Introduction:

In democracy, the party in government is known as the ruling party and the party or parties constituting the rest are called the opposition creating a phobia that the opposition is only to oppose measures taken by the government, notwithstanding the merit of the measures or steps so taken benefitting the country’s population at large. This is only the literal meaning of opposition which often times reflect in letter and spirit in the center and the state legislatures. But in a true democratic tradition, on many pro-people measures, party politics should take a back seat and ‘opposition’ should perform as ‘responsible opposition’ and not ‘opposition’ in the literal meaning of the term.

After all, what politics should be about  and what the aim is to be of politics in democracy are the well being of people, sub-charged by a keen competition of political parties for giving the maximum benefits to people not draining of them their benefits and dues. Stalling the legislation is ‘the opposition power’, but letting it run is the responsibility of the ruling party as well as the opposition. With better coordination and tolerance, both the opposition and the ruling parties move forward with measures benefitting people.

Company’s Act 2013:

After all. It is for the people, by the people and for the people, both of them have come to the assemblies as their representatives and for them only should they think and work. The recent passages of the Companies Act of 1956 are a welcome step signifying tolerance and concern by the principal opposition of India for the people at large which have ended three days of acrimony and disruption in parliament. The bill has now been cleared by both the houses of parliament and is awaiting approval by the president which will come soon.

In this case, both sides have conceded something and accepted the best as all six suggestions made by the standing committee led by Mr. Yashwant Sinha of BJP were accepted and incorporated in the bill as amendments, creating a healthy democratic transition of tolerance and concern of the ruling party and the opposition alike. Now, it is but natural on our part to expect similar action, tolerance and concern for the people's representative on the coming measures contemplated by the government so as to show to the world of very high democratic values our MPs have.

Matters of public interest:

The ruling party in order to transact meaningful business in the parliament has made amends to the defense minister’s statement on the Indian soldier’s killing in the Poonch border and made a great comeback to reality in announcing that Pakistani soldiers are behind the ambush, in turn, ended the Parliament logjam by accepting Antony’s correction and allowed the passage of the company’s Bill, both sides showing that they are not politicizing on matters of public interest.

Similarly, broad agreement and consensus have been reached by the BJP and UPA government on the passage of the Food Security Bill, Land Acquisition Bill and 26 percentages permission in FDI which will come up in Parliament for legislation. It is high time that a few more bills enlisted for the parliament are dealt within a sense of accommodation and the onus is on the government and the opposition alike.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):

Now, coming to the Company’s Act of 2013, awaiting President’s approval one of the major changes contemplated is making it mandatory for companies to spend at least two percentages of their average profits for the last three years towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities provided the profits are five cores of or more? With reasoned explanations, the companies failing to comply with CSR rules can avoid action including penalty. However, companies are free to choose areas of work for CSR. The second provision of the law makes it mandatory for companies to include one-third of their board as independent directors for a five-year term with, at least, one of the board members being a woman.

The corporation must come out clean on the salaries of the directors, showing the difference between their salaries with those of the average employees. Provisions for faster winding of firms also find inclusion in the Act. Term ‘fraud’ has been well-defined in the Act and provides for a class action suit as a key weapon for individual shareholders to take collective action against errant companies.

Conclusion:

The Act has a provision for setting up special courts for speedy trial and stronger steps to put a halt to corporate ills and for transparency in corporate governance. Serious fraud investigation officers have been given more statutory powers to deal with corporate frauds. April to March of each year is now the corporate fiscal year uniformly with so much provision in the legislation; India has perhaps become the first country in the world to give a statutory tag to Corporate Social Responsibility spending.

Let us assume a hypothetical situation. The Indian troops at the border do not fire in return when enemy troops fire on them and in the process some collateral damage is suffered. Later on when there is an uproar at this behavior, the troops say that if this behavior of theirs has  hurt the feelings of the nation they regret it. As per present norms for politicians the troops should be pardoned and allowed to continue in service.

We have seen how politicians of all colors make irresponsible and most of the time hurtful statements. When cornered they usually blame the media for twisting their great statements and very reluctantly express conditional regrets and avoid using the word apology. This is enough for their parties to allow them to carry on in their positions. Yet another reasoning was provided by the spokesman of a particular regional party when he said that they believe in Gandhian philosophy, whereby when someone expresses regret, that ends the matter.

A very convenient argument. While making absurd and hurtful statements the politicians do not follow Gandhian principles but want to be pardoned on these very principles. It is the mind set out of which such statements are coming out that is a cause of worry. It shows callousness and indifference of the highest order. Is the mind set going to change after asking to be forgiven? Only they will be careful in future not to make such foolish statements.

