Russia, India, China : Emergence of a New Axis

BRICS has today turned into far more than a mere acronym. Among the member nations of this bloc; Russia, India and China are today considered crucial players in international matters. Thus when Foreign Ministers of India, S M Krishna and counterparts from China Yang Jiechi and Russian Sergei Lavrov held a trilateral meeting in Moscow, the global attention was obvious. International watchers say growing failure of the west, especially on the economic front and the mistakes in strategic issues, has gradually shifted focus on these three nations. Russia for reasons of its history, China for its emerging economic prowess and India for its strong democratic tradition and inherent economic resilience, today matter lot in global matters. The three nations during the foreign ministers’ conclave have rightly taken a common stand on a range of international issues, including North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, terrorism and regional security in Asia. The RIC nations voiced “regret” over North Korea's rocket launch but opposed new sanctions on Pyongyang while calling for restraint from other countries and the U.N. Security Council. “We do not believe in new sanctions — they will not help in any way to resolve the situation,” Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a joint press conference with his Indian and Chinese counterparts after their trilateral meeting. On his part, the Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna articulated New Delhi’s standpoint much eloquently. “India, Russia and China believe they have a major role to play in addressing global challenges,” quote unquote Krishna said in no unambiguous terms. This emphasis on global influence is significant as in the comity of nations, India has recently able to revive its prestige – akin to the good old days of the Non Aligned Movement. Making things further clearer, Indian External Affairs Minister underlined that the three nations will be carrying forward “new initiatives” in areas where they can share experience and can harness potential benefits. Endorsing similar sentiments, the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also presented a roadmap wherein the three nations can cooperate in crucial areas like agriculture, business and science. In fact, the common view got better articulated in the form of a Joint Statement from the three ministers where in they dwelt at length on various topical global issues ranging from the situations in Iran, Afghanistan and climate change. The statement among other issues also rightly stressed the importance for the Asia-Pacific region to establish an open and transparent security and cooperation architecture responsive to the legitimate interests of every country in the region. The drafting of such a roadmap where in the three nations would work jointly on key global issues suggest that in time to come the RIC or even its bigger version, BRICS --- including two other members Brazil and South Africa would emerge a possible ‘game changer’ in the comity of nations. True, the vision, ambition and necessity are the three basic elements those essentially shape relations between countries. In this case, the three countries have good reasons to cooperate pursuing safe-guarding of mutual interests and benefits. India and Russia share a special and privileged partnership which has stood the test of time based on deep mutual trust. Russia and China too with their traditional one-upmanship had the share of convergence of views. With China despite skirmishes like boundary disputes and the recent spat in South China Sea, New Delhi has been banking heavily on ‘cooperative partnership’. Thus all the three countries find partners in each other. Therefore, the very fact that they have agreed to play constructive roles in international and more importantly regional affairs, during their trilateral talks make it a more forward moving affair. In this context, mention ought to be made about the hour-long meeting on the sidelines of the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral conference between India External Affairs Minister Krishna and his Chinese counterpart. And very rightly, both the leaders stressed the need for an early meeting on the Maritime Dialogue to smooth out rough spots over South China Sea. Therefore, on this backdrop, it is relevant to observe that New Delhi, Moscow and Beijing ought to work together more closely in deepening and widening the canvass of engagement. This partnership – strategic and economic – would be ideally suited model for development cooperation India has been undertaking in the recent past. In the ultimate analysis, it would be only relevant to suggest that in years to come, the RIC nations would have deeper impact globally both in strategic realm and on economic front. Thus, the Asia Pacific region will emerge as the new ‘pole’ of major global activities. (ends)

