"Caste"tution: Subversion of Indian Constitution

Political quick-fixes, as attempted through quota in promotion for SCs/STs, just to cling on to the vote banks are undermining the strength of the Indian Constitution and Parliament. This is for the reason, that legally speaking quota in promotion is still possible without resorting to Constitution amendment bill, if governments can satisfy three conditions laid down by the Supreme Court in the famous M. Nagraj case.

Amid the raging civil war in the America, it's said that Abraham Lincoln had locked himself in a library for about three weeks. Emerging out of it, he gave the famous Gettysburg address, which lasted two and a half minutes. There he explained the underlying principle of the democracy by stating it would be "for the people, by the people and of the people".

India too borrowed Lincoln's speech. But the political class in India over the years improved upon American's phrase into "by the caste, for the caste and of the caste".   

The political class in India shelters behind caste cover as a matter of habit. Late Prime Minister V. P. Singh was thrust upon at the center of polity without any base. But power is an opium with no parallel, so Singh mandalised Indian politics. This art remains in practice even now and resorted to in quite unapologetic sense. 

The UPA government at the Centre attempted to wriggle out of the serious loss of credibility in irregularities in allocation of coal-blocks and the subsequent Parliament logjam through another bout of caste politics. After calling an all party meeting, the UPA rushed through a Constitution amendment bill to ensure reservation in promotion for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). The objective was less to do justice to SCs/STs and more to escape from public and Parliamentary scrutiny in colossal scam in allocation coal-blocks to firms with questionable credibility. The attempt has been a failure so far.

Let us take the legal journey on the issue of quota in promotion so far. In 1992 the Supreme Court consisting of nine judges bench decided Indira Sawhney case popularly known as Mandal Commission case by holding that Article 16(4) of the Constitution does not include reservation in promotional post and is confined only in the matter of appointments at the time of entry of the service.

Consequently in the year 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2002 there have been amendments in Article 16(4) and 77, 81, 82 and 85 amendments were carried out while Article 16(4A) was added in the Constitution. These measures led to introduction of  reservation in promotional post for SC/ST, while granting benefits of seniority on promotion to SC/ST. 

But later, the five judges bench of the Supreme Court in 2006 decided the case of M. Nagraj in which Constitutional amendments in Article 16(4)A and 16(4)B were upheld. However,  conditions were added in the judgement in the form of three important guidelines, namely; (a) Backwardness of a Class, (b) Inadequacy of representation in public employment of that class, (c) Overall efficiency in the administrative works.  These three pillars became conditions mandatory to make reservation in promotion as per the decision of M. Nagaraj case.

Later, various cases were filed in Allahabad High Court out of which one writ petition was filed in Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court and the matter went to the Supreme Court through UT Power Corporation Limited vs. Rajesh Kumar in 2011 and the two judges bench of Allahabad High Court decided the case on April 27, 2012. They held "in the ultimate analysis we conclude and hold that section 3(7) of the 1994 Act and rule 8A of the 2007 rules are ultra vires as they run counter to the dictum in M. Nagraj judgement". 

Clearly, the Uttar Pradesh government, which had introduced the notion of consequent seniority through various rules had failed to follow three guidelines set by the Supreme Court. 

If a state government can satisfactorily answer these three conditions they can still give quota in promotion. But this will entail rigorous job of data collection, which the political class wants to run away from for fear of getting exposed. This is the reason why the UPA wants another Constitution amendment to quick-fix problems detrimental to its caste based politics.

In the all party meeting the Samajwadi Party mentioned the curious case of the state irrigation department where all the four posts of the superintendent engineers were held by members from the SC class, thus closing the window for other engineers to advance in their career.   

In normal parlance, promotion in any job should be based on performance. But India is the only country where one can get into a job and get further promoted due to the caste he or she has been born into. While entry into jobs on the basis of caste has not yet been challenged by any political party, the promotion part has seen vertical split in most of the parties, with people being vocal against it.  

Though the move to amend the Constitution to give quota in promotion to SCs/STs came in an attempt to silence the Opposition baying for the blood of the UPA leadership for "coalgate" scam, this quota bill is most likely to meet the fate of the Women's reservation bill. A regular noise followed by a long spell of silence. 

