Dr. Prasanna Mishra |
| Blog | Posted By: hindtodaynews on:8/21/2011 1:30:05 AM |
(Anna Hazare)What does the icon called Ann Hazare stand for? As a person,
he has been subjected to the choicest of abuses by the spokespersons of a major
political Party which demonstrated a puerile mindset and convinced millions of
Indians about the depth of decay the Party has descended to. A leader of
another Political Party displayed his perversion by saying that he once asked
Anna to name the civil society that elected him the leader. I am sure he would
have got an answer after seeing the rain drenched thousands on Delhi streets on
the 19
th August when Anna emerged from Tihar Jail and proceeded to
the Ram Lila ground. Many started portraying the Anna Brigade as usurper of
power, set to hijack the functioning of the Constitutional institutions of the
country. They could not appreciate that the government has failed to address
the vital issues relating to the millions; they also failed to notice when the
government gave out unmistakable signal that looting is the primary function of
people in power. People of the country have given a resounding response to the
call of Anna. The corrupt ones are a worried lot today. So are the bribe givers,
who have spread their empire far too long. Anna has emerged as the mascot of
hope for the common man. In him a rickshaw puller sees a better tomorrow for
himself and his family. Anna’s constituency spreads to every nook and corner of
the country where the suffering citizens had almost accepted an unjust and
inequitable system as absolutely normal and realised that all men cannot be
equal. They had accepted the tormentors as well as their depredation as divinely
ordained. Fortunately the Juggernaut of Anna’s caravan rolls on and is gaining
momentum and the common man is now gaining strength to believe that change is
possible. One is now optimistic that the text of the Lok Pal Bill would undergo
meaningful changes. It now looks possible that satisfactory arrangement, not
necessarily in the Lok Pal Bill; but acceptable to all stake holders, would be
made for covering the judiciary as well.
I would like to see
this movement as the beginning of a widespread cleaning operation. Such a
process, unfortunately, is yet to start. Governments in different states would
have by now initiated meaningful reforms to ensure an entitlement package for
the citizens. What would the package look like? Some illustrations would be helpful.
A citizen not having a ration card should have a hassle free procedure to have an
application form. He would just fill it and put it in a drop box kept in the
Panchayat Office. He need not run from pillar to post. He gets the card as his
entitlement after a week as per the declaration in the application form. If a
citizen wants to covert his lease hold land to free hold in Bhubaneswar, he
need not go into the State Secretariat. I see no rationale in having the
government estate wing in the Secretariat where accessibility is a difficult
issue. Conversion into free hold should be automatic after the lessee goes
through a simple procedure. Why should a citizen run to the office of the
Bhubaneswar Development Authority to get a small modification project approved
for his house? Why should mutation cases remain pending for months and years
and the chaos would continue without any sign of reform? Seeing the ingenuity
of perverse minds collectively working overtime to make the life of the
citizens more and more miserable through maize of rules, regulations and
procedures one realises today that only a gifted genius would have invented the
austere post office where a person pays even now the official price and gets a
postcard or a postage stamp. If a student wants to avail of a loan for higher
studies, he goes to the nearest branch of a Bank to get a copy of the
application form free of cost. I understand that such copies are invariably not
available. One runs to the right man, pays a price and gets a copy. Should such
a thing continue? No government office would give you a firm date when you
would receive the response from government.
I remember an experience of mine years ago while I was
Chairman of the Paradip Port. I had attended some programmes at Manila and Yokohama
and on my way back, I had to stay for sometime at Bangkok. I thought of having
a visa to avoid any inconvenience. Our embassy was quite helpful and I
deposited the application in Thai embassy at Manila. I was told to come the
next day at a particular time. I did and the visa was ready. How many public
offices in our state give such precise advice and act on it? A visit to the
Tehsil office in Bhubanswar would any day be a memorable experience. It is
difficult to know who among the laughing or gossiping persons in the hall or
office room is an official with whom you would like to interact. Should we
continue with such chaos that pervades most public offices? Functioning of
government must reflect that it is in tune with a civilized society. Didn’t
Mahatma Gandhi say, “A customer is the
most important visitor on our premises. He is not an interruption in our
work—he is the purpose of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He
is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to serve him?”
The situation in the field, by and large, remains
uninfluenced by the rolling Juggernaut , that Anna is. The howling winds still keep many unaffected.
An illustration would be relevant. Through a question raised recently in a state legislature
of India, a legislator wanted to know the
number of times the Chief Minister of the state had attended to public grievances in his grievance cell in a year.
The Minister did not have the figures with him. He assured the House that
information would be furnished later. Only very few of the readers of this
column would have difficulty in knowing the state and the Chief Minister the
question was related to. In such a state of mal governance how can the common
man expect that he would get justice? I would only hope that lovers of
Democracy through out the country should seize the opportunity offered by Anna. Government machinery and the
Civil Society activists should launch local initiatives without delay for a
clean and honest system that respects the dignity of every individual. Should not the youth of our state make a
beginning by initiating a movement to minimize the role of money in every
election at different levels—be it the Panchayat or the Cooperative or the
College Union? The countrymen would fail in their duty if Anna’s initiatives do
not engulf the entire polity. Time has come to prove our worth and make Anna
and the common man succeed.