A Couple's Contraceptive Revolution

By Swapna Majumdar

For the last 10 years, Sunita and her husband, Shailendra Kumar Singh, have been working together in Anantkamtaul village, district Muzaffarpur, Bihar, in generating awareness about family planning. But it hasn't been easy. In a state where cultural taboos confine women to the home and hearth, Sunita has not only been able to break free of these shackles, she is also engaging with issues as sensitive and prickly as family planning.

All this may never have been possible had it not been for Janani, a Bihar-based NGO working on family planning in Bihar and Jharkhand. The uniqueness of Janani's programme in training and motivating rural health workers to work with communities and advise them about family planning services, is its insistence on couples only as motivators. By training the wife, it has been able to get women to step out of their traditional roles; and empowered them to be change agents.

Today, Sunita is a part of Janani's network of 32,000 rural health providers who are making a difference. No longer is it just men coming to ask for contraceptives, women too are seeking family planning services. "This change has come because of the presence of my wife. It has made a big difference in making women feel more comfortable," says Shailendra Singh, Sunita's husband.

Bihar and Jharkhand make up 10 per cent of India's population - a staggering 118 million. The fertility rate in Bihar is 4, the highest for any state in India, and in Jharkhand it is 3.31, as against 2.68 in the rest of the country. It is estimated that 11,200,000 people in the two states want to contain their family size but do not know how to access family planning services.

This is where Janani's strategy of making use of a husband-wife team has helped. The team works to address misconceptions about family planning. The roles and responsibilities of each partner is well defined. For instance, while Sunita looks after the women, her husband is in charge of advising the men.

But IUDs (intrauterine devices) and oral pills are not all the motivators speak about. The couple offers advice to pregnant women about nutrition and child spacing. More importantly, they stress on the importance of the health of the woman. They explain that a woman should not be the one to bear the burden of family planning and feel compelled to undergo tubal ligation. They must educate men about the option of no scalpel vasectomy (NSV), which is quicker than tubal ligation and requires no surgery.

Even though winds of change are blowing in her village, Sunita feels her work would have been far more effective if more women were educated. During the last 10 years, Sunita says that she has been able to convince many couples that it was the health of the child that is important, not its sex. "I tell them girls are as good as boys and they should not keep having children in the hope of a boy. I give them the example of the widow in the village, who has only one child, a daughter. Although married, the daughter looks after her. I contrast it with the case of another family where the son has thrown out his widowed mother. What good is the son if he doesn't look after his parents in their old age, I ask them. This argument has motivated many couples," Sunita contends.

However, it is not merely the couples who need motivation. They reach out to mothers-in-law as well for, more often than not, they have considerable influence on the size of the family. This is where Sunita scores. Not only is she able to gain access to the entire household because she is a woman, she is also able to take advantage of being a trained motivator and the wife of the rural medical practitioner (RMP).

But when she comes across some difficult 'cases' she has had to think out of the box. As she did in the case of Sitavi Devi, the mother-in-law of Geeta Devi, 25. Geeta already had four children including two sons when she became pregnant for the fifth time. After giving birth to premature twin daughters, Geeta was weak and anemic even four months after giving birth.

Geeta didn't want any more children but she did not have the courage to say so. Every time Sunita would talk about family planning, Geeta's mother-in-law would say that the family needed more children to increase its income. At present Geeta's husband, a rickshaw puller, is the only bread winner in the family.

But Sunita did not give up after hearing this argument. She took the support of Sitavi Devi's neighbors to reason with her. She motivated Anamika Kumar, 16, a student living next door and their combined efforts finally bore fruit. Although Sunita told them that a vasectomy for her son would be quicker and painless compared to a tubal ligation for her daughter-in-law, the mother-in-law agreed to Geeta getting sterilized. "I did not insist on the vasectomy because at least she agreed to allow her daughter-in-law to undergo a sterilization. This is also a big step and the beginning of a change in her mindset," says Sunita.

Change is also visible in village Abirpur, in the adjoining district of Vaishali, where the husband-wife team of Manoj Maharaj and Reena have been able to rope in husbands to talk about family planning. In fact, they managed to motivate local resident, Jyotish Kumar Sharma, to join hands with them to spread the message about keeping families small and healthy. He has even performed street plays propagating these messages in the five other villages of the district.

It was Reena who played a pivotal role in counseling Sharma's wife, Neerja, after she had a near fatal brush with death giving birth to their third child, to undergo a tubectomy. Neerja revealed that once she and her husband understood the importance of maternal and child health, the decision was quick.

Getting husbands on board has helped the Janani teams to raise awareness about family planning. While the wife motivates her counterparts to talk to their husbands about NSVs, the husbands explain the entire procedure and benefits in simple terms. Once the men agree, they are referred to Janani's Surya clinics where these services are provided. So far, Manoj and Reena have referred 50 cases. The beneficiaries are taken to the clinic and dropped back home by the motivator, free of charge.

In rural Jharkhand,too, Janani motivators inspire men to opt for NSVs. Local RMP and motivator Rajesh Kumar of village Murtu, district Ranchi, is young and energetic. In fact, the newly-married Kumar has vowed that he would undergo NSV after two children. "If I don't look after my wife's health, who will? More importantly, if we are to motivate others, we must lead by example," he says.

In these two states where primary health centres are few and far and family planning a tabooed topic, Janani teams have opened the doors to winds of change.

Security Personnel: The Planning For A 'Safe' Elections

By Likha Veer | INNLIVE Bureau

Politicians are busy either lauding or criticising Mr. Narendra Modi. We, the junta, are busy clicking selfies at poll booths. And the media is busy deciding if NDA will win over 300 seats or will AAP spoil everyone’s party. Amidst the entire hullabaloo what all of us have overlooked is the contribution of the security personnel deployed across the country.

The voting for 16th Lok Sabha elections has been split into 9 phases for a reason. This is arguably the largest democratic exercise in the entire planet, and ensuring it is safe and secure is a gargantuan challenge.

Why Nitish Kumar Quiet On 'Fodder Scam' Allegations?

By Sunder Yadav / Patna

There is a mad scramble in the anti-Lalu Prasad camp, with  politicians digging in to claim credit for RJD chief's conviction; but Nitish Kumar, Lalu's worst political enemy who demolished him electorally in Bihar, has cryptically maintained a studied silence.

"I cannot comment on a judicial verdict," was all that Bihar Chief Minister said when media reached for his reaction on Lalu's incarceration. He did not even welcome it. Similarly, senior JD-U leader Shivanand Tewari-a Lalu's lieutenant turned Nitish's camp-follower -- too has followed the middle path, claiming Lalu's will not be politically finished after the verdict.

Focus: Crisis For India's Orphans As Adoption Is Being Abandoned By Parents And Neglected By Government

Abandoned by their parents and now neglected by governments — there is no end to the suffering of over 50,000 orphans in India. 

The adoption rate within the country as well as those by foreign nationals in India has gone down by nearly 50 per cent in the last five years. 

What adds to the grim situation is the disparity between South Indian states and the rest of the country in terms of adoption of children. 

'Tragedy Punctures Nitish’s Good Governance Claim'

By Sanjay Singh / Patna

The residents of the Dahrmasati Gandawan village in Mashrakh block in Bihar’s Saran district, where the midday meal tragedy took place, cannot be in a forgiving mood. They have already buried the bodies of some children right in front of the school. This might be an act of rage from the families of the deceased, but the place may soon become some kind of a memorial. It would continue reviving the memories of the death of school children and breeding anger.

Why 'Pat' Gujarat? What About Bihar, MP Growth Models?

By M H Ahssan / Delhi

How hypocritical can we get on the issue of growth! We have been mismeasuring the economic achievement of states and nations by using the wrong metric: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – which is about grand averages and tells you precious little about the well-being of the average individual – and even while at it we won’t allow it to go untainted by personal prejudices.