Meira Kumar's Pak visit: Seed of a Great Expectation

Vision, ambition and necessity are the three basic elements those essentially shape relations between two countries. But there is yet another vital element called the “goodwill” between the common population in both the countries – that also ought to be given due weight. This was amplified in the recent visit of Indian parliamentary delegation led by the Speaker Lok Sabha, Ms Meira Kumar to Pakistan. In one of her reactions from Pakistani soil, the Lok Sabha Speaker candidly admitted that she was “pleasantly shocked” to see the love that Pakistanis have for Indians. Stating that she would never forget the love she received in Pakistan, Ms Kumar was frank in stating that she felt as if her five-day trip had gone by in "five seconds". "There should be a relationship of peace and friendship between the two countries. Both countries should resolve their outstanding issues through dialogue," she had rightly summed up. India has been always keen for a peaceful atmosphere in the region and thus it would continue to strongly bat for a situation where in “all outstanding issues” between the two countries are settled across the table at the earliest. In the words of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, New Delhi wants peace and thereby a situation is created in the region which will be conducive for development and prosperity. This visit of the Indian parliamentary delegation was at the invitation of the Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza and during her stay in Pakistan, the Speaker of the lower house of Indian Parliament had important deliberations including with the Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. This was first ever official visit by a Speaker of the Lok Sabha to Pakistan and during her interaction with the Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani, Ms Kumar rightly highlighted among other things that there was consensus in the Indian Parliament on building a relationship of trust and mutually beneficial co-operation between India and Pakistan. New Delhi wished Islamabad a stable, peaceful and prosperous Pakistan and a relation with India in an atmosphere free of terror and violence, she told the Pakistani leader. Such a relationship, she rightly underlined, would be to the benefit of people of both countries and will also contribute to prosperity in the region. Peace with Pakistan is among the top cherished wishes of Indian diplomatic leadership. In fact, New Delhi has never hesitated from taking the first step or running the important extra mile in its efforts to establish peace with that country braving several hurdles. It was this spirit which saw in the 1990s, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee making a bus trip across the border to Lahore. The similar gesture has been shown even recently when the present incumbent Dr Manmohan Singh described his Pakistani counterpart Gilani as a ‘man of peace’. The Prime Minister of Pakistan noted during his interaction that bilateral dialogue, which was resumed last year, had entered its second round. He welcomed enhanced interaction between Parliamentarians of the two countries saying as representatives of people, the elected MPs had an important role to play in strengthening relationship. The Lok Sabha Speaker also interacted with the Women Caucus in the Parliament of Pakistan. The interaction focused on the role of women Parliamentarians in addressing issues pertaining to development, welfare of women and strengthening of democracy. Both sides agreed that it is not only the culture and music which formed the basis of strong commonness between the people of these two countries, but also their challenges confronting the welfare of common people, especially women, vis-à-vis crucial parameters like health were also similar. It goes without saying that in the ultimate enough hopes have been rekindled about efforts to be made sincerely for improved Indo-Pak relations. Ms Kumar had led a multi-party delegation including from major opposition party, BJP. Her chaste Urdu knowledge only came in handy as she left the Pakistanis impressed and convinced that ‘Urdu’ is not a dieing language in India. Ms Kumar has been a former diplomat herself; therefore it is understandable that she could achieve the purpose her delegation was expected of --- that is to underline the message that there should be peace and cordial relations between the two neighbours. The visit of a multi-party parliamentary delegation to Pakistan can be described as something in between the hardcore diplomacy and what is known as track-2 diplomacy. Clearly, just as in India, there is a strong desire in Pakistan too that people in both the sides are able to live in peace and harmony. Well, the diplomacy should now get ready for a bigger test --- that is to live up to the great expectations. (ends)

