Discrimination by CGHS

AN UNHEALTHY HEALTH SCHEME

-SANJOG M AHESHWARI While right to healthcare and medical facilities should be seen as an integral part of the right to life for all, the babus have ensured that world class healthcare, diagnostic and other medical facilities at posh private nursing homes, hospitals, healthcare centers at Government cost is available only to them, their families, their political boss MPs and other so-called VIPs and their families. The nursing home facilities in Government hospitals are also mostly cornered by such higher strata beneficiaries.Medical specialists attached to the CGHS dispensaries, if they happen to be of some calibre, remain unavailable on their slotted schedule, as for months on end they are away on what is termed as VIP duties -- attending to the VIPs and their families.There also exists a complex classification and sub-classification of CGHS beneficiaries in various categories, based on which the scale of facilities admissible to them under the scheme is decided. The parameters and norms differ from beneficiary to beneficiary, depending on the scale of pay or pension, the position he holds or held in the Government, etc.What is most appalling is the fact that the pensioner-beneficiaries of autonomous bodies are not treated at par with their counterpart retired from purely Government service, particularly in the matter of grant of credit facilities in the recognised private healthcare centres, nursing homes, etc. Are they not as precariously placed both health-wise and resources-wise as their counterparts who retired from "purely Government service"?

The plight of an autonomous body pensioner, suffering from age-induced infirmities and debilitating diseases, is that he has to run around complying with absurd formalities, placating babus, getting department's permission before and after the treatment, incurring all expenses from his own slender resources on the spot in the first instance irrespective of the enormity of the amount of expenditure involved even in emergent circumstances. . Then irrespective of whether his health permits or not, he has to do several rounds first to get his reimbursement bill on the prescribed forms verified from the treating doctor, then to the department for its scrutiny only to get reimbursement of completely watered-down bill after several months of making repeated rounds to the department from which he retired. Besides this he has to get his permanent CGHS token card revalidated every calendar year before it begins, the fact that he had already made full payment for availing CGHS facilities for the whole life- at the same rate and scale applicable to his counterpart in the government service- on his retirement itself, not withstanding. The babus of his department with abnormally swelled egos take sadistic pleasure in retrenching the claimed amount on most flimsy grounds; feigning ignorance of the Delhi high court verdict that mandates full reimbursement of the expenditure incurred on the medical treatment, and that too after the claim is subjected to several absurd objections. The autonomous body pensioner-beneficiaries of CGHS have made several representations to the authorities of the Health Ministry including those to the Hon’ble Minister but all have fallen on deaf ears so far and the victims of this blatant discrimination continue to live under the ever-lengthening shadow of fear and insecurity. Even ventilating the grievances through media could not yield any positive results for these unfortunate CGHS pensioner-beneficiaries whose only sin is that they had retired from autonomous bodies. It would thus be apparent that the denial of credit facility and cashless service by private recognized hospitals to the CSIR and other autonomous body pensioners who are CGHS beneficiaries is a cruel, inhuman and heartless joke still being perpetuated on this particular section of hapless senior citizens in the twilight of their life even though their counterpart retirees from the government have been availing the facility for several years now. As respected senior citizens of this country, all pensioners should be treated at par, particularly in the matter of healthcare and medical facilities. Age and the age alone should be the criterion to determine the priority in the matter of extending the benefits to a pensioner-beneficiary irrespective of the post and the grade he was in at the time of his retirement. -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

