Bush & Morality?
George continues to surprise...

(column by Neha Gupta)

Heard George Bush talk ethics lately? How about this: “I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line.” ‘This’ is a Senate-backed bill to increase federal funding for stem-cell research. It allows funded researchers to use days-old human embryos that would otherwise be rejected by fertility clinics. The notion is that these embryos will provide cells that can grow into bones, nerves and tissue. Stem-cellers say they can use this to repair ailing bodies, and also to ward off diseases. Bush used his right to veto and k-o-ed the bill on July 19, 2006, a day after the Senate passed it. He says: Can’t kill life (in the embryos) to save life.

It was the first time Bush used his right to veto though he has threatened to do so 141 times in the past. Stem-cell research is popular in the US where it is seen as possible cure to diseases like Parkinson’s (which killed Ronald Reagan), Alzheimer’s, spinal cord injuries et al. But, conservatives won’t have any of it. Says House Majority leader John Boehner, “The notion that embryonic stem-cell research relies on ‘spare embryos’ that have no value beyond medical research possibilities is tragically & deceptively wrong.”

The bill is largely supported by eminent personalities like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor of California, Bill Frist (majority leader in the Senate – seen by some as a candidate in 2008 presidential elections – and coincidentally, also a certified doctor), and Nancy Reagan, Reagan’s widow. But even Republicans, who are largely anti-abortion, are divided on stem-cell research. Britain has a law to encourage embryonic stem-cell research, while countries like Canada and New Zealand have passed a charter to fund it. Clearly, it is disappointing that some conservatives in the US are nixing stemcell research, which can hugely help humans. It's time that the extreme rightwing in the US learnt where to actually “draw the moral line”. Bush remains a hilarious contradiction, who has rarely displayed concern for life in other areas (like Iraq, for instance). He may be overcorrecting himself. On the other hand, he may be letting people die. Again.

(End of Neha Gupta column)

Everybody's wrong; US is ‘wrongest’!
The US must stop its tacit support of Israeli bombing for peace to exist

(column by Kalyan Upadhyay)

The fresh violence that has engulfed the Middle East is the nth start to a war that never ends. Israel’s continuing attack on Hizbollah targets in Lebanon after the banned outfit kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, has already killed over 270 people and displaced many more. In response, Hizbollah called for a fight to the finish. No one really expected Israel to turn the other cheek. Neither can we look to the Hizbollah for reason. And with the US unofficially giving Israel another week (after the G8 summit) to blast Hizbollah, an early end to the conflict appears remote. The Israeli bombing began on July 12, with the deployment of a posse of Israeli helicopter gunships. Predictably, the US looked the other way. The US believes that the Hizbollah’s spine rests in Syria and wants Israel to end the role of Da-mascus. Israel’s massive use of force is not aimed at winning a popularity contest; and neither is the conduct of Palestine and Syria. The impasse is reflected in global fora like the G8, and the UN as well. The US takes one line, Russia the other. It suits everyone, barring those dying in the conflict. Worse, on July 16, mirroring an erstwhile statement of Iranian President, Ahmedinejad, Iran’s supreme religious head Ayatollah Khamenei said Israel is an “evil and cancerous being” and called for its destruction. These are not acceptable words.

But then, these are as unacceptable as is Israel’s current bombing spree, as is the democratically elected Hamas’ current anti-Israel unlettered balderdash, and as is the funding provided by Arab states. And the worst of them all is the United States, whose tacit support (in terms of funding, technology, weaponry, & worse, acceptance of bombing) proves its hypocritically selfish stance. For whatever, the US has to change... and now.

(End of Kalyan Upadhyay column)

There's a bill, where’s the way?
Who says MPs delay work? They took only 24 hours to pass a bill allowing criminals to contest elections

(column by Vijay Simha)

After musing for a while in the mid-90s, one day, former president R. Venkataraman observed that many woes could be spared if people read their job descriptions. The ‘90s have passed, but not much has changed since for our dear MPs, who might make it to the Guinness record list for the amount of bills left pending by them. The primary task of an MP is to make laws. That is, pass a bill, and everything else follows logically. But, this has subtly receded over the years. Particularly, since voters began to avoid giving parties brute majorities in elections. The need to cobble together coalitions of parties with varying priorities, may be now affecting the job of making laws. Routinely, politicians rise to defend turf in the most hallowed of portals, the Indian Parliament. Arguments dominate, not debate. By the end of a session, there’s never much progress. This time, as the monsoon session of Parliament convenes (on July 24, 2006), there is a whopping number of 55 pending bills, four times the number of bills passed in the previous session.

