Institution is established and sustained by moral conscience of community. It deduces that institution reflects the quality of polity, society and economy. In short, the delivery mirrors people's ethics and values.
It is hard to admit the existence of schools without students or absentee teachers who sublet their jobs to some one else. It is pretty awful to admit the existence of primary health care without medical equipments and adequate medicines or without sufficient doctors and nurses. Similarly, welfare schemes like the midday meal program, employment assurance schemes, scholarship benefits, pension to war widows and cash transfer scheme to rural workers faltered under pilferages and the droplets could barely reach the deserved category of the targeted beneficiaries. Then we hear of market regulators fudging figures to escalate the inflation for private profit motive or banks helping defaulted payments. The public audit known for its irritant queries became an effective accountability agent recently in India and caught many scams in its net. But the public prosecution entity prefers to cover up the crime to let the criminal escape until the apex judiciary pressurized for accountability of action. In all of this mess, guardian angels of the constitution under various commissions and committees to protect the innocent citizens slandered in deep slumber unable to save the innocent souls.
Most amazing of the administration of injustice is in a land called by India's First Prime Minister as the 'Jewel in the East'. The leadership loots the state resource in league with the insurgents. The insurgents are not against the establishment; they survived as extortionists to loot and exploit the locals. The apathy is sadly seen in the appeasement policy of granting economic packages and schemes that have not improved condition of life. The policy of appeasement culminates blatantly in the political purchase of candidates fielded by the undergrounds. The appeasement is extended also to the distribution of grandeur national awards to individuals whose contributions in public service for the community are not visible. The most bizarre case relates to fund pilferage in education department. The state government has not in one single instance prosecuted any criminal case or punished any corrupt individual. But the state government has been vehemently chasing some helpless old retirees from the education department for over a decade. The amount involved is minuscule compared to the amount involved in the daily loot by the big wigs. This one single case exhibit painful evidence of undeserved and unequal punishment towards senior citizens who are denied livelihood through hard earned pension till death and for those still living, it has been a slow torture to death by court trials and without pensions.
The bunch of old men involved in the offence happened to be from the hills and it is generally believed that this petty case was exploited ruthlessly. Withholding of pensions from these retirees at fag end of life would have compensated the offence already. But the case has been deliberately dragged on for years. The reason was the huge appetite of the political bosses which was beyond the means of the old retirees. The case was therefore transferred to the judiciary. The judiciary comprising of the valley people in turn lingered on with the case for many years. During the trial process, many of these hill men involved in the case passed away one by one without receiving pension. The few who survived had to live through court trials at heavy cost every alternate day. The judiciary hung the case without decision.
In another remote corner of India, a dedicated and meritorious medical doctor who served the downtrodden in the Indian heartland had been under arrest on charge of sedition with no evidence. In a current affair in India, the gruesome murder of a young girl had caused unwarranted victimization of the parents by the investigating agency who alleged the parents as the murderer. If substantial evidence shows the parents as murderers, the first thing is to get a medical verification on the psychological state of the parents rather than subjecting the grieving parents to deeper emotional torture.
The institutions that pardon hardened criminals and harass the weaker and vulnerable groups only reflect the moral quality of the community. If I were the President or Prime Minister, I would have acted to safeguard the constitutional rights of those who have been battered under the system. After all, what are leaders for when they cannot protect and deliver justice? Unfortunately, I am not the President or the Prime Minister, my best contribution is to pen down my thoughts in the hope that this message may reach the concerned authority one day to knock down the guardian angles to senses and to encourage building a reliable and credible institution for the future.
Do not let our children pay the price in future for deeds done today; do not let that happen because we love our children.
It is hard to admit the existence of schools without students or absentee teachers who sublet their jobs to some one else. It is pretty awful to admit the existence of primary health care without medical equipments and adequate medicines or without sufficient doctors and nurses. Similarly, welfare schemes like the midday meal program, employment assurance schemes, scholarship benefits, pension to war widows and cash transfer scheme to rural workers faltered under pilferages and the droplets could barely reach the deserved category of the targeted beneficiaries. Then we hear of market regulators fudging figures to escalate the inflation for private profit motive or banks helping defaulted payments. The public audit known for its irritant queries became an effective accountability agent recently in India and caught many scams in its net. But the public prosecution entity prefers to cover up the crime to let the criminal escape until the apex judiciary pressurized for accountability of action. In all of this mess, guardian angels of the constitution under various commissions and committees to protect the innocent citizens slandered in deep slumber unable to save the innocent souls.
Most amazing of the administration of injustice is in a land called by India's First Prime Minister as the 'Jewel in the East'. The leadership loots the state resource in league with the insurgents. The insurgents are not against the establishment; they survived as extortionists to loot and exploit the locals. The apathy is sadly seen in the appeasement policy of granting economic packages and schemes that have not improved condition of life. The policy of appeasement culminates blatantly in the political purchase of candidates fielded by the undergrounds. The appeasement is extended also to the distribution of grandeur national awards to individuals whose contributions in public service for the community are not visible. The most bizarre case relates to fund pilferage in education department. The state government has not in one single instance prosecuted any criminal case or punished any corrupt individual. But the state government has been vehemently chasing some helpless old retirees from the education department for over a decade. The amount involved is minuscule compared to the amount involved in the daily loot by the big wigs. This one single case exhibit painful evidence of undeserved and unequal punishment towards senior citizens who are denied livelihood through hard earned pension till death and for those still living, it has been a slow torture to death by court trials and without pensions.
The bunch of old men involved in the offence happened to be from the hills and it is generally believed that this petty case was exploited ruthlessly. Withholding of pensions from these retirees at fag end of life would have compensated the offence already. But the case has been deliberately dragged on for years. The reason was the huge appetite of the political bosses which was beyond the means of the old retirees. The case was therefore transferred to the judiciary. The judiciary comprising of the valley people in turn lingered on with the case for many years. During the trial process, many of these hill men involved in the case passed away one by one without receiving pension. The few who survived had to live through court trials at heavy cost every alternate day. The judiciary hung the case without decision.
In another remote corner of India, a dedicated and meritorious medical doctor who served the downtrodden in the Indian heartland had been under arrest on charge of sedition with no evidence. In a current affair in India, the gruesome murder of a young girl had caused unwarranted victimization of the parents by the investigating agency who alleged the parents as the murderer. If substantial evidence shows the parents as murderers, the first thing is to get a medical verification on the psychological state of the parents rather than subjecting the grieving parents to deeper emotional torture.
The institutions that pardon hardened criminals and harass the weaker and vulnerable groups only reflect the moral quality of the community. If I were the President or Prime Minister, I would have acted to safeguard the constitutional rights of those who have been battered under the system. After all, what are leaders for when they cannot protect and deliver justice? Unfortunately, I am not the President or the Prime Minister, my best contribution is to pen down my thoughts in the hope that this message may reach the concerned authority one day to knock down the guardian angles to senses and to encourage building a reliable and credible institution for the future.
Do not let our children pay the price in future for deeds done today; do not let that happen because we love our children.
(The writer is currently based in New Delhi. She is the Deputy Financial Advisor, Ministry of Defence, Department of Finance, Government of India. Feedback can be send at margaret_gangte@hotmail.com)
