Pioneer, June 23, 2011   
Annapurna Jha | New Delhi
http://www.dailypioneer.com/347816/NAC-dilutes-violence-Bill.html

The National Advisory Council headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday cleared the controversial Communal Violence Bill, but made as many as 49 amendments to the original draft, including the provision for use of Article 355 in case of communal violence. It also removed mention of the phrase “destruction of secular fabric”.

The NAC also cleared the populist National Food Security Bill which will provide right to food to 75 per cent of the population. The Congress president will now send both the Bills to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for Government’s consideration. After being cleared by the empowered Group of Ministers and the Union Cabinet, both the Bills are likely to be presented in the Monsoon Session of Parliament starting from August 1.

While endorsing the main features of the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011, the NAC agreed to amendments that included deleting a clause, which refers to imposing the Centre’s directive on States under Article 355 of the Constitution. The controversial clause had led to a public debate, with the Opposition charging that the provision may be misused by the Centre to interfere in the State’s domain during communal riots.

Another important amendment was the decision to delete the phrase “destruction of the secular fabric”, in relation to the definition of “communal and targeted violence”. There were some concerns about the National Authority to be created under the Bill being vested with excessive powers; so, as a precautionary measure, it was agreed to delete some clauses in this regard.

However, the NAC found no valid point in the criticism that the Bill is loaded against the “majority community”, covering both religious and linguistic minorities and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The NAC maintained that the Bill would strengthen and safeguard India’s fundamentals as a secular, modern democracy in which its most vulnerable citizens enjoy equal protection under laws of the land.

“It is a social reality that communal violence is generally against the minority community. Moreover, in case of the Domestic Violence Bill, only wives are covered, though cases where husbands have been beaten up by wives are not covered. Similarly, in case a member of a minority community indulges in violence against the ‘majority community’, it would be covered under CrPC and IPC and not under the Communal Violence Bill,” NAC member NC Saxena told The Pioneer.

The draft Bill has included new offences — sexual assault, enforced disappearances, torture, persecution, and enforced migration — and seeks to strengthen the rights of victims. It imparts legal duties on the State to provide rescue, relief, rehabilitation, compensation and restitution.

It has provisions to ensure accountability of public officials and make dereliction of responsibility an offence, a clause to be extended to non-state actors too. The draft Bill provides that if sanction to prosecute public servants is not granted by the Government within 30 days from the date of application, it will be deemed to have been granted. It calls for constitution of a National Authority and State authorities to monitor and redress grievances.

Meanwhile, the Food Security Bill cleared by the NAC will entail an additional financial burden of Rs 15,000 crore on the exchequer from the present food subsidy burden of Rs 60,000 to Rs 65,000 crore. This will make the total food bill to go up from Rs 80,000 to Rs 90,000 crore. However, the NAC is confident that the Government will agree to its suggestions, as it will go a long way in removing hunger and malnutrition from the country, Saxena said.

The Bill will cover 90 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population. The NAC has also suggested reforms in the public distribution system, free kitchens for destitutes and community kitchens for urban homeless people. It has recommended strong monitoring by external agencies and also internal monitoring to prevent any leakages.

Rejecting the Government-appointed Rangarajan panel’s reservation about not being able to procure sufficient foodgrain in future to cover 75 per cent of population, the NAC said it has calculated that if more procurement of foodgrain is done from eastern states, there would be no such shortage.

The NAC has also decided to set up a committee to decide what policy should be adopted toward the primitive Jarawas tribes. The panel would take a call on whether to leave them completely isolated to preserve their own identity and culture or make efforts to spread education among them. To decide on the policy to be adopted in this regard, tribals would be consulted.
 
 

Attachment  B
 
Bill to kill secularism

June 03, 2011 
Pioneer
http://www.dailypioneer.com/343057/Bill-to-kill-secularism.html
 
Arindam Chaudhuri
 
The NAC-drafted Communal Violence Bill is a recipe for unmitigated disaster. In the guise of promoting communal harmony it promotes rank communalism. In the guise of protecting minorities, it attacks Hindu rights. This Bill will strike at the very foundation of liberty and legitimise criminal misdeeds of Muslims. It must not become law
 
The road to hell is almost always paved with noble intentions. In the Indian democracy, this has been proven true a countless number of times. I am afraid we shall be headed yet again towards hellish times if a new policy that is being currently debated manages to become law, thanks to the super secular denizens of India whose intensity and range of noble intentions usually matches the mayhem that the same noble intentions often trigger.
 
I am talking about the well-intentioned economists, sociologists, activists and assorted jholawallah types who are convinced that it is their divine right to advice the UPA regime on all sorts of policy issues. Right at the top of this pyramid of do-gooders is the National Advisory Council which is headed by Ms Sonia Gandhi. Virtually all the members of NAC have impeccable records and reputations when it comes to their commitment towards the 'aam admi' of India. Let me also be very clear in stating that a lot of credit for path-breaking policy changes like the Right to Information Act, the NREGA and the Right to Education Act should go to the NAC. It is also wonderful to see members of the NAC valiantly battle it out against a callous, insensitive and cruel Government when it comes to implementing the Right to Food Act.
 
