Tuesday 22 November 2011

An obituary for Indian democracy?

Just check the list below, this is with regard to the Indian Parliament

Bills slated for discussion in this session

1. Lokpal
2. Judicial Accountability
3. Food Security
4. Land Acquisition
5. Education

Sample what happened in the Lok Sabha today - the Rajya Sabha was adjourned after obituary references

1. Left - wants to corner the government over inflation
2. BJP/NDA - wants to corner the government on inflation, corruption (and black money)
3. TRS - raised the Telangana issue in Parliament today
4. Samajwadi Party - unhappy with the proposal to divide UP
5. Shiva Sena - trooped into the well, I don't know why
6. Team Anna - is prepared to re-start the agitation

This truly represents a government under siege from all directions. If the discussion entail voting the government is probably not sure whether or not it will win the motions. If I am not mistaken every hour of our legislature costs the government about INR (when will the Rupee symbol be incorporated into keyboards?) 2 lakhs. I am part of the hapless population that pays taxes. I don't want to finance these incidents (if I call them or especially the perpetrators anything rude, what I actually might want to, I might have a case against me, in spite of India being a country with "free speech").

The bills slated for discussion are historic to say the least. Corruption is a burning issue in India today. No one outside the judiciary probably completely knows how or why it functions the way it does. We are talking about providing subsidized food to a large part of our population (with money about which I have no idea as to where it is coming from). Vital projects have been stalled across the country due to land issues. Education is an urgent requirement of what is probably among the world's youngest nations. But are we doing anything useful? No! Why should we? 

Our politicians' "appraisal" comes only once in five years. Sufficient time for (at least some of) them to have amassed fortunes which will comfortably last a few generations. Why the hell am I working my ass off in a private sector job?

When will our democracy rise from its ashes (make no mistake, I believe it keeps dying regular deaths)?

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