In the article “A sense of independence” (October 15), Parthasarathi Shome has listed many negatives about today’s India along with a few positives worth celebrating.
The main problem is that most of India’s highest authorities have lost credibility and that there is no effective mechanism to bring wrongdoers to justice within a time frame that would discourage further wrongdoing by people in positions of power.
Doesn’t the very fact that the Supreme Court now has nine vacancies shows beyond all reasonable doubt that the appointing authorities in their lofty ivory towers are totally indifferent to the desperate need of the people for timely justice delivery?
Most government functionaries, after 65 years of Independence, still invariably behave as if they are part of the ruling mechanism of a conquering power by deliberately being arrogant, obstructive and arbitrary in their dealings with the “aam aadmi”.
Can India’s government not leverage India’s capabilities as an IT superpower and put in place systems that will compel its top, middle and, above all, lower-level bureaucracy to perform in line with the requirements of the 21st century and truly empower India’s “aam aadmi”?
This single step, in the background of the work that has already been done, will ensure 10 per cent plus real GDP growth in India every year over, say, 30 to 40 years — irrespective of what happens in the rest of the world — and change the face of India beyond recognition.
Alok Sarkar Kolkata
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