Monday, January 13, 2014

Should the Former Environment Minister be Charged With Criminal Negligence?

The former environment minister, Ms. Jayanthi Natarajan, was shunted out of power by the UPA govt. The explanation given was that she is required to assist Rahul Gandhi for election campaign duties.

It was not long before the real reason for her ouster was revealed. It is believed that the PM was unhappy with her performance and found her guilty of sitting on as many as 180 files pertaining to environment clearance without making any attempt to clear them at all. Most, if not all were growth related projects stalled just because the timid minister would not give environmental clearance.
The Indian economy has slowed down drastically but the government is showing no will to show initiative to spur economic growth. Her attitude amounts to criminal negligence and her stance is anti national growth.

She owes an explanation to the citizens of this country whom she represents but she has chosen to brazen it out instead of apologizing to the nation.

What is the role of a minister who has been elected by the citizens to head the ministry?
1. She should have formulated a policy document for her ministry. Is there a policy document in place? Has her predecessor handed over a report of the work done and the norms followed in issuing clearances?
2. As a regulator, what were the norms followed by her in denying/approving clearances to growth projects that were put up to her for clearance?
3. What are the compensatory measures announced by her ministry to people that have been relocated or the afforestation measures that was needed due to deforestation of vast areas of land.

The questions may never be answered but as stake holders in the growth of our nation,
1. do we have any legislation wherein we can recall such incompetent and non functional elected leaders.
2. Can such negligence be punished with jail term for the offender.
3. How do we hold the political party responsible and accountable for negligence and loss to the nation?
As citizens of India, we are ready to intervene and take charge by a better method called participative democracy. The only political party that is talking of self rule or Sawaraj is AAP.

To learn more about self rule and Swaraj feel free to visit AAP site and go through the vision and policies that motivate this new party.

If you feel you can make a difference by choosing self rule over representative democracy  go here to join the party for free

(till 26 Jan 2014) membership. So far the AAP was asking for just a Rs 10 donation to join the party but for a fortnight, from 10 Jan 2014 to 26 Jan 2014, the membership is FREE.

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