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Let
Justice Be Done Don't confuse the Rajiv murder case with the larger debate on death penalty.
Cynicism comes easy when confronted with politicians. Even so, it would be churlish to dismiss Sonia's plea as just another gimmick. When the lady speaks of the loss Rajiv's death meant for her and her children and says she would not want Nalini's child to go through a similar trauma, the sentiments have to be respected. So must the law. In murdering Rajiv, the conspirators posed a challenge to an entire nation and not merely to an individual or a family. India as a collective has to set right the equation. The hangman's noose may seem a crude mechanism to do so -- but within the realms of Indian jurisprudence it is the only one possible. If a discussion on the future of death penalty is necessary let it take place in abstraction -- without emotional issues like motherhood or the obvious affection millions of Indians retain for Rajiv coming in the way. Legislation can only be fostered in a dispassionate environment, not when acrid memories of a despicable act are still fresh. Let justice be done. No more, no less. Mahajan's Password The IT Ministry has to guard against the bureaucratic virus
Given this rosy picture, what role could there be for the Government? Simply put IT Minister Pramod Mahajan will have to effect a paradigm shift in the mindset of the state -- from participant to facilitator. True, such a change is necessary in other sectors as well. Yet, in domains from telephones to airlines, the Government has been loathe to give up its jagirdar-type control. The public sector is scarcely a player in IT. So Mahajan starts with no baggage. His facilitator role, therefore, will be twofold. One, trade promoter -- pushing Indian IT the way, for instance, the US Administration does American companies. Two, liaise with the ministries of communication and information and broadcasting, with whom synergy is a technological imperative. If the minister succeeds, he will set the benchmark against which the political class will henceforth be measured. The point is, is he up to it? |
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It is somewhat ironical that a public
debate should find Subramanian Swamy, otherwise the freelance cowboy of Indian politics,
defending propriety, convention and rule of law. The maverick Tamil politician's
contention is that any clemency -- leading to a remission of the death sentence to life
imprisonment -- to Rajiv Gandhi's assassins would be incorrect and uncalled for. The case,
he points out, has gone through the due judicial process and an appeal has been turned
down by the Supreme Court. It is difficult to fault such a self-evident truth. The case
against death penalty has been made, in essence, by groups that are opposed to the state
taking a criminal's life, however heinous his act may be. On the other hand Sonia Gandhi,
widow of the slain leader, has sought to save Nalini, the lone woman among the four, from
the gallows on grounds that it would render her child an orphan. Nalini's husband also
awaits the executioner. 
In some ways the creation of a
separate ministry for information technology (IT) represents a defining moment in Indian
governance. It indicates the Government's desire for a partnership with industry, an
alliance of equals as opposed to, say, nationalisation. Having said that, the arguments
against the very idea of an IT ministry are many. The industry is in fine fettle. At
$1,750 million (1997-98 figures), software exports represent a major source of earning for
the country, having grown an astonishing 677 per cent in five years. Of the Fortune 500
companies, 158 source their software requirements from India. Statistics tell a proud
story but not the whole tale. IT is a revolutionary tool. A networked India will resolve
communication problems that have resisted being tamed for centuries. The burden of
history, the despair of being underdeveloped -- none of it will come in the way of India
being at the frontiers of the future.