Accountability factor in India

IT is difficult to get a Prime Minister like Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee as he does not have any kith and kin whom he may like to promote as his political successor unlike his predecessors. He is capable of giving a clean government. Moreover, he is not likely to be shaken politically this time as the common man is now wary of a mid-term poll.

Mr Vajpayee’s promise for a “Proud, prosperous India” should be accepted, and we should hope that it will be fulfilled. But the principle of “zero level” with regard to corruption shall remain an utopian dream and is not likely to succeed. In a situation as at present when corruption is pervasive all around, when the high and the low, barring a few, have fallen victim to this malaise, such tall claims are not likely to be achieved.

The only possible situation that can be retrieved, and that too in a decade’s time, is to reduce the “zero level” to “tolerance level”. The question to be addressed at present is: Who is not corrupt?” And the degree or measure of the “tolerance level” is where the common man does not feel hurt. Corruption must be combated at least upto the level just as our metabolic system allows the intake of poison in the human body without producing any ill effects. After all,we are the children of Adam and Eve. Every- body must have the fear of law and authority, and the authority should not be allowed to be misused.

To achieve this end, the politician (who is the fountainhead of corruption), the bureaucrat (who is an active accomplice in the crime with total disregard for the authority he holds and the business man, with criminal intentions in high places who all form the power elite, must be given exemplary punishment by way of freezing their assets and forced retirement so as to develop fear psychosis for the rest of the people.

Middle and lower-level citizens are just the followers who act in all situations as the occasion demands. Open accountability of every member of Parliament and legislative assemblies must be the rule. Red-tapism must be curbed with all its reasonableness. The public should not suffer from this malaise.

Election expenses must be cut short so that the poll time should not turn into a festive occasion for the collection of funds. Bureaucrats should be strictly warned not to accept any gifts on any occasion from the public. The same should be the case with politicians. A spirit of genuine and voluntary compliance must be propagated as a matter of routine on the television networks in all languages and everyday in the morning.

HARJINDER SINGH TANGRI
Faridkot

Not the right approach

The Tribune has raised the apprehension (Editorial, October 20) that the “Pope’s visit may result in raising the communal temperature in the country beyond the danger mark” as a result of the demand by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal for the Pope’s apology” for the allegedly “forced conversions” made by the catholic clergy in India and their needlessly agitational and confrontational approach in the matter. I agree with the view that the government’s silence even at this stage is inexplicable.

Earlier, the VHP chief was reported to have said that Pope John Paul II is welcome to visit India and will be received by the government with due honours only in his capacity as Head of State, but not as a religious leader. This statement reeks not only of ignorance but also of a pronounced complex.

The Pope is Head of State of the Vatican, his temporal domain, but he is also the head of the spiritual realm of the Catholic Church, as you have pointed out. The two functions are inseparable and not dichotomic as the VHP seems to imply.

An agitational approach is not the means and can be self-defeating. A more reasonable and democratic approach would be to seek an audience with His Holiness, present him with a petition detailing such conversions made with forced or monetary inducements together with unassailable proof and seek his intervention. I am sure the Pope will give the VHP chief a patient hearing. After all, the Pontiff is the very embodiment of humility.

Kangayam R. Rangaswamy
Madison (Wisconsin, USA)

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Unfair comparison

This has reference to the news-item with the caption “Poor results send authorities thinking”, published in The Tribune on October 12.

The report contains some factual errors and creates a misleading impression about the working of the Department of Correspondence Courses, Punjabi University, Patiala. There cannot be a meaningful comparison between the performance of correspondence course students and those in the regular stream.

At the undergraduate level, all students are admitted in the correspondence courses irrespective of their merit in the lower class. On the other hand, regular students are admitted either on the basis of an entrance test or their merit in the lower class. Besides, undergraduate correspondence students come for a personal contact programme only for six days in an academic session where as regular students get coaching throughout the year.

In spite of these handicaps, the pass percentage of the correspondence students is generally better than regular students. The university works out its pass percentages by excluding the compartment cases from the category of failed students. If the same criterion is applied to the correspondence students, the pass percentage of B.Com (Part I,II and III) comes to 41.63,60.40, 72.35, respectively, and not 22,37 and 48 per cent as reported. Similarly, the pass percentage for the Bachelor of Arts (Part I, II and III) is 52.82, 61.07 and 74.41, respectively, and not 30,44 and 47 per cent.

There has been no decline in the quality of the written material being sent to the students. On the other hand, the department is thoroughly revising the written material and converting it into a self-instructional mode for the benefit of the students. The Distance Education Council has given a grant of Rs 3 lakh to the department for this purpose. However, there are subjects like history and mathematics where the subject matter does not change and frequent revisions are not required.

A large part of the expenditure of the department is met from the university’s main budget. There are some self-supporting courses run by the department. The budget of these courses is prepared by the department with the approval of the Vice-Chancellor. Surplus incomes from these courses can be transferred to the university, and such transfers are a routine matter. However, the department has not received any request for the transfer of Rs 55 lakh to the Jaito Computer Centre as reported. The report it seems, has been written at the behest of some disgruntled elements in the university.

(Prof) J.S. BRAR
Punjabi University
Patiala