POLITICAL DISASTER

TOP OF THE POLITICAL PRECIPICE= CLIFF

Democracy is slowly fading off from the Political Science of Administration giving way to the olden rule of the “fittest to survive” . To escape from the hands of the cruel & merciless Kings, the people struggled throughout their life to free them from the clutches (Fetters) of the Maharajas of different states of INDIA. Lot of bloodshed was followed and the British rulers  also played in between to bring everything under their command & control. Our continuous struggles against the foreigners & local kings finally earned us the FREEDOM we longed for centuries.

On a flash back of events and social conditions before & after independence, we do not see much difference.  Majority are in difficulties “to make ends meet”.  The Unity by which we fought for freedom was lost immediately after attaining freedom for INDIA in 1947.  Individual importance in leadership and command & control propped up amongst the top leaders resulting in secret discussions & grouping in the political front.  Such hide & seek discussions created ill will amongst the politicians and political rivalry caused damage in the democratic fabric. The dents in the social network, collapsed the Unity in Action and induced hatred in the minds of the like minded people resulting in splitting of the political affiliations and common agenda.  Thus the different groups started drifting off from the Main Steam and established their ideas to excel the other groups. That means the “ Internal Fight” created dissimilar attitudes and ideologies  , forgetting the targeted programs for the common man.

Such disunity in party politics swayed us off and brought us to“Square One”- the stage we were in before 1947-.  Very soon we will witness the total crumbling down of the Democratic set in our country due to the “Political Invasion” by Muscle Power & Goondaism?.  Our political experts are very cunning and like the “legendary Crabs”, they will pull down the activities of  each other when they come to power!!. How can we go ahead if such situations are not removed in time?

Let us all be alert and try to evolve ways & means to maintain the Scared Democracy we got through our forefathers who toiled from morning to night and brought us freedom to live like ordinary human beings. A political solution with a definite WILL is necessary to achieve this great GOAL.

Otherwise it will be a case of “PILLAR to POST” movement!!

Abraham Mangalath Philip

QUALITY OF FOOD IN HOTELS

                                                         FOOD POISONING

Unchecked food stuffs without ensuring the quality and purity are supplied in hotels& restaurants nowadays leading to the death of innocent people who blindly believe and rely on these hotel services. From the recent incidents of food poisoning, it is certain that sufficient care and attention is not being given by the officers & supervisors of the concerned department to ensure the safety of the people who take food from the hotels.

Total negligence on the part of the supervisors and other officials lead to such mishap. These departmental officials do not carry out their routine duty in time as a regular manner and take appropriate action to curb careless handling of food materials. Movements of these officials without any purposeful visit to the hotels & restaurants and also sharing the food and snacks served in exquisite style forget willfully or otherwise to go into details of the hotel service and the environmental conditions prevailing to protect the food hygienically and safely. They may come back with a “Thick Purse” as a compliment to their day’s struggle. I am not accusing any particular person, but it is a fact that these supervisors are not sincerely doing their job resulting in such untimely death of people who consume the stale & poisonous food.

The “ Crisis management system” must end and action should be taken to ensure systematic and regular inspection on the part of officials to ensure the supply of eatables in hotels in the most safe and ideal conditions. Stringent punishments must be meted out to the people who are found guilty of negligence and dereliction of duty assigned to them.

 Unless we improve the conditions in the matter of serving food in  the hotels & restaurants, well we will have a common burial very soon!

Abraham Mangalath Philip

VISUAL MEDIA

                       THE MEDIA-DOES IT GOES BEYOND LIMITS?

Earlier the communication system was very careful in passing on the News through the press. Complete editing and followed corrections were applied meticulously before releasing the matter to be communicated to the public. Now the visual media has taken over almost everything. They are very hasty in releasing the news without going through the correctness of the matter that is being published.

The competition amongst the different media, to excel over others and also to gain popularity, finally result in incorrect and untrue information passed on to the people. Such a situation will cause damage to the social fabric due to false information being propagated through the media. It is seen that corrected version is later published by which time the reaction of the public has already created irreparable loss to men & materials.

