The real information revolution

Is it not a scandal that the judiciary does not want to put under any public scrutiny for possible improprieties, for irregularities that members of the institution may indulge in? Is it not this kind of high handed attitude that has diminished the credibility of the judiciary in the eyes of the larger public? In a democratic framework of governance, all are equal in the eyes of the law. Therefore, this blatant discrimination, this demand for remaining outside the purview of the established law of the land, can only encourage wrong, not right. Laws are intended to protect the citizen, and those who interpret and administer them must be fully accountable, their background and track record open to scrutiny. Those who have a problem with this should have the freedom to resign and retire.

In recent years, those who make policies, those who administer them, and those who are expected to uphold the law, all seem to want arbitrary powers and a special status that keeps them out of the realm of the citizenry. Does this deep insecurity stem from a sense of guilt that they, the pillars of our democracy, have failed to deliver civil society in any and every definition of the word, are chronically diseased having defied the laws that they have created for one and all, and are now terrified of an oncoming assault of a one-billion strong population that is sick to death of this kind of abject exploitation?

The growing Naxal movement is one strand of protest where those who were not heard for decades, were ignored because they were poor and the ?ruling class? believed they were ?weak? and ?inconsequential? to the economy, have decided to speak with arms. The failed political and administrative class are quick to label all that it cannot handle or deal with as ?militancy?. Yet again, they are shoving the truth under the carpet of archaic thinking, trying desperately to suppress the outcome of their ineptitude. Soon, as citizens extricate themselves from a patient and long wait for civil society to crystallise, and begin to assert their demands to compel the ?ruling class? to deliver the mere basics, this privileged community will have to stand up and be counted on our terms and not theirs. If our parliamentarians in both houses are committed to India and to those who give them the privileges they enjoy, they must dedicate themselves to integrity, probity in life and work, and make themselves transparently accountable. This country deserves a fresh direction, one that is not encumbered with corruption both intellectual and physical. If we have a squeaky clean prime minister, surely his cabinet and government should emulate his traits. This year, as India ?celebrates? 60 years of independence, some wrongs need to be righted. Harassment of citizens, particularly those who have no ?access?, must cease. There should be a respected citizen, an ombudsman, attached to every citizen servicing ministry, department, institution, call it what you may, as a start. Examples must be set, however ruthless they may appear to be. All politicians and bureaucrats, magistrates and councillors to name a few, must be made accountable. Those who want to release themselves from governance, who want to become private entrepreneurs, should do so and enter the competitive field, not operate from the insulated corridors of government.

The single most salutary intervention during the UPA rule, initiated by the National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi, has been the establishment of the Right to Information Act. A dynamic, non-populist measure, it could trigger the start of the much-needed cleansing process. The slothful, ivory-tower bureaucracy, had problems with this Act because they know well, better than us, how, if used well, this could be the great leveller that could make true democratic functioning a reality. It could strengthen the Indian nation and make us a power to contend with that the 9% rate of growth cannot. Dr Manmohan Singh needs to publicly endorse it. Since he is a politician of great integrity, he needs to step out of line and back it to the hilt, talk about it on public platforms, fearlessly encourage its use to expose wrongdoing?particularly by all those who make the laws only to break them.