By Jawed Khurshid - Media Eye
The nation has never witnessed similar turmoil since independence and the irony is that the economists and prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, unable to muster enough courage to lift the nation from political quagmire, despite the fact that the all-powerful Congress president Sonia Gandhi stood behind him like a rock. The pull and pressure of political exigencies have reduced the doctor to a most confused prime minister of India.
Dr Manmohan Singh is pathetically unable to cement a glut of cracks in the old congress ship negotiating through a turbulent sea. He is such a captain who has but little choice to stick to the creaking and leaking vessel till it sinks. The posterity may paint him as an adroit economist whose penchant for bringing economic gains at the doorsteps of hoi polloi has failed. They will also remember him as a leader with feet of clay.
Despite suffering drubbings on many turfs, there are certain landmark legislations that have tried to mitigate people miseries.Just flip through the various legislation and constitutional amendments made during UPA2 and you will find most of them trying to untangle red tape that had made the common people’s lives miserable.
A significant part of India is still groping in prejudices and blind faiths despite exposure of our market to international community post globalisation. ‘Honour Killing’ is one such custom that required a tough law. A Khap Kangaroo court had indulged in homicide, recently, to uphold an archaic custom. And the establishment failed to initiate action against the culprit. The parliament has come out with a stringent anti-honour killing legislation that is still pending in Rajya Sabha to get ascent.
The RTI Act has brought about a semblance of transparency in governance which was earlier opaque and non-committal. It has spurred the bureaucracy to act faster and responsibly. The notion of accountability, long wanting, was put back on track. Though it is facing certain hiccups on its way to transform the entire governance transparent, these are but the convulsion of governance long addicted to ‘autocratic’ attitude. The hangover of the past will take time to go.
India’s taxation is the most tyrannical fiscal system anywhere in the world, with reform long overdue. The GST or the Goods and Services Tax bill brought about to rationalize our tax regime will go a long way to curb black money and boost economy. It is virtually one of the most important pillars of economic reform triggered by this government.
The nation’s eastern part is moaning with strange spasm: the entire area with inequitable economic growth has virtually succumbed to ultra-left ideology. A significant chunk of the educated middle class in this area is providing moral and emotional support to them. They, however, remain at the periphery of bloody conflict that frequently involves naxals and security forces. Besides this, the hapless people, those caught in the crossfire and thus migrating to safer places to escape persecution by both security forces as well as naxals (as they’re suspected to be naxal informers and vice versa), are bearing the brunt of administrative apathy.
Ironically, this entire region boasts of over sixty percent of our total mineral resources: iron, zinc, copper, uranium, coal, mica, and a majority of the core sector industries like iron and steel, zinc, copper dot the region. This richest region houses numerous industrial titans, such as TISCO, TELCO, Vedanta, Rourkela steel plant, Bhilai, numerous hydel and thermal power plants, to name a few. Despite this the per capita income of the people in this region is lowest.
The center’s proposal to set up a unified command – NCTC dedicated to eradicating or dismantling terror network has not been provided red carpet by not only the opposition ruled states but also the UPA2 alliance partners like TMC and DMK.
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