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Good Governance
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With Mamata Banerjee presenting her maiden railway budget without any hike in
passenger fares, the NDA government seems to have learnt the first lessons of striking a
balance between populism or political correctness and pressures of the ground
realities.While it is undoubted that the hike in the tariff for goods is bound to create
some ripples on the inflation front, crores of passengers will heave a sigh of relief to
find no increase in passenger fares. What is most noteworthy is that the Railway Minister
has also spared the first and A/c class passengers, perhaps, realising the fact that
ultimately it is the majority of the Govt. employees who travel by this class and hence
the burden, or say a good part of it is ultimately shared by the government itself. Her
decision in this regards may also be construed as an indication of freeing of the mindset
from socialistic hangovers, where people use to relish in punishing the haves without
really caring for the have-nots. With the annual general budget just round the corner, it
would not be unreasonable to expect that the government, while not dithering from
taking some unpleasant decisions, will also take some measures to educate the people. For
long, political parties have left the task of educating their voters simply because of
inertia. But, politicians must realise that taking people into confidence is one thing and
educating them on many an important issues, is another.One would welcome the strategy of
giving an advance notice to the people to tighten their belts before coming out with a
so-called harsh budget . But then, at the same time, it is also necessary that people are
explained about the circumstances which have made these harsh decisions a
"must". Not only will it achieve generating a debate, asking for suggestions and
thereby popular participation too, at least notional, it will also increase the number of
people who are reasonable enough and ready to appreciate a rationale behind certain un
popular decisions when the background is explained to them.
Good governance, certainly does
not mean utopia.What matters is the style of governance. The NDA government has done
exceedingly well in tabling the Kargil Report in the parliament , however controversial it
may be. Now it has to go much further and make people realise that it values not
only their votes, but more importantly ; their views too.
Vinay Sahasrabuddhe
Editor-in-Chief
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