The Hindu : New Delhi News : Magic mantras

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Monday, Feb 25, 2008
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Magic mantras

Here are some observations which if implemented in letter and in spirit have the potential to dramatically improve the Indian political scenario.

First of all, voting should be made mandatory for every citizen of the country, as in Australia.

Voter’s ID Card should be made the most preferred mode of identification.

No elected member of any legislature at any level should be allowed to resign without providing a satisfactory reason. In the event of resignation, the runner-up in the election should be chosen the successor, thus avoiding the need for a fresh election and all the astronomical expenses involved therein.

Any elected representative of the people may be allowed to resign only after compensating the public exchequer for the cost of the election.

After resigning from a constituency/area/ward, that person should not be allowed to fight for that seat again in the next election.

In the world’s largest democracy, larger issues are right here in front of us all crying out for serious action and solution. Let’s do our bit right away.

Mohammed Afzal,

D-2/4 SDV, Surajkund, Faridabad, Haryana – 121 009.

Rights and wrongs

The fees and costs prescribed for obtaining information under the Haryana Right to Information Rules, 2005, are five times more than the charges prescribed by the Central Government.

While the fee for seeking information under the Central rules is merely Rs.10, in Haryana it is Rs.50.

Further, while the Central public information authorities charge at the rate of Rs.2 per page, their Haryana counterparts ask for Rs.10 per page. In case the information is to be provided in electronic form such as compact disc, the Haryana rules prescribe a fee of Rs.100 compared to Rs.50 under the Central rules. Similar is the case when there is a demand for inspection of records.

There is an urgent need to reduce the fees prescribed under the Haryana RTI rules. The fees ought to be just, reasonable and fair. Under no circumstances should they be a deterrent for information seekers.

Hemant Kumar,

Advocate, Punjab & Haryana High Court, 414, Sector 7, Urban Estate, Ambala City, Haryana.

Royal show

We in the Commonwealth Society of India Students’ Wing are proud to have received a Royal Commendation from Queen Elizabeth of Britain in a letter from Buckingham Palace for our consistent work in propagating the 53-nation Commonwealth of Nations since 1988.

During 2007-08 alone we have met 15 High Commissioners and Ambassadors for interactive sessions, organised career talks, and are preparing to bring out our annual magazine, “Commonwealth Calling”, to be released by the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University, Prof. Deepak Pental.

One of our fascinating talks has been on “Popularising scientific education” by Arvind Gupta of Pune University, who has written extensively on this theme in both English and Hindi. He is an engineer from IIT-Kanpur who briefly joined TELCO but then decided to freelance as a science populariser. He has worked among the Adivasis of Chhattisgarh and at my suggestion may now address students of different public schools affiliated to the ICSE Board, where the cream of our school children, who later go on to become decision-makers, study.

In any case, my 30-member students’ wing is now preparing to go to Cyprus from September 21-26 (we will pick about six of our best members) for a conference organised by our parent body, the Royal Commonwealth Society (London), on “Conflict resolution and migration in Commonwealth countries”.

Vinod Chowdhury,

Founder-Chairman, The Commonwealth Society of India Students’ Wing, Flat 32, 33 Rajpur Road, Civil Lines, Delhi – 110 054.

Spare the trees

For the construction of the proposed new high-speed metro railway link from New Delhi railway station to Indira Gandhi International Airport by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, a large number of trees have been earmarked for cutting. I would particularly like to draw public attention to the situation on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, which is one of the radial roads of Connaught Place.

Here, on the stretch between the State Emporia and Gol Dak Khana, a metro railway station is to come up with entrances on both sides of the road. The groundwork for this station is in progress and to my utter chagrin a number of large trees have been included in the planned area.

On the north side of the road alone, over 35 trees (mostly Ashoks) are to be cut down. Most of these lie only two feet within the planned railway station area.

Therefore, if the DMRC were to agree to shift the alignment of the station or revise its width by two feet on both sides, a number of grand old trees can be saved.

I realise that the proposed station is necessary in view of the growing demands on our road system but I feel that it should be done with minimum impact on the local area.

Nikhil Singh,

R-10/157, Sector 10, Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad – 201 002.

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