Archaic Laws Perpetuating Ills of Colonial Rule

Various Human Development Indices, like infant mortality, illiteracy, per capita income, bring out the obvious backwardness of our society. Justification is that these are remnants of Colonial Rule, under which we had little or no freedom of taking corrective actions against these scourges. However, gaining freedom has changed little. Assertion is that in view of our large population and enormous backlog of development, it is going to take 'time' to correct the ills. By 'time' they may mean life time of several generations or even many centuries. The apprehension is justified, because during over 60 years of self rule we have gone backwards.

Regrettably, our mentality is still slavish. We do not recognize the ills of the colonial mind-set for governance and have failed to amend it. Recently, farmers of a large State have agitated against acquisition of their land at grossly unfair rates of compensation. The Chief Minister of the State ducked any blame, saying that the land acquisition and payment of compensation was done under the existing laws, which were inherited from the colonial era. If so, are we ashamed of our inaction and aroused enough to take corrective actions urgently?

Corrective actions have to encompass all the laws framed during the Colonial Rule. We should not be lulled by the notion that the entire inherited ‘steel frame of governance’ is appropriate for a free India. We need to review and amend suitably whole of the inherited Laws, as a matter of life and death for the bulk of our population.

Also, we may have to enact new laws to suit the prevailing wave of development across the World harnessing modern Science and Technology. Some areas are land use, pollution control, deforestation, decentralized planning and implementation, empowerment of the lowest income group and upwards and several others.

Creditably, we have since enacted new laws governing village Panchayats, Nagar Panchayats, Municipal Councils and Corporations. But, have we enacted similar laws for Tribal Areas? Are Tribals empowered to formulate their own Plans for education, health care, roads, communications, and banking and indicate their priorities? If yes what is the operating mechanism? Is prior concurrence of Tribals mandatory for locating in their region any new activity which may affect their dwellings, livelihood and such other basic rights? Or, is it left to the wisdom of the commonly wooden machinery of the Government? The neglect is all pervading. One may be shocked to learn that the list of Subjects for Mail to PM does not include Tribals or Forests!

Cynical Arithmetic of Corruption and Development

A former Prime Minister of India, late Rajiv Gandhi, made the startling revelation that out of One hundred Rupees released by the Government only fifteen rupees reach the target, rest of it is pocketed unethically by a plethora of intermediaries. So, he lamented that the financial effectiveness of utilization of funds intended for developmental activities is 15% only. Ironically, as per the general belief, there is little improvement in the situation even after quarter of a century. Lamentably, an impressive succession of Prime Ministers, belonging to different political parties, has not succeeded in curbing the menace.

Cynically speaking, if somehow the delivery is improved to 30% the rate of development may double. Surely, the level of pilferage of public money will still be an unconscionable 70%. Further, if the levels of delivery are improved to 45% or 60%, the rate of development would triple or quadruple respectively, though the level of corruption will remain unacceptably high.

Expanding the aims of Community Broadcasts

One of the aims ought to be strengthening democracy, which means strengthening livelihood, food security, health care, habitat, basic education, and all other aspects which determine quality of life.

In India, the policies and programs of the government at various levels, Central, State, District, and Village levels, attempt to provide material and implementation inputs for these. But, at the ground level the mechanisms to inform and educate the potential beneficiaries about the intent and content of policies and programs are limited to the print and visual media, the penetration of which is shallow and thus limited. Community Broadcasts have the potential to inform and educate, thus of reducing the gap.

Of course, filling the information gap is only the first step. Even well informed people do not know how to wade through the procedures to extract the end results from the governments. If and when one case of success takes place, the algorithm followed for achieving the results can be shared speedily with the community through this Medium. The success rate can be increased many fold, if this medium is supplemented by phones, call centers, voluntary organizations and individuals. The governments can implement effectively their policies and programs by prescribing specific Forms for accessing the benefits and then publicizing the designated Processing Authorities. Under the umbrella of the Right to Information act the functioning of such Processing Authorities can be monitored and prompted to be transparent and fast. In this manner, Community Broadcasts can touch lives in a variety of desirable ways.