Opinion: Why is Telangana Getting Provisional Assembly?

By Syed Amin Jafri (Guest Writer)

How long will the formation of Telangana state take under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill? When will Assembly elections be held? Will Assembly polls coincide with Lok Sabha elections or held separately? Will Telangana and residuary state of AP have simultaneous Assembly polls or go their separate ways? What are the earlier precedents? These are the questions plaguing the political parties and leaders on both sides of the regional divide.
   
The most recent instance of formation of new states — Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh — dates back to the year 2000. Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2000 was passed by Lok Sabha on July 31 and Rajya Sabha on August 9, 2000.

Can Andhra Pradesh Legislature Vote On Telangana Bill?

By Syed Amin Jafri (Guest Writer)

Both the Houses of state legislature are poised to take up debate on Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 when the extended session commences on January 3. Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar and legislature officials visited Lucknow and Patna to study the process followed by the legislatures of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to debate the Reorganisation bills. AP Legislative Council is expected to emulate the procedure to be adopted in the Assembly. 

Democracy, Elections And Minorities In India

By M H Ahssan

The General elections in India are about to take place within three months and all political parties are readying themselves to draw up their winning strategies. Elections are like a day of judgment for political parties. And, they have to stand before their voters and render account of their deeds and misdeeds. They have begun to woo their voters once in five years again. They have to woo different castes and religious groups and reconcile their conflicting interests in the context of the complex Indian reality.

The Muslims constitute 15 per cent of Indian population and play crucial role in the victory or defeat of the political parties. In the two big northern states of the U.P. and Bihar no political party can win without Muslim support. The Congress once used to win both these states without much problem as the Muslims voted for it for four decades after the independence. However, it lost both the states as the Muslims withdrew their support. The U.P. was lost as soon as Rajiv Gandhi laid foundation stone of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya after instructing the district magistrate to open the lock of the Babri Masjid for the Hindus to worship Ram. The Congress has not been able to rehabilitate itself again in the eyes of the Muslims.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) once rode to power in the U.P. on the ‘wave of Ram Mandir’ but such waves cannot be generated again and hence the BJP has met, with its speed breaker. During those hey days it even said, ‘we do not need Muslim votes’, but it set up its own minority front, promising heaven to them, through some Muslim members like Shah Nawaz and others. It is also projecting Naqvi as its spokesman.

But the BJP does not want to give up its mool mantra (basic formula) of Ram Mandir to woo hard core Hindu votes. Mr.Rajnath Singh, its President, said that it would construct Ram Mandir if it came to power and even would persuade its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies to agree to pass a law for constructing the mandir. Even Advani asked what was wrong in constructing a mandir. Once they demolished Babri Masjid and committed one wrong; then what is the harm in committing second wrong by constructing mandir on the site of Babri Masjid?

The election calculus shows that the BJP would find it extremely difficult to increase its present tally in Parliament. ‘The Terror Card’ did not pay even immediately after the Mumbai attacks in November; and the BJP lost the election in Delhi. Thus ‘terror card’ no longer arouses emotions to be electorally exploited. The BJP had found one more card when prices began to rise, but as its ill luck would have it, the rise in index fell to and has almost stabilized at below 6%. And raising ‘Ram issue’ is flogging a dead horse.

Thus whatever its electoral acrobatics the BJP will find it very difficult to increase its tally of seats won over the last general election in 2004. Moreover, what the lumpen elements of the Sangh Parivar have done in Orissa and Karnataka will hardly help its image. Those who sympathize otherwise with the BJP will also find it difficult to defend its violent attacks on Christians and women. There was a time when some Christian leaders had begun to join the BJP, but after the Orissa events even leaders like Fernandes will be hard pressed to defend the BJP. The BJP has thus increased its opponents.

There is tough competition between Ms. Mayavati the present Chief Minister and Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party in the U.P. for the Muslim votes. Ms.Mayavati, in order to win over the Muslims, has promised 25 per cent tickets for the Lok Sabha elections for the Muslims. It is, no doubt, for the first time any party has taken such a step. The Muslims of the U.P. should welcome it and the Congress has a lesson to learn from it. It is a known fact that the Congress has never done justice to the Muslims in this respect.

However, while welcoming the Mayavati’s step, the real question is: how many seats to which Muslims will be given the tickets, will be winnable ones and what her party will do to see the Muslim candidates win? Also, what will be the stature of those Muslim candidates? These are important questions. It is difficult to expect Ms.Mayavati to give ticket to those who have some stature of their own and are independent by nature.

Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav has entered into a friendship pact with Mr.Kalyan Singh who has the notoriety of overseeing the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 as he was then the Chief Minister and had taken pride for his misdeed. Muslims have hardly forgotten this. Mr.Mulayam Singh claims that he has done so to wipe out the BJP from the U.P. But this strategy is likely to misfire or backfire as far as Muslims are concerned.

Let not Mulayam forget the fate of the Congress in the U.P. after it laid the foundation stone of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Mulayam made Kalyan almost to apologize for the demolition of the Babri Masjid under pressure from the Muslims, but the way Mulayam is expressed his solidarity with Kalyan may backfire. The Congress has also expressed its displeasure for this newfound solidarity of the SP leader with Mr.Kalyan Singh, but that only has provoked the Mr.Mulayam Singh to ask the Congress to mind its own business, and he even said that he and Mr.Kalyan Singh are farmers and, what is more pehelwans (wrestlers)! It is surprising, even enigmatic, that a shrewd politician like Mulayam was making such statements!

The way Muslims are reacting to the alliance with the Kalyan Singh apparently shows it would be hardly politically wise for Mulayam to shake hands with Kalyan, if he is interested in Muslim votes in the U.P. After all he may not have the last laugh in this complex game of politics and electoral arithmetic. Mayawati may have the last laugh, after all. If the Muslims of the U.P. vote for Ms.Mayawati, both the BJP and the Congress may not gain much in the U.P. The Congress may, perhaps, gain marginally but the BJP may not benefit even that.

In Bihar the BJP has no independent base at all. It is beholden to Nitish Kumar the present Chief Minister of Bihar is unhappy that the BJP is creating problems for him by raising Ram issue again. Nitish Kumar is Bhumihar. Yadavs are not his electoral base. He also got two Muslims working for the OBC Muslim cause nominated to the Rajya Sabha. However, that may not mean much electorally in complex caste politics of Bihar Muslims.

However, it appears Nitish too does not have brighter chance and may not be able to improve his tally of seats won over 2004 elections. He has failed to deliver his promises and the Koshi flood disaster may prove a millstone a round his neck. The BJP may not be able to reap much depending on Mr. Nitish Kumar, who is the only support for the BJP in Bihar.

It will be seen from above that Muslim votes, like other non-Muslim votes, are now determined by regional politics. For quite sometime past Muslims have been voting for the regional parties, and the Congress has only some regions like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh etc. where the only alternative happens to be the Congress. It is a healthy development that the Muslims are less swayed by emotional issues and now realized that it would be a political disaster. But, for that matter, even, some Hindus, at one time, were swayed by the Ram Mandir issue, and the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) by Mandal Commission issue; and these two issues brought some crucial change in Indian politics and both issues were highly emotional in nature.
As the Muslims have now come out of that emotional phase they should do bargain hard with regional parties, and the aim should be: (1) to isolate and defeat communal forces and (2) to extract promises of implementation of economic and educational benefits along with proper share in political power for Muslims. For this they must shun emotional rhetoric altogether and have to be hard bargainers.

It is important to note that since the Muslims began to vote for regional outfits in the U.P. and Bihar, the epicenter of communal violence has shifted to Maharashtra, and Maharashtra has emerged with the dubious distinction of a state with highest communal incidents in the last few years. The government’s own statistics show this. The media have also reported these statistics. There are other dilemmas too for the Muslims in Maharashtra.

