The editorial in the latest issue of Organiser,titled The focus now is on education and road, says: It is good that Dr. Manmohan Singh has begun his second innings with a promise to focus on education and infrastructure. The ruling party has at last identified these as powerful engines of growth and promised increased public spending to propel investment in these areas. The PM has chosen two of his relatively brighter cabinet ministers to handle these areas¿ The HRD ministry under Arjun Singh had the most dubious distinction of a total absence of innovation. It did not bother to build additional infrastructure to cope with the growing demand for quality education. For instance,during the five years of NDA,there was a ten per cent increase in literacy level,300 universities and thousands of colleges were networked with worlds best quality academic courseware,University of Roorkee was converted into an IIT,two new IIITs were founded,number of engineering colleges which was 562 in 1998 increased to 1203 in 2003.
The editorial adds: India had one of the most brilliant education ministers in Dr Murli Manohar Joshi under the NDA. It was he who identified and made the country aware of the great potential of education as a dynamo of growth. But the partisan politics in India understated his achievements by emphasising only on curriculum review,which in itself was innovative and an attempt to update and modernise textbooks.
Account for yourselves
In a piece titled A Law to Make Legislators Accountable, Madhu Deolekar writes: To make a democracy successful,the onus is on the people and their representatives. The electors and the elected are expected to discharge their responsibilities,their duties with integrity and honesty on their own volition. A self-imposed discipline (atmanushasan) is regarded as the best imposition of code of conduct… The work or duties of a member are enormous and time consuming. He has hardly any time to attend to his personal,professional or business matters. For carrying out the above narrated functions,a legislator has to work on his own volition; there is no binding or compulsion of any kind,except the moral binding. Therefore,to pinpoint duties of an elected representative is rather a Herculean task. What people should expect from a member is that his conduct should be fair,honourable,above reproach and unquestionable. He should not tarnish the image of the august institution that he is called upon to represent. He should be above corruption and scandals. Normally,if found guilty of breach of honourable conduct,without hesitation he should be given the same punishment as provided by law. However,it is rarely done. In public life there is no greater sanction than the moral code. The electors also have to keep a watch on the conduct of their representative. In this election,150 MPs are elected with criminal charges against them. This number is more than the number of members with criminal record in the previous Lok Sabha. The number of crorepati MPs is 300. Does this reflect the choice of voters? Because,the election time is the proper time for the voters to scrutinise the performance and conduct of the candidate. Whom would you blame the electors or the elected,or the electoral system?
He adds: Recently,some parliamentarians in Britain were found guilty of wrongfully billing the state exchequer for big and small expenses. Some guilty MPs were forced to retire; others were called upon to repay the money. Leaders of political parties are now working along with a vigilant media and civil society groups to cleanse the system,starting with asking tainted MPs to quit office instead of merely trading charges. We,in our country,also need to act to stem the rot¿ It would be in public interest to enact laws to specify pin pointed duties and responsibilities of peoples elected representatives and their political parties. People expect the Election Commission to take a lead in framing relevant laws,which will minimize corruption among elected representatives and make them accountable for their conduct. For this,the EC should take the help of knowledgeable members from the civil society. Sooner it is done the better for the health of our democracy.
Compiled by Suman K. Jha
