Sare jahan se accha, hindustan hamara .....Yesterday was Sunday, and i would say the only day of the week when its possible to listen to some indian music and listen to some indian cultural, traditional and moral discussions.
I tunned in as a regular listener in the morning and soon they telecasted a Akashvani pre recorded show from Delhi. The topic was very interesting and a bit funier to me, it was, The law of "Right to ask question".
Wow, golden day in the Indian constitution, I must say, that now allows every commom man to ask legitimate questions to the government. Yes, government. I m not making any fancy laws here, but its true. As every member of the parliment has the right to ask certain questions that he/she may not be happy about, is now passed on to the common public. It was put in order from october 2005. An organisation called "Parivartan", has played a major role in making this law reach the common man through various medium including conducting workshops. The recent 4 day workshop produced a staggering 2000 applications, full of different set of questions that will be put forward to the government. That's an acheivement, i must say. 2000 complaints ? in 4 days ..... from just one part of the country ? What if, when it reached every person of India and hopefully there will be a similar workshop on every corner, just as a voting centre during elections? God help government then ......
A very important aspect that the speaker put forward was that, according to him this will bring a lot of transperancy in the system, as the government will have to answer every bit if any individual is no happy the way he is treated. He also supported his judgement by the 2 most intresting cases he reviewed.
Case # 01 : A lady from a local village applied for "Ration card". As usual days, weeks and months passed away, but the ration card was not in her hand. She waited double the normal waiting period, ie: instead of 3 months, 6 months passed, when she thought of finally making some inquiry about the ration card. She went a few times to the government office, but as usual, deep pockets, just tossed her from table to table. Poor lady finally landed up in the NGO, "Parivartan". They were more than happy to listen to her and suggested her to ask a question to the government, as to what happened with her application. The lady put down a few questions, like she wanted to know the status of her application or the name of the officer that was handling her file and whom can she go and meet regarding this issue. Two days later a Food Inspector knocked her door with her ration card himself, saying "Your card was ready since so many days, you did not come to pick it up, so i thought of delivering it myself". Can u believe this ......
Case # 02 : Just after elections one common things that every elected minister does is to make new roads. One man in a building just next to the road, noticed a pot hole right in the middle of the road just after a couple of first rains. Vehicles started bumping in and traffic jams caused more than kois and runied the happiness of the nearby residence. This man, under the same law, asked who the contractor was that won the tender to build the roads and why is it in such a state. Was he not paid enough by the govenrmnet to make good roads that can atleast last a complete season? Its said that, even before he received any reply from the government or the contractor himself, the road was repaired overnight.Amazing, isint it?
But as the speaker said that this will bring transperancy in the system, the secracy oath would really be a question.Anyways, i just want to make a point her, ie: what if each one of us has a question to the govenrment, and if every question is answered in a similar fashion, will it not take india to a different level ??
What will that day be when these small but high priority jobs would be willingly done as a responsibility and not as a mere requirement of duty.......