Such kind of overdose in spreading daily news through the visual media must be curbed to arrest ugly scenes in public. Frequent media discussions through programs like NERKUNER and NERECHOVE etc will add fuel to the burning fire! Also such discussion will vitiate the process of the legal proceedings against the crimes already reported.  A parallel “Judiciary System” through the visual media is not desirable in the interest of an impartial judgment from the Court of Law. Also this kind of discussions in the TV programs will kindle up unwanted reactions amongst the public leading to mutual enmity and hatred resulting in “Street Fight” between political parties.

I am therefore of the view that the media must exercise absolute control over the news that are being reported by the field staff and carefully ascertain the correctness of the matter before publishing the same for the information of the people. No ‘Yellow Journalism” to be encouraged at all costs.

Abraham Mangalath Philip.

DISSIMILAR JUDGEMENTS

                         Same Law but Different Interpretation?

There have been instances where the superior courts have rejected or quashed the orders of the lower courts. The lower courts are also applying the same principles of the law before pronouncing the decision in each case referred to them. There cannot be two interpretations of the law applicable to a certain crime by any legal authority .Accordingly the decision taken by the lower court naturally should stand. Therefore it is certain that the application of the relevant rule in proving the crime and arriving at a final disposal was not observed in cases which were rejected by the superior court.

Such instances come due to the personal failure in applying the correct principles of the law OR due to personal contribution in misinterpreting the law to gain ones end.  To tide over this situation, I feel that we must resort to the existing procedure adopted in the departments in dealing with staff matters. The lower level officers investigate into the matter brought to their notice and then forward the same with their recommendation to higher level for their decision. Thus the Apex body finally passes on the decision to the lower level for taking necessary action.

If such procedure orders are adopted in the judiciary then, there will not be dissimilar findings in the court of justice at any level.  The delegation of power in dealing with cases according to the seriousness of the crime can be decided to lessen the burden of courts at appropriate level. This will lessen the delay in proceeding with the cases and also speed up the finalization of cases in time.

Abraham Mangalath Phlip

ALARMING STATE OF DEMOCRACY

                                                         ALARMING STATE OF DEMOCRACY

Immediately after Independence, our democratic set up was established with good intentions to take care of the different denominations of the people irrespective of caste/Creed or Religion, giving equal rights to each citizen of India. It had a vision to be secular in its administration both at centre and in the states. The united efforts of all the parties could form the Government for a period of five years at a stretch and thereafter for the next term by electing representatives to the state legislature and to the Parliament.

But of late, there have been drastic changes in the pattern of forming the Government both at the centre and at the state level due to formation of several parties with different policies and concepts. Very often the functioning of the Government was at stake due to dissimilar opinions and policies of each component of the government machinery resulting in undue delay causing monetary loss and time over run.  The progresses of the targeted developmental projects were stalling for want of timely decision. Such indecisions were mainly due to non compatibility of the thoughts and actions of the Ministers and the Administrative officers of the IAS/IPS cadre.

The causes for such unhappy situations are only due to the ideological and technical differences in sorting out the problems confronting the State or Centre. Very often such difference of opinion in the Administration reflects in the Parliament and assembly sessions resulting in continuous adjournment of the state assembly & Parliament. Even unpleasant scenes of wild and crude behavior on the part of the elected representatives are seen on the Screen (TV).

The only remedy to bring our representatives to behave in a soberly manner is to introduce certain important features in the qualities of the politicians who are to be elected to the Apex body –Parliament and to the State legislature. Well educated and sufficiently qualified people only to be permitted to stand as a candidate for the election. Once the minimum educational standard and knowledgeable level is matching with that of the IAS/IPS officers, naturally there will be mutual respect and tolerance in the matter of discussion and finding a solution to the problems at the State level or at the Centre.  Allotment of the portfolio of ministry also to be done in line with the qualification of the person concerned.

Appointment of persons in any department or private enterprises has a definite procedure for selection. Similar procedure if adopted in electing peoples’ representatives to the Government, we will save our Democracy from a probable disaster..  

Abraham Mangalath Philip