We are good at making laws and equally good at breaking it. Law bans smoking in public places. Yet, smokers are everywhere. Law bans using polythene carrybags - it's everywhere.
Sometime back, we were asked to register our mobile numbers in “do not call/do not disturb” directory. We did it. But unsolicited calls and SMSs still come. We not only get disturbed at odd hours but get charged for unwanted messages. Most of us crib about it but find it too trivial a matter to fight. You can fight and get refunds from operators. Then they innovate better ways to fleece us. So, what next? Expect more laws!
This season, we are fighting to get a Lok Pal Bill to check corruption. Do we really need it? We already have Central Vigilance Commission/ CBI and other regulatory authorities in all government offices to check corruption. There are enough volumes of rules to fix the corrupt. But they are not implemented. We never fight corruption at our level. Then how will Lok Pal Bill will rid us of corruption?
The existing machinery can be made more powerful like the proposed Lok Pal. Creating a nine-member Lok Pal will merely increase government spending on salary, cars, telephones, office accommodation and so on. Then there would be heavy lobbying from retired judges, politicians and civil society members to get a seat in the Lok Pal committee. Ultimately, we may be heading to an era of voluminous Inquiry Reports which will be dusted and foisted by rival political parties during elections. Corrupt will thrive.
We need to ask : Do we need more Bills or stringent checks? Do we need more laws or harsh punishment. Loop holes in our laws allow criminals to escape punishment or get off lightly. Look at some of the recent convictions. A police officer gets six months jail after more than a decade of trail for molesting a girl who later committed suicide. A cab driver who raped and brutally murdered a BPO employee deserves to be hanged. But he gets life imprisonment because it is not a “rarest of the rare” case. A rape is a rape. Why should it be ‘rare’? Abetment to murder: just three years and for murder it is ten years. In America, one may get 40 years in jail for sending Spam mails to facebook accounts!!!
Apparently, India is a land of laws and where people do not fear or follow law. We have laws for everything but ‘shortage of staff’ to implement.
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