आगामी मंगलवार यानी 4 नवम्बर को अमेरिका में चुनाव होने हैं. इसे चुनाव दिवस कहा जाता है. चुनाव दिवस: अमेरिकी व् भारत की प्रणाली में अंतर.
तथा इबोला का अमेरिका पर दस्तक.
इन विषयों पर आधारित है मेरा इस बार का स्तम्भ (कालम). “वीर अर्जुन” समाचार पत्र में प्रत्येक बुधवार को प्रकाशित.
लिंक: http://goo.gl/ZRiOb9
New Delhi: Today, the Supreme Court while hearing a petition by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that the Delhi assembly should be dissolved and a fresh election should be announced, rebuked the Center and said: ”We gave you enough time but nothing happened and you always make one statement or other on the day of hearing”. It further stated that “in a democracy, President’s Rule cannot go on forever.”
The apex court also observed that “the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi should have taken decision on government formation at the earliest and should not have taken 5 months time.” This statement is enough to question Delhi LG’s role and integrity.
In my view the question that SC asked the Center today that “How will BJP form Govt. WITHOUT the required numbers?” should have been asked by the Delhi LG in the first place! If the Lt Governor Mr. Najeeb Jung has any political morality, he should resign without any delay now.
AAP has been saying what all has been observed by the SC today as regard the Presidents Rule in Delhi from the day one. It is still high time that the LG dissolves the Delhi assembly and paves way for fresh elections. Inviting BJP to form the government in Delhi will only give rise to horsetrading and further political instability.
Well, Black money does not lie holed up in the ‘Black Hole’ that it can not be recouped! I hope we Indians -irrespective of our political affiliations and beliefs- understand this simple fact!
October 24: Today is World Polio Day. Today marks the duration of India being polio-free since three consecutive years. It is, indeed, a historic day for our country!
In India, the oral polio vaccine was introduced in 1985 in the Universal Immunization Program at a time when India was reporting almost 200,000 cases of polio annually (as per estimates of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics). However, with the introduction of Pulse Polio Program in 1995, the scenario started changing quickly. But, polio continued to trick us. Until the year 2009, almost fifty percent of the reported case globally were from India. Therefore, looking at the chronology of the polio disease, Pulse Polio program is a truly a success story that we can take pride in.
But, we must not sit on laurels! Continued surveillance is the key. Prevention of the disease with oral polio drops in pulses (that is, Pulse Polio program) must continue nationwide. This is also the right time to introduce injectable pulse polio vaccine (killed vaccine, also called Salk vaccine). The latter is the norm where polio is not prevalent. The killed vaccine is easy to store and the biggest advantage is that it does not cause vaccine-induced paralytic polio disease. With the oral vaccine (which is a live vaccine), the polio disease can actually happen- as an adverse effect- though it is extremely rare.
Polio continues to be a fixture in our neighboring countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This can upset our apples’ cart. Thus, there is also need to continue efforts, collaboration with world health agencies so that we see the end of Polio from the earth. Remember, polio is 100 % eradicable disease. It is doable.
मेरा आलेख “संसद में हस्तियां: कितनी उपयोगिता?” वीर अर्जुन समाचार पत्र में अगस्त 30, 2014 को प्रकाशित हुआ.
आपकी प्रतिक्रिया का स्वागत है.
आलेख का लिंक
This article on the issue of controversy related to transfers of governors was published on August 28,2014 in “The Political and Business Daily” newspaper.
Euthanasia = Good death!
I had penned down this article on Euthanasia which appeared in the Times of India news paper on July 28, 2014.
To read, please click at the Link.
The issue of Aadhaar Card is back in news. There is a report in the newspapers that Nandan Nilekani, former Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), recently met the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitely and stressed upon the need to continue with the implementation of Aadhaar Card. As we know, the concept of Aadhaar cards was initiated by the UPA government and for that purpose; the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Mr. Nilekani was appointed as the first Chairperson of UIDAI. BJP had in its election campaigning opposed the UIDAI project. Per reports, the Prime Minister Mr. Modi has now shown inclination to continue with this project.
