Articles by M Shatrugna

be considered reasonable under the impugned act. as the latter is a permanent measure, and Any declaration made thereunder would continue in operation for an indefinite period until the government should think fit to cancel it".

Revised Subsidised Rice Scheme A Bureaucratic Fiat M Shatrugna THE Janardhan Reddy government in a major reversal of the NTR 'subsidised' rice scheme has altered the policy drastically on the plea that the scheme is being maintained at the expense of relevant developmental activities like irrigation and power. In a note circulated to the press before the decision was announced, the government has sought to explain its decision as having been a response to the findings of a research study published by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) over four years ago, when in fact the study has been quoted out of context to provide support for its decision. The subsidised rice scheme was introduced by Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy just before the 1983 general elections pricing 1 kg of rice at Rs 1.90 meant for the poor. But the scheme received a fillip only after the TDP came to power in January 1983 when it was implemented vigorously as part of the social welfare programme. The free noon-meal programme for poor students in the state supported educational institutions also formed a part of the scheme. Though Andhra Pradesh is a rice surplus state, a lengthy procedure was evolved to procure rice from the farmers, mill it and supply rice at subsidised rates as part of the public distribution system. Originally the Food Corporation of India (FC1) only procured rice from the farmers and supplied an agreed quantity from the central pool to the state Civil Supplies Corporation, The present formula adopted is that for every unit of rice the FCI procured, one unit could be utilised by the farmers both for export outside the state and sale in the open market within the state in the ratio of 2:1. Thus for example, during 1990-91, the FCI procured 27 lakh metric tons, gave 18 lakh metric tons to the state government under the PDS and retained 9 lakh metric tons in the central pool. To balance this, the farmers are allowed to export 18 lakh metric tons outside the state and sell 9 lakh metric tons in the open market within the state. Also the farmers are supposed to keep 20 lakh metric tons for their own consumption and seed purposes. Now the rice procured by the FCI, the legally permissible exportable quantity to other states and the rice that normally remains' with the farmers, according to the government, will work out to be 65 lakh metric tons. With the expected production of 105 lakh metric tons for 1991-92, the open market will have about 40 lakh metric tons which the government hopes will bring down the open market price of rice. In addition to the FCI contribution the state government procures certain quantity directly from the farmers on a 'negotiated' price to meet the demand.

of sexual harassment.
As far as legislations on equality of sexes go, India is far ahead of the US, However in the US though equality of the sexes is not a fundamental right, the courts through judicial interpretation have recognised the rights of women not to be subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace. Such an interpretation is possible even with existing Indian laws on the subject. It may be worthwhile for the women's movement and the legal fraternity to think in terms of such wider principles and expand the rights of women to guard against sexual harassment. This is a relatively unexplored area of labour jurisprudence and can be used as a strategic and effective tool to tackle sexual harassment of women at their workplace. However, expecting the Indian judiciary to take such initiatives may be futile. Not so long ago a senior woman IAS officer complained of sexual harassment by a senior IPS officer in Punjab She sought to take criminal action against him because no departmental action was taken. The courts however dismissed her case as being too 'trivial' an issue! If this is the plight of a senior IAS officer that of the women in the lower echelons of employment can well be imagined.

for the AGP government, it would be interesting to see how the government will talkie these problems, especially in the light of the repeated affirmations of Hiteswar Saikia that his first priority will be to tackle these problems (including the issues raised by ULFA), and his known desire to go down in history as a leader more passionately 'Assamese' than the most perfervid proponents of an exclusivist and extreme Assamese nationalism.

Restoring Academic Freedom through Bureaucratic Fiat RIGID government control and absence of democratic decision-making formed the bedrock of Higher Education Policy during the seven-year TDP rule. Not only were elections to the university bodies abolished, but governmental control was exercised in a brute manner robbing the universities of their fragile academic freedom. The abortive bid to form the state commissionerate for higher education to act as a super university and the retrograde privatisation policy based on the notorious three Vice-Chancellors' Report further eroded the autonomy of the universities. Many naively believed that academic freedom and democratic process would be restored when Chenna Reddy after he assumed the chief ministership announced that the universities would be freed from governmental control. But they were in for a shock. The newly-enacted legislation, the Andhra Pradesh Universities Bill, 1990 though it permits a few elected representatives of teachers enter the executive council (to be called as Board of Management in the proposal set-up) and academic senate, govern ment control over the universities remains as firm as it was during the TDP rule.