Canvassing
for the 2015 Delhi Assembly Elections is in full swing and the Delhiites are lapping
up all that is on offer. People of Delhi are quite hyper- they do not mind to
enter into a heated argument even in chartered bus, especially the ladies. This
despite the fact that recognized political parties have yet to come out with
their manifesto- leave alone vision document. This shows the state of preparedness
of these parties and at the same time also puts a question mark on their commitment
to the electorates. It appears they have taken the Delhi voters for granted.
Instead of a proper manifesto they have been announcing freebies to lure
voters. What indeed is amazing is these offers (freebies) are common in nature,
irrespective of the political party in fray? Everyone is promising cheaper
electricity, regularization of slums, clean drinking water, more employment
opportunities, facilitating business, better education, more schools and
colleges, reducing corruption, improving cleanliness and lower fare in Delhi metro
for youth, aged and ladies (what crime have others, who are forced to pay
higher fare, committed). Do such assurances imply that till now Delhiites were paying
electricity at higher rates or that they were forced to drink impure water? And
if this is true, who is responsible for this plight of Delhiites? A number of
candidates contesting these elections have criminal past with cases pending in
court. They declare this while filing their nomination and yet they assure the
voters of controlling crime, if voted to power. Income of a number of
candidates saw an exponential increase in the last 5 years- by methods fair or
foul; yet they assure of controlling corruption in higher places if voted to
power. All this appear quite amusing. Nearly all organized political parties claim
to have a blueprint for development but their manifesto (one even goes a step
ahead with promise of a vision document) is bereft of any such blueprint. What each
of them has to offer ultimately are such freebies? But to lure is no cure. Such
luring amounts to bribing voters. The Election Commission (EC) must address the
issue of such bribing. This malady calls for a check to improve the quality of
leadership. Indeed the Indian elections have moved ahead from the days of booth
capturing, bogus voting and violence during elections. Elections also see
imposition of a model code of conduct but a lot needs to be done to make it
really effective. Even in the India of 21st century the Election
Commission is forced to deploy thousands of government officials for
surveillance duty to check influx of money, muscle or liquor power from
influencing voters- so much exercise to keep politicians in check who, in spite
of all their moorings, have failed to improve their conduct. This surveillance
continues for weeks together till elections are over. Government offices get
vacant and work comes to a standstill. This is sheer waste of human resources. If
this is the situation in the NCR, one can well imagine the situation in faraway
remote places. It is time the Election Commission (EC) rolls out the next
generation of electoral reforms, which may include measures such as preventing candidate with criminal records from contesting elections, control on such
luring, which no way can cure the malady that grips Indian society and economy
and above all heralding an era of online voting. Electoral reforms are overdue
since last such exercise was carried out by a gentleman named T. N. Seshan around
twenty years back.
Friday, 30 January 2015
PROMISES IN AIR AGAIN: ITS ELECTION TIME IN DELHI AGAIN(24/01/2015)
Its
election time in Delhi once again - for the third time in less than 15 months-
Assembly elections in December 2013 followed by the Parliamentary elections in
April 2014 and Assembly elections for the second time in February 2015. This is
also the season of promises. Like industrial and vehicular emissions, which pollute
the air in Delhi, stale promises made by contestants have come to fill the
atmosphere, virtually choking the electorates. “Tooti vikash kee dor, laut
chalo Congress kee ore” (The string of progress has been broken, lets come
back to Congress)-this is the tagline of Congress. “Dilli ka vikas, Modiji
ke saath” (Delhi to progress with Modiji)-this is the tagline of BJP. “Paanch
saal-Kejriwal” (Kejriwal for five years) - this is the tagline of
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Everyone is promising vikaas (development) which
remains elusive as ever. All this appear quite amusing. Almost simultaneously
every nook and corner of the city is splashed with banner, hoardings and
posters of party candidates, dirtying the city skyline- making a mockery of the
“Swachha Bharat Abhiyaan”. These slogans at times are quite imaginative
but often self defeating. People discuss the elections, prospects and promises
of various political outfits and cntestants- everywhere -on way to office in
chartered bus, in metro or even in the lawns of India Gate which, off late, has
become the favourite pastime for office goers, who make use of it for their
afternoon nap between 1-3 p.m. in a bid to compensate for coming office in time
in morning- thanks to the biometric, unmindful of the fact that seat of
ultimate power in India the Parliament House stands just across the street. Often
participants get agitated and the whole discussion becomes quite animated. The
only other issue of interest and discussion this week is the proposed visit of
US President as Republic Day chief guest. People of Delhi are the most
privileged lot and the most pampered voters, low on patience and very vocal. Yet
this does not translate into voters’ turnout on Election Day. In the 2014
parliamentary elections, Delhi was way behind compared to States such as West
Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and even Haryana as well as UT like Chandigarh in
percentage of voting. It is to the credit of contestants that they successfully
tame the voters of Delhi. This they do by openly bribing the electorate
promising those freebies- cheaper electricity, regularization of illegal
colonies, bringing down prices etc etc. This is akin to bribing the electorate
in kind if not in cash, which (cash) nevertheless is reserved for the last days
of campaigning. The prices do not heed to the promises made by these
contestants and it keeps increasing irrespective of the political outfit which
comes to power. Indians are known for their mad rush for discount sale- ‘buy
one get one free’. Probably these contestants are aware of this Indian
mentality. Each one aims to outdo other in announcing freebies so that more and
more voters get attracted towards him. “Umeed pe duniya tiki hai” (everything
hinges on hope) - it is said- the Indian voter keeps hoping against hope of a
better tomorrow. After elections these hoardings and posters will be brought
down by these contestants as swiftly and early as possible, lest the electorate
keeps reminding them of the promises made by them during elections, by pointing
to these hoardings and banners. This is the beauty of Indian democracy. Long
live the democracy!
