Babus and their manipulative ways

Once again, the Red Fort in Delhi is in the news. Once again, the Archaeological Survey of India is finding excuses for their utter negligence of a great historical site. The outgoing government had tampered with the edifice under the garb of beautification and ?restoration,? damaging much. Today, the same ASI has been responsible for the felling of scores of trees within the precincts. The wood was being sold to Nigambodh Ghat, the main crematorium in the capital!

Trimming, cutting branches and felling are all illegal acts under the Tree Act. The ASI should know that and must be held responsible for aiding and abetting the crime by turning a blind eye. It is a cognisable offence. Is this the example being set by the Authority itself… that all statutory rules can be merrily broken by chowkidars? That the government is the worst offender? Why have a ministry of culture if all they can do is find explanations for the wrong-doings of their departments and employees? It is a scandal. In the ministry of culture, everyone was busy in ?meetings? and finally it was the chief minister of Delhi who took immediate note of the complaint and stopped the illegality within a few hours.

Soon, this government will attempt to put through a bill in Parliament to establish a new Act against the existing environment and forest protection act in an attempt to return ancestral land back to the ?tribals? in national parks and established sanctuaries. It all sounds great, land back to the people, but the consequences are quite dire, particularly within the corrupt framework of administrative functioning in India. The urgency to ?push? this through without any debate or discussion smacks of vested interest factions and lobbyists playing out their games, with a government that appears to be confused about serious environmental issues.

The record of the ministry of environment and forests has been abysmal in recent years and there is enough proof of that. When questioned about the new draft Bill that is floating around, a senior secretary who was trying to do this in Madhya Pradesh when he was posted there, dismissed the concern with a typical babu comment that people raising such questions do not understand grassroot realities! Had the bureaucrats understood and delivered at the grassroot level, India would not be where it is. They have all failed to deliver, that is the harsh truth. All one can say is that senior bureaucrats in the UPA government under Manmohan Singh should be ordered to encourage debate and more important, transparency, and not act like petty potentates. Thank the lord for the last point of reference, the Supreme Court.

If laws and Acts are going to be introduced to override existing ones because of active lobbying by vested interest coteries representing one or the other, then all strata of society should have their former ?rights? restored?from the royals to villagers whose lands were usurped. Let us not be foolish. Pushing such changes through hoping no one notices is bad news. Worse, when bureaucrats believe they know it all and go with one view and position, it makes a mockery of the democratic process. It is also the easy option. It is frightening. It is also ironic that a Congress-led UPA government is dismantling the unprecedented work done for the protection of whatever little remains of forests in India, by Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, without any discourse on the subject. Surely their foresight should be respected. May their spirit and their commitment to conservation across the board prevail.

Populism is dangerous. History has proven that. There-fore, pandering to different groups and their limited interests is short-sighted, to say the least. Those same bureaucrats who pass judgement on us, who don?t understand grassroot realities, should start by addressing and ensuring, by statutory order, that all harijans can access water from the same well as the other castes. How about that as a challenge? How about a ?draft Bill? to bring an end to that rampant and ongoing discrimination? Are there no lobbyists for that? Bureaucrats know well how to manipulate the system. They know how to move silently. They know that all opportunist politicians and political parties will support the reneging of laws and Acts such as the one discussed here, for garnering votes from this particular constituency. Exploitation of a kind, is it not?