CIVIL NUCLEAR DEAL WITH AMERICA

-It is said that American businessmen are so clever at negotiating table that if it serves their purpose right, they could talk the hind legs off a donkey. Two- term holder, President George. W. Bush, who has inked the civil nuclear deal with India, is not an ordinary American businessman but a brilliant politician. (Ditto for the President-elect Barack Hussein Obama). The studied silence of the Congress leaders in general and the Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh in particular after safe passage of the civil nuclear deal with America overcoming all the so-called hurdles-when otherwise it should have been hailed by them as an episode of crowning glory and remarkable achievement of the Congress-led U.P.A government in general and personally of the Doctor in particular, to swing votes in favour of the congress party in genral elections.Doubting Thomases in India wonder whether all is well with the deal. Their tribe is increasing by the day. They have the compelling reasons to believe that besides the very obvious many unsettling provisions in the deal which are inimical to our national interests and economy, there also exist some other shrouded in wraps
of mystery, which are being interpreted quite differently by America who, secured in a position of strength, may dictate terms and call the shots in this matter whenever such an occasion arises. “Why the deal is not being touted as the most remarkable achievement of the Doctor personally; a feather in his cap and a prized achievement of the Congress-led U.PA. Government?” they pertinently ask. It looks foreboding enough to an uninitiated layman, giving rise to the suspicion whether long- term Indian interests have been properly safeguarded or not? What if sometime in future for the worthy cause of controlling green house gas emissions, a cap is put on atomic power generation or something of the sort is done by the world community reducing our atomic reactors to junk material? Brushing aside all our contentions to the contrary, already the West is targeting and blaming us for the world-wide horrible phenomena of
serious climate change, global warming, brown cloud formation, carbon soot generation, emission of CO2 and other pollutants in the atmosphere, disturbing the ecological balance, serious pollution of natural resources, atmosphere and what not? And that too quite aggressively from a position of strength.
Further, are we in a sound position to affectively check quick-spread of atomic radiation in case of possible reactor leakages? Or has the American President outsmarted the Doctor by making the latter agreeable to purchase from America, the nuclear junk - and not the fuel- at a colossal cost which it has in abundance and is in a desperate hurry to dispose off as quickly as possible so
that it may raise enough funds to foot and finance its own ambitious programme of switching over to the power generation from the renewable, non-degradable, natural energy resources at a large scale without straining its own exchequer. (Perhaps he has sensed already that the world opinion will finally revolt against the atomic power generation in not that distant future). The President-elect Barack Hussein Obama has also whole-heartedly supported the deal and resolved to go along with it. Has the American cleverness found the Doctor an easy soft touch? His silence over the matter, even when otherwise he and his allies in the government are expected to go gaga over it and be very eloquent in extolling its virtues, to say the least, is astonishing.
If the deal is as good as it was being loudly proclaimed during its processing days, why his government is now shying away from the opportunity to show-case it as its prized accomplishment?

The great American Democracy

SANJOG MAHESHWARI,

C1A-42 B M.I.G.FLATS, JANAKPURI,

NEW DELHI-110058

WE ALSO WANT CHANGE

-SANJOG MAHESHWARI

Kudos to the American democratic processes, systems and institutions which, once again, unfailingly reinvented themselves by electing the best man, Barack Obama, till recently an unknown name and face, to the most powerful position in the world, eschewing all extraneous considerations, for effectively answering the need of the times and to meet the “pressing urgency of now in the best interests of America”,

While we may pay rich tributes to Obama’s elocutionary skills: his passionate ‘we can’ victory speech, his sincerity, courage of conviction and the way he made the clarion call for ‘change’, the real credit belongs to the great American democracy due to which the miracle happened in spite of the obvious disadvantages: being a black man, a half- Muslim with Hussein as a middle name, rumours of his early days addiction to drugs and association with grotty characters; a political minnow who apparently had no chance, even in the primaries, against Hillary Clinton.

Political analysts have celebrated this historic event of global significance by writing millions of words eulogizing America for its capacity to shake off the dark past for which Abraham Lincoln had made the supreme sacrifice. The Indian constituency of the admirers of the American model of democratic governance, marveling over the Obama’s stupendous victory, can not help but crave for an early end of this dark period of insipid, spineless, thoroughly rotten, uninspiring and corrupt political leadership in its own country, yielding place to the inspiring and committed leadership.

Is it possible to user in the much coveted ‘change’ to ‘meet the pressing urgency of now in the best interests of India’ under the shadow of our grossly debased variety of Westminster type of Parliamentary democracy which was adopted in unseemly haste? The answer is an emphatic “NO”. For that to happen, we will have to switch over to the American-model of Presidential democracy. Nothing short of this is going to help. The sooner we adopted it, the better it would be for our all round good and well-being. We will then have our own Lincolns and Obamas who are conspicuous by their absence in the present day India.

Even before more than 90% of our populace could know what was this all about “We The People of India” were made to adopt, enact and give to ourselves a Constitution, the good-intentioned provisions of which, when put to practice delivered just the opposite. For example, it was hoped that Executive would be de-linked from the Legislature to ensure clean and vibrant administration. Instead, the Executive has been reduced to the position of a handmaid of the Legislature. Sporadic attempts are made to make even the Judiciary subservient to Legislature by compromising its independence. We not only need a fiercely independent judiciary but also an independent Executive and Media.

