With ADMK in power, sand mafia rules the roost

With the ever growing real estate and construction industries, the demand for sand and sand mining is worth several thousand crores of rupees leading to vested interests attempting to make quick money by flouting all guidelines and corrupting officials and ruling partymen. Unless the political leadership of a regime is conscious of the damage that will be wrought on environments and ecology by excessive sand mining in river beds and check and stamp out greedy contractors the sand mafia will go strong and rule the roost.

Every time, the ADMK comes to power a particular men by name Arumugasamy said to be close to the Poes Garden ‘queen’ is given the licence to loot the river beds and another person in Tirunelveli – Tuticorin district, the licence to plunder the mine-rich sands of coastal areas in southern district. Under the ruling party’s political patronage the sand mafia do not hesitate to mow down officials protestors and attack whistleblowers.

Recently on March 12,  The sand mafia claimed another life in Tamil Nadu, after a truck laden with illegally mined sand ran over a youth who organized a protest in Mittatharkulam, a village in Tirunelveli district. Sathish Kumar, 21, was trying to stop people from transporting sand from Nambiyar river, which ran along his village, when the truck mowed him down. Villagers alleged that the truck belonged to an ADMK functionary and that the driver was his brother. 

Mittatharkulam in southern Tamil Nadu has been fighting mining of sand from the bed of the Nambiyar, the only source of drinking water for more than 15 villages, for over a decade. Political parties have been aiding the mafia, villagers alleged.

In that morning, Sathish, son of Esther Vincent Kumar from Mittatharkulam, found the sand mafia at work and alerted the villagers. Around 20 of them rushed to the spot and tried to stop the truck. Villagers said Sathish and his friends stood at one end of the road while the rest of the villagers blocked the other end. Driver Kingston, a native of Ittamozhi village, ran over Sathish while trying to flee in the truck. Kingston and the cleaner fled the spot leaving the truck behind.

Sathish, who sustained serious head injuries, died on the spot. Villagers staged a demonstration and dispersed only after officials arrived at the spot and promised action against the culprits. Villagers said the sand was being illegally ferried to Kerala. Truckers had brought coconut waste from Kerala to construct a dirt track on the river bed, they claimed.

Villagers said that prime accused Densingh Gomas is an AIADMK functionary and Kingston, the truck driver, was his brother. They say Densingh was in the truck when Kingston mowed down Sathish. After the incident, officials who came to the spot tried to spin a story as if the youth was killed in a clash, which irked the villagers and led to a protest. 11 persons, including Densingh and Kingston, had been booked and loadman Arul, from Ittamozhi, had been arrested. Police are on the lookout for 10 other accused. A series of PILs on various related to illegal sand mining are pending before the HC.  “The Federation of Sand Lorry Owners Associations and the Aminjikarai Lorry Owners Associations had filed several PILsin court,” says Yuvaraj, an office-bearer with both associations.

The sand mafia is clearly out to prove a point - oppose it at your own peril. Only last week a village assistant was abducted at gun-point for making a complaint against illegal sand mining at Anaiyarkulam village near Tirunelveli and was severely beaten up before being released.

The gang that attacked village assistant Karuppasamy, was allegedly led by the son of a local ADMK leader. The officer, however survived the incident as people from his village staged a four-hour long road blockade demanding the immediate arrest of the MDMK leader’s son and his accomplices. Four of the gang members are now in the Palayamkotai Central prison But not everyone who has opposed the sand mafia has been so lucky.

In November 2004, the then Nanguneri tahsildar, Natarajan (50) was knocked down while trying to stop a lorry carrying illegally mined sand from the river Nambiyaru.

Government officials had faced similar assaults in the past years during ADMK regime and this time in July last, when Revenue Inspector P.Ramu was run over by a tractor smuggling sand at Thurayur near Tiruchi. A Revenue Divisional Officer was killed in Kanyakumari district last year.

Three Revenue Department officials were killed by speeding trucks and to a tahsildar, who was rendered handicapped after a sand-laden truck dashed against him during the previous ADMK regime between 2001-06.

