Questions about the National Advisory Council

It seems that the Indian National Congress’s honeymoon with “civil society” is coming to an end . The game of using “civil society” as a cover to push radical left agenda on to India is slowly being exposed for what it actually was , a club of pro Congress ideologues with strong far left sympathies ( I am consciously not using the word “Maoist” here….though the company they keep do raise suspicious questions about that too ) pushing their pet agendas. The Apex body of this “club” is the “National Advisory Council” whose Chairperson is Smt. Sonia Gandhi , the Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance . The NAC to the present UPA 2 Government seems to be the fount of wisdom of all that is good and progressive  .It is the purported defender of the poor and a shield of the weak. It is the highest policy framing and making body of the government . It periodically holds forth on all issues in India from food security , to communal violence to rights of domestic servants .It is the oracle of the jholawala brigade albeit with their foreign accents intact.

The NAC is a body which is constituted under the Government of India by a government order with it’s Chairperson holding the “rank and status” of an Union Minister. Infact the Chairperson in terms of Government order is clearly entitled to salary , pay , allowances and other facilities which a member of the Union Council of Ministers is entitled to . The question is what is the need for that , is offcourse completely redundant considering who the Chairperson is .

The time has come to question who is this National Advisory Council ? Who are it’s members ? and what are the benefits do these so called pro poor activists get as remuneration for being members of the “National Advisory Council”?

The members of the NAC in terms of the notification dated 31^st May , 2010 are : M.S.Swaminathan , M.P , Dr.Ram Dayal Munda M.P., Narendra Jadhav , Member of the Planning Commission , Professor Pramod Tandon , of the North Eastern Hill University , Dr.Jean Dreze of the G.B.Pant Social Science Institute , Allahabad , Aruna Roy of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan , Rajsamand , Madhav Gadgill , Agharkar Research Institute , Pune , N.C.Saxena , Dr.A.K.Shiv Kumar , Advisor ,UNICEF , Deep Joshi , Anu Aga ,Thermax India Ltd. , Farah Naqvi , Harsh Mander , Mirai Chatterjee , Coordinator , SEWA Ahmedabad .

The question is obviously what is the background of these people ? where do they come from ?  An interesting thing is with the exception of Anu Agha , who was rated by Forbes Magazine as one of the 40 most wealthy persons in India , Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander every person has a degree from a foreign University , Swaminathan from Cambridge , Ram Dayal Munda from Indiana University , Pramod Tandon from the University of California , Jean Dreze from the University of Essex , Madhav Gadgill from Harvard , N.C.Saxena from Oxford , Shiv Kumar from Harvard , Deep Joshi from MIT , Farah Naqvi from Columbia and Mirai Chatterjee from Harvard and Johns Hopkins . This offcourse does not mean that they are not qualified to deal with the problems of India , it just shows how “elite” “the club” is . Needless to say not every Indian has an education at Harvard , Columbia or Oxford . It is almost as if the NAC is a chosen elite who have selectively chosen  to be the repository of all that is good and progressive in ‘India” .This is apparent by the latest article written by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey in Outlook magazine , it was clear that the members of the NAC felt piqued that others can claim to be representatives of the “civil society” besides the chosen few at NAC. This arrogance is written over the formation , constitution and workings of the NAC .

It would also be interesting to note as to what are the perks given to NAC members which would further drive home the point that most people come from a very similar background . The first , all NAC members are entitled to Rs.1000 for every day of the meeting of the NAC , second , two and fro air fare , third , rent of a single room at a state guest house /ITDC Hotel / India International Centre / India Habitat Center and four , allowance of Rs.750 for conveyance allowance . The fact that the last two places are mentioned in the list of possible accommodations clearly are evidence a set of entitlement which normal poor Indians do not have . All of those who live and work in Delhi know very well , that the people who have access to accommodations in either the India International Center or the India Habitat Center are not the “aam admi”of the city . Holding meetings about the state of the poor , while jetting in and out of Delhi and staying in ITDC Hotels on tax payers money is apparently hypocritical to say the least , specially when an average Indian actually earns less than Rs.1727 a year . It reminds one of “Caviar Communism”.