There are politicians in all parties who make provocative statements purposely in furtherance of their nefarious agendas. It is not that they are not aware of the consequences. They know that they will not be punished by their party. They are aware that almost all the political parties lack true leaders. Leaders who would keep the interests of the nation at the top and would not be wedded or welded to their chair. Leaders who'd not hesitate to take action against party men for making irresponsible and hurtful statements, even if it meant that they may have to lose their chair. Such leaders are no longer in existence. Today political parties are run like business organizations. The cabinet acts as the Board of Directors. Performance is judged by not service to the nation but by other parameters. How much is there for the politicians and the party is the yardstick by which the performance of the active politicians is judged.

In such scenario, if a politician holding ministerial position makes degrading statements against a community, religion or services, no action can be taken against him because he contributes handsomely to the party's kitty. Thus he is a protected species. He also knows this and thus is emboldened to make outrageous statements which create tensions and insult sections of our society. In the end the standard of politics is further lowered in our country.

All political parties have members who are by now well known for making outlandish statements which are meant to create division in the society because they target a particular group. They are doing so because they are working towards propagating their agenda. In doing so if people have to be offended or insulted so be it.

In the process politicians are today emboldened to openly express negative opinions on subjects which till recently no one would talk openly. It was indeed considered ill manners. But today the political discourse is such that lower the quality of debate the better the politicians performance.

Today votes are sought not on nationalistic ideologies but divisive agendas expressed most of the time in abusive manner.

The recent statement by a regional politician  that people join the army and police to become martyrs and are paid for it is the ultimate in the battle of insults that is the style today. It is saddening and distressing that we elect such mind set politicians into seats of power. That he has expressed a forced apology does not wash away the sin committed by him against the slain brave soldiers of our country. If people join army to die do persons join politics to loot the country. There can be nothing more shameful than such insulting statement.

Some one observed that the reason the politicians speak like this is because they suffer from low self esteem as most of them are allegedly involved in enriching themselves by dubious means. So they do not respect other professions. And because they think they are our rulers they can not digest the fact that there can be noble professions in the world also. Further they do not send their children into a noble profession like the defence forces so they do not know about it or its importance. It would be interesting to know how many children of politicians are in the defence forces. Almost all will be in the highest paying profession of politics.

The least we can do is to try and see that such politicians are not reelected. We owe it to our martyrs. We can not expect the political parties to correct such members. 

Long live our soldiers and may the martyrs be always respected even by politicians.

Introduction:

Good governance is a socially acceptable language widely used at present. Generally speaking, good governance means, a clean and impartial system adopted by the government for ensuring fundamental rights, justice and human rights to every citizen of the country, including those below the social strata. Voice of the humdrum finds reflection in the general administration. At the forefront of the philosophy of good governance are the World Bank and the UNO which propagate the rights of the common man and the voice of the neglected as the key to effective governance.

Effective governance, now-a-days, is identified with RTI utilized as a medium for eradication of corruption under the establishment of transparency turning the government accountable to the people at large. E-governance is being insisted upon and facilitated in the society as never before which makes the full use of available technology as a tool for the benefit of mankind. E-governance has become a catch word worldwide, making the administration think to work for its people and to care for the need for one and all. Though many countries have discarded the coaching system needed for the success of the e-governance, a few countries adopt it with the letter and spirit.

E-governance technologies:

The countries acting against this are generally apprehensive about the government confidentiality and use in various sensitive areas as in electronic voting machines (EVMs). Resultantly, e-governance has not been able to spread its wing in full and square, but is limited to the planning and performance information of the government as well as the prevalent set of rules, governing the management and performance of different government portfolios.
The government is keen on collecting the opinion and the advice of the general public in various matters of state governance by the judicious use of e-governance technologies. This has enabled the government to reach out to people in a very direct manner to solve their problems as much as it is capable of accomplishing.

However, it is a matter of regret that in our democratic set up. The right to information has not been working as it is expected to be; rather the outcome visible is clearly antithetical in a number of cases. The earliest generations’ defective EVMs are still in use in the conduct of elections in India. The source of the software and its code is being kept secret. The hardware used in these machines is easy to manipulate which the experts of the technologies have given perspective. It is a prevalent opinion from all corners of Indian voters in the last election that the machines or the software or hardware used therein were all defective.

EVMs showed different results than they hoped for:

The manner in which one area or set of people who voted for reflected otherwise in results declared later. This is the perspective of the general public, the scientists, the lawyers and villagers living in far off localities that the EVMs showed different results than they hoped for. Questions of apprehensions of heavy scale manipulations were raised every here and there making the EVM system of voting in elections susceptible. Though such huge manipulations are seen and reported during the last general election, it is surprising that no political party or political leader is raising a genuine voice questioning the system of EVMs replaceable by paper votes or both systems being used together as a mark of transparency.

E-governance needs to be properly implemented from the top and from the planning level coming down to the level of the ordinary man as we see the system in use in various countries. Our planning and legislative system have not used e-governance so far as a result of which the transparency and the competence expected in the field of implementation are grossly lacking. Our planning and implementation of various schemes are very often found to be defective and the people are rendered helpless due to e-governance not being in place.

