democratic system?

What is CBI? CBI is a Government of India agency with the primary function of intelligence gathering, criminal investigation & ensuring national security especially financial security. It is a serious role and profile and has been done over the years by CBI.

Before we go any further, let us look at the key functions of CBI. This is because it is very important to understand that CBI as an intelligence agency is more involved in overall maintenance of system, saving it from corruption & crime. This is DIFFERENT from other agencies like RAW, IB, NIA which is more direct;ly responsible for the foreign & internal intelligence to safe guard our security again from external & internal threats.

The basic role of CBI can be summarized as follows :

·        Cases which are essentially against Central Govt. employees or concerning affairs of the Central Govt. and the employees of the Central Public Sector Undertakings and Public Sector Banks.

·        Cases in which the financial interests of the Central Government are involved.

·        Cases relating to the breaches of Central Laws with the enforcement of which the Government of India is mainly concerned.

·        Big cases of fraud, cheating, embezzlement and the like relating to companies in which large funds are involved and similar other cases when committed by organised gangs or professional criminals having ramifications in several States.

·        Cases having interstate and international ramifications and involving several official agencies where, from all angles, it is considered necessary that a single investigating agency should be incharge of the investigation.

The pointers above indicate that CBI is entrusted with a very important responsibility. To keep the system  free of any anamoly deemed to be because of any impertinent act of Central / State Government. Also, the role warrants a strong monitoring of financial regulations and ensure that the same are not breached.  Has CBI been able to fulfill it’s role?

But there has always been a big question mark over the INTENT of CBI. It has been alleged that CBI has always been more of a political intelligence wing of the government in power. This allegation took on a major shape during the current UPA-II rule. There has been such allegation in the past as well but the enormity of the recent allegations has surpassed them all. A few of them are -

• In the recent 2G scam, enough voice has been raised on CBI allegedly trying to protect the mail perpetrators and also been trying to shield the present Union Home Minister
• It allowed Quattrocchi to go scot free despite a major allegation against him in Bofors scandal
• In ISRO spying scandal, again CBI was not upto mark and it covered facts
• It had been a virtual lameduck in allowing the Congress government to let Warren Anderson to leave the country after Bhopal gas Tragedy
• Another instance of CBI being politically motivated is its more than required pro active approach on Sohrabuddin encounter case. It was alleged to have played into the hands of Central govt to implicate Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujrat

There are enough and more such allegations. With so many allegations, it can not evade our attention that indeed there is some fair amount of conviction in them. Moreover, CBI through it’s own actions have not done much to repeal these allegations. Much has been desired in its actions.

There is no point in further going into the merits of such allegations but fact remains that CBI has indeed often played into the hands of the government or has been forced to play into its hands. The results, in essence, was the same.

Having said so, let us look into the demand to include CBI in the Lok Pal as demanded by “Team Anna”. Is it credible? Moreover, there has been demand from many people that CBI should be independent.

Yes, there are allegations but as a whole CBI has been involved in many cases not always politically motivated. Not all the people, in this agency, are politically motivated. it is doing work and as witnessed, if under severe public scrutiny, it has delivered results, even if it not to its own liking or liking of political masters.

Now if it is part of Lokpal, what difference will it make? What is the guarantee of its fair functioning? Presently, CBI is reporting to the Home Minister , now it will report to Lokpal. An individual! At the end of the day, it does not get completely filtered, does it? What is the guarantee that Lokpal tomorrow does not use CBI to his/her advantage?

Besides, Lokpal is not bigger than the government of India, it can not be and it should not be. For a machinery like CBI to work smoothly, it needs the support of the government. Ultimately, all the executive decisions come from the GoI. Suddenly, this change in the system will definitely effect the functioning of CBI.

Also, CBI has to be discretionary. There are ceratin fund wise decisions which can be ad-hoc ( I mean unaccounted for). It is no one’s business to  ponder over the same. we must respect the basic intent of this department. Wheteher it is implementing or not is another question!

For those, who are saying that CBI should be independent of the GoI, ia sk them about accountability. Who will be accountable in that case? Somewhere the chain of command has to end and as I see it, it ends and should end with the GoI. A global example for a quick rejoinder, Mi-5 (the internal intelligence division of british secret service) report to the Home secretary who is the contemporary of our Union Home Minister. This is how it should be. And I am sure, if we delve deep in to MI-6, we might see examples of politically motivated actions there as well.

So what is the solution?

