There is a new party on the Horizon - The AAP. In just 48 days of Governance, the people of India are picking on their mistakes - just 48 days - unmindful of the fact that both the BJP and the UPA have had chances to rule India, and have committed massive errors - errors which the people of India have conveniently forgotten. I have been seeing questions being asked of the AAP; why isnt anyone asking these questions to both the UPA and the BJP? The below occurred in their tenures; neither can escape answering these :
1) A special group was set up to study the defence structures in India, Its recommendations lie unheeded - and all this while, our defence preparedness continues to suffer, Why?
2) During Kargil, emergency supplies were needed; for ex, the Swiss company supplying Bofors had to be de-blacklisted on an emergency basis. Other examples abound. This caused the then Chief of Army Staff to comment, : "We will fight with what we have". What are our politicians doing? Are they not seriously compromising the security of the nation?
3) Kargil was a serious intelligence failure; we were caught with our pants down. And yet, the intelligence set-up, while decidedly improved, has still to be unified. Are we not compromising on the lives of our citizens? Examples abound. NCTC remains a pipe dream, and the NIA is supposed to lack substantive powers
4) Moving On, there were 2 major scams - Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh, Have they been properly investigated? The CBI's investigation apparently had numerous loopholes; all regulators were blamed or faulted in an investigative report by Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu. The money is still untraceable. Where is the money? What about the small investors, several of whom were destroyed? Why were SBI officials targeted, when they were the ones to expose the scam? Why werent the systemic flaws attended to? The investigators claim that huge numbers of junior functionaries lives or careers were destroyed, or are fighting to clear themselves. Why?
5) Why is the CBI still not an autonomous body, despite numerous CBI directors coming out openly in favour of this?
6) Why have the police reforms, accepted by everyone and demanded by no less a body than the Supreme Court, not been implemented? Isnt this causing risk to the lives of the people?
7) Why has no Government been able to control the Fiscal Deficit, and has insisted on running freebies and leaking schemes, and ignoring the real demands of the people?
8) Why is the expense on Education, as a percentage of GDP, among the lowest in the world? What have our politicians been doing all these years?
9) Why is the expense on Defense as a percentage of GDP at the lowest level since 1962?
10) What has been done about Black Money by anyone?
11) Mining - across states, is mired in illegal activities. There have been documented murders of even IAS officials because of this. What is being done to control this? How has this come about?
12) What has been done the check the banks after the Cobrapost expose, and to check systemic flaws and abuse?
13) Telecom : security aspects. The questions remain unanswered till this date. What is being done to address this?
14) Telecom scam : What has happened? Why are the guilty still free?
15) Commonwealth scam?
16) Why is the status of India on HDI parameters comparable, or lower than, even sub-saharan nations?
17) Why is malnutrition such a serious issue in the interiors?
18) What is being done to address the concerns of the people from whom land is forcible taken away for development? This is a serious impediment causing several developmental projects to be blocked up.
19) What has been done to overhaul the RBI, SEBI, Banks and their working?
20) What is being done about Fertiliser and Oil Subisidies? Why are the rich being subsidised by cheap petrol?
21) Why is good Healthcare in Rural India such a serious concern even in 2014?
22) Good Motorable Roads: It takes more time now to travel by road {by truck} than 40 years ago, Fact, Why? Why dont we have good motorable roads connecting villages to marketplaces, when this will result in savings and benefits for the people?
23) Why is Agricultural Productivity among the worst in the world in any number of crops? What is being done about this?
24) We are facing a serious electricity shortage in the years to come. Why is there no traction in planning and implementing this?
25) Farmer Suicides : Why are large amounts of farmers committing suicide?
26) 76% of our farmers are small and marginal farmers, who lose 840 - 1400 Rupees per hectare per crop - in Modern India. Why?
Why is each and every political party silent on these {or a majority of these) matters? Why is no one addressing quite a few of these serious issues? Why is this absent from the English Language press? {Dont read the vernacular, so no idea of them}. Why are we not concerned about these serious, serious issues? Because they dont impact us directly? Farmer Suicides, Malnutrition, Healthcare, Land Acquisition, Project Implementation, Defence Preparedness, Police Reforms - no one is talking about these. Why? Why only focus on Urban India? We Urban Indians comprise only 17.68% as per 2011 census - speaking from memory. What about rural India? What about their concerns? And I have not even started asking questions!
There are many more questions that can be asked. Why should only the AAP be answerable for just 48 days of power, and not the NDA and the UPA for their mistakes? Why the differential treatment? Not only that, the AAP is being asked for clarity on its economic and other policies. Please tell me which party has a clearly defined economic ideology? Which party has clearly stated its objectives in no uncertain terms, encompassing various aspects of trade and foreign policy - things which are being asked of the AAP?
- Just how is the NDA / UPA going to reign in inflation?
- How are they going to contain fiscal deficit?
- How do they intend to fill the tax deficit that will arise from their grandiose taxation reforms suggested - I mean specific, time-bound implementable measures?
- How much will they spend on defence?
- How much will they spend on Education?
- How much will they spend on Plan and Non-Plan Expenditure?
- How much will they spend on Healthcare?
- What are their specific plans for disinvestment of Blue Chip PSUs?
- How do they intend to stoke the slowing manufacturing engine?
- How do they intend to reverse the IIP numbers?
- How do they intend to tackle inflation?
- What is their foreign policy?
- Precisely how will they tackle the challenges now arising in the Malidives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka?
- What is their defence outlook?
- What is their stance on the relationship with Japan, Israel and France?
- On Pakistan?
- On Terrorism?
- On centre-state relationships?
- On sharing revenue with the states?
- On the plans to bring in the GST?
- On the excise duty structure and the customs duty structure?
- What is their stance on the exim (trade) policy?
No one is asking these questions - I can ask dozens more. There isnt a single document, a single article - at least one that I have seen on mainstream media; neither is anyone asking these questions of the NDA or the UPA.
But Lo and Behold, along comes a new person - and everyone pounces on that person! Asks for a detailed manifesto covering these points! Everyone in the Media and the Public, members of my friends and family included! There isnt even a hint of a discussion on these vital parameters anywhere - but the new guy has to answer these questions. The NDA was given 5 full years; and their failure in innumerable areas is a matter of documented record. I am not an AAP fan - but within a span of 48 days people are willing to write off the new guy! Fantastic!
As far as I know, as on date, the AAP is the only party with a clearly documented vision and action plan; the others are playing ad-hoc. Read the book swaraj. also remember that they have promised a detailed clarity on all points. No one else has promised that... it may not be what you are looking for - but they have a clearly defined ideology, and a set of policies; they have further promised a detailed clarification on all points. This is more than anyone else's statements.
Comments
Post a Comment