VOX POPULI
by
Aam Admi
Issue: 151 Date: 16.05.2016
Contents:
1. BJP Should Concentrate On Governance
2. Enact Stiffer Punishment To Handle Road Accidents
3.
The Danger To Civilians
From Army Artillery Testing Ranges
4.
The US Plays Hot &
Cold With Pakistan
5. No Hike In Legislator Salaries Instead Enact Right To Water
BJP Should Concentrate On Governance
The
land that is India has a history of being a 5000 year old civilisation which
has given humanity four of its greatest religions - Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. This land has from the days of antiquity been
honoured and regarded as a place where intellectual activities thrive and
culture is perennially alive. For that reason it has attracted many visitors
from the days of yore, some of whom chose to stay back as conquerors. Apart
from the spice trade it was the Indian philosophical thought as recorded in the
Vedas and other religious texts, the study of Sanskrit and the message of the
Bhagavadagita that this land exported to different parts of the civilised world
spawning the study of Indian thought in many countries like Germany, with Max
Muller being at the forefront, and England, our colonial rulers.
From
this high pedestal of eminence over the last two years our political discourse
has dragged India down to banality, short-sightedness and to put it plainly,
cussedness. First it was the meat eating practices of a large section of the
population that was criticised by the ruling establishment. Then lately we have
had this issue of nationalism and patriotism that has been raised from some
incidents that happened in student campuses which broad minded people and those
who have the ability to look farsightedly would have ignored. The ruling
establishment in hamhandedly trying to deal with the situation tended to make
heroes out of young individuals who are still wet behind the ears. These
individuals reveling in this new found attention that they got not only from
the ruling establishment, media and other political parties, orchestrated
sporadic outbursts in other campuses across the country.
The surprising thing was that the talk of nationalism has been generated primarily by the BJP and the Left parties which history would have recorded as having no or few freedom fighters for Indian independence and even if they had people who raised their voices against the British were seen to be in their later life to be siding with them or behaving as collaborators. And these are the people who are today trying to appropriate the mantle of nationalism! The interpretation of nationalism and patriotism as vocalised by the BJP is so shallow that one doubts the innate intelligence of the leaders who are speaking on the matter. Their claim that a group of students in a campus meeting can shake the belief of the Indian people in their country is to say the least very much far-fetched. The feelings of nationalism run deep in the hearts of Indians and the expression of this tends to be spontaneous. Therefore it is not necessary to have a 100 meter pole with the Indian flag atop it at all our universities to show our patriotism or to say - Bharat Mata Ki Jai - by our schoolchildren every day at assembly. The feeling and expression of patriotism should be heart-felt and that is when you know it is real. The shallowness of the minds of our BJP leaders is also seen in the manner that they catapulted the student leaders on our university campuses to media stars and then maybe recognising their mistake some of the senior leaders tried to pull them down. In the process they are making a bigger mess is what they again fail to understand.
The BJP it seems suffers from the inability to believe that they are in the seat of the government. Even after two years have passed the honeymoon period or hangover, call it what you will, of their euphoric victory in the elections does not seem to have passed from their minds. Therefore they are still continuing in the mode of the opposition party wherein they have to oppose everything and rebut every statement made against them. Governance involves getting on with things and taking matters in your stride armed with the confidence that you are doing what is required for the good of the country. Governance requires the ruling party to remain in the here and now rather than try to defend any criticism of their actions by recounting what the other parties while ruling had done in the past. Governance is not a debating match to decide who won since at the end of it the ruling party will be judged by what they did and not what they spoke. While in contrast the opposition parties are judged by how often and what they spoke. Since if the ruling party falls in the trap of the opposition to mire themselves in controversies then governance suffers. This is what precisely is happening to the BJP now. Two years have passed with no achievements to speak of and if they continue in this manner the remaining three years of their term will pass in the same manner.
There is also a nagging feeling that in this BJP government no one seems to be in charge. The reason for this comment is that while the BJP project the fact that the Prime Minister is in charge we find that at crucial junctures he strangely lapses into long periods of silence. One feels a sense of deja vu being reminded of the previous incumbent, Manmohan Singh who was also known for his unusual silences. There is a need for a head of government to orchestrate governance and pull his party together at times when major controversies erupt. Like at the height of the beef eating controversy almost every single leader of the BJP was making controversial statements akin to putting their feet into their mouth and there was no initiative from the PM or the BJP top brass to control these people. In the end what happened was that the BJP got bad press and the country a bad name of being called intolerant. Again the beef eating issue hit a raw nerve and when public emotion gets surcharged you end up getting incidents like people getting killed on suspicion of possessing or eating beef which though more than 6 - 8 months have passed continue to surface from time to time with Aligarh Muslim University being accused of serving beef in their canteen and some cattle transporters lynched in Jharkhand. With the continued happenings of events on this issue one will have to regretfully conclude that the BJP as a political party has failed to control its rank and file.
