HEY! I AM ACCOUNTABLE

HEY! I AM ACCOUNTABLE
Ours is the largest, envied and resilient democracy in the world. After the Britishers left our soil for good, we decided to adopt a difficult system of governance i.e. Parliamentary System. In this system elected representatives are supposed to be totally accountable i.e. both vertically and laterally. Vertically upwards to the nation, party hierarchy and vertically downwards to the electorate they represent. Laterally they are equally accountable to the members of party they represent and other members of parliament. Are they so? This question has been debated upon by the nation many a times. But war on Mumbai has made the debate more vociferous and forceful. The result is the high sounding statements, questioning and rolling of certain heads. High sounding statements by senior leaders had become order of the day. Congress party president Smt Sonia Gandhi said, “------- it is the time to deliver “. Yes! Madam, it is so lest it is too late.
There are other countries (UK, Newzealand, Australia, Canada) with parliamentary system of governance where parliamentarians are as much accountable to their own colleagues in the party as to the electorate and the nation they represent. But in our country the speculation goes on till the last before a new member is inducted into the party unlike the other countries where a deliberate consensus is arrived at before induction of new members. Electorate is never interacted after gaining the power unlike some of the nations where electorate is interacted to synergise the planned development with local needs. There is a large scale money flow during and after elections (a basic democratic process). Former is to buy votes of the poor & needy electorate and later to fill up personal coffers. Election Commissioner N Gopaleswamy has admitted, “In Karnataka assembly election in May 08, hard cash, liquor, and Goodies worth Rs 45.57 Crore were seized”. He further added, “If a candidate is willing to spend 10 times more than the prescribed ceiling, it is not out of philanthropy but in the secure knowledge that he can earn 10 times what he spends when he gets power”.
Officially speaking during assembly elections a candidate can spend Rs 12 lakhs on the campaign. Out of this Rs 4 Lakhs are to be kept aside for national or state level leaders to campaign. Does it happen? Udit Raj who quit as income tax commissioner to contest elections in Delhi said, “Elections have become a total farce. It is money that matters. Ideology alone cannot win you elections how can there be an ideology that is to be adhered after coming to power? There are pre poll and post poll alliances. Former can keep the ally bound to a common strategy but the later is only at convenience of the ally. There are some of the independent candidates who rule the roost just to reach the magic simple majority figure. This is not without a consideration.
Forewarnings of the use of; money in elections had already been forecast but of no avail. C Raja Gopalachari had predicted,” we shall see the power & tyranny of wealth. In 1957 TISCO wanted to change their Memorandum of Association to allow company to make contributions to political parties. Bombay High Court allowed with weighing obiter dictum, “we think it our duty to draw the attention of parliament to the great danger inherent in permitting companies to make contribution to the funds of political parties. It is a danger which; may grow apace and which may overwhelm and even throttle democracy in the country”.
As the law stands at present, a political party; may receive any amount by way of contributions under the Companies Act by way of an independent encouragement of corporate funding. Section 77 of the Representation of Peoples act excludes expenditure incurred by political parties from the computation of Election Commission prescribed ceiling on a candidate’s election expenditure.
Criminal records of most of the elected members (both at the centre and state) are well known. And affiliations of convenience of these members with under ground (UG) or criminal outfits are also an open secret. North East Region (NeR) of our country abounds in number of UG outfits. Every outfit here has an affiliation or tacit understanding with some or the other political party. Our leaders do not seem to be responsible to the electorate and not are they proud of the appointments they hold because none feels accountable for the mishaps that occur in their ministries. Recent examples of Home Minister at the centre and Maharashtra assembly (who were cajoled to accept responsibility) are fresh in our minds. There are umpteen examples of Rail ministry. The situation in NeR is no better where mishaps are an order than an exception. The wastage of assembly time and parliament time in non issues is order of the day, least do they realize each minute of parliament costs Rs. 26000/- to the public. It seems the representatives are partially accountable to the party they represent (power needs) and fully responsible to the money they harvest. Wish insight comes that,”Politics is not about big money or power games; it is about improvement of people,s lives”.


