Ten apathetic respondents dampening the course of ‘nation building’; how Modi Govt is overcoming it
The illustrative list is as follows- (a ) Apathetic bureaucracy devising status quo , ( b ) frustrated but hostile opposition political leaders exhibiting their poverty of knowledge and wisdom and leading their childish allegation attacks, ( it will not be exaggerated if it is stated that now there are no parties, what is left is only the individual leaders of these parties ), c ) several lobbies and pressure groups attacking the Executive , ( d ) PIL breathers and benefactors making most of the judicial activism, (e ) hostile and shameless media targeting relentlessly the Modi factor rather than his government by producing baseless and deliberately misleading media stories and trials on economic development, (f ) Several organized social and cultural petty groups tarnishing Modi factor rather than the government , ( g ) plethora of socio-economic and religious gangs shaking/questioning the legitimacy of the Executive , ( h ) blatant violators of the law of the land undermining the very authority of law as well as of the State , ( I ) power crazy political party workers esp. those of the ruling party , ( j ) growing hostile cynicism on the part of the almost all political party workers and their false and mischievous utterances thereby depriving the voters of the facts and figures.
The above matters are not merely matters of academic discussions, it is a serious matter keeping the interests of parliamentary democracy high up. Every day the authority of the State is gradually being eroded , it is evident from the unruly scenes witnessed during the proceedings of the parliament, the State Legislative Assemblies , the Municipal Corporations , the other similar elective representative bodies at the grass root levels where the warring factions in the House disrupt the proceedings, the numerically weaker factions do not allow ruling groups to carry on the business of the House by shouting each other and exhibiting their ugly faces to the world shamelessly . The disruption, on the other hand, is forced about on account of worthless, nonsensical and moreover non sequitur reasons. The only apparent cause appears to be the unsocial and on malicious grounds. The duly elected representative bodies are not allowed to discharge their legitimate functions of policymaking. The projects of economic development have been treated as political commodity i.e. a device which can be used in fighting for uncertain and undefined political ideologies by the competing parties. Disregarding the status of the development plans, the opponents keep on abusing (nowadays the abusers have stooped so low that the name of Narendra Modi is dragged in by any Tom Dick and Harry) the government.
The central aim of the new planning process by the Modi Government appears to be ‘overhauling’ the entire system of the Indian socio-political scenario. A strong bias towards the Western planning and administrative style of the political leaders in the Indian public administration was required to be substituted by the indigenous thought. A hardcore parochial and eccentric looking approach and the attitude towards the policy-making and its administration was required defying the world around. Modi Government did not hesitate in this regard. It kept on taking bold decisions and measures in the interests of the nation.
In Gujarat, refreshing the State bureaucracy, was an important goal under the State government’s ‘Karmyogi Abhiyan’. A similar campaign to refresh the bureaucracy under the Union Government on the pattern of Gujarat’s ‘Karmyogi Abhiyan’ is required to be undertaken. Bureaucracy or a civil service can defeat the plans of the elected party in power clandestinely without being exposed but cleverly pass the buck on to the shoulders of the party in power. As at present the party in power in India is facing the same challenge from a loutish bureaucracy. A hostile civil service becomes a major detrimental factor which keeps the ultimate beneficiary of a development plan or a scheme away from the fruits of the scheme thereby tarnishing the image of the party in power esp. the ‘leader’. That is how the image of Narendra Modi is targeted and tarnished. Therefore, it is essential that the framework of the civil service is required to be overhauled in order to make it efficient. Political slogans, government decisions and welfare announcements are materialized by the bureaucracy.
The fiercest adversary of the parliamentary democracy in India is the methods which the parties in opposition are seen adopting to weaken the legitimate Executive. Parties which are trounced in the elections, in fact in a mature democracy need to keep a little quiet and remain silent until the next elections. It is not suggested that their right to criticize the government publicly, is shelved or suppressed. Nevertheless, the opposition needs to maintain a proper dignity while making public denunciation and express themselves in a manner termed as a high order in public decency. In India, all the duly elected governments so far have done fairly well while discharging their constitutional and legitimate Executive functions, but unfortunately, the history of the opposition parties have miserably failed to understand their constitutional duties and play their legitimate role in discharging their functions between two General Elections. This can be termed as the most unfortunate tag labelled to the Indian polity as at present. The only glorious occasion when the ‘opposition parties’ played a vital and saviour role in protecting the parliamentary democracy in India, was the aftermath period of the ill-famous ‘emergency era’ thrust by the ‘democratically elected parliamentary dictator Mrs.Indira Gandhi in the way back during 1975-77. A similar era followed after 34 years, in the May 2014 General Elections.
The Indian judiciary generally is known as a sober and a law bound pillar, seems to have locked horns more frequently with the Executive of late, on important constitutional issues. The Judiciary appears to be a little more sensitive on matters which they consider sacrosanct and therefore need careful protection, in their opinion from the growing unruly elements of the parliamentary democracy. However, it is equally important to note that the present Executive under Narendrabhai Modi is undoubtedly a determined leadership, which is also aware of the erudition of the Indian Judiciary as compared with its counterparts in the world around, and yet the ‘leadership’ feels, that it requires a sort of public sanction, peoples’ stamp of nod. Recruitment of judges is such a sensitive area wherein the Judiciary does not want any interference from outside quarter and it is exactly the area where the parliamentary voice smells rat in the very process and therefore desires a regulatory prick in it, in order to establish judiciously a vital ‘administrative transparency’ at the highest level of the highest order. The summary dismissal of the ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission Act No.40 of 2014’ --NJAC--by the Apex Court is a good example- an example of the extent to which the Apex Court had smelt tremors had it been let off. The crisis was certainly avoided, but it is yet not over.