A.R. Venkatesan and G. Punniakoti, tahsildars; and R. Shanmugasundaram, revenue inspector, were killed in Kancheepuram district. On December 11 last, Venkatesan was on patrol duty near Manapakkam when he stopped a truck carrying illegally-quarried sand. The driver pushed him out of the truck and sped. Venkatesan died on the spot. Punniakoti and a team of officials tried to stop a truck transporting illegally-quarried stones at Erumaiyar on September 13, 2003. The driver did not stop and ran over the tahsildar. He died on the spot of head injuries. R. Shanmugasundaram and his team tried to prevent illegal sand quarrying in the Palar at Palayaseevaram on April 20, 2003. One of the trucks in the riverbed sped, running over the revenue inspector. Another illegal sand-quarrying lorry hit S. Natarajan, tahsildar of Nanguneri. He suffered multiple fractures in the left leg and arm and can now move around only in a wheelchair.

Natarajan sustained multiple fractures when he tried to stop a lorry, allegedly engaged for illegal sand mining near Rajakkalmangalam on the Nambiyaru riverbed, about 35 km from here, in the early hours today.

Surgeries were performed on his right and left hands, left thigh, left leg and left shoulder in a private hospital at Nagercoil. The official received serious injuries in the hip also as the lorry knocked him down. His condition is said to be "stable."

According to revenue department sources, around 1.15 a.m., Mr. Natarajan, the Ervadi revenue inspector, Kannan; and the village heads, Kannan and Muthukrishnan, went to Rajakkalmangalam where a Government sand depot had been functioning before it was closed down on Madras High Court orders. On seeing the officials, the illegal sandminers tried to flee the riverbed in two lorries.

One of the lorries knocked down Natarajan, who took position on a narrow sand stretch, and fled. The driver of the second lorry parked his vehicle amidst thorny bushes, about 150 metres away from the scene of incident, where there was a pool of blood and pieces of the damaged windscreen.

When the revenue inspector and others, who were standing on a gravel road leading to the Tirunelveli-Nagercoil Highway tried to take Mr. Natarajan in a jeep, it got stuck in the sand. Ambulances from the Accident Victims Relief Centres at Valliyoor, Thalapathisamudhram and Nanguneri reached the spot within half hour of a cellphone message.

Last July a revenue inspector P Ramu was run over by a tractor smuggling sand in Thurayur near Tiruchirapalli, while trying to stop it from smuggling the sand. A revenue divisional officer (RDO) was killed in Kancheepuram district last year.

The two incidents seem to have signalled a renewed boldness of the mafia that had mowed down senior revenue officials in Kancheepuram and Vellore district in 2003 and 2004, where the Palar River yields good quality sand. Tirunelveli officials too fight almost loosing battle against the sand mafia who smuggle sand from small rivers that run through the region and also the Tamaraiparani.

The killing of a deputy tahsildar R Venkatesan in Kancheepuram in December 2004 had shocked the state. He and the then tahsildar Manoharan had intercepted a lorry laden with illegally quarried sand. Venkatesan, who tried to jump into the driver's cabin of the lorry fell and crushed by the lorry. Prior to this a tahsildar was killed in 2002 and in April 2003 a revenue inspector was killed. There was even an attempt in 2004 to kill another tahsildar.  The then Jayalalitha government was forced to cancel sand mining leases and take over all quarrying.

The nexus between the mafia, lorry owners, drivers and lower level ADMK men continue now with the return of their party to power.

A despot can’t fulfil ‘Vision’ in Democracy

Addressing the national council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Chennai on July 4 last year, Chief Minister Jayalalitha told the gathering of industrialists, that the ‘Vision-2025’ document, to be unveiled by the Tamil Nadu government, will contain clear-cut policies for promoting investments in infrastructure such as power, ports and ship building. ‘One of the immediate tasks is to improve the investment climate and make our state the most favoured investment destination”, she said. She claimed that TN remained as one of the leading states of manufacturing till 2006 (when she was the CM), ‘however, subsequently, in recent years, the performance of TN in attracting investments declined’. After her government took over, she was witnessing ‘a very enthusiastic response’ from the corporate world in making investments in the state. Acknowledging that there was nervousness in some sections of the corporate sector arising out of recent powercuts, she assured the industrialists that her government was making efforts on war-footing to correct the situation, “Very soon we will be able to make our state to power surplus state once again.”

