This piece is not about specific political parties or political leaders. It is simply about what our policies should be in the light of the problems our country faces. Indeed, unfortunately, even now, policy issues don’t take precedence in the narratives about politics in our country, even among educated people, who go more by charisma, tokenism in foreign policy and vague notions of “development” without a clear understanding, and in some cases, ideas of whether the party is not “communal” or “pseudo-secular” (often putting such labels on parties they dont like, turning a blind eye to the wrongdoings in this respect of the party they support, though of course anyone guilty of rioting and/or hate-mongering, irrespective of party label, must be brought to book as per the law and voters must not vote for such a person if they believe that he/she is genuinely guilty), and I even wrote a piece lamenting on the same and appealing to fellow citizens to vote on the basis of policy issues, which can be accessed here – http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2012/06/fellow-voters-lets-change-our-aprroach/.
I must laud an initiative being taken to compile a citizens’ manifesto, out of which the most popularly rated points were to be forwarded to the major political parties – http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/campaigns/unmanifesto/. As someone who has made a study of some of India’s public policy and foreign policy issues, here are some of the pointers I could think of in this connection –
1. Reforms to speed up the functioning of the judiciary in the light of former law minister Veerappa Moily’s vision statement, announced back in 2009, which can be read about here - https://www.facebook.com/notes/karmanye-thadani/law-ministers-vision-statement-larger-judiciary-work-till-midnight-case-not-to-e/168564638170.
2. An autonomous Lokpal’s office that will have powers to investigate all MPs (including the prime minister), Govt. officers and even NGOs and sports federations for allegations of corruption, but not the judiciary, and a separate legislation to ensure judicial accountability.
3. Coming out with a statute to regulate efficient and fair allocation of natural resources (e.g. 2G waves, 3G waves, coal blocks).
4. A central legislation to govern the National Midday Meal Scheme, which has been in the pipeline and something for which the HRD Ministry had even contacted the Centre for Food Security at my university, Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), had been engaged, and even I had been a part of the project back in 2011-2012. In the light of the tragedy in rural Bihar, this becomes all the more important.
5. Ensuring better implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, that gives tribals and other forest-dwellers rights over forest lands and forest produce, and the usage of GPS technology for the same, as has been the case in Gujarat, thanks to the NGO, ARCH, and the Gujarat High Court (not the Gujarat government, which was dragged to court over this issue), as you can read about here – http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Swaminomics/entry/tribals-finally-get-land-rights-using-gps-technology. This will go a long way in helping curb Naxalism and even secessionist insurgencies in the north-east. Also, legal literacy camps for tribals in their local languages must be conducted and a statutory body must be created to partner with NGOs and other interested private individuals to document the traditional knowledge of the tribals and facilitate, if the tribals so desire, benefit-sharing agreements with corporate agencies to market their traditional medicines and other products or cultural facets, and monitor that there is no violation of the agreements. This would be in addition to the already existing Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) that is looking for traditional knowledge contained in ancient texts.
6. Taking more steps for improving agriculture, and employing the precautionary principle in the context of genetically modified foods, and modifying our patent laws as would suit our farmers in this context.
7. Replacing the present draft of the Land Acquisition Bill with a new one. The present one is quite a farce. To read more about the same, please see – http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/topic/land-acquisition-bill/.
8. Taking steps to encourage more investment in India, given the depreciating value of the Indian rupee.
9. Doing more to promote scientific research so that India has a strong indigenous R&D base and abrogating sovereign immunity in patent infringement cases. To know more about this, please see – http://nopr.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/12692.
10. Punishment by castration for rapists (for if the death penalty is introduced, the rapist would murder the rape victim to reduce chances of being arrested in the first place), increasing patrolling vans in cities, the use of GPS technology and CCTV cameras where possible in all public transport and mandatory police verification of public transport personnel.
11. Ensuring better implementation of the statutes governing the differently abled, and making sure that they get all the necessary facilities like ramps and elevators in government buildings as also places of public recreation.
12. Sensitizing people to the rights of third gender people to eventually integrate them in mainstream society.
13. Doing away with all caste-based reservations and there being no question of introducing religion-based reservations.
14. Amendments in the Right to Education (RTE) Act by way of –
(a) Scrapping the provision of no detention till Class VIII.
(b) Giving the National Commission for the Protection for Child Rights (NCPCR) powers to implement the RTE Act by way of giving it authority to slam fines on Govt. officers for non-compliance and inclusion of the same in their confidential reports, as the Central Information Commission has to implement the Right to Information (RTI) Act. To get a better understanding, please see – http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2012/11/the-national-commission-for-protection-of-child-rights-ncpcr-nothing-more-than-a-toothless-tiger/.
(c) Using the Gujarat model to give more precedence to learning outcomes than infrastructure norms for recognition of schools, which would come as a relief to the very many low budget private schools in this country.
15. Opening cases against the militants responsible for the killings of Kashmiri Hindus whose relatives would still be interested in pursuing them (trials for other major massacres, like the 2002 Gujarat riots and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots are on, and the judicial reforms suggested in the first point should help the victims of these get justice faster) with an official apology to them and all other victims of communal violence.
