Anna'S 17 Point Agenda
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Anna's 17 point agenda

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See interview of Ashok  Kothare
  1. To eradicate corruption from every level, Lokpal and Lokayukta in states will be set up immediately. will pass Citizen Charter bill and Whistle-blower Bill and to bring transparency in functioning of Government, every file related to government's decisions [other than external affairs and defense] will be made public after 2 years, and will be uploaded on the INTERNET.

  2. Villages will be made the basic administrative unit and Village councils [Grama Sabha] will be given legislative power just as the Cabinet is responsible to Parliament, Panchayat will be made answerable to Gram Sabha.

  3. Implement a village centric policy of Industrialization of Agriculture sector to eradicate unemployment.

  4. The Land Acquisition Act will be amended so that no one can grab their {Whose land?} land. Moreover, a new credit policy will be changed {formated} for the farmers. New Forest law will be enacted. Rights of Tribal people and forest dwellers will be restored.

  5. New Energy policy will be implemented in which every village will have their own power station and every one will produce energy for their requirement.

  6. Development of modern {model} infra-structure will be at the highest priority.

  7. A comprehensive electoral reform will be introduced to so that corrupt and criminals will not become the people's representatives.

  8. Implement a new plan on rainwater harvesting and water distribution so that everyone get clean water to drink and irrigation.

  9. A comprehensive change in health services to each and every village. Every senior citizen will be provided with free medical care.

  10. Special schemes will be launched for the economic development of socially and economically backward minority and all other section of society and also implement recommendations of Rangnath & Kelikal {Kelkar} Committee Report.

  11. Important changes will be introduced in the Judicial system. So that justice can be made available to poor and timely justice can be ensured for all. And to bring out a Anti-Riot Bill to root out communalism.

  12. New education policy will be implemented and it will be made employment oriented.

  13. Black money deposited in the foreign banks will be declared national assets, and will be brought back to the country.

  14. A tough law will {be} made against adulteration and adulterers will be handed life imprisonment.

  15. Inflation will be brought under control. The right to fix rates {prices} for diesel, petrol and cooking gas will be brought back to the government.

  16. A new law will be formulated for the judicious use of national resources. Privatization of minerals will be stopped, so that no private company can plunder the country's natural resources.

  17. New Tax policy will be implemented and and the tax regime that plunder people will be removed.

 We shall build such a democracy in which there shall be no scope for exploitation and corruption, and no corrupt {person, group} will be let off.

 Anna's Agenda is given above. It has some errors and I have put my corrections wherever possible in bracket. Points on which I want to comment are given in italics. The pertinent question is how to implement these points? Anna does not bother to put light on that. First of all we know Democratically elected government's prime responsibility is for Law & Order whereas, Anna's most of the points are concerning welfare state. A welfare government is expected to work in conjunction with NGOs. Today the problem is, present government prefers to work in conjunction with Capitalists rather than any honest NGO. NGO are operated by patriotic, dynamic and highly motivated social workers and not those run by Capitalists. Today we see most NGOs managed by pseudo social workers. Anna should have highlighted on these points as to with whom he expects the government to associate while fulfilling the demands. A document of this type should be accompanied by supporting explanatory notes but I do not see any, with this list of demands. Below given are some point I wish to highlight so that Anna may offer his explanation on them.

2. Villages will be made the basic administrative unit and Village councils [Grama Sabha] will be given legislative power just as the Cabinet is responsible to Parliament, Panchayat will be made answerable to Gram Sabha.

In a country where urbanization is going on at reasonable speed if we make administrative units at village level how urban administration will be addressed?

Our country is having both units equally functioning and so insisting for only one may not be acceptable at all levels. If we give legislative powers to village council what will be power of larger houses. How to decide about various duties of these many houses? We have traditionally some arrangement of this type and it is creating more problems than resolve. How to avoid that confusion? Which house will supersede which house? This arrangement will not be viable in the practical sense. Anna is wanting to go in the old system of gram sabha, which is not practical in today's context. We cannot create many control points, that will only further deteriorate law and order situation. We already have Zilla Parishad, what benefits we got from that, we should ascertain before we go on further adding power points in the administration. We shall need more Ayuktas each for every village sabha to watch on every Village Sabha; in that case, how to finance all this arrangement? These sabhas may want to put additional taxes to finance them. How practical it is? Anna should explain all these questions to justify this demand.

3. Implement a village centric policy of Industrialization of Agriculture sector to eradicate unemployment.

Anna should enlist, industries he includes in this schedule of "industries as Agriculture sector". He should explain what he means by "village centric policy" this demand creates more questions than resolves. In that he should also explain what he means by Industrialization of Agriculture sector. What is the present arrangement that he wants to change? Does it mean that industrialization should be on micro basis and not on macro basis? Anna should clear this point. Anna should understand that not all agro-based industries could be within the realm of micro activities. How to manage those industrial activities those come under macro activities?

5. New Energy policy will be implemented in which every village will have their own power station and every one will produce energy for their requirement.

How is it possible for every village to have a separate power house to produce electricity? What fuel will be used and what about power factor and other things those create problem when power supply and power demand are not same? Basically this is a technical matter and does not become a government's responsibility. To put this demand shows that Anna is not aware of many complications involved in such activities. It may be possible to produce in some places but to make it compulsory for all villages is definitely not recommendable. Anna should explain who will operate those power houses? Which NGO should be made responsible for this duty? Anna doe not show sense of responsibility when making such demands ad hoc.

6. Development of modern {model} infra-structure will be at the highest priority.

Clear the concept of infra-structure in this context because there are many types of infra-structures. What does he mean by modern (or model)? On many point Anna has not given any clear view of what he wants. Most points are very vague, this is not a properly drafted document.

8. Implement a new plan on rainwater harvesting and water distribution so that everyone get clean water to drink and irrigation.

Rainwater harvesting at village, at farms and at city are not same. Anna should give clear views on this a very confusing issue. How he relates Rainwater harvesting with clear drinking water?

13. Black money deposited in the foreign banks will be declared national assets, and will be brought back to the country.

To make it possible at international level we shall have to define what is black money from Indian context. This is not so easy as appears, to put in list of demands.

17. New Tax policy will be implemented and and the tax regime that plunder people will be removed. 

Anna should give more details to understand his point of view in this topic. What he means by "plundering taxes"?

To summarize, Anna has left many loose ends in his demands since he doe not care to explain his point of view or definition of many terms he has used.

Point 4 contains three very unrelated topics, why he has clubbed them together is difficult to understand. He should have put demands of forest dwellers and adivasis a separate demand charter to give them right to hunt for their food, however, that he has not included in this charter of demands. Present malnutrition condition of those people is prevailing because they are not allowed to hunt small animals to feed themselves and imposing vegetarianism on them by powerful sections of the society. Anna should clearly mention, what are rights of these people?

A separate charter of rights should be created for people who are not properly represented in Houses. Finally, I hope Anna gives explanation for most of his demands and makes it easy for people who may be honestly wanting to implement them.

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ashokkothare@gmail.com 

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