One can only imagine how these 55 will be passed. One reason for this mass of non-work is ‘bickering’. As always, the Treasury benches and the Opposition are readying to bait the other. Ruckus is already growing on the weak-kneed release of terrorists in exchange for Indian hostages at Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1999. The then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s conduct in Kandahar, promises to be a topic of raucous name-calling, especially with his belated assertion that there was a “mole” in the Narasimha Rao government (a statement challenged by the current PM Manmohan Singh). There will be many more of such niggles, which will keep some important legislation on hold – like the Seed Bill, the Pension Bill, the Prevention of Child Marriages Bill and the Women's Reservation Bill.

“Often, people say MPs are wasting money. It is only the middle-class and the political class that is concerned about money being spent on Parliament and no work being done,” snaps D. Raja, Secretary, Communist Party of India. What Raja is alluding to could be the second reason for piling bills: Lobbying. Interested parties push for legislation to suit their interests. Some MPs, therefore, see no harm in taking time to pass bills. One bill is on hold since 1987, the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill. Then there’s the Food Safety and Standards Bill that proposes to establish a Food Safety & Standards Authority for setting and monitoring nutritional & chemical-content standards in local & imported food items. In the West, for instance, these would be issues to deal with haste.

Of crying shame is the fact that when in 2002, the Election Commission & Supreme Court passed verdicts to keep criminals from contesting elections, MPs went to town about how these orders would murder democracy; and in 24 hours, members of the August Rajya Sabha & Lok Sabha gathered and passed a bill that changed the law to suit them. Truly speaking, fifty-five bills is a vast agenda that ought to shame at least senior politicians into exhibiting work ethics. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh & Congress President Sonia Gandhi are credited with an inner voice. It shouldn’t be too difficult for them to summon moral fibre. Maybe then, their MPs will do what they should: Make laws for all of us... and yes, pass those bills!

(End of Vijay Simha column)

Logic redefined
Notings not part of ‘information’

To an extent, governments may be right in guarding their deeds. Not everything is easily understood by people at large and when emotions take over, things can get messy. That, however, doesn’t appear to be why the union cabinet opted to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act in a meeting on July 20. The cabinet decided to keep “file notings” outside the purview of sharable information.

The RTI Act was born because of a popular movement against the opaque manner of governance. Government employees had gone too soft and too corrupt because nobody knew what they were doing. In this context, file notings are basically a few lines of scribbled opinion at the various stages a file passes through. For example, a single file may tell us how a bureaucrat and several ministers went about a decision. Now, the government fears it may be embarrassed by its own thoughts & so the newest amendment.

Not everyone agrees with this. Chief Information Commissioner, Wajahat Habibullah has in the past shared information the government didn’t want to. On the cabinet amendment, Habibullah says, “Our job is to follow the law... File notings come under the RTI.” Clearly, the ambiguity is because Article 2 (f) of the RTI Act mentions “file” under “material” used to define “information”. But the government now cleverly proclaims that file notings are not part of “information”.

Amusingly, this means that all that the government has to do to stop people from taking advantage of the RTI Act, is to change the definition of what comes under “information”. One wonders how long would it take for the government to pass a bill announcing that information itself is not part of ‘information’? Well, if you’ve read the previous article properly, you would have got the answer by now... 24 hours!

Yes, the G8 still matters...
India should join the G8 as a permanent member for future power plays

Two attractions for most nations, at the end of the day, would be democracy and industrialisation. Democracy, because it affords choice and dignity. Industrialisation, because it offers jobs and creates money. India has both. Yet, our PM made the trip to St. Petersburg on July 16, only for an outreach session between G8 members, the world's leading industrialised democracies (and nations on the fringes of global leadership); rather than demanding immediate enrolment.

The G8 is an unofficial forum of heads of Russia, US, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Italy and Canada, where the European Commission is also represented. Member states account for 49% of global exports, 51% of industrial output and 49% of assets in the International Monetary Fund. In the summit, Manmohan Singh aired concerns on the Indo-US nuke deal. More importantly, he was part of the first trilateral summit between India, Russia and China, a grouping that some think could take on the US in the years to come. Creditably, G8 leaders backed India's worry over the Mumbai blasts – although, US President George Bush parried India's accusations about Pakistan involvement, claiming those were without evidence.

But unless India forces upon the G8 to admit the nation as a member, participation in such meetings would only lead to anaemic wastes of time and trite debates. The G8, thankfully, has no formal admission criteria. Its decisions are formulated as the political commitments of member states. And India becoming a member would also ensure that their candidature for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council is strengthened further. Dr. Singh, if G8's the question, just do it!