Our system of elections and electioneering contributed substantially to the criminalization of the politics. It created the politics of vote-bank which in turn helped demagogues with criminal background, long on rhetoric and short on everything else, to ascend to powerful positions in the government by playing religion, caste and region card and pursuing quota-reservation policies with dogged determination to woo, cultivate and consolidate caste and minority vote-banks. Our corruption-ridden democratic system of governance and institutions are totally incapable of producing an Indian Obama. While we always want the best man to win an election, he simply dreads to run. No wonder, democracy in our country has degenerated into highly criminalized and corrupt ‘mobocracy’.

-SANJOG MAHESHWARI

C1A-42 B M.I.G.FLATS,

JANAPURI, NEW DELHI-110058

SANJOG-BHU-AMU

C1-42 B M.I.G Flats,

JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110058

                                                                                         POLITICS AROUND AMU & BHU                                                                                               

                            

 

                                                                                                                                                                                    - SANJOG MAHEHWARI

 Hinduism is a way of life that epitomizes pure secularism to the extent that it could just be another name for secularism- not our Demagogue brand pseudo secularism-, which our politicians unabashedly employ to foster and nurture the minority vote-bank, but the secularism which preaches the lofty ideals of “Vasudev kutumbakam”. Both the great Indians-Madan Mohan Malaviyaji and Sir Syed Ahmed - could be described as the ambassadors of this secularism in the spirit of which they founded the respective institutes of great learning and research. If these institutes they fondly nurtured with great devotion and care, have shown occasional signs of digression from the lofty ideals of their founders how can one blame their founding fathers?

. During my five years of association with the A.M.U. as its student, I had no occasion even to remotely suspect anybody harbouring any discrimination or bias between communities. At the Hadi Hasan Hall of the hostel we all were part of a great family- I was “Sanjog Bhai” for every body and every one “so- and –so- bhai” for me. I am sure my other Hindu class-fellows of those days will bear me out when I say that we will always cherish and share memories of our joyful association with Muslim friends during our A.M.U. years. That means the spirit of Sir Syed Ahmed still pervades the cultural ambiance of the great seat of learning he founded. “Hindus and Muslims are my two eyes” said the great soul. By this, however, I do not mean to suggest, even remotely, that there had not been any untoward incidences in the long history of A.M.U. But without exception, all those unfortunate things happened there or, may be, still happening are the creations of power- play of the politicians from which no institution has ever remained immune in our blessed country- a power play in which the then a formidable Gandhi-Nehru combine unceremoniously sidelined the once staunch Nationalist like Jinnah leaving him with no option but to join hands with hard-core communalists with hatred in his heart and two-nation theory on his lips; a patriot of the stature of Subhash Bose had to wander  around the globe fighting out the freedom war from the foreign soil till death. The inheritors of this power-play now turn it into identity politics of vote-bank and quota-reservation in order to remain firmly saddled in power, generation after each passing generation and reaping rich dividends out of it. Other wily politicians also see through the game, seize upon the opportunity, catch the bright idea, and expand the minority vote-bank by injecting into the body politic generous doses of quota and reservation ( jobs and seats in the educational institutions.) for identified communities pushing merit on the back burner. They generously distribute largesse and freebies from public exchequer with open hands, squandering the tax-payer’s money to foster their vote-banks. It is then a race for votes with no holds barred. How could the AMU or for that matter any other campus remain unaffected by the avalanche of greed, corruption, identity politics of vote-bank & quota –reservation, blowing outside and not become a hot-bed of the debased politics itself?

                                                                                                                                                                                    –SANJOG MAHESHWARI

C1-A-42 B, JANAKPURI,

NEW DELHI-110058

Discrimination by CGHS

C-1-A 42 B M.I.G. FLATS,

JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110058

Ph. 011-25531307®

                                    Discrimination by CGHS

-SANJOG MAHESHWARI

While right to healthcare and medical facilities should be seen as an integral part of the right to life for all, the babus have ensured that world class healthcare, diagnostic and other medical facilities at posh private nursing homes, hospitals, healthcare centers at Government cost is available only to them, their families, their political boss MPs and other so-called VIPs and their families. The nursing home facilities in Government hospitals are also mostly cornered by such higher strata beneficiaries.

 

Medical specialists attached to the CGHS dispensaries, if they happen to be of some calibre, remain unavailable on their slotted schedule, as for months on end they are away on what is termed as VIP duties -- attending to the VIPs and their families.

