Page 14 - EW September 2023

Editorial

RESTART SINO-INDIA BORDER NEGOTIATIONS cially since Nehruvian socialist India
was vehemently anti-imperialist. Ne-
hru’s ‘talk but don’t negotiate’ policy
he conclusion of the 19th 20th century during the heyday of the led to the Sino-India border war of
meeting of top-level command- British Raj over India. At that time to 1962 in which the poorly-equipped
Ters of the Indian Army and prevent Russian expansion beyond Indian Army suffered a humiliating
China’s People’s Liberation Army Afghanistan, the British arbitrarily defeat. But even as the PLA was poised
(PLA) to discuss confidence building drew border lines well north of the to sweep across Assam, it declared a
measures after the bloody River Gal- Aksai Chin plateau which was a ter- unilateral cease-fire and retreated
wan clash of May 2020, concluded in ritory governed by Imperial China for north of Tawang to leave a door open
Chushul on August 14 without any ap- centuries. Likewise to establish Tibet for peaceful negotiations. But fearful
parent progress. On September 9-10, also governed by Imperial China for of public opinion, successive govern-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is centuries, as an independent buffer ments at the Centre have continued
likely to meet with premier Li Qiang state between China and India, in 1914 with Nehru’s ‘talk but don’t negotiate’
at the G20 Summit in Delhi. This is a they extended the boundary of British border policy.
good opportunity to initiate de novo India (Assam) to the north of the river Although the BJP has always ad-
negotiations on resolving the Sino-In- and town of Tawang by concluding a vocated a muscular approach to the
dia border dispute that has bedevilled treaty with the Tibet administration, boundary question, it would be an
the relationship between the world’s to impose the McMahon line. The pro- act of great statesmanship for prime
two most populous and high-potential clivity of the British to decree arbitrary minister Modi to re-start bona fide ne-
nations since the early 1950s. It’s also border lines all over the world includ- gotiations — which means give a little,
pertinent to note that even as troops of ing Africa and the Middle East and take a little — towards resolving the
the two nations are squaring off along indeed between India and Pakistan in highly volatile Sino-Indian border dis-
the 3,488 km undetermined border 1947, is well-known recorded history. pute. Our two nations lived in peace
Sino-India merchandise trade is at an Therefore, it’s inexplicable that the and harmony for several millennia
all-time high with India’s trade defi- Congress government of newly inde- until the machinations of the British
cit with China exceeding $100 billion pendent India — and Prime Minister Raj. That status quo ante needs to be
(Rs.84,000 crore). Nehru in particular — insisted on restored between the world’s most
The origins of the Sino-India bor- adhering to Sino-India border lines populous and high-potential neigh-
der dispute can be traced to the early inherited from the British Raj. Espe- bour nations.

INVOKE EQUITY LAW AGAINST BULLDOZER RAJ which the court may decree. Curi-
ously, this well-established common-
sense principle of law seems alien to
bench and bar in India.
reat injustice is being meted out on railway land. The judiciary and legal profession
to a large number of citizens Similarly on earlier occasions, Ut- need to bring themselves up to speed
Gby several state governments tar Pradesh’s BJP government had to apply this well-established princi-
countrywide by demolition of homes bulldozed homes and shops of minor- ple of the law of equity. Moreover, the
and shops — especially of the Muslim ity citizens in Prayagraj because they courts also need to take judicial notice
minority community — by bulldozers allegedly fomented rioting and attacks of the common practice of the neta-
called in at short notice. The flimsy on Hindu religious processions. Court babu brotherhood issuing fake title
excuse proffered for the heart-rending orders staying these demolitions are papers to ill-educated rural migrants,
razing of painfully accumulated prop- invariably too weak and too late. encouraging them to build homes and
erty of bottom-of-pyramid citizens is Inexplicably, the legal doctrine of business premises on public land in
that they have been unauthorizedly ‘estoppel’, commonly applied in the exchange for substantial bribes from
constructed on government and/or UK and perhaps all Common Law meagre savings. Thus bottom-of-
corporate land. On August 7, the Pun- governed countries of the Common- pyramid citizens are hit by a double
jab & Haryana high court restrained wealth, is not invoked to stay the de- whammy when their homes and shops
the Haryana government from dam- molition of residential and business are bulldozed by unmindful and/or
aging or destroying the property of properties of slum dwellers, the prime communally prejudiced governments
any citizens in Nuh village which re- targets of bulldozer justice. Simply many years — often decades — later.
cently witnessed communal clashes, stated, the doctrine posits that when This situation is untenable. The vic-
without a high court order. government or private property is tims of bulldozer injustice are entitled
This court judgement was issued encroached upon, it is the legal duty to compensation for destroyed and/or
after communal clashes erupted on of the owner thereof to protest and damaged property. Simultaneously,
July 31 in Nuh. Immediately thereaf- obtain early stage stay orders against bar and bench in this benighted re-
ter, 250 shops and shanty homes in further construction. If property own- public need to wake from their inertia
Muslim majority areas of Nuh were ers fail to protest adverse possession and innovate citizen-friendly legal and
demolished by bulldozers deployed by of their land and property within rea- procedural laws to protect the prop-
Haryana’s BJP government because sonable time, their title is forfeit or re- erty and lives of citizens at the bottom
they had allegedly been constructed tainable on below-market value sums of the country’s iniquitous pyramid.

14 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2023