DailyPost 2912
DEMOCRATIC IMPASSE!
The inability of democratic leadership and governance to handle an issue or crisis and cannot go in for consistent improvement in the quality and coverage of governance can be termed as democratic impasse. Not being able to set right issues which are known and nearly routine, even with resources being available for it can be put in the bracket. The ostrich approach to a large variety of things and issues is also a manifestation of the same phenomenon. Avoiding a large number of burning issues which impact our lives; straightaway existential ones, might be one of the worst manifestations of this malaise.
As nothing in democracy can be decided and executed successfully without having a broad base, restricting to your cronies and only to the party political base cannot take you a long way. The all pervasive change which democracy is expected to make does not happen. Futurism is not factored in. It can be anything; a path breaking technology which can transform governance by transparency and instant communication is not allowed to move forward and so is the case with managed processes which can bring pace, clarity, delivery, transparency, result and impact to the organisation’s purpose, goals and targets.
Democracy represented by governments are not ready to bite the bullet. Governments can belong to any party and successive governments of different parties keep falling in their own trap. Time is indefinite and many legislations, projects and tasks are in reality become timeless. There is nothing called sub-standard in democratic governance dictionary. From the culture and ambience of a government office at the cutting edge level to the fate of a large part of governmental school / education to their healthcare institutions, more so in Bharat to the performance of the servers for a large number of public utilities, are all epitomes of what we can call a democratic impasse.
Democratic impasse is our permanent condition. Is not a lapse or a crime, it should be termed as a democratic sin, which we should live without. The sad part is we can do nothing about it as the political and bureaucratic class, which is completely wedded to it. The attitude and will is lacking, so where will the effort come from, that too consistently on a near permanent basis. It has become a way of our democratic / governance life and delivery. Democratic impasse mindset declares anyone demanding anything and / or issue being brought to government’s notice / attention as adversary. From Manipur to RG Kar to substandard education and to more than creaking healthcare institutions are all the outcomes of a pervasive democratic impasse, nothing is exempt.
DEMOCRATIC IMPASSE IS THE THRESHOLD OF OUR FUNCTIONAL DEMOCRACY, REST IS SERMONISING AND LIP SERVICE.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.