• I feel CBI can not be a part of Lokpal. No new system, especially concerned with the internal financial security, is highly unwarranted. Besides, there is nothing to prove that Lokpal willl be insulated from any corruption. Just a word of Annna Hazare or Arvind Kejriwal is not enough.

• The government interference in the appointment of the director of CBI has to be stopped. Let him be selected by a special board comprising of members of other agencies. This creates better co-ordination too.

• The Home Secretary should be the last point of contact for the CBI Director. In this case, the politician Minister does not get the right to interact and thus influence the CBI representative on face to face basis. The selection of Home Secretary should again be basis the experience and years spent in the department.

• Besides, as a mandate CBI should be asked to submit the report on any case to the Home Secretary. The copy of the same should be shared with Union Home Minister, Leader of Opposition and a representative of the Supreme Court. This insulates any kind of ill feeling and ensures that all the stake holders are aware of the developments.

• The thin line of government control has to be maintained for the fund sanctions. The usage of the same can be monitored of CAG. Moreover, a special budget  can be sanctioned by GoI for ‘undisclosed expenses’ under the special sanction of CBI Director & Home  Secretary

I feel it is good to draw a line between genuine and farcical demands. The current demand of Anna Hazare to include CBI is bereft of any merit & logic. It has become more of an egotistical call. At the same time, CBI has to pull up its socks and start delivering to the expectations of the stake holders.

The past errors can be learning for all of us and especially the GoI to create a better future. The business of managing Intelligence is no child play and we need to be fairly intelligent enough to have a say in the running of this business.

Reserved about RESERVATION!

I am, by birth and unfortunately so, from upper caste. A Brahmin to be precise and I dislike and oppose caste based reservation system. I dislike this caste system and reservation because it is fragmenting and it is violation of human rights. Rest assured, this dislike does not emanate from the fact that I am a Brahmin. For the records, I don't wear the sacred thread, not because I am a rebel but because I can not follow some rules which come along with the sacred thread. And I feel guilty about it.

Having said so, it is time to understand the entire basis of job reservation and for doing the same, we have to rewind to our past to two specific periods of history. But it is going to be little tough.

Period 1 - We need to rewind centuries back when the ‘present system of caste’ was introduced i.e caste by birth. As we all know, earlier it was vocation based divide and the son of a shudra could become a Brahmin also but that was further long time back.

Anyways, so the caste system, basis the birth, got introduced centuries back and of course people belonging to the higher caste (or all the caste except the shudras) naturally enjoyed some privileges and did not want to give it up. The privileges was kind of reservation.

Now let us rewind to period 2. This is more recent. I am talking  about early 90s when under the sudden political pressure presented by a massive rally of Chaudhray Devil Lal, the then PM Mr. V P Singh, under the influence of Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan & Mr Sharad Yadav, suddenly introduced Mandal Commission. I am sure we are all aware that mandal commission report is very old (in fact if I am not wrong, it was presented to Nehru) but it was closeted. So in the 90s a political crisis resulted in what we can see an eternal social crisis.

What happened after that? Of course the lower caste or rather the new beneficiaries got privileges and naturally were in no mood to give it up…

Herein I would like to raise, in my view is very pertinent, some questions.

• What is the difference between the rulers centuries ago and the ones ruling now?
• Haven’t both in essence continues to divide the society rather than uniting it?
• Was the intent or rather does the intent of modern rulers continue to be guided by social upliftment?

At least we can give a benefit of doubts to those so called high caste people in the early centuries who introduced this divide. At least they were all illiterate, uneducated & were living in a dark age. Can we apply the same logic to the modern day rulers. At least my answer is big NO.

Moreover, the modern rulers took their “concern for social equality” one step further by bringing in other religions namely the socalled minority religions. So social upliftment became “socio-religio upliftment”.

So was the objective of the modern rulers achieved? What is the result of this reservation in the last two decades? Has the reservation reached out to the needy?

The answer again, though unfortunately, is a big NO.  The desired results of reservation has not reached out to the actually who are in need for it.  Moreover, in today’s times a poor Brahmin boy is as needy as a poor SC ST boy but both have not benefited.

A recent example is that fact that Central Govt has ordered states to fill up SC,ST & OBC vacancies amounting to over 50000 by March 2012. Again two questions-

A) Why did not the vacancies get filled up? Answer is because none of the people from the quota were perhaps able to qualify

B) Now by 2012, will we get deserving candidates? Answer is when we did not get candidates for so long, then what is the guarantee that we will get now in a span of three months

The reservation bill loses its essence when it’s benefits doesn’t reach out to the needy people. And this is because the needy, the real poor people from the backward caste are NOT YET prepared for any exams? So what is the point? Where and how has the bill created social equality?

