Government can compensate for anything, Really ?

“One can die even crossing the road, so why fear getting killed by a gun” ? , Chandu tells his mother in the movie “Company”. RGV sure has done his homework. This dialogue from the movie  is so very true. In India, more people die from man made accidents due to sheer negligence than from terrorist attacks or even natural disasters. Whenever such completely avoidable tragic incidents happen, the first announcement that is made by the government is the compensation. Is it that easy to announce compensation ? I often wonder.

What is a Life worth ? To me, it’s a very loaded question. It’s also a very subjective question and a very relative question. In other words, it’s not possible to have a simple answer for that. Or may be I’m wrong. May be the politicians, the committees which look into this, are intelligent enough just by virtue of their positions and are able to better judge what a life is worth and assign a price tag to it.

• Whats a farmer worth to his family when he is not able to earn a meal a day ?
• Whats a child worth to his/her parents when he/she is not earning anything ?
• what is a daughter worth to a family who has been sexually harassed ?
• what is a mother worth to a family who got killed a freak accident ?
• what is an old woman worth who is killed in a stampede in the temple ?

No matter what the situation and no matter who the victim is, can there be a compensation ever ? Even if one can employ various means to asses what a life is worth, is that all there is to it ? Compensation, a monetary compensation ! And it’s no secret how great a job the government did even announcing a monetary compensation for the Bhopal Gas Victims. The numbers are simply a joke, not even worth mentioning.

• What about counseling ?
• What about rehabilitation ?
• What about punishing the guilty ?
• What about taking up responsibility ?
• What about making sure the incidents are not repeated ?
• What about giving closure to such incidents ?
• Isn’t this all part of compensation or Shouldn’t this also be part of compensation ?

If we don’t think of compensation this way, then there is no guarantee that railway accidents don’t happen, no guarantee that a fire accident doesn’t happen in future, no guarantee that children won’t die in the hospitals, no guarantee that pot holes will not be dug up, no guarantee that stampedes won’t repeat itself at temples, cinema halls etc etc etc.

How many  more such disasters have to happen to realize that disaster management ( which also includes prevention ) needs to be given special consideration ?

Anyways, I’ve decided to start out with a simple RTI application to find out the inspection and safety measures of the hospitals and cinema halls in Hyderabad. Hopefully i can build from here.

To,
Director General of State Disaster Response and Fire Services,
Hyderabad
Andhra Pradesh

Subject: Seek information on Inspection & safety measures of hospitals/cinema halls under the RTI Act, 2005

Respected Sir/Madam,

Please provide us the below requested information, as per the Right to Information Act 2005. As per the RTI act Section 7(I) and section 2(J)(II), kindly send this at the earliest or within 30 days, through the certified copies at below mentioned address or through electronic mail (____________________________________). In case the information is available in a different office, as per the section 6(3)(ii), kindly transfer my request within 5days.

Please share
1) the number of hospitals/cinema halls in Hyderabad that have the NOC’s
2) the information on the number of hospitals/cinema halls that have been inspected in the year 2011
3) the information on the list of hospitals/cinema halls which did not have the fire safety measures as per the guidelines
4) the list of recommendations provided by the fire department where the hospitals/cinema halls were lacking the safety measures
5) If this information is available online, then please share the details of the same.

Hurtful or Hopeful

I’m hurt, I’m tired, I feel defeated, I feel cheated, I feel let down, I feel disappointed, I feel dejected. It’s a feeling which words can’t describe. Why does it have to be this way ? Why can’t I trust my own people ? Why can’t I believe my own people ? I feel a lump in my throat. I can’t stomach this feeling.

• A young girl is kidnapped and raped, the guilty don’t feel any remorse. No one to arrest them, no one to prosecute them. Why ?
• A disaster that happened 27 years ago, the whole world witnessed this ? Yet, the guilty are not punished. Why ?
• Elections are fought, votes are bought, next 5 years are spent recuperating the money. Bloody hell, ministers have turned politics into a business and yet there is no stopping them. Why ?
• A school teacher is accused of being a maoist, tortured, everyone knows about it. No one reports it, no one condemns it. Why ?
• There are schools in every village, or at least 4 walls there. However, the schools don’t have teachers. If they have the teachers, then they don’t have kids. Education is a fundamental right and yet when the right is not available, no one is held accountable. Why ?
• Kids die in the hospital because the hospitals lack the basic amenities to take care of them on a timely basis. This is completely un acceptable. The entire country should be held accountable for this. But not even the local authorities are questioned. Why ?
• A country that can’t offer a single meal a day to it’s citizens, what is it really proud of ?
• People have to travel miles to just fetch a pale of water, what is the country proud of ?

It’s heart breaking. It’s heart breaking and it’s heart breaking.

There are serious short comings, lot of negativity around us, there are hardships, there is corruption, and then there is the freedom, the independence, the rule of law, the rights given by the constitution of India.

The freedom to express, the freedom to protest, freedom to celebrate, freedom to share, freedom to worship. Yes, sometimes this freedom is exploited, misused but by and large this is what keeping the country going. There are also individuals, ordinary individuals who do extra ordinary things in their life, that impact a whole society, a community. India is proud to have such individuals who with sheer determination, their passion and commitment have not only excelled in their life but have also served as an inspiration to the society, the community, the entire country in some cases.

I myself have been extremely privileged to have met few such individuals and i’m sure you must have come across such people in your life.  A Ganesh Pogula,  a Mallesham,  a Vijay Anand,  a Katari Srinivas, a Revathi, a Balaji Sampath, a Dr JP, a Prashant Bhushan , a Nikhil Dey, a Medha Patkar, a Venugopal , a Himanshu, a Praful Kumar, a Srinivasan and many other friends who I’ve personally met are heroes, leaders in their own way from whom I draw inspiration, motivation, courage, optimism that it’s not the end of the world and there is still hope.

• Hope that we can question the authorities
• Hope that we can stop the injustice
• Hope that we can fight the corrupt
• Hope that we can contribute to the change
• Hope that we can still be part of the system ( however broken it is ) and yet fight it and reform it
• Hope that we can someday be really proud of our country
• Hope that roti, kapda aur makaan become every individuals right that they can enjoy
• Hope that human sensibility, human emotions, moral values prevail.