WEEKEND LIGHTER: ETHICS IN POLITICS
WEEKEND LIGHTER: ETHICS IN POLITICS
(December 17/18, 2016, No.53/2016)
Weekend Lighter is posted every Saturday
@mgwarrier.blogspot.in
Section III SERENITY PRAYER
I
Opening remarks
Political funding
T K Arun’s article “Fix Political Funding First” (Economic
Times, December 14) raises several equally relevant issues which have a bearing
on cleansing up the system. Aggregated, they justify PM’s November 8
announcement withdrawing ‘legal tender status’ of high value currency as a
first step in the right direction. Here’s why.
Political funding outside banking channels has been by
shifting huge quantities of currency from one individual to another or a group
of individuals. Cash in effect has been a tool in running a parallel economy.
Successive governments have been shy to harm the parallel economy run by those
who retained unaccounted cash and wealth in various forms as that served as a
captive source of funds for political parties.
Simultaneously with mainstreaming cash flows,
government need to address the following issues:
i)
Tracking
agricultural income and making necessary adjustments in subsidies enjoyed by
big farmers including exemption from income tax.
ii)
Politicians
alternating jobs between their professional occupations (lawyers, businessmen,
doctors, consultants, CAs etc) and holding public office (legislators,
ministers).
iii)
Mapping wealth in
the form of land, buildings, gold and jewelry and other assets held beyond a
threshold limit held by individuals and institutions including religious
bodies.
iv)
Keeping track of
political parties which are not in the business of fighting elections with an
eye on their resources mobilization.
M G WARRIER, Mumbai
II
Recent responses
Ethics
in politics
In India professionals like advocates, Chartered
Accountants and Management Experts (list illustrative) generally accept
politics as a 'second/alternative' career. Whenever free from the
preoccupations of politics, as a legislator or minister, they come back to
their 'original' profession.
On the face of it, this is perfectly in order. It can
also be argued that In the Indian conditions, very few can opt politics as a
full time profession, as it is not remunerative at all levels.
But the present practice raises some issues of
principles and basically, ethics. Those who become public servants (include
ministers) get access to information and get acquainted with influential people
in India and abroad. Despite all "oaths of secrecy" and other built-in
safeguards, these advantages being misused is a distinct possibility, when they
get back to their original positions, post-retirement, in many cases with a
fabulous government pension.
In the circumstances, there should at least be a
cooling period post-job, preferably equal to the tenure they were "public
servants", before they get back to their profession, including court
appearance as advocates.
M G Warrier, Mumbai
Economics
and politics of demonetization
S Gurumurthy’s article “Not a
tragedy, but the remedy” (The Hindu, December 13) which follows former Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh’s piece “Making of a mammoth tragedy” (December 9) and
NIT Aayog member Bibek Debroy’s “Asking the right questions”(December 11) is a
challenging analysis of the background in which GOI would have come to the
painful option to handle high value currency the way in which it did through a
surprise announcement withdrawing ‘legal tender status of Rs500 and Rs1000’ on
November 8.
Opportunity to govern, like life,
comes sans rewind and fast-forward buttons and Prime Minister Modi knows it
better than anyone else. MMS opted to keep the ‘pause’ button pressed for long
10 years is a matter for research by future scholars. Manmohan Singh’s
indictment of the system in his 6 minutes RS speech was more forthright than
the lament about ‘mammoth tragedy’, which he concluded with a terse observation
that “It is important to
deftly balance these risks with the potential benefits of such decisions.
Waging a war on black money may sound enticing. But it cannot entail even a
single loss of life of an honest Indian.” Does not throw any light on the way
forward.
Conceding Dr Singh’s right to be concerned, let us also
remember, all martyrs were honest citizens. The arguments put forth only
explains the rationale behind his reluctance to take decisions during the ten
year period when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister. One wishes, the former PM
gets one more opportunity to rationalize his thoughts and come back with his
views on what is best for the nation in the context of feedback to his RS
speech and the article under reference. Maybe at some stage, his past
experience as RBI Governor, FM and PM may help him in giving a balanced view,
once winter sets in.
M G Warrier,
Mumbai
III
FAITH, LEISURE
Serenity Prayer
The serenity prayer has appeared in many
versions. Niebuhr's versions of the prayer were always printed as a single
prose sentence; printings that set out the prayer as three lines of verse
modify the author's original version. The most well-known form is:
God,
give me grace to accept with serenity
the
things that cannot be changed,
Courage
to change the things
which
should be changed,
and
the Wisdom to distinguish
the
one from the other.
Living
one day at a time,
Enjoying
one moment at a time,
Accepting
hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking,
as Jesus did,
This
sinful world as it is,
Not
as I would have it,
Trusting
that You will make all things right,
If
I surrender to Your will,
So
that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And
supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
Most generally accepted version:
God
grant me the serenity
To
accept the things I cannot change,
Courage
to change the things I can, and
The
Wisdom to know the difference.
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Source:
Google search
BOOKS
Books create a parallel universe that exists alongside
your real world for a few days. And it’s not just about exploring different
places and times. You get to do things that in the real world you may never be
able to. One day you could be investigating a murder in the English countryside
with Hercule Poirot, and on another day you could be arguing a case in front of
jury in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi. Sipping a cup of afternoon tea
with Bilbo Baggins in the Shire, or scared to your wits sitting alone in a room
inside the Bran Castle.
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Blog Post No: W2477/16122016
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