The system of allocating an Aadhaar Number (Card) has an immense value. Let every Indian be identified and allotted a number. Link it to financial account and Driving License and/or State-issued ID of the person. Then gradually scrap other means of IDs like ration card, PAN number and voter card. At the end, we shall be (in a few years, say) left with: 1. Aadhar Number and 2. A State -issued photo-identification card (eg: Driving License or Simply a Photo-ID). This would remove redundancy and bring uniformity in identifying a citizen.
USA has pretty much the same system (Social Security Number/SSN AND a state-issued DL/ID Card). A Social Security Number is a 9 digit number allotted to a person and carries until death. The concept of issuing a SSN was started in 1930s and has worked well for USA. The duo of SSN and a DL/State ID is a powerful tool to identify a person when it comes to financial accounts and dealings, admission to schools or colleges, employment (read taxes) and obviously background check (hence criminal background too). Thus, one may live in the costliest downtown of Manhattan (New York City) or the extreme border village in Alaska state ( literally touching the borders of Russia) or a remote village in the mountains of Montana state, everyone (who chooses to apply for) would have a SSN, and thus identifiable by the government.
In fact, Aadhaar Number is based upon the same concept of SSN. You get a number issued by the government and you keep it until the physical existence on earth!
Some activists have raised issues about the privacy rights and are opposing Aadhaar cards. I would say that their apprehensions are misplaced. No one should be forced to apply for an Aadhaar card and one is free to live in a vacuum.
The Aadhaar card system will work fine for us. Let us shed our doubts and take a firm path towards attaining a uniform system of identifying the citizens of the country.
The news of murder of an 81-years Mrs. Rekha Duggal – a resident of Greater Kailash in Delhi- drew widespread attention for the brazenness and inhumane behavior of the domestic help who killed her. The alleged killer – Neerak Saki- has also admitted to raping her before killing her. Just heart-wrenching news that makes you feel absolutely sick! She was murdered on Monday, July 7, 2014. Here is a link to the news-item.
However, such anguish becomes much more intolerable when you come to know a personal connection to the person. Same day, July 7, she attended a Mohalla Sabha organized by our Aam Aadmi Party in the area in the daytime. Mr. Saurabh Bhardwaj- our MLA from Greater Kailash- told me that he vividly remembered an old lady (who he did not know personally) not only attending the meet, but she got up and drew attention to a civic issue in her neighborhood. She also gave a couple of good suggestions, said one of our volunteers. Mrs Duggal signed the sheet of the attendees also and one of the volunteers of the party ruefully showed me the diary. And after a few hours, such a gentle loving soul was taken away by a psychopath and barbaric man!
These days, I am attending to the party work in a few assembly areas, including Greater Kailash. When my attention was drawn to this news, it just made our hearts heavier. And think about the family that is bearing the loss of the deceased. As someone said: These kind of brutal incidences are an indicator as to how low we have touched as a society!
There is a news today that the Chief Justice of India RM Lodha has stated that Indian courts are over-burdened and he apparently does not see a way out of this under the current operating system.
As hospitals work round the year to bring succor to those suffering, so should courts work round the year to bring justice to those suffering. Is this something too much of an expectation? Chief Justice RM Lodha had submitted a proposal wherein the courts would function throughout the year, without increasing workload and overtime for judges, but bar bodies and Bar Council of India were not keen on this, saying they could not work those many days. I think, time has come that justice system emulates hospital systems and function FULL TIME on all working days of a year. After all, it is about alleviating pain of a sufferer without the use of scalpel and blade!
India has an extreme over burden of pendency of court cases, resulting in ineffective justices for many. We need speedy justice and that is only possible by having adequate courts and justices. At the same time, strengthen criminal justice system at the local level so that affected parties do not have to necessarily escalate their grievances to the upper courts. I agree to a large extent with Justice RM Lodha’s observation that in the current system, Supreme Court has become more of a court of appeals, rather than discharging its duty as a primary constitutional court.
Needless to say, in the criminal justice system, good value-systems, stringent and effective laws, modern professional policing, social dispute redressal (Lok Adalats) also play a great role so that disputes are settled before even reaching the courts. Or, shall I say, lesser disputes arise if there is a more tranquility and harmony in the society.