GM Free Bihar Movement Rejects BRAI Bill

Patna, October 16, 2011: The GM Free Bihar Movement today rejected the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill as anti-people and anti-nature, saying that the Bihar Government should also pitch in immediately to stall the Bill before it becomes a law. At a dharna held at the Kargil Chowk, farmers and activists also started a signature campaign against the Bill which they said denied State Governments their authority over Agriculture and Health, which are primarily state subjects. 

They felt that besides other failings, there is urgent need to review the Bill before its introduction to the Parliament so that the interests of farmers could be protected and that the Bill should be introduced not by the Ministry of Science and Technology but by the Ministry of Health or Ministry of Environment & Forests. 

The speakers at the protest also attacked the Bill for its attempts to bypass the citizens’ Right to Information, as they said, “This Bill, through Section 28, expressly seeks to classify some information as Confidential Commercial Information and leaves it to the discretion of officials of the Authority to share or not share this information.”

“This is regressive, given that the Bt brinjal controversy saw express Supreme Court orders to the regulators asking them to put out all the biosafety data in the public domain,” said Rekha Modi, a Senior Activist from Bihar. She further said that the Bill has very weak penal clauses and does not address liability issues at all.

“The bill will affect our farmers, it will hit our villages. But even then it does not provide for consultation with people at our panchayat levels which is most shocking," said Pankaj Bhushan, the convener of the GM Free Bihar Movement. 

Bhushan said Indian farmers have lakhs of varieties of crops developed through their knowledge that will be under threat if the bill in present form becomes law. “That is what we are protesting because we want our farmers, our nature to be protected for they are our real wealth with which we are born,” he added. 

Even the noted agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan recently criticised the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) bill, saying it is against the spirit of Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi and decentralised governance.

The GM Free Bihar Movement also pointed to a recent press release issued by Senior National Advisory Council Member & associated with The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) Ms. Aruna Roy, who too criticized the BRAI Bill for total lack of transparency and being an antidote to RTI.

Activist & member GM Free Bihar Movement, Prakash Bablu said The BRAI Bill is also a regrettable attempt to curtail spaces for people’s participation and democratic oversight in decisions that could affect the lives of the entire population of our country.

The fact that this Bill has been listed for introduction in Parliament with no discussion of its contents in the public domain is an indication of the intent to push this bill through without discussion and debate, said Prof. Nawal Kishore, from Patna University, Patna. He further added that whole system has come under the control of Corporates, so such movement is required to save ourselves.

Social Worker Archna Sharma said this bill will end our food choice in near future.

Pankaj Bhushan

Convener, GM Free Bihar Movement

National Co Convener, Alliance for Sustainable & Holitic Agriculture (ASHA)

9472999999

kisanswarajpankaj@gmail.com

A promise fulfilled, ………….. but my fight against corruption will go on

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

http://nitishspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/09/promise-fulfilled-but-my-fight-against.html

I am writing after a long time. As a matter of fact, it is the first occasion since the results of the Bihar assembly election came out in November last year that I am sharing my thoughts with you.
It tickles me to be connecting with you again through this blog. I would begin by thanking the people of the state for their wholehearted support and unflinching faith in our government.
Many people from different parts of the world asked me in the past few months as to why I stopped writing my blogs. To be honest, I had not stopped writing this blog altogether. I was just waiting for a worthwhile moment to connect with you online. Now, that time has come.
Last week, our government finally demonstrated something that I had been rather passionate about all the while We have opened a primary school in the house of a senior government official facing a disproportionate assets case. Last Thursday, we shifted a primary school for underprivileged children into this house in Patna, seized under the Bihar Special Courts Act which our government had enacted last year.

This building, confiscated recently by the Patna district administration following a directive from a special court trying corruption cases in the state, was handed over to the Human Resources Department which subsequently converted it into a primary school in no time.
This Act empowers the competent authority to confiscate the movable and immovable property of a public servant even during the trial. Our government has set up six special courts for the speedy trials in corruption cases.
Such was a moment I had been patiently waiting for all these months to resume my blog writing. When it finally happened I decided to share my thoughts with you.
The opening of a school in this building is no ordinary event, to say the least In fact, this has happened for the very first time in the country. It embodies our government’s resolve to address corruption, even as it is being touted as a practicable measure to deal with incidences of corruption.

The basic objective of the state's anti-graft legislation is to instill a sense of fear in the minds of corrupt public servants. I think the provision for the confiscation of the assets of the accused will act as a deterrent among the public servants indulging in unscrupulous practices to earn wealth. When they see that their property earned through corrupt practices is ultimately seized by the government, they will realise the futility of amassing wealth. Our aim is to inflate the component of “loss” to such deterrent levels that it automatically defeats the notion of “gain” that impels people into dubious and corrupt pursuits to amass wealth.
Before this Act came into force, corruption cases against public servants used to drag on for years. In fact, the accused used to hire the best of lawyers to fight their cases while enjoying the fruits of their ill-gotten money. There was no law for the confiscation of their property during trial.
The bid to confiscate the property of the corrupt public servants had started soon after the setting up of the fast-track courts but it got delayed because of the legal processes involved. When the special courts ordered confiscation of property of a few accused, they moved the superior courts to seek stay. But the decks were recently cleared for opening a school in one of the buildings owned by an accused after the Patna High Court upheld the validity of the Act.
This should serve as a warning to all those public servants who have acquired ill-gotten money In the coming months, many more buildings are likely to be seized and turned into schools, night shelters or any centre related to public utility across Bihar.