10 years since Godhra --- Emergence of Modi phenomenon

Ten years since the Godhra train inferno and the subsequent anti-Muslim carnage of 2002, Gujarat has attained its developmental success stories. Yet, it remains a ‘Hindutva laboratory’ , the reputation is not altogether deserved, may be. Narendra Modi wants to see himself as an architect of change. But he does not quite want the Hindutva poster-boy image to be erased completely. He only wants to sell the development card to his voters and the rest of the world. The 2002 riots is too strong and powerful influence in Gujarat graph that it can be erased by a decade of development model as is pursued relentlessly by the state chief minister Narendra Damodardas Modi, undoubtedly the principal protagonist in Gujarat polity and also in this book. In 2002, the English media in particular in the country and also the western countries like the European Union and the US made their intention clear about their assessment about Gujarat, and more particularly perhaps on the people of Gujarat. My assessment as I recorded in my first book ‘Godhra- A Journey to Mayhem’ published in 2004 by Samskriti Publication, was that such merciless killings of a battered community – the Muslims - could take place only on a soil “fertile” with religious “prejudices”. There was truly a climax situation as hardliner communalism had assumed ominous spectre in a state, which otherwise took pride in a growth rate equaling that of China. Unlike scientific inventions, in social science, there are hardly any drastically new and original ideas. Therefore, this book owes in more ways than one its credit to a plethora of studies, media reports, analysis by political commentators and of course the interviews I had with people including from both sides of the political divide. The Human Development Report by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2011 deals about the debate that economic growth is no criterion of human development or a happy nation state. In Gujarat, the multi-pronged developments have come; but the social prosperity is not accompanied by human development or the moral order. In another report, ‘India Human Development Report’ released by the Planning Commission and the government of India, it was stated that despite impressive growth, Gujarat has not been able to reduce malnourishment levels, while Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the two known most backward hubs in the country, have done better in improving the lot of their marginalized Dalits and tribals. Many say, the moral order as was understood traditionally and cherished in folktales is increasingly vanishing under the pressure of survival and challenges associated with so called modernization and materialistic comforts. This is no doubt a national and also a global experience. But in Gujarat, the core values are perhaps vanishing faster, I say this with no intention to hurt the sentiments of the locals and with all respect for the highly enterprising skills of the people of Gujarat. The joint families are breaking into nuclear ones sometime by design sometime by deceiving the simpleton and traditional parents. With modern education, what is expected is that legalistic moral codes would prevail. But the 2002 arson and loot carried on by the middle class displaying the baser human instincts only proved that there was complete collapse of social leadership. It was a case of virtual decay of the social values. When middleclass women including pregnant ones and youngsters in jeans took to looting of malls, the transformation was telling. The intelligentsia has also perhaps failed to appeal to the commoners especially on issues bordering religious belief. And under Modi, it’s largely alleged that there has been hardly any attempt from the state to introduce any coherent moral order. In fact, not only Modi, the vices like saffronisation of the village home guard and state police was near complete even under Modi’s illustrious predecessor Keshubhai Patel and the late Haren Pandya, whose murder is a keenly seen legal battle today. The BJP insiders say, the real reason for the cold war that existed between Pandya and Modi was this uncompromising commitment to Hindutva of the two leaders and who will really steal the limelight of the legacy. Moditva is definitely a shining feature of this very legacy one is talking about. Post-Godhra ‘handling’ had enhanced Modi’s image as much it overshadowed the late Haren Pandya, who was also Minister of State for Home under Keshubhai Patel. $ The social reforms could not come to Gujarat even in the 19th and the 20th centuries. When new societies like Brahmo Samaj set their face against what they considered extravagant, the people reviled them as “pro-Christian and anti-national”, according to a local historian Vijay Singh Chavda. And once VHP and other Sangh Parivar elements got the upper hand, the voice of tolerance, accommodation and respect for other religious believers vanished. “The intelligentsia were either threatened or suppressed” and only the likes of Pravin Togadia were at liberty to propagate their viewpoints. Like developments everywhere, in Gujarat too, the ‘development model’ of Modi has its share of gainers and losers. For obvious reasons, the Modi detractors are pinning down on the losses and negativity. Losers are generally from lower strata of the society – the landless and displaced. I will take a closer look at the issue of displacement. The affected belonging to poorer background economically and backward castes have been in the process also got marginalized and isolated in some pockets. On the contrary, the gainers are from upper echelons of the society – Patidars and those with certain assets and skill and education to capitalize on. We take a close look at these issues too. The loss of community also means reinforcing tendencies towards factionalism along with complete collapse of collective responsibility and welfare. More the modern day’s development, each man becomes an island of his self creation. These compartmentalized living also result in ‘ghetoization’ of cities. Like Mumbai, a city with overwhelming Gujaratis, major Gujarat cities like Ahmedabad and Baroda are gradually getting ghettoized with ‘mini Pakistan’ name given to Muslim-dominated old city area very conveniently. The good old saying, the glass is half-full or half-empty applies to all dynamic human conditions. The beauty of the thing lies in the beholder’s eyes. There are those who see positive flashpoints in a situation and consider them as adequate justification for lauding what happened. I belong to neither side; though the anti-Muslim carnage is something I disapprove of with all my sincerity as I firmly believe if Godhra train inferno was wrong the riots too were equally unjustified. Two wrongs do not make it right. BJP and Narendra Modi, therefore, would do well to keep in mind that they should not underestimate the voters’ intellect. Any attempt especially to monopolize information or bank singularly on own trumpet or propaganda has boomeranged on every such regimes. Lately, this has happened in the left-citadel West Bengal. The communists globally have got the feel of it after Soviet Union. Closer home in India, the Congress party experienced it after emergency and also aftermath Bofors scam controversy. The Congress thought Bofors will be like any other issue, but the party with 400 plus strength in the Lok Sabha was ousted and more so the family of Nehru-Indira legacy from 7 RCR, the official Prime Minister’s residence for over 20 years. So did BJP. The saffron party strategists and their Sangh Parivar sympathizers thought Gujarat riots will be bygone case under the hyped campaign of ‘India Shining’. They lost power in 2004. ends

