Ex-Chief Minister Digamber Kamat was reportedly minister in charge of mines for nine years, and Parrikar was in the Opposition had accused him of being responsible for 30 per cent of illegal mines operating. As CM he has made a statement in the Monsoon Session that there are no illegal mines in Goa, only illegally exported quantity of ore. During the last five years we witnessed illegal mining of ore and sand, illegal constructions, illegal land grab and conversion of land etc. There was nothing we or the courts could do about it, because it was all illegally legal!
The concerned defaulters had all the requisite papers and permissions from the concerned authorities. Those that were legally illegal were regularized and so opening of investigations and undoing the wrongs is now an almost impossible and arduous task. Big money and power are considerable forces to deal with. So Parrikar maybe technically right! The whole System is built for corruption to prosper and not to prevent it. Right from our elected representatives who are protected by immunities and privileges, to the authorities who are not punished for not implementing the laws and rules and act only on complaint and that too selectively. Getting justice in courts is expensive and laborious.
Take the Mutalik and Ram Sene threat to open shop in Goa. When the matter was first brought up in the Assembly, the answer was the Constitution of India permits any citizen to freely go anywhere in India. Let him come and the government will then deal with it. The same Constitution also protects the citizen from those who act unlawfully, and what is the use of taking action after destruction, havoc and fear is created, knowing full well past record and his present statements about Bhagat Singh type of aggression as against Mahatma Gandhi’s peace and tolerance!
To be legally correct, if he insists on coming to Goa, the prevention action could be asking Mutalik to give an appropriate affidavit denying his avowed statements reported in the media and non interference with Valentine Day or lifestyles of Goans or their culture etc. The cure part would then, be if he is permitted to enter in Goa and goes against it, throw the whole book at him! If he remote controls his cronies, Parrikar has assured stringent action.
Take TCP, PWD, Police or any government services. If they only had the Preventive attitude, we would not have had constructions with no thought about sustainable infrastructure, provision for parking and garbage disposal, roads unscientifically built and planned with eye on kickbacks from favored contractors, all India network of intelligence with inputs from citizens to catch criminals before they can carry out their nefarious activities.
Consider the Justice system. All concerned would be conscious of justice holding the balance in their hands and a slight pressure on any side would make the lighter heavier and the heavier lighter. However, lawyers will first deny everything as routine; give any affidavits to bolster their case. When the case is decided against, affidavits proved false, technicalities take precedence over justice. Judges could come well prepared and prevent lawyers from postponing cases or getting away with any manipulations.
And of course the main source of all our problems is the crying need for judicial and electoral reforms and our ability to be able to ensure that those who make the laws and those who implement them are people with high integrity and morals. The blunders of today are: Wealth without hard work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity and politics without principle.
In this scenario, where others have different value systems influenced by the powerful media, caste, creed, money and people don’t basically care about you before themselves, we have to rely on codes, laws and strict free and fair implementation. We have to inculcate the philosophy that prevention is better than cure with a carrot and stick approach, to prevent the unnecessary and even dangerous fallout of non prevention (children falling down in uncapped bore wells a good example) which such a lot of avoidable suffering, waste of resources and time.
This applies in all aspects of our lives, you name it! Isn’t it better not to eat, drink or indulge in things that ruin your wealth and health necessitating expensive medication, hospitalization, dialysis, going under the surgeon’s knife and so on? There is a saying “An inch of taste puts miles round your waist”. And we all know how difficult it is to work out those miles!