E-governance and RTI:

Satisfactory results will only come and timely measures are only possible with the introduction and implementation of e-governance. Government websites should show what it thinks the society and in what manner and extent it is going to implement among other measures. This is the very essence of the Right to Information (RTI). Indian citizens will only feel that they were called onto participate in government selections during elections only. However, no government in India is a participatory government. Neither has it took into account the opinions of its people. Nor it leads its people know of the measures it is implementing.

Everything can be done in a very orderly and transparent manner with technology pervading the whole of the country.  But what are lacking here are the will power and the transparency of the administration in implementing e-governance. All political parties rely on technology for their party’s statistical information and voting patterns being followed and adopted. But no party seems to be concerned about the people in the society at large. This has compounded the problem.

During the last general election, leaders of many political parties and the party administrators were seen greeting people and begging for votes through messages and voice mails in mobile phones, collecting the mobile numbers of voters in the most illegal manner without the mobile owners, themselves knowing of it.

Social media with mobile as a medium:

Anna’s Lokpal movement has opened the flood gate for profuse use of mobile messages and voice mails for reaching out to the common people. People in the higher strata of society, students and the youths of the country use computers, internets, fake books and twitters as social media which have now been targeted by political people for their organizational and agitation goals.

Medias and various mediums have lifted many leaders to the stature of greatness and glorification. By the by, all state and central government is now beginning to distribute free models and laptops among people with a keen eye on 2012 general elections. Social media with mobile as a medium is good for the people if it is widely used in a very transparent manner as a tool of information to know what it is happening in what corner of the country and what it is going to be done by the government and what place.

Conclusion:

Nevertheless, no government is concerned with the problems of the people as the mobiles are not going to be used to know of their wants and troubles but to send and receive messages and voice mails needed to tide over the ensuing elections. The use of technology in each and every fabric of society is not bad; rather it is excellent and the need of the day because of information reaches very fast. Conversely, what the technology in India being used by the government and the political parties is only for their political gains which have little relevance for the people everywhere.

Couple of politicians have recently stated that in Mumbai one can eat a full meal in Rs 12 and in Delhi for as low as Rs 5. While it is laughable, it also shows how disconnected our leaders are from the reality. My thoughts went to my college days. Whenever I used to come home during the holidays I used to have interesting dialogues  with my maternal grandfather who was staying with us. However there was one statement of his which I used to find difficult to believe and today I feel sorry but used to get a bit irritated also.

He would often state that things have become very costly and then narrate how on his starting salary of Rs 5 per month he would also save a few annas.( Rs 1 was equal to sixteen annas). He had started his career in state government service in the early 1920's and retired by the early 1950's. He would then tell me how in four annas one could buy around a maund or app 20 kgs of rice and so on. In the late 1960's it all sounded so unbelievable to me. I used to smoke those days and a cigarette packet cost me around sixty paise. However I rarely contested him but respectfully heard him.

Soon I stared working, got married and started going to buy provisions in the market in the mid 1970's. I remember a 15 kg groundnut oil tin costing around sixty rupees to seventy five rupees. Dairy milk cost Rs 2 a liter. Meat used to cost Rs 10 to 12 a kilo. Petrol cost Rs 5 a liter.  I remember in 1969, I purchased petrol for putting in my scooter at ninety paise per liter and the world economies were shattered when in 1973 or 1974 the price of petrol was dramatically raised by the OPEc and petrol price in India was raised to Rs 4 point something per liter. The first class fare from my city to Mumbai was Rs 75 in 1975. One could go to a good movie theater and buy a balcony ticket for Rs 4 or 5 per person. Coca Cola in 1965 was purchased by me for the first time for thirty paise per 200 ml bottle. Also good sumptuous  masala dosa was available for 30 to 50 paise in 1965. I visited Chennai for the first time in late 1975 and was delighted to eat five idlis for only fifty paise. During my engineering college days for all the five years a plate of samosas liberally sprinkled with curd, chutney and mashed potato chips was available at fifty paise. Hot onion uttapams cost only fifty paise each.

One can go on and on. The prices then look ridiculously low when compared with today's prices. I distinctly remember eating my unlimited vegetarian dinner thalis at Rs 10 in mid 1970's. A couple of rupees more if one wanted to eat a non-veg thali.

So on what basis have these so called leaders stated that in India of 2013 one could eat a meal in five or twelve rupees that too in metro cities like Delhi or Mumbai.  It not only shows how poor is their knowledge of the markets which are frequented by the vast majority of our population but also shows their insensitivity towards the poor. As someone caustically pointed out that they actually meant not rupees but dollars as that is the currency they are far more familiar with !

However as far as I am concerned I have now taken the place of my grandfather and my sons are behaving exactly the way I used to. The moment I go back in time and start saying that the price was so and so and see where it is today, my sons start telling me-- Papa not again. My thoughts go back in time and I realize the world has moved on. However for many of our politicians it seems only they have moved on and the rest are still stuck fifty years in the past.