For Students of Print Journalism --- Lets Go crackingg

In a previous posting in 2010 in this blog I have described journalism as my OBSESSION – something which started as an adolescent love and incidentally has stuck lifelong. It’s a difficult ballgame to continue to be with it, I maintained and claimed that among the plethora of reasons for that, one factor that has been driving down the road is : I cannot do anything else. So when I decided to entertain request from some young friends to pen a few lines for the students of print journalism, especially in Indian context, I took the opportune moment as a challenge. I will not go typically in a class room manner. Actually, it must be understood that class rooms can dole out clerks to CEOs – but never a journalist. At least, I am not one. So, I start here with Development Reporting: Let’s keep the definition about news and principal facets of reporting for another day. In Development Reporting, firstly one needs to get its ‘initial acts’ together. For instance, someone with non-economic background should not try hands at reporting sectors or ministries like Finance. It’s not impossible but you will need the lady luck to come to your help. So let us imagine the stage for non-economic background students. So from New Delhi’s point of view – that’s is if you are based in the national capital, you are likely to cover ministries like Rural Development, Urban Development, Agriculture, Railways and a few more. Lesson number 1. Firstly, like all streams, you should have some basic information/knowledge about the beat you are covering. A ---- like who all matters in the beat (say Rural Development) --- who’s is the Minister, How many and who are the ministers of state (brief political background of each) --- Secretary, Rural Development and other key officials. B ----- Then what’s all happening in the ministry or department. (In Rural Development beat if u r covering it in circa 2011-12;;; You OUGHT TO KNOW WHAT’S MG-NREGA scheme (It is the flagship scheme of the UPA government launched in 2006 and is in news almost on daily basis for one reason or the other) Similarly, if you are covering Railways::::: you must know whose who of Rail Bhavan. - Unlike any other department, Railways in India has a Railway Board. So you should know who is the chairman? (A brief refresher knowledge of the railway ministers is must again) What’s happening with the Indian Railways? In February-March every year: the buzz is the railway budget. So obviously beat correspondents are expected to do stories in the run up to the Railway Budget. --- How well the financial position of the country’s largest land transporter is? What are its limitations? - How would the budget address the issue of financial balancing when fare hike is something generally DISLIKED IN INDIA. When was the railway passenger fare hiked last? What will happen to railway safety as train accidents are a major concern? So how will a reporter start his day: 1. Actually, he starts much before that d-day. He does his homework properly at least 36-48 hours before about the beat…. And he is at the job – obviously he does it hour by hour – episode b episode. 2. Then he should know (the government appointed) PROs or Information officers to the department/ministry. These information officers by nature of their job are more concealment officers. They will hide things which really make news and instead tell you routine stuff like railways’s freight income has gone in September to feb as against last year. This fact does not make any story. So THE CHALLENGE IS TO DIG OUT INFORMATION. --- it will not come overnight. Your intimacy will count. And top of these your nose for news. NOW FOR INSTANCE, pro could tell you the railway minister is busy today – he has gone to the Planning Commission. If this is happening on the eve of budget --- there is a story. Because Planning Commission’s say is vital in clearing several projects or even getting adequate funds for specific projects or general. == so your next course of query either from pro or some responsible source will be to : has the minister gone to planning commission to meet the Deputy chairman of the planning commission. If so what are the issues they r likely to discuss. It can’t be the minister has gone to the planning commission to ask about deputy chairman’s wife’s uncle’s health? Before we proceed :::: we must know who is deputy chairman? His equation with the railway minister? If they have held any important meeting earlier? If the relation is not good then a mere visit is a good enough hint for a good story --- but with details. Now imagine the meeting is taking place on the background the railway minister Dinesh Trivedi meeting the prime minister the previous evening seeking Rs 14 lakh crore additional funds for modernization of railways.. then in all probability you can link the same. ## Now yet again, imagine RD minister jairam ramesh has gone to the planning commission. - scenario will be slightly different. Though this also merits story.  Background:: sometime back, jairam and deputy chairman planning commission montek had differences over the poverty figures. --- the RD ministry had in the past interacted with planning commission members over ways to bring improvement in NREGA scheme… so you know how to connect these. Don’t forget: among the basic elements of news we know how News // News like episode is related to something else in the news. Conflict, and consequences r essential features in working on a news story. Enough for tonight, let’s c the reactions?