Now there is another angle of religious quota within the quota or over and above the quota. Though liberals have attached the cause of inequality in this demand too but what is important is to notice what caused the inequality.

Muslims are being promised quota & soon Christians too would be getting reservation at least some political party will take upon itself the task of providing them reservation.

Talking of muslims, Sachar committee gave a very dismal picture on the poor representation of muslims in jobs etc. True, they are misrepresented but who is responsible? The muslims themselves? Few personal observations-

• Why do they go to Madrasa? What kind of education will they get there? Will education at Madrasa prepare them for an enterance test for medical/ engineering course or for government jobs?
• Does study of Arabic help in any way in their development
• Can the entire ethos of muslims, being governed and influenced by religion , develops more holistic view on the current affairs
• In today’s time with high cost & low income model of common life, can a family having 5-6 kids afford their education?
• Has any government or any community or any political party stopped poor Muslims from sending their children to government school? Surely, it would have created a better level playing field for them

Above are the points that need to be considered before the intellectuals and Mr Sachar(s) of the world start blaming the government and society of inaction.

The same theory applies for the back ward class amongst the Hindus. What needs to be seen is that whether any pro active action been taken to bring them to level playing grounds. I guess, not.

The first and the only step in this direction is to enable the poor people, across caste & religion, to get free education, free scholarship.

• This should be supported by a change in the basic education system. Only one board should be introduced. This will be a step in the right direction and will be well meaning for the poor students too

Rest assured, if this caste based reservation continues, then I feel there is no difference between society that persisted centuries ago and our modern one. We go in for more fragmentation. The initiative has to come from social thinkers, intellectuals and politicians. A common ground has to be arrived at and very fast.

I have had feeling of animosity, during my college days, when I saw an undeserving student getting a prestigious seat because of reservation rather than talent but then I accepted it. But the feeling of animosity completely go away, may be but yet a feeling of resentment persists within me. This feeling has to be eroded for building a stronger society.

Some years ago I remember a backward class quota student getting only 2 marks in his medical enterance test in MP and getting admission. I, for one, would not like to be treated by this student when he becomes a doctor, if he sodes. But I , the so-called upper caste, will not have any problem in getting treated by a Sc/St /OBC quota doctor as long as he is deserving.

on the question of deserving candidates, i will always reiterate that in our country, only the family members of defence forces (those who have martyred/ vaterans/injured) should get reservation in both colleges and jobs. this is because, unlike any other class & caste, the defence people have earned it

This call to set the undeserving apart from the deserving has to be taken by all of us.

Ten Years of Shame & still on...

This ongoing winter session of our parliament has witnessed uproar and a common tendency for all the parties to agree to disagree. In midst of all this, today the entire parliament came together for a common cause. I wish it was something positive but in essence the members of parliament came together to jointly condemn the Tenth Anniversary of Terror Attack on Parliament and remember the policemen who martyred

Personally, I disdain the usage of the word ‘anniversary’ when it is used in context of any terror attacks. This is because every such attack is an attack on the nation and its sovereignty.  The choice of the ‘venue’ (please pardon my language) might differ but the fact that we have been having so many attacks is worrisome.

Against such a background, the terror attack on the Parliament is perhaps the most questioning act- questioning the intent, morale & willingness of this nation. Our parliament is the utmost symbol of our democracy, so in other words, it is not far fetched to claim that 13^th December 2001 witnessed an attack on our democracy.

Surely we all hate many of our politicians and perhaps in a sarcastic way many might have said that ho jaata toh achcha tha but the fact remains that just like 26^th November 2008, India was attacked on 13^th December 2001 as well. And between these two dates, India has been attacked many times.

This particular attack happened under NDA rule. 5 brave Indian policemen gave their life on that eventful day. The next day, Dy. PM Mr. Lal Krishna Advani suggested the role of a neighbouring nation- all of us know which nation is being discussed. Moreover, the Pakistan High Commissioner to India Me. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi was asked to hand over the active Let & JeM members. It never happened.

Thankfully, NDA’s vision cautioned it to have, in place, some strong  anti terror acts. The parliament attack immediately resulted in POTA (prevention of Terrorist Activities) Act, 2002. results were there to be seen by everyone. Post the parliament attack, india thankfully did not have any other terror attack during the rest of NDA tenure. This Act was cynosure of all the eyes – the eyes of media , Human rights Champions & UPA. So much so that people demanded the revocation of this Act but fact remains that an inherently weak nation needs strong acts like POTA.