Geoffery
(Readers can reach out to the writer via email: jaey_geoffery@yahoo.co.in
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CEASEFIRE OF CONVENIENCE

CEASE FIRE OF CONVENIENCE
Naga militancy is the oldest in the North East Region (NeR) of our nation. It can also be called the mother group for all insurgencies in the region. NSCN (IM) was first to sign a cease fire agreement with GoI in 1997 followed by NSCN (K) in 2001. It means that these groups need to adhere to certain ground rules called ceasefire ground rules (CFGR) to ensure peace prosperity & progress in the state. This prohibits the group signing the agreement to train other groups, not to have nexus with other group, not to not go to populated areas with arms, not to extort etc.
Recent news of arrest of ANLA commander John Toppo and his confession to Assam Police betrays the spirit of CFGR. He said that he and 20 more cadres of his outfit were taking shelter in NSCN camp in Dimapur. There may be more such smaller groups who depend on big brother for; training, arms and explosive or act as couriers for NSCN (IM) for a consideration. Nexus of the outfit with smaller groups in NC hills, Karbi Anglong and Manipur to spread its area of influence is well known. Absence of this nexus would have saved innocent lives as well as lives of youth (young cadres) who have died being part of violence. Recent reports of crime graph going up in Dimapur cannot be taken lightly. May be it also has some patronage of the outfit; not for free but for consideration. It is surprising that home minister of the state during pre Christmas speech (23 Dec 08) described rampant extortions and intimidations to business community as ‘normal crimes’. It is the same state where Chief Minister during the budget speech (2006) had said, “It is not possible for any government to prevent extortion completely”. Kidnapping and killing of businessmen for not meeting the extortion demand is frequent news in the local media. Will this be called normal crime?
Holding of LPG trucks for not meeting the demands of paying Godown tax of Rs 15 lakhs is another violation of CFGR. This all started in Dec 08 and ended temporarily in end Dec after assurance by Chief Minister of Manipur that agreement with group has been arrived at. But the Manipur is going without supply of LPG after trucks were forced to return from Maram by armed cadres for not meeting the demand. By what yardstick will this be called a normal crime? Is depriving families and children of normal conveniences of life a part of CFGR? If the group says it is fighting for well being of Nagas? Are the Nagas not staying in Manipur?
In fact the precondition (by honorable Prime Minister) of laying down arms by the Pro Talk ULFA group before talking should have been set for NSCN as well as other groups. The arms held by the groups are used to threaten the helpless locals and also arm twist the govt with a threat that the group would take up arms again if demands are not met. There are number of cases where the cadres have been chased out by the locals for disruption of peace and some of them lynched as well. The outfit also blames the state security forces for violating the CFGR not realizing how much they do.
As per SATP portal Nagaland still stands third in the number of insurgency related fatalities in NeR i.e. 145 out of total 1057 that is behind Assam (372) with Manipur (496) in the lead. It is pertinent to mention that Nagaland witnessed more number of causalities in 2008 compared to 2007 (108) and 2006 (92). The inference is that violence had been on the rise in the state for past three years despite ceasefire in force. This is all due to interfactional clashes where collateral damage in terms of life and property also takes place. There is hoarse public outcry in favour of peace. With this attitude it is evident the outfit is not for Nagas but for its own selfish ends enjoying the cease fire that suits.

Geoffery
(Readers are can reach out to the author via email: jaey_geoffery@yahoo.co.in
OR post views on blog: jaey-geoffery.blogspot.com)

