“Politically Correct…?”

“I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.”

-Alexander Woollcott

A quote that pertinently fits into the state of affairs in India, post 16/05/2009. Until then we may be talking on – ‘Vote for change’; ‘Who is the Indian Obama?’; ‘Which party gets to the magic figure of atleast 140 to 150?’; ‘Who joins who?’ etc……… but the relatable question we all need to understand that our problem is man-made and only we can sort them out. After all democracy is not about voting, rather it is a game of counting or a game of numbers.

While the month long political festival is nearing its culmination and all the political parties are busy in setting their equations right to form the next government, the need of the hour is to seriously and quickly get into the business of effective governance.

In a five-year tenure (under normal situation), the elected representatives dissipate their first hundred days in finding faults with the policies of the previous government and the last hundred days in preparing for the next elections. The period in between is witnessed by either the adjournments of the house or the low turn out of our leaders in the parliamentary sittings.

In my opinion, the next government at the Centre has a hard-hitting task to accomplish atleast the following Ten Commandments, i.e., to:

• Strengthen internal security of the country.
• Pump life into the shrinking job market.
• Put a tab on the price rise of essential commodities.
• Accelerate the rate of infrastructural development across the length and breadth of the country. The government should now learn lessons from the mistakes and look for more of FDI over FII in the core-sectors.
• Introduce tax reforms and expand the tax-base in the country. It will mean not only a manifold increase in our revenue earnings but also a reduction in the burden on existing taxpayers.
• Uplift the rural communities by socio-economic and political empowerment.
• Give a more socially cohesive government.
• Play a major role in the geopolitics of the region by giving amicable solutions to the regional crisis, be it in Sri Lanka, Nepal or Afghanistan / Pakistan, without being intrusive in their sovereign issues.
• Rejuvenate the environmental protection laws in the country and give leadership to handle the global environmental issues like- reduction in global carbon emissions, global warming etc.
• Work out concrete measures to check the unabated population growth and influx of illegal migrants, particularly from the neighbouring countries.

Hope the new government does more than our expectations!

The forgotten heroes!

Few days back I saw a movie on a TV channel that has been released a long back – “1971: The Prisoners of War”, featuring Manoj Vajpayee in the lead role.

The movie is indeed an emotional one and connects well with those of our forgotten heroes who have sacrificed their youth to defend the country from external aggression in the history of independent India. The indifferent attitude of the government and their callous approach towards the whole problem dates back to 16th December 1971 (end of the Indo-Pak war and surrender of the Pakistani forces) and 3rd July, 1972 (the signing of the Shimla Agreement). Wherein, the then Indian government was generous enough to release about 91000 Pakistani PoW, it hardly bothered to put up a condition for the release of the captured Indian soldiers by the Pakistanis. The movie authenticates about 54 Indian soldiers and officers who are still languishing in various Pakistani jails as the PoW of 1971 alone. The number will probably be much higher if the statistics of 1965 war is also taken into deliberations.

The governments over the years have really neglected the genuine requirements put up by the forces to keep itself at par with changing geopolitical scenario and balance of power in the region/world. It is quite evident from the fact that the Indian Air Force is managing with about only 35 fighter squadrons whereas the minimum requirement is about 47 to defend the huge and hostile frontiers of the country. Further, there has been an acute shortage of enthusiastic youngsters to fill up the vacancies at the officers cadre in the Forces which is to the tune of about thirty to thirty-five thousands for the Army alone.

The grievances of the serving personnel over the discrepancies in the sixth-pay commission and the unique method of protests by some of their retired counterparts by returning their gallantry awards to the government are an indication of growing discontent among the most disciplined organization in the country. A mere monthly allowance of Rupees one hundred and thirty for a particular gallantry award (award name concealed) is scandalous but true.

The government has probably closed her eyes on these issues, because she knows that our soldiers will never protest in the lines of the Bangladesh Rifles.

For further readings, please click: 1 & 2

The dangerous politics of post-poll coalition.

As the largest democratic elections of the world is heading towards its fifth and final phase, the views and counter views on political developments in India is sizzling with each successive day. The post poll scenario seems to be highly unpredictable and interesting, as well.

In case the two major national parties, i.e. the INC or the BJP, fail to get a descent number, a political uncertainty is bound to loom over the country, as the so-called Third Front is unconsolidated due to their immense internal differences and is still at its infancy. In this scenario, the smaller and regional parties are going to play the role of a 'kingmaker'. The chances of horse-trading and partners hopping to the other alliance is very much evident incase there is a fractured mandate given by the people of the country this time.

The inclination of the heads of certain regional parties like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Sharad Pawar and Jayalalitha to any of the alliances is becoming a tricky task to predict at the moment.

Arun Jaitley, a senior leader of the BJP, in an interview to the NDTV last evening had said that any of the national parties (the BJP or INC in the context) with a minimum of 160 seats in this parliamentary elections would pull the other ‘about-to-be’ partners in their alliance to form the government at the Centre. However, the post-poll coalition foresees a dangerous situation of compromises and hard bargains. For instance, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Jayalalitha have already expressed their monstrous desire to support any coalition government at the Centre that would dismiss the constitutionally elected State governments in their respective states.

The regional parties have no doubt added a new fabric to the mainstream politics in India that would compel the successive governments at the Centre to give up their biased outlook towards certain regions/states over the other; ultimately, it is the common man who will feel cheated if these parties go against their aspirations and involve in the dirty politics of 'numbers game' in the post-poll scenario.

APATHY OF THE INDIAN VOTERS

Article 326 of the Indian constitution and Section 19 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1950 specify 18 years as the minimum age for registration as a voter in India. This has been made effective from 28th March, 1989 by bringing it down from the earlier 21 years of age through the 61st Amendment Act, 1988 of the constitution read with Act 21 of 1989.

The on-going General Elections, 2009 for the 15th Lok Sabha has been publicized like never before, atleast to say in terms of educating the voters to register themselves and thereby exercise their political right. The efforts made by various personalities from the different walks of life to the corporate groups like the ‘Tata’ through their brands’ ad campaign- “Tata Tea jaago re!- http://www.jaagore.com/”, has been commendable if not very fruitful.

Further it seems that we look at the figure of ‘18 years’ as a mark of our eligibility to either get entry in a pub or in a cinema hall to see an ‘A’ rated movie, rather than looking at it more maturely as an age to register as an eligible voter and choose our representatives to govern the country.

The polling percentage in the cities like Mumbai is unbelievably low and shocking. The reasons probably said by those who didn’t bother to vote may be endless, like:

• We wanted to enjoy a continuous three day weekend holiday.
• The weather was not conducive and we could have got sunburns.
• There were no suitable candidates to vote for……..and so on and so forth.

But, the two vital things that still pinches me in the context of Mumbaikars and will probably apply on the all India context later, has been:

• Why has there been a rush for voter’s registration? Was it a mere stunt to get an ID proof?
• How far is it true to call the post 26/11 candle light march an emotional farce?
• Has the united stand to resist the ‘uprising against the Hindi speaking community’ become a forgotten event by the time of polling, for a better change?

Before we conclude with the remaining two phases of this General Election, we as an Indian must take some lessons from the Mangloreans and our rural counterparts, who have, despite facing all odds in the past, come out in large numbers and cast their vote for a change………a change for their destiny and probably for the destiny of the nation.

So vote now, rather than sitting down and be regretful on the failures of the government in the matters of internal security, price rise and the negativities of the economic recession on our economy etc., l a t e r !