Manifesto for change.

This post is a part of Weekend contest at BlogAdda.com in association with 
Chanakya's new manifesto.

Our country has a huge population which makes it very difficult to govern & even administer.Whatever facilities are provided,they  hardly reach anybody as the ever burgeoning populace makes every thing insufficient & wanting.Hence,one area of utmost concern, is to  curb  population growth.There can be only two kids per couple-Hum do ,hamare do should be revitalised. All who have more than two kids must be bereft of any government benefit schemes be it employment ,subsidies, accessibility etal. Quick ,easy & safe birth control methods available in all places will assist in keeping population steady.Sex education is a must, in schools so as to curb unwanted pregnancies.Condom usage  will be a two pronged weapon-check population growth as well as prevent AIDs which is spreading alarmingly in India.


The recent horrific gang rape in Delhi has shown how unsafe our nation is for women.This ought to  be set right.The Justice Verma Committee report must be implemented at the earliest .Fast track courts to try offenders & certainty of punishment for the accused, will go a long way, in curbing rising crimes against women be it stalking , voyeurism,molestation,rape etc.A data base of criminals involved in crimes against women will  go a long way in making them social outcasts .This in turn, will act as a deterrent for wannabe offenders.Moreover gender sensitivity must begin at home .More women at police stations & in courts will assure female victims that the State means business.

Our disputes are clogging the courts.Courts have a paucity of judges.At lower levels of judiciary ,many women can be appointed as judges - this will help immensely.Women are better at listening & will be able to amicably bring about settlement.There are many women who are law graduates & they can be appointed as judicial officers at the lower rungs.Double shifts in such instances , will mean faster disposal of cases.Double shifts means more women can be employed.This will curb unemployment of women to certain extent.As disputes get disposed off at lower levels ,many will not appeal & so less disputes will go for appeal to higher courts.This will eventually lead to de clogging of higher judiciary.Many man hours will have been saved .Hence justice will have been served by delivering it in time.

Vehicular traffic in our country is terrible.All seem to believe, that they have arrived only if they can flaunt their cars.Roads are terrible & yet people are buying cars not just one but in huge numbers.Rising fuel costs is not dampening this thirst of buying cars which guzzle petrol & diesel.Moreover ,we have no social conscience- so drunk driving is rampant .So are accidents which maim & kill thousands .Vehicular traffic jams lead to delays which can be avoided.Moreover crude imports are draining away our foreign exchange.One way out is to auction cars  as it is done in Singapore.So very few will be able to afford cars.Public transport must be made more accessible  & safe.This in turn will reduce air pollution as also noise pollution.Even commuting woes will come down. Insurance costs will stabilise. So easing vehicles out of roads, is a win win situation for all  !

All the four concerns listed above will come to naught, if corruption continues unabated.The Lokpal bill must be made into law as fast as it can.The officers of the State as also the politicians, must be brought to book if found guilty of corruption.No one must escape, if found to be indulging in corrupt practices due to gender,caste, religion etc.The law  must apply equally, to all offenders.A data base of those found guilty of corruption must be available on all government sites.The property of such offenders must be attached & used by the State to provide relief to the victims of corruption ,in building infrastructure ,etc.All offenders must be awarded a mandatory minimum sentence in jail .This will prevent others from becoming corrupt.

All the aforesaid concerns are interconnected.Tackling one will lead to curbing the next one & so on.There are many other concerns like cleanliness,environment degradation,female foeticide,honour killings etc to name a few.Yet if we can address the aforesaid five problems,we would have made a honest & humble beginning in making our nation a better State.

Indifference.

Yesterday, the daily, reported that a woman was gangraped & burned by her spurned lover & his brothers & friends.This happened in a slum with none of the neighbours noticing anything or even hearing anything.The time was evening -just after sunset.

One can only think of the callous indifference of the neighbours & that too in such a crowded area. Moreover,it was not that it was midnight & all were deep in slumber & still, the accused ran away after setting her ablaze ! Really,this has all happened due to our collective apathy.But then how are you & me concerned ? We are,maybe not in this case directly, but surely, in some indirect manner.This apathy is what is so prevalent in a city like Mumbai where we all stay in matchboxes huddled together but care a damn about what happens next door.We keep crying for space -for privacy.

In a way,we are glad ,aren't we that there in so little a space, we learn about a death in our neighborhood from the Obituary column in the newspapers ?How does it bother us - a death,an accident ,a rape,a molestation et al ?It is only somebody else's problem & the police has to deal with it.But, even the police, need witnesses but, then, why waste our precious time & energy in such mundane matters ?

The problem with this approach, is that, other also think alike when a problem strikes me home & then I have to deal with it alone as I left them alone to deal with their problems.Unless,we collectively take up cudgels against such goondaism or for that matter in solving our problems ( not my problems,mind you),such episodes will continue.Even the State can be goaded into action only, when we all urge it to do so as a team -as a team has strength unlike one person.So let us share ,help & work together so that our Government,our netas can be made to serve us & not the other way around.Then only will we be kaamyaab.Then, we can sing in chorus,"Hum honge kaamyaab,..."

Death of a terrorist..

Ishrat Jahan was murdered in cold blood is the verdict of the magisterial enquiry.We all should hang ourselves because some police personnel killed some persons who were innocent just because they wanted promotions ! Really,where is this greed taking us all ? The greed to get richer,to acquire more assets,to go up faster et al.

Earlier, one Shaikh was murdered in another encounter in Gujarat by the same set of police officers.The justification being offered by the Gujarat spokesperson is that all these killed people were associated with crime .But is death in encounters the only punishment for any crime even theft or dacoity or extortion ? The punishment ought to be reasonable as against the crime commited.In the said cases,extortion cases also were punished by death & that too without giving any chance to the accused to put up their case.So, there was no trial-just punishment.There was not even a pretence of a trial.

Now,it has come to light that the home ministry ( Central Government ) had filed an affadavit that Ishrat Jahan was a terrorist.All allegations & counter allegations will fly all over but will Ishrat Jahan's family be able to handle all this ? Moreover,the bitterness against Modi & his brand of politics will reach the peak.What all this has done is vitiate the atmosphere for the minorities all the more . They may never trust us for ages to come & we have only ourselves to blame as we watched dumbly as innocents were butchered in encounter after encounter.Actually,the trouble is that there is a very thin dividing line between terrorism & terror by the State .We should, therefore, learn to separate the two & demand that the State implement the rule of law.As Nani Palkhivala used to say so often,"Justice should not only be done but seen to be done."