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Opinion
Mandate Minimum Agenda
by J.
Ajithkumar
Credit goes
to NDA for introducing Indians to the concept of governance based on a
minimum agenda agreed between political parties of extreme diversity.
There are many vested interests in keeping India as a land of diversity
and evolving a stable system of government based on certain minimum
agreements becomes a bare necessity then. The methodology of minimum
agenda was always an option and the able leadership of NDA could succeed
in making it practical and workable during their tenure. The experiment
was definitely pioneering and, as could be expected, contained its own
shortfalls & highlights. Perhaps India would never have had a chance to
become a recognized nuclear power but for the historic opportunity
utilized by NDA. It is almost certain that no other combination or
conglomeration of political parties could have mustered enough guts to
overcome external pressure to detonate a nuclear test bomb. Even
opponents of our nuclear policy would concede in private that India
became a modern nation to be noticed on world stage only after the test
blast. It is one thing to be accepted as the oldest surviving
civilization in the world but to be counted as a modern nation is what
is urgently required to succeed in the future.
After NDA, the second experiment (UPA) in minimum agenda is ongoing and
by all indications will complete the term thanks to the power glue that
holds together any coalition and an opposition in shambles. But it is
time for us to think about modifications required in the coming
experiments. Putting together a minimum agenda based on discussions
among similar parties is no doubt democratic, but making it mandatory in
a definite time frame will be the best we can think of. Any minimum
agenda put together by the next coalition that comes to power must be
mandated for implementation in the next five years. The Opposition
should offer no objection to a pre-declared and mandated agenda that had
won the legal and legitimate recognition of majority. Opposition may
oppose only the wrongness, if any, in the method of implementation.
Independence for India from British Raj opened up the future of many
other nations in the world. In a similar way, India can present an ideal
democratic model for nations with diversity only if we are successful
with such a coalition government implementing a mandated minimum agenda
within its term.
Indian republic is now 50 years old and following five are the bare
minimum that should find a place in the minimum agenda for the mandate
to be implemented in five years :
Drinking Water & Minimum Food for
Sustenance
It is a shame for any nation in the twenty-first century not to have
provided drinking water facilities for all its citizens at least within
100 meters of each and everyone’s residence. No reason is acceptable
even if they are genuine. Potable water, even if it is rationed, must be
made available to each and every citizen of India within five years of
coming to power with a mandated minimum agenda. There should be a
built-in insurance scheme whereby government agencies are liable to pay
compensation if they are unable to provide potable water to any. Same
must be the case with minimum food for sustenance for all those who have
registered their inability to provide food for themselves. With the
elaborate hierarchy available under the Panchayat Raj system it is not
impossible to ascertain the genuineness of any such application for
food. But all cases must be constantly reviewed and reappraised every
six months.
Minimum Land and Shelter
Land reforms form the core of legislation in any progressive society and
it is long overdue as an all-India policy. Every citizen of the country
is eligible for a minimum piece of land and it should be
non-transferable. The next government with a mandated minimum agenda
must take steps to identify all citizens of India without any piece of
land or building in his or her name, whether he/she is an Adivasi living
in forest land or a villager in some remote village or an urban in
Nariman point. All such people should be assigned at least 5 cents of
non-transferable land in the nearest available location at no cost.
Ownership of any such assigned but unused land must lapse with the death
of the individual. But if he/she has made any construction it can pass
on to his/her legal heir. This identification process must be a standing
arrangement and must ensure that each and every citizen of the country
has at least 5 cents of non-transferable land in his or her name
somewhere in the motherland. The allocation process can be automated and
randomized within specified parameters so that scope for manipulation is
eliminated.
Primary Education
Primary education is another minimum requirement for anyone to survive
in the new era. Right to information could have waited but right to
education cannot wait any further. Just like potable water, primary
schooling facilities must be freely available for all citizens within
one or two kilometers. Whether it is in the government or private
sector, primary education must be free and compulsory for one and all.
The schools must not only teach but should also provide all students
with uniform clothes, books and other education materials, free of cost.
There must be no excuse, other than medical, for anyone for not going to
school till the age of 15. And the type of compulsory education must be
truly secular and no substitute religious schooling must be acceptable.
This is the one and only way to ensure the secular nature of Indian
nation is sustained.
Spending on Agriculture
India has an agrarian background and shall ever remain so. This land
having the oldest surviving civilization in the world can exist only on
an agrarian background. It will not be an error in any sense to state
that agriculture is our culture. The mandated minimum agenda must
contain a minimum ceiling on the percentage of national GDP to be spent
on agriculture and related matters. This can include the welfare
measures for true agriculturists, research & development in agriculture
and price support mechanisms to ensure minimum guaranteed returns for
those engaged in agriculture. At any point of time and by any estimates,
at least 50% of our population is involved in agriculture and a minimum
ceiling of 25% of our GDP to be spent on agriculture is not at all
unreasonable.
Cultural Renewal
Last but not the least, any minimum agenda must include measures to
sustain our nationhood. And it is time that all Indians realized the
simple fact it is not religious or economic or military or geographic
factors that has sustained the oldest surviving civilization. It is only
our cultural affinity that has held us together at all times. But for
that, British Raj or any other conquerors could have easily split our
nation into another Europe or Africa. The most visible and important
surviving symbol of our culture is the Sanskrit language. If we do not
take care and rekindle Sanskrit language into its past glory, Indians
will lapse into history as the biggest fools who were searching vainly
for a gram of iron and copper when tons of gold were idling in their own
backyard. The amount of knowledge and wisdom embedded in Sanskrit
literature is so huge that we are doing great disservice to our own
future generations if we are not giving them exposure to the language.
Sanskrit language must be a compulsory part of primary education of all
Indians.
October 1,
2006
Top
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Opinion
The Week of October 1, 2006
Gandhi without blinkers: Follow the Mahatma – but
which one? by Rajinder Puri
Baluchistan Vs Pakistan by Ramesh Menon
Musharraf's Leadership by Bluff by Col. Rahul K.
Bhonsle
Mumbai 7/11 Train Bombings: Pakistan's
Involvement Proved by Dr. Subhash Kapila
A Legal Scam, Blessed by the SEC & FASB by
Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Mandate Minimum Agenda by J. Ajithkumar
A Killing Most Foul by Dr. Amitabh Mitra
Education in India is coming to Spectacular
Crossroads by Kusum Choppra
Death Lurks in White by VK Joshi
The Witty Side by Melvin Durai
Exercise may be Injurious to Health by
Neeta Lal
Baby Battles by Yvonne Barlow
Mother's Identity Crisis by Charumathi Supraja
Migrating in a Man's World by Nitin Jugran
Bahuguna
Battling Black Magic by Gagandeep Kaur
Theatre for Change by Marili Fernandez-Ilagan
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