NITI TAKES OVER PLANNING (17/01/2015)
As
a regular commuter on the Sansad Marg (Parliament Street), on way to office, a
new board greeted me on 1st January 2015: NITI Aayog, written on the
same board which till yesterday had “Planning Commission” written on it.
Welcome to an era of definite shift from the previous regime- of negating the
legacy of the previous regime. NITI Aayog- which is acronym for National
Institutions for Transformation of India takes over the erstwhile Planning
Commission. The Hindi version of the commission’s name though, is spelt NEETI
Aayog (नीति आयोग) implying Policy
Commission. A more apt translation would have been something like “Rashtriya Bharat
Parivartan Sansthan” or “Bharat Rashtra Parivartan Sansthan”. “A rose by any
other name would smell as sweet”. Planning Commission or Policy Commission- it
is more important that every penny of government welfare reaches the actual beneficiary.
The Direct Benefit Scheme (DBT) was introduced by the previous regime to check leakages.
The ‘jan-dhan yojana’ of the present regime is a step further in the
same direction as it aims to transfer benefit directly in beneficiary’s account
through the ambitious Plan Funds Management Scheme (PFMS). The effort of the
government of the day has always been to improve the delivery system. We have
certainly moved ahead from the days of “trickledown theory”, when only 15 paise
of a rupee reached the actual beneficiary and an authority as high as the Prime
Minister of the nation had to lament and express his helplessness at the sordid
state of affairs. However, there still
is ample scope for improvement. Mahatma had once said and I quote: “there is enough
on this earth for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.” This greed is
the root cause for growth of corruption in post independent India and this has
widened the divide between the poor and the rich. The bottom-line is- will the
present regime be able to bridge this divide between the rich and the poor and
come up to the expectation of the Mahatma when the nation celebrates 150th
birth anniversary of this noble soul in 2019- the year of another parliamentary
elections. If this is achieved, change in name of an institution or demise of
an institution is of no consequence.
THE ESSENTIAL EVIL: AADHAAR ENABLED BIOMETRIC ATTENDANCE SYSTEM (03/01/2015)
As
usual I took a seat in the chartered bus which takes me to my office in central
Delhi. Hardly had I settled down in my seat that an old lady occupied the seat
next to mine. She appeared new on this route. I had never seen her earlier in this
chartered bus. Once seated, she brought out her mobile phone to offer obeisance
to the “frozen baba” that she had saved as the wallpaper of her mobile.
Thereafter, she started playing some bhajans without putting on the ear
phones. It appeared she was reciting the verses as well. This continued for the
next ten minutes. In between she paid 30 rupees, as fare to the conductor. It
included a torn 10 rupee note which she passed on placing it between two other
notes without a second thought at the improperness of her act. Her prayers were
over in next 10-15 minutes after which she turned off the mobile. Her morning
prayer was over, I guessed. She turned to me and offered me some prasad
which I accepted, albeit hesitatingly. I merely greeted her out of courtesy,
but she appeared bent upon to vent her anger. “You see, I am forced to take
this chartered bus. I was never late to office and reached positively by 10.00
O’clock, but to hell with the present regime and its biometric, I am forced to come
out about half an hour earlier.”- She bemoaned. Even without waiting for my
response, she opened her bag and brought out Tiffin and began her breakfast.
She went on munching her food, at the same time showering choicest expletives
on government’s decision to introduce the biometric, many of which cannot be
written down here for the sake of civility. I could not resist opposing her.
“But aren’t we supposed to attend office in time?” I defended the government’s
decision. “People running the governments don’t have the responsibility to run
a family like us, which is a responsibility greater than running a nation.”-
She protested. I wasn’t amused. “But if you find the job so burdensome why did
you join the government service in the first place?”- I countered. “Had I known
that government job meant attending office in time, I would have rather
preferred job in a private company; at least I would have been better paid”. –
She quipped. I stop short of saying that had she got into a private company,
she would have by now got laid off, given her attitude towards work. I had to
get down the bus as it had reached my stop. So much anguish for attending
office in time- it was indeed a novel revelation for a person like me coming
from a small town to a metropolitan like Delhi.
SECULAR VERSUS COMMUNAL: A NEW TWIST TO THE DEBATE (18/05/2014)
The
change of guards in New Delhi gives a new twist to the “Secular” versus
“Communal” debate and the manner these terms have been defined by various
political parties for their own political gains. All these self-styled
“secular” political parties dismiss BJP as a “communal” party. These so called
“secular” political parties continued to raise this bogey of communalism even
during the electioneering in a bid to infuse a fear psychosis in Muslims to
extract political gains. If the definition of secularism as propagated by these
political parties is considered correct, it will imply that along with BJP even
the majority electorates have become “communal” during this election leading to
a BJP victory. How else the victory of BJP be explained by these “secular”
political parties? It is high time political parties redefine what constitutes
“secularism” and what constitutes “communal”. To dub BJP “communal” is an
insult to majority electorate of India as well. The earlier this realization
sets in among these self-styled “secular” parties the better. The stark reality
of reverse polarization is before us and hence the politics of appeasement in
the name of secularism must stop.
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