Anyways, NDA rule was followed by UPA which very quickly repealed POTA and results are there to be seen. We have had a series of terror attacks since 2004. the saddest part though is the fact that every time such attack happens, media & UPA gets into an over drive asking opposition not to politicize such attacks. I often wonder why? If opposition does not question such terror acts, why have one, in the first place?

For those who might have forgotten, the year 2010 saw a similar attack happening in Chechnya and the attack was well timed as there was a Russian delegation visiting Chechen parliament on the day of the attack. But that attack, unlike the one on our parliament, was different in the result. All the terrorists, involved in Chechen attacks, were dead. They were all killed.

This is the differentiating element. The main perpetrator of Parliament attack continues to live, rather happily, in our jail. Though he has been sentenced to death but there have been many mercy petitions to the tune of asking the Indian Government to change the death punishment. Last heard it was under the consideration.

And this is why I call it 10 years of Shame. In a country, where brave policemen gave their life to save parliamentarians from a terror attack, some people & religious groups have sought mercy for Afzal Guru. He has continued to live a healthy life for the last ten years. There are people like Digvijay Singh willing to jump to their rescue.

Isn’t it shameful? Isn’t it asking of Intent? Families of the policemen, if I am not wrong, returned the gallantry medals but the main villain continues to smile because he knows that some people of our country will be there for him, to protect him.

As long as such people are allowed to live, we will remain a soft nation. It is time for the Congress, UPA & certain religion to start believing & respecting the nation over religion & cheap politics. It is time for every member of media to stop being a monitor & rather act as a judge and demand the death of Afzal Guru.

 For us to survive and being considered a super power, a strong signal needs to be sent to whoever is listening. Immediate death fo Afzal Guru will be the first step in that direction

M/s. Goebbels, Stalin & Company - When Social Networking became Anti Social

Long before India got Kapil Sibal, history has seen persecution of voice opposing or rather trying to oppose autocratic and unpopular rule. There have been kings who have crushed any voice against their reign but then that was a different time and kings were considered or made to be considered as representative of Gods.

A flashback to the contemporary history brings names of Joseph Goebbels or Joseph Stalin to our mind. While the former was the Reich Minister of Propaganda during the Nazi rule in Germany, the latter was the premier of erstwhile Soviet Union from 1941 to 1953. Apart from having the common first name, they were known for manipulating the news or rather influencing news to their advantage. Both were masters of censorship of media. While Goebbels used tools of propaganda to further the claims of his master, Stalin created something called Iron curtain which effectively closed USSR from ‘to & fro’ flow of news with the rest of the world.

With our Union Minister for Telecom, Mr. Kapil Sibal asking for partial censorship or in his words ‘monitoring the content’ flowing on social networking sites like twitter, Facebook etc, is India too going to see a perpetual clampdown on exchange of news and views. Are we again seeing an avatar of M/s. Goebbels, Stalin & Company?

May be I am getting too imaginative and my fear is far fetched but definitely we need to have a closer look at this diktat or ‘view’ presented by the Govt. of India.

Let’s have a look

The genesis of this ‘view’ can be traced back to a meeting Sibal had with legal representatives of popular social networking sites after he saw a FB page carrying, what he calls highly objectionable, content on Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.

Post that he said that he saw some internet sites carrying content and images which are highly objectionable for some religious community. And he signed off by saying that his views doe not tantamount to censorship of these sites but in essence calls for screening of content.

Fine, but Mr. Sibal does not elaborate on the highly objectionable content that was published by someone about Mrs. Gandhi. He also fails to let us know which religious community he is talking about. It’s like a half baked cake which he expects the site owners and us the site users to eat. Will we eat?

My answer is NO, we will not. The same feeling of anguish has come out from across the society and groups with different and diverse political & ideological leanings. But, why will we not accept this view of Sibal. There has to be a reason.

According to me, the reason can be found in the way this Congress led government has been functioning for last seven years and the second reason can be traced to the feeling of disappointment many people have developed towards the mainstream news mainly the electronic media. And, in my opinion both are closely inter-linked

Why am I stressing on Congress. This is simply because, as I wrote, the genesis of this current issue emanates, from a so called, offensive content on Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. Congress due to whatever reasons have not been able to free itself from its ‘family owned party’ mentality. All their concerns & acts starts and ends at 10 Janpath. They have successfully followed their ideology of keeping this family over and above the party and in some cases even the nation. So naturally any attack on the president of Congress is deemed as an attack on the party and perhaps Congress is not liking it.

