Untimely
Deaths Galore In A Callous Incompetent Nation Without Accountability
A recent
judgement in Italy that took eight years and 280 hearings to reach a conclusion
put a clutch of the responsible people in jail with sentences ranging from 12
years to five. It was for a bridge collapse that saw 480 people plunging to
their deaths in their cars. But yes, all the culpable officials including the
head of the bridge authority were punished in the end. This has never happened
in India.
In India bridges
collapse time and again in Goa and Bihar and sometimes even in Gujarat. Nothing
happens to those responsible except for a scapegoat or two who are also let off
when no one is looking. Tunnels bury people alive even after rescue efforts
save a number. Cable cars hoist passengers hundreds of feet up in the air and
if the cars don’t fall down then commandos have to rescue the passengers. Lifts
in building crash through many floors. Trains collide due to signalling faults
and hundreds die. Buses with drunken drivers fall into gorges. Dangerous roads.
Dangerous drivers. No lights. Wrong side movements. Animals. Tractors. Little
children.
Deaths, injuries,
accidents caused by misadventure are routine in India. From bungee jumps and
paragliding deaths to inadvertent poisonings, deliberate murders, crimes of
passion. We die in many ways every day amongst our almost 1.5 billion people.
Many occur in cars and on motorcycles killing people in or on them but also
other innocents, children, bystanders, sleeping people. Liquor is often a
companion to these tragedies, and if they involve young people, there is often
a sense of invincibility that is suddenly cut off.
In addition,
it is almost always accompanied by civic apathy, callousness, sub- standard
workmanship, open drains without barriers, huge pits dug and left unattended
with no signage, unmarked diversions which are nevertheless precarious,
balconies and entire buildings that collapse with people in them and on people
passing by. Fires, floods, in hotels, guest houses, coaching centres, with just
one inaccessible entrance cum exit, fixed windows, all overbuilt illegally and
with impunity. Whole high-rise buildings that have to brought down for faulty
construction and illegal floors.
Corruption
is rife and goes unpunished because of official collusion. The PWD, the NHAI
amongst many other contractors and agencies build roads that develop craters,
bridges and flyovers that collapse, more often than not killing people. It is
an out-of-control phenomenon without end, perhaps linked to our belief in karma
rather than any attempt to fix responsibility and improve accountability.
And then
there is the curse of reservation that produces sub-standard administrators,
engineers, doctors. A moribund and overburdened judiciary that takes decades to
deliver a verdict. One that is not accountable owing to its closed-loop collegium system.
Wilful
negligence results from all this, as culpability does not usually lead to
retribution or justice. One tragedy overlaps another and all is forgotten
without need of forgiveness. Politicians usually throw some compensation money
at the victim families and express routine regret before moving on. Life itself
is cheap in India and the best thing anyone can do is look out for oneself.
Where do you
begin if you want to improve matters? At least in Western countries where the
population is small accountability stands a chance. Here we are masters at pass
the buck. Fixing responsibility is well-nigh impossible when every action or
the lack of it is diffused over an entire department. Besides, you cannot sack
a government official. You can suspend or transfer him or her. You cannot stop
the salary or perquisites, the housing or facilities during suspension. Only if
a government official is convicted can he or she be dismissed and punitive
measures like a stoppage of pension can be made. The sacked official can appeal
in a court of law and if successful must be reinstated with full pay,
perquisites, any loss of service restored. These laws were set up by the
British to suit themselves. Independent India has carefully preserved them
undiluted. It is tantamount to immunity of a kind peculiar to Indian
bureaucracy and the politicians in parliament or the state assemblies cannot be
brought to book except by their peers. Likewise, the judiciary. The private
sector can be prosecuted and often is as a point of deflection, unless the
bribery has been prophylactic.
In short if
something is done properly in India, that is well and good, because if it is
not there is little or no recourse. There are fast track courts just as
overburdened as the regular ones. There are draconian laws that cannot be
enforced until the judiciary is satisfied on the particulars of the case in
question. We live in a Kafkaesque impasse.
The reforms
that we need fly in the face of democratic freedoms. Simplicity cannot operate
in a complex polity like ours. Millions die and will continue to do so to
underline this fact. Some nominal activity always flows on from a tragedy. An
FIR is filed. A court case is started. And that is that, because who can keep
track of it after? This is a country where breaking the law and getting away
with it is time-tested. The system itself protects the law-breaker from coming
to any harm.
The problem
is for the law abiding and civic sense-minded. They have to live on the scraps
of our system though nobody will quite admit it. Digitalisation and various
forms of forensics and transparency and the new-fangled AI are improving
matters very slightly. But the grand overhaul that is called for is far away
yet. The malaise is both systemic and attitudinal. All sides of the square look
at each other with equal guilt and apathy. Will coming prosperity raise
standards and make us demand better from ourselves?
(952
words)
27th
July 2026
For:
Firstpost/News18.com
Gautam
Mukherjee
