Now, a right to health to be Congress trump card | Business Standard

Now, a right to health to be Congress trump card | Business Standard

Online comments posted on March 13, 2014:

The promise to raise health spend to 3% of GDP from the present low of 1.2% should be welcomed. However, an offer coming from a political party which was at the helm for over 65 years during which period the record of steps taken to apply the Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution(Articles 36 to 51) which include Article 47 relating to ‘raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health’ will undergo credibility-test at the hustings.
The impact on the aam aadmi such offers will have, encouraging him to improve his awareness about his rights and government’s duties, may, itself work as a change agent. Viewed from this perspective, other political parties should follow Congress in selective highlighting of citizen’s rights and duties. After all, like Directive Principles, as of now, election promises are also ‘not enforceable by any court’. 
By creating more awareness among the people about the expectations of the authors of Indian Constitution, from the governments, political parties will be doing a great service to themselves and the country. Such a shift in the thematic content of election campaign will make Elections 2014 different from the previous ones. Who knows, it may even pave the way for a national consensus on crucial issues making the kind of the unhappy scenes the closing ceremonies of last Lok Sabha telecast to the world viewers a thing of the past.
M G Warrier, Thiruvananthapuram

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