VOX POPULI
by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 198 Date: 24.04.2017
Contents:
1. No Home Delivery of Petroleum Products
2. Do Not Make A Mockery of Our Election Process
3. Sri Sri Ravishankar and the Art of Living Organisation Should
Support Rule of Law
No Home Delivery of Petroleum Products
We have another
harebrained idea coming out of this BJP government with the Petroleum Minister
stating that given the threat of the petrol pump owners to remain shut on
Sundays, the authorities would think of home delivery for petrol and diesel.
Little does he realise that petroleum products come under the category of
flammable products and because of their nature are not allowed to be sold loose
except to be filled in vehicles. This being the rule it is a different matter
that across India petroleum products are sold loose which is illegal. This
however is no reason to consider home delivery for petrol and diesel in these
times of terror. We will make it only easier for terrorists to lay their hands
on fuel for their incendiary plans. Molotov cocktails - glass bottles filled
with petrol lit up and then thrown at the target - will then become the weapon
of choice for the terrorists. This BJP government and its Ministers should
learn to confront problems directly and not try to work around the situation.
Like in this instance if the petrol pump dealers have a problem with
margins deal with it and find a solution rather than go about it obliquely and
have a solution that will be a threat to civil society.
Do Not Make A Mockery of Our Election Process
The recent Srinagar bypoll in which by winning just about 4% of
the votes polled of the total of some 7% votes, Farooq Abdullah was
declared elected. Not only that the winner preened after the election and when
asked about the low turnout, he declared that he could not let down those that
came and voted! Is this not a mockery of democracy? When 93% of the electorate
failed to turn up and vote for whatever reason should the election not have
been declared void? We have quorums for common meetings like that of housing
societies, company boards etc. but for elections why is there no stipulation of
minimum turnout for the election to be declared valid? We should enact laws
that unless there is a turnout of more than 50% an election will be
countermanded. This will force not only the candidates to get more and more
people to come out and vote and not concentrate just on their vote banks. The
Election Commission can also thus work towards more people exercising their
franchise. These measures will not only strengthen our democracy but also
ensure that it is not reduced to a farce. We already have the EVM's being
questioned and there is every likelihood that the Supreme Court will make the
paper trail through the VVPAT feature mandatory. Though this is unnecessary, given
the present mood of the political parties in objecting to the use of
EVM's, we will have to concede to this request. At this
juncture maybe we should question the basic nature of our election process and
instead of continuing with the present 'first past the post' principle, meaning
whoever gets the majority from the votes polled is declared the winner to
'proportionate representation' where the winner is declared only if he or she
gets more than 50% of the votes polled in iterative rounds of polls in the
constituency. The multiple polls in each constituency are feasible now
with the use of EVM's which drastically reduce the cost of holding
elections. This will take care of another farce that we have in our
election process like in the recent UP Assembly elections the BJP polled about
40% of the 64% voter turnout which means that they just got 25% of the people
in the constituencies to vote for them. Thus the whopping majority of 75% of
the people either did not vote for them or did not vote at all. But inspite of
that we saw that the BJP had a landslide victory. If you put this up to
our politicians they will shrug their shoulders and say that it is the present
system and we are playing the game according to that. This is similar to
what Farooq Abdullah as stated above, who did not want to 'let down the
people' who had voted for him! While in the 'proportionate representation'
system at least more than 50% of the people voting would have selected the
winning candidate for an election that is valid only if more than 50% of the
voters in the constituency have voted. We can make the election system better
and truly representative in addition to the above by making voting compulsory
and taking a decision on the funding of candidates who stand for elections.
Sri Sri
Ravishankar and the Art of Living Organisation Should Support Rule of Law
The tirade that Sri Sri Ravishankar has launched
against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the function that his
organisation, the Art of Living, held on the banks of the River Yamuna at Delhi
and for which they were initially fined Rs 5 crores and then now a Committee of
Enquiry has found further damage and increased the fine to which the esteemed
Sri Sri Ravishankar is objecting very vociferously with language bordering on
the intemperate. First things first, this man claims religious persuasion
through which he commands a considerable following. Has he thought about the
impact of his tirade on his flock which surely must be more than upset with
such an outburst? Secondly, he is a citizen of this country and an esteemed one
at that. This breeds an expectation that he should respect the law of the land
and in that process accept the judgments of authorised bodies and institutions
which he encounters in the process of doing his work or that of his
organisation. What example is this man setting for not only his flock but the
rest of the country in not accepting the due process of law? Thirdly, he is
trying to challenge the NGT by throwing his weight around both directly and indirectly
which has been seen from the beginning when the issue of the environmental
clearance for the function was sought. The Art of Living organisation needs to
explain in the context of Sri Sri Ravishankar's claim now as to why they went
ahead with making arrangements for the structures and other needs at the
function site even before getting the clearance from the NGT. It was for this
reason that the NGT when they gave clearance asked the Art of Living
organisation to deposit the Rs. 5 crores as a fund for contingent damage to the
site. Now Sri Sri Ravishankar argues that the NGT could have stopped the
function if they were so particular to save the river. This is rather
surprising since where he should be grateful to the NGT for not coming in the
way of holding the function in the context of many of the arrangements having
been already made, he is questioning them as to why the clearance was given?
The indirect pressure that Sri Sri Ravishankar tried to bring on NGT was to get
the Prime Minister to come for the inaugural function and spend a few hours
there. It is to NGT's credit that they did not cow down to these pressures and
upheld their mandate. Fourthly, the NGT has gone about handling this issue very
democratically and in the proper manner by giving the Art of Living
organisation due opportunity to contest the decision and upon seeing the
intensity of the objections referred the matter to an independent and impartial
Committee which has now come to a decision. It is expected therefore that Sri
Sri Ravishankar and the Art of Living organisation should be graceful and
accept the decisions of the NGT in this matter. This will not only be in the
interest of the public good apart from the good of the credibility and image of
Sri Sri Ravishankar and the Art of Living organisation while upholding the
position of the democratic institutions of this country.
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