Tuesday, February 22, 2011

SERMONS AND REALITIES – BUDGET SESSION

Let bygones be bygones. Many promises had been made. As many not kept. For instance in her address to the joint session of Parliament she must have doled out promises after promises. An array of promises and assurances, in short promises are made not to keep it like laws are made to violate it.
Since the assumption of power by UPA II govt many skeletons tumbled out of the closet. Corruption occupied the No.1 position. It grew and spread like a menace. Corruption in the top echelons of power reached mountainous proportions. Many tumbled out after assumption of power first in 2004 and second term 2009. Scams worth lakhs of crores, please note, 2G Spectrum scam was the second scam which India witnessed post Independence and the amount to the tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crores and the first one being ISRO scam to be precise ISRO’s Antrix Corporation Ltd awarding a deal to Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd, Bangalore which went as far as 2 lakh crore which was divulged recently though signed in 2005. All pointed out several times and people would get bored to death if parroted further. Hence a big mum.
Yesterday, 21 Feb 2011, the budget session of Parliament started on a peaceful note. Our Honorable President Pratibha Patil addressed the joint session of Parliament and barring a few minor skirmishes caused by Pro-Telangana loyalists the atmosphere was calm and the members, both ruling and opposition listened to her in rapt attention.
The opposition’s prolonged demand for a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) probe into the 2G Spectrum scam being allowed they must have been in a cheerful mood and similarly we the citizens kept smiles on our lips. A happy lot all.
What all our President read before the august audience, in her capacity as the titular head was music to everybody’s ears.
Firstly she touched upon corruption – massive corruption – squeezing our nation thus sapping the essence of the entire nation. Her assurance that the seeds of corruption will be weeded out, the black money would be unearthed and crores of money stashed abroad would be brought back by enacting legislation if needed and the culprits would be booked all heard and applauded by members especially treasury benches.
Secondly she pointed towards the necessity of tackling left-wing terrorism which reached enormous proportions last year, to bring peace to Kashmir and maintain the law and order situation across the nation. In this context she didn’t forget to mention about the role of the States in containing law and order problems with the necessary support of Centre.
Thirdly, she took the opportunity to mention about ensuring food security to all especially below poverty sections. The demand for a universal public distribution system was however conveniently left out.
Fourthly she laid much stress on improvement of infrastructure development like transport, railways, irrigation, electricity and similarly other people-friendly schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme also dealt with.
Fifthly she stressed the importance of moulding India into a powerful position among the comity of nations the world over. She also applauded the victory of democracy in Egypt which was attended to and applauded by rapturous members in the house.
As the Head of the nation, what all she was entrusted with, she did excellently. Such platitudes we did hear umpteen times by she as well as many other heads of govt.
What all we need are implementations of all policies and programmes in letter and spirit. Then only the pathetic situation our nation finds itself in could be solved and a bright image would emerge. If our rulers were that much sincere as they claim to be our country would already have turned into a paradise. But that has not yet happened and the need of the hour is a soul-searching. Then will come out pitiful pictures of poverty-stricken, mal-nourished, unemployed people, least developed remote villages in the north-Indian and north-eastern States – infrastructure at its worst – our nation’s conditions is in a sorry state of affairs indeed.

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