Mayawati’s latest move of adopting a bill, OHMSS could even stand for “On Her Majesty’s Statue Service!” Maya has set up special task force (STF) of 1,000 policemen to guard the 10 memorials in UP featuring Mayawati’s statues along with those of Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram. The Supreme Court had taken a stern action and put a stay for such memorials where crores of rupees of public money were being spent. The state Government did not immediately explain how the elite force would function. Huge funds have already been spent. The Lucknow statues and memorials alone cost Rs 2,600 crore annually for their maintenance.
So, it is certain for Maya that rival parties, particularly members of the Samajwadi Party, will try to damage these structures. Hence the squad. But will it protect them from all those harbouring nefarious designs. Will a land based force foil pigeons which relieve themselves on statues in even the most developed nations? Even London’s Trafalgar Square has to be scrubbed to remove traces of bird droppings. If Lucknow’s pigeons are as poorly toilet-trained as their London counterparts, the only way to maintain the pristine purity of the Mayawati memorials would be to have a mini air-force of pilots in planes to chase away approaching birds. And then competitions could be held to decide which is the cleanest memorial and the officer in charge could be fast tracked for promotion!
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The choosing of personalities for confrontment of Bharat Ratna and Padama awards is done by a high level committee. The citizens of India are not very sure that the committee goes through every person’s name carefully that it is not tainted and it is deservingly conferred because of their exception and distinguished services to the nation. These awardees are a pride to the nation.
This year there is a lot of hue and cry from all quarters on whether Chatwal, the hotelier from New York was eligible for the award. There were many cases pending on Mr. Chatwal with the CBI for which he was given a clean chit, but does that make you eligible for the award? Was his lobbying if true for the nuclear deal in the U.S enough material that all his suspect cases in India are washed off?
There is a mechanism for choosing the awardees but people who have been it’s part have disclosed how they are observed in the breach. If this is how it works now why persist with a system that reminds us of the colonial era when awards and titles were conferred merely as a form of patronage and favour now especially to ‘A’ political party in power.
Governments should now correct the system and not use the Padma awards as a system of patronage and repayment of favours. These awards should not be used for political purposes. It turns particularly shady when you are giving it to business people or spiritual leaders who should know better than take awards.
Criteria should not be merely excellence, but “excellence plus,” a lifetime achievement. No guidelines seems to have been followed in general as the awards committee is not given reports of tax or criminal records of the prospective awardees. If the Prime Minister is so bent on changing the systems then this should be high on his priority list. Because we really don’t want tax evaders and suspects being awarded and make us feel that once again honesty, hardwork and dedication can be by-passed by some wheeler dealer who has the right connections.
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