There also exists a complex classification and sub-classification of CGHS beneficiaries in various categories, based on which the scale of facilities admissible to them under the scheme is decided. The parameters and norms differ from beneficiary to beneficiary, depending on the scale of pay or pension, the position he holds or held in the Government, etc.

What is most appalling is the fact that the pensioner-beneficiaries of autonomous bodies are not treated at par with their counterpart retired from purely Government service, particularly in the matter of grant of credit facilities in the recognised private healthcare centres, nursing homes, etc. Are they not as precariously placed both health-wise and resources-wise as their counterparts who retired from "purely Government service"?

The plight of an autonomous body pensioner, suffering from age-induced infirmities and debilitating diseases, is that he has to run around complying with absurd formalities, placating babus, getting department's permission before and after the treatment, incurring all expenses from his own slender resources on the spot in the first instance irrespective of the enormity of the amount of expenditure involved even in emergent circumstances. . Then, irrespective of whether his health permits or not, he has to do several rounds first to get his reimbursement bill on the prescribed forms verified from the treating doctor, then to the department for its scrutiny only to get reimbursement of completely watered-down bill after several months of making repeated rounds to the department from which he retired. Besides this he has to get his permanent CGHS token card revalidated every calendar year before it begins, the fact that he had already made full payment for availing CGHS facilities for the whole life- at the same rate and scale applicable to his counterpart in the government service- on his retirement itself, not withstanding. The babus of his department with abnormally swelled egos take sadistic pleasure in retrenching the claimed amount on most flimsy grounds; feigning ignorance of the Delhi high court verdict that mandates full reimbursement of the expenditure incurred on the medical treatment, and that too after the claim is subjected to several absurd objections. The autonomous body pensioner-beneficiaries of CGHS have made several representations to the authorities of the Health Ministry including those to the Hon’ble Minister but all have fallen on deaf ears so far and the victims of this blatant discrimination continue to live under the ever-lengthening shadow of fear and insecurity. Even ventilating the grievances through media could not yield any positive results for these unfortunate CGHS pensioner-beneficiaries whose only sin is that they had retired from autonomous bodies. It would thus be apparent that the denial of credit facility and cashless service by private recognized hospitals to the CSIR and other autonomous body pensioners who are CGHS beneficiaries is a cruel, inhuman and heartless joke still being perpetuated on this particular section of hapless senior citizens in the twilight of their life even though their counterpart retirees from the government have been availing the facility for several years now.

As respected senior citizens of this country, all pensioners should be treated at par, particularly in the matter of healthcare and medical facilities. Age and the age alone should be the criterion to determine the priority in the matter of extending the benefits to a pensioner-beneficiary irrespective of the post and the grade he was in at the time of his retirement.

SANJOG MAHESHWARI

C-1-A/42 B M.I.G. FLATS,

JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110058

Ph. 011-25531307®

A FLAWED DEMOCRACY

SANJOG MAHESHWARI

C1-A-42 B M.I.G.FLATS

JANAKPURI,

NEW DELHI- 11 0058

CONCERNS OF COMMON MAN IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

-SANJOG MAHESHWARI

 Rampant corruption of most despicable dimensions, lies and half-truths, power-mongering, self-aggrandizement, great show of money and muscle power, loathsome politics of vote-bank, disgusting horse-trading, sickening exhibition of blame-game with no hold barred, shameful display of treachery, betrayal ,duplicity and so forth- some of  the many evils- that are so inextricably entwined in our system of governance that scrapping of the Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy which was shoved down our throats by the founding fathers of our Constitution, for reasons better known to them in an unseemly hurry, and replacing it with the Presidential form of democratic governance, seems to be the only panacea for all our multiple maladies plaguing our polity and society.  Nothing short of it can deliver. 

So, it is high time that we switched over to the Presidential form of democratic governance and stamped out the multiple evils such as rampant corruption; politics of vote-bank, unabashed use of money and muscle power to gain entry and stay comfortably in the great power centres called Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies; unprincipled and wild conduct of our power-drunk tainted legislators inside and outside these Houses, that flow from the existing system based on the Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy. The worse could be in store, if we choose to gloss over this serious issue now by resorting to the quick-fix solutions as hitherto.