Citibank: Frauds and stinks

Google search on Citibank gives results, with most links of fraud stories. There is no surprise. Its credit card business is run on most customer unfriendly terms. Has anyone heard of a bank charging its customers 42% annual rate of interest. It will shock people out of their senses. The Citibank charges a whopping 42% annual rate if customer makes partial payment of the total outstanding.  

The Citibank will easily put to shame even the village money-lenders. Village money-lenders, made infamous by Premchand classics, would have hardly charged anything, that the Citibank does. 

When its customer care was asked how could it charges 42% annual rate, half a dozen of its executives parroted, that they intimate customers in the monthly statement, that they would be charged in the range of 2.1% to 3.7% per month, which translates to 25.2%-42% per annum. However, the Citibank imposes the highest in the range, that 42% to all the customers. One of its executive explained, it is so because of the automated billing.

Does the government or the Reserve Bank of India allows Citibank to impose such an obnoxious rate of interest? Ask its executives, they will have only one answer, that they comply with the regulations of the RBI. But under what RBI regulations, does Citibank impose 42% rate of interest, none of these executives have any answer. They will say -- We will e-mail you the RBI guidelines on this. None of these promised e-mails ever come. 

Muge Yuzuaka with e-mail id m.yuzuak@citi.com (m.yuzuak@citi.com) heads the Citibank credit card business in India. When it was asked from her to provide details of the RBI guidelines under which the Citibank charges 42% interest, her representative Nabil Khatib, Manager-Executive Response unit, replied saying: "We wish to clarify that Citibank is compliant with all regulations laid down by the RBI." But there is no mention of which RBI guidelines. 

Khatib, when asked during a call that he made, if he had ever heard of 42% interest even being charged in villages by money-lenders he was at loss of words. His defense, also repeated in the e-mail, was that the Citibank intimates Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC) in its applications, statements and on its websites. 

However, when the Citibank executive comes to sell the card, he hardly mentions such terms and conditions and just takes a signature and one is lured by its multi-national reputation. "Your rate of interest initially is 3.15% per month (i.e.37.8% annualized). This can change periodically based on your spend, payback and utilization patterns. Your rate of interest can increase upto 3.5% per month (i.e.42.0% annualized), in case of default.The default interest rate will apply till the time the account is regularized plus 3 months of performance review period," Khatib explained in his e-mail. 

This top ranking Citibank official has no shame for utter lying. This is for the reason, that even without default the Citibank imposes 42% interest, notwithstanding the record of the customer. 

Worse is that most of its customer care centres are outsourced where people with no understanding of banking system takes calls of  customers. Ask them about RBI regulations, they will fumble for words.

Ironically, the credit card companies are functioning on their whims and fancies, with the RBI and the Ministry of Finance always keeping blind eye on them. A credit card mafia has taken over the reigns, which is being run in the most unprofessional manner, with no business ethics. 

Citibank had few months ago hit the headlines for swindling Rs 400 crores from high networth individuals in Gurgaon. The company washed off its hands by blaming some of its officials for the scam. 

The murky deals of companies like Citibank are going freely apparently as there is no governance existing in India for the last three years. Take your eyes to any field, it appears the government has mortgaged people to the greedy corporate sharks with no exception.  

Summer of 2012

Pranab Mukherjee's nomination for Presidential election has cast a shadow over the political process, which is fraught with many ramifications.

Indian summer of 2012 will stay in memory for long. A lot of political drama took place in New Delhi, while more may also unfold. Aftereffects of the way India's next President has been chosen may be felt for a long time. Authorities have been challenged and belittled.

Pranab Mukherjee has impressive political experience matched by few

Seventy two hours after two regional kshatraps -- Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee -- outmaneuvered UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in picking India's next Presidential candidate, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee profusely thanked all for showing trust in him. 

Another forty eight hours later the self-declared crusader against corruption -- Arvind Kejriwal -- cast his doubt on Mukherjee. He tweeted that there are serious allegations of corruption against Mukherjee. He had earlier done what no politicians had dared to do by accusing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of corruption. 

Kejriwal may not be just a stone pelter. He is standing up to the might of the establishment. It's not a joke. 

Mulayam Singh Yadav has gone on records to say that he pressured the Congress to declare Mukherjee's name. What he is not spelling out is that he played his role in the act which might have been scripted by Mukherjee himself. As a politician with tonnes of experience in outsmarting others, Mukherjee may have known that Sonia Gandhi could have cut short his journey to Raisina Hill. 