All her tall claims about her regime during 2001-06 are blatant lies and so too are her remarks on the previous DMK government’s achievements and the present situation after her return to power. From the sluggish pace of attracting investments in 2001-06, during the DMK rule Tamil Nadu received 43 major industries with an investment of Rs.50,615 crore. But the situation has completely changed with ADMK returning to power. For instance, the last year of the DMK rule was good year for the automobile industry in the state. According to its estimation over $3 billion (around Rs.13,800 cr.) was invested in Chennai by the car manufacturers by the end of 2010. But after ADMK assumed office, not only are new auto makers choosing Gujarat over TN, but erstwhile main stays of the auto scene in Chennai have also moved out. In August last year, French car maker Peugeot, after meeting Jayalalitha, had set up their Rs.4,000 cr. plant in Gujarat. More worryingly, Ford which established its first factory in India at Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai have shifted its second facility – a Rs.4,000 crore investment with an initial installed capacity of 2.4 lakh units annually - to Gujarat. There is not a single worthwhile proposal that ADMK regime has attracted so far and this is what Jayalalitha says she is witnessing ‘a very enthusiastic response’ from corporate world in making investments in the state after her government took over.

On the power situation, her government’s efforts on war-footing, have resulted in official power-cut durations increasing from one hour to two hours in Chennai and from 4 hours to 10 hours in the rest of the state and weekly power holidays for industries. The state will become power surplus because of the power projects envisaged and started during the DMK  rule and not even by an iota due to her contribution.

While such is the state of affairs in her regime now, Jayalalitha came out with a grand announcement on March 22, investing a hyper-ambitious Rs.15 lakh crore ‘Vision Tamil Nadu 2023’ document. (Why the year was changed from 2025 to 2023 is not known)

Ten months since she came to power, the Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has unveiled her dream future for the state — a poverty-free, world-class investment destination with equal accent on human development.

No other dream has been this big, with the exception of, perhaps, Gujarat.

Everything about this 11-year-long perspective plan titled Vision Tamil Nadu-2023 is super big: taking the state to one of the three top investment destinations in Asia, an investment of Rs 15 lakh crore, an increase of the state’s GDP to 11 percent, a six-fold rise of the annual per capita income to an envious Rs 4.5 lakh, an addition of 20,000 MW of power capacity and so on.

Through an inclusive growth plan, the state will largely be free of poverty by 2023, the document said. By 2023, the state now reeling under a crippling power crisis, will have surplus electricity.

The vision document reads like a completely new universe. It has massive expansion of road networks, particularly the four and six lane highways; ports, transportation, storage and cold-storage infrastructure; large-scale agricultural development including horticulture parks, agro-processing zones, restoration of wells, canals and micro-irrigation and massive skill development of people. The vision document targets job-oriented skill building of 20 million people.

Infrastructure development would absorb a bulk of the planned investment. For instance, road development, mainly multi-laning will require Rs 1.3 lakh crore; the investment in power generation will require Rs 4.5 lakh crore; and three greenfield ports capable of handling 150 million tonnes of cargo a year will cost Rs 15,000 crore. The implementation of the plan will involve considerable public private partnership (PPP).

Where from will she get financial resources for this dream? She acknowledged that the State government alone could not meet the total projects’ investment requirement of Rs.15 lakh crore. “A substantial portion of the financing for infrastructure has to be mobilized from non-governmental sources, including private sector banks and Foreign Direct Investments.”

People have seen lofty goals, unkept promises and failed policies of Jaya’s regime. What was the process followed to formulate the Vision? Whose vision is it? Is it a top-down vision? Were the people of Tamil Nadu consulted? During her last tenure also she claimed to make Tamil Nadu numero uno state in India. But nothing happened.

From Jayalalitha’s Srirangam constituency one Rajagopal has posted this comment in Zee News. “The Millennium’s joke. A woman who has no Vision of Today with the state with highest inflation, no power, highest crime rate, no roads, no garbage clearance, making hallow promises to a bunch of idiots who believe in fantasies. Never has TN so badly placed in the history of Independent India. She with all her ill-gotten wealth is running the state. TN has become the haven for criminals from all over India.