16. Amending the AFSPA to give it a more humane face and make it clear from the language of the statute that it would not apply in rape and murder cases, as the Supreme Court has already held in a landmark verdict, with an official apology by the Indian state to victims of human rights violations in Kashmir and the north-east.
17. Incorporating much more about the north-east in history/EVS curricula and even include their literature translated in English, in English textbooks.
18. Including chapters in social science textbooks that directly address and dispel communal prejudices, and this is not to say only prejudices against Muslims but even Hindus, Christians and Jews.
19. Doing away with all expenses incurred by the State on religious matters, such as the existing subsidies for the Haj and Mansarovar Yatra and introducing a uniform civil code. Secularism in its true sense, i.e. the State having little to do with religion, should be the norm.
20. Reaching out to Kashmiris not only by way of economic development, but by countering the ‘azadi’ narrative in a non-jingoistic manner and reaching out to victims of human rights violations by Indian military and paramilitary personnel as also Jihadist militants (Jihadism is not to be equated with the true Islamic conception of Jihad). Here is a series of articles by me that suggests a broad ideological framework of the same (it’s noteworthy that this was written before the hanging of the terrorist Afzal Guru and the conflagration it created in the valley) –
http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2012/10/how-to-integrate-kashmir-with-india-part-1-introduction/
http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2012/11/how-to-integrate-kashmir-with-india-part-2an-attempt-at-classifying-the-secessionists-into-liberals-and-islamists/
http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2012/10/how-to-integrate-kashmir-with-india-part-2ideologically-combating-the-idea-of-azadi-for-kashmir/
http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2012/10/how-to-integrate-kashmir-with-india-part-3-ideologically-combating-the-idea-of-azadi-for-kashmir/
http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2012/10/how-to-integrate-kashmir-with-india-part-4-addressing-the-concerns-of-victims-of-human-rights-violations/
21. Taking steps to curb infiltration from Pakistan and Bangladesh into our borders and dragging the Pakistani state to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for firings from across the Line of Control, and given the current scenario, severing trade ties with Pakistan. For more on this, please see – http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2013/01/this-is-what-our-answer-should-be-to-shame-and-blame-the-pakistani-state/. (And if anyone is mistaken into thinking that I am just an anti-Pakistan hate-monger, he/she would do well to have a look at these too – http://wordpress-200526-602825.cloudwaysapps.com//do-we-know-enough-about-the-pakistani-liberals/ and http://wordpress-200526-602825.cloudwaysapps.com//do-we-tend-to-exaggerate-the-plight-of-the-religious-minorities-and-women-in-pakistan.)
22. Negotiating with the Chinese establishment to legalize the status quo position of Aksai Chin being a part of China and Arunachal Pradesh being a part of India (as Zhao en Lai had sensibly proposed in 1960), for which the UAPA would need to be amended. This is the only practical and feasible solution, and one that is not unfair either, if one impartially examines the history of the Sino-Indian border dispute.
23. Repealing (not amending) Section 66A of the Information Technology Act. For more on this, please see – http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2012/11/section-66a-of-the-information-technology-act-a-provision-ultra-vires-the-indian-constitution/.
24. Issuing an official apology to the Indians of Chinese origin for the maltreatment their community (to which the Indian Idol singer and Bollywood actor Chang belongs) was meted out in the wake of the 1962 war (to know more about this, please see icucik.blogspot.com – it’s a compilation of media reports on the same) and introducing one nominated seat for them in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and two in the Lok Sabha, like there are for Anglo-Indians.
25. Amending Section 13 of the Cinematograph Act to prevent arbitrary bans of films by state governments, as was the case with Aarakshan and Vishwaroopam. To know what the exact nature of such an amendment can be, please see – http://wordpress-200526-602825.cloudwaysapps.com//the-ban-on-kamal-hassans-viswaroopam-a-disgrace-for-indian-democracy-2/.
26. Amending Section 377 of the IPC such that the language explicitly clarifies that homosexuality is not a crime.
27. Amending the Domestic Violence Act and dowry provision in the IPC to reduce chances of misuse.
28. Doing more to tap India’s rich cultural and natural heritage for purposes of tourism, which can help bring much needed foreign exchange.
29. Privatizing all loss-making public sector undertakings that don’t serve any public welfare function for the less well off, like Air India.
30. Stringent monitoring of animal experimentation in laboratories and working towards their phasing out.
I know that some of the points raised by me may seem very trivial, and there are other more pressing issues (e.g. police reforms) for which I could not make suggestions owing to lack of sufficient knowledge, and there are some points which are too utopian to expect given our contemporary political scenario, but it is in terms of issues like these (irrespective of whether you agree or disagree with the stand I have taken viz-a-viz them) that we should define our political discourse, and indeed, the media should help play a key role in this direction.
The author is a freelance writer based in New Delhi. A lawyer by qualification, he has worked in leading public policy and foreign policy think-tanks as well as significant government bodies in India. He has authored/co-authored several short books, with topics ranging from unwarranted film bans to gender issues in sport to the Baloch people’s struggle for self-determination to anti-Muslim prejudices, and he has been involved in making a serial on the great Indian nationalist leader Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. He is currently working on a book on Sino-Indian relations.
The author is grateful to Mr. Gautam Chakrabarti, an eminent scholar of English literature with a keen interest in sociopolitical affairs, for his suggestions for this piece.