DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE?
Dear Friends,
Abraham Lincoln [1805-1869], the reputed 16th
President of the United Sates who is best remembered as the president who
abolished the slavery system in USA clearly defined Democracy in short as
below:
“Democracy is the government of the people, by
the people, for the people”
This world-wide accepted quote from the pioneer democratic
leader from the great democratic country, USA; should be the guiding principle
for all politicians of the democratic countries around the world that their
duties as part of the political governance is not for their selfish gains but
for the welfare of the people in general that includes their own welfare but
never exclusively for their gains alone while majority of the people suffer!
GOVERNMENT OBJECTIVES
Democratic government should be formed out of the legally
elected citizens ‘of the people’; should be elected freely and fairly ‘by the
people’ and once the government is formed, it should work ‘for the people’ i.e.
objectives of plans and projects of the government should be for the people’s
welfare!
CONSULTING PEOPLE
When we use the term people, it generally means humans
collectively and not a single person and so any head of the democratic
government should not take decisions alone like a dictator; but should do so
always in consultation with all others concerned.
DECISIONS WITHOUT PROPER CONSULTATION
Some vivid examples of seemingly autocratic decisions are the ‘demonetisation’
declared by the Prime Minister of India last month and another is the ‘passing
of three controversial bills by the Manipur Assembly’ some months back; both
had been criticised for their lack of prior consultations and improper advanced
implementation planning.
POSSIBLE MISUSE OF POWER
Since government is endowed with money, material and muscle
powers to rule a state or country; if it does not consult and take people’s
opinion and suggestions properly before taking any major decisions; it can
misuse all powers harming people’s interests.
REFLECTIONS OF GOVERNANCE
The general condition of the state or country good or bad is
definitely the direct reflections of the good or bad administration of the
government.
MISTAKES IN GOVERNANCE
If there are many anti government slogans, protests, strikes and
even to the extremes of armed revolution against the government etc that simply
means that there are or there had been many mistakes in governance in terms of corruption,
nepotism, suppression, apathy, injustice, discrimination and unbalanced
development approaches etc.
ENCOURAGING CRIMINALS
If crimes are increased in the society, state, country and
government cannot arrest and punish the culprits under law; that simply means that
government is indirectly encouraging the criminals to do more crimes!
SOLUTION TO REVOLUTION
When the genuine revolution of the people happens demanding the
restoration of their lost freedom, then, the government should have the democratic
moral dignity to settle the matter through the democratic process of plebiscite
i.e. taking the general public opinion on the issue and settle it once and for
all.
UNDUTIFUL GOVERNMENT
If the government remains a silent spectator when some antisocial
people of the land turned to undemocratic bandhs, blockades, extortions,
destructions, killings etc, that simply means that the government is directly
or indirectly supporting the people who are indulging in such criminal
activities i.e. encouraging injustice and in that case, the conclusion is that
the government has no moral right to continue as they cannot discharge their
duties!
DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
Government follows the constitution of the country while
administering its people and the citizens in the country follow the constitutional
laws under the government. Citizens are given democratic rights to express
their opinions, stage protests, organize rallies etc against the government
policies and programs if they are unhappy with them.
FREEDOM OF CITIZENS
Citizens are given rights to freedom of living the way they want
provided their activities of freedom do not disturb or interfere with other
fellow people’s freedom. In this sense, begging is not an acceptable right to
freedom because it disturbs others; slum dwellers are not exercising their
proper freedom of living because they pollute the places around them wherever
they stay thus badly affecting and disturbing other fellow people!
BEGGARS AND SLUMS
Government should pass laws to ban begging and slums everywhere.
Those desperate and helpless people should be supported by the government at
rehabilitation centers where they can be accommodated, trained and used for
productive non-skilled activities like agricultural, horticultural, dairy farming
etc.
