Level playing field

As someone once remarked, it is amazing how promising politicians become during election time -- they promise everything under the sun. I...

As someone once remarked, it is amazing how promising politicians become during election time 8212; they promise everything under the sun. It is, therefore, hardly surprising to witness the ruling party get into Santa Claus mode. Some of the Vajpayee government8217;s decisions, like last week8217;s announcement raising the support price for kharif crops, are justified on the grounds of governance.

After all, even a caretaker government has the responsibility of administering to the nation until an elected one has fully replaced it. Therefore, even though the minimum support prices announced by the government were higher than those recommended by the Agricultural Prices and Costs Commission, nobody had any real quarrel with them. There are, however, other decisions that have been announced which rightfully fall beyond the scope of the ruling party8217;s decision-making powers, especially one that is under the additional constraint of the model code of conduct.

It is in judging what passes muster and what does not, thatthe Election Commission assumes critical importance. Indeed, there have been instances in the past when it failed abysmally to make the sometimes fine distinction between necessary measures and election largess and Indian democracy had suffered greatly as a result.

The commission8217;s ruling on Tuesday striking down three policies recently mooted by the government therefore deserves to be commended. The proposal to grant exclusive rights to Doordarshan to operate Direct-to-Home DTH transmission for five years, as the commission clearly pointed out, was a major initiative that required the authority of Parliament to give it legitimacy.

The same principle held true for the plan to amend the Cable TV Networks Regulation Act, 1995. The commission also rightly expressed its reservations against the principle of taking recourse to ordinances at a time when the country was preparing to go to the polls.

As for the plan put forward by the Department of Youth Affairs to set up a National Reconstruction Corpscomprising 8,000 volunteers and 800 coordinators, the commission firmly but politely observed that such large-scale employment would amount to abusing the provisions of the model code. It recommended that such youthful enthusiasm be kept on hold until a new government was in place. The commission did allow the proposed disinvestment scheme for the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited to go through, presumably because disinvestment as an issue had long been debated in the country, both within Parliament and out of it, and a degree of consensus on the issue had already been evolved.

The commission has now asked the Cabinet Secretary to send in a comprehensive report on the new telecom policy since opposition parties have been alleging that it entailed huge losses to the national exchequer and violated the model code of conduct. Even President K.R. Narayanan has been petitioned on the issue. It is, therefore, only right for the final arbiter in such a dispute to step in and settle this ugly controversy once and forall.