It goes without saying that no useful purpose is  served by playing the blame-game and trading charges for any untowards happening that are the order of the day.Tthe politicians invariably indulge in them. It is their pastime.  When the system itself is negatively related to democratic and civilised norms who can protect it from getting debased by criminalization and corruption? For the last 60 long years we have experimented with it. In the process common man has been thoroughly demoralized and has become indifferent to all that which the politicians love to call “National Issues of great Importance”. What the system has given to us? Gross mismanagement of economy resulting in the rich getting richer by the day and the hordes of poor committing suicide for which no body is accountable and ready to shoulder responsibility; rampant corruption impeding balanced and sustainable growth and development; degradation of the basic values and deprivation of the society and the polity; vote-bank cherished burgeoning population- nurtured and nourished by the politics of vote-bank for its own sake; unplanned and wild urbanization with crumbling and rickety infrastructure rendering urban life extremely miserable, stressful, torturous and tiring; yawning unemployment; quota-based division of the society and communities on caste, community, religion, language and regional lines; an army of political parasites busy amassing tons of wealth by corrupt practices; favours and punishments given selectively; to cite a few. The list of incurable maladies plaguing our polity and the society seems endless.

While the Rajya Sabha at the Centre and Legislative Councils of the States are dispensable institutions ( a luxury which, in the first place, ought to have never been forced on a poor country like India), the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies of the States have become the sanctuaries for most of the so called elected members who gate-crash into these august houses by exploiting to the hilt, the money and muscle- power they wield to cobble together, in most of the cases, much less than 50% votes polled (the percentage would be reduced even to less than 25 if the total number of voters including those who choose to abstain from casting votes is taken into account). In several states 90% of the M.L.As graces the house on the strength of minority votes. In some cases, the candidates polling even less than 20% have got elected. Thus in our blessed democratic set up, quite frequently, candidates not favoured (read rejected) even by more than 50% of the voters, grace high positions in the government. Quite a few of them are tainted with criminal record and their sole purpose for being in the government is to further augment their resources, mint tons of money by all means- fair or foul-cultivate their vote banks of minority, caste, region, religion or language for winning the next election(s) besides enjoying the bountiful freebies, handsome pay, perks, privileges and pension for the life. Those (elected?), even though rejected by more than 50% of the voters, show off as “people’s representatives” and want everybody else to recognize them accordingly. And the Constitution validates their claim. They go ahead to form main legislative bodies: 1) The Lok Sabha at the Centre and 2) The State Legislative Assemblies in the States. The government is run by these persons on the principles of “collective responsibility” that stipulates that no single minister would be responsible for any of his actions- not singly and individually responsible for anything he does or does not do as a minister. Rightly or wrongly, vide-spread perception is: “collective responsibility”, in actual practice, translates into “no responsibility’ or accountability” whatsoever for anything one as a political functionary does or does not do. On the larger canvas what we have is: “nobody-responsible-for-anything” syndrome in the ruling class. It has been a long time since we are taking our chances with such people and in the process corrupting and crippling our democratic institutions.

The Executive - officialdom and the state machinery under a ministry headed by a minister- is the handmaid of the Legislature. The self-serving bureaucracy and officialdom, even after 60 years of independence, still find it difficult to shed the colonial mind-set. They, as the framers of public policy, have been consistent in milking the state. They gobble up most of government goodies, unofficial fringe benefits-which in many instances are tax-free. This leads to a common man’s total disillusionment, cynicism, lack of trust in government - its agencies and democratic institutions. This lack of trust breeds disdain, if not downright contempt, for these exalted institutions of democracy and governmental machinery which is further compounded by the routine spectacle of corruption in high places that percolates down to the lower levels as well.

