DailyPost 2780
ASSURANCES INC.
If something sells thick and fast in this country then it is an assurance. It is the hottest circulating currency of the ruling elite; the political class, political executive, permanent executive and any organization or person who has any capability to make a change. That nearly all the assurances have been belied is to state the obvious. Where it seems to have been done, more often than it is at the superficial level. Permanent creation or changes, improvements, achieving worthwhile targets, implementing law in word and spirit generally doesn’t happen.
We are back to where we started but for some window dressing, packaging, camouflage and even better a whole story being woven around it. You would find lots of singing paeans of it, where nothing concrete exists. We have an assurance for everything and at times a series of them depending on the situation. The person supposedly the decision maker will put forth the right demeanor, fooling all, without understanding the assurance he is giving. Who cares about the timelines, resources and efforts to be made to achieve it. To bring back the same person or the same authority to the ‘Assurance Table’ will again be a humongous task.
In the current backdrop of the Kolkata Medico Rape and Murder Case, assurances are again getting into circulation. How much of the monumental legal changes made at the time of Nirbhaya fructified at the ground level? Law is just an enactment, if it is not implemented through rules, enforcement mechanism, attitudinal changes, and deployment of right resources commensurate to the task ahead. Where is the delivery? Nirbhaya project assured us of CCTV surveillance at least in the major cities, given the state of affairs at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, it can be termed as a hollow assurance. All great slogans with regards to girls and women have been a part of the high flying assurances given by the high and mighty.
The security apparatus, deployment and security protocol on a big campus of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, operational day and night, did not enthuse any confidence. Next level forensics is assured as per the new criminal laws, but what do we do when there are no resources / inclination to collect evidence for that purpose without loss of time, with no tampering or contamination. Where is the list of assurances provided at the time of these cases and the compliance thereof? Responsive government has been a permanent assurance to find it missing every time. The less talked the better about transparency. The country is up in arms demanding the implementation of assurances already made and not looking for further assurances and then witness the vanishing act in despair.
ASSURANCES NOT DELIVERED IN WORD AND SPIRIT REEKS OF A DEEP SEATED LIP SERVICE MENTALITY IN OUR GOVERNANCE MECHANISM.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.