Collective Responsibility ?

This post refers to the comments made by various leaders after the Union Budget. The highlight of those being that the Government and its policies were responsible for the economic slowdown, the low GDP growth, high fiscal deficit, high current account deficit, low investor sentiments etc.

But the question is since a majority of the policy and legislative decisions happen/not-happen in the Parliament isn't it the collective responsibility of all the members (and not just the Government) for any policy/legislative action/inaction ?

A lot of legislative business (e.g. the land acquisition bill, GST, Pension and Insurance bills etc) which could have been beneficial to the economy are pending. And the main reason behind which being the Parliament unable to function because of constant disruptions.

And how is it useful to just trash the Budget and the Government without getting into the specifics or alternatives !

Indeed on the whole it is the Government's responsibility but the opposition is not just there to oppose each and everything so that they can work their way into the Government in the next elections instead even they are also there to work together with the Government for the people of our Nation.

right comment at the right place ?

this post refers to the comment made by Mr. Lal Krishna Advani regarding the Hyderabad bomb blasts in front of the media today. He commented that since our neighboring country failed against us in actual war so many times, they are taking the help of a "proxy war" i.e. pointing fingers directly at Pakistan and blaming them for the horrific incident.

But the question is : is it wise, rational and logical for a person of such stature (i.e. the Prime Ministerial candidate in the last elections and the senior most leader of the main opposition party) to make such comments without what any proper investigation ?

He might be right, but we don't have any investigations/proofs etc till now and even if he has some reasons/intelligence about it then the media isn't the right place for it.

For e.g. blaming Pakistan for the 26/11 attacks is correct and we've had ample proofs which we even have produced before the Pakistan Government but blaming them so early here just seems a bit irrational and that too by a leader as tall as Mr. Advani.

What ideally should happen is that our intelligence agencies etc. should investigate the matter as fast as they can, and then who ever is the culprit we all should be united (despite the party lines) in bringing them to the justice.

Playing the blame game without any legible proofs will only hit our credibility !

Going above Party Lines !

This post refers to the reactions by various Political Parties and Leaders to the execution of capital punishment of Afzal Guru.

More often than not we see the opposition parties thrashing the workings of the parties in power and vice-verse, it is extremely rare when we see the political parties actually speaking about the matter in question and maybe appreciating the steps by the Government. 

The point being, in a country with so many issues and problems plaguing us, we need a collaborative approach from our leaders and not a cat-fight  just for the sake of vote bank politics. Expressing genuine concerns and differences in ideologies are more than welcome but we need solutions not just debates and discussions (that too less in the Parliament and more in the media).

And what happened today, with the primary opposition party BJP welcoming the execution and sending a strong message against terrorism reflects the true strength of our country. We need much more collaboration & appreciation cutting across party lines which would lead to strong governance and action against our country's problems.

Are we Morally educated ?

Lack of Morality, Values, Ethics in us is one of the most fundamental cause behind the various issues trembling our Nation by its roots. Be it corruption, extreme efficiency in Government policies, pro-grammes, schemes, offices etc; Inequality, Heinous crimes like female foeticide, infanticide, rape; Honor killings etc all reflect a serious lack of morality, values and ethics.

What's even more alarming is that well educated people also indulge in such kind of activities !

This reflects the serious need of Value education in our schools and colleges. Along with teaching the young different aspects of sciences, languages, etc. it is extremely important to make them realize what's good and what's bad ! what's our duties and responsibilities ! what sort of activities we should promote/revolt !

Having said that it is also noted that there is no perfect definition of values and value education but even in the light of what we have seen in the country in the past 2-3 years be it the various corruption cases, extreme inefficiencies, inhuman crimes like rapes, violence we need the moral awakening now more than ever !

Even Tv Shows and Movies like Tarak Mehta ka ooltah chasma and Oh My God have done a tremendous job of conveying the right messages and making people much more moral, ethical, self-righteous and aware.

But we need these lessons a lot more and embroiled in as many domains as possible be it the Formal Education, Television shows, Movies, Media, etc.

Even all our religious leaders, political leaders, babas and gurus should aspire for making us the most morally sound people.

Nation before Party !

This post refers to the priority given by many of our leaders to their respective parties before National interest or even what they personally might think is correct.

Referring to the recent row about the appointment of the CBI director: since the term of current director is about to end, the Government following the rules and norms of the present day appointed a new director. However there is a clause in the Lokpal Bill (which has been tabled in the Rajya Sabha but not yet passed) that there would be collegium of the Prime Minister, the Leader of opposition & the Chief Justice of India who'll appoint the CBI director.

But since the bill hasn't been passed yet, the Government used the existing norms and appointed the new director. And this became an issue for the opposition who started objecting over the appointment and demanded that a collegium should be formed first and then the appointment. But what they need to realize is that they first have to allow the Parliament to run, discuss the lokpal bill, take care of the due diligence, pass the bill and then make such a demand if the Government doesn't already follow.

And here it is important to praise Mr. Ram Jethmalani (BJP Rajya Sabha MP & Supreme Court Lawyer) who going again his party lines expressed his own opinion and questioned his party's objection.

There should be more such instances where our leaders express themselves more, express what they feel is right for the Nation irrespective of what their party feels or what might help/not-help their party in the elections.

Politics should be more of a noble work instead of an ambitious job !

Are our MPs so jobless ?

I don't intend to point fingers at anybody or do any mudslinging but i do have this peculiar observation: I can't seem to digest that a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) can go for a month long hiatus, come back and still get involved full time with some other work for a long period of time.

It just makes me ask: "Are our MPs so jobless ?"

Specifically this is about Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu (MP, Amritsar) who went on to a month long break for a Television reality show named Big Boss and even after coming out of it, he is busy with commentating duties for the India-England Cricket Series.

I understand that the Parliament session is to begin from 22nd but still is a incumbent Member of Parliament so free ? Aren't we still a developing country ? Isn't 30% of our people still below poverty line ?  Don't we see a outcry of hopelessness towards our country everyday ?

And all such questions make me feel that our leaders certainly can't be that jobless, on the contrary there is so much that they can do, a lifetime might seem less.

With a country like ours where there is so much scope of work, improvement in almost all areas, one expects his/her elected representative to devote his/her full time to the duties bestowed upon by the Constitution. And even if there is some free time one would expect our leaders and people with such high stature to actually work, take some initiatives for the betterment of the people, their constituencies, and society in general.

Getting elected to such a high office certainly comes with a lot of responsibilities and power, but more importantly it gives them a big platform to do all they can for the best of our country. And taking such "breaks" doesn't seem to do our country any better.

Going Hi-Tech are we?

This post refers to the recent Mobile Application launch by the Gujarat wing of Congress for poll publicity in Gujarat.

Considering the soon to be held elections, the Gujarat chapter of Congress has launched a mobile application for Android, Blackberry, I phone etc etc. And even though i appreciate their efforts to be getting technologically advanced, but the question is: who is the target ?

In a country like ours, where we have more than 30 percent people below poverty line, more than 60 percent not even earning 2 dollars a day, how many people actually have these smart phones ? The rich and elite who already have access to all sorts of media and don't necessarily need a mobile application to tell them about party agendas.

This also reflects one of the biggest problems of our society today : the gross Inequality especially in economic scales.

And instead of putting resources for pleasing the elite, wherever possible more and more efforts should be placed to get the economically weak sections to catch up with the others (irrespective of their caste, creed or religion).