These incidents have taken place during the Congress regime, especially during the chief ministership of Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh. Mr.R.R.Patil of the Nationalist Congress party also failed to handle the communal riots properly. At Dhule is its worst example. But again only alternative to the Congress in Maharashtra is the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance which Muslims cannot opt for. There is no other regional party here like the U.P., Bihar etc.

It is indeed very challenging situation for Muslims in Maharashtra. Again separate political party of Muslims is no solution. It is a remedy worse than the disease. Besides voting for clean secular candidates in whichever constituencies available, the Muslims should go for frank dialogue with the present Congress leaders, preferably at the Central level. Regional leadership often colludes with the Shiv Sena and is under the awe of Mr.Bal Thackeray. Even Mr.Sharad Pawar, Mr.Bhujbal and other Congress leaders meet him, touch his feet and have dinner with him.

In democracy, only hard bargain pays, nothing else. Our elections are based purely on caste and religious identities, nothing else. The weight of minorities must be felt by the political parties.

Democracy, Elections And Minorities In India

By M H Ahssan

The General elections in India are about to take place within three months and all political parties are readying themselves to draw up their winning strategies. Elections are like a day of judgment for political parties. And, they have to stand before their voters and render account of their deeds and misdeeds. They have begun to woo their voters once in five years again. They have to woo different castes and religious groups and reconcile their conflicting interests in the context of the complex Indian reality.

The Muslims constitute 15 per cent of Indian population and play crucial role in the victory or defeat of the political parties. In the two big northern states of the U.P. and Bihar no political party can win without Muslim support. The Congress once used to win both these states without much problem as the Muslims voted for it for four decades after the independence. However, it lost both the states as the Muslims withdrew their support. The U.P. was lost as soon as Rajiv Gandhi laid foundation stone of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya after instructing the district magistrate to open the lock of the Babri Masjid for the Hindus to worship Ram. The Congress has not been able to rehabilitate itself again in the eyes of the Muslims.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) once rode to power in the U.P. on the ‘wave of Ram Mandir’ but such waves cannot be generated again and hence the BJP has met, with its speed breaker. During those hey days it even said, ‘we do not need Muslim votes’, but it set up its own minority front, promising heaven to them, through some Muslim members like Shah Nawaz and others. It is also projecting Naqvi as its spokesman.

But the BJP does not want to give up its mool mantra (basic formula) of Ram Mandir to woo hard core Hindu votes. Mr.Rajnath Singh, its President, said that it would construct Ram Mandir if it came to power and even would persuade its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies to agree to pass a law for constructing the mandir. Even Advani asked what was wrong in constructing a mandir. Once they demolished Babri Masjid and committed one wrong; then what is the harm in committing second wrong by constructing mandir on the site of Babri Masjid?

The election calculus shows that the BJP would find it extremely difficult to increase its present tally in Parliament. ‘The Terror Card’ did not pay even immediately after the Mumbai attacks in November; and the BJP lost the election in Delhi. Thus ‘terror card’ no longer arouses emotions to be electorally exploited. The BJP had found one more card when prices began to rise, but as its ill luck would have it, the rise in index fell to and has almost stabilized at below 6%. And raising ‘Ram issue’ is flogging a dead horse.

Thus whatever its electoral acrobatics the BJP will find it very difficult to increase its tally of seats won over the last general election in 2004. Moreover, what the lumpen elements of the Sangh Parivar have done in Orissa and Karnataka will hardly help its image. Those who sympathize otherwise with the BJP will also find it difficult to defend its violent attacks on Christians and women. There was a time when some Christian leaders had begun to join the BJP, but after the Orissa events even leaders like Fernandes will be hard pressed to defend the BJP. The BJP has thus increased its opponents.

There is tough competition between Ms. Mayavati the present Chief Minister and Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party in the U.P. for the Muslim votes. Ms.Mayavati, in order to win over the Muslims, has promised 25 per cent tickets for the Lok Sabha elections for the Muslims. It is, no doubt, for the first time any party has taken such a step. The Muslims of the U.P. should welcome it and the Congress has a lesson to learn from it. It is a known fact that the Congress has never done justice to the Muslims in this respect.

However, while welcoming the Mayavati’s step, the real question is: how many seats to which Muslims will be given the tickets, will be winnable ones and what her party will do to see the Muslim candidates win? Also, what will be the stature of those Muslim candidates? These are important questions. It is difficult to expect Ms.Mayavati to give ticket to those who have some stature of their own and are independent by nature.

Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav has entered into a friendship pact with Mr.Kalyan Singh who has the notoriety of overseeing the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 as he was then the Chief Minister and had taken pride for his misdeed. Muslims have hardly forgotten this. Mr.Mulayam Singh claims that he has done so to wipe out the BJP from the U.P. But this strategy is likely to misfire or backfire as far as Muslims are concerned.

Let not Mulayam forget the fate of the Congress in the U.P. after it laid the foundation stone of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Mulayam made Kalyan almost to apologize for the demolition of the Babri Masjid under pressure from the Muslims, but the way Mulayam is expressed his solidarity with Kalyan may backfire. The Congress has also expressed its displeasure for this newfound solidarity of the SP leader with Mr.Kalyan Singh, but that only has provoked the Mr.Mulayam Singh to ask the Congress to mind its own business, and he even said that he and Mr.Kalyan Singh are farmers and, what is more pehelwans (wrestlers)! It is surprising, even enigmatic, that a shrewd politician like Mulayam was making such statements!

The way Muslims are reacting to the alliance with the Kalyan Singh apparently shows it would be hardly politically wise for Mulayam to shake hands with Kalyan, if he is interested in Muslim votes in the U.P. After all he may not have the last laugh in this complex game of politics and electoral arithmetic. Mayawati may have the last laugh, after all. If the Muslims of the U.P. vote for Ms.Mayawati, both the BJP and the Congress may not gain much in the U.P. The Congress may, perhaps, gain marginally but the BJP may not benefit even that.

In Bihar the BJP has no independent base at all. It is beholden to Nitish Kumar the present Chief Minister of Bihar is unhappy that the BJP is creating problems for him by raising Ram issue again. Nitish Kumar is Bhumihar. Yadavs are not his electoral base. He also got two Muslims working for the OBC Muslim cause nominated to the Rajya Sabha. However, that may not mean much electorally in complex caste politics of Bihar Muslims.

However, it appears Nitish too does not have brighter chance and may not be able to improve his tally of seats won over 2004 elections. He has failed to deliver his promises and the Koshi flood disaster may prove a millstone a round his neck. The BJP may not be able to reap much depending on Mr. Nitish Kumar, who is the only support for the BJP in Bihar.

It will be seen from above that Muslim votes, like other non-Muslim votes, are now determined by regional politics. For quite sometime past Muslims have been voting for the regional parties, and the Congress has only some regions like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh etc. where the only alternative happens to be the Congress. It is a healthy development that the Muslims are less swayed by emotional issues and now realized that it would be a political disaster. But, for that matter, even, some Hindus, at one time, were swayed by the Ram Mandir issue, and the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) by Mandal Commission issue; and these two issues brought some crucial change in Indian politics and both issues were highly emotional in nature.
As the Muslims have now come out of that emotional phase they should do bargain hard with regional parties, and the aim should be: (1) to isolate and defeat communal forces and (2) to extract promises of implementation of economic and educational benefits along with proper share in political power for Muslims. For this they must shun emotional rhetoric altogether and have to be hard bargainers.

It is important to note that since the Muslims began to vote for regional outfits in the U.P. and Bihar, the epicenter of communal violence has shifted to Maharashtra, and Maharashtra has emerged with the dubious distinction of a state with highest communal incidents in the last few years. The government’s own statistics show this. The media have also reported these statistics. There are other dilemmas too for the Muslims in Maharashtra.

