FE Editorial: Another commission

The Financial Express
Posted: Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 2055 hrs IST
Updated: Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009 at 2055 hrs IST

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: The government had to table the Liberhan report on the Babri demolition and the action taken report (ATR) in Parliament a day after The Indian Express reported the commission’s findings. A commission set up days after the December 6, 1992, mosque demolition can be said to have done its job de jure when it’s a fortnight before the 17th anniversary of the event. Dreadful—and wasteful, in terms of public resources—as the lag between the event and commission’s findings is (the government got the report only a few months ago), that’s still not the main critique. Has the commission’s nearly two-decade-long labour really dazzled us with its investigative insights and teased out truths that can go a long way in fixing accountability? Or is it a bit more like a general overview report with a partiality towards generalised, unexceptionable observations? Put another way, do the Liberhan commission findings make us substantively any wiser about Ayodhya? Similar questions apply to the government’s ATR, which also seems to find a lot of happiness in generalities. The Liberhan findings, therefore, should be filed with commissions of inquiry reports on several other unpalatable events the country has had to bear with.

How can one create a system where a commission of inquiry lives up to its job description? First, do not extend deadlines, except under the rarest of circumstances, and do not give more than one extension. Commission heads need to be apprehensive of the implications of the government shutting down a commission for its failure to respect a deadline. Second, give inquiry commissions a genuine set of teeth, as US special prosecutors have. George Bush’s powerful deputy, Dick Cheney, had to sack his favourite aide because of the findings of a special prosecutor (the Valerie Plame affair). Is anything comparable imaginable here? There are many sophisticated ways of saying this, but the most useful way is to say it simply: big people don’t get called up to explain their actions in India, no matter how troubling the events. Asking whether we will get around to creating real commissions of inquiry is a more difficult question than asking what the BJP should do now? The answer to the second is relatively simple. The BJP has known for some time that politically Ayodhya is a dead duck. The Liberhan findings, which are unlikely to create significant trouble for any BJP leader, should be used by the party...

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» 26-11 and State Terrorism

Posted by Samuel on 2009-11-26 00:00:04.764873+05:30
Letter to the Editor 25 November 2009 Dear Sir, Whenever the Indian army has gone on the rampage in Kashmir or in north-east states such as Assam or Manipur, the media have largely ignored it and the Indian social elites been unconcerned. When- as is happening even as I write- Hindu extremist mobs slaughter hundreds of tribal and dalit Christians, rape nuns and burn churches, the media likewise ignore it and the Indian social elites are unconcerned. When thousands of subsistence farmers commit suicide every year, economists shrug their shoulders, the media ignores it and the Indian social elites remain unconcerned. However, when luxury hotels in Mumbai are attacked by gunmen and rich Indians and foreign businessmen killed, the media break into a frenzy, government ministers resign and the Indian social elites demand "greater security". A year has gone it%u2019s not any different. The way in which the first anniversary of 26-11 is currently making the news and the hypocritical indignation is simply appalling. Meanwhile those less fortunate, as in Chhattisgarh and other Naxal infected areas and in the Northeast will continue to bear the brunt of State Terror, unsung, unheard, uncared for. Are all human beings equal in value and dignity? And who in India is defining "terrorism" and "the war on terror"? Yours sincerely, Samuel Vaiphei

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» Liberhan Comission

Posted by K Rajan on 2009-11-25 15:04:54.978358+05:30
As the editorial on Liberhan Commission said, it was a waste of public money by appointing commissions after commissions with out fixing any accountability on any one. K Rajan Palakkad

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» Living more in the past

Posted by Dr B Sundara on 2009-11-25 09:36:46.600388+05:30
India appears to live more in the past than in the present if the amount of discussions that our parliamentarians do is an indication. Some time back it was Jaswant Singh saga: his book raking up the issue of Jinnah; there was the issue Bofors surfacing now and then; the violence that erupted after the assassination of Indira Gandhi; the Kandhahar incident; and now this Babri Masjid issue after almost two decades. When old issues are raked up and discussed at length, what benefit country derives is not known. May be politicians gain. Any enquiry which is not quick enough loses its value and relevance. And the offenders would have manipulated evidences to their advantage. Preoccupation of our parliamentarians discussing these issues at length will divert attention from the current pressing issues which need more attention. But unfortunately our parliamentarians do not appear to be worried about issues like the country being the home for the largest number of undernourished children below the age of five in the world; or the new educational reforms; or, the country in which around 60 percent of the population defecates in the open. Many of the future plans are also not well discussed leading to half baked policies and programmes. Of course our ministers do not hesitate much to change the policies and programmes half way through. Now there were news of telecom and mining scams. If they are not enquired into quickly and action taken on the offenders, then whatever the reports produced after many years becomes quite irrelevant. Our Parliament must discuss more of current problems and future programmes than concentrating on the past issues.

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FE Editorial: Another commission

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