Language problems in India and solution for the same.

Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi has announced a few schemes for the welfare and development of the people. These are all named in Hindi language. Unfortunately, most of the English and regional language newspapers report the name of the scheme only in Hindi and not in English/regional languages. This not only annoys the non-Hindi people but also hurts their pride. If PM does not like to use English language for the names of the schemes, these should be translated into all the languages of the country and these translations should be provided to the newspapers, TV channels and other media.Better will be to announce original name of one scheme in Hindi, another scheme in Tamil, another one in Bengali, another one in Telugu, another one in Kannada, another one in Marathi, another one in Gujarathi etc. Some of the Indo-Aryan language(Marathi, Gujarathi, Bengali, Oriya etc ) speakers. may not mind much as the Hindi names may not be much different from their language names, but Dravidian languages speakers my mind Hindi being used for names of all schemes.

Coming to the languages for conducting official business of the country, it is ideal to use local languages for communication, for keeping records etc, in all government offices, both central and state. This of course will mean that an officer not knowing the local language cannot be posted to that state. All lower posts upto the level of a Class I officer can be filled up by local people. Senior officers to be posted to offices outside their states may be asked to learn the language just as IAS, IPS officers are asked to learn the language of the states to which they are posted. Communication between states and headquarters(New Delhi) can be in English or Hindi according to the choice of the officers.

As regards the proposal of the central government to the United Nations to make Hindi as one of the official languages of UN, it must be said that it is a reasonable one, considering the fact that languages spoken by lesser number of people than Hindi like Russian, French and may be Arabic also are already UN official languages. However, Hindi should not be projected as the sole language of India, but as one of the official languages of India, spoken by a large number of people.

Political parties weakening executive wing of government- India

The hunger for power, the irresistible desire to be in the news etc. make political parties to level allegations against each other of indulging in corruption, inefficiency etc. When the allegations are made, common people without any hesitation tend to believe the same and form an opinion that governments of all parties are corrupt. The news about the accused leaders being acquitted does not go into the heads of the people.The result is that when other wings of the government interfere with the functions of the executive, people accept it and the political parties do not make it an issue. This is not good for democracy.

It is common knowledge,that the Prime Minister of India and the Ministers and bureacrats in 1950s had more powers, more discretion etc than their successors in 1990s , 2000s and 2010s.

It is therefore important that the political parties do not make unfounded allegations against other parties. The then opposition parties made serious allegations of corruption against the then ruling party and now,the latter,who are now in opposition are making serious allegations of corruption etc against the current ruling party leaders. It is time, the political parties deeply deliberate on this issue

Appointment of Hon.Judges

The Constitution of India should be amended to provide among others, the following for appointment of Judges of the High Court and Supreme Court:

1.to be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister/Cabinet

2.the PM/Cabinet will before making recommendations consult with an Advisory Council consisting of the Union Law Minister, Chief Justice of India and two retired Chief Justices of India or in their absence sitting Supreme Court Judge(s)

3.For every vacancy, the Council will recommend 3 names and the PM/Cabinet may recommend for appointment, to the President any of the candidates included in the list prepared by the Council

4.The candidate for the office of the Judge should not have any political affiliation

5.in the last 3/5 years,the candidate should not have had any association based on caste,religion, race,region, gender

6.should hot have/ have expressed any strong view on any debatable or controversial issue during the previous 3/5 years

7.At least 10% of the posts of Judges should be filled from non-legal professions.(During British regime non-legal background ICS officers had been Judges)

ERADICATION OF CORRUPTION

Being part of the larger society, the political and bureaucratic functionaries have the same level of honesty and integrity as the common people of the society. However, as those in Government service have opportunities to extract bribe, by delaying and/or denying something or by extending undue favours there is need for them i.e. those in government service to be mare honest. They should also be more hard working and committed to the people than the rest of the society.

There were reports in newspapers that in a developed country, Prime Ministers have resigned on allegations of corruption. Even the Governor of the Central Bank of that country resigned on allegations against senior official of the Bank. There were stories in newspapers of every government in another developed country making efforts to eradicate corruption among government officials and teachers but the practice of bribing continuing to exist. In another country admission in kindergarten schools is reported to be secured by paying bribes. These countries have developed phenomenally and in some cases in spite of paucity of raw materials and occurrence natural calamities. So, governments have to take up a large number of large scale projects.

Corruption has hampered the economic development of the country but corruption is not the sole cause of economic development of any country. So eradication of corruption cannot be a one point programme of any government though there is need to eradicate the same. It should only be one of the several issues to be tackled.