These incidents have taken place during the Congress regime, especially during the chief ministership of Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh. Mr.R.R.Patil of the Nationalist Congress party also failed to handle the communal riots properly. At Dhule is its worst example. But again only alternative to the Congress in Maharashtra is the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance which Muslims cannot opt for. There is no other regional party here like the U.P., Bihar etc.

It is indeed very challenging situation for Muslims in Maharashtra. Again separate political party of Muslims is no solution. It is a remedy worse than the disease. Besides voting for clean secular candidates in whichever constituencies available, the Muslims should go for frank dialogue with the present Congress leaders, preferably at the Central level. Regional leadership often colludes with the Shiv Sena and is under the awe of Mr.Bal Thackeray. Even Mr.Sharad Pawar, Mr.Bhujbal and other Congress leaders meet him, touch his feet and have dinner with him.

In democracy, only hard bargain pays, nothing else. Our elections are based purely on caste and religious identities, nothing else. The weight of minorities must be felt by the political parties.

A wide open poll, or new coalitions?

By M H Ahssan

Despite uncertainties, the electoral dice seems loaded against the NDA, though the UPA isn’t in a happy state either.

When the BJD recently walked out on the BJP in Orissa, many called the move a game-changer adverse to the NDA, which had already lost numerous allies and been pared to onethird its original size. Since then, the Congress’s seat-adjustment talks with the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lok Janashakti Party in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar broke down. The three have formed a “fourth front”. The PMK in Tamil Nadu has quit the UPA and allied with the AIADMK-MDMK. Is this also a gamechanger, this time against the Congress?

Honestly speaking, the answer is not quite, although it’s a setback to the Congress-UPA. The AIADMK-led alliance will, as expected, gain at the expense of the DMK-Congress combine, but it’s unlikely to sweep the election given that the latter command a 35-40% vote. In UP and Bihar, the UPA will bleed from the Congress’s blunder in vetoing a national alliance. But the Congress was anyway slated to do relatively poorly in the two states. The SP-RJD-LJP arrangement is less a rival alliance than a pressure-group without synergy between its bases. No, the UPA hasn’t unravelled, not yet.

At any rate, these developments take the current turbulence, uncertainty and political promiscuity one step further. Parties are courting one another across alliances, abandoning the rules of coalition politics. The central question is if the churning will modify existing coalitions, or trigger a more basic transition from a decade-long era of pre-election alliances to expediency-driven post-poll alliances.

The answer isn’t clear, but three trends are plain. The UPA had an early edge, but may be losing it. If the Congress wins roughly the same or higher number of seats as in 2004 (145), the UPA should be able to form the government. But this isn’t assured. Second, the NDA is in disarray. Its core, the BJP, is in retreat. It’s desperately using communal hate-speech to stem its decline, with uncertain results. Its most important ally, the Janata Dal (United), is uneasy about staying within the NDA after the election.

Third, the non-Congress non-BJP Third Front has received a boost both from direct accretions and the SP-RJD-LJP front. It’s drafting a programmatic document which might give it some coherence. But this hotchpotch still lacks a holding party which can make it more durable than the V P Singh-led National Front (1989-91) or the United Front (1996-98). The Left is the Front’s progenitor, midwife and mentor — combined. But its seat-tally is likely to decline. The Front can’t come close to power unless the Telugu Desam, AIADMK and BSP do exceptionally well, and stay with it. These are big ifs.

Varun Gandhi’s venomous attack on Muslims represents one of the most nauseating episodes of the present campaign and a new low in the history of communal politics. His use of a super-derogatory term for Muslims, and his exhortation to forcibly sterilise them — a throwback to his father’s Emergency role — violate the election law and the Indian Penal Code. Such hatespeech belongs to the discourse of fascism and is profoundly anti-democratic.

This isn’t the first time the BJP has used anti-Muslim appeals to win votes. The Election Commission has over the years disqualified 3,423 people from contesting elections for “corrupt practices”, many related to communalism. Gandhi’s is a rare case where a candidate’s speeches are videotaped; producing irrefutable evidence. But the EC has no power to disqualify him until after a court convicts him. Disqualification after a candidate has vitiated the climate and harvested hatred can only partially remedy the original offence.

THE NDA isn’t going places. The BJP has antagonised the JD(U) by fielding from Bihar two loud critics of chief minister Nitish Kumar: Shatrughan Sinha and Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Kumar is building bridges with Muslims, especially backward-caste Muslims and doesn’t want communally tainted BJP leaders to campaign in Bihar. He has also refused to give a ticket to George Fernandes, the JD(U)’s most pro-BJP-RSS leader.

BJP campaign strategist Arun Jaitley has revolted against party president Rajnath Singh. L K Advani is unable to assert his authority. The BJP is floundering and substituting internet-based gimmickry for strategy. It will probably lose several seats in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. It did remarkably well in these states in 2004, but its base has eroded. It’s unlikely to recoup through small gains in Gujarat, Jharkhand and Haryana.

The UPA isn’t in a happy state either. The Congress’s arrogant refusal to make seat adjustments has created a huge mess. In UP, it was remarkably inflexible towards the SP. But its nemesis came in Bihar, where the RJD-LJP offered it only three seats out of 40. It retaliated by nominating Sadhu Yadav and deciding to go solo in 37 constituencies. The Congress’s fate depends on whether it can make up in other states its likely heavy losses in Tamil Nadu and Andhra.

The Third Front can’t go far unless it’s seen as programmatically credible. This won’t be easy: all its constituents barring the Left stand tainted by past association with the BJP-NDA, including the BSP, which has thrice shared power with the BJP in UP. A convincing common manifesto asserting the Front’s commitment to secularism and inclusive economic policies could help — but probably not enough to turn the election around even if Mayawati improves on her 2004 score (16) and wins 25-35 seats in UP.

More important, the social energies that drove the non-BJP-non-Congress forces in the 1980s and 1990s have been significantly depleted. Optimistically, a Third Front with 100-120 seats could attract some NDA parties and form a government with the UPA’s support. But there are red lines here. The BJD, Akali Dal, AGP and TDP will find it difficult to accept Congress support. If the BSP joins the Front, the SP won’t. It the Left is in it, the Trinamool Congress will be out. If the RJD is in, the JD(U) will keep out.

The instability and uncertainty endemic in this hazy scenario won’t be resolved unless there’s a reworking of relations between plebeian forces and social movements, and political parties’ programmes and policies.

Brand 'Rahul' Palmistry In The Pink City

The Congress' fortunes in 2014 will hinge on how Rahul Gandhi plots his strategy at the Chintan Shivir in Jaipur. This is an attempt to make the 'Brand Rahul' for Congress party.

Translated into English, the word ‘chintan’ means to reflect or meditate upon. Even the most ardent admirer of the Congress, India’s Grand Old Party, will have to admit that it is in dire need of some chintan. It has simply lost its way after a famous victory in the 2009 General Election. The party meets for two days in Jaipur for a Chintan Shivir it hopes will give it a strategy for rejuvenation and make it battle-ready for 2014.

This is the party’s first Chintan Shivir in almost 10 years. If the list of invitees is any indication, it will rewrite the narrative of the Congress in a manner that has not happened for some 30 years. It was in 1980 that Sanjay Gandhi’s youth brigade took charge of the Congress and a number of Sanjay’s followers became key MPs or chief ministers. In the following two or three years, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay’s brother, left his stamp on the party too. After that, there has been no organised generational change, not till now.

This time, of the 350 invitees for the Chintan Shivir, about 150 are from the Youth Congress and the National Students’ Union of India and are being referred to as the Rahul generation. In that sense, the party is betting on the future and on an attempt to understand and appeal to an electorate that is younger than ever before in India’s history.

