Congress on back foot
The party must pull up its socks and reinvent itself, post haste, says ERVELL E MENEZES
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With the next general elections steadily approaching, the Congress is losing its hold on the people as recent events have proved so clearly. The “Mr Clean” image of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is being tarnished and Congress chief Sonia too also seems to be drifting. The 2G spectrum scam and Singh’s initial reluctance to sack former Telecommunications Minister A Raja took its toll and so did the recent cabinet reshuffle. It is, therefore, prudent that the party pull up its collective socks and reinvent itself, post haste.
That the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is even worse off may give it a sense of security, but you never know when political equations change. Time should not be frittered away. If Rahul Gandhi is to take over the reins of power in our dynastic system (they say that a good percentage of our elected MPs are kin of existing politicians) he better act fast and show his mettle.
The skyrocketing rise in the prices of essential commodities is just alarming and everyone is trying to pass on the buck. Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Dr Montek Singh Ahulwalia has attributed this rise to overall prosperity and a faulty distribution system of vegetables. But he does not pinpoint the malaise. If memory serves me right, it was the onion prices (this time up to Rs90 a kilo) that brought down the BJP. Does the Congress want to follow suit?
They only give lip sympathy to the aam admi, especially our own (hardly the right term) wordatarian Chief Minister Digambar Kamat. Union Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has disowned the recent petrol price hike. She says her party, the single largest constituent of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre, was neither consulted nor informed of the hike.
Even the hike is not done rationally. Why have diesel and cooking gas prices not raised simultaneously? Apparently, it was a considered political decision. The government has shown its indifference by piling the petrol hike misery on the onion price hike wound. If there was no option left before the government, one could understand the disparity.
But this is not the case. The taxes that accrue on petrol, is nearly half of the overall price. They could have easily reduced taxes, instead of inflicting a double whammy on the people — skyrocketing prices of both food and fuels. But they chose not to.
If that is not enough to show their indifference to the aam admi, they have chosen to raise the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel used for passenger aircraft, by just two per cent, while the price of petrol was up by 200 per cent. If this is not discrimination, what is?
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is also washing his hands off the rise in onion prices. The very fact that Pawar is still retained as a minister is surprising indeed. It seems that both he and Praful Patel, both National Congress Party members, are a liability. That Patel has been divested of the Civil Aviation portfolio (his daughter will feel the pinch) is a job half done, as is the case with the entire reshuffle. The suspect must be axed as the Sonia-Manmohan combine is fast getting impotent, though it is Sonia who must accept the blame, as Manmohan is merely a puppet, for all practical purposes.
There is little evidence of governance in Goa too with the Congress and NCP always squabbling like kids. But the Congress does not need to fight with anyone. The infighting is legendary in the party’s legion. Chief Minister Kamat is dithering as always. How long can he do the tight rope act? A major problem seems to be the wanton sale of land to North Indians and this is growing rapidly with the role of the Delhi mafia. With strong links within the government, the privileged few are buying sprawling bungalows, building others, and acquiring land in connivance with the bureaucrats, who are invariably from the North.
They say that these land sharks fly into Goa soon after the monsoon, on their scouting missions. Socialite-architect Bina Ramani is alleged to go cycling around and looking for sprawling Portuguese-type bungalows or land which can be bought at a price. It is a simple economic law of demand and supply. They say that a Bangalore company has bought 20 lakh square metres of land in Mandrem, where also the Srivastava Family Trust, through its director Shyam Luthra, has acquired 2,05,931 square metres of land. Ravina Kohli from Bandra has bought 13,853 square metres of land in Morjim. The list is much bigger but most of the names sound North Indian. May be they have the money power or the power of having the right contacts. Or both. Therefore, it is termed as Punjabi mafia or the “Ho Ja Re” culture.
Another instance of giving scant regard to the aam admi is the move to privatise the District Hospital in Mapusa. Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane seems determined to do so and thus the inordinate delay in its reopening. It is ready since May 2009 and the government is believed to have spent Rs65 lakh on its maintenance.
The hospital has so far cost the government Rs46 crore and since it isn’t functioning, yet the warranty on some super-speciality equipment has already lapsed, without being used. Former Health Minister Dayanand Narvekar has warned the government to change the decision to coincide with Republic Day.
A former Health Minister himself, Narvekar should know better. He surely has a point, though his track record has been bad, that’s putting things mildly.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh’s move to protect the dwellings of traditional coastal communities like fisherfolk and tribals, is subject to their not being used for any commercial activity or being sold or transferred to non-traditional coastal communities. The move has naturally been welcomed by Goa Environmental Minister Alexio Sequeira. But what about ancestral houses built in the 19th century? Should they also not be given the same right?
That the Minister has taken cognisance of the need to protect the environment is commendable, but then, it is up to the government to enforce these laws. Ramesh has earned the wrath of many politicians and industrialists, because of his hard stand on ecology and illegal mining in Karnataka. Goa could be his next target.
But the grapevine has it, that he is being removed, the rumour no doubt floated by vested interests. Will he remain in power, is the million rupee-question? Time will tell, to use the cliché, but it is not at all surprising in this beautiful, bountiful paradise of ours where laws are infringed.
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Simple pleasures
By Marc de Souza
We know of the rise of technology, but have we ever pondered over the decline of simple pleasure? I am not against labour-saving devices, but something struck and startled me and made me think.
In the old days, before folks used washing machines or launderettes, they used to scrub their clothes on a stone slab. It was not wonderful work, but what was wonderful was that they sang as they scrubbed.
We never hear anyone croon over the washing machine unless they are high, of course, which does not count!
I still remember my mother’s laundry in the village, hanging clothes, fluttering like flags of different countries, clothes dangling in the backyard: Pants, shirts, dresses, handkerchiefs and the lot. Her life was definitely an open book and so was her laundry.
Maybe because of her, I am tempted to hang clothes outside for the sheer poetry of it, so that I can feel the smell of the wind in freshly dried sheets on the line with face buried deep. She taught me to observe, to look carefully at things, however small and important, around me. Also to tell the character of people, just by looking at their clothes.
Think of our own modern, but nevertheless complicated city home. It is comfortable enough when everything is working well, but how helpless we are when it isn’t. Many so called civilised people are just an extension cord away from the Stone Age. What artificial lives we have to live!
Every time I replace a piece of household equipment, the new one is flimsier than the last. More metal parts have been removed and replaced by pliable plastic, which manufacturers claim that the product has been improved, in the interest of efficiency, cost, fashion, style, and so on. But the customer knows that plastic parts melt, warp and crack, casings chip, flake and stretch. And, being nobody’s fool, the consumer knows that plastic is cheaper than metal.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with development. God made man to think and grow, and we were not created to live in a primitive manner.
But neither is there anything noble about modern industrial societies with their collapsing values, decaying families, vanishing morals and frustrated, angry aimless children.
Not to forget the nuclear weapons with which the superpowers threaten each other, and everyone else. Development has been a very mixed blessing!
I do notice that it takes a mere concerted effort now to find and enjoy the good things in life. Once, everything seemed as fresh and new, as the first school. But after a while, life begins to become more duty than adventure, more ‘have to’ than ‘want to’. We can be teenagers forever. It is hard work being an adult.
Think of all the umpteen simple pleasures you had known, which hadn’t survived the rise of technology and had died away. Although I try to keep in step with the times, I feel loyal to the old traditions which restimulates me along the way.