Several unconfirmed news reports from the vast rural areas esp. the Taluka places, the stories ( never proved ) stun the listeners about the behavioural pattern of the judiciary at the lower echelons. However, interested readers may go through a stunning and bold Research Report available on a link referred to below.
A Research Report: Transparency International and Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies (CMS):
Quote: “ In 2005, Transparency International and Delhi-based Centre for MediaStudies (CMS), a research firm, undertook the India Corruption Study. The survey covered 14,405 respondents over 20 states and included interviews with service providers and users (of these services). The results published the same year, said Indians pay about around Rs 21, 068 crores as bribes while availing one of 11 public services. While some of the results of the survey were published, many of the details were not.
The said Survey on Judiciary referred to its data as following. The respondents therein opined that (a) the Judiciary at any level is inaccessible. (b) the judiciary misuses its powers, (c) the impeachment process is difficult, (d) Judicial process is slow and inefficient. The Research study states that the total amount of bribery involved in judicial affairs is around Rs.2630 Crores a year. The Study further states that 79% respondents agreed that there is corruption in the Judiciary, 58% opined that the Judiciary was not committed to fighting corruption, 62 % stated that the judges were of poor quality, and 86 % stated the alternative avenue to get the work done, was ‘bribery’. “Millions of people at the grass root level experience the above. Important suggestions to change the scenario too were proposed as following: “(I) Use of technology must be increased in the judicial administration, (ii) Reduce the gap between the citizens and the judiciary by making available alternative forums which will reduce the burden on the Courts, (iii) the judiciary must be accountable . Source:www.livemint.com/corruption.htm.
The NJAC Act had contemplated all the above-mentioned matters in the national interest aiming at reaching the poor man for whom the Court and the law were the only and last resort for his very livelihood.
The plethora of Public Interest Litigation ( PIL ) has also created unwarranted hurdles in the process of economic development. Litigants, hurt by some personal losses at times are found resorting to this ‘black-mailer-device ‘to earn the satisfaction of avenging one’s own ego. The judiciary is also seen as a quick helping hand.
The overall change in the behavioral pattern and the psyche of the society in general and the youth in particular, brought out by the cynical and destructive media and esp. the social media, needs and warrants immediate attention of the academia to take up socio-political research studies to diagnose the ills lest the society is pushed back towards barbaric era. A lot of material has been produced on the perversion and hostile attitudes of the media and its attitude towards Narendra Modi disregarding his honest efforts on the development front. In the process, the agitators marching with slogans and placards, destroying a large amount of public property, do not understand that these are destroying the basic tenets of parliamentary democracy. State Legislative Assembly Houses and the Union Parliament Houses find very little business time to discuss matters of public importance and law. The Houses seem to have turned into the redundant entity. The present author was stunned to hear a comment from a street beggar, as to “why the elections are conducted at all?” The simple comment was a serious thoughtful observation of a ‘Janata-Janardan’.
It is necessary to take a note seriously that gradually the Indian democracy seems to be turning into a sort of ‘mobocracy’. Several small groups presenting splinter groups and factions, posing as mandated representative groups, force their entry into business and governmental Offices, manhandling the personnel there, at times kidnap someone as hostage, demanding ransom amount or accept the illegal demands and so and so forth, of course, this is not a routinely everyday scene. The worrisome point is that the frequency of such instances is increasing day by day. These self-proclaimed representatives posing as defenders of civil rights are the real adversaries of the democratic decency. The elected parliamentarians hesitate to take regulatory action against these as these fear their withdrawal of electoral support in the subsequent General Elections. The modern polity seems to hang around the disproportionately blown up theme ‘election and vote bank theory’. Economic development seems to have taken a back seat.
Modi Government’s distinctive features in the planning process a few of which are:
i. Planning development aiming at removing regional disparity, the case of North East region, ii. Building on a priority basis the infrastructural facilities, iii. Basic administrative comforts at the grass root level, iv. Social development campaigns as ‘mission’. v. Cultural appeal-in nation building, vi. Emphasizing the spirit of cooperative federalism, vii. unifying taxation structure all over India such as introducing GST, viii. Emphasizing social development indicators such as the field of ‘education’, ‘literacy’, ‘health’, etc. , ix. deploying technology and digitalization in the process of governance to arrest lower level corrupt practices freeing the common man from the clutches of clerical hands, e.g. Jan Dhan Yojana etc.
Modi is not a magician, no prime minister is. During his last election campaign, he made quite a few promises, some of which were for a quick solution and some others involved lengthy procedures which also warranted international connections, such as the issue of ‘black’ money. Most of the promises were delicate issues, the compliance of which required time and legal formalities. In fact, these promises were assurances of invoking several legal obligations and preparing for long legal intricate battles. Narendra Modi did this without any favour or fear. The sobriety of the nation has been that the common man has complete faith in Modi’s integrity and competence and therefore the nation is prepared to wait for a longer without unrest.
Distrust has become a basic value in defining mutual interaction in the Indian polity. Cynicism sown by the Macaulay products in India and esp. the media havoc, need to be aptly retaliated by the erudite society and those who have faith in the history esp. the intellectuals who are blessed with positive attitude towards the humanity, carrying in mind the solemn resolve of saving universal humanity from the cynics all around and of course, without ignoring the nation-building of India, i.e. ‘NATION FIRST’.