PROTECTING CITIZENS
Government should protect its citizens allowing them to enjoy
life as they please exercising their constitutional rights under law but not against
law. So, when some people started doing things against the laws of the land,
it’s the responsibility of the government to arrest and punish those criminals
at the soonest and protect its law abiding citizens.
ONE COUNTRY ONE LAW
There should be one country one law. Law of the land should
prevail over the communal laws of the religions. All people should be treated
equally by the government under one country’s common law. Nobody should be
above the law of the land! Government has absolute right to implement such one
common law for all and it should be applied strictly to all!
STOP OVER-POPULATION
Unwanted over-population has to be checked especially in a country
like India that is already overpopulated! For this government can strictly
impose 2 child [1male+1female] per family policy to all its citizens
irrespective of religion, region, caste, creed, color etc and those who don’t
follow this law should be punished by law.
EDUCATION FOR ALL
Education for all should be one important objective of the
government. It’s preferred that government provide free education to all
children till class 10 at least. Adult education programs should cover the rest
of the illiterate adults in the country.
INTERNET LITERACY FOR ALL
Computer and internet literacy is a must for all in this modern
age now and so all people in the country should be trained on how to use
internet on their mobile phones. Those who can afford laptops and PCs should be
trained on them as well.
DEVELOPING INFRASTRUCTURES
Without foundation we cannot construct a building.
Infrastructures are the basic structures or features of a system or
organization; the fundamental facilities and capital equipment needed for the
functioning of a country or area. These primarily include roads, railways,
waterways, airways, communications, telecommunications, transportations,
educational institutes, offices, banks, post-offices, markets etc. Only when
these basic infrastructures are available, development can take place and so
government’s first step of developing any state or region is to focus on them
first.
GOOD NEIGHBORING RELATIONS
Government should maintain harmonious relations with its
neighbouring countries or states. Enmity is due to injustice somewhere and all
injustices can be rectified through the rendering of justice, friendly
dialogues, mutually beneficial trade relations and by promoting tourism from
one another etc.
NO ENEMIES
Spiritually, there are no enemies in the world at the
individual, state, country level! Enemies are our own creations! Enemies are
the outcomes of injustice done now or before!
So, to live without enemies, we have to stop doing injustice to all!
These so called enemies are the creations of the governments to scare its own
people to gain their dependence on the government for security and to collect
more taxes for defence!
BEST WORLD
The best world is where, governments of the countries stop enmity
with other countries by not interfering one another and stop wasting money for
defence, war and war preparations! The best world is where all countries of the
world live as one world country of united nations. Money used to waste for
defence and war are used for the welfare purposes for all!
STOP WASTING MONEY FOR WAR
The countries in the world are wasting their 40-60% of the
national budget every year for defence and war related expenses in terms of
trillions that well could have been used for many development projects and also
to help fellow poor people around the world and remove poverty from the world!
STOP CORRUPTION
Corruptions of all kinds in the society are the symptoms of bad
governance! So, all good and ideal governments should be corrupt free in its
functionings with reward and punishment system i.e. rewarding good and honest
people and punishing those who are corrupt.
RELIGION IS PERSONAL
Religions although with seemingly good intentions are in fact
dividing people resulting in enmity and war and so, governments should not
patronize or encourage religious activities in public. Religions are best left
as personal practices at the family level.
SPIRITUALITY IN EDUCATION
To bring love, unity, peace, progress and happiness among the
people of diverse backgrounds; governments should introduce Spirituality as a
part of educational curriculum. Spirituality, being the core of all religions [minus
those dogmas and misguiding teachings]; welcomes all the genuine prophets as
the messengers of God and follow their teachings in terms of promoting love,
purity, cleanliness, duty, sincerity, empathy, non-injury, equity, unity,
philanthropy, justice and happiness among the people. Spirituality unites
humanity nay all beings while religions divide them!
Happiness for all!
Regards,
Goodman
for HAPPY WORLD SOCIETY
PS: this post was originally written by Goodman on 14 December 2016
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