The Westminster system of parliamentary democracy was adopted in great hurry. Even before knowing what was happening, “ We the people of India "  (teeming millions of ignorant and illiterate) on the fateful day of 26^th November 1949, had already enacted, adopted and gave to ourselves the Constitution of India for the governance of this country without any debate or discussion on the document at national level. No wonder, the faulty system makes for a fertile breeding ground of corruption and mal-practices of every hue and colour. A la, the economic theory which articulates the obvious that “bad currency drives the good out of circulation” in this system also the bad elements in the polity drive the good out of governance. However, what looks very strange and depressing at the same time, is that all the big leaders cutting across the party lines are staunch votaries of this system and do not want it to be replaced by the presidential form of democracy and governance. Contrast it with the Presidential system of democracy of the U.S.A which, barring one single exception that of Nixon, who also was unceremoniously jettisoned out of the job and the White House immediately on the happening of the infamous Watergate scandal, has thrown up one after another singularly brilliant Presidents right from George Washington up to George W. Bush (and now the president-elect Barack Obama) to govern that country. And without exception they did it to the best of their ability and regardless of the world opinion. Incessantly they worked in the best interests of America and the American people. His outstanding qualities and brilliance not withstanding, a Bill Clinton faces the fury of the Congress and the country as a whole for the crime of perjury. As soon as the term is over, the lame duck President has to vacate the White House. A lame duck president has to go for house-hunting before the expiry of his term to ensure a roof over his head. What a wonderfuly system and arrangement! On the other side of the spectrum are the Indian legislatures who continue to occupy spacious Govt. Bungalows and other Govt. property years after they cease to be legislators. Even the Apex court’s verdicts fail to get them evicted out of their palatial sanctuary and the other facilities which go with it, as the system makes everything possible for Mr. Somebody. And that could be the reason why this system of democracy is favoured by all the politicians cutting across the party lines though they know better than everybody else how totally unsuitable and flawed it is- a wasteful, corruption-lidden luxury with which the poor of the country has been saddled by its wily politicians in the name of democracy which, in fact is, nothing short of mobocracy.

 

- SANJOG MAHESHWARI.

 

C1-A-42 B M.I.G.FLATS,

JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110058

wESTMINSTER MODEL HAS FAILED IN INDIA

Westminster model has failed in India

Second Opinion : Sanjog Maheshwari

In his article, "Minoritysm is the problem" (Second Opinion, September 25), Mr RN Chawla has presented a correct analysis of the scourge of terrorism plaguing our nation. However, instead of a symptomatic treatment of the disease, an accurate diagnosis of the malaise would be in order.

It is clear that vote-bank politics is the main thing that provides a fertile breeding ground for all the malaises that wreak havoc on our civil society. Right from day one the Congress-led Governments at the Centre and in the States have been religiously adhering to a policy of minority appeasement. Of late, not to be left behind, other political parties have also begun to induge in vote-bank politics. In fact, quite a few of them have gone the extra mile to include other reserved category castes to enlarge their support base. The Congress has managed to remain firmly saddled in power for more than half-a-century by pursuing minorityism in the grab of 'secularism'.

If we have rampant corruption affording us a place of 'honour' among the world's most corrupt nations, a burgeoning population and ever-rising jihadi violence, it is only because our politicians and political parties cannot afford to ignore their vote-banks.

Be that as it may, we cannot wish away this fact so long as we remain wedded to the present Westminster model of parliamentary democracy. Quick-fix solutions can never provide a remedy for a deep-rooted malady for which surgical intervention is needed. For getting the desired results, we need to replace our present system of governance with the US model of presidential democracy.

When we are ready to adopt a skewed nuclear deal with the US, why should we hesitate in copying their system of governance, which has been unfailingly providing them with the world's best political leadership under a democratic set-up? We need this system more than one might think, as it will clearly de-link the executive and the legislative branches of Government. In doing so it is my opinion that selfish vote-bank politics will be countered to a large extent.

Once this is achieved, we will be free to start putting in place a pragmatic anti-terror mechanism without any strings attached. If one wants proof of the versatility of this idea, we only need to look at the US's track record in terms of tackling terrorism post 9/11. Thus, the nation should seriously start thinking in this direction.

Iron will needed to win this war

Iron will needed to win this war Second Opinion : Sanjog Maheshwari The editorial, "Two down, more to go" (September 20), seems to be wishful thinking when it pitches for "cooperation between the police of various States" and real time exchange of information. This is obviously not possible all the time, particularly when the ruling political parties and coalitions are different for different States. The Gujarat Police providing the necessary information to unravel the Indian Mujahideen terror plot in Delhi is a rare example which stems from the BJP's consummate anxiety and concern for the security and safety of the people, irrespective of whether the State is ruled by the party or not. Also, the avowed resolve of its leaders to destroy all shades of terrorism, whether homegrown or foreign, has to be taken into consideration. However, such sentiments and view-points do not always exist, given the various political permutations and combinations. Thus, for obvious reasons, every other State police cannot always be expected to emulate the Gujarat Police in tackling terrorism as effectively. Terrorism in India has already taken a huge toll on human life and property. It is high time that all parties, irrespective of their political persuasions, took it as a national challenge to fight terrorism instead of viewing it as a local law and order problem. But again this could also be a tall order due to vote-bank politics. In the present arrangement of things and given the country's political landscape, the very survival of quite a few political parties and politicians depends upon fostering, nurturing and increasing their vote-banks. They cannot simply afford the luxury of ignoring the same. And since it is a matter of their political survival, they are ready to pay any price for it; even to witness the massacre of hundreds of innocent people. To my mind, until the whole political system is revamped, the constitution of a federal police force fully controlled by the Centre may go a long way in dealing with terrorism. The sooner we do this the better it will be for the safety and security of the citizens. However, in the long run one has to admit that a much more sustained effort is required by all stakeholders in civil society. Any anti-terrorism mechanism or policy has to be backed by the will and resolve to go the distance and root out terrorism no matter what. So far it is only the BJP that has been making the right noises. Other parties must join hands. Email | Print | Rate: 12345
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Westminster model has failed in India

