VOX POPULI

by

Aam Admi

Issue:129

Date: 08.09.2012

Contents:

1. The CAG Figures

2. The PM In The Washington Post

3. Safety On Our Highways & In Our Society

4. Institutional Activism

5. Resolve the Coalgate Scam & Move Forward In Parliament

6. The PM Should Quit

The CAG Figures

There has been quite a debate on whether the figures given by the CAG on the scams, be it for the 2G case or Coalgate are correct or not. But what people do not realize is that the figures given per se are irrelevant. Analysing these figures on a close scrutiny basis is a case of missing the woods for the trees. The principle behind the erroneous decision matters which are pointers to bad governance. All audit reports including those of the CAG, as we all know for those of us in professional service, are things to note and remember as guidelines. They are not mandatory and serve more as conscience keepers for future action. The important thing, however, is that irrespective of the loss in revenue being not in the lakhs of crores but just 7-10% of that per various estimates of experts and therefore in the thousands of crores, even this smaller amount is critical in the context of our fiscal deficit and where we talk of a dip in customs, excise and income tax revenue due to slump in economy, all these thousands of crores help in tiding over. Between the BJP & the Congress the mudslinging to establish who is the bigger culprit does not help the aam admi who is more interested in where the money went and who is culpable. Those responsible for the action in the entire chain of decision making in the Coalgate scam including the officials, ministers up to the Prime Minister as the minister-in-charge should be held accountable to the nation.

The PM In The Washington Post

The article in the Washington Post on our Prime Minister to which it is understood the PMO has taken umbrage is like the old adage which says - How many mouths will you try to shut? It is only by action and performance that people's opinion will change. Thus to improve Manmohan Singh's image in both India and abroad he should strive to prove by his action that he is not what people believe him to be. In doing even that if he is diffident, then people are surely entitled to their opinion.

Safety On Our Highways & In Our Society

Last week there was a horrific accident on the outskirts of Kannur in Kerala involving a LPG tanker after a road accident bursting into flames and the resultant inferno enveloping some 500 meters on either side of the highway burning in its wake all houses, shops, greenery and killing a large number of people. In analysing the situation the usual blame game of ascribing blame to others is being played out with the police and highway authorities stating that since the LPG tanker hit a divider on a turn while overtaking another vehicle, it is the fault of the PWD who had not installed reflectors on the divider. There have been other experts who have been suggesting that the LPG tanker shell is directly mounted on the wheels and if there had been a frame to house the tanker shell then maybe this accident would not have happened since the frame would have absorbed most of the impact and the shell would not have ruptured. The reason for the three explosions and resulting fire at this accident site was because of the tanker shell rupturing and leaking the LPG which made it an unfortunate night to remember for the nearby population. The driver is also being commended for raising the alarm and getting people to evacuate the nearby houses which resulted in a lesser loss of life which though praiseworthy misses the point of responsibility. Just like the captain of a ship, the driver of the tanker should have remained at the site of the accident and given help to the police and firefighting personnel. For this, the first question, is whether the driver is trained on what to do when an accident or leak of the LPG takes place? Secondly, is there available the minimum firefighting equipment on board the tankers to handle smaller fires? Can self-sealing layers not be used inside the shell to tackle such leaks? Who was responsible for the accident and whether the road was recommended for use by the extra-long and heavy LPG tankers? Why was the driver overtaking when he was clearly aware of the flammable cargo on board? The driver and the oil Cos. in the wake of the accident should be pulled up and got to install proper procedures to deal with such eventualities. The problem in India is that no one cares of what happens to the people enjoined to do their job and people in general like the residents living in the area proximate to the accident. The reason for this is that life in India is cheap and a death in the process of doing a job or those affected near to it or arising out of it, does not generate any serious concern among the authorities except the regulation lip sympathy. This has to change and in the light of this accident it should be made mandatory that LPG tankers be enclosed in a steel frame, self-sealing technology looked at, the drivers trained to advise the concerned people on how to tackle emergencies relating to LPG and a quick-response 24/7 cell with each oil Co. on the routes that are taken by their flammable cargo to reach any site immediately on advice of such accidents by helicopter or whatever or have this done by the State Disaster Management Authority. The casualness with which we in India handle matters relating to road transport can be seen by the fact that BHEL to move their extra-heavy and long cargo found that bridges continue to be designed in the 20th century and now in circa 2012 on the empirical basis that the load bearing capacity should be to handle an Arjun MBT tank. BHEL thereafter had to build their own roads and bridges to move such special equipment to their sites. In the same way sleeper buses are common enough for plying at night between many of our cities but there are no guidelines for the design of these buses and God forbid if an accident takes place. To compound this there is now news that between Bangalore & Mysore the Karnataka government is introducing extra-long Volvo buses with pantry and toilet facilities. Whether these buses though maybe safe to themselves are safe for the traffic in between the two cities is something one does not know whether it has been examined? We rush to install facilities without doing what is called exception testing that is what to do when things go wrong or an accident happens. When the ghat roads on the NH sometime back between Bangalore & Mangalore were not motorable the convoy of buses plying every night since at that time the new broad gauge railway line was not operational, would take the winding roads of Coorg via Mysore to reach Mangalore which are primarily not capable to handle such traffic and there are many harrowing stories of delays aftera bus has broken down or an accident happening on this route. We need to make our roads and highways safe and this will come only if authorised vehicles use it. Are the authorities listening? Postscript: The latest accident at the fireworks factory in Sivakasi highlights that safety aspects continue to be neglected either due to lax monitoring and control or the perpetrators thumbing their nose at the authorities and disregarding strictures.