Similarly
in the Kanhaiyya incident at JNU the poor boy was thrown into jail without any
verification whether he was responsible for the accusations made against him.
While his bail trial took more than 10 days to happen, those who assaulted him
in the presence of media cameras were not even arrested for a few days and in
fact just summons was sent to them to appear at the police station at their
convenience. When you have blatant videographic evidence of these people
assaulting Kanhaiyya, should they not have been summarily arrested? Again the
bail for these people was given in a few hours. Thus it is clear that the BJP
government is adopting double standards with the administration of justice and
favouring those who are on their side or belong to their party. On the
Kanhaiyya incident at JNU as well as the Rohit Vemula issue at HCU which are
essentially student affairs the BJP and this government is making a big mistake
by trying to put their foot down and dictate on how student campuses should
conduct themselves. It is one thing for Smriti Irani to gesticulate in
Parliament and browbeat the likes of Mayawati but unfortunately none of the
students would listen to her since simply put, when have students ever accepted
an irate teacher. In fact Smriti Irani has made a mess of student campuses
across the country starting from FTII, IIT's, IIM's, HCU, BHU, AMU and finally
JNU maybe because of her lack of proper education to understand and appreciate
the issues involved and seek a way forward. It is best therefore that she makes
way for someone else who has the wisdom and acumen to handle the HRD Ministry
with more aplomb and efficiency.
Concluding
one can only give the BJP and this government the advice is to keep its mouth
shut except on policy issues and get on with the business of governance since
otherwise they may find themselves back again in the wilderness having
surrendered the wonderful opportunity that they got for no one's fault but
their own.
Enact Stiffer Punishments To Handle Road Accidents
Recently there
has been much coverage both in the print and visual media on the number of
fatalities from road accidents all over the country. A day does not pass
without one seeing in the newspapers that at least two or three have died from
accidents on the road in their State or region. The solution being proposed
runs from increasing awareness of road users about safety,
regulation of speed, wider roads and having riders wear helmets while driving
2-wheelers. None of these measures are new and have been thrashed about ever
since a road and a vehicle to ride on it came into existence. Though one must
admit that road safety programs conducted in schools have had some success in
catching drivers when they are young and also the spin-off effect of children exhorting
their parents to drive safely. However, one thinks that the above measures are
more a thing to talk about and will not have much impact on reducing the number
of fatalities from road accidents in the long run. In the alternate, what can
be done is that our laws can be changed to categorise the causing of fatalities
in the process of driving a vehicle as equivalent to manslaughter if not
murder. In the present law the offence is treated as something that happens by
accident, that is without deliberate intent and therefore the penalties are
rather less stringent or puerile, which is a more apt word. The logic for this
premise is that if you are driving a vehicle ranging in weight from 50 - 150
Kg. in case of 2-wheelers and 500 - 1500Kg. for cars and higher for LCV &
HCV's at even 60 Kmph. and cause an accident or hit an individual, then is it
not equivalent to taking a knife or a club and bludgeoning another individual
to death or serious injury. Changing the offence to manslaughter or murder depending
on how grievous the accident was will enjoin drivers as soon as they get behind
the driving wheel of their vehicle to be careful and give more respect to
other road users be it a pedestrian or another vehicle. In India, we have to
take these measures since we prefer to be dealt in a paternalistic manner than
in a consultative style. Otherwise, even after 69 years of Independence, we do
not have a graded system of withdrawing the driving licence of a person if he
is a habitual offender. Stringent punishment will also hopefully stop doting
parents give their expensive cars from time to time to their minor
children whom we have seen kill innocent people on the roads. It is time that
we have more responsible drivers on our roads who respect other road users as much
they respect themselves.