In each of these above-mentioned cases, the men and women with noble intentions have sought to protect and defend the rights of victims — usually the poor and the downtrodden of India who get only lip service from the Government. And now, this group of people has set out to protect and defend the rights of another set of victims — I am talking about the victims of communal violence. Nobody will dispute the fact that communal violence has been a blot on the Indian democracy. Similarly, nobody will dispute the fact that those have usually been the minorities who have borne the brunt of communal violence, even though provocation often comes from both sides of the divide.
 
So to continue with their noble mission to protect and defend victims, members of the NAC have given the green signal to the Communal Violence Bill — officially labeled as the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill — that seeks to protect minorities from murder, mayhem and worse during communal riots.
 
When I read newspaper reports about this proposed law and the objections raised by politicians like Mr Arun Jaitley, my first reaction was that the BJP was probably trying to play the Hindutva card. But I was speechless with shock when I actually managed to go through some provisions and clauses of the Bill. Most newspapers, magazines and TV channels have been politically correct and have sheepishly and squeamishly reported about the problems with the Draft Bill. But I have never believed in being politically correct. And so, let me say in plain words what the implications of the proposed law are.
 
If this Draft Bill becomes law, it will become constitutionally accepted that only Hindus cause riots; and that Muslims, Christians and other minorities can never be held responsible for riots because the definition of the term ‘group’, which is the backbone of this Draft Bill, is made totally in such a manner that the majority, that is the Hindus, will be at the receiving end of the stick.

Thus, if this Draft Bill becomes law, the Indian Constitution will accept that only Hindus incite and provoke religious hatred and denigrate other religions; and that Muslims and Christians can never do that. If this Bill becomes law, all the accused in the Gujarat riots will be culpable and be sentenced, while all those responsible for the death of train passengers at Godhra would be presumed to have harboured only goodwill for Hindus.

 If this Bill becomes law, only Hindus will be tried, convicted and sentenced for communal violence and incitement of communal hatred because the Constitution will refuse to accept that Muslims and Christians are capable of violence and hatred.

If this Bill becomes law, any anonymous complainant can file a police case against a Hindu for inciting communal hatred — and the police will have to register it as a non-bailable offence. The accused — who would be arrested — would not even have the right to know who the complainant is. And the accused Hindu will virtually be presumed to be guilty unless he or she can prove his or her innocence.
 
A Hindu activist who complains against fanatic Christian missionaries (Believe me, there are many of them out there) converting tribals through inducements and bribes will be sent behind bars; the Christian missionary who openly calls Hindus ‘heathens’ or ‘kafirs’ and tramples upon idols of Hindu gods and goddesses will be forever found innocent by the Indian Constitution.
 
That was as far as Hindus are concerned. But it is not just about them. Every other clause in the Bill seems flawed. The definition of ‘Hate Propaganda’ is designed to give the Government draconian powers and curb freedom of speech. The Bill seems to be made on the basis of a dictatorial approach which assumes the accused guilty until proven innocent, and this is totally unconstitutional. Then, of course, I talk about the formation of a ‘National Authority’, a new power center for harassment.
 
So, now you see where noble intentions can lead up to. I have no doubt whatsoever that activists, do-gooders and others of their ilk, right up to the members of the NAC, genuinely want to protect minorities from communal riots and violence. I have also no doubt that a majority of them — I am deliberately not saying all of them — harbour a peculiar and inexplicable hatred towards all aspects of Hinduism. But ask yourself honestly:
 
Is this Bill going to promote communal harmony in the country? I would have simply laughed out loudly and derisively if the matter had not been not so serious and potentially devastating for India. And frankly, how does one define minorities? There are many districts and towns in India where Muslims or Christians outnumber Hindus. Who will then be blamed for communal violence and riots? If one were to suppose there are riots in two towns in Uttar Pradesh — one with a Muslim majority and one with a Hindu majority... What will the police do in both these cases? Arrest only Hindus because the Indian law will state so?
 
Moving beyond the Bill and the disastrous impact it will have on India if it becomes law, I must also point out one thing that is peculiar to the Congress and the Gandhi family in particular. They have this strange tendency to depend on and promote advisors and Kitchen Cabinets — a move that has often cost them dearly in political terms. Mrs Indira Gandhi had a series of advisers who came from a non-political background. Rajiv Gandhi had many bright advisers who had no interest in electoral politics. And look at what they did first with the Shah Bano case, then the Ayodhya case and finally the Bofors issue. I fear Ms Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi are in danger of committing the same mistake. It was Shah Bano and Ayodhya during the Rajiv era that eventually propelled the BJP to power in New Delhi. It could be the Communal Violence Bill in the Sonia and Rahul era that could yet again hand over the keys of New Delhi to the BJP.
 
I will sum up by saying that communal harmony cannot be brought about with such discriminatory Bills. It can be brought about by providing access to education and equal opportunities for a dignified living. It’s time the Government thinks about such methods instead of passing such draconian Bills or for that matter increasing internal security budgets, etc, to fight the menace of naxalism. Access to equitable policies and right to a dignified living will take care of most of the problems that the Government seems so clueless about.
 
-- The writer is a management guru and Editor, The Sunday Indian, Activists and Concerned Citizens