Institutional Activism

There has been comment that institutions like the CAG, the Supreme Court, the EC and others have been getting more activist lately and it has been attributed to the maturing of our democracy. This is not necessarily true since when you have a weak executive, it is but natural that institutions at a peer level and reporting to it will spread their wings and exercise their responsibilities in a more vociferous manner to test the limits of their authority. This is, of course, subject to the condition that to a large part it also depends on the personality of the individual heading these institutions. Thus with the UPA-2 government being perceived as weak and docile it is everybody’s prerogative according to their assumption to make themselves heard. That exactly is what we have been seeing around us for the last 5 years or so since what would you expect if there is policy paralysis as variously described afflicting the Centre, there is some necessity for someone to step in and impose strictures like what we have seen the Supreme Court do. It is not only the named institutions who have been trying to challenge the authority of the Centre but also people like Mamta Banerji in her new role as Chief Minister of West Bengal who has been creating enough nuisance for the incumbent government on various matters as also Jayalaithaa, CM of Tamil Nadu who has thought it fit to raise the issues of Sri Lankans now to a fever pitch. This kind of action is not limited to State players but also to non-State players like Geelani in J&K who is blaming the Central government of deliberately increasing the number of pilgrims for the Amarnath yatra to show India’s hegemony over Kashmir little realizing that with more money in people’s hands there is a tendency to be reminded of the gods more and more. Thus unless the UPA-2 government is able to establish its writ in a firm and rigorous manner we will continue to see such extraordinary exhibition of responsibilities by our institutions, political parties and the like leading to a cacophonous state in our society.

Resolve the Coalgate Scam & Move Forward In Parliament

The Coalgate scam which has stalled Parliament has raised many issues relating to our democracy. The Congress, the main party in the UPA-2 coalition has been castigating the BJP for stalling Parliamentary procedure on this issue and has also lately accused the BJP of de-stabilising the government in a statement made by the present Coal Minister Jaiswal. This is where one must say that the Congress party has been deluded by having too much of a good thing going and that too for too long. They probably do not remember that the role of the Opposition in a Parliamentary democracy is to de-stabilise the ruling party unless there is a national emergency by way of any external or internal threats. The Congress functionaries seem to be either unaware of this or are deliberately playing ignorant. On the charge that the BJP is stalling Parliamentary procedure one must agree with them on the logic that allowing a discussion on the Coalgate scam or similar issues has never resulted in any action taken on the issue at hand except put a lid on it. On the claim that the PM is not being allowed to make a statement in Parliament, the simple rule is of accountability and just like A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran resigned based on the CAG reports on the 2G scam and subsequent investigations on that, so also should Manmohan Singh as the incumbent Coal Minister when the allocations were made should stand up and admit his responsibility and quit. Some of the Congress ministers have leveled a charge of conspiracy against the PM which in real terms is a conspiracy of the Congress party to keep the aam admi in the dark on the Coalgate scam and similar other matters on the functioning of government. The final position to resolve the deadlock in Parliament that is emerging which is very correct is to cancel the allocations of coal that have been done but not utilized or under-utilised and for a judicial probe in the matter by a Supreme Court sitting judge. At least if this happens it is hoped that the Congress would respect the rules of de3mocracy and run a transparent government.

The PM Should Quit

The PM has once again opened his mouth 30,000 feet above sea level which is getting to be a habit since he rarely seems to speak his mind when he is on the ground. Talk about building castles in the skies, Manmohan Singh seems to have this attribute neatly tied up with a government plane to boot to take him up in the skies so that he can dream. Or maybe he feels confident to speak up there since he knows that his High Command is far away and will have no access to correct or reprimand him. He has explained his silence on the Coalgate issue and not responding to the accusations of the BJP and the Opposition by saying that with this he is maintaining the dignity of his office. One cannot understand this since as the Prime Minister of India he is expected to speak and be combative when he and his office are being put on the mat. By not responding he is not only lowering his position but undermining the dignity of his office. That is if there is any dignity left to protect particularly in his second term as Prime Minister of this UPA government. When he does not speak on issues like Coalgate where he was directly the minister-in-charge, the accusations get stronger and his opponents are more enthused. Is this difficult for Manmohan Singh to understand? In explaining away his silence, he has quoted an Urdu couplet, which is more suited to the manner of working of a bureaucrat or that of an educationist or better still that of an statue which this government could have commissioned Mayawati to build a few of him, one of which he could have installed at South Block. Surely this kind of reticence does not behove an active politician and the head of the executive of the largest democracy in the world to boot. He has also blamed the Opposition parties to holding up Parliament little realizing that the leadership of the elected executive extends to engaging with the Opposition so that Parliament can get on with legislative business. Therefore it is time to go Manmohan Singh, and do not make it any more painful than it already is and leave even now with some remaining dignity before being besmirched with incompetence in the ability to hold on to even a ministerial post like at the Coal Ministry and presiding over the allocation scams.

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