Arun Shourie has been a no-nonsense performer all along, as a great journalist and more so as a Minister. He had vanquished AR Antulay, the erstwhile Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who had amassed ill wealth by all wicked means. Shourie became a hero and Antulay was reduced a big zero those days. Shourie deservingly bagged the coveted Magsaysay Award for outstanding journalism. When Vajpayee became PM, he rewarded him with a Minister’s position. No one knows who is guiding Modi and how, for sane people of India are missing a democracy-saving Minister in Shourie.
Shourie, with his keen sense of statecraft, did say publicly that the Modi Government, blindly guided by Arun Jaitley, Amit Shah and another self-proclaimed biggie, is absolutely directionless in matters of financial planning and implementation. For all this disturbing facts of life, people are slowly beginning to lose confidence in the Modi Government. So, India is not shining bright enough. The BJP-led NDA may not even enter the second term. The land Ordinance is a most opposed move that Modi has organised. Age-old statesmen say one has to sell lumps of gold to buy a bag of grain in a couple of decades from now. The joke may come true as the country is losing grain fields alarmingly to make space for cash-churning outfits that don’t care for the critical issues of quality of life that is heavily dependent on clean environment, social capital and respect for peaceful coexistence. In a money-mad society, not a single of those components can thrive. Modi’s administration needs to do a deep introspection. His team members must begin to engage regularly in some kind of soul-searching activity only to get to know if they are not committing grave democratic blunders. India can only shine if leaders peep deeper than the vote bank holes.
Odisha is invariably in news. The stale item is that Naveen Patnaik does not know Odia; he runs the State through a few trusted bureaucrats; and he knows nothing of political complications or solutions to grave issues relating to human relationship. The other big issue is the clamour for a Bharat Ratna for the legendary Biju Patnaik. Not a single soul has come out to oppose a badly devalued award for Sachin Tendulkar got it even before Vajpayee. If Vajpayee had been healthy and mentally fit, he would have loathed thinking of a nearly worthless ‘Ratna’. They offended Vajpayee and the soul of Malaviya. But how can Naveen tolerate his most illustrious father to be insulted with the ‘now meaningless’ awardIJ Naveen’s great advisers must persuade him to decline the Ratna for Bijubabu if ever it comes. The Modi Government may offer it to buy Naveen’s heart for support at critical moments.
The next shameful thing is begging a special status for Odisha. The State is known for immeasurable natural resources including hig-price minerals, forests, rivers and hills with rare species of flora and fauna and many more rare things that are in stock. It is also true that the people are lazy and easygoing. Hard work hurts them. Ambition to rise above a point seems to them meaningless and below dignity, especially if the process involves labour and team play. For all this, the Naveen administration, instead of holding the ‘begging bowl’ too high, needs to start investing in skill enhancement of the young masses by offering supreme quality incentives. The bureaucracy has to be hauled up on the basis of talent and commitment. Small and medium-size industrial projects with assured viability must be encouraged. If Singapore could achieve so much under a strong ruler with a dictatorial temperament, Naveen could do it too for he has the monopoly of being too strong in the absence of a true opposition.
Naveen has to go on a Padayatra and mingle around with the masses speaking his broken Odia and chaste Hindi. People are eager to get close to him, see him better and smell him good enough to be sure that he is not a casual, callous guy who is too happy running the State through officials. Bharat Ratna for Bijubabu is lowering his personality. Similarly, no beggarly status for the great State!
There have been several deadly tremors in the Nepal-India region with devastating effects. More are likely to happen. Meanwhile, the tallest building of Odisha namely Utkal Heights have been defamed as a poor structure not fit enough to stand severe earthquakes. Activists have been sharing very disturbing pictures of the structure having been damaged and quickly done up before the public got to know. The pictures have gone viral on the internet through networks and loops of social activists. Some knowledgeable people including members of the media across the State deny the fact, saying the pictures are of a Nepalese building. The ordinary people are utterly confused. The property owners are fainting a dozen times a day while the witless builder is weeping loud and hoarse seeing he is being victimised by headless activists only to drive him to abject poverty. The quake damage allegation is not yet confirmed. Hopefully, the pictures are from Nepal. But there is news of the builder having violated an environmental law by having buried an ancient canal-drain that saved communities from flooding and irrigated grain fields.
lastly, the Taradatt Report has been put to use. Taradatt has strongly recommended scrapping of all Discretionary Quota plots of land availed by the rich and powerful. But no one seems to be worried about the Ministers who became donors as if land was father’s property by defying the Doctrine of Public Trust as enshrined in the Constitution of India. The doctrine gives right to the Executive to assume special powers only to keep away scarce natural resources including land only to distribute among the poor at a price the have-nots can afford. The Executive can never grab arbitrary authority to keep away prime land to dole out to friends, relatives and colleagues. Besides, the CDA, the BDA and the Housing Board and many other State agencies have given away multiple plots to land-owning people posing as landless. The doling-out agencies have never made it formally clear that multiple allotment to single beneficiaries would lead to grave consequences.
False affidavit is criminal, but the make-believe donors too should be more heavily penalised. Very interestingly, the biggest scam has occurred at the GA Department. The GA authorities have sold away nearly the whole of Bhubaneswar to least deserving people including renowned doctors who have never come up with social projects to help people but got into clandestine deals with rich corporates for private gain. There is news that one Dr PC Rath has never come up with his promised hospital on the costliest 3.5 acres of land at Samantapuri since 2004. This land is now being used by the Apollo Hospitals where Dr Rath used to be an employee. Similarly, the lV Prasad eye institute stands over 10 acres of prime land allotted to an Odia eye doctor for a song. There could be many more. The AG of Odisha has done a masterly job by bringing to light numerous land scam deals.
The AG has expressed decision to audit the Nabakalebar expenses thoroughly only because in the name of a big religious festival much public money is being wasted or siphoned away cleverly by wicked public servants, both political and administrative, in connivance with contractors and traders.
The Daru story has been very amusing; the less discussed the better for the gullible Hindu community. Hopefully, the festival would be over with everyone smiling with joy and pride.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)