I find it useful here to dispel doubts about who would constitute a public servant. I think that the nature and scale of public role and responsibility being handled by an individual must be the key to deciding his /her categorization as a public servant. Clearly thus, peoples’ representatives like MLAs, MPs, and ministers, besides the category of officials would fall under the “public servant’ nomenclature.
During my assembly election rallies last year, I had made a promise to the people of Bihar I had told them that I would open schools in the buildings of the corrupt public servants. When it finally happened this week I thought I had fulfilled my promise.

But that does not mean that our government had not been doing anything to tame the scourge of corruption since winning the elections last year. We took many landmark initiatives to minimize red-tapism and check corruption at all levels. Firstly, I decided to put the details of my assets as well as those of the members of the council of ministers on the official website of the state government.
This was followed by the decision of our government to make it mandatory for all government employees, up to Group III staff, to declare their assets on the official websites. From the Chief Secretary to all the Group III employees, everybody subsequently posted the details of their property on the government websites.
I also decided to get the Local Area Development Fund of legislators abolished because it had come under the cloud. There were several complaints about the way this scheme was executed across the state. I thought it was better to abolish this fund altogether and introduce an alternate, more transparent scheme involving the legislators to ensure all-round growth of the state.

During my visits to different parts of Bihar, I am often confronted with people complaining about corruption at the grassroots level. They complain about difficulties in getting work done at government offices. They allege that they have to pay bribes for things like caste and income certificates to driving licenses and police verification for getting passports, etc.

With a view to checking it, our government last month enacted the Right to Public Service Act which ensured completion of work related to public services within fixed timeframes. This law came into force on the Independence Day this year. Under this Act, the government officials have to dispose of the people’s applications related to public utility services within a stipulated period. There is also a provision under this Act for imposition of fine on the defaulters for any delay on their part. We have now ensured that our people do not have to run around the offices and grease the palms of the public servants to get their work done. All they have to do is submit their applications and wait for their work to be done within the time-frame fixed by the government.
Now, I am working towards making the institution of Lokayukta more effective and broad-based in the state. Bihar has had a Lokayukta since 1973 but I feel there is a need for giving it more powers. I am also in favour of bringing the Chief Minister under its ambit. We are already working on the draft to bring about an amendment bill in the winter session of the state legislature.
These are a few steps that I have taken as part of my fight against corruption I can assure you that this fight will go on in the future as well. There has been widespread support from people across the country for the campaigns against corruption in recent times. It proves that the people in general are disgusted by the menace of corruption that appears to have made inroads into all spheres of public life.

We, therefore, need effective legislations more than ever before Confiscation of assets of the corrupt is one small step in that direction. This will restore the faith of the common man in the system of governance, encourage law-enforcing agencies to act against the corrupt and deter those who believe in acquiring ill-gotten wealth. If we have to stamp out corruption we will have to take steps like these everywhere to achieve our goal.

Before I conclude, let me also briefly touch upon two of our novel initiatives. Firstly, the number of beneficiaries under the bicycle scheme for school students has now exceeded 6 lakh, including 2.25 lakh boys, in the state. As you know, this project was initially launched only for schoolgirls, but was later extended to schoolboys as well. At start, the government had distributed bicycles among 1.50 lakh girls. This number has gone up to 3.75 lakh now.
I would also like to talk about the Harit Bihar (Greener Bihar) campaign we have recently launched in the state. Under this campaign, both the state government and our party, Janata Dal (United), have resolved to increase the forest cover to at least 15 per cent by planting saplings across the state in a big way, and instituting measures to see these plants grow into trees. I think it is time that generations of today demonstrate their commitment to act and protect our environment.
 

I look forward to your views.

Nitish Kumar

 

Meeting Notes: Anna Hazare and Sharmila Irom

By Chitra Ahanthem

It was 1997, the year India was marking her 50th year of Independence. There would have been many celebrations of this momentous occasion but only one unique observation of this historical timeline stays on with me: a NGO based in Mumbai was taking about 250 young people from India and across the world to places of India’s history and future in a train specially reserved for the purpose! The announcement was made on a popular cultural TV program (which we don’t see the likes of now) called Surabhi beamed on Doordarshan and various other newspapers. It was a happy moment when I got confirmation that I was to be one of the said young people on the train that would ultimately travel for 11 days across the country facilitating interactions with people who were inspiring: Mark Tully, Abdul Kalam (then with ISRO and who talked us then of the possibility of an Indian moon mission which did become a reality!), Bunker Roy of Tillonia (married to Aruna Roy and behind hugely successful rural enterprises, water harvesting, adult literacy among others in Tillonia in Rajashthan), Kiran Bedi (much before her controversial stint in Mizoram) and Anna Hazare who was known at that point of time mostly for his pioneering work in Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra.