It seems to be the joint effort of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the State Government, without formally associating with the exercise, eminent experts in the respective fields covered by the plan, with knowledge and experience in handling micro and macro issues involved in framing and implementing similar plans in the past. Institutions such as the ADB tend to look at problems and prospects from an academic and theoretical mindset, and the officialdom of a Government is notoriously insulated and isolated from the ground realities.

The participation of high-profile economic players within the country in the preparation of the present document would have helped infuse into it a sense of down-to-earth realism born out of their mature study and reflection.

For, it is not enough, in the name of vision, to merely compile a long list of idealistic proposals, however desirable in themselves they may be. In a context in which resources are scarce and the State has to work the plan within the bounds of a federal system, laying down priorities becomes immensely important.

The rub is going to be finding the Rs 15 lakh crore to be spent in the next 11 years on infrastructural projects encompassing all these goals. The average per year works out to Rs 1,35,000 crore, or ten times the annual expenditure of around Rs 14,000 crore by the State on capital account.

The Vision 2023 document envisages mainly four sources for the huge outlay: The first is “the fiscal space created within the fiscal deficit of 3 per cent of the State Gross Domestic Product”.

This means that in the years there is limited room for any manouver and hopefully there will be no major jump in needs for handouts either proactively (welfare programmes) or reactively (as in the case of natural disasters).

At the moment, these are mere words, as the document contains no evidence of any concrete steps having been worked out on this account.

The document hopes to make the infrastructure services self-financing and sustainable by carrying out appropriate sectoral reforms and ensuring suitable cost recovery. This hope, again, is rather vague, in the absence of any cash flow chart based on existing and projected parameters.

The State Government also proposes to enlist the participation of private sector (including FDI, domestic investments, and bank funding) under the private-public-partnership mode to the extent of one-third (or Rs 5 lakh crore) of the outlay at the rate of about Rs 60,000 crore from now on. One can only wish the Government all good luck on this score. Finally, of course, as is only to be expected, the State Government intends to heavily lean on the Centre to fund the Strategic Plan “to the extent it can”.

The investment figure of Rs.15 lakh crore is largely sought to be met through private sector contribution. As the chart in Page 39 projects, share of private sector contribution is slated to jump from 15 per cent in 2010 to 42 per cent in 2023. Correspondingly share of state sector is slated to drop from 60 per cent in 2010 to 28 per cent in 2023. The absolute numbers are quite bewildering. State’s share in investment in infrastructure is slated to raise from Rs.15,000 crore in crore in 2010 to Rs.66,000 crore in 2023. For this to be realised:

1. Tax revenues need to be buoyant – SDP growth should be high throughout
2. State should bare a tight control on expenditure . That is all freebies should be held in high leash.

Private sector contribution is perhaps the most challenging past of the vision document. From Rs.3,750 crore in 2010 it projects investment from private sector sources to jump to Rs.99,890 crore by 2023. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the vision targets could simply fail if this is not realised. There are some serious issues this bearing fruit. Some of them are!

1.    Rising interest rates – much higher since the Yeshwant Sinha days!

2.    Inter-state competition for Private Public Partnership model projects

3.    Non availability of sufficient number of players with the experience of executing large projects (that many existing infra companies are in reality crony capitalist does not help much).

4.    Inadequate preparation. Even today many of the implemented or under implementation projects are beset with problems. E.g. UMPPs, Delhi, and Mumbai Airports, many DISCOMs 

For this scale of growth, apart from political leadership, the government machinery needs to function competently, and fearlessly. Inability of the political leadership to foster this can trip all good intentions.

It is in this respect that Jayalalitha, by her very mind set and attitude, is incapable of accomplishing such grand visions. During her previous regime she announced so many lofty ideals but achieved nothing.

In these days of democratization of even corporate sector, democracy is an anathema for her. It is universally known and her party minions take pride in it, that Jayalalitha leads an one person political party and time and again the governments led by her were also one person regimes, in which bureaucrats are reduced to the level of subordinate servants, with no say whatsoever in the administration and just carrying out the directives of the Chief Minister and always remaining on their toes to please the whims and fancies of Jayalalitha. In the state Secretariat, the Chief Secretary is Head Clerk and the Secretaries are just clerks.