The intelligentsia and social activists should also devote attention on reforming the society. Values like honesty, hard work, self-respect (declining avoidable assistance from any quarter), devotion to duty, patriotism, fear of God etc. should be inculcated in the minds of the people from childhood.

In countries like India, by constantly talking about corruption, (sometimes exaggeration), the Press and the Intelligentsia, in spite of very good intentions, have contributed to the prevalence and spreading of corruption. People have come to conclude that bribing is unavoidable and has accepted bribing as a necessity. The same is the case with social evils like drug addiction, violence, etc. It is better to avoid disproportionate publicity to any issue.

Mr.P.V.Narasimha Rao, the most efficient Prime Minister of India

It is unfortunate that the people of India do not talk much of the Prime Minister of India during the period June 1991- May 1996, Mr.P.V.Narasimha Rao, who was responsible for bringing in economic reforms. Implementation of these economic reforms lead India to be the 3rd largest economy in the world after USA and China. To attain this position, India has overtaken Japan, Germany,France, UK, Italy, Russia and Brazil.In 1991, when Mr.Rao became Prime Minister the foreign exchange reserves were only about US$ 1/-billion and now it is around US$ 300 billion. When Mr. Rao assumed Office, the gold reserves of the country had been pledged to raise loan. Now the country is importing hundreds of tonnes of gold for its reserve. India has also emerged as an investor in foreign countries.Even developed countries are inviting Indian industrialists to invest in their countries. In 1991 Foreign authorities were tightening their visa restrictions for Indian nationals but now they are liberalizing their visa regulations for Indians to attract Indian tourists. In 1991 there was huge unemployment but now there is acute shortage of labour in every sector of the economy.

(Of course there is a long way to go to reach the per capita income level of developed countries. Agricultural production is still very low.Infrastructure is grossly inadequate in spite of the initiatives taken by Mr.Rao.)

Considering the impact of his policies and initiatives on Indian economy,India should honour Mr.Narasimha Rao in an appropriate manner- naming his birthday as national economic liberalization day, issuing commemorative stamps etc.

Need for Deputy Prime Minister of India

The Prime Minister of India needs an effective Deputy Prime Minister without any portfolio:

1.as the PM does not seem to have time to supervise the work of other Ministers and the recent events show that there is need for such supervision

2 to take purely temporary charge of any portfolio when it becomes absolutely necessary

3.to review the work of the Ministers periodically

4. to ensure achievement of targets set by the Prime Minister and the cabinet

5.to clear routine and administrative matters which at present need the approval of the Prime Minister like appointments of senior officials, foreign tours of Ministers, important political clearances etc.

6.to routinely coordinate the work of the Ministries where required and to supervise the work of the Cabinet Secretariat

7.to finalize work plan for various ministries in consultation with concerned ministries for approval of the Prime Minister/Cabinet

8.to keep in constant contact with the State Governments on political,economic and social matters

Foreign Tours of Prime Minister of India

India is a large country. Every 6 th person in the world is an Indian. Every 5 th child is in India. There are a lot of complex issues inside the country which await urgent solution. The Prime Minister (PM) of India handles 5 Ministries (space, atomic energy, planning, culture & Personnel).There about 40 Ministries in the Government. There are 35 States and Union Territories (states, UTs).

• It would be useful if PM could review the working of the central Ministries periodically (once in 3/6 months). While it may take about one full working day to review the working of a small Ministry, it may take about 2 days for review of each of the major ministries like Finance, Home, Agriculture, Defence and External Affairs.

• It is necessary for the PM to review the progress in the states, UTs with the Chief Ministers (CM)/Administrators regularly and also brief them about the activities of the central government. Discussions with each CM may take 1-2 days depending on the size and problems of the state.

• It may be necessary for PM to address the public not only to tell them about the government activities but also talk to them on the duties and obligations of the people, ethics, morality, need for hard work, etc.

 • PM has also to address various Manufacturers’ Associations, Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Think Tanks, NGOs, Farmers’ associations etc not only in New Delhi but through out India

• PM may also have to find time to inspect major projects in the country.

 • Besides the above, PM has to devote time for the Parliament affairs

• discuss matters with visiting foreign VIPs,VVIPs etc.

• In the midst of all the above, PM has also to devote time for the party and political affairs.

