Light and Shade

Libyan strongman Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s gruesome end oustide Sirte in the morning of October 20 was the most noteworthy event on the international front in the last few days. While the precise manner of his killing is still shrouded in mystery and his wife’s demand for a UN investigation into her husband’s death appears reasonable, what cannot be overlooked is the NATO role in ensuring his capture and bringing about his death since it was a French Mirage of the NATO forces that struck Gaddafi’s convoy racing westwards breaking out of the two-month siege of his hometown.

Meanwhile the political transition in the aftermath of the Arab Spring has taken concrete shape in Tunisia, the country of origin of the new people’s movements in the region, that witnessed over 90 per cent voter turnout in the first truly democratic elections of the nation aimed at appointing a government and drafting a new Constitution.

In the domestic sphere several issues have come to the fore of late. On October 25, the RBI, while increasing the rapo rate (that is, the short-term borrowing rates for banks) by 25 basis points to 8.5 per cent once more on the ground that inflation “is above the comfort level of the Reserve Bank”, freed up the savings bank deposit rates. The decision is based on the likelihood of inflation easing by December-end. By all accounts it is a tight-rope walk by the authorities. However, in reality food inflation has surged again—in mid-October it hit the six-month high of 11.4 per cent as prices of vegetables soared. Now the Centre is thinking of reducing the allocations to its mega-flagship projects like the MGNREGA and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan due to the funds crunch.

On October 21 was released the second India Human Development Report. It points out: the Human Development Index (HDI) has grown by 21 per cent from 1999-2000 to 2007-08; HD indicators for SCs, STs and Muslims have been converging with the national average (with some major exceptions).

Nevertheless what is most striking in the Report is that mere economic growth is no guarantee for reducing malnutrition as it underlines: (a) as far as the industrial States are concerned, Gujarat has a high incidence of malnutrition among SC and ST women; and (b) in spite of high economic growth Gujarat fares the worst among the high per-capita income States, ranking 13 out of 17 major States in the hunger index, below Orissa, UP, West Bengal and Assam. The performance of Karnataka on this count is also not bright in the least.

The Report further attributes the “progress achieved by two of the economically backward States of UP and Bihar” to social movements there that helped guarantee better performance of the deprived classes.

In the meantime the report of the Supreme Court amicus curlae has hit the headlines precisely because of its “difference in perception” with the Special Investigation Team’s report on the role of State CM Narendra Modi and the Gujarat adminis-tration in the 2002 post-Godhra riots; Modi’s alleged directive to his officials to permit Hindus express their anger following the Godhra attack may not amount to conspiracy to murder but could form the basis for prosecution under several Sections of the IPC, the amicus curiae is learnt to have observed.

October 28, 2011 S.C.