Now the next big question is what does it do ? In the words of the Government order dated 31^st May , 2004 it was to (i) monitor the progress of the implementation of the common minimum programme  and , (ii) to provide inputs for the formation of policy by the government and to provide support to the government in it’s legislative business . The first is obviously redundant in the UPA 2 Government , therefore the present NAC’s duty is to frame policy and laws .In other words it is to allow concerned citizens to insert themselves in the legislative process of the country so that laws can be framed which would benefit society . If that be so , why is the government so reluctant to entertain Anna Hazare or Baba Ramdev’s claim , because to my knowledge they also want the same thing . It cannot be that you put up some whom you like at the India International Center or ITDC Hotels and tear gas others whom you do not . What is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander . Once you open the doors to extra constitutional authorities who are constituted and composed of people based on no objective criteria except possibly they are close to the political dispensation , it then becomes a futile discussion to say , that others be kept out of it . If you let one set of people who are not answerable to anyone but themselves frame and suggest laws , what stops others from wanting to do the same . The argument for qualification and merit does not hold as everyone knows and I am sure that the members of the present NAC would agree merit alone cannot be a consideration for appointment , which they themselves have touted all along . In any case what makes Deep Joshi or Harsh Mander more qualified then Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare to draft legislation . The only possible answer to that is that the group is meant for people of a similar dispensation and that is what Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey more or less say in their latest article in Outlook . The thinking that those with the dispensation of the members of the NAC know best for what is needed for India is down right patronizing and more importantly smells of entitlement socialism that is the poor have to be saved from themselves …because they can be lead astray….by the sort of people like Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare , which is offensive to say the least .

The Council is given carte blanche by Government order to engage whosoever it wants to and invite whosoever it wishes to participate in it’s deliberation . There is no restriction at all .Yet , this very government has problems with the composition of the Lok Pal drafting panel. In other words the framing of policy and laws is fit enough only to be done by a chosen few selected members of the “club”. This smells of Babalog entitlement syndrome at it’s worst .

The Government order further provides that all expenditure of the NAC is going to be directly paid through the Prime Minster’s Office and by the Government of India . But most incredibly the Government order dated 31^st May , 2004 specifically states that “the Council….would be serviced by the Prime Minister’s Office”. If this is the status that can be given for supposed policy framers and those proposing legislation , why this complete disquiet about allowing Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare to draft bills . It  is apparent that Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare are definitely infinitely more representative of the people than the present members of the NAC.

What is most interesting is to note how powerful is this committee ? In the official recorded minutes released on the website of NAC for the meeting dated 24^th September , 2010 , it is recorded that the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission , Montek Singh Ahluwalia , Alka Sirohi , Secretary Food and Public Distribution , D.K.Sikri , Secretary , Women and Child Development and Kiran Dhingra , Secretary , Housing and Urban Policy Alleviation , made presentations regarding their viewpoints before the Committee . In other words you have the entire gamut of the highest bureaucrats of the Government of India , appearing before an unelected , unanswerable group of persons , who are appointed by an office order by the Government  , and , who are incharge of framing laws in this country , and , these are the same people who talk about unreasonable demands of Lok Pal drafting committee and unelected Ombudsmen like Lokpal being dangerous and a “Frankenstein”as Aruna Roy famously said .

The government has to realize that running agendas of the Government through extra constitutional authorities goes against the very spirit of constitutionalism , limited governance and a system of checks and balances . Allowing , unelected , unanswerable , arbitrary group of people to frame legislation for India , is not only a bad idea but it also reeks of arrogance . To use Government money through the Prime Minister’s office to “draft bills” is a stupendous waste of government money . To maintain an entire staff through the Prime Minister’s Office for a “self perpetuating clique” is just not acceptable in a democracy . Who are these people in the NAC ? Why are they there ? What was the selection process ? How many applied ? How was the selection made ? These are some questions which swirl all round and which need to be answered  . I do not remember seeing advertisements for selection to the NAC .

In the times when the Government is raising questions about the trusts of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev and their sources of funding , let us first start asking questions about the transparency of the NAC as an initial step . Otherwise the cries from the vast majority of  “poor , misguided and gullible” Indians is bound to get deafening , that this Government has two rules for India , one for the common people and one for those close to the political establishment.