Jayalalithaa and the Free Culture
Tamil Nadu chief minister Ms. Jayalalithaa, right from the beginning was known to be extravagant, defying any rational thought, if any. The five years between 1991-96 was well known all for wrong reasons - scams and corruption of unimaginable scale - from transport corporations to graveyard shelter to student slippers to saris & dhotis distribution, almost every project concieved by her government had an element of corrpution. Also, her first term in office was known for government functions of grandeur scale, which probably rivalled only the parties of the raj and erstwhile princely states. Not many would have forgotten the royal marriage of her foster son during her previous term.
To only be fair with her, her second term (beginning from 2001) was in stark contrast and she proved herself an able administrator (that she was never a friend of national media is a different matter). This was to be evident from the manner by which she shored up the financial position of the TN government, which was at precariously bad shape in 2001 at the end of DMK rule. Her handling of the strike by transport employees earned her praise from even the supreme court for a change, which otherwise have been highly critical of her on corruption cases. Her determination and ruthlessness in the pursuit of Veerappan and several terrories organisations including LTTE are definitely appreciable. Take the case of her handling the Tsunami relief & rehabilitation and compare it with the handling of recent rains in Maharashtra and you will certainly agree with me on her administrative ability. Also there are no charges of corrpution as yet in the 4+ years.
But, now after the election debacle in 2004, she is indulging in a different sort of extravagance with a single goal in mind - to win in the forthcoming assembly elections in 2006. Just look at the number of freebies and sops announced by the government - free power supply, free maintanence of footwear in temples, free parking lots, free bicycles, free mobile phones, free medical treatment and so on. It can be methodically shown, how each of these scheme is a drain on exchequer apart from not serving any meaningful purpose. The worse part is that, none of these schemes are budgeted in the annual financial plan of the government and it has to raise supplementary demand for allocation of funds.
Though, these are blatantly aimed at election 2006, the election commission can not interfere because of the technicality that poll dates are not yet announced and code of conduct comes into effect only after the announcement.
Sadly none of those - opposition parties or media, who should be opposing these measures - are doing their jobs. Opposition parties, because they don't want to be seen as anti-people and worse they are going to do the same thing if in power. Media, especially the Tamil media doesn't even have (save for the daily Dinamani) the culture of editorials or center page articles, but are more interested in gossips in tinsel world. Ditto, with the television channels.
Media attribute this as her learning hard lessons after election loss, but I wonder whether this is the right lesson? In my opinion, any populist measure goes against the norms of good governance, whatever it is. Does this not amount to organised bribing and does this not reduce the people as mere beggars, who vote for money or other sops? Is the ruling party not accountable for the fiscal condition of the state? Everyone should clearly understand that such measures can not be sustainable for long, given the limited availibility of resources.
Our only hope is judiciary.
To only be fair with her, her second term (beginning from 2001) was in stark contrast and she proved herself an able administrator (that she was never a friend of national media is a different matter). This was to be evident from the manner by which she shored up the financial position of the TN government, which was at precariously bad shape in 2001 at the end of DMK rule. Her handling of the strike by transport employees earned her praise from even the supreme court for a change, which otherwise have been highly critical of her on corruption cases. Her determination and ruthlessness in the pursuit of Veerappan and several terrories organisations including LTTE are definitely appreciable. Take the case of her handling the Tsunami relief & rehabilitation and compare it with the handling of recent rains in Maharashtra and you will certainly agree with me on her administrative ability. Also there are no charges of corrpution as yet in the 4+ years.
But, now after the election debacle in 2004, she is indulging in a different sort of extravagance with a single goal in mind - to win in the forthcoming assembly elections in 2006. Just look at the number of freebies and sops announced by the government - free power supply, free maintanence of footwear in temples, free parking lots, free bicycles, free mobile phones, free medical treatment and so on. It can be methodically shown, how each of these scheme is a drain on exchequer apart from not serving any meaningful purpose. The worse part is that, none of these schemes are budgeted in the annual financial plan of the government and it has to raise supplementary demand for allocation of funds.
Though, these are blatantly aimed at election 2006, the election commission can not interfere because of the technicality that poll dates are not yet announced and code of conduct comes into effect only after the announcement.
Sadly none of those - opposition parties or media, who should be opposing these measures - are doing their jobs. Opposition parties, because they don't want to be seen as anti-people and worse they are going to do the same thing if in power. Media, especially the Tamil media doesn't even have (save for the daily Dinamani) the culture of editorials or center page articles, but are more interested in gossips in tinsel world. Ditto, with the television channels.
Media attribute this as her learning hard lessons after election loss, but I wonder whether this is the right lesson? In my opinion, any populist measure goes against the norms of good governance, whatever it is. Does this not amount to organised bribing and does this not reduce the people as mere beggars, who vote for money or other sops? Is the ruling party not accountable for the fiscal condition of the state? Everyone should clearly understand that such measures can not be sustainable for long, given the limited availibility of resources.
Our only hope is judiciary.
posted by Baskaran Sankaran @ 08:36
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