There was an
article - Meadows In Kashmir Bearing The Brunt of Army's Artillery Drills
- recently in one of the local papers here in Goa highlighting a
problem that needs to be tackled. The Indian Army has been conducting its
artillery drills at the Tosa Maidan in Kashmir since curtailed based on a
stricture from NGT but likely to be moved to another equally scenic meadow
Bajpathri that is also surrounded by habited villages. Kashmir, the
beautiful State is truly - Heaven on Earth - as the Mughal Emperor Shahjehan
had described it and has had its share of problems being at the centre of
the dispute between India and Pakistan. Consequent of which it has been riven
with violence, terror and discord . The Indian Army need not add to this with
their irresponsible actions related to using the beautiful vistas of Kashmir
for their artillery field trials leaving unexploded shells in these places
which risk life and limb of local inhabitants particularly children. As
highlighted in the article small children have died
from accidentally playing with these shells not knowing the
deadly consequences. This should no longer happen. India is a signatory to the
treaty where mines are banned from use in theaters of war or violence.
Unexploded shells are equivalent to mines and should also be banned
from being tested in civilian areas. Why the Indian Army cannot have a
centralised place for testing of their artillery near where these guns are
assembled or made like Jabalpur or Kirkee or any other deserted and uninhabited
location is not understood? The training to the Army personnel on this
artillery can also be imparted at these centralised testing grounds rather than
disperse the drills across the country and create danger to the
local people. Just like in Kashmir, many a time accidents have happened at
Bangalore, Pune in houses adjoining testing ranges from which the Indian Army
does not seem to have learnt a lesson. So please spare Kashmir since they have
enough problems of their own and those caused by Pakistan without
the Indian Army adding to it any further.
The US Plays
Hot & Cold With Pakistan
The
foreign policy of India relating to Pakistan is slowly but surely coming
unstuck. Not only is the investigation into the Pathankot terror attack with
the active cooperation of Pakistan been derailed but the US approach towards
Pakistan is not matching in action to the verbal platitudes about them that the
US has been serving up to India. On the back of clearance of the F-16 fighters
and the attack helicopters to Pakistan, the US has also lately cleared the
supply of sophisticated thermal systems used for targeting weapons. One does
not need to be a strategic defence expert to grasp against whom these weapons
will be used despite the US assurances that these are being given to fight
terror. F-16 fighter aircraft are rarely used to fight terror. The supply of
these state-of-the art weapons to Pakistan could be a supposedly oblique suggestion
to India by the US in the manner of living up to their Ugly American reputation
to consider buying the latest version of fighters from them which are very much
more advanced to the F-16's. The US Defense Secretary was in India sometime
back and such ham-handed and obtuse initiatives were seen to be high up on his
agenda. For India it is time enough to review its policy towards Pakistan and
deal with them with a firm and no-nonsense manner while making it clear to the
US that they should stop their policy of duality amounting to running with the
hares and chasing with the hounds which will boomerang in their faces in the
not too distant future. This has happened in the past in relation to
Afghanistan but like they say the US never learns from history. Thankfully with
the lobbying by our Foreign Ministry and some sympathetic voices in the US
Senate & Congress the US has asked Pakistan to pay some US$ 700 Million for
the F-16’s which that country will find it difficult to scrounge. With that the
supply of the F-16’s to Pakistan are held up which is to India’s advantage.
No Hike In
Legislator Salaries Instead Enact Right To Water
The phenomenal
rise of salaries and perquisites for MLA's was started by the AAP in Delhi
which hat is being passed around the country with Telengana announcing a
massive hike in their MLA remuneration. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are likely
to follow suit. Bihar has just the other day set a trend that their MLA's being
poor, they are entitled to gifts like Microwave Ovens and other consumer
durables. There are also rumblings among the MP's claiming that they
should be paid more than the MLA's. One would say that logic is irrefutable.
But if you consider the basic premise the remuneration of our legislators
including salaries, facilities and perquisites is already very high and nowhere
in line with the work that these people do. For any work that they do it
is a known fact that they tend to earn more. No work in their constituencies or
under the portfolio of ministers can get done without a share being passed on
to the legislator. Thus it is best that the legislators adopt a resolution that
they will accept a freeze in their remuneration for the next five
years or the remaining period of their terms. It is also rather disconcerting
to see legislators seeking hikes in salaries when farmers around the country
particularly in Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharasthra and
Karnataka have been reeling under drought. Many farmers have taken their
lives because of this situation and with no avenue to pay off their loans. Even
in Marathwada water is being supplied twice a week through tankers to meet the
villager's needs. But if you see the quality of the water just by colour none
of us would even touch it with a barge pole. It is dirty and
polluted. Children in these villages are said to be falling sick upon
consumption of this water. Therefore our legislators should instead of asking
for hike in their salaries, voluntarily give it up towards passing legislation
that guarantees potable water across India. Just like we have Right to
Education we should have a Right to Water in this country.
*************************
No comments:
Post a Comment