ECONOMIC DEPRESSION OR SMALL THINGS IN BIG CITIES

ECONOMIC DEPRESSION
OR
SMALL THINGS IN BIG CITIES
Conventional wars are costlier in men, money and material. Therefore nations have devised ways of resorting to unconventional wars to meet their strategic needs. It could be anything: proxy war, economic war or any thing else with an aim to save crucial resources, avoid international flak and deny or accept the blame in case need be. Of late India has been a target. Because other nations, both with in the continent and out side the continent, are viewing India as stringent competitor. It is a fact that the developed, developing and under developed nations envisage the emerging, vibrant and resurgent new India and its role in new world economic order. Financial tsunami has hit the global markets and our country too has its share of its ramifications. Still Indian economy has been rated as resilient economy to with stand this global crisis stoically.
Recent 3 days siege of Mumbai (26 Nov to 28 Nov 08) has thrown up many lessons. Initial estimates say that this has resulted in a loss of approx 50000 crores plus Forex loss of about 20 billion dollars. It does not include the losses due to intangibles like fear psychosis, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their all encompassing and prolonging effects. These losses are spread across markets, entertaining, shoping and food sectors etc. Tourism has been worst hit. Most of the air lines and hotels are receiving cancellation orders. This incident has given a message to the world that India is not a safe destination given the number of attacks that have affected the country in the past. Important aspect of the siege are two; one, that few fugitives could keep the nation guessing, hoping and praying( for 72 Hrs) for their near and dear ones taken hostages at Taj, Oberoi and Nariman house. Two, that hostages killed were multinational i.e. Indians (as always have been), Americans, Germans, Japanese, English and Israelis. This has garnered international response to such crisis unlike earlier.
India had been facing such crises since the beginning of new millennium. The complete spectrum of happenings reflect that chosen targets have been metros or places frequented by visitors e.g. Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mumbai etc. These are also the places where visible symbols of progress are located e.g. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Defense Laboratories etc. Mumbai siege has been rated the biggest terror attack ever in the country. This is also compared to 9/11 of USA since two iconic buildings Taj and Oberoi had been attacked.
Mumbai is an example of direct attacking by visible foreign elements. But there had been other attacks that had been perpetrated, by vested interests, in Northern India, Central India and North East Region (NER) and the country has been bleeding in many ways. Out of total 28 states almost 19 are affected by perpetrated violence today or one can say 55 to 60 % of the country is affected by this. The involvement of DGFI of Bangladesh, ISI of Pakistan and Chinese elements is well known and documented. As per reports Assam blast ( 30 Oct 08) finger points towards China. Every one knows the role played by these agencies in training Ultras operating against our country and also provision of arms to them. The loss in Mumbai is estimable because financial capital is already at the helm of development. What about the losses of the regions those are under developed but suffering from constant violence? What about the money that is invested in these regions for development but perpetrated violence does not let it happen? Despite investing tons of exchequers money the development in these regions is abysmal. These regions and areas are at the same level of development as they were many years back.
In NER can the latent positive role of unexplored human potential, unexplored natural resource and unexplored natural potential be ignored? This is all due to perpetrated violence. Human resource of the region is raw, simple and like clay that can be molded to the developing needs of the region. Besides this future generations are also growing in the shadow of Klashnikovs and Improvised Explosive Devices. They are growing with fear psychosis and PTSD. Can the financial loss of this be estimated? This region has un harnessed potential of hydropower ( 50000m MW), natural gas ( 151068 billion cubic feet) and coal (865 million tones) and Uranium etc. Can the delay in exploring these resources and buying the same by using forex reserves be measured in economic terms? Can the delay caused by violence in developing much needed road and rail communication and its impact on development be estimated in economic terms? Wish it could be! Then alone one could have learnt the financial impact of the violence. This is not counting the resources committed to contain violence.
What has come out clearly is the lack of Political Will to find solutions due to political reasons. Otherwise home minister of Maharashtra ( RR Patil)would not have made irresponsible statement “ Bare Shehron mein chhottee chhotee batein hoti rehti hain or small incidents like this keep happening in big cities.” The same gentleman refused to accept responsibility of his failure. Shame on such leaders. It clearly indicates that our politicians are more of POLITI- SCIONS (being adept at dividing the society) and DEALERS but not leaders (only arrangement of letters differs). The WILL of the elected representatives need to match the expectations of the represented and synergized with by suitable action, otherwise present euphoria of being able to withstand financial crisis may turn to nightmare by evitable losses due to violence that will become cumulative with current crisis.

Geoffery
( Readers can reach out to the author via email: jaey_geoffery@yahoo.co.in OR post comments on blog jaey-geoffery.blogspot.com)