Indian Agriculture – Looking for a Quantum Leap Forward

Agriculture since ages is the mainstay of Indian population. In fact, the story of Indian agriculture has been a spectacular one with a global impact for its multi-functional success in generating employment, livelihood, food, nutritional and ecological security. Agriculture and allied activities contribute about 30 per cent to the gross domestic product of India. The green revolution had heralded the first round of changes.
India is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut as also the third largest producer of tobacco. The country is also second largest producer in cash crops like coffee, coconut and tea and it does account for 10 per cent of the world fruit production.
It is in this context, one must try to understand the two-day conference of the Food Ministers of states held in New Delhi aimed to ensure effective public distribution system.
The need for enhanced investment in agriculture was rightly emphasized by a galaxy of speakers including the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee.
The Finance Minister was right in stating that massive investment in the agricultural sector is needed as enhanced food production is must for the success of Food Security for all. The Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar also shared similar sentiments and pointedly called for better coordination and enhanced interest by the states to the agri sector.
Needless to add, it is in this backdrop that Mukherjee also called for joint efforts by the Centre and States to modernize the Public Distribution System (PDS) to make it more effective.


The conference also dwelt at length on the National Food Security Act, which has been introduced in parliament. The proposed legislation seeks to provide food security to all, said the Food minister K V Thomas.
The country had achieved a record food production of 230 million tones in 2008 and the same has seen quantum jump despite shortfall in rains in few pockets. The country has produced a record 241 million tonnes of food grain in the season July 2010 to June 2011, 23 million tonnes more than the previous year.

Similarly, India has had enhanced production of pulses, fruits and vegetables. The pressing problems, therefore, relate to effective distribution at reasonable price and proper storage facilities.
Hence, it goes without saying that to catch up with the pressing needs, larger investments from both public and private sector will be necessary.
In fact, during the period 2006-07 the private sector investment in agriculture had increased from 8.9 per cent to 9.9 per cent. The larger investments in agriculture could only help sustained growth in other sectors like industries.
The government is targeting an agriculture growth of 4 per cent. Higher growth would also ensure larger employment opportunities.
Agriculture ministry officials say that infrastructure in agriculture will also mean impounding of rainwater in ponds and using it for critical irrigation particularly in low rainfall areas.
According to Agriculture Secretary, P K Basu, the government is already working in details to introduce mechanized farming and the recently introduced Second Green Revolution in the east of India is showing good results.
Official estimates say the Eleventh Five-Year Plan is likely to end with around 3.2 per cent agriculture growth, which marks sizeable increase over the growth rate achieved during the 9th and 10th Plans.
However, there are still challenges. At present the Indian agri scene is largely rainfed and therefore, drought remains a formidable challenge.
Viewed in this context, officials say there was a long felt need to bring together at one place all conceptual issues, detailed institutional framework and operational details related to drought management. A Drought Management manual prepared by the government has prescribed threefold actions vis-à-vis drought mitigation, plan, relief measures required for providing succor to the affected population and to integrate it with long term objectives.
Therefore, finally, the task at hand with regard to ensuring food security, higher agri growth and adequate jobs in agri sector is also to face the challenge of drought on a war footing with a well thought of far-sighted vision and action plans, both in short term and long terms.
As they say, obviously the first priority will be to protect the interests of the farmers and ensure access to agri products both to the farmers and the consumers at reasonable prices.