Since the second term of UPA started its rule, we have seen a plethora of issues and scams which has eroded our confidence and ability to trust the political class of this country. Not a single day passed without getting to know some new scams of this government. Coupled with that, there was age old rhetoric of Congress about BJP, Narendra Modi & questioning their secular leaning.

This situation got even worse as many and more people felt that , if not all, but certain sections of media , especially electronic media, were not up to mark in giving a proper ethical & unbiased coverage of all these issues. Much was left to be desired. The debates , every night, were not all inclusive in terms of opinions & views. Many times debates on less relevant issues came up. In such a scenario, the social networking sites namely Facebook & twitter provided a platform for the anguished people to share their woes & worry over the functioning of the country. Is there any thing OFFENSIVE about it? Is it not democratic to share their views?

Moreover, it is not that only common population came on such platforms but it has been used by representatives of media and also politicians ranging from Narendra Modi to Digvijay Singh. Why? Because they too saw the potency of this platform.

I ask certain basic questions

• If the senior most member of Congress & chairperson of ruling UPA, suddenly goes to New York for a health trip or surgery, shouldn’t the media investigate it, cover it? Did it? No. so it was left to people to discuss this very important issue on these networking sites.

• If suddenly the same person, accompanied by her son who is tipped to become future PM, suddenly dart off to the chill of Alps in Switzerland and its city called Zug, shouldn’t people be concerned. Was there any coverage on it especially since this visit happened in wake of a mass protest started by Baba Ramdev demanding disclosure on the illegal Swiss accounts. Again the general public were crestfallen with the response of the main stream media and took matter upon its own hands. They questioned the visit of Sonia Gandhi. There  is nothing wrong in questioning a public leader’s sudden moves.

• In a recent rally of Mr. Rahul Gandhi, public saw the horrendous retort by senor Congress leaders who kicked innocent protestors. Twiteratti (as people on twitter r known) responded and raised its questions on it.

• A virtual rape of democracy happened at Ram Lila Maidan, Delhi when the government authorized a severe lathi charge in the midnight upon a mass of protestors who were sleeping. It was bound to get reactions and it did. What is so undemocratic about comments on a sure shot undemocratic move of Govt.

• When the CM of Karnataka was arrested, enough and more people supported it, welcomed it. I am sure mr. Sibal did not find anything undemocratic or offensive then.

• When a Ishrat Jehan is heralded as a martyr despite a senior most government official claiming that she was a representative of LeT, discussions and exchange of views are bound to happen as it did. What is so offensive about it?

• When this government , out of the blue, decides to introduce a highly contentious bill allowing FDI in MBRT, shouldn’t we the people, who selected this government, debate this bill, its merits & demerits. What is so offensive about it?

The fact of the matter is that this present Government is too concerned about this powerful medium’s prowess in enabling an exchange of views, which basically question its own existence.  But what can people do? This government, due to its own acts, has given all the reasons to the public to share their angst. The choice of media was more because of its ease, reach and benefits.

Yes, there are cases of people using unparliamentary or unsolicited language/views about leaders or religion. But then there are few of such cases. For every Hindu trying to share an ill-conceived theory on other religion, there are ten Hindus who are ready to correct him. So few cases in isolation should not be a reason for such panic as exhibited by Sibal!

He should know that every human mind is blessed with an in-house ‘edit machine’ which does not accept any opinion and theory on its face value. The mind reacts and answers. All the expressions on either Twitter or Facebook have been REACTIVE to what has been seen as a lacking act of government. This should not upset Sibal so much.

Moreover, who has stopped him from creating his own twitter handle or a FB page to counter such views or share his views. For sure, he will get thousands of followers within no time

The exchange of information on such sites is healthy for the mind with people sharing news and diverse views. It creates a platform to understand and respect each other as individuals, communities and religion. What is so wrong in it? Don’t we see people exchanging news and views on strategic matters w.r.t India’s internal & external security

Mr Sibal should know that majority of 25Milllion users of FB & over 100 million users of google products are educated people. It is a sign of a healthy and conscious nation when its educated class gets active, reactive and pro active on diverse socio, economic & political issues. If our government is indeed serious about creating healthy minds and educated nation, it simply can not take away a means for further enrichment of our mind.

This censorship of networking sites smacks of a strong political intent and will not do our nation any good in near & distant future.