(For instance in the preparation of the Budget for 2012-13, the ministers including Finance Minister and Secretaries of departments had no roles whatsoever)

Yet another requisite of this liberalization age is transparent administration, which again is the casuality in this one person government. Corporate investors, both domestic and foreign, will not be impressed by lame duck ministers  who are constantly kept changing and a toothless bureaucracy.

Hence by all means, objectively in resources mobilisation for such a dream project and subjectively by her despotic way of governance, Jayalalitha cannot and uncapable of fulfilling the highly ambitious Vision 2023.

UNHRC voting : Equally in the interests of India

The headline of the banner news on the first page of a ‘national’ daily’s Chennai edition on March 23 was, “Chennai forces India to split from Asia, censures Lanka” and the news go on like this: “Sri Lanka became the lastest victim of the UPA government's coalition compulsions, as India voted against one of its closest neighbors at the UN Human Rights Council today on alleged human rights violations in a development that may have larger implications.

India's unprecedented move to target a close ally could result in India losing strategic space to China, which voted against the resolution censuring Sri Lanka, along with others in the neighborhood, like Bangladesh and Maldives. All Asian states, except India, stood by Sri Lanka. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia voted with their strategic ally, US.

India went against its own tradition of not voting on country-specific resolutions in the UN, because of the huge pressure put on the Manmohan Singh government by the Tamil parties, with ally DMK even threatening to pull out of the government.”

If the very presentation of news ‘objectively’ by a self-proclaimed national daily is this much perverse, least need be said about the opinions that these newspapers emanate through their editorials and columns and the 24x7 English news channels, discuss through their anchors. For instance, a news Analysis column by Smita Gupta on March 24 in the Chennai-based national daily ‘The Hindu’ (Their editorial on the previous day, some what balanced) under the headline, “After Trinamool, now the DMK impacts foreign policy”, goes on telling:

“Pressure exerted by the United Progressive Alliance government's southern comrade, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, forced India to vote in favour of the U.S.-sponsored censure motion against Sri Lanka on Thursday in the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, urging that country to probe rights abuses in the war against the Tamil Tigers.

But this is not the first time a UPA ally has influenced India's foreign policy. Last September, the Trinamool Congress, which routinely railroads economic decisions the UPA government would like to take — from permitting FDI in retail to increasing rail passenger fares — also cast a long shadow over India's relations with its eastern neighbour, Bangladesh, when the party torpedoed the Teesta River Waters Agreement.

At the time, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee, apprehensive that the treaty would adversely affect irrigation and power projects in the northern part of her State, even refused to accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka. This time the DMK, by threatening to pull out its Ministers from the government at the Centre if India did not back the U.S.-sponsored resolution, exerted a similar influence on the UPA.

Since then, the Indian government may have underscored the fact that it did so only to enable Sri Lankan Tamils to get justice and it did not wish to infringe Colombo's sovereignty. But it is more than apparent that it allowed domestic political compulsions to prevail over the country's strategic interests. The fact is the government did what it did under pressure from the two Tamil parties, the DMK and the ADMK.”

It is yet another thing that these dailies could not have published the news last December under the headline ‘Kolkatta forces India...” and a news analysis “Trinamool impacts foreign policy” and risk the safety and security of their offices in West Bengal capital!

The very same dailies, if they turn back their issues of the years 1970-71 and the much avowed nationalist columnists recall their writings of that period of unrest followed by civil war led by Mukti Vahini in the then East Pakistan and the liberation of Bangladesh by the Indian armed forces, they would find they did not cry down Indian State ‘casting a long shadow over India’s relations with Pakistan’ or said ‘Indira Gandhi forces India to split from Asia, invades Pakistan’! On teh other hand, they had whole-heartedly welcomed and defended Indian government’s stand against condemnation by USA-led West and China and reservations of some Arab states.

If now, on the Indian voting against Sri Lanka in the UNHR, they observe with the same perspective of 1971, they must welcome it, rather they should have dutifully advocated the line even earlier to the Centre. Why?

There is a specific context to India shedding its traditional inhibition of not supporting country-specific resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council, and going with the American sponsored move in Geneva on March 22 to censure Sri Lanka over its violation of the human rights of its Tamil minorities. This derives from a historical change in circumstances. The Sri Lankans can fail to see this at the expense of their own cohesion.