The said rail yatra was mainly organized to instill in young people the essence of leadership, innovation and social development. The routine was that we would be traveling in the train non-stop till we reached the places we were meant to be and then getting back to the train for the night. So, there was an air of curiosity when we were told that we would have an overnight stay at Ralegan Siddhi to meet a Gandhian who had taken up rural conservation and community work. The villagers took us around the place and we were told how small canals had been dug up to generate water flow. But it was two things that impressed me greatly: a school for juvenile children and the practice of Shramdaan or volunteer work as a form of social charity. The school had classrooms but if the children so wanted, classes would be held under the shade of trees in the open. There were yoga classes for “anger management” while most constructions in the village: the small dams, solar panels, wells, places of worship were all built through Shramdaan.

In the evening, we sat in a community hall and then, in walked Anna who spoke of his “second life” (he was the lone survivor during an enemy attack during an India-Pakistan war). We talked then mostly of philosophy and working for social upliftment. Like many of my fellow yatris, we thought nothing much about questioning his rigid stand against alcoholics (they were beaten up, period) and I even piped in my two bit and told him how Nishabandi women in Manipur were also doing the same! It would take me some years to understand the concept of public health and harm reduction and see that the greater crime of punitive measures on substance abusers only marginalizes them and do nothing about addressing the dependency. Anna Hazare’s activism against corruption started later and one cannot say much of what happened in between. But personally, the posturing Anna that one sees on TV (wagging fingers and dictating terms) is a very different person from the Anna I met all those years ago. The Anna then actually asked us young people on what we thought he should incorporate more into his work in his village in terms of forest and water conservation etc. The Anna one gets to see now refuses any kind of disagreement with his thoughts and beliefs.

November 2000 and a young woman called Irom Sharmila decided to fast to protest after 10 civillians were gunned down at Malom. My first reaction then (and I am/ not ashamed to own up to this now) was that it would be some token fast. Some days later, there was the “fast against AFSPA till the act is taken off” context and I thought that hers was an illogical/irrational and totally crazy stand to take. I also shrugged it off as “some group must be behind her” motive. I totally bought the “AFSPA is necessary till there are insurgents” theory for quite a long time till my own readings on militarism and armed conflicts around the world and conflict resolution/reconciliation processes made me sit up and engage in some serious questioning.

The first meeting happened in March 2009 during her customary yearly release. It was total chaos: there was a meeting of over 50 odd woman journalists from all over the country happening in Imphal and they all wanted to meet her. And then, there was the usual local media attention too. The first meeting was more of a brief sighting especially since I did not believe I needed to add my own questions to the many that were being addressed to her.

The second meeting happened in a unique setting: something that I have only shared with a few friends but one that can be let out in the public domain now. January 2010 saw me with very high fever after a trip to Bangkok and my Uncle, a doctor asked me to get a swine flu test done. Since he was with Jawarlal Nehru hospital then, I went there. Those who follow news would be aware that I was tested positive for swine flu but much before that news broke, I was raising hell over the state of the isolation ward at the hospital. What I did not want to call attention to the media then was that while I was standing outside the isolation ward with the face mask on, waiting for hospital staff to find the keys to the room (they took about an hour and a half!) I saw a familiar figure some 10 metres away from me. It was Sharmila Irom! My heart plummeted inside me: here was this one person I wanted to talk with and I was supposedly at risk of an infection that I could pass on to her. I have a small face and the mask covered most of it and I saw Iche Sharmila looking quizzically at me. I rolled my eyes at her and hoped that she would not come near (I did not want to be responsible for her health!). When eventually, my test results came in positive, I wasn’t too worried about my own health (I did not take Tamiflu medication) or my family (they did not have any fever) but I obsessively kept an ear open for any news on Sharmila’s health!

In May 2010, I got third time lucky and I had a long meeting with Iche Sharmila. I was going along as a sort of translator for a journalist and writer. We talked mostly of non-political issues: of her books and poetry we talked at great length. And then she took both my hands and said solemnly, “remember when you were at this hospital with your mask on?” And then she laughed and told me, “you don’t know the amount of activity and consternation that happened here after you left!” There was no air of moral superiority following the status of icon-hood that has settled on her: I was face to face with a unique person yes but also a normal human being, a young woman kept in isolation but very aware of the world around her.

End-point:
Many people have pitched Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption and Sharmila Irom’s stand against AFSPA. But their stands are different and the battlefield totally apart from each other. My own interaction with both of them happened at different times and stages of their journey. But what stays on following my interactions with Iche Sharmila are the little ways in which she is so much a person than an icon. It is something that one does not get to see in other people who take on the mantle of greatness.