India is but a miracle!
Apparently the devil too resides admist us! Yesterday was an awful day, the day that rocked the nation with blasts in
If you look at matters that kept the nation busy before this incident – “coalition politics” & “communal politics”. So much time is wasted by the Government in just appeasing different fractions of the coalition that they have lesser time, energy and will to bring about a positive change. Whatever change they want to bring about is shot down by members of their own coalition. The Indian Government is just not giving enough attention to terrorism, education, health, justice & human rights.
I am beginning to think, if a multi-party system for
Lal Krishna Advani, in an interview few months back mentioned something interesting. He said that after so many years in politics he has realized that religion is the pulse of the nation. I was shocked by his statement, but soon realized he couldn’t have been more accurate. He knows it, the other politicians know it, and they use it again and again to divide and rule. Parties claim to be secular, but have their own sections of the population they get votes from. So they have divided the country based on religion, caste, class, & language. When we dream of
In my opinion, a 2 party system would greatly change the scenario. In this scenario, political parties would have to fight over their ideologies/plans for the country. They would have to be secular. People would no longer be able to vote for a candidate of their religion and not be concerned about the ideology/plans of the party. And equally importantly the left, with their outdated policies, would never come to power :)
Such a change would be very difficult to bring out, but something which would be comparatively easier is to focus the Government’s efforts on education, health, judicial system, human rights & terrorism. Government has no business being in business anyways!
Education
Politicians have a vested interest in not educating the entire nation. But what they fail to realize is that the party which does propel
Health
Clichéd yet true: Justice delayed is justice denied. Daewood Ibrahim, main accused of the ’93 bomb blasts in Mumbai has still not being brought to justice. Now we have the 2006 blasts to take care. I am sure we will have more such blasts at a more frequent rate if these terrorists are not punished for these atrocious acts. After all the noise made by us and the media about the Jessica Lal murder case - the new trial date, if I am not wrong, some 8 years in the future?! Too slow, too bureaucratic!
We are so seasoned with so many terrorist attacks that I don’t even think we notice that the official statement of the Indian government has changed in the last 5 years! If we keep doing the same things we will keep ending up in the same place. I just hope that the PM will be aggressive about counter acting terrorism!
The metropolitan department, with an accuracy of 50%, seems to be a star agency in comparison to our intelligence agencies. The official from the intelligence agency spoke about the Mumbai blasts and the leads they have as if he was watching the same news broadcast as I was. So many people are employed in these agencies, and they work everyday, I am sure they have some idea of what they are doing! Somebody please reassure me of this fact!!!
My limited knowledge of terrorist networks: they are decentralized and work as independent cells, getting directions from the central leadership time to time. I am sure an IT nation, like
According to the media, there is poor coordination between the central government, the state government, and the police and even between the different intelligence agencies. And they also add that this has been the case over a period of years and not specific to the recent bomb blasts.
Who is running
If you don’t believe in miracles, then open your eyes –
India
posted by Prabs @ 1:04 AM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
A few thoughts (constructive, not combative):
A two party system isn't necessarily ideal. Case-in-point: in the U.S.A, the democrats lost the last election in 2004 in Ohio (towards the end, this ended up being the deciding factor) because Bush is pro-life and very, very "Christian" and hence won the popular vote! The guy evokes God's name, as being in his favor, again and again, the people believe him. And unfortunately, of all the citizens who did vote for the poor democrats, a significant number did so solely because they couldn't take another term of the Bush administration, not because they believed in the Kerry-Edwards duo! So it was a case of choosing the lesser of two evils. Hence, the point is that even two party systems can get greatly flawed. The vote is based on the likeability of the candidate, not the ideologies of the party. It's one big Homecoming election!
In general, another big problem with a two-party system is that there is no middle ground. There is no room for the moderates. I think for a country that has had a history of multi-party systems, a three or four party system is ideal and required to represent the diversity appropriately. But then again, in a country like India where relegion is so intricately embedded in the fabric of the society, it's near impossible to have a rationale-based govt. Relegious sentiments (contrary to cultural rules, which are conducive to a progressive society since they do adapt to changing times) will always drive Indian politics.
I really like the zoning idea for education. However, I would advocate a maximum of two languages for the medium of instruction across all zones. Language barriers create more problems than are ever considered. Health is a biggie, one that starts with nutrition and clean water, not with drugs. And I think it's a little immature to say that Bill Gates is doing more than the Indian Government. The Indian Govt. has a population of a billion people, a majority of whom are illiterate and all the related problems to deal with, while Bill Gates (and in no way am I belittling his efforts - Warren Buffet, Bill and Melinda Gates are all angels) has the money to lavish on one project and can choose to deal with only certain people and is answerable to no one! If Bill Gates, or heck, the entire American Govt. had the gall to run India for a single week, they'd end up with stress ulcers for a lifetime! Besides, the government is a regulating body, not a philanthropist organization.
There is a definite need for India to step up her research brawn, and from what I've read, all the biotech companies are headed precisely that way. Along with education and health, however, you are missing other important parts of the equation: housing, employment and neighborhood development. India really does need to focus on these. Bottom-up processes have longer sustainability than top-down processes. I do agree on the complete inefficiency of the Justice Department; heck, I despise the beaurocracy that's loaded in any process that involves any of the executive branches of the Indian Govt! And I have NO idea how to solve this problem!
This is turning into an essay, so I'll quit now!
Salaam Bombay indeed! (BTW have you seen the movie? Not really an eye-opener for most of us, but directed beautifully.)
hmmm ... I really like some of the your points. About the multi/bi party system, I guess any systems will collapse if you don't have the right leadership.
You know what I would really like to see change? "Relegious sentiments will always drive Indian politics."
Religion should only be a personal relationship with God. Just that.
Really good post Prabs. Indian politicians need to wake up and realise that the country's global competitiveness depends on basic issues being tackled like health, education, justice systems and personal security.
The sooner they work out these problems, the sooner the country can fulfill Goldman Sachs prophecy in Paper No. 99.
On another note though, the U.S. isn't strictly a bi-party system - there are independent and the so-called 'Green' parties that fight each election, but none of them are considered serious enough political ideologies to lead the country. On the other hand - they do make sure that 'fringe' issues continue to be heard in the senate.
In the last few, after scores of debates/opinions on the TV and otherwise, I have realized that our intellegence agencies aren't that bad. A lot of time it is the politicial will which is missing, which brings us back to the point of politicans.
I was almost convinced that we should go the Israel way and smoke out the terrorists from their hiding, but that would in all probablity take us closer to a nuclear war and we would have to give up few cities, like Delhi/Mumbai - which is not an option really!
A concensus doesn't exist about what India should do next. I guess it's up to the politicians to lead from the front now. :(
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