VOX POPULI
by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 264 Date: 07.01.2018
Contents:
1. Judicial Overreach
2. Ambanis As MFF - Most Favoured Family
3. The Tragedy Of Being An Indian
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Judicial Overreach
We have the overreach of the judiciary, more specifically the Supreme Court, leading to a distressing situation in the Sabarimalai temple case relating to the entry of women of menstruating age into the temple. The matter was to be dealt as a faith issue rather than that of a Constitutional right and the SC could have recused themselves from the case. That would have allowed the matter to die a natural death rather than as it is now of a political football that is being kicked about and the situation on the streets in Kerala fast deteriorating progressively into a severe law and order problem. This is not the first time that the SC is doing this but there are many instances of judicial overreach the notable among which of current origin are: the ban on fireworks to particular times during the last Diwali. This was taking the fun out of children's lives across the country and depriving livelihood for thousands in the household and the tiny sector who are involved in the manufacture of fireworks. The icing on the cake in the judgment was that 'green' fireworks should be used when none existed in India from local manufacture and whatever was available was of China make. So was the SC indirectly promoting the industry of China at the cost of Indian industry! As for the primary concerns of pollution that was the basis of the judgment, fireworks were not banned in entirety but it seems only for Diwali since for religious festivals that followed like the Chaat Puja and then the New Year and the random weddings that take place or during the election victories fireworks continued to be used. On a more global level, Diwali is celebrated only once a year in India like the 4th of July in the U.S. and there should have been no problem in allowing our children have their day of fun when the world's largest polluter can allow it for their own people. So the point is that if you want to ban fireworks for environmental and noise pollution then ban them entirely and not just for a specific festival like Diwali. Then we have the latest gaffe by the SC in the Rafael judgment that implied that the aircraft deal was referred to the CAG and the PAC and that a report on that was tabled in Parliament. The incumbent government is using this judgment it give itself a clean chit. The issue of stating a process and in contrast implying that the process was executed has been carried in the media ad nauseum. But even then the Supreme Court has not taken cognisance of it even on a suo moto basis which it does at other times. Thus the present government and its seniormost leaders one can say is surviving on the mercy of the courts and carrying that stamp on its shoulders. Concluding one can safely say that our judiciary should remain in its domain and refrain from interfering in all and sundry matters which will allow it to work towards reducing the pendency of cases that has been clogging up the court process and thus be able to deliver speedier justice to our people.
Ambanis As MFF - Most Favoured Family
For all the talk about no corruption in this Narendra Modi led BJP government, the pointers towards crony capitalism are very apparent. Connections with big business of the Modi government had been talked about with the Ambanis and the Adanis, both industrial magnates hailing from Gujarat. But even between the two, the Ambani family seems to be holding the MFF - Most Favoured Family status. While the elder brother, Mukesh gets Institute of Eminence status for his educational institute for which no ground has been broken and the project just exists on paper. So also the younger brother, Anil has been done a similar favour by being selected as the set-off partner for Dassault, France in the Rafael jet fighter deal that ensures a bonanza of Rs.33,000 crore. Here again there is no manufacturing faculty or business operations on the ground and the selected partner has no experience in aircraft manufacture. It is time that both these windfalls bestowed on the Ambani family are withdrawn forthwith.