(ends)

Attack on Israeli diplomat: A Challenge in counter terrorism and Diplomacy

- Nirendra Dev

None can dispute that terrorism is a global challenge. Closer home in South Asia, it has been punctuated with all the more dangerous dimensions with diplomatic riddles.
The attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi through an improvised explosive mechanized device on February 13, 2012 must be seen in that paradigm.

Police investigators say a “well-trained" person possibly on a motorcycle drove up to the Toyota Innova car and attached a device to it while it was waiting at a traffic intersection sparking off the explosion within seconds, injuring four people.

They also this is the first time that such a technique has been used in a terror attack in India.
Magnetic bits were found on the car, indicating the use of a "sticky bomb".

The Israeli diplomat's wife Ms Tal Yehoshua-Koren, who was in the car when the explosion took place had sustained serious injuries and is stated to be in critical condition with her left leg lying paralyzed.
Three other people, including the driver of the car, also had received minor injuries.

The Government of India has taken the incident very seriously. The Home Minister P Chidambaram has termed the attack a ‘terror strike’ and that a very well trained person has committed the attack.

He said there were reasons to believe that the target was the Israeli diplomat’s wife and thus the investigations had to be pursued in that direction.

The United States has offered its assistance to the probe.

While the government of India has handed over the task of probe to the National Investigating Agency besides the Delhi police, Israel has deputed a post-blast investigation team from Israel to help in investigations.
The Israeli government has also passed on information to India about two suspects who are currently in the custody of the Georgian police over a bomb being found in the car of a local employee at the Israeli embassy in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has himself claimed that the two incidents are linked and has blamed Iran and the militant group Hezbollah for the incident in Delhi too.

However, given the immense diplomatic sensitivity attached to the entire issue, India is firm about doing the right tightrope diplomatic walk. While New Delhi has assured Israel of a serious and thorough investigation, the External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has made it clear that the government does not want to speculate on Iran's role. India’s stance is critically important as Iran has already denied about any such possibilities.

In the emerging global situation, India has over the years cherished smooth and cordial relations with both Iran and Israel.

India has formally termed Israel as an ‘important partner’ with enhanced ties in counter-terrorism, defence arena, agriculture, energy and culture.
Only in January 2012, the external affairs minister S M Krishna made a state visit to Israel coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between Tel Aviv and New Delhi.

It is no small tribute given the fact that formal relations between India and Israel had started only in 1992. But the ties between the two countries have grown on a very fast pace under various governments in New Delhi.

Similarly, with Iran too, India has had friendly and very warm relations in many areas. There are significant trade ties, particularly in crude oil imports into India and diesel exports to Iran.
Lately, New Delhi has also tried to follow a different roadmap than the western countries like the US, who are in some sort of hurry and waiting in the wings for harsher sanctions against Tehran.
The general understanding is that Iran's nuclear programme will not affect India's broader engagement with that country as New Delhi is more keen to see that Tehran is able to play a balancing role in West Asia.

True, in the ultimate analysis, the bomb attack of February 13 on the Israeli embassy vehicle thus pose a twin challenge --- one to counter terrorism and the other in maintaining diplomatic harmony, as they put it.

(ends)

Lokpal mess: Trinamool puts Govt. on tenterhooks, favours autonomy for states

Didi is again out with her tantrics putting the government on tenterhooks.
A day after leaving the Congress-led UPA alliance high and dry by opposing the revised Lokpal Bill on the floor of Lok Sabha, Ms Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress today made it clear that the party will never compromise on the autonomy of the states in setting up state-level ombudsman but asserted that it will not vote against the government.
“There is no question of voting against the UPA government, it’s our government,” a senior party leader said clarifying on the party’s strategy to be adopted during the crucial debate and voting on the revised Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Decembe 29, 2011.
Trinamool Congress’s last minute opposing the bill in the Lok Sabha yesterday had caused severe embarrassment to the government especially to the crisis management team headed by Mr Pranab Mukherjee.
Trinamool has six members in Rajya Sabha and have decided to move two amendments. The party member Mr Sukhendu Sekhar Roy is set to move the amendments seeking to “overhauling and deletion” of Part-3 of the Bill with summary deletion of clauses from 63 to 97 in the Part 3 on Lokayuktas. .
“We also want renaming of the Bill. It should be simply Lokpal Bill. States should be at liberty to frame their own anti-corruption law. The word ‘Lokayuktas’ should be dropped from the original name of the draft bill,” one party MP said. The Trinamul floor leaders in Mr Sudip Bandyopadhyaya, Mr Mukul Roy and Mr Derek O Brien also met the Finance Minister Mr Mukerjee in response to the ‘invitation’ from him to end the deadlock.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal and MoS Personnel Mr V Narayanasamy were also present.
“We will not create problem for the government. That’s not our intention,” one senior Trinamul leader said after the meeting indicating that further consultations would be held both within the party and also with the government to end the deadlock.

