Context:-
It is now celebrates 30 years since India’s economic liberalization programme began. Massive libraries can be built solely devoted to how the Indian economy and Indian lives have changed since 24 July 1991, but let us swim against the tide and go back several decades before 1991, and look at something that’s core to reforms, an area where much has changed, yet much may not have.
Mohammadali Carim Chagla, an extraordinary man who is largely forgotten today.
Chagla was chief justice of the Bombay High Court, was handpicked by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to be our ambassador to the United States, was education minister from 1963 to 1966 and then briefly minister for external affairs in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet.
He went on to be a leading voice against the Emergency. Throughout his distinguished career, he stood for certain inalienable principles of liberty, nationalism and secularism.
Chagla saw from close quarters, the like of Muhammad Ali Jinnah to Nehru, John F. Kennedy to Fidel Castro. But lets confine to one episode, again largely forgotten today—the Haridas Mundhra affair, which was the first big financial scandal of independent India.
In 1957, Parliament was rocked by allegations that Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), under pressure from the finance ministry, had bought worthless shares in companies promoted by Calcutta-based businessman Mundhra for ₹1.24 crore—about ₹9,000 crore in current terms.
The finger of suspicion pointed towards then finance minister T.T. Krishnamachari and finance secretary H.M. Patel, both of whom denied any knowledge of the matter. Under fire in Parliament and in the media, Nehru appointed Chagla as a one-man inquiry commission.
Chagla submitted his report within a month, which must still be a record for Indian inquiry commissions. Though no direct guilt could be established, Nehru had no option but to ask Krishnamachari to take responsibility for the LIC scandal and resign. Mundhra went to prison.
The last section of Chagla’s report starts with the words: “If I may say so, without undue presumption, the following principles seemed to be established as a result of a careful consideration of all the material that has been placed before me…“
He then made some recommendations.
- One, the government should not interfere with the working of autonomous statutory corporations.
- Two, the chairman of the corporation should be appointed from among persons who have business and financial experience.
- Three, if executive officers of the corporation are to be appointed from the civil services, it should be impressed upon them that they owe a duty to the corporation, and that they should not permit themselves to be influenced by senior officials of government, or surrender their judgement to them.
- Four, the funds of LIC can only be used for the benefit of its policy holders and not for any extraneous purpose. If they are used for any extraneous purpose, that purpose should be in the larger interests of the country.
- Five, in a parliamentary form of government, Parliament should be taken into confidence by the relevant minister at every stage, and all the relevant material must be placed before it.
- Six, a minister must take full responsibility for the acts of his subordinates, and he cannot be permitted to say that his subordinates did not reflect his policy or acted contrary to his wishes and directions.
These recommendations were made in February 1958. Can anyone argue that they were wrong? And can anyone claim that they have not been extensively ignored by almost every government?
Politicians in power have routinely used the resources—in cash and kind—of public sector units (PSUs) to further their own narrow objectives.
Ability vs Loyalty
- By the 1970s, the heads of some of the largest and wealthiest of these corporations were being appointed for political loyalty rather than ability.
- Bureaucrats with no domain expertise were heading PSUs in sectors that needed specialized knowledge, and they would do the bidding of the bureaucrats they reported to.
- This was in their personal career interests, which may or may not have had anything to do with the company’s.
- LIC has traditionally been the favourite milch cow for governments. Its money has been used to shore up markets, buy useless stock in dead-end PSUs and help out crony capitalists.
- A significant part of the disinvestment figures claimed by governments has been one PSU being forced to buy shares in another PSU, which is nothing other than transferring money from one pocket to another without real economic or financial goals being met.
- On the other hand, several once-valuable PSUs have been sold off at a pittance after they had been systematically run into the ground.
Conclusion
Yes, an LIC public issue is said to be in the works, and a general insurance company is to be privatized. But there is uncertainty about when these could happen. The longer the government waits, the less money it will possibly end up raising. Meanwhile, as we celebrate 30 years of the economic reforms, Chagla’s recommendations remain as valid as they were more than six decades ago.
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- Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund.
- LEAF is supported by transnational corporations (TNCs) like Unilever plc, Amazon.com, Inc, Nestle, Airbnb, Inc as well as Emergent, a US-based non-profit.
- The world lost more than 10 million hectares of primary tropical forest cover last year, an area roughly the size of Switzerland.
- Ending tropical and subtropical forest loss by 2030 is a crucial part of meeting global climate, biodiversity and sustainable development goals. Protecting tropical forests offers one of the biggest opportunities for climate action in the coming decade.