The Tragedy Of Being An Indian
The national highway near Udupi in Karnataka was blocked yesterday, 6th Jan 2019 for 3 hours with protesting fishermen taking to the streets because 7 of their community have been missing at sea since 13th December 2018 and there is no concrete action that has been taken by both the State and Central governments to launch search and rescue operations to find them. This incident along with the the 12 coal miners who have been missing again from 13th December 2018 in the Meghalaya rathole mines highlights the callousness of our governments towards the people who strive hard to put body and soul together by taking up dangerous and hazardous work. The fishermen case is of a lesser order of danger since they are above ground albeit granted that they are on water but there is every chance of them drifting because of faulty engines and they can be spotted by the Coast Guard or passing ships. But for the miners who were trapped in a flooded mine serious recovery measures were initiated only after a week of the incident which is a shame since by that time they would have been dead from lack of food and air to breathe or would have drowned in the waters. Navy divers and high capacity pumps to evacuate the water arrived at the site just last week close to three weeks of the date the miners went missing. Is there any chance from this effort for bringing out the miners alive? At most they would be able to recover the bodies. While in the case of the young footballers who were trapped in a cave in Thailand, it grabbed the attention of our media and our people. But it is unfortunate that the same attention was not given to our own, the trapped miners in Meghalaya. The greatest tragedy is that the governments both at the State level and the Centre tended to be less seized of the distressed miners. This is not at all. In the Kolkata Metro recently one of the coaches caught fire because of overheating brakes leading to panic among commuters. The people had to be evacuated through the tracks and some broke windows and jumped out fracturing their limbs. Luckily there were no fatalities though a number of persons had to be admitted to hospitals. But it has come out that the Kolkata Metro have no smoke or fire alarm systems in their stations or tunnels through which the tracks run and which are all underground. They also have no fire drill procedures or disaster management measures in the event of accidents and mishaps like the above. And the Kolkata Metro has been running close to more than three decades now! Surely someone must be pulled up for this negligence. Thus you will see with these three widely spread out incidents in different situations the country has been found lacking in its ability to deal with major accidents and disasters when the scenario is a little different from the ordinary. The government attitude to these cases has been lackadaisical with no concern for the loss of human life. The only conclusion that one can draw from this is that in India human life is cheap and it does not matter if a few people die here or there because in any case we have so many.
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Ambanis As MFF - Most Favoured Family
For all the talk about no corruption in this Narendra Modi led BJP government, the pointers towards crony capitalism are very apparent. Connections with big business of the Modi government had been talked about with the Ambanis and the Adanis, both industrial magnates hailing from Gujarat. But even between the two, the Ambani family seems to be holding the MFF - Most Favoured Family status. While the elder brother, Mukesh gets Institute of Eminence status for his educational institute for which no ground has been broken and the project just exists on paper. So also the younger brother, Anil has been done a similar favour by being selected as the set-off partner for Dassault, France in the Rafael jet fighter deal that ensures a bonanza of Rs.33,000 crore. Here again there is no manufacturing faculty or business operations on the ground and the selected partner has no experience in aircraft manufacture. It is time that both these windfalls bestowed on the Ambani family are withdrawn forthwith.
The Tragedy Of Being An Indian
The national highway near Udupi in Karnataka was blocked yesterday, 6th Jan 2019 for 3 hours with protesting fishermen taking to the streets because 7 of their community have been missing at sea since 13th December 2018 and there is no concrete action that has been taken by both the State and Central governments to launch search and rescue operations to find them. This incident along with the the 12 coal miners who have been missing again from 13th December 2018 in the Meghalaya rathole mines highlights the callousness of our governments towards the people who strive hard to put body and soul together by taking up dangerous and hazardous work. The fishermen case is of a lesser order of danger since they are above ground albeit granted that they are on water but there is every chance of them drifting because of faulty engines and they can be spotted by the Coast Guard or passing ships. But for the miners who were trapped in a flooded mine serious recovery measures were initiated only after a week of the incident which is a shame since by that time they would have been dead from lack of food and air to breathe or would have drowned in the waters. Navy divers and high capacity pumps to evacuate the water arrived at the site just last week close to three weeks of the date the miners went missing. Is there any chance from this effort for bringing out the miners alive? At most they would be able to recover the bodies. While in the case of the young footballers who were trapped in a cave in Thailand, it grabbed the attention of our media and our people. But it is unfortunate that the same attention was not given to our own, the trapped miners in Meghalaya. The greatest tragedy is that the governments both at the State level and the Centre tended to be less seized of the distressed miners. This is not at all. In the Kolkata Metro recently one of the coaches caught fire because of overheating brakes leading to panic among commuters. The people had to be evacuated through the tracks and some broke windows and jumped out fracturing their limbs. Luckily there were no fatalities though a number of persons had to be admitted to hospitals. But it has come out that the Kolkata Metro have no smoke or fire alarm systems in their stations or tunnels through which the tracks run and which are all underground. They also have no fire drill procedures or disaster management measures in the event of accidents and mishaps like the above. And the Kolkata Metro has been running close to more than three decades now! Surely someone must be pulled up for this negligence. Thus you will see with these three widely spread out incidents in different situations the country has been found lacking in its ability to deal with major accidents and disasters when the scenario is a little different from the ordinary. The government attitude to these cases has been lackadaisical with no concern for the loss of human life. The only conclusion that one can draw from this is that in India human life is cheap and it does not matter if a few people die here or there because in any case we have so many.
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