However, several conundrums remain and it is not as if simply a new lot of people and new faces and names will fashion amagic wand. Officially, the issues to be discussed at the Chintan Shivir have been divided into five categories:

• Political challenges
• Socio-economic challenges
• India and the world
• Organisational strength
• Gender issues

While this is a broad spectrum, the meat of the discussion will be on winning power in the set of state elections that will culminate with the 2014 General Election. How does the party win back non-Congress-governed states? How does it defend Congress-run states? What should it do to overcome the defeatism that has gripped even senior Congress ministers in recent months as the countdown to the Lok Sabha election has begun?

For better or worse, the party believes its record in government is not as bad as is being projected. In the past nine years, the UPA government has pushed ahead with 42 flagship welfare programmes — such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, the Mid-day Meal Scheme, the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, the National Rural Health Mission, the Rajiv Gandhi Swasthya Bima Yojana — and there is a perception that these achievements have not been correctly transmitted. A gap between the government and the party has been diagnosed as the biggest problem.

An idea that has been mooted in the run-up to the Chintan Shivir is to appoint individual secretaries of the Congress as monitoring agents for specific flagship programmes of the government. This is being planned to bridge the gap between the government and the party, and also to put a system of oversight to check on tardy implementation or leakage of funds, which has emerged as an area of worry. The idea of such close coordination is a good one in theory. Yet it also runs a risk. In the final year of the government, with too many people attempting too many things, it could equally become a recipe for confusion.

Nevertheless, the party believes this is a chance worth taking. A sneak preview of this approach was provided recently when Rahul addressed presidents of District Congress Committees on the direct cash transfer scheme. The scheme has just begun to be rolled out by the UPA government in 51 districts across India.

It may be too late to redress this, but the Congress does realise that its principal problem is that the government and party leadership are seen as out of sync with a citizenry that is getting younger and more restless by the day. Youth voters, worried at what a slowing economy is doing to their future, are taking to the streets on one pretext or the other, the immediate cause — such as the Delhi gangrape incident — being the trigger for a larger anxiety.

A government leadership that is not communicative or demonstrative and is seen as ageing is proving to be a handicap in this situation. All this has fuelled the feeling that the Congress is out of touch with contemporary India and its concerns.

This background is apparent in the design of the Shivir. The 350 invitees have been divided into 16 groups, with four groups to discuss four different issues under each of the four broad categories reserved for brainstorming. One of the groups will discuss issues related to social media. It is telling of the state of politics as well as the state of the Congress that a ruling party has to devote significant time and political capital to try and formulate a response to social media challenges.

The Congress feels its point of view is virtually absent on Twitter, Facebook and other avenues of social media. In contrast, the BJP/Hindu Right, the new Left, the Islamic groups and even free-market middle-class youth are all visible and active on these forums.

It has taken the party some time to realise that social media is not some fringe activity confined to a small elite, but is increasingly influencing traditional media and general drawing-room discourse. Since Parliament is non-functional much of the time — due to disruption — many parties and political individuals use Twitter or blogs to convey their message. The Congress has scarcely ever attempted this.

The social media issue is a sample of the larger problem of communication and unambiguous messaging. Senior Congress functionaries admit these are two issues that require immediate attention. Whether it was the Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev protests of 2011 or the tumult following the Delhi gangrape case, what could have been defused with astuteness and deft communication was allowed to balloon into an existential crisis.

Absurd statements from the home minister and the prime minister’s week-long silence (in the case of the rape protests) and a contradictory position whereby party spokespersons on television were abusive while government negotiators were bending over backwards (in the case of Hazare and Ramdev) ended up crippling the Congress. This has severely alienated the party from the young voter and the urban voter. These were important constituencies for the Congress in 2009. Especially in a period when the party is headed for a series of state elections where it is in direct competition with the BJP — including in Delhi — this could be very damaging.

Business corporations can run clever marketing campaigns and improve their public communication, but eventually it is the substance of their product that matters. The entire debate about party-government relations, poor messaging and so on is in some senses an attempt to ignore the elephant in the room: the readiness of Rahul Gandhi for the top job. For the past two years, there has been a constant buzz in the party about Rahul becoming working president or even president and being anointed the de facto No. 2.

In the run-up to the Chintan Shivir, Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari categorically said the Congress was ready to fight the 2014 election under Rahul’s leadership. A senior minister, considered close to Rahul, was asked why the young Gandhi would risk leading the campaign in a tough election, with a perceived anti-incumbency mood. “He has no choice,” said the minister, “how long can he wait?”

Yet, despite this buzz and despite such words, there has been no initiative on the ground for Rahul’s anointment. Congress functionaries down the line are waiting for an official announcement so that they can gauge their position in the party vis-à-vis Rahul. That the organisational reshuffle, which will run parallel to Rahul’s takeover, is being delayed time and again is not helping matters. As elections draw closer, precious time is being wasted.

There are also larger questions related to Rahul. Can he galvanise the party? It is a question giving sleepless nights to Congress strategists. While his imminent elevation is being described as the event of the year, in private conversations, party members admit Rahul’s reclusive nature and his brush with politics thus far have not been anything to crow about. There are also turf battles afoot. With the takeover of the Rahul group, veteran party managers, including the closest aides of Sonia Gandhi, could be pensioned off. Undercurrents of this are already being felt in the party.

It would have been easy to dismiss all this if everybody were convinced Rahul was a sure-shot winner. The fact is his debacle in Uttar Pradesh — the nature of the defeat, the failure of his strategies and the missteps in the campaign — have all come back to haunt him. He could not escape the pulls and pressures of different power centres in the party. He even had to sacrifice his youth candidates for so-called pragmatic choices imposed upon him by Parvez Hashmi and Digvijaya Singh.

Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav interceded on behalf of his relative Jitendra Yadav and ensured Rahul gave him the ticket from Bulandshahr. The Congress was unhappy about this, but Rahul persisted. Jitendra Yadav lost by 18,000 votes. All this has got people wondering as to whether Rahul is his own man or simply too impressionable. It is not a good reputation to have in a cold-blooded business such as politics.

IT IS an old aphorism that the road to Delhi goes through Uttar Pradesh. In 2009, the Congress won 21 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state and expected Rahul to push it higher in the 2012 Assembly election and then in 2014. Today, retaining that 2009 tally looks tough, and since Rahul has focussed so much energies on UP, the state is emerging as the ultimate test for him. For better or worse, the Assembly election campaign is also being studied to try and understand his way of doing politics.

The stories that are emerging are not encouraging. While the 2012 UP campaign was on, Parliament was in session. One morning in Delhi, a Congress insider told HNN, Rahul summoned Congress MPs from the state to the war room on the capital’s Gurudwara Rakabganj Road. Digvijaya was also present at the meeting and Rahul was furious. “Why were the MPs not in UP?” he asked.

One MP raised his hand to make a point. Digvijaya told him to keep quiet and brusquely asked all the MPs to pay attention to their respective zones. Once again, the MP raised his hand and spoke up this time: “Who do we meet in our zones? We are not from these zones. We had no say in ticket distribution. The District Congress Committee presidents don’t engage us, the candidate is busy campaigning. The only people we meet are the ones who did not get a ticket and they gherao us and shout slogans.”

Before other MPs could start airing their grievances, Rahul was whisked away. Party insiders now say the Uttar Pradesh campaign ended up seeing number crunching, pie charts, Excel sheets and pure statistics given precedence over human instinct and gut politics. If Rahul repeats this in 2014, it will be a problem.

There is a realisation that Rahul will perennially be sequestered from blame and so others will have to play scapegoat in case of a setback. This again is something that is leaving Congress functionaries uncomfortable. The example of Mona Tiwari, daughter of senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Pramod Tiwari, is cited.

