It is an established fact that a significant majority of money devoted to social programmes, such as the National Employment Guarantee, Anti-poverty programmes, targeted food subsidy, and many others, are heavily flawed in terms of the actual money that reach the poor. There have studies over the past, there have been admissions by the Government in the past (such as Rajiv Gandhi’s famous statement made way back in 1985 about only 15% of the money reaching the intended). Money is siphoned off through middle-men, local politicians, workers, and the entrenched mafia. This has happened for a long time now, and it would seem that people have accepted this as a normal thing.
However, this should not be so. From time to time, the Government announces (mostly falsely) that there will be much greater inspection of the implementation to ensure that leakages are stopped. But more than the Government, there are social activists who are encouraging villages and the logical recipients of such aid to be more vigilant, to use laws such as RTI, and other measures such as social audits. Going against entrenched measures will lead to backlashes from those who stand to lose out their ill-gotten gains. Such is to be expected.
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Today’s world is a world of speed. If you remember previous times, in case of a medical problem, you would go to a hospital and give your samples over there for check-up; and you would get your results later (maybe the next day, but mostly after a few days). However, as medical science improved, the area of providing quality medical diagnosis based on samples (blood, fluids, stool, etc) improved, with results coming in much faster than previously. In addition, modern collection companies such as Dr. Lal Pathlabs, and the Ranbaxy SRL Labs are now spread all over major cities, decentralizing the collection facilities by spreading them ever few kilometers, with the quality of results of these tests also being of good quality. However, as the incidence of testing by specialist sample testing companies grows, our dependence on them also grows, and they increasing start entering the realm of consumer complaints and dissatisfaction:
NEW DELHI: The state consumer commission has pulled up a speciality laboratory for inordinate delay in sending a patient’s report to a hospital, as a result of which he died. The lab report for a CMV test — carried out for viral detection — was crucial for the treatment of a 56-year-old patient, who was awaiting a renal transplantation. It took the laboratory 25 days to send the report, by which time the patient died. Now, the commission has asked the lab, Speciality Ranbaxy Limited, to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to the victim’s family.
In India, the police are still governed by a set of rules that were set up in British times; then the aim of the police was to implement the policies of the ruler against a ruled nation. Looking at the current situation, one would not be faulted for thinking that something similar is the current situation. The police is formed out of the society as we have currently, and assumes that the police is ‘THE government’ in areas that are away from major cities. If you go to a semi-urban area, then there are only 2-3 centers of power: the local politician of the ruling party, the powerful criminal, the local top bureaucrat, and then the policeman, in cahoots with one, or all of them.
In such a case, a policemen who does not have enough morals or controls would think that he is the local equivalent of all authority, and that any action of his cannot be faulted. If not so, how does one explain the case where policemen can rape a citizen of the country (without worrying that the law will catch up with them):
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday rapped the Haryana police for the rape of a woman in Rohtak allegedly by two constables, saying “when the protectors of the law become perpetrators of crime, the life of the common man becomes miserable”.
Ever since the RTI Act came into existence, it has been seen as a powerful instrument to clear out secrecy of movements of records within the bureaucracy, and of helping to explain as to what decisions are made on what basis. It could be seen as a powerful laser-strength light shines like a powerful sun on the cobwebs of the Government bureaucracy and exposes corruption; however, one of the main problems seen is the inability of normal street level people to make sure of it. This has been seen as one of the main problems of the Act, it is only as good as the ability of people to use it.
Well, it seems like people are slowly catching on, and this awareness, even if more pronounced in urban areas, will slowly move through the whole country. Even a slight increase in awareness and a reduction in corruption and stealth of Government operations will do wonders for the enhancement of citizens. Imagine the power of a villager being able to find out where the money alloted for improving a road went to ? In many cases, just the act of filing a RTI petition can cause the concerned officials to move much faster. Consider these examples of how the RTI Act seems to be catching on:
Rape is a heinous crime, something that can cast a horrible injury on a women (both on the physical body and the psyche); it can take a long time to get over this assault. Hence, there are some harsh laws on this crime in human society, with a world wide convention that such crimes will be handled to the maximum possible allowed under the law. In India, the Supreme Court has been sensitive to the nature of this crime, in many cases relying on the sole testimony of the victim. However, such measures are subject to misuse, and one comes across such cames occasionally that introduce a feeling that one cannot take a statement for granted. Read about ladies who extort money from innocent bystanders by threatening rape:
Please find the detail break-up of the Final price of petrol available in pumps.
This is a break up considering crude oil at 130 $ per barrel. Following details are for per liter petrol in Rs.
Basic Price = Rs 21.93
Excise duty = Rs 14.35
Education Tax = Rs 0.43
Dealer commission = Rs 1.05
VAT = Rs 5.5
Crude Oil Custom duty = Rs 1.1
Petrol Custom = Rs 1.54
Transportation Charge = Rs 6.00
Total price = Rs 51.90
So for a Rs 22 liter petrol at pumps we people pay Rs 28 tax extra.