While PMs of other countries have frequent foreign tours, PM of India undertakes very few foreign tours. Even then, in view of the heavy workload within this large country, it may be better, if the concerned Ministries of the government schedule  as lesser number of foreign tours for the Prime Minister as possible. It may also be desirable if PM gives up the Ministry’s he is handling directly and concentrate on co-ordination, reviews, monitoring etc of all the ministries

Amendments to the Constitution of India

During the leadership of the former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, the constitution was amended to describe India as a “… Socialist, Secular …” country. The word “socialist” remains in the constitution, though the country has not followed socialism for at least the last 20 years. Thus there is no need to retain this word in the constitution.

Amendments to the constitution become frequent, even if not necessary, when the ruling party has two-thirds majority in parliament. This is one of the reasons as to why the central government should preferably be a coalition of many parties. Big majority for a single party could lead to dictatorial tendencies on the part of its party leader.

Of course, the constitution is not sacrosanct and in fact, it needs to be amended for purposes such as the following:

1. To divide states into smaller ones for administrative efficiencies
2. To include languages such as Gond, Kurukh and Bhil in the 8^th schedule with a view to preserve and promote these languages spoken by substantial numbers of people
3. To transfer some subjects from the central and concurrent lists to the state list
4. To prescribe the number of times one can hold the high offices of the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and Chief Minister
5. To restrict the government from putting money in cash or in kind directly into the pockets of individuals, by way of  imposing a ceiling or some other way, in order that the ruling party does not resort to such welfare schemes with a view to win future elections
6. Opening branch courts of Supreme Court and High Courts to minimize the inconvenience to litigants
7. Making regional languages as High Court languages
8. Raising the age for voting to 25 as at the age of 18, one is not in a position to to decide on the merits of different ideologies, or the suitability of different contestants  (the original age was 21)

India’s membership in regional/international groups

In the past India used to be a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth and Non-aligned Movement. But now, one has lost count of the number of organizations or groups in which India is a member or with which India is associated with. Of course, some other countries also have become members of many regional groups, but in the case of India, some of the groups do not seem to be natural. In some cases, there is more to give than to take.

India spends a lot of time and energy of not only the officers but also of Ministers and Prime Minister and President in preparing for and attending the numerous meetings and summits. When more important and urgent work is awaiting VIPs and VVIPs in India, they are made to travel to foreign countries to attend to these meetings. India already has its Embassies and High Commissions and has good bilateral relations with the members of the groups. India can deal with the individual countries without additional efforts through its Missions.

It is time to review the usefulness of India’s membership in or association with some of the following groups in terms of additional trade, investment, political support etc.

• Bay of Bengal Initaitve for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)
  • Member countries: Bangladesh, India, Myammar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal

• Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC)
  • Member countries: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, Tanzania

• India, Brazil and South Africa Diaglogue Forum (IBSA)

• Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC)

• Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
  • Member countries: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan (India has observer status)

Democracy and Dynastic Rule

When late Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, of Congress Party gave important party positions to her son, opposition parties agitated against the attempt to bring in dynastic rule. At that time, Mrs. Gandhi asked why the country should lose the services of her talented son, merely because he was her son. She claimed that as an individual, her son had the right to do whatever he wanted to, whether to be in politics, business or agriculture. Since then, the states of Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh have seen relatives of politicians – sons, sons-in-law and wifes – occupying positions of dignitary in party or government.

The latest instance is that of Chief Minister Mr. Karunanidhi of Tamilnadu appointing his son Mr. Stalin as the Deputy Chief Minister. There does not appear to be any opposition to this in the party. The D.M.K party seems to have made it a policy to nominate the wife or son or daughter of deceased members of parliament (MP) or members of legislative assembly (MLA) for elections in the mid-term poll.

In India there are innumerable cases of MPs, MLAs, State and Central Ministers and political party leaders grooming their relatives to succeed them. These politicians use the following logic: the son of an industrialist succeeds his father as the Managing Director or Chairman of the company. Why should not a politician’s son become a politician, that too with the acceptance of the people?

Dynastic rule agitates against the spirit of democracy. Even during the days of the Kings, the people would not have had any objections to the Prince succeeding his father. In some countries, while people want a particular leader to continue to be in power, the constitution of the countries have prescribed a limit of two or three terms for the President/Prime Minister. This is with a view protect democracy and to prevent dictatorship. In this spirit, it may be worthwhile to debate whether some restrictions should be placed on the children and other relatives of political leaders entering politics in order to protect democracy. Of course, after a few years – 3 to 5 years – of retirement of the leaders from politics, their relatives could get their right to participate in politics.