During the Assembly campaign, Mona was made responsible for media coverage. She was kept in the loop for all events, rallies and public meetings. In the three month- long campaign, she and her team ensured media coverage for about 200 different events. Party insiders were quite happy with the coverage. However, when the results came out, Mona and her team were the first to be blamed and given a dressing down. It was now argued that media overexposure had sunk the Congress.

Rahul's backroom acumen or the absence of it is one thing, his effectiveness as the face of the Congress is another. What is his brand identity? What does he stand for? Which is his demographic constituency? The Congress is nonplussed and will be hoping for Jaipur to provide some clarity. It is sobering that the groups Rahul wooed so assiduously in Uttar Pradesh — such as the predominantly Muslim weaver community in the eastern part of the state, whose representatives he even took with him to meet the PM — have had no followup interaction with him or his party.

Bihar is another case in point. Rahul toured the state and managed the campaign before the 2010 Assembly election. The Congress won four seats out of 243. Over two years have passed. Rahul has not been back to Bihar even once.

The Congress campaign in Bihar was a disaster. According to a senior party member from the state, “More than 60 percent of tickets were given to rank outsiders.” Several people complained to Rahul about four rooms in two Delhi five-star hotels — Shangri La and Le Meridien — which had been booked in the names of top functionaries of the Congress’ Bihar unit and where party nominations were virtually being sold, but there was no corrective measure.

“There were several representations to him (Rahul),” remembers a Bihar Congress member, “but I’m astonished no action was ever taken. This kind of blind belief doesn’t augur well for realpolitik… And why has he stopped visiting Bihar after that? You can’t be a tall leader by indulging in shoot and scoot politics.”

To top it all, Mehboob Ali Qaiser, whom Rahul promoted as state unit chief in the teeth of opposition — and who even suffered the mortification of losing in his Assembly constituency — remains at the helm of the party in Bihar.

If Bihar and UP are being singled out for special mention, it is because Rahul was more or less in charge of the election campaigns in these states. As such, these precedents are the only ones available for the average Congress member or adherent to judge him. His political interventions — such as the Lok Sabha statement calling for the Lokayukta’s office to get constitutional status — have been few and far between, and have either left people confused or had limited political impact.

His views on, for instance, Telangana, which is a big problem plaguing the party in a major state it rules (Andhra Pradesh) are not known. On economic growth and concerns of urban youth, Rahul has offered little and made no substantial public statements. These are the issues and themes that will make or break the Congress in 2014 and the party is keen Rahul expresses an opinion.

No doubt, Rahul has some pet issues and constituencies he wants to be seen as associated with — farmers, the rural poor, Panchayati Raj (major legislation for which was pioneered by his father). On their own, none of these is a negative and they are all potential vote winners. Nevertheless, they require rigorous effort on the ground, a robust organisation, and have to be measured against specific political and electoral outcomes.

When Rahul raised the issue of the killing of sarpanches by militants in the Kashmir Valley, he made all the right noises and his aide Jitendra Singh, then Minister of State for Home, travelled to Srinagar several times to talk to the state government. This was not appreciated by the National Conference — Congress’ partner in Jammu & Kashmir. The political message that went out was Rahul and Omar Abdullah were at loggerheads. The fact that a Delhi-based politician was seeking to intervene and seemingly push around a Kashmiri leader was liable to give rise to emotive interpretation in the Valley.

While Omar and Rahul went out of their way to speak of their bonhomie in later days, this rush into a local issue in Kashmir alarmed a lot of people in the Congress. The problems of the sarpanches in J&K are not conventional Panchayati Raj issues such as in, say, Kerala or Haryana. The entire episode gave the Congress no electoral leverage either in Kashmir or anywhere else. Once again, it led to puzzling questions about Rahul’s motivations and his politics.

The deliberations of the Chintan Shivir will be kept secret — to be leaked out, no doubt, as Congress members return to Delhi — but the murmurings under the surface will be related to the long-delayed organisational reshuffle. A sizeable section of young leaders in the Congress feels there is resistance from current incumbents who don’t want a new team to be empowered. What will happen to the 60-somethings who now run the party?

The idea of the young replacing the old is good in abstraction, but in reality this could be a big hindrance for the Congress, as fading away into the twilight is not something Indian politicians are ever ready for. Be that as it may, change is inevitable. Two-thirds of the All-India Congress Committee’s office-bearers are above the age of 65. They can resist the transformation, but at some point before 2014, Rahul has to assert his supremacy over them. After that, it’s over to the people.

Battle Of Benares: How To Decode Modi’s Poll Strategy!

By M H Ahssan | INNLIVE Bureau

ELECTION ANALYSIS It’s not new for a political leader of national stature to contest from two seats. Especially, when the leader is projected as prime ministerial candidate, then contesting from two seats should be considered a very normal phenomena, and politically it’s a wise decision. But the question that caught everybody’s attention is that why Benares was picked as contesting seat for Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP. Many people in Benares think that after winning, Modi would choose to retain his Vadodara seat from Gujarat, his home land and he would hardly come back to the city of temples to serve its people.

“We are old friends of the Left. Our views are similar”

By M H Ahssan

Even before Orissa happened, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) hadn’t got the traction it needed, with alliances tottering in the south, east and west. NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav, 61, is not too happy with the ways things are in the alliance.

In an interview with HNN, Yadav speaks of friendships outside the NDA and how the alliance still hopes to regroup. Excerpts from the interview:

How badly has Orissa hurt the NDA?
The NDA has been weakened in Orissa by what happened, but I don’t think there will be damage in other states.

Why could you not anticipate the Orissa developments?
The BJP never involved us in it. The negotiations were going on between the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). BJP President Rajnath Singh called me when it was over. That’s when I spoke to him. I was taken aback by the turn of events. I was under the impression that things would turn out fine. The BJP was dealing with this.

Does this affect the chances of your Prime Ministerial nominee?
The NDA has split in Orissa, but I don’t consider Naveen Patnaik as being out of the NDA. He will need us in the future. He has taken a big risk by choosing to fight the election on his own. His principal opponent is the Congress. The BJP-BJD combine would have got the anti-Congress vote. Now, the anti-Congress vote will be split. I am not updated about Orissa, but I know that the BJP had 18 percent of the vote there. The BJP-BJD combine was winning because the anti-Congress vote was consolidated in their favour. I can’t say if it will stay that way in the future.

Is the Janata Dal (United), the party you belong to, comfortable with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) choice of LK Advani as the prime ministerial nominee?
The announcement of Advani’s name as the prime ministerial nominee is not limited to the BJP. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had made a unanimous decision on this. First, the BJP arrived at the decision. Then, we were consulted and the final decision was taken to project Advani prime ministerial candidate.

The JD(U) is fine with it then?
I am telling you as the NDA Convenor. All NDA members have decided to support him (Advani).

Has the NDA lost momentum from the time it chose to project Advani for the top post?
The NDA hasn’t lost momentum. The NDA has won in big states in the recent assembly elections to five states. We won in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Before that, we won in Bihar, Punjab, Gujarat and Karnataka. The NDA has nine state governments. In Bihar, Punjab and Orissa, NDA constituents are running the governments. We also won in Jharkhand but the Congress manipulated its fall. The Congress has lost virtually all elections over five years, barring this time in Rajasthan and Delhi. In Rajasthan, the Congress managed to cobble a government. We have 82 MLAs there.

Are you in touch with parties that were once your friends, like Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK, for instance?
The alliances are not in shape in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, be it the NDA or the UPA. As far as the NDA is concerned, I can say that we discussed with some parties but the talks did not materialise into alliances. Barring these two states, there is an alliance everywhere. Recently, we have brought the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), headed by Om Prakash Chautala, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), headed by Ajit Singh, into our fold.

What about Babulal Marandi’s party in Jharkhand?
We are talking to him as well but it hasn’t materialised.

