Suhas Palshikar: A monumental failure of governance // ‘There should be no clampdown on information, people can voice grievances on social media’: Supreme Court
NB: The only caveat I have to make on this incisive comment refers to the (admittedly conditional) phrase: "instances that must haunt any ruler left with an iota of conscience." Our rulers do not have an iota of conscience. Within days of the latest lockdown, the RSS general secretary was talking about anti-national forces conspiring to create an atmosphere of negativity and mistrust. How predictable and how shameless! Who and what has created the negativity and mistrust, if not the criminal negligence and arrogance of the RSS surrogates sitting in the highest executive offices of the land? All they are worried about is image management. An op-ed piece in Israel's Haaretz sums it up: Modi is guilty of negligent manslaughter.
One reader's comment sums it up: //This is a country which has nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers, it sends vehicles to Mars and Moon, it claims a seat on the UN Security Council. Yet it miserably and willfully failed its people, who are dying for the lack of oxygen and the dead have wait for long to be cremated // What a shame. What an unspeakable tragedy. In the midst of this valley of tears, our power-hungry rulers are still indulging their favourite vocabulary of 'anti-national forces' etc. Look in the mirror gentlemen. See yourselves. DS
Suhas Palshikar: A monumental failure of governance
As the distress reaches epochal proportions, it may force our attention on questions of human suffering and immediate relief. However, the monumental failure of governance cannot be hidden behind moments of grief or waves of self-pity. It will be nobody’s case that we as a society are blameless, nor that there were no structural constraints to the handling of the pandemic. But the history of this pandemic will have to clearly shout out the key failure — the failure of governance. Governance, despite much scholarship, continues to be an enigmatic term. The pandemic has brought forward in a stark manner, however, the opposite of governance: Misgovernance.
Within a span of 15 months, our government has presented a
textbook lesson in misgovernance. The pandemic was not going to be an easy
affair, it was bound to be an ordeal for any government and “mistakes” were
bound to happen. But precisely because of that, wisdom was in not claiming
wisdom. As India gropes for a glimmer of light, it is important to frankly list
out at least five instances that must haunt any ruler left with an iota of
conscience….
The Supreme Court on Friday, during the suo moto hearing in which it had taken cognizance on issues related to oxygen supply, drug supply, and vaccine policy in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic, said there should not be any clampdown on information. “We will treat it as contempt of court if such grievances are considered for action. Let a strong message go to all the states and DGP of states that clampdown of info is contrary to basic precepts,” Justice DY Chandrachud said. He added, “We want to make it very clear that if citizens communicate their grievance on social media and the internet, it cannot be said it’s wrong information.”...
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