[Assam] Degree of Culpability

[Ram Sarangapani]

C'da,

Sorry for not getting back to you yesterday.

>And since the rules are made by the central authority and the institutions
are fashioned
>and controlled by it, the MOST of the RESPONSIBILITY and GUILT, if not all,
therefore lies
>with India's central authority. By its unwillingness or inability or both,
this central authority has
>deprived the states the essential tools of democratic governance.

OK - then can you tell us why some states are more corrupt than others, and
maybe even the Center?
Does the Center apply laissez faire **rules to highly corrupt states, and
not to others?

I think, this is a central issue. Should a state NOT have any responsibility
or duty to its own people?

Are the state's hands so tied behind it's back, that all it can do is become
totally & absolutely corrupt?
This is much like saying .. "they made me do it".
It's probably the 'dense' in me ..... I just don't get it.

--Ram



On Sun, Aug 1, 2010 at 8:29 AM, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at gmail.com> wrote:

> I did not connect all the dots yesterday and left the issue of who is most
> culpable
> for the state of dysfunction of Indian governance and the unbridled
> corruption
> spawned by it, purposely open to see how our friends will respond or react
> to the
> 'bottom line' below.
>
> Since every word and phrase I had written pointing fingers in the past
>  invited scrutiny,
> attempts at rebuttal and impassioned opposition, I thought there would be a
> barrage on
> this instance as well. But not seeing any, I decided to go ahead with MY
> conclusion on the matter:
>
>
> **** Those of us who have at least a rudimentary knowledge of how a
> democratic
> system of governance with a constitution and a commitment to the rule of
> law, know
> that unless its institutions function to uphold those commitments, the
> whole notion of
> democracy becomes little more than a sham, convenient to wave but
> meaningless and
> dangerous.
>
> That has what India had become, consistently sinking deeper into the hole
> of dysfunction.
>
> And since the rules are made by the central authority and the institutions
> are fashioned
> and controlled by it, the MOST of the RESPONSIBILITY and GUILT, if not all,
> therefore lies
> with India's central authority. By its unwillingness or inability or both,
> this central authority has
> deprived the states the essential tools of democratic governance.
>
> **** And since we know from decades of precedence and public knowledge that
> India is incapable
> of effecting the changes and reforms, the states cannot depend on their
> remotely located masters at Dilli's
> feudal rule and must take the reins of their futures in their own hands or
> be doomed to Delhi's dysfunction.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 31, 2010, at 11:23 AM, Chan Mahanta wrote:
>
> >
> > On Jul 31, 2010, at 10:52 AM, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
> >
> >>> Just because the Sentinel claims or you claim that Assam is the most
> >> corrupt place in India,
> >>> does not necessarily make it so.
> >>
> >> I completely agree, C'da. But this rule should be applied to all news
> anyone
> >> produces from these sources - not just the one we like:-)
> >
> >
> > *** WHY ?  Can a newspaper editor make many bad decisions and a few good
> ones
> > without being always right or always wrong? Shouldn't every issue should
> be weighed on
> > its merits?
> >
> >
> >
> >> Some of it is certainly Dilli's, and
> >> the rest belongs to the GOA, and
> >> how people in Assam take upon all the issues.
> >
> >
> > *** But here is a very big catch. Regardless of what any individual or
> group could initiate, it all
> > boils down to being able to investigate, prosecute, adjudicate and punish
> the guilty to establish
> > deterrence following due process.
> >
> > And that is where India always fails.
> >
> > Therefore no matter who is sent to Dilli or Dispur to govern, nothing
> will change unless the
> > institutions of state could be made to work.
> >
> > It is however easier said than done. For that to happen it will require
> political will, that India consistently has
> > proven unable to muster decade after decade. And there is absolutely no
> reason to believe it could do so
> > anytime in the foreseeable future, because of the FRACTURED nature of
> India's polity.
> >
> >
> > That is the bottom line.
> >
>
>
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