- Tropical forests are massive carbon sinks and by investing in their protection, public and private players are likely to stock up on their carbon credits.
- The LEAF coalition initiative is a step towards concretising the aims and objectives of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism.
- REDD+ was created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It monetised the value of carbon locked up in the tropical forests of most developing countries, thereby propelling these countries to help mitigate climate change.
- It is a unique initiative as it seeks to help developing countries in battling the double-edged sword of development versus ecological commitment.
- The initiative comes at a crucial time. The tropics have lost close to 12.2 million hectares (mha) of tree cover last year according to global estimates released by Global Forest Watch.
- Of this, a loss of 4.2 mha occurred within humid tropical primary forests alone. It should come as no surprise that most of these lost forests were located in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa and South Asia.
- Brazil has fared dismally on the parameter of ‘annual primary forest loss’ among all countries. It has lost 1.7 mha of primary forests that are rich storehouse of carbon. India’s estimated loss in 2020 stands at 20.8 kilo hectares.
- Between 2002-2020, Brazil’s total area of humid primary forest reduced by 7.7 per cent while India’s reduced by 3.4 per cent.
- Although the loss in India is not as drastic as in Brazil, its position is nevertheless precarious. For India, this loss is equivalent to 951 metric tonnes worth carbon dioxide emissions released in the atmosphere.
- It is important to draw comparisons between Brazil and India as both countries have adopted a rather lackadaisical attitude towards deforestation-induced climate change. The Brazilian government hardly did anything to control the massive fires that gutted the Amazon rainforest in 2019.
- It is mostly around May that forest fires peak in India. However, this year India, witnessed massive forest fires in early March in states like Odisha, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram among others.
- The European Union’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service claimed that 0.2 metric tonnes of carbon was emitted in the Uttarakhand forest fires.
- Implementation of the LEAF Coalition plan will help pump in fresh rigour among developing countries like India, that are reluctant to recognise the contributions of their forest dwelling populations in mitigating climate change.
- With the deadline for proposal submission fast approaching, India needs to act swiftly on a revised strategy.
- Although India has pledged to carry out its REDD+ commitments, it is impossible to do so without seeking knowledge from its forest dwelling population.
Context:-
At the recently concluded Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, a collective of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway governments, came up with a $1 billion fund plan that shall be offered to countries committed to arrest the decline of their tropical forests by 2030.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]What is LEAF Coalition?
Why LEAF Coalition?
Brazil & India
According to the UN-REDD programme, after the energy sector, deforestation accounts for massive carbon emissions — close to 11 per cent — in the atmosphere. Rapid urbanisation and commercialisation of forest produce are the main causes behind rampant deforestation across tropical forests.
Tribes, Forests and Government
Disregarding climate change as a valid excuse for the fires, Indian government officials were quick to lay the blame for deforestation on activities of forest dwellers and even labelled them “mischievous elements” and “unwanted elements”.
Policy makers around the world have emphasised the role of indigenous tribes and local communities in checking deforestation. These communities depend on forests for their survival as well as livelihood. Hence, they understand the need to protect forests. However, by posing legitimate environmental concerns as obstacles to real development, governments of developing countries swiftly avoid protection of forests and rights of forest dwellers.
For instance, the Government of India has not been forthcoming in recognising the socio-economic, civil, political or even cultural rights of forest dwellers. According to data from the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs in December, 2020 over 55 per cent of this population has still not been granted either individual or community ownership of their lands.
To make matters worse, the government has undertaken systematic and sustained measures to render the landmark Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 ineffective in its implementation. The Act had sought to legitimise claims of forest dwellers on occupied forest land.
Various government decisions have seriously undermined the position of indigenous people within India. These include proposing amendments to the obsolete Indian Forest Act, 1927 that give forest officials the power to take away forest dwellers’ rights and to even use firearms with impunity.
There is also the Supreme Court’s order of February, 2019 directing state governments to evict illegal encroachers of forest land or millions of forest dwellers inhabiting forests since generations as a measure to conserve wildlife. Finally, there is the lack of data on novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths among the forest dwelling population;
Tardy administration, insufficient supervision, apathetic attitude and a lack of political intent defeat the cause of forest dwelling populations in India, thereby directly affecting efforts at arresting deforestation.
Way Forward
Tuntiak Katan, a global indigenous leader from Ecuador and general coordinator of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, aptly indicated the next steps at the Climate Summit:
“The first step is recognition of land rights. The second step is the recognition of the contributions of local communities and indigenous communities, meaning the contributions of indigenous peoples.We also need recognition of traditional knowledge practices in order to fight climate change”
Perhaps India can begin by taking the first step.