Are you still talking to Jayalalithaa?
No. I wouldn’t like to say anything more on this.

Is it possible that the JD(U) will have a prime ministerial nominee, given that things could change rapidly after the numbers are out?
JD(U) is in alliance with the BJP in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The JD(U) has no alliances in the other states. We will contest together in these four states and fight separately in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, for instance.

Have you made an assessment of the impact that Advani could have on the Muslim vote?
Ours is not a one-day alliance. And in Bihar, we are partners in the government. The BJP has not had a negative impact. We have conducted many pro-Muslim programmes in Bihar. No state government has done as much for Muslims in 60 years, be it for the madrasas or the teachers in madrasas. We punished the guilty in the Bhagalpur riots of 1998. We got life-long compensation for the victims. How could we have done all this without the cooperation of the BJP? They didn’t stop us. We do politics of the masses, not politics of religion.

Does the JD(U) consider itself bound to the NDA? Could this change after the election?
This is an era of coalition politics. There are two fronts. The NDA is 11 years old. We have contested four elections together. We are not in a position to form a government by ourselves. The BJP is not in a position to form its own government. No party can do it. So, we have the UPA on one side and the NDA on the other. The JD(U) and the BJP are separate parties. We have differences of thought. There are many issues on which we differ. We have various kinds of disagreements with many parties. But we are united under our common minimum programme, which we call the national agenda. The issues were settled in the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We ran a government for six years after that.

There are contradictions between the BJP and the JD(U). But the people of this country are not giving a majority to any single party. So, we have to keep our differences and contradictions aside. The JD(U) has demanded, for instance, reservation for dalit Muslims and dalit Christians. The BJP has not demanded it. It is not part of the national agenda. The JD(U) wants a quota within quota for women. The BJP doesn’t. They want a temple in Ayodhya. The JD(U) says that the Ayodhya dispute has to be resolved either by the courts or by a negotiated settlement. The BJP functions according to its ideology and issues. The JD(U) has its own issues. The JD(U) and the BJP are distinct parties, just as the JD(U) is distinct from the Akali Dal and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is a part of the NDA as well.
The JD(U) deals with the BJP as a party. The JD(U) doesn’t deal with individuals.

I’m talking of a situation where the BJP fields Modi in the election campaign, say, in Bihar. What impact would that have?
In an alliance, it doesn’t matter where an individual goes to campaign. We sit among ourselves and find solutions to such things. Politics differs from state to state. The JD(U) and the BJP are aware of this. Campaigns schedules are drawn up after consultations. For instance, the JD(U) had decided not to involve celebrities in the 2004 campaign. We know where to draw the line. We know who will help us and who will harm us.

Is it likely that the JD(U) responds to a Congress or UPA invitation to join a secular front?
We are in the NDA since 11 years. The UPA is four-and-a-half years old. Are they more secular than us?

Are you in touch with the Communists?
We are old friends of the Left parties. We are constantly in touch with them. We formed a government with the Left on two occasions. We have been with the Communists for 60 years. At times we have been together, and at others we have been separate. For some time now, we have been going our ways. Our views are similar to those of the Left on many issues. On other issues, our opinion is the same as that of the BJP. Our main issues are economic, the state of the farmers, unemployment, inflation, SEZs. The SEZs they created for real estate are now defunct. We opposed the creation of SEZs. The difference is in degree of opposition. We opposed SEZs seriously. The BJP did it mildly.

Should the NDA come to power, how will it deal with terrorism and Pakistan?
The JD(U) thinks that there must be people’s involvement in these issues. Let’s take the blasts in trains, for instance. At the top, we need to strengthen the bureaucracy and the intelligence. But it is the vendors and the coolies whose lives are entwined with trains. We have to take them into confidence and mobilise them. We must give licences to vendors and tell them: look we gave you the licence. You are responsible for this much area. Your licence will be cancelled if there’s any extremist or untoward activity in your area. We must offer incentives to the coolies and food vendors in the railways stations in Delhi and Mumbai.

For instance, recent blasts in Delhi and Guwahati have been in garbage bins. There are lakhs of safai karamcharis in India. Let’s take them into confidence. People like us are not going to peep into garbage bins. The karamcharis do it. Similarly, there are 50 lakh fishermen on our coasts. In the Mumbai attack, the terrorists came by sea from Karachi. So, we need to beef up the intelligence at the top and take the people on the streets into confidence. We have to create a network of informants on the ground. We can’t deal with terrorism unless we have the people who sweat it out on our side.

Should Afzal Guru be hanged, then?
This is a stupid issue. It is of concern only to the media. I don’t want to say anything on this. There are lakhs of people going to the gallows anyway in India. The Arjun Sengupta Committee report has said that 78 percent of Indians live on Rs 20 a day. This means that a person who ought to have lived to the age of 90, is dying at 60. Those who should have lived till 60 are dying at 30. These people are on the gallows because of hunger, poverty and unemployment. That is our big worry.

What will the NDA manifesto say on this? Will you have a common manifesto this time?
We haven’t made a decision yet on our manifesto. We haven’t talked yet. Though in the past in Bihar, the JD(U) and the BJP have had separate manifestos.

Joblessness has become a vast problem now. What would you do about it?
The people who went to English schools had jobs when the market expanded. If you hadn’t known English, you wouldn’t have got a job in Tehelka. Now, the global crisis has hit the English-speaking jobholders who are being sacked. Ninety-eight percent of Indians study in regional language schools, in Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Marathi, or Gujarati for instance. They had no jobs anyway.

What will the NDA do about it?
We must put big money into agriculture. And, instead of erecting barriers, let a representative of the union government go to backward states and directly give money for, say, a thousand roads, a thousand bridges. Cement and steel factories will function. People in the backward states will get employed. If we are able to form a government, my party will focus totally on the construction sector. You can’t imagine what a boost it would give to employment. This is what we would do.

What are the other NDA priorities, should it gain power?
The next most important thing is agriculture and irrigation. The condition of our farmers and our villages has improved where water has reached. Daily wages have risen to Rs 150-Rs 200. Where the farmer is dependent on rain, there is hunger, unemployment and poverty. We must shut out everything else and see that water reaches the farms, from the small lakes, big lakes, the land and the sky. We will see how the condition of our villages and our farmers will improve with water. Let’s take the Bhakra Nangal Dam in Punjab. Water came first to the farms, and then came the schools and the roads.

Where is the water now?
There’s no shortage of water in this country. Bihar has more water than it needs, which is going into the sea. Why can’t we tap and store the water we get from the monsoon?

The JD(U) is a regional party. Many regional parties say Article 356, which imposes Centre’s rule in a state, is misused. Has the time come to repeal Article 356?
No. Article 356 must not be done away with. Circumstances force the use of Article 356 many times. In Jharkhand, they had to implement President’s Rule recently, didn’t they? Anything can happen in the states, like in Punjab in the past. Everything can be sacrificed for the unity of the nation. Article 356 is necessary. People have begun debating it because of its misuse. Now, the Centre has to think many times before imposing President’s Rule.

The sensitivity of Centre-State relations has caused India’s structure to change periodically. The BJP has now promised to create the next state, Telangana, within 100 days of coming to power. Do you think India needs more states?
States like Uttar Pradesh are unmanageable. We must divide them scientifically. We must have a national commission to look into the issue of viable states.

Will this be in your manifesto?
There is no consensus on our manifesto yet. We don’t know whether we will have a common manifesto, or individual ones.

You’ve been in public life long enough to know the corrosive effect of corruption. What do you intend to do?
India would have progressed far more were it not for corruption in every field. People are looting all the way from Delhi to the villages. Take Satyam, for instance. It’s like a man has committed a murder and gone to the police station to confess. Ramalinga Raju was about to be arrested in the US. He knew he would be gone for life. Therefore, he chose to be in an Indian prison. He would never have confessed if he hadn’t been exposed in the US. Raju thought he would suffer like the Enron chiefs. We have the intelligence wing of the finance ministry, the sales tax and income tax wings, the SEBI, and the ministry of company affairs. Have all of them become useless?

