Check your sensitivity!

Just finished watching the BBC documentary ‘India’s daughter’. Accolades to the Director, for sensible portrayal of the nuances of the unfortunate incident. It is not a clichéd cheap dramatic representation as depicted in our Primetime crime shows. However, pertaining to its ‘sensitive’ content the government is determined to bar it from public view, but one needs to be sensitive about it. Tihar Jail DG served a notice to the BBC for taking commercial advantage of it. Instead of appreciating the effort for unraveling the grievances of the victim’s associates and the individual opinions of the people involved; the DG is worried about the commercial aspect. How to counter this skewed parochial vision?

The pertinent question is how to stop the perpetration of such heinous crimes? Can educating people help? I don’t think so because court’s record rooms are brimming with the high-profile cases where the educated, sophisticated and privileged are the culprits. If education means good schooling then I should admit that being educated in a school that holds the Guinness world record for enrolling maximum number of students in a city, I studied moral science as a subject up till class VI. For class VII and VIII moral science examination, I wrote the philosophy of our school and its motto. Beyond class VIII the school did not felt the need of moral education. So, is the case in other schools.

The convicts were unrepentant because atrocities against women are a part of their upbringing and their indifference to it is practical. Secondly, if their crime is punishable then the cases of the influential people, the MPs, MLAs inflicted with such allegations should also be put on fast-track trial. Thirdly, why is their case treated differently when we have scores of assault cases complimented by inhuman acts? Here, we need to understand that corporal punishment is not a treatment for the perception-based ailments. Ideological disorientation can only be cured by ideological refinement.

As a society, we are adapting to globalization, where traditions, values, and beliefs are reshuffling and in this contagious stage we need to redefine the social infrastructure and responsibilities. We want educated, self-reliant women ingrained with traditional values who  can shoulder all the domestic responsibilities.  The pace of adaptation is not same across all the stratus; therefore, men will have to invent a conducive atmosphere to achieve this. As it was Rajaram Mohan Roy, who challenged men’s intolerance for women emancipation. The reason that can be deduced for such crimes is the loss of sensitivity. We have become insensitive as a society. We need to inculcate this basic human emotion, which is a cohesive force and must have been the seed around which humans crystallized to form a society.

Learn to manage

Every time the budget session starts the government rolls out schemes to attract investors. I have seen my mother managing her household in the fixed resources and yet making a progress without taking aid from others. This is the story of every Indian household and we progress. However, so is not with our government, it has ever cumulating deficits, wants more investment, and relaxes laws to allow foreign investment. Government has its earnings from its establishments and the taxes; we practically pay taxes on every commodity followed by a hefty income tax. The question is why are government establishments always in deficit whereas their private counterparts make huge profits?

Firstly, the government needs to squelch its redundant policies. It must accept the failed development models, should renounce or reinvent them than investing more money in them. The schemes should be executed in a time-bound mode as their sluggishness increases the estimated cost of investment and nourishes a laidback and unaccountable approach. Secondly, to lower the deficit the government should cut down the expenses on its maintenance. Recently, our Honorable Prime Minister had a delightful meal in the parliamentary canteen at the meager cost of Rs 29.00. Did he make an effort to calculate the unnecessary subsidy paid by the taxpayer for this meal? The government needs to introspect the validity of the perks provided by it. Thirdly, it should emphasize on the proficiency and competition. Generally, the government-funded projects are known for their sullied quality in spite of the cost involved being enormous. Government needs to take inspiration from the private sector in terms of the work efficiency and deliverance.

Government’s inefficient ways increase the deficit and it needs investors. To promote the investment its waives off many taxes and offers subsidies which in turn escalate the deficit. While providing subsidies government looses dominance over the investors who churn out huge profits. Government should end its dependency on the industrialists, besides should be efficient to extend its support for their growth. Occasionally, industrialists take advantage, dodge the laws and give government tough time to reclaim the losses incurred. It is a vicious circle that will sustain if government does not mend its way of functioning.  The government should give up its reluctance to revamp itself and its motto of sarkari kaamkaz mein samay lagta hai. As in the cascade the ultimate sufferer is the common man who affords the government’s extravagances, its inadequacy and its subsidies to the wealthy. 

When we can manage our household economically then why not our country?

Let them live

At present, an issue that once again yearns to garner popular support is the plight of farmers in reference to the new amendment in the Land Acquisition Act 1894. The bill was incepted with an intention of acquiring land for public purposes like building educational institutions, housing, removing slum and rural developments. The spirit of the bill was to emancipate an all round development, then why is such a hue and cry about the current bill? The farmers from all over the country are rallying in the capital for peaceful demonstrations against the nature of the bill. Survival and compensation are the key drawbacks of the bill. We know that India is an agricultural country but what we fail to understand is that we do subsistence farming where the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families. Under such situation how far is it right to deprive them of their sole source of survival.

As far as compensation is concerned the price at which land is to be bought is decided by the government. Imagine we want to sell some of our goods and the buyer dictates the terms of purchase. In addition, the payment is not made at the time of purchase but in the later years. Who would like to strike such a deal?  But being the government it can practise such unconstitutional bullying. Unconstitutional because it deprives people of their Right to life. Government wants to prove the inevitability of the bill for the development by providing them the basic amenities and employment through land acquisition. But what about the utilisation of funds allocated to the MP, MLA, and other elected members for the development of their respective areas? Who will be held accountable for the money usurping dysfunctional development schemes? India is struggling on the development front only because of the incompetence and corruption.

So, first the government should stop fooling with the idea of development because every new scheme launched is a scam pushed down the throat of taxpayers. If it wants to acquire land then strike a fair deal and make the payment instantly. If government can grant crores of subsidies to the industrialists then it can surely pay the rightful to the poor farmers who are a responsibility of the government. Please do not forget the employment that the government promises to these poor is doing labour, which will reduce them from landowner to the daily wage labourer, thus forcing them to migrate in search of work. Does government aims at structural development only?