It is also wrong and unhistorical to say that traditionally India’s foreign policy was dictated by the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. In the post-Independence years, when India was economically and diplomatically much weaker and in the nascent state in international comity of nations, the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru took bold and lead stand on many issues during the cold-war era like winning back the Palestine state under Israel occupation, against apartheid in South Africa, enunciating the principle of Panchasheel and building Non Aligned Movement, most of them much to the chagrin of Super powers and Western nations and principally guided by humanitarian and liberation considerations.

Sri Lanka used all the help it could get from Western countries during its war with the LTTE. The banning of the outfit was particularly helpful. But it now wants the same countries to keep out as the question of war crimes has arisen. It has been playing the ‘China card’ ever since it won the war, despite the support it got from India. At the time of civil war, the Lankan Tamils found refuge in India, not China. So it is we Indians, who came for their rights to live with dignity and equality in the island nation.

Until the end of the civil war, India remained solicitous of Colombo’s concern on the preservation of its unity and integrity as a nation in the face of ‘violent efforts at breaking it up’. It paid no heed then to domestic voices that sought to fetter the Sri Lankan armed forces in its fight against Tamil Tigers.

Once that objective was attained three years ago, New Delhi returned to the fundamental question in Sri Lanka of attending to the long-festering grievances of the minority community. It repeatedly urged Colombo through quiet bilateral diplomacy to come good on earlier promises to visit the question of the basic human rights of Tamil people in the North and East of the island and give these provinces the needed constitutional powers, particularly in the area of authority over land and the police. The commission of inquiry instituted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime – the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) – after the LTTE’s destruction also notes in its observations and recommendations that the ‘root cause’ of the conflict was the grievance of Tamils. In spite of this Colombo has remained evasive on basic Tamil issues.

For India, it is this that tipped the scales in favour of voting the way it did at UNHRC. Had Colombo taken credible measures to bring about the long overdue reconciliation to ensure that the Tamils lived with dignity and equality, New Delhi might not have reasons to have backed the resolution. Permanent peace, stability and development in Sri Lanka are inextricably linked to the meaningful measures its government takes within a reasonable timeframe. For the first time in decades, New Delhi is in concord with popular sentiments in Tamil Nadu but it would be wrong to look at its Geneva vote as merely the product of political pressure. Overtime, the false assurances on devolution and implementation of ‘the 13^th amendment and beyond’ it received from Colombo have frustrated South Block and forced it to reconsider its diplomatic option.

Now, there is an urgent need for India to emerge from the rather prolonged phase of quiet and virtually ineffective diplomacy to purposefully ensure that the rights and dignity of Tamil population in Sri Lanka are restored and resettled in their areas of living, equally, if not more, in the interests of security of India also.

Two issues remain. First, Sri Lankan security forces did commit widespread atrocities on the Tamil population during the final phases of the war. Second, three years since the end of war, Colombo has failed to address issues of resettlement, rehabilitation of the displaced Tamils, has progressed nowhere with regard to devolution of power and, has only done lip service to address human rights violations by its forces.

The Mahinda Rajapaksa government has gone about defending its actions at home and abroad. It says that 99 per cent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been resettled. It points at a massive development drive in the north and east of the country to provide infrastructure facilities to the Tamil population. It also says that recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) “that can be implemented instantly” have already been implemented and “the rest will be implemented systematically”. Such claims, however, have few takers outside Sri Lanka.

New Delhi thought that the tactic of shaming Sri Lanka at the UN might produce a counter-effect: hardening Colombo’s stand. It would push the country further into the lap of the Chinese — a constant fear that has influenced Indian foreign policy towards Sri Lanka in recent years. India would, thus, hold on to its policy that it does not support any country-specific resolution at UNHRC. Such a position would fend off potential attempts to internationalise similar human rights debates in India’s own conflict theatres.

Interestingly, Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna maintains that the “welfare and well-being of the Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka”, their “resettlement and rehabilitation have been of the highest and most immediate priority for the government”. Any honest assessment, however, would reveal that India’s achievements have remained negligible. 

