• India and Mauritius signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore for hydrocarbons off Mauritius. Signed in the prescence of visiting President Abdul Kalam, the deal will empower Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to work with Mauritius Oceanography Institute to identify areas for exploration and submit a proposal to the Government of Mauritius. ONGC will bear all expenses in training engineers and geoscientists in its petroleum research and development institutes. India recently signed a MoU with Myanmar for hydrocarbon exploration. India already has rights to two oil blocks off the Arakan coast and is also working on another joint venture with Russia’s Sakhalin for exploration in areas other than West Asia. Besides oil, India will also include Mauritius in its proposal to provide a 53-nation satellite-based telecom network that will connect “very very important persons” and also provide telemedicine and tele-education.

• Finance Minister P. Chidambaram urged states to start spending money from day 1 of allocation and not wait till the last minute. Currently, states spend only a small portion upfront and spend 66% of the money later in the year. Chidambaram said that this would slow the growth of the economy, as states will lose a multiplier effect in economic spending. He warned that states that do not spend the money in proportion to the time and allocation would be penalized. He conceded that Education and Health needs more investments but also highlighted that the absorption rates of these ministries is also “limited” as they had huge unspent surpluses that could have been spent more productively elsewhere.  He complimented on the “vigorous” growth of the economy and said that with current growth rate of 8% and revenue growth of 20% the country will have enough money to spend on social sector. The Indian economy has a 3.8% deficit target deficit and while revenues come in only from industrial and manufacturing, revenue deficit can be managed through expense control and tighter fiscal management. Chidambaram said that the Government wanted to do more on farm credit but current inflation rates of 4% and hard interest rates made it impossible to loan more money. Many analysts think that the Government inflation figure of 4% is bogus and some say that it is as high as 8%.

Democracy, Politics and Judiciary

• Intense public protest veiled chiding of prosecution lapses and judgment by Supreme Court Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has spurred the Delhi police to represent the “Jessica Lall” case to the Delhi High Court. The police now say that the trial court was in undue haste in delivering a not-guilty verdict and found fault with the judgment on 92 counts. The police say that the trial court heard clarifications on Feb 21 and accused it of delivering a 179-page verdict the same afternoon throwing out the entire case without adequate consideration. The police accused the trial judge S.L. Bhayana of “non-application of judicial mind” and his verdict is based on “conjectures and surmises vitiated by non-consideration of relevant and admissible evidence.”  They faulted the trial court of not taking a holistic view of the sequence of events leading to the shooting of Lall by the son of a former Federal Minister. Senior executives of a soft drinks company, son of a former well-respected President, a former cricketer, accompanied the prime accused, Manu Sharma. Three prime witnesses supporting the prosecution turned hostile therefore jeopardizing the case. Sharma shoot Lall because he was refused alcohol after permitted hours and some say to take revenge on him being dumped by her. The murder weapon was found and in police custody but mysteriously switched to not match the cartridge obtained from Lall’s body. The present Delhi Police Commissioner filed a report bitterly criticizing the process, methodology, and practices followed by investigators. However, his boss at that time refused to take action saying that intervention may jeopardize investigation. Witnesses turning hostile because of coercion, inducement, or threat is common in the criminal justice system in India. Sabharwal had highlighted the need for change if the system is to be protected. The Parliament is considering a new law that will amend the Criminal Penal Code (CrPC) that will make it harder for witnesses to turn hostile. The Supreme Court’s (SC) recent sentencing of Zahira Sheikh on charges of perjury is essentially to enforce the sanctity of deposing under oath. Critics say that while this may ensure that witnesses do not change their story easily, it may also prevent the truth, as some corrupt police officers are known to extract a “confession” or a “statement” to suit the purposes of their political masters. Sabharwal is actually advocating the separation of investigative agencies from law and order maintenance and placing them under the executive. The Legislative body is naturally opposed to this suggestion, as it would deprive them of a key mechanism increasingly being used for political purposes. A public interest litigation challenged the promotion of Bhayana to the High Court coincidentally soon after his controversial verdict. However, the SC dismissed the petition angrily at the suggestion that Bhayana passed the verdict for political favors and personal profit.