01 December 2013, 08:31 PM IST
... there always remains much more to be done that speaks for itself.
One day from now the bugles and banters for the elections for the city-state of Delhi will fall silent, for a one day cool-off before the polling, the next day. As Indian elections go, even if they be college or university elections, the 'silent' interim day is the one with most deals, maneuverings, interparty spying, and surely money exchange.
The two big parties are probably neck and neck, if one was to take the average of all gagged and gurgled opinion polls. The AAP is the "beep beep" party sticking its neck out, here or there. There is a certain allegation that a social activist has become a politician, but what is wrong if he finally shows his acumen in highlighting a section of voters that always felt neglected.
The final formation of the government is a different matter, but I would take the "jhadoo" as a symbol of environment cleanliness. Mahatma's Sevagram was a first such experiment for a community that is used to throw its trash out of the window into the streets. Manual scavenging is the first practice that should go out right away. I am not talking of any party's personal agenda, I am saying that the one that comes to power should consider this as its prime duty.
Delhi developed well during the tenure of the present chief minister, and whether she wishes to come back or seek retirement, she has booked her place amongst the all time great chief ministers of the country. There is much to note about her political temperament, hardly ever ruffled, and never abusive to her opponents. If the politics is the art taking people along and yet to be able to enforce the greater part of one's own conviction, then this is it.
I must admire Modiji's ability to connect to the masses. Few leaders from Gujarat or other states have ever made a platform for crowd thumping oratory as he has done. May have studied Atalji's diction rather closely. Much of his daunt (I am referring to the present campaign) comes from his state culture. Here is a self disciplined and proud community that has the appetite for enterprise at par with any in the world. Along with that comes a rich nexus of culture that keeps human bonds intact despite immense wealth. Mr. Modi gets his rating because the small as well as the large entrepreneur feels that he is more adept in minding his as well as the other's business. Opinions may differ.
If one was to look at the agendas of all the top three parties, it is trite to mention law and order, support for the poor, communal harmony. These anyway are the guiding principles of state policy. A sudden new entrant is public libraries. BJP's ex-chief minister, Mr Sahib Singh Verma was a librarian. In that case they need one large international level library that can connect via internet to most schools, institutions, and individual professionals and take rentals as per customer and usage. In terms of real estate costs, perhaps they can dig a bit more horizontally at major underground railway stations. Waiting for trains shall no longer be a pain. Well if they had thought that much, it would have been a winning slogan for the young first time voters.
Agendas have vote catching components. They have others that show the overall vision of a party. Both need to be spelt out well in terms of implementation. That sounds authentic, and even helps the party to actually start working on it. "Aadhaar" was one such grand scheme, that could later give all the benefits of a social security number. Nilekani left his chair at Infosys to join the government. He should have been given the publicity and exposure to express his plan to the nation. Being a corporate man he knows how to take contracts, meet client requirements and hit deadlines in time. The nation only knows how much time, talent and resources were wasted.
Reasonable housing, water, heating and cooling are now essential for any citizen if India needs all sections of its population to contribute to its growth. The voter should not believe any promise that does not have a phased out blue print and deadline. He has every right to ask methods of implementation and the presence of such talent. A slum housing policy, with affordable water and energy has to be spelt and the formula of economic viability shown. Just to list a flashy new idea without sufficient data to define the mode of implementation and economics should no longer be taken at face value. One example is the CP Airport-Metro. That would have made Delhi a very distinct city for travelers and businessmen. The polity needs to be explained, when we had the best talent in the world doing the whole Metro, why was this blue chip sub-project handed over to an inexperienced party. There was more than a fifty percent chance that there would be problems of co-ordination. What was lost was time, resources, but the extreme loss was the inability to put together a world class system.
Did any one mention about "five year warrantee pothole free roads". Delhi having the maximum cars in the country, besides a large population of bulls, buffaloes and goats, a huge slot of voters that would have gone straight for that, were missed. Besides, yearly costs and taxes for repairing roads would go continue to escalate.
We are talking of infrastructure in the capital city-state of this country. There can be no further compromises on quality. Did anyone hit at "quality" for infrastructure, amenities, education, health and finally governance. Every campaign leader knows how to pick up and kiss a child in the crowds, how to hug an old widow, how to chant with the pundits, and show abeyance to the Mullahs. That's fine. Finally, the job at hand has a time limit and a budget. That is the final impression that calls for a "return"
Politics is still a game of money, mind and manipulations. False promises are not entirely a sin, but let these be redeemed by true, professional, and quality governance, that shows at the end of the tenure. Many Asian countries have transformed their work culture, and up-scaled their economies.
I am an optimist, but there might be reasons why we like the term, "Incredible India"
There is a old joke where an IAS candidate was asked to translate a particular line of Hindi to English ( you shall get it at the end of this translation). So it goes:
" In India, if work is nat done, then nat done. But bhen it iz done, then it iz dun-duna-dun, dun-dana-dun!"
I believe this guy has not yet passed away, though many in the selection committee have.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
All said and done
Dengan url
http://osteoporosista.blogspot.com/2013/12/all-said-and-done.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
All said and done
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar