In his well-argued analysis, "Playing fast and loose" (IE, 3/6/11), Pratap Bhanu Mehta has pointed out the pitfalls of civil society initiatives in governance. He believes that it leads to 'its own brand of authoritarianism'. He also states, "A responsive government is one that .. enforces the rule of law, dispenses justice, provides good management of the economy and so forth." He does not tell us what we, the citizens, have to do when government is not responsive – does not enforce the rule of law, does not dispense justice and does not provide good management of the economy. When that happens every citizen has a right and an obligation to start a movement to make the government responsive. That is exactly what Anna Hazare and Swami Ramdev are trying to do.
2G scam and CWG are the biggest scams in the country. The GOI agrees to have a JPC after the Opposition boycotts a whole session. Is it undemocratic to ask for a JPC? Wheels of justice move only after civil society members move the Supreme Court. PM allows 2G scam under the rubric, 'coalition dharma'. The members of the higher judiciary are also in the news for wrong reasons. All that Hazare and Ramdev are asking is to have a Lokayukta to catch the big fish in the net. It is well-known that our politicians and businessmen have stacked away their loot in tax havens abroad. What is wrong if Ramdev wants that to be declared as national wealth and brought back?Our commentators expound on the pitfalls of civil society initiatives but have no idea how to bring about good governance. It is sad.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/playing-fast-and-loose/798740/0
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