Westminster model has failed in India

Second Opinion : Sanjog Maheshwari

In his article, "Minoritysm is the problem" (Second Opinion, September 25), Mr RN Chawla has presented a correct analysis of the scourge of terrorism plaguing our nation. However, instead of a symptomatic treatment of the disease, an accurate diagnosis of the malaise would be in order.

It is clear that vote-bank politics is the main thing that provides a fertile breeding ground for all the malaises that wreak havoc on our civil society. Right from day one the Congress-led Governments at the Centre and in the States have been religiously adhering to a policy of minority appeasement. Of late, not to be left behind, other political parties have also begun to induge in vote-bank politics. In fact, quite a few of them have gone the extra mile to include other reserved category castes to enlarge their support base. The Congress has managed to remain firmly saddled in power for more than half-a-century by pursuing minorityism in the grab of 'secularism'.

If we have rampant corruption affording us a place of 'honour' among the world's most corrupt nations, a burgeoning population and ever-rising jihadi violence, it is only because our politicians and political parties cannot afford to ignore their vote-banks.

Be that as it may, we cannot wish away this fact so long as we remain wedded to the present Westminster model of parliamentary democracy. Quick-fix solutions can never provide a remedy for a deep-rooted malady for which surgical intervention is needed. For getting the desired results, we need to replace our present system of governance with the US model of presidential democracy.

When we are ready to adopt a skewed nuclear deal with the US, why should we hesitate in copying their system of governance, which has been unfailingly providing them with the world's best political leadership under a democratic set-up? We need this system more than one might think, as it will clearly de-link the executive and the legislative branches of Government. In doing so it is my opinion that selfish vote-bank politics will be countered to a large extent.

Once this is achieved, we will be free to start putting in place a pragmatic anti-terror mechanism without any strings attached. If one wants proof of the versatility of this idea, we only need to look at the US's track record in terms of tackling terrorism post 9/11. Thus, the nation should seriously start thinking in this direction.

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RTI isn't working as expected

RTI isn't working as expected

Sanjog Maheshwari

The Right to Information Act that was enacted in June 2005 and came into force on October 12 of the same year, was welcomed by the people with unprecedented enthusiasm. One could not agree more with RTI activist and Magsaysay Award winner Arvind Kejriwal when he described it as the most powerful tool to combat corruption which is eating away at the vitals of every democratic institution in our country. It was then that this little piece of legislation raised people's hopes and expectations sky-high.

However, the initial flush of applications for information under the Act so rattled entrenched vested interests and the foot-dragging officials in our bureaucratic set-up that they lost no time to frustrate the infant RTI law by persuading the willing politicians to approve of a dubious amendment to the by which file-notings and Cabinet papers would be exempted from disclosure. The move, brought about within a year of passing the Act, was opposed tooth and nail by every right-minded person. Even Mr Kejriwal, one of the five Central Information Commissioners appointed under the Act, wrote to the Prime Minister calling the decision "the last desperate attempt on the part of some vested interests within the Government to protect their identities from being exposed".

Under the tremendous pressure exerted, the Government was forced to lay to rest the proposed amendment and thus the first attempt on the life of the Act was thwarted and the people heaved a sigh of relief.

However, not to take all this lying down, vested interests kept trying to cripple this legislation and render it ineffective by several ingenious ways. The bureaucracy, already pastmasters in dodging inconvenient queries and disowning responsibility, further perfected its skills. As a result, today an abysmally low number of bureaucrats actually get caught or penalised under the Act. To make matters worse, the Central Information Commission (Management) Regulations 2007 has prescribes a very complex, cumbersome and costly procedure for filing the second appeal to the Central Information Commission.

All such moves to prevent people from getting the information they want is undemocratic and needs to be vehemently opposed and reversed.