The NDA has been in government as well. How come it didn’t look into these things?
We lost. If we were strong and perfect, we wouldn’t have been blamed forever. Why did people vote for the UPA? Because we made mistakes and they taught us a lesson. We have been punished. But is accountability only for the politicians? No one else is accountable in this country. Not the judiciary, not the bureaucracy. Not one bureaucrat has been punished for the Mumbai attack, for instance. Only the political system is accountable in this country. The media is free to do what it wants. They call themselves news channels and run fiction programmes on superstition the whole day. You should call them entertainment channels. Technology has given the media such a big tool, but it is not creating a scientific outlook. Nobody is censoring the Balika Badhu serial (on child marriage).

What about judicial accountability?
Is there any system in the world where the judges decide on themselves. The judges in our country recruit their own relatives and near and dear.

Why hasn’t the JD(U) raised this?
Sharad Yadav raised the issue of former chief justice YK Sabharwal and his sons. He got Delhi demolished. We make the laws in Parliament and we find that the judiciary is making 10 laws a day over what we say in Parliament.

Are you contesting this time?
The party will take a decision on that. There is democracy only in three parties in India: the Left parties, the BJP and the JD(U). Individual writ doesn’t run here.

Exclusive: Fear Of The Unknown Grips The BJP In Bihar

By Sanjay Singh / Delhi

A divorce after 18 years of togetherness is never easy. But it doesn’t seem that way for JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He is all set to part ways from the NDA and dump the BJP from his government.

For the moment he looks like a winner. He will continue to be chief minister of the state and his party men are happy for many more would become ministers. In this separation the BJP is not entitled to any alimony.

Opinion: Can Janata Chieftains Stop Modi's Rath?

What appears a rag-tag bunch of old fogies and has-beens could emerge as the real opposition to the BJP, especially in the Hindi heartland.

The Janata Dal is back. And the men behind this resurrection are Mulayam Singh Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, HD Deve Gowda, Sharad Yadav and Om Prakash Chautala. Each one of them (except for Sharad Yadav) is a former chief minister of a major state, each one of them reeling under a defeat at the hands of the BJP juggernaut under Narendra Modi.

In what could have been a scene out of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, or more likely Rajkumar Santoshi's China Gate, the dramatis personae of this Janata Parivar 2.0 met at the residence of Mulayam Singh Yadav in New Delhi. The incarcerated Chautala was represented by his son Abhay, but all the other chieftains were present.

Litmus Test For Chhattisgarh’s Public Health Care

Chhattisgarh is all set to allow private diagnostic centres at public health facilities within three months. Critics are appalled by the idea of business space for private players in public health facilities while supporters feel it will improve the pallid health care infrastructure in the State. 

The architect of the new model, J.P. Mishra, chief of the State Health Resource Centre — the State Health Department’s technical assistance body overseeing the project — is a strong proponent of public-private partnership. He spoke in an exclusive interview to INN defending private enterprise in public health.

Now that the bids are closed for private diagnostic centres vying to set up shop in Chhattisgarh’s government hospitals, can you give us a road map of how and when these centres are going to start operation?
A committee will be formed and bids will be opened by the committee in front of the bidders. By the end of the month we should be able to identify the laboratories [companies]. Then there will be an agreement between the companies and the government. The lab officials will visit the places [hospital and health facilities] and identify the spaces to be allotted to them. In terms and conditions, we have said that within a month of execution of agreement they should set up the labs. So by April-May first lot of labs should be operational, if everything goes right.

Why do you think this model of privatisation of public health infrastructure will improve health care?
This is public-private partnership [PPP], not privatisation of health care. Privatisation is selling of ownership. I am rather buying in, contracting in services. I am inviting the private sector to set up shop on my [premises].

Will this provide better health care?
Why not? Let me give you the example of Compfed, the Bihar milk cooperative. Throughout the 1990s they were making profit, unlike other PSUs of Bihar, because they perfected the art of outsourcing. They started giving incentive for good work and penalising [bad work]. Compfed gave incentives to truck operators for timely delivery of milk and penalised them for sloppy performance — the ‘bonus and penalty’ model. I tried that in health care

You have to understand the importance of outsourcing. If I can get something done cheaper, why should I be doing it myself? That is why the automobile industry outsources 70-80 per cent of production.

The automobile companies are driven by a motive of profit…
Profit is not the only motive, improving upon efficiency is. Yes, I would say my unit cost of providing the same services should become less. Today I have to employ a person or put up a machine regardless of how many people avail the services. Therefore, between a salaried person’s earnings and the work the person does, there is no built-in incentive for the person to be efficient.

Hence a ‘bonus and penalty’ model?
Let us take the example of PPP in diagnostics. The turnaround time [delivery of reports] has to be less than 24 hours for at least 95 per cent of the cases referred to the diagnostic centres by the hospitals.

If the labs manage to do that for a full year then they get an extension of one year. That is, now we are giving the diagnostic labs permission to operate for 10 years, it will be extended for one more year.

If they fail, the tenure will reduce to nine years or even less. That is a ‘bonus and penalty’ model.

How will you monitor this?
I had considered the idea of getting the NGOs involved.

One reason why PPP is getting questioned is because we have seen how the Bihar model of health care privatisation collapsed.

The Bihar model did not work because the qualifying criteria were very soft. Then they started with big players. The big players left because the government did not maintain its side of agreement. Payment was not regular. Even the existing players are thinking of going out. In Chhattisgarh, the payments for the patients referred by the hospitals are to be made by an autonomous body called Jeevandeep Samiti, located in the hospitals. One side of my job is to ensure that the laboratories work and on the other side I have to make sure that the payments are done on time.

In remote areas of Chhattisgarh you do not have adequate staff or equipment. So if the government could not manage to take health care to remote areas, why do you think the private parties will be able to do it?
I do not have a direct answer to that. All I can say [is] you will know after we open the bids, whether they are interested in setting shops in Bastar, Sarguja etc. I agree with you that for remote areas there is no alternative to government services. If you look at the focus, the vast majority [of labs] are to be set in difficult areas. [What] we are trying to do is to organise service delivery in such areas where there is no services. For that we can provide incentives to those who are willing to go to remote areas. And I might start only from Bastar and Sarguja. I am not here to make a profit for itself.

What about the diagnostic facilities already existing in the district hospitals? Are you going to shut those down?
It is not a question of shutting those down. It is not like everything is available everywhere and nothing is available in some places. Look at the package — X-Ray is excluded from [proposed private labs in] district hospitals and health facilities as it is available there.

What will happen to the laboratory staff in health facilities?
In some cases we have to redeploy the staff.

You cannot run a parallel lab if you have given it to a private player. So the lab technician has to be redeployed to a place where services are not given through PPP.

There are 500-odd PHCs where we do not have technicians.

That is, from district hospitals a person will go to remote areas?
I have not done that detailed an analysis. There could be a choice of a private player taking the person on deputation.

So in a way, these district hospitals are going to get affected?
To some extent. It has to be seen facility by facility. You cannot generalise.

What about the cost to public?
We will follow Central Government Health Services (CGHS) rates. And give a 10 per cent discount on that. CGHS rate are less than market rates and thus it compels the private players to reduce their rates. It has happened in Tamil Nadu. The money will come from Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojana (MSBY) for in-patients. For outpatients, a part of it will come from Jeevandeep Samiti, paid for by the State government. And we have asked for a small amount from State budget for PPP services because we are asking the Jeevandeeps to pay for outpatient cases and they do not have a fund for that.