India keeps insisting on devolution of power through the implementation of the 13th amendment, forgetting the fact that the 18th amendment has already increased the executive powers for the President and ensures the consolidation of his government in Parliament with Sinhala nationalist vote. There is little dependency on minority votes to stay in power, which further means that Colombo has very little reason to be compliant to India’s suggestions.

In the Parliament on February 14, Krishna spoke of the Indian project to build 50,000 houses for the Tamil IDPs in Sri Lanka. During his January 2012 visit, he handed over the first lot of few hundred houses and bicycles to some of the IDPs. What Krishna did not mention is that these projects in no way reverse the systematic attempts by Colombo to marginalise the Tamil minorities for all times to come. 

Recent reports indicate that the reconstruction projects in the Tamil-inhabited areas have seen a surge in military activities. The armed forces have occupied both public and private land and are gradually establishing themselves as a major economic force by involving themselves in commercial and agricultural activities. Northern and eastern Sri Lanka, as a result, is being systematically converted into some sort of a green zone, all in the name of checkmating any future revival of Tamil extremism. An attempt to impose the culture of the majority on the entire geographic expanse of the country is also underway. The gains made by Colombo are irreversible and the project of marginalisation of the Tamils is complete, almost.

Notwithstanding the token positive developments, which include relaxation of some emergency regulations, Tamil NGOs continue to face harassment. The “white van phenomenon” — mysterious men in white vans accounting for abduction and subsequent disappearance of suspected anti-establishment persons — continues to be a reality. Colombo is in no mood to change and that is more than evident.

Post-Geneva, India needs to revisit its utterances on and its action in Sri Lanka. Not just a terrorist free Sri Lanka, but also a contented and secure Tamil population within it, is in India’s national interest.

India’s national interest and its territorial security requires inhabitation of Tamils with lingual and cultural links with India, in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, close to southern territory of India, than Sinhalese, who are by and large hostile towards India. Moreover during any unrest and threat to their security and safety of life, there is an influx of refugees from Lanka into India, just as the influx of refugees from the then East Pakistan in 1970-71 which thrust a war on India.

Having voted for the resolution, the onus is now on India to remain engaged with the Lankan authorities, as its interests lie in promoting reconciliation and supporting the quest of Tamils for justice, equality and dignity and demographic distribution of people in Sri Lanka. On a visit to Tamil Nadu, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) of Sri Lankan Parliament M.A.Suthanthiram on March 25 has echoed this concern saying, “the most serious issue of focus now was the militarisation of the North and East provinces in the island nation. Violence against women was of particular worry. There had been widespread incidents of land grabbing.

The militarisation had also helped people from other parts of the country to settle down in the Tamil provinces with the protection of the security forces. Civil administration has been destabilised as the military itself was now taking care of the administration in the Tamil-dominated areas, he said. “Militarisation has had a debilitating effect on the lives of the people due to its all pervasiveness,” Sumanthiran observed.

The white van abductions were a supplementary to the militarisation that had taken place. “In the first few months of the year, there were 32 recorded incidents of abductions. Ten bodies have been found. This trend is very very unhealthy. In one case, the persons who indulged in the crime were arrested. But they displayed their army identity cards and they were allowed to go. However, the police officer who arrested them was transferred immediately,” said the TNA member. Responding to accusations from civil liberty groups that the LLRC was itself toothless, he said, “On accountability it has failed, but on many other matters it has very constructive recommendations.

The (UNHRC) resolution, on the other hand, talks about accountability separately. So what the LLRC fails in, the resolution addresses separately,” he said. On the amendments brought in by India to the resolution, he said they were “redundant and superfluous” as the rules of engagement anyway required the country to accept technical assistance. “Also, if Sri Lanka had accepted the resolution in the first place, it would have been a different issue. Now that they haven’t, the amendments make very little difference,” he observed.

The DMK has the tradition of wholeheartedly supporting the initiatives of the Centre on foreign policy, be it in support of the Palestine State issue, or against apartheid, or Non-Aligned Movement etc., by Jawaharlal Nehru and its successors. Kalaignar extended full moral and material support to Indira Gandhi in the liberation of Bangladesh. While urging the Centre now to support the resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, Kalaignar was concerned with not only justice for Lankan Tamils but also in the interests of national security.