23 January, 2011

Collateral Damage: The State and the Centre duo

First a recap of the proceedings in India, with some points specific to Karnataka:
  • The overall inflation has hit 8.8 %, with food inflation at about 17 %; While the Central Govt is attributing this anomaly to be symptoms of growth, i.e, necessary for increasing the GDP, citizens are the ones who have fallen prey to this firestorm. [ A recent central govt report recognizes that 70 % of the population survives on Rs.20/day] So, where is the growth?
  • Since the deregulation of  fuel prices in India ( i.e., variations in fuel prices would be in synchronism with the International market, without much intervention from the Govt.), there has been a sharp increase of about 20% within a span of less than an year.
  • Central Govt.'s hush-hush methodology (or inaction?) until now, towards the speculated 1.5 Billion USD worth of tax evaded Indian money in the Swiss Bank accounts, is also a matter of grave concern.
  • Showers of other scams, which fancy themselves, unashamedly with dizzying figures attached to them.   India shining? Yes, very much.  The bars are set high this time: Prerequisite for any scam to hit the media and make news has become about 100 crore Rs; anything less than that is not even covered by the media!
  • Continuing increase in farmer suicides, and their rate of retrition from farming have aggravated the already ineffective agricultural system in India
  • The State Govt here in Karnataka has been busy dodging the allegations and corruption charges against it. So, it has least bothered about the perilous state the citizens are being pushed into.
  • And as one of my friends had pointed out, there is not even a pretense about citizen welfare amongst the State legislators these days, and are busily 'flinging mud' (media phrase!) at each other
  • A state sponsored and imposed Bandh today, to protest the Governor's grant to prosecute the CM, according to the ruling party was to be observed as 'Indication of people's support to the CM'! If Public transport is shut off, and commercial establishments forcefully closed it can only increase the anguish against these morons of Nth order. 
While these and more chronicles of the pathetic Governance are getting ever ubiquitous, we the citizens are 'Silently witnessing the grand Spectacle'!
By the way, do we still have an independent judiciary? Or, is Judiciary the next addendum to list of terms that are limited only to the text books, joining the list of these attributes: 
Sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic! 
This is what the Constitution promised India to be, and where do we stand today? Who is to be held responsible? Why has the system gotten this rotten? Who is the culprit?

I cannot propose a pragmatic solution at this juncture, but can clearly see each of us being responsible for this pathetic state of affairs. No salvation would be feasible from this mess, without the active and activated participation of each one of us.

2 comments:

  1. If the Governor granted sanction for prosecution of Chief Minister, should not the CM accept it with grace and prove himself innocent if he thinks he is, instead of making a "tamasha". What rights have these morons of n-square order to bring life of the State/Nation to a standstill for a day or more? What do they care about the common man?

    We need better citizens at the positions of power that decide the country's future. We need education that inspires and shapes young minds. We need good teachers at school and colleges, that make good and responsible citizens.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Better citizens as politicians, inspiring education and responsible society: Very much agreed Sri.
    I believe it can be accomplished only when you, me and many more like minded people like us come together and be part of the 'running mechanism' we crib about.

    ReplyDelete

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