Author: Priya Sahgal
Publication: India Today
Date: June 13, 2011
URL: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/nac-sonia-gandhi-manmohan-singh-differ-on-key-issues/1/140265.html
Introduction: There is a distinct gap between what NAC suggests and what government
finally implements
Sonia Gandhi, and not Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, outlined the Government's agenda for the monsoon session of Parliament.
At UPA- II's second anniversary dinner, she announced that the Government
would be tabling the Land Acquisition and Food Security bills in the next
session. Manmohan smiled but did not spoil the evening with the thought that
while these bills would be tabled, they might not quite be what Sonia ordered.
The Government and the Sonia-led National
Advisory Council (NAC) have been arguing over the food security legislation
for over two years. The quibble is over poverty figures with the NAC pushing
for a wider ambit than just BPL families. The Government has now agreed but
is yet to finalise at what price the grains would be distributed.
The NAC's grouse with the Government extends
to other areas as well, such as the recent (albeit conditional) clearance
given to posco India Pvt Ltd despite nac's objection to the fact that the
project violated the Forest Rights Act. On August 3, 2010, NAC member N.C.
Saxena had written to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh outlining the violations.
Anti-posco protesters say that the clearance was due to 'PMO pressure'. After
paying lip service to Sonia's favourite policy club, the Government cleared
the project
"The reality is that many NAC recommendations
have been ignored, rejected, diluted or, at best, partially implemented. I
don't think the description of NAC as a 'super Cabinet' is meant to be taken
seriously. Perhaps it's a good inspiration for a cartoonist but this description
does not have much relation to reality," says NAC member Jean Dreze.
Last week's public protest by three NAC members-Dreze,
Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander-against the Planning Commision's poverty figures
just shows that like the aam admi, even the privileged NAC has to take to
the streets to make itself heard. "There is evidently a deep divide between
the NAC and the Government. If this continues, the Supreme Court will seize
the initiative, which will make any draft that the Government finalises infructous,"
says an exasperated Biraj Patnaik, principal adviser to the Supreme Court
commissioners on the Right to Food.
Another example is Sonia's favourite Women's
Reservation Bill, which is still in a limbo despite her repeated entreaties
to the Government to get it passed. The Government claims that it lacks the
numbers in the Lok Sabha. However, no attempt is being made to broker a consensus
as was done in the case of Manmohan's pet project, the Nuclear Liability Bill.
This must hurt, given the support that Sonia lent Manmohan when it came to
getting the nuclear deal through Parliament. She has also hushed criticism
amongst some of Manmohan's Cabinet colleagues over his single-minded pursuit
of peace with Pakistan which resulted in the Sharm el-Sheikh fiasco and silenced
criticism of the prime minister's American agenda even though the Congress
party's traditional loyalties have been with the Far East and the Arab world.
"The history of Indo-Arab friendship benefits the Congress, but it s
not on the prime minister's agenda," says an MP from Uttar Pradesh.
Manmohan does not refuse Sonia on larger issues,
such as Cabinet appointments. But there are areas where he does say no, the
fineprint of legislation being one of them. Most times, Sonia's suggestions
are taken but not implemented fully. The NAC has cried itself hoarse pointing
out the lacunae in the Domestic Violence Act, the Right to Information Act
and even the MNREGA. "The Congress had weaved a winning election campaign
around MNREGA. But there are complaints that it's not being implemented properly
largely because of lacunae in the legislation," says a Congress Cabinet
minister. This has sparked a buzz in Raisina Hill that Manmohan could be replaced
with the more amenable A.K. Antony. But a Cabinet source rules this out saying
that "change, if any, will only happen in favour of Rahul Gandhi".
The latest bone of contention is the Land
Acquisition Bill. On May 25, after a seven-hour meeting, the NAC suggested
changes in its draft, the most controversial being that land should be acquired
directly by private companies if the project displaces more than 400 households.
This, government sources say, will be hard for Manmohan to concede. A key
UPA ally, the Trinamool Congress, has objected to the 2007 Bill drafted by
UPA-I which said that the state government should acquire 30 per cent of the
land if the private player has acquired 70 per cent. Says a Trinamool Congress
MP, "Mamata joked that though she heads a government, she still does
not want such powers."
The NAC is also critical of the Government's
initial proposal that did not take into account increase in land prices. "Whenever
prices go up in the case of a resale, farmers should be paid 25 per cent of
the difference," says Saxena. On the NAC's suggestions getting the short
shrift, Dreze says, "I would not argue for stronger powers for the NAC.
It is an advisory body so its advice may or may not be followed." Adds
Saxena, "We have recommended 1 or 2 per cent of the project cost be given
to farmers. If the Government doesn't want to give anything to them, that
is for the government to decide." Rural Development Minister Vilasrao
Deshmukh said that the NAC's demand to club the Resettlement and Rehabilitation
Bill along with the Land Acquisition Bill might pose a problem. "The
former is also for people affected by national calamities," he pointed
out.
Clearly, another qualified 'no' to Sonia is
on the cards. With the prime minister, it's not what he says that's important
but what he leaves unsaid. That is the message 10 Janpath has finally decoded
after a seven-year relationship. with Shafi Rahman
