OPINION

Elections to the Lok Sabha in 2014 were held amidst the environment of desperation, hopelessness, demoralization and despair all around. Whether it was the issue of security, honesty and ethics in politics and society or of the governance, values of probity, responsiveness, empathy, accountability, transparency and openness, everything was at stake. The country experienced loot of public money by those who mattered in the ruling dispensation; scam after scams. And the worst part was that neither there was any remorse nor any serious efforts to arrest that trend to unimaginative corruption.
 A social movement that caught the imagination of young India was launched against rampant loot of public resources by Anna Hazare giving birth to a new political party that soon forgot the values and objectives which Anna began his fight for and became a victim of all those vices which it promised to cleanse politics of, including the lust for power. It was here that BJP decided to present Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate and to contest parliamentary elections under his leadership.

Gorkha civil society again faces challenge on the ongoing hundred days plus Darjeeling bandh. A word about the challenge; it brings a new set of opportunities thus Gorkha civil society needs to accept this with both hands. The West Bengal government took two arbitrary decisions, the first regarding restriction on immersion of Durga idol as it believes in appeasement of minorities and policy of divide and rule. This has been suitably lifted by Calcutta High Court.

The second decision was regarding forming of the Gorkha Territorial Administration   (GTA-2), under Binay Tamang. It clearly brings to fore the divisive policy followed by the West Bengal government in the hills. Initially it was with the formation of community based development boards like Lepcha development board etc, and now it is aiming to split the major Gorkha hill party which is spearheading the bandh. The GTA was formed as a result of tripartite talks, between the centre, state and GJM which was leading the movement.

Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) election results declared last week created some stir on the campus but not the way as it got projected in the media. Party spokespersons and analysts went to the extent of declaring it as a referendum on the performance of the Narendra Modi government and a signal for the return of the Congress to power. Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken expectedly gave credit to his leader Rahul Gandhi but overdid the act saying that Congress vice-president’s speech at University of Columbia, Berkley changed situation overnight.
 A veteran Delhi Congress worker justified the “courtier’s quote” saying what else could made Congress jump from nowhere (it figured below the NOTA votes in the JNUSU polls a few days earlier) to clinching top two positions in DUSU. First JNU and DUSU are very different, while former largely has the post-graduates and research scholars participating in the polls, DUSU is more about under-graduates participating in a more brusque process.

This week, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued a notice to all affiliated schools enlisting guidelines to ensure a child’s safety on school premises. The Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal directed the Delhi government to introduce stringent security measures, and link it with the affiliation of the schools.

The LG directed the Delhi Police to waive verification charges so that schools are incentivized to do background checks on their staff. Though, the plethora of stringent measures is assumed to be a big relief, but how far would it resolve the issue, still remains a big question. Parents are in awe; emotionally overwhelmed with concerns regarding the safety of their child.

 
The murder of a seven-year-old student in a private school in Gurugram and the rape of another toddler at a school in Delhi’s Gandhinagar, have led to series of episodes of anger spilling on streets. Governments are inherently trapped in reactionary responses, and often make populist decisions in order to calm the public anger.