Danger Signal at the Horizon!

Agriculture in India depends, inter alia, on the availability of labour force for various operations on the farms. Of late its supply is on the decline, thanks to migration of labour towards urban areas. Whaterver labour is available now in the countryside gets engaged in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme due to its reasonable wage with less work or no work at some places. One or two rupees a kilo rice scheme too has made the labourers very lazy.

Who is there to assist the farmers for cultivation? The children of farmers also gradually bid good bye to the farming. In the absence of mechanisation of farming in totality the dependence on the labour can hardly be dispensed with.

The telling example is the condition of farming in Tamil Nadu. The cultivated land has come down to 48 lakh hectares from 60 lakh hectares in the last ten years. The state will have to import more than 50 to 60 per cent of its requirement from other states very soon. 

The farm lands are becoming barren and housing plots very fast in all parts of the state. Who is to blame for such a sorry state of affairs? 

Remedy to public grievance?

A public grievance meant to be solved at the state level should get resolved finally at the level of the head of the government, namely, the chief minister. But when the C.M is either not available or not willing to interfere and get the problem solved with his authority or good will, the public has no other go except to approach the constitutionally empowered authority to interfere in such matters ,namely, the High Court in the state. If and when the high court also feels helpless or unwilling to interfere in day-to-day administrative matters, then the public has no other option except to keep quiet and undergo the suffering.

A typical example of such a situation has arisen in Tamil Nadu. Look at the following episode:

The Hindu - Friday, November 26, 2010

“Court reiterates its order on encroachments” by Special Correspondent

The Madras High Court has reiterated its 2005 order directing the government to identify encroachments on natural water resources in the state and initiate appropriate steps.

In his petition G.Sivaprakasam of Ayyanpettai village in Kancheepuram district stated that there were more than 16000 persons living in the village. They were agriculturists and weavers. As per revenue records, there were six ponds in the village. In the past 10 years the ponds had been encroached upon. As a result, the water bodies which helped the people in their day-to-day needs had been affected.

In its order, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice M.Y.Eqbal and Justice Sivagnanam, said that so far as the question of removal of encroachments on ponds and tanks was concerned, the matter was discussed at length by a division Bench earlier. It had reiterated a judgment of 2005 directing the government to identify all such natural water resources in different parts of the state, and wherever encroachments were found, to initiate appropriate steps in accordance with law for restoring such resources to their original position so that the people’s sufferings due to drinking water shortage could be ameliorated.

The First Bench said, it was disposing of the present writ petition with the direction and observation made in the earlier judgment.

It is indeed a Perfect Disposal of Public grievanceas as per the norms of current thinking and system prevalent in the country.

Critical Analysis:

People at fault or found guilty of dereliction of duty are the following:

Village Record Keeper (V.A.O) who failed to prevent such encroachments in the initial stage and not reporting the matter timely and ensuring preemptive action. He is invariably mixed up with real estate owners or local powerful politicians.

Tehsildar who failed to listen to the villagers and take necessary proceeedinds against the encroachers in time.

Collector of the district who ignored the grievance of the villagers in his weekly Public Grivance Redressel Meetings at the collectorate. Present day collectors are busy in protecting their chairs and unable to devote time for such issues to their logical end in view of the short tenure they enjoy in a particular district and other pressures at work place.

Chief Secretary who failed to devote time for such complaints received at the Secretariat and also failed to monitor the subject of encroachments on public lands from time to time in the Collectors’ Conferences. The poor man hardly has time or the guts to take initiatives on public issues and pursue the matter under the present milieu in the country unless and until the C.M orders for it.

Chief Minister who failed to gauge the public opinion and ensure grievance redressel as and when the petitioners move for such an action. It depends on the C.M’s priority also for such matters. Janata Durbar doesn’t seem to be working in Tamil Nadu.

Revenue Secretary to the State Government who failed to take note of the court’s directives issued in 2005. Normally the Revenue Secretary is flooded with files in his office. It requires an extraordinary and committed officer who only can do the needful in such matters. Such officials also keep changing or getting transferred within a year or two to suit the convenience of the chief minister.

FIGHT AGAINST GARBAGE

We the Indians are notorious for living in filth, litter and gutter. The best example, as reported by the leading Tamil daily of Chennai, namely “Dinamani” on 23rd January, 2011 on the conditions prevailing in Ponneri Town, Tiruvallur District. There are 18 wards in which the population of 30000 are residing. Normally the garbage collected from the town is transported daily to the garbage depot located on the banks of river Arni for burning and disposal. There are many areas in the town where the lorry or trucker cannot enter due to the narrow streets and lanes. The municipality has arranged 3 Wheeler Cycles for transporting garbage. As usual even these Tri-cycles have become a dustbin in the midst of uncollected garbage. The people are worried and the civic authorities are unable to remove the garbage and keep the town neat and clean although the citizens are paying taxes to the Municipal administration. The people expressed concern in this regard and expected the District Collector to intervene.

After returning from the tour of many cities, towns and villages of various sizes both in USA & Canada, I am utterly at a loss to understand why this sort of affairs has not been improved in spite of six decades of planning in independent India. The main crux of problem is that both the elected representatives and the officials working in civil administration are not up to the mark and they hardly work for the public good without any self interest.



Selection of P.J.Thomas as C.V.C

An interesting Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the selection of P.J.Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner is pending before the Supreme Court.for a judgment. The point at issue is that when there is a criminal case pending against Thomas in a criminal court in Kerala and the third member of the panel headed by the prime minister had opposed his candidature on that basis, how could the P.M and Home minister select him. The Attorney General vahanvati informed the Court on Thursday that the panel was not knowing this fact. The court has rightly called all the four relevant files from the Government for scrutiny. Who is telling a lie would be decided by the court.

This case would certainly expose all the wrong doings happening under the very nose of P.M in the country. This is only the tip of an iceberg. Umpteen number of cases have had been dealt with in the recent past keeping only the interests of people belonging to a particular region. God help this Bharat!!

Better Late Than Never

Government of India is contemplating to consolidate all the existing five tribunals and establish one single Integrated Water Disputes Tribunal for all the water disputes arising between different states from time to time. It is better to be late than never. It could have been done earlier but the circumstances were not conducive or the problems were not found to be so tricky.  

As per the statement of a senior official from the Ministry of Water Resources, it will take about a year's time to set up the said Tribunal after getting the neccesary clearances and amending the Inter-State Water Disputes Act 1956.

Such a move on the part of Government of India indicates its thinking not to bring the water disputes under the sole jurisdiction of the Supreme Court although  rightly demanded by certain quarters in view of warring claims among the states.

Japan’s Leadership Merry-Go-Round

Japan had 14 PMs in the last two decades and three in the last 12 months. Liberal Democratic Party governed for most of 50 years until the Democratic Party of Japan broke the hold in August 2009.

The first priority before the P.M is economy. Although constrained by a public debt approaching 100 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product and a fiscal deficit hovering around 10 per cent of G.D.P, Japan needs to do more to stimulate domestic demand – to deal with the immediate emergency and diminish its dependence on exports as an economic engine. This requires maintaining fiscal stimulus. It also requires a longer-term strategy that encourages spending by households.