Author: Joginder Singh
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 1, 2008
Politicians are predisposed not to see spending
Other People's Money as a problem, because spending Other People's Money is
what politicians do for a living. If politicians thought there were something
wrong with it, they would be in a different line of work. - Michael F Cannon
The UPA Government has decided to provide
a relief package to dependents of terrorists -- those men who fought against
the integrity of India and were killed by the security forces in encounters
in Jammu & Kashmir. They did nothing for the country except attempting
to destabilise it and kill innocent civilians. They tried their best to demoralise
and assassinate those who were standing against them and for our nation.
The extent of damage done by the terrorists,
whose families are to be rewarded, can be gauged from the souvenir of Jammu
& Kashmir Police released in 2003. It says that there were 56,041 incidents
of violence, including 10,093 explosions, 29,931 firing incidents, 5,561 cases
of arson, 763 rocket attacks, 4,597 abductions, 229 cases of hanging to death,
275 arms snatching cases and 4,592 other acts of violence from January 1990
to December 2002.
More than 30,000 civilians were killed during
the 14-year-long militancy. The security forces seized 24,785 AK-type rifles,
9,387 pistols and revolvers, 58 carbines, 1,003 RPGs, 91 light machine guns
and self-loading rifles, 742 rocket launchers and 2,270 rocket boosters during
the same period. Besides, 6,865 kg of RDX, 47,219 grenades, 5,228 anti-personnel
mines and 4,176 rockets were seized. Due to terrorism, 3.70 lakh Hindus and
Sikhs were forced to leave the Valley and there has been almost total ethnic
cleansing of the minorities from there.
The Government decision is, hence, shocking.
The policy is the first of its kind in the whole world. It will cover hundreds
of families whose men took to guns and led the Pakistan-backed separatist
movement, killing and maiming thousands of innocent civilians and men of security
forces. Imagine if the US were to follow such policy, it would give compensation
and pension to the families of all those who were responsible for the 9/11
attack or killers of President Kennedy, or Sri Lanka would extend similar
treatment to the kin of those who killed its two Presidents or Bangladesh
would compensate the killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman!
If implemented, the policy will make India
look foolish in the eyes of the world, especially since our rulers are crying
hoarse over terrorism. Incidentally, India is still bound by the UN resolution
that demands strict action against terrorists. That the Government has also
decided to come out with an aid package for the Kashmiri Pandits, rendered
refugees in their own country, must have been an afterthought. Now, if the
Government decision applies to the killers in Jammu & Kashmir, there is
no reason not to extend it to other terrorists - Maoists and rebels in the
North-East. The following chart will give an idea of the terrorists and killers
in the other parts of the country.
Forty-five per cent of the country's geographical
area, covering 220 districts, is in the grip of insurgency. In the last 20
years, 64,000 people have been killed in terrorist violence. In October 2003,
55 districts in nine States were affected by Maoist violence. In October 2004
it spread to 156 districts in 13 States. Since 1989, 13,000 civilians and
5,500 security personnel have been killed in Naxalite violence. Since that
is so, the Government should ask itself why peace-loving taxpayers should
foot the bill to compensate terrorists' kin just because it may help the Congress
grab some extra votes when Jammu & Kashmir holds its next Assembly election.
The compensation money is added to the following
bonanza that only one State, Jammu & Kashmir, is fortunate to receive
from the Union. On November 17, 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced
an "economic revival plan" of Rs 24,000 crore for Jammu & Kashmir
in Srinagar. That was a grant of an additional Rs 5,712 per capita. In the
period 2000-2003, the State got Rs 13,188 crore, which is more than three
times what a much poorer State, Bihar, got - Rs 4,047 crore. When you consider
the Rs 14,085 crore net resource transfer by the Centre, with Rs 13,188 crore
as a grant, you will get an idea of the magnitude of dole that Jammu &
Kashmir gets. A similar "economic revival plan" for Bihar would
amount to Rs 47,458 crore.
The Jammu & Kashmir Government employs
3.5 lakh people, making it a ratio of 34.5 Government employees to every thousand
persons. To get a better idea of the enormity of the State's assistance in
employment, note that the Rajasthan Government employs less than double the
number of people despite being about five and a half times bigger than Jammu
& Kashmir in terms of population.
Why such largesse for Jammu & Kashmir
when the State does quite well in terms of socio-economic development? Its
literacy level is at the national level (65.4 per cent). Its sex ratio (923:1000)
too is almost at par with the national average (933:1000). Its birth rate
(19.9:1000) is lower than the national average (25.8), its death rate (5.4:1000)
lower than the national average (8.5/1000) too. With infant mortality rate
at 45:1000, per capita income at Rs 12,399, 10th Five Year Plan per capita
allocation of Rs 14,399, it has no reason to complain about the Centre's doles.
It is nobody's case that Jammu & Kashmir
does not get enough. In 2002-2003, the State raised a mere Rs 936 crore by
way of taxes when its total non-tax revenue was Rs 4,745. Bihar collected
Rs 2814 crore by way of taxes and had a total non-tax revenue of just Rs 2062
crores. In the last 10 years its poverty level has dropped from 25.17 per
cent to a mere 3.48 per cent. The poverty level in India is around 26 per
cent. Quite clearly, therefore, the nation's generosity and bounty is lavished
upon Jammu & Kashmir very unfairly even as the State Government's accounts
have not been audited for over a decade. No one really knows what was spent
where and who got what.
The Indian Government's decision amounts to
the Government rewarding the terrorists for killing our brave soldiers. It
may be no surprise, if the Government comes out with a package to offer a
similar scheme to the perpetrators of the 1993 Mumbai blasts, 2006 trains
bombings, the Sarojini Nagar and Govindpuri blasts and perhaps even the next
of kin of the terrorists who attacked the Parliament House as well as those
who attacked the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly. The media has already hinted
that all this is being done, in view of the forthcoming general election.
If that's true, it proves what Joseph Sobran said about the US, which is also
applicable to our country: "The difference between a politician and a
pickpocket is that a pickpocket doesn't always get indignant when you tell
him to keep his hands to himself."
