The Anna Hazare movement has subsided althougth the old man keeps crying out time and again in agony, most recently for imposing capital punishment for politicos who consume cash, for voting this way or that way. After Dickens' Great Expectations, its probably time for somebody to pen-down his gigantic, well-intentioned but unrealistic desires. Probably, he is suffereing from a huge overdose of dreamy-eyed valuation of himself and his so-called awakening. After all, is he not aware that 158 of our MPs, almost 1/3rd of the house, have criminal chargesheets as the crowning glory on their resumes. Mr Hazare, please pause for breath and stop deluding yourself. Noble intentions expressed in earnest need a robust foundation, built with appropriate sagacity in thought, gravity of purpose and clarity of solution. The governing authorities may have gone to slumber over the decades but that does not take away the complexity of the gargantuan issues at hand. Imagining governing a nation of 1.2 billion as just another job, is a foolish notion. Aiming to solve or resolve by crying hoarse in front of a confused crowd and the eager to report media, is all well for generating applause and certain level of awareness. Managing a country of such large proportions and diversity is an unenviable responsibility and nobody should lose sight of that.
Of greater importance at this point in time is to start meaningful debates on the democratic processes laid down in the Constitution. Its all very well to follow a tome inked 60 plus years back as long as the processes remain relevant in today's time. Even if Anna Hazare's episodes, resulted in a limited awakening, the desire for change was felt across. This points to the virtual abyss between the people and the government. Evidently, representation of the people's voice through the process of election is not working. The elected representatives have not always been known to act on their behalf. More importantly, there is need for an objective assessment of their contribution, as parliamentarians and ministers, to the nation-building process.
Its interesting to note that virtually 40-50% of our ministers today are law graduates. Is there a significance in this fact? Most other ministers are plain graduates except some like Dr Farooq Abdullah, who is an MBBS, the Pilot and Scindia scions who are MBAs from foreign universities, Nandan Nilekani, an IITian, with the most educated being our Prime Minister, a PhD from Oxford.
It was Dr Manmohan Singh, an educated professional and not an elected representative, who fostered meaningful change in the country through reforms, when allowed to do so, in the 1990s. Perhaps, it would be interesting to debate whether we should induct high-calibre professionals to run the different portfolios of the cabinet or maintain status quo with the goons and the not so educated.
Would it serve the country better to select than to elect? Think about it!
Of greater importance at this point in time is to start meaningful debates on the democratic processes laid down in the Constitution. Its all very well to follow a tome inked 60 plus years back as long as the processes remain relevant in today's time. Even if Anna Hazare's episodes, resulted in a limited awakening, the desire for change was felt across. This points to the virtual abyss between the people and the government. Evidently, representation of the people's voice through the process of election is not working. The elected representatives have not always been known to act on their behalf. More importantly, there is need for an objective assessment of their contribution, as parliamentarians and ministers, to the nation-building process.
Its interesting to note that virtually 40-50% of our ministers today are law graduates. Is there a significance in this fact? Most other ministers are plain graduates except some like Dr Farooq Abdullah, who is an MBBS, the Pilot and Scindia scions who are MBAs from foreign universities, Nandan Nilekani, an IITian, with the most educated being our Prime Minister, a PhD from Oxford.
It was Dr Manmohan Singh, an educated professional and not an elected representative, who fostered meaningful change in the country through reforms, when allowed to do so, in the 1990s. Perhaps, it would be interesting to debate whether we should induct high-calibre professionals to run the different portfolios of the cabinet or maintain status quo with the goons and the not so educated.
Would it serve the country better to select than to elect? Think about it!
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