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WE ALSO WANT CHANGE MUCH LIKE AMERICA DT.08-112008

SANJOG MAHESHWARI,

C1A-42 B M.I.G.FLATS,

JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110058

WE ALSO WANT CHANGE

-SANJOG MAHESHWARI

The word ‘change’ put him on way to the White House. The magic worked and worked resoundingly, unbelievably; more so because Barack Obama uttered the word with the sincerity which carried courage of convictions and a firm resolve to deliver. And the miracle happened in spite of the obvious disadvantages: being a black man, a half- Muslim with Hussein as a middle name, rumours of his early days addiction to drugs and association with grotty characters; a political minnow who apparently had no chance even against Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Thousands of thinking persons have celebrated this historic event of global significance by writing millions of words eulogizing America for its capacity to shake off the dark past for which Abraham Lincoln had made the supreme sacrifice. The Indian chapter of the club couldn’t help but wonder when, if ever, this dark period of insipid, spineless, thoroughly rotten and corrupt leadership will finally end yielding place to the inspiring and committed leadership in our own blessed land. - The “change’, we desperately need and crave for. More so, is it possible to user in the much coveted ‘change’ under the shadow of our grossly debased variety of Westminster type of Parliamentary democracy which was adopted in unseemly haste. Even before more than 90% of our populace could know what is this all about “We The People” were made to adopt, enact and give to ourselves a Constitution, the good-intentioned provisions of which when put to practice delivered just the opposite. For example, it was hoped that Executive would be de-linked from the Legislature to ensure clean and vibrant administration. Instead it made the Executive a handmaid of the Legislature. Our system of elections and electioneering contributed substantially to the criminalization of the politics. It created the politics of vote-bank which in turn helped demagogues with criminal background to ascend to powerful positions in the government by playing religion, caste and recently region card and pursuing quota-reservation policies with dogged determination to woo, cultivate and consolidate caste and minority vote-banks. While we always want the best man to win an election, he simply dreads to run.No wonder, democracy in our country has degenerated into highly criminalized and corrupt ‘mobocracy’.
“America wants change, and I stand for change”,thundered Obama and got elected to the highest position of the mightiest nation. Far more than U.S. of America, we, in this country want ‘change’ and need it most desperately. If not for any other reason then to get rid from the scourge of terror violence- the way America has done after 9/11- terrorism, created by soft-on-terror state policies. We also need the ‘change’ to affectively and decisively curb and contain fissiparous tendencies, inimical to the national integrity and solidarity, created by the divisive identity politics of vote bank and state policies of ‘quota and reservation’. We need it to extricate ourselves from the quagmire of economic disasters; thanks to the gross mismanagement of our economy. Do we also not want to throw in the towel this highly criminalized ‘mobocracy’ run by tainted politicians-which we love to call world’s largest democracy for the sake of delusion and self-deception?
Contrast it with the mindset of politicians of our country. ‘Change’ is a dirty and dreaded word for them. Instead they prefer to shout ‘growth’ from the housetops which, in the context of present political climate of the country, is a meaningless jargon that fools no body. While they profess that it is the ‘Economic Growth’ what they mean, in actual practice it translates into: unplanned development, state policies which impels amass migration of rural populace to urban areas resulting in grotesque, unplanned urbanization with landscape dotted with R.C.C. jungle of skyscrapers coexisting with jhuggies and jhonparies in the close neighborhood, an abysmally inadequate infrastructure which is groaning and crumbling under the weight of burgeoning population swelled astronomically every year by hoards of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants encouraged to settle and make India their home, (do they not make for a solid ‘minority vote-bank’ for certain political outfits and politicians?), unplanned and unsustainable development and mindless, haphazard industrialisation to satisfy the insatiable greed and caprice of a few rich and mighty causing unbridled pollution of natural resources at the cost of health and life of the poor and the deprived, grossly mismanaged economy backed by rampant corruption, giving rise to the ugly problems to the society and rendering the life of common man more and more miserable- the policies which make rich the richer and poor the poorer (while in the club of ten richest persons in the world four are Indians, hundreds of poor commit suicide each year due to poverty and hunger).
All this can be changed provided our politicians could shed their entrenched vested interests and vote for the adoption of American model of Presidential form of democracy which could effectively de-link the Executive from the Legislature.
-SANJOG MAHESHWARI

C1-A-42 B M.I.G. FLATS,
JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110 0058