Authority of Sonia Gandhi has clearly been belittled. She is stated to have met Mulayam Singh Yadav twice in those 72 hours. This was a job that her political advisor Ahmed Patel did all these years. If Mukherjee was not her choice and she was forced to name him, then her political hold has clearly diminished. The perception of weakened political grip would make her vulnerable. This is a bad news for Congress.

The UPA-II has been damned as one of the most bureaucratic government that India ever saw. Likes of P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibbal and Salman Khurshid represent UPA-II. Commentators have already written their political obituaries. 

Mukherjee is one last political face surviving in UPA-II. His exit would strip UPA-II of all political credibility. Though he rushed to welcome Ramdev at airport and watched while scores of CAG indicated scams unfolded, Mukherjee still blunted all round political attacks on UPA-II so far. 

Mukherjee's absence from treasury benches in Lok Sabha will surely make UPA-II a sitting duck. 

Irony is that after a semblance of consultation on Presidential election, which included Sonia Gandhi's talks with Ajit Singh, Ram Vilas Paswan, T R Balu -- consensus is being thrusted on Opposition NDA on Mukherjee's name. Worse is that the NDA is wavering in calling the bluff. Therefore, Mamata Banerjee has rightfully emerged as the true voice of dissent.

Positioning of 2014 or a mid-term poll has already begun. NDA, which looked as if dead for some years, all of a sudden appear netting many friends. Summer of 2012 will prolong, as even Monsoon wants so.  

Raisina hill calling

Short-tempered Pranab Mukherjee must now have started believing himself in the reckoning for India's race for next President. He is clearly an old world relic. Seen as a man who carries more weight than he can handle, Mukherjee has reasons to dream that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi gives him a retirement solution in Raisina Hill.  

Since taking over as the Finance Minister, Mukherjee has taken India's economy down the hill in quick time. Economy is in shambles. People are price hit. Employment generation has frozen. Savings of middle class have gone. Necessities of the day are beyond the reach. Still, Mukherjee is the darling of many, who day-dream him as the next President.

New Delhi's disconnect with India is self-evident.

However, Politics does not oblige day-dreamers. Politics is about cold-blooded calculations. 

Gandhi will weigh many a things than thinking of a retiring solution for Mukherjee only. The Congress led UPA is hurtling down. This may outweigh all other reasons. 

Many believe that the UPA has already slipped into the self-dug grave. More people think that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led UPA-II is busy in digging much deeper grave for the Congress. 

UPA-II's disconnect with the Congress is also quite apparent. Nine out of 10 Congressmen say that they would have to be out of power for quite a long time. It takes some time for people to forget the pain giver. When the world is talking of gloom, Gandhi could not be so insulated. She has to think of future. She has to plan for the prince (Rahul Gandhi).

Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had arrived unannounced. His mother had clearly not planned for him. Mukherjee had made his ambition clear, when he had stated that the senior most member in the Cabinet should succeed Late Indira Gandhi. However, there was Giani Zail Singh to keep the Family protected. Will Mukherjee be a Zail Singh if a situation like that of 1984 arises? 

Most in the Congress and also in government want Manmohan Singh to retire. For the services that he has done to the nation, he has his claims for Raisina Hill. He has enjoyed unconditional support of the Gandhi family all these years. He will not be a person to betray the trust of the Family, if at all Rahul Gandhi needed a helping hand from the Raisina Hill.

The Congress leaders are of the view, that with Manmohan Singh in Raisina Hill they would have another two years to win back some of the support or attempt to climb out of the self-dug grave. Mukherjee could be the Prime Minister for two years. Even if the Congress is routed in 2014, Rahul Gandhi can concentrate on Mission 2019 with free hand. He will be about 49 years of age by then and would have gathered enough political experience. After sitting in Opposition for five years, the Congress would gain due strength as well.

As one Union minister said that Sonia Gandhi is in a quandary akin to Hamlet. "To be or not to be". The minister may be wrong also. She must have made her decision already.

However, the Congress, as Harish Khare had remarked once, is a status quoist party. The Family does not burn mid-night oil to satisfy the kite flying industry. So, there would not be a surprise if the Congress pulls out of its hat someone like Pratibha Devi Patil.