When we talk of liberalism, we mistakenly take it as a license for unnecessary and excessive protest and disruption. This dampens growth and causes losses. However, it is also the duty of the government of the day to have discussion with individuals and the institutions. Social activist Anna Hazare is planning to protest against the amendments made in the Land Acquisition Act. AAP leaders too are willing to participate in the protest. Anna has also welcomed AAP leaders to join his agitation.
Do not acquire fertile land, provide adequate compensation and see how you can involve as many local workforce for your proposed project. Many times the youth lack basic work skills. Therefore, it is necessary to provide training to them before absorbing them for employment. In this manner, the local people will feel reassured and derive tangible benefits.
We are reading reports about people being arrested on suspicion of running a scam to steal documents from India’s oil ministry to sell to energy consultants and private companies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration installed closed-circuit cameras late last year to stop people sneaking out of the oil ministry with documents. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said no guilty person would be spared in the case relating to the leak of documents from the petroleum ministry and strong action would be taken against them. It is not good to fool people. Everybody knows that agents and middle men operate in Delhi who negotiate with the ministries on behalf of their clients. In fact, this practice is encouraged by the officers who feel comfortable dealing with the agents because they receive huge kickbacks from them. These agents interact effectively. Ministers keep on changing but Pas continue to remain permanent. They are the conduits to the ministers, officers and ministries.
Money is only secondary. Coming back to Jantar Mantar protests, many times it is done by the idlers for the sake of gaining publicity. It is necessary that we should not ignore the interest of farmers but this cannot be achieved by holding “dharnas”. The administration must work from bottom towards the top and ensure that village panchayats, lower cadre revenue officers be empowered. Financial assistance must be provided to farmers in order to prevent them from committing suicides due to crop failure. The money received from the sale of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suit should be allocated for the welfare of farmers instead of financing Clean Ganga Mission.
