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DAM-L LS: President Narayanan Criticises Big Dams (fwd)
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Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 18:47:50 -0800 (PST)
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subject: LS: President Narayanan Criticises Big Dams
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Economic Times, January 26 2001
President against constitution review, large dams
Our Political Bureau
NEW DELHI
PRESIDENT K R Narayanan on Thursday used the
Republic Day eve address to declare his differences with
the government's policy on the review of the Constitution
and the Centre's support to large dams.
He also chided the political class for their tardiness in
giving women opportunities and rightful representation.
Clearly going against the grain of the Supreme Court in this
matter, Narayanan's words today were designed to warm
the hearts of anti-dam activists. Reminding the nation of
the social commitments of the Indian Constitution,
Narayanan quoted Ambedkar as saying, "'Civilising the
aborigines means adopting them as our own, living in their
midst and cultivating fellow feeling, in short, loving them'.
But the developmental path we have adopted is hurting
them and threatening their very existence."
"It is well known how the large river valley projects are
uprooting the tribals and causing them untold misery.
The mining that is taking place in the forest areas are
threatening the livelihood and the survival of many
tribes. It
is through enlightened developmental policies that we can
resolve such dilemmas of development.
"One pre-condition for the success of developmental
projects in our extensive tribal areas is that we should take
into confidence the tribals and their representatives,
explain the benefits of the projects to them, and consult
them in regard to the protection of their
livelihood and their
unique cultures.
When they have to be displaced the resettlement schemes
should be discussed with them and implemented with
sincerity. This could avoid many critical situations, and we
will be able to carry the tribals with us."
Although the president makes a passionate entreaty to the
nation, "Let it not be said of India that this
great republic in
a hurry to develop itself is devastating the green mother
earth and uprooting our tribal populations" it is
equally true
that the Supreme Court judgment in the Narmada dam
case their ruling in favour of the dam was a statement that
in this case at least, tribals would benefit from the dam
rather than be a victim of it.
Narayanan's unerring instincts for the nature of the Indian
democracy — slightly chaotic, but refreshingly free and the
most comprehensive representation of the Indian people —
found expression with a thinly veiled criticism of the
ongoing Constitution review process, which had the Prime
Minister recently plugging the concept of fixed
parliamentary tenure for governments.
Using evocative comparisons, Narayanan makes a simple
point, that indirect elections or "guided democracy" had
failed spectacularly across the border in Pakistan as
compared to the enduring quality of the Indian experiment,
which favoured responsibility to stability.
The remarks are especially significant in the atmosphere of
the growing clamour for a constitution review, with the BJP
clearly supporting a more presidential form of government.
The PM himself harping on the nightmare of losing the
confidence vote by a solitary vote in '99.
"At the heart of our democracy is the right of the universal
adult suffrage. It was an audacious and revolutionary act by
the founding fathers, to have introduced in one go. This act
of faith by the founding fathers meant that the governance
of this vast country was not to be left in the hands of an
elite class but the people as a whole."
"It also meant, logically, that the voice of the
people will be
heard in the affairs of the state and their representatives
will be elected directly to the legislatures and parliament."
"The founding fathers had the wisdom and foresight not to
overemphasise the importance of stability and uniformity in
the political system. As Ambedkar explained in the
constituent assembly, they preferred more responsibility to
stability."
"That is why they consciously rejected the system of
restricted franchise and indirect elections embodied in the
'35 government of india act. Today it is necessary to look
back to this faith when we hear voices pleading for a
system of indirect elections."
"We may recall that in Pakistan, Field Marshal Ayub Khan
had introduced an indirect system of elections and
experimented with what he called basic democracy or
guided democracy.
It would be an irony of history if we invoke today in the
name of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, the
shades of the political ideas of Field Marshal Ayub Khan,
the father of military rule in Pakistan."
"Let us remember, it is under the flexible and spacious
provisions of our constitution, that democracy has
flourished during the last 50 years and that India has
achieved an unprecedented unity and cohesion as a
nation."
A product of the nationalised system, Narayanan is clearly
uncomfortable with the rash of public opinion debunking the
public sector and deifying the private sector.
The problem is not, as he makes out to be, the fact that
the public sector existed at all. Its that the public sector
stunted economic development in this country to the
extent that even private sector found it easier to be
sub-contractors to the licence raj, be more rent-seeking
than entrepreneurial in their actions.
Therefore, the president is clearly at odds with facts when
he says, "indeed it is the growth of the public sector in
India that made it possible for private sector to expand and
flourish later. What we have done is to keep pace with
world developments."
"While making necessary changes in our policies it is
important to recognise the contributions made by India in
its earlier stage of development and that it is standing upon
the shoulders of our earlier policies and their results that
we are today liberalising and globalising our economy."
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