Amid the party's clear stand that it will not allow any tampering with the federal structure as enshrined in the basic structure of the constitution, six Rajya Sabha members met at the residence of Mr Mukul Roy while the party supremo Ms Mamata Banerjee too was consulted more than once during the day.

“The provisions in Part 3 are objectionable and should be modified,” Mr Roy said earlier during the day adding the party has taken exception to the ‘mandatory clause’ as the bill was being brought under Article 253 which would leave the states with no choice but to set up the Lokayuktas toeing the central line.
Trinamul sources defending the party’s Lok Sabha MP Mr Kalyan Banerjee’s criticism of the bill in Lok Sabha asserted “it was not a belated decision”.
“Our party nominee in the standing committee Sukhendu Sekhar Roy has sounded on these lines in the Standing Committee deliberations. We did not give any dissent note, that does not mean our views should be ignored. We are all for federal structure of the constitution,” a key party leader said.
On December 27 in the Lok Sabha, the 19-member strong UPA constituent Trinamool sprang a major surprise during the historic debate in
the Lok Sabha on the Lokpal Bill when it pooh-poohed the government’s
claim of a strong draft legislation and went on to oppose the bill on
the ground that it was ‘encroaching’ on the federal structure of the
constitution.
Maintaining that the Bill would at best only create a 'super
investigating agency' in the form of Lokpal, party's chief whip in Lok
Sabha, Mr Kalyan Banerjee said, the proposed Lokpal would (have to) submit
"merely an investigation report" before a court of law, which will not
be accepted "unless it is proved before the court itself".
He said an investigating agency report has to be given to the Special
Court, and the Special Court will decide the matter in accordance
with the procedures of the Code of Criminal Procedure and "nothing
more than that".

Sharing concerns expressed by BJP leader Ms Sushma Swaraj and several
opposition members that the bill would attack
the rights of the states, he said, "If the bill is adopted then I
think it encroaches upon the federal structure of constitution”.

Contesting the HRD Minister Mr Kapil Sibal’s contentions, he argued
that Section 81(7)(b) of the Bill directly encroaches upon the “domain
of the state legislative assembly”.
Seeking the attention of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who was
present in the House, he said there should not be any misconception
that just because Lokpal Bill has not come for decades “it means that all
the previous Prime Ministers or the Ministers were in favour of
corruption.”
“If this type of Bill has not still come in the states, then this does
not mean that the state Legislatures or the State Chief Ministers are
in favour of corruption,”
Mr Banerjee said rather eloquently.
He said, the government should not “undermine the State Legislatures
nor undermine the Ministers of the States” and stay away from entering
into the arena of the states and added that such a move would be “a
dangerous proposition.”
Also sounding much critical the manner the government had tried to
bring in the legislation under pressure from
Anna Hazare’s anti-graft agitation, the Trinamul member said,
everybody is against corruption.
"It is not that only one person is fighting against corruption," he
said adding, it is not that the persons who are holding demonstrations
and dharnas are the only persons who are fighting against corruption.
"We have also been elected by people because people know that we are
honest".
Mr Banerjee also opposed the provisions under which the Speaker of the
Lok Sabha would be required to
report to the proposed Lokpal on actions taken by the Speaker on any
chargesheet filed against elected member of the House.
Moreover, he was also critical of the selection panel as proposed by
the government saying, "Lokpal will be selected by the Prime Minister,
and the Leader of Opposition. Both of them are under the Lokpal.
Therefore, both of them will decide who would be the Judge who might
be required to look into the matter in case they commit any fault in
future".

Ends