Coalition politics in India and its effect

    Literally when no clear majority appears through a general election, more than one likeminded political parties enter in to alliance to form a parliamentary majority to form a government, while individually they remains a minority. Because each decision making will require a common consensus which is counter-productive.
    Legally a "family" denotes a group of individual members, where every member is subordinate to one another in the heirarchy.The senior most member is called the 'karta'.But when more than one 'karta'exists the institution get reduced to a "club" which is otherwise called a 'coalition' in politics. Because it reduces the dominance of any individual partner inside the joint venture.
    A coalition government usually works on a consensus based politics. Very often the component parties hold divergent ideologies which bend the government to disharmony tendency of factious. The parties may look probable mathematically but would be ideologically infeasible. A minor party may likely play the role of 'king maker' to gain far more for their support than their votes would otherwise indicates. To forge a consensus the leader of the ruling coalition may have to resort to silence in spite of their individual ideology of disagreement on a particular issue to get the coalition partners unified. In a decision making process there may be rift between the allies leading to tiffs among the ministers while carrying out the same due to existence of philosophical divergences in between.
    In some cases the coalition partners may collude to make a parliamentary discussion irrelevant by voting against the proposal. The V.P Singh ministry had to get dissolved when the congress party withdrew their support midway on Mandal Commission recommendation issue. Speaking on the issues of Labor reforms and disinvestment in 2005 the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh has exhorted that the extreme rigidities of the labor market have no doubt affected the country`s economic growth potentials. It was the limitation of the coalition government which he was leading had prevented him to carry out reforms in a big way. He conceded that there have been limitations in getting a broad based consensus in his coalition ministry to assert his agendas to move in a big way.
   At the national level the first ever coalition ministry was formed by the Janata party alliance under the Prime Minister ship of LateMorarji Bhai Desaion 24th March 1977 after the emergency rule, which lasted till 15th July 1979.There after the Indian Parliament has not seen a single party majority government. One has to agree that in India laws are being formulated according to the whims and fancies of powerful individuals while the administration remains bias. In a coalition ministry such unholy practices become the unwritten rule for works in government offices. A coalition government always breeds corruption, because the political partners in the government are encouraged to adopt corrupt means in fulfilling their hopes and aspirations.
There may be internal bickerings, lack of coordination among the ruling partners within the government in the pursuit of power struggle and would tend the governance weak. The government usually fails in delivering good governance to its citizens.
    Corruption can automatically contain in a single party led government. If the nation really in need of a cleaner governance it can only be available from a single party government. The citizens should understand the truth before franchising their voting rights. The media as well as the intellectual mass should guide the society for these societal transformations. A government generally runs by the executives. The elected representatives only make the rules and drive the government machinery. In India the administration in the single party ruled states have already proven success. The actual credit does not lye with the particular party but with the singular leadership within the governance.
    The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a conglomerate of 13 divergent parties. It is a mountainous task on the ruling party leader to harmonise them and provide clean governance to the citizens. Scams will happen. The ruling leadership cannot be made absolutely accountable. Detoriation in politics reflects detoriation in societal structure in the nation. If public continue to vote on the basis of region, religion and caste basis it will be difficult for the honest people to win in an election. The citizens should vote a party which will have absolute majority in the house. If a regional party is expected to achieve majority at the state assembly there will be no harm in voting them. But if they were going to be reduced to a coalition partner at the national level, it will be counterproductive in voting in their favour.
    The Delhi election mandate is a burning example.None of the parties has a clear majority to form a government and incidentally none of them has any compatibility with each other. The voters should have been more sensitive in voting any single party to get good governance if their pre-election manifesto have ever pleased them.
  
   

  Unless you know, how can you handle

  In the intervening night between 2 and 3 December 1984 a historical industrial disaster was taken place at Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh. Since then after every anniversary we have been commemorating the day as the 'Bhopal day'. People of Bhopal used to make demonstrations while industries across India have been observing the day for venting out their feelings. Legal battle is still continuing even after a lapse of 29 years.
   On this during dead of night a chemical named Phosgene in liquid form leaked out from a mild steel tank. That chemical when got contact with carelessly left floor washing water left on the work floor got converted into methyl isocyanate(MIC) gas. That gas gradually became air-borne and started picking the wind direction. Since the gas was little heavier than air, being air-borne defused across the locality up to few kilometers distance. Persons who were asleep in that zone were seriously affected or died. Those who were travelling on road got severe eye irritation. In that incident, almost 3000 civilians died and several thousands were affected to various degrees. Steel today many people are suffering its after effects.
   All chemicals have specific properties and needs specific storage and handling techniques. With rapid technological development, thousands of new research and developed chemicals are surfacing every now and then, while most of its users are procuring and using those without knowing its physical, chemical, lethal characteristics and its antidotes, but with their technical names. Freon is one of the widely used refrigerants used in house hold refrigerators. Very few people know that if after its leak from their instrument comes in contact with electric spark, it would produce Phosgene. Unless you know, how can you handle? Hence 'Bhopal Day' is rather was an 'Ignorance day'.
   Phosgene is incompatible with water. If the workers would have been made aware of that, the sweeper or the floor supervisor would not have left water on that floor. It is common sense that, if polluted air is blowing in one direction people should take the other way. Since MIC is water soluble persons could have drenched their cloth and covering their face with a wet cloth they could have safely gone to a safer place. As per law the user has to disclose such information to the administration and to the local public. But as per common sense everybody should know these basic safety tips. Nobody did their duty with due diligence and reaped the dreaded consequence.
  At the aftermath, passing buck on others is hypocrisy. People generally take the easier path to learn by experience. The post disastrous scenario could have been minimal, had proper emergency measure taken by all concerned. No businessman will venture for any culpable homicide unless he has any criminal intent. It is not wise to call the factory owner a killer. Fault was lying with everybody. The burning example is the recent management of Phaillin scenario by the state and the general public who were educated by experience from the Super cyclone during 1999.Let us at least be educated by experience to become a Conesus citizen without accusing others.
   

  When a link is weak the chain is weak

    It is believed that the Democracy in India stands on four legs. They are 'The Legislature', 'Administration', 'The Judiciary" and the "Media’. These four legs used to complement and supplement each other. When any of the legs becomes weak it causes an imbalance in the set up. What is being observed now, all legs are becoming weak.
    The legislature is being handled by the elected representatives. Since they are pulled out from the common men they may not be experts. Hence the administration which is handled by the properly trained persons is to interpret the required legislative intentions behind legislation and accordingly enforce the same. Since administration works through a system, there may be certain deviations from the desired principles of law. The third leg, the Judiciary then comes to picture which interpret the law.
   The common men who are in the society used to bear the brunt of the administration use to franchise their right of information and right to speech through the Media. Even though the persons in Media are not paid servants of the state they are regarded as a part of the democratic system of governance and is understood as the fourth leg for keeping equilibrium in the system. There is a Press council of India which regulates this body in the country. The persons working in this noble profession are believed to be the 'vox populi" of the state and are expected to be of truthful integrity.
   Persons in the administration and legislature are likely to be corrupt due to their wielded powers in their scope of functions. But it is unfortunate to see the persons from the judiciary and the media in that ship. As far as out of the way pecuniary gains are concerned it is the duty of the state to bring them home. But when they encroach into criminality, it becomes intolerable for the society. In such cases they should be treated as malignant in the society, who ever and whatever personality they have been holding.
   Sexual harassment at work place was there in our society. But after the entry of brave and educated women into the professional fields, the scenario has changed with the promulgation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act which brands such act as crime. Similarly after the gang rape and murder of a medico student on 16th December 2012,The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 the scope and definition of rape and also the punishments thereof have been stringent.
    The amended Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, that provide protection to women in unorganised and organised sectors including the private sector, has now a wider arm to catch more worms after The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act,2013 has come into force from April 2013.Like US system the women have been empowered to complain on past events whenever they feel proper. The Retired Supreme Court Justice A.K.Ganguli and Tehelka   Editor-in-Chief, Tarun Tejpal are the new catches under the Act after Asharam Bapu and his Son Narayan Sai.
    All the cases are similar in nature. But the time of their occurrence varies from few weeks back to years back. In all the cases the accused persons are big shots. But Tejpal is from media while the Justice is from the judiciary. Both of them are from the legs of democracy. While police handles Tejpals   case  the Justice case is being handled by no other than the Chief Justice of India. It is quite natural that the accused will always plead him innocent. But they have to prove that too. These cases are sensitive to the society. Let us wait for the judicial findings in these cases. If the accused are found to have a trace of involvement we demand the harshest punishment for them owing to their statures to be examples for our future generation.
   One should remember that the strength of a chain is equal to the strength of the weakest link in that chain. To make the chain strong the weakest links need to be discarded. Odd men in Judiciary or the media now forms the weakest links in our societal chain that are needed to be discarded from the society.
    But if the allegations are not proved then, the very amendment laws are further amended with a limitation clause depending on the severity of trauma with the victim. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 is gender sensitive. It may take the turn like the Domestic Violence Act which is in real life is no gender sensitive. Cruelty happens to the husbands. Wives are now entering syndicate crime to kill their husbands. Hence the amended acts need wide spread debate for an amicable solution.