So, finally i am back after a brief hiatus. Interestingly i have a company too in 'Civil Society' who also appears to have come back from slumber (or sheaths of haplessness?), having finally realised that it's time to act not to crib in oblivion about state of the show! The face of our 'Civil Society' this time is Anna Hazare, a frail old man [considering stubborn, high handed opponents he has], but gifted with a steely will and untrammeled faith in Gandhi's methods and dreams.
As far as the uproar and strike against corruption is concerned, it's truly justified and was long overdue. It will punch the much needed force to Lokpal Bill to get through needle bore of bureaucracy and legislative process. One just needs to look at the history of it, to understand how much necessary the strike is. The bill has lingered on for 40 years [first brought out in 1968 on the recommendation of Administrative Reforms Commission recommendation in 1966]; each time passing through committees on the pretext of scrutiny, deliberations, amendments but at the end meeting same fate. Needless to say, the real culprit is infirm resolve of governments [past and present] to let it see the light of the day.
The draft 'Janlokpal Bill' although not a perfect panacea to Corruption, does reflect the hopes of the public from such a legislation. It definitely has much to offer in terms to lending teeth to the regime proposed draft, like the provison for Lokpal to take suo moto cognizance of the matters of corruption, provision for recovery of misappropriated amount from the culprit, independence of the institution of Lokapal in conduction investigations, but more deliberations are needed over them to align them properly in constitutional framework and governance and maintaining their essence. Hence, it justifies the demand for Joint-Drafting committee, fortunately acceded to by regime.
On the conclusion of the hunger strike people celebrated justifiably, with slogans of "WIN FOR DEMOCRACY", "ANTI-VIRUS HAZARE CLEANED VIRUS OF CORRUPTION" and like. Well, mostly it's good to celebrate, but it's important for an Indian to realise that the flame against anti-corruption should keep on burning. after all, why do we need mammoth scams and an old man threatening to encore Potti Sreeramulu [leader who died fasting for demand of Andhra] to goad us into protest.
A vibrant functioning democracy demands people to stay on their toes for not only safeguarding their own rights but also to regulate their own elected representatives by shunning corruption in their daily lives. People seem to be happy to snuggle up to the idea that 'Ok! the job's done, now we can party!', whereas the fact is this work never ends! This tendency also explains why sometimes eminent personalities dish out reckless comments stemming out of their ignorance of the state of affairs and knee-jerk reaction. [row over comments over the Constitution]. They happily come out with banners and slogans at the opportune moment [which is definitely needed and justified and I have no problems with], but sadly recede immediately to their lavish lives as soon as things look right. If they remain half as active and do justice to their social responsibility of acting as a model to people [a cost of celebrity status one may say], this situation may not emerge in the first place. Ironically, it seems it's not only the poor who need to be made aware of their rights and duties but also the posh urban educated!
A vibrant functioning democracy demands people to stay on their toes for not only safeguarding their own rights but also to regulate their own elected representatives by shunning corruption in their daily lives. People seem to be happy to snuggle up to the idea that 'Ok! the job's done, now we can party!', whereas the fact is this work never ends! This tendency also explains why sometimes eminent personalities dish out reckless comments stemming out of their ignorance of the state of affairs and knee-jerk reaction. [row over comments over the Constitution]. They happily come out with banners and slogans at the opportune moment [which is definitely needed and justified and I have no problems with], but sadly recede immediately to their lavish lives as soon as things look right. If they remain half as active and do justice to their social responsibility of acting as a model to people [a cost of celebrity status one may say], this situation may not emerge in the first place. Ironically, it seems it's not only the poor who need to be made aware of their rights and duties but also the posh urban educated!
cheers
TBS
