Arresting Public unrest
Not a single day passes, without some news about some agitation or the other. The organized sector employees are increasingly seen being restless or frustrated. This is seen among employees of organizatons such as BSNL, where the employees fear that everything will go to the private sector, sooner or later.
Even among the relatively poor sections people are becoming very restless. Whever there is a suicide of a public servant under mysterious circumstances, as in Tamil Nadu, there is a big hue and cry. Even the lapses that happen in public life, such as excesses of police, unrest among students, unruly behaviour of bus conductors or drivers, the auto drivers, or the Government employees, are reported extenmsively and there are protests on the streets.
While a portion of these protests or anger is healhy, the Government needs to act very fast and with firmness. The Government should enforce the law, even if mighty people are involved.
Such decisive action will help the public being convinced that things are moving, and their voice is being heard.
If there is massive unrest everywhere, the entire society can be in deep trouble, and the public may be put to huge disadvantage. We need to wake up and do something very urgently.
Firstly, let us make extensive use of the social media and the press, and seek the cooperation of the press, in exposiing corruption of even Ministers. Some months ago, when a public servant committed suicide, in Tamil Nadu, a State Minster was involved, and he had the cheek to declare "Everything was done with the knoweldge of Amma". What he referred to was the corruption he indulged in. He had already collected lakhs of rupees as bribe from candidates and forced a honest public servant to alter the list with his own candidates. The public servant refused to oblige the Minister, and was forced to commit suicide.
Thanks to a vigilant opposition and frank reporting by a section of the Tamil Press, the Minister was forced to resign, and was kicked out from the party post as well. He was arrested, and the case is still on. However, it will meet the fate of similar cases.
If only the Chief Minster had acted decisively, and arrested the Minster immediately, the pubvic would have praised her. Instead, there was an initial attempt to hush up the case. Only when the news became a topic of the State, the Government had no option but to react.
Even if the Government does not act, a good press, and a good social media can do the trick, as in this case.
Secondy, it is high time that right spirted individuals raise public issues and go to Court, to set the record straight. In Chennai, there is one "traffic Ramasamy" as he is affectionately called, and this gentleman is known to go to court for things that are harmful to the public. The Court has acted on several of his complaints and traffic has been regulated. He has been arrested many times, and the State Government -- very obviously --- is against him. However, we need hundreds of Ramasamys, if there is going to be any change.
Thirdly, we need to recognize that the State Governments and their poliicians will be what they are . The public have to take to the streets and this is unavoidable. What we are discussing is only some means to correct this situation. We can follow some good practices here. In Tamil Nadu, affected persons often approach the former Chief Minister, Mr M Karunanidhi. He immediately takes up the cause and the press reports it extensively. The Government is forced to react. Similarly, the Aam Aadmi Party is seen to be different, and the Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr Arvind Kejriwal, is a totally honest politician. His ways of doing business and adminstration are there for all to see.
His style of functoning is worth appreciation. We need encourage debate about such good practices. Only when there is a big change, people will sit up and take notice.
Fourthly, the local press needs to change. When local politicians amass wealth, far beyond their means, the press has a duty to perform, through investigative journalism. The speed with which Mr Arun Shorie, a reputed journalist did this investigative journalism, some twenty five years ago, was a big plus. However, he is now a big politician of the BJP and things have gone nowhere. We need something like that magic to be back again.
It is only the frustration of the youth, about such matters, that is reflected in the growing unrest, and we need to understand this.
Fifthly, for inclusive growth, the Banks ought to engage with the youth, and provide them loans to start small businesses. Already, there is some improvement here, but the scaling up hs to happen. This is one of the methodologies to reduce the unrest among the people.
People have every right to ghereo elected representatives and the Government officials. However, in order that these do not become law and order problems, the elected counsilors, for example, need to be more responsible in doing their jobs.
There is every possibility that if such representatives do their jobs properly, some improvements can indeed happen.
For every positive signal, there is always a positive reaction. For instance, the Amma Canteens in Chennai, is a big hit. However, one has to do away with the corrupion and involve the Corporate Sector in moblizing funds for this initiative. This cannot be subsidised from funds that go into providing good roads, electricity and the like. The public have to use every safe means available to get the work done.
As regards violence, it is best avoided and the police, educationists, sociologists, teachers of schools, and industrialists have to constantly communicate to various sections of various communities to do some good work. For example, a huge number of people -- running into thousands organized themselves in desilting the Ukkadam lake and prevented encroachment by anti-social elements, in Coimbatore City. The good news spread all around the world, and the social media was very active indeed.
So, there is an urgent need to do something to arrest the unrest